171 research outputs found
Energy consumption and cooperation for optimal sensing
The reliable detection of environmental molecules in the presence of noise is
an important cellular function, yet the underlying computational mechanisms are
not well understood. We introduce a model of two interacting sensors which
allows for the principled exploration of signal statistics, cooperation
strategies and the role of energy consumption in optimal sensing, quantified
through the mutual information between the signal and the sensors. Here we
report that in general the optimal sensing strategy depends both on the noise
level and the statistics of the signals. For joint, correlated signals, energy
consuming (nonequilibrium), asymmetric couplings result in maximum information
gain in the low-noise, high-signal-correlation limit. Surprisingly we also find
that energy consumption is not always required for optimal sensing. We
generalise our model to incorporate time integration of the sensor state by a
population of readout molecules, and demonstrate that sensor interaction and
energy consumption remain important for optimal sensing.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, Forthcoming in Nature Communication
Adaptive, locally-linear models of complex dynamics
The dynamics of complex systems generally include high-dimensional,
non-stationary and non-linear behavior, all of which pose fundamental
challenges to quantitative understanding. To address these difficulties we
detail a new approach based on local linear models within windows determined
adaptively from the data. While the dynamics within each window are simple,
consisting of exponential decay, growth and oscillations, the collection of
local parameters across all windows provides a principled characterization of
the full time series. To explore the resulting model space, we develop a novel
likelihood-based hierarchical clustering and we examine the eigenvalues of the
linear dynamics. We demonstrate our analysis with the Lorenz system undergoing
stable spiral dynamics and in the standard chaotic regime. Applied to the
posture dynamics of the nematode our approach identifies
fine-grained behavioral states and model dynamics which fluctuate close to an
instability boundary, and we detail a bifurcation in a transition from forward
to backward crawling. Finally, we analyze whole-brain imaging in
and show that the stability of global brain states changes with oxygen
concentration.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figure
Towards dense object tracking in a 2D honeybee hive
From human crowds to cells in tissue, the detection and efficient tracking of
multiple objects in dense configurations is an important and unsolved problem.
In the past, limitations of image analysis have restricted studies of dense
groups to tracking a single or subset of marked individuals, or to
coarse-grained group-level dynamics, all of which yield incomplete information.
Here, we combine convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with the model
environment of a honeybee hive to automatically recognize all individuals in a
dense group from raw image data. We create new, adapted individual labeling and
use the segmentation architecture U-Net with a loss function dependent on both
object identity and orientation. We additionally exploit temporal regularities
of the video recording in a recurrent manner and achieve near human-level
performance while reducing the network size by 94% compared to the original
U-Net architecture. Given our novel application of CNNs, we generate extensive
problem-specific image data in which labeled examples are produced through a
custom interface with Amazon Mechanical Turk. This dataset contains over
375,000 labeled bee instances across 720 video frames at 2 FPS, representing an
extensive resource for the development and testing of tracking methods. We
correctly detect 96% of individuals with a location error of ~7% of a typical
body dimension, and orientation error of 12 degrees, approximating the
variability of human raters. Our results provide an important step towards
efficient image-based dense object tracking by allowing for the accurate
determination of object location and orientation across time-series image data
efficiently within one network architecture.Comment: 15 pages, including supplementary figures. 1 supplemental movie
available as an ancillary fil
From modes to movement in the behavior of C. elegans
Organisms move through the world by changing their shape, and here we explore
the mapping from shape space to movements in the nematode C. elegans as it
crawls on a planar agar surface. We characterize the statistics of the
trajectories through the correlation functions of the orientation angular
velocity, orientation angle and the mean-squared displacement, and we find that
the loss of orientational memory has significant contributions from both
abrupt, large amplitude turning events and the continuous dynamics between
these events. Further, we demonstrate long-time persistence of orientational
memory in the intervals between abrupt turns. Building on recent work
demonstrating that C. elegans movements are restricted to a low-dimensional
shape space, we construct a map from the dynamics in this shape space to the
trajectory of the worm along the agar. We use this connection to illustrate
that changes in the