Proportional feature pyramid network based on weight fusion for lane detection.

Lane detection under extreme conditions presents a highly challenging task that requires capturing each crucial pixel to predict the complex topology of lane lines and differentiate the various lane types. Existing methods predominantly rely on deep feature extraction networks with substantial parameters or the fusion of multiple prediction modules, resulting in large model sizes, embedding difficulties, and slow detection speeds. This article proposes a Proportional Feature Pyramid Network (P-FPN) through fusing the weights into the FPN for lane detection. For obtaining a more accurately detecting result, the cross refinement block is introduced in the P-FPN network. The cross refinement block takes the feature maps and anchors as inputs and gradually refines the anchors from high to low level feature maps. In our method, the high-level features are explored to predict lanes coarsely while local-detailed features are leveraged to improve localization accuracy. Extensive experiments on two widely used lane detection datasets, The Chinese Urban Scene Benchmark for Lane Detection (CULane) and the TuSimple Lane Detection Challenge (TuSimple) datasets, demonstrate that the proposed method achieves competitive results compared with several state-of-the-art approaches.

Expression of concern: SO2F2-Mediated one-pot cascade process for transformation of aldehydes (RCHO) to cyanamides (RNHCN).

Expression of concern for 'SO2F2-Mediated one-pot cascade process for transformation of aldehydes (RCHO) to cyanamides (RNHCN)' by Yiyong Zhao et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 17288-17292, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA02631J.

Integrated proteogenomic characterization of medullary thyroid carcinoma.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare neuroendocrine malignancy derived from parafollicular cells (C cells) of the thyroid. Here we presented a comprehensive multi-omics landscape of 102 MTCs through whole-exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, DNA methylation array, proteomic and phosphoproteomic profiling. Integrated analyses identified BRAF and NF1 as novel driver genes in addition to the well-characterized RET and RAS proto-oncogenes. Proteome-based stratification of MTCs revealed three molecularly heterogeneous subtypes named as: (1) Metabolic, (2) Basal and (3) Mesenchymal, which are distinct in genetic drivers, epigenetic modification profiles, clinicopathologic factors and clinical outcomes. Furthermore, we explored putative therapeutic targets of each proteomic subtype, and found that two tenascin family members TNC/TNXB might serve as potential prognostic biomarkers for MTC. Collectively, our study expands the knowledge of MTC biology and therapeutic vulnerabilities, which may serve as an important resource for future investigation on this malignancy.

Towards economic value-added growth without carbon emission embodied growth in North-North trade-An empirical analysis of US-German trade.

Nationally determined contributions were at the core of the Paris Agreement for the global response to climate change. However, with the geographical separation of production and consumption caused by international trade, traditional trade statistics can no longer accurately reflect the flows of economic value and carbon emissions between countries, which will affect the participation and implementation of global climate policies. Based on a multi-regional input-output model, we measured the embodied carbon flows of bilateral trade between developed countries represented by Germany and the US, discussed the decoupling relationship between embodied carbon and export-led growth, and finally used structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to show how the driving factors affect embodied carbon flow in German-US trade. We found that from 2000 to 2014, embodied carbon in German-US trade showed an overall downward trend. While Germany maintained a trade surplus with the US, it also maintained an embodied carbon surplus. In addition, embodied carbon and value added in Germany's exports to the US were mostly strongly decoupled, while in US exports to Germany were mostly weakly decoupled, and the two-way decoupling had been weakened in the later stage. The results of SDA showed that changes in carbon intensity clearly inhibited bilateral carbon flows, while trade scale effects promoted it. This study provided an opportunity to use trade to achieve carbon reduction and increased the possibility of providing a convenient and feasible market mechanism for emission reduction through international partnerships.

Proteomic profiling of the endogenous peptides of MRSA and MSSA.

