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Neural manifold analysis of brain circuit dynamics in health and disease. J Comput Neurosci 2023; 51:1-21. [PMID: 36522604 PMCID: PMC9840597 DOI: 10.1007/s10827-022-00839-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 08/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Recent developments in experimental neuroscience make it possible to simultaneously record the activity of thousands of neurons. However, the development of analysis approaches for such large-scale neural recordings have been slower than those applicable to single-cell experiments. One approach that has gained recent popularity is neural manifold learning. This approach takes advantage of the fact that often, even though neural datasets may be very high dimensional, the dynamics of neural activity tends to traverse a much lower-dimensional space. The topological structures formed by these low-dimensional neural subspaces are referred to as "neural manifolds", and may potentially provide insight linking neural circuit dynamics with cognitive function and behavioral performance. In this paper we review a number of linear and non-linear approaches to neural manifold learning, including principal component analysis (PCA), multi-dimensional scaling (MDS), Isomap, locally linear embedding (LLE), Laplacian eigenmaps (LEM), t-SNE, and uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP). We outline these methods under a common mathematical nomenclature, and compare their advantages and disadvantages with respect to their use for neural data analysis. We apply them to a number of datasets from published literature, comparing the manifolds that result from their application to hippocampal place cells, motor cortical neurons during a reaching task, and prefrontal cortical neurons during a multi-behavior task. We find that in many circumstances linear algorithms produce similar results to non-linear methods, although in particular cases where the behavioral complexity is greater, non-linear methods tend to find lower-dimensional manifolds, at the possible expense of interpretability. We demonstrate that these methods are applicable to the study of neurological disorders through simulation of a mouse model of Alzheimer's Disease, and speculate that neural manifold analysis may help us to understand the circuit-level consequences of molecular and cellular neuropathology.
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Huang C, Zeldenrust F, Celikel T. Cortical Representation of Touch in Silico. Neuroinformatics 2022; 20:1013-1039. [PMID: 35486347 PMCID: PMC9588483 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-022-09576-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
With its six layers and ~ 12,000 neurons, a cortical column is a complex network whose function is plausibly greater than the sum of its constituents'. Functional characterization of its network components will require going beyond the brute-force modulation of the neural activity of a small group of neurons. Here we introduce an open-source, biologically inspired, computationally efficient network model of the somatosensory cortex's granular and supragranular layers after reconstructing the barrel cortex in soma resolution. Comparisons of the network activity to empirical observations showed that the in silico network replicates the known properties of touch representations and whisker deprivation-induced changes in synaptic strength induced in vivo. Simulations show that the history of the membrane potential acts as a spatial filter that determines the presynaptic population of neurons contributing to a post-synaptic action potential; this spatial filtering might be critical for synaptic integration of top-down and bottom-up information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Huang
- grid.9647.c0000 0004 7669 9786Department of Biology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Fleur Zeldenrust
- grid.5590.90000000122931605Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Tansu Celikel
- grid.5590.90000000122931605Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands ,grid.213917.f0000 0001 2097 4943School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA USA
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3
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Burns TF, Rajan R. Sensing and processing whisker deflections in rodents. PeerJ 2021; 9:e10730. [PMID: 33665005 PMCID: PMC7906041 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The classical view of sensory information mainly flowing into barrel cortex at layer IV, moving up for complex feature processing and lateral interactions in layers II and III, then down to layers V and VI for output and corticothalamic feedback is becoming increasingly undermined by new evidence. We review the neurophysiology of sensing and processing whisker deflections, emphasizing the general processing and organisational principles present along the entire sensory pathway—from the site of physical deflection at the whiskers to the encoding of deflections in the barrel cortex. Many of these principles support the classical view. However, we also highlight the growing number of exceptions to these general principles, which complexify the system and which investigators should be mindful of when interpreting their results. We identify gaps in the literature for experimentalists and theorists to investigate, not just to better understand whisker sensation but also to better understand sensory and cortical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas F Burns
- Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ramesh Rajan
- Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Cheung K, Schultz SR, Luk W. NeuroFlow: A General Purpose Spiking Neural Network Simulation Platform using Customizable Processors. Front Neurosci 2016; 9:516. [PMID: 26834542 PMCID: PMC4712299 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2015.00516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2015] [Accepted: 12/22/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
