Revisiting the Evaluation of Image Synthesis with GANs

A good metric, which promises a reliable comparison between solutions, is essential for any well-defined task. Unlike most vision tasks that have per-sample ground-truth, image synthesis tasks target generating unseen data and hence are usually evaluated through a distributional distance between one set of real samples and another set of generated samples. This study presents an empirical investigation into the evaluation of synthesis performance, with generative adversarial networks (GANs) as a representative of generative models. In particular, we make in-depth analyses of various factors, including how to represent a data point in the representation space, how to calculate a fair distance using selected samples, and how many instances to use from each set. Extensive experiments conducted on multiple datasets and settings reveal several important findings. Firstly, a group of models that include both CNN-based and ViT-based architectures serve as reliable and robust feature extractors for measurement evaluation. Secondly, Centered Kernel Alignment (CKA) provides a better comparison across various extractors and hierarchical layers in one model. Finally, CKA is more sample-efficient and enjoys better agreement with human judgment in characterizing the similarity between two internal data correlations. These findings contribute to the development of a new measurement system, which enables a consistent and reliable re-evaluation of current state-of-the-art generative models.Comment: NeurIPS 2023 datasets and benchmarks trac

Study on micro-mechanism of the affordable housing community in urban renewal the case of Zunyi city, Guizhou province

Introduction: Affordable housing in China refers to housing with social security for low and middle income people under the unified planning and coordination of the government. In the process of urbanization, the construction of affordable housing and commercial housing should be developed in parallel, but under the role of the real estate market economy, the development of the two is unbalanced, resulting in a disparity in quantity, a large gap in quality, unreasonable management, and even residential segregation. The construction and development of China's affordable housing community is a huge and complex systemic project. This study focuses on a series of problems in the relationship between supply and demand of affordable housing based only on the development context of urban renewal at this stage.Methods: Based on existing literature and official data, combined with field visits and research, this study uses Vensim PLE software to build a system model for converting various types of stock into affordable housing, and to investigate the effect of various policies on solving the problem of supply and demand of affordable housing.Results: The research results show that 1) the policies stimulate the increase of urban population and help promote the supply cycle of affordable housing; 2) under the stimulation of the supply policy of converting stock housing into affordable housing, social investment will improve by 33%–64% and the gap of affordable housing will decrease by 29%–58%; 3) under the stimulation of the policy of optimizing the management of affordable housing, the coverage rate of affordable population will improve by 3%–5% and the middle and low income households’ per capita housing floor area will increase by 9%–18% l; 4) under the comprehensive influence of the combined policies, the urban population will grow healthily, the per capita income and per capita housing floor area of low- and middle- income people will be improved, the stock of housing will be reduced, the number of affordable housing will increase, the affordable housing gap will be reduced, and the affordable housing community will be developed sustainably and healthily.Meaning: The research results and recommendations will provide references for the government and competent authorities to enact or update the policies on affordable housing

Upregulation of SMAD4 inhibits thyroid cancer cell growth via MAPK/JNK pathway repression

Purpose: To investigate whether the effect of mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4) on thyroid cancer cell survival was via the MAPK/JNK pathway. Methods: Papillary thyroid cancer (TPC)-1 cells were cultured and transfected with SMAD4 overexpression plasmid or siRNA to achieve SMAD4 overexpression or knockdown, respectively. In TPC-1 cells, the mRNA and protein expression levels of SMAD4, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) were quantified using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, respectively. Cell viability and apoptosis were measured using MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. MAPK and JNK inhibitors (U0126 and SP600125) were used for rescue experiments. The sensitivity of TPC-1 cells to chemotherapeutic drugs, cisplatin and doxorubicin, was also assessed. Results: A reduction in viability and an enhancement in apoptosis (p < 0.01) were found when SMAD4 was overexpressed in TPC-1 cells. Knockdown of SMAD4 elicited opposite results (p < 0.01). Overexpression of SMAD4 caused a decrease in the activation of MAPK and JNK, as evidenced by lower levels of phosphorylated MAPK and phosphorylated JNK (p < 0.05). Results from rescue experiments indicate that the increase in cell viability after SMAD4 knockdown was reversed by MAPK/JNK inhibitors (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). Finally, overexpression of SMAD4 increased cytotoxic susceptibility of thyroid cancer cells to cisplatin/doxorubicin. Conclusion: These results indicate that SMAD4 inhibits thyroid cancer cell growth via inactivation of MAPK/JNK pathway. Overexpression of SMAD4 also increased thyroid cancer cell sensitivity to cisplatin/doxorubicin

Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analysis of Pelodiscus sinensis, a mutant Chinese soft-shell turtle

