Flying Drosophila stabilize their vision-based velocity controller by sensing wind with their antennae

Flies and other insects use vision to regulate their groundspeed in flight, enabling them to fly in varying wind conditions. Compared with mechanosensory modalities, however, vision requires a long processing delay (~100 ms) that might introduce instability if operated at high gain. Flies also sense air motion with their antennae, but how this is used in flight control is unknown. We manipulated the antennal function of fruit flies by ablating their aristae, forcing them to rely on vision alone to regulate groundspeed. Arista-ablated flies in flight exhibited significantly greater groundspeed variability than intact flies. We then subjected them to a series of controlled impulsive wind gusts delivered by an air piston and experimentally manipulated antennae and visual feedback. The results show that an antenna-mediated response alters wing motion to cause flies to accelerate in the same direction as the gust. This response opposes flying into a headwind, but flies regularly fly upwind. To resolve this discrepancy, we obtained a dynamic model of the fly’s velocity regulator by fitting parameters of candidate models to our experimental data. The model suggests that the groundspeed variability of arista-ablated flies is the result of unstable feedback oscillations caused by the delay and high gain of visual feedback. The antenna response drives active damping with a shorter delay (~20 ms) to stabilize this regulator, in exchange for increasing the effect of rapid wind disturbances. This provides insight into flies’ multimodal sensory feedback architecture and constitutes a previously unknown role for the antennae

Evolutionary development of tensegrity structures

Contributions from the emerging fields of molecular genetics and evo-devo (evolutionary developmental biology) are greatly benefiting the field of evolutionary computation, initiating a promise of renewal in the traditional methodology. While direct encoding has constituted a dominant paradigm, indirect ways to encode the solutions have been reported, yet little attention has been paid to the benefits of the proposed methods to real problems. In this work, we study the biological properties that emerge by means of using indirect encodings in the context of form-finding problems. A novel indirect encoding model for artificial development has been defined and applied to an engineering structural-design problem, specifically to the discovery of tensegrity structures. This model has been compared with a direct encoding scheme. While the direct encoding performs similarly well to the proposed method, indirect-based results typically outperform the direct-based results in aspects not directly linked to the nature of the problem itself, but to the emergence of properties found in biological organisms, like organicity, generalization capacity, or modularity aspects which are highly valuable in engineering

The emergence of circular economy: a new framing around prolonging resource productivity

In this article we use Hirsch and Levin’s (1999) notion of ‘umbrella concepts’ as an analytical lens, in order to articulate the valuable catalytic function the circular economy concept could perform in the waste and resource management debate. We realize this goal by anchoring the circular economy concept in this broader debate through a narrative approach. This leads to the insight that while the various resource strategies grouped under circular economy’s banner are not new individually, the concept offers a new framing of these strategies by drawing attention to their capacity of prolonging resource use as well as to the relationship between these strategies. As such, circular economy offers a new perspective on waste and resource management and provides a new cognitive unit and discursive space for debate. We conclude by discussing research opportunities for the IE community relating to the concept’s theoretical development and its implementation. Specifically, we pose that reinvigorating and growing the social science aspects of IE is required for both. After all, it is the wide adoption and collective implementation of an idea that shapes our material future

Modellierungskonzepte der Synergetik und der Theorie der Selbstorganisation

Mnay models situated in the current research landscape of modelling and simulating social processes have roots in physics. This is visible in the name of specialties as Econophysics or Sociophysics. This chapter describes the history of knowledge transfer from physics, in particular physics of self-organization and evolution, to the social sciences. We discuss why physicists felt called to describe social processes. Across models and simulations the question how to explain the emergence of something new is the most intriguing one. We present one model approach to this problem and introduce a game -- Evolino -- inviting a larger audience to get acquainted with abstract evolution-theory approaches to describe the quest for new ideas.Comment: In German, extended first version, final version Ebeling, W., & Scharnhorst, A. (2015). Modellierungskonzepte der Synergetik und der Theorie der Selbstorganisation. In N. Braun & N. J. Saam (Eds.), Handbuch Modellbildung und Simulation in den Sozialwissenschaften (pp. 419--452). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-01164-2 (in German

Psychiatric sequelae of low birth weight at 6 years of age

The study examined the association between low birth weight (LBW) (≤2,500 g) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in two socioeconomically disparate populations. LBW and normal birth weight (NBW) children from the 1983 to 1985 newborn lists of an urban and a suburban hospital in Southeast Michigan were randomly selected. A total of 823 children, 473 LBW and 350 NBW, participated. Data were gathered in 1990 to 1992, when the children were 6 to 7 years of age. The National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule for children—Parent version (DISC-P) was used to elicit information on DSM-III-R diagnoses of simple phobia, overanxious, separation anxiety, oppositional defiant, and ADHD. Teachers' ratings of behavior problems were obtained. LBW was associated with ADHD but not with childhood anxiety disorders or oppositional defiant disorder. The association was stronger in the urban than in the suburban population. Data from teachers' ratings revealed an association between LBW and attention problems. The prognostic significance of the observed psychopathology at 6 years of age requires follow-up assessment as the children mature.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44584/1/10802_2005_Article_BF01441637.pd

Future Biosphère

Construit pour l'Exposition universelle et internationale de Montréal, 1967; Architectes concepteurs: Richard Buckminster Fuller et Shoji Sadao; Firme d'architectes: Geometrics Inc.; Architecte associé: George F. Eber; Design intérieur: Geishmar, T. Rankine, S. Sadao et P. Floyd; Structure intérieure: Cambridge Seven Associates Inc.; Dates de construction: 1965-1967; Photographie: Camille Laverdière, 1967.10.2

Ancien pavillon des États-Unis; Biosphère H20; Biosphère d'Environnement Canada

Construit pour l'Exposition universelle et internationale de Montréal, 1967; Architectes concepteurs: Richard Buckminster Fuller et Shoji Sadao; Firme d'architectes: Geometrics Inc.; Architecte associé: George F. Eber; Design intérieur: Geishmar, T. Rankine, S. Sadao et P. Floyd; Structure intérieure: Cambridge Seven Associates Inc.; Dates de construction: 1965-1967; Date d'incendie de l'enveloppe externe du bâtiment: 1976; Firme d'architectes chargée de réaménager l'intérieur du bâtiment pour le transformer en musée de l'eau et de l'environnement nommé Biosphère: Faucher, Aubertin, Brodeur, Gauthier (FABG) architectes; Dates d'exécution des travaux de transformation: 1992-1995; Date d'inauguration officielle de la Biosphère: 5 juin 1995; Concepteurs du projet de verdissement de la Biosphère pour marquer son 15e anniversaire: Daniel Smith, Albert Mondor et Stéphan Vigeant; Date d'exécution des travaux de verdissement: 2010; Cours AME 2340: Photographie en aménagement - Projet personnel - Été 2017; Professeur: Alain Laforest; Photographie: Alexandra Dion-Fortin, 2017.05.23; Numéro de repérage: ADF_DSC420

Nautilus Motor Inn Dome Restaurant

The Nautilus Motor Inn's Dome Restaurant was designed by Fuller while teaching at MIT. Students were recruited from the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota. Parts were fabricated at MIT and trucked to Woods Hole under the direction of Maurice Smith.539 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543general view, dome constructio