Latent Graph Inference with Limited Supervision

Latent graph inference (LGI) aims to jointly learn the underlying graph structure and node representations from data features. However, existing LGI methods commonly suffer from the issue of supervision starvation, where massive edge weights are learned without semantic supervision and do not contribute to the training loss. Consequently, these supervision-starved weights, which may determine the predictions of testing samples, cannot be semantically optimal, resulting in poor generalization. In this paper, we observe that this issue is actually caused by the graph sparsification operation, which severely destroys the important connections established between pivotal nodes and labeled ones. To address this, we propose to restore the corrupted affinities and replenish the missed supervision for better LGI. The key challenge then lies in identifying the critical nodes and recovering the corrupted affinities. We begin by defining the pivotal nodes as $k$-hop starved nodes, which can be identified based on a given adjacency matrix. Considering the high computational burden, we further present a more efficient alternative inspired by CUR matrix decomposition. Subsequently, we eliminate the starved nodes by reconstructing the destroyed connections. Extensive experiments on representative benchmarks demonstrate that reducing the starved nodes consistently improves the performance of state-of-the-art LGI methods, especially under extremely limited supervision (6.12% improvement on Pubmed with a labeling rate of only 0.3%)

Asymmetric Transfer Hashing with Adaptive Bipartite Graph Learning

Thanks to the efficient retrieval speed and low storage consumption, learning to hash has been widely used in visual retrieval tasks. However, existing hashing methods assume that the query and retrieval samples lie in homogeneous feature space within the same domain. As a result, they cannot be directly applied to heterogeneous cross-domain retrieval. In this paper, we propose a Generalized Image Transfer Retrieval (GITR) problem, which encounters two crucial bottlenecks: 1) the query and retrieval samples may come from different domains, leading to an inevitable {domain distribution gap}; 2) the features of the two domains may be heterogeneous or misaligned, bringing up an additional {feature gap}. To address the GITR problem, we propose an Asymmetric Transfer Hashing (ATH) framework with its unsupervised/semi-supervised/supervised realizations. Specifically, ATH characterizes the domain distribution gap by the discrepancy between two asymmetric hash functions, and minimizes the feature gap with the help of a novel adaptive bipartite graph constructed on cross-domain data. By jointly optimizing asymmetric hash functions and the bipartite graph, not only can knowledge transfer be achieved but information loss caused by feature alignment can also be avoided. Meanwhile, to alleviate negative transfer, the intrinsic geometrical structure of single-domain data is preserved by involving a domain affinity graph. Extensive experiments on both single-domain and cross-domain benchmarks under different GITR subtasks indicate the superiority of our ATH method in comparison with the state-of-the-art hashing methods

Exploring the differential stages of the pigment metabolism by pre-harvest bagging and post-harvest ethylene de-greening of Eureka lemon peel

Pre-harvest bagging or post-harvest ethylene treatments on lemons are commonly applied to change the surface color from green to favorable yellow. In this study, the differential mechanisms of the pigment metabolism by the two treatments were investigated by pigments contents and related genetic expression. The results showed that both treatments reduced the number of chloroplasts and the content of chlorophyll. The differential expression of PSY1 and PSY2 were observed, causing the different accumulation of the main carotenoid phytoene content. The differential expression of NYC resulted in altered contents of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, and further led to the difference in a* value. More interestingly, the degradation of chlorophyll uncovered the color of carotenoids, leading to the color changed from green to yellow

Construction and Synergistic Effect of Recombinant Yeast Co-expressing Pig IL-2/4/6 on Immunity of Piglets to PRRS Vaccination

AbstractIn order to develop cost-effective immunomodulator, the recombinant Pichia pastoris were firstly constructed to co-express porcine IL-2/4/6 genes, and then fermented to feed 45-days Tibetan piglets at different doses to evaluate its effects on immunity of piglets to PRRS vaccination, which simultaneously received intramuscular injection of inactivated PRRS vaccine. The results were found that the leukocytes, IgG and specific antibody to PRRSV, Th and Tc cells increased significantly in the blood of treated piglets in comparison with those of the control (P<0.05); the mRNA expression of TLRs (TLR-2, 3, 4, 7, 9), IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-7, IL-12 and IL-15 genes were elevated significantly in the immune cells from the blood of treated piglets (P<0.05). Moreover, the growth of the treated piglets also markedly improved whose average net weight gain was significantly higher than the control on 58 days post inoculation (P<0.05). These results suggest that the recombinant yeast can effectively enhance the systematic innate and adaptive immunity of piglets as well as promote the growth of piglet, which could be further developed as cost-effective promising immunomodulator to improve the control of pig PRRS disease

Macrophage‐derived MMP‐9 enhances the progression of atherosclerotic lesions and vascular calcification in transgenic rabbits

Matrix metalloproteinase‐9 (MMP‐9), or gelatinase B, has been hypothesized to be involved in the progression of atherosclerosis. In the arterial wall, accumulated macrophages secrete considerable amounts of MMP‐9 but its pathophysiological functions in atherosclerosis have not been fully elucidated. To examine the hypothesis that macrophage‐derived MMP‐9 may affect atherosclerosis, we created MMP‐9 transgenic (Tg) rabbits to overexpress the rabbit MMP‐9 gene under the control of the scavenger receptor A enhancer/promoter and examined their susceptibility to cholesterol diet‐induced atherosclerosis. Tg rabbits along with non‐Tg rabbits were fed a cholesterol diet for 16 and 28 weeks, and their aortic and coronary atherosclerosis was compared. Gross aortic lesion areas were significantly increased in female Tg rabbits at 28 weeks; however, pathological examination revealed that all the lesions of Tg rabbits fed a cholesterol diet for either 16 or 28 weeks were characterized by increased monocyte/macrophage accumulation and prominent lipid core formation compared with those of non‐Tg rabbits. Macrophages isolated from Tg rabbits exhibited higher infiltrative activity towards a chemoattractant, MCP‐1 in vitro and augmented capability of hydrolysing extracellular matrix in granulomatous tissue. Surprisingly, the lesions of Tg rabbits showed more advanced lesions with remarkable calcification in both aortas and coronary arteries. In conclusion, macrophage‐derived MMP‐9 facilitates the infiltration of monocyte/macrophages into the lesions thereby enhancing the progression of atherosclerosis. Increased accumulation of lesional macrophages may promote vascular calcification.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154927/1/jcmm15087-sup-0001-FigS1-S13.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154927/2/jcmm15087.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154927/3/jcmm15087_am.pd

