TY - GEN A1 - Dreßler, Sebastian A1 - Steinke, Thomas T1 - An Automated Approach for Estimating the Memory Footprint of Non-Linear Data Objects N2 - Current programming models for heterogeneous devices with disjoint physical memory spaces require explicit allocation of device memory and explicit data transfers. While it is quite easy to manually implement these operations for linear data objects like arrays, this task becomes more difficult for non-linear objects, e.g. linked lists or multiple inherited classes. The difficulties arise due to dynamic memory requirements at run-time and the dependencies between data structures. In this paper we present a novel method to build a graph-based static data type description which is used to create code for injectable functions that automatically determine the memory footprint of data objects at run-time. Our approach is extensible to implement automatically generated optimized data transfers across physical memory spaces. T3 - ZIB-Report - 13-46 KW - memory footprint KW - non-linear objects KW - static analysis KW - dynamic analysis Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-42224 SN - 1438-0064 ER - TY - THES A1 - Dercksen, Vincent J. T1 - Visual computing techniques for the reconstruction and analysis of anatomically realistic neural networks N2 - To understand how the brain translates sensory input into behavior, one needs to identify, at the cellular level, the involved neural circuitry and the electrical signals it carries. This thesis describes methods and tools that enable neuroscientists to obtain important anatomical data, including neuron numbers and shapes, from 3D microscopy images. On this basis, tools have been developed to create and visually analyze anatomically realistic 3D models of neural networks: 1. An automatic segmentation method for determining the number and location of neuron cell bodies in 3D microscopy images. Application of this method yields a difference of merely ∼4% between automatically and manually counted cells, which is sufficiently accurate for application in large-scale counting experiments. 2. A method for the automatic alignment of 3D section volumes containing filamentous structures. To this end, an existing point-matching-based method has been adapted such that sections containing neuron and microtubule fragments could be successfully aligned. 3. The Filament Editor, a 3D proof-editing tool for visual verification and correction of automatically traced filaments. The usefulness of the Filament Editor is demonstrated by applying it in a validated neuron reconstruction pipeline to create 3D models of long-range and complex neuronal branches. 4. The tool NeuroNet, which is used to assemble an anatomical model of a neural network representing the rat barrel cortex (or subnetworks therein, e.g. individual cortical columns), based on reconstructed anatomical data, such as neuron distributions and 3D morphologies. The tool estimates synaptic connectivity between neurons based on structural overlap between axons and dendrites. 5. A framework for the interactive visual analysis of synaptic connectivity in such networks at multiple scales. It works from the level of neuron populations down to individual synapse positions on dendritic trees. It comprises the Cortical Column Connectivity Viewer, developed to analyze synaptic connections between neuron populations within and between cortical columns. The usefulness of these methods is demonstrated by applying them to reconstruct and analyze neural networks in the rat barrel cortex. Finally, I describe several applications of these methods and tools by neuroscientists, yielding significant biological findings regarding neuron anatomy and connectivity. KW - 3D reconstruction KW - image segmentation KW - neural network KW - neuron tracing KW - connectome Y1 - 2015 UR - http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/receive/FUDISS_thesis_000000100938 ER -