Morphological co-processing unit for embedded devices

This paper focuses on the development of a fully programmable morphological coprocessor for embedded devices. It is a well-known fact that the majority of morphological processing operations are composed of a (potentially large) number of sequential elementary operators. At the same time, the industrial context induces a high demand on robustness and decision liability that makes the application even more demanding. Recent stationary platforms (PC, GPU, clusters) no more represent a computational bottleneck in real-time vision or image processing applications. However, in embedded solutions such applications still hit computational limits. The morphological co-processing unit (MCPU) replies to this demand. It assembles the previously published efficient dilation/erosion units with geodesic units and ALUs to support a larger collection of morphological operations, from a simple dilation to serial filters involving a geodesic reconstruction step. The coprocessor has been integrated into an FPGA platform running a server that is able to respond to client’s requests over the ethernet. The experimental performance of the MCPU measured on a wide set of operations brings as results in orders of magnitude better than another embedded platform, built around an ARM A9 quad-core processor.     

Nanometer-thick films of titanium oxide acting as electrolyte in the polymer electrolyte fuel cell

0-18 nm-thick titanium, zirconium and tantalum oxide films are thermally evaporated on Nafion 117 membranes, and used as thin spacer electrolyte layers between the Nafion and a 3 nm Pt catalyst film. Electrochemical characterisation of the films in terms of oxygen reduction activity, high frequency impedance and cyclic voltammetry in nitrogen is performed in a fuel cell at 80 °C and full humidification. Titanium oxide films with thicknesses up to 18 nm are shown to conduct protons, whereas zirconium oxide and tantalum oxide block proton transport already at a thickness of 1.5 nm. The performance for oxygen reduction is higher for a bi-layered film of 3 nm platinum on 1.5 or 18 nm titanium oxide, than for a pure 3 nm platinum film with no spacer layer. The improvement in oxygen reduction performance is ascribed to a higher active surface area of platinum, i.e. no beneficial effect of combining platinum with zirconium, tantalum or titanium oxides on the intrinsic oxygen reduction activity is seen. The results suggest that TiO₂ may be used as electrolyte in fuel cell electrodes, and that low-temperature proton exchange fuel cells could be possible using TiO₂ as electrolyte.     

Eliciting information about organizational culture via laddering

Abstract. Eliciting information about organizational culture is an important part of system analysis and design. However, eliciting knowledge of this sort is difficult. Laddering is an established technique that is particularly suitable for eliciting information about goals and for eliciting explanations, which are important issues when investigating organizational culture. This paper describes the method, its strengths and limitations, its use in several case studies and its relation to other elicitation techniques. Recommendations for further work are given.     

New applications of pHluorin—measuring intracellular pH of prototrophic yeasts and determining changes in the buffering capacity of strains with affected potassium homeostasis

pHluorin is a pH‐sensitive variant of green fluorescent protein for measuring intracellular pH (pH_in) in living cells. We constructed a new pHluorin plasmid with the dominant selection marker KanMX. This plasmid allows pH measurements in cells without auxotrophic mutations and/or grown in chemically indefinite media. We observed differing values of pH_in for three prototrophic wild‐types. The new construct was also used to determine the pH_in in strains differing in the activity of the plasma membrane Pma1 H⁺‐ATPase and the influence of glucose on pH_in. We describe in detail pHluorin measurements performed in a microplate reader, which require much less hands‐on time and much lower cell culture volumes compared to standard cuvettes measurements. We also utilized pHluorin in a new method of measuring the buffering capacity of yeast cell cytosol in vivo, shown to be ca. 52 mM /pH for wild‐type yeast and moderately decreased in mutants with affected potassium transport. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bizarre imagery: The misremembered mnemonic.

Conducted 2 experiments with 56 undergraduates to measure the effects of bizarre imagery and image interaction on the brief and long-term memory of word pairs. Ss in Exp I performed an incidental learning task and were administered free- and cued-recall tests either 5 min or 1 wk after the task. Ss in Exp II received more intensive training in the learning task and completed 2 cued-recall tests in the same session and another cued-recall test 1 wk later. In both experiments, bizarre imagery did not improve memory more than plausible, interactive imagery. The degree of interaction in the image was a strong determinant of cued-recall performance at both retention intervals. Most Ss in Exp II believed that they had remembered more bizarre than plausible pairs, even though this was clearly not the case. Possible reasons for the acceptance of the notion that bizarre imagery improves memory are discussed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptualization without specific training in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus): A test using the non-match-to-sample procedure.

We report evidence that monkeys are able to categorize various pictures into conceptual classes without specific training for most of the conceptual classes involved. This was shown with a variation of the non-match-to-sample procedure: Each squirrel monkey was shown one picture as sample and, thereafter, two other pictures, one of which belonged to the same conceptual class as the sample and the other of which did not. To solve a trial, it was necessary to make a same–different judgment between the stimuli, that is, to view the sample and one response stimulus as "same." The conceptual classes tested included humans, monkeys, some nonprimate animal species, apples, bananas, trees, letters, telephones, various geometrical forms, and the concepts of sameness and numerousness. On the average, all monkeys performed with only few errors on the task. Their errors compare well in number and in quality with those performed by 3 human subjects tested under comparable conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Estimation of Rock Aggregates Quality Using Analyses of Drill Cuttings

There is a need for an effective method to estimate the quality of crushed rock aggregates and its usability in the early stages of project planning, e.g., for road and railway constructions and quarry prospecting. The proposed method is based on mineralogical and petrographic analyses of drill cuttings and analysis of the coarse fraction to estimate the homogeneity/heterogeneity of the bedrock. The geological analyses are followed by an estimation of the rock materials’ mechanical properties and their potential technical usability. Development and practical applicability (field and laboratory) of the method have been performed and correlated to three road projects from regions of different geological and climatic zones in Sweden. The study confirms the capability of the proposed method as a surveying tool.     

Cognitive mechanisms underlying implicit negative self concept in dysphoria.

Whereas explicit measures of the self-concept typically demonstrate a negative bias in depressed individuals, implicit measures such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT), revealed an opposite, positive bias. To address this inconsistent pattern, the authors examined, using a novel paradigm, mental set maintenance (i.e., the difficulty of maintaining active a required mental set) and set operation (the efficiency of executing the mental set while it is maintained). Dysphoric (N = 33) and nondysphoric (N = 30) participants alternated between an IAT focusing on self reference and a matched neutral task. Nondysphorics had greater difficulty in maintaining a negative self reference task compared to a neutral task. Conversely, dysphorics did not exhibit such difficulty, and they maintained a negative self-reference task more easily than nondysphorics. No group differences were evinced in smoothness of set operation. These results suggest that the shield protecting nondysphorics from maintaining negative mental sets is absent in dysphorics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variation in the serotonin transporter gene modulates selective attention to threat.

The 5-HTTLPR is an insertion/deletion polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene. Prior research has revealed associations between the short-allele variant of this polymorphism, enhanced self-reported negative emotionality, and hypersensitivity of fear relevant neural circuits. In a sample of 50 healthy women we examined the role of 5-HTTLPR for cognitive-affective processing of phylogenetical fear-relevant stimuli (spiders) in a dot probe task. In contrast to homozygote long-allele carriers (ll), participants carrying at least 1 short allele (ss and sl) selectively shifted attention toward pictures of spiders, when these were presented for a duration of 2,000 ms. These results argue for an involvement of 5-HTTLPR in cognitive processing of threatening stimuli and thus, underpin its general role for individual differences in negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)