RXFOOD: Plug-in RGB-X Fusion for Object of Interest Detection

The emergence of different sensors (Near-Infrared, Depth, etc.) is a remedy for the limited application scenarios of traditional RGB camera. The RGB-X tasks, which rely on RGB input and another type of data input to resolve specific problems, have become a popular research topic in multimedia. A crucial part in two-branch RGB-X deep neural networks is how to fuse information across modalities. Given the tremendous information inside RGB-X networks, previous works typically apply naive fusion (e.g., average or max fusion) or only focus on the feature fusion at the same scale(s). While in this paper, we propose a novel method called RXFOOD for the fusion of features across different scales within the same modality branch and from different modality branches simultaneously in a unified attention mechanism. An Energy Exchange Module is designed for the interaction of each feature map's energy matrix, who reflects the inter-relationship of different positions and different channels inside a feature map. The RXFOOD method can be easily incorporated to any dual-branch encoder-decoder network as a plug-in module, and help the original backbone network better focus on important positions and channels for object of interest detection. Experimental results on RGB-NIR salient object detection, RGB-D salient object detection, and RGBFrequency image manipulation detection demonstrate the clear effectiveness of the proposed RXFOOD.Comment: 10 page

Enhanced superconductivity in TiO epitaxial thin films

Titanium oxides have many fascinating optical and electrical properties, such as the superconductivity at 2 K in cubic titanium monoxide (TiO) polycrystalline bulk. However, the lack of TiO single crystals or epitaxial films has prevented systematic investigations on its superconductivity. Here, we report the basic superconductivity characterizations of cubic TiO films epitaxially grown on (0001)-oriented α-Al2O3 substrates. The magnetic and electronic transport measurements confirmed that TiO is a type-II superconductor and the recorded high Tc is about 7.4 K. The lower critical field (Hc1) at 1.9 K, the extrapolated upper critical field Hc2(0), and coherence length are about 18 Oe, 13.7 T, and 4.9 nm, respectively. With increasing pressure, the value of Tc shifts to lower temperature while the normal state resistivity increases. Our results on the superconducting TiO films confirm the strategy to achieve higher Tc in the epitaxial films, which may be helpful for finding more superconducting materials in various related systems

Exploration of the Regulatory Mechanism of Secondary Metabolism by Comparative Transcriptomics in Aspergillus flavus

Mycotoxins cause a huge threaten to agriculture, food safety, and human and animal life. Among them, aflatoxins (AFs) have always been considered the most potent carcinogens, and filamentous fungi from Aspergillus genus are their major producers, especially A. flavus. Although the biosynthesis path of these chemicals had been well-identified, the regulatory mechanisms controlling expression of AF gene cluster were poorly understood. In this report, genome-wide transcriptome profiles of A. flavus from AF conducing [yeast sucrose media (YES)] and non-conducing [yeast peptone media (YEP)] conditions were compared by using deep RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), and the results revealed that AF biosynthesis pathway and biosynthesis of amino acids were significantly upregulated in YES vs. YEP. Further, a novel LaeA-like methyltransferase AFLA_121330 (Lael1) was identified for the first time, to play a specific role in the regulation of AF biosynthesis. Contrary to LaeA, which gene deletion reduced the level, lael1 deletion resulted in a significant increase in AF production. Further, co-expression network analysis revealed that mitochondrial pyruvate transport and signal peptide processing were potentially involved in AF synthesis for the first time, as well as biological processes of ribosome, branched-chain amino acid biosynthetic process and translation were co-regulated by AfRafA and AfStuA. To sum up, our analyses could provide novel insights into the molecular mechanism for controlling the AF and other secondary metabolite synthesis, adding novel targets for plant breeding and making fungicides

Thermal Performance and Optimizing of Composite Trombe Wall with Temperature-Controlled DC Fan in Winter

This paper discusses an improved approach to the Trombe wall: an insulated panel is installed on the inner side, and vents are installed at the top and bottom to connect the outer and inner air layer with the interior. Direct current (DC) fans are installed in the upper vents for stable control of the air circulation. The study first analyzed the thermal performance of this composite Trombe wall, for which the heat load was 27.3% less compared to the classic Trombe wall and 32.1% less compared to the case without the Trombe wall. However, its efficiency for heating the room temperature was not high without heating. Then, we optimized the ventilation efficiency, the proportion of the Trombe wall in the room, and the type of glazing. The highest heat load savings could be achieved when the ventilation openings used high ventilation with temperature-controlled fans and the Trombe wall about 3% of the house floor area. With the use of Low-e double-glazing, we were able to save nearly 41.3% of the heat load than that with the regular single-glazing. For the composite Trombe wall, after taking into account the optimization factors, the room temperature was significantly higher, and could save nearly 52.3% of energy compared to the pre-optimization period

