Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neurodegeneration severity can be predicted from early microglia alterations monitored in vivo in a mouse model of chronic glaucoma

ABSTRACT Microglia serve key homeostatic roles, and respond to neuronal perturbation and decline with a high spatiotemporal resolution. The course of all chronic CNS pathologies is thus paralleled by local microgliosis and microglia activation, which begin at early stages of the disease. However, the possibility of using live monitoring of microglia during early disease progression to predict the severity of neurodegeneration has not been explored. Because the retina allows live tracking of fluorescent microglia in their intact niche, here we investigated their early changes in relation to later optic nerve neurodegeneration. To achieve this, we used the DBA/2J mouse model of inherited glaucoma, which develops progressive retinal ganglion cell degeneration of variable severity during aging, and represents a useful model to study pathogenic mechanisms of retinal ganglion cell decline that are similar to those in human glaucoma. We imaged CX3CR1+/GFP microglial cells in vivo at ages ranging from 1 to 5 months by confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO) and quantified cell density and morphological activation. We detected early microgliosis at the optic nerve head (ONH), where axonopathy first manifests, and could track attenuation of this microgliosis induced by minocycline. We also observed heterogeneous and dynamic patterns of early microglia activation in the retina. When the same animals were aged and analyzed for the severity of optic nerve pathology at 10 months of age, we found a strong correlation with the levels of ONH microgliosis at 3 to 4 months. Our findings indicate that live imaging and monitoring the time course and levels of early retinal microgliosis and microglia activation in glaucoma could serve as indicators of future neurodegeneration severity. Highlighted Article: This study provides the first evidence that in vivo monitoring of the time course and dynamics of early microglia alterations might serve as sensitive predictors of late chronic neurodegeneration in a mouse model of inherited glaucoma.
Twilight of Authority

Nisbet argues that the political community in the West has broken down after two centuries of ascendancy. He believes that the West has entered 'a twilight age' that will be characterised by political and cultural crises similar to those that preceded the fall of Rome. He foresees the displacement of traditional, liberal society by centralised, collectivised power -- what he terms 'the war society', driven by the rising power and expense of a hugely scaled military. Nisbet offers no prophecy of inevitable decline; rather, he means to call attention to: the problem of finding the means of generating a social order within which the individual can live and derive a spirit of initiative.
Multitemporal ERS-1 SAR data for crop classification : A sequential-masking approach

La technique de masquage sequentiel basee sur des procedures de photo-interpretation permet de differencier les caracteristiques des images en utilisant une serie d'images multidates. Dans cette etude, un jeu de neuf images radar ERS-1 est analyse au moyen de cette technique pour determiner les dates les plus hâtives a partir desquelles il est possible d'identifier les differents types de culture dans une region agricole du sud de l'Ontario, Canada. Les profils temporels de retrodiffusion radar des cultures ont ete generes a partir d'images radar etalonnees. A partir de ces profils temporels de retrodiffusion, on a realise des classifications par champ individuel en appliquant la technique de masquage sequentiel aux donnees radar multidates acquises en debut de saison et en mi-saison. Les resultats demontrent qu'a l'aide de seulement trois images acquises le 31 mai, le 16 juin et le 5 juillet, il est possible de differencier le ble d'hiver, luzerne/foin, orge/avoine, le soja et le mais avec une precision globale de validation de 88,5% et un coefficient Kappa de 0,85.
Extending reservoir computing with random static projections: a hybrid between extreme learning and RC

Reservoir Computing is a relatively new paradigm in the field of neural networks that has shown promise in applications where traditional recurrent neural networks have performed poorly. The main advantage of using reservoirs is that only the output weights are trained, reducing computational requirements significantly. There is a trade-off, however, between the amount of memory a reservoir can possess and its capability of mapping data into a highly non-linear transformation space. A new, hybrid architecture, combining a reservoir with an extreme learning machine, is presented which overcomes this trade-off, whose performance is demonstrated on a 4th order polynomial modelling task and an isolated spoken digit recognition task.
Effective connectivity of ascending and descending frontalthalamic pathways during sustained attention: Complex brain network interactions in adolescence

