LayerDiffusion: Layered Controlled Image Editing with Diffusion Models

Text-guided image editing has recently experienced rapid development. However, simultaneously performing multiple editing actions on a single image, such as background replacement and specific subject attribute changes, while maintaining consistency between the subject and the background remains challenging. In this paper, we propose LayerDiffusion, a semantic-based layered controlled image editing method. Our method enables non-rigid editing and attribute modification of specific subjects while preserving their unique characteristics and seamlessly integrating them into new backgrounds. We leverage a large-scale text-to-image model and employ a layered controlled optimization strategy combined with layered diffusion training. During the diffusion process, an iterative guidance strategy is used to generate a final image that aligns with the textual description. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method in generating highly coherent images that closely align with the given textual description. The edited images maintain a high similarity to the features of the input image and surpass the performance of current leading image editing methods. LayerDiffusion opens up new possibilities for controllable image editing.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figure

Efficient Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning with Lightweight Trusted Hardware

In this paper, we propose a new secure machine learning inference platform assisted by a small dedicated security processor, which will be easier to protect and deploy compared to today's TEEs integrated into high-performance processors. Our platform provides three main advantages over the state-of-the-art: (i) We achieve significant performance improvements compared to state-of-the-art distributed Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning (PPML) protocols, with only a small security processor that is comparable to a discrete security chip such as the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) or on-chip security subsystems in SoCs similar to the Apple enclave processor. In the semi-honest setting with WAN/GPU, our scheme is 4X-63X faster than Falcon (PoPETs'21) and AriaNN (PoPETs'22) and 3.8X-12X more communication efficient. We achieve even higher performance improvements in the malicious setting. (ii) Our platform guarantees security with abort against malicious adversaries under honest majority assumption. (iii) Our technique is not limited by the size of secure memory in a TEE and can support high-capacity modern neural networks like ResNet18 and Transformer. While previous work investigated the use of high-performance TEEs in PPML, this work represents the first to show that even tiny secure hardware with really limited performance can be leveraged to significantly speed-up distributed PPML protocols if the protocol can be carefully designed for lightweight trusted hardware.Comment: IEEE S&P'24 submitte

Phylogenetic analysis of the true water bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Nepomorpha): evidence from mitochondrial genomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The true water bugs are grouped in infraorder Nepomorpha (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) and are of great economic importance. The phylogenetic relationships within Nepomorpha and the taxonomic hierarchies of Pleoidea and Aphelocheiroidea are uncertain. Most of the previous studies were based on morphological characters without algorithmic assessment. In the latest study, the molecular markers employed in phylogenetic analyses were partial sequences of 16S rDNA and 18S rDNA with a total length about 1 kb. Up to now, no mitochondrial genome of the true water bugs has been sequenced, which is one of the largest data sets that could be compared across animal taxa. In this study we analyzed the unresolved problems in Nepomorpha using evidence from mitochondrial genomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nine mitochondrial genomes of Nepomorpha and five of other hemipterans were sequenced. These mitochondrial genomes contain the commonly found 37 genes without gene rearrangements. Based on the nucleotide sequences of mt-genomes, Pleoidea is not a member of the Nepomorpha and Aphelocheiroidea should be grouped back into Naucoroidea. Phylogenetic relationships among the superfamilies of Nepomorpha were resolved robustly.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The mt-genome is an effective data source for resolving intraordinal phylogenetic problems at the superfamily level within Heteroptera. The mitochondrial genomes of the true water bugs are typical insect mt-genomes. Based on the nucleotide sequences of the mt-genomes, we propose the Pleoidea to be a separate heteropteran infraorder. The infraorder Nepomorpha consists of five superfamilies with the relationships (Corixoidea + ((Naucoroidea + Notonectoidea) + (Ochteroidea + Nepoidea))).</p

A High-Voltage and Low-Noise Power Amplifier for Driving Piezoelectric Stack Actuators

In this paper, based on the principles of general operational amplifiers, a high-voltage operational amplifier is developed. Considering the influences of piezoelectric stack actuators on the circuit, a novel structure using the high-voltage operational amplifier as a noninverting amplifier is proposed. Because of the simple circuit principles and the voltage feedback control structure, the proposed power amplifier has the advantages of low noise and small size, and it can be realized by discrete electric elements easily. In the application of precision positioning, a power amplifier using the proposed circuit principles for driving piezoelectric stack actuators is designed, simulated, and tested. The simulated results show that the proposed power amplifier could conform to the theory of the circuit. The experimental results show that the designed power amplifier conforms to the simulation, the bandwidth of the power amplifier is about 57 kHz, and the ripple of the power amplifier is less than 2 mV. Furthermore, the output of the proposed power amplifier maintains the same type of wave within in a large range of frequency, while the input is the sinusoidal or square wave, and the resolution of the mechanism which the power amplifier is applied in is about 4.5 nm. By selecting the critical electronic elements and using feedback control, the proposed circuit structure is able to realize a low-cost and high-performance power amplifier to drive piezoelectric stack actuators flexibly, which is the novel work of the paper

