Educational duties of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions: past, present and future

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

On Measuring Fairness in Generative Models

Recently, there has been increased interest in fair generative models. In this work, we conduct, for the first time, an in-depth study on fairness measurement, a critical component in gauging progress on fair generative models. We make three contributions. First, we conduct a study that reveals that the existing fairness measurement framework has considerable measurement errors, even when highly accurate sensitive attribute (SA) classifiers are used. These findings cast doubts on previously reported fairness improvements. Second, to address this issue, we propose CLassifier Error-Aware Measurement (CLEAM), a new framework which uses a statistical model to account for inaccuracies in SA classifiers. Our proposed CLEAM reduces measurement errors significantly, e.g., 4.98% $\rightarrow$ 0.62% for StyleGAN2 w.r.t. Gender. Additionally, CLEAM achieves this with minimal additional overhead. Third, we utilize CLEAM to measure fairness in important text-to-image generator and GANs, revealing considerable biases in these models that raise concerns about their applications. Code and more resources: https://sutd-visual-computing-group.github.io/CLEAM/.Comment: Accepted in NeurIPS2

Electrode Performance Test on Single Ceramic Fuel Cells Using as Electrolyte Sr‐ and Mg‐Doped LaGaO\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3e

The electrode performance of a single solid oxide fuel cell was evaluated using a 500 μm thick La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O2.85 (LSGM) as the electrolyte membrane. Comparison of La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ (LSCo) and La0.9Sr0.1MnO3 (LSM) as cathodes showed LSCo gave an exchange current density two orders of magnitude higher than that of LSM. Comparison of CeO2/Ni and LSGM/Ni as anodes showed a degradation of the latter with time, and studies of the anode‐electrolyte interface and the reactivity of NiO and LSGM suggest better anode performances can be obtained with a buffer layer that prevents formation of LaNiO3 . The cell performance showed that, with a proper choice of electrode materials and LSGM as the electrolyte, a SOFC operating at temperatures 600°C \u3c Top \u3c 800°C is a realistic goal

Cathepsin B modulates lysosomal biogenesis and host defense against Francisella novicida infection

Lysosomal cathepsins regulate an exquisite range of biological functions, and their deregulation is associated with inflammatory, metabolic, and degenerative diseases in humans. In this study, we identified a key cell-intrinsic role for cathepsin B as a negative feedback regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy. Mice and macrophages lacking cathepsin B activity had increased resistance to the cytosolic bacterial pathogen Francisella novicida. Genetic deletion or pharmacological inhibition of cathepsin B down-regulated mechanistic target of rapamycin activity and prevented cleavage of the lysosomal calcium channel TRP ML1. These events drove transcription of lysosomal and autophagy genes via transcription factor EB, which increased lysosomal biogenesis and activation of autophagy initiation kinase ULK1 for clearance of the bacteria. Our results identified a fundamental biological function of cathepsin B in providing a checkpoint for homeostatic maintenance of lysosome populations and basic recycling functions in the cell

Oligotrophic lagoons of the South Pacific Ocean are home to a surprising number of novel eukaryotic microorganisms

The diversity of microbial eukaryotes was surveyed by environmental sequencing from tropical lagoon sites of the South Pacific, collected through the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)'s Explore21 expedition to the Solomon Islands in September 2013. The sampled lagoons presented low nutrient concentrations typical of oligotrophic waters, but contained levels of chlorophyll a, a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, characteristic of meso‐ to eutrophic waters. Two 18S rDNA hypervariable sites, the V4 and V8–V9 regions, were amplified from the total of eight lagoon samples and sequenced on the MiSeq system. After assembly, clustering at 97% similarity, and removal of singletons and chimeras, a total of 2741 (V4) and 2606 (V8–V9) operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified. Taxonomic annotation of these reads, including phylogeny, was based on a combination of automated pipeline and manual inspection. About 18.4% (V4) and 13.8% (V8–V9) of the OTUs could not be assigned to any of the known eukaryotic groups. Of these, we focused on OTUs that were not divergent and possessed multiple sources of evidence for their existence. Phylogenetic analyses of these sequences revealed more than ten branches that might represent new deeply‐branching lineages of microbial eukaryotes, currently without any cultured representatives or morphological information