Visual Spike-based Convolution Processing with a Cellular Automata Architecture

this paper presents a first approach for implementations which fuse the Address-Event-Representation (AER) processing with the Cellular Automata using FPGA and AER-tools. This new strategy applies spike-based convolution filters inspired by Cellular Automata for AER vision processing. Spike-based systems are neuro-inspired circuits implementations traditionally used for sensory systems or sensor signal processing. AER is a neuromorphic communication protocol for transferring asynchronous events between VLSI spike-based chips. These neuro-inspired implementations allow developing complex, multilayer, multichip neuromorphic systems and have been used to design sensor chips, such as retinas and cochlea, processing chips, e.g. filters, and learning chips. Furthermore, Cellular Automata is a bio-inspired processing model for problem solving. This approach divides the processing synchronous cells which change their states at the same time in order to get the solution.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TEC2006-11730-C03-02Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-10639-C04-02Junta de Andalucía P06-TIC-0141

On the Design of Ambient Intelligent Systems in the Context of Assistive Technologies

The design of Ambient Intelligent Systems (AISs) is discussed in the context of assistive technologies. The main issues include ubiquitous communications, context awareness, natural interactions and heterogeneity, which are analyzed using some examples. A layered architecture is proposed for heterogeneous sub-systems integration with three levels of interactions that may be used as a framework to design assistive AISs.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2001-1868-C0

Inventario de la huella de agua en sistemas lecheros diferenciados por el uso de la tierra y el nivel de suplementación.

El proceso de adecuación a las nuevas exigencias productivas implica un creciente aumento de la suplementación con granos, lo que permite aumentar la carga animal, la producción individual y la productividad en los tambos de Argentina. Considerando que el agua dulce es un bien escaso resulta importante analizar su uso y generar propuestas para su utilización racional. La huella hídrica es una metodología muy útil para estimar el volumen de agua requerida para la producción de leche y el impacto que este consumo produce desde el punto de vista de la extracción y de la degradación del agua. En este estudio de caso se realizó un análisis comparativo de 3 situaciones simuladas para contabilizar el inventario de la huella hídrica de distintos sistemas de producción lechera del Sur de Santa Fe diferenciados por el uso de la tierra y el nivel de suplementación: Sistema Pastoril (SP), 100% de la superficie con pasturas artificiales; Sistema Base Pastoril (SBP), 80% de la superficie con pasturas artificiales y 20% con maíz; Sistema Base Pastoril Intensivo (SBPI), 60% con pasturas y 40% con maíz. Se consideró que el maíz producido en SBP Y SBPI se utilizó como grano para alimentar al rodeo. Se asumieron cargas animales de 1,1, 1,2 y 1,4 vacas/ha y producciones diarias individuales de 18, 20 y 22 litros para SP, SBP y SBPI, respectivamente. La precipitación efectiva y la demanda hídrica adicional se estimaron adaptando los modelos CLIMWAT 2.0 y CROPWAT 8.0 a las condiciones regionales. Sólo se consideró el consumo de agua necesario para producir los alimentos para el rodeo. Se estimó el agua verde (agua de lluvia almacenada en el suelo), azul (agua superficial y subterránea), total y por litro de leche, el volumen total de agua por unidad de energía de leche producida y la eficiencia de uso del agua precipitada (Cuadro). El SBPI presenta el menor consumo de agua total, por litro de leche y por unidad de energía producida, la menor eficiencia en el aprovechamiento del agua y los mayores niveles de agua azul, producción de leche y energía por superficie. Se concluye que para las precipitaciones anuales normales en el Sur de la Provincia de Santa Fe el consumo de agua necesario para la producción de leche difiere con el nivel de intensificación de los sistemas, característica que debería tenerse en cuenta en la planificación de los sistemas lecherosFil: Alvarez, H. J.. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina;Fil: Larripa, M.. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina;Fil: Galli, Julio Ricardo. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina;Fil: Civit, Bárbara María. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional. Facultad Reg.Mendoza; Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina

Application of Robot Programming to the Teaching of Object-Oriented Computer Languages

