Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cortical activity emerges in region-specific patterns during early brain development

The development of precise neural circuits in the brain requires spontaneous patterns of neural activity prior to functional maturation. In the rodent cerebral cortex patchwork and wave patterns of activity develop in somatosensory and visual regions, respectively, and are present at birth. However, whether such activity patterns occur in non-eutherian mammals, as well as when and how they arise during development remain open questions relevant to understand brain formation in health and disease. Since the onset of patterned cortical activity is challenging to study prenatally in eutherians, here we offer a new approach in a minimally invasive manner using marsupial dunnarts, whose cortex forms postnatally. We discovered similar patchwork and travelling waves in the dunnart somatosensory and visual cortices at stage 27 (equivalent to newborn mice), and examined progressively earlier stages of development to determine their onset and how they first emerge. We observed that these patterns of activity emerge in a region-specific and sequential manner, becoming evident as early as stage 24 in somatosensory and stage 25 in visual cortices (equivalent to embryonic day 16 and 17, respectively, in mice), as cortical layers establish and thalamic axons innervate the cortex. In addition to sculpting synaptic connections of existing circuits, evolutionarily conserved patterns of neural activity could therefore help regulate early events in cortical development. Significance Statement Region-specific patterns of neural activity are present at birth in rodents and are thought to refine synaptic connections during critical periods of cerebral cortex development. Marsupials are born much more immature than rodents, allowing the investigation of how these patterns arise in vivo. We discovered that cortical activity patterns are remarkably similar in marsupial dunnarts and rodents, and that they emerge very early, before cortical neurogenesis is complete. Moreover, they arise from the outset in different patterns specific to somatosensory and visual areas (i.e., patchworks and waves) indicating they may also play evolutionarily conserved roles in cortical regionalization during development.
Is resting state fMRI better than individual characteristics at predicting cognition?

Changes in spontaneous brain activity at rest provide rich information about behavior and cognition. The mathematical properties of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) are a depiction of brain function and are frequently used to predict cognitive phenotypes. Individual characteristics such as age, gender, and total intracranial volume (TIV) play an important role in predictive modeling of rsfMRI (for example, as “confounders” in many cases). It is unclear, however, to what extent rsfMRI carries independent information from the individual characteristics that is able to predict cognitive phenotypes. Here, we used predictive modeling to thoroughly examine the predictability of four cognitive phenotypes in 20,000 healthy UK Biobank subjects. We extracted common rsfMRI features of functional brain connectivity (FC) and temporal complexity (TC). We assessed the ability of these features to predict outcomes in the presence and absence of age, gender, and TIV. Additionally, we assessed the predictiveness of age, gender, and TIV only. We find TC and FC features to perform comparably with regard to predicting cognitive phenotypes. As compared to rsfMRI features, individual characteristics provide systematically better predictions with smaller sample sizes and, to some extent, in larger cohorts. It is also consistent across different levels of inherent temporal noise in rsfMRI. Our results suggest that when the objective is to perform cognitive predictions as opposed to understanding the relationship between brain and behavior, individual characteristics are more applicable than rsfMRI features.
A quantitative autonomous bioluminescence reporter system with a wide dynamic range for Plant Synthetic Biology

Engineered autonomous bioluminescence (EAB) offers many potential applications in Plant Synthetic Biology, notably as in vivo reporter system. Current EAB reporter configurations are limited for quantitative applications due to low dynamic range. We reconfigured the Neonothopanus nambi fungal bioluminescence (NeoLuc) pathway to serve as a high-throughput and inexpensive reporter for quantitative analysis of gene expression. We showed that by configuring the first committed step in the pathway (HispS) as the transcriptional entry point instead of the fungal luciferase, the dynamic range of the output increased dramatically, equaling that of the FLuc/RLuc reporter, and outperforming it in high throughput capacity. Furthermore, the inclusion of an enhanced GFP as normalizer allowed transient ratiometric measurements in N. benthamiana. Fast and rich datasets generated by the NeoLuc/eGFP system enabled us to undertake the optimization of new challenging synthetic gene circuits, including a complex agrochemical/optogenetic dual input switch for tight control of engineered metabolic pathways.
A new competitive strategy to unveil the antibiotic-producing Actinobacteria

The bacterial phylum Actinobacteria encompasses microorganisms with incomparable metabolic versatility and deep resource of medicines. However, the recent decrease in the discovery rate of antibiotics warrants innovative strategies to harness actinobacterial resources for lead discovery. Indeed, microbial culturing efforts measuring the outcomes of specific genera lagged behind the detected microbial potential. Herein, we used a distinct competitive strategy that exploits competitive microbial interactions to accelerate the diversification of strain libraries producing antibiotics. This directed-evolution-based strategy shifted the diversity of Actinobacteria over the experimental time course (0-8 days) and led to the isolation of Actinobacterial strains with distinct antimicrobial spectrum against pathogens. To understand the competitive interactions over experimental time, the metagenomic community sequencing revealed that actinobacterial members from families Nocardiaceae and Cellulomonadaceae with relatively increased abundances towards end, are thus competitively advantageous. Whilst comparing the Actinobacteria retrieved in the competitive strategy to that of the routinely used isolation method, the Actinobacteria genera identified from competitive communities differed relatively in abundances as well as antimicrobial spectrum compared to actinobacterial strains retrieved in classical method. In sum, we present a strategy that influences microbial interactions to accelerate the likelihood of potential actinobacterial strains with antimicrobial potencies.
Material Design for Transparent Ferromagnets with ZnO-Based Magnetic Semiconductors

Ferromagnetism of ZnO-based magnetic semiconductors was investigated by ab initio calculations based on the local density approximation. In a system of Mn atom doped ZnO, the ferromagnetic ordering of Mn magnetic moments was induced by hole doping. It was also found that 3d transition metal atoms of V, Cr, Fe, Co and Ni showed the ferromagnetic ordering of their magnetic moments in ZnO without any additional carrier doping treatments. Appearance of the ferromagnetism in these systems suggests possibility for a fabrication of a transparent ferromagnet which will have great impact on industrial applications in magneto optical devices.
Orotron-based sub-millimeter-wave source

We describe progress towards an Oroton-based sub-millimeter-wave source with a design frequency of 500 GHz. Key features of the devices are a microfabricated, carbon nanotube field-emission-based electron gun which creates a sheet-beam at the required current density without the need for beam compression, and a microfabricated Smith-Purcell grating, and a uniform Z-direction magnetic field confinement.
Colchicin reduziert Risiko kardiovaskulärer Ereignisse nach Myokardinfarkt

An der randomisierten doppelblinden placebokontrollierten kanadischen Studie nahmen 167 Zentren in 12 Ländern teil. Die Rekrutierung der 4745 Patient/-innen erfolgte zwischen Dezember 2015 und August 2018 innerhalb von 30 Tagen nach einem Myokardinfarkt. Das mittlere Alter betrug 60,6 Jahre, 80,8% waren Männer, 19,2% Frauen, bei 20,2% bestand ein Diabetes mellitus. Die Teilnehmer/-innen wurden randomisiert entweder für eine Therapie mit einer Niedrigdosis Colchicin von 0,5mg 1 × tgl. (n = 2366) oder mit Placebo (n = 2379). Das mediane Follow-up betrug 22,6 Monate. Der kombinierte primäre Endpunkt umfasste Tod kardiovaskulärer Ursache, Herzstillstand mit Reanimation, Myokardinfarkt, Schlaganfall oder stationäre Notaufnahme wegen Angina Pectoris mit koronarer Revaskularisation. Ebenso erfolgte eine Bewertung der einzelnen Komponenten des primären Endpunktes und der Sicherheit.
Benchmark solutions for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations in general co‐ordinates on staggered grids

Benchmark problems are solved with the steady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations discretized with a finite volume method in general curvilinear co-ordinates on a staggered grid. The problems solved are skewed driven cavity problems, recently proposed as non-orthogonal grid benchmark problems. The system of discretized equations is solved efficiently with a non-linear multigrid algorithm, in which a robust line smoother is implemented. Furthermore, another benchmark problem is introduced and solved in which a 90 o change in grid line direction occurs
Prävention des ARDS mit Budesonid plus Formoterol per inhalationem?

