Efficient Multi-Scale Attention Module with Cross-Spatial Learning

Remarkable effectiveness of the channel or spatial attention mechanisms for producing more discernible feature representation are illustrated in various computer vision tasks. However, modeling the cross-channel relationships with channel dimensionality reduction may bring side effect in extracting deep visual representations. In this paper, a novel efficient multi-scale attention (EMA) module is proposed. Focusing on retaining the information on per channel and decreasing the computational overhead, we reshape the partly channels into the batch dimensions and group the channel dimensions into multiple sub-features which make the spatial semantic features well-distributed inside each feature group. Specifically, apart from encoding the global information to re-calibrate the channel-wise weight in each parallel branch, the output features of the two parallel branches are further aggregated by a cross-dimension interaction for capturing pixel-level pairwise relationship. We conduct extensive ablation studies and experiments on image classification and object detection tasks with popular benchmarks (e.g., CIFAR-100, ImageNet-1k, MS COCO and VisDrone2019) for evaluating its performance.Comment: Accepted to ICASSP202

Effects of APP/SiO2 polyelectrolyte composites on wood-plastic composite

This paper was aimed to evaluate process of APP/SiO2, which used Nano-crystalline cellulose (NCC) modified ammonium polyphosphate (APP) as anionic polyelectrolyte (a-APP), and cationic polyethyleneimine (PEI) modified Nano–SiO2 as cationic polyelectrolyte (c-SiO2). The flame retardant system was built due to the reaction of a-APP and c-SiO2. Polyelectrolyte composite of a-APP/c-SiO2 were then assembled on the surface of wood powder and HDPE composites. The effect of polyelectrolytes on wood-plastic composites (WPC) were investigated and the results showed that the flame-retardant property of WPC treated by polyelectrolyte was the best. The average heat release rate was 152.8kW/m2, the peak heat release rate was 352.2kW/m2, the total heat release was 108.5kW/m2, the limit oxygen index reached the maximum was 27.5%, compared with the WPC treated by APP, the elongation at break increased by 60.4%. After anionic and cationic polyelectrolyte treatment, making anionized a-APP and cationized c-SiO2 due to the charge interaction, in the WPC combustion process to form a dense, uniform WPC carbon layer, thereby reducing the heat transfer to the material inside, and increasing the flame retardancy of WPC composites

Clean process to utilize the potassium-containing phosphorous rock with simultaneous HCl and KCl production via the steam-mediated reactions

In this paper, a clean process based on the steam-mediated reactions for simultaneous HCl and KCl production using the potassium (K)-containing phosphorous rock as a precursor is proposed. Through hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching, not only the generation of H3PO4and CaCl2 (via further precipitation) were realized but also the acid-insoluble residue [phosphorous-rock slag (PS)] rich in elements, that is, K, Al, Si, and so on, in the form of microcline (KAlSi3O8) and quartz (SiO2) was obtained and became readily available for further HCl and KCl generation. Over 95 % of the elements, that is, K, Al, and Si, come into the final products, and the overall acid consumption (based on HCl) is significantly reduced (90%) due to recovery of acids. The impacts of the key operational parameters such as temperature, duration, and reagent impregnate ratio were rigorously analyzed via a supervised machine learning approach, and the optimal conditions were determined [reaction temperature, X1, 850 °C; reaction duration, X2, 40 min; and impregnate ratio (PS over CaCl2), X3, 2.5] with approximately ± 10% uncertainties. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that the introduction of steam to PS + CaCl2 not only enhances the chemical potential for the formation of HCl and KCl but also provides the transport advantage in continuously removing the generated products, that is, HCl and KCl, out of the system. Molecular simulation indicates that the presence of both steam and SiO2 in the PS matrix plays critical roles in decomposing PS + CaCl2 at high temperature. The shrinking core model shows that both the intrinsic kinetics and transport are influential with the activation energy being around 14.63 kJ/mol. The potential reaction pathway is postulated

Vegetation response to rising CO2 amplifies contrasts in water resources between global wet and dry land areas

Rising atmospheric CO2 impacts on vegetation physiological processes can alter land feedbacks on precipitation and water resources, but understanding of regional differences in these changes is uncertain. We investigate the impact of rising CO2 on land water resources for different wetness levels using four Earth system models. We find an overall tendency of runoff to increase across all wetness levels. However, runoff increases in wet regions are much larger than those in dry regions, especially in wet seasons. This substantial amplification of contrasts between wet and dry regions increases at 3% per 100 ppm increase in CO2 relative to the historical period, reaching 18% for a quadrupling of CO2, quantified by a new wetting contrast index (WCI). Physiological effects suppress evapotranspiration more in wet than dry regions, which has a larger contribution than radiative forcing to the amplification of runoff contrast, reshaping the spatial distribution of future land water resources

