HODN: Disentangling Human-Object Feature for HOI Detection

The task of Human-Object Interaction (HOI) detection is to detect humans and their interactions with surrounding objects, where transformer-based methods show dominant advances currently. However, these methods ignore the relationship among humans, objects, and interactions: 1) human features are more contributive than object ones to interaction prediction; 2) interactive information disturbs the detection of objects but helps human detection. In this paper, we propose a Human and Object Disentangling Network (HODN) to model the HOI relationships explicitly, where humans and objects are first detected by two disentangling decoders independently and then processed by an interaction decoder. Considering that human features are more contributive to interaction, we propose a Human-Guide Linking method to make sure the interaction decoder focuses on the human-centric regions with human features as the positional embeddings. To handle the opposite influences of interactions on humans and objects, we propose a Stop-Gradient Mechanism to stop interaction gradients from optimizing the object detection but to allow them to optimize the human detection. Our proposed method achieves competitive performance on both the V-COCO and the HICO-Det datasets. It can be combined with existing methods easily for state-of-the-art results.Comment: Accepted by TMM 202

Ambient volatile organic compounds in a suburban site between Beijing and Tianjin : Concentration levels, source apportionment and health risk assessment

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have vital implications for secondary pollutants, atmospheric oxidation and human health. Ambient VOCs were investigated using an online system, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/flame ionization detector (GC-MS/FID), at a suburban site in Xianghe in the North China Plain from 6 November 2017 to 29 January 2018. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) receptor model was applied to identify the major VOC contributing sources. Four-step health risk assessment method was used to estimate risks of all risk-posing VOC species. A total of 101 VOCs were quantified, and the mean concentration of total VOCs was 61.04 +/- 65.18 ppbv. The VOCs were dominated by alkanes (38.76%), followed by alkenes, aromatics, halocarbons, OVOCs, acetylene and acetonitrile. The results of PMF revealed that vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, liquefied petroleum gas & natural gas, solvent utilization and secondary and long-lived species contributed 31.0%, 26.4%, 18.6%, 13.6% and 10.4%, respectively, to the total VOCs. Pollutant-specific and source-specific non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risk estimates were conducted, which showed that acrolein and vehicle exhaust had evident noncarcinogenic risks of 4.9 and 0.9, respectively. The carcinogenic risks of specific species (1,3-butadiene, acetaldehyde, benzene, chloroformand 1,2-dichloroethane) and identified sources were above the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) acceptable level (1.0 x 10(-6)) but below the tolerable risk level (1.0 x 10(-4)). Vehicle exhaust was the largest contributor (56.2%) to noncarcinogenic risk, but solvent utilization (32.6%) to carcinogenic risk. Moreover, with the evolution of pollution levels, almost all VOC species, contributions of alkenes, aromatics, solvent utilization and vehicle exhaust, and pollutant-specific and source-specific risks increased continuously and noticeably. Collectively, our findings unraveled the importance of alkenes, aromatics, solvent utilization and vehicle exhaust in the evolution of pollution levels. Future studies should consider targeting these VOC groups and sources when focusing on effective reduction strategies and assessing public health risks. (c) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Exploring the inorganic and organic nitrate aerosol formation regimes at a suburban site on the North China Plain

Nitrate-driven aerosol pollution frequently occurs during winter over the North China Plain (NCP). Extensive studies have focused on inorganic nitrate formation, but few have focused on organic nitrates in China, preduding a thorough understanding of the nitrogen cycle and nitrate aerosol formation. Here, the inorganic (NO3,inorg) and organic nitrate (NO3,org) formation regimes under aerosol liquid water (ALW) and aerosol acidity (pH) influences were investigated during winter over the NCP based on data derived from an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). The campaign-averaged concentration of the total nitrate was 53 mu g m(3), with a 13% contribution from NO3,org, which exhibited a significantly decreased contribution with increasing haze episode evolution. The diurnal cycles of NO3,inorg and NO3,org were similar, with high concentrations during the nighttime at a high ALW level, revealing the important role of aqueous-phase processes. However, the correlations between the aerosol pH and NO3,inorg (R-2 = 0.13, P <0.01) and NO3,org (R-2 = 0.63, P <0.01) during polluted periods indicated a contrasting effect of aerosol pH on inorganic and organic nitrate formation. Our results provide a useful reference for smog chamber studies and promote a better understanding of organic nitrate formation via a nthropogenic emissions. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Chemistry of new particle formation and growth events during wintertime in suburban area of Beijing : Insights from highly polluted atmosphere

