Automated fault detection using deep belief networks for the quality inspection of electromotors

Vibration inspection of electro-mechanical components and systems is an important tool for automated reliable online as well as post-process production quality assurance. Considering that bad electromotor samples are very rare in the production line, we propose a novel automated fault detection method named "Tilear”, based on Deep Belief Networks (DBNs) training only with good electromotor samples. Tilear consctructs an auto-encoder with DBNs, aiming to reconstruct the inputs as closely as possible. Tilear is structured in two parts: training and decision-making. During training, Tilear is trained only with informative features extracted from preprocessed vibration signals of good electromotors, which enables the trained Tilear only to know how to reconstruct good electromotor vibration signal features. In the decision-making part, comparing the recorded signal from test electromotor and the Tilear reconstructed signal, allows to measure how well a recording from a test electromotor matches the Tilear model learned from good electromotors. A reliable decision can be mad

Class councils in Switzerland: Citizenship education in classroom communities?

Democracy depends on the participation of citizens. Citizenship education is taking place in classroom communities to prepare pupils for their role as citizens. Class councils are participatory forms of citizenship education guaranteeing the children’s right to form and express their views freely as written down in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Theoretical deficiencies and empirical objections have been formulated against participation in the school setting. Despite widespread practices, empirical data about class councils in Switzerland barely exists. In our project we video-recorded fourteen class councils in secondary schools, we interviewed the teacher and four pupils of each class, and all the pupils filled in a standardized questionnaire. Class councils are very popular forms of education with pupils although the actual power to influence decisions by deliberation is doubted to some extent. Quantitative analysis of the video-recordings shows the wide range of forms of class councils that exist in respect to the talking time of the pupils. To express one’s own viewpoint and to understand the standpoint of other discussants, construct arguments and counterarguments, participate, and lead discussions are difficult tasks. Based on the empirical research the project describes three forms of class councils that favour the development of communicative competences as a part of citizenship education

Influence of anti-Nogo-A antibody treatment on the reorganization of callosal connectivity of the premotor cortical areas following unilateral lesion of primary motor cortex (M1) in adult macaque monkeys

Following unilateral lesion of the primary motor cortex, the reorganization of callosal projections from the intact hemisphere to the ipsilesional premotor cortex (PM) was investigated in 7 adult macaque monkeys, in absence of treatment (control; n=4) or treated with function blocking antibodies against the neurite growth inhibitory protein Nogo-A (n=3). After functional recovery, though incomplete, the tracer biotinylated dextran amine (BDA) was injected in the ipsilesional PM. Retrogradely labelled neurons were plotted in the intact hemisphere and their number was normalized with respect to the volume of the core of BDA injection sites. (1) The callosal projections to PM in the controls originate mainly from homotypic PM areas and, but to a somewhat lesser extent, from the mesial cortex (cingulate and supplementary motor areas). (2) In the lesioned anti-Nogo-A antibody-treated monkeys, the normalized number of callosal retrogradely labelled neurons was up to several folds higher than in controls, especially in the homotypic PM areas. (3) Except one control with a small lesion and a limited, transient deficit, the anti-Nogo-A antibody-treated monkeys recovered to nearly baseline levels of performance (73-90%), in contrast to persistent deficits in the control monkeys. These results are consistent with a sprouting and/or sparing of callosal axons promoted by the anti-Nogo-A antibody treatment after lesion of the primary motor cortex, as compared to untreated monkey

Short-term effects of unilateral lesion of the primary motor cortex (M1) on ipsilesional hand dexterity in adult macaque monkeys

Although the arrangement of the corticospinal projection in primates is consistent with a more prominent role of the ipsilateral motor cortex on proximal muscles, rather than on distal muscles involved in manual dexterity, the role played by the primary motor cortex on the control of manual dexterity for the ipsilateral hand remains a matter a debate, either in the normal function or after a lesion. We, therefore, tested the impact of permanent unilateral motor cortex lesion on the manual dexterity of the ipsilateral hand in 11 macaque monkeys, within a time window of 60days post-lesion. For comparison, unilateral reversible pharmacological inactivation of the motor cortex was produced in an additional monkey. Manual dexterity was assessed quantitatively based on three motor parameters derived from two reach and grasp manual tasks. In contrast to the expected dramatic, complete deficit of manual dexterity of the contralesional hand that persists for several weeks, the impact on the manual dexterity of the ipsilesional hand was generally moderate (but statistically significant) and, when present, lasted less than 20days. Out of the 11 monkeys, only 3 showed a deficit of the ipsilesional hand for 2 of the 3 motor parameters, and 4 animals had a deficit for only one motor parameter. Four monkeys did not show any deficit. The reversible inactivation experiment yielded results consistent with the permanent lesion data. In conclusion, the primary motor cortex exerts a modest role on ipsilateral manual dexterity, most likely in the form of indirect hand postural contro

A novel sensor for ion electron emission microscopy

Abstract An ion electron emission microscope (IEEM) to be installed at the SIRAD heavy ion irradiation facility at the 15 MV tandem accelerator of the INFN Legnaro laboratory (Italy) will be used to characterize the sensitivity of electronic devices to single event effects (SEE) to ion impacts with micrometric lateral resolutions. The secondary electrons emitted by ion impacts from the target surface are transported and focused by an electron microscope onto a micro-channel plate (MCP) detector coupled to a fast phosphor. The luminous signal is then detected by a position sensitive photon detector located outside the vacuum chamber. The high repetition rates and high spatial resolution, required to temporally distinguish ion impacts for SEE studies and avoid degrading of the initial resolution of the IEEM and MCP are met by the system, presented here for the first time, based on two orthogonal linear CCDs

Conservative treatment of hepatic portal venous gas consecutive to a complicated diverticulitis: A case report and literature review.

INTRODUCTION AND PRESENTATION OF CASE Eight days after being diagnosed with multiple small strokes a 71year old male patient is readmitted with suspicion of a petit mal seizure also complained of diarrhoea and abdominal pain. The patient was stable, not febrile and neurologically intact with a slight tenderness in the left lower quadrant. An ultrasound revealed presence of air in the hepatic portal venous system and a suspicion for sigmoid diverticulitis. A CT-scan confirmed both diagnoses. We proceeded with a conservative regimen under close observation. The clinical course and laboratory results were unremarkable. DISCUSSION The review of the literature (PubMed database) triggered 685 items with only one clinical trial establishing a scoring system to detect adult individuals, which need operation. CONCLUSION A pneumoportogram (hepatic portal venous gas, HPVG) is a very rare and usually associated with bowel ischemia and from poor prognosis. The last decades saw the emergence of numerous other aetiologies (also benign) with a shift of paradigm from systematic emergency laparotomies to individual patient selection

Theory of Earthquake Recurrence Times

The statistics of recurrence times in broad areas have been reported to obey universal scaling laws, both for single homogeneous regions (Corral, 2003) and when averaged over multiple regions (Bak et al.,2002). These unified scaling laws are characterized by intermediate power law asymptotics. On the other hand, Molchan (2005) has presented a mathematical proof that, if such a universal law exists, it is necessarily an exponential, in obvious contradiction with the data. First, we generalize Molchan's argument to show that an approximate unified law can be found which is compatible with the empirical observations when incorporating the impact of the Omori law of earthquake triggering. We then develop the full theory of the statistics of inter-event times in the framework of the ETAS model of triggered seismicity and show that the empirical observations can be fully explained. Our theoretical expression fits well the empirical statistics over the whole range of recurrence times, accounting for different regimes by using only the physics of triggering quantified by Omori's law. The description of the statistics of recurrence times over multiple regions requires an additional subtle statistical derivation that maps the fractal geometry of earthquake epicenters onto the distribution of the average seismic rates in multiple regions. This yields a prediction in excellent agreement with the empirical data for reasonable values of the fractal dimension $d \approx 1.8$, the average clustering ratio $n \approx 0.9$, and the productivity exponent $\alpha \approx 0.9$ times the $b$-value of the Gutenberg-Richter law.Comment: 30 pages + 13 figure

Exponential Metric Fields

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission will use advanced technologies to achieve its science goals: the direct detection of gravitational waves, the observation of signals from compact (small and dense) stars as they spiral into black holes, the study of the role of massive black holes in galaxy evolution, the search for gravitational wave emission from the early Universe. The gravitational red-shift, the advance of the perihelion of Mercury, deflection of light and the time delay of radar signals are the classical tests in the first order of General Relativity (GR). However, LISA can possibly test Einstein's theories in the second order and perhaps, it will show some particular feature of non-linearity of gravitational interaction. In the present work we are seeking a method to construct theoretical templates that limit in the first order the tensorial structure of some metric fields, thus the non-linear terms are given by exponential functions of gravitational strength. The Newtonian limit obtained here, in the first order, is equivalent to GR.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science, 17 page

LATS1 but not LATS2 represses autophagy by a kinase-independent scaffold function

Autophagy perturbation represents an emerging therapeutic strategy in cancer. Although LATS1 and LATS2 kinases, core components of the mammalian Hippo pathway, have been shown to exert tumor suppressive activities, here we report a pro-survival role of LATS1 but not LATS2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Specifically, LATS1 restricts lethal autophagy in HCC cells induced by sorafenib, the standard of care for advanced HCC patients. Notably, autophagy regulation by LATS1 is independent of its kinase activity. Instead, LATS1 stabilizes the autophagy core-machinery component Beclin-1 by promoting K27-linked ubiquitination at lysine residues K32 and K263 on Beclin-1. Consequently, ubiquitination of Beclin-1 negatively regulates autophagy by promoting inactive dimer formation of Beclin-1. Our study highlights a functional diversity between LATS1 and LATS2, and uncovers a scaffolding role of LATS1 in mediating a cross-talk between the Hippo signaling pathway and autophagy