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Our understanding of bird migration is heavily biased toward long-distance movements in the Northern Hemisphere, 1,2,3 with only fragmented knowledge from the Southern Hemisphere. 4,5 In Australia, while some species migrate, 4,6,7,8 the timing and direction of large-scale, multi-species seasonal movements remain critically understudied due to the complexity of movement in this region and a lack of research personnel and infrastructure. 7,9 It is still unclear whether there are pronounced and structured mass movements resembling those in the Northern Hemisphere. 10,11,12 Here, we analyze data from a latitudinal transect of weather radars spanning the entire coastline of Eastern Australia to determine the magnitude, directions, timing, and variability of bird migration compared to that of Northern Hemisphere migration systems. Bird movements exhibited sequential seasonal peaks along a latitudinal gradient with seasonally contrasting flight directions, confirming that a structured bird migration system exists. Three features were distinct from Northern Hemisphere migrations. First, distinct movements occurred around sunrise with comparable magnitudes to nocturnal migration, likely representing a strong diurnal component to the bird movements. Second, migration intensity averaged 0.06 million birds km−1 in autumn, much lower than Northern Hemisphere migrations. 11,12,13 Finally, flight directions were more dispersed, and the timing and amount of migration were highly variable between years compared to Northern Hemisphere migration systems, perhaps in response to variable climate. 7 This first quantification of continental-scale movements in Australia revealed a distinctive migration system, and it suggests that much remains to be discovered about the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping animal migrations in the Southern Hemisphere. • Weather radar network reveals a structured bird migration system in East Australia • Sequential migration peaks move latitudinally, and directions reverse seasonally • Magnitude is smaller than in the Northern Hemisphere but with larger daytime activity • Direction, timing, and magnitude vary more between years than in North America Shi et al. show that a structured migration system with seasonal peaks and contrasting flight directions exists in Eastern Australia. Unlike in the Northern Hemisphere, Australian migrations show a significant proportion of diurnal movement, with lower intensity and greater variability in timing, direction, and magnitude across years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Golf is an international sport that has become increasingly more popular in recent times. Previous literature has shown that golf approach shots are crucial to the success of elite golfers. However, there is no known publication investigating distances less than 100 yards, known as the short game. The primary purpose of this study was to collect comprehensive data on 3D biomechanical variables of the short game at four target distances in college-aged, male golfers. Participants were instructed to hit five successful shots at each target distance: 30 yards, 50 yards, 70 yards and full swing (maximal distance) yardage. A motion capture system recorded kinematic and temporal parameters of golfer movement, additional to a golf simulator that collected ball carry distance of each shot. Distance did have a significant (p ≤ 0.05) effect on swing phase timing, angular velocities and motion sequencing. Movement sequencing within the short game displayed irregular patterns across all distances and phases, with a partial proximal-to-distal pattern (pelvis → shoulder girdle → arms → club) at best. The findings of this study show that the short game swing did present its own unique motion patterns that will require practice as its own skill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Post-Movement Beta Rebound (PMBR) is the increase in beta-band power after voluntary movement ends, but its specific role in cognitive processing is unclear. Current theory links PMBR with updates to internal models, mental frameworks that help anticipate and react to sensory feedback. However, research has not explored how reactivating a preexisting action plan, another source for internal model updates, might affect PMBR intensity. To address this gap, we recruited 20 participants (mean age 18.55 ± 0.51; 12 females) for an experiment involving isolated (single-step) or sequential (two-step) motor tasks based on predetermined cues. We compared PMBR after single-step movements with PMBR after the first movement in two-step tasks to assess the influence of a subsequent action on the PMBR power associated with the first action. The results show a significant increase in PMBR magnitude after the first movement in sequential tasks compared to the second action and the isolated movements. Notably, this increase is more pronounced for right-hand movements, suggesting lateralized brain activity in the left hemisphere. These findings indicate that PMBR is influenced not only by external stimuli but also by internal cognitive processes such as working memory. This insight enhances our understanding of PMBR's role in motor control, emphasizing the integration of both external and internal information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the limitations of current dynamic point cloud compression (DPCC) datasets, such as scarce categories, lack of detailed textures, and minimal variation in point cloud sequence movements. We present a comprehensive and diverse dataset, namely PKU-DPCC, to address the need for more categories and scene diversity for DPCC. Compared with the existing Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and Audio Video Coding Standard (AVS) PCC datasets, the proposed dataset shows significant superiority in data scale, diversity, and compression difficulty. Specifically, our PKU-DPCC encompasses 50 dynamic point cloud sequences of six superclasses, and each sequence consists of 250 frames with geometry and attribute information and embodies the object or scene of a specific subclasses in the real world. Besides the diverse data content, samples in our dataset possess precise geometry details and various motion patterns, catering to a wide range of testing requirements in dynamic PCC. To construct this new dataset, we first collect numerous 3D meshes and then check the quality of each sample, resulting in 50 high-quality sequences for conversion to our final point cloud dataset. Furthermore, we conduct precise annotations for two scenarios of perceptible distortions and quality assessments on the provided point cloud data, which aims to broaden the range of its applications. To facilitate a fast algorithm performance evaluation, we select a part of representative samples constituting a subset, which has been adopted to the AVS PCC dataset. We conduct lossless and lossy compression tests on both geometry and attribute information from our subset to demonstrate the necessity of our newly constructed dataset. Experimental results reveal that the proposed dataset can become a new benchmark for evaluating and improving dynamic PCC algorithms. Our dataset is publicly available at https://openi.pcl.ac.cn/OpenDatasets/PKU-DPCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motor primitives are fundamental building blocks of a controller which enable dynamic robot behavior with minimal high-level intervention. By treating motor primitives as basic "modules," different modules can be sequenced or superimposed to generate a rich repertoire of motor behavior. In robotics, two distinct approaches have been proposed: Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMPs) and Elementary Dynamic Actions (EDAs). While both approaches instantiate similar ideas, significant differences also exist. This paper attempts to clarify the distinction and provide a unifying view by delineating the similarities and differences between DMPs and EDAs. We provide nine robot control examples, including sequencing or superimposing movements, managing kinematic redundancy and singularity, control of both position and orientation of the robot's end-effector, obstacle avoidance, and managing physical interaction. We show that the two approaches clearly diverge in their implementation. We also provide a real-robot demonstration to show how DMPs and EDAs can be combined to get the best of both approaches. With this detailed comparison, we enable researchers to make informed decisions to select the most suitable approach for specific robot tasks and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining individual actions into sequences is a hallmark of everyday activities. Classical theories propose that the motor system forms a single specification of the sequence as a whole, leading to the coarticulation of the different elements. In contrast, recent neural recordings challenge this idea and suggest independent execution of each element specified