Evaluation of soccer team defense based on prediction models of ball recovery and being attacked

With the development of measurement technology, data on the movements of actual games in various sports are available and are expected to be used for planning and evaluating the tactics and strategy. In particular, defense in team sports is generally difficult to be evaluated because of the lack of statistical data. Conventional evaluation methods based on predictions of scores are considered unreliable and predict rare events throughout the entire game, and it is difficult to evaluate various plays leading up to a score. On the other hand, evaluation methods based on certain plays that lead to scoring and dominant regions are sometimes unsuitable to evaluate the performance (e.g., goals scored) of players and teams. In this study, we propose a method to evaluate team defense from a comprehensive perspective related to team performance based on the prediction of ball recovery and being attacked, which occur more frequently than goals, using player actions and positional data of all players and the ball. Using data from 45 soccer matches, we examined the relationship between the proposed index and team performance in actual matches and throughout a season. Results show that the proposed classifiers more accurately predicted the true events than the existing classifiers which were based on rare events (i.e., goals). Also, the proposed index had a moderate correlation with the long-term outcomes of the season. These results suggest that the proposed index might be a more reliable indicator rather than winning or losing with the inclusion of accidental factors.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Effect of the side chain of N-acyl amino acid surfactants on micelle formation: An isothermal titration calorimetry study

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科物質情報解析The enthalpy of micelle formation, critical micelle concentration (CMC), and aggregation number of micelles for seven amino acid type surfactants, sodium N-dodecanoyl-glycinate (C12Gly), -l-alaninate (C12Ala), -l-valinate (C12Val), -l-leucinate (C12Leu), -l-phenylalaninate (C12Phe), -l-glutaminate (C12Gln), and -l-threoninate (C12Thr), were obtained at three temperatures ranging from 288.15 to 308.15 K by isothermal titration calorimetry. The enthalpies of micelle formation for these surfactants were positive at 288.15 K and decreased with increasing temperature to ultimately become negative above 308.15 K. The CMC of the amino acid surfactants decreased monotonously with increasing hydrophobicity of the amino acid residue without exception, while with the exception of the C12Phe system, the enthalpy of micelle formation increased. The micellization behavior of C12Phe also deviated from that of other amino acid systems in terms of the heat capacity and the aggregation number. These results suggest the presence of a strong intra-micelle interaction between the side chains of phenylalanine. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

An essential role of SVZ progenitors in cortical folding in gyrencephalic mammals

Because folding of the cerebral cortex in the mammalian brain is believed to be crucial for higher brain functions, the mechanisms underlying its formation during development and evolution are of great interest. Although it has been proposed that increased neural progenitors in the subventricular zone (SVZ) are responsible for making cortical folds, their roles in cortical folding are still largely unclear, mainly because genetic methods for gyrencephalic mammals had been poorly available. Here, by taking an advantage of our newly developed in utero electroporation technique for the gyrencephalic brain of ferrets, we investigated the role of SVZ progenitors in cortical folding. We found regional differences in the abundance of SVZ progenitors in the developing ferret brain even before cortical folds began to be formed. When Tbr2 transcription factor was inhibited, intermediate progenitor cells were markedly reduced in the ferret cerebral cortex. Interestingly, outer radial glial cells were also reduced by inhibiting Tbr2. We uncovered that reduced numbers of SVZ progenitors resulted in impaired cortical folding. When Tbr2 was inhibited, upper cortical layers were preferentially reduced in gyri compared to those in sulci. Our findings indicate the biological importance of SVZ progenitors in cortical folding in the gyrencephalic brain

Pathophysiological analyses of cortical malformation using gyrencephalic mammals

One of the most prominent features of the cerebral cortex of higher mammals is the presence of gyri. Because malformations of the cortical gyri are associated with severe disability in brain function, the mechanisms underlying malformations of the cortical gyri have been of great interest. Combining gyrencephalic carnivore ferrets and genetic manipulations using in utero electroporation, here we successfully recapitulated the cortical phenotypes of thanatophoric dysplasia (TD) by expressing fibroblast growth factor 8 in the ferret cerebral cortex. Strikingly, in contrast to TD mice, our TD ferret model showed not only megalencephaly but also polymicrogyria. We further uncovered that outer radial glial cells (oRGs) and intermediate progenitor cells (IPs) were markedly increased. Because it has been proposed that increased oRGs and/or IPs resulted in the appearance of cortical gyri during evolution, it seemed possible that increased oRGs and IPs underlie the pathogenesis of polymicrogyria. Our findings should help shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and malformation of cortical gyri in higher mammals. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited

The Role of Genetic Analysis in Distinguishing Multifocal and Multicentric Glioblastomas: An Illustrative Case

Introduction: Glioblastomas can manifest as multiple, simultaneous, noncontiguous lesions. We genetically analyzed multiple glioblastomas and discuss their etiological origins in this report. Case Presentation: We present the case of a 47-year-old woman who presented with memory impairment and left partial paralysis. Radiographic imaging revealed three apparently noncontiguous lesions in the right temporal and parietal lobes extending into the corpus callosum, leading to diagnosis of multicentric glioblastomas. All three lesions were excised. Genetic analysis of the lesions revealed a TERT promoter C228T mutation, a roughly equivalent amplification of EGFR, and homozygous deletion of CDKN2A/B exclusively in the two contrast-enhanced lesions. Additionally, the contrast-enhanced lesions exhibited the same two-base pair mutations of PTEN, whereas the non-enhanced lesion showed a partially distinct 13-base pair mutation. The other genetic characteristics were consistent. Rather than each having arisen de novo, we believe that they had developed by infiltration and are therefore best classified as multifocal glioblastomas. Conclusion: Our findings underscore anew the possibility of infiltration by glioblastomas, even within regions devoid of signal alterations on T2-weighted images or fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images. Genetic analysis can play a crucial role in differentiating whether multiple glioblastomas are multifocal or multicentric

Random regression for modeling soybean plant response to irrigation changes using time-series multispectral data

Plant response to drought is an important yield-related trait under abiotic stress, but the method for measuring and modeling plant responses in a time series has not been fully established. The objective of this study was to develop a method to measure and model plant response to irrigation changes using time-series multispectral (MS) data. We evaluated 178 soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) accessions under three irrigation treatments at the Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Japan in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The irrigation treatments included W5: watering for 5 d followed by no watering 5 d, W10: watering for 10 d followed by no watering 10 d, D10: no watering for 10 d followed by watering 10 d, and D: no watering. To capture the plant responses to irrigation changes, time-series MS data were collected by unmanned aerial vehicle during the irrigation/non-irrigation switch of each irrigation treatment. We built a random regression model (RRM) for each of combination of treatment by year using the time-series MS data. To test the accuracy of the information captured by RRM, we evaluated the coefficient of variation (CV) of fresh shoot weight of all accessions under a total of nine different drought conditions as an indicator of plant’s stability under drought stresses. We built a genomic prediction model (MTRRM model) using the genetic random regression coefficients of RRM as secondary traits and evaluated the accuracy of each model for predicting CV. In 2020 and 2021,the mean prediction accuracies of MTRRM models built in the changing irrigation treatments (r = 0.44 and 0.49, respectively) were higher than that in the continuous drought treatment (r = 0.34 and 0.44, respectively) in the same year. When the CV was predicted using the MTRRM model across 2020 and 2021 in the changing irrigation treatment, the mean prediction accuracy (r = 0.46) was 42% higher than that of the simple genomic prediction model (r =0.32). The results suggest that this RRM method using the time-series MS data can effectively capture the genetic variation of plant response to drought