Contrasting Properties of Motor Output from the Supplementary Motor Area and Primary Motor Cortex in Rhesus Macaques

The goal of this study was to assess the motor output capabilities of the forelimb representation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) in terms of the sign, latency and strength of effects on electromyographic (EMG) activity. Stimulus triggered averages of EMG activity from 24 muscles of the forelimb were computed in SMA during a reach-to-grasp task. Poststimulus facilitation (PStF) from SMA had two distinct peaks (15.2 and 55.2 ms) and one poststimulus suppression (PStS) peak (32.4 ms). The short onset latency PStF and PStS of SMA were 5.5 and 16.8 ms longer than those of the primary motor cortex (M1). The average magnitudes (peak increase or decrease above baseline) of the short and long latency PStF and PStS from SMA at 60 μA were 13.8, 11.3 and −11.9% respectively. In comparison, M1 PStF and PStS magnitudes at 15 μA were 50.2 and −23.8%. Extrapolating M1 PStF magnitude to 60 μA yields a mean effect that is nearly 15 times greater than the mean PStF from SMA. Moreover, unlike M1, the facilitation of distal muscles from SMA was not significantly greater than the facilitation of proximal muscles. We conclude that the output from SMA to motoneurons is markedly weaker compared with M1 raising doubts about the role of SMA corticospinal neurons in the direct control of muscle activit

A dependent nominal type theory

Nominal abstract syntax is an approach to representing names and binding pioneered by Gabbay and Pitts. So far nominal techniques have mostly been studied using classical logic or model theory, not type theory. Nominal extensions to simple, dependent and ML-like polymorphic languages have been studied, but decidability and normalization results have only been established for simple nominal type theories. We present a LF-style dependent type theory extended with name-abstraction types, prove soundness and decidability of beta-eta-equivalence checking, discuss adequacy and canonical forms via an example, and discuss extensions such as dependently-typed recursion and induction principles

Negative thermal expansion of MgB2_{2} in the superconducting state and anomalous behavior of the bulk Gr\"uneisen function

The thermal expansion coefficient $\alpha$ of MgB$_2$ is revealed to change from positive to negative on cooling through the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$. The Gr\"uneisen function also becomes negative at $T_c$ followed by a dramatic increase to large positive values at low temperature. The results suggest anomalous coupling between superconducting electrons and low-energy phonons.Comment: 5 figures. submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Sustainable Affordable Housing - Submission to Inquiry into First Home Ownership

The Institute welcomes this opportunity to submit comments to the Commissions Inquiry evaluating the affordability and availability of housing for first home buyers. The Institute for Sustainable Futures is a self-funded research and consulting institute of the University of Technology, Sydney. The Institutes mission is to support and create change towards sustainable futures by working with government, industry and the community. Social sustainability, sustainable housing and sustainable urban infrastructure for energy, water and transport are all key parts of this mission.1 This submission seeks to evaluate the affordability and availability of housing for first home buyers within the framework of ecologically sustainable development (ESD). It is in two parts. Part I: Submission provides the framework. Part II: Comments on the Commissions Issues Paper provides more details on this framework under the broad headings used in the Commissions Issues Paper

Nominal Unification of Higher Order Expressions with Recursive Let

A sound and complete algorithm for nominal unification of higher-order expressions with a recursive let is described, and shown to run in non-deterministic polynomial time. We also explore specializations like nominal letrec-matching for plain expressions and for DAGs and determine the complexity of corresponding unification problems.Comment: Pre-proceedings paper presented at the 26th International Symposium on Logic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation (LOPSTR 2016), Edinburgh, Scotland UK, 6-8 September 2016 (arXiv:1608.02534

