Event Prediction and Object Motion Estimation in the Development of Visual Attention

A model of gaze control is describes that includes mechanisms for predictive control using a forward model and event driven expectations of target behavior. The model roughly undergoes stages similar to those of human infants if the influence of the predictive systems is gradually increased

Gödsling runt poppelstubbar med stubbskott

In 2012 three experiments on fertilization of poplar stumps was established on former farmland in southern Sweden where trial no. 1 was located at lat. 58° 08’ N., long. 12° 40’ E. and trial nos. 2 and 3 at lat. 55° 29’ N., long. 13° 39’ E. The poplar stands were 20-year-old when they were harvested in 2011. The number stems per hectare was 1250, 707 and 707 with a mean diameter at breastheight (DBH) of 24.6±0.4, 25.1±0.3 and 25.1±0.3 respectively. The diameter at 0.1 m height above stump for the sprouts was 7.5 mm in trial no.1 and 11.1 and 13.2 mm respectively for trial nos. 2 and 3. Around the stumps with a radius of 5 m the ground was fertilized in autumn 2012 with 75 and 150 kg N per hectare. Totally 30 stumps were included in each trial: 10 as a control, 10 fertilized with 75 and 150 N ha-1 each. Next year in spring 5 stumps of the fertilized stumps with 75 and 150 kg ha-1 were fertilized again with 75 and 150 kg N ha-1. The trials have been revised 2012, 2013 and 2014. The number of sprouts stump-1 three years after treatment (2014) ranged between 9 and 17 for trial no. 1. For trial nos. 2 and 3 the number ranged between 9 and 14 and 12 and 15 respectively. Fertilized stumps produced taller sprouts with higher DBH than unfertilized. Mean diameter at breastheight (DBH) was 20.7 mm for trial no. 1 and 29.9 and 33.4 mm respectively for trial nos. 2 and 3. Sprouts in trial no. 1 were shorter than in the other two trials. In trial no. 1 sprouts with repeated fertilizing 150 kg N ha-1 were tallest, 415 cm, compared with unfertilized, 335 cm. In trial nos. 2 and 3 sprouts with repeated fertilizing (150 kg N ha-1) were tallest, 592 and 584 cm compared with 516 and 548 cm for unfertilized

From focused thought to reveries: A memory system for a conscious robot

© 2018 Balkenius, Tjøstheim, Johansson and Gärdenfors. We introduce a memory model for robots that can account for many aspects of an inner world, ranging from object permanence, episodic memory, and planning to imagination and reveries. It is modeled after neurophysiological data and includes parts of the cerebral cortex together with models of arousal systems that are relevant for consciousness. The three central components are an identification network, a localization network, and a working memory network. Attention serves as the interface between the inner and the external world. It directs the flow of information from sensory organs to memory, as well as controlling top-down influences on perception. It also compares external sensations to internal top-down expectations. The model is tested in a number of computer simulations that illustrate how it can operate as a component in various cognitive tasks including perception, the A-not-B test, delayed matching to sample, episodic recall, and vicarious trial and error

FindZebra:a search engine for rare diseases

BACKGROUND: The web has become a primary information resource about illnesses and treatments for both medical and non-medical users. Standard web search is by far the most common interface to this information. It is therefore of interest to find out how well web search engines work for diagnostic queries and what factors contribute to successes and failures. Among diseases, rare (or orphan) diseases represent an especially challenging and thus interesting class to diagnose as each is rare, diverse in symptoms and usually has scattered resources associated with it. METHODS: We design an evaluation approach for web search engines for rare disease diagnosis which includes 56 real life diagnostic cases, performance measures, information resources and guidelines for customising Google Search to this task. In addition, we introduce FindZebra, a specialized (vertical) rare disease search engine. FindZebra is powered by open source search technology and uses curated freely available online medical information. RESULTS: FindZebra outperforms Google Search in both default set-up and customised to the resources used by FindZebra. We extend FindZebra with specialized functionalities exploiting medical ontological information and UMLS medical concepts to demonstrate different ways of displaying the retrieved results to medical experts. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that a specialized search engine can improve the diagnostic quality without compromising the ease of use of the currently widely popular standard web search. The proposed evaluation approach can be valuable for future development and benchmarking. The FindZebra search engine is available at http://www.findzebra.com/

Deltagerdriven forskning – växtodlingsgruppen: Resultat och utvärdering av arbetet under 1998 till 2001

De ekologiska lantbrukarna i Sverige har under lång tid utfört olika typer av utvecklingsarbete på gårdsnivå (Wivstad, 1999). I den fortsatta utvecklingen av ekologiskt lantbruk är det viktigt att ta tillvara dessa erfarenheter och kunskaper. Deltagardriven forskning är en förändringsprocess (Ullmark, 1998) där aktiva lantbrukare, rådgivare och forskare arbetar i grupp utifrån gemensamma intresseområden. Syftet är att knyta ihop forskarnas, rådgivarnas och lantbrukarnas teoretiska och praktiska kunskaper och erfarenheter. Alla som medverkar i processen är lika viktiga och alla parter som berörs av resultaten har möjlighet att påverka gruppens arbete och utveckling (Ullmark, 1998). Tillsammans identifierar gruppen problem och använder/utvecklar för lantbrukaren relevanta försöks- och forskningsmetoder som kan bidra till att lösa de praktiska problem som lantbrukaren faktiskt ställs inför. Genom deltagardriven forskning kan lantbrukarna även få möjlighet till att påverka var och hur forskning bedrivs. Forskningsfrågorna kan hämtas från lantbrukssystemets olika delar samt göra gruppen medveten om hur olika delar påverkar helheten (Wivstad, 1999; Eksvärd et al, 2001). I förlängningen kan deltagarna bli informatörer och överföra idéer till andra lantbrukare (Ullmark, 1998). Centrum för uthålligt lantbruk, CUL, placerat vid SLU, har sedan 1998 ansvarat för det tvärvetenskapliga projektet ”Deltagardriven forskning” som ett verktyg för regional utveckling av det ekologiska lantbruket. Det övergripande målet har varit att öka kunskapen om hur man kan åstadkomma uthålliga lantbrukssystem. Projektet startade med sex delgrupper inriktade på följande områden: grönsaker – friland, grönsaker – växthus, höns, växtodling, biogas samt grisproduktion. Därefter har några tillkommit och några avslutats. För aktuell information se hemsidan: www.cul.slu.se. Ytterligare beskrivning kan fås i ”Deltagardriven forskning – forskningsinriktad aktörssamverkan för svenskt lantbruk” (Eksvärd, i tryck)

suPARnostic: an advanced predictive tool for detecting recurrence in renal cell carcinoma

Background: Plasma soluble urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) predicts disease aggressiveness in renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), but its prognostic accuracy has not been investigated. To investigate the prognostic accuracy of preoperative plasma suPAR in patients who received curative treatment for initially localized ccRCC. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed plasma samples stored in the Danish National Biobank between 2010 and 2015 from 235 patients with ccRCC at any stage. Relationships with outcome analyzed using univariate and multiple logistic Cox regression analysis. Results: There were 235 patients with ccRCC. The median follow-up period was 7.7 years. In univariate analysis suPAR ≥ 6 ng/mL was significantly associated with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Patients with elevated suPAR were more likely to recur, with a Hazard Ratio (HR) of 2.3 for RFS. In multiple logistic regression, suPAR ≥ 6 ng/mL remained a negative predictor of OS and RFS. Limitations include retrospective study design, wide confidence intervals, and tumor subtype heterogeneity bias. Conclusions: ccRCC patients with high plasma suPAR concentrations are at an elevated risk of disease recurrence and see lower OS. suPAR is a promising surveillance tool to more precisely follow up with ccRCC patients and detect future recurrences. Patient Summary: In this study, we showed that new type of liquid marker in blood plasma, called suPAR, is associated to a higher risk of kidney cancer recurrence when elevated above 6ng/mL. We also showed suPAR to independently be able to predict patients overall and recurrence free survival in patient with any stage of kidney cancer.</p