Biomedical subjects

Ralf Möller

Publications and source records attributed to Ralf Möller.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Learning visuomotor transformations for gaze-control and grasping.

For reaching to and grasping of an object, visual information about the object must be transformed into motor or postural commands for the arm and hand. In this paper, we present a robot model for visually guided reaching and grasping. The model mimics two alternative processing pathways for grasping, which are also likely to coexist in the human brain. The first pathway directly uses the retinal activation to encode the target position. In the second pathway, a saccade controller makes the eyes (cameras) focus on the target, and the gaze direction is used instead as positional input. For both pathways, an arm controller transforms information on the target's position and orientation into an arm posture suitable for grasping. For the training of the saccade controller, we suggest a novel staged learning method which does not require a teacher that provides the necessary motor commands. The arm controller uses unsupervised learning: it is based on a density model of the sensor and the motor data. Using this density, a mapping is achieved by completing a partially given sensorimotor pattern. The controller can cope with the ambiguity in having a set of redundant arm postures for a given target. The combined model of saccade and arm controller was able to fixate and grasp an elongated object with arbitrary orientation and at arbitrary position on a table in 94% of trials.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Coupled principal component analysis.

A framework for a class of coupled principal component learning rules is presented. In coupled rules, eigenvectors and eigenvalues of a covariance matrix are simultaneously estimated in coupled equations. Coupled rules can mitigate the stability-speed problem affecting noncoupled learning rules, since the convergence speed in all eigendirections of the Jacobian becomes widely independent of the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix. A number of coupled learning rule systems for principal component analysis, two of them new, is derived by applying Newton's method to an information criterion. The relations to other systems of this class, the adaptive learning algorithm (ALA), the robust recursive least squares algorithm (RRLSA), and a rule with explicit renormalization of the weight vector length, are established.

Principal Component Analysis↗

PubMed2004

A self-stabilizing learning rule for minor component analysis.

The paper reviews single-neuron learning rules for minor component analysis and suggests a novel minor component learning rule. In this rule, the weight vector length is self-stabilizing, i.e., moving towards unit length in each learning step. In simulations with low- and medium-dimensional data, the performance of the novel learning rule is compared with previously suggested rules.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2003

Cell differentiation, secondary cell-wall formation and transformation of callus tissue of Pinus radiata D. Don.

Tracheid and sclereid differentiation was induced in callus cultures of Pinus radiata D. Don by culturing on a basal medium containing activated charcoal but no phytohormones; sclereids differentiated in callus derived from xylem strips, but not in callus derived from hypocotyl segments. The tracheids differentiated in hypocotyl-derived callus had helical, scalariform, reticulated or pitted secondary cell-wall patterns, but those differentiated in xylem-derived callus had a reticulate or pitted pattern. The thickened tracheid and sclereid walls contained lignin as indicated by the red colour reaction given with phloroglucinol-HCl. The presence of lignin in the cell walls of differentiated callus was confirmed using pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry by the detection of phenylpropanoid components derived from lignin. Lignin was also detected using solid-state (13)C cross-polarisation/magic-angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and quantified as thioglycolic acid lignin. Monosaccharide analyses of the cell walls isolated from differentiated and undifferentiated calli showed that the cell walls of the differentiated calli contained higher proportions of glucose and mannose, consistent with the presence of greater proportions of gluco- and/or galactogluco-mannans in the secondary cell walls of the differentiated cells. A protocol for the stable transformation of undifferentiated, xylem-derived cultures was successfully developed. Transgenic cell lines were established following Biolistic particle bombardment with a plasmid containing the coding region of the nptII gene and the coding region of the cad gene from P. radiata. Expression of the nptII gene in transgenic lines was confirmed by an NPTII-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The overexpression of cad in the transgenic lines resulted in a down-regulation of cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.195) expression.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases↗

PubMed2002

Insects could exploit UV-green contrast for Landmark navigation.

Illumination-invariant detection of landmark features is a prerequisite for landmark navigation in insects. It is suggested that a contrast mechanism involving the UV and green receptors of insect eyes could guarantee a robust separation between natural objects as foreground and sky as background. Using a sensor with a UV and a green channel that in their spectral characteristics are close to the corresponding insect photoreceptors, data of natural objects and sky were collected. The data show that the two classes can be separated by a fixed threshold in the UV-green color space, offering an advantage over a purely UV-based separation that would require a dynamic threshold. Based on a numerical method, UV-green antagonism is shown to guarantee a more reliable discrimination than UV-blue antagonism.

Animals↗