The high frequency of new particle formation (NPF) events observed under polluted atmospheric conditions is still poorly understood. To improve our understanding of NPF and its effects, the particle number size distribution (3-1000 nm) and submicron particle chemical composition were measured from 4 November 2017 to 17 January 2018 in suburban Beijing. During this intense campaign, 22 NPF events were identified with a frequency of 29%, including 11 cases that occurred under "clean" conditions (C-NPF) and 11 cases that occurred under "polluted" conditions (P-NPF). The observed formation rate (J(3)) and condensation sink were 4.6-148.9 cm(-3).s(-1) and 0.01-0.07 s(-1), and the majority of NPF events occurred when the condensation sink (CS) values below 0.03 s(-1), indicating that condensation vapor likely constitutes the critical limiting factor for NPF events. The correlations between log J(3) and [H2SO4] that close to previous CLOUD experimental results in the majority of NPF events (68%) suggest the high nucleation rates (up to 100 cm(-3).s(-1)) would be attributed by the amines that enhancing sulfuric acid nucleation, while the reminding cases (32%) possibly attributed to the H2SO4-NH3 clustering mechanism, which is supported by the theoretical expectations for H2SO4 nucleation with NH3 simulated by the MALTE_BOX model. The observed growth rate varied from 4.9 to 37.0 mm.h(-1), with the dominant contribution (>60%) from sulfuric acid during the early phases of growth (similar to 4 nm), which was also sufficient to explain the observed Q(GR) for 50 nm)Peer reviewe

Atmospheric reactivity and oxidation capacity during summer at a suburban site between Beijing and Tianjin

Hydroxyl (OH) radicals, nitrate (NO3) radicals and ozone (O-3) play central roles in the troposphere because they control the lifetimes of many trace gases that result from anthropogenic and biogenic origins. To estimate the air chemistry, the atmospheric reactivity and oxidation capacity were comprehensively analyzed based on a parameterization method at a suburban site in Xianghe in the North China Plain from 6 July 2018 to 6 August 2018. The total OH, NO3 and O-3 reactivities at the site varied from 9.2 to 69.6, 0.7 to 27.5 and 3.3 x 10(-4 )to 1.8 x 10(-2) s(-1) with campaign-averaged values of 27.5 +/- 9.7, 2.2 +/- 2.6 and 1.2 +/- 1.7 x 10(-3) s(-1) (+/- standard deviation), respectively. NOx (NO + NO2) was by far the main contributor to the reactivities of the three oxidants, with average values of 43 %-99 %. Alkenes dominated the OH, NO3 and O-3 reactivities towards total nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), accounting for 42.9 %, 77.8 % and 94.0 %, respectively. The total OH, NO3 and O-3 reactivi- ties displayed similar diurnal variations with the lowest values during the afternoon but the highest values during rush hours, and the diurnal profile of NOx appears to be the major driver for the diurnal profiles of the reactivities of the three oxidants. A box model (a model to Simulate the concentrations of Organic vapors, Sulfuric Acid and Aerosols; SOSAA) derived from a column chemical transport model was used to simulate OH and NO3 concentrations during the observation period. The calculated atmospheric oxidation capacity (AOC) reached 4.5 x 10(8) molecules cm(-3) s(-1), with a campaign-averaged value of 7.8 x 10 7 molecules cm(-3) s(-1) dominated by OH (7.7 x 10(7) molecules cm(-3) s(-1), 98.2 %), 0 3 (1.2 x 10(6) molecules cm(-3) s(-1), 1.5 %) and NO3 (1.8 x 10(5) molecules cm(-3) s(-1), 0.3 %). Overall, the integration of OH, NO3 and O-3 reactivities analysis could provide useful insights for NMVOC pollution control in the North China Plain. We suggest that further studies, especially direct observations of OH and NO3 radical concentrations and their reactivities, are required to better understand trace gas reactivity and AOC.Peer reviewe

A transcriptional network of cell cycle dysregulation in noninvasive papillary urothelial carcinoma

Human cancers display a restricted set of expression profiles, despite diverse mutational drivers. This has led to the hypothesis that select sets of transcription factors act on similar target genes as an integrated network, buffering a tumor’s transcriptional state. Noninvasive papillary urothelial carcinoma (NIPUC) with higher cell cycle activity has higher risk of recurrence and progression. In this paper, we describe a transcriptional network of cell cycle dysregulation in NIPUC, which was delineated using the ARACNe algorithm applied to expression data from a new cohort (n = 81, RNA sequencing), and two previously published cohorts. The transcriptional network comprised 121 transcription factors, including the pluripotency factors SOX2 and SALL4, the sex hormone binding receptors ESR1 and PGR, and multiple homeobox factors. Of these 121 transcription factors, 65 and 56 were more active in tumors with greater and less cell cycle activity, respectively. When clustered by activity of these transcription factors, tumors divided into High Cell Cycle versus Low Cell Cycle groups. Tumors in the High Cell Cycle group demonstrated greater mutational burden and copy number instability. A putative mutational driver of cell cycle dysregulation, such as homozygous loss of CDKN2A, was found in only 50% of High Cell Cycle NIPUC, suggesting a prominent role of transcription factor activity in driving cell cycle dysregulation. Activity of the 121 transcription factors strongly associated with expression of EZH2 and other members of the PRC2 complex, suggesting regulation by this complex influences expression of the transcription factors in this network. Activity of transcription factors in this network also associated with signatures of pluripotency and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), suggesting they play a role in driving evolution to invasive carcinoma. Consistent with this, these transcription factors differed in activity between NIPUC and invasive urothelial carcinoma

