Nested Layers Research Articles

Nested Neural Networks: A Novel Approach to Flexible and Deep Learning Architectures

It’s easy to get lost in the complexities of sentences like, “Never will I have been in a place whose experiences will have been teaching me how amazing life really is till the beginning of every one of those marvelous whole new advenchallenges for more than 20 years of life by the end of my military service.” These kinds of nested and layered statements are not just the domain of advanced grammar—they have a parallel in cutting-edge technology as well. This paper introduces a novel neural network architecture, termed Nested Neural Networks (NNN), that incorporates nested layers within a more complex overarching structure. Much like the layered conditions in Future Perfect and Future Perfect Progressive tenses, NNNs utilize ‘nested’ conditions to bring flexibility and depth to data processing. This structure captures complex relationships, achieving high performance, computational efficiency, and generalization across tasks, much as understanding the nested clauses of a sentence can reveal deeper meanings. Our experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate NNNs’ ability to handle intricate data patterns with enhanced memory efficiency and training adaptability, often outperforming traditional models. This fascinating intersection between language and machine learning showcases the powerful potential of structured complexity, whether in communication or computation.

Formation of core–shell structures and viscous fingering in cellulose beads regenerated from [DBNH][OAc]/DMSO

AbstractSuperbase Ionic Liquids (SBILs) are efficient direct-dissolution solvents for cellulose and have found applications such as manufacturing of man-made textile fibers. In this study cellulose beads were prepared from microcrystalline cellulose dissolved in a mixture of SBIL 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-enium acetate with dimethyl sulfoxide, [DBNH][OAc]/DMSO, by drop-wise regeneration using water as an antisolvent. This resulted in cellulose regeneration by spinodal decomposition phase separation. The cross-sections of freeze-dried beads were thoroughly investigated using SEM, revealing a complex internal bead structure. Special attention was paid to structures resulting from the inwards moving regeneration front, where the solvent and antisolvent interdiffuse in opposite directions. The phase boundary at the regeneration front showed evidence of Saffman–Taylor instability, i.e., viscous fingering. Altering the diffusion environment surrounding the bead during regeneration resulted in nested layers of cores and shells. The number and placement of the core–shell separations was regulated by the number of transfers between two antisolvent baths and the duration of alternating periods of fast and slow interdiffusion of water and [DBNH][OAc]/DMSO through the bead perimeter. Graphical abstract

Nested Neural Networks: A Novel Approach to Flexible and Deep Learning Architectures

In this paper, we introduce a novel neural network architecture termed Nested Neural Networks (NNN), which incorporates nested layers within a more complex overarching structure. The architecture leverages the concept of internal and external conditions, akin to linguistic structures like Future Perfect and Future Perfect Progressive in English grammar, to create a flexible and deep model. This architecture allows the network to handle complex data patterns with enhanced computational efficiency and memory savings. We demonstrate the effectiveness of NNNs through experiments on benchmark datasets, showcasing their ability to outperform traditional models in terms of accuracy, training efficiency, and adaptability.

Evolutionary Implications of Self-Assembling Cybernetic Materials with Collective Problem-Solving Intelligence at Multiple Scales.

In recent years, the scientific community has increasingly recognized the complex multi-scale competency architecture (MCA) of biology, comprising nested layers of active homeostatic agents, each forming the self-orchestrated substrate for the layer above, and, in turn, relying on the structural and functional plasticity of the layer(s) below. The question of how natural selection could give rise to this MCA has been the focus of intense research. Here, we instead investigate the effects of such decision-making competencies of MCA agential components on the process of evolution itself, using in silico neuroevolution experiments of simulated, minimal developmental biology. We specifically model the process of morphogenesis with neural cellular automata (NCAs) and utilize an evolutionary algorithm to optimize the corresponding model parameters with the objective of collectively self-assembling a two-dimensional spatial target pattern (reliable morphogenesis). Furthermore, we systematically vary the accuracy with which the uni-cellular agents of an NCA can regulate their cell states (simulating stochastic processes and noise during development). This allows us to continuously scale the agents' competency levels from a direct encoding scheme (no competency) to an MCA (with perfect reliability in cell decision executions). We demonstrate that an evolutionary process proceeds much more rapidly when evolving the functional parameters of an MCA compared to evolving the target pattern directly. Moreover, the evolved MCAs generalize well toward system parameter changes and even modified objective functions of the evolutionary process. Thus, the adaptive problem-solving competencies of the agential parts in our NCA-based in silico morphogenesis model strongly affect the evolutionary process, suggesting significant functional implications of the near-ubiquitous competency seen in living matter.

