Reliability-oriented optimization of computation offloading for cooperative vehicle-infrastructure systems

Computation offloading is critical for mobile applications that are sensitive to computational power, while dynamic and random nature of vehicular networks makes it challenging to guarantee the reliability of vehicular computation offloading. In this letter, we propose a reliability-oriented stochastic optimization model based on dynamic programming for computation offloading in the presence of the deadline constraint on application execution. Specifically, a theoretical lower bound of the expected reliability of computation offloading is derived, and then an optimal data transmission scheduling mechanism is proposed to maximize the lower bound with consideration of randomness in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. Experimental results demonstrate that our mechanism can outperform the conventional scheme and benefits vehicular computation offloading in terms of reliability performance in stochastic situations

High-fidelity Facial Avatar Reconstruction from Monocular Video with Generative Priors

High-fidelity facial avatar reconstruction from a monocular video is a significant research problem in computer graphics and computer vision. Recently, Neural Radiance Field (NeRF) has shown impressive novel view rendering results and has been considered for facial avatar reconstruction. However, the complex facial dynamics and missing 3D information in monocular videos raise significant challenges for faithful facial reconstruction. In this work, we propose a new method for NeRF-based facial avatar reconstruction that utilizes 3D-aware generative prior. Different from existing works that depend on a conditional deformation field for dynamic modeling, we propose to learn a personalized generative prior, which is formulated as a local and low dimensional subspace in the latent space of 3D-GAN. We propose an efficient method to construct the personalized generative prior based on a small set of facial images of a given individual. After learning, it allows for photo-realistic rendering with novel views and the face reenactment can be realized by performing navigation in the latent space. Our proposed method is applicable for different driven signals, including RGB images, 3DMM coefficients, and audios. Compared with existing works, we obtain superior novel view synthesis results and faithfully face reenactment performance.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

NOFA: NeRF-based One-shot Facial Avatar Reconstruction

3D facial avatar reconstruction has been a significant research topic in computer graphics and computer vision, where photo-realistic rendering and flexible controls over poses and expressions are necessary for many related applications. Recently, its performance has been greatly improved with the development of neural radiance fields (NeRF). However, most existing NeRF-based facial avatars focus on subject-specific reconstruction and reenactment, requiring multi-shot images containing different views of the specific subject for training, and the learned model cannot generalize to new identities, limiting its further applications. In this work, we propose a one-shot 3D facial avatar reconstruction framework that only requires a single source image to reconstruct a high-fidelity 3D facial avatar. For the challenges of lacking generalization ability and missing multi-view information, we leverage the generative prior of 3D GAN and develop an efficient encoder-decoder network to reconstruct the canonical neural volume of the source image, and further propose a compensation network to complement facial details. To enable fine-grained control over facial dynamics, we propose a deformation field to warp the canonical volume into driven expressions. Through extensive experimental comparisons, we achieve superior synthesis results compared to several state-of-the-art methods

circFBXW7 attenuates malignant progression in lung adenocarcinoma by sponging miR-942-5p

Background: As a type of non-coding RNA, circular RNAs (circRNAs) are considered to be functional molecules associated with human cancers. An increasing number of circRNAs have been verified in malignant progression in a number of cancers. The circRNA, circFBXW7, has been proven to play an important role in tumor proliferation and metastasis. However, whether circFBXW7 influences progression in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remains unclear. Methods: Quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to verify circFBXW7 in LUAD cell lines and LUAD tissues. Kaplan-Meier analysis was then used to compare the disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of these LUAD patients. The biological function of circFBXW7 was examined by overexpression and knockdown of circFBXW7 using MTT assay, EdU assay, wound-healing assay, and Transwell in vitro assays. To explore the mechanism of the circFBXW7, RNA pull-down assay, dual luciferase reporter assay, and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay were employed to examine the interaction between circFBXW7 and miR-942-5p. Western blot was used to study the fundamental proteins associated with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway. In vivo studies with BALB/c nude mice subcutaneously injected with cells stably overexpressing circFBXW7 were performed to further validate the in vitro results. Results: circFBXW7 was downregulated in LUAD cell lines and tissues, and LUAD patients with lower levels had shorter DFS and OS. The in vitro study showed that circFBXW7 overexpression inhibited proliferation and migration of A549 and HCC2279 cell lines. These results were confirmed by circFBXW7 knockdown, which showed the reverse effect. The in vivo model showed that the circRNA levels influenced the tumor growth. Finally, we determined that circFBXW7 target miRNA-942-5p which regulates the EMT gene BARX2. The modulation of circFBXW7 levels produced significant changes in EMT genes in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: Our findings showed that circFBXW7 inhibits proliferation and migration by controlling the miR-942-5p/BARX2 axis in LUAD cell lines and its levels correlates with patient survival suggesting that regulating circFBXW7 could have therapeutic value in treating LUAD patients

