Is synthetic data from generative models ready for image recognition?

Recent text-to-image generation models have shown promising results in generating high-fidelity photo-realistic images. Though the results are astonishing to human eyes, how applicable these generated images are for recognition tasks remains under-explored. In this work, we extensively study whether and how synthetic images generated from state-of-the-art text-to-image generation models can be used for image recognition tasks, and focus on two perspectives: synthetic data for improving classification models in data-scarce settings (i.e. zero-shot and few-shot), and synthetic data for large-scale model pre-training for transfer learning. We showcase the powerfulness and shortcomings of synthetic data from existing generative models, and propose strategies for better applying synthetic data for recognition tasks. Code: https://github.com/CVMI-Lab/SyntheticData.Comment: ICLR 2023, spotligh

Spatial and temporal characteristics of dryness/wetness for grapevine in the Northeast of China between 1981-2020

The Northeast of China has a marked continental monsoon climate characterized by dry and wet hazards that have destructive impacts on wine grape yields and quality. The purpose of this study was to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of dryness/wetness of grapevines in the wine region of northeast China from 1981 to 2020. The Crop Water Surplus and Deficit Index (CWSDI) was used to characterize the dryness/wetness using meteorological data collected at 15 meteorological stations located in or near the wine region of northeast China from 1981–2020. Results showed that the multi-year average precipitation could satisfy the water requirement of grapevine with the average CWSDI of 43% (Bud burst), 35% (Shoot growth), 40% (Flowering), 73% (Berry development), 24% (Maturation) and 56% (Full growing stage) respectively for grapevine. Most growing stages experienced a wetting trend and varied discontinuously with the abrupt change in years. The drought-stricken areas were smaller than wet-stricken areas for each growing stage, especially for berry development and full growing stages. The drought and wet characteristics were stage-specific during the grapevine growth period. The precipitation, CWSDI, wet frequency, and wet risk increased from northwest to southeast for each growing stage, while crop evapotranspiration (ETc), drought frequency and drought risk showed the opposite characteristics. The drought risk was lower than wet risk in the Northeast wine region. These results can be used to develop strategies for mitigating and adapting dryness/wetness events in the wine regions of northeast China

LSHR-Net: a hardware-friendly solution for high-resolution computational imaging using a mixed-weights neural network

Recent work showed neural-network based approaches to reconstructing images from compressively sensed measurements offer significant improvements in accuracy and signal compression. Such methods can dramatically boost the capability of computational imaging hardware. However, to date, there have been two major drawbacks: (1) the high-precision real-valued sensing patterns proposed in the majority of existing works can prove problematic when used with computational imaging hardware such as a digital micromirror sampling device and (2) the network structures for image reconstruction involve intensive computation, which is also not suitable for hardware deployment. To address these problems, we propose a novel hardware-friendly solution based on mixed-weights neural networks for computational imaging. In particular, learned binary-weight sensing patterns are tailored to the sampling device. Moreover, we proposed a recursive network structure for low-resolution image sampling and high-resolution reconstruction scheme. It reduces both the required number of measurements and reconstruction computation by operating convolution on small intermediate feature maps. The recursive structure further reduced the model size, making the network more computationally efficient when deployed with the hardware. Our method has been validated on benchmark datasets and achieved state of the art reconstruction accuracy. We tested our proposed network in conjunction with a proof-of-concept hardware setup

The association between complement C1q tumour necrosis factor-related protein-1 (CTRP-1) level and metabolic syndrome

Introduction: Complement C1q tumour necrosis factor-related protein (CTRP-1) is a member of the C1q protein superfamily that plays a role in metabolism. This retrospective study aimed to investigate associations between CTRP-1 and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Material and methods: This study screened subjects who had undergone regular health examinations at the Physical Examination Centre in the First People’s Hospital of Yinchuan (the Second Affiliated Hospital of Ningxia Medical University) between November 2017 and September 2020. The total recruited population included 430 subjects who had undergone regular health examinations, excluding 112 subjects with high glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c ≥ 7). Finally, the data of 318 participants were further analysed. Non-diabetic subjects were divided into 2 groups: one with MetS and one without MetS (controls). Serum CTRP-1 concentrations were evaluated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: A total of 318 subjects were included, among whom 176 were diagnosed with MetS (MetS group) and 142 were not (non-MetS controls). The MetS group had significantly lower CTRP-1 levels than non-MetS controls (128.51 [111.56–143.05] vs. 138.82 [122.83–154.33] ng/mL, p < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed that serum CTRP-1 levels correlated negatively with body mass index (r = –0.161, p = 0.004), waist circumference (r = –0.191, p = 0.001), systolic blood pressure (r = –0.198, p < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (r = –0.145, p = 0.010), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (r = –0.562, p < 0.001), fasting insulin (FIns) (r = –0.424, p < 0.001), and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (r = –0.541, p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression models showed that CTRP-1 levels were associated with MetS (p < 0.01). The lipid profile area under the curve (AUC) was comparable to those for FBG and FIns, and it was significantly higher than the AUCs for demographic variables. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the serum CTRP-1 level is negatively associated with MetS. CTRP-1 is a potential metabolism-related protein and is likely to be associated with lipid profiles in MetS