What is the Space for “Place” in Social Studies of Astronomy?

AbstractAll large-scale telescope facilities are constructed within a geographical, social, historical, and political context that includes nested layers at the global, national, and local levels. However, discussions about the geographic siting of astronomy facilities, for example, the communities in which they are embedded or the interactions between the facility and its locale, are uncommon in social science studies of astronomy, and no extant review focused on this gap in the literature. In this literature review and discourse analysis, we explore the ways in which research about astronomy facilities and their local communities has emerged, and the extent to which it focuses on the Global South. We find that literature addressing the social and policy aspects of astronomy facilities has an emphasis on the Global North. However, literature addressing host communities has an emphasis on the Global South. Broadly, the discourses related to host communities in the Global South have emerged from reflections on the controversies related to large-scale telescopes in Hawai’i, Chile, and South Africa. One common theme linking these discourses is that a focus on benefits at the national and international levels obscures a range of problematic power dynamics and outcomes at the local level. The notion of the Global South as an ‘empty space’ in which astronomical observation does not constitute impactful action amongst local communities, is challenged by discourses that centre local contexts, and challenged by discourses that employ conceptual frameworks with a focus on revealing power dynamics.

Enhancing wind speed forecasting accuracy using a GWO-nested CEEMDAN-CNN-BiLSTM model

This study introduces an advanced artificial model, grey wolf optimization (GWO)-nested complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN)-convolutional neural network (CNN)-bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM), for wind speed forecasting. Initially, CEEMDAN with two nested layers decomposes the time series into intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) to enhance forecasting capabilities. Subsequently, CNN extracts features from IMFs, and BiLSTM captures temporal dependencies for precise predictions. GWO further enhances the accurac by selecting optimal hyperparameters based on decomposition results. Test results on diverse wind speed datasets demonstrate the model’s superiority, with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of approximately 3%.

Quantum dust cores of black holes

We describe the ground state for a gravitationally collapsed ball of dust as the direct product of wavefunctions for dust particles distributed over an arbitrary number of nested layers. This allows us to estimate the expectation value of the global radius as well as the effective energy density and pressures for the dust core of quantum black holes. In particular, the size of the quantum core does not depend on the number of layers and the mass function is shown to grow linearly with the areal radius up to the outermost layer.

A potential consequence for urban birds’ fitness: Exposed anthropogenic nest materials reduce nest survival in the clay-colored thrush

Urban bird dwellers survive and reproduce in highly urbanized ecosystems. Some individuals adjust to these novel conditions by changing natural nesting materials for artificial materials, thus making nests more conspicuous in the environment. The consequences of using artificial materials for nesting remain poorly understood, especially from a nest-predator perspective. We studied if exposed artificial materials on bird nests affect the daily survival rate in a common dweller species, the clay-colored thrush (Turdus grayi). We used previously collected nests with a different area of exposed artificial materials and placed them with clay eggs on the main campus of the Universidad de Costa Rica. During 12 days of the reproductive season, we monitored the nests using trap cameras located in front of each nest. We found that nest survival decreased as the proportion of exposed artificial materials increased in the nest and, unexpectedly, that the principal predators were conspecifics. Thus, artificial materials used in the outer layer of nests make them more susceptible to predation. The use of artificial materials likely reduce reproductive success and population size in urban clay-colored thrush, but further field experiments measuring the effect of waste in birds' nests on the reproductive success of urban birds are needed.

