Hippocampal state-dependent behavioral reflex to an identical sensory input in rats.

We examined the local field potential of the hippocampus to monitor brain states during a conditional discrimination task, in order to elucidate the relationship between ongoing brain states and a conditioned motor reflex. Five 10-week-old Wistar/ST male rats underwent a serial feature positive conditional discrimination task in eyeblink conditioning using a preceding light stimulus as a conditional cue for reinforced trials. In this task, a 2-s light stimulus signaled that the following 350-ms tone (conditioned stimulus) was reinforced with a co-terminating 100-ms periorbital electrical shock. The interval between the end of conditional cue and the onset of the conditioned stimulus was 4±1 s. The conditioned stimulus was not reinforced when the light was not presented. Animals successfully utilized the light stimulus as a conditional cue to drive differential responses to the identical conditioned stimulus. We found that presentation of the conditional cue elicited hippocampal theta oscillations, which persisted during the interval of conditional cue and the conditioned stimulus. Moreover, expression of the conditioned response to the tone (conditioned stimulus) was correlated with the appearance of theta oscillations immediately before the conditioned stimulus. These data support hippocampal involvement in the network underlying a conditional discrimination task in eyeblink conditioning. They also suggest that the preceding hippocampal activity can determine information processing of the tone stimulus in the cerebellum and its associated circuits

Data from: A simple behavioral model predicts the emergence of complex animal hierarchies

Social dominance hierarchies are widespread, but little is known about the mechanisms that produce non-linear structures. In addition to despotic hierarchies, where a single individual dominates, shared hierarchies exist where multiple individuals occupy a single rank. In vertebrates, these complex dominance relationships are thought to develop from interactions that require higher cognition, but similar cases of shared dominance have been found in social insects. Combining empirical observations with a modeling approach, we show that all three hierarchy structures-linear, despotic, and shared-can emerge from different combinations of simple interactions present in social insects. Our model shows that a linear hierarchy emerges when a typical winner-loser interaction (dominance biting) is present. A despotic hierarchy emerges when a policing interaction is added that results in the complete loss of dominance status for an attacked individual (physical policing). Finally, a shared hierarchy emerges with the addition of a "winner-winner" interaction that results in a positive outcome for both interactors (antennal dueling). Antennal dueling is an enigmatic ant behavior that has previously lacked a functional explanation. These results show how complex social traits can emerge from simple behaviors without requiring advanced cognition

V-FIRE: Virtual Fire in Realistic Environments

Abstract V-FIRE is a 3D fire simulation and visualization software tool that allows users to harness and observe fire evolution and fire-related processes in a controlled virtual environment. This paper presents details of the tool’s requirements specification, software architecture, medium and low-level design, and prototype user interface. As the tool is currently in its development stage, a report on the project’s current status is also included. In addition, a discussion of development challenges and pointers to future work are provided. Keywords virtual environment, fire simulation, requirements specification, software design, prototype user interface.

MANAGING DATA AND COMPUTATIONAL COMPLEXITY FOR IMMERSIVE WILDFIRE VISUALIZATION

Wildfires are a concern for communities throughout the world. They cause millions of dollars in damage and lead to loss of lives. The development of computational models to predict wildfire behavior is necessary to minimize wildfire damages and casualties. Visualizing the data generated from these computational models has many applications including training, strategic planning, data analysis, and model validation. The complexity of visualizing wildfire brings many challenges, further complicated by large datasets and specialized hardware used to drive immersive systems. This paper present methods for managing the large datasets and computational complexity involved in visualizing large wildfires in immersive environments