The Fifth NASA Symposium on VLSI Design

The fifth annual NASA Symposium on VLSI Design had 13 sessions including Radiation Effects, Architectures, Mixed Signal, Design Techniques, Fault Testing, Synthesis, Signal Processing, and other Featured Presentations. The symposium provides insights into developments in VLSI and digital systems which can be used to increase data systems performance. The presentations share insights into next generation advances that will serve as a basis for future VLSI design

SpiNNaker - A Spiking Neural Network Architecture

20 years in conception and 15 in construction, the SpiNNaker project has delivered the world’s largest neuromorphic computing platform incorporating over a million ARM mobile phone processors and capable of modelling spiking neural networks of the scale of a mouse brain in biological real time. This machine, hosted at the University of Manchester in the UK, is freely available under the auspices of the EU Flagship Human Brain Project. This book tells the story of the origins of the machine, its development and its deployment, and the immense software development effort that has gone into making it openly available and accessible to researchers and students the world over. It also presents exemplar applications from ‘Talk’, a SpiNNaker-controlled robotic exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery as part of ‘The Imitation Game’, a set of works commissioned in 2016 in honour of Alan Turing, through to a way to solve hard computing problems using stochastic neural networks. The book concludes with a look to the future, and the SpiNNaker-2 machine which is yet to come

SpiNNaker - A Spiking Neural Network Architecture

20 years in conception and 15 in construction, the SpiNNaker project has delivered the world’s largest neuromorphic computing platform incorporating over a million ARM mobile phone processors and capable of modelling spiking neural networks of the scale of a mouse brain in biological real time. This machine, hosted at the University of Manchester in the UK, is freely available under the auspices of the EU Flagship Human Brain Project. This book tells the story of the origins of the machine, its development and its deployment, and the immense software development effort that has gone into making it openly available and accessible to researchers and students the world over. It also presents exemplar applications from ‘Talk’, a SpiNNaker-controlled robotic exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery as part of ‘The Imitation Game’, a set of works commissioned in 2016 in honour of Alan Turing, through to a way to solve hard computing problems using stochastic neural networks. The book concludes with a look to the future, and the SpiNNaker-2 machine which is yet to come

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 248)

This bibliography lists 364 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in July 1983

Engineering data compendium. Human perception and performance, volume 3

The concept underlying the Engineering Data Compendium was the product of a research and development program (Integrated Perceptual Information for Designers project) aimed at facilitating the application of basic research findings in human performance to the design of military crew systems. The principal objective was to develop a workable strategy for: (1) identifying and distilling information of potential value to system design from existing research literature, and (2) presenting this technical information in a way that would aid its accessibility, interpretability, and applicability by system designers. The present four volumes of the Engineering Data Compendium represent the first implementation of this strategy. This is Volume 3, containing sections on Human Language Processing, Operator Motion Control, Effects of Environmental Stressors, Display Interfaces, and Control Interfaces (Real/Virtual)

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 251)

This bibliography lists 322 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in October 1983

Impacts des polluants métalliques sur l'abeille : de la colonie au cerveau

Les abeilles sont des pollinisateurs essentiels. Une pléthore de facteurs de stress environnementaux, tels que les produits agrochimiques, a été identifiée comme contribuant à leur déclin mondial. En particulier, ces facteurs de stress altèrent les processus cognitifs impliqués dans les comportements fondamentaux. Jusqu'à présent, cependant, on ne sait pratiquement rien de l'impact de l'exposition à des métaux lourds, dont la toxicité est avérée chez de nombreux organismes. Pourtant, leurs émissions mondiales résultant des activités humaines ont élevé leurs concentrations bien au-dessus des niveaux naturels dans l'air, le sol, l'eau et la flore, exposant ainsi les abeilles à tous les stades de leur vie. Le but de ma thèse était d'examiner les effets de la pollution métallique sur l'abeille domestique en utilisant une approche multi-échelle, du cerveau à la colonie, en laboratoire et sur le terrain. J'ai d'abord observé que les abeilles exposées à une gamme de concentrations de trois métaux communs (arsenic, plomb et zinc) en laboratoire étaient incapables de percevoir et éviter des concentrations usuelles, néanmoins nocives, de ces métaux dans leur nourriture. J'ai ensuite exposé de façon chronique des colonies à des concentrations réalistes de plomb dans la nourriture et démontré que la consommation de ce métal altérait la cognition et le développement morphologique des abeilles. Comme les polluants métalliques se trouvent souvent dans des mélanges complexes dans l'environnement, j'ai exploré l'effet des cocktails de métaux, montrant que l'exposition au plomb, à l'arsenic ou au cuivre seul était suffisante pour ralentir l'apprentissage et perturber le rappel de la mémoire, et que les combinaisons de ces métaux induisaient des effets négatifs additifs sur ces deux processus cognitifs. J'ai finalement étudié l'impact de l'exposition naturelle aux polluants métalliques dans un environnement contaminé, en collectant des abeilles à proximité d'une ancienne mine d'or, et montré que les individus des populations les plus exposées aux métaux présentaient des capacités d'apprentissage et de mémoire plus faibles, et des altérations de leur développement conduisant à une réduction de la taille de leur cerveau. Une analyse plus systématique des abeilles non exposées a révélé une relation entre la taille de la tête, la morphométrie du cerveau et les performances d'apprentissage dans différentes tâches comportementales, suggérant que l'exposition aux polluants métalliques amplifie ces variations naturelles. Ainsi, mes résultats suggèrent que les abeilles domestiques sont incapables d'éviter l'exposition à des concentrations réalistes de métaux qui sont préjudiciables au développement et aux fonctions cognitives, et appellent à une révision des niveaux environnementaux considérés comme "sûrs". Ma thèse est la première analyse intégrée de l'impact de plusieurs polluants métalliques sur la cognition, la morphologie et l'organisation cérébrale chez l'abeille, et vise à encourager de nouvelles études sur la contribution de la pollution métallique dans le déclin signalé des abeilles, et plus généralement, des insectes.Honey bees are crucial pollinators. A plethora of environmental stressors, such as agrochemicals, have been identified as contributors to their global decline. Especially, these stressors impair cognitive processes involved in fundamental behaviours. So far however, virtually nothing is known about the impact of metal pollutants, despite their known toxicity to many organisms. Their worldwide emissions resulting from human activities have elevated their concentrations far above natural baselines in the air, soil, water and flora, exposing bees at all life stages. The aim of my thesis was to examine the effects of metallic pollution on honey bees using a multiscale approach, from brain to colonies, in laboratory and field conditions. I first observed that bees exposed to a range of concentrations of three common metals (arsenic, lead and zinc) in the laboratory were unable to perceive and avoid, low, yet harmful, field-realistic concentrations of those metals in their food. I then chronically exposed colonies to field-realistic concentrations of lead in food and demonstrated that consumption of this metal impaired bee cognition and morphological development, leading to smaller adult bees. As metal pollutants are often found in complex mixtures in the environment, I explored the effect of cocktails of metals, showing that exposure to lead, arsenic or copper alone was sufficient to slow down learning and disrupt memory retrieval, and that combinations of these metals induced additive negative effects on both cognitive processes. I finally investigated the impact of natural exposure to metal pollutants in a contaminated environment, by collecting bees in the vicinity of a former gold mine, and showed that individuals from populations most exposed to metals exhibited lower learning and memory abilities, and development impairments conducing to reduced brain size. A more systematic analysis of unexposed bees revealed a relationship between head size, brain morphometrics and learning performances in different behavioural tasks, suggesting that exposure to metal pollutants magnifies these natural variations. Hence, altogether, my results suggest that honey bees are unable to avoid exposure to field-realistic concentrations of metals that are detrimental to development and cognitive functions; and call for a revision of the environmental levels considered as 'safe'. My thesis is the first integrated analysis of the impact of several metal pollutants on bee cognition, morphology and brain structure, and should encourage further studies on the contribution of metal pollution in the reported decline of honey bees, and more generally, of insects