Hippocampal and retrosplenial goal distance coding after long-term consolidation of a real-world environment

Recent research indicates the hippocampus may code the distance to the goal during navigation of newly learned environments. It is unclear however, whether this also pertains to highly familiar environments where extensive systems-level consolidation is thought to have transformed mnemonic representations. Here we recorded fMRI while University College London and imperial College London students navigated virtual simulations of their own familiar campus (> 2 years of exposure) and the other campus learned days before scanning. Posterior hippocampal activity tracked the distance to the goal in the newly learned campus, as well as in familiar environments when the future route contained many turns. By contrast retrosplenial cortex only tracked the distance to the goal in the familiar campus. All of these responses were abolished when participants were guided to their goal by external cues. These results open new avenues of research on navigation and consolidation of spatial information and underscore the notion that the hippocampus continues to play a role in navigation when detailed processing of the environment is needed for navigation

Spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

An overview on the physics of spinor and dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) is given. Mean-field ground states, Bogoliubov spectra, and many-body ground and excited states of spinor BECs are discussed. Properties of spin-polarized dipolar BECs and those of spinor-dipolar BECs are reviewed. Some of the unique features of the vortices in spinor BECs such as fractional vortices and non-Abelian vortices are delineated. The symmetry of the order parameter is classified using group theory, and various topological excitations are investigated based on homotopy theory. Some of the more recent developments in a spinor BEC are discussed.Comment: To appear in Physics Reports. The PDF file with high resolution figures is available from the following website: http://cat.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/publication/review_of_spinorBEC.pd

Upregulation of Cyclin B1 by miRNA and its implications in cancer

It is largely recognized that microRNAs (miRNAs) function to silence gene expression by targeting 3′UTR regions. However, miRNAs have also been implicated to positively-regulate gene expression by targeting promoter elements, a phenomenon known as RNA activation (RNAa). In the present study, we show that expression of mouse Cyclin B1 (Ccnb1) is dependent on key factors involved in miRNA biogenesis and function (i.e. Dicer, Drosha, Ago1 and Ago2). In silico analysis identifies highly-complementary sites for 21 miRNAs in the Ccnb1 promoter. Experimental validation identified three miRNAs (miR-744, miR-1186 and miR-466d-3p) that induce Ccnb1 expression in mouse cell lines. Conversely, knockdown of endogenous miR-744 led to decreased Ccnb1 levels. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis revealed that Ago1 was selectively associated with the Ccnb1 promoter and miR-744 increased enrichment of RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) and trimethylation of histone 3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me3) at the Ccnb1 transcription start site. Functionally, short-term overexpression of miR-744 and miR-1186 resulted in enhanced cell proliferation, while prolonged expression caused chromosomal instability and in vivo tumor suppression. Such phenotypes were recapitulated by overexpression of Ccnb1. Our findings reveal an endogenous system by which miRNA functions to activate Ccnb1 expression in mouse cells and manipulate in vivo tumor development/growth

Evidence for Two Numerical Systems That Are Similar in Humans and Guppies

Background: Humans and non-human animals share an approximate non-verbal system for representing and comparing numerosities that has no upper limit and for which accuracy is dependent on the numerical ratio. Current evidence indicates that the mechanism for keeping track of individual objects can also be used for numerical purposes; if so, its accuracy will be independent of numerical ratio, but its capacity is limited to the number of items that can be tracked, about four. There is, however, growing controversy as to whether two separate number systems are present in other vertebrate species. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study, we compared the ability of undergraduate students and guppies to discriminate the same numerical ratios, both within and beyond the small number range. In both students and fish the performance was ratio-independent for the numbers 1–4, while it steadily increased with numerical distance when larger numbers were presented. Conclusions/Significance: Our results suggest that two distinct systems underlie quantity discrimination in both humans and fish, implying that the building blocks of uniquely human mathematical abilities may be evolutionarily ancient, datin