Leveraging SE(3) Equivariance for Learning 3D Geometric Shape Assembly

Shape assembly aims to reassemble parts (or fragments) into a complete object, which is a common task in our daily life. Different from the semantic part assembly (e.g., assembling a chair's semantic parts like legs into a whole chair), geometric part assembly (e.g., assembling bowl fragments into a complete bowl) is an emerging task in computer vision and robotics. Instead of semantic information, this task focuses on geometric information of parts. As the both geometric and pose space of fractured parts are exceptionally large, shape pose disentanglement of part representations is beneficial to geometric shape assembly. In our paper, we propose to leverage SE(3) equivariance for such shape pose disentanglement. Moreover, while previous works in vision and robotics only consider SE(3) equivariance for the representations of single objects, we move a step forward and propose leveraging SE(3) equivariance for representations considering multi-part correlations, which further boosts the performance of the multi-part assembly. Experiments demonstrate the significance of SE(3) equivariance and our proposed method for geometric shape assembly. Project page: https://crtie.github.io/SE-3-part-assembly/Comment: ICCV 2023, Project page: https://crtie.github.io/SE-3-part-assembly/ , Code: https://github.com/crtie/Leveraging-SE-3-Equivariance-for-Learning-3D-Geometric-Shape-Assembl

Adpositional Supersenses for Mandarin Chinese

This study adapts Semantic Network of Adposition and Case Supersenses (SNACS) annotation to Mandarin Chinese and demonstrates that the same supersense categories are appropriate for Chinese adposition semantics. We annotated 20 chapters of The Little Prince, with high interannotator agreement. The parallel corpus substantiates the applicability of construal analysis in Chinese and gives insight into the differences in construals between adpositions in two languages. The corpus can further support automatic disambiguation of adpositions in Chinese, and the common inventory of supersenses between the two languages can potentially serve cross-linguistic tasks such as machine translation

Dose-related liver injury of Geniposide associated with the alteration in bile acid synthesis and transportation.

Fructus Gardenia (FG), containing the major active constituent Geniposide, is widely used in China for medicinal purposes. Currently, clinical reports of FG toxicity have not been published, however, animal studies have shown FG or Geniposide can cause hepatotoxicity in rats. We investigated Geniposide-induced hepatic injury in male Sprague-Dawley rats after 3-day intragastric administration of 100 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg Geniposide. Changes in hepatic histomorphology, serum liver enzyme, serum and hepatic bile acid profiles, and hepatic bile acid synthesis and transportation gene expression were measured. The 300 mg/kg Geniposide caused liver injury evidenced by pathological changes and increases in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and γ-glutamytransferase (γ-GT). While liver, but not sera, total bile acids (TBAs) were increased 75% by this dose, dominated by increases in taurine-conjugated bile acids (t-CBAs). The 300 mg/kg Geniposide also down-regulated expression of Farnesoid X receptor (FXR), small heterodimer partner (SHP) and bile salt export pump (BSEP). In conclusion, 300 mg/kg Geniposide can induce liver injury with associated changes in bile acid regulating genes, leading to an accumulation of taurine conjugates in the rat liver. Taurocholic acid (TCA), taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA) as well as tauro-α-muricholic acid (T-α-MCA) are potential markers for Geniposide-induced hepatic damage

Real-time nanodiamond thermometry probing in vivo thermogenic responses

蛍光ナノダイヤモンドを用いた量子温度計により動物個体の発熱を捉えることに成功. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-09-25.Get diamonds, take temperature. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2020-10-06.Real-time temperature monitoring inside living organisms provides a direct measure of their biological activities. However, it is challenging to reduce the size of biocompatible thermometers down to submicrometers, despite their potential applications for the thermal imaging of subtissue structures with single-cell resolution. Here, using quantum nanothermometers based on optically accessible electron spins in nanodiamonds, we demonstrate in vivo real-time temperature monitoring inside Caenorhabditis elegans worms. We developed a microscope system that integrates a quick-docking sample chamber, particle tracking, and an error correction filter for temperature monitoring of mobile nanodiamonds inside live adult worms with a precision of ±0.22°C. With this system, we determined temperature increases based on the worms’ thermogenic responses during the chemical stimuli of mitochondrial uncouplers. Our technique demonstrates the submicrometer localization of temperature information in living animals and direct identification of their pharmacological thermogenesis, which may allow for quantification of their biological activities based on temperature

Insights into the reduction of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and mobile antibiotic resistance genes by black soldier fly larvae in chicken manure

