2,404 research outputs found
Formal Availability Analysis using Theorem Proving
Availability analysis is used to assess the possible failures and their
restoration process for a given system. This analysis involves the calculation
of instantaneous and steady-state availabilities of the individual system
components and the usage of this information along with the commonly used
availability modeling techniques, such as Availability Block Diagrams (ABD) and
Fault Trees (FTs) to determine the system-level availability. Traditionally,
availability analyses are conducted using paper-and-pencil methods and
simulation tools but they cannot ascertain absolute correctness due to their
inaccuracy limitations. As a complementary approach, we propose to use the
higher-order-logic theorem prover HOL4 to conduct the availability analysis of
safety-critical systems. For this purpose, we present a higher-order-logic
formalization of instantaneous and steady-state availability, ABD
configurations and generic unavailability FT gates. For illustration purposes,
these formalizations are utilized to conduct formal availability analysis of a
satellite solar array, which is used as the main source of power for the Dong
Fang Hong-3 (DFH-3) satellite.Comment: 16 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1505.0264
Simulation of associative learning with the replaced elements model
Associative learning theories can be categorised according to whether they treat the representation of stimulus compounds in an elemental or configural manner. Since it is clear that a simple elemental approach to stimulus representation is inadequate there have been several attempts to produce more elaborate elemental models. One recent approach, the Replaced Elements Model (Wagner, 2003), reproduces many results that have until recently been uniquely predicted by Pearce’s Configural Theory (Pearce, 1994). Although it is possible to simulate the Replaced Elements Model using “standard” simulation programs the generation of the correct stimulus representation is complex. The current paper describes a method for simulation of the Replaced Elements Model and presents the results of two example simulations that show differential predictions of Replaced Elements and Pearce’s Configural Theor
The Context Repetition Effect: Role of prediction in new memory formation.
3rd Place at Denman Undergraduate Research ForumMany theories posit that the associative process at the core of episodic memory binds the content of an experience to the context in which we experience it. Here, context can be broadly defined as the mental representation capturing our recent experience. We recently discovered the context repetition effect (CRE), which shows that repeating a context once leads to greater memory performance for an item learned within that context even if the item does not occur again. Currently, we have conducted three studies to test the CRE. Experiment 1 was a complete replication of the original experiment that first discovered the CRE, save that there were multiple repetitions of a context instead of just one. We found that the presentation of a context and item, followed by two repetitions of the context with a new item each time, resulted in a near significant boost in memory and confidence in memory of subjects for the original item. Experiment 2 replaced words with scenes and faces. Subjects associated male and female faces with indoor and outdoor scenes. Subjects showed trends towards reduced performance and no demonstration of the CRE. Lack of power for performance results possibly due to difficulty in encoding faces relative to words. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2, save that there was an additional repetition. Results trended toward those found in Experiment 2.No embargoAcademic Major: Psycholog
Serial order of conditional stimuli as a discriminative cue for Pavlovian conditioning
The serial order in which events occur can be a signal for different outcomes and therefore might be a determinant of how an animal should respond. In this report, we propose a novel design for studying serial order learning in Pavlovian conditioning. In both Experiments 1a and 1b, hungry rats were trained with successively presented pairs of auditory and visual stimuli (e.g., A --> B) using four different stimuli (A-D). Four orders were paired with food (A --> B, B --> C, C --> D, D --> A) while the reversals were extinguished (B --> A, C --> B, D --> C, A --> D). An analysis of responding from the second element of each pair showed that the rats discriminated trial types that preceded food from those that did not. A replication of the effect using a completely counterbalanced design is described in Experiment 1b. These results suggest that rats can use the serial or temporal order of two sequentially presented non-overlapping elements as the basis for discrimination. Two associative accounts are suggested as possible mechanisms for solving the discrimination
Formalization and Correctness of the PALS Architectural Pattern for Distributed Real-Time Systems
Many Distributed Real-Time Systems (DRTS), such as integrated modular avionics systems and distributed control systems in
motor vehicles, are made up of a collection of components communicating asynchronously among themselves and with their environment
that must change their state and respond to environment inputs within
hard real-time bounds. Such systems are often safety-critical and need
to be certi???ed; but their certi???cation is currently very hard due to their
distributed nature. The Physically Asynchronous Logically Synchronous
(PALS) architectural pattern can greatly reduce the design and veri???cation complexities of achieving virtual synchrony in a DTRS. This work
presents a formal speci???cation of PALS as a formal model transformation that maps a synchronous design, together with a set of performance
bounds of the underlying infrastructure, to a formal DRTS speci???cation
that is semantically equivalent to the synchronous design. This semantic
equivalence is proved, showing that the formal veri???cation of temporal
logic properties of the DRTS can be reduced to their veri???cation on the
much simpler synchronous design. An avionics system case study is used
to illustrate the usefulness of PALS for formal verification purposes.unpublishednot peer reviewe
Amyloid beta dimers/trimers potently induce cofilin-actin rods that are inhibited by maintaining cofilin-phosphorylation
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previously we reported 1 μM synthetic human amyloid beta<sub>1-42 </sub>oligomers induced cofilin dephosphorylation (activation) and formation of cofilin-actin rods within rat hippocampal neurons primarily localized to the dentate gyrus.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we demonstrate that a gel filtration fraction of 7PA2 cell-secreted SDS-stable human Aβ dimers and trimers (Aβd/t) induces maximal neuronal rod response at ~250 pM. This is 4,000-fold more active than traditionally prepared human Aβ oligomers, which contain SDS-stable trimers and tetramers, but are devoid of dimers. When incubated under tyrosine oxidizing conditions, synthetic human but not rodent Aβ<sub>1-42</sub>, the latter lacking tyrosine, acquires a marked increase (620 fold for EC<sub>50</sub>) in rod-inducing activity. Gel filtration of this preparation yielded two fractions containing SDS-stable dimers, trimers and tetramers. One, eluting at a similar volume to 7PA2 Aβd/t, had maximum activity at ~5 nM, whereas the other, eluting at the void volume (high-n state), lacked rod inducing activity at the same concentration. Fractions from 7PA2 medium containing Aβ monomers are not active, suggesting oxidized SDS-stable Aβ<sub>1-42 </sub>dimers in a low-n state are the most active rod-inducing species. Aβd/t-induced rods are predominantly localized to the dentate gyrus and mossy fiber tract, reach significance over controls within 2 h of treatment, and are reversible, disappearing by 24 h after Aβd/t washout. Overexpression of cofilin phosphatases increase rod formation when expressed alone and exacerbate rod formation when coupled with Aβd/t, whereas overexpression of a cofilin kinase inhibits Aβd/t-induced rod formation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Together these data support a mechanism by which Aβd/t alters the actin cytoskeleton via effects on cofilin in neurons critical to learning and memory.</p
Investigation to develop a multistage forest sampling inventory system using ERTS-1 imagery
The author has identified the following significant results. The annotation system produced a RMSE of about 200 m ground distance in the MSS data system with the control data used. All the analytical MSS interpretation models tried were highly significant. However, the gains in forest sampling efficiency that can be achieved by using the models vary from zero to over 50 percent depending on the area to which they are applied and the sampling method used. Among the sampling methods tried, regression sampling yielded substantial and the most consistent gains. The single most significant variable in the interpretation model was the difference between bands 5 and 7. The contrast variable, computed by the Hadamard transform was significant but did not contribute much to the interpretation model. Forest areas containing very large timber volumes because of large tree sizes were not separable from areas of similar crown cover but containing smaller trees using ERTS image interpretation only. All correlations between space derived timber volume predictions and estimates obtained from aerial and ground sampling were relatively low but significant and stable. There was a much stronger relationship between variables derived from MSS and U2 data than between U2 and ground data
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