Ein ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) geht trotz Fortschritten in der supportiven Therapie immer noch mit einer hohen Komplikationsrate und Letalität einher. Es gibt bislang keine gesicherte pharmakologische Behandlung, die an der Ursache des ARDS angreift, aber möglicherweise könnte bei Hochrisikopatienten eine prophylaktische Therapie sinnvoll sein. Das haben nun Mediziner aus den USA in einer Pilotstudie untersucht.
Wide double stars - I. The spectroscopic binaries: Double stars with wide separations in the AGK3 - I. The components that are themselves spectroscopic binaries

Wide binaries are tracers of the gravity field of the Galaxy, but their study requires some caution. A large list of common proper motion stars selected from the AGK3 were monitored with the CORAVEL spectrovelocimeter, in order to prepare a sample of physical binaries with very wide separations. Sixty-six stars received special attention, since their RV seemed to be variable. These stars were monitored over several years in order to derive the elements of their spectroscopic orbits. In addition, 10 of them received accurate RV measurements from the SOPHIE spectrograph of the T193 telescope at the Observatory of Haute-Provence. For deriving the orbital elements of double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2), a new method was applied, which assumed that the RV of blended measurements are linear combinations of the RV of the components. Thirteen SB2 orbits were thus calculated. The orbital elements were eventually obtained for 52 spectroscopic binaries (SB), two of them making a triple system. Forty SB received their first orbit, and the orbital elements were improved for 10 others. In addition, 11 spectroscopic binaries were discovered with very long periods for which the orbital parameters were not found. The median period of the 40 first orbits is 1 year, and several SB should be resolved or should receive an astrometric orbit in the future, providing the masses of the components. In addition, it appeared that HD 153252 has a close companion which is a candidate brown dwarf with a minimum mass of 50 Jupiter masses. The final selection of the wide binaries and the derivation of their statistical properties will be presented in a second paper.
The exceptional zero conjecture for Hilbert modular forms

Abstract Using a p-adic analogue of the convolution method of Rankin–Selberg and Shimura, we construct the two-variable p-adic L-function of a Hida family of Hilbert modular eigenforms of parallel weight. It is shown that the conditions of Greenberg–Stevens [R. Greenberg and G. Stevens, p-adic L-functions and p-adic periods of modular forms, Invent. Math. 111 (1993), 407–447] are satisfied, from which we deduce special cases of the Mazur–Tate–Teitelbaum conjecture in the Hilbert modular setting.
Numerical simulation of the vertical structure of discontinuous flows

A numerical method to solve the Reynolds‐averaged Navier–Stokes equations with the presence of discontinuities is outlined and discussed. The pressure is decomposed into the sum of a hydrostatic component and a hydrodynamic component. The numerical technique is based upon the classical staggered grids and semi‐implicit finite difference methods applied for quasi‐ and non‐hydrostatic flows. The advection terms in the momentum equations are approximated in order to conserve mass and momentum following the principles recently developed for the numerical simulation of shallow water flows with large gradients. Conservation of these properties is the most important aspect to represent near local discontinuities in the solution, following from sharp bottom gradients or hydraulic jumps. The model is applied to reproduce the flow over a step where a hydraulic jump forms downstream. The hydrostatic pressure assumption fails to represent this type of flow mainly because of the pressure deviation from the hydrostatic values downstream the step. Fairly accurate results are obtained from the numerical model compared with experimental data. Deviation from the data is found to be inherent to the standard k–ε model implemented. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Aerodynamic Control of Low-Reynolds-Number Airfoil with Leading-Edge Protuberances

