Vision-Based Hazard Detection with Artificial Neural Networks for Autonomous Planetary Landing

In this paper a hazard detection and landing site selection algorithm, based on a single, visible light, camera acquisition, processed by Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), is presented. The system is sufficiently light to run onboard a spacecraft during the landing phase of a planetary exploration mission. Unsafe terrain items are detected and arranged in a hazard map, exploited to select the best place to land, in terms of safety, guidance constraints and scientific interest. A set of statistical indexes is extracted from the raw frame, progressively at different scales in order to characterize features of different size and depth. Then, a set of feed-forward ANNs interprets these parameters to produce a hazard map, exploited to select a new target landing site. Validation is carried out by the application of the algorithm to images not considered during the training phase. Landing sites maps are compared to ground-truth solution, and performances are assessed in terms of false positives ratio, false negatives ratio and final selected target safety. Results for different scenarios are shown and discussed, in order to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed system

Attention Cueing in Rivalry: Insights from Pupillometry

We used pupillometry to evaluate the effects of attention cueing on perceptual bi-stability, as reported by adult human observers. Perceptual alternations and pupil diameter were measured during two forms of rivalry, generated by presenting a white and a black disk to the two eyes (binocular rivalry) or splitting the disks between eyes (interocular grouping rivalry). In line with previous studies, we found that subtle pupil size modulations (;0.05 mm) tracked alternations between exclusive dominance phases of the black or white disk. These pupil responses were larger for perceptually stronger stimuli: presented to the dominant eye or with physically higher luminance contrast. However, cueing of endogenous attention to one of the rivaling percepts did not affect pupil modulations during exclusive dominance phases. This was observed despite the reliable effects of endogenous attention on perceptual dominance, which shifted in favor of the cued percept by ;10%. The results were comparable for binocular and interocular grouping rivalry. Cueing only had a marginal modulatory effect on pupil size during mixed percepts in binocular rivalry. This may suggest that, rather than acting by modulating perceptual strength, endogenous attention primarily acts during periods of unresolved competition, which is compatible with attention being automatically directed to the rivaling stimuli during periods of exclusive dominance and thereby sustaining perceptual alternations

Surgical Training in Libya: The Way Forward

The General Surgical Training Programmes worldwide are designed to ensure that the advanced surgical trainee in surgery achieves competency in knowledge, skill and attitude, both operative and non-operative in a wide range of common surgical conditions, enabling the trainee to practice competently as a surgeon. Therefore, the goal of the surgical training is to train broad-based, highly qualified surgical specialists who can provide excellence in the care of patients with a wide range of surgical diseases. To this end we have to strive to a training programme that emphasizes education over service, training in all major surgical subspecialties, and strong academic affiliations

The neural correlates of orienting to walking direction in 6-month-old infants: an ERP study

The ability to detect social signals represents a first step to enter our social world. Behavioral evidence has demonstrated that 6‐month‐old infants are able to orient their attention toward the position indicated by walking direction, showing faster orienting responses toward stimuli cued by the direction of motion than toward uncued stimuli. The present study investigated the neural mechanisms underpinning this attentional priming effect by using a spatial cueing paradigm and recording EEG (Geodesic System 128 channels) from 6‐month‐old infants. Infants were presented with a central point‐light walker followed by a single peripheral target. The target appeared randomly at a position either congruent or incongruent with the walking direction of the cue. We examined infants' target‐locked event‐related potential (ERP) responses and we used cortical source analysis to explore which brain regions gave rise to the ERP responses. The P1 component and saccade latencies toward the peripheral target were modulated by the congruency between the walking direction of the cue and the position of the target. Infants' saccade latencies were faster in response to targets appearing at congruent spatial locations. The P1 component was larger in response to congruent than to incongruent targets and a similar congruency effect was found with cortical source analysis in the parahippocampal gyrus and the anterior fusiform gyrus. Overall, these findings suggest that a type of biological motion like the one of a vertebrate walking on the legs can trigger covert orienting of attention in 6‐month‐old infants, enabling enhancement of neural activity related to visual processing of potentially relevant information as well as a facilitation of oculomotor responses to stimuli appearing at the attended location

Neutrino masses and flavor symmetries

The problem of neutrino masses and mixing angles is analysed in a class of supersymmetric grand unified models, with SO(10) gauge symmetry and global U(2) flavour symmetry. Adopting the seesaw mechanism for the generation of the neutrino masses, one obtains a mass matrix for the left-handed neutrinos which is directly related to the parameters of the charged sector, while the unknown parameters of the right-handed Majorana mass matrix are inglobed in a single factor.Comment: 17 pages, 1 eps figure, uses graphicx.sty, LaTeX 2e, to be published on "Il Nuovo Cimento

