Unifying and Merging Well-trained Deep Neural Networks for Inference Stage

We propose a novel method to merge convolutional neural-nets for the inference stage. Given two well-trained networks that may have different architectures that handle different tasks, our method aligns the layers of the original networks and merges them into a unified model by sharing the representative codes of weights. The shared weights are further re-trained to fine-tune the performance of the merged model. The proposed method effectively produces a compact model that may run original tasks simultaneously on resource-limited devices. As it preserves the general architectures and leverages the co-used weights of well-trained networks, a substantial training overhead can be reduced to shorten the system development time. Experimental results demonstrate a satisfactory performance and validate the effectiveness of the method.Comment: To appear in the 27th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence and the 23rd European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2018. (IJCAI-ECAI 2018

Modeling postpartum depression in rats: theoretic and methodological issues

The postpartum period is when a host of changes occur at molecular, cellular, physiological and behavioral levels to prepare female humans for the challenge of maternity. Alteration or prevention of these normal adaptions is thought to contribute to disruptions of emotion regulation, motivation and cognitive abilities that underlie postpartum mental disorders, such as postpartum depression. Despite the high incidence of this disorder, and the detrimental consequences for both mother and child, its etiology and related neurobiological mechanisms remain poorly understood, partially due to the lack of appropriate animal models. In recent decades, there have been a number of attempts to model postpartum depression disorder in rats. In the present review, we first describe clinical symptoms of postpartum depression and discuss known risk factors, including both genetic and environmental factors. Thereafter, we discuss various rat models that have been developed to capture various aspects of this disorder and knowledge gained from such attempts. In doing so, we focus on the theories behind each attempt and the methods used to achieve their goals. Finally, we point out several understudied areas in this field and make suggestions for future directions

As Low Birth Weight Babies Grow, Can 'Good' Parents Buffer this Adverse Factor? A Research Note.

This research note combines two national Taiwanese datasets to investigate the relationship between low birth weight (LBW) babies, their family background and their future academic outcomes. We find that LBW is negatively correlated with the probability of such children attending university at the age of 18; however, when both parents are college or senior high school graduates, such negative effects may be partially offset. We also show that discrimination against daughters does occur, but only in those cases where the daughters were LBW babies. Moreover, high parental education (HPE) can only buffer the LBW shock among moderately-LBW children (as compared to very-LBW children) and full term-LBW children (as compared to preterm-LBW children).

Rootstock and seasonal variations affect anthocyanin accumulation and quality traits of ‘Kyoho’ grape berries in subtropical double cropping system

The double cropping system has been commercially adopted in subtropical viticulture regions. However, very limited information about rootstock and seasonal effects on berry quality traits are available for this unique production system. Developing ‘Kyoho’ berries from own-rooted vines and from vines on 5C and 1202C rootstocks were periodically sampled from veraison until harvest in two consecutive cropping cycles to document the potential seasonal influence on rootstock effects. Anthocyanin concentration in berry skin, total soluble solids content (TSS), and titratable acidity (TA) were analyzed. In both cropping cycles, own-rooted vines produced berries with the highest anthocyanin concentration while vines on 1202C produced berries with the lowest anthocyanin concentration among the three scion/rootstocks. Anthocyanin concentrations were not differentiated by the differential climate pattern between the summer and the winter cropping cycles. Berries of own-rooted ‘Kyoho’ and ‘Kyoho’/5C vines accumulated satisfactory and equal amount of TSS in both cropping cycles. 1202C rootstocks did not affect berry TSS in the summer cropping cycle but reduced TSS in the winter cropping cycle. Significant rootstock and seasonal effects on berry TA were detected. Own-rooted vines produced berries with the lowest TA while vines on 1202C produced berries with the highest TA among the three scion/rootstock combinations. TA of berries from the winter cropping cycle was significantly higher than that from the summer cropping cycle especially in ‘Kyoho’/1202C. Relationships between anthocyanins and TSS of developing berries after veraison properly fitted into a sigmoidal function regardless of rootstocks and cropping cycles. However, the duration of the initial lag phase, the onset and the trend of both quality triats in the increasing phase, and the presence and degree of the final lag phase in the relationship were all modulated by rootstocks and by seasonal variations.

