neuronal simulation system of biological neural networks

Neuroscientists use computer simulations of neural systems in their efforts to understand processes that underlie neural function. As experimental data in- crease, it becomes clear that detailed physiological data alone are not enough to infer how neural circuits work. Experimentalists appear to be recogniz- ing the need for a quantitative approach to the exploration of the functional consequences of particular neural features, which is provided by modelling. The number of computer simulation programs is designed as a tool for de- velopment and simulation of realistic models of single neurons and neural networks. The present available packages for modelling of biological neural networks are often dedicated Unix-based simulation packages, which require rather large computational power from workstations, typically Unix systems. The widely distributed packages, as Genesis [8] and Neuron [4], have their own interpreted scripting language, in which users define components and run- ning parameters for their simulations. In the hands of experienced users with access to a compatible computer system, these modelling packages are powerful research tools. However, they do suffer several drawbacks for non- expert users: they don't provide a Graphical User Interface (GUI) or have a very simple one, and as a result of it they can't visually represent the simula- tion process. Also, the formal structure of the language is difficult and time consuming to learn; at least initial knowledge and skills about Unix system are necessary for users

Getting High: High Fidelity Simulation of High Granularity Calorimeters with High Speed

Accurate simulation of physical processes is crucial for the success of modern particle physics. However, simulating the development and interaction of particle showers with calorimeter detectors is a time consuming process and drives the computing needs of large experiments at the LHC and future colliders. Recently, generative machine learning models based on deep neural networks have shown promise in speeding up this task by several orders of magnitude. We investigate the use of a new architecture -- the Bounded Information Bottleneck Autoencoder -- for modelling electromagnetic showers in the central region of the Silicon-Tungsten calorimeter of the proposed International Large Detector. Combined with a novel second post-processing network, this approach achieves an accurate simulation of differential distributions including for the first time the shape of the minimum-ionizing-particle peak compared to a full GEANT4 simulation for a high-granularity calorimeter with 27k simulated channels. The results are validated by comparing to established architectures. Our results further strengthen the case of using generative networks for fast simulation and demonstrate that physically relevant differential distributions can be described with high accuracy.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

The state of MIIND

MIIND (Multiple Interacting Instantiations of Neural Dynamics) is a highly modular multi-level C++ framework, that aims to shorten the development time for models in Cognitive Neuroscience (CNS). It offers reusable code modules (libraries of classes and functions) aimed at solving problems that occur repeatedly in modelling, but tries not to impose a specific modelling philosophy or methodology. At the lowest level, it offers support for the implementation of sparse networks. For example, the library SparseImplementationLib supports sparse random networks and the library LayerMappingLib can be used for sparse regular networks of filter-like operators. The library DynamicLib, which builds on top of the library SparseImplementationLib, offers a generic framework for simulating network processes. Presently, several specific network process implementations are provided in MIIND: the Wilson–Cowan and Ornstein–Uhlenbeck type, and population density techniques for leaky-integrate-and-fire neurons driven by Poisson input. A design principle of MIIND is to support detailing: the refinement of an originally simple model into a form where more biological detail is included. Another design principle is extensibility: the reuse of an existing model in a larger, more extended one. One of the main uses of MIIND so far has been the instantiation of neural models of visual attention. Recently, we have added a library for implementing biologically-inspired models of artificial vision, such as HMAX and recent successors. In the long run we hope to be able to apply suitably adapted neuronal mechanisms of attention to these artificial models

Data-driven Flood Emulation: Speeding up Urban Flood Predictions by Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Computational complexity has been the bottleneck of applying physically-based simulations on large urban areas with high spatial resolution for efficient and systematic flooding analyses and risk assessments. To address this issue of long computational time, this paper proposes that the prediction of maximum water depth rasters can be considered as an image-to-image translation problem where the results are generated from input elevation rasters using the information learned from data rather than by conducting simulations, which can significantly accelerate the prediction process. The proposed approach was implemented by a deep convolutional neural network trained on flood simulation data of 18 designed hyetographs on three selected catchments. Multiple tests with both designed and real rainfall events were performed and the results show that the flood predictions by neural network uses only 0.5 % of time comparing with physically-based approaches, with promising accuracy and ability of generalizations. The proposed neural network can also potentially be applied to different but relevant problems including flood predictions for urban layout planning