816 research outputs found
A Digital Neuromorphic Architecture Efficiently Facilitating Complex Synaptic Response Functions Applied to Liquid State Machines
Information in neural networks is represented as weighted connections, or
synapses, between neurons. This poses a problem as the primary computational
bottleneck for neural networks is the vector-matrix multiply when inputs are
multiplied by the neural network weights. Conventional processing architectures
are not well suited for simulating neural networks, often requiring large
amounts of energy and time. Additionally, synapses in biological neural
networks are not binary connections, but exhibit a nonlinear response function
as neurotransmitters are emitted and diffuse between neurons. Inspired by
neuroscience principles, we present a digital neuromorphic architecture, the
Spiking Temporal Processing Unit (STPU), capable of modeling arbitrary complex
synaptic response functions without requiring additional hardware components.
We consider the paradigm of spiking neurons with temporally coded information
as opposed to non-spiking rate coded neurons used in most neural networks. In
this paradigm we examine liquid state machines applied to speech recognition
and show how a liquid state machine with temporal dynamics maps onto the
STPU-demonstrating the flexibility and efficiency of the STPU for instantiating
neural algorithms.Comment: 8 pages, 4 Figures, Preprint of 2017 IJCN
Interactions of asbestos-activated macrophages with an experimental fibrosarcoma
Supernatants from in vivo asbestos-activated macrophages failed to show any cytostatic activity against a syngeneic fibrosarcoma cell line in vitro. UICC chrysotile-induced peritoneal exudate cells also failed to demonstrate any growth inhibitory effect on the same cells in Winn assays of tumor growth. Mixing UICC crocidolite with inoculated tumor cells resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of tumor growth; this could, however, be explained by a direct cytostatic effect on the tumor cells of high doses of crocidolite, which was observed in vitro
Recommended from our members
Determining factors of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study
Introduction: Historically, university students demonstrate poor movement behaviours that could negatively impact current and future health. Recent literature has focused on identifying determinants of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) in this population to inform the development of intervention strategies. However, the COVID-19 pandemic substantially restricted movement behaviours in this population, meaning findings of previous research may no longer be applicable within the current societal context. The present study explored the longitudinal relationships between pre-pandemic psychological, behavioural and anthropometric factors, and the movement behaviours of UK university students nine months following the outbreak of COVID-19.
Methods: Mental wellbeing (MWB), perceived stress (PS), body mass index (BMI), SB, and PA were assessed using an online self-report survey in 255 students prior to (October 2019) and nine months following (October 2020) the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the UK. Path analysis was utilised to test relationships between pre-COVID mental wellbeing, perceived stress and BMI, and movement behaviours during the pandemic.
Results: The fit of the path analysis model was good (χ2 = 0.01; CMIN = 0.10, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.00). Pre-covid MWB and PS positively influenced PA (β = 0.29; β = 0.24; P < 0.01) but not SB (β = -0.10; β = 0.00; P = 0.79) during the pandemic. Additionally, pre-pandemic SB and PA positively influenced SB and PA during the pandemic respectively (SB: β = 0.26; P < 0.01) (PA: β = 0.55; P < 0.01). Pre-pandemic BMI did not influence any measured variable during the pandemic (PA: β = 0.03 and P = 0.29; SB: β = 0.06 and P = 0.56), and there was no mediating effect of PA on SB during the pandemic (β = -0.26; P = 0.14).
Conclusion: These findings indicate that pre-covid mental health and movement behaviours had a direct positive influence on PA during the pandemic, but not SB. This longitudinal study demonstrates the influence that prior psychological and behavioural factors have in determining university students’ response to periods of elevated stress and uncertainty, furthering our understanding of determinants of health-related behaviours in students
Obstructions to the Existence of Sasaki-Einstein Metrics
We describe two simple obstructions to the existence of Ricci-flat Kahler
cone metrics on isolated Gorenstein singularities or, equivalently, to the
existence of Sasaki-Einstein metrics on the links of these singularities. In
particular, this also leads to new obstructions for Kahler-Einstein metrics on
Fano orbifolds. We present several families of hypersurface singularities that
are obstructed, including 3-fold and 4-fold singularities of ADE type that have
been studied previously in the physics literature. We show that the AdS/CFT
dual of one obstruction is that the R-charge of a gauge invariant chiral
primary operator violates the unitarity bound.Comment: 35 pages, 1 figure; references and a footnote adde
Stability Walls in Heterotic Theories
We study the sub-structure of the heterotic Kahler moduli space due to the
presence of non-Abelian internal gauge fields from the perspective of the
four-dimensional effective theory. Internal gauge fields can be supersymmetric
in some regions of the Kahler moduli space but break supersymmetry in others.