Comparative and phylogenomic studies on the mitochondrial genomes of Pentatomomorpha (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nucleotide sequences and the gene arrangements of mitochondrial genomes are effective tools for resolving phylogenetic problems. Hemipteroid insects are known to possess highly reorganized mitochondrial genomes, but in the suborder Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera), there was only one complete mitochondrial genome sequenced without gene rearrangement and the phylogeny of infraorder Pentatomomorpha in Heteroptera was still uncertain.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fifteen mitochondrial genomes of the suborder Heteroptera were sequenced. Gene rearrangements were found as follows: 1) <it>tRNA-I </it>and <it>tRNA-Q </it>switched positions in Aradidae, 2) <it>tRNA-T </it>and <it>tRNA-P </it>switched positions in Largidae and Pyrrhocoridae. Two recombination events were found in Alydidae and Malcidae. The other mt-genomes were organized in the same way as observed in <it>Drosophila yakuba</it>. The phylogenetic analyses of infraorder Pentatomomorpha based on the nucleotide sequence raised the hypothesis of (Aradoidea + (Pentatomoidea + (Pyrrhocoroidea + (Lygaeoidea + Coreoidea)))). The rearrangement of <it>tRNA-T </it>and <it>tRNA-P </it>also linked Largidae and Pyrrhocoridae together. Furthermore, the conserved sequence block in the unusual intergenic spacers between <it>tRNA-H </it>and <it>ND4 </it>favored the monophyly of Lygaeoidea. Tetranucleotide ATCA was inferred to be the initiation codon of <it>ND2 </it>in Cydnidae. No correlation was found between the rates of nucleotide substitution and gene rearrangement. CG content was significantly correlated with the nucleotide substitution rate of each gene. For ND1, there was a positive correlation (<it>P </it>< 0.01) between amino acids variations and hydrophobicity, but a negative correlation (<it>P </it>< 0.01) for ND6. No conserved sequence was found among the control regions and these regions were not always the most AT-rich region of the mt-genome.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Heteropteran insects are extremely complex groups worthy of further study because of the unusual tetranucleotide initiation codon and their great mt-genomic diversity, including gene rearrangements and recombinations. The mt-genome is a powerful molecular marker for resolving phylogeny at the level of the superfamily and family. Gene rearrangements were not correlated with nucleotide substitution rates. CG content variation caused the different evolutionary patterns among genes. For ND1, in many polar or nonpolar regions the specific identity of the amino acid residues might be more important than maintaining the polarity of these regions, while the opposite is true for ND6. Most sequences of the control regions did not appear to be important for regulatory functions. Finally, we suggest that the term "AT-rich regions" should not be used.</p

Genetic diversity and population structure of Sepiella japonica (Mollusca: Cephalopoda: Decapoda) inferred by 16S rDNA variations

In order to describe the genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship of five populations of cuttlefish (Sepiella japonica) along with China's coasts, partial 16S rDNA (510 bp in length) was amplified from 110 individuals. The five populations of cuttlefish inhabit Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. In total, six haplotypes were identified and formed only one clade. Among the six haplotypes, one was shared by all populations, three appeared only in a single population, two appeared in two or three populations. Pair-wise FST were not proportional to the geographical distances. Haplotype diversity and nucleotide diversity were low, 0.3866 ± 0.067 and 0.00120 ± 0.00081 respectively. Among the five populations, Zhoushan population exhibited the highest genetic diversity which was suggested as the better select of germplasm resources for the reproduction and releasing of S. japonica

Potato: A Data-Oriented Programming 3D Simulator for Large-Scale Heterogeneous Swarm Robotics

Large-scale simulation with realistic nonlinear dynamic models is crucial for algorithms development for swarm robotics. However, existing platforms are mainly developed based on Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) and either use simple kinematic models to pursue a large number of simulating nodes or implement realistic dynamic models with limited simulating nodes. In this paper, we develop a simulator based on Data-Oriented Programming (DOP) that utilizes GPU parallel computing to achieve large-scale swarm robotic simulations. Specifically, we use a multi-process approach to simulate heterogeneous agents and leverage PyTorch with GPU to simulate homogeneous agents with a large number. We test our approach using a nonlinear quadrotor model and demonstrate that this DOP approach can maintain almost the same computational speed when quadrotors are less than 5,000. We also provide two examples to present the functionality of the platform.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted by ICRA 2023 Workshop on "The Role of Robotics Simulators for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Data Flow Control for Network Load Balancing in IEEE Time Sensitive Networks for Automation