Summation of Power Series by Self-Similar Factor Approximants

A novel method of summation for power series is developed. The method is based on the self-similar approximation theory. The trick employed is in transforming, first, a series expansion into a product expansion and in applying the self-similar renormalization to the latter rather to the former. This results in self-similar factor approximants extrapolating the sought functions from the region of asymptotically small variables to their whole domains. The method of constructing crossover formulas, interpolating between small and large values of variables is also analysed. The techniques are illustrated on different series which are typical of problems in statistical mechanics, condensed-matter physics, and, generally, in many-body theory.Comment: 30 pages + 5 ps figures, some misprints have been correcte

Dynamics of direct inter-pack encounters in endangered African wild dogs

Aggressive encounters may have important life history consequences due to the potential for injury and death, disease transmission, dispersal opportunities or exclusion from key areas of the home range. Despite this, little is known of their detailed dynamics, mainly due to the difficulties of directly observing encounters in detail. Here, we describe detailed spatial dynamics of inter-pack encounters in African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), using data from custom-built high-resolution GPS collars in 11 free-ranging packs. On average, each pack encountered another pack approximately every 7 weeks and met each neighbour twice each year. Surprisingly, intruders were more likely to win encounters (winning 78.6% of encounters by remaining closer to the site in the short term). However, intruders did tend to move farther than residents toward their own range core in the short-term (1 h) post-encounter, and if this were used to indicate losing an encounter, then the majority (73.3%) of encounters were won by residents. Surprisingly, relative pack size had little effect on encounter outcome, and injuries were rare (<15% of encounters). These results highlight the difficulty of remotely scoring encounters involving mobile participants away from static defendable food resources. Although inter-pack range overlap was reduced following an encounter, encounter outcome did not seem to drive this, as both packs shifted their ranges post-encounter. Our results indicate that inter-pack encounters may be lower risk than previously suggested and do not appear to influence long-term movement and ranging

The effects of CO2, climate and land-use on terrestrial carbon balance, 1920-1992: An analysis with four process-based ecosystem models

The concurrent effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, climate variability, and cropland establishment and abandonment on terrestrial carbon storage between 1920 and 1992 were assessed using a standard simulation protocol with four process-based terrestrial biosphere models. Over the long-term(1920–1992), the simulations yielded a time history of terrestrial uptake that is consistent (within the uncertainty) with a long-term analysis based on ice core and atmospheric CO2 data. Up to 1958, three of four analyses indicated a net release of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere caused by cropland establishment. After 1958, all analyses indicate a net uptake of carbon by terrestrial ecosystems, primarily because of the physiological effects of rapidly rising atmospheric CO2. During the 1980s the simulations indicate that terrestrial ecosystems stored between 0.3 and 1.5 Pg C yr−1, which is within the uncertainty of analysis based on CO2 and O2 budgets. Three of the four models indicated (in accordance with O2 evidence) that the tropics were approximately neutral while a net sink existed in ecosystems north of the tropics. Although all of the models agree that the long-term effect of climate on carbon storage has been small relative to the effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 and land use, the models disagree as to whether climate variability and change in the twentieth century has promoted carbon storage or release. Simulated interannual variability from 1958 generally reproduced the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-scale variability in the atmospheric CO2 increase, but there were substantial differences in the magnitude of interannual variability simulated by the models. The analysis of the ability of the models to simulate the changing amplitude of the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2 suggested that the observed trend may be a consequence of CO2 effects, climate variability, land use changes, or a combination of these effects. The next steps for improving the process-based simulation of historical terrestrial carbon include (1) the transfer of insight gained from stand-level process studies to improve the sensitivity of simulated carbon storage responses to changes in CO2 and climate, (2) improvements in the data sets used to drive the models so that they incorporate the timing, extent, and types of major disturbances, (3) the enhancement of the models so that they consider major crop types and management schemes, (4) development of data sets that identify the spatial extent of major crop types and management schemes through time, and (5) the consideration of the effects of anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. The evaluation of the performance of the models in the context of a more complete consideration of the factors influencing historical terrestrial carbon dynamics is important for reducing uncertainties in representing the role of terrestrial ecosystems in future projections of the Earth system