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Since the advent of mobile robots, obstacle detection has been a topic of great interest. It has also been a subject of study in neuroscience, where flying insects and bats could be considered two of the most interesting cases in terms of vision-based and sound-based mechanisms for obstacle detection, respectively. Currently, many studies focus on vision-based obstacle detection, but not many can be found regarding sound-based obstacle detection. This work focuses on the latter approach, which also makes use of a Spiking Neural Network to exploit the advantages of these architectures and achieve an approach closer to biology. The complete system was tested through a series of experiments that confirm the validity of the spiking architecture for obstacle detection. It is empirically demonstrated that, when the distance between the robot and the obstacle decreases, the output firing rate of the system increases in response as expected, and vice versa. Therefore, there is a direct relation between the two. Furthermore, there is a distance threshold between detectable and undetectable objects which is also empirically measured in this work. An in-depth study on how this system works at low level based on the Inter-Spike Interval concept was performed, which may be useful in the future development of applications based on spiking filters., Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures

Let $\mathbb{F}$ be a field and let $E$ be the natural representation of $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{F})$. Given a vector space $V$, let $\Delta^{(2,1^{N-1})}V$ be the kernel of the multiplication map $\bigwedge^N V \otimes V \rightarrow \bigwedge^{N+1}V$. We construct an explicit $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{F})$-isomorphism $\mathrm{Sym}^{N-1}E \otimes \bigwedge^{N+1} \mathrm{Sym}^{d+1}E \cong \Delta^{(2,1^{N-1})} \mathrm{Sym}^d E$. This $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{F})$-isomorphism is a modular lift of the $q$-binomial identity $q^{\frac{N(N-1)}{2}}[N]_q \binom{d+1}{N+1}_q = s_{(2,1^{N-1})}(1,q,\ldots, q^d)$, where $s_{(2,1^{N-1})}$ is the Schur function for the partition $(2,1^{N-1})$. This identity, which follows from our main theorem, implies the existence of an isomorphism when $\mathbb{F}$ is the field of complex numbers but it is notable, and not typical of the general case, that there is an explicit isomorphism defined in a uniform way for any field., Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure

The brain has computational capabilities that surpass those of modern systems, being able to solve complex problems efficiently in a simple way. Neuromorphic engineering aims to mimic biology in order to develop new systems capable of incorporating such capabilities. Bio-inspired learning systems continue to be a challenge that must be solved, and much work needs to be done in this regard. Among all brain regions, the hippocampus stands out as an autoassociative short-term memory with the capacity to learn and recall memories from any fragment of them. These characteristics make the hippocampus an ideal candidate for developing bio-inspired learning systems that, in addition, resemble content-addressable memories. Therefore, in this work we propose a bio-inspired spiking content-addressable memory model based on the CA3 region of the hippocampus with the ability to learn, forget and recall memories, both orthogonal and non-orthogonal, from any fragment of them. The model was implemented on the SpiNNaker hardware platform using Spiking Neural Networks. A set of experiments based on functional, stress and applicability tests were performed to demonstrate its correct functioning. This work presents the first hardware implementation of a fully-functional bio-inspired spiking hippocampal content-addressable memory model, paving the way for the development of future more complex neuromorphic systems., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, journal, Spiking Neural Network

The brain has a great capacity for computation and efficient resolution of complex problems, far surpassing modern computers. Neuromorphic engineering seeks to mimic the basic principles of the brain to develop systems capable of achieving such capabilities. In the neuromorphic field, navigation systems are of great interest due to their potential applicability to robotics, although these systems are still a challenge to be solved. This work proposes a spike-based robotic navigation and environment pseudomapping system formed by a bio-inspired hippocampal memory model connected to a Posterior Parietal Cortex model. The hippocampus is in charge of maintaining a representation of an environment state map, and the PPC is in charge of local decision-making. This system was implemented on the SpiNNaker hardware platform using Spiking Neural Networks. A set of real-time experiments was applied to demonstrate the correct functioning of the system in virtual and physical environments on a robotic platform. The system is able to navigate through the environment to reach a goal position starting from an initial position, avoiding obstacles and mapping the environment. To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the first implementation of an environment pseudo-mapping system with dynamic learning based on a bio-inspired hippocampal memory., Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, journal, Neural Networks

The nervous system, more specifically, the brain, is capable of solving complex problems simply and efficiently, far surpassing modern computers. In this regard, neuromorphic engineering is a research field that focuses on mimicking the basic principles that govern the brain in order to develop systems that achieve such computational capabilities. Within this field, bio-inspired learning and memory systems are still a challenge to be solved, and this is where the hippocampus is involved. It is the region of the brain that acts as a short-term memory, allowing the learning and unstructured and rapid storage of information from all the sensory nuclei of the cerebral cortex and its subsequent recall. In this work, we propose a novel bio-inspired memory model based on the hippocampus with the ability to learn memories, recall them from a cue (a part of the memory associated with the rest of the content) and even forget memories when trying to learn others with the same cue. This model has been implemented on the SpiNNaker hardware platform using Spiking Neural Networks, and a set of experiments and tests were performed to demonstrate its correct and expected operation. The proposed spike-based memory model generates spikes only when it receives an input, being energy efficient, and it needs 7 timesteps for the learning step and 6 timesteps for recalling a previously-stored memory. This work presents the first hardware implementation of a fully functional bio-inspired spike-based hippocampus memory model, paving the road for the development of future more complex neuromorphic systems., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, journal, Neural Networks