Efficient Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of an N-glycan Isomer Library

Quantification, characterization and biofunctional studies of N-glycans on proteins remain challenging tasks due to the complexity, diversity and low abundance of these glycans. The availability of structurally defined N-glycan (especially isomer) libraries is essential to help solve these tasks. We report herein an efficient chemoenzymatic strategy, namely Core Synthesis/Enzymatic Extension (CSEE), for rapid production of diverse N-glycans. Starting with 5 chemically prepared building blocks, 8 N-glycan core structures containing one or two terminal N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) residue(s) were chemically synthesized via consistent use of oligosaccharyl thioethers as glycosylation donors in a convergent fragment coupling strategy. Each of these core structures was then extended to 5 to 15 N-glycan sequences by enzymatic reactions catalyzed by 4 robust glycosyltransferases. Success in synthesizing N-glycans with Neu5Gc and core-fucosylation further expanded the ability of the enzymatic extension. Meanwhile, high performance liquid chromatography with an amide column enabled rapid and efficient purification (\u3e98% purity) of N-glycans in milligram scales. A total of 73 N-glycans (63 isomers) were successfully prepared and characterized by MS2 and NMR. In summary, the CSEE strategy provides a practical approach for “mass production” of structurally defined N-glycans, which are important standards and probes for glycoscience

Review of the Effect of Surface Coating Modification on Magnesium Alloy Biocompatibility

Magnesium alloy, as an absorbable and implantable biomaterial, has been greatly developed in the application field of biomaterials in recent years due to its excellent biocompatibility and biomechanics. However, due to the poor corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy in the physiological environment, the degradation rate will be unbalanced, which seriously affects the clinical use. There are two main ways to improve the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy: one is by adding alloying elements, the other is by surface modification technology. Compared with adding alloy elements, the surface coating modification has the following advantages: (1) The surface coating modification is carried out without changing the matrix elements of magnesium alloy, avoiding the introduction of other elements; (2) The corrosion resistance of magnesium alloy can be improved by relatively simple physical, chemical, or electrochemical improvement. From the perspective of corrosion resistance and biocompatibility of biomedical magnesium alloy materials, this paper summarizes the application and characteristics of six different surface coating modifications in the biomedical magnesium alloy field, including chemical conversion method, micro-arc oxidation method, sol-gel method, electrophoretic deposition, hydrothermal method, and thermal spraying method. In the last section, it looks forward to the development prospect of surface coating modification and points out that preparing modified coatings on the implant surface combined with various modification post-treatment technologies is the main direction to improve biocompatibility and realize clinical functionalization

Identification of the intersegmental plane via electromagnetic navigation for anatomical segmentectomy

Abstract Accurate identification of the physiological intersegmental plane is crucial for successful anatomical segmentectomy. Current techniques, such as the inflation‐deflation method, may result in uncertain cutting lines, leading to unsuitable resection extents. Here, we demonstrated the successful use of electromagnetic navigation with methylene blue dye‐marking to preoperatively and precisely identify the physiological intersegmental plane in two patients with small‐sized peripheral non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This novel technique offers the potential for precise cutting lines that align closely with the physiological intersegmental plane, thus improving the accuracy and efficacy of anatomical segmentectomy for these selected NSCLC patients