Local Refinement in Isogeometric Analysis of Detailed Tire Models

AbstractIsogeometric Analysis (IGA) and its unconventional basis functions bring undeniable benefits to the numerical analysis of solid bodies with a complex geometrical shape such as pneumatic tires. This approach erases barriers between the stage of design and the computational environment. Preservation of the exact geometrical description of the real body and the nature of functions at hand allow for higher precision of simulations for different physical phenomena.This contribution is aimed to show further developments in the framework for rolling simulation of tires using IGA. The large support of Non‐Uniform Rational B‐Splines (NURBS) provides continuous variable fields along the contact patch. Truncated hierarchical B‐splines (THB‐splines), implemented into an in‐house Finite Element Analysis (FEA) code, improve the modeling of tires by locally refining the contact zone. Global extraction operators bring the hierarchical concept as close as possible to a standard FEA code structure, flattening the set of nested layers of mesh into a sequence of single‐level elements. Furthermore, an algorithm for the computation of the accelerations at material points based on the relative velocities is adapted. The outlook of this development is the intention to use this algorithm in possible combination with analytical models for the in‐situ estimation of forces and to capture certain mechanical behavior which often are not tracked in experiments or hard and too costly to reproduce.The sampling procedure within the hierarchically nested basis is elaborated with attention to required adjustments for the nested parent‐child layered analytical meshes created via the introduction of the selective global multilevel extraction operators. Numerical simulations of rolling tires at steady‐state using IGA are presented. The evaluation and comparison of the developed framework are done using uniformly refined and locally refined models in IGA as well as classical FEA models.

The Cultural Variance Model of Organizational Shame and its Implications on Health and Well‐Being1

AbstractDrawing on various studies, we provide a holistic view incorporating different nested cultural contexts, organizational shame, and health outcomes. We introduce the concept of organizational shame and explain its two key domains: conformity and status/competition. Then, we comprehensively review prior studies on cultural approaches to shame and propose our cultural variance model of organizational shame. Our model illustrates an equilibrium, exhibiting dominant and stable patterns of shame domains formed by reinforcing relationships among three key nested contextual layers: individuals (workers), organizations (firms), and the labor market. We apply our model to discuss general and occupational implications and outline future research directions. Thus, we hope to conceptualize organizational shame within the dynamic contexts of organizations and cultures.

Bayesian nonparametric analysis for the detection of spikes in noisy calcium imaging data.

Recent advancements in miniaturized fluorescence microscopy have made it possible to investigate neuronal responses to external stimuli in awake behaving animals through the analysis of intracellular calcium signals. An ongoing challenge is deconvolving the temporal signals to extract the spike trains from the noisy calcium signals' time series. In this article, we propose a nested Bayesian finite mixture specification that allows the estimation of spiking activity and, simultaneously, reconstructing the distributions of the calcium transient spikes' amplitudes under different experimental conditions. The proposed model leverages two nested layers of random discrete mixture priors to borrow information between experiments and discover similarities in the distributional patterns of neuronal responses to different stimuli. Furthermore, the spikes' intensity values are also clustered within and between experimental conditions to determine the existence of common (recurring) response amplitudes. Simulation studies and the analysis of a dataset from the Allen Brain Observatory show the effectiveness of the method in clustering and detecting neuronal activities.

3D multiscale analysis of the hierarchical porosity in Coscinodiscus sp. diatoms using a combination of tomographic techniques.

