Reservoir Topology in Deep Echo State Networks

Deep Echo State Networks (DeepESNs) recently extended the applicability of Reservoir Computing (RC) methods towards the field of deep learning. In this paper we study the impact of constrained reservoir topologies in the architectural design of deep reservoirs, through numerical experiments on several RC benchmarks. The major outcome of our investigation is to show the remarkable effect, in terms of predictive performance gain, achieved by the synergy between a deep reservoir construction and a structured organization of the recurrent units in each layer. Our results also indicate that a particularly advantageous architectural setting is obtained in correspondence of DeepESNs where reservoir units are structured according to a permutation recurrent matrix.Comment: Preprint of the paper published in the proceedings of ICANN 201

The relationship between physical activity, sleep duration and depressive symptoms in older adults: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

Research to date suggests that physical activity (PA) is associated with distinct aspects of sleep, but studies have predominantly focused on sleep quality, been carried out in younger adults, and have not accounted for many covariates. Of particular interest is also the reported relationship between physical activity and depression in older adults and as such, their associations with sleep duration. Here we examine the cross-sectional relation between physical activity and sleep duration in a community-dwelling sample of 5265 older adults from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We analysed the data using multiple regression, with physical activity as a categorical exposure and sleep duration a continuous outcome, as well as testing the interaction between physical activity and depressive symptoms, which was significant (p  0.05). Our findings suggest that a potentially effective way of improving sleep in older adults with depressive symptoms is via physical activity interventions

Nonminimal Couplings in the Early Universe: Multifield Models of Inflation and the Latest Observations

Models of cosmic inflation suggest that our universe underwent an early phase of accelerated expansion, driven by the dynamics of one or more scalar fields. Inflationary models make specific, quantitative predictions for several observable quantities, including particular patterns of temperature anistropies in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Realistic models of high-energy physics include many scalar fields at high energies. Moreover, we may expect these fields to have nonminimal couplings to the spacetime curvature. Such couplings are quite generic, arising as renormalization counterterms when quantizing scalar fields in curved spacetime. In this chapter I review recent research on a general class of multifield inflationary models with nonminimal couplings. Models in this class exhibit a strong attractor behavior: across a wide range of couplings and initial conditions, the fields evolve along a single-field trajectory for most of inflation. Across large regions of phase space and parameter space, therefore, models in this general class yield robust predictions for observable quantities that fall squarely within the "sweet spot" of recent observations.Comment: 17pp, 2 figs. References added to match the published version. Published in {\it At the Frontier of Spacetime: Scalar-Tensor Theory, Bell's Inequality, Mach's Principle, Exotic Smoothness}, ed. T. Asselmeyer-Maluga (Springer, 2016), pp. 41-57, in honor of Carl Brans's 80th birthda

Dark Matter from Minimal Flavor Violation

We consider theories of flavored dark matter, in which the dark matter particle is part of a multiplet transforming nontrivially under the flavor group of the Standard Model in a manner consistent with the principle of Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV). MFV automatically leads to the stability of the lightest state for a large number of flavor multiplets. If neutral, this particle is an excellent dark matter candidate. Furthermore, MFV implies specific patterns of mass splittings among the flavors of dark matter and governs the structure of the couplings between dark matter and ordinary particles, leading to a rich and predictive cosmology and phenomenology. We present an illustrative phenomenological study of an effective theory of a flavor SU(3)_Q triplet, gauge singlet scalar.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; v2: references added, minor changes to collider analysis, conclusions unchange

Jet Substructure at the Tevatron and LHC: New results, new tools, new benchmarks

In this report we review recent theoretical progress and the latest experimental results in jet substructure from the Tevatron and the LHC. We review the status of and outlook for calculation and simulation tools for studying jet substructure. Following up on the report of the Boost 2010 workshop, we present a new set of benchmark comparisons of substructure techniques, focusing on the set of variables and grooming methods that are collectively known as "top taggers". To facilitate further exploration, we have attempted to collect, harmonise, and publish software implementations of these techniques.Comment: 53 pages, 17 figures. L. Asquith, S. Rappoccio, C. K. Vermilion, editors; v2: minor edits from journal revision

