Capturing Delayed Feedback in Conversion Rate Prediction via Elapsed-Time Sampling

Conversion rate (CVR) prediction is one of the most critical tasks for digital display advertising. Commercial systems often require to update models in an online learning manner to catch up with the evolving data distribution. However, conversions usually do not happen immediately after a user click. This may result in inaccurate labeling, which is called delayed feedback problem. In previous studies, delayed feedback problem is handled either by waiting positive label for a long period of time, or by consuming the negative sample on its arrival and then insert a positive duplicate when a conversion happens later. Indeed, there is a trade-off between waiting for more accurate labels and utilizing fresh data, which is not considered in existing works. To strike a balance in this trade-off, we propose Elapsed-Time Sampling Delayed Feedback Model (ES-DFM), which models the relationship between the observed conversion distribution and the true conversion distribution. Then we optimize the expectation of true conversion distribution via importance sampling under the elapsed-time sampling distribution. We further estimate the importance weight for each instance, which is used as the weight of loss function in CVR prediction. To demonstrate the effectiveness of ES-DFM, we conduct extensive experiments on a public data and a private industrial dataset. Experimental results confirm that our method consistently outperforms the previous state-of-the-art results.Comment: This paper has been accepted by AAAI 202

Heterogeneity of grain boundary properties in Cu2ZnSnS4 : A first-principles study

Using first-principles density functional calculations, we investigate the structure and properties of previously unstudied grain boundaries (GBs) in the solar absorber material copper-zinc-tin-sulfide (CZTS). We identify four stable low-ς value symmetric tilt GBs with low formation energies: ς3 (111) and ς5 (201), each with two different GB terminations. Compared to CdTe and CuInSe, GBs in the quaternary semiconductor CZTS exhibit a wider variety of electronic states due to the more complex chemical environment near the GB, including under-coordinated atoms and dangling bonds. Further analysis confirms that strong dangling bonds introduce deep gap states in all GBs studied. We also investigate segregation and electronic properties of intrinsic point defects to GBs and find that one of the ς3 (111) GBs exhibits an abnormal defect segregation behavior that favors Cu-poor (Zn-rich) GB composition, which is beneficial for its overall performance

Cu–Zn Cation Disorder in Kesterite Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1–x)4 Solar Cells

Cu–Zn cation disorder plays a vital and controversial role in kesterite CuZnSn(S1–xSex)4 solar cells. We demonstrate using density functional theory and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations that the Cu–Zn disorder across different planes (i.e., Cu–Sn and Cu–Zn planes) is significantly more detrimental to device performance than the case when disorder is confined only to the Cu–Zn planes. The main reason is that different plane disorder induces a significant elongation of Sn–S/Se bond lengths, leading to a downshift of the conduction band minimum, decreasing the band gap, and reducing the optical absorption. Moreover, Cu–Zn disorder across different planes accelerates nonradiative electron–hole recombination and decreases charge carrier lifetime due to the reduction of the band gap and enhanced electron-vibrational interaction. Our results provide a theoretical explanation for the influence of Cu–Zn disorder on material performance and offer valuable insight into the design of more efficient solar cells

Flood regime affects soil stoichiometry and the distribution of the invasive plants in subtropical estuarine wetlands in China

Projections of climate change impacts over the coming decades suggest that rising sea levels will flood coastal wetlands, moving the range of wetlands inland from the current coastline. The intensity of flooding in wetland areas will thus increase, with corresponding impacts on soil properties and coastal ecosystems. We studied the impacts of two levels of water inundation on the concentration and stoichiometry of soil carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur in areas dominated by the native C3 species Scirpus triqueter L., the native C4 species Cyperus malaccensis var. brevifolius Boecklr. and the invasive Gramineae C3 species Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud in the Shanyutan wetland areas of the Minjiang River estuary in China. Comparison of the communities dominated by these three species in high- and low-water flood habitats showed that flooding enhanced anaerobiosis and salinity and altered the carbon and nitrogen plant-soil cycles. Higher flooding favored the invasive species more than the two native species. The invasive P. australis accumulated more carbon (65% increase in aboveground biomass), and took up more nitrogen under high flooding than did C. malaccensis and S. triqueter. The more conservative use of soil resources, particularly the limiting nutrient N, appeared to underlie the higher capacity of the invasive species to tolerate higher flooding intensity. Increases in flooding may thus enhance the success and expansion of the invasive P. australis to the detriment of the native plant species in these Chinese wetlands

Density Functional Theory and Experimental Determination of Band Gaps and Lattice Parameters in Kesterite Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1-x)4

The structures and band gaps of copper-zinc-tin selenosulfides (CZTSSe) are investigated for a range of anion compositions through experimental analysis and complementary first-principles simulations. The band gap was found to be extremely sensitive to the Sn-anion bond length, with an almost linear correlation with the average Sn-anion bond length in the mixed anion phase Cu2ZnSn(S x Se1-x)4. Therefore, an accurate prediction of band gaps using first-principles methods requires the accurate reproduction of the experimental bond lengths. This is challenging for many widely used approaches that are suitable for large supercells. The HSE06 functional was found to predict the structure and band gap in good agreement with the experiment but is computationally expensive for large supercells. It was shown that a geometry optimization with the MS2 meta-GGA functional followed by a single point calculation of electronic properties using HSE06 is a reasonable compromise for modeling larger supercells that are often unavoidable in the study of point and extended defects

Application of Traditional Chinese Medical Herbs in Prevention and Treatment of Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common viral pathogen of the lower respiratory tract, which, in the absence of effective management, causes millions of cases of severe illness per year. Many of these infections develop into fatal pneumonia. In a review of English and Chinese medical literature, recent traditional Chinese medical herb- (TCMH-) based progress in the area of prevention and treatment was identified, and the potential anti-RSV compounds, herbs, and formulas were explored. Traditional Chinese medical herbs have a positive effect on inhibiting viral attachment, inhibiting viral internalization, syncytial formation, alleviation of airway inflammation, and stimulation of interferon secretion and immune system; however, the anti-RSV mechanisms of TCMHs are complicated, which should be further investigated