Sequence-to-Set Generative Models

In this paper, we propose a sequence-to-set method that can transform any sequence generative model based on maximum likelihood to a set generative model where we can evaluate the utility/probability of any set. An efficient importance sampling algorithm is devised to tackle the computational challenge of learning our sequence-to-set model. We present GRU2Set, which is an instance of our sequence-to-set method and employs the famous GRU model as the sequence generative model. To further obtain permutation invariant representation of sets, we devise the SetNN model which is also an instance of the sequence-to-set model. A direct application of our models is to learn an order/set distribution from a collection of e-commerce orders, which is an essential step in many important operational decisions such as inventory arrangement for fast delivery. Based on the intuition that small-sized sets are usually easier to learn than large sets, we propose a size-bias trick that can help learn better set distributions with respect to the $\ell_1$-distance evaluation metric. Two e-commerce order datasets, TMALL and HKTVMALL, are used to conduct extensive experiments to show the effectiveness of our models. The experimental results demonstrate that our models can learn better set/order distributions from order data than the baselines. Moreover, no matter what model we use, applying the size-bias trick can always improve the quality of the set distribution learned from data.Comment: Accepted for NeurIPS 202

Clinical outcomes of S2 Alar-Iliac screw technique in the treatment of severe spinal sagittal imbalance: a retrospective 2-year follow-up study

Background: The treatment of adult spinal deformity (ASD) remains a significant challenge, especially in elderly patients. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of the S2AI screw technique in the treatment of severe spinal sagittal imbalance with a minimum 2-year follow-up.Methods: From January 2015 to December 2018, 23 patients with severe degenerative thoracolumbar kyphosis who underwent placement of S2AI screws for long segment fusion were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into group A (no mechanical complications, 13 cases) and group B (with mechanical complications, 10 cases) according to the occurrence of mechanical complications at the last follow-up. Radiographic parameters were compared between groups preoperatively, 1 month postoperatively and at the last follow-up. Risk factors for mechanical complications were analyzed.Results: The incidence of mechanical complications was 43.5% and the revision rate was 17.4%. At 1 month postoperatively, sagittal correction was better in group A than in group B (p<0.05). The area under the curve for predicting mechanical complications of sacral slope (SS), lumbar lordosis (LL), PI (pelvic incidence)-LL at 1 month postoperatively were 0.762 (p=0.035), 0.896 (p=0.001) and 0.754 (p=0.041) respectively and the best cut-off values were 24.1°, 32.8°and 12.0°. The sagittal correction of both groups was partially lost at the last follow-up.Conclusions: A high incidence of mechanical complications was observed in long-segment corrective surgery with the S2AI screw technique for severe spinal sagittal imbalance. Inadequate sagittal correction is a risk factor for the development of mechanical complications.

Effects of larval exposure to the insecticide flumethrin on the development of honeybee (Apis mellifera) workers

Flumethrin is a widely used acaricide, but its improper use often leads to residue accumulation in honeybee colonies, thus threatening the health of honeybees, especially at the larval stage. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the direct toxicity of flumethrin on honeybee (Apis mellifera) larvae by conducting bioassays for immune and detoxification-related enzymes and transcriptome sequencing to determine the potential effects on newly emerged adults who were exposed to flumethrin during the larval stage. Results showed that the higher the concentration of flumethrin the honeybee larvae were exposed to, the greater the damage to the physiology of honeybee larvae and the newly emerged worker bees. When honeybee larvae were exposed to flumethrin concentrations higher than 0.01 mg/L, the activities of glutathione sulfur transferase and carboxylesterase were affected, and the metabolism-related genes in the head of newly emerged honeybees exposed to flumethrin during the larval stage were down-regulated. Flumethrin concentration higher than 0.1 mg/L significantly increased mixed-functional oxidase content in honeybee larvae, reduced the larval survival rate, and down-regulated the expression levels of olfactory-related and antioxidant-related genes in newly emerged honeybees. Furthermore, a flumethrin concentration of 1 mg/L significantly down-regulated the expression levels of immune and detoxification-related genes in newly emerged honeybees. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the response of honeybee larvae to sublethal flumethrin toxicity and could be used to further investigate the complex molecular mechanisms in honeybees under pesticide stress

Continental interior and edge breakup at convergent margins induced by subduction direction reversal: a numerical modeling study applied to the South China Sea margin

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Tectonics 39(11), (2020): e2020TC006409, doi:10.1029/2020TC006409.The dynamics of continental breakup at convergent margins has been described as the results of backarc opening caused by slab rollback or drag force induced by subduction direction reversal. Although the rollback hypothesis has been intensively studied, our understanding of the consequence of subduction direction reversal remains limited. Using thermo‐mechanical modeling based on constraints from the South China Sea (SCS) region, we investigate how subduction direction reversal controls the breakup of convergent margins. The numerical results show that two distinct breakup modes, namely, continental interior and edge breakup (“edge” refers to continent above the plate boundary interface), may develop depending on the “maturity” of the convergent margin and the age of the oceanic lithosphere. For a slab age of ~15 to ~45 Ma, increasing the duration of subduction promotes the continental interior breakup mode, where a large block of the continental material is separated from the overriding plate. In contrast, the continental edge breakup mode develops when the subduction is a short‐duration event, and in this mode, a wide zone of less continuous continental fragments and tearing of the subducted slab occur. These two modes are consistent with the interior (relic late Mesozoic arc) and edge (relic forearc) rifting characteristics in the western and eastern SCS margin, suggesting that variation in the northwest‐directed subduction duration of the Proto‐SCS might be a reason for the differential breakup locus along the strike of the SCS margin. Besides, a two‐segment trench associated with the northwest‐directed subduction is implied in the present‐day SCS region.This research was supported by the Guangdong NSF research team project (2017A030312002), the Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (GML2019ZD0205), the K. C. Wong Education Foundation (GJTD‐2018‐13), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Science (XDA13010303), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y4SL021001, QYZDY‐SSWDQC005, 133244KYSB20180029, and ISEE2019ZR01), the NSFC project (41606073, 41890813, and 41576070), the IODP‐China Foundation, the OMG Visiting Fellowship (OMG18‐15), and the Hong Kong Research Grant Council Grants (Nos. 14313816 and 14304820).2021-04-0

Continental Interior and Edge Breakup at Convergent Margins Induced by Subduction Direction Reversal: A Numerical Modeling Study Applied to the South China Sea Margin

The dynamics of continental breakup at convergent margins has been described as the results of backarc opening caused by slab rollback or drag force induced by subduction direction reversal. Although the rollback hypothesis has been intensively studied, our understanding of the consequence of subduction direction reversal remains limited. Using thermo‐mechanical modeling based on constraints from the South China Sea (SCS) region, we investigate how subduction direction reversal controls the breakup of convergent margins. The numerical results show that two distinct breakup modes, namely, continental interior and edge breakup (“edge” refers to continent above the plate boundary interface), may develop depending on the “maturity” of the convergent margin and the age of the oceanic lithosphere. For a slab age of ~15 to ~45 Ma, increasing the duration of subduction promotes the continental interior breakup mode, where a large block of the continental material is separated from the overriding plate. In contrast, the continental edge breakup mode develops when the subduction is a short‐duration event, and in this mode, a wide zone of less continuous continental fragments and tearing of the subducted slab occur. These two modes are consistent with the interior (relic late Mesozoic arc) and edge (relic forearc) rifting characteristics in the western and eastern SCS margin, suggesting that variation in the northwest‐directed subduction duration of the Proto‐SCS might be a reason for the differential breakup locus along the strike of the SCS margin. Besides, a two‐segment trench associated with the northwest‐directed subduction is implied in the present‐day SCS region

Continental Interior and Edge Breakup at Convergent Margins Induced by Subduction Direction Reversal: A Numerical Modeling Study Applied to the South China Sea Margin

The dynamics of continental breakup at convergent margins has been described as the results of backarc opening caused by slab rollback or drag force induced by subduction direction reversal. Although the rollback hypothesis has been intensively studied, our understanding of the consequence of subduction direction reversal remains limited. Using thermo‐mechanical modeling based on constraints from the South China Sea (SCS) region, we investigate how subduction direction reversal controls the breakup of convergent margins. The numerical results show that two distinct breakup modes, namely, continental interior and edge breakup (“edge” refers to continent above the plate boundary interface), may develop depending on the “maturity” of the convergent margin and the age of the oceanic lithosphere. For a slab age of ~15 to ~45 Ma, increasing the duration of subduction promotes the continental interior breakup mode, where a large block of the continental material is separated from the overriding plate. In contrast, the continental edge breakup mode develops when the subduction is a short‐duration event, and in this mode, a wide zone of less continuous continental fragments and tearing of the subducted slab occur. These two modes are consistent with the interior (relic late Mesozoic arc) and edge (relic forearc) rifting characteristics in the western and eastern SCS margin, suggesting that variation in the northwest‐directed subduction duration of the Proto‐SCS might be a reason for the differential breakup locus along the strike of the SCS margin. Besides, a two‐segment trench associated with the northwest‐directed subduction is implied in the present‐day SCS region

A review of long non-coding RNAs in ankylosing spondylitis: pathogenesis, clinical assessment, and therapeutic targets

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic immune-mediated type of inflammatory arthritis characterized by inflammation, bone erosion, and stiffness of the spine and sacroiliac joints. Despite great efforts put into the investigation of the disease, the pathogenesis of AS remains unclear, posing challenges in identifying ideal targets for diagnosis and treatment. To enhance our understanding of AS, an increasing number of studies have been conducted. Some of these studies reveal that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in the etiology of AS. Some certain lncRNAs influence the development of AS by regulating inflammatory responses, autophagy, apoptosis, and adipogenesis, as well as the proliferation and differentiation of cells. Additionally, some lncRNAs demonstrate potential as biomarkers, aiding in monitoring disease progression and predicting prognosis. In this review, we summarize recent studies concerning lncRNAs in AS to elucidate the underlying mechanisms in which lncRNAs are involved and their potential values as biomarkers for disease assessment and druggable targets for therapy