877 research outputs found
Development of integrated, zero-G pneumatic transporter/rotating paddle incinerator/catalytic afterburner subsystem for processing human wastes on board spacecraft
A four component system was developed which consists of a particle size reduction mechanism, a pneumatic waste transport system, a rotating-paddle incinerator, and a catalytic afterburner to be integrated into a six-man, zero-g subsystem for processing human wastes on board spacecraft. The study included the development of different concepts or functions, the establishment of operational specifications, and a critical evaluation for each of the four components. A series of laboratory tests was run, and a baseline subsystem design was established. An operational specification was also written in preparation for detailed design and testing of this baseline subsystem
On Unitary Time Evolution in Gowdy Cosmologies
A non-perturbative canonical quantization of Gowdy polarized models
carried out recently is considered. This approach profits from the equivalence
between the symmetry reduced model and 2+1 gravity coupled to a massless real
scalar field. The system is partially gauge fixed and a choice of internal time
is performed, for which the true degrees of freedom of the model reduce to a
massless free scalar field propagating on a 2-dimensional expanding torus. It
is shown that the symplectic transformation that determines the classical
dynamics cannot be unitarily implemented on the corresponding Hilbert space of
quantum states. The implications of this result for both quantization of fields
on curved manifolds and physically relevant questions regarding the initial
singularity are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, no figures, latex file; references added, a proof included.
Final version to appear in IJMP
Vacuum distillation/vapor filtration water recovery
The development and evaluation of a vacuum distillation/vapor filtration (VD/VF) water recovery system are considered. As a functional model, the system converts urine and condensates waste water from six men to potable water on a steady-state basis. The system is designed for 180-day operating durations and for function on the ground, on zero-g aircraft, and in orbit. Preparatory tasks are summarized for conducting low gravity tests of a vacuum distillation/vapor filtration system for recovering water from urine
Cellular-Resolution Population Imaging Reveals Robust Sparse Coding in the Drosophila Mushroom Body
Sensory stimuli are represented in the brain by the activity of populations of neurons. In most biological systems, studying population coding is challenging since only a tiny proportion of cells can be recorded simultaneously. Here we used two-photon imaging to record neural activity in the relatively simple Drosophila mushroom body (MB), an area involved in olfactory learning and memory. Using the highly sensitive calcium indicator GCaMP3, we simultaneously monitored the activity of >100 MB neurons in vivo (similar to 5% of the total population). The MB is thought to encode odors in sparse patterns of activity, but the code has yet to be explored either on a population level or with a wide variety of stimuli. We therefore imaged responses to odors chosen to evaluate the robustness of sparse representations. Different odors activated distinct patterns of MB neurons; however, we found no evidence for spatial organization of neurons by either response probability or odor tuning within the cell body layer. The degree of sparseness was consistent across a wide range of stimuli, from monomolecular odors to artificial blends and even complex natural smells. Sparseness was mainly invariant across concentrations, largely because of the influence of recent odor experience. Finally, in contrast to sensory processing in other systems, no response features distinguished natural stimuli from monomolecular odors. Our results indicate that the fundamental feature of odor processing in the MB is to create sparse stimulus representations in a format that facilitates arbitrary associations between odor and punishment or reward
A high-precision polarimeter
We have built a polarimeter in order to measure the electron beam
polarization in hall C at JLAB. Using a superconducting solenoid to drive the
pure-iron target foil into saturation, and a symmetrical setup to detect the
Moller electrons in coincidence, we achieve an accuracy of <1%. This sets a new
standard for Moller polarimeters.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, submitted to N.I.
Sparse Coding Predicts Optic Flow Specificities of Zebrafish Pretectal Neurons
Zebrafish pretectal neurons exhibit specificities for large-field optic flow
patterns associated with rotatory or translatory body motion. We investigate
the hypothesis that these specificities reflect the input statistics of natural
optic flow. Realistic motion sequences were generated using computer graphics
simulating self-motion in an underwater scene. Local retinal motion was
estimated with a motion detector and encoded in four populations of
directionally tuned retinal ganglion cells, represented as two signed input
variables. This activity was then used as input into one of two learning
networks: a sparse coding network (competitive learning) and backpropagation
network (supervised learning). Both simulations develop specificities for optic
flow which are comparable to those found in a neurophysiological study (Kubo et
al. 2014), and relative frequencies of the various neuronal responses are best
modeled by the sparse coding approach. We conclude that the optic flow neurons
in the zebrafish pretectum do reflect the optic flow statistics. The predicted
vectorial receptive fields show typical optic flow fields but also "Gabor" and
dipole-shaped patterns that likely reflect difference fields needed for
reconstruction by linear superposition.Comment: Published Conference Paper from ICANN 2018, Rhode
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