Non-power-of-Two FFTs: Exploring the Flexibility of the Montium TP

Coarse-grain reconfigurable architectures, like the Montium TP, have proven to be a very successful approach for low-power and high-performance computation of regular digital signal processing algorithms. This paper presents the implementation of a class of non-power-of-two FFTs to discover the limitations and Flexibility of the Montium TP for less regular algorithms. A non-power-of-two FFT is less regular compared to a traditional power-of-two FFT. The results of the implementation show the processing time, accuracy, energy consumption and Flexibility of the implementation

Developing a predictive modelling capacity for a climate change-vulnerable blanket bog habitat: Assessing 1961-1990 baseline relationships

Aim: Understanding the spatial distribution of high priority habitats and developing predictive models using climate and environmental variables to replicate these distributions are desirable conservation goals. The aim of this study was to model and elucidate the contributions of climate and topography to the distribution of a priority blanket bog habitat in Ireland, and to examine how this might inform the development of a climate change predictive capacity for peat-lands in Ireland. Methods: Ten climatic and two topographic variables were recorded for grid cells with a spatial resolution of 1010 km, covering 87% of the mainland land surface of Ireland. Presence-absence data were matched to these variables and generalised linear models (GLMs) fitted to identify the main climatic and terrain predictor variables for occurrence of the habitat. Candidate predictor variables were screened for collinearity, and the accuracy of the final fitted GLM was evaluated using fourfold cross-validation based on the area under the curve (AUC) derived from a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plot. The GLM predicted habitat occurrence probability maps were mapped against the actual distributions using GIS techniques. Results: Despite the apparent parsimony of the initial GLM using only climatic variables, further testing indicated collinearity among temperature and precipitation variables for example. Subsequent elimination of the collinear variables and inclusion of elevation data produced an excellent performance based on the AUC scores of the final GLM. Mean annual temperature and total mean annual precipitation in combination with elevation range were the most powerful explanatory variable group among those explored for the presence of blanket bog habitat. Main conclusions: The results confirm that this habitat distribution in general can be modelled well using the non-collinear climatic and terrain variables tested at the grid resolution used. Mapping the GLM-predicted distribution to the observed distribution produced useful results in replicating the projected occurrence of the habitat distribution over an extensive area. The methods developed will usefully inform future climate change predictive modelling for Irelan

Twist1 induces distinct cell states depending on TGFBR1-activation.

Basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Twist1 is a master regulator of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), a cellular program implicated in different stages of development as well as metastatic dissemination of carcinomas. Here, we show that Twist1 requires TGF-beta type-I receptor (TGFBR1)-activation to bind an enhancer region of downstream effector ZEB1, thereby inducing ZEB1 transcription and EMT. When TGFBR1-phosphorylation is inhibited, Twist1 generates a distinct cell state characterized by collective invasion, simultaneous proliferation and expression of endothelial markers. By contrast, TGFBR1-activation directs Twist1 to induce stable mesenchymal transdifferentiation through EMT, thereby generating cells that display single-cell invasion, but lose their proliferative capacity. In conclusion, preventing Twist1-induced EMT by inhibiting TGFβ-signaling does not generally block acquisition of invasion, but switches mode from single-cell/non-proliferative to collective/proliferative. Together, these data reveal that transient Twist1-activation induces distinct cell states depending on signaling context and caution against the use of TGFβ-inhibitors as a therapeutic strategy to target invasiveness

The immunoregulator soluble TACI is released by ADAM10 and reflects B cell activation in autoimmunity.

BAFF and a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), which control B cell homeostasis, are therapeutic targets in autoimmune diseases. TACI-Fc (atacicept), a soluble fusion protein containing the extracellular domain of the BAFF-APRIL receptor TACI, was applied in clinical trials. However, disease activity in multiple sclerosis unexpectedly increased, whereas in systemic lupus erythematosus, atacicept was beneficial. In this study, we show that an endogenous soluble TACI (sTACI) exists in vivo. TACI proteolysis involved shedding by a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 10 releasing sTACI from activated B cells. The membrane-bound stub was subsequently cleaved by γ-secretase reducing ligand-independent signaling of the remaining C-terminal fragment. The shed ectodomain assembled ligand independently in a homotypic way. It functioned as a decoy receptor inhibiting BAFF- and APRIL-mediated B cell survival and NF-κB activation. We determined sTACI levels in autoimmune diseases with established hyperactivation of the BAFF-APRIL system. sTACI levels were elevated both in the cerebrospinal fluid of the brain-restricted autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis correlating with intrathecal IgG production, as well as in the serum of the systemic autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus correlating with disease activity. Together, we show that TACI is sequentially processed by a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 10 and γ-secretase. The released sTACI is an immunoregulator that shares decoy functions with atacicept. It reflects systemic and compartmentalized B cell accumulation and activation