JKarma: A Highly-Modular Framework for Pattern-Based Change Detection on Evolving Data

Pattern-based change detection (PBCD) describes a class of change detection algorithms for evolving data. Contrary to conventional solutions, PBCD seeks changes exhibited by the patterns over time and therefore works on an abstract form of the data, which prevents the search for changes on the raw data. Moreover, PBCD provides arguments on the validity of the results because patterns mirror changes occurred with any form of evidence. However, the existing solutions differ on data representation, mining algorithm and change identification strategy, which we can deem as main modules of a general architecture, so that any PBCD task could be designed by accommodating custom implementations for those modules. This is what we propose in this paper through jKarma, a highly-modular framework for designing and performing PBCD

Leveraging multi-view deep learning for next activity prediction

Predicting the next activity in a running trace is a fundamental problem in business process monitoring since such predictive information may allow analysts to intervene proactively and prevent undesired behaviors. This paper describes a predictive process approach that couples multi-view learning and deep learning, in order to gain accuracy by accounting for the variety of information possibly recorded in event logs. Experiments with benchmark event logs show the accuracy of the proposed approach compared to several recent state-of-the-art methods

Iron chromium potential to model high-chromium ferritic alloys

We present an Fe­Cr interatomic potential to model high-Cr ferritic alloys.The potential is fitted to thermodynamic and point-defect propertiesobtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experi-ments. The developed potential is also benchmarked against otherpotentials available in literature. It shows particularly good agreementwith the DFT obtained mixing enthalpy of the random alloy, the formationenergy of intermetallics and experimental excess vibrational entropy andphase diagram. In addition, DFT calculated point-defect properties,both interstitial and substitutional, are well reproduced, as is the screwdislocation core structure. As a first validation of the potential, we studythe precipitation hardening of Fe­Cr alloys via static simulations of theinteraction between Cr precipitates and screw dislocations. It is concludedthat the description of the dislocation core modification near a precipitatemight have a significant influence on the interaction mechanisms observedin dynamic simulations.Fil: Bonny, G.. No especifíca;Fil: Pasianot, Roberto Cesar. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto Sabato; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; ArgentinaFil: Terentyev, D.. No especifíca;Fil: Malerba, L.. No especifíca

Functional rescue of dystrophin deficiency in mice caused by frameshift mutations using Campylobacter jejuni Cas9

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal, X-linked muscle wasting disease caused by mutations in the DMD gene. In 51% of DMD cases, a reading frame is disrupted because of deletion of several exons. Here, we show that CjCas9 derived from Campylobacter jejuni can be used as a gene editing tool to correct an out-of-frame Dmd exon in Dmd knockout mice. Herein, we used Cas9 derived from S. pyogenes to generate Dmd knockout (KO) mice with a frameshift mutation in Dmd gene. Then, we expressed CjCas9, its single-guide RNA, and the eGFP gene in the tibialis anterior muscle of the Dmd KO mice using an all-in-one adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector. CjCas9 cleaved the target site in the Dmd gene efficiently in vivo and induced small insertions or deletions at the target site. This treatment resulted in conversion of the disrupted Dmd reading frame from out-of-frame to in-frame, leading to the expression of dystrophin in the sarcolemma. Importantly, muscle strength was enhanced in the CjCas9-treated muscles, without off-target mutations, indicating high efficiency and specificity of CjCas9. This work suggests that in vivo DMD frame correction, mediated by CjCas9 has great potential for the treatment of DMD and other neuromuscular diseases

Frontal brain asymmetries as effective parameters to assess the quality of audiovisual stimuli perception in adult and young cochlear implant users

How is music perceived by cochlear implant (CI) users? This question arises as "the next step" given the impressive performance obtained by these patients in language perception. Furthermore, how can music perception be evaluated beyond self-report rating, in order to obtain measurable data? To address this question, estimation of the frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha activity imbalance, acquired through a 19-channel EEG cap, appears to be a suitable instrument to measure the approach/withdrawal (AW index) reaction to external stimuli. Specifically, a greater value of AW indicates an increased propensity to stimulus approach, and vice versa a lower one a tendency to withdraw from the stimulus. Additionally, due to prelingually and postlingually deafened pathology acquisition, children and adults, respectively, would probably differ in music perception. The aim of the present study was to investigate children and adult CI users, in unilateral (UCI) and bilateral (BCI) implantation conditions, during three experimental situations of music exposure (normal, distorted and mute). Additionally, a study of functional connectivity patterns within cerebral networks was performed to investigate functioning patterns in different experimental populations. As a general result, congruency among patterns between BCI patients and control (CTRL) subjects was seen, characterised by lowest values for the distorted condition (vs. normal and mute conditions) in the AW index and in the connectivity analysis. Additionally, the normal and distorted conditions were significantly different in CI and CTRL adults, and in CTRL children, but not in CI children. These results suggest a higher capacity of discrimination and approach motivation towards normal music in CTRL and BCI subjects, but not for UCI patients. Therefore, for perception of music CTRL and BCI participants appear more similar than UCI subjects, as estimated by measurable and not self-reported parameters

Leveraging colour-based pseudo-labels to supervise saliency detection in hyperspectral image datasets

Saliency detection mimics the natural visual attention mechanism that identifies an imagery region to be salient when it attracts visual attention more than the background. This image analysis task covers many important applications in several fields such as military science, ocean research, resources exploration, disaster and land-use monitoring tasks. Despite hundreds of models have been proposed for saliency detection in colour images, there is still a large room for improving saliency detection performances in hyperspectral imaging analysis. In the present study, an ensemble learning methodology for saliency detection in hyperspectral imagery datasets is presented. It enhances saliency assignments yielded through a robust colour-based technique with new saliency information extracted by taking advantage of the abundance of spectral information on multiple hyperspectral images. The experiments performed with the proposed methodology provide encouraging results, also compared to several competitors

