CFASL: Composite Factor-Aligned Symmetry Learning for Disentanglement in Variational AutoEncoder

Symmetries of input and latent vectors have provided valuable insights for disentanglement learning in VAEs.However, only a few works were proposed as an unsupervised method, and even these works require known factor information in training data. We propose a novel method, Composite Factor-Aligned Symmetry Learning (CFASL), which is integrated into VAEs for learning symmetry-based disentanglement in unsupervised learning without any knowledge of the dataset factor information.CFASL incorporates three novel features for learning symmetry-based disentanglement: 1) Injecting inductive bias to align latent vector dimensions to factor-aligned symmetries within an explicit learnable symmetry codebook 2) Learning a composite symmetry to express unknown factors change between two random samples by learning factor-aligned symmetries within the codebook 3) Inducing group equivariant encoder and decoder in training VAEs with the two conditions. In addition, we propose an extended evaluation metric for multi-factor changes in comparison to disentanglement evaluation in VAEs. In quantitative and in-depth qualitative analysis, CFASL demonstrates a significant improvement of disentanglement in single-factor change, and multi-factor change conditions compared to state-of-the-art methods.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure

Malakoplakia of the Kidney Extending to the Descending Colon in a Patient with Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency: A Case Report

Malakoplakia is an uncommon but distinctive type of chronic granulomatous inflammation that occurs most commonly in the genitourinary tract, especially the urinary bladder. Most patients have associated conditions characterized by some degree of immunosuppression, as seen in solid-organ transplants, autoimmune diseases requiring steroid use, chemotherapy, chronic systemic diseases, alcohol abuse and poorly controlled diabetes. We report an unusual case of the renal malakoplakia that involved the perirenal space, extending to the descending colon in a 65-year-old Korean woman with secondary adrenal insufficiency and diabetes mellitus

Deficits of case marker processing in persons with mild cognitive impairment

The purpose of the current study was to investigate whether persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) showed deficits in processing case markers compared to normal elderly adults (NEA). Results revealed that individuals with MCI presented significantly lower accuracy than the NEA group on a case marker processing (CMP) task. Both groups showed greater difficulties in the passive sentences than sentences with the transitive verbs. The current results suggested that individuals with early stage of dementia started presenting deficits in case marker processing compared to the control group

Effects of a cultural nursing course to enhance the cultural competence of nursing students in Korea

Purpose With Korea’s recent rapid change into a multicultural society, cultural competence is being emphasized as a core nursing competency. This study investigated the effects of a cultural nursing course that aimed to enhance the cultural competence of nursing students in Korea. Methods This was a single-group pre- and post-comparison study. The subjects were 69 nursing students at Dongyang University who attended a cultural nursing course in 2015, of whom 62 students responded to the survey. The 13-week cultural nursing course was held for 2 hours a week. The methods of the course included small group activities, discussions and presentations, experiential learning, reflective activities, and lectures. Nursing students’ cultural competence was measured pre- and post-course with the Cultural Competence Scale for Korean Nurses, which contains 33 items scored on a 7-point Likert scale. Results After completing the cultural nursing course, students’ total cultural competence scores increased, as did their scores in each category (cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity, and cultural skills) (P<0.001). There was no significant difference in cultural competence by gender (P<0.001). Conclusion This cultural nursing course was found to be effective in enhancing the cultural competence of nursing students. Therefore, the educational program developed in this study can be extended to other university-level nursing programs in Korea

Physical characterization of amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistors with direct-contact asymmetric graphene electrode

High performance a-IGZO thin-film transistors (TFTs) are fabricated using an asymmetric graphene drain electrode structure. A-IGZO TFTs (channel length = 3 μm) were successfully demonstrated with a saturation field-effect mobility of 6.6 cm2/Vs without additional processes between the graphene and a-IGZO layer. The graphene/a-IGZO junction exhibits Schottky characteristics and the contact property is affected not only by the Schottky barrier but also by the parasitic resistance from the depletion region under the graphene electrode. Therefore, to utilize the graphene layer as S/D electrodes for a-IGZO TFTs, an asymmetric electrode is essential, which can be easily applied to the conventional pixel electrode structure. © 2014 Author(s).1

Novel LMNA Gene Mutation in a Patient With Atypical Werner's Syndrome

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and Werner's syndrome are representative types of progeroid syndrome. LMNA (Lamin A/C) gene mutation with atypical Werner's syndrome have recently been reported. Atypical Werner's syndrome with the severe metabolic complications, the extent of the lipodystrophy is associated with A133L mutation in the LMNA gene and these patients present with phenotypically heterogeneous disorders. We experienced a 15-yr-old Korean female with progeroid features, generalized lipodystrophy, hypertriglyceridemia, fatty liver, steatohepatitis, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Skin fibroblasts from the patient showed marked abnormal nuclear morphology, compared with that from normal persons. Gene analysis revealed that this patient had T506del of exon 2 in the LMNA gene. We report here the first case of atypical Werner's syndrome with frameshift mutation that was caused by T506del

An Active and Soft Hydrogel Actuator to Stimulate Live Cell Clusters by Self-folding

The hydrogels are widely used in various applications, and their successful uses depend on controlling the mechanical properties. In this study, we present an advanced strategy to develop hydrogel actuator designed to stimulate live cell clusters by self-folding. The hydrogel actuator consisting of two layers with different expansion ratios were fabricated to have various curvatures in self-folding. The expansion ratio of the hydrogel tuned with the molecular weight and concentration of gel-forming polymers, and temperature-sensitive molecules in a controlled manner. As a result, the hydrogel actuator could stimulate live cell clusters by compression and tension repeatedly, in response to temperature. The cell clusters were compressed in the 0.7-fold decreases of the radius of curvature with 1.0 mm in room temperature, as compared to that of 1.4 mm in 37 degrees C. Interestingly, the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) in MCF-7 tumor cells exposed by mechanical stimulation was expressed more than in those without stimulation. Overall, this new strategy to prepare the active and soft hydrogel actuator would be actively used in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and micro-scale actuators