Neuromorphic engineering concentrates the efforts of a large number of researchers due to its great potential as a field of research, in a search for the exploitation of the advantages of the biological nervous system and the brain as a whole for the design of more efficient and real-time capable applications. For the development of applications as close to biology as possible, Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are used, considered biologically-plausible and that form the third generation of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). Since some SNN-based applications may need to store data in order to use it later, something that is present both in digital circuits and, in some form, in biology, a spiking memory is needed. This work presents a spiking implementation of a memory, which is one of the most important components in the computer architecture, and which could be essential in the design of a fully spiking computer. In the process of designing this spiking memory, different intermediate components were also implemented and tested. The tests were carried out on the SpiNNaker neuromorphic platform and allow to validate the approach used for the construction of the presented blocks. In addition, this work studies in depth how to build spiking blocks using this approach and includes a comparison between it and those used in other similar works focused on the design of spiking components, which include both spiking logic gates and spiking memory. All implemented blocks and developed tests are available in a public repository., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, 8 tables, journal paper, Neural Networks

The human brain is the most powerful and efficient machine in existence today, surpassing in many ways the capabilities of modern computers. Currently, lines of research in neuromorphic engineering are trying to develop hardware that mimics the functioning of the brain to acquire these superior capabilities. One of the areas still under development is the design of bio-inspired memories, where the hippocampus plays an important role. This region of the brain acts as a short-term memory with the ability to store associations of information from different sensory streams in the brain and recall them later. This is possible thanks to the recurrent collateral network architecture that constitutes CA3, the main sub-region of the hippocampus. In this work, we developed two spike-based computational models of fully functional hippocampal bio-inspired memories for the storage and recall of complex patterns implemented with spiking neural networks on the SpiNNaker hardware platform. These models present different levels of biological abstraction, with the first model having a constant oscillatory activity closer to the biological model, and the second one having an energy-efficient regulated activity, which, although it is still bio-inspired, opts for a more functional approach. Different experiments were performed for each of the models, in order to test their learning/recalling capabilities. A comprehensive comparison between the functionality and the biological plausibility of the presented models was carried out, showing their strengths and weaknesses. The two models, which are publicly available for researchers, could pave the way for future spike-based implementations and applications., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, conference, IJCNN 2022, accepted for publication

One of the most interesting and still growing scientific fields is neuromorphic engineering, which is focused on studying and designing hardware and software with the purpose of mimicking the basic principles of biological nervous systems. Currently, there are many research groups developing practical applications based on neuroscientific knowledge. This work provides researchers with a novel toolkit of building blocks based on Spiking Neural Networks that emulate the behavior of different logic gates. These could be very useful in many spike-based applications, since logic gates are the basis of digital circuits. The designs and models proposed are presented and implemented on a SpiNNaker hardware platform. Different experiments were performed in order to validate the expected behavior, and the obtained results are discussed. The functionality of traditional logic gates and the proposed blocks is studied, and the feasibility of the presented approach is discussed., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, conference, IJCNN 2022, accepted for publication

Since the cyberspace consolidated as fifth warfare dimension, the different actors of the defense sector began an arms race toward achieving cyber superiority, on which research, academic and industrial stakeholders contribute from a dual vision, mostly linked to a large and heterogeneous heritage of developments and adoption of civilian cybersecurity capabilities. In this context, augmenting the conscious of the context and warfare environment, risks and impacts of cyber threats on kinetic actuations became a critical rule-changer that military decision-makers are considering. A major challenge on acquiring mission-centric Cyber Situational Awareness (CSA) is the dynamic inference and assessment of the vertical propagations from situations that occurred at the mission supportive Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), up to their relevance at military tactical, operational and strategical views. In order to contribute on acquiring CSA, this paper addresses a major gap in the cyber defence state-of-the-art: the dynamic identification of Key Cyber Terrains (KCT) on a mission-centric context. Accordingly, the proposed KCT identification approach explores the dependency degrees among tasks and assets defined by commanders as part of the assessment criteria. These are correlated with the discoveries on the operational network and the asset vulnerabilities identified thorough the supported mission development. The proposal is presented as a reference model that reveals key aspects for mission-centric KCT analysis and supports its enforcement and further enforcement by including an illustrative application case., Comment: Preprint of an extended version of the conference "A novel automatic discovery system of critical assets in cyberspace-oriented military missions", in Proc. of the First Workshop on Recent Advances in Cyber Situational Awareness on Military Operations (CSA 2020) held by the 15th ARES International Conference in August 2020. https://doi.org/10.1145/3407023.3409225

