9,346 research outputs found
Musical Robots For Children With ASD Using A Client-Server Architecture
Presented at the 22nd International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD-2016)People with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are known to have difficulty recognizing and expressing emotions, which affects their social integration. Leveraging the recent advances in interactive robot and music therapy approaches, and integrating both, we have designed musical robots that can facilitate social and emotional interactions of children with ASD. Robots communicate with children with ASD while detecting their emotional states and physical activities and then, make real-time sonification based on the interaction data. Given that we envision the use of multiple robots with children, we have adopted a client-server architecture. Each robot and sensing device plays a role as a terminal, while the sonification server processes all the data and generates harmonized sonification. After describing our goals for the use of sonification, we detail the system architecture and on-going research scenarios. We believe that the present paper offers a new perspective on the sonification application for assistive technologies
Pattern Formation in a Two-Dimensional Array of Oscillators with Phase-Shifted Coupling
We investigate the dynamics of a two-dimensional array of oscillators with
phase-shifted coupling. Each oscillator is allowed to interact with its
neighbors within a finite radius. The system exhibits various patterns
including squarelike pinwheels, (anti)spirals with phase-randomized cores, and
antiferro patterns embedded in (anti)spirals. We consider the symmetry
properties of the system to explain the observed behaviors, and estimate the
wavelengths of the patterns by linear analysis. Finally, we point out the
implications of our work for biological neural networks
Microlensing Detections of Planets in Binary Stellar Systems
We demonstrate that microlensing can be used for detecting planets in binary
stellar systems. This is possible because in the geometry of planetary binary
systems where the planet orbits one of the binary component and the other
binary star is located at a large distance, both planet and secondary companion
produce perturbations at a common region around the planet-hosting binary star
and thus the signatures of both planet and binary companion can be detected in
the light curves of high-magnification lensing events. We find that identifying
planets in binary systems is optimized when the secondary is located in a
certain range which depends on the type of the planet. The proposed method can
detect planets with masses down to one tenth of the Jupiter mass in binaries
with separations <~ 100 AU. These ranges of planet mass and binary separation
are not covered by other methods and thus microlensing would be able to make
the planetary binary sample richer.Comment: 5 pages, two figures in JPG forma
Dissociation of somatostatin and parvalbumin interneurons circuit dysfunctions underlying hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations impaired by amyloid β oligomers in vivo
Accumulation of amyloid β oligomers (AβO) in Alzheimerâs disease (AD) impairs hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations. These oscillations are important in memory functions and depend on distinct subtypes of hippocampal interneurons such as somatostatin-positive (SST) and parvalbumin-positive (PV) interneurons. Here, we investigated whether AβO causes dysfunctions in SST and PV interneurons by optogenetically manipulating them during theta and gamma oscillations in vivo in AβO-injected SST-Cre or PV-Cre mice. Hippocampal in vivo multi-electrode recordings revealed that optogenetic activation of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2)-expressing SST and PV interneurons in AβO-injected mice selectively restored AβO-induced reduction of the peak power of theta and gamma oscillations, respectively, and resynchronized CA1 pyramidal cell (PC) spikes. Moreover, SST and PV interneuron spike phases were resynchronized relative to theta and gamma oscillations, respectively. Whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings in CA1 PC in ex vivo hippocampal slices from AβO-injected mice revealed that optogenetic activation of SST and PV interneurons enhanced spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) selectively at theta and gamma frequencies, respectively. Furthermore, analyses of the stimulusâresponse curve, paired-pulse ratio, and short-term plasticity of SST and PV interneuron-evoked IPSCs ex vivo showed that AβO increased the initial GABA release probability to depress SST/PV interneuronâs inhibitory input to CA1 PC selectively at theta and gamma frequencies, respectively. Our results reveal frequency-specific and interneuron subtype-specific presynaptic dysfunctions of SST and PV interneuronsâ input to CA1 PC as the synaptic mechanisms underlying AβO-induced impairments of hippocampal network oscillations and identify them as potential therapeutic targets for restoring hippocampal network oscillations in early AD
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