5,729 research outputs found
Effect of Correlated Lateral Geniculate Nucleus Firing Rates on Predictions for Monocular Eye Closure Versus Monocular Retinal Inactivation
Monocular deprivation experiments can be used to distinguish between different ideas concerning properties of cortical synaptic plasticity. Monocular deprivation by lid suture causes a rapid disconnection of the deprived eye connected to cortical neurons whereas total inactivation of the deprived eye produces much less of an ocular dominance shift. In order to understand these results one needs to know how lid suture and retinal inactivation affect neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) that provide the cortical input. Recent experimental results by Linden et al. showed that monocular lid suture and monocular inactivation do not change the mean firing rates of LGN neurons but that lid suture reduces correlations between adjacent neurons whereas monocular inactivation leads to correlated firing. These, somewhat surprising, results contradict assumptions that have been made to explain the outcomes of different monocular deprivation protocols. Based on these experimental results we modify our assumptions about inputs to cortex during different deprivation protocols and show their implications when combined with different cortical plasticity rules. Using theoretical analysis, random matrix theory and simulations we show that high levels of correlations reduce the ocular dominance shift in learning rules that depend on homosynaptic depression (i.e., Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro type rules), consistent with experimental results, but have the opposite effect in rules that depend on heterosynaptic depression (i.e., Hebbian/principal component analysis type rules)
Selectivity and Metaplasticity in a Unified Calcium-Dependent Model
A unified, biophysically motivated Calcium-Dependent Learning model has been shown to account for various rate-based and spike time-dependent paradigms for inducing synaptic plasticity. Here, we investigate the properties of this model for a multi-synapse neuron that receives inputs with different spike-train statistics. In addition, we present a physiological form of metaplasticity, an activity-driven regulation mechanism, that is essential for the robustness of the model. A neuron thus implemented develops stable and selective receptive fields, given various input statistic
RAFCON: a Graphical Tool for Task Programming and Mission Control
There are many application fields for robotic systems including service
robotics, search and rescue missions, industry and space robotics. As the
scenarios in these areas grow more and more complex, there is a high demand for
powerful tools to efficiently program heterogeneous robotic systems. Therefore,
we created RAFCON, a graphical tool to develop robotic tasks and to be used for
mission control by remotely monitoring the execution of the tasks. To define
the tasks, we use state machines which support hierarchies and concurrency.
Together with a library concept, even complex scenarios can be handled
gracefully. RAFCON supports sophisticated debugging functionality and tightly
integrates error handling and recovery mechanisms. A GUI with a powerful state
machine editor makes intuitive, visual programming and fast prototyping
possible. We demonstrated the capabilities of our tool in the SpaceBotCamp
national robotic competition, in which our mobile robot solved all exploration
and assembly challenges fully autonomously. It is therefore also a promising
tool for various RoboCup leagues.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Student perspectives on the relationship between a curve and its tangent in the transition from Euclidean Geometry to Analysis
The tangent line is a central concept in many mathematics and science courses. In this paper we describe a model of students’ thinking – concept images as well as ability in symbolic manipulation – about the tangent line of a curve as it has developed through students’ experiences in Euclidean Geometry and Analysis courses. Data was collected through a questionnaire administered to 196 Year 12 students. Through Latent Class Analysis, the participants were classified in three hierarchical groups representing the transition from a Geometrical Global perspective on the tangent line to an Analytical Local perspective. In the light of this classification, and through qualitative explanations of the students’ responses, we describe students’ thinking about tangents in terms of seven factors. We confirm the model constituted by these seven factors through Confirmatory Factor Analysis
Maximal-entropy random walk unifies centrality measures
In this paper analogies between different (dis)similarity matrices are
derived. These matrices, which are connected to path enumeration and random
walks, are used in community detection methods or in computation of centrality
measures for complex networks. The focus is on a number of known centrality
measures, which inherit the connections established for similarity matrices.
These measures are based on the principal eigenvector of the adjacency matrix,
path enumeration, as well as on the stationary state, stochastic matrix or mean
first-passage times of a random walk. Particular attention is paid to the
maximal-entropy random walk, which serves as a very distinct alternative to the
ordinary random walk used in network analysis.
