Parallel Activation Research Articles

Data Integrity Problems in High-Volume High-Velocity Data Ingestion

In the era of bigdata, and never ending data push from IoT devices, the IT infrastructure are built to be scalable to handle the huge batch loads or continuous streaming live data. However, the big question is how can be establish the data integrity. How can we make sure no data is lost from Origin till the destination passing through numerous touch points enroute ? How can we ensure the quality with continuous inflow ? Should the inflow be suspended to perform the DQ checks? Or should it be a totally independent parallel activity. Let’s explore. Key words: Quality Data Management, Data Pipelines, AutoScalling, Large Scale Streaming Data, Performance, IoT, Data Cleansing

Back to the Roots of Sports Management: 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Organizing Committee of Olympic Games

This research aims to compare the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games (OG), which continued their activities in parallel with the ideologies of the two superpowers of the Cold War, the USA, and the USSR, with public and private sector sports management approaches. The research model is a comparative case study. The findings were reached by single and cross analysing the data sources, including OCOG's official reports. Moscow and Los Angeles OCOG activities were compared under organizational structure, facilities, financing, and expenditures headings. Despite the blurred lines of intersectoral distinction, Moscow OCOG (OCOG-80) stands out as a distinctively dominant example of the public sector and Los Angeles OCOG (LAOOC) LAOOC as a distinctively dominant example of the private sector sport management approach. Despite the contrasting approaches, both OCOGs have completed realizing an OG from the planning stage to the closing ceremony. The activities of the sports organizations that achieved this success by meeting the expectations of the state and the system to which they belonged demonstrated the importance of focusing on the positive effects on sports management success of the right people taking the steps that meet the needs, rather than a superiority comparison between the requirements of the private or public sector.

High-Performance Grape Disease Detection Method Using Multimodal Data and Parallel Activation Functions

This paper introduces a novel deep learning model for grape disease detection that integrates multimodal data and parallel heterogeneous activation functions, significantly enhancing detection accuracy and robustness. Through experiments, the model demonstrated excellent performance in grape disease detection, achieving an accuracy of 91%, a precision of 93%, a recall of 90%, a mean average precision (mAP) of 91%, and 56 frames per second (FPS), outperforming traditional deep learning models such as YOLOv3, YOLOv5, DEtection TRansformer (DETR), TinySegformer, and Tranvolution-GAN. To meet the demands of rapid on-site detection, this study also developed a lightweight model for mobile devices, successfully deployed on the iPhone 15. Techniques such as structural pruning, quantization, and depthwise separable convolution were used to significantly reduce the model’s computational complexity and resource consumption, ensuring efficient operation and real-time performance. These achievements not only advance the development of smart agricultural technologies but also provide new technical solutions and practical tools for disease detection.

Informal Foreign Currency Market Rate Coordination and Remittance Flows

ABSTRACT An unintended consequence of remittance flows to economically troubled countries may be the exacerbation of parallel foreign currency market activities. Studying clandestine markets is often hobbled by a lack of data on informal market coordination mechanisms. This paper examines the impact of the sudden cessation of an informal foreign currency exchange reference rate in Zimbabwe on inward remittance flows and public attention to money transfer operators. While the reference rate existed, there was bi-directional feedback between black market currency rates and retail diaspora remittance flows, but not with the flows of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The abolition of the informal reference rate did not stall retail diaspora remittance flows. NGO remittances reacted negatively to the ban, suggesting concerns with government policy. Online attention on money transfer operators increased after the reference rate’s cessation suggesting remitters shifted to formal channels. Accordingly, remittance costs reduced significantly.

Methylphenidate Exposing During Neurodevelopment Alters Amino Acid Profile, Astrocyte Marker and Glutamatergic Excitotoxicity in the Rat Striatum.

There is a public health concern about the use of methylphenidate (MPH) since the higher prescription for young individuals and non-clinical purposes is addressed to the limited understanding of its neurochemical and psychiatric consequences. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of early and chronic MPH treatment on the striatum focusing on amino acid profile, glutamatergic excitotoxicity, redox status, neuroinflammation and glial cell responses. Male Wistar rats were treated with MPH (2.0mg/kg) or saline solution from the 15th to the 44th postnatal day. Biochemical and histological analyses were conducted after the last administration. MPH altered the amino acid profile in the striatum, increasing glutamate and ornithine levels, while decreasing the levels of serine, phenylalanine, and branched-chain amino acids (leucine, valine, and isoleucine). Glutamate uptake and Na+,K+-ATPase activity were decreased in the striatum of MPH-treated rats as well as increased ATP levels, as indicator of glutamatergic excitotoxicity. Moreover, MPH caused lipid peroxidation and nitrative stress, increased TNF alpha expression, and induced high levels of astrocytes, and led to a decrease in BDNF levels. In summary, our results suggest that chronic early-age treatment with MPH induces parallel activation of damage-associated pathways in the striatum and increases its vulnerability during the juvenile period. In addition, data presented here contribute to shedding light on the mechanisms underlying MPH-induced striatal damage and its potential implications for neurodevelopmental disorders.

The VLA-4 integrin is constitutively active in circulating chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells via BCR autonomous signaling: a novel anchor-independent mechanism exploiting soluble blood-borne ligands

In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), survival of neoplastic cells depends on microenvironmental signals at lymphoid sites where the crosstalk between the integrin VLA-4 (CD49d/CD29), expressed in ~40% of CLL, and the B-cell receptor (BCR) occurs. Here, BCR engagement inside–out activates VLA-4, thus enhancing VLA-4-mediated adhesion of CLL cells, which in turn obtain pro-survival signals from the surrounding microenvironment. We report that the BCR is also able to effectively inside–out activate the VLA-4 integrin in circulating CD49d-expressing CLL cells through an autonomous antigen-independent BCR signaling. As a consequence, circulating CLL cells exhibiting activated VLA-4 express markers of BCR pathway activation (phospho-BTK and phospho-PLC-γ2) along with higher levels of phospho-ERK and phospho-AKT indicating parallel activation of downstream pathways. Moreover, circulating CLL cells expressing activated VLA-4 bind soluble blood-borne VCAM-1 leading to increased VLA-4-dependent actin polymerization/re-organization and ERK phosphorylation. Finally, evidence is provided that ibrutinib treatment, by affecting autonomous BCR signaling, impairs the constitutive VLA-4 activation eventually decreasing soluble VCAM-1 binding and reducing downstream ERK phosphorylation by circulating CLL cells. This study describes a novel anchor-independent mechanism occurring in circulating CLL cells involving the BCR and the VLA-4 integrin, which help to unravel the peculiar biological and clinical features of CD49d+ CLL.

High‐throughput in‐memory bitwise computing based on a coupled dual‐SRAM array with independent operands

AbstractThe successful implementation of artificial intelligence algorithms depends on the capacity to execute numerous repeated operations, which, in turn, requires systems with high data throughput. Although emerging computing‐in‐memory (CIM) eliminates the need for frequent data transfer between the memory and processing blocks and enables parallel activation of multiple rows, the traditional structure, where each row has only one identical input value, significantly limits its further application. To solve this problem, this study proposes a dual‐SRAM CIM architecture in which two SRAM arrays are coupled such that all operands are different, thus rendering the use of CIM considerably more flexible. The proposed dual‐SRAM array was implemented through a 55‐nm process, essentially delivering a frequency of 361 MHz for a 1.2‐V supply and energy efficiency of 161 TOPS/W at 0.9 V supply.

The Demand for Real Money Balances in Zimbabwe: An Error Correction Estimation

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to examine the stability of the money demand function in Zimbabwe. Understanding, the money demand function is a prerequisite for effective monetary policy formulation and understanding the monetary transmission process and shocks propagation in the economy. Materials and Methods: The study employs the error correction modeling methodology to investigate the money demand function for Zimbabwe using quarterly data from 2017q2 – 2023q2. The analysis is expanded to characterize the monetary transmission mechanism following a shock to the price level and how the demand for real money balances responds to both single period and multiple shocks. Findings: The findings confirm a stable long run money demand function that is subject to short run dynamics. In addition, real money demand responds positively to real GDP (Scale factor) and inversely related to the price level (inflation). Short term dynamics (particularly inflation expectations) compound real money demand collapse in response to rising inflation. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Monetary Policy must aim to collapse inflation expectations through a tight monetary control program and a functioning interbank market for foreign exchange to avoid surging parallel market activity.

Parallel activation of helicopter and ground transportation after dispatcher identification of suspected anterior large vessel occlusion stroke in rural areas: a proof-of-concept case with modeling from the LESTOR trial

BackgroundWhen stroke patients with suspected anterior large vessel occlusion (aLVO) happen to live in rural areas, two main options exist for prehospital transport: (i) the drip-and-ship (DnS) strategy, which ensures rapid access to intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) at the nearest primary stroke center but requires time-consuming interhospital transfer for endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) because the latter is only available at comprehensive stroke centers (CSC); and (ii) the mothership (MS) strategy, which entails direct transport to a CSC and allows for faster access to EVT but carries the risk of IVT being delayed or even the time window being missed completely. The use of a helicopter might shorten the transport time to the CSC in rural areas. However, if the aLVO stroke is only recognized by the emergency service on site, the helicopter must be requested in addition, which extends the prehospital time and partially negates the time advantage. We hypothesized that parallel activation of ground and helicopter transportation in case of aLVO suspicion by the dispatcher (aLVO-guided dispatch strategy) could shorten the prehospital time in rural areas and enable faster treatment with IVT and EVT.MethodsAs a proof-of-concept, we report a case from the LESTOR trial where the dispatcher suspected an aLVO stroke during the emergency call and dispatched EMS and HEMS in parallel. Based on this case, we compare the provided aLVO-guided dispatch strategy to the DnS and MS strategies regarding the times to IVT and EVT using a highly realistic modeling approach.ResultsWith the aLVO-guided dispatch strategy, the patient received IVT and EVT faster than with the DnS or MS strategies. IVT was administered 6 min faster than in the DnS strategy and 22 min faster than in the MS strategy, and EVT was started 47 min earlier than in the DnS strategy and 22 min earlier than in the MS strategy.ConclusionIn rural areas, parallel activation of ground and helicopter emergency services following dispatcher identification of stroke patients with suspected aLVO could provide rapid access to both IVT and EVT, thereby overcoming the limitations of the DnS and MS strategies.

WiCAR: A class-incremental system for WiFi activity recognition

The proposal of Integrated Sensing and Communications has once again drawn researchers’ attention to WiFi sensing, propelling applications based on WiFi sensing into an advanced stage. However, the current field of activity recognition only identifies fixed categories of activities, neglecting the growing demand for perceiving activity types in real applications over time. In response to the issue, we present WiCAR, a WiFi activity recognition system designed for class incremental scenarios. WiCAR takes antenna array-fused image data as input, employing the Wi-RA model with parallel stacked activation functions as its backbone network. To alleviate the typical catastrophic forgetting issue in class-incremental learning, WiCAR employs a strategy of replaying known data. Additionally, we adopts knowledge distillation to improve accuracy among old samples during the incremental process. To tackle the imbalance in the number of samples between old and new classes, the model is updated through weight alignment. This serious of strategies endows the system with the capability to progressively learn and handle new classes. We conducted extensive experiments to evaluate the system performance. The experimental results demonstrate that our system exhibits excellent performance regardless of the number of tasks, whether tasks are uniform or non-uniform, and the order of task arrivals. The highest average accuracy reaches 96.429%, and even in the presence of six incremental stages, the average accuracy remains at 92.867%.

Competition and perspectives of protein-carbon and specific inorganic ecosystems on Earth

The article presents in a parametric comparison the state and development of two ecosystems, one of which is based on carbonaceous life forms, and the second – on metalloid and metallic elements available on the planet and at the disposal of man. It is possible to come to a hypothetical assumption about possible competition between these systems within the selected parameters. Well-known studies unbiasedly confirm the possibilities for such competition. Our research is based on the ergatic «human-machine» system as one that contains two main elements of the ecosystems under study. The proposed parametric model, reflecting the main mutual competitive functions of man and «machine» – reduced power, conditional indicators of intelligence in the chronological aspect, made it possible to assess both their real and potential capabilities and draw conclusions about the prospects of these two conditional ecosystems. One of the conclusions of such studies was a non-trivial thesis about the possible intermediate state of man in the long-term evolutionary development of the mind on the planet. and that he is beginning to lose competition with the specific forms of the inorganic world he has created. The arguments are comparative data: life expectancy, the ability to irrational self-elimination, methods of reproduction, the ability to develop the mind and memory, the causes of environmental degradation and its impact on humans, changes in the motivation of human life, the programmed rejection of the natural protein-carbon environment in favor of an unnatural specialized inorganic world. Logic dictates that perhaps man is not the most ideal evolutionary creation in nature, because it is already becoming clear that in addition to carbon, but with the help of man, other forms of intelligence and consciousness are possible even on Earth itself. It is shown that specific forms of inorganic matter, with a vector of development towards artificial intelligence, are protected from the main disadvantage of humans – a short life cycle and the ability to self-destruct. The modern evolutionary vector is not its last stage, it is aimed at the development of specific forms of the inorganic world, which at a certain time will be capable of activity in parallel with man, but no less effective

Simultaneous stochastic optimisation of mining complexes: Integrating progressive reclamation and waste management with contextual bandits

ABSTRACT Managing environmental performance of waste dump facilities in mining complexes is an integral part of long-term production planning. Sustainable long-term production scheduling solutions are desired to mitigate risk and return the environment to a productive post-mining state. A simultaneous stochastic optimisation framework for long-term production scheduling in mining complexes is developed that integrates waste management and progressive reclamation. The waste dump placement schedule is jointly optimised with the extraction sequence, destination policy, and stockpiling decisions in a single stochastic mathematical programming framework. This includes the timing of progressive reclamation activities in parallel with production to enhance waste dump rehabilitation. Uncertainty related to the production of acid rock drainage is quantified by simulating geochemical properties of waste and managing the blending of uncertain waste properties within the optimisation framework. With respect to the framework for simultaneous stochastic optimisation, contextual bandits are explored to improve the metaheuristic solution approach and solve the corresponding large-scale optimisation model. The framework is tested in a multi-mine copper-gold mining complex leading to improved environmental performance. Risk of acid rock drainage is decreased by 52.5% in the waste dump facilities. Reclamation planning activities for meeting environmental requirements are scheduled prior to closure. The solution approach more effectively improves the objective function with contextual bandits leading to a 24% improvement in the study presented.

Circadian ABCG2 Expression Influences the Brain Uptake of Donepezil across the Blood-Cerebrospinal Fluid Barrier.

Donepezil (DNPZ) is a cholinesterase inhibitor used for the management of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is dependent on membrane transporters such as ABCG2 to actively cross brain barriers and reach its target site of action in the brain. Located in the brain ventricles, the choroid plexus (CP) forms an interface between the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the bloodstream, known as the blood-CSF barrier (BCSFB). Historically, the BCSFB has received little attention as a potential pathway for drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS). Nonetheless, this barrier is presently viewed as a dynamic transport interface that limits the traffic of molecules into and out of the CNS through the presence of membrane transporters, with parallel activity with the BBB. The localization and expression of drug transporters in brain barriers represent a huge obstacle for drug delivery to the brain and a major challenge for the development of therapeutic approaches to CNS disorders. The widespread interest in understanding how circadian clocks modulate many processes that define drug delivery in order to predict the variability in drug safety and efficacy is the next bridge to improve effective treatment. In this context, this study aims at characterizing the circadian expression of ABCG2 and DNPZ circadian transport profile using an in vitro model of the BCSFB. We found that ABCG2 displays a circadian pattern and DNPZ is transported in a circadian way across this barrier. This study will strongly impact on the capacity to modulate the BCSFB in order to control the penetration of DNPZ into the brain and improve therapeutic strategies for the treatment of AD according to the time of the day.

Trilingual parallel processing: Do the dominant languages grab all the attention?

Abstract Twenty-five L1 Nepali speaking participants living in Trondheim, Norway who spoke English as L2 and Norwegian as L3 (late adult learners) participated in this study. Participants’ L2 proficiency was established as advanced in LexTALE. We administered language comprehension and production tasks in a trilingual design. In a mouse tracking trilingual parallel activation experiment, participants performed a language comprehension task in which they listened to the spoken word in their L1, L2 and L3 and clicked on the matching target picture. Mouse trajectories of their response pattern were recorded and analyzed. The language production task included a phonological and a semantic verbal fluency task (VFT), which also served as an executive control task. VFT showed their dominance in L1 and L2 compared to L3. This study contributes novel knowledge on trilingual parallel activation and suggests that in the presence of a non-dominant L3, a dominant L1 and a dominant L2 are processed faster than the non-dominant language in phonologically competing conditions.

Systems Thinking for Supply Chains: Identifying Bottlenecks Using Process Mapping of a Child Health Intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

The quality of supply chains in public health interventions in low- and middle-income countries can determine how effectively a program is able to treat its intended population group and subsequently achieve its health targets. We aimed to disentangle where challenges exist hierarchically and administratively through the application of process mapping to the supply chain of an integrated community case management (iCCM) intervention in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We conducted a document review, semi-structured key informant interviews, and focus group discussions with program agents involved in supply chain processes of the child health intervention. Enterprise architecture was used to map the intervention’s supply chain and its participatory actors, and detailed bottlenecks of the chain through the application of a health systems framework. The results of this study will be used to inform a system dynamics model of the supply chain of iCCM in DRC. The greatest bottlenecks leading to stockouts at the community level occurred upstream (from national to province and from zone to health facility). While the use of local procurement processes was partially attempted to strengthen systems, parallel supply chain activities compromised sustainable system integration and development. Initial delays in stock dispensation were due to international procurement at the supplier, inducing a trickle-down effect. Inadequate quantification of supply needs and subsequent insufficient product procuration were the single most important steps that led to stockouts. This study demonstrated that the community health supply chain would be most impacted by improvements made in processes at the highest administrative strata, while exposing its delicate dependence on activities at the lowest levels. Visibility of inventory at all levels and improved data quality and use through a transparent tracking system have the potential to significantly reduce stockouts. Future interventions should take care to not develop parallel processes or exclude local health system agents to avoid disruption and ensure sustainable health outcome gains. Causal loop studies and system dynamics can further identify the systems interactions and relationships and their underlying causal mechanisms in need of intervention.

Differential stability of Gcn4p controls its cell-specific activity in differentiated yeast colonies.

Gcn4p belongs to conserved AP-1 transcription factors involved in many cellular processes, including cell proliferation, stress response, and nutrient availability in yeast and mammals. AP-1 activities are regulated at different levels, such as translational activation or protein degradation, which increases the variability of regulation under different conditions. Gcn4p activity in unstructured yeast liquid cultures increases upon amino acid deficiency and is rapidly eliminated upon amino acid excess. Gcn2p kinase is the major described regulator of Gcn4p that enables GCN4 mRNA translation via the uORFs mechanism. Here, we show that Gcn4p is specifically active in U cells in the upper regions and inactive in L cells in the lower regions of differentiated colonies. Using in situ microscopy in combination with analysis of mutants and strains with GFP at different positions in the translational regulatory region of Gcn4p, we show that cell-specific Gcn4p activity is independent of Gcn2p or other translational or transcriptional regulation. Genetically, biochemically, and microscopically, we identified cell-specific proteasomal degradation as a key mechanism that diversifies Gcn4p function between U and L cells. The identified regulation leading to active Gcn4p in U cells with amino acids and efficient degradation in starved L cells differs from known regulations of Gcn4p in yeast but shows similarities to the activity of AP-1 ATF4 in mammals during insulin signaling. These findings may open new avenues for understanding the parallel activities of Gcn4p/ATF4 and reveal a novel biological role for cell type-specific regulation of proteasome-dependent degradation.IMPORTANCEIn nature, microbes usually live in spatially structured communities and differentiate into precisely localized, functionally specialized cells. The coordinated interplay of cells and their response to environmental changes, such as starvation, followed by metabolic adaptation, is critical for the survival of the entire community. Transcription factor Gcn4p is responsible for yeast adaptation under amino acid starvation in liquid cultures, and its activity is regulated mainly at the level of translation involving Gcn2p kinase. Whether Gcn4p functions in structured communities was unknown. We show that translational regulation of Gcn4p plays no role in the development of colony subpopulations; the main regulation occurs at the level of stabilization of the Gcn4p molecule in the cells of one subpopulation and its proteasomal degradation in the other. This regulation ensures specific spatiotemporal activity of Gcn4p in the colony. Our work highlights differences in regulatory networks in unorganized populations and organized structures of yeast, which in many respects resemble multicellular organisms.

Abstract LB212: Transcriptional dosage of oncogenic KRAS drives lung adenocarcinoma cell states, progression and metastasis

Abstract Metastasis is the endpoint of tumorigenesis and is generally diagnosed at an untreatable stage. The molecular mechanisms underlying metastasis and biomarkers for early intervention are largely unknown. Here, combining a mouse model of aggressive Kras-driven non-small-cell lung cancer with in vivo fate mapping and CRISPR activation screens, we show that transcriptional amplification of oncogenic Kras promotes orthotopic lung cancer lesions growth as well as oligoclonal and polyclonal metastasis to distal organs. Mild Kras transcriptional up-regulation by CRISPRa is sufficient to fuel competitive advantage in vitro and in vivo. Parallel CRISPR activation and transcriptome sequencing show that KrasG12D amplification cooperates with sterile inflammation to drive tumor progression and with the TGFß pathway to promote metastasis. Chromatin profiling of Kras-amplifying cells uncovers transcriptional regulators potentially collaborating with oncogenic Kras to drive lung cancer and metastasis in vivo. Transcriptional modulation of KRAS dosage in mouse cell and pharmacological inhibition in human PDXs affect cell stress and differentiation programs. These observations are corroborated by bulk and single-cell RNA-seq analysis in patients. Collectively, our data on a model oncogene advance our current understanding of how KRAS drives tumor evolution, with implications for prognosis and treatment of patients. Citation Format: Michela Serresi, Sonia Kertalli, Yuliia Dramaretska, Matthias Jürgen Schmitt, Heike Naumann, Maria Zschummel, Gaetano Gargiulo. Transcriptional dosage of oncogenic KRAS drives lung adenocarcinoma cell states, progression and metastasis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 2 (Late-Breaking, Clinical Trial, and Invited Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(7_Suppl):Abstract nr LB212.

Autistic preschoolers display reduced attention orientation for competition but intact facilitation from a parallel competitor: Eye-tracking and behavioral data.

Recent research suggests that we might have underestimated the social motivation of autistic individuals. Autistic children might be engaged in a social situation, even if they seem not to be attending to people in a typical way. Our study investigated how young autistic children behave in a "parallel" situation, which we call "parallel competition," where people participate in friendly contests side-by-side but without direct interaction. First, we used eye-tracking technology to observe how much autistic children pay attention to two video scenarios: one depicting parallel competition, and the other where individuals play directly with each other. The results showed that autistic children looked less toward the parallel competition video than their typically developing peers. However, when autistic children took part in parallel competitions themselves, playing physical and cognitive games against a teacher, their performance improved relative to playing individually just as much as their typically developing peers. This suggests that even though autistic children pay attention to social events differently, they can still benefit from the presence of others. These findings suggest complementing traditional cooperative activities by incorporating parallel activities into educational programs for young autistic children. By doing so, we can create more inclusive learning environments for these children.

Gap Junctions May Have A Computational Function In The Cerebellum: A Hypothesis

In the cerebellum, granule cells make parallel fibre contact on (and excite) Golgi cells and Golgi cells inhibit granule cells, forming an open feedback loop. Parallel fibres excite Golgi cells synaptically, each making a single contact. Golgi cells inhibit granule cells in a structure called a glomerulus almost exclusively by GABA spillover acting through extrasynaptic GABAA receptors. Golgi cells are connected dendritically by gap junctions. It has long been suspected that feedback contributes to homeostatic regulation of parallel fibre signals activity, causing the fraction of the population that are active to be maintained at a low level. We present a detailed neurophysiological and computationally-rendered model of functionally grouped Golgi cells which can infer the density of parallel fibre signals activity and convert it into proportional modulation of inhibition of granule cells. The conversion is unlearned and not actively computed; rather, output is simply the computational effect of cell morphology and network architecture. Unexpectedly, the conversion becomes more precise at low density, suggesting that self-regulation is attracted to sparse code, because it is stable. A computational function of gap junctions may not be confined to the cerebellum.

Effects of pulsed Nd:YAG laser kernel irradiation on maize (Zea mays L.): Insights into germination, gas exchange, photosynthetic pigments, and morphological modifications

Energy has always been the most concerned topic worldwide due to its large consumption. Among various types of energies, light has amazing characteristics and have interesting effects on living organisms. Interest is increasing in the use of laser kernel treatment as an environment friendly physical technique for better results in agronomic crops, but the work is still in progress. The present study was conducted with the aim to examine the application of range of Neodymium-doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) pulsed laser exposures (200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1400 J/cm2) as pre-sowing kernel treatment on seedling survival rate, leaf photosynthetic activity in relation with photosynthetic pigments and visual morphological effects at seedling to maturity stage. Results showed that the low laser exposure (200, 400 and 600 J/cm2) improved the photosynthetic activity in parallel with improvement in chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoids as well as morphological traits. Kernel treatments with higher laser fluences (800, 1000, 1200 and 1400 J/cm2) showed irregular responses in studied attributes examined at the individual plant level. At 800 and 1000 J/cm2 improvements were found in some plants but at higher doses clear negative impacts were recorded on studied attributes. In conclusion, the lower doses of Nd:YAG pulsed laser fluences are found beneficial for induction of improvement in maize plants for better growth but higher doses were found toxic ones. In future further studies are needed to check the impacts of low laser doses on yield related attributes under field conditions and the high doses might also be used to create variants with beneficial characteristics if possible.