Genetic Meta-Structure Search for Recommendation on Heterogeneous Information Network

In the past decade, the heterogeneous information network (HIN) has become an important methodology for modern recommender systems. To fully leverage its power, manually designed network templates, i.e., meta-structures, are introduced to filter out semantic-aware information. The hand-crafted meta-structure rely on intense expert knowledge, which is both laborious and data-dependent. On the other hand, the number of meta-structures grows exponentially with its size and the number of node types, which prohibits brute-force search. To address these challenges, we propose Genetic Meta-Structure Search (GEMS) to automatically optimize meta-structure designs for recommendation on HINs. Specifically, GEMS adopts a parallel genetic algorithm to search meaningful meta-structures for recommendation, and designs dedicated rules and a meta-structure predictor to efficiently explore the search space. Finally, we propose an attention based multi-view graph convolutional network module to dynamically fuse information from different meta-structures. Extensive experiments on three real-world datasets suggest the effectiveness of GEMS, which consistently outperforms all baseline methods in HIN recommendation. Compared with simplified GEMS which utilizes hand-crafted meta-paths, GEMS achieves over $6\%$ performance gain on most evaluation metrics. More importantly, we conduct an in-depth analysis on the identified meta-structures, which sheds light on the HIN based recommender system design.Comment: Published in Proceedings of the 29th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM '20

Effects of New Compounds into Substrates on Seedling Qualities for Efficient Transplanting

Automating vegetable seedling transplanting has led to labor-saving opportunities and improved productivity. Some changes in seedling agronomy are necessary for efficient transplanting. In this study, the local nursery substrates were added with the herbaceous peat, the sphagnum peat, and the coir peat, respectively. Effects of the new compound substrates were investigated on the seedling growth qualities and the root substrate strength. In the results, we found that the addition of three compound mediums significantly affected the physiochemical properties of the original substrates. Under the same conditions of cultivating seedlings, appropriate additions of new compounds promoted the seedling growth. Moreover, deficient or excessive additions inhibited the growing development of seedlings and their roots. The corresponding additions also improved the structural characteristics of the root lumps. Compared with the two other compounds, the nursery substrates added with the sphagnum peat were optimized in contribution to the seedling qualities and the root substrate strengths. As the local substrate and the sphagnum peat were mixed at a volume ratio of 2:1, the dry matter accumulation of seedlings was 2.18 times more than the original. Their root lumps had the best consolidation strength. This new compound of substrates may be an effective application for the necessary qualities of seedlings for automatic transplanting

Effects of New Compounds into Substrates on Seedling Qualities for Efficient Transplanting

Automating vegetable seedling transplanting has led to labor-saving opportunities and improved productivity. Some changes in seedling agronomy are necessary for efficient transplanting. In this study, the local nursery substrates were added with the herbaceous peat, the sphagnum peat, and the coir peat, respectively. Effects of the new compound substrates were investigated on the seedling growth qualities and the root substrate strength. In the results, we found that the addition of three compound mediums significantly affected the physiochemical properties of the original substrates. Under the same conditions of cultivating seedlings, appropriate additions of new compounds promoted the seedling growth. Moreover, deficient or excessive additions inhibited the growing development of seedlings and their roots. The corresponding additions also improved the structural characteristics of the root lumps. Compared with the two other compounds, the nursery substrates added with the sphagnum peat were optimized in contribution to the seedling qualities and the root substrate strengths. As the local substrate and the sphagnum peat were mixed at a volume ratio of 2:1, the dry matter accumulation of seedlings was 2.18 times more than the original. Their root lumps had the best consolidation strength. This new compound of substrates may be an effective application for the necessary qualities of seedlings for automatic transplanting

RNA N6-methyladenosine profiling reveals differentially methylated genes associated with intramuscular fat metabolism during breast muscle development in chicken

ABSTRACT: Intramuscular fat (IMF) is an important indicator for determining meat quality, and IMF deposition during muscle development is regulated by a complex molecular network involving multiple genes. The N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification of mRNA plays an important regulatory role in muscle adipogenesis. However, the distribution of m6A and its role in IMF metabolism in poultry has not been reported. In the present study, a transcriptome-wide m6A profile was constructed using methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequence (MeRIP-seq) and RNA sequence (RNA-seq) to explore the potential mechanism of regulating IMF deposition in the breast muscle based on the comparative analysis of IMF differences in the breast muscles of 42 (group G), 126 (group S), and 180-days old (group M) Jingyuan chickens. The findings revealed that the IMF content in the breast muscle increased significantly with the increase in the growth days of the Jingyuan chickens (P < 0.05). The m6A peak in the breast muscles of the 3 groups was highly enriched in the coding sequence (CDS) and 3′ untranslated regions (3′ UTR), which corresponded to the consensus motif RRACH. Moreover, we identified 129, 103, and 162 differentially methylated genes (DMGs) in the breast muscle samples of the G, S, and M groups, respectively. Functional enrichment analyses revealed that DMGs are involved in many physiological activities of muscle fat anabolism. The m6A-induced ferroptosis pathway was identified in breast muscle tissue as a new target for regulating IMF metabolism. In addition, association analysis demonstrated that LMOD2 and its multiple m6A negatively regulated DMGs are potential regulators of IMF differential deposition in muscle. The findings of the present study provide a solid foundation for further investigation into the potential role of m6A modification in regulating chicken fat metabolism