SMAP L4 Assessment of the US Northern Plains 2017 Flash Drought

A rapidly developing "flash drought" occurred over the US Northern Plains in the summer of 2017, spurred by unusually high temperatures and strong evaporative demand. The impacts of the drought included widespread reductions in rangeland and agricultural productivity that cascaded into significant economic losses. Here, we used satellite information from the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission to clarify the nature and impact of the drought on regional vegetation growth. The model enhanced SMAP Level 4 Soil Moisture (L4SM) and Carbon (L4C) products were used with other ancillary data to examine spatial and seasonal anomalies in surface to root zone soil moisture and vegetation productivity (GPP). We find that the flash drought was triggered by a mid-July heat wave, conditioned by exceptionally low spring rainfall. The drought resulted in anomalous low soil moisture levels and regional GPP collapse, coinciding with severe (D3) to exceptional (D4) drought conditions indicated from the US Drought Monitor. The SMAP L4C GPP anomalies closely tracked reported county-level crop production anomalies for the major regional crop types, indicating generally larger productivity decline in managed croplands than surrounding natural areas. The SMAP L4 global products provide an effective indicator of vegetation growth changes and moisture-related restrictions on ecosystem productivity that are complementary with more traditional drought assessment tools

DNA-Mediated Interferon Signature Induction by SLE Serum Occurs in Monocytes Through Two Pathways: A Mechanism to Inhibit Both Pathways

A primary mechanism for activation of innate immunity is recognition of damage or pathogen associated molecular patterns by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Nucleic acid is a damage associated molecular pattern molecule that when internalized into a monocyte and recognized by intracellular nucleic acid sensing toll like receptors will cause production of type 1 interferon. The process by which DNA or RNA is delivered into the cytosol of monocytes in systemic lupus erythematosus remains incompletely understood, and therapeutic approaches to prevent DNA-mediated monocyte activation are needed. We identified two mechanisms for internalization of DNA by monocytes. IgG-bound DNA was internalized by interacting with Fc gamma receptor IIa, while high-mobility group box-1 protein-bound DNA was internalized by interacting with the receptor for advanced glycation end products. Both pathways contribute to an inflammatory phenotype in monocytes exposed to serum from patients with SLE. Moreover, both of these pathways can be inhibited by a pentapeptide, DWEYS, which is a DNA mimetope. In one instance DWEYS directly competes with DNA for antibody binding and in the other DWEYS binds high-mobility group box-1 and blocks its interaction with RAGE. Our data highlight distinct pathways involved in nucleic acid enters monocytes in SLE, and identify a potential therapeutic to prevent nucleic acid internalization in SLE

Identification of CD163 as an antiinflammatory receptor for HMGB1-haptoglobin complexes

Secreted by activated cells or passively released by damaged cells, extracellular HMGB1 is a prototypical damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) inflammatory mediator. During the course of developing extracorporeal approaches to treating injury and infection, we inadvertently discovered that haptoglobin, the acute phase protein that binds extracellular hemoglobin and targets cellular uptake through CD163, also binds HMGB1. Haptoglobin-HMGB1 complexes elicit the production of antiinflammatory enzymes (heme oxygenase-1) and cytokines (e.g., IL-10) in WT but not in CD163-deficient macrophages. Genetic disruption of haptoglobin or CD163 expression significantly enhances mortality rates in standardized models of intra-abdominal sepsis in mice. Administration of haptoglobin to WT and to haptoglobin gene-deficient animals confers significant protection. These findings reveal a mechanism for haptoglobin modulation of the inflammatory action of HMGB1, with significant implications for developing experimental strategies targeting HMGB1-dependent inflammatory diseases

Performance of Linear and Nonlinear Two-Leaf Light Use Efficiency Models at Different Temporal Scales

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Predictors of failure of early neurological improvement in early time window following endovascular thrombectomy: a multi-center study

Background and objectiveEndovascular thrombectomy (EVT) has become the gold standard in the treatment of acute stroke patients. However, not all patients respond well to this treatment despite successful attempts. In this study, we aimed to identify variables associated with the failure of improvements following EVT.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed prospectively collected data of 292 ischemic stroke patients with large vessel occlusion who underwent EVT at three academic stroke centers in China from January 2019 to February 2022. All patients were above 18 years old and had symptoms onset ≤6 h. A decrease of more than 4 points on the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) after 24 h compared with admission or an NIHSS of 0 or 1 after 24 h was defined as early neurological improvement (ENI), whereas a lack of such improvement in the NIHSS was defined as a failure of early neurological improvement (FENI). A favorable outcome was defined as a modified Rankin scale (mRS) score of 0–2 after 90 days.ResultsA total of 183 patients were included in the final analyses, 126 of whom had FENI, while 57 had ENI. Favorable outcomes occurred in 80.7% of patients in the ENI group, in contrast to only 22.2% in the FENI group (p < 0.001). Mortality was 7.0% in the ENI group in comparison to 42.1% in the FENI group (p < 0.001). The multiple logistic regression model showed that diabetes mellitus [OR (95% CI), 2.985 (1.070–8.324), p = 0.037], pre-stroke mRS [OR (95% CI), 6.221 (1.421–27.248), p = 0.015], last known well to puncture time [OR (95% CI), 1.010 (1.003–1.016), p = 0.002], modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction = 3 [OR (95% CI), 0.291 (0.122–0.692), p = 0.005], and number of mechanical thrombectomy passes [OR (95% CI), 1.582 (1.087–2.302), p = 0.017] were the predictors of FENI.ConclusionDiabetes mellitus history, pre-stroke mRS, longer last known well-to-puncture time, lack of modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction = 3, and the number of mechanical thrombectomy passes are the predictors of FENI. Future large-scale studies are required to validate these findings