Long-term effects of monocular deprivation revealed with binocular rivalry gratings modulated in luminance and in color

During development, within a specific temporal window called the critical period, the mammalian visual cortex is highly plastic and literally shaped by visual experience; to what extent this extraordinary plasticity is retained in the adult brain is still a debated issue. We tested the residual plastic potential of the adult visual cortex for both achromatic and chromatic vision by measuring binocular rivalry in adult humans following 150 minutes of monocular patching. Paradoxically, monocular deprivation resulted in lengthening of the mean phase duration of both luminance-modulated and equiluminant stimuli for the deprived eye and complementary shortening of nondeprived phase durations, suggesting an initial homeostatic compensation for the lack of information following monocular deprivation. When equiluminant gratings were tested, the effect was measurable for at least 180 minutes after reexposure to binocular vision, compared with 90 minutes for achromatic gratings. Our results suggest that chromatic vision shows a high degree of plasticity, retaining the effect for a duration (180 minutes) longer than that of the deprivation period (150 minutes) and twice as long as that found with achromatic gratings. The results are in line with evidence showing a higher vulnerability of the P pathway to the effects of visual deprivation during development and a slower development of chromatic vision in humans. Introductio

On-chip generation of heralded photon-number states

Beyond the use of genuine monolithic integrated optical platforms, we report here a hybrid strategy enabling on-chip generation of configurable heralded two-photon states. More specifically, we combine two different fabrication techniques, \textit{i.e.}, non-linear waveguides on lithium niobate for efficient photon-pair generation and femtosecond-laser-direct-written waveguides on glass for photon manipulation. Through real-time device manipulation capabilities, a variety of path-coded heralded two-photon states can be produced, ranging from product to entangled states. Those states are engineered with high levels of purity, assessed by fidelities of 99.5$\pm$8\% and 95.0$\pm$8\%, respectively, obtained via quantum interferometric measurements. Our strategy therefore stands as a milestone for further exploiting entanglement-based protocols, relying on engineered quantum states, and enabled by scalable and compatible photonic circuits

Implications of CP violating 2HDM in B physics

The charged fermion mass matrices are invariant under $U(1)^3$ symmetry linked to the fermion number transformation. Under the condition that the definition of this symmetry in arbitrary weak basis does not depend upon Higgs parameters such as ratio of vacuum expectation values, a class of two Higgs doublet models (2HDM) can be identified in which tree level flavor changing neutral currents normally present in 2HDM are absent. However unlike the type I or type II Higgs doublet models, the charged Higgs couplings in these models contain additional flavor dependent CP violating phases. These phases can account for the recent hints of the beyond standard model CP violation in the $B_d$ and $B_s$ mixing. In particular, there is a range of parameters in which new phases do not contribute to the $K$ meson CP violation but give identical new physics phases in the $B_d$ and $B_s$ meson mixing.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, Talk given by Bhavik P. Kodrani at 16th International Symposium on Particles, Strings and Cosmology, July 19th - 23rd, 2010, Valencia, Spai

Complete gluon bremsstrahlung corrections to the process b -> s l+ l-

In a recent paper, we presented the calculation of the order (alpha_s) virtual corrections to b->s l+ l- and of those bremsstrahlung terms which are needed to cancel the infrared divergences. In the present paper we work out the remaining order(alpha_s) bremsstrahlung corrections to b->s l+ l- which do not suffer from infrared and collinear singularities. These new contributions turn out to be small numerically. In addition, we also investigate the impact of the definition of the charm quark mass on the numerical results.Comment: 20 pages including 11 postscript figure

Broadband integrated beam splitter using spatial adiabatic passage

Light routing and manipulation are important aspects of integrated optics. They essentially rely on beam splitters which are at the heart of interferometric setups and active routing. The most common implementations of beam splitters suffer either from strong dispersive response (directional couplers) or tight fabrication tolerances (multimode interference couplers). In this paper we fabricate a robust and simple broadband integrated beam splitter based on lithium niobate with a splitting ratio achromatic over more than 130 nm. Our architecture is based on spatial adiabatic passage, a technique originally used to transfer entirely an optical beam from a waveguide to another one that has been shown to be remarkably robust against fabrication imperfections and wavelength dispersion. Our device shows a splitting ratio of 0.52$\pm$0.03 and 0.48$\pm$0.03 from 1500\,nm up to 1630\,nm. Furthermore, we show that suitable design enables the splitting in output beams with relative phase 0 or $\pi$. Thanks to their independence to material dispersion, these devices represent simple, elementary components to create achromatic and versatile photonic circuits