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Category: computing – Page 323

Mixed reality (MR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies merge the real world with computer-generated elements, allowing users to interact with their surroundings in more engaging ways. In recent years, these technologies have enhanced education and specialized training in numerous fields, helping trainees to test their skills or make better sense of abstract concepts and data.

Researchers at University of Calgary have been trying to develop interfaces and systems that could enhanced MR visualizations. In a paper set to be presented at CHI 2023 LBW, they introduced HoloTouch, a system that can augment mixed reality graphics and charts using smartphones as physical proxies.

“To me, this paper was inspired for the most part by a work that I published during my final undergraduate year,” Neil Chulpongsatorn, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Tech Xplore “They both originated from my interest in mixed reality interactions for data representations.”

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In a demonstration that promises to help scale up quantum computers based on tiny dots of silicon, RIKEN physicists have succeeded in connecting two qubits—the basic unit for quantum information—that are physically distant from one another.

Many big IT players—including the likes of IBM, Google and Microsoft—are racing to develop quantum computers, some of which have already demonstrated the ability to greatly outperform conventional computers for certain types of calculations. But one of the greatest challenges to developing commercially viable quantum computers is the ability to scale them up from a hundred or so qubits to millions of qubits.

In terms of technologies, one of the front-runners to achieve large-scale quantum computing is that are a few tens of nanometers in diameter. A key advantage is that they can be fabricated using existing silicon fabrication technology. But one hurdle is that, while it is straightforward to connect two quantum dots that are next to each other, it has proved difficult to link quantum dots that are far from each other.

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The first SPAD camera.

TOKYO, April 3, 2023—Canon Inc. announced today that the company is developing the MS-500, the world’s first1 ultra-high-sensitivity interchangeable-lens camera (ILC) equipped with a 1.0 inch Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) sensor2 featuring the world’s highest pixel count of 3.2 megapixels3. The camera leverages the special characteristics of SPAD sensors to achieve superb low-light performance while also utilizing broadcast lenses that feature high performance at telephoto-range focal lengths. Thanks to such advantages, the MS-500 is expected to be ideal for such applications as high-precision monitoring.

The MS-500

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We often imagine that human consciousness is as simple as input and output of electrical signals within a network of processing units — therefore comparable to a computer. Reality, however, is much more complicated. For starters, we don’t actually know how much information the human brain can hold.

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The use of time-lapse monitoring in IVF does not result in more pregnancies or shorten the time it takes to get pregnant. This new method, which promises to “identify the most viable embryos,” is more expensive than the classic approach. Research from Amsterdam UMC, published today in The Lancet, shows that time-lapse monitoring does not improve clinical results.

Patients undergoing an IVF treatment often have several usable embryos. The laboratory then makes a choice as to which embryo will be transferred into the uterus. Crucial to this decision is the cell division pattern in the first three to five days of embryo development. In order to observe this, embryos must be removed from the incubator daily to be checked under a microscope. In time-lapse incubators, however, built-in cameras record the development of each embryo. This way embryos no longer need to be removed from the stable environment of the incubator and a computer algorithm calculates which embryo has shown the most optimal growth pattern.

More and more IVF centers, across the world, use time-lapse for the evaluation and selection of embryos. Prospective parents are often promised that time-lapse monitoring will increase their chance of becoming pregnant. Despite frequent use of this relatively expensive method, there are hardly any large clinical studies evaluating the added value of time-lapse monitoring for IVF treatments.

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To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit http://brilliant.org/ArtemKirsanov/
The first 200 of you will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.

My name is Artem, I’m a computational neuroscience student and researcher. In this video we talk about cognitive maps – internal models of outside world that the brain to generate flexible behavior that is generalized across contexts.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/artemkirsanov.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArtemKRSV

OUTLINE:
00:00 — Introduction.
02:08 — Edward Tolman.
03:48 — Zoo of neurons in hippocampal formation.
06:40 — Non spatial mapping.
08:21 — Graph formalism.
12:21 — Latent spaces.
17:22 — Factorized representations.
21:51 — Summary.
24:47 — Brilliant.
26:19 — Outro.

REFERENCES (in no particular order):
1. Behrens, T. E. J. et al. What Is a Cognitive Map? Organizing Knowledge for Flexible Behavior. Neuron 100490–509 (2018).
2. Constantinescu, A. O., O’Reilly, J. X. & Behrens, T. E. J. Organizing conceptual knowledge in humans with a gridlike code. Science 352, 1464–1468 (2016).
3. Aronov, D., Nevers, R. & Tank, D. W. Mapping of a non-spatial dimension by the hippocampal–entorhinal circuit. Nature 543719–722 (2017).
4. Whittington, J. C. R., McCaffary, D., Bakermans, J. J. W. & Behrens, T. E. J. How to build a cognitive map. Nat Neurosci 25, 1257–1272 (2022).
5. Whittington, J., Muller, T., Mark, S., Barry, C. & Behrens, T. Generalisation of structural knowledge in the hippocampal-entorhinal system.

CREDITS:

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Researchers at University of Tokyo, JTS PRESTO, Ludwig Maximilians Universität and Kindai University recently demonstrated the modulation of an electron source by applying laser light to a single fullerene molecule. Their study, featured in Physical Review Letters, could pave the way for the development of better performing computers and microscopic imaging devices.

“By irradiating a sharp metallic needle with , we had previously demonstrated optical control of electron emission sites on a scale of approximately 10 nm,” Hirofumi Yanagisawa, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org. “The optical control was achieved using plasmonic effects, but it was technically difficult to miniaturize such an electron source using the same principle. We were seeking a way to miniaturize the electron source and we hit upon the idea of using a and its molecular orbitals.”

Yanagisawa and his colleagues set out to realize their idea experimentally using electrons emitted from molecules on a sharp metallic needle. However, they were well-aware of the difficulties they would encounter, due to unresolved difficulties associated with the use of electron emissions from molecule-covered needles.

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Advances in antiaging drug/lead discovery in animal models constitute a large body of literature on novel senotherapeutics and geroprotectives. However, with little direct evidence or mechanism of action in humans—these drugs are utilized as nutraceuticals or repurposed supplements without proper testing directions, appropriate biomarkers, or consistent in-vivo models. In this study, we take previously identified drug candidates that have significant evidence of prolonging lifespan and promoting healthy aging in model organisms, and simulate them in human metabolic interactome networks. Screening for drug-likeness, toxicity, and KEGG network correlation scores, we generated a library of 285 safe and bioavailable compounds. We interrogated this library to present computational modeling-derived estimations of a tripartite interaction map of animal geroprotective compounds in the human molecular interactome extracted from longevity, senescence, and dietary restriction-associated genes. Our findings reflect previous studies in aging-associated metabolic disorders, and predict 25 best-connected drug interactors including Resveratrol, EGCG, Metformin, Trichostatin A, Caffeic Acid and Quercetin as direct modulators of lifespan and healthspan-associated pathways. We further clustered these compounds and the functionally enriched subnetworks therewith to identify longevity-exclusive, senescence-exclusive, pseudo-omniregulators and omniregulators within the set of interactome hub genes. Additionally, serum markers for drug-interactions, and interactions with potentially geroprotective gut microbial species distinguish the current study and present a holistic depiction of optimum gut microbial alteration by candidate drugs. These findings provide a systems level model of animal life-extending therapeutics in human systems, and act as precursors for expediting the ongoing global effort to find effective antiaging pharmacological interventions.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

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