The Timing of Reward-Seeking Action Tracks Visually-Cued Theta Oscillations in Primary Visual Cortex

An emerging body of work challenges the view that primary visual cortex (V1) represents the visual world faithfully. Theta oscillations in the local field potential (LFP) of V1 have been found to convey temporal expectations and, specifically, to express the delay between a visual stimulus and the reward that it portends. We extend this work by showing how these oscillatory states in male, wild-type rats can even relate to the timing of a visually cued reward-seeking behavior. In particular, we show that, with training, high precision and accuracy in behavioral timing tracks the power of these oscillations and the time of action execution covaries with their duration. These LFP oscillations are also intimately related to spiking responses at the single-unit level, which themselves carry predictive timing information. Together, these observations extend our understanding of the role of cortical oscillations in timing generally and the role of V1 in the timing of visually cued behaviors specifically.Fil: Levy, Joshua M.. University Johns Hopkins; Estados UnidosFil: Zold, Camila Lidia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Bernardo Houssay; ArgentinaFil: Namboodiri, Vijay Mohan K.. University of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Hussain Shuler, Marshall G. University Johns Hopkins; Estados Unido

On almost-planar graphs

A nonplanar graph G is called almost-planar if for every edge e of G, at least one of G\e and G/e is planar. In 1990, Gubser characterized 3-connected almost-planar graphs in his dissertation. However, his proof is so long that only a small portion of it was published. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a short proof of this result. We also discuss the structure of almost-planar graphs that are not 3-connected

Hybrid TiO2 Solar Cells Produced from Aerosolized Nanoparticles of Water-Soluble Polythiophene Electron Donor Layer

Hybrid solar cells (HSCs) with water soluble polythiophene sodium poly[2-(3-thienyl)-ethyloxy-4-butylsulfonate] (PTEBS) thin films produced using electrospray deposition (ESD) were fabricated, tested, and modeled and compared to devices produced using conventional spin coating. A single device structure of FTO/TiO2/PTEBS/Au was used to study the effects of ESD of the PTEBS layer on device performance. ESD was found to increase the short circuit current density (Jsc) by a factor of 2 while decreasing the open circuit voltage (Voc) by half compared to spin coated PTEBS films. Comparable efficiencies of 0.009% were achieved from both device construction types. Current-voltage curves were modeled using the characteristic solar cell equation and showed a similar increase in generated photocurrent with an increase by two orders of magnitude in the saturation current in devices from ESD films. Increases in Jsc are attributed to an increase in the interfacial contact area between the TiO2 and PTEBS layers, while decreases in Voc are attributed to incomplete film formation from ESD

The Multiple Roles of Anticipation in Developmental Robotics

Anticipatory systems have been shown to be useful in discrete, symbolic systems. However, non­symbolic anticipatory systems are less well understood. In this paper, we explore the use of anticipation within the framework of connectionist networks to bootstrap from an innate behavior; to drive a reinforcement signal; and to provide feedback on the learnability of a task

The Multiple Roles of Anticipation in Developmental Robotics

Anticipatory systems have been shown to be useful in discrete, symbolic systems. However, non­symbolic anticipatory systems are less well understood. In this paper, we explore the use of anticipation within the framework of connectionist networks to bootstrap from an innate behavior; to drive a reinforcement signal; and to provide feedback on the learnability of a task

The Effects of Lesions in the Dorsolateral Pons on the Coordination of Swallowing and Breathing in Awake Goats

The purpose of this retrospective study was to gain insight into the contribution of the dorsolateral pons to the coordination of swallowing and breathing in awake goats. In 4 goats, cannulas were chronically implanted bilaterally through the lateral (LPBN) and medial (MPBN) parabrachial nuclei just dorsal to the Kölliker–Fuse nucleus (KFN). After \u3e2 weeks recovery from this surgery, the goats were studied for 5½ h on a control day, and on separate days after receiving 1 and 10 μl injections of ibotenic acid (IA) separated by 1 week. The frequency of swallows did not change during the control and 1 μl IA studies, but after injection of 10 μl IA, there was a transient 65% increase in frequency of swallows (P \u3c 0.05). Under control conditions swallows occurred throughout the respiratory cycle, where late-E swallows accounted for 67.6% of swallows. The distribution of swallow occurrence throughout the respiratory cycle was unaffected by IA injections. Consistent with the concept that swallowing is dominant over breathing, we found that swallows increased inspiratory (TI) and expiratory (TE) time and decreased tidal volume (VT) of the breath of the swallow (n) and/or the subsequent (n + 1) breath. Injections of 10 μl IA attenuated the normal increases in TI and TE and further attenuated VT of the n breath. Additionally, E and I swallows reset respiratory rhythm, but injection of 1 or 10 μl IA progressively attenuated this resetting, suggesting a decreased dominance over respiratory motor output with increasing IA injections. Post mortem histological analysis revealed about 50% fewer (P \u3c 0.05) neurons remained in the KFN, LPBN, and MPBN in lesioned compared to control goats. We conclude that dorsolateral pontine nuclei have a modulatory role in a hypothesized holarchical neural network regulating swallowing and breathing particularly contributing to the normal dominance of swallowing over breathing in both rhythm and motor pattern generation