Modulation of murine bone marrow-derived CFU-F and CFU-OB by in vivo bisphosphonate and fluoride treatment

Bisphosphonates (BPN) are potent inhibitors of bone resorption with suggested dose dependent effects on osteoblasts. Fluoride (F) is an anabolic agent capable of increasing bone mass and, depending upon genetic background, stimulates osteoclastogenesis. This study aimed to investigate BPN and F's in vivo effects on bone marrow derived osteoprogenitor cells. Mice from the C3H/HeJ (C3H), C57BL/6J (B6), FVB/NJ (FVB) and BALB/cByJ (BALB-c) strains were treated for 3-weeks with 0, 3, 30, or 150 mcg/kg/week alendronate (ALN) administered s.c. alone or in combination with 50ppm fluoride (F). Bone marrow cells were harvested and subjected to in vitro CFU-F and CFU-OB assays. Results showed strain dependent baseline differences in CFU-F, CFU-OB/ALP+, and CFU-OB/total. ALN and F treatments resulted in strain specific responses for CFU-F, CFU-OB/ALP+, and CFU-OB/total. No dose responses to ALN were observed. Genetic factors appear to play a role in ALN's effects on CFU-F and CFU-OB/total, but not on CFU-OB/ALP+

Two Types of Object Control in Saisiyat: A Movement-based Approach i

Abstract This paper analyzes the syntactic characteristics and the derivation of object control construction (OC) in Saisiyat. Saisiyat possesses two types of object control: in the canonical case, the controller occupies a structurally higher position than the controllee, while in the non-canonical case, the controller occupies a structurally lower position. We argue that the syntactic behaviours in Saisiyat, including the selection of voice, case-marking mechanisms, and subject-verb agreement, are closely related to hierarchical structures. The structure of the embedded clause in Saisiyat OC is a defective TP. This 'weak' TP cannot normally value case and govern argument. Also, it exhibits the [-Tense] feature. These two types of OC exhibit the characteristics of split-ergativity: Canonical object control strictly employs the Accusative-pattern, while non-canonical object control strictly utilizes the Ergative-pattern. We assert that the non-canonical structure employs an additional syntactic projection of Applicative Phrase in its embedded clause, which makes it syntactically different from the canonical counterpart. Based on Potsdam's[27] research on Malagasy, we propose that two types of OC are formed through argument movement and deletion in the fashion of Hornstein's[14] Movement Theory of Control and Nunes' [23] chain reduction principle. These configurations can account for why in Saisiyat the shared argument of OC occupies dual theta roles. However, unlike Potsdam's argument, we contend that the inadequacy of the base-generated approach is attributed to the theoretical nature of PRO/pro, which is incompatible with OC, rather than the effect of locality. Finally, in order to comply with the "Last resort" and the "Greed principle" under the Minimalist Program, we further contend that the copy movement is triggered by the checking of both formal features (e.g., phi-feature and EPP) and uninterpreted features (e.g., case and tense)

Insights into Hypoxic Systemic Responses Based on Analyses of Transcriptional Regulation in Arabidopsis

We have adopted a hypoxic treatment system in which only roots were under hypoxic conditions. Through analyzing global transcriptional changes in both shoots and roots, we found that systemic signals may be transduced from roots to trigger responses in tissues not directly subjected to hypoxia. The molecular mechanisms of such systemic responses under flooding are currently largely unknown. Using ontological categorization for regulated genes, a systemic managing program of carbohydrate metabolism was observed, providing an example of how systemic responses might facilitate the survival of plants under flooding. Moreover, a proportion of gene expressions that regulated in shoots by flooding was affected in an ethylene signaling mutation, ein2-5. Many systemic-responsive genes involved in the systemic carbohydrate managing program, hormone responses and metabolism, ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation were also affected in ein2-5. These results suggested an important role of ethylene in mediation of hypoxic systemic responses. Genes associated with abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis are upregulated in shoots and down regulated in roots. An ABA signaling mutation, abi4-1, affects expression of several systemic responsive genes. These results suggested that regulation of ABA biosynthesis could be required for systemic responses. The implications of these results for the systemic responses of root-flooded Arabidopsis are discussed