PHYFU: Fuzzing Modern Physics Simulation Engines

A physical simulation engine (PSE) is a software system that simulates physical environments and objects. Modern PSEs feature both forward and backward simulations, where the forward phase predicts the behavior of a simulated system, and the backward phase provides gradients (guidance) for learning-based control tasks, such as a robot arm learning to fetch items. This way, modern PSEs show promising support for learning-based control methods. To date, PSEs have been largely used in various high-profitable, commercial applications, such as games, movies, virtual reality (VR), and robotics. Despite the prosperous development and usage of PSEs by academia and industrial manufacturers such as Google and NVIDIA, PSEs may produce incorrect simulations, which may lead to negative results, from poor user experience in entertainment to accidents in robotics-involved manufacturing and surgical operations. This paper introduces PHYFU, a fuzzing framework designed specifically for PSEs to uncover errors in both forward and backward simulation phases. PHYFU mutates initial states and asserts if the PSE under test behaves consistently with respect to basic Physics Laws (PLs). We further use feedback-driven test input scheduling to guide and accelerate the search for errors. Our study of four PSEs covers mainstream industrial vendors (Google and NVIDIA) as well as academic products. We successfully uncover over 5K error-triggering inputs that generate incorrect simulation results spanning across the whole software stack of PSEs.Comment: This paper is accepted at The 38th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering, a.k.a. ASE 2023. Please cite the published version as soon as this paper appears in the conference publication

Telitacicept for autoimmune nephropathy

B cells and the humoral immunity are important players in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. BAFF (also known as BLYS) and a proliferation-inducing ligand APRIL are required for the maintenance of the B-cell pool and humoral immunity. BAFF and APRIL can promote B-cell differentiation, maturation, and plasma cell antibody secretion. BAFF/APRIL overexpression has been identified in several autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, IgA nephropathy, etc. Telitacicept, a novel fully human TACI-Fc fusion protein that binds both BAFF and APRIL, was approved in China in March 2021 for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus at a recommended dose of 160 mg/w subcutaneously and is in clinical trials for the treatment of multiple indications in other autoimmune diseases. In this review, we explored telitacicept’s mechanism of action and clinical data. In addition, the immune features of autoimmune nephropathy were discussed, emphasizing lupus nephritis, IgA nephropathy, and membranous nephropathy

NutriFD: Proving the medicinal value of food nutrition based on food-disease association and treatment networks

There is rising evidence of the health benefit associated with specific dietary interventions. Current food-disease databases focus on associations and treatment relationships but haven't provided a reasonable assessment of the strength of the relationship, and lack of attention on food nutrition. There is an unmet need for a large database that can guide dietary therapy. We fill the gap with NutriFD, a scoring network based on associations and therapeutic relationships between foods and diseases. NutriFD integrates 9 databases including foods, nutrients, diseases, genes, miRNAs, compounds, disease ontology and their relationships. To our best knowledge, this database is the only one that can score the associations and therapeutic relationships of everyday foods and diseases by weighting inference scores of food compounds to diseases. In addition, NutriFD demonstrates the predictive nature of nutrients on the therapeutic relationships between foods and diseases through machine learning models, laying the foundation for a mechanistic understanding of food therapy

Disorder induced field effect transistor in bilayer and trilayer graphene

We propose use of disorder to produce a field effect transistor (FET) in biased bilayer and trilayer graphene. Modulation of the bias voltage can produce large variations in the conductance when the disorder's effects are confined to only one of the graphene layers. This effect is based on the bias voltage's ability to select which of the graphene layers carries current, and is not tied to the presence of a gap in the density of states. In particular, we demonstrate this effect in models of gapless ABA-stacked trilayer graphene, gapped ABC-stacked trilayer graphene, and gapped bilayer graphene.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Moving Deep Learning into Web Browser: How Far Can We Go?

Recently, several JavaScript-based deep learning frameworks have emerged, making it possible to perform deep learning tasks directly in browsers. However, little is known on what and how well we can do with these frameworks for deep learning in browsers. To bridge the knowledge gap, in this paper, we conduct the first empirical study of deep learning in browsers. We survey 7 most popular JavaScript-based deep learning frameworks, investigating to what extent deep learning tasks have been supported in browsers so far. Then we measure the performance of different frameworks when running different deep learning tasks. Finally, we dig out the performance gap between deep learning in browsers and on native platforms by comparing the performance of TensorFlow.js and TensorFlow in Python. Our findings could help application developers, deep-learning framework vendors and browser vendors to improve the efficiency of deep learning in browsers

Study on the oasification process and its effects on soil particle distribution in the south rim of the Tarim Basin, China in recent 30 years

AbstractOasification is an important geography process in arid areas, although little research attention has been paid to the process compared to desertification. In fact, studying oasification not only directly reveals its effects on the environment, but can also uncover causes of desertification through examination of oasification causes and processes. In this study, oases located on the south rim of Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, China, were selected as a regional study area. For assessing changes in oases area over the past 30years, four images taken in September in 1977, 1992, 2000 and 2010 were used. To further investigate the effects of oasification on the environment, the Cele Oasis was specifically selected as a representative study area, and soil particle-size distributions (PSD) were analyzed. The results indicated that the oasification process was unmistakable and should receive more attention in the southern marginal zone of the Tarim Basin. In addition, the results also revealed that oasification can have positive effects on the soil environment. In terms of management implications, it is essential that farmland remain in continuous use after reclamation; otherwise, reclamation will weaken oasification and intensify desertification