MixPath: A Unified Approach for One-shot Neural Architecture Search

Blending multiple convolutional kernels is proved advantageous in neural architectural design. However, current neural architecture search approaches are mainly limited to stacked single-path search space. How can the one-shot doctrine search for multi-path models remains unresolved. Specifically, we are motivated to train a multi-path supernet to accurately evaluate the candidate architectures. In this paper, we discover that in the studied search space, feature vectors summed from multiple paths are nearly multiples of those from a single path, which perturbs supernet training and its ranking ability. In this regard, we propose a novel mechanism called Shadow Batch Normalization(SBN) to regularize the disparate feature statistics. Extensive experiments prove that SBN is capable of stabilizing the training and improving the ranking performance (e.g. Kendall Tau 0.597 tested on NAS-Bench-101). We call our unified multi-path one-shot approach as MixPath, which generates a series of models that achieve state-of-the-art results on ImageNet.Comment: Bridge the gap between one shot NAS and multi branch using shadow BN with good rankin

The impact of grazing on seedling patterns in degraded sparse‐elm grassland

Over‐grazing by livestock in semi‐arid ecosystems is one of the main causes of desertification. Although over‐grazing presents a global environmental challenge, only a few studies have investigated grazing impacts on the composition of species and functional groups of seedling bank. In this study, we determined whether the composition of seedling species and functional groups, as well as the correlations between the seedlings of sparse‐elm (Ulmus pumila var. sabulosa or U. pumila) and other species changed under three grazing intensities in the degraded sparse‐elm grassland in the Horqin Sandy Land, China. Species composition and abundance of established seedlings were surveyed and the relationships between seedlings of U. pumila and other species were analyzed. The results showed that plant communities under moderate grazing were more stable than the other two grazing intensities due to higher seedling density, higher species richness and higher number of perennial herbs. Seedlings of U. pumila could even prevent noxious seedlings growth under moderate grazing. We concluded that moderate grazing could benefit the recovery of this sparse‐elm grassland in the Horqin Sandy Land

The feasibility of using soil seed bank for natural regeneration of degraded sandy grasslands

Desertification in degraded grasslands is manifested through the development of bare sandy patches, which eventually lead to habitat fragmentation. The ability of these bare sandy patches to regenerate naturally through in-situ soil seed banks is not well understood. To fill this knowledge gap, we randomly selected 24 bare sandy patches with areas ranging from 19 to 898 m2 in a desertified grassland of the Horqin sandy land, Northern China to determine whether soil seed bank can be used for natural regeneration of bare sandy patches. Species composition and density of soil seed bank as well as aboveground vegetation composition, abundance and coverage were investigated. We then determined their relationships with in-situ habitat characteristics. Our observations showed that the studied area had low soil seed bank density and species richness, as well as depauperate soil seed bank communities. Consequently, local soil seed bank was not able to provide sufficient seed source for natural regeneration. This was indicated by the relationships between aboveground vegetation, soil seed bank and the in-situ habitat characteristics. For bare patches with an area between 300 m2 and 900 m2, increase the soil seed bank density and species richness should be the main restoration measures. For bare patches with a small area of less than 50 m2, restoration of vegetation density should be the main measure. Our data highlighted that different extents of desertification, indicated by different bare patches, are requiring distinct restoration measures

Case report: Pulmonary artery sarcoma diagnosed through rare brain metastases

We present the case of a 33-year-old male referred across several hospitals because of suspected chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Initially admitted in October 2022 for a recurrent, severe cough and diagnosed with CTEPH, he received anticoagulant therapy. However, his symptoms worsened, necessitating a transfer to another facility for thrombolysis treatment. Following an episode of syncope, an MRI scan revealed a metastatic brain tumor. Subsequently, he experienced a third transfer to our hospital, emergency surgery was performed to alleviate cerebral edema and excise a lesion in the left frontal lobe. Postoperative pathology was inconclusive, but a multidisciplinary team meeting, aided by experienced radiologists, eventually confirmed a diagnosis of pulmonary artery sarcoma (PAS) with systemic metastases. This case underscores the necessity of promptly ruling out PAS in patients presenting with significant emboli in the central pulmonary arteries and suggests early referral to specialized centers for suspected cases

Hydroconversion of Methyl Laurate as a Model Compound to Hydrocarbons on Bifunctional Ni₂P/SAPO-11: Simultaneous Comparison with the Performance of Ni/SAPO-11

