Exploiting Diverse Characteristics and Adversarial Ambivalence for Domain Adaptive Segmentation

Adapting semantic segmentation models to new domains is an important but challenging problem. Recently enlightening progress has been made, but the performance of existing methods are unsatisfactory on real datasets where the new target domain comprises of heterogeneous sub-domains (e.g., diverse weather characteristics). We point out that carefully reasoning about the multiple modalities in the target domain can improve the robustness of adaptation models. To this end, we propose a condition-guided adaptation framework that is empowered by a special attentive progressive adversarial training (APAT) mechanism and a novel self-training policy. The APAT strategy progressively performs condition-specific alignment and attentive global feature matching. The new self-training scheme exploits the adversarial ambivalences of easy and hard adaptation regions and the correlations among target sub-domains effectively. We evaluate our method (DCAA) on various adaptation scenarios where the target images vary in weather conditions. The comparisons against baselines and the state-of-the-art approaches demonstrate the superiority of DCAA over the competitors.Comment: Accepted to AAAI 202

The chloride channel cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) controls cellular quiescence by hyperpolarizing the cell membrane during diapause in the crustacean Artemia

Cellular quiescence, a reversible state in which growth, proliferation, and other cellular activities are arrested, is important for self-renewal, differentiation, development, regeneration, and stress resistance. However, the physiological mechanisms underlying cellular quiescence remain largely unknown. In the present study, we used embryos of the crustacean Artemia in the diapause stage, in which these embryos remain quiescent for prolonged periods, as a model to explore the relationship between cell-membrane potential (V-mem) and quiescence. We found that V-mem is hyperpolarized and that the intracellular chloride concentration is high in diapause embryos, whereas V-mem is depolarized and intracellular chloride concentration is reduced in postdiapause embryos and during further embryonic development. We identified and characterized the chloride ion channel protein cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) of Artemia (Ar-CFTR) and found that its expression is silenced in quiescent cells of Artemia diapause embryos but remains constant in all other embryonic stages. Ar-CFTR knockdown and GlyH-101-mediated chemical inhibition of Ar-CFTR produced diapause embryos having a high V-mem and intracellular chloride concentration, whereas control Artemia embryos released free-swimming nauplius larvae. Transcriptome analysis of embryos at different developmental stages revealed that proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism are suppressed in diapause embryos and restored in postdiapause embryos. Combined with RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) of GlyH-101-treated MCF-7 breast cancer cells, these analyses revealed that CFTR inhibition down-regulates the Wnt and Aurora Kinase A (AURKA) signaling pathways and up-regulates the p53 signaling pathway. Our findings provide insight into CFTR-mediated regulation of cellular quiescence and V-mem in the Artemia model

Coeval granitic magmatism in the southern segment of the Liupanshan at the SW margin of the NCC: Implications for Paleoproterozoic extension

The ages of the Shizuizi, Baojiashan and Duanjiaxia granites are poorly constrained. They are exposed along the southern segment of the Liupanshan fault system at the southwestern margin of the North China Craton. They form a NW-trending belt of coeval A-type granitic magmatism, characterized by high Si, alkalis, Rb/Sr, and Ga/Al. Their trace element characteristics include relative enrichments in K, Rb, and Th, and depletions in Ti, Ta, Nb, P, and Sr. Zircons from the granite yield U-Pb age of 1738 ± 15 Ma for the Baojiashan granite which has similar zircon U-Pb ages with Shizuizi (1778 Ma) and Duanjiaxia (1802 Ma) granites. The granite has negative εNd(t) of -22.5 to -20.0 and the two-stage model ages of 2.29 - 2.45 Ga. An analysis of the regional tectonics suggests that the granites were emplaced during Paleoproterozoic extension at the southwestern margin of North China Craton, where magmatism was caused by tectonic activity related to the development of the Helan aulacogen

Research on the Enzyme Assisted Extraction of Rice Bran Oil

The key technology in enzymatic extraction of oil in the aqueous system is the enzymatic hydrolysis and demulsification performance. The process of extracting rice bran oil by enzymatic method under aqueous system is studied in this research. The results show that more than 84.10% rice bran oil extraction yield could be obtained under the following procedure and conditions. The extruded rice bran is screened through a 40-mesh sieve and mixed with ultrapure water at a ratio of 1∶7.5 (w/v), after which 2% (w/w) Alcalase 2.4 L is added to the mixture and the system is continuously incubated for 150 minutes at 57 ℃ and pH 9.0. After centrifugation, the pH of the emulsion to 7.0 reacting is adjusted further at 60 ℃ for 60 minutes to obtain the oil by breaking the emulsion. The quality of rice bran oil extracted, especially the content of bioactive substances, is obviously better than that extracted by the traditional solvent method. In addition, carbohydrase could not improve the oil extraction yield, while alkaline conditions are more favorable for rice bran oil extraction. Alkaline conditions and CaCl2 treatment are not conducive to demulsification, while 20%～30%ethanol treatment could improve the demulsification rate of the emulsion. The technology can promote the applications of aqueous enzymatic method in the vegetable oil manufacture industry, as well as the utilization of rice bran

Particle size-dependent microstructure, hardness and electrochemical corrosion behavior of atmospheric plasma sprayed nicrbsi coatings

Particle size is a critical consideration for many powder coating-related industries since it significantly influences the properties of the produced materials. However, the effect of particle size on the characteristics of plasma sprayed NiCrBSi coatings is not well understood. This work investigates the microstructures, hardness and electrochemical corrosion behavior of plasma sprayed NiCrBSi coatings synthesized using different-sized powders. All coatings mainly consist of Ni, N3B, CrB, Cr7C3 and Cr3C2 phases. The coatings produced by small particles (50–75 μm) exhibit lower porosity (2.0 ± 0.8%). Such coatings show a higher fraction (15.5 vol.%) of the amorphous phase and lower hardness (700 HV0.5) than the counterparts (8.7 vol.% and 760 HV0.5, respectively) produced by large particles (75–100 μm) with higher porosity (3.0 ± 1.6%). Meanwhile, the coatings produced from smaller particles possess a larger number of non-bonded boundaries, leading to the easier penetration of corrosive medium, as well as a higher corrosion current density (0.254 ± 0.062 μA/cm2) and a lower charge transfer resistance (0.37 ± 0.07 MΩ cm2). These distinctions are attributed to particle size-induced different melting degrees and stackings of in-flight particles during deposition