State of art in intra-articular hip injections of different medications for osteoarthritis: a systematic review

Background: Intra-articular hip injections for osteoarthritis represent a useful instrument to reduce pain and disability in the common clinical practice. Several medications can be injected locally with different level of evidence-based efficacy. Objective: The objective of this systematic review is to investigate the effectiveness of intra-articular injections of different medications or substances for the pain treatment and the management of disability in subjects affected by hip osteoarthritis. Methods: Two reviewers selected independently randomised controlled trials published in the last 10 years, using PubMed and Scopus databases. The risk of bias was evaluated with Cochrane library assessment tool. Results: 12 randomised controlled trials have been selected. We found 8 papers comparing hyaluronic acid with platelet rich plasma, with corticosteroids and with saline solution; 1 paper compares two types of hyaluronic acid with different molecular weights; 3 papers study the effects of corticosteroids alone or compared to ketorolac or saline solution. Conclusions: The studies reviewed were heterogeneous regarding sample size, level of osteoarthritis, evaluated with Kellegren-Lawrence score, medications used and follow up timings. However, we have observed that intra-articular injections of platelet-rich plasma seem to decrease pain at short term and disability at long term, in patients affected by hip osteoarthritis better than hyaluronic acid. The association of hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids could give better results compared to hyaluronic acid alone, while the use of intra-articular ketorolac and saline solution requires more studies

Physical routes for the synthesis of kesterite

This paper provides an overview of the physical vapor technologies used to synthesize Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 thin films as absorber layers for photovoltaic applications. Through the years, CZT(S,Se) thin films have been fabricated using sequential stacking or co-sputtering of precursors as well as using sequential or co-evaporation of elemental sources, leading to high-efficient solar cells. In addition, pulsed laser deposition of composite targets and monograin growth by the molten salt method were developed as alternative methods for kesterite layers deposition. This review presents the growing increase of the kesterite-based solar cell efficiencies achieved over the recent years. A historical description of the main issues limiting this efficiency and of the experimental pathways designed to prevent or limit these issues is provided and discussed as well. Afinal section is dedicated to the description of promising process steps aiming at further improvements of solar cell efficiency, such as alkali doping and bandgap grading1. R Caballero and M León acknowledge financial support via the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities project (WINCOST, ENE2016-80788-C5-2-R) and thank H2020 EU Programme under the project INFINITE-CELL (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017-777968). 2. S Canulescu and J Schou acknowledge the support from Innovation Fund Denmark. 3. D-H Kim acknowledges financial support via the DGIST R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and ICT, KOREA (18-BD-05). 4.C. Malerba acknowledges the support from the Italian Ministry of Economic development in the framework of the Operating Agreement with ENEA for the Research on the Electric System. 5.A Redinger acknowledges financial support via the FNR Attract program, Project : SUNSPOT, Nr.11244141. 6. E Saucedo thanks H2020 EU Programme under the projects STARCELL (H2020-NMBP-03-2016-720907) and INFINITE-CELL (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017-777968), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the IGNITE project (ENE2017-87671-C3-1-R), and the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF, FEDER Programa Competitivitat de Catalunya 2007–2013). IREC belong to the SEMS (Solar Energy Materials and Systems) Consolidated Research Group of the ‘Generalitat de Catalunya’ (Ref. 2017 SGR 862). 7. Taltech acknowledges financial support via the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research funding project IUT19-28 and the European Union Regional Development Fund, Project TK141. 8. B Vermang has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No 715027

Cross-immunization against respiratory coronaviruses may protect children from SARS-CoV2: more than a simple hypothesis?

In January 2020, a new coronavirus was identified as responsible for a pandemic acute respiratory syndrome. The virus demonstrated a high infectious capability and not-neglectable mortality in humans. However, similarly to previous SARS and MERS, the new disease COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 seemed to relatively spare children and younger adults. Some hypotheses have been proposed to explain the phenomenon, including lower ACE2 expression in children, cross-immunization from measles/rubella/mumps and BCG-vaccination, as well as the integrity of respiratory mucosa. Herein, we hypothesize that an additional mechanism might contribute to children\u2019s relative protection from SARS-CoV-2, the cross-immunization conferred by previous exposures to other common respiratory coronaviruses. To support our hypothesis, we show a statistically significant similarity in genomic and protein sequences, including epitopes for B- and T-cell immunity, of SARS-CoV-2 and the other beta coronaviruses. Since these coronaviruses are highly diffused across pediatric populations, cross-reactive immunity might reasonably induce an at least partial protection from SARS-CoV-2 in children

Novel Reconstruction Errors for Saliency Detection in Hyperspectral Images

When hyperspectral images are analyzed, a big amount of data, representing the reflectance at hundreds of wavelengths, needs to be processed. Hence, dimensionality reduction techniques are used to discard unnecessary information. In order to detect the so called “saliency”, i.e., the relevant pixels, we propose a bottom-up approach based on three main ingredients: sparse non negative matrix factorization (SNMF), spatial and spectral functions to measure the reconstruction error between the input image and the reconstructed one and a final clustering technique. We introduce novel error functions and show some useful mathematical properties. The method is validated on hyperspectral images and compared with state-of-the-art different approaches