A full 3D analysis of the hierarchical porosity in Coscinodiscus sp. diatom structures was carried out by using a multiscale approach that combines three advanced volumetric imaging techniques with resolutions and fields of view covering all the porous characteristics of such complex architectures: electron tomography, “slice and view” approach that uses a dual-beam microscope (FIB-SEM), and array tomography consisting of serial imaging of ultrathin specimen sections. This multiscale approach allowed the whole porosity network to be quantified and provided an unprecedented structural insight into these natural nanostructured materials with internal organization ranging from micrometer to nanometer. The analysed species is made of several nested layers with different pore sizes, shapes and connectivities and characterized by the presence of interconnected pores structured in various ways. The first evidence of the presence of a nanometric porosity made of ellipsoidal pores in the siliceous diatom frustules is also provided.

Bifurcation point detection with parallel nested layer particle swarm optimization

Bifurcation point detection with parallel nested layer particle swarm optimization

Binder Jet 3D Printing of Compound LEV-PN Dispersible Tablets: An Innovative Approach for Fabricating Drug Systems with Multicompartmental Structures.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an emerging technology that has high application potential for individualized medicines and complex solid dosage forms. This study is designed to explore binder jet 3D printing (BJ-3DP) for the development of high-precision and repeatable compound levetiracetam-pyridoxine hydrochloride (LEV-PN) multicompartmental structure dispersible tablets. PN was dissolved in printing ink directly and accurately jetted into the middle, nested layer of the tablet, and precise control of the drug dose was achieved through the design of printing layers. With modification of the drying method, the “coffee ring” effect caused by drug migration during the curing and molding of the tablets was overcome. Furthermore, 3D topography showed that the tablets have a promising surface morphology. Scanning electron microscopy and porosity results indicated that the tablets have a loose interior and tight exterior, which would ensure good mechanical properties while enabling the tablet to disintegrate quickly in the mouth and achieve rapid release of the two drugs. This study used BJ-3DP technology to prepare personalized multicompartmental structures of drug systems and provides a basis for the development of complex preparations.

Cooperation in sound and motion: Complexity matching in collaborative interaction.

Complex behaviors are layered with processes across timescales that must be coordinated with each other to accomplish cooperative goals. Complexity matching is the coordination of nested layers of behaviors across individuals. We hypothesize that complexity matching extends across individuals and their respective layers of processes when cooperating in joint tasks. We measured coordination in a joint tower building task through the layers of sound and movement patterns produced by partners and found that partners built higher towers when their sound patterns fell into more similar relations with each other across timescales, as measured by complexity matching. Our findings shed light on the function of complexity matching and lead to new hypotheses about multiscale coordination and communication. We discuss how complexity matching encompasses flexible and complementary dynamics between partners that support complex acts of human coordination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

On the Effect of Beating during Nonlinear Frequency Chirping

Spectral analyses of energetic particle (EP) driven bursts of MHD fluctuations in magnetically confined plasmas often exhibit multiple simultaneous chirps. While the superposition of oscillations at multiple frequencies necessarily causes beating in the signal acquired by a localized external probe, self-consistent hybrid simulations of chirping EP modes in a JT-60U tokamak plasma have demonstrated the possibility of global beating, where the electromagnetic field vanishes globally between beats and reappears with opposite phase. This implies that there can be a single field mode that oscillates at multiple frequencies simultaneously when resonantly driven by multiple density waves in EP phase space. Conversely, this means that the EP density waves are mutually coupled and interfere with each other via the jointly driven field, a mechanism ignored in some theories. In this treatise, we study the role of field pulsations in general and beating in particular using the Hamiltonian guiding center orbit-following code ORBIT with a reduced wave-particle interaction model in realistic geometry. Through amplitude pulsations and phase jumps, beating is found to drive the evolution of EP phase space structures. Observations: (1) Beating causes density wave fronts to advance radially in pulses. The resulting chirps become staircase-like. (2) The beats facilitate convective transfer of material between neighboring layers of phase space density waves. On the one hand, this may delay detachment of solitary vortices. On the other hand, it facilitates the accumulation of hole and clump fragments into larger structures. (3) Long-range chirping occurs when massive holes or clumps detach and drift away from the turbulent belt around the seed resonance. The detached vortices can remain robust and, on average, maintain their concentric nested layers while being perturbed by the field's continued beating.