How Does Spatial Injustice Affect Residents’ Policy Acceptance of the Economic–Social–Ecological Objectives of Construction Land Reduction?

Construction land reduction (CLR) is a policy innovation for Shanghai to explore high-quality economic development, but it will also lead to spatial injustice in the implementation process. Although the literature on spatial injustice and CLR is increasing, very little is known about the influence of spatial injustice in CLR on residents’ policy acceptance of the economic–social–ecological objectives of CLR. To fill the knowledge gap, this study uses micro-survey data to identify the factors that influence residents’ policy acceptance of the economic–social–ecological objectives of CLR. Results show that: (1) Spatial injustice in CLR significantly reduces residents’ policy acceptance of the social and ecological objectives of CLR. (2) The locational disadvantage of villages significantly reduces residents’ policy acceptance of the ecological objectives of CLR. (3) The more educated the residents are, the more they recognize the social and ecological objectives of CLR. (4) The higher the percentage of household workers, the more residents endorse the economic and social objectives of CLR. (5) Compared with ordinary residents, cadres are more accepting of the economic objectives of CLR. (6) Robustness tests support the findings of this study. The findings of this study provide insights for sustainable CLR policy reform

Land Development Rights, Spatial Injustice, and the Economic Development in Net-Incremental Reduction Regions of Construction Land: Evidence from Shanghai, China

Rapid urbanization raises the issue of protecting development interests in net-incremental reduction regions of construction land (NRRCL). Spatial injustice (SI) is one of the key factors for the smooth implementation of construction land reduction (CLR) policies. This study theoretically analyzes the influence of SI on the economic development in CLR saving quota outflow regions, namely, NRRCL, and conducted empirical tests with the difference-in-differences model. The findings reveal that: (1) regional differences in CLR policy promote the transfer of land development rights from NRRCL to net-incremental increase regions of construction land (NIRCL) in economically developed regions, thus resulting in SI; (2) SI limits the economic development of NRRCL; (3) land-use planning negatively impacts economic development in planning reduced-type regions; (4) the off-site realization of spatial justice in the CLR process in suburbs has comparative advantages; (5) in the process of CLR, it is vital to promote the transfer of population from NRRCL to NIRCL to alleviate the negative impact of SI

Residents’ Selection Behavior of Compensation Schemes for Construction Land Reduction: Empirical Evidence from Questionnaires in Shanghai, China

Construction land reduction (CLR) was implemented in China to improve the efficiency of construction land use. CLR also limited the development of net reduction areas of CLR. By analyzing the Task-Quota-Financial-Benefit flow of CLR, this paper proposes three typical compensation schemes and uses the multivariate probit model to study residents’ selection behavior for these schemes. It is found that (1) in order to compensate for the losses caused by CLR to the reduced direct subjects, there can be three types of possible schemes: direct economic compensation (Scheme I), in situ (Scheme II) and off-site (Scheme III) enhancement of development capacity. (2) The more reasonable the compensation standard, the greater the employment pressure in the township and the greater the township’s location disadvantage, which is why more residents prefer Scheme III. (3) The higher their family income and their family support pressure, the more they prefer Scheme III. (4) At this stage, there is no significant difference in the choice of compensation schemes between cadres and non-cadres. (5) The net planning reduction area prefers Scheme I, while other areas prefer Scheme II. The conclusions may provide insight into the demand for more reasonable compensation policies to ensure the sustainability of CLR

Long-Term Durability of Basalt Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (BFRP) Sheets and the Epoxy Resin Matrix under a Wet–Dry Cyclic Condition in a Chloride-Containing Environment

Basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) composites are receiving increasing attention as they represent a low-cost green source of raw materials. FRP composites have to face harsh environments, such as chloride ions in coastal marine environments or cold regions with salt deicing. The resistance of FRPs subjected to the above environments is critical for the safe design and application of BFRP composites. In the present paper, the long-term durability of BFRP sheets and the epoxy resin matrix in a wet–dry cyclic environment containing chloride ions was studied. The specimens of the BFRP sheet and epoxy resin matrix were exposed to alternative conditions of 8-h immersion in 3.5% NaCl solution at 40 °C and 16-h drying at 25 °C and 60% relative humidity (RH). The specimens were removed from the exposure chamber at the end of the 180th, 270th and 360th cycles of exposure and were analyzed for degradation with tensile tests, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and void volume fractions. It was found that the tensile modulus of the BFRP sheet increased by 3.4%, and the tensile strength and ultimate strain decreased by 45% and 65%, respectively, after the 360th cycle of exposure. For the epoxy resin matrix, the tensile strength, tensile modulus and ultimate strain decreased by 27.8%, 3.2% and 64.8% after the 360th cycle of exposure, respectively. The results indicated that the degradation of the BFRP sheet was dominated by the damage of the interface between the basalt fiber and epoxy resin matrix. In addition, salt precipitate accelerated the fiber–matrix interfacial debonding, and hydrolysis of the epoxy resin matrix resulted in many voids, which accelerated the degradation of the BFRP sheet