Enabling smartphone-based HD video chats by cooperative transmissions in CRNs

Smartphones have been equipped with the cameras that can shoot HD videos, and the video chat apps such as Skype are becoming popular. We can, therefore, intuitively predict the trend that users are expecting to enjoy HD video chats via utilizing their smartphones. Most of the current Internet services, however, cannot support the live HD video transmissions because of their low uplink rate. In order to overcome this limit, we propose to offload the uplink transmissions to cooperative users via cognitive radio networks. Specifically, we first divide the video stream into several substreams according to the H.264/SVC standard and the cooperative users’ uplink rates. Then, the cooperative users are selected by employing our proposed optimal multiple stopping method. Finally, the substreams are assigned to the selected cooperative users by a 0-1 Knapsack-based allocation algorithm. The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed scheme can successfully support 720P HD video chats

HumanBench: Towards General Human-centric Perception with Projector Assisted Pretraining

Human-centric perceptions include a variety of vision tasks, which have widespread industrial applications, including surveillance, autonomous driving, and the metaverse. It is desirable to have a general pretrain model for versatile human-centric downstream tasks. This paper forges ahead along this path from the aspects of both benchmark and pretraining methods. Specifically, we propose a \textbf{HumanBench} based on existing datasets to comprehensively evaluate on the common ground the generalization abilities of different pretraining methods on 19 datasets from 6 diverse downstream tasks, including person ReID, pose estimation, human parsing, pedestrian attribute recognition, pedestrian detection, and crowd counting. To learn both coarse-grained and fine-grained knowledge in human bodies, we further propose a \textbf{P}rojector \textbf{A}ssis\textbf{T}ed \textbf{H}ierarchical pretraining method (\textbf{PATH}) to learn diverse knowledge at different granularity levels. Comprehensive evaluations on HumanBench show that our PATH achieves new state-of-the-art results on 17 downstream datasets and on-par results on the other 2 datasets. The code will be publicly at \href{https://github.com/OpenGVLab/HumanBench}{https://github.com/OpenGVLab/HumanBench}.Comment: Accepted to CVPR202

Cassava genome from a wild ancestor to cultivated varieties

Cassava is a major tropical food crop in the Euphorbiaceae family that has high carbohydrate production potential and adaptability to diverse environments. Here we present the draft genome sequences of a wild ancestor and a domesticated variety of cassava and comparative analyses with a partial inbred line. We identify 1,584 and 1,678 gene models specific to the wild and domesticated varieties, respectively, and discover high heterozygosity and millions of single-nucleotide variations. Our analyses reveal that genes involved in photosynthesis, starch accumulation and abiotic stresses have been positively selected, whereas those involved in cell wall biosynthesis and secondary metabolism, including cyanogenic glucoside formation, have been negatively selected in the cultivated varieties, reflecting the result of natural selection and domestication. Differences in microRNA genes and retrotransposon regulation could partly explain an increased carbon flux towards starch accumulation and reduced cyanogenic glucoside accumulation in domesticated cassava. These results may contribute to genetic improvement of cassava through better understanding of its biology

Impact of Regional Green Development Strategy on Environmental Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Chinese government policy officially identify the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as one of regional green development strategies firstly in 2014. This strategy can be regarded as quasi-natural experiment, this paper aims to test its impact on regional environmental total factor productivity (TFP). First, slack-based measure model is used to calculate the environmental TFP from 2005 to 2017 at provincial level. Second, based on Chinese official statistics, differences-in-differences (DID) method is applied to construct an evaluation model of policy effect, combining with the kernel matching in propensity score matching (PSM) method. The results show that environmental TFP of YREB has significant spatial differences, with characteristic of high-east and low-west, its average level is 11.69 percentage points higher than the national average. YREB strategy promotes regional economic growth, but it does no effect on the regional environmental TFP yet. Modelling suggests that YREB strategy may play a role in the short term. From the significance of the control variables, infrastructure construction level is positively correlated with environmental TFP, while per capita GDP, financial development and energy consumption intensity have negative effect on environmental TFP. Based on this, policymakers should focus on green development, promoting industrial transformation, and enhancing environmental protection

Synchronisation for multi-network with two types of inter-network coupling faults: pinning control effects