Frontal–thalamic interactions are crucial for bottom‐up gating and top‐down control, yet have not been well studied from brain network perspectives. We applied network modeling of fMRI signals [dynamic causal modeling (DCM)] to investigate frontal–thalamic interactions during an attention task with parametrically varying levels of demand. fMRI was collected while subjects participated in a sustained continuous performance task with low and high attention demands. 162 competing model architectures were employed in DCM to evaluate hypotheses on bilateral frontal–thalamic connections and their modulation by attention demand, selected at a second level using Bayesian model selection. The model architecture evinced significant contextual modulation by attention of ascending (thalamus → dPFC) and descending (dPFC → thalamus) pathways. However, modulation of these pathways was asymmetric: while positive modulation of the ascending pathway was comparable across attention demand, modulation of the descending pathway was significantly greater when attention demands were increased. Increased modulation of the (dPFC → thalamus) pathway in response to increased attention demand constitutes novel evidence of attention‐related gain in the connectivity of the descending attention pathway. By comparison demand‐independent modulation of the ascending (thalamus → dPFC) pathway suggests unbiased thalamic inputs to the cortex in the context of the paradigm. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2557–2570, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Power-aware design of IP core networks under general traffic demands

We consider the problem of minimizing the power consumption of IP core networks by means of power-aware design and auto-configuration of the Points of Presence (PoPs), given general traffic demands on the links. Although the problem is in general NP-complete, we give an optimal algorithm for an important variant in which the number of ports on each line-card chassis is 2. For the general problem, we design two approximation algorithms with respective P=2 and 2 lnN approximation ratios, where P is the number of ports on each line-card chassis, and N is the number of chassis within the PoP. When the traffic demands are correlated, we prove that our algorithms are optimal. Extensive simulations demonstrate that our PoP design and auto-configuration algorithms significantly outperform existing design solutions over a wide range of traffic instances.
The Small GTPase RhoA Is Required to Maintain Spinal Cord Neuroepithelium Organization and the Neural Stem Cell Pool

The regulation of adherens junctions (AJs) is critical for multiple events during CNS development, including the formation and maintenance of the neuroepithelium. We have addressed the role of the small GTPase RhoA in the developing mouse nervous system using tissue-specific conditional gene ablation. We show that, in the spinal cord neuroepithelium, RhoA is essential to localize N-cadherin and β-catenin to AJs and maintain apical–basal polarity of neural progenitor cells. Ablation of RhoA caused the loss of AJs and severe abnormalities in the organization of cells within the neuroepithelium, including decreased neuroepithelial cell proliferation and premature cell-cycle exit, reduction of the neural stem cell pool size, and the infiltration of neuroepithelial cells into the lumen of the ventricle. We also show that, in the absence of RhoA, its effector, mammalian diaphanous-related formin1 (mDia1), does not localize to apical AJs in which it likely stabilizes intracellular adhesion by promoting local actin polymerization and microtubule organization. Furthermore, expressing a dominant-negative form of mDia1 in neural stem/progenitor cells results in a similar phenotype compared with that of the RhoA conditional knock-out, namely the loss of AJs and apical polarity. Together, our data show that RhoA signaling is necessary for AJ regulation and for the maintenance of mammalian neuroepithelium organization preventing precocious cell-cycle exit and differentiation.
Intra-individual variability in the sleep of senior and junior rugby league athletes during the competitive season

ABSTRACT This study examined the sleep intra-individual variability (IIV) of rugby league athletes across senior and junior levels during one week of the competitive season. Forty-five rugby league athletes across elite senior, sub-elite senior and elite junior levels each wore actigraphy monitors for seven days during the competitive season, and completed a subjective sleep diary each morning upon waking. Linear mixed models were used to assess differences in sleep measures between playing levels. Intra-individual standard deviations for each sleep measure were calculated for each athlete to determine their respective IIV, allowing differences in IIV between groups to be assessed. Elite junior athletes went to bed later (ES = 0.94 ± 0.50, p < 0.05) and woke later than elite senior athletes (ES = 0.94 ± 0.40, p < 0.05), while also displaying greater IIV when considering time in bed (ES = 1.14 ± 0.60, p < 0.05) and sleep duration (ES = 1.53 ± 0.64, p < 0.05) compared with elite senior athletes. Similarly, IIV was more pronounced in elite junior players for time in bed (ES = 0.88 ± 0.60, p < 0.05) and sleep duration (ES = 1.03 ± 0.64, p < 0.05) compared with sub-elite senior athletes. Despite this, elite junior athletes still obtained sufficient sleep duration, efficiency and quality. The outcomes of this investigation show a distinct difference in the habitual sleep-wake patterns of senior and junior rugby league athletes, and show how sleep IIV differs between playing levels in rugby league.
Functional specificity of rat vibrissal primary afferents

In this study, we propose to analyze the peripheral vibrissal system specificity through its neuronal responses. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analyses were used, which required the implementation of a binary classifier (artificial neural network) trained to identify the applied stimulus. The training phase consisted of the observation of a predetermined amount of vibrissal sweeps on two surfaces of different texture and similar roughness. Our results suggest that the specificity of the peripheral vibrissal system easily permits the discrimination between perceived stimuli, quantified through neuronal responses, and that it can be evaluated through an ROC curve analysis. We found that such specificity makes a linear binary classifier capable of detecting differences between stimuli with five sweeps at most.
Valido: A Visual Tool for Validating Sense Annotations

