What is Next when Sequential Prediction Meets Implicitly Hard Interaction?

Hard interaction learning between source sequences and their next targets is challenging, which exists in a myriad of sequential prediction tasks. During the training process, most existing methods focus on explicitly hard interactions caused by wrong responses. However, a model might conduct correct responses by capturing a subset of learnable patterns, which results in implicitly hard interactions with some unlearned patterns. As such, its generalization performance is weakened. The problem gets more serious in sequential prediction due to the interference of substantial similar candidate targets. To this end, we propose a Hardness Aware Interaction Learning framework (HAIL) that mainly consists of two base sequential learning networks and mutual exclusivity distillation (MED). The base networks are initialized differently to learn distinctive view patterns, thus gaining different training experiences. The experiences in the form of the unlikelihood of correct responses are drawn from each other by MED, which provides mutual exclusivity knowledge to figure out implicitly hard interactions. Moreover, we deduce that the unlikelihood essentially introduces additional gradients to push the pattern learning of correct responses. Our framework can be easily extended to more peer base networks. Evaluation is conducted on four datasets covering cyber and physical spaces. The experimental results demonstrate that our framework outperforms several state-of-the-art methods in terms of top-k based metrics

Nitrogen-enriched and hierarchically porous carbon macro-spheres-ideal for large-scale CO2 capture

A facile and efficient “spheridization” method is developed to produce nitrogen-enriched hierarchically porous carbon spheres of millimeters in diameter, with intricate micro-, meso- and macro-structural features. Such spheres not only show exceptional working capacity for CO2 sorption, but also satisfy practical requirements for dynamic flow in post-combustion CO2 capture. Those were achieved using co-polymerized acrylonitrile and acrylamide as the N-enriched carbon precursor, a solvent-exchange process to create hierarchically porous macro-sphere preforms, oxidization to induce cyclization of the polymer chains, and carbonization with concurrent chemical activation by KOH. The resulting carbon spheres show a relatively high CO2 uptake of 16.7 wt% under 1 bar of CO2 and, particularly, an exceptional uptake of 9.3 wt% under a CO2 partial pressure of 0.15 bar at 25 °C. Subsequent structural and chemical analyses suggest that the outstanding properties are due to highly developed microporous structures and the relatively high pyridinic nitrogen content inherited from the co-polymer precursor, incorporated within the hierarchical porous structures

Pathogenic Role of microRNA in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) being a chronic inflammatory disease can be affected by both genetic and environmental factors. Abnormal functioning of immune response is the main underlying cause of RA. A growing number of studies on related diseases uncovered that microRNA (miRNA) may influence the pathogenesis of RA, such as the promotion of proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes and secretion of cytokines by highly expressed miRNAs. A large number of studies have reported the aberrant expressions of miRNAs during the entire phase of RA, from the preclinical to terminal stages. These dynamic changes can be potentially developed as a bio-marker for predicting the risk, diagnosis and clinical management of RA. This chapter aims to summarize and discuss miRNAs’ roles and mechanisms in the process of RA development, differential diagnosis from other diseases, clinical management and refractory RA. Therefore, miRNA demonstrates future perspectives of diagnosis and treatment of clinical RA under the support of newly discovered theoretical basis

Parallel-to-Grain Compressive and Tensile Behavior of Paulownia Wood at Elevated Temperatures

Fast-grown Paulownia wood is extensively used as construction material in China. The mechanical properties of Paulownia wood at room temperature are well known. However, investigations of its mechanical behavior at elevated temperatures are very limited. To address this issue, thermal analysis was conducted to investigate the mass loss and reaction heat during water evaporation and thermal decomposition. Moreover, parallel-to-grain compressive and tensile tests were conducted on clear Paulownia wood specimens at temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 220 °C. It was found that kinking is the main failure mode of the compressive specimens, while transverse rupture was frequently observed in the tensile specimens. At 220 °C, the retention rates of the average parallel-to-grain compressive and tensile strengths were 38% and 42%, respectively. However, the strengths significantly increased as the temperature increased from 100 °C to 140 °C, due to the moisture evaporation and the hardening of the dry lignin. The design curve suggested by EN 1995-1-2 was very conservative (as much as 76%) at estimating the parallel-to-grain compressive strengths. However, the design curve was slightly nonconservative (less than 6%) at predicting the parallel-to-grain tensile strengths when the temperature was below 60 °C. Furthermore, a significant reduction (approximately 40%) in the deformation capacity was found when the temperature was higher than 180 °C

