Track Anything: Segment Anything Meets Videos

Recently, the Segment Anything Model (SAM) gains lots of attention rapidly due to its impressive segmentation performance on images. Regarding its strong ability on image segmentation and high interactivity with different prompts, we found that it performs poorly on consistent segmentation in videos. Therefore, in this report, we propose Track Anything Model (TAM), which achieves high-performance interactive tracking and segmentation in videos. To be detailed, given a video sequence, only with very little human participation, i.e., several clicks, people can track anything they are interested in, and get satisfactory results in one-pass inference. Without additional training, such an interactive design performs impressively on video object tracking and segmentation. All resources are available on {https://github.com/gaomingqi/Track-Anything}. We hope this work can facilitate related research.Comment: Tech-repor

A transnational networked public sphere of air pollution: analysis of a Twitter network of PM2.5 from the risk society perspective

Drawing on digitaltrace data, publicly accessible government documents, and journalistic reports, this research integrates Beck’s risk society theory with digital media theories to examine the mediated process of risk definition and assessment of PM2.5 (particulate matters with a diameter less than 2.5 micrometers) in a networked public sphere. Network and content analysis of a PM2.5 Twitter network shows that political and professional elite remained the most powerful producers of risk definition. Established media played a key role, yet faced challenges from a variety of actors who disseminated and filtered information. Laypersons, while peripheral, actively interacted with elite and established media. The blurring geographic boundary in the PM2.5 Twitter network revealed an emerging transnational public sphere, which, however, was segregated by language. This research advances a layered understanding of the contingent, paradoxical media impact for social changes in a risk society

Pharmaceutical Industry’s Engagement in the Global Equitable Distribution of COVID-19 Vaccines: Corporate Social Responsibility of EUL Vaccine Developers

(1) Objectives: Inequality in the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has brought about great challenges in terms of resolving the pandemic. Although vaccine manufacturers are undoubtedly some of the most influential players, studies on their role in global vaccine distribution have been scarce. This study examined whether the pharmaceutical industry is acting according to the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) during the pandemic. (2) Methods: Three categories were used to analyze the CSR of vaccine developers. The first was research and development: effectiveness, funding, and profits were measured. The second was transparency and accountability: the transparency of clinical trials and vaccine contracts was analyzed. The final was vaccine delivery: the status of the provision of vaccines to COVAX and lower-income countries, intellectual property management, manufacturing agreements, and equitable pricing were measured. (3) Results: Vaccine developers have acquired large profits. The vaccine delivery category faces the most challenges. Participation of pharmaceutical companies through COVAX was significantly low, and most vaccine supply agreements were secretive, bilateral deals. It was not clear if companies were maintaining equitable pricing. The evaluation indicated that the companies’ CSR practices have differed during the pandemic. (4) Conclusions: Our study contributes to the methodology of assessing the CSR of vaccine developers. This would help understand the current COVID-19 vaccine distribution inequality and propose that pharmaceutical companies re-examine their roles and social responsibilities

ATF3 inhibits the growth and stem cells-like features of SW620 colorectal cancer cells in vitro

Background and objective: Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) plays a crucial role in regulating tumor development depending on the cellular context or cancer cell type. However, the effect of ATF3 on stem cells-like features in colorectal cancer (CRC) has yet to be elaborated. Methods: In this study, we overexpressed ATF3 in SW620 CRC cells to investigate its effects on stem cells-like features. Results: Our results indicated that overexpressing ATF3 inhibited the proliferation, invasion, migration, and sphere formation capacity of SW620 CRC cells. ATF3 overexpression also decreased the size of tumorspheres and reduced expression of the cancer stem cell markers CD44 and CD133 in SW620 cells. Conclusion: In summary, our study revealed that ATF3 suppresses CRC growth and stem cells-like features. ATF3 is considered a potential target in CRC therapy

Enhanced production of secondary biogenic coalbed natural gas from a subbituminous coal treated by hydrogen peroxide and its geochemical and microbiological analyses

Unmineable coal accounts for over 90% of the world's fossil fuel resources. Fortunately, many coal seams contain indigenous microorganisms capable of utilizing the coal as a carbon source to produce secondary biogenic coalbed natural gas. However, coal bioavailability has been shown to be a significant factor that limits the extent of bioconversion. In this study, we have analyzed the rate and yield of the biogas production and assessed the gas potential, carbon balance, stable carbon isotopes, microbial communities, and microbial pathways changes resulting from the hydrogen peroxide pretreatment with the Wyoming's Powder River Basin subbituminous coal. The results showed that coal pretreated with hydrogen peroxide can significantly enhance the bioavailability of coal for enhancing the biogas production, with a peak yield of 552.6 mu mol/g coal (437.1 Scf/ton coal) at the day 184. The stable carbon isotopic analysis indicated that the delta C-13 values of the methane and carbon dioxide were much less negative than the published field data. This suggested that the enrichment or depletion of the precursor C-13 could contribute to the shift of the carbon isotopic composition in the subsequence processes. Therefore, the data should be used with cautions for interpreting genesis of the thermogenic/biogenic methane and the methanogenic pathways. The methanogenic pathways were also investigated with re-fed experiment and microbial community analysis. The results indicated that the hydrogenotrophic pathway was not active in the original inoculum became activated after the gas production. The microbial community analysis demonstrated that the obligate hydrogenotrophic methanobacterium was the most dominant methanogens in the microcosms after the gas production. This suggested that the chemical treatment of coal has impacts on the microbial structure during the subsequent methane production phase