separately. Here, we show that separate or coarticulated sequences can result from the same task-dependent controller, without implying different representations in the brain. Simulations show that planning for multiple reaches simultaneously allows separate or coarticulated sequences depending on instructions about intermediate goals. Human experiments in a two-reach sequence task validated this model. Furthermore, in co-articulated sequences, the second goal influenced long-latency stretch responses to external loads applied during the first reach, demonstrating the involvement of the sensorimotor network supporting fast feedback control. Overall, our study establishes a computational framework for sequence production that highlights the importance of feedback control in this essential motor skill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stroke is a significant global health concern, ranking among the top causes of death and disability. Timely poststroke recovery hinges on structured upper limb rehabilitation within the first 24–48 hr. Although virtual reality (VR) rehabilitation is promising, its accessibility is complex and cost‐limited, especially in less developed regions. In this study, we developed and assessed nonimmersive VR rehabilitation games using the Kinect Xbox One and UNITY game engine, targeting upper limb movement sequences vital for poststroke recovery. The developed games involved simple to progressively challenging movements, engaging the deltoid, biceps, and triceps muscles and aligning with poststroke rehabilitation criteria. We used peak‐to‐peak electromyography signal detection with a 20% threshold and three distinct feature extractions to represent muscle contractions during gameplay. Our cosine similarity analysis revealed the efficacy of games in meeting movement sequence criteria, benefiting mostly the shoulder motor and deltoid muscles (93% improvement) with more moderate improvements in the biceps (73%) and triceps (47%). Our results suggest that these games could contribute to upper limb stroke rehabilitation, particularly that of the deltoid muscle. This study highlights the potential of VR‐based rehabilitation games in poststroke upper limb recovery, emphasizing muscle engagement, target distances, and rehabilitation criteria in game design. Although healthy participants were involved here, future research involving poststroke patients and the exploration of more immersive, multiplanar movements hold the potential for a more comprehensive rehabilitation experience. Our study contributes to advancing the common knowledge related to VR‐based stroke rehabilitation, focusing on upper limb movement sequences with implications for therapeutic engagement and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our repertoire of motor skills is filled with sequential movements that need to be performed in a specific order. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether the human hippocampus, a region known to support temporal order in non-motor memory, represents information about the order of sequential motor actions in human participants (both sexes). We also examined such representations in other regions of the motor network (i.e., the premotor cortex, supplementary motor area, anterior superior parietal lobule, and striatum) already known for their critical role in motor sequence learning. Results showed that the hippocampus represents information about movements in their learned temporal position in the sequence, but not about movements or temporal positions in random movement patterns. Other regions of the motor network coded for movements in their learned temporal position, as well as movements and positions in random movement patterns. Importantly, movement coding contributed to sequence learning patterns in primary, supplementary, and premotor cortices but not in striatal and parietal regions. Our findings deepen our understanding of how striatal and cortical regions contribute to motor sequence learning and point to the capacity of the hippocampus to represent movements in their temporal context, an ability possibly explaining its contribution to motor learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-world actions often comprise a series of movements that cannot be entirely planned before initiation. When these actions are executed rapidly, the planning of multiple future movements needs to occur simultaneously with the ongoing action. How the brain solves this task remains unknown. Here, we address this question with a new sequential arm reaching paradigm that manipulates how many future reaches are available for planning while controlling execution of the ongoing reach. We show that participants plan at least two future reaches simultaneously with an ongoing reach. Further, the planning processes of the two future reaches are not independent of one another. Evidence that the planning processes interact is twofold. First, correcting for a visual perturbation of the ongoing reach target is slower when more future reaches are planned. Second, the curvature of the current reach is modified based on the next reach only when their planning processes temporally overlap. These interactions between future planning processes may enable smooth production of sequential actions by linking individual segments of a long sequence at the level of motor planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript describes a TAsk and Motion Planning (TAMP) method for mobile manipulators. We focus on fetch-and-carry tasks, and we aim to simultaneously generate both a sequence of actions and a motion sequence for each action. The number of factors to be considered in solving such a problem, and the interactions among them are complex due to the multifaceted characteristics of mobile manipulation. As a result, straightforwardly performing simultaneous TAMP may require a significant amount of processing time. Therefore, we reduce the complexity of the problem by formulating fetch-and-carry planning for a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem. The proposed method can obtain the sequence of actions and the movement of the mobile manipulator in less than one second in many cases. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified in environments in which delivery objects and obstacles are placed in various patterns, using a robot with an omnidirectional mobile platform and a serial link manipulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interlimb transfer of sequential motor learning (SML) refers to the positive influence of prior experiences in performing the same sequential movements using different effectors. Despite evidence from intermanual SML, and while most daily living activities involve interlimb cooperation and coordination between the four limbs, nothing is known about bilateral SML transfer between the upper and lower limbs. We examined the transfer of bilateral SML from the upper to the lower limbs and vice versa. Twenty-four participants had to learn an initial bilateral SML task using the upper limbs and then performed the same sequence using the lower limbs during a transfer SML task. They performed the reversed situation 1 month apart. The performance was evaluated at the beginning and the end of both initial and transfer SML practice phases. Significant and reciprocal transfer gains in performance were observed regardless of the effectors. Greater transfer gains in performance were observed at the beginning of the transfer SML from the lower to the upper limbs (44 %) but these gains vanished after practice with the transfer effectors (5 %). Although smaller gains were initially achieved in the transfer of SML from the upper to the lower limbs (15 %), these gains persisted and remained significant (9 %) after practice with the transfer effectors. Our results provide evidence of a reciprocal and asymmetrical interlimb transfer of bilateral SML between the upper and lower limbs. These findings could be leveraged as a relevant strategy in the context of sports and functional rehabilitation. • Reciprocal transfer of sequential motor learning between the upper and lower effectors. • Transfer gains is asymmetrical between the upper and lower effectors. • Early and greater benefits in performance from the lower to the upper effectors. • Durable transfer gains in performance from the upper to the lower limb effectors • Upper and lower effectors transfer may be exploited in functional rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interlimb differences in reach control could impact the learning of a motor sequence that requires whole-arm movements. The purpose of this study was to investigate the learning of an implicit, 3-dimensional whole-arm sequence task with the non-dominant left arm compared to the dominant right arm. Thirty-one right-hand dominant adults completed two consecutive days of practice of a motor sequence task presented in a virtual environment with either their dominant right or non-dominant left arm. Targets were presented one-at-a-time