The efficacy of preopoerative instruction in reducing anxiety following gyneoncological surgery: a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This is a quasi-experimental case control research focusing on the impact of systematic preoperative instruction on the level of postoperative anxiety in gyneoncologic patients. The population studied consists of the gyneoncologic surgery patients admitted to the Gynecologic Oncology Service at Zekai Tahir Burak Gynecology Training and Research Hospital from May to September 2010.</p> <p>Patients and methods</p> <p>Through a random sampling, 60 patients were recruited in each group. The study group was given a systematic preoperative instruction while the control group was given routine nursing care. Patients were interviewed in the postoperative period and anxiety was measured. The data-collecting tool consisted of the Individual Information Form and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The collected data were analyzed by using the SPSS Program to find the frequency, the percentage, the mean and the standard variables, and the hypothesis was tested with Chi-square, variance, and t-independent test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>It was found that the incidence rates from the post-operative anxiety score of the study group were lower than those of the control group (p < .05). The results of this research demonstrated that gyneoncologic surgery patients who were given systematic preoperative instruction felt less anxious than the ones who were given merely a routine nursing care.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Results of this study suggest that preoperative instruction programs aiming at informing gyneoncologic surgery patients at the preoperative stage should be organized in hospitals and have an essential role.</p

Pre-Diagnostic Circulating Vitamin D and Risk of Melanoma in Men

PURPOSE: Various studies have examined the association between serum vitamin D levels and different cancers; however, this is the first prospective study of this association with melanoma risk. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between serum vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and melanoma in a cohort of older, middle-aged Finnish male smokers. METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control study within the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study. From the ATBC cohort, 368 subjects were chosen for our study; 92 participants that developed melanoma and 276 matched control subjects. At study baseline, lifestyle questionnaires and blood samples were collected. Serum 25(OH)D was modeled as three sets of categorical variables: clinically-defined categories, season-specific quartiles and season-adjusted residual quartiles. Conditional logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) to estimate the association between circulating vitamin D and melanoma risk. RESULTS: Overall no association of serum 25(OH)D and melanoma risk was observed. A decreased risk of developing melanoma was observed in the middle categories compared to the lowest category, albeit not significant. CONCLUSION: Results indicate no association between serum 25(OH)D levels and melanoma. Additional studies, including possibly consortium efforts, are needed to investigate the association between serum 25(OH)D levels and risk of melanoma in larger, more diverse study populations

Purification and characterization of native human insulin-like growth factor binding protein-6

Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) are key regulators of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) mediated signal transduction and thereby can profoundly influence cellular phenotypes and cell fate. Whereas IGFBPs are extracellular proteins, intracellular activities were described for several IGFBP family members, such as IGFBP-3, which can be reinternalized by endocytosis and reaches the nucleus through routes that remain to be fully established. Within the family of IGFBPs, IGFBP-6 is unique for its specific binding to IGF-II. IGFBP-6 was described to possess additional IGF-independent activities, which have in part been attributed to its translocation to the nucleus; however, cellular uptake of IGFBP-6 was not described. To further explore IGFBP-6 functions, we developed a new method for the purification of native human IGFBP-6 from cell culture supernatants, involving a four-step affinity purification procedure, which yields highly enriched IGFBP-6. Whereas protein purified in this way retained the capacity to interact with IGF-II and modulate IGF-dependent signal transduction, our data suggest that, unlike IGFBP-3, human IGFBP-6 is not readily internalized by human tumor cells. To summarize, this work describes a novel and efficient method for the purification of native human insulin-like growth factor binding protein 6 (IGFBP-6) from human cell culture supernatants, applying a four-step chromatography procedure. Intactness of purified IGFBP-6 was confirmed by IGF ligand Western blot and ability to modulate IGF-dependent signal transduction. Cellular uptake studies were performed to further characterize the purified protein, showing no short-term uptake of IGFBP-6, in contrast to IGFBP-3