Electrolytic lesions within central complex neuropils of the cockroach brain affect negotiation of barriers

Animals must negotiate obstacles in their path in order to successfully function within natural environments. These actions require transitions from walking to other behaviors, many of which are more involved than simple reflexes. For these behaviors to be successful, insects must evaluate objects in their path and then use that information to change posture or re-direct leg movements. Some of this control may occur within a region of the brain known as the central complex (CC). We used discrete electrolytic lesions to examine the role of certain sub-regions of the CC in various obstacle negotiation behaviors. We found that cockroaches with lesions to the protocerebral bridge (PB) and ellipsoid body (EB) exhibit abnormalities in turning and dealing with shelf-like objects; whereas, individuals with lesions to the fan-shaped body (FB) and lateral accessory lobe (LAL), exhibit abnormalities of those behaviors as well as climbing over blocks and up walls to a horizontal plane. Abnormalities in block climbing include decreased success rate, changes in climbing strategy, and delayed response to the block. Increases in these abnormal behaviors were significant in individuals with lesions to the FB and LAL. Although turning abnormalities are present in individuals with lesions to the LAL, EB and the lateral region of the FB, there are some differences in how these deficits present. For instance, the turning deficits seen in individuals with lateral FB lesions only occurred when turning in the direction opposite to the side of the brain on which the lesion occurred. By contrast, individuals with lesions to the EB and LAL exhibited turning abnormalities in both directions. Lesions in the medial region of the FB did not result in directional turning deficits, but in abnormalities in block climbing

Baikov-Lee Representations Of Cut Feynman Integrals

We develop a general framework for the evaluation of $d$-dimensional cut Feynman integrals based on the Baikov-Lee representation of purely-virtual Feynman integrals. We implement the generalized Cutkosky cutting rule using Cauchy's residue theorem and identify a set of constraints which determine the integration domain. The method applies equally well to Feynman integrals with a unitarity cut in a single kinematic channel and to maximally-cut Feynman integrals. Our cut Baikov-Lee representation reproduces the expected relation between cuts and discontinuities in a given kinematic channel and furthermore makes the dependence on the kinematic variables manifest from the beginning. By combining the Baikov-Lee representation of maximally-cut Feynman integrals and the properties of periods of algebraic curves, we are able to obtain complete solution sets for the homogeneous differential equations satisfied by Feynman integrals which go beyond multiple polylogarithms. We apply our formalism to the direct evaluation of a number of interesting cut Feynman integrals.Comment: 37 pages; v2 is the published version of this work with references added relative to v

Developmentally regulated multisensory integration for prey localization in the medicinal leech

Medicinal leeches, like many aquatic animals, use water disturbances to localize their prey, so they need to be able to determine if a wave disturbance is created by prey or by another source. Many aquatic predators perform this separation by responding only to those wave frequencies representing their prey. As leeches' prey preference changes over the course of their development, we examined their responses at three different life stages. We found that juveniles more readily localize wave sources of lower frequencies (2 Hz) than their adult counterparts (8–12 Hz), and that adolescents exhibited elements of both juvenile and adult behavior, readily localizing sources of both frequencies. Leeches are known to be able to localize the source of waves through the use of either mechanical or visual information. We separately characterized their ability to localize various frequencies of stimuli using unimodal cues. Within a single modality, the frequency–response curves of adults and juveniles were virtually indistinguishable. However, the differences between the responses for each modality (visual and mechanosensory) were striking. The optimal visual stimulus had a much lower frequency (2 Hz) than the optimal mechanical stimulus (12 Hz). These frequencies matched, respectively, the juvenile and the adult preferred frequency for multimodally sensed waves. This suggests that, in the multimodal condition, adult behavior is driven more by mechanosensory information and juvenile behavior more by visual. Indeed, when stimuli of the two modalities were placed in conflict with one another, adult leeches, unlike juveniles, were attracted to the mechanical stimulus much more strongly than to the visual stimulus

Two-stage, low noise advanced technology fan. 4: Aerodynamic final report

A two-stage research fan was tested to provide technology for designing a turbofan engine for an advanced, long range commercial transport having a cruise Mach number of 0.85 -0.9 and a noise level 20 EPNdB below current requirements. The fan design tip speed was 365.8m/sec (1200ft/sec);the hub/tip ratio was 0.4; the design pressure ratio was 1.9; and the design specific flow was 209.2 kg/sec/sq m(42.85lbm/sec/sq ft). Two fan-versions were tested: a baseline configuration, and an acoustically treated configuration with a sonic inlet device. The baseline version was tested with uniform inlet flow and with tip-radial and hub-radial inlet flow distortions. The baseline fan with uniform inlet flow attained an efficiency of 86.4% at design speed, but the stall margin was low. Tip-radial distortion increased stall margin 4 percentage points at design speed and reduced peak efficiency one percentage point. Hub-radial distortion decreased stall margin 4 percentage points at all speeds and reduced peak efficiency at design speed 8 percentage points. At design speed, the sonic inlet in the cruise position reduced stall margin one percentage point and efficiency 1.5 to 4.5 percentage points. The sonic inlet in the approach position reduced stall margin 2 percentage points

Searching for new medications for the treatment of alcohol use disorder

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) affects more than 15 million people in the United States. Current pharmacotherapeutic treatments for AUD are only modestly effective, necessitating the identification of new targets for medications development. In this study, the effects of the D4 receptor antagonist, L-745,870, and the CB1 negative allosteric modulator, PSNCBAM-1, were both tested for effects in ethanol conditioned place preference (CPP) and oral ethanol self-administration. Food-restricted adult male mice were trained in operant chambers to nose poke for delivery of rewards, trained on ascending concentrations of alcohol with descending concentrations of Ensure and water, until the mixture self-administered was 8% w/v ethanol in water. L-745,870 did not significantly attenuate ethanol self-administration or ethanol CPP. These results suggest that D4R antagonism does not alter the rewarding value of ethanol. PSNCBAM-1 dose-dependently attenuated oral ethanol self-administration, significantly reducing ethanol rewards at a dose of 30 mg/kg but not at 10 or 18 mg/kg. However, 18 and 30 mg/kg PSNCBAM-1 also significantly reduced self-administration of a palatable food reward. These results suggest PSNCBAM-1 produces a non-specific anhedonic effect that may preclude its use in AUD or other neuropsychiatric conditions

A De-biased Direct Question Approach to Measuring Consumers' Willingness to Pay

Knowledge of consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) is a prerequisite to profitable price-setting. To gauge consumers' WTP, practitioners often rely on a direct single question approach in which consumers are asked to explicitly state their WTP for a product. Despite its popularity among practitioners, this approach has been found to suffer from hypothetical bias. In this paper, we propose a rigorous method that improves the accuracy of the direct single question approach. Specifically, we systematically assess the hypothetical biases associated with the direct single question approach and explore ways to de-bias it. Our results show that by using the de-biasing procedures we propose, we can generate a de-biased direct single question approach that is accu-rate enough to be useful for managerial decision-making. We validate this approach with two studies in this paper.Comment: Market Research, Pricing, Demand Estimation, Direct Estimation, Single Question Approach, Choice Experiments, Willingness to Pay, Hypothetical Bia

Experimental evaluation of transonic stators, data and performance report, multiple- circular-arc stator A

Transonic stator with multiple circular arc airfoils and minimum curvature tested over range of flow angles and velocities - stator