Statistical physics and practical training of soft-committee machines

Equilibrium states of large layered neural networks with differentiable activation function and a single, linear output unit are investigated using the replica formalism. The quenched free energy of a student network with a very large number of hidden units learning a rule of perfectly matching complexity is calculated analytically. The system undergoes a first order phase transition from unspecialized to specialized student configurations at a critical size of the training set. Computer simulations of learning by stochastic gradient descent from a fixed training set demonstrate that the equilibrium results describe quantitatively the plateau states which occur in practical training procedures at sufficiently small but finite learning rates.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Part based object detection with a flexible context constraint

This work describes an object detection system which integrates flexible spatial context constraints to improve detection performance. It allows spatial and scale deformation of the object relative to its context. The contextual model extends an existing deformable parts model and is trained on partially labeled data using a latent SVM. The approach can be applied to any object detection problem where the object class always exists in one typical image context, but the context can appear independently. A new scoring method is used to model the asymmetric relationship between object and context. Furthermore, the system enables the use of contextual non-maximum suppression, a context sensitive way to discard redundant detections. Trained on our combined dataset of dresses and persons, the system achieves a significant improvement in detection performance when compared with basic deformable parts models

Optical Polarization of Light from a Sorghum Canopy Measured Under Both a Clear and an Overcast Sky

Introduction: We tested the hypothesis that the optical polarization of the light reflected by a sorghum canopy is due to a Fresnel-type redirection, by sorghum leaf surfaces, of light from an unpolarized light source, the sun or overcast sky, toward the measuring sensor. If it can be shown that the source of the polarization of the light scattered by the sorghum canopy is a first surface, Fresnel-type reflection, then removing this surface reflected light from measurements of canopy reflectance presumably would allow better insight into the biochemical processes such as photosynthesis and metabolism that occur in the interiors of sorghum canopy leaves. Methods: We constructed a tower 5.9m tall in the center of a homogenous sorghum field. We equipped two Barnes MMR radiometers with polarization analyzers on the number 1, 3 and 7 Landsat TM wavelength bands. Positioning the radiometers atop the tower, we collected radiance data in 44 view directions on two days, one day with an overcast sky and the other, clear and sunlit. From the radiance data we calculated the linear polarization of the reflected light for each radiometer wavelength channel and view direction. Results and Discussion: Our experimental results support our hypothesis, showing that the amplitude of the linearly polarized portion of the light reflected by the sorghum canopy varied dramatically with view azimuth direction under a point source, the sun, but the amplitude varied little with view azimuth direction under the hemispherical source, the overcast sky. Under the clear sky, the angle of polarization depended upon the angle of incidence of the sunlight on the leaf, while under the overcast sky the angle of polarization depended upon the zenith view angle. These results support a polarized radiation transport model of the canopy that is based upon a first surface, Fresnel reflection from leaves in the sorghum canopy

Pointing all around you : selection performance of mouse and ray-cast pointing in full-coverage displays

Funding: SurfNet (NSERC, Canada), EPSRC (Small Equipment Grant).As display environments become larger and more diverse - now often encompassing multiple walls and room surfaces - it is becoming more common that users must find and manipulate digital artifacts not directly in front of them. There is little understanding, however, about what techniques and devices are best for carrying out basic operations above, behind, or to the side of the user. We conducted an empirical study comparing two main techniques that are suitable for full-coverage display environments: mouse-based pointing, and ray-cast `laser' pointing. Participants completed search and pointing tasks on the walls and ceiling, and we measured completion time, path lengths and perceived effort. Our study showed a strong interaction between performance and target location: when the target position was not known a priori the mouse was fastest for targets on the front wall, but ray-casting was faster for targets behind the user. Our findings provide new empirical evidence that can help designers choose pointing techniques for full-coverage spaces.Postprin

Management to prevent drug residue problems in pork

1 online resource (PDF, 6 pages)This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

A dual role for A-type lamins in DNA double-strand break repair

A-type lamins are emerging as regulators of nuclear organization and function. Changes in their expression are associated with cancer and mutations are linked to degenerative diseases—laminopathies. Although a correlation exists between alterations in lamins and genomic instability, the molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. We previously found that loss of A-type lamins leads to degradation of 53BP1 protein and defective long-range non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) of dysfunctional telomeres. Here, we determined how loss of A-type lamins affects the repair of short-range DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induced by ionizing radiation (IR). We find that lamins deficiency allows activation of the DNA damage response, but compromises the accumulation of 53BP1 at IR-induced foci (IRIF), hindering the fast phase of repair corresponding to classical-NHEJ. Importantly, reconstitution of 53BP1 is sufficient to rescue long-range and short-range NHEJ. Moreover, we demonstrate an unprecedented role for A-type lamins in the maintenance of homologous recombination (HR). Depletion of lamins compromises HR by a mechanism involving transcriptional downregulation of BRCA1 and RAD51 by the repressor complex formed by the Rb family member p130 and E2F4. In line with the DNA repair defects, lamins-deficient cells exhibit increased radiosensitivity. This study demonstrates that A-type lamins promote genomic stability by maintaining the levels of proteins with key roles in DNA DSBs repair by NHEJ and HR. Our results suggest that silencing of A-type lamins by DNA methylation in some cancers could contribute to the genomic instability that drives malignancy. In addition, lamins-deficient tumor cells could represent a good target for radiation therapy

Global, regional, and national burden of tuberculosis, 1990–2016: results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2016 Study

