Multi-Objective Evolutionary for Object Detection Mobile Architectures Search

Recently, Neural architecture search has achieved great success on classification tasks for mobile devices. The backbone network for object detection is usually obtained on the image classification task. However, the architecture which is searched through the classification task is sub-optimal because of the gap between the task of image and object detection. As while work focuses on backbone network architecture search for mobile device object detection is limited, mainly because the backbone always requires expensive ImageNet pre-training. Accordingly, it is necessary to study the approach of network architecture search for mobile device object detection without expensive pre-training. In this work, we propose a mobile object detection backbone network architecture search algorithm which is a kind of evolutionary optimized method based on non-dominated sorting for NAS scenarios. It can quickly search to obtain the backbone network architecture within certain constraints. It better solves the problem of suboptimal linear combination accuracy and computational cost. The proposed approach can search the backbone networks with different depths, widths, or expansion sizes via a technique of weight mapping, making it possible to use NAS for mobile devices detection tasks a lot more efficiently. In our experiments, we verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach on YoloX-Lite, a lightweight version of the target detection framework. Under similar computational complexity, the accuracy of the backbone network architecture we search for is 2.0% mAP higher than MobileDet. Our improved backbone network can reduce the computational effort while improving the accuracy of the object detection network. To prove its effectiveness, a series of ablation studies have been carried out and the working mechanism has been analyzed in detail

DBMLoc: a Database of proteins with multiple subcellular localizations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Subcellular localization information is one of the key features to protein function research. Locating to a specific subcellular compartment is essential for a protein to function efficiently. Proteins which have multiple localizations will provide more clues. This kind of proteins may take a high proportion, even more than 35%.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>We have developed a database of proteins with multiple subcellular localizations, designated DBMLoc. The initial release contains 10470 multiple subcellular localization-annotated entries. Annotations are collected from primary protein databases, specific subcellular localization databases and literature texts. All the protein entries are cross-referenced to GO annotations and SwissProt. Protein-protein interactions are also annotated. They are classified into 12 large subcellular localization categories based on GO hierarchical architecture and original annotations. Download, search and sequence BLAST tools are also available on the website.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DBMLoc is a protein database which collects proteins with more than one subcellular localization annotation. It is freely accessed at <url>http://www.bioinfo.tsinghua.edu.cn/DBMLoc/index.htm</url>.</p

M cells are involved in pathogenesis of human contact lens-associated giant papillary conjunctivitis

INTRODUCTION: The objective was to study the pathogenesis of contact lens-associated giant papillary conjunctivitis (CL-GPC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one biopsies of conjunctival giant papillae were obtained from soft contact lens wearers. The tissues were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and embedded in paraffin. Sections of 5 µm thickness were used for studies of histology and immunohistochemistry of pan-B and pan-T cell distributions. RESULTS: Conjunctival epitheliums on the top of conjunctiva-associated lymphoid tissue typically lacked goblet cells. Lymphocytes from underlying lymphoid follicle were pressed into intra-epithelial “pockets” formed through epithelial invagination. Under the follicle-associated epithelium, pan-B cells were mostly gathered in the central folliclar area and intraepithelial pockets, while CD3-positive T cells were predominantly distributed in parafolliclar region, but only a few in the intraepithelial pockets. CONCLUSIONS: Membranous epithelial cells (M cells) play a key role in the pathogenesis of CL-GPC for the binding and translocation of antigen and pathogen

Increased MicroRNA-146a Levels in Plasma of Patients with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, are thought to serve as crucial regulators of gene expression. Dysregulated expression of miRNAs has been described in various diseases and may contribute to related pathologic processes. Our aim was to examine circulating miRNA-146a levels in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (new-T2DM) patients from a Chinese Han population. Methodology/Principal Findings Circulating miRNA-146a was extracted from plasma samples of 90 new-T2DM patients and 90 age- and sex-matched controls. Quantitative PCR assessment revealed that circulating miRNA-146a levels were significantly elevated in new-T2DM patients compared with controls. Participants in the highest tertile of circulating miRNA-146a levels showed a notably higher risk for new-T2DM (crude OR 4.333, 95% CI, 1.935 to 9.705, P = 0.001) than persons in the lowest tertile. Controlling for known risk factors and some biochemical indicators did not attenuate the aforementioned association. In addition, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves generated for miRNA-146a revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.725 (95% CI, 0.651 to 0.799, P < 0.001). Moreover, higher circulating miRNA-146a levels were significantly associated with higher plasma heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) concentrations (β coefficient = 0.131, P < 0.001) and lower HOMA-beta (β coefficient = -0.153, P = 0.015). Conclusions/Significance: We found that circulating miRNA-146a levels were significantly elevated in new-T2DM patients compared with healthy controls. Whether expression of circulating miRNA-146a holds predictive value for T2DM warrants further investigations

Multiple distinct small RNAs originate from the same microRNA precursors

Abstract Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which originate from precursor transcripts with stem-loop structures, are essential gene expression regulators in eukaryotes. Results We report 19 miRNA precursors in Arabidopsis that can yield multiple distinct miRNA-like RNAs in addition to miRNAs and miRNA*s. These miRNA precursor-derived miRNA-like RNAs are often arranged in phase and form duplexes with an approximately two-nucleotide 3'-end overhang. Their production depends on the same biogenesis pathway as their sibling miRNAs and does not require RNA-dependent RNA polymerases or RNA polymerase IV. These miRNA-like RNAs are methylated, and many of them are associated with Argonaute proteins. Some of the miRNA-like RNAs are differentially expressed in response to bacterial challenges, and some are more abundant than the cognate miRNAs. Computational and expression analyses demonstrate that some of these miRNA-like RNAs are potentially functional and they target protein-coding genes for silencing. The function of some of these miRNA-like RNAs was further supported by their target cleavage products from the published small RNA degradome data. Our systematic examination of public small-RNA deep sequencing data from four additional plant species (Oryza sativa, Physcomitrella patens, Medicago truncatula and Populus trichocarpa) and four animals (Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila) shows that such miRNA-like RNAs exist broadly in eukaryotes. Conclusions We demonstrate that multiple miRNAs could derive from miRNA precursors by sequential processing of Dicer or Dicer-like proteins. Our results suggest that the pool of miRNAs is larger than was previously recognized, and miRNA-mediated gene regulation may be broader and more complex than previously thought

Control-A-Video: Controllable Text-to-Video Generation with Diffusion Models

This paper presents a controllable text-to-video (T2V) diffusion model, named Video-ControlNet, that generates videos conditioned on a sequence of control signals, such as edge or depth maps. Video-ControlNet is built on a pre-trained conditional text-to-image (T2I) diffusion model by incorporating a spatial-temporal self-attention mechanism and trainable temporal layers for efficient cross-frame modeling. A first-frame conditioning strategy is proposed to facilitate the model to generate videos transferred from the image domain as well as arbitrary-length videos in an auto-regressive manner. Moreover, Video-ControlNet employs a novel residual-based noise initialization strategy to introduce motion prior from an input video, producing more coherent videos. With the proposed architecture and strategies, Video-ControlNet can achieve resource-efficient convergence and generate superior quality and consistent videos with fine-grained control. Extensive experiments demonstrate its success in various video generative tasks such as video editing and video style transfer, outperforming previous methods in terms of consistency and quality. Project Page: https://controlavideo.github.io

Improved performance of diatomite-based dental nanocomposite ceramics using layer-by-layer assembly

To fabricate high-strength diatomite-based ceramics for dental applications, the layer-by-layer technique was used to coat diatomite particles with cationic [poly(allylamine hydrochloride)] and anionic [poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)] polymers to improve the dispersion and adsorption of positively charged nano-ZrO2 (zirconia) as a reinforcing agent. The modified diatomite particles had reduced particle size, narrower size distribution, and were well dispersed, with good adsorption of nano-ZrO2. To determine the optimum addition levels for nano-ZrO2, ceramics containing 0, 20, 25, 30, and 35 wt% nano-ZrO2 were sintered and characterized by the three-point bending test and microhardness test. In addition to scanning electron microscopy, propagation phase-contrast synchrotron X-ray microtomography was used to examine the internal structure of the ceramics. The addition of 30 wt% nano-ZrO2 resulted in the highest flexural strength and fracture toughness with reduced porosity. Shear bond strength between the core and veneer of our diatomite ceramics and the most widely used dental ceramics were compared; the shear bond strength value for the diatomite-based ceramics was found to be significantly higher than for other groups (P < 0.05). Our results show that diatomite-based nanocomposite ceramics are good potential candidates for ceramic-based dental materials

ClusterFusion: Real-time Relative Positioning and Dense Reconstruction for UAV Cluster

As robotics technology advances, dense point cloud maps are increasingly in demand. However, dense reconstruction using a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) suffers from limitations in flight speed and battery power, resulting in slow reconstruction and low coverage. Cluster UAV systems offer greater flexibility and wider coverage for map building. Existing methods of cluster UAVs face challenges with accurate relative positioning, scale drift, and high-speed dense point cloud map generation. To address these issues, we propose a cluster framework for large-scale dense reconstruction and real-time collaborative localization. The front-end of the framework is an improved visual odometry which can effectively handle large-scale scenes. Collaborative localization between UAVs is enabled through a two-stage joint optimization algorithm and a relative pose optimization algorithm, effectively achieving accurate relative positioning of UAVs and mitigating scale drift. Estimated poses are used to achieve real-time dense reconstruction and fusion of point cloud maps. To evaluate the performance of our proposed method, we conduct qualitative and quantitative experiments on real-world data. The results demonstrate that our framework can effectively suppress scale drift and generate large-scale dense point cloud maps in real-time, with the reconstruction speed increasing as more UAVs are added to the system

siRNAs from miRNA sites mediate DNA methylation of target genes

Arabidopsis microRNA (miRNA) genes (MIR) give rise to 20- to 22-nt miRNAs that are generated predominantly by the type III endoribonuclease Dicer-like 1 (DCL1) but do not require any RNA-dependent RNA Polymerases (RDRs) or RNA Polymerase IV (Pol IV). Here, we identify a novel class of non-conserved MIR genes that give rise to two small RNA species, a 20- to 22-nt species and a 23- to 27-nt species, at the same site. Genetic analysis using small RNA pathway mutants reveals that the 20- to 22-nt small RNAs are typical miRNAs generated by DCL1 and are associated with Argonaute 1 (AGO1). In contrast, the accumulation of the 23- to 27-nt small RNAs from the miRNA-generating sites is dependent on DCL3, RDR2 and Pol IV, components of the typical heterochromatic small interfering RNA (hc-siRNA) pathway. We further demonstrate that these MIR-derived siRNAs associate with AGO4 and direct DNA methylation at some of their target loci in trans. In addition, we find that at the miRNA-generating sites, some conserved canonical MIR genes also produce siRNAs, which also induce DNA methylation at some of their target sites. Our systematic examination of published small RNA deep sequencing datasets of rice and moss suggests that this type of dual functional MIRs exist broadly in plant