The bifunctional Ni₂P/SAPO-11 was tested for the hydroconversion (involving deoxygenation and hydroisomerization) of methyl laurate as a model compound to hydrocarbons. The influences of reaction conditions, catalyst stability, and catalyst deactivation were investigated. For comparison, the performance of Ni/SAPO-11 was also examined. The result shows that the increase of temperature and the deceases of weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) and H₂ pressure favored the conversion of methyl laurate meanwhile promoted the decarbonylation and hydroisomerization as well as cracking reactions. Apart from the Ni sites that were dominating for deoxygenation, the acid sites also affected the deoxygenation pathway. Due to more medium strength acid sites, Ni/SAPO-11 gave higher selectivity to isoalkanes and more preferentially catalyzed the hydrodeoxygenation pathway to produce the C12 hydrocarbons than Ni₂P/SAPO-11. During the test for 101 h, Ni₂P/SAPO-11 exhibited greatly superior stability to Ni/SAPO-11 for the deoxygenation of methyl laurate, while both Ni₂P/SAPO-11 and Ni/SAPO-11 were deactivated for the hydroisomerization. Under the condition of 360 °C, 3.0 MPa, WHSV of 2 h^–1, and H₂/methyl laurate molar ratio of 25, the conversion of methyl laurate was close to 100% and the total selectivity to isoundecane and isododecane decreased from 36.9% to 28.6% on Ni₂P/SAPO-11. To explore the catalyst deactivation, the fresh and the used catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and N₂ adsorption–desorption. The sintering of Ni particles and carbonaceous deposit contribute to inferior stability of Ni/SAPO-11 for both deoxygenation and hydroisomerization, while no obvious sintering of Ni₂P particles took place and the carbonaceous deposit mainly led to the loss of the activity for hydroisomerization on Ni₂P/SAPO-11. We propose that carbonaceous deposit mostly formed on the acid sites that are indispensible for hydroisomerization

Effect of hydrothermal carbonization aqueous phase on soil dissolved organic matter and microbial community during rice production: A two-year experiment

10 Pág.Hydrothermal carbonization aqueous phase (HAP) containing abundant organic matter (OM) and nutrients (e.g. N and P) are significant in soil nutrients retention capacity and have the potential to return to a paddy field to affect soil microbial diversity and enhance rice yield. In this study, a two-year micro-plot experiment was carried out in a paddy field with the application of cattle manure-derived HAPs prepared at 220 °C and 260 °C (CM220 and CM260) and kitchen waste- (vegetables) derived HAPs prepared at 220 °C and 260 °C (GV220 and GV260). After two-year cultivation, the results showed that soil NH4+-N, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and available phosphorus (AP) significantly (P < 0.05) increased by 36.4–130.0%, 36.4–130.0%, and 47.8–82.6% but decrease soil pH by 0.43–0.87 units compared with CKU treatment. The HAPs treatments increased baterial richness (Chao 1) but decreased diversity (Shannon). CM260 and GV260 treatments were beneficial for the growth of Actinobacteria but unfavorable to the growth of Proteobacteria. Based on PICRUSt2 results, the abundance of functional genes involved in glucosidase (bglB and malZ), urease (ureC), nitrogen fixation (nifD), denitrification (nirK and nirB), and acid phosphate (phon) slightly increased in HAPs-treated soil and other functional genes were similar in all treatments. Importantly, all the HAP treatments increased the rice yield by 6.7–29.2% compared with the control treatment. The structure equation model (SEM) results demonstrated that soil NH4+-N (λ = 0.35) and DOC content (λ = 0.70) were the main driving factors of higher rice yield (P < 0.05). GV220 and GV260 treatments remarkably enhanced the grain N content by 6.5% compared with the control treatment (P < 0.05). These findings indicated that returning HAPs into paddy soil would not negatively affect soil health and improve soil structure and fertility. Overall, this study provides a new disposal way of green organic wastewater and emphasize the importance of microbial structure and composition for paddy field.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42277332), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (SBK2022022675), Technology Innovation Special Fund of Jiangsu Province for Carbon Dioxide Emission Peaking and Carbon Neutrality (BE2022307) and “333” High-level Talents Training Project of Jiangsu Province (2022-3-23-083) and Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Independent Innovation Fund Project (CX(19)1007).Peer reviewe

Two-Photon Excitation of Silicon-Vacancy Centers in Nanodiamonds for All-Optical Thermometry with a Noise Floor of 6.6 mK·Hz^–1/2

In this paper, we introduce ultrasensitive all-optical nanothermometry using high figure-of-merit nanodiamonds with silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers. In contrast to the commonly used single-photon process, we have adopted a two-photon approach to achieve efficient excitation of SiV centers in nanodiamonds. Based on the developed intensity-projected scheme, we have experimentally achieved a noise floor of 6.6 mK·Hz–1/2 using nanodiamonds. This serves as a new record of temperature resolution in the relevant field. Particularly, this simplified method allows us to reflect the temperature-induced spectral shift without wavelength scanning via a spectrometer. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the two-photon excitation of SiV centers has been thermally activated, as indicated by an elevated fluorescence intensity accompanied by a temperature increase. Our findings offer an opportunity for harnessing SiV-based nanothermometry in an easy-to-use manner and open the road for the development of practical applications in complicated environments such as living cells