Object-oriented programming (OOP) abstract concepts are often difficult to understand for students, since it is not easy to find the equivalence of such concepts in daily life. In this paper we will study if an interdisciplinary approach based on an introduction to robotics and robot programming helps the student in acquiring theOOPconcepts. For our experiments, we selected a sample of thirty individuals among students with an adequate knowledge of procedural programming. This sample was divided into two groups of fifteen students each: for the first one we used a standard introductory approach to C#, whereas for the second one we developed an experimental course that included a demonstration program that illustrated OOP basic concepts using the features of a specific type of commercial ball-shaped robot with sensing, wireless communication and output capabilities. After the courses, both groups were evaluated by completing a multiple-choice exam and aC#programming exercise. Our results show that the student group that attended the course including the robot demo showed a higher interest level (i.e. they felt more motivated) than those students that attended the standard introductory C# course. Furthermore, the students from the experimental group also achieved an overall better mark

AER Filtering Using GLIDER: VHDL Cellular Automata Description

Cellular Automata (CA) is a bio-inspired processing model for problem solving, initially proposed by Von Neumann. This approach modularizes the processing by dividing the solution into synchronous cells that change their states at the same time in order to get the solution. The communication between them is crucial to achieve the correct solution. On the other hand, the Address-Event-Representation (AER) is a neuromorphic communication protocol for transferring asynchronous events between VLSI chips. These neuro-inspired implementations have been used to design sensor chips (retina, cochleas), processing chips (convolutions, filters) and learning chips, which makes it possible to develop complex, multilayer, multichip neuromorphic systems. This paper presents the fusion of both bio-inspired solutions for implementing a vision filter based on 3x3 convolutions. The GLIDER software tool for developing CA has been used to implement the filter in VHDL and synthesize it into the Spartan II 200 of the USB-AER.Junta de Andalucía P06-TIC-0141

Multidataset Incremental Training for Optic Disc Segmentation

When convolutional neural networks are applied to image segmentation results depend greatly on the data sets used to train the networks. Cloud providers support multi GPU and TPU virtual machines making the idea of cloud-based segmentation as service attractive. In this paper we study the problem of building a segmentation service, where images would come from different acquisition instruments, by training a generalized U-Net with images from a single or several datasets. We also study the possibility of training with a single instrument and perform quick retrains when more data is available. As our example we perform segmentation of Optic Disc in fundus images which is useful for glau coma diagnosis. We use two publicly available data sets (RIM-One V3, DRISHTI) for individual, mixed or incremental training. We show that multidataset or incremental training can produce results that are simi lar to those published by researchers who use the same dataset for both training and validation

Technical challenges to surgical clipping of aneurysmal regrowth with coil herniation following endovascular treatment – a case report

In recent years, technical developments have made endovascular procedures attractive therapeutic options and enabled the endovascular surgeon to redefine the management of cerebral aneurysms. However, as the number of aneurysms undergoing endovascular therapy has grown, so has the number of patients with incompletely treated aneurysms who are presenting for further management. In cases of failure of endovascular treatment caused by either incomplete occlusion or regrowth of the aneurysm, a complementary treatment is often necessary. Surgical treatment of these patients is challenging. We present a case of a ruptured posterior cerebral artery aneurysm treated initially with endovascular coiling that left behind significant residual aneurysmal sac. Regrowth of the aneurysm documented on follow-up was treated surgically. At surgery, the coil was found to have herniated through the aneurysmal sac into the subarachnoid space, and the aneurysm was successfully clipped without removing the coils. We review the regrowth of aneurysms following endovascular therapy and potential problems and challenges of surgically managing these lesions

Genetic data from the extinct giant rat from Tenerife (Canary Islands) points to a recent divergence from mainland relatives