Enhanced superconductivity in TiO epitaxial thin films

Titanium oxides have many fascinating optical and electrical properties, such as the superconductivity at 2 K in cubic titanium monoxide (TiO) polycrystalline bulk. However, the lack of TiO single crystals or epitaxial films has prevented systematic investigations on its superconductivity. Here, we report the basic superconductivity characterizations of cubic TiO films epitaxially grown on (0001)-oriented α-Al2O3 substrates. The magnetic and electronic transport measurements confirmed that TiO is a type-II superconductor and the recorded high Tc is about 7.4 K. The lower critical field (Hc1) at 1.9 K, the extrapolated upper critical field Hc2(0), and coherence length are about 18 Oe, 13.7 T, and 4.9 nm, respectively. With increasing pressure, the value of Tc shifts to lower temperature while the normal state resistivity increases. Our results on the superconducting TiO films confirm the strategy to achieve higher Tc in the epitaxial films, which may be helpful for finding more superconducting materials in various related systems

Integrating ecosystem health diagnosis into the construction of ecological security network—A case study in Qujing City, China

With the rapid development of the social economy, habitat fragmentation is becoming more and more obvious, which seriously threatens regional ecological security and sustainable development. Understanding the ecological health status of mountainous cities is of great significance for improving the efficiency of ecological protection. However, the research on the ecosystem health and ecological network construction of mountain cities is still limited. Given the shortcomings of the research, this study constructed an ecosystem health assessment framework in Qujing City, identifying ecological sources with the help of health diagnosis results, simulating biological walking paths with circuit theory, and identifying ecological “nodes” and barrier points. The results showed that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the ecosystem health level of Qujing City increased first and then decreased. The ecological risk spillover phenomenon existed in the urban center area, which was strongly affected by human activities. (2) Based on VORE model and landscape connectivity software consensus, 27 ecological sources were mainly composed of forest and grassland, and the total area was 7068.24 km2. (3) 53 ecological corridors were identified by the circuit theory, with a length of 734.33 km, 83 ecological sandwichs, a total area of 58.59 km2, and 49 ecological barrier points, among which the ecological sandwichs mostly coincided with the river corridor. The barrier points were concentrated in the north and southeast of the study area. This study can provide a scientific reference for the ecological restoration of mountainous cities

The Effects of Topography and Urban Agglomeration on the Sea Breeze Evolution over the Pearl River Delta Region

Sea breezes are one of the most important weather processes affecting the environmental and climatic features over coastal areas, and the sea breeze from the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) has significant effects on the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. We simulated a typical sea breeze process that occurred on 27 December 2020 in the PRD region using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to quantify the effects of topography and city clusters on the development of the sea breeze circulation. The results show that: (1) the topography on the west coast of the PRD tends to block the intrusion of the sea breeze and detour it along the eastern part of the terrain in the southeast of Jiangmen. The depth of sea breeze along the position of the detour is increased by 120 m, the penetration distance is increased by 40 km, the maximum intensity of sea breeze decreases by ~0.4 m/s, and the time of maximum speed delays for 4 h. However, on the east coast, the topography promotes the sea breeze, resulting in an occurrence about 4 h earlier due to the heating effects. The depth and the speed of the sea breeze are increased by 466 m and 1.2 m/s, respectively. (2) Under the influence of Urban Heat Island Circulation (UHIC), the sea breezes reach cities near the coast an hour earlier and are later inhibited from propagating further inland. Moreover, a wind convergence zone with a speed of 3–5 m/s and a width of about 25 km is formed along the boundary of suburbs and cities in the PRD region. As a result, two important convergence areas: Foshan–Guangzhou, and Dongguan–Shenzhen are formed. (3) Overall, the topography has a more remarkable impact on the mesoscale wind field especially in the mountain and bay areas, resulting in an average speed disturbance of 2.8 m/s. The urban heat island effect is relatively small and on average it causes only ± 0.9–1.8 m/s wind speed perturbations in the periphery of two convergence areas and over PRE