The various importance measures, defined both with the use of ordinary random
walk and the maximal-entropy random walk, are compared numerically on a set of
benchmark graphs. It is shown that groups of centrality measures defined with
the two random walks cluster into two separate families. In particular, the
group of centralities for the maximal-entropy random walk, connected to the
eigenvector centrality and path enumeration, is strongly distinct from all the
other measures and produces largely equivalent results.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
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The occipital lateral plate mesoderm is a novel source for vertebrate neck musculature
In vertebrates, body musculature originates from somites, whereas head muscles originate from the cranial mesoderm. Neck muscles are located in the transition between these regions. We show that the chick occipital lateral plate mesoderm has myogenic capacity and gives rise to large muscles located in the neck and thorax. We present molecular and genetic evidence to show that these muscles not only have a unique origin, but additionally display a distinct temporal development, forming later than any other muscle group described to date. We further report that these muscles, found in the body of the animal, develop
like head musculature rather than deploying the programme used by the trunk muscles. Using mouse genetics we reveal that these muscles are formed in trunk muscle mutants but are absent in head muscle mutants. In concordance with this conclusion, their connective tissue is neural crest in origin. Finally, we provide evidence that the mechanism by which these neck muscles develop is conserved in vertebrates
Separation of Test-Free Propositional Dynamic Logics over Context-Free Languages
For a class L of languages let PDL[L] be an extension of Propositional
Dynamic Logic which allows programs to be in a language of L rather than just
to be regular. If L contains a non-regular language, PDL[L] can express
non-regular properties, in contrast to pure PDL.
For regular, visibly pushdown and deterministic context-free languages, the
separation of the respective PDLs can be proven by automata-theoretic
techniques. However, these techniques introduce non-determinism on the automata
side. As non-determinism is also the difference between DCFL and CFL, these
techniques seem to be inappropriate to separate PDL[DCFL] from PDL[CFL].
Nevertheless, this separation is shown but for programs without test operators.Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2011, arXiv:1106.081
Synthesizing Finite-state Protocols from Scenarios and Requirements
Scenarios, or Message Sequence Charts, offer an intuitive way of describing
the desired behaviors of a distributed protocol. In this paper we propose a new
way of specifying finite-state protocols using scenarios: we show that it is
possible to automatically derive a distributed implementation from a set of
scenarios augmented with a set of safety and liveness requirements, provided
the given scenarios adequately \emph{cover} all the states of the desired
implementation. We first derive incomplete state machines from the given
scenarios, and then synthesis corresponds to completing the transition relation
of individual processes so that the global product meets the specified
requirements. This completion problem, in general, has the same complexity,
PSPACE, as the verification problem, but unlike the verification problem, is
NP-complete for a constant number of processes. We present two algorithms for
solving the completion problem, one based on a heuristic search in the space of
possible completions and one based on OBDD-based symbolic fixpoint computation.
We evaluate the proposed methodology for protocol specification and the
effectiveness of the synthesis algorithms using the classical alternating-bit
protocol.Comment: This is the working draft of a paper currently in submission.
(February 10, 2014
Path-Fault-Tolerant Approximate Shortest-Path Trees
Let be an -nodes non-negatively real-weighted undirected graph.
In this paper we show how to enrich a {\em single-source shortest-path tree}
(SPT) of with a \emph{sparse} set of \emph{auxiliary} edges selected from
, in order to create a structure which tolerates effectively a \emph{path
failure} in the SPT. This consists of a simultaneous fault of a set of at
most adjacent edges along a shortest path emanating from the source, and it
is recognized as one of the most frequent disruption in an SPT. We show that,
for any integer parameter , it is possible to provide a very sparse
(i.e., of size ) auxiliary structure that carefully
approximates (i.e., within a stretch factor of ) the true
shortest paths from the source during the lifetime of the failure. Moreover, we
show that our construction can be further refined to get a stretch factor of
and a size of for the special case , and that it can be
converted into a very efficient \emph{approximate-distance sensitivity oracle},
that allows to quickly (even in optimal time, if ) reconstruct the
shortest paths (w.r.t. our structure) from the source after a path failure,
thus permitting to perform promptly the needed rerouting operations. Our
structure compares favorably with previous known solutions, as we discuss in
the paper, and moreover it is also very effective in practice, as we assess
through a large set of experiments.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, SIROCCO 201
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