LogicNet: A Logical Consistency Embedded Face Attribute Learning Network

Ensuring logical consistency in predictions is a crucial yet overlooked aspect in multi-attribute classification. We explore the potential reasons for this oversight and introduce two pressing challenges to the field: 1) How can we ensure that a model, when trained with data checked for logical consistency, yields predictions that are logically consistent? 2) How can we achieve the same with data that hasn't undergone logical consistency checks? Minimizing manual effort is also essential for enhancing automation. To address these challenges, we introduce two datasets, FH41K and CelebA-logic, and propose LogicNet, an adversarial training framework that learns the logical relationships between attributes. Accuracy of LogicNet surpasses that of the next-best approach by 23.05%, 9.96%, and 1.71% on FH37K, FH41K, and CelebA-logic, respectively. In real-world case analysis, our approach can achieve a reduction of more than 50% in the average number of failed cases compared to other methods

A Survey on Label-efficient Deep Image Segmentation: Bridging the Gap between Weak Supervision and Dense Prediction

The rapid development of deep learning has made a great progress in image segmentation, one of the fundamental tasks of computer vision. However, the current segmentation algorithms mostly rely on the availability of pixel-level annotations, which are often expensive, tedious, and laborious. To alleviate this burden, the past years have witnessed an increasing attention in building label-efficient, deep-learning-based image segmentation algorithms. This paper offers a comprehensive review on label-efficient image segmentation methods. To this end, we first develop a taxonomy to organize these methods according to the supervision provided by different types of weak labels (including no supervision, inexact supervision, incomplete supervision and inaccurate supervision) and supplemented by the types of segmentation problems (including semantic segmentation, instance segmentation and panoptic segmentation). Next, we summarize the existing label-efficient image segmentation methods from a unified perspective that discusses an important question: how to bridge the gap between weak supervision and dense prediction -- the current methods are mostly based on heuristic priors, such as cross-pixel similarity, cross-label constraint, cross-view consistency, and cross-image relation. Finally, we share our opinions about the future research directions for label-efficient deep image segmentation.Comment: Accepted to IEEE TPAM

Catalytic liquefaction of sewage sludge to small molecular weight chemicals

The catalytic hydrotreatment of sewage sludge, the wet solid byproducts from wastewater treatment plants, using supported Ir, Pt, Pd, Ru catalysts had been investigated with different solvent conditions. Reactions were carried out in a batch set-up at elevated temperatures (400 °C) using a hydrogen donor (formic acid (FA) in isopropanol (IPA) or hydrogen gas), with sewage sludge obtained from different sampling places. Sewage sludge conversions of up to 83.72% were achieved using Pt/C, whereas the performance for the others catalysts is different and solvent had a strong effect on the conversion rate and product constitution. The sewage sludge oils were characterised using a range of analytical techniques (GC, GC–MS, GCxGC, GPC) and were shown to consist of monomers, mainly alkanes and higher oligomers

Reactive oxygen species activated by mitochondria-specific camptothecin prodrug for enhanced chemotherapy

Camptothecin (CPT) has attracted much attention due to its potent antitumor activities. However, the undesirable physicochemical properties, including poor water-solubility, unstable lactone ring and severe adverse effects limit its further application. In this study, two water-soluble prodrugs, CPT-lysine (CPTK) and CPT-arginine (CPTR), were designed and synthesized by conjugating lysine or arginine with CPT, improving its solubility, pharmacokinetic properties and tumor penetration. Importantly, the introduction of arginine into CPTR contributed to the mitochondria-specific delivery, which increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, induced mitochondria dysfunction and enhanced cell apoptosis and in vivo anti-cancer effect. This strategy is believed to hold great potential for organelle-specific synergistic anti-tumor therapy

Wpływ społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu na kapitał marki i intencje behawioralne: Studium przypadku Nintendo