Investigation of simultaneous occurrence of permanent and/or recoverable faults of coupled nodes within different networks in a larger network structure is an appealing timely research topic. For the modelling of such a multi-network structure, the coupling terms in the same network and the coupling terms among different networks are described separately in order to explain clearly the multi-network feature here. The dimension-transformation matrix is used to deal with the mismatched dimensions of nodes in the different networks. Then a synchronisation controller is designed from the underlying theory of pinning control schemes. Furthermore, following the ideas of Lyapunov stability theory, a sufficient stability condition under the pinning control is derived which guarantees nodes in the same network synchronisation. Computer simulation results for a numerical case study of three coupled networks with nodes that possess rather complex non-linear dynamics demonstrate that the proposed controllers can enforce synchronisation despite different types of faults being occurred in the multi-network. It is also shown that the specific pinning control scheme is more effective than the random pinning.National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [61473073, 61433014]; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central UniversitiesFundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [N161702001, N182608003, N181706001, N171706003]This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61473073, 61433014) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (N161702001, N182608003, N181706001, N171706003)

Facile preparation of high density polyethylene superhydrophobic/superoleophilic coatings on glass, copper and polyurethane sponge for self-cleaning, corrosion resistance and efficient oil/water separation

International audienc

Molecular mechanisms involved in the IL-6-mediated upregulation of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) expression in the chorionic villi and decidua of women in early pregnancy

Abstract Background IL-6 induces the upregulation of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) at the maternal-foetal interface, but the regulation mechanisms of IDO1 by IL-6 at this interface have not been fully understood. Methods Western blotting, qRT–PCR and/or immunohistochemistry were employed to measure the expression of IDO1, IL-6, SHP-1/2, SOCS3 and STAT3/p (STAT3 and pSTAT3) in tissues of chorionic villi and decidua (TCVD) in vivo and in cultured TCVD that were treated with IL-6 in the presence or absence of an IL-6 inhibitor. Results Mutually positive relationships among the protein levels of IL-6, IDO1, SHP-1/2 and STAT3/p was observed, and the expression of IDO1, SHP-1/2 and STAT3/p was increased in a dose-dependent manner in TCVD in vivo and in cultured TCVD treated with IL-6 at increasing concentrations (0–100 ng/ml). The level of IL-6 was negatively related to SOCS3 level in TCVD. The expression of SOCS3 was increased in a dose-dependent manner, and SOCS3 level was positively correlated with SHP-1, SHP-2 and STAT3/p level in cultured TCVD treated with 0–2 ng/ml IL-6; however, opposite results were observed after treatment with 2–100 ng/ml IL-6. The IL-6-induced upregulation of IDO1, SHP-1, SHP-2 and STAT3/p expression could be reversed, while the IL-6-induced upregulation of SOCS3 expression was exacerbated by Corylifol A. Conclusions In normal pregnancy, IL-6 upregulates the expression of IDO1 by promoting SHP-1/2 expression via STAT3/p and simultaneously negatively regulates the expression of SOCS3. High expression of IL-6 causes the upregulation of IDO1 expression and the downregulation of SOCS-3 expression, which may be beneficial for maintaining immunological tolerance

Pore structure characteristics and impact factors of laminated shale oil reservoir in Chang 73 sub-member of Ordos Basin, China

This research paper focuses on the laminated shale oil reservoir in the third sub-member of the seventh member of Yanchang Formation (Chang 73 sub-member) in the Ordos Basin. The study aims to comprehensively analyze the lithofacies type, micro qualitative and quantitative pore structure parameters, and the main controlling factors of the pore structure in laminated shale. The analysis involves various techniques, including a comprehensive analysis of TOC, rock-eval, X-ray diffraction, polarized light and fluorescence microscope observation, field emission scanning electron microscope observation, and low-pressure N2 adsorption analysis. Based on the sedimentation characteristics, geochemistry, and mineral composition differences, the Chang 73 laminated shale can be classified into three lithofacies types: tuffaceous-organic matter binary laminated shale, clayey-organic matter binary laminated shale, and felsic-clayey binary laminated shale. The pore network consists primarily of organic hydrocarbon generation pressurization fractures, clay mineral felsic intergranular composite pores, and felsic plasmid intergranular pore fracture systems. Mesopores are the most developed pore type. The pore volume and specific surface area increase in the order of “tuffaceous-organic matter”, “clayey-organic matter”, and “felsic-clay”, while the heterogeneity of the pore network gradually weakens, and the roughness of the pore surface enhances. The overall development of organic matter pores is limited, with organic matter-pyrite-clay mineral composite pores being the main components of micropores. The primary intergranular pore system, associated with rigid quartz particles, dominates the mesopores and macropores, and acts as the main framework of the entire pore network. The development of feldspar dissolution pores is limited and contributes minimally to the pore network