Rapid Gas-Phase Synthesis of the Perovskite-Type BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.1Yb0.1O3-delta Proton-Conducting Nanocrystalline Electrolyte for Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Perovskite-type proton-conducting materials, such as BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.1Yb0.1O3-delta (BCZYYb), are very attractive for the next generation equipment of electrochemical energy conversion and storage owing to their excellent conductivity in the intermediate-temperature range (300-750 degrees C), as well as good thermo-chemical stability, coking resistance, and sulfur tolerance. However, the lack of a reliable and costeffective synthesis method for such multi-component co-doping oxides limits their large-scale application. In this study, for the first time, we successfully synthesize BCZYYb electrolyte nanopowders by using a rapid, scalable flame-based gas-phase synthesis method with two different barium precursors Ba(NO3)2 and Ba(CH3COO)2, named as BCZYYb (N) and BCZYYb (CA). The as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibit good crystallinity of the pure orthorhombic perovskite BCZYYb phase. BCZYYb (CA) shows more uniform doping with the element ratio of 1:0.74:0.12:0.08:0.1, which is very close to the theoretical value. The shrinkage and surface SEM (scanning electron microscope) results indicate that the flame-made powders have superior sinterability compared to the sol-gel-made powders because of the smaller primary particle size (-,20 nm). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests show that BCZYYb (CA) sintered at 1450 degrees C has the highest protonic conductivity of 1.31 x 10-2 S cm-1 in wet H2 when operating at 600 degrees C and still maintains a high-level conductivity of 1.19 x 10-2 S cm-1 even when the sintering temperature is reduced to 1350 degrees C, which is mainly attributed to uniform doping and good sinterability. The activation energy for the conductivity of BCZYYb (CA) is also significantly lower than that of conventional electrolytes, which suggests much better conductivity in the intermediate (-,600 degrees C) and even lower operating temperature. The excellent conductivity performance combined with the high-throughput production capability makes the swirling spray flame a promising synthesis method for promoting the BCZYYb electrolytes from lab to industrial-scale solid oxide fuel cells

Rapid Gas-Phase Synthesis of the Perovskite-Type BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.1Yb0.1O3-delta Proton-Conducting Nanocrystalline Electrolyte for Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Perovskite-type proton-conducting materials, such as BaCe0.7Zr0.1Y0.1Yb0.1O3-delta (BCZYYb), are very attractive for the next generation equipment of electrochemical energy conversion and storage owing to their excellent conductivity in the intermediate-temperature range (300-750 degrees C), as well as good thermo-chemical stability, coking resistance, and sulfur tolerance. However, the lack of a reliable and costeffective synthesis method for such multi-component co-doping oxides limits their large-scale application. In this study, for the first time, we successfully synthesize BCZYYb electrolyte nanopowders by using a rapid, scalable flame-based gas-phase synthesis method with two different barium precursors Ba(NO3)2 and Ba(CH3COO)2, named as BCZYYb (N) and BCZYYb (CA). The as-synthesized nanoparticles exhibit good crystallinity of the pure orthorhombic perovskite BCZYYb phase. BCZYYb (CA) shows more uniform doping with the element ratio of 1:0.74:0.12:0.08:0.1, which is very close to the theoretical value. The shrinkage and surface SEM (scanning electron microscope) results indicate that the flame-made powders have superior sinterability compared to the sol-gel-made powders because of the smaller primary particle size (-,20 nm). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests show that BCZYYb (CA) sintered at 1450 degrees C has the highest protonic conductivity of 1.31 x 10-2 S cm-1 in wet H2 when operating at 600 degrees C and still maintains a high-level conductivity of 1.19 x 10-2 S cm-1 even when the sintering temperature is reduced to 1350 degrees C, which is mainly attributed to uniform doping and good sinterability. The activation energy for the conductivity of BCZYYb (CA) is also significantly lower than that of conventional electrolytes, which suggests much better conductivity in the intermediate (-,600 degrees C) and even lower operating temperature. The excellent conductivity performance combined with the high-throughput production capability makes the swirling spray flame a promising synthesis method for promoting the BCZYYb electrolytes from lab to industrial-scale solid oxide fuel cells

Toward Fair and Thrilling Autonomous Racing: Governance Rules and Performance Metrics for the Autonomous One

This letter is the second report from a series of IEEE TIV's Decentralized and Hybrid Workshops (DHWs) on Intelligent Vehicles for Education (IV4E). It outlines the prospect of The Autonomous One (TAO), a future autonomous racing competition modeled after Formula One to advance IV4E by pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence. Existing autonomous races face challenges, including compromised fairness and low participant enthusiasm. These issues limit spectator engagement, thereby reducing the races' educational value. To prevent similar flaws in organizing TAO, our focus lies in setting governance rules from an organizer's perspective. In these DHWs, we analyzed the rules of existing autonomous races and suggested rule-making guidelines for TAO. To improve fairness, we recommend a balanced scoring system with rigorous monitoring of participating teams' performances. To discourage consistent victories by a single team, we suggest that leading teams share their source codes, thereby setting the championship-level performance as the baseline in the next season and accelerating the evolution of all participating teams' abilities. For enhancing suspense and spectator interest, an on-site adaptive rewarding scheme should be deployed to create thrilling turnarounds. Our strategies aim to maintain fairness, increase spectator interest, inspire competitiveness, and ultimately contribute to the advancement of IV4E in organizing TAO.ISSN:2379-885