Parallel-to-Grain Compressive and Tensile Behavior of Paulownia Wood at Elevated Temperatures

Fast-grown Paulownia wood is extensively used as construction material in China. The mechanical properties of Paulownia wood at room temperature are well known. However, investigations of its mechanical behavior at elevated temperatures are very limited. To address this issue, thermal analysis was conducted to investigate the mass loss and reaction heat during water evaporation and thermal decomposition. Moreover, parallel-to-grain compressive and tensile tests were conducted on clear Paulownia wood specimens at temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 220 °C. It was found that kinking is the main failure mode of the compressive specimens, while transverse rupture was frequently observed in the tensile specimens. At 220 °C, the retention rates of the average parallel-to-grain compressive and tensile strengths were 38% and 42%, respectively. However, the strengths significantly increased as the temperature increased from 100 °C to 140 °C, due to the moisture evaporation and the hardening of the dry lignin. The design curve suggested by EN 1995-1-2 was very conservative (as much as 76%) at estimating the parallel-to-grain compressive strengths. However, the design curve was slightly nonconservative (less than 6%) at predicting the parallel-to-grain tensile strengths when the temperature was below 60 °C. Furthermore, a significant reduction (approximately 40%) in the deformation capacity was found when the temperature was higher than 180 °C

Angulation error assessment for the trajectory in the anteroposterior and lateral fluoroscopic views during percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal lumbar discectomy

Abstract Background Anteroposterior (AP) and lateral fluoroscopies are often used to evaluate the intraoperative location and angulation of the trajectory in percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal lumbar discectomy (PETLD). Although the location of the trajectory shown in fluoroscopy is absolutely accurate, the angulation is not always reliable. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the angle shown in the AP and lateral fluoroscopic views. Methods A technical study was performed to assess the angulation errors of PETLD trajectories shown in AP and lateral fluoroscopic views. After reconstructing a lumbar CT image, a virtual trajectory was placed into the intervertebral foramen with gradient-changing coronal angulations of the cephalad angle plane (CACAP). For each angulation, virtual AP and lateral fluoroscopies were taken, and the cephalad angles (CA) of the trajectory shown in the AP and lateral fluoroscopic views, which indicated the coronal CA and the sagittal CA, respectively, were measured. The angular relationships among the real CA, CACAP, coronal CA, and sagittal CA were further demonstrated with formulae. Results In PETLD, the coronal CA is approximately equal to the real CA, with a small angle difference and percentage error, whereas the sagittal CA shows a rather large angle difference and percentage error. Conclusion The AP view is more reliable than the lateral view in determining the CA of the PETLD trajectory

Population variation of leaf anatomical structure of Quercus variabilis and its adaptation to environmental factors

[ Objective ] The study aims to understand the population variation of leaf anatomical structure of Quercus variabilis and its relationship with environmental factors. [ Methods ] The leaves of 28 naturally distributed Q . variabilis populations in China were studied by conventional paraffin sections combined with optical microscopy. Nested analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis were performed to analyze the relationship between population variation of leaf anatomical structure and environmental fac- tors. [ Results ] ( 1 ) There were significant difference in the anatomic traits of Q . variabilis leaves among 28 populations , and the average coefficient of variation was 7.84%-15.16% , while the variation range of the same leaf anatomic trait varied among different populations. ( 2 ) There were significant difference among the 9 anatomic traits within and among the populations , and the average phenotypic differentiation coefficient was 37.44%. The variation of anatomic traits mainly came from within the populations. ( 3 ) Leaf thickness , upper epidermal cell thickness , palisade tissue thickness , and spongy tissue thickness were significantly positively correlated with latitude , and mean annual temperature and annual precipitation had significant effects on the upper epidermal cell thickness and palisade tissue thickness. [ Conclusion ] The re- sults show that Q . variabilis has rich genetic diversity. To adapt to low temperature and drought , Q . variabilis leaves show a trend of thickening. The results provide a theoretical basis for understanding envi- ronmental adaptation strategies of Q . variabilis