Background Although a preventable and treatable disease, tuberculosis causes more than a million deaths each year. As countries work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target to end the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030, robust assessments of the levels and trends of the burden of tuberculosis are crucial to inform policy and programme decision making. We assessed the levels and trends in the fatal and non-fatal burden of tuberculosis by drug resistance and HIV status for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016. Methods We analysed 15 943 site-years of vital registration data, 1710 site-years of verbal autopsy data, 764 site-years of sample-based vital registration data, and 361 site-years of mortality surveillance data to estimate mortality due to tuberculosis using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. We analysed all available data sources, including annual case notifications, prevalence surveys, population-based tuberculin surveys, and estimated tuberculosis cause-specific mortality to generate internally consistent estimates of incidence, prevalence, and mortality using DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool. We assessed how the burden of tuberculosis differed from the burden predicted by the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, average years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Findings Globally in 2016, among HIV-negative individuals, the number of incident cases of tuberculosis was 9·02 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8·05–10·16) and the number of tuberculosis deaths was 1·21 million (1·16–1·27). Among HIV-positive individuals, the number of incident cases was 1·40 million (1·01–1·89) and the number of tuberculosis deaths was 0·24 million (0·16–0·31). Globally, among HIV-negative individuals the age-standardised incidence of tuberculosis decreased annually at a slower rate (–1·3% [–1·5 to −1·2]) than mortality did (–4·5% [–5·0 to −4·1]) from 2006 to 2016. Among HIV-positive individuals during the same period, the rate of change in annualised age-standardised incidence was −4·0% (–4·5 to −3·7) and mortality was −8·9% (–9·5 to −8·4). Several regions had higher rates of age-standardised incidence and mortality than expected on the basis of their SDI levels in 2016. For drug-susceptible tuberculosis, the highest observed-to-expected ratios were in southern sub-Saharan Africa (13·7 for incidence and 14·9 for mortality), and the lowest ratios were in high-income North America (0·4 for incidence) and Oceania (0·3 for mortality). For multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, eastern Europe had the highest observed-to-expected ratios (67·3 for incidence and 73·0 for mortality), and high-income North America had the lowest ratios (0·4 for incidence and 0·5 for mortality). Interpretation If current trends in tuberculosis incidence continue, few countries are likely to meet the SDG target to end the tuberculosis epidemic by 2030. Progress needs to be accelerated by improving the quality of and access to tuberculosis diagnosis and care, by developing new tools, scaling up interventions to prevent risk factors for tuberculosis, and integrating control programmes for tuberculosis and HIV

Quantifying risks and interventions that have affected the burden of diarrhoea among children younger than 5 years : an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Many countries have shown marked declines in diarrhoea! disease mortality among children younger than 5 years. With this analysis, we provide updated results on diarrhoeal disease mortality among children younger than 5 years from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017) and use the study's comparative risk assessment to quantify trends and effects of risk factors, interventions, and broader sociodemographic development on mortality changes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Methods This analysis for GBD 2017 had three main components. Diarrhoea mortality was modelled using vital registration data, demographic surveillance data, and verbal autopsy data in a predictive, Bayesian, ensemble modelling tool; and the attribution of risk factors and interventions for diarrhoea were modelled in a counterfactual framework that combines modelled population-level prevalence of the exposure to each risk or intervention with the relative risk of diarrhoea given exposure to that factor. We assessed the relative and absolute change in diarrhoea mortality rate between 1990 and 2017, and used the change in risk factor exposure and sociodemographic status to explain differences in the trends of diarrhoea mortality among children younger than 5 years. Findings Diarrhoea was responsible for an estimated 533 768 deaths (95% uncertainty interval 477 162-593 145) among children younger than 5 years globally in 2017, a rate of 78.4 deaths (70.1-87.1) per 100 000 children. The diarrhoea mortality rate ranged between countries by over 685 deaths per 100 000 children. Diarrhoea mortality per 100 000 globally decreased by 69.6% (63.1-74.6) between 1990 and 2017. Among the risk factors considered in this study, those responsible for the largest declines in the diarrhoea mortality rate were reduction in exposure to unsafe sanitation (13.3% decrease, 11.2-15.5), childhood wasting (9.9% decrease, 9.6-10.2), and low use of oral rehydration solution (6.9% decrease, 4-8-8-4). Interpretation Diarrhoea mortality has declined substantially since 1990, although there are variations by country. Improvements in sociodemographic indicators might explain some of these trends, but changes in exposure to risk factors-particularly unsafe sanitation, childhood growth failure, and low use of oral rehydration solution-appear to be related to the relative and absolute rates of decline in diarrhoea mortality. Although the most effective interventions might vary by country or region, identifying and scaling up the interventions aimed at preventing and protecting against diarrhoea that have already reduced diarrhoea mortality could further avert many thousands of deaths due to this illness. Copyright (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

A Strategy for Origins of Life Research

Aworkshop was held August 26–28, 2015, by the Earth- Life Science Institute (ELSI) Origins Network (EON, see Appendix I) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. This meeting gathered a diverse group of around 40 scholars researching the origins of life (OoL) from various perspectives with the intent to find common ground, identify key questions and investigations for progress, and guide EON by suggesting a roadmap of activities. Specific challenges that the attendees were encouraged to address included the following: What key questions, ideas, and investigations should the OoL research community address in the near and long term? How can this community better organize itself and prioritize its efforts? What roles can particular subfields play, and what can ELSI and EON do to facilitate research progress? (See also Appendix II.) The present document is a product of that workshop; a white paper that serves as a record of the discussion that took place and a guide and stimulus to the solution of the most urgent and important issues in the study of the OoL. This paper is not intended to be comprehensive or a balanced representation of the opinions of the entire OoL research community. It is intended to present a number of important position statements that contain many aspirational goals and suggestions as to how progress can be made in understanding the OoL. The key role played in the field by current societies and recurring meetings over the past many decades is fully acknowledged, including the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL) and its official journal Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, as well as the International Society for Artificial Life (ISAL)

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens