Search results for "prose"

Permutation invariant functionals of Lévy processes

2017

Environmentally‐induced noise dampens and reddens with increasing trophic level in a complex food web

2019

Stochastic variability of key abiotic factors including temperature, precipitation and the availability of light and nutrients greatly influences species’ ecological function and evolutionary fate. Despite such influence, ecologists have typically ignored the effect of abiotic stochasticity on the structure and dynamics of ecological networks. Here we help to fill that gap by advancing the theory of how abiotic stochasticity, in the form of environmental noise, affects the population dynamics of species within food webs. We do this by analysing an allometric trophic network model of Lake Constance subjected to positive (red), negative (blue), and non‐autocorrelated (white) abiotic temporal …

Calibrating Expert Assessments Using Hierarchical Gaussian Process Models

2020

Expert assessments are routinely used to inform management and other decision making. However, often these assessments contain considerable biases and uncertainties for which reason they should be calibrated if possible. Moreover, coherently combining multiple expert assessments into one estimate poses a long-standing problem in statistics since modeling expert knowledge is often difficult. Here, we present a hierarchical Bayesian model for expert calibration in a task of estimating a continuous univariate parameter. The model allows experts' biases to vary as a function of the true value of the parameter and according to the expert's background. We follow the fully Bayesian approach (the s…

Lipoprotein receptor loss in forebrain radial glia results in neurological deficits and severe seizures.

2020

The Alzheimer disease-associated multifunctional low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1 is expressed in the brain. Recent studies uncovered a role of this receptor for the appropriate functioning of neural stem cells, oligodendrocytes, and neurons. The constitutive knock-out (KO) of the receptor is embryonically lethal. To unravel the receptors' role in the developing brain we generated a mouse mutant by specifically targeting radial glia stem cells of the dorsal telencephalon. The low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-1 lineage-restricted KO female and male mice, in contrast to available models, developed a severe neurological phenotype with generalized seizures duri…

Selective α-synuclein knockdown in monoamine neurons by intranasal oligonucleotide delivery: potential therapy for parkinson’s disease

2018

Progressive neuronal death in brainstem nuclei and widespread accumulation of α-synuclein are neuropathological hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Reduction of α-synuclein levels is therefore a potential therapy for PD. However, because α-synuclein is essential for neuronal development and function, α-synuclein elimination would dramatically impact brain function. We previously developed conjugated small interfering RNA (siRNA) sequences that selectively target serotonin (5-HT) or norepinephrine (NE) neurons after intranasal administration. Here, we used this strategy to conjugate inhibitory oligonucleotides, siRNA and antisense oligonucleotide (ASO), with the triple monoamine reuptake …

An Interactive Framework for Offline Data-Driven Multiobjective Optimization

2020

We propose a framework for solving offline data-driven multiobjective optimization problems in an interactive manner. No new data becomes available when solving offline problems. We fit surrogate models to the data to enable optimization, which introduces uncertainty. The framework incorporates preference information from a decision maker in two aspects to direct the solution process. Firstly, the decision maker can guide the optimization by providing preferences for objectives. Secondly, the framework features a novel technique for the decision maker to also express preferences related to maximum acceptable uncertainty in the solutions as preferred ranges of uncertainty. In this way, the d…

Inattention and Uncertainty in the Predictive Brain

2021

Negative effects of inattention on task performance can be seen in many contexts of society and human behavior, such as traffic, work, and sports. In traffic, inattention is one of the most frequently cited causal factors in accidents. In order to identify inattention and mitigate its negative effects, there is a need for quantifying attentional demands of dynamic tasks, with a credible basis in cognitive modeling and neuroscience. Recent developments in cognitive science have led to theories of cognition suggesting that brains are an advanced prediction engine. The function of this prediction engine is to support perception and action by continuously matching incoming sensory input with to…

Coupled conditional backward sampling particle filter

2020

The conditional particle filter (CPF) is a promising algorithm for general hidden Markov model smoothing. Empirical evidence suggests that the variant of CPF with backward sampling (CBPF) performs well even with long time series. Previous theoretical results have not been able to demonstrate the improvement brought by backward sampling, whereas we provide rates showing that CBPF can remain effective with a fixed number of particles independent of the time horizon. Our result is based on analysis of a new coupling of two CBPFs, the coupled conditional backward sampling particle filter (CCBPF). We show that CCBPF has good stability properties in the sense that with fixed number of particles, …

Uncertainty quantification on a spatial Markov-chain model for the progression of skin cancer

2019

AbstractA spatial Markov-chain model is formulated for the progression of skin cancer. The model is based on the division of the computational domain into nodal points, that can be in a binary state: either in ‘cancer state’ or in ‘non-cancer state’. The model assigns probabilities for the non-reversible transition from ‘non-cancer’ state to the ‘cancer state’ that depend on the states of the neighbouring nodes. The likelihood of transition further depends on the life burden intensity of the UV-rays that the skin is exposed to. The probabilistic nature of the process and the uncertainty in the input data is assessed by the use of Monte Carlo simulations. A good fit between experiments on mi…

Pharmacological activation of CB2 receptors counteracts the deleterious effect of ethanol on cell proliferation in the main neurogenic zones of the a…

2015

Chronic alcohol exposure reduces endocannabinoid activity and disrupts adult neurogenesis in rodents, which results in structural and functional alterations. Cannabinoid receptor agonists promote adult neural progenitor cell (NPC) proliferation. We evaluated the protective effects of the selective CB1 receptor agonist ACEA, the selective CB2 receptor agonist JWH133 and the fatty-acid amide-hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor URB597, which enhances endocannabinoid receptor activity, on NPC proliferation in rats with forced consumption of ethanol (10%) or sucrose liquid diets for 2 weeks. We performed immunohistochemical and stereological analyses of cells expressing the mitotic phosphorylation of his…