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) from animal manure has raised concerns about the potential threats to public health. The bioconversion of animal manure with insect larvae, such as the black soldier fly larvae (BSFL, Hermetia illucens [L.]), is a promising technology for quickly attenuating ARB while also recycling waste. In this study, we investigated BSFL conversion systems for chicken manure. Using metagenomic analysis, we tracked ARB and evaluated the resistome dissemination risk by investigating the co-occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and bacterial taxa in a genetic context. Our results indicated that BSFL treatment effectively mitigated the relative abundance of ARB, ARGs, and MGEs by 34.9%, 53.3%, and 37.9%, respectively, within 28 days. Notably, the transferable ARGs decreased by 30.9%, indicating that BSFL treatment could mitigate the likelihood of ARG horizontal transfer and thus reduce the risk of ARB occurrence. In addition, the significantly positive correlation links between antimicrobial concentration and relative abundance of ARB reduced by 44.4%. Moreover, using variance partition analysis (VPA), we identified other bacteria as the most important factor influencing ARB, explaining 20.6% of the ARB patterns. Further analysis suggested that antagonism of other bacteria on ARB increased by 1.4 times, while nutrient competition on both total nitrogen and crude fat increased by 2.8 times. Overall, these findings provide insight into the mechanistic understanding of ARB reduction during BSFL treatment of chicken manure and provide a strategy for rapidly mitigating ARB in animal manure.This work was funding by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41977279), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662020SKPY002 and 2662022SKYJ006), the Key Technology R & D Program of Hubei Province (2021BBA258) and the Major Project of Hubei Hongshan Laboratory (2022hszd013).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Effects of Different Freezing Methods on the Quality of Sea Bass

In this study, the effects of different freezing methods namely air freezing, cryogenic freezing, freezing after dipping in a refrigerating medium consisting of 20% ethanol (V/V), 20% propylene glycol (V/V), 5 g/100 mL trehalose aqueous solution and freezing after dipping in anhydrous ethanol on the quality of sea bass were investigated. The results showed that the freezing rates of refrigerating medium freezing and anhydrous ethanol freezing were 8.20 and 6.25 cm/h, which were 32.80 and 25.00 times as high as that of air freezing, respectively. The microstructure of frozen sea bass showed that the small ice crystals formed between muscle tissues were small, and the muscle fibers were closely arranged. Refrigerating medium freezing was more conducive to maintaining the water-holding capacity (WHC) of muscle tissues and slowing down the migration of immobilized water, and had a significant effect on maintaining the freshness, texture properties and protein thermostability of fish fillets. In summary, refrigerating medium freezing can effectively slow down the quality deterioration of frozen sea bass. The results of this study will provide a theoretical and practical basis for improving the storage quality of frozen aquatic products

Subsurface Digital Twin and Emergence

Subsurface characterization stands at the nexus of humanity's growing demands for materials, energy, and safety amid the burgeoning population and rising living standards. However, challenges in subsurface characterization, rooted in conventional practices, functional silos, limited data density, and technological constraints, impede business efficacy and sustainable development. As societies' expectations shift and industries evolve, a paradigm shift is required in the human-machine relationship and the way we organize work. To meet these challenges and ensure responsible human progress, a systematic solution is needed. This thesis investigates the concept of a subsurface digital twin as a boundary object that bridges disciplines, scales, and uncertainties, fostering collaboration and real-time informed decision-making. It explores the evolution of subsurface characterization from data-sparse and theory-dependent practices to a holistic digital twin framework. The thesis identifies critical technical and sociotechnical challenges, including data scarcity, overreliance on empirical relationships, functional silos, and trust. The thesis demonstrates how a subsurface digital twin can enhance cross-functional collaboration and address critical challenges through real-world examples. It highlights the use of geoanalytics and machine learning to predict total organic carbon content and formation brittleness, showcasing the digital twin's power in multidisciplinary workflows. Furthermore, it proposes a solution for uncertainty reduction through integration and laid out future steps for the development of the subsurface digital model, construction of pseudo/surrogate models for probabilistic simulation complex and time-consuming numerical simulations, and use of the digital twin to bridge workflows between data-rich and data-scarce regions across scales. The thesis outlines the design and value-creating functions of the subsurface digital twin system, facilitating adaptive resolution and agile implementation. It envisions a future where such digital twins revolutionize decision-making, from individual project optimization to enterprise-wide insights. The thesis underscores the importance of strategic investment in digital twins for long-term returns and as a cornerstone of the evolving human-machine relationship and advances the concept of a subsurface digital twin as a transformative approach to subsurface characterization, fostering collaboration, tackling challenges, and paving the way for sustainable progress in a rapidly changing world.S.M

The Use Of Nanoparticles To Assess Subsurface Flow Heterogeneity

Understanding subsurface flow condition is difficult, but very important. Tracer tests have been done as a diagnostic tool to assess the subsurface fluid flow conditions. However conventional ionic tracers are very diffusive, thus during a prolonged field test, the resolution of the breakthrough curve are usually tempered by their rapid rate of diffusion. Inert nanoparticle tracers are much larger than ionic tracers, and not very diffusive. Laboratory scaled dual nanoparticle and chemical tracer experiments in both aqueous and CO2 based systems are demonstrated in this dissertation, as well as a field test in a "single crack" sub-horizontal bedrock fracture system. These tests demonstrated the CDot nanoparticles behave inertly both in the laboratory and in the natural groundwater conditions. Differential arrival patterns between inert nanoparticle tracers and ionic tracers suggest that the particle tracers give higher resolution breakthroughs. Moreover, in the field test, channelized flow is hinted by the erratic arrival of inert particle tracer, which is further confirmed by the largely retarded arrival of surface area dependent sorbing ionic trace injected simultaneously