NeuroFlow is a scalable spiking neural network simulation platform for off-the-shelf high performance computing systems using customizable hardware processors such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Unlike multi-core processors and application-specific integrated circuits, the processor architecture of NeuroFlow can be redesigned and reconfigured to suit a particular simulation to deliver optimized performance, such as the degree of parallelism to employ. The compilation process supports using PyNN, a simulator-independent neural network description language, to configure the processor. NeuroFlow supports a number of commonly used current or conductance based neuronal models such as integrate-and-fire and Izhikevich models, and the spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule for learning. A 6-FPGA system can simulate a network of up to ~600,000 neurons and can achieve a real-time performance of 400,000 neurons. Using one FPGA, NeuroFlow delivers a speedup of up to 33.6 times the speed of an 8-core processor, or 2.83 times the speed of GPU-based platforms. With high flexibility and throughput, NeuroFlow provides a viable environment for large-scale neural network simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kit Cheung
- Custom Computing Research Group, Department of Computing, Imperial College LondonLondon, UK; Centre for Neurotechnology, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College LondonLondon, UK
| | - Simon R Schultz
- Centre for Neurotechnology, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London London, UK
| | - Wayne Luk
- Custom Computing Research Group, Department of Computing, Imperial College London London, UK
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Stefanescu RA, Shore SE. NMDA Receptors Mediate Stimulus-Timing-Dependent Plasticity and Neural Synchrony in the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus. Front Neural Circuits 2015; 9:75. [PMID: 26622224 PMCID: PMC4653590 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2015.00075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2015] [Accepted: 10/30/2015] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Auditory information relayed by auditory nerve fibers and somatosensory information relayed by granule cell parallel fibers converge on the fusiform cells (FCs) of the dorsal cochlear nucleus, the first brain station of the auditory pathway. In vitro, parallel fiber synapses on FCs exhibit spike-timing-dependent plasticity with Hebbian learning rules, partially mediated by the NMDA receptor (NMDAr). Well-timed bimodal auditory-somatosensory stimulation, in vivo equivalent of spike-timing-dependent plasticity, can induce stimulus-timing-dependent plasticity (StTDP) of the FCs spontaneous and tone-evoked firing rates. In healthy guinea pigs, the resulting distribution of StTDP learning rules across a FC neural population is dominated by a Hebbian profile while anti-Hebbian, suppressive and enhancing LRs are less frequent. In this study, we investigate in vivo, the NMDAr contribution to FC baseline activity and long term plasticity. We find that blocking the NMDAr decreases the synchronization of FC- spontaneous activity and mediates differential modulation of FC rate-level functions such that low, and high threshold units are more likely to increase, and decrease, respectively, their maximum amplitudes. Three significant alterations in mean learning-rule profiles were identified: transitions from an initial Hebbian profile towards (1) an anti-Hebbian; (2) a suppressive profile; and (3) transitions from an anti-Hebbian to a Hebbian profile. FC units preserving their learning rules showed instead, NMDAr-dependent plasticity to unimodal acoustic stimulation, with persistent depression of tone-evoked responses changing to persistent enhancement following the NMDAr antagonist. These results reveal a crucial role of the NMDAr in mediating FC baseline activity and long-term plasticity which have important implications for signal processing and auditory pathologies related to maladaptive plasticity of dorsal cochlear nucleus circuitry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxana A Stefanescu
- Department of Otolaryngology, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Susan E Shore
- Department of Otolaryngology, Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, USA ; Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan Medical School Ann Arbor, MI, USA ; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Tomková M, Tomek J, Novák O, Zelenka O, Syka J, Brom C. Formation and disruption of tonotopy in a large-scale model of the auditory cortex. J Comput Neurosci 2015; 39:131-53. [PMID: 26344164 DOI: 10.1007/s10827-015-0568-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2014] [Revised: 05/15/2015] [Accepted: 05/19/2015] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
There is ample experimental evidence describing changes of tonotopic organisation in the auditory cortex due to environmental factors. In order to uncover the underlying mechanisms, we designed a large-scale computational model of the auditory cortex. The model has up to 100 000 Izhikevich's spiking neurons of 17 different types, almost 21 million synapses, which are evolved according to Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity (STDP) and have an architecture akin to existing observations. Validation of the model revealed alternating synchronised/desynchronised states and different modes of oscillatory activity. We provide insight into these phenomena via analysing the activity of neuronal subtypes and testing different causal interventions into the simulation. Our model is able to produce experimental predictions on a cell type basis. To study the influence of environmental factors on the tonotopy, different types of auditory stimulations during the evolution of the network were modelled and compared. We found that strong white noise resulted in completely disrupted tonotopy, which is consistent with in vivo experimental observations. Stimulation with pure tones or spontaneous activity led to a similar degree of tonotopy as in the initial state of the network. Interestingly, weak white noise led to a substantial increase in tonotopy. As the STDP was the only mechanism of plasticity in our model, our results suggest that STDP is a sufficient condition for the emergence and disruption of tonotopy under various types of stimuli. The presented large-scale model of the auditory cortex and the core simulator, SUSNOIMAC, have been made publicly available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markéta Tomková
- Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic. .,Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Jakub Tomek
- Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.,Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Ondřej Novák
- Department of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Ondřej Zelenka
- Department of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Josef Syka
- Department of Auditory Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Cyril Brom
- Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
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Cheron G, Márquez-Ruiz J, Kishino T, Dan B. Disruption of the LTD dialogue between the cerebellum and the cortex in Angelman syndrome model: a timing hypothesis. Front Syst Neurosci 2014; 8:221. [PMID: 25477791 PMCID: PMC4237040 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2014] [Accepted: 10/25/2014] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Angelman syndrome (AS) is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder in which cerebellar functioning impairment has been documented despite the absence of gross structural abnormalities. Characteristically, a spontaneous 160 Hz oscillation emerges in the Purkinje cells network of the Ube3a (m-/p+) Angelman mouse model. This abnormal oscillation is induced by enhanced Purkinje cell rhythmicity and hypersynchrony along the parallel fiber beam. We present a pathophysiological hypothesis for the neurophysiology underlying major aspects of the clinical phenotype of AS, including cognitive, language and motor deficits, involving long-range connection between the cerebellar and the cortical networks. This hypothesis states that the alteration of the cerebellar rhythmic activity impinges cerebellar long-term depression (LTD) plasticity, which in turn alters the LTD plasticity in the cerebral cortex. This hypothesis was based on preliminary experiments using electrical stimulation of the whiskers pad performed in alert mice showing that after a 8 Hz LTD-inducing protocol, the cerebellar LTD accompanied by a delayed response in the wild type (WT) mice is missing in Ube3a (m-/p+) mice and that the LTD induced in the barrel cortex following the same peripheral stimulation in wild mice is reversed into a LTP in the Ube3a (m-/p+) mice. The control exerted by the cerebellum on the excitation vs. inhibition balance in the cerebral cortex and possible role played by the timing plasticity of the Purkinje cell LTD on the spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) of the pyramidal neurons are discussed in the context of the present hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guy Cheron
- Laboratory of Electrophysiology, Université de MonsMons, Belgium
- Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Movement Biomechanics, ULB Neuroscience Institut, Université Libre de BruxellesBrussels, Belgium
| | | | - Tatsuya Kishino
- Division of Functional Genomics, Center for Frontier Life Sciences, Nagasaki UniversityNagasaki, Japan
| | - Bernard Dan
- Department of Neurology, Hôpital Universitaire des Enfants Reine Fabiola, Université Libre de BruxellesBrussels, Belgium
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Berger SE, Baria AT, Baliki MN, Mansour A, Herrmann KM, Torbey S, Huang L, Parks EL, Schnizter TJ, Apkarian AV. Risky monetary behavior in chronic back pain is associated with altered modular connectivity of the nucleus accumbens. BMC Res Notes 2014; 7:739. [PMID: 25331931 PMCID: PMC4210520 DOI: 10.1186/1756-0500-7-739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2014] [Accepted: 10/02/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The nucleus accumbens (NAc) has a well established role in reward processing. Yet, there is growing evidence showing that NAc function, and its connections to other parts of the brain, is also critically involved in the emergence of chronic back pain (CBP). Pain patients are known to perform abnormally in reward-related tasks, which suggests an intriguing link between pain, NAc connectivity, and reward behavior. In the present study, we compared performance on a gambling task (indicating willingness to risk losing money) between healthy pain-free controls (CON) and individuals with CBP. We then measured modular connectivity of each participants’ NAc with resting state functional MRI to investigate how connectivity accounts for reward behavior in the presence and absence of pain. Results We found gain sensitivity was significantly higher in CBP patients. These scores were significantly correlated to connectivity within the NAc module defined by CON subjects ( which had strong connections to the frontal cortex), but not within that defined by CBP patients ( which was more strongly connected to subcortical areas). An important part of our study was based on the precedence that a range of behaviors, from simple to complex, can be predicted from brain activity during rest. Thus, to corroborate our results we compared them closely to an independent study correlating the same connectivity metric to impulsive behaviors in healthy participants. We found that our CBP patients were highly similarin connectivity to this study’s highly-impulsive healthy subjects, strengthening the notion that there is an important link between the brain systems that support chronic pain and reward processing. Conclusions Our results support previous findings that chronic back pain is accompanied by altered connectivity of the NAc. This lends itself to riskier behavior in these patients, a finding which establishes a potential cognitive consequence or co-morbidity of long-term pain and provides a behavioral link to growing research showing that chronic pain is related to abnormal changes in the dopaminergic system.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - A Vania Apkarian
- Department of Physiology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 300 E, Superior St, 60611 Chicago, IL, USA.
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Sharp T, Petersen R, Furber S. Real-time million-synapse simulation of rat barrel cortex. Front Neurosci 2014; 8:131. [PMID: 24910593 PMCID: PMC4038760 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2014] [Accepted: 05/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Simulations of neural circuits are bounded in scale and speed by available computing resources, and particularly by the differences in parallelism and communication patterns between the brain and high-performance computers. SpiNNaker is a computer architecture designed to address this problem by emulating the structure and function of neural tissue, using very many low-power processors and an interprocessor communication mechanism inspired by axonal arbors. Here we demonstrate that thousand-processor SpiNNaker prototypes can simulate models of the rodent barrel system comprising 50,000 neurons and 50 million synapses. We use the PyNN library to specify models, and the intrinsic features of Python to control experimental procedures and analysis. The models reproduce known thalamocortical response transformations, exhibit known, balanced dynamics of excitation and inhibition, and show a spatiotemporal spread of activity though the superficial cortical layers. These demonstrations are a significant step toward tractable simulations of entire cortical areas on the million-processor SpiNNaker machines in development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Sharp
- School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester Manchester, UK ; Laboratory for Neural Circuit Theory, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wakoshi Saitama, Japan
| | - Rasmus Petersen
- Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester Manchester, UK
| | - Steve Furber
- School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester Manchester, UK
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Large-scale modeling of epileptic seizures: scaling properties of two parallel neuronal network simulation algorithms. COMPUTATIONAL AND MATHEMATICAL METHODS IN MEDICINE 2014; 2013:182145. [PMID: 24416069 PMCID: PMC3876705 DOI: 10.1155/2013/182145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2013] [Accepted: 11/03/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Our limited understanding of the relationship between the behavior of individual neurons and large neuronal networks is an important limitation in current epilepsy research and may be one of the main causes of our inadequate ability to treat it. Addressing this problem directly via experiments is impossibly complex; thus, we have been developing and studying medium-large-scale simulations of detailed neuronal networks to guide us. Flexibility in the connection schemas and a complete description of the cortical tissue seem necessary for this purpose. In this paper we examine some of the basic issues encountered in these multiscale simulations. We have determined the detailed behavior of two such simulators on parallel computer systems. The observed memory and computation-time scaling behavior for a distributed memory implementation were very good over the range studied, both in terms of network sizes (2,000 to 400,000 neurons) and processor pool sizes (1 to 256 processors). Our simulations required between a few megabytes and about 150 gigabytes of RAM and lasted between a few minutes and about a week, well within the capability of most multinode clusters. Therefore, simulations of epileptic seizures on networks with millions of cells should be feasible on current supercomputers.
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Einevoll GT, Kayser C, Logothetis NK, Panzeri S. Modelling and analysis of local field potentials for studying the function of cortical circuits. Nat Rev Neurosci 2013; 14:770-85. [PMID: 24135696 DOI: 10.1038/nrn3599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 465] [Impact Index Per Article: 42.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The past decade has witnessed a renewed interest in cortical local field potentials (LFPs)--that is, extracellularly recorded potentials with frequencies of up to ~500 Hz. This is due to both the advent of multielectrodes, which has enabled recording of LFPs at tens to hundreds of sites simultaneously, and the insight that LFPs offer a unique window into key integrative synaptic processes in cortical populations. However, owing to its numerous potential neural sources, the LFP is more difficult to interpret than are spikes. Careful mathematical modelling and analysis are needed to take full advantage of the opportunities that this signal offers in understanding signal processing in cortical circuits and, ultimately, the neural basis of perception and cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaute T Einevoll
- Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 1432 Ås, Norway
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