Group items tagged

cheap cameras and fast image-recognition algorithms has led to a new technique known as visual odometry

a computer analyses images to determine the position and orientation of the vehicle.

researchers have better access to the technology required for automated vehicles

e V-Charge project, a consortium of companies and universities which is working on fully automated low-speed driving in cities using only cameras and other low-cost sensors mounted on standard cars

. The consortium is working to produce detailed maps and a perception system that allows a vehicle to recognize its location and identify nearby pedestrians and vehicles, all using only stereoscopic or fisheye cameras.

team has taken this a step further, pioneering a guidance system that works economically by using a single camera.

car manufacturers are already making automated piloting features of their own – radar-based cruise control, anti-braking systems (ABS) and lane-control assistance

cables and hydraulic pressure valves which previously linked the controls of the vehicle to its working parts are gradually being replaced with electronic circuits

While companies such as Google see autonomous cars in a couple of decades

CityMobil2 project

thinks that they could be hitting the road sooner than that

The challenge lies in their environment

believes that, in addition to teaching cars to respond autonomously to traffic conditions, traffic should be adapted to automated cars

In their current state of development, cybercars could already drive safely in pedestrian areas and designated lanes

, investors are at present deterred by their high initial investment and perceived risks.

why they are being implemented in small stages

The first CityMobil project shuttled passengers across the car park of London Heathrow airport in a fleet of driverless pods

CityMobil2, now brings specially designed automated vehicles to designated roads inside the city centre

The project plans to procure two sets of automated vehicles which will tour five cities in a series of demonstration projects each lasting six to eight months

CityMobil2 is bringing together experts from ministries in each member state to agree on technical requirements by the time the project concludes in 2016 that could feed into a future European directive on the issue

It's a condition called sensory over-responsivity, and it was recognized as one of the core features of autism spectrum disorder

"I think if anybody ever had a doubt that this was just some sort of odd pickiness or something like that in people with autism, this shows, no, there really is a brain basis for this," said Dr. Paul Wang

researchers recruited 32 children and teens. Half the group had been diagnosed with autism. The others were typically developing kids who were matched in age to the autistic kids.

scientists had them rest in a fMRI machine, a kind of scanner than can see brain activity in real time

they touched the kids with a scratchy wool sweater, played loud traffic noises or did both at the same time. Each condition was repeated four times for 15 seconds

The brains of children with autism reacted much more strongly to the sensory stimulation than did the brains of typically developing kids

The two areas that seemed to be the most hyperactive were the primary sensory cortex, which is responsible for initially processing sensory information, and the amygdala, which is involved in emotional regulation.

They are kind of initially interpreting these stimuli differently and, also, they're not able to regulate their response

Shula Green, a Ph.D. candidate

typical kids,

have an initial response almost immediately, then by the second time around, that response goes way down

In kids with autism, that response really stays high throughout the scan. They're not getting used to it

the hyperactivity the researchers saw on the brain scans became most intense when kids with autism experienced the two sensations at the same time

something is really going on when there's more than one stimulus the brain has to deal with

, the team observed the glow of matter near the edge of this black hole—a region known as the "event horizon."

, not everything can cross the event horizon to squeeze into a black hole

"cosmic traffic jam" in which gas and dust build up, creating a flat pancake of matter known as an accretion disk

disk of matter orbits the black hole at nearly the speed of light, feeding the black hole a steady diet of superheated material

Over time, this disk can cause the black hole to spin in the same direction as the orbiting material

Caught up in this spiraling flow are magnetic fields, which accelerate hot material along powerful beams above the accretion disk

resulting high-speed jet, launched by the black hole and the disk, shoots out across the galaxy, extending for hundreds of thousands of light-years

jets can influence many galactic processes, including how fast stars form.

. Because M87's jet is magnetically launched from this smallest orbit,

astronomers can estimate the black hole's spin through careful measurement of the jet's size as it leaves the black hole

Until now, no telescope has had the magnifying power required for this kind of observation

team used a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry, or VLBI, which links data from radio dishes located thousands of miles apart.

, taken together, create a "virtual telescope" with the resolving power of a single telescope as big as the space between the disparate dishes

enables scientists to view extremely precise details in faraway galaxies.

Using the technique

team measured the innermost orbit of the accretion disk to be only 5.5 times the size of the black hole event horizon

According to the laws of physics, this size suggests that the accretion disk is spinning in the same direction as the black hole

first direct observation to confirm theories of how black holes power jets from the centers of galaxies

The team plans to expand its telescope array, adding radio dishes in Chile, Europe, Mexico, Greenland and Antarctica, in order to obtain even more detailed pictures of black holes in the future.

www.eventhorizontelescope.org/

researchers also studied how a high level of noise (85 decibels, equivalent to traffic noise on a major road) hurts creativity by reducing information processing.

around 70 decibels is the sweet spot

An increased level of distraction makes you think ‘out-of-the-box’ – what we call abstract thinking or abstract processing, which is a hallmark of increased creativity

go beyond that moderate level of noise what happens is that distraction becomes so huge that it really starts affecting the thought process

a moderate level of noise produces just enough distraction to lead to higher creativity, but a very high level of noise induces too much distraction, which actually reduces the amount of processing, thus leading to lower creativity

These fibers, or axons, are the long extensions that convey signals from one end of a neuron to another, and unfortunately, they don't regrow in adults

Restoring axons' ability to regrow using growth factors, stem cells, or other therapies has been a longstanding—but frustratingly elusive—goal for researchers.

Most spinal injuries in people do not sever the spinal cord completely

To approximate this situation in rats, his team made two surgical cuts in the spinal cord, severing all of the direct connections from the brain, but leaving some tissue intact in between the cuts

had the rodents begin a rehab regime intended to bypass the fractured freeway, as it were, by pushing more traffic onto neural back roads and building more of them

This regime, which began about a week after the rats were injured, lasted about 30 minutes a day

During each session, the researchers injected the animals with a cocktail of drugs to improve the function of rats' neural circuits in the part of the spinal cord involved in leg movements

stimulated this area with electrodes

With its spinal cord thus primed for action, a rat was fitted into a harness attached to a robotic device that supported its weight and allowed it to walk forward on its hind legs to the extent that it was able

At first, the rats could not move their legs at all, let alone walk.

after 2 or 3 weeks, the rodents began taking steps toward a piece of food after a gentle nudge from the robo

By 5 or 6 weeks, they were able to initiate movement on their own and walk to get the food

after a few additional weeks of intensified rehab, they were able to walk up rat-sized stairs and climb over a small barrier placed in their path

did not undergo rehab, in contrast, showed no improvement at all

Rats suspended over a moving treadmill that elicited reflex-like stepping movement

full recovery depends on making intentional movements, not just any movement

Additional experiments in the paper make a compelling case that the rats' recovery is due to new neural connections forming to create a detour around the injury

s work suggests that all three components of the rehab strategy—the drugs, the electrical stimulation, and the robot-assisted physical therapy

case study published last year reported some recovery of voluntary movements in a man paralyzed in a vehicle accident, after he underwent a combination of electrical stimulation and physical therap

two more patients are undergoing similar rehab now, and his group hopes to add drug therapy to enhance nerve repair in the future

the strategy's limitations. For one thing, it wouldn't work if the spinal cord were completely severed

treated rats could only make voluntary movements while the electrical stimulation was turned on, and the same was mostly true of the patient Edgerton and colleagues worked with. "This is not a cure for spinal cord injury," Courtine says. "It's a promising proof of principle."