Celem pracy jest zbadanie roli społecznej odpowiedzialności biznesu (CSR) w branży gier wideo, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Nintendo jako studium przypadku. Wykorzystując piramidę CSR, model kapitału marki Aakera i teorię interesariuszy, praca bada wpływ CSR na kapitał marki i intencje behawioralne konsumentów oraz związek między tymi trzema zmiennymi. Wyniki wskazują, że CSR ma pozytywny wpływ zarówno na kapitał marki, jak i intencje behawioralne, przy czym kapitał marki działa jako mediator w relacji między CSR a intencjami behawioralnymi. Praca dodatkowo podkreśla znaczenie nadania priorytetu odpowiedzialności etycznej i ekonomicznej przy jednoczesnym uwzględnieniu CSR, ponieważ te aspekty mają największy wpływ zarówno na kapitał marki, jak i zachowanie konsumentów. Ponadto świadomość marki jest identyfikowana jako dominujący wymiar kapitału marki w wpływaniu na intencje behawioralne. Niniejsza praca dostarcza dowodów empirycznych i implikacji dla firm zajmujących się grami wideo, aby skutecznie wdrażać strategie CSR w swoich działaniach.The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the video game industry, specifically focusing on Nintendo as a case study. By applying the CSR pyramid, Aaker’s brand equity model and stakeholder theory, the study examines the impact of CSR on brand equity and consumers’ behavioural intentions, as well as the relationship between these three variables. The findings indicate that CSR has a positive influence on both brand equity and behavioural intention, with brand equity acting as a mediator in the relationship between CSR and behavioural intentions. The study further emphasizes the importance of giving priority to ethical and economic responsibilities while embracing CSR, as these aspects have the greatest impact on both brand equity and consumer behaviour. Additionally, brand awareness is identified as the dominant dimension of brand equity in affecting behavioural intentions. This study provides empirical evidence and gives implications for video game companies to effectively implement CSR strategies in their operations

Production and clinical development of nanoparticles for gene delivery

Gene therapy is a promising strategy for specific treatment of numerous gene-associated human diseases by intentionally altering the gene expression in pathological cells. A successful clinical application of gene-based therapy depends on an efficient gene delivery system. Many efforts have been attempted to improve the safety and efficiency of gene-based therapies. Nanoparticles have been proved to be the most promising vehicles for clinical gene therapy due to their tunable size, shape, surface, and biological behaviors. In this review, the clinical development of nanoparticles for gene delivery will be particularly highlighted. Several promising candidates, which are closest to clinical applications, will be briefly reviewed. Then, the recent developments of nanoparticles for clinical gene therapy will be identified and summarized. Finally, the development of nanoparticles for clinical gene delivery in future will be prospected

Experimental Study on Macroscopic Spray and Fuel Film Characteristics of E40 in a Constant Volume Chamber

In the modern industrial field, there is a strong emphasis on energy-saving and emission reduction. Increasing the amount of ethanol in ethanol–gasoline blends has the potential to replace fossil fuel gasoline more effectively, improving energy efficiency and lowering emissions. The interaction between liquid fuel film generation on the piston crown and spray impingement in the combustion chamber in the setting of GDI engines has a substantial impact on particle emissions and engine combustion. In this study, 92# gasoline and ethanol by volume are combined to create the ethanol–gasoline blend E40. The spray characteristics and film properties of both gasoline and the intermediate proportion ethanol–gasoline blend E40 were researched utilizing a constant volume combustion platform and the schlieren method and refractive index matching (RIM) approach. The results show that, for 0.1–25 operating conditions, gasoline consistently displays greater macroscopic spray characteristic parameters than E40. This shows that gasoline fuel spray evaporation is superior to E40. Similar results are seen in the analysis of wall-attached fuel films, where the volume and thickness of the gasoline film are less than those of the E40 film under the given operating conditions. In contrast, E40 consistently exhibits stronger macroscopic spray characteristic values than gasoline under the 0.1–150 and 0.4–150 operating conditions, along with lower film thickness and volume. As a result, under these two operating conditions, E40 fuel performs better during spray evaporation

pH-Triggered Sheddable Shielding System for Polycationic Gene Carriers

For improving the therapeutic efficiency of tumors and decreasing undesirable side effects, ternary complexes were developed by coating pH-sensitive PEG-b-PLL-g-succinylsulfathiazole (hereafter abbreviated as PPSD) with DNA/PEI polyplexes via electrostatic interaction. PPSD can efficiently shield the surface charge of DNA/PEI. The gene transfection efficiency of ternary complexes was lower than that of DNA/PEI at pH 7.4; however, it recovered to the same level as that of DNA/PEI at pH 6.0, attributed to the pH-triggered release of DNA/PEI from ternary complexes. Cell uptake results also exhibited the same trend as transfection at different pH values. The suitable ability for pH-triggered shielding/deshielding estimated that PPSD demonstrates potential as a shielding system for use in in vivo gene delivery