SATBA: An Invisible Backdoor Attack Based On Spatial Attention

Backdoor attacks pose a new and emerging threat to AI security, where Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are trained on datasets added to hidden trigger patterns. Although the poisoned model behaves normally on benign samples, it produces anomalous results on samples containing the trigger pattern. Nevertheless, most existing backdoor attacks face two significant drawbacks: their trigger patterns are visible and easy to detect by human inspection, and their injection process leads to the loss of natural sample features and trigger patterns, thereby reducing the attack success rate and the model accuracy. In this paper, we propose a novel backdoor attack named SATBA that overcomes these limitations by using spatial attention mechanism and U-type model. Our attack leverages spatial attention mechanism to extract data features and generate invisible trigger patterns that are correlated with clean data. Then it uses U-type model to plant these trigger patterns into the original data without causing noticeable feature loss. We evaluate our attack on three prominent image classification DNNs across three standard datasets and demonstrate that it achieves high attack success rate and robustness against backdoor defenses. Additionally, we also conduct extensive experiments on image similarity to highlight the stealthiness of our attack.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

The chromosome-scale reference genome of black pepper provides insight into piperine biosynthesis

Black pepper (Piper nigrum), dubbed the ‘King of Spices’ and ‘Black Gold’, is one of the most widely used spices. Here, we present its reference genome assembly by integrating PacBio, 10x Chromium, BioNano DLS optical mapping, and Hi-C mapping technologies. The 761.2 Mb sequences (45 scaffolds with an N50 of 29.8 Mb) are assembled into 26 pseudochromosomes. A phylogenomic analysis of representative plant genomes places magnoliids as sister to the monocots-eudicots clade and indicates that black pepper has diverged from the shared Laurales-Magnoliales lineage approximately 180 million years ago. Comparative genomic analyses reveal specific gene expansions in the glycosyltransferase, cytochrome P450, shikimate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase, lysine decarboxylase, and acyltransferase gene families. Comparative transcriptomic analyses disclose berry-specific upregulated expression in representative genes in each of these gene families. These data provide an evolutionary perspective and shed light on the metabolic processes relevant to the molecular basis of species-specific piperine biosynthesis

Characteristics of medicine use for children with asthma in China: a nationwide population-based study

Abstract Objective To analyze the asthma medication use in Chinese children of different age groups, regions, and levels of cities in China, based on the 2015 Healthcare Insurance Data in China. Methods The China Healthcare Insurance Research Association (CHIRA) database was searched for children from 0 to 14 years old diagnosed as asthma based on the “J45” and “J46” coded in ICD-10. A cross-sectional study design was employed. Results A total of 308,550 children were identified, all of whom were treated under the coverage of healthcare insurance. Among them, 2,468 children were eligible for inclusion in the present study. Compared with the current status of asthma care in European and American countries, under the guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of asthma in China, the use percentages of ICS and short-acting β2 receptor agonist in children with asthma in China were lower, but the use percentages of oral corticosteroids, long-acting β2 receptor agonist, and theophylline (especially intravenous theophylline) were higher, especially in the Central and West China. Conclusion The asthma medication use was attributed to many factors, thus efforts are still needed to further popularize the GINA programs and China's guidelines for asthma diagnosis and treatment, especially in the Central and West China

Optimization of Enzymatic Process for Vanillin Extraction Using Response Surface Methodology

Vanillin was extracted from vanilla beans using pretreatment with cellulase to produce enzymatic hydrolysis, and response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the processing parameters of this extraction. The effects of heating time, enzyme quantity and temperature on enzymatic extraction of vanillin were evaluated. Extraction yield (mg/g) was used as the response value. The results revealed that the increase in heating time and the increase in enzyme quantity (within certain ranges) were associated with an enhancement of extraction yield, and that the optimal conditions for vanillin extraction were: Heating time 6 h, temperature 60 °C and enzyme quantity 33.5 mL. Calculated from the final polynomial functions, the optimal response of vanillin extraction yield was 7.62 mg/g. The predicted results for optimal reaction conditions were in good agreement with experimental values

A Lectin Receptor-Like Kinase Mediates Pattern-Triggered Salicylic Acid Signaling

International audiencePlant surface-localized pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) perceive conserved microbial features, termed pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), resulting in disease resistance. PAMP perception leads to calcium influx, MAPK activation, a burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediated by RbohD, accumulation of the defense hormone salicylic acid (SA), and callose deposition. Lectin receptor-like kinases (LecRKs) belong to a specific PRR family and are important players in plant innate immunity. Here, we report that LecRK-IX.2 is a positive regulator of PRR-triggered immunity. Pathogen infection activated the transcription of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) LecRK-IX.2, and the LecRK-IX.2 knockout lines exhibited enhanced susceptibility to virulent Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000. In addition, LecRK-IX.2 is capable of inducing RbohD phosphorylation, likely by recruiting calcium-dependent protein kinases to trigger ROS production in Arabidopsis. Overexpression of LecRK-IX.2 resulted in elevated ROS and SA and enhanced systemic acquired resistance to P. syringae pv tomato DC3000. Our data highlight the importance of LecRKs in plant immune signaling and SA accumulation

Tunable nonlinear conductive behavior without percolation threshold and high thermal conductivity of epoxy resin/SiC ceramic foam co-continuous phase composites

Smart dielectrics with self-adaptive capabilities can exhibit desirable electric field-grading performance as the applied electric field exceeds a critical value. However, the conventional approaches to such dielectrics need heavy doping rate, which will not only increase the interface thermal resistance and limit the improvement of thermal conductivity, but also severely sacrifice the mechanical property. In this contribution, a new type of electric field-grading co-continuous phase composite (EP/SiCcf) composed of epoxy resin and SiC ceramic foam was prepared to realize tunable nonlinear conductive performance, while simultaneously improving thermal and mechanical properties. Results show that there is no percolation threshold for all EP/SiCcf composites. The volume loadings of EP/SiCcf composites range from 8.7 vol% to 15.6 vol%, while the nonlinear coefficient subjected to potential barrier height increases from 2.1 to 4.5 and the switching field tuned by barrier width decreases from 1008 kV/mm to 686 kV/mm. The EP/SiCcf40 still exhibits sharp thermal conductivity enhancement of about 1000% and glass transition temperature enhancement of 10.8 °C. The surface temperature fluctuation over time during heating and cooling has illustrated the prospective application of thermal management capability. In addition, the dynamic mechanical analysis reveals that all EP/SiCcf composites have the significantly improved storage modulus and crosslinking density ascribed to the intact SiC skeleton. The novel co-continuous phase composite provides a new approach for global enhancement of smart dielectric composites in potential applications.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51977084)