In this paper we present Valido, a tool that supports the difficult task of validating sense choices produced by a set of annotators. The validator can analyse the semantic graphs resulting from each sense choice and decide which sense is more coherent with respect to the structure of the adopted lexicon. We describe the interface and report an evaluation of the tool in the validation of manual sense annotations.
An Incremental Economic Analysis of Establishing Early Successional Habitat for Biodiversity

Early successional habitat (ESH) is an important component of natural landscapes and is crucial to maintaining biodiversity. ESH also impacts endangered species. The extent of forest disturbances resulting in ESH has been diminishing, and foresters have developed timber management regimes using standard silvicultural techniques that enhance ESH. We developed a financial framework to evaluate these ESH-enhancing forest management regimes, driven by differences in timber harvest costs and timber revenue. The economic model was applied to on-the-ground prescriptions in the Nantahala National Forest (NNF) designed to increase biodiversity and foster improved public awareness of the importance of ESH. Bats, a current conservation concern, commonly exploit ESH and were the focus of our prescriptions. The prescriptions were based on shelterwood cuts of varying patch size, spacing between the cuts, and the trail area required to move from patch to patch. The results showed that prescriptions with large patch areas were effective in increasing ESH, with minimal impact on the financial performance of timber harvesting operations. This information can be used to minimize financial losses while catering to wildlife species that prefer ESH, in addition to increasing overall biodiversity.
Andean Cloud Forest Tree Lines

Abstract We challenge the paradigm of natural tree line formation in the equatorial Andes with an alternate view that incorporates the human dimension. We present both direct and indirect evidence of anthropogenic influences on cloud forest tree line location; these human influences should be incorporated in definitions of Andean tree lines as (1) the extensification of grassland for grazing and potato cultivation for the upper limit, and (2) the intensification of the agricultural frontier, fuelwood gathering, and timber extraction for the lower limit. Although we do not claim to fully debunk the prevalent paradigm of tree line dynamics (which is descriptive, depends on the natural sciences, and sees tree lines as physically controlled), we hope to achieve increased recognition for a challenging alternate view of tropical tree lines as functional, resource-use dependent, and human-driven. Management plans and overall tropical montane cloud forest conservation strategies need to consider this new perspective and incorporate a proactive and assertive approach toward restoration of Andean forests in a way that will encourage landscape diversity in tropical mountain ecoregions.
Coordination costs and the redispersion of industrial activities

This paper sheds the light on an underemphasized centripetal force in a Venables framework: in such kind of models, the fall in transport costs (in core-periphery equilibrium) increases the complexity of production processes, through an increase in the number of varieties of intermediate goods. We argue that this increasing complexity strengthens the need, for downstream firms, to be close to their suppliers. If the coordination costs that arise from this complexity effect are strong enough, the redispersion of industrial activities in the last stage of the integration process does not take place. Resumen Este articulo pone de manifiesto la fuerza centripeta subenfatizada de un marco de Venables: en tal clase de modelos, la caida en los precios del transporte (bajo un equilibrio nucleo-periferia) incrementa la complejidad de los procesos de produccion, mediante el incremento del numero de variedades de bienes intermedios. Argumentamos aqui que esta creciente complejidad fortalece la necesidad, para las empresas situadas posteriormente en el flujo productivo, de estar cerca de sus suministradores. Si los costos de coordinacion que surgen de este efecto de complejidad son lo suficientemente fuertes, no sucedera la redispersion de actividades industriales de la ultima etapa del proceso de integracion.
A Framework for Online Segmentation and Classification of Modeled Actions Performed in the Context of Unmodeled Ones

In this paper, we propose a discriminative framework for online simultaneous segmentation and classification of modeled visual actions that can be performed in the context of other unknown actions. To this end, we employ Hough transform to vote in a 3D space for the begin point, the end point, and the label of the segmented part of the input stream. A support vector machine is used to model each class and to suggest putative labeled segments on the timeline. To identify the most plausible segments among the putative ones, we apply a dynamic programming algorithm, which maximizes the likelihood for label assignment in linear time. The performance of our method is evaluated on synthetic as well as on real data (Weizmann, TUM Kitchen, UTKAD, and Berkeley Multimodal Human Action databases). Extensive quantitative results obtained on a number of standard data sets demonstrate that the proposed approach is of comparable accuracy with the state-of-the-art approaches for online stream segmentation and classification when all performed actions are known, and performs considerably better in the presence of unmodeled actions.
N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor subunit NR2B is widely expressed throughout the rat diencephalon: An immunohistochemical study