IEEE time sensitive networks (TSN) offer redundant paths for automation networks that are essential preconditions for network load balancing (NLB) or distribution. They also provide several traffic shapers and schedulers with different impacts on the data flow control. The selection of the right traffic shaper or scheduler for an automation network is challenging. Their influence depends on various network parameters such as network extension, network cycles, application cycles, and the amount of data per traffic class and network cycle. In this study, data flow control for NLB in automation TSN using different traffic shapers and schedulers was investigated. The effects of the network parameters on the shapers and schedulers were derived and imported into the data flow control model of the automation network. The sample networks were simulated, and performance comparisons were made. The results show that the enhancements for scheduled traffic (EST), strict priority queuing (SPQ), and the combination of SPQ with frame preemption (FP) are better scheduler selections in connection with larger networks, fast network cycles, and fast application cycles. The cyclic queuing and forwarding (CQF) shaper and asynchronous traffic shaper (ATS) are rather an alternative for load control in small networks or in conjunction with slow applications

ChIP-seq identifies McSLC35E2 as a novel target gene of McNrf2 in Mytilus coruscus, highlighting its role in the regulation of oxidative stress response in marine mollusks

NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) plays a crucial role in the oxidative regulatory process, which could trigger hundreds of antioxidant elements to confront xenobiotics. In the previous study, we identified Nrf2 from the marine mussel Mytilus coruscus, and the findings demonstrated that McNrf2 effectively protected the mussels against oxidative stress induced by benzopyrene (Bap). In order to delve deeper into the underlying mechanism, we utilized Chromatin Immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) technology to systematically identify potential novel target genes of McNrf2. A total of 3,465 potential target genes were screened, of which 219 owned binding sites located within the promoter region. During subsequent experimental verification, it was found that McSLC35E2, a candidate target gene of McNrf2, exhibited negative regulation by McNrf2, as confirmed through dual luciferase and qRT-PCR detection. Further, the enzyme activity tests demonstrated that McNrf2 could counteract Bap induced oxidative stress by inhibiting McSLC35E2. The current study provides valuable insights into the application of ChIP-seq technology in the research of marine mollusks, advancing our understanding of the key role of Nrf2 in antioxidant defense mechanisms, and highlighting the significance of SLC35E2 in the highly sophisticated regulation of oxidative stress response in marine invertebrates

Static-dynamic rockburst risk assessment method in near-vertical coal seams

The existing rockburst risk assessment methods generally belong to static assessment method which normally depends on the geological and mining conditions that are revealed prior to mining. There is commonly a certain gap between the assessment results and the real situation. How to combine with the monitoring data in the mining process to get more realistic evaluation results is a problem that needs to be further solved. To this end, this work proposes a static-dynamic coupling rockburst risk assessment method taking into account the geological and mining conditions as well as the monitoring data, and the method has been being applied in typical panels in near-vertical coal seams. Firstly, a static evaluation method used before mining based on the improved comprehensive index method is proposed. The evaluation indicators contained in the comprehensive index method are linearly normalized to obtain the single indicator risk index. The AHP method is used to assign weights to each evaluation indicator, and the weighted summation of all indicator risk indexes is calculated to obtain the risk indexes determined by geological factors and mining technology factors, respectively. Then the weighted mean of the two risk indexes is used as the static evaluation risk index. Secondly, a dynamic evaluation method used during mining by utilizing the monitoring data is constructed. According to the characteristics of microseismic monitoring and borehole stress monitoring and their relationship with rockburst risk, the dynamic evaluation indicators are constructed based on the microseismic energy density and borehole stress variation. The evaluation indicators are linearly normalized to obtain two evaluation indexes. The weighted mean of the two indexes is used as the dynamic evaluation risk index. Finally, the two proposed methods are combined to get a static-dynamic coupling evaluation model. The coupling evaluation risk index is obtained by weighted average of the static evaluation risk index and the dynamic evaluation risk index, and then the risk grade and risk area are determined. The method is applied in +450B3+6 panel of Wudong Coal Mine. Results show that the static evaluation method demarcates 4 medium risk areas and 1 weak risk area before the mining of the panel, the dynamic evaluation method determines that the rock pillar side has high risk level in the mining process of the panel, and the static dynamic coupling evaluation re-evaluates the weak risk area of the static evaluation to the medium risk area. By investigating the monitoring data of support pressure, the numerical simulation results and the rockburst occurrence on site during the mining process of the panel, the evaluation results are verified, and it is found that the static and dynamic coupling evaluation results are more consistent with the actual situation. This work provides a new method and a new idea for the risk assessment of rock burst