190 research outputs found
Neuronal Activity in the Human Subthalamic Nucleus Encodes Decision Conflict during Action Selection
The subthalamic nucleus (STN), which receives excitatory inputs from the cortex and has direct connections with the inhibitory pathways\ud
of the basal ganglia, is well positioned to efficiently mediate action selection. Here, we use microelectrode recordings captured during\ud
deep brain stimulation surgery as participants engage in a decision task to examine the role of the human STN in action selection. We\ud
demonstrate that spiking activity in the STN increases when participants engage in a decision and that the level of spiking activity\ud
increases with the degree of decision conflict. These data implicate the STN as an important mediator of action selection during decision\ud
processes.\u
Disordered Regimes of the one-dimensional complex Ginzburg-Landau equation
I review recent work on the ``phase diagram'' of the one-dimensional complex
Ginzburg-Landau equation for system sizes at which chaos is extensive.
Particular attention is paid to a detailed description of the spatiotemporally
disordered regimes encountered. The nature of the transition lines separating
these phases is discussed, and preliminary results are presented which aim at
evaluating the phase diagram in the infinite-size, infinite-time, thermodynamic
limit.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 9 figures available by anonymous ftp to
amoco.saclay.cea.fr in directory pub/chate, or by requesting them to
[email protected]
Remarks on the Configuration Space Approach to Spin-Statistics
The angular momentum operators for a system of two spin-zero
indistinguishable particles are constructed, using Isham's Canonical Group
Quantization method. This mathematically rigorous method provides a hint at the
correct definition of (total) angular momentum operators, for arbitrary spin,
in a system of indistinguishable particles. The connection with other
configuration space approaches to spin-statistics is discussed, as well as the
relevance of the obtained results in view of a possible alternative proof of
the spin-statistics theorem.Comment: 18 page
The dispersion-managed Ginzburg-Landau equation and its application to femtosecond lasers
The complex Ginzburg-Landau equation has been used extensively to describe
various non-equilibrium phenomena. In the context of lasers, it models the
dynamics of a pulse by averaging over the effects that take place inside the
cavity. Ti:sapphire femtosecond lasers, however, produce pulses that undergo
significant changes in different parts of the cavity during each round-trip.
The dynamics of such pulses is therefore not adequately described by an average
model that does not take such changes into account. The purpose of this work is
severalfold. First we introduce the dispersion-managed Ginzburg-Landau equation
(DMGLE) as an average model that describes the long-term dynamics of systems
characterized by rapid variations of dispersion, nonlinearity and gain in a
general setting, and we study the properties of the equation. We then explain
how in particular the DMGLE arises for Ti:sapphire femtosecond lasers and we
characterize its solutions. In particular, we show that, for moderate values of
the gain/loss parameters, the solutions of the DMGLE are well approximated by
those of the dispersion-managed nonlinear Schrodinger equation (DMNLSE), and
the main effect of gain and loss dynamics is simply to select one among the
one-parameter family of solutions of the DMNLSE.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Nonlinearit
Chirikov Diffusion in the Asteroidal Three-Body Resonance (5,-2,-2)
The theory of diffusion in many-dimensional Hamiltonian system is applied to
asteroidal dynamics. The general formulations developed by Chirikov is applied
to the Nesvorn\'{y}-Morbidelli analytic model of three-body (three-orbit)
mean-motion resonances (Jupiter-Saturn-asteroid system). In particular, we
investigate the diffusion \emph{along} and \emph{across} the separatrices of
the (5,-2,-2) resonance of the (490) Veritas asteroidal family and their
relationship to diffusion in semi-major axis and eccentricity. The estimations
of diffusion were obtained using the Melnikov integral, a Hadjidemetriou-type
sympletic map and numerical integrations for times up to years.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure
On the geometry of quantum indistinguishability
An algebraic approach to the study of quantum mechanics on configuration
spaces with a finite fundamental group is presented. It uses, in an essential
way, the Gelfand-Naimark and Serre-Swan equivalences and thus allows one to
represent geometric properties of such systems in algebraic terms. As an
application, the problem of quantum indistinguishability is reformulated in the
light of the proposed approach. Previous attempts aiming at a proof of the
spin-statistics theorem in non-relativistic quantum mechanics are explicitly
recast in the global language inherent to the presented techniques. This leads
to a critical discussion of single-valuedness of wave functions for systems of
indistinguishable particles. Potential applications of the methods presented in
this paper to problems related to quantization, geometric phases and phase
transitions in spin systems are proposed.Comment: 24 page
Diagnostic accuracy of the primary care screener for affective disorder (PC-SAD) in primary care
Background:
Depression goes often unrecognised and untreated in non-psychiatric medical settings. Screening has recently gained acceptance as a first step towards improving depression recognition and management. The Primary Care Screener for Affective Disorders (PC-SAD) is a self-administered questionnaire to screen for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Dysthymic Disorder (Dys) which has a sophisticated scoring algorithm that confers several advantages. This study tested its performance against a ‘gold standard’ diagnostic interview in primary care.
Methods:
A total of 416 adults attending 13 urban general internal medicine primary care practices completed the PC-SAD. Of 409 who returned a valid PC-SAD, all those scoring positive (N=151) and a random sample (N=106) of those scoring negative were selected for a 3-month telephone follow-up assessment including the administration of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) by a psychiatrist who was masked to PC-SAD results.
Results:
Most selected patients (N=212) took part in the follow-up assessment. After adjustment for partial verification bias the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value for MDD were 90%, 83%, 51%, and 98%. For Dys, the corresponding figures were 78%, 79%, 8%, and 88%.
Conclusions:
While some study limitations suggest caution in interpreting our results, this study corroborated the diagnostic validity of the PC-SAD, although the low PPV may limit its usefulness with regard to Dys. Given its good psychometric properties and the short average administration time, the PC-SAD might be the screening instrument of choice in settings where the technology for computer automated scoring is available
The Cognitive Role of the Globus Pallidus interna; Insights from Disease States.
The motor symptoms of both Parkinson's disease and focal dystonia arise from dysfunction of the basal ganglia, and are improved by pallidotomy or deep brain stimulation of the Globus Pallidus interna (GPi). However, Parkinson's disease is associated with a greater degree of basal ganglia-dependent learning impairment than dystonia. We attempt to understand this observation in terms of a comparison of the electrophysiology of the output of the basal ganglia between the two conditions. We use the natural experiment offered by Deep Brain Stimulation to compare GPi local field potential responses in subjects with Parkinson's disease compared to subjects with dystonia performing a forced-choice decision-making task with sensory feedback. In dystonic subjects, we found that auditory feedback was associated with the presence of high gamma oscillations nestled on a negative deflection, morphologically similar to sharp wave ripple complexes described in human rhinal cortex. These were not present in Parkinson's disease subjects. The temporal properties of the high gamma burst were modified by incorrect trial performance compared to correct trial performance. Both groups exhibited a robust low frequency response to 'incorrect' trial performance in dominant GPi but not non-dominant GPi at theta frequency. Our results suggest that cellular processes associated with striatum-dependent memory function may be selectively impaired in Parkinson's disease even if dopaminergic drugs are administered, but that error detection mechanisms are preserved
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