Application of immunohistochemical staining of bcl-2, Ber-EP4, CD10, CK20, and Ki-67 in differential diagnosis between trichoblastoma and basal cell carcinoma

Objective: To study the utility of immunohistochemistry (IHC) in differential diagnosis between trichoblastoma (TB) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Methods: Fifty-eight cases of TB and 40 cases of BCC were collected at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center from January 2009 to December 2019 and retrospectively analyzed by IHC for bcl-2, Ber-EP4, CD10, CK20 and Ki-67. Fisher exact test was performed for statistical analysis. Results: Twenty-five (43.1%) TBs and 5 (12.5%) BCCs showed bcl-2 staining in the outermost layer of the epithelial nests, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). The proportion of cases with bcl-2 staining>75% of epithelial cells in BCC group was much higher than that in TB group (40% vs. 12.1%; P<0.01). BCC group showed larger proportions with Ber-EP4 staining>75%, 51%-75% of epithelial cells than TB group (12.5% vs. 1.7%, 37.5% vs. 8.6%;P<0.05). Fifty-five (94.8%) TBs demonstrated CD10 expression in the follicular stroma, while only 16 (40.0%) BCCs showed focal or scattered CD10 expression in reactive fibrous stroma (P<0.01). CK20 expression was present in 37 (63.8%) TBs with scattered pattern, but BCCs exhibited no CK20 staining except for only one case (2.5%) showing focal staining (P<0.01). Compared with TB group, the BCC group included more cases with Ki-67 labeling index ≥15% on average and ≥25% in hotspot areas (P<0.05). Conclusion: IHC is helpful in differential diagnosis between TB and BCC. Scattered CK20 staining pattern and stromal CD10 expression support the diagnosis of TB. Bcl-2 staining limited to the outermost layer of the proliferation is more likely to be found in TB. In contrast, Ber-EP4 positivity and higher Ki-67 labeling index tend to be present in BCC.

A scalable post-quantum hash-based group signature

We present a construction for hash-based one-time group signature schemes, and develop a traceable post-quantum multi-time group signature upon it. A group signature scheme allows group members to anonymously sign a message on behalf of the entire group. The signatures are unforgeable, and the scheme enables authorized openers to trace the signature back to the original signer when needed. Our construction utilizes three nested layers to build the group signature scheme. The first layer performs the key-management task; it deploys a transversal design to assign keys to the group members and the openers, establishing anonymity and providing the construction with traceability. The second layer utilizes sets of hash values, hash pools, to build the group public verification key and to connect group members together. The final layer uses a post-quantum hash-based signature scheme, that adds unforgeability to our construction. We extend our scheme to multi-time signatures using Merkle trees and show that this process maintains the scalability property of Merkle-based signatures, while it supports the group members signing any number of messages.

