Exquisitor: Breaking the Interaction Barrier for Exploration of 100 Million Images

International audienceIn this demonstration, we present Exquisitor, a media explorer capable of learning user preferences in real-time during interactions with the 99.2 million images of YFCC100M. Exquisitor owes its efficiency to innovations in data representation, compression, and indexing. Exquisitor can complete each interaction round, including learning preferences and presenting the most relevant results, in less than 30 ms using only a single CPU core and modest RAM. In short, Exquisitor can bring large-scale interactive learning to standard desktops and laptops, and even high-end mobile devices

Die Rolle der Proteinkinase RIP1 bei Infektionen durch das humane Cytomegalievirus

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Bedeutung der zellulären Serin/Threonin-Kinase RIP1 für die HCMV-Infektion verifiziert. Die bereits in der Literatur beschriebene Hochregulation der Expression von RIP1 während der HCMV-Infektion, konnte auch in HFF-Zellen gezeigt werden. Hier konnte zum ersten Mal gezeigt werden, dass die Kinase-Aktivität von RIP1 für die HCMV-Replikation in HFF-Zellen notwendig war, da die Überexpression der Kinase-inaktiven RIP1-Mutante RIP K45R in HCMV-Replikations-Tests die Virusproduktion hemmen konnte. Weitere HCMV-Replikations-Tests mit RIP-Konstrukten zeigten, dass nicht alleine die Kinase-Aktivität von RIP1, und die damit verbundene Phosphorylierung möglicher viraler oder zellulärer Substrate, sondern wahrscheinlich auch die Bindung dieser Substrate an die Intermediär- und/oder die Deathdomäne, wichtig für die HCMV-Replikation war. Allerdings schien RIP1 nur zelltypspezifisch in HFF-Zellen notwendig für die HCMV-Replikation zu sein. Die Bedeutung von RIP1 für die HCMV-Infektion konnte nicht nur genetisch durch den Einsatz einer Kinase-inaktiven RIP1-Mutante, sondern auch chemisch mit Hilfe von RIP1-Kinase-Inhibitoren validiert werden. Interaktionen mit HCMV-viralen Proteinen, Effekte auf physiologische Zellfunktionen oder auf die Aktivierung von zellulären Signalwegen (z.B. MAP Kinase- und NFB-Signalwege) konnten als Ursachen für die Hemmung der HCMV-Replikation durch die Expression von RIP K45R weitgehend ausgeschlossen werden. Anhand von Sekretions-Experimenten konnte gezeigt werden, dass Überstände der mit RIP K45R transduzierten Zellen die HCMV-Replikation um ca. 50% hemmen konnten. In „cDNA-Arrays“, PCR-Analysen und Zytokin-ELISA-Tests konnten vor allen Dingen antivirale Zytokine wie z.B. MIP-1, RANTES, Eotaxin, IL-6 und IL-8 identifiziert werden, deren Transkription und Sekretion durch RIP1 gehemmt wurde. Von den identifizierten Zytokinen konnten IL-8 und RANTES die HCMV-Replikation per se supprimieren. Am Modell des IL-8-Promotors konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Expression und Sekretion der Zytokine IL-8 und RANTES möglicherweise über die Interaktion der RIP1-Kinase- und Intermediärdomäne mit ihren Promotoren gehemmt werden könnte. Als These wurde diskutiert, dass die Expression der Kinase-inaktiven RIP-Mutante RIP K45R wahrscheinlich über einen „dominant-negativen“ Effekt auf endogenes RIP1 über einen bislang nicht geklärten Signalweg die Expression antiviraler Zytokine „aktivieren“ und so die HCMV-Replikation hemmen konnte. Die in der vorliegenden Arbeit gewonnenen Daten deuteten darauf hin, dass die Hochregulation von RIP1 während der HCMV-Infektion, die antivirale Immunantwort hemmt. Dieses Ergebnis macht die zelluläre RIP1-Kinase zu einem Kandidaten für die Entwicklung spezifischer Inhibitoren, die den Vorteil hätten, dass sie nicht zur Resistenzbildung beitrage

Effect of a randomised exclusive breastfeeding counselling intervention nested into the MINIMat prenatal nutrition trial in Bangladesh.