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the control of airfoil aerodynamics at a low Reynolds number of 5×104 within a wide range of attack angle α using a leading-edge-protuberance technique. The essence of the technique is to manipulate flow around the airfoil by replacing the straight leading edge of a baseline airfoil with a sinusoidal wavy airfoil. Whereas the lift and drag forces and the lift-to-drag ratio were measured using a three-component force balance, the flow was mainly measured using a particle-image velocimetry. The sinusoidal protuberances effectively suppressed airfoil stall, and the corresponding aerodynamic performance was impaired to some extent. Meanwhile, control significantly improved the airfoil aerodynamics in the poststall α region, for example, 16<α<70 deg, leading to a maximum 25.0 and 39.2% increase in lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio, respectively, and a maximum 20.0% decrease in drag coefficient. The protuberances may influence control performance in a .
Supercontinuum generation by stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing in photonic crystal fibers

Supercontinuum generation is investigated experimentally and numerically in a highly nonlinear index-guiding photonic crystal optical fiber in a regime in which self-phase modulation of the pump wave makes a negligible contribution to spectral broadening. An ultrabroadband octave-spanning white-light continuum is generated with 60-ps pump pulses of subkilowatt peak power. The primary mechanism of spectral broadening is identified as the combined action of stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing. The observation of a strong anti-Stokes Raman component reveals the importance of the coupling between stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing in highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers and also indicates that non-phase-matched processes contribute to the continuum. Additionally, the pump input polarization affects the generated continuum through the influence of polarization modulational instability. The experimental results are in good agreement with detailed numerical simulations. These findings demonstrate the importance of index-guiding photonic crystal fibers for the design of picosecond and nanosecond supercontinuum light sources.
The theory of kinetic effects in two-dimensional degenerate gas of colliding electrons

A mathematical method based on a reduced representation of the electron–electron collision operator acting in the space of quasi-equilibrium functions is constructed. A number of kinetic phenomena such as the evolution of highly anisotropic and high-energy electron distributions, the quasi-hydrodynamic effect in electrical conduction, and a new nonlinear transport mode are described from a unified point of view. Kinetic effects which can be observed in experiments on electron beam propagation and electrical conduction of (GaAs)Al wires with a high mobility of charge carriers are predicted.
APPROXIMATE DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES FOR THE CONTROL OF TIME-VARYING QUEUING SYSTEMS APPLIED TO CALL CENTERS WITH ABANDONMENTS AND RETRIALS

In this article we develop techniques for applying Approximate Dynamic Programming (ADP) to the control of time-varying queuing systems. First, we show that the classical state space representation in queuing systems leads to approximations that can be significantly improved by increasing the dimensionality of the state space by state disaggregation. Second, we deal with time-varying parameters by adding them to the state space with an ADP parameterization. We demonstrate these techniques for the optimal admission control in a retrial queue with abandonments and time-varying parameters. The numerical experiments show that our techniques have near to optimal performance.
Two dimensional phase retrieval using neural networks

The object of the 2D phase retrieval problem is to reconstruct an image from its spectral magnitude alone. This problem emerges when the phase of the 2D signal is apparently lost or is impractical to measure. For 2D spatially-limited non-negative objects characterized by an analytic spectrum, the solution is unique. In this paper, we propose the use of a neural network for solving the 2D phase retrieval problem. The neural network incorporates a combination of the maximum entropy estimation algorithm with some additional nonlinear constraints. These constraints make use of additional unknowns that are related to the real and imaginary parts of the image spectrum. The solution is provided by the steady state of the neural network, then it is verified and eventually improved with an iterative Fourier transform algorithm. The obtained simulation results demonstrate the high efficiency of the proposed approach.
MPC FOR TRACKING OF PIECE-WISE CONSTANT REFERENCES FOR CONSTRAINED LINEAR SYSTEMS

Abstract Model predictive control (MPC) is one of the few techniques which is able to handle with constraints on both state and input of the plant. The admissible evolution and asymptotically convergence of the closed loop system is ensured by means of a suitable choice of the terminal cost and terminal contraint. However, most of the existing results on MPC are designed for a regulation problem. If the desired steady state changes, the MPC controller must be redesigned to guarantee the feasibility of the optimization problem, the admissible evolution as well as the asymptotic stability. In this paper a novel formulation of the MPC is proposed to track varying references. This controller ensures the feasibility of the optimization problem, constraint satisfaction and asymptotic evolution of the system to any admissible steady-state. Hence, the proposed MPC controller ensures the offset free tracking of any sequence of piece-wise constant admissible set points. Moreover this controller requires the solution of a single QP at each sample time, it is not a switching controller and improves the performance of the closed loop system.
Volumentherapie bei nicht Schwerkranken: Vollelektrolytlösung statt Kochsalz?

