STRATIFIED INVESTIGATION OF LOW-PERFORMING NETWORK ARCHITECTURE (SINA) USING GRAPH NEURAL NETWORKS AND PEER BENCHMARKING

Monitoring and troubleshooting networks to improve their performance and reliability is a complicated task, not only because it requires the checking of every single network device but also because it involves understanding the connections between those devices. To address that complexity, techniques are presented herein that support a Stratified Investigation of Low-Performing Network Architecture (SINA) system. Such a system is a framework that identifies any low-performing network architecture areas and makes improvements on a subnetwork level. Such a system may automatically identify low-performing areas of a customer’s network based on information about similar networks and expert knowledge with solutions. Such a system may employ a graph neural network (GNN) to identify areas of a customer’s network that need improvement based on a calculated performance score while considering the interaction between devices and the topology of networks. Further, such a system may leverage network performance metrics from many customers to create a performance benchmark and then evaluate where a customer’s network’s performance lies within that benchmark. Still further, such a system may employ a transformer-based natural language processing (NLP) model (that understands key semantic knowledge from documents, device configurations, and logs) to help generate solutions to network issues. Finally, based on high-performing customers relative to the benchmark and documents with best practices for configuring networks, a SINA system may provide solutions to a customer’s network that will help optimize network performance

HIMEG: HIERARCHICAL MEETING NOTE GENERATION USING TEXT SEGMENTATION AND ATTENTION CORRELATION

Techniques are presented herein that support a HiMEG system, a framework that helps create meeting notes of multiple granularities for meeting invitees so that they can refresh their memory or catch up on any meeting. Such a system comprises a Segmentation Engine that may divide a meeting transcript into separate sections representing the different topics that were covered during a meeting. Such a system also comprises an Attention Correlation Analyzing Model that may be used to capture the attention correlation between different meeting notes that were generated from the discovered topics, which is useful in a Meeting Note Summarization Model that may assess which meeting notes are most similar. Under such a system, one effective summary may be formed based on the most similar meeting notes and the process may be repeated until there is one overall summary of a meeting. In the end, a user may read the high-level summary of a meeting and then dive further into the specific contents of the general meeting note based on their interests and needs. While the above-described framework was originally developed for generating meeting notes, it may also be applied to any text input such as speeches, action scripts, and training scripts

A Novel Protein LZTFL1 Regulates Ciliary Trafficking of the BBSome and Smoothened

Many signaling proteins including G protein-coupled receptors localize to primary cilia, regulating cellular processes including differentiation, proliferation, organogenesis, and tumorigenesis. Bardet-Biedl Syndrome (BBS) proteins are involved in maintaining ciliary function by mediating protein trafficking to the cilia. However, the mechanisms governing ciliary trafficking by BBS proteins are not well understood. Here, we show that a novel protein, Leucine-zipper transcription factor-like 1 (LZTFL1), interacts with a BBS protein complex known as the BBSome and regulates ciliary trafficking of this complex. We also show that all BBSome subunits and BBS3 (also known as ARL6) are required for BBSome ciliary entry and that reduction of LZTFL1 restores BBSome trafficking to cilia in BBS3 and BBS5 depleted cells. Finally, we found that BBS proteins and LZTFL1 regulate ciliary trafficking of hedgehog signal transducer, Smoothened. Our findings suggest that LZTFL1 is an important regulator of BBSome ciliary trafficking and hedgehog signaling

Spontaneous Brain Activity in the Default Mode Network Is Sensitive to Different Resting-State Conditions with Limited Cognitive Load