Most physical and other natural systems are complex entities composed of a large number of interacting individual elements. It is a surprising fact that they often obey the so-called scaling laws relating an observable quantity with a measure of the size of the system. Here we describe the discovery of universal superlinear metabolic scaling laws in human cancers. This dependence underpins increasing tumour aggressiveness, due to evolutionary dynamics, which leads to an explosive growth as the disease progresses. We validated this dynamic using longitudinal volumetric data of different histologies from large cohorts of cancer patients. To explain our observations we put forward increasingly complex biologically-inspired mathematical models that captured the key processes governing tumor growth. Our models predicted that the emergence of superlinear allometric scaling laws is an inherently three-dimensional phenomenon. Moreover, the scaling laws thereby identified allowed us to define a set of metabolic metrics with prognostic value, thus providing added clinical utility to the base findings.

Products derived from a single multispectral sensor are hampered by a limited spatial, spectral or temporal resolutions. Image fusion in general and downscaling/blending in particular allow to combine different multiresolution datasets. We present here an optimal interpolation approach to generate smoothed and gap-free time series of Landsat reflectance data. We fuse MODIS (moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer) and Landsat data globally using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The optimal interpolator exploits GEE ability to ingest large amounts of data (Landsat climatologies) and uses simple linear operations that scale easily in the cloud. The approach shows very good results in practice, as tested over five sites with different vegetation types and climatic characteristics in the contiguous US.

This paper introduces a modular processing chain to derive global high-resolution maps of leaf traits. In particular, we present global maps at 500 m resolution of specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content per dry mass, and leaf nitrogen/phosphorus ratio. The processing chain exploits machine learning techniques along with optical remote sensing data (MODIS/Landsat) and climate data for gap filling and up-scaling of in-situ measured leaf traits. The chain first uses random forests regression with surrogates to fill gaps in the database ($> 45 \% $ of missing entries) and maximize the global representativeness of the trait dataset. Along with the estimated global maps of leaf traits, we provide associated uncertainty estimates derived from the regression models. The process chain is modular, and can easily accommodate new traits, data streams (traits databases and remote sensing data), and methods. The machine learning techniques applied allow attribution of information gain to data input and thus provide the opportunity to understand trait-environment relationships at the plant and ecosystem scales.

Most problems in Earth sciences aim to do inferences about the system, where accurate predictions are just a tiny part of the whole problem. Inferences mean understanding variables relations, deriving models that are physically interpretable, that are simple parsimonious, and mathematically tractable. Machine learning models alone are excellent approximators, but very often do not respect the most elementary laws of physics, like mass or energy conservation, so consistency and confidence are compromised. In this paper, we describe the main challenges ahead in the field, and introduce several ways to live in the Physics and machine learning interplay: to encode differential equations from data, constrain data-driven models with physics-priors and dependence constraints, improve parameterizations, emulate physical models, and blend data-driven and process-based models. This is a collective long-term AI agenda towards developing and applying algorithms capable of discovering knowledge in the Earth system., Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, expanded AAAI PGAI 2020 Symposium

Statistical shape analysis is a powerful tool to assess organ morphologies and find shape changes associated to a particular disease. However, imbalance in confounding factors, such as demographics might invalidate the analysis if not taken into consideration. Despite the methodological advances in the field, providing new methods that are able to capture complex and regional shape differences, the relationship between non-imaging information and shape variability has been overlooked. We present a linear statistical shape analysis framework that finds shape differences unassociated to a controlled set of confounding variables. It includes two confounding correction methods: confounding deflation and adjustment. We applied our framework to a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging dataset, consisting of the cardiac ventricles of 89 triathletes and 77 controls, to identify cardiac remodelling due to the practice of endurance exercise. To test robustness to confounders, subsets of this dataset were generated by randomly removing controls with low body mass index, thus introducing imbalance. The analysis of the whole dataset indicates an increase of ventricular volumes and myocardial mass in athletes, which is consistent with the clinical literature. However, when confounders are not taken into consideration no increase of myocardial mass is found. Using the downsampled datasets, we find that confounder adjustment methods are needed to find the real remodelling patterns in imbalanced datasets., Comment: This paper has been acccepted for publication in Medical Image Analysis. Please find the final version with its supplementary materials at doi.org/10.1016/j.media.2020.101792. Shared under license CC-BY-NC-ND

Let $G$ be an algebraic group of classical type of rank $l$ over an algebraically closed field $K$ of characteristic $p$. We list and determine the dimensions of all irreducible $KG$-modules $L$ with $\dim L < \binom{l+1}{4}$ if $G$ is of type $A_l$, and with $\dim L < 16 \binom{l}{4}$, if $G$ is of type $B_l$, $C_l$ or $D_l$.