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A graphical framework to approximate visual features from spike-based sensor data has been demonstrated. An event-based camera or dynamic vision sensor (DVS) provides the sensory input into the network which computes the intrascene optical flow, spatial gradient, and absolute intensity. The network uses the sparse, event-based input along with fundamental relations in parallel to converge upon quantities via incremental optimization. An event-based algorithm to compute optical flow was used to provide another stream of input into the network to aid convergence. A full network has been deployed in Python and parallelized to demonstrate its potential deployment on specialized hardware.

We report the proof-of-principle demonstration of a methodology, called Metal-Assisted and Microwave-Accelerated Germination, to modulate the germination of plant seeds and growth of plants using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and microwave heating. As a model plant seed, basil seeds were heated in a solution of 20 nm Au NPs using a microwave waveguide fiber connected to a solid-state microwave operating at 8 GHz at 20 W, which resulted in the development of longer basil gum as observed by optical microscopy. In control experiments, Au NPs or microwave heating was omitted to establish a baseline growth level under standard experimental conditions (no microwave heating or no Au NPs). Our results also show that hydroponic growth and soil growth of basil plants can be delayed with the use of 20 nm Au NPs at room temperature without microwave heating. The combined use of 20 nm Au NPs and microwave heating at 10 W for 6 minutes results in accelerated growth prolonged life of basil plants.

We estimated rates of breeding philopatry and complementary dispersal within the Queen Maud Gulf metapopulation of Ross’s Geese (Chen rossii) using multistate modeling of neckband observations at five breeding colonies, 1999–2003. Probability of philopatry was female–biased, but varied among colonies. Probabilies of annual movement among breeding colonies ranged 0.02 to 0.14 for females and 0.12 to 0.38 for males and was substantially higher than expected. These estimates (1) underscore the potential for dispersal to alter breeding distribution, (2) demonstrates that the influence of immigration on colony–specific rates of population growth is nontrivial, and (3) provides behavioral evidence for extensive gene flow among subpopulations. Sex differences in apparent survival estimated from multistate models likely resulted from a combination of higher rates of neckband loss by males compared to females, and higher rates of permanent emigration by males from our study area., Estimamos las tasas de filopatría de reproducción y la dispersión complementaria del ansar de Ross (Chen rossii) en la metapoblación del golfo de la Reina Maud utilizando la modelación multiestado a partir de las observaciones de animales marcados en el cuello en cinco colonias de reproducción, 1999–2003. La probabilidad de filopatría presentaba un sesgo a favor de las hembras, pero variaba de una colonia a otra. Las probabilidades de movimiento anual entre las colonias de reproducción oscilaban entre el 0,02 y el 0,14 para las hembras, y entre el 0,12 y el 0,38 para los machos, siendo considerablemente superiores a lo previsto. Estas estimaciones 1) subrayan las posibilidades de que la dispersión modifique la distribución de reproducción, 2) demuestran que la influencia de la inmigración en las tasas de crecimiento poblacional de cada colonia no es irrelevante y 3) proporcionan evidencia conductual acerca de un amplio flujo genético entre subpoblaciones. Las diferencias por sexo en la supervivencia aparente estimadas a partir de modelos multiestado probablemente fueron debidas a una combinación de tasas más elevadas de pérdida de marcaje en el cuello por parte de los machos en comparación con las hembras, y a tasas más elevadas de emigración permanente por parte de los machos de nuestra área de estudio.