Evolution of vertebrate endemics in oceanic islands follows a predictable pattern, known as the island rule, according to which gigantism arises in originally small-sized species and dwarfism in large ones. Species of extinct insular giant rodents are known from all over the world. In the Canary Islands, two examples of giant rats, †Canariomys bravoi and †Canariomys tamarani, endemic to Tenerife and Gran Canaria, respectively, disappeared soon after human settlement. The highly derived morphological features of these insular endemic rodents hamper the reconstruction of their evolutionary histories. We have retrieved partial nuclear and mitochondrial data from †C. bravoi and used this information to explore its evolutionary affinities. The resulting dated phylogeny confidently places †C. bravoi within the African grass rat clade (Arvicanthis niloticus). The estimated divergence time, 650 000 years ago (95% higher posterior densities: 373 000-944 000), points toward an island colonization during the Günz-Mindel interglacial stage. †Canariomys bravoi ancestors would have reached the island via passive rafting and then underwent a yearly increase of mean body mass calculated between 0.0015 g and 0.0023 g; this corresponds to fast evolutionary rates (in darwins (d), ranging from 7.09 d to 2.78 d) that are well above those observed for non-insular mammals.For technical support, we thank the research service facilities of IJC and IGTP, the Crystallization Facility of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the ICTS NMR facility from the Scientific and Technological Centres of the University of Barcelona and Biophysics Core Facility of BMC-LMU. I.G. was a fellow of the Marie Skłodowska Curie Training network ‘ChroMe’ (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015-675610, awarded to M.B. and A.G.L.). The project was further supported by national grants (nos. RTI2018-094005-B-I00 and BFU2015-66559-P from FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación—Agencia Estatal de Investigación to M.B.). Research in the participating labs was further supported by the following grants: the Marie Skłodowska Curie Training network ‘INTERCEPT-MDS’ no. H2020-MSCA-ITN-2020-953407 (to M.B.), MINECO-ISCIII no. PIE16/00011 (to M.B.); the Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie Stiftung DJCLS (no. 14R/2018 to M.B.), AGAUR (no. 2017-SGR-305 to M.B.), Fundació La Marató de TV3 (no. 257/C/2019 to M.B.), German Research Foundation Project (ID 213249687—SFB 1064 and Project ID 325871075—SFB 1309 to A.G.L.), the Spanish Ministry of Science (PID2019-110183RB-C21 to A.R.M.), Community of Madrid (P2018/BAA-4343-ALIBIRD2020-CM to A.R.M), Ramón Areces Foundation (to A.R.M.), National Science Foundation (EF-1921402 to J.M.E.L.), 2015 International Doctoral Fellowship La Caixa-Severo Ochoa (to M.F.V.), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (no. 747789 to M.M.L.), Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación (IJC2018-036657-I to M.M.L., ERC-2012-CoG-616960 to I.R.T.), MINECO (BFU2017-90114-P to I.R.T.), AGAUR (2017-SGR-324 to X.S.) and MINECO (BIO2015-70092-R and ERC-2014-CoG-648201 to X.S.). Research at the IJC is supported by the ‘La Caixa’ Foundation, Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras, Celgene Spain and the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya

A Neuro-Inspired Spike-Based PID Motor Controller for Multi-Motor Robots with Low Cost FPGAs

In this paper we present a neuro-inspired spike-based close-loop controller written in VHDL and implemented for FPGAs. This controller has been focused on controlling a DC motor speed, but only using spikes for information representation, processing and DC motor driving. It could be applied to other motors with proper driver adaptation. This controller architecture represents one of the latest layers in a Spiking Neural Network (SNN), which implements a bridge between robotics actuators and spike-based processing layers and sensors. The presented control system fuses actuation and sensors information as spikes streams, processing these spikes in hard real-time, implementing a massively parallel information processing system, through specialized spike-based circuits. This spike-based close-loop controller has been implemented into an AER platform, designed in our labs, that allows direct control of DC motors: the AER-Robot. Experimental results evidence the viability of the implementation of spike-based controllers, and hardware synthesis denotes low hardware requirements that allow replicating this controller in a high number of parallel controllers working together to allow a real-time robot control

Acute heroin intoxication in a baby chronically exposed to cocaine and heroin: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Acute intoxication with drugs of abuse in children is often only the tip of the iceberg, actually hiding chronic exposure. Analysis using non-conventional matrices such as hair can provide long-term information about exposure to recreational drugs.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a one-month-old Caucasian boy admitted to our pediatric emergency unit with respiratory distress and neurological abnormalities. A routine urine test was positive for opiates, suggesting an acute opiate ingestion. No other drugs of misuse, such as cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines or derivatives, were detected in the baby's urine. Subsequently, hair samples from the baby and the parents were collected to evaluate the possibility of chronic exposure to drug misuse by segmental analysis. Opiates and cocaine metabolites were detected in hair samples from the baby boy and his parents.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In light of these and previous results, we recommend hair analysis in babies and children from risky environments to detect exposure to heroin and other drug misuse, which could provide the basis for specific social and health interventions.</p