E(2)E(2)-Equivariant Vision Transformer

Vision Transformer (ViT) has achieved remarkable performance in computer vision. However, positional encoding in ViT makes it substantially difficult to learn the intrinsic equivariance in data. Initial attempts have been made on designing equivariant ViT but are proved defective in some cases in this paper. To address this issue, we design a Group Equivariant Vision Transformer (GE-ViT) via a novel, effective positional encoding operator. We prove that GE-ViT meets all the theoretical requirements of an equivariant neural network. Comprehensive experiments are conducted on standard benchmark datasets, demonstrating that GE-ViT significantly outperforms non-equivariant self-attention networks. The code is available at https://github.com/ZJUCDSYangKaifan/GEVit.Comment: Accept to UAI202

Four new species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 (Araneae, Halonoproctidae) from China

Herein four species of the trapdoor spider genus Conothele Thorell, 1878 collected from China are described as new to science based on the female genital morphology: C. baisha sp. n. (Hainan Province), C. baoting sp. n. (Hainan Province), C. linzhi sp. n. (Tibet), and C. jinggangshan sp. n. (Jiangxi Province). For two Hainan species, C. baisha sp. n. and C. baoting sp. n., between which it is difficult to distinguish solely based on female genital morphology, additional diagnoses derived from species-specific nucleotide substitution information and genetic distances using the mitochondrial gene, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I are provided

Shorter telomere length in children with autism spectrum disorder is associated with oxidative stress

ObjectiveAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a complex interaction between genetic and environmental risk factors. The balance between antioxidant capacity and oxidative stress (OS) induced free radicals may be crucial during the pathophysiological development of ASD.MethodsIn this study, 96 children with ASD who met the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders were collected, and the number of children in the typical development (TD) group was matched by 1:1. Digital PCR (dPCR) for telomere length (TL) expression in ASD in peripheral blood leukocytes. Urine levels of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) content were measured by tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry and corrected by urinary creatinine levels. The levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and capacity (AOC) were detected by kits.ResultsThe TL of the ASD group was shorter than the TD group (p < 0.01) and had some accurate predictive significance for the identification of ASD (AUC = 0.632, 95% CI: 0.533–0.710, p = 0.002). Both 8-OHdG content and SOD activity in the ASD group were significantly higher than those in the TD group (p < 0.05). Shortened TL (Monofactor: 2.20 (1.22, 3.96), p = 0.009; Multifactor: 2.22 (1.22, 4.00), p = 0.008) and reduced CAT activity (Monofactor: 2.31 (1.28, 4.17), p = 0.006; Multifactor: 2.31 (1.28, 4.18), p = 0.006) are risk factors for the development of ASD, while reduced 8-OHdG content (Monofactor: 0.29 (0.14, 0.60), p = 0.001; Multifactor: 0.27 (0.13, 0.57), p = 0.001) and reduced SOD activity (Monofactor: 0.55 (0.31, 0.98), p = 0.042; Multifactor: 0.54 (0.30, 0.98), p = 0.042) are protective factors for the development of ASD.ConclusionIn this study, TL and OS were significantly different between the ASD group and the TD group. As guanine-rich telomere sequences were likely damaged by oxygen free radicals, creating OS, which is a factor in the incidence and progression of ASDs. In conclusion, oxidative damage occurs in the bodies of children with ASD, which may lead to sustained disease progression and severe clinical manifestations. We assume that timely supplementation of antioxidants is very likely to be a potential treatment for early intervention in children with ASD. Identification and detection of OS-related biomarkers may contribute to early diagnosis and timely interventions in young patients with ASD

Perchlorate Removal in Microbial Electrochemical Systems With Iron/Carbon Electrodes

Perchlorate removal was tested in the cathode chamber of microbial electrochemical systems (MESs). Dual-chambers MESs were constructed and operated in batch mode with four kinds of cathode materials including Fe/C particles (Fe/C), zero valent iron particles (ZVI), blank carbon felt (CF), and active carbon (AC). Without external energy supply or perchlorate-reducing microbial pre-enrichment, perchlorate (ClO4-) removal could be achieved in the cathode chambers of MESs at different efficiencies. The highest ClO4- removal rates in these reactors were 18.96 (Fe/C, 100 Ω, 2 days), 15.84 (ZVI, 100 Ω, 2 days), 14.37 (CF, 100 Ω, 3 days), and 19.78 mg/L/day (AC, 100 Ω, 2 days). ClO4- degradation products were mainly Cl− and ClO3-, and the total chlorine in the products was lower than the theoretical input. The non-conservation of the total chlorine may be caused by the adsorption and co-precipitation related to the electrode materials. Coulombs and coulombic efficiency calculation showed that electron provided by MESs was partially responsible for ClO4- reduction, for the Fe/C cathode reactors, about a quarter of electron was provided by MESs

Improved performance and stability of perovskite solar modules by interface modulating with graphene oxide crosslinked CsPbBr3quantum dots

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are one of the most prominent photovoltaic technologies. However, PSCs still encounter great challenges of scaling up from laboratorial cells to industrial modules without serious performance loss while maintaining excellent long-term stability, owing to the resistive losses and extra instability factors that scale quadratically with the device area. Here, we manifest a concept of multifunctional interface modulation for highly efficient and stable perovskite solar modules (PSMs). The advisably designed multifunctional interface modulator GO/QD crosslinks the CsPbBr3 perovskite quantum dots (QDs) on the conductive graphene oxide (GO) surfaces, which significantly improve charge transport and energy band alignment at the perovskite/hole transporting layer interface to reduce the charge transport resistance while passivating the surface defects of the perovskite to inhibit carrier recombination resistive losses. Moreover, the GO/QD interlayer acts as a robust permeation barrier that modulates the undesirable interfacial ion and moisture diffusion. Consequently, we adopt a scalable vacuum flash-assisted solution processing (VASP) method to achieve a certified stabilized power output efficiency of 17.85% (lab-measured champion efficiency of 18.55%) for the mini-modules. The encapsulated PSMs achieve over 90% of their initial efficiency after continuous operation under 1 sun illumination and the damp heat test at 85 °C, respectively. This journal isThe authors acknowledge financial from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21875081, 91733301, and 51972251), the Chinese National 1000-Talent-Plan program, the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion (Grant No. J18-19-913), and the Frontier Project of the Application Foundation of Wuhan Science and Technology Plan Project (2020010601012202)

Targeting Anion Exchange of Osteoclast, a New Strategy for Preventing Wear Particles Induced- Osteolysis

Joint replacement is essential for the treatment of serious joint disease. However, prosthetic failure remains an important clinical issue, with periprosthesis osteolysis (PO), caused by osteoclastic bone resorption induced by wear particles, being the leading cause of failure. Nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (NFATc1) appears to play an important role in wear particle-induced osteoclastogenesis, with bicarbonate/chloride exchanger, solute carrier family 4, anion exchanger, member 2, (SLC4A2) being upregulated during osteoclastogenesis in an NFATc1-dependent manner. Anion exchange mediated by SLC4A2 in osteoclasts could affect the bone resorption activity by regulating pHi. This study investigated the role and mechanism of SLC4A2 in wear particle-induced osteoclast differentiation and function in vitro. The use of 4, 4′-diisothiocyano-2,2′-stilbenedisulfonic acid (DIDS), an anion exchange inhibitor, suppressed wear particle-induced PO in vivo. Furthermore, controlled release of DIDS from chitosan microspheres can strengthen the PO therapy effect. Therefore, anion exchange mediated by osteoclastic SLC4A2 may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of aseptic loosening of artificial joints