Enhancing competitive island cooperative neuro - evolution through backpropagation for pattern classification

Cooperative coevolution is a promising method for training neural networks which is also known as cooperative neuro-evolution. Cooperative neuro-evolution has been used for pattern classification, time series prediction and global optimisation problems. In the past, competitive island based cooperative coevolution has been proposed that employed different instances of problem decomposition methods for competition. Neuro-evolution has limitations in terms of training time although they are known as global search methods. Backpropagation algorithm employs gradient descent which helps in faster convergence which is needed for neuro-evolution. Backpropagation suffers from premature convergence and its combination with neuro-evolution can help eliminate the weakness of both the approaches. In this paper, we propose a competitive island cooperative neuro-evolutionary method that takes advantage of the strengths of gradient descent and neuro-evolution. We use feedforward neural networks on benchmark pattern classification problems to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The results show improved performance when compared to related methods

Food and nutrition literacy status and its correlates in Iranian senior high-school students

Background: Planning interventions to promote food and nutrition literacy (FNL) require a better understanding of the FNL status of the target group and its correlates. Aims: This study aimed to examine the FNL status and its determinants in Iranian senior high-school students. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, FNL and its components (food and nutrition knowledge, functional skills, interactive skills, advocacy, critical analysis of information, and food label reading skill) were evaluated by a locally designed and validated, self-administered questionnaire. Besides, socioeconomic, demographic, anthropometric measures, as well as academic performance of 626 senior high-school students were assessed. Results: The mean ± SD of the total FNL score (within potential range of 0 to 100) was 52.1 ± 10.96, which is below the minimum adequate level of 60. The probability of high FNL knowledge score was significantly higher among students who majored in Natural Sciences (OR = 1.73, CI = 1.09�2.75), had better school performance (OR = 1.13, CI = 1.06�1.20) and higher SES score (OR = 1.20, CI = 1.01�1.44). The score for food label reading was significantly lower in girls (OR = 0.45, CI = 0.31�0.67), while those who had a family member with the nutrition-related disease were more likely to have a higher score of food label reading skill (OR = 1.48, CI = 1.01�1.64). Conclusion: The level of FNL in senior high-school students in Tehran was relatively low. These findings have key messages for the education system and curriculum designers to have more consideration for food and nutrition-related knowledge and skills in schools. © 2021, The Author(s)

De novo assembly and phasing of dikaryotic genomes from two isolates of puccinia coronata f. Sp. avenae, the causal agent of oat crown rust

Oat crown rust, caused by the fungus Pucinnia coronata f. sp. avenae, is a devastating disease that impacts worldwide oat production. For much of its life cycle, P. coronata f. sp. avenae is dikaryotic, with two separate haploid nuclei that may vary in virulence genotype, highlighting the importance of understanding haplotype diversity in this species. We generated highly contiguous de novo genome assemblies of two P. coronata f. sp. avenae isolates, 12SD80 and 12NC29, from long-read sequences. In total, we assembled 603 primary contigs for 12SD80, for a total assembly length of 99.16 Mbp, and 777 primary contigs for 12NC29, for a total length of 105.25 Mbp; approximately 52% of each genome was assembled into alternate haplotypes. This revealed structural variation between haplotypes in each isolate equivalent to more than 2% of the genome size, in addition to about 260,000 and 380,000 heterozygous single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 12SD80 and 12NC29, respectively. Transcript-based annotation identified 26,796 and 28,801 coding sequences for isolates 12SD80 and 12NC29, respectively, including about 7,000 allele pairs in haplotype-phased regions. Furthermore, expression profiling revealed clusters of coexpressed secreted effector candidates, and the majority of orthologous effectors between isolates showed conservation of expression patterns. However, a small subset of orthologs showed divergence in expression, which may contribute to differences in virulence between 12SD80 and 12NC29. This study provides the first haplotype-phased reference genome for a dikaryotic rust fungus as a foundation for future studies into virulence mechanisms in P. coronata f. sp. avenae.This work was funded by the USDA-ARS and the University of Minnesota Standard Cooperative Agreement (grant 3002-11031-00053115 shared by S.F.K. and M.F.), the University of Minnesota Experimental Station USDA-NIFA Hatch/Figueroa project MIN22-058, and an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Fellowship to M.F. M.E.M. was partially supported by a USDA-NIFA Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (2017-67012-26117). J.S. was supported by an OCE Postdoctoral Fellowship. R.F.P. receives funding from the Australian Grains Research Development Corporation (grant US00067). J.M.P. was supported by the Northern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service

The Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) Scale: comparison scores from 27 sites in 22 countries

Abstract Household survey data from 27 sites in 22 countries were collected in 2017–2018 in order to construct and validate a cross-cultural household-level water insecurity scale. The resultant Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) scale presents a useful tool for monitoring and evaluating water interventions as a complement to traditional metrics used by the development community. It can also help track progress toward achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 ‘clean water and sanitation for all’. We present HWISE scale scores from 27 sites as comparative data for future studies using the HWISE scale in low- and middle-income contexts. Site-level mean scores for HWISE-12 (scored 0–36) ranged from 1.64 (SD 4.22) in Pune, India, to 20.90 (7.50) in Cartagena, Colombia, while site-level mean scores for HWISE-4 (scored 0–12) ranged from 0.51 (1.50) in Pune, India, to 8.21 (2.55) in Punjab, Pakistan. Scores tended to be higher in the dry season as expected. Data from this first implementation of the HWISE scale demonstrate the diversity of water insecurity within and across communities and can help to situate findings from future applications of this tool

Reproductive maturation of sub adult Indian carps in earthen ponds

Carp culture in extensive and semi-extensive systems: i.e., earthen ponds, natural and semi-natural water resources, reservoirs and the paddy field has widspred distribution. Indian major carps including Catla (Catla catla), Roho (Labeo rohita), Mrigal (Cirrhinus mirgala) which have faster growth and good feed value than other warm water fishes introduced to many countries including India, Thailand, Burma, Philippines, Japan and the former Soviet Union are also considered and are reared. Sex steroids are important in the control of reproduction in fish. Development of methods for Indian education programs for proliferation requires knowledge of the hormonal changes during sexual maturation and spawning is. Testosterone, progesterone and 17 ϐ-estradiol are steroid hormones that play an important role in controlling Tuesday reproduction and sexual maturity of the fish are. This study aimed to investigate the changes in steroid hormones testosterone and 17 beta-estradiol including Catla (Catla catla), Roho (Labeo rohita), Mrigal (Cirrhinus mirgala) were conducted in different seasons. 40 specimen of carps breeders were investigated in southern (Aquaculture Research Institute) and north (North Aquaculture Research Institute) of Iran and maintained in different seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter). Fish were caught by netting vetch and spring 1 cm. Blood samples were collected from the fish caudal blood serum by centrifugal separation model Labofuga 200 was made in Germany. Testosterone, and estradiol RIA (Radioimmunoassy) using an automatic gamma counter LKB model made in Finland made in France using the Immunotech kit hormone were measured. The results showed that the average level of 17 betaestradiol in the female in the spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively, 82/12 ± 75/107, 66/13 ± 2/80, 73/17 ± 8/122 and 72/17 ± 25/104 ml, respectively. Mean testosterone levels in the female in the spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively, 004/0 ± 092/0, 002/0 ± 05/0, 003/0 ± 11/0 and 006/0 ± 1/0 ng ml, respectively. Overall, the highest levels of 17 beta-estradiol and testosterone in female Roho were recorded in autumn. Also, low levels of 17 beta-estradiol and testosterone in female Roho was observed in summer. Highest and lowest levels of the male hormone, respectively, were recorded in winter and spring. The relationship between the hormone 17 beta-estradiol and testosterone with environmental factors such as pH and dissolved oxygen were discussed. there was a positive correlation between testosterone levels in males only the amount of dissolved oxygen .results revieled that sex hormone levels were increased during winter and autumn would be the signe for reproductive performance and spawning seasone in three species

A large-scale multi-objective flights conflict avoidance approach supporting 4D trajectory operation

Recently, the long-term conflict avoidance approaches based on large-scale flights scheduling have attracted much attention due to their ability to provide solutions from a global point of view. However, the current approaches which focus only on a single objective with the aim of minimizing the total delay and the number of conflicts, cannot provide the controllers with variety of optional solutions, representing different trade-offs. Furthermore, the flight track error is often overlooked in the current research. Therefore, in order to make the model more realistic, in this paper, we formulate the long-term conflict avoidance problem as a multi-objective optimization problem which minimizes the total delay and reduces the number of conflicts simultaneously. As a complex air route networks needs to accommodate thousands of flights, the problem is a large-scale combinatorial optimization problem with tightly coupled variables, which make the problem difficult to deal with. Hence, in order to further improve the searching capability of the solution algorithm, a cooperative co-evolution (CC) algorithm is also introduced to divide the complex problem into several low dimensional sub-problems which are easier to solve. Moreover, a dynamic grouping strategy based on the conflict detection is proposed to improve the optimization efficiency and to avoid premature convergence. The well-known multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D) is then employed to tackle each sub-problem. Computational results using real traffic data from the Chinese air route network demonstrate that the proposed approach obtained better non-dominated solutions in a more effective manner than the existing approaches, including the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA), NSGAII, and MOEA/D. The results also show that our approach provided satisfactory solutions for controllers from a practical point of view

