Diagram of a modular network composed of four five-neuron clusters.

<p>The four circles enclosed by the dashed line represent the stimulus: each is connected to a particular module, which adopts the input state (red or blue) and retains it after the stimulus has disappeared thanks to Cluster Reverberation.</p

Proportion of outgoing edges,

<p><b>, from boxes of linear size </b><b> against exponent </b><b> for scale-free networks embedded on </b><b> lattices.</b> Lines from <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0050276#pone.0050276.e318" target="_blank">Eq. (7)</a> and symbols (with error bars representing standard deviations) from simulations with and .</p

Performance against exponent for scale-free networks, embedded on a 2D lattice, with patterns of modules of neurons each, and ; patterns are shown with intensities , , and , and (error bars represent standard deviations; lines – splines – are drawn as a guide to the eye).

<p>Inset: typical time series for , , and , with .</p

Configurational energy of a network made up of modules of neurons each, according to Eq. (2), for various values of (increasing from bottom to top).

<p>The minima correspond to situations such that all neurons within any given module have the same sign.</p

Raster plot, obtained from MC simulations, of a network of integrate-and-fire (IF) neurons wired up (as described in the main text) in groups of , with a rewiring probability .

<p>Every ms, a new pattern is shown for ms with an intensity pA (plotted in blue). Parameters for the neurons are pA, mV, ms, ms, , and ms, which are all within the physiological range; and the external noisy current is modelled with pA and pA ms.</p

Performance against for networks of the sort described in the main text with modules of neurons each, , obtained from Monte Carlo (MC) simulations; patterns are shown with intensities , and , and performance is computed evey time steps, preceding the next random stimulus; (error bars represent standard deviations; lines – splines – are drawn as a guide to the eye).

<p>Inset: typical time series of (i.e., the overlap with whichever pattern was last shown) for (bad performance), (intermediate), and (optimal); with .</p

Left panel: distribution of escape times , as defined in the main text, for and , from MC simulations.

<p>Slope is for . Other parameters as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0050276#pone-0050276-g002" target="_blank">Fig. 2</a>. Right panel: exponent of the quasi-power-law distribution as given by <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0050276#pone.0050276.e126" target="_blank">Eq. (4)</a> for temperatures , and (from bottom to top).</p

Performance

<p><b> against </b><b> for the Hopfield-Amari networks described in the main text, obtained from MC simulations, for values of the rewiring </b><b>, </b><b>, </b><b> and </b><b>, and stimulus </b><b>.</b> All other parameters as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0050276#pone-0050276-g002" target="_blank">Fig. 2</a>. (Error bars represent standard deviations; lines – splines – are drawn as a guide to the eye).</p

Stretching and Heating Single DNA Molecules with Optically Trapped Gold–Silica Janus Particles

Self-propelled micro- and nanoscale motors are capable of autonomous motion typically by inducing local concentration gradients or thermal gradients in their surrounding medium. This is a result of the heterogeneous surface of the self-propelled structures that consist of materials with different chemical or physical properties. Here we present a self-thermophoretically driven Au–silica Janus particle that can simultaneously stretch and partially melt a single double-stranded DNA molecule. We show that the effective force acting on the DNA molecule is in the ∼pN range, well suited to probe the entropic stretching regime of DNA, and we demonstrate that the local temperature enhancement around the gold side of the particle produces partial DNA dehybridization

Plant community data

Plant community data (percent cover) from experimental plots. Ground living vascular plants, macrolichens and bryophytes (mosses and liverworts). Year 2000, 2003 and 2011. See README file for more information