BACKGROUND: Recent functional MRI (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that there is an intrinsically organized default mode network (DMN) in the resting brain, primarily made up of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Several previous studies have found that the DMN is minimally disturbed during different resting-state conditions with limited cognitive demand. However, this conclusion was drawn from the visual inspection of the functional connectivity patterns within the DMN and no statistical comparison was performed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Four resting-state fMRI sessions were acquired: 1) eyes-closed (EC) (used to generate the DMN mask); 2) EC; 3) eyes-open with no fixation (EO); and 4) eyes-open with a fixation (EO-F). The 2-4 sessions were counterbalanced across participants (n = 20, 10 males). We examined the statistical differences in both functional connectivity and regional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) within the DMN among the 2-4 resting-state conditions (i.e., EC, EO, and EO-F). Although the connectivity patterns of the DMN were visually similar across these three different conditions, we observed significantly higher functional connectivity and ALFF in both the EO and the EO-F conditions as compared to the EC condition. In addition, the first and second resting EC conditions showed significant differences within the DMN, suggesting an order effect on the DMN activity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings of the higher DMN connectivity and regional spontaneous activities in the resting state with the eyes open suggest that the participants might have more non-specific or non-goal-directed visual information gathering and evaluation, and mind wandering or daydreaming during the resting state with the eyes open as compared to that with the eyes closed, thus providing insights into the understanding of unconstrained mental activity within the DMN. Our results also suggest that it should be cautious when choosing the type of a resting condition and designating the order of the resting condition in multiple scanning sessions in experimental design

5-HTTLPR Polymorphism Impacts Task-Evoked and Resting-State Activities of the Amygdala in Han Chinese

Background: Prior research has shown that the amygdala of carriers of the short allele (s) of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene (5-HTTLPR) have a larger response to negative emotional stimuli and higher spontaneous activity during the resting state than non-carriers. However, recent studies have suggested that the effects of 5-HTTLPR may be specific to different ethnic groups. Few studies have been conducted to address this issue. Methodology/Principal Findings: Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was conducted on thirty-eight healthy Han Chinese subjects (l/l group, n = 19; s/s group, n = 19) during the resting state and during an emotional processing task. Compared with the s/s group, the l/l group showed significantly increased regional homogeneity or local synchronization in the right amygdala during the resting state (|t|.2.028, p,0.05, corrected), but no significant difference was found in the bilateral amygdala in response to negative stimuli in the emotional processing task. Conclusions/Significance: 5-HTTLPR can alter the spontaneous activity of the amygdala in Han Chinese. However, the effect of 5-HTTLPR on the amygdala both in task state and resting state in Asian population was no similar with Caucasians. The

Hypovirus-Responsive Transcription Factor Gene pro1 of the Chestnut Blight Fungus Cryphonectria parasitica Is Required for Female Fertility, Asexual Spore Development, and Stable Maintenance of Hypovirus Infection▿

We report characterization of the gene encoding putative transcription factor PRO1, identified in transcriptional profiling studies as being downregulated in the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica in response to infection by virulence-attenuating hypoviruses. Sequence analysis confirmed that pro1 encodes a Zn(II)2Cys6 binuclear cluster DNA binding protein with significant sequence similarity to the pro1 gene product that controls fruiting body development in Sordaria macrospora. Targeted disruption of the C. parasitica pro1 gene resulted in two phenotypic changes that also accompany hypovirus infection, a significant reduction in asexual sporulation that could be reversed by exposure to high light intensity, and loss of female fertility. The pro1 disruption mutant, however, retained full virulence. Although hypovirus CHV1-EP713 infection was established in the pro1 disruption mutant, infected colonies continually produced virus-free sectors, suggesting that PRO1 is required for stable maintenance of hypovirus infection. These results complement the recent characterization of the hypovirus-responsive homologue of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ste12 C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor gene, cpst12, which was shown to be required for C. parasitica female fertility and virulence

Learning hardware using multiple-valued logic - Part 2: Cube calculus and architecture

For Part 1 see ibid. vol.22, no.3 (2002). A massively parallel reconfigurable processor speeds up the logic operators performed in the learning hardware. The approach uses combinatorial synthesis methods developed within the framework of the logic synthesis approach in digital-circuit-design automatio