A model for the study of ligand binding to the ribosomal RNA helix h44.

Oligonucleotide models of ribosomal RNA domains are powerful tools to study the binding and molecular recognition of antibiotics that interfere with bacterial translation. Techniques such as selective chemical modification, fluorescence labeling and mutations are cumbersome for the whole ribosome but readily applicable to model RNAs, which are readily crystallized and often give rise to higher resolution crystal structures suitable for detailed analysis of ligand-RNA interactions. Here, we have investigated the HX RNA construct which contains two adjacent ligand binding regions of helix h44 in 16S ribosomal RNA. High-resolution crystal structure analysis confirmed that the HX RNA is a faithful structural model of the ribosomal target. Solution studies showed that HX RNA carrying a fluorescent 2-aminopurine modification provides a model system that can be used to monitor ligand binding to both the ribosomal decoding site and, through an indirect effect, the hygromycin B interaction region

Towards Smarter Fluorescence Microscopy: Enabling Adaptive Acquisition Strategies With Optimized Photon Budget

Fluorescence microscopy is an invaluable technique for studying the intricate process of organism development. The acquisition process, however, is associated with the fundamental trade-off between the quality and reliability of the acquired data. On one hand, the goal of capturing the development in its entirety, often times across multiple spatial and temporal scales, requires extended acquisition periods. On the other hand, high doses of light required for such experiments are harmful for living samples and can introduce non-physiological artifacts in the normal course of development. Conventionally, a single set of acquisition parameters is chosen in the beginning of the acquisition and constitutes the experimenter’s best guess of the overall optimal configuration within the aforementioned trade-off. In the paradigm of adaptive microscopy, in turn, one aims at achieving more efficient photon budget distribution by dynamically adjusting the acquisition parameters to the changing properties of the sample. In this thesis, I explore the principles of adaptive microscopy and propose a range of improvements for two real imaging scenarios. Chapter 2 summarizes the design and implementation of an adaptive pipeline for efficient observation of the asymmetrically dividing neurogenic progenitors in Zebrafish retina. In the described approach the fast and expensive acquisition mode is automatically activated only when the mitotic cells are present in the field of view. The method illustrates the benefits of the adaptive acquisition in the common scenario of the individual events of interest being sparsely distributed throughout the duration of the acquisition. Chapter 3 focuses on computational aspects of segmentation-based adaptive schemes for efficient acquisition of the developing Drosophila pupal wing. Fast sample segmentation is shown to provide a valuable output for the accurate evaluation of the sample morphology and dynamics in real time. This knowledge proves instrumental for adjusting the acquisition parameters to the current properties of the sample and reducing the required photon budget with minimal effects to the quality of the acquired data. Chapter 4 addresses the generation of synthetic training data for learning-based methods in bioimage analysis, making them more practical and accessible for smart microscopy pipelines. State-of-the-art deep learning models trained exclusively on the generated synthetic data are shown to yield powerful predictions when applied to the real microscopy images. In the end, in-depth evaluation of the segmentation quality of both real and synthetic data-based models illustrates the important practical aspects of the approach and outlines the directions for further research

Innovation Resistance: The Main Factors and Ways to Overcome Them

The paper shows the importance of innovation with regard to the economic well-being. The paper reflects the definition of the innovation resistance and the role of inertia in the innovation process. The innovation process is considered not only in terms of technical or technological changes, but also from the position of institutional transformations. The types and levels of innovation resistance are specified on the basis of the earlier studied literature. In addition, endogenous and exogenous factors of innovative resistance from the perspective of organization are determined. A general complex of approaches to overcoming the resistance to innovation changes is considered. The paper represents reasoning about the role of economic culture in the context of institutional changes. Finally, the author gives the arguments in favor of the fact that overcoming resistance to innovation changes for conducting economic transformations and improvement in the economic well-being is a must

1-Cyclo­hexyl-2-(3-fur­yl)-1H-benzimidazole-5-carboxylic acid

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C18H18N2O3, contains two mol­ecules. The fused rings of both mol­ecules are almost planar, with dihedral angles of 3.1 (1) and 2.8 (2)° between the fused rings. The furan rings are rotated by 43.85 (15) and −21.07 (9)° with respect to the planes of the attached bnzimidazole systems. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked into infinite chains by inter­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds

Towards Interpretable Semantic Segmentation via Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping

Convolutional neural networks have become state-of-the-art in a wide range of image recognition tasks. The interpretation of their predictions, however, is an active area of research. Whereas various interpretation methods have been suggested for image classification, the interpretation of image segmentation still remains largely unexplored. To that end, we propose SEG-GRAD-CAM, a gradient-based method for interpreting semantic segmentation. Our method is an extension of the widely-used Grad-CAM method, applied locally to produce heatmaps showing the relevance of individual pixels for semantic segmentation.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures. AAAI 2020 camera-read

Consumer innovation resistance as routines: is it an obstacle to development and well-being?

In this article we define the role of innovation in the economy of knowledge and in providing social and economic wellbeing to the population. The innovation resistance is defined as a complex phenomenon and as a result of agent-object relationships. Then the article is focused on consumer innovation resistance as a main obstacle to development of knowledge-based economy. Two types of consumer innovation resistance are revealed. The source of active consumer innovation resistance is the result of non-compliance of consumer expectations and characteristics of a new product. Passive consumer innovation resistance comes from the lack of desire to change stable behavior patterns and from unwillingness to learn. Also we classify the deterministic factors of consumer innovation resistance as exogenous indirect and direct factors and as endogenous factors, what can help to work out a general approach to overcoming the innovation resistance. Innovations can be considered as habits and routines to changes, which can be developed and distributed both to the young population and to the elderly. Some insights in this direction are offered

Well-being in the Context of Innovation Resistance

In this article the major problem of innovation in providing economic and social wellbeing is defined. The main purpose of the paper is to develop the concept of innovation resistance. The innovation resistance is defined as an immanent property of the economic system to slow down its development under the influence of active and passive innovation resistance. The authors examine the peculiarities of innovation resistance and its influence on innovation-based economic system. Also the structure of economic system encompasses in terms of innovation resistance is determined. Entities of innovation resistance as elements of economic system have been identified. The role of institutions in providing the inertial performance or the development of economic entities is defined. The importance of overcoming innovation resistance as a key factor of improvement of social and economic wellbeing of society is emphasized. The concept of social order developed by Douglass C. North, John Joseph Wallis, and Barry R. Weingast is considered as a source of some insights in overcoming innovation resistance