Suppression of apoptosis inhibitor c-FLIP selectively eliminates breast cancer stem cell activity in response to the anti-cancer agent, TRAIL

Introduction It is postulated that breast cancer stem cells (bCSCs) mediate disease recurrence and drive formation of distant metastases - the principal cause of mortality in breast cancer patients. Therapeutic targeting of bCSCs however, is hampered by their heterogeneity and resistance to existing therapeutics. In order to identify strategies to selectively remove bCSCs from breast cancers, irrespective of their clinical subtype, we sought an apoptosis mechanism that would target bCSCs yet would not kill normal cells. Suppression of the apoptosis inhibitor cellular FLICE-Like Inhibitory Protein (c-FLIP) partially sensitizes breast cancer cells to the anti-cancer agent Tumour Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL). Here we demonstrate in breast cancer cell lines that bCSCs are exquisitely sensitive to the de-repression of this pro-apoptotic pathway, resulting in a dramatic reduction in experimental metastases and the loss of bCSC self-renewal. Methods Suppression c-FLIP was performed by siRNA (FLIPi) in four breast cancer cell lines and by conditional gene-knockout in murine mammary glands. Sensitivity of these cells to TRAIL was determined by complementary cell apoptosis assays, including a novel heterotypic cell assay, while tumour-initiating potential of cancer stem cell subpopulations was determined by mammosphere cultures, aldefluor assay and in vivo transplantation. Results Genetic suppression of c-FLIP resulted in the partial sensitization of TRAIL-resistant cancer lines to the pro-apoptotic effects of TRAIL, irrespective of their cellular phenotype, yet normal mammary epithelial cells remained refractory to killing. While 10%-30% of the cancer cell populations remained viable after TRAIL/FLIPi treatment, subsequent mammosphere and aldefluor assays demonstrated that this pro-apoptotic stimulus selectively targeted the functional bCSC pool, eliminating stem cell renewal. This culminated in an 80% reduction in primary tumours and a 98% reduction in metastases following transplantation. The recurrence of residual tumour initiating capacity was consistent with the observation that post-treated adherent cultures re-acquired bCSC-like properties in vitro. Importantly however this recurrent bCSC activity was attenuated following repeated TRAIL/FLIPi treatment. Conclusions We describe an apoptotic mechanism that selectively and repeatedly removes bCSC activity from breast cancer cell lines and suggest that a combined TRAIL/FLIPi therapy could prevent metastatic disease progression in a broad range of breast cancer subtypes. [PROVISIONAL

Modulation of NKp30- and NKp46-Mediated Natural Killer Cell Responses by Poxviral Hemagglutinin

Natural killer (NK) cells are an important element in the immune defense against the orthopox family members vaccinia virus (VV) and ectromelia virus (ECTV). NK cells are regulated through inhibitory and activating signaling receptors, the latter involving NKG2D and the natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCR), NKp46, NKp44 and NKp30. Here we report that VV infection results in an upregulation of ligand structures for NKp30 and NKp46 on infected cells, whereas the binding of NKp44 and NKG2D was not significantly affected. Likewise, infection with ectromelia virus (ECTV), the mousepox agent, enhanced binding of NKp30 and, to a lesser extent, NKp46. The hemagglutinin (HA) molecules from VV and ECTV, which are known virulence factors, were identified as novel ligands for NKp30 and NKp46. Using NK cells with selectively silenced NCR expression and NCR-CD3ζ reporter cells, we observed that HA present on the surface of VV-infected cells, or in the form of recombinant soluble protein, was able to block NKp30-triggered activation, whereas it stimulated the activation through NKp46. The net effect of this complex influence on NK cell activity resulted in a decreased NK lysis susceptibility of infected cells at late time points of VV infection when HA was expression was pronounced. We conclude that poxviral HA represents a conserved ligand of NCR, exerting a novel immune escape mechanism through its blocking effect on NKp30-mediated activation at a late stage of infection