Glutamate (Glu), a major excitatory neurotransmitter within the hypothalamus and thalamus, acts upon many receptors, including the N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) subtype. Abundant evidence suggests that variations in the subunit composition of NMDA receptors (NMDA‐Rs) contribute to differences in Glu's immediate electrophysiological effects as well as to the patterns of signal transduction cascades it triggers to mediate long‐term changes in neuronal function. We have previously shown that hypothalamic NMDA‐Rs containing the NR2B subunit may be involved in the control of eating as well as in the mediation of physiological responses to osmotic stimuli. To broaden our understanding of diencephalic NMDA‐R participation in other functions, we localized the NR2B subunit in the diencephalon of the adult male rat using immunoperoxidase, immunogold, and immunofluorescence techniques and an affinity‐purified polyclonal antibody specific for the NR2B subunit of the NMDA‐R. In addition, we used a monoclonal NR2B antibody with immunoperoxidase detection to confirm the NR2B distribution seen with the polyclonal antibody. In the hypothalamus, the highest levels of NR2B immunoreactivity (‐ir) were found in the magnocellular neurosecretory system, including the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei. A new finding was that intense NR2B‐ir was present within perivascular “accessory” magnocellular groups of this system, including the nucleus circularis, anterior fornical nucleus, and scattered clusters of lateral hypothalamic cells apposed to blood vessels. Robust NR2B‐ir was also present within the arcuate nucleus, the median eminence, and the tuberal nucleus, and light immunostaining was found in all other hypothalamic nuclei examined. In the thalamus, the highest NR2B‐ir was observed in the medial habenula and the anterodorsal, paraventricular, rhomboid, reticular, and dorsal lateral geniculate nuclei. As in the hypothalamus, all thalamic nuclei examined displayed at least light immunostaining for this subunit. Control sections, including those incubated with the polyclonal NR2B antibody preadsorbed with its fusion protein, were virtually devoid of immunostaining. This demonstration that the NR2B subunit of the NMDA‐R is widely distributed in the diencephalon, implicates it in a wide variety of functions, and provides a useful anatomical framework for establishing a comprehensive map of Glu receptor populations within this major subdivision of the brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 428:428–449, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Shared scratch pad memory space management across applications

Scratch Pad Memories (SPMs) have received considerable attention lately as on-chip memory building blocks. The main characteristic that distinguishes an SPM from a conventional cache memory is that the data flow is controlled by software. The main focus of this paper is the management of an SPM space shared by multiple applications that can potentially share data. The proposed approach has three major components; a compiler analysis phase, a runtime space partitioner, and a local partitioning phase. Our experimental results show that the proposed approach leads to minimum completion time among all alternate memory partitioning schemes tested.
Accurate Recovery of Ribosome Positions Reveals Slow Translation of Wobble-Pairing Codons in Yeast

Abstract Ribosome profiling quantitatively captures ribosome locations during translation. The resulting profiles of ribosome locations are widely used to study translational speed. However, an accurate estimation of the ribosome location depends on identifying the A-site from ribosome profiling reads, a problem that was previously unsolved. Here, we propose a novel method to estimate the ribosome A-site positions from high-coverage ribosome profiling reads. Our model allows more reads to be used, accurately explains the 3-nt periodicity of ribosome profiling reads from various lengths, and recovers consistent ribosome positions across different lengths. Our recovered ribosome positions are correctly highly skewed toward a single frame within a codon. They retain subcodon resolution and enable detection of off-frame translational events, such as frameshifts. Our method improves the correlation with other estimates of codon decoding time. Furthermore, the refined profiles show that yeast wobble-pairing codons are translated slower than their synonymous Watson–Crick-pairing codons. These results provide evidence that protein synthetic rate can be tuned by codon usage bias.
Adaptive feedback control of nonlinear time-delay systems: the LaSalle-Razumikhin-based approach

This note presents a new method to design adaptive feedback controller for nonlinear time-delay systems. First, by using the LaSalle-Razumikhin theorem, a sufficient condition is derived that ensures the convergence of a part of the solution with stability for a class of functional differential equations. Then, using this condition, the adaptive stabilization problem is solved for nonlinear time-delay systems. Moreover, it is shown that for a class of nonlinear time-delay systems with triangular structure the adaptive stabilizing controller can be obtained by recursively constructing the Lyapunov-Razumikhin function. It will be shown that the provided recursive design approach, which is obviously motivated by the typical backstepping method, is not a trivial extension of the existing design method.