In the context of the four-dimensional theory, we investigate what happens when
the Kahler moduli are changed from the supersymmetric to the non-supersymmetric
region. Our results provide a low-energy description of supersymmetry breaking
by internal gauge fields as well as a physical picture for the mathematical
notion of bundle stability. Specifically, we find that at the transition
between the two regions an additional anomalous U(1) symmetry appears under
which some of the states in the low-energy theory acquire charges. We compute
the associated D-term contribution to the four-dimensional potential which
contains a Kahler-moduli dependent Fayet-Iliopoulos term and contributions from
the charged states. We show that this D-term correctly reproduces the expected
physics. Several mathematical conclusions concerning vector bundle stability
are drawn from our arguments. We also discuss possible physical applications of
our results to heterotic model building and moduli stabilization.Comment: 37 pages, 4 figure
Signaling via interleukin-4, receptor alpha chain is required for successful vaccination against schistosomiasis in BALB/c mice
Radiation-attenuated (RA) schistosome larvae are potent stimulators of innate immune responses at the skin site of exposure (pinna) that are likely to be important factors in the development of Th1-mediated protective immunity. In addition to causing an influx of neutrophils, macrophages, and dendritic cells (DCs) into the dermis, RA larvae induced a cascade of chemokine and cytokine secretion following in vitro culture of pinna biopsy samples. While macrophage inflammatory protein 1 and interleukin-1 (IL-1) were produced transiently within the first few days, the Th1-promoting cytokines IL-12 and IL-18 were secreted at high levels until at least day 14. Assay of C3H/HeJ mice confirmed that IL-12 secretion was not due to lipopolysaccharide contaminants binding Toll-like receptor 4. Significantly, IL-12 p40 secretion was sustained in pinnae from vaccinated mice but not in those from nonprotected infected mice. In contrast, IL-10 was produced from both vaccinated and infected mice. This cytokine regulates IL-12-associated dermal inflammation, since in vaccinated IL-10/ mice, pinna thickness was greatly increased concurrent with elevated levels of IL-12 p40. A significant number of IL-12 p40 cells were detected as emigrants from in vitro-cultured pinnae, and most were within a population of rare large granular cells that were Ia, consistent with their being antigen-presenting cells. Labeling of IL-12 cells for CD11c, CD205, CD8, CD11b, and F4/80 indicated that the majority were myeloid DCs, although a proportion were CD11c F4/80, suggesting that macrophages were an additional source of IL-12 in the skin
Stabilizing the Complex Structure in Heterotic Calabi-Yau Vacua
In this paper, we show that the presence of gauge fields in heterotic
Calabi-Yau compacitifications causes the stabilisation of some, or all, of the
complex structure moduli of the Calabi-Yau manifold while maintaining a
Minkowski vacuum. Certain deformations of the Calabi-Yau complex structure,
with all other moduli held fixed, can lead to the gauge bundle becoming
non-holomorphic and, hence, non-supersymmetric. This leads to an F-term
potential which stabilizes the corresponding complex structure moduli. We use
10- and 4-dimensional field theory arguments as well as a derivation based
purely on algebraic geometry to show that this picture is indeed correct. An
explicit example is presented in which a large subset of complex structure
moduli is fixed. We demonstrate that this type of theory can serve as the
hidden sector in heterotic vacua and can co-exist with realistic particle
physics.Comment: 17 pages, Late
Res Medica, Autumn 1960, Volume 2, Number 3
TABLE OF CONTENTSSYLLABUS 224TH SESSION THE DIAGNOSTIC VALUE OF PAIN: E. B. French, B.A., M.B., Ch.B. , M.R.C.P.Lond., F.R.C.P .E.AETIOLOGY OF HYPERTENSION: G. W. K. Donaldson, B.Sc.RES MEDICAAUSCULTATION OF THE HEART: II: R. W. D. Turner, O.B.E., M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P.Ed., F.R.C.P.Lond .WILLIAM CULLEN AND JOSEPH BLACK: James Wallace, B.Sc., F.R.S.E.CONSTITUTIONAL JAUNDICE: W. L. Ford, M.B., Ch.B.SIR JAMES MACKENZIE: AN INTRODUCTION TO CARDIOLOGY: W. S. UttleyRETROSPECT 223RD SESSION
Yukawa Textures From Heterotic Stability Walls
A holomorphic vector bundle on a Calabi-Yau threefold, X, with h^{1,1}(X)>1
can have regions of its Kahler cone where it is slope-stable, that is, where
the four-dimensional theory is N=1 supersymmetric, bounded by "walls of
stability". On these walls the bundle becomes poly-stable, decomposing into a
direct sum, and the low energy gauge group is enhanced by at least one
anomalous U(1) gauge factor. In this paper, we show that these additional
symmetries can strongly constrain the superpotential in the stable region,
leading to non-trivial textures of Yukawa interactions and restrictions on
allowed masses for vector-like pairs of matter multiplets. The Yukawa textures
exhibit a hierarchy; large couplings arise on the stability wall and some
suppressed interactions "grow back" off the wall, where the extended U(1)
symmetries are spontaneously broken. A number of explicit examples are
presented involving both one and two stability walls, with different
decompositions of the bundle structure group. A three family standard-like
model with no vector-like pairs is given as an example of a class of SU(4)
bundles that has a naturally heavy third quark/lepton family. Finally, we
present the complete set of Yukawa textures that can arise for any holomorphic
bundle with one stability wall where the structure group breaks into two
factors.Comment: 53 pages, 4 figures and 13 table
Reducible connections and non-local symmetries of the self-dual Yang-Mills equations
We construct the most general reducible connection that satisfies the
self-dual Yang-Mills equations on a simply connected, open subset of flat
. We show how all such connections lie in the orbit of the flat
connection on under the action of non-local symmetries of the
self-dual Yang-Mills equations. Such connections fit naturally inside a larger
class of solutions to the self-dual Yang-Mills equations that are analogous to
harmonic maps of finite type.Comment: AMSLatex, 15 pages, no figures. Corrected in line with the referee's
comments. In particular, restriction to simply-connected open sets now
explicitly stated. Version to appear in Communications in Mathematical
Physic
- …