alternating between Random and Repeated sequences. Task performance was indicated by the time to complete the sequence (response time), and kinematic measures (hand path distance, peak velocity) were used to examine how movements changed over time. While the Left Arm group was slower than the Right Arm group at baseline, both groups significantly improved response time with practice with the Left Arm group demonstrating greater gains. The Left Arm group improved performance by decreasing hand path distance (straighter path to targets) while the Right Arm group improved performance through a smaller decrease in hand path distance combined with increasing peak velocity. Gains made during practice on Day 1 were retained on Day 2 for both groups. Overall, individuals reaching with the non-dominant left arm learned the whole-arm motor sequence task but did so through a different strategy than individuals reaching with the dominant right arm. The strategy adopted for the learning of movement sequences that require whole-arm movements may be impacted by differences in reach control between the nondominant and dominant arms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fluid movement of an arm requires multiple spatiotemporal parameters to be set independently. Recent studies have argued that arm movements are generated by the collective dynamics of neurons in motor cortex. An untested prediction of this hypothesis is that independent parameters of movement must map to independent components of the neural dynamics. Using a task where three male monkeys made a sequence of reaching movements to randomly placed targets, we show that the spatial and temporal parameters of arm movements are independently encoded in the low-dimensional trajectories of population activity in motor cortex: each movement’s direction corresponds to a fixed neural trajectory through neural state space and its speed to how quickly that trajectory is traversed. Recurrent neural network models show that this coding allows independent control over the spatial and temporal parameters of movement by separate network parameters. Our results support a key prediction of the dynamical systems view of motor cortex, and also argue that not all parameters of movement are defined by different trajectories of population activity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordinated movement requires the nervous system to continuously compensate for changes in mechanical load across different conditions. For voluntary movements like reaching, the motor cortex is a critical hub that generates commands to move the limbs and counteract loads. How does cortex contribute to load compensation when rhythmic movements are sequenced by a spinal pattern generator? Here, we address this question by manipulating the mass of the forelimb in unrestrained mice during locomotion. While load produces changes in motor output that are robust to inactivation of motor cortex, it also induces a profound shift in cortical dynamics. This shift is minimally affected by cerebellar perturbation and significantly larger than the load response in the spinal motoneuron population. This latent representation may enable motor cortex to generate appropriate commands when a voluntary movement must be integrated with an ongoing, spinally-generated rhythm. Motor cortex generates commands for voluntary movement, but its role in tasks driven by a spinal pattern generator remains unclear. Here, the authors identify a cortical signal for inertial load in locomoting mice that is decoupled from motor output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-density electromyography (HD-EMG) can provide a natural interface to enhance human–computer interaction (HCI). This study aims to demonstrate the capability of a novel HD-EMG forearm sleeve equipped with up to 150 electrodes to capture high-resolution muscle activity, decode complex hand gestures, and estimate continuous hand position via joint angle predictions. Ten able-bodied participants performed 37 hand movements and grasps while EMG was recorded using the HD-EMG sleeve. Simultaneously, an 18-sensor motion capture glove calculated 23 joint angles from the hand and fingers across all movements for training regression models. For classifying across the 37 gestures, our decoding algorithm was able to differentiate between sequential movements with 97.3 ± 0.3 % accuracy calculated on a 100 ms bin-by-bin basis. In a separate mixed dataset consisting of 19 movements randomly interspersed, decoding performance achieved an average bin-wise accuracy of 92.8 ± 0.8 % . When evaluating decoders for use in real-time scenarios, we found that decoders can reliably decode both movements and movement transitions, achieving an average accuracy of 93.3 ± 0.9 % on the sequential set and 88.5 ± 0.9 % on the mixed set. Furthermore, we estimated continuous joint angles from the EMG sleeve data, achieving a R 2 of 0.884 ± 0.003 in the sequential set and 0.750 ± 0.008 in the mixed set. Median absolute error (MAE) was kept below 10° across all joints, with a grand average MAE of 1.8 ± 0. 04 ∘ and 3.4 ± 0. 07 ∘ for the sequential and mixed datasets, respectively. We also assessed two algorithm modifications to address specific challenges for EMG-driven HCI applications. To minimize decoder latency, we used a method that accounts for reaction time by dynamically shifting cue labels in time. To reduce training requirements, we show that pretraining models with historical data provided an increase in decoding performance compared with models that were not pretrained when reducing the in-session training data to only one attempt of each movement. The HD-EMG sleeve, combined with sophisticated machine learning algorithms, can be a powerful tool for hand gesture recognition and joint angle estimation. This technology holds significant promise for applications in HCI, such as prosthetics, assistive technology, rehabilitation, and human–robot collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hygroscopic seed-scale movement is responsible for the weather-adaptive opening and closing of pine cones and for facilitating seed dispersal under favorable environmental conditions. Although this phenomenon has long been investigated, many involved processes are still not fully understood. To gain a deeper mechanical and structural understanding of the cone and its functional units, namely the individual seed scales, we have investigated their desiccation- and wetting-induced movement processes in a series of analyses and manipulative experiments. We found, for example, that the abaxial scale surface is responsible for the evaporation of water from the closed cone and subsequent cone opening. Furthermore, we tested the capability of dry and deformed scales to restore their original shape and biomechanical properties by wetting. These results shed new light on the orchestration of scale movement in cones and the involved forces and provide information about the functional robustness and resilience of cones, leading to a better understanding of the mechanisms behind hygroscopic pine cone opening, the respective ecological framework, and, possibly, to the development of smart biomimetic actuators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent duration, exponential internet growth usage has necessitated robust methods for securing data during transmission. Image encryption has emerged as a crucial technique to prevent unauthorized access and manipulation of digital content. This study introduces a novel encryption method that enhances image security through a two-stage process. The first stage involves substituting and shuffling plain image pixels using a set of random numbers generated by the ISING model, where these numbers are described as a sequence of movements. In the second stage, pixel values are permuted using the Gyrator transformation, resulting in a ciphered image. Extensive numerical simulations have been conducted to calculate the effectiveness of the suggested method. The results confirm the method's efficacy, demonstrating significant improvements in security and robustness compared to existing encryption techniques. Statistical analyses further prove the advantages of using the confusion and diffusion properties for improving the proposed method. The proposed method represents a substantial improvement in the field of image encryption, presenting a secure and reliable solution for protecting digital images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether in performing arts, sporting, or everyday contexts, when we watch others move, we tend to enjoy bodies moving in synchrony. Our enjoyment of body movements is further enhanced by our own prior experience with performing those movements, or our 'embodied experience'. The relationships between movement synchrony and enjoyment, as well as embodied experience and movement enjoyment, are well known. The interaction between enjoyment of movements, synchrony, and embodiment is less well understood, and may be central for developing new approaches for enriching social interaction. To examine the interplay between movement enjoyment, synchrony, and embodiment, we asked participants to copy another person's movements as accurately as possible, thereby gaining embodied experience of movement sequences. Participants then viewed other dyads performing the same or different sequences synchronously, and we assessed participants' recognition of having performed these sequences, as well as their enjoyment of each movement sequence. We used functional near‐infrared spectroscopy to measure cortical activation over frontotemporal sensorimotor regions while participants performed and viewed movements. We found that enjoyment was greatest when participants had mirrored the sequence and recognised it, suggesting that awareness of embodiment may be central to enjoyment of synchronous movements. Exploratory analyses of relationships between cortical activation and enjoyment and recognition implicated the sensorimotor cortices, which subserve action observation and aesthetic processing. These findings hold implications for clinical research and therapies seeking to foster successful social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artemisia argyi, a perennial herb of the genus Artemisia in the family Asteraceae, holds significant importance in Chinese traditional medicine, referred to as "Aicao". Here, we report a high-quality reference genome of Artemisia argyi L. cv. beiai, with a genome size up to 4.15 Gb and a contig N50 of 508.96 Kb, produced with third-generation Nanopore sequencing technology. We predicted 147,248 protein-coding genes, with approximately 68.86% of the assembled sequences comprising repetitive elements, primarily long terminal repeat retrotransposons(LTRs). Comparative genomics analysis shows that A. argyi has the highest number of specific gene families with 5121, and much more families with four or more members than the other 6 plant species, which is consistent with its more expanded gene families and fewer contracted gene families. Furthermore, through transcriptome sequencing of A. argyi in response to exogenous MeJA treatment, we have elucidated acquired regulatory insights into MeJA's impact on the phenylpropanoid, flavonoid, and terpenoid biosynthesis pathways of A. argyi. The whole-genome information obtained in this study serves as a valuable resource for delving deeper into the cultivation and molecular breeding of A. argyi. Moreover, it holds promise for enhancing genome assemblies across other members of the Asteraceae family. The identification of key genes establishes a solid groundwork for developing new varieties of Artemisia with elevated concentrations of active compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive studies have explored biological motion (BM) crowds processing for their remarkable social significance, primarily focused on uniformly distributed ones. However, real-world BM crowds often exhibit hierarchical structures rather than uniform arrangements. How such structured BM crowds are processed remains a subject of inquiry. This study investigates the representation of structured BM crowds in working memory (WM), recognizing the pivotal role WM plays in our social interactions involving BM. We propose the group-based ensemble hypothesis and test it through a member identification task. Participants were required to discern whether a presented BM belonged to a prior memory display of eight BM, each with distinct walking directions. Drawing on prominent Gestalt principles as organizational cues, we constructed structured groups within BM crowds by applying proximity and similarity cues in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. In Experiment 3, we deliberately weakened the visibility of stimuli structures by increasing the similarity between subsets, probing the robustness of results. Consistently, our findings indicate that BM aligned with the mean direction of the subsets was more likely to be recognized as part of the memory stimuli. This suggests that WM inherently organizes structured BM crowds into separate ensembles based on organizational cues. In essence, our results illuminate the simultaneous operation of grouping and ensemble encoding mechanisms for BM crowds within WM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ventrointermediate thalamic stimulation (VIM-DBS) modulates oscillatory activity in a cortical network including primary motor cortex, premotor cortex, and parietal cortex. Here we show that, beyond the beneficial effects of VIM-DBS on motor execution, this form of invasive stimulation facilitates production of sequential finger movements that follow a repeated sequence. These results highlight the role of thalamo–cortical activity in motor learning. The authors show that ventrointermediate thalamic stimulation facilitates production of repeated sequential finger movements and modulates oscillatory cortical activity in the motor learning network, highlighting thalamo–cortical engagement in motor learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a full fleet of autonomous vehicles (AV) in the future, the concept of signal-free intersections has attracted transportation researchers. Multiple studies have investigated different methods and protocols to facilitate vehicle decision-making at intersections. Most of these methods have relied on strong centralized or inter-vehicle communications. This research aims to develop a new protocol for managing vehicle movement at four-leg intersections assuming a fully automated fleet. The main concept of the proposed protocol is to maintain a continuous movement of vehicles entering the intersection, without stopping in queues, by controlling their sequence of movements. In the methodology a dynamic occupancy grid (DOG) approach is applied by initially dividing the intersection into dynamic grids (i.e. cells). The cells are in a virtual movement, emanating away from each lane-group without overlapping, like a gear machine. Each vehicle sits on a specific cell to traverse the intersection safely at a predetermined time. In other words, vehicles approaching an intersection must register their speed and position by certain sensors, and in return receive the appropriate acceleration and speed to finally be allocated to the suitable moving grids. The efficiency of the applied protocol was demonstrated by a practical example that presented a higher intersection capacity value exceeding the ideal saturation flow rate in some cases. This reflects the efficiency of the implemented protocol and its applicability to different low to high traffic flows. Moreover, the protocol shows more flexibility in dealing with different weather, geometric and traffic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cholinergic system plays a key role in motor function, but whether pharmacological modulation of cholinergic activity affects motor sequence learning is unknown. The acetylcholine receptor antagonist biperiden, an established treatment in movement disorders, reduces attentional modulation, but whether it influences motor sequence learning is not clear. Using a randomized, double‐blind placebo‐controlled crossover design, we tested 30 healthy young participants and showed that biperiden impairs the ability to learn sequential finger movements, accompanied by widespread oscillatory broadband power changes (4–25 Hz) in the motor sequence learning network after receiving biperiden, with greater power in the theta, alpha and beta bands over ipsilateral motor and bilateral parietal–occipital areas. The reduced early theta power during a repeated compared with random sequence, likely reflecting disengagement of top‐down attention to sensory processes, was disrupted by biperiden. Alpha synchronization during repeated sequences reflects sensory gating and lower visuospatial attention requirements compared with visuomotor responses to random sequences. After biperiden, alpha synchronization was greater, potentially reflecting excessive visuospatial attention reduction, affecting visuomotor responding required to enable sequence learning. Beta oscillations facilitate sequence learning by integrating visual and somatosensory inputs, stabilizing repeated sequences and promoting prediction of the next stimulus. The beta synchronization after biperiden fits with a disruption of the selective visuospatial attention enhancement associated with initial sequence learning. These findings highlight the role of cholinergic processes in motor sequence learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birds from at least a dozen orders engage in dustbathing, including Galliformes. Dustbathing is generally considered a behavioural need for poultry. It involves a precise and orderly sequence of movements repeated over time. The most characteristic movement involves tossing the dust with the wings and undulating the body beneath the dust shower. Thus, repetitive changes in body position during dustbathing could be automatically detected through data processing of body‐mounted accelerometer recordings. The approach was tested in 13 adult male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) fitted with a body mounted triaxial accelerometer. Behaviour was video‐recorded for at least 6 h. Observations showed that when the animal lies on its left‐ or right‐side during dustbathing, the lateral (swaying) component of the acceleration vector adopts values of +1 or −1, respectively. Analysis shows that the bird repeats these shifts in body position every 25–60 s. The wavelet analysis (i.e. complex Morlet continuous wavelet transform (CWT)) detected this oscillatory behaviour within the time series as higher power values. This characteristic was used to automate the detection of dustbathing events, for which a threshold value for the maximum power value estimated was established for the corresponding range of scales between 25 and 60 s. The overall general accuracy of this classification method for dustbathing detection was 80%, with individual variations falling within the range of 66%–100%. Finally, an example of the potential of this method in the study of temporal dynamics, such as daily rhythms of dustbathing, is provided. Our results show that combining accelerometry and wavelet analysis could be useful for the assessment of intra‐ and inter‐individual variability in dustbathing dynamics over long‐term studies, even within large complex environments, such as natural habitats or breeding facilities. Moreover, this approach could open doors for future in‐depth studies exploring the relationship between dustbathing and poultry welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of red discolorations ('blood stains') on the Turin Shroud (TS), a Christian relic believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth, is controversially discussed. We performed experiments to identify possible explanations for the formation of the stains on the hands and forearms of the Turin Shroud Man (TSM). In preliminary non-standardised experiments, after applying blood to the dorsal and palmar side of the probands' wrists, they moved their arms around at their own discretion to provoke blood flows as similar as possible to those on the TS. A blood stain pattern similar to that on the left wrist could be provoked by slowly turning the wrist to the ulnar side. In contrast, a branched pattern of multiple streaks, as depicted on the forearms, was difficult to reproduce. In a standardised test setup, the probands moved their dry, dirtied, or oiled arms jerkily in a predetermined sequence of movements. More body hair only slightly facilitated the formation of a branched pattern. On oiled skin, however, the formation of branches was significantly facilitated. This may support the hypothesis that the blood stains on the forearms were formed by moving the body between the unnailing and the burial. The formation of a branched pattern seems feasible if the arms were moved jerkily and were possibly exposed to water and oils postmortem (e.g. transporting the washed and oiled body). Nevertheless, the well-defined blood stains with multiple branchings are difficult to explain. Additionally, the blood stains on the forearms may have originated from deep scourging wounds, where dried blood was again mobilised by water (and oil). We are aware that no reliable conclusions about the formation of the 'blood stains' on the TS can be drawn from our findings. However, they may contribute to the discussion on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the attentional demands of movement sequence representations at different temporal points after single- or dual-task practice. The visual-spatial representation encodes the movement based on visual-spatial coordinates such as the target locations. The motor representation encodes the movement in motor coordinates including joint angles and muscle activation patterns. Participants were randomly assigned to a single-task or dual-task practice group. Following acquisition, participants performed two retention tests and inter-manual transfer tests, both under dual-task and single-task. The transfer tests consisted of a mirror and non-mirror test and examined motor and visual-spatial representation development. The main finding is that attentional demands of the sequence representations were not affected by the practice condition. However, movement initiation requires more attention than the end of the movement in both representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operetta is a musical and dramatic performance similar to, yet shorter than opera, composed to a dramatic libretto with humorous elements. It is a complex production engaging the viewer in an appealing visual and audible experience marked by a harmonious blend of movement, colour and form. From a choreographic perpective, operetta brings a particular approach in that nearly the entire performance consists of planned dance sequences or ample parts of scenic movement. The research topic is the ball organised by Prince Orlofsky of Die Fledermaus (The Bat) operetta by Johann Strauss – The Son, a part of Act II, staged by Matteo Mazzoni, choreographed by Roxana Colceag and acted out by Victor Bucur. The wide range of sequences of dance steps in an operetta performance is due to the themes of such performances which allow and even impose the existence of choreographic moments, on the one hand, and to the rhythmic, danceable music often inspired from various dances specific to the geographical area where the action takes place, on the other. The performers must accurately execute the dance technical elements. The method used in creating the choreographic moment under research is immitation–based learning. Immitation is the best-known and frequently used dance composition means and consists in the reproduction by the performer, as faithfully as possible, of a dance phrase given by the choreographer. The scenic movement and the planned sequences of dance steps are the valuable fruit of the choreographer's searches and of the performers' endeavours towards achieving a flawless creative behaviour on stage, always starting from the director's perspective. In embodying their character, the performer does not truly rely on the external models they refer to, but on a great amount of spontaneity and creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful unfolding of many social interactions relies on our capacity to predict other people's action goals, whether these are proximal (i.e., immediate) or distal (i.e., upcoming). The present set of studies asks whether observers can predict the distal goal of two-step action sequences when presented with communicative modulations of the first movement component of the sequence. We conducted three online experiments in which we presented participants with animations of a box moving to a first target location before moving onwards to a final, either near or far, target location. The second movement component and the target locations were occluded. After observing the first movement, participants were asked to select the most likely final target location, i.e., the distal goal of the sequence. Experiment 1 showed that participants relied on the velocity modulations of the first movement to infer the distal goal. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that such predictions of distal goals are possible even when the second movement in the sequence does not contain any velocity information, thus suggesting that the information present in the first movement plays the major role in the process of linking movements to their distal goals. However, Experiment 3 showed that under some circumstances the second movement can also contribute to how observers predict a distal goal. We discuss these results in terms of the underlying simulation processes that enable observers to predict a distal goal from the observation of proximal communicative modulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motor issues are frequently observed accompanying core deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Impaired motor behavior has also been linked to cognitive and social abnormalities, and problems with predictive ability have been suggested to play an important, possibly shared, part across all these domains. Brain imaging of sensory-motor behavior is a promising method for characterizing the neurobiological foundation for this proposed key trait. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) developmental study, involving children/youth with ASD, typically developing (TD) children/youth, and neurotypical adults, will investigate brain activations during execution and observation of a visually guided, goal-directed sequential (two-step) manual task. Neural processing related to both execution and observation of the task, as well as activation patterns during the preparation stage before execution/observation will be investigated. Main regions of interest include frontoparietal and occipitotemporal cortical areas, the human mirror neuron system (MNS), and the cerebellum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IS1111 and IS110 insertion sequence (IS) family members encode an unusual DEDD transposase type and exhibit specific target site selection. The IS1111 group include identifiable subterminal inverted repeats (sTIR) not found in the IS110 type1. IS in both families include a noncoding region (NCR) of significant length and, as each individual IS or group of closely related IS selects a different site, we had previously proposed that an NCR-derived RNA was involved in target selection2. Here, we find that the NCR is usually downstream of the transposase gene in IS1111 family IS and upstream in the IS110 type. Four IS1111 and one IS110 family members that target different sequences are used to demonstrate that the NCR determines a short seeker RNA (seekRNA) that co-purified with the transposase. The seekRNA is essential for transposition of the IS or a cargo flanked by IS ends from and to the preferred target. Short sequences matching both top and bottom strands of the target are present in the seekRNA but their order in IS1111 and IS110 family IS is reversed. Reprogramming the seekRNA and donor flank to target a different site is demonstrated, indicating future biotechnological potential for these systems. Here the authors show that a seekRNA derived from the non-coding region of IS1111 and IS family insertion sequences is required for insertion sequence movement from and to a specific target site. The seekRNA is bound to the transposase, recognises the target and is programmable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An exhaustive review is reported of over 25 years of research with the Discrete Sequence Production (DSP) task as reported in well over 100 articles. In line with the increasing call for theory development, this culminates into proposing the second version of the Cognitive framework of Sequential Motor Behavior (C-SMB 2.0), which brings together known models from cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and motor learning. This processing framework accounts for the many different behavioral results obtained with the DSP task and unveils important properties of the cognitive system. C-SMB 2.0 assumes that a versatile central processor (CP) develops multimodal, central-symbolic representations of short motor segments by repeatedly storing the elements of these segments in short-term memory (STM). Independently, the repeated processing by modality-specific perceptual and motor processors (PPs and MPs) and by the CP when executing sequences gradually associates successively used representations at each processing level. The high dependency of these representations on active context information allows for the rapid serial activation of the sequence elements as well as for the executive control of tasks as a whole. Speculations are eventually offered as to how the various cognitive processes could plausibly find their neural underpinnings within the intricate networks of the brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exposure of dairy cows to Coxiella burnetii using molecular and serological techniques was investigated in this study. Bulk tank milk and serum samples were collected from various farms in Greece (mainly northern Greece). DNA extraction was performed on milk samples, and qPCR targeting the IS1111 insertion sequence was performed to detect bacterial pathogens. An ELISA was used to detect specific antibodies in bulk milk and individual serum samples. Data on farms were collected in the field using handheld Global Positioning System Garmin units. The collected data were analyzed using an Ecological Niche Model within the framework of a geographic information system. The results indicated that in more than half of the dairy farms (35/60, 58.3%), C. burnetii is present in milk. Specific antibodies were also detected in almost all milk samples (57/60, 95.0%). At least one seropositive animal was identified using ELISA in the majority of the examined farms (25/28, 89.3%). C. burnetii PCR-positive farms were located in the low-altitude zone with a mean value of 97 m above sea level (range: 2–681). The environmental variable with the highest gain when used in isolation is precipitation in the wettest quarter (28.3% contribution), which therefore appears to have the most useful information by itself. The environmental variable that decreases the gain the most when omitted is the minimal temperature of the coldest month (6.9% contribution). The analysis demonstrated that a mild climate with low precipitation favors a positive status. The exposure of dairy cattle farms to C. burnetii is massive, raising significant concerns regarding livestock production and public health implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The telomere sequence, TTAGGG, is conserved across all vertebrates and plays an essential role in suppressing the DNA damage response by binding a set of proteins termed shelterin. Changes in the telomere sequence impair shelterin binding, initiate a DNA damage response, and are toxic to cells. Here we identify a family with a variant in the telomere template sequence of telomerase, the enzyme responsible for telomere elongation, that led to a non-canonical telomere sequence. The variant is inherited across at least one generation and one family member reports no significant medical concerns despite ~9% of their telomeres converting to the novel sequence. The variant template disrupts telomerase repeat addition processivity and decreased the binding of the telomere-binding protein POT1. Despite these disruptions, the sequence is readily incorporated into cellular chromosomes. Incorporation of a variant sequence prevents POT1-mediated inhibition of telomerase suggesting that incorporation of a variant sequence may influence telomere addition. These findings demonstrate that telomeres can tolerate substantial degeneracy while remaining functional and provide insights as to how incorporation of a non-canonical telomere sequence might alter telomere length dynamics. A variant telomerase template demonstrates that human telomeres can tolerate significant degeneracy and remain functional. Once incorporated by telomerase, variant sequences can influence telomere length dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the single machine scheduling problems with truncated logarithm processing times and exponential past-sequence-dependent delivery times. We prove that the makespan and total completion time minimizations are polynomially solvable. For the total weighted completion time minimization, we illustrate that it remains polynomially solvable under a special case; under the general case, this paper proposes heuristic, tabu search and branch-and-bound algorithms. Computational experiments indicate that the heuristic algorithm is more effective than tabu search algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on brain plans and adapts multiple movements in advance, as revealed through a task similar to Beat Saber. Topics include the ability to plan multiple movements ahead, the interaction between planned movements; and the impact of sudden changes on re-planning and movement efficiency.

This review of movement stability, optimality, and agility is based on the theory of motor control with changes in spatial referent coordinates for the effectors, the principle of abundance, and the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis. A new optimality principle is suggested based on the concept of optimal sharing corresponding to a vector in the space of elemental variables locally orthogonal to the uncontrolled manifold. Motion along this direction is as.sociated with minimal components along the relatively unstable directions within the uncontrolled manifold leading to a minimal motor equivalent motion. For well-practiced actions, this task-specific criterion is followed in spaces of referent coordinates. Consequences of the suggested framework include trade-offs among stability, optimality, and agility, unintentional changes in performance, hand dominance, finger specialization. individual traits in performance, and movement disorders in neurological patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When performing movements in rapid succession, the brain needs to coordinate ongoing execution with the preparation of an upcoming action. Here we identify the processes and brain areas involved in this ability of online preparation. Human participants (both male and female) performed pairs of single-finger presses or three-finger chords in rapid succession, while 7T fMRI was recorded. In the overlap condition, they could prepare the second movement during the first response and in the nonoverlap condition only after the first response was completed. Despite matched perceptual and movement requirements, fMRI revealed increased brain activity in the overlap condition in regions along the intraparietal sulcus and ventral visual stream. Multivariate analyses suggested that these areas are involved in stimulus identification and action selection. In contrast, the dorsal premotor cortex, known to be involved in planning upcoming movements, showed no discernible signs of heightened activity. This observation suggests that the bottleneck during simultaneous action execution and preparation arises at the level of stimulus identification and action selection, whereas movement planning in the premotor cortex can unfold concurrently with the execution of a current action without requiring additional neural activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a local search algorithm, one of its most important features is the definition of its neighborhood which is crucial to the algorithm's performance. In this paper, we present an analysis of neighborhood combination search for solving the single-machine scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup time with the objective of minimizing total weighted tardiness (SMSWT). First, We propose a new neighborhood structure named Block Swap (B1) which can be considered as an extension of the previously widely used Block Move (B2) neighborhood, and a fast incremental evaluation technique to enhance its evaluation efficiency. Second, based on the Block Swap and Block Move neighborhoods, we present two kinds of neighborhood structures: neighborhood union (denoted by B1⋃B2) and token-ring search (denoted by B1 → B2), both of which are combinations of B1 and B2. Third, we incorporate the neighborhood union and token-ring search into two representative metaheuristic algorithms: the Iterated Local Search Algorithm (ILSnew) and the Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm (HEAnew) to investigate the performance of the neighborhood union and token-ring search. Extensive experiments show the competitiveness of the token-ring search combination mechanism of the two neighborhoods. Tested on the 120 public benchmark instances, our HEAnew has a highly competitive performance in solution quality and computational time compared with both the exact algorithms and recent metaheuristics. We have also tested the HEAnew algorithm with the selected neighborhood combination search to deal with the 64 public benchmark instances of the single-machine scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup time. HEAnew is able to match the optimal or the best known results for all the 64 instances. In particular, the computational time for reaching the best well-known results for five challenging instances is reduced by at least 61.25%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more prone to injury due to falls or collisions with objects. This may be caused by impaired perceptual–motor coordination, including inaccurate body-related spatial perception and insufficient anticipatory motor planning due to a detail-focused processing style. To investigate this hypothesis, an action-selection task was developed to create conditions likely to induce collisions with obstacles and to assess perceptual accuracy and predictive attentional properties for the action selection of subsequent movements in a sequence of actions. Sixteen participants completed an autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) survey and the task. Results indicated that AQ correlated significantly with body-related spatial perception, and it was a significant predictor of the number of collisions. For the association between collisions and the eye-tracking data, results of a generalized linear mixed model showed that collisions were more likely to happen when the total fixation time to exit width was short and when the time to first fixation was late. This suggests that participants with higher autistic traits were not able to properly plan subsequent movements. Overall, these findings suggested that impaired perceptual–motor coordination, which could occur due to difficulties in perceiving body-related spatial relationships and anticipatory motor planning, may underlie the high susceptibility to injury observed in individuals with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanosensory neurons located across the body surface respond to tactile stimuli and elicit diverse behavioral responses, from relatively simple stimulus location-aimed movements to complex movement sequences. How mechanosensory neurons and their postsynaptic circuits influence such diverse behaviors remains unclear. We previously discovered that Drosophila perform a body location-prioritized grooming sequence when mechanosensory neurons at different locations on the head and body are simultaneously stimulated by dust (Hampel et al., 2017; Seeds et al., 2014). Here, we identify nearly all mechanosensory neurons on the Drosophila head that individually elicit aimed grooming of specific head locations, while collectively eliciting a whole head grooming sequence. Different tracing methods were used to reconstruct the projections of these neurons from different locations on the head to their distinct arborizations in the brain. This provides the first synaptic resolution somatotopic map of a head, and defines the parallel-projecting mechanosensory pathways that elicit head grooming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vesicular release of neurotransmitters and hormones relies on the dynamic assembly of the exocytosis/trans-SNARE complex through sequential interactions of synaptobrevins, syntaxins, and SNAP-25. Despite SNARE-mediated release being fundamental for intercellular communication in all excitable tissues, the role of auxiliary proteins modulating the import of reserve vesicles to the active zone, and thus, scaling repetitive exocytosis remains less explored. Secretagogin is a Ca2+-sensor protein with SNAP-25 being its only known interacting partner. SNAP-25 anchors readily releasable vesicles within the active zone, thus being instrumental for 1st phase release. However, genetic deletion of secretagogin impedes 2nd phase release instead, calling for the existence of alternative protein-protein interactions. Here, we screened the secretagogin interactome in the brain and pancreas, and found syntaxin-4 grossly overrepresented. Ca2+-loaded secretagogin interacted with syntaxin-4 at nanomolar affinity and 1:1 stoichiometry. Crystal structures of the protein complexes revealed a hydrophobic groove in secretagogin for the binding of syntaxin-4. This groove was also used to bind SNAP-25. In mixtures of equimolar recombinant proteins, SNAP-25 was sequestered by secretagogin in competition with syntaxin-4. Kd differences suggested that secretagogin could shape unidirectional vesicle movement by sequential interactions, a hypothesis supported by in vitro biological data. This mechanism could facilitate the movement of transport vesicles toward release sites, particularly in the endocrine pancreas where secretagogin, SNAP-25, and syntaxin-4 coexist in both α-and β-cells. Thus, secretagogin could modulate the pace and fidelity of vesicular hormone release by differential protein interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines three films made during the 1950s by Elwyn James Anthony at the psychotic clinic for children at the Maudsley Hospital that marked an important transition in the purpose and practice of visual documentation in a clinical setting: film as a research tool was transitioning from the recording of external signs as indicators of internal subjective states, to the capture of the visual flow of communication between subjects. It is a shift that had a particular impact on the emergent classification of autism, a modality not yet properly separated from the broader term of psychosis, as a non-relational condition whose visual capture demonstrated a void of inter-human communicational exchange. Film was significant not only as a recording apparatus, but as a method of cutting and crafting sequences of movements into brief repetitive motifs. The filmed behaviour of children remained opaque to interpretation, a 'finding' that facilitated the modelling of an emergent autism as subjects who were isolated, alienated and automaton-like, inhabiting a separate temporality. The article situates this 'second', affectless autism, within a broader context of post-war research into gestures as a language of the body, developed largely through an intellectual network of German émigré psychoanalysts who had fled to the US and UK in the 1930s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acquisition of skills, such as learning to play a musical instrument, involves various phases that make specific demands on the learner. Knowledge of the cognitive and motor contributions during learning phases can be helpful in developing effective and targeted interventions for healthy aging. Eighty-six healthy older participants underwent an extensive cognitive, motoric, and musical test battery. Within one session, one piano-related and one music-independent movement sequence were both learned. We tested the associations between skill performance and cognito-motor abilities with Bayesian mixed models accounting for individual learning rates. Results showed that performance was positively associated with all cognito-motor abilities. Learning a piano-related task was characterized by relatively strong initial associations between performance and abilities. These associations then weakened considerably before increasing exponentially from the second trial onwards, approaching a plateau. Similar performance–ability relationships were detected in the course of learning a music-unrelated motor task. Positive performance–ability associations emphasize the potential of learning new skills to produce positive cognitive and motor transfer effects. Consistent high-performance tasks that demand maximum effort from the participants could be very effective. However, interventions should be sufficiently long so that the transfer potential can be fully exploited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mathematical model for production scheduling of open pit mines maximises the net present value and satisfies the reserves, pit slope angle, and production capacity constraints. A solution to this model aims to deliver an extraction sequence and the movement of materials across various stages within the operation over a defined planning horizon. However, given that the mineral reserves delineated into thousands of mining blocks form the geological input, the model falls in the category of large-scale optimisation problems, i.e. it is computationally intractable, and exact methods cannot solve realistic scenarios of the problem. Therefore, this paper contributes an alternative to the conventional mathematical model along with a corresponding heuristic method to solve this proposed model. An implementation of the proposed method at various realistic instances reveals better performance in terms of net present value, computation time and optimality gap as compared to the traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EP300-ZNF384 fusion gene is an oncogenic driver in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). In the present study, we demonstrated that EP300-ZNF384 substantially induces the transcription of IL3RA and the expression of IL3Rα (CD123) on B-ALL cell membranes. Interleukin 3 (IL-3) supplementation promotes the proliferation of EP300-ZNF348-positive B-ALL cells by activating STAT5. Conditional knockdown of IL3RA in EP300-ZF384-positive cells inhibited the proliferation in vitro, and induced a significant increase in overall survival of mice, which is attributed to impaired propagation ability of leukemia cells. Mechanistically, the EP300-ZNF384 fusion protein transactivates the promoter activity of IL3RA by binding to an A-rich sequence localized at -222/-234 of IL3RA. Furthermore, forced EP300-ZNF384 expression induces the expression of IL3Rα on cell membranes and the secretion of IL-3 in CD19-positive B precursor cells derived from healthy individuals. Doxorubicin displayed a selective killing of EP300-ZNF384-positive B-ALL cells in vitro and in vivo. Collectively, we identify IL3RA as a direct downstream target of EP300-ZNF384, suggesting CD123 is a potent biomarker for EP300-ZNF384-driven B-ALL. Targeting CD123 may be a novel therapeutic approach to EP300-ZNF384-positive patients, alternative or, more likely, complementary to standard chemotherapy regimen in clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vessel trajectory prediction is the key to maritime applications such as traffic surveillance, collision avoidance, anomaly detection, and so on. Making predictions more precisely requires a better understanding of the moving trend for a particular vessel since the movement is affected by multiple factors like marine environment, vessel type, and vessel behavior. In this paper, we propose a model named VesNet, based on the attentional seq2seq framework, to predict vessel future movement sequence by observing the current trajectory. Firstly, we extract the route patterns from the raw AIS data during preprocessing. Then, we design a multi-task learning structure to learn how to implement route pattern classification and vessel trajectory prediction simultaneously. By comparing with representative baseline models, we find that our VesNet has the best performance in terms of long-term prediction precision. Additionally, VesNet can recognize the route pattern by capturing the implicit moving characteristics. The experimental results prove that the proposed multi-task learning assists the vessel trajectory prediction mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viral diseases pose a threat to fruit tree growth. In this study, we observed some pimple-shaped 'Yali' pears (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.) and investigated their viral components. We used virome analysis to elucidate the viral composition within the pimple-shaped fruit. RT-PCR was applied to detect the plant viruses of fruits, leaves, and branches in 'Yali' pear. We also constructed a phylogenetic tree based on the amino acid sequences of the movement proteins of 6 apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) isolates and 44 ASGVs from the NCBI database. We detected ASGV and apple stem pitting virus (ASPV) in the pimple-shaped pear fruits, which is the first report of these viruses existing in 'Yali' pear fruits. ASGV was present in all pimple-shaped fruit samples from six 'Yali' pear-producing regions. The phylogenetic tree showed that ASGVs from pears, apples, and citrus plants were separated into different branches, suggesting that hosts influence the genetic diversity of ASGV. Our study revealed the viral components and genetic variation of ASGV in pimple-shaped pear fruit, providing new insights into the epidemiology of this virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When we complete sequential movements with different intentions, we plan our movements and adjust ahead. Such a phenomenon is called anticipatory planning for prior intentions and is known to decline with age. In daily life activities, we often need to consider and plan for multiple demands in one movement sequence. However, previous studies only considered one dimension of prior intentions, either different types of onward actions or different precisions of fit or placement. Therefore, in this study, we investigated anticipatory planning for both extrinsic (movement direction) and intrinsic (fit precision) target-related properties in a computer-based movement task and analyzed the computer cursor movement kinematics of both young and older adults. We found that older people consider and adjust for different properties step-by-step, with movement direction being considered as a prior intention during reach movement and fit precision as a motor constraint during drop movement. The age-related changes in the completion of onward actions are constrained by one's general cognitive ability, sensorimotor performance and effective motor planning for prior intentions. Age-related decline in motor planning can manifest as counterproductive movement profiles, resulting in suboptimal performance of intended actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work devoted to human posture recognition during rapid movements and complex non-standard poses due to the large number of limbs involved in the movement. Rhythmic gymnastics was chosen as the subject area and, accordingly, the specifics of the judge's assessment of the athlete's performance. Many synchronized videos with fast movements and sequences of complex poses from different angles allows us to form a data set necessary for further research and implementation of the results obtained both in socially important industries and in the market of commercial services using artificial intelligence technologies. A computer system has been developed that can be used to increase the objectivity of sports judging at rhythmic gymnastics competitions, as well as to become an alternative to the traditional judging system in the case of competitions held in a remote format. By scaling up the task, the system can also be used to diagnose problems with the human nervous system and musculoskeletal system. As a result of the research, a dataset depicting the performance of sports elements was collected and structured. The peculiarities of the mediapipe and ViTPose models were identified and the best solution for preprocessing the prepared set was chosen. The main result of this work is a built and trained model for classifying sports elements, which classifies 7 elements with an accuracy of 0.9048. The accuracy indicates that the model performs at a high level, correctly classifying sports elements in most cases. This level of accuracy indicates that the model has been effectively trained to classify these specific elements. In the future, to be able to fully evaluate the performances of female rhythmic gymnasts, it is necessary to add tracking of the object with which the athlete performs, to create a method for tracking interaction with it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]