AIM: It is unknown whether maternal malnutrition reduces the effect of counselling on exclusive breastfeeding. This study evaluated the effect of breastfeeding counselling on the duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and whether the timing of prenatal food and different micronutrient supplements further prolonged this duration. METHODS: Pregnant women in Matlab, Bangladesh, were randomised to receive daily food supplements of 600 kcal at nine weeks of gestation or at the standard 20 weeks. They also were allocated to either 30 mg of iron and 400 μg folic acid, or the standard programme 60 mg of iron and folic acid or multiple micronutrients. At 30 weeks of gestation, 3188 women were randomised to receive either eight breastfeeding counselling sessions or the usual health messages. RESULTS: The median duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 135 days in the counselling group and 75 days in the usual health message group (p < 0.001). Prenatal supplements did not modify the effects of counselling. Women in the usual health message group who were randomised to multiple micronutrients exclusively breastfed for 12 days longer than mothers receiving the standard iron-folate combination (p = 0.003). CONCLUSION: Breastfeeding counselling increased the duration of exclusive breastfeeding by 60 days. This duration was not influenced by the supplements

Quantitative transcriptomics, and lipidomics in evaluating ovarian developmental effects in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) caged at a capped marine waste disposal site

In the present study, a previously capped waste disposal site at Kollevåg (Norway) was selected to study the effects of contaminant leakage on biomarkers associated with Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) reproductive endocrinology and development. Immature cod were caged for 6 weeks at 3 locations, selected to achieve a spatial gradient of contamination, and compared to a reference station. Quantitative transcriptomic, and lipidomic analysis was used to evaluate the effects of the potential complex contaminant mixture on ovarian developmental and endocrine physiology. The number of expressed transcripts, with 0.75 log2-fold differential expression or more, varied among stations and paralleled the severity of contamination. Particularly, significant bioaccumulation of ∑PCB-7, ∑DDTs and ∑PBDEs were observed at station 1, compared to the other station, including the reference station. Respectively 1416, 698 and 719 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), were observed at stations 1, 2 and 3, compared to the reference station, with transcripts belonging to steroid hormone synthesis pathway being significantly upregulation. Transcription factors such as esr2 and ahr2 were increased at all three stations, with highest fold-change at Station 1. MetaCore pathway maps identified affected pathways that are involved in ovarian physiology, where some unique pathways were significantly affected at each station. For the lipidomics, sphingolipid metabolism was particularly affected at station 1, and these effects paralleled the high contaminant burden at this station. Overall, our findings showed a novel and direct association between contaminant burden and ovarian toxicological and endocrine physiological responses in cod caged at the capped Kollevåg waste disposal site.publishedVersio

Modeling and Inspection Applications of a Coastal Distributed Autonomous Sensor Network

Real time in-situ measurements are essential for monitoring and understanding physical and biochemical changes within ocean environments. Phenomena of interest usually display spatial and temporal dynamics that span different scales. As a result, a combination of different vehicles, sensors, and advanced control algorithms are required in oceanographic monitoring systems. In this study our group presents the design of a distributed heterogeneous autonomous sensor network that combines underwater, surface, and aerial robotic vehicles along with advanced sensor payloads, planning algorithms and learning principles to successfully operate across the scales and constraints found in coastal environments. Examples where the robotic sensor network is used to localize algal blooms and collect modeling data in the coastal regions of the island nation of Singapore and to construct 3D models of marine structures for inspection and harbor navigation are presented. The system was successfully tested in seawater environments around Singapore where the water current is around 1-2m/s. Topics: Inspection , Modeling , Sensor networks , ShorelinesSingapore. National Research Foundation (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART)

Neo-Aramaic and Kurdish Folklore from Northern Iraq

This comparative anthology showcases the rich and mutually intertwined folklore of three ethno-religious communities from northern Iraq: Aramaic-speaking (‘Syriac’) Christians, Kurdish Muslims and—to a lesser extent—Aramaic-speaking Jews. The first volume contains several introductory chapters on language, folkore motifs and narrative style, followed by samples of glossed texts in each language variety. The second volume is the anthology proper, presenting folklore narratives in several distinct varieties of North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic and Northern and Central Kurdish. The stories are accompanied by English translations. The material includes different genres such as folktales, legends, fables and anecdotes, and is organised into seven thematic units. The folkloristic material of these three communities is shared to a large extent. The anthology is, therefore, a testament to the intimate and long-standing relations between these three ethno-religious communities—relations that existed in a multilingual environment centuries before the modern era of nationalism

Ethical User stories : Industrial study

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authorsIn Port terminals a progressive change is underway in digitalizing traditional systems to SMART systems with the aid of AI. This study follows one of such progressions, the SMARTER project. SMARTER is a sub research and development project of the Sea for Value program of DIMECC company, Finland to create replicable models for digitalization for future terminals which involves the use of AI enabled tools. AI and Autonomous Systems (AS) are the direction that software systems are taking today. But due to ethical challenges involved in the use of AI systems and increased emphasis on ethical practices in the use and design of AI systems, our study provides an ethical angle, Ethical User Stories (EUS). We use an ethically aligned design tool the ECCOLA method to transfer ethical requirements into EUS for non-functional requirements for an aspect of the logistics system, passenger flow. Over the span of six months, 125 EUS using the ECCOLA method were collected through a series of workshops for the passenger flow use case and the findings are revealed in this paper. This project is in the field of maritime industry and concentrates on digitalization of port terminals and this particular paper focuses on the passenger flow. Results are positive towards the practice of Ethical User Stories.Peer reviewe