APC News

Do you know which scientist this logo represents?

The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to cutting-edge research, training, and public engagement in theoretical physics, and is one of the world’s largest scientific research institutions. Over 3-and-a-half years, Dr. Lala designed individual logos for 54 highly influential scientists, including physicists, chemists, cosmologists, and mathematicians. Today, we are taking a closer look. Can you identify the scientists behind these logos?

Finished the college entrance exam and now have no idea what to do with the long summer break?
Or has life become a little too quiet, leaving you ready for a challenge?

Introducing the Gewu Society/APC 2025 Summer Recruitment Event! Starting tomorrow, seven subjects plus a mystery minigame (yes, an actual playable game!) will give you a chance to shine this summer.

Everyone who takes the exam receives a Gewu Society 9th-anniversary commemorative keychain. After the event, anyone who passes may choose one prize from the 8th-anniversary gift pool, which currently includes a tumbler with a 316-grade stainless-steel interior, customizable keycaps whose colors and specifications can match your keyboard, a commemorative sun umbrella, and a mysterious stamp (๑❛ᴗ❛๑)! Scan the QR code on the poster and join us!

[1] “A-kun, Piece by Piece: Help Create His Character”
Bring your most imaginative ideas and help give A-kun a more fully realized identity!

[2] Deep-space greetings from Webb, ESA, and you
Visit the ESA or Webb Space Telescope website, choose a striking image of space, and let it inspire a special anniversary message for the Union. Send your submission to A-kun in a private message. Your greeting can take any form: a poem, a short essay, a single sentence, or something else entirely.
ESA Images: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images
Webb Gallery: https://webbtelescope.org/news/first-images/gallery

[3] “Letter in a Bottle”
A letter will travel among APC members across the country, beginning with A-kun and eventually returning to him. Participants can add anniversary wishes, stories about the Union, or hopes for its future. You may also tuck in a small mystery gift for the next member who receives it!
A-kun will reimburse postage upon presentation of a receipt. The completed letter will be published on the Union’s WeChat account, website, Qzone, and other platforms. Fill out the registration form and join the journey!

Today marks the ninth anniversary of APC Science Union, also known as Gewu Society. Let us wish the Union a very happy birthday!

Nine summers ago, two students fresh from their high school entrance exams were preparing to begin high school. Their shared passion for science communication brought them together, and they raised the sails of APC Science Union. On the fourth anniversary, members voted to give the Union its official Chinese name, “Gewu Society,” expressing our lasting commitment to the ideal of investigating things in order to gain knowledge.

Nine years later, we remain committed to that original mission. We have now published more than 200 original science articles and nearly 2000 illustrated science posts spanning the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, and technology, creating a growing library of science communication. Of these, 17 articles have received high praise from organizations including the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Every article and every act of science communication reflects the hard work of Union members. We offer our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has shared their enthusiasm and given their time so generously. Your commitment has carried Gewu Society to where it is today. We also thank every reader who supports us; your recognition is our greatest motivation to keep going.

One final plug for the 9th-anniversary activities in our group! If our work interests you, please watch for APC’s summer recruitment event. Whether you are an experienced science communicator or simply love learning, taking part will earn you a limited-edition gift. We look forward to meeting more people who share our interests and writing the next chapter of science communication together!

Facing a finals week that feels every bit as hard as the college entrance exam, without even being able to use a large language model? Painful, isn’t it?
If you could choose again, would you still pick your current major…?!
Who are you, really? Join our “College Majors: The Good and the Bad” survey and share your thoughts about your major at this life-changing moment!
Mystery link: https://web.wps.cn/wo/sl/v31s4lzJ?app_id=11p0tHeZm5afn5mn0NDh

Do not forget to enter the giveaway ੭ ᐕ)੭

Starting over the May Day holiday, A-kun will gradually return to posting illustrated science content. Please follow the account and show A-kun some support ε٩(๑> ₃ <)۶з
Xiaohongshu account: Gewu Society
Xiaohongshu ID: 94282243483

World Book Day | Recommend a popular science book for a chance to win a prize!

As everything begins to grow in April, the 30th World Book Day is almost here. Books are beacons for exploring the unknown, so A-kun is inviting every reader to share a favorite popular science book and help build a community reading list.

[How to Participate]
Send A-kun a private message recommending one popular science book you love. Any subject is welcome, including natural science, the humanities, and applied technology. Add a recommendation of no more than 200 Chinese characters to enter. A-kun will share the submissions on Qzone, where everyone can help expand the list.

[Prize Drawing]
All submissions will be compiled into a recommended popular science reading list. We will draw 2 winners on Qzone, and each winner may choose any print book or e-book from the list; print books will be shipped free. Full members of Gewu Society/APC Science Union receive one additional entry, giving them a second chance to win. The results will be announced at midnight on 4/23.

Submissions close on 2025/4/22. Join us!

Dear friends,

The bells of the Lunar New Year are ringing beneath the stars. As the Year of the Snake begins, let us look to the sky and celebrate together!

The figure running through “2025” in the image is Hydra. This ancient celestial serpent spans one-quarter of the sky, tracing one of the night sky’s grandest forms. As the Jiachen year ends and the Yisi year begins, may we remain bound by the same enduring passion as M68, the globular cluster in Hydra whose light has traveled 3 × 10^4 years to reach us. And may every stargazer become the serpent’s eye beside Cancer, guarding the poetry of the universe with a sincere heart.

In 2025, may the stars guide those who are lost, may science light the road to knowledge, and may the spark of wisdom endure even longer than Hydra’s starlight!

With best wishes from Gewu Society/APC Science Union

Congratulations to Yixian Studio and the APC team! Their paper has been accepted to AAAI 2025, a leading international conference, and selected for an oral presentation.

Acceptance decisions are in for the 39th edition of the conference: AAAI 2025, the 39th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. A research paper coauthored by members of Yixian Studio and APC stood out in intense international competition, earning both acceptance and an Oral Presentation slot at the conference in Philadelphia, United States. Only 4.6% of AAAI papers are selected for oral presentation, making this a particularly notable achievement in artificial intelligence.

DBLM: Spatiotemporal Resource Management via Deep Black-Litterman Model
– Rethinking spatiotemporal resource management: the DBLM framework for supply-chain optimization

Balancing supply and demand and allocating resources in a complex, changing environment is a central problem in modern supply-chain management. Time Series Supplier Allocation (TSSA) is a representative example. It is recognized as an NP-hard problem: businesses must balance supply with demand when scheduling future orders while minimizing the risk of shortages. Traditional methods, however, often struggle when supplier capacity changes over time or when the available data is unreliable.

A New Approach: DBLM

To address these challenges, we developed the Deep Black-Litterman Model (DBLM), which brings the classic Black-Litterman (BL) model from finance into supply-chain management. DBLM removes the traditional dependence on manually constructed view matrices while addressing missing data and complex spatiotemporal dynamics.

Three core features of DBLM:

1. Spatiotemporal graph neural networks (STGNNs): These networks dynamically capture changes over time and spatial relationships among suppliers, automatically generating future view matrices and substantially improving predictive accuracy and efficiency.
2. Ranking optimization: A supervisory signal based on Spearman rank correlation keeps allocation weights consistently ordered with supplier risk, allowing the model to identify low-risk, high-value suppliers more precisely.
3. Masking: A purpose-built masking mechanism prevents unreliable samples from distorting the model’s predictions, improving robustness and reliability when data quality is uneven.

Experimental Results: Stronger Performance

Experiments on two real-world datasets show that DBLM significantly outperforms existing methods:

• DBLM raises Hit Ratio@50 to 48.7% on the MCM dataset and 66.2% on the SZ dataset.
• Ablation studies further confirm the central roles of the spatiotemporal graph neural network and ranking-optimization mechanism.

Open Code and Resources

To support further research, we have released the DBLM code and related resources on GitHub. Researchers and industry practitioners alike can explore how the framework approaches supply-chain optimization.

DBLM moves beyond several limitations of traditional supply-chain optimization and offers a new way to address complex, dynamic resource-allocation problems. Follow our latest work and join the discussion about the future of supply-chain optimization!