Comparison of endometrial preparation protocols (natural cycle versus hormone replacement cycle) for frozen embryo transfer (COMPETE) : A study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Funding Information: This study is supported by General Projects of Social Development (2022SF-565). BWM is supported by a NHMRC Investigator grant (GNT1176437). BWM reports consultancy for ObsEva. BMW has received research funding from Ferring and Merck. The other authors have none to declare. Acknowledgements: We thank all the physicians, scientists, and embryologists in our IVF clinic for their assistance with data collection as well the patients for participating in this studyPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Anti-resonance features of destructive quantum interference in single-molecule thiophene junctions achieved by electrochemical gating

基于单个有机分子来构筑电子器件为电子器件微型化提供潜在技术方案。本研究发展了可集成电化学门控的单分子电子器件测试芯片技术和科学仪器方法，在实验和理论两个层面对具有相消量子干涉效应的噻吩衍生物分子器件的电输运过程进行了电化学调控研究，从而首次在室温下实现了对单分子电子器件中量子干涉效应的反共振现象的直接观测和调控，为制备基于量子干涉效应的新型分子材料和器件提供了全新的设计思路和策略。该研究充分展示了电化学调控技术在信息材料和器件领域的重要应用潜力，也体现了我校固体表面物理化学国家重点实验室在电化学研究和科学仪器研发领域的技术积累，以及面向科学前沿开展交叉学科探索的研究特色。 该研究工作是在洪文晶教授、上海电力大学陈文博教授、英国兰卡斯特大学Colin Lambert教授指导下完成的。化学化工学院博士生白杰和李晓慧为论文的共同第一作者，刘俊扬副研究员、师佳副教授、研究生唐永翔、刘帅、黄晓娟、谭志冰和萨本栋微纳研究院的杨杨副教授等也参与了研究工作。田中群教授和毛秉伟教授为该工作提供了重要指导。【Abstract】Controlling the electrical conductance and in particular the occurrence of quantum interference in single-molecule junctions through gating effects, has potential for the realization of high-performance functional molecular devices. In this work, we used an electrochemically-gated, mechanically-controllable break junction technique to tune the electronic behaviour of thiophene-based molecular junctions that show destructive quantum interference (DQI) features. By varying the voltage applied to the electrochemical gate at room temperature, we reached a conductance minimum that provides direct evidence of charge transport controlled by an anti-resonance arising from DQI. Our molecular system enables conductance tuning close to two orders of magnitude within the non-faradaic potential region, which is significantly higher than that achieved with molecules not showing DQI. Our experimental results, interpreted using quantum transport theory, demonstrate that electrochemical gating is a promising strategy for obtaining improved in-situ control over the electrical performance of interference-based molecular devices.This research was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0204902), National Natural Science Foundation of China (21722305, 21673195, 21503179, 21703188), the Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning, Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (17ZR1447100), Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (14DZ2261000), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M622060) for funding work in Xiamen. It was also supported by EU Horizon 2020 project QuIET under grant agreement no. 767187EC FP7 ITN ‘MOLESCO’ project no. 606728 and UK EPSRC grants EP/N017188/1 and EP/M014452/1 and Leverhulme Trust (Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships no. ECF-2017-186 and ECF-2018-375) for funding instrumentation used in Lancaster. It was also supported by Hungarian and Czech Academies of Sciences (P2015-107) and Hungarian Research Foundation (OTKA 112034) for funding instrumentation used in Hungary. The authors thank Z.-Q. Tian and B.-W. Mao, Xiamen University, for useful discussions. 该工作获得科技部国家重点研发计划课题（2017YFA0204902），国家自然科学基金委优秀青年科学基金等项目（21722305、21673195、21703188、21503179）以及中国博士后科学基金（2017M622060）等项目的资助，也得到了固体表面物理化学国家重点实验室、能源材料化学协同创新中心的支持

Anti-resonance features of destructive quantum interference in single-molecule thiophene junctions achieved by electrochemical gating

Controlling the electrical conductance and in particular the occurrence of quantum interference in single-molecule junctions through gating effects has potential for the realization of high-performance functional molecular devices. In this work we used an electrochemically gated, mechanically controllable break junction technique to tune the electronic behaviour of thiophene-based molecular junctions that show destructive quantum interference features. By varying the voltage applied to the electrochemical gate at room temperature, we reached a conductance minimum that provides direct evidence of charge transport controlled by an anti-resonance arising from destructive quantum interference. Our molecular system enables conductance tuning close to two orders of magnitude within the non-faradaic potential region, which is significantly higher than that achieved with molecules not showing destructive quantum interference. Our experimental results, interpreted using quantum transport theory, demonstrate that electrochemical gating is a promising strategy for obtaining improved in situ control over the electrical performance of interference-based molecular devices. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited