Morphology of Salina offshore (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

In this paper, we present the first complete morphological map of the Salina offshore at a scale of 1:100,000. The submarine flanks of the Salina edifice extend down to −650 to −1300 m, are steep and characterized by an uneven morphology due to the presence of volcanic and erosivedepositional features. The volcanic features cover ∼30% of the submarine portion and include volcanic cones and bedrock outcrops. The remaining ∼70% is affected by a wide series of erosive-depositional features. Among these, features related to Late Quaternary sea level fluctuations comprise the insular shelf surrounding the island and overlying submarine terraced depositional sequences. Mass-wasting features include landslide scars, channels, fanshaped deposits and waveforms. The presented map provides useful insights for a better understanding of the morphological evolution of the edific

Besatzungskinder: Die schweigenden Geister des zweiten Weltkrieges (Besatzungskinder: The Silenced Ghosts of the Second World War)

Diese Forschungsarbeit konzentriert sich auf die Erfahrung von Besatzungskindern in Deutschland nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Sie diskutiert die Exposition oder mangelnde Sichtbarkeit von Besatzungskindern in der Gesellschaft und wie sie kulturell dargestellt wurden. Diese These stellt die Frage, wie Besatzungskinder in der Gesellschaft gesehen wurden, und ob die Gesellschaft ihnen half, eine deutsche Identität zu entwickeln

Combining Hebbian and reinforcement learning in a minibrain model

A toy model of a neural network in which both Hebbian learning and reinforcement learning occur is studied. The problem of `path interference', which makes that the neural net quickly forgets previously learned input-output relations is tackled by adding a Hebbian term (proportional to the learning rate $\eta$) to the reinforcement term (proportional to $\rho$) in the learning rule. It is shown that the number of learning steps is reduced considerably if $1/4 < \eta/\rho < 1/2$, i.e., if the Hebbian term is neither too small nor too large compared to the reinforcement term

Morphology of Lipari offshore (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea)

High-resolution multibeam bathymetry was recently collected around Lipari, the largest and most densely populated island of the Aeolian Archipelago (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea). The data were acquired within the context of marine geological studies performed in the area over the last 10 years. We present the first detailed morphological map of the Lipari offshore at 1:100,000 scale (Main Map). A rugged morphology characterizes the submarine portions of Lipari volcano, reflecting both volcanic and erosive-depositional processes. The volcanic features include cones, lava flows and bedrock outcrops. Erosive-depositional features include an insular shelf topped by submarine depositional terraces related to LateQuaternary sea-level fluctuations, as well as landslide scars, channelized features, fanshaped deposits and wavy bedforms. The different distribution of volcanic and erosivedepositional features on the various sectors of Lipari is mainly related to the older age of the western flank with respect to the eastern one. The map also provides insights for a first marine geohazard assessment of this active volcanic area

The first ultra-high resolution Digital Terrain Model of the shallow-water sector around Lipari Island (Aeolian Islands, Italy)

Very high resolution bathymetric map obtained through multibeam echosounders data are crucial to generate accurate Digital Terrain Models from which the morphological setting of active volcanic areas can be analyzed in detail. Here we show and discuss the main results from the first multibeam bathymetric survey performed in shallow-waters around the island of Lipari, the largest and the most densely populated of the Aeolian Islands (southern Italy). Data have been collected in the depth range of 0.1-150 m and complete the already existent high-resolution multibeam bathymetry realized between 100 and 1300 m water depth. The new ultrahigh resolution bathymetric maps at 0.1-0.5 m provide new insights on the shallow seafloor of Lipari, allowing to detail a large spectrum of volcanic, erosive-depositional and anthropic features. Moreover, the presented data allow outlining the recent morphological evolution of the shallow coastal sector of this active volcanic island, indicating the presence of potential geo-hazard factors in shallow waters

Embedded 45° micro-mirror for out-of-plane coupling in optical PCBs

We present an embedded 45° micro-mirror that can be used to couple light out-of-plane of the optical layer. The discrete micro-mirror is inserted in a micro-cavity into the optical layer. Loss measurements at receiver side show a mirror loss as low as 0.35dB

A Heterosynaptic Learning Rule for Neural Networks

In this article we intoduce a novel stochastic Hebb-like learning rule for neural networks that is neurobiologically motivated. This learning rule combines features of unsupervised (Hebbian) and supervised (reinforcement) learning and is stochastic with respect to the selection of the time points when a synapse is modified. Moreover, the learning rule does not only affect the synapse between pre- and postsynaptic neuron, which is called homosynaptic plasticity, but effects also further remote synapses of the pre- and postsynaptic neuron. This more complex form of synaptic plasticity has recently come under investigations in neurobiology and is called heterosynaptic plasticity. We demonstrate that this learning rule is useful in training neural networks by learning parity functions including the exclusive-or (XOR) mapping in a multilayer feed-forward network. We find, that our stochastic learning rule works well, even in the presence of noise. Importantly, the mean learning time increases with the number of patterns to be learned polynomially, indicating efficient learning.Comment: 19 page

Functional consequences of sphingomyelinase-induced changes in erythrocyte membrane structure.

Inflammation enhances the secretion of sphingomyelinases (SMases). SMases catalyze the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin into phosphocholine and ceramide. In erythrocytes, ceramide formation leads to exposure of the removal signal phosphatidylserine (PS), creating a potential link between SMase activity and anemia of inflammation. Therefore, we studied the effects of SMase on various pathophysiologically relevant parameters of erythrocyte homeostasis. Time-lapse confocal microscopy revealed a SMase-induced transition from the discoid to a spherical shape, followed by PS exposure, and finally loss of cytoplasmic content. Also, SMase treatment resulted in ceramide-associated alterations in membrane-cytoskeleton interactions and membrane organization, including microdomain formation. Furthermore, we observed increases in membrane fragility, vesiculation and invagination, and large protein clusters. These changes were associated with enhanced erythrocyte retention in a spleen-mimicking model. Erythrocyte storage under blood bank conditions and during physiological aging increased the sensitivity to SMase. A low SMase activity already induced morphological and structural changes, demonstrating the potential of SMase to disturb erythrocyte homeostasis. Our analyses provide a comprehensive picture in which ceramide-induced changes in membrane microdomain organization disrupt the membrane-cytoskeleton interaction and membrane integrity, leading to vesiculation, reduced deformability, and finally loss of erythrocyte content. Understanding these processes is highly relevant for understanding anemia during chronic inflammation, especially in critically ill patients receiving blood transfusions