Towards hardware acceleration of neuroevolution for multimedia processing applications on mobile devices

This paper addresses the problem of accelerating large artificial neural networks (ANN), whose topology and weights can evolve via the use of a genetic algorithm. The proposed digital hardware architecture is capable of processing any evolved network topology, whilst at the same time providing a good trade off between throughput, area and power consumption. The latter is vital for a longer battery life on mobile devices. The architecture uses multiple parallel arithmetic units in each processing element (PE). Memory partitioning and data caching are used to minimise the effects of PE pipeline stalling. A first order minimax polynomial approximation scheme, tuned via a genetic algorithm, is used for the activation function generator. Efficient arithmetic circuitry, which leverages modified Booth recoding, column compressors and carry save adders, is adopted throughout the design

Starburst radio galaxies: general properties, evolutionary histories and triggering

In this paper we discuss the results of a programme of spectral synthesis modelling of a sample of starburst radio galaxies in the context of scenarios for the triggering of the activity and the evolution of the host galaxies. The starburst radio galaxies -- comprising ~15 - 25% of all powerful extragalactic radio sources -- frequently show disturbed morphologies at optical wavelengths, and unusual radio structures, although their stellar masses are typical of radio galaxies as a class. In terms of the characteristic ages of their young stellar populations (YSP), the objects can be divided into two groups: those with YSP ages t_ysp < 0.1 Gyr, in which the radio source has been triggered quasi-simultaneously with the main starburst episode, and those with older YSP in which the radio source has been triggered or re-triggered a significant period after the starburst episode. Combining the information on the YSP with that on the optical morphologies of the host galaxies, we deduce that the majority of the starburst radio galaxies have been triggered in galaxy mergers in which at least one of the galaxies is gas rich. However, the triggering (or re-triggering) of the radio jets can occur immediately before, around, or a significant period after the final coalescence of the merging nuclei, reflecting the complex gas infall histories of the merger events. Overall, our results provide further evidence that powerful radio jet activity can be triggered via a variety of mechanisms, including different evolutionary stages of major galaxy mergers; clearly radio-loud AGN activity is not solely associated with a particular stage of a unique type of gas accretion event.Comment: 16 pages, 3 Figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Covariation Among Vowel Height Effects on Acoustic Measures

Covariation among vowel height effects on vowel intrinsic fundamental frequency (IF0), voice onset time (VOT), and voiceless interval duration (VID) is analyzed to assess the plausibility of a common physiological mechanism underlying variation in these measures. Phrases spoken by 20 young adults, containing words composed of initial voiceless stops or /s/ and high or low vowels, were produced in habitual and voluntarily increased F0 conditions. High vowels were associated with increased IF0 and longer VIDs. VOT and VID exhibited significant covariation with IF0 only for males at habitua

Resonance production from jet fragmentation

Short lived resonances are sensitive to the medium properties in heavy-ion collisions. Heavy hadrons have larger probability to be produced within the quark gluon plasma phase due to their short formation times. Therefore heavy mass resonances are more likely to be affected by the medium, and the identification of early produced resonances from jet fragmentation might be a viable option to study chirality. The high momentum resonances on the away-side of a triggered di-jet are likely to be the most modified by the partonic or early hadronic medium. We will discuss first results of triggered hadron-resonance correlations in Cu+Cu heavy ion collisions.Comment: Hot Quarks Colorado 2008 Proceedings, 4 pages 5 figure

Spectral representation of the effective dielectric constant of graded composites

We generalize the Bergman-Milton spectral representation, originally derived for a two-component composite, to extract the spectral density function for the effective dielectric constant of a graded composite. This work has been motivated by a recent study of the optical absorption spectrum of a graded metallic film [Applied Physics Letters, 85, 94 (2004)] in which a broad surface-plasmon absorption band has been shown to be responsible for enhanced nonlinear optical response as well as an attractive figure of merit. It turns out that, unlike in the case of homogeneous constituent components, the characteristic function of a graded composite is a continuous function because of the continuous variation of the dielectric function within the constituent components. Analytic generalization to three dimensional graded composites is discussed, and numerical calculations of multilayered composites are given as a simple application.Comment: Physical Review E, submitted for publication

Age- and Disease-Dependent HERV-W Envelope Allelic Variation in Brain: Association with Neuroimmune Gene Expression

Background: The glycoprotein, Syncytin-1, is encoded by a human endogenous retrovirus (HERV)-W env gene and is capable of inducing neuroinflammation. The specific allele(s) responsible for Syncytin-1 expression in the brain is uncertain. Herein, HERV-W env diversity together with Syncytin-1 abundance and host immune gene profiles were examined in the nervous system using a multiplatform approach. Results: HERV-W env sequences were encoded by multiple chromosomal encoding loci in primary human neurons compared with less chromosomal diversity in astrocytes and microglia (p,0.05). HERV-W env RNA sequences cloned from brains of patients with systemic or neurologic diseases were principally derived from chromosomal locus 7q21.2. Within the same specimens, HERV-W env transcript levels were correlated with the expression of multiple proinflammatory genes (p,0.05). Deep sequencing of brain transcriptomes disclosed the env transcripts to be the most abundant HERV-W transcripts, showing greater expression in fetal compared with healthy adult brain specimens. Syncytin-1’s expression in healthy brain specimens was derived from multiple encoding loci and linked to distinct immune and developmental gene profiles. Conclusions: Syncytin-1 expression in the brain during disease was associated with neuroinflammation and was principally encoded by a full length provirus. The present studies also highlighted the diversity in HERV gene expression within th

The Effects of Foam Rolling on Hamstring Flexibility, Muscle Soreness and Power

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