That Dynamic Spectrum

That Dynamic Spectrum Johanna S. Ransmeier Keywords comparative slavery, freedom, manumission, status hierarchy, gender, kinship, historiography, East Asia, China European philosophers, from ancients like Aristotle to Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau, no matter how radically different their attitudes toward slaveholding, articulated a mutually constitutive relationship between “freedom” and “slavery.” Each recognizes the character of the other in its negative reflection; resulting, according to Hegel, in a (life-or-death) negotiation between extremes.1 For the slave societies of Ancient Rome or the Atlantic world, a theoretical bifurcation of the population reigned. The line between free and unfree proved politically useful not just to those who sought to preserve the institution of slavery but to later abolitionists as well. It demarcated the lines of struggle and the wrongs of slavery. By highlighting how the proposed dichotomy fails to capture the multiplicity of forms slavery takes around the world—and in the East, Inner, and Southeast Asian contexts described in this special issue—I do not wish to undercut this politics of liberation or to minimize the absolute degradation enacted by slave traders and slaveholders. Close examination of global practices of enslavement, however, tests the proposition that these two concepts need each other. The supposedly tidy binary between free and unfree has become a kind of zombie idea, one that scholars of slavery must always and repeatedly dispatch, before proceeding to describe the evidence of exploitation they find in the archive at hand. And, it is not so much that the two terms are not opposites—for in many ways, they are—but rather that, as we encounter freedom or slavery in the world, the concepts operate in radically diverging ways. [End Page 267] Freedom is an abstraction, at best an aspiration, at worst a slogan—a perhaps unattainable event horizon. As a practice, it can only be imperfect, something to move toward.2 Slavery, on the other hand, is blood, sweat, pain, stolen lives, deaths. It is a system, a set of processes hard at work in the world. It is not abstract. Turning to the archives of Asia, scholars immediately confront flaws in any proposed dichotomy of freedom and slavery. Across this vast terrain, diverse ideas and justifications collide and mingle. Drawing upon “notes of certification” from Qing-era Mongolia, Sam H. Bass describes how lay people from all walks of life sought merit, spiritual freedom, and transcendence through their donation of slaves to Buddhist monasteries, demonstrating that “liberation was a release from slaveholding rather than from slavery.”3 Claude Chevaleyre explains how lineage regulations and admonitions in the Ming and Qing period prescribed the proper treatment of domestic slaves, prevailing upon elites to be modest in their slaveholding and to defer to the lineage with regard to discipline.4 Sun Joo Kim finds enslaved people in Chosŏn Korea acting as legal subjects, with the capacity to mobilize against yangban 兩班, the social elites, through petitions.5 Meanwhile, Japanese troops invading Chosŏn in the Imjin War (1592–1598) took Koreans as war captives. From memoirs from the battlefield and local records from Japan, Nam-lin Hur writes that abducted men and women faced increasingly brutal treatment as that conflict dragged on and were integrated into Japan’s domestic slave market and traded along the archipelago.6 If these Korean captives were fortunate, they might be valued by daimyo owners for their skills. Few were repatriated. Dating to around the same time period, the world that Tina Lu uncovers in the novel Jinpingmei 金瓶梅 (The plum in the golden vase) shows how trafficked women abused and manipulated each other, [End Page 268] exercising circumscribed power within nested layers of domination within the late Ming Chinese household.7 Documentation of these layered systems of enslavement brings us to a new problem. Rather than embrace an oversimplified dichotomy, scholars of Asia must now grapple with the specter of “the status spectrum.” This short-hand representation of genuine hierarchies, while more inclusive than the zombie binary alluded to above, risks minimizing the extent of exploitation that can hide behind a veil of cultural relativism. No matter how bewildering the range of statuses we see represented in the archives of slavery across eastern Asia seem...

An Ecological Model of Care for Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment

Living with dementia causes increasing dependence on the surrounding physical and social environment. There is limited information on environmental interactions of persons with cognitive impairment. Based on participant observation and repeated interviews with both members of nine dyads (primary care partner and person with cognitive impairment) in situ in their homes, a theoretical model depicting environmental interaction was developed. The model illustrates parallel and interwoven environmental experiences of each member of the dyad as they negotiate progressive cognitive impairment. Evolution of the dyad is situated within nested layers of the physical and contextual environment including physical structures, social norms, and political environments. Experiential elements for each member of the dyad are described. Elements include cognitive status, trial and error associated with care provision, adverse behavior linked with onset of caregiver burden, onset of a significant event leading to altered living situations, and maximum dependence on environmental factors prior to end of life. Evidence collected suggests that both persons of the dyad become increasingly susceptible to environmental influences with progression of the disorder. Implication of these findings offer a theoretical framework describing dyadic experiences of environmental interactions when living with dementia. This theoretical model provides a basis for clinical and social intervention to enhance the well-being of both members of the dyad. Interventions associated with environmental interactions may slow socially discordant behavioral manifestations associated with dementia and significantly improve quality of life for both members of the dyad.