Investigation of wheat coleoptile response to phototropic stimulations

This report provides a summary of the preparations for, and the conduct and post-flight data analysis of, the Spacelab flight investigation FOTRAN, which flew on the IML-1 mission (STS-42) in January, 1992. The investigation was designed to provide data on the responses of wheat seedlings to various blue-light stimuli given while the plants were exposed to orbital microgravity conditions. Before the flight, a number of hypotheses were established which were to be tested by the data from the flight and parallel ground studies. A description of the experiment protocol developed for the mission is provided, and an account of the activities supported during preparations for and support of the flight experiment is given. Details of the methods used to reduce and analyze the data from the flight are outlined

The Neural Mechanisms Underlying Invariant Object Search In V4 And Inferotemporal Cortex

Finding a specific visual target, such as your car keys, requires the brain to combine visual information about objects in the currently viewed scene with working memory information about your target to determine whether your target is in view. This combination of context-specific signals with visual information is thought to happen via feedback of target information from higher brain areas to the ventral visual pathway. However, exactly where and how these signals are combined remains unknown. To investigate, we recorded neural responses in V4 and inferotemporal cortex (IT) while monkeys performed an invariant object search task, where targets could appear across variation in their size, position and background context. We applied two complementary approaches to this data to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying target search. The first approach (Chapter 2) is from a computational perspective: where and how are visual and target signals combined when searching for a target? Specifically, we found that while task-relevant modulations in V4 were large, they were larger in IT, suggesting that top-down context-specific modulations are integrated into the ventral visual pathway at multiple stages. In Chapter 3, we focused on the neural responses recorded from IT from the perspective of neural coding: we sought to understand how signal and noise combine to determine task performance. We found that while signals that report the solution for object search were much smaller than signals that act as noise for the task (nuisance modulations) in IT cortex, nuisance modulations had a small effect on task performance. This counterintuitive finding was due to large trial variability constrained by short, behaviorally relevant spike counting windows. Together, this body of work provides insight into where and how the brain combines context-specific signals with visual information during invariant object search

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 359)

This bibliography lists 164 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during Jan. 1992. Subject coverage includes: aerospace medicine and physiology, life support systems and man/system technology, protective clothing, exobiology and extraterrestrial life, planetary biology, and flight crew behavior and performance

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 128, May 1974

This special bibliography lists 282 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in April 1974

Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Workshop on Automating Software Design. Theme: Domain Specific Software Design

The goal of this workshop is to identify different architectural approaches to building domain-specific software design systems and to explore issues unique to domain-specific (vs. general-purpose) software design. Some general issues that cut across the particular software design domain include: (1) knowledge representation, acquisition, and maintenance; (2) specialized software design techniques; and (3) user interaction and user interface

Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes, supplement 183

This bibliography lists 273 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in July 1978

Functional verification framework of an AES encryption module

Over the time, the development of the digital design has increased dramatically and nowadays many different circuits and systems are designed for multiple purposes in short time lapses. However, this development has not been based only in the enhancement of the design tools, but also in the improvement of the verification tools, due to the outstanding role of the verification process that certifies the adequate performance and the fulfillment of the requirements. In the verification industry, robust methodologies such as the Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) are used, an example of this is [1], but they have not been implemented yet in countries such as Peru and they seem inconvenient for educational purposes. This research propose an alternative methodology for the verification process of designs at the industry scale with a modular structure that contributes to the development of more complex and elaborated designs in countries with little or none verification background and limited verification tools. This methodology is a functional verification methodology described in SystemVerilog and its effectiveness is evaluated in the verification of an AES (Advance Encryption Standard) encryption module obtained from [2]. The verification framework is based on a verification plan (developed in this research as well) with high quality standards as it is defined in the industry. This verification plan evaluates synchronization, data validity, signal stability, signal timing and behavior consistency using Assertions, functional coverage and code coverage. An analysis of the outcomes obtained shows that the AES encryption module was completely verified obtaining 100% of the Assertions evaluation, 100% of functional verification and over 95% of code coverage in all approaches (fsm, block, expression, toggle). Besides, the modular structure defines the intercommunication with the Design only in the bottom most level, which facilitates the reuse of the verification framework with different bus interfaces. Nonetheless, this unit level verification framework can be easily instantiated by a system level verification facilitating the scalability. Finally, the documentation, tutorials and verification plan templates were generated successfully and are aimed to the development of future projects in the GuE PUCP (Research group in Microelectronics). In conclusion, the methodology proposed for the verification framework of the AES encryption module is in fact capable of verifying designs at the industry scale with high level of reliability, defining a very detailed and standardized verification plan and containing a suitable structure for reuse and scalability.Tesi

Medical imaging analysis with artificial neural networks

Given that neural networks have been widely reported in the research community of medical imaging, we provide a focused literature survey on recent neural network developments in computer-aided diagnosis, medical image segmentation and edge detection towards visual content analysis, and medical image registration for its pre-processing and post-processing, with the aims of increasing awareness of how neural networks can be applied to these areas and to provide a foundation for further research and practical development. Representative techniques and algorithms are explained in detail to provide inspiring examples illustrating: (i) how a known neural network with fixed structure and training procedure could be applied to resolve a medical imaging problem; (ii) how medical images could be analysed, processed, and characterised by neural networks; and (iii) how neural networks could be expanded further to resolve problems relevant to medical imaging. In the concluding section, a highlight of comparisons among many neural network applications is included to provide a global view on computational intelligence with neural networks in medical imaging

Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 156)

This bibliography lists 170 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in June 1976