Die Arbeitsgruppe des Vanderbilt University Medical Center hat für ihre monozentrische Cross-over-Studie erwachsene Notfallpatienten berücksichtigt, die in der Notaufnahme zunächst i. v. Kristalloide als Volumentherapie erhielten. Die Teilnehmenden wurden anschließend auf eine Normalstation verlegt. In dem 16-monatigen Untersuchungszeitraum verglich man die Therapie mit einer Vollelektrolytlösung (VEL; Ringer-Laktat-Lösung oder Plasmalyt) mit der Gabe von isotonischen Kochsalzlösung (NaCl). Die Art der verabreichten Kristalloide in der Notaufnahme wurde den Patienten unter Berücksichtigung des Kalendermonats zugewiesen, sodass mit dem monatlichen Wechsel von NaCl gegen VEL ein Crossover gewährleistet war. Der primäre Endpunkt war die Anzahl der krankenhausfreien Tage innerhalb der ersten 30 Tage nach Aufnahme (Entlassung aus dem Krankenhaus vor dem Tag 28). Als sekundärer Endpunkt war das Auftreten eines renalen Ereignisses (Dialysebehandlung, persistierende Nierendysfunktion [Serum-Kreatinin > 200% des Ausgangswertes] oder Tod jedweder Genese) definiert.
AI and Videogames: a "Drosophila" for Declarative Methods

Videogames and research in artificial intelligence (AI) techniques share a fruitful past of reciprocal knowledge exchange. On the one hand, videogames offer unsolved challenges to the academy: these challenges are as hard as those offered by what we can call “serious” applications, yet they can be faced in a controlled and reproducible setting. This characteristic makes videogames a kind of advanced “drosophila” for the researcher in AI: they are the ideal controlled ground in which to invent, experiment, and test new AI paradigms, methodologies and techniques. It is not uncommon to resort to simulated game environments as lesser expensive, yet comparably complex, digital twins. On the other hand, the videogame industry (VI) itself is exemplary of typical demands that AI research cannot meet yet. The VI looks for reduced development costs, better integration with AI tools and real-time performance. Especially, knowledge transfer between developers and AI tools must be as fast and smooth as possible: this is one of the reasons why the machine learning (ML) revolution had so far a controversial reception in the VI, in that ML provides black-box AI modules which are not easily “tunable” and configurable at will, and have non-negligible design-time costs. In order to overcome the above limits, one can consider declarative knowledge representation techniques (DKR). However, some of the shortcomings of DKR methods are fairly challenging to be addressed: performance, ease of use, integration, mining of reusable deductive knowledge are not up to the par yet. All these limitations prevent the real adoption of declarative paradigms in many highly-demanding applicative settings of which the videogame development field is an exemplary generalized testbed. Narrowing the above gaps is nontrivial challenge. In this paper we identify some of the key issues which we deem important for the research community and outline our current research progress.
Numerical method for unsteady viscous hydrodynamical problem with free boundaries

A finite element method for the transient incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with the ability to handle multiple free boundaries is presented. Problems of liquid–liquid type are treated by solving two coupled Navier–Stokes problems for two separate phases. The possibility to solve problems of liquid–gas, liquid–liquid–gas or liquid–liquid–liquid type is demonstrated too. Surface tension effects are included at deformable interfaces.
Existence of global solutions to a model of chondrogenesis

The paper considers conditions sufficient for the existence of classical C 2+β,1+β/2x,t solutions to a new model of chondrogenesis during the vertebrate limb formation. We assume that the diffusion coefficient of the fibronectin is positive and that the function describing the interaction between the fibronectin and cells satisfies some additional properties. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.