The Chinese soft-shell turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis, Testudines: Pelodiscus) shows geographical variation, and one strain is the inked turtle. Wild population numbers have dropped substantially during the past decades, and the species is now classed as vulnerable. However, little genetic data exists so this study aimed to sequence and analyze the complete mitochondrial genome. The circular double-stranded genome is 17,145 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, an L-strand replication origin and a control region. The base composition is 35.5% A, 27.3% T, 11.8% G and 25.4% C, with an AT content of 62.8%. Trionychidae species were divided into two clades based on phylogenetic analysis, and the closest genetic distance was between Trionyx axenaria and P. sinensis. This study provides basic genetic data for future studies on conservation biology, phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of this inked strain of the Chinese soft-shell turtle.</p

Synergetic effect on methylene blue adsorption to biochar with gentian violet in dyeing and printing wastewater under competitive adsorption mechanism

Decolorization of dyeing/printing wastewater by carbon-based materials has been carried out to study the adsorption of dye molecules onto adsorbent. Biomass-derived activated carbon (SAC) was sampled from cornstalk pyrolysis in the presence of K2CO3 as an activator. Adsorption of methylene blue (MB) and gentian violet (GV) onto SAC was examined to probe the mechanisms, isotherms, and kinetics of dye removal in single- or two-component systems. According to the adsorption rate in a single-component system, three stages were identified. The equilibrium adsorption capacity for MB onto SAC in the single-component system is 274.84 mg g−1 which is higher than that for GV of 266.57, meanwhile the pseudo-second-order (PSO) model would describe the adsorption kinetics with the correlation coefficient higher than 0.99. In the binary GV-MB system, presence of GV promoted MB adsorption to 325.15 mg g−1 and 287.73 mg g−1 at different GV concentrations while the PSO model was also applicable. Furthermore, differences between experimental and calculated values by the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms indicated the occurrence of competitive adsorption in the two-component system. The gained insights are beneficial for removing the multiple dyes from industrial wastewater, economically and effectively and thus paving the way to the establishment of a greener society

Resveratrol enhances brown adipocyte formation and function by activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) α1 in mice fed high-fat diet

© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Scope: Enhancing the formation and function of brown adipose tissue (BAT) increases thermogenesis and hence reduces obesity. Thus, we investigate the effects of resveratrol (Resv) on brown adipocyte formation and function in mouse interscapular BAT (iBAT). Methods and results: CD1 mice and stromal vascular cells (SVCs) isolated from iBAT were treated with Resv. Expression of brown adipogenic and thermogenic markers, and involvement of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)α1 were assessed. In vivo, Resv-enhanced expression of brown adipogenic markers, PR domain-containing 16 (PRDM16) and thermogenic genes, uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and cytochrome C in iBAT, along with smaller lipid droplets, elevated AMPKα activity and increased oxygen consumption. Meanwhile, Resv promoted expression of PRDM16, UCP1, PGC1α, cytochrome C and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) in differentiated iBAT SVCs, suggesting that Resv enhanced brown adipocyte formation and function in vitro. In addition, Resv stimulated AMPKα and oxygen consumption in differentiated iBAT SVCs. However, the promotional effects of Resv were diminished by AMPK inhibition or AMPKα1 knockout, implying the involvement of AMPKα1 in this process. Conclusion: Resv enhanced brown adipocyte formation and thermogenic function in mouse iBAT by promoting the expression of brown adipogenic markers via activating AMPKα1, which contributed to the anti-obesity effects of Resv

Integration of genome-wide identification, transcriptome and association analysis of HSP20 gene family to revealing genetic basis of floral organ number-related traits in tree peony

The HSP20 family is the major member of heat shock proteins that are essential components involved in plant growth, development, and stress response, but little is known about tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa). In this study, genome-wide analysis combining HSP20 gene family expression analysis of tree peony transcriptome was conducted, and the association between SNPs of HSP20s and flower organ number-related traits was analyzed. A total of 149 members were identified in the P. ostii genome, and divided into 10 subfamilies, most of which were classified into cytoplasm or nucleus. Interestingly, their protein sequences were highly conserved, mainly containing motif 1 or 3. In addition, a total of 38 deferentially expressed HSP20s were identified from transcriptome of flower buds with 5-carpels and polycarpels of P. ostii plants at three developmental stages, among which PoHSP89 and PoHSP133 were further cloned from 271 cultivars for association analysis. It indicated that seven or 19 pairs of associated combinations were obtained with the number of carpel, petal, stamen in PoHSP89 and PoHSP133, which could explain the phenotypic variation by 1.79% to 4.06%, and 1.92% to 12.37%, respectively. It will provide a valuable basis for clarifying the phylogenetic relationship to understand their biological function within the HSP20 gene family, and the identified candidate genes and their corresponding associated SNP loci would reveal the genetic basis on floral organ number variation and be useful for molecular marker-assisted breeding of tree peony in view to improving ornamental traits and yields