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive bacterium that can cause diverse skin and soft tissue infections. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can cause more severe infections than methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). Nevertheless, the physiological and metabolic regulation of MSSA and MRSA has not been well studied. In light of the increased interest in endogenous peptides and recognition of the important roles that they play, we studied the endogenous peptidome of MSSA and MRSA. We identified 1,065 endogenous peptides, among which 435 were differentially expressed (DE), with 292 MSSA-abundant endogenous peptides and 35 MRSA-abundant endogenous peptides. MSSA-abundant endogenous peptides have significantly enriched "VXXXK" motif of at the C-terminus. MSSA-abundant endogenous peptides are involved in penicillin-binding and immune responses, whereas MRSA-abundant endogenous peptides are associated with antibiotic resistance and increased toxicity. Our characterization of the peptidome of MSSA and MRSA provides a rich resource for future studies to explore the functional regulation of drug resistance in S. aureus and may also help elucidate the mechanisms of its pathogenicity and the development of treatments.

Carbon footprint and water footprint in China: Similarities and differences.

Water crisis and carbon emissions are the biggest challenges facing China's environment. International trade has exacerbated the pressures of China's carbon emissions and water consumption. This work establishes a multi-regional input-output model for time series analysis. It aims to understand how human final demands affect an economy's water consumption and carbon emissions by contrasting the similarity and dissimilarity of China's carbon footprint and water footprint. The results show that >90% of China's carbon and water footprints are embodied in trade, and China was a net exporter of embodied carbon and virtual water from 1990 to 2010. This could mean that China is burdened with more environmental pollution and resource pressures in the global supply and demand chain. We find that China's main net export destination of carbon-water-intensive products are developed areas such as North America and Europe, while China's main net import sources are developing areas such as Africa and Southeast Asia. Heavy industry and transportation contain the most carbon footprint in China, while agriculture, fishery and light industry contain the most water footprint. Also, China's embodied carbon and virtual water in diverse sectors in different years vary from region to region. The similarities and differences between China's carbon and water footprints should be considered when making decisions to better governance of climate change and water crisis.

SO2F2-Mediated one-pot cascade process for transformation of aldehydes (RCHO) to cyanamides (RNHCN).

A simple, mild and practical cascade process for the direct conversion of aldehydes to cyanamides was developed featuring a wide substrate scope and great functional group tolerability. This method allows for transformations of readily available, inexpensive, and abundant aldehydes to highly valuable cyanamides in a pot, atom, and step-economical manner with a green nitrogen source. This protocol will serve as a robust tool for the installation of the cyanamide moiety in various complicated molecules.

Comparative analysis of drivers of energy consumption in China, the USA and India - A perspective from stratified heterogeneity.

With the limited amount of resources, developing effective strategies to make full use of them and decrease the energy consumption without too much sacrifice of economic output requires identifying key drivers of energy consumption growth rate as a prerequisite. Meanwhile, as top three consumers of primary energy of the world, China, the United States of America, and India burn over 45% of global fuels in 2016. Conducting an empirically comparative analysis of them can also set up pilot scheme for other economies to develop more efficient strategies for energy consumption. The paper modified the original Geographical Detector model with a different sampling method to detect the key driver of energy consumption growth rate, which filling the gap that there are possible interactions of potential factors. The results show that coal intensity is the biggest driver to change overall energy consumption growth rate in China and India. In comparison, for the United States, the leading drivers of energy use are the factors of individual incomes and oil intensity. In addition, all factors have interactions and enhance each other when influencing total energy consumption growth rate. India has the strongest factor interactions when influencing the energy consumption growth rate among the three economies, all interactions between factors in US is not significant as those in China and India. Besides providing outcomes that can contribute towards developing new strategies to use energy more efficiently, this research offers a pilot example of analyzing energy issues from the perspective of stratified heterogeneity in consideration the characteristic differences of each factor.

Interplay between external strain and oxygen vacancies on a rutile TiO2(110) Surface.

Comprehensive first-principle calculations on strained rutile TiO2(110) indicate that the formation energy of different types of oxygen vacancies depends on the external strain. For the unstrained state, the energetically favorable oxygen vacancy (EFOV) appears on the bridging site of the first layer; when 3% tensile strain along [11[over ]0] is applied, EFOV moves to the in-plane site, while 2% compressive strain along either [001] or [11[over ]0] shifts EFOV to the subbridging site. We therefore suggest that the distribution of oxygen vacancies can be engineered by external strain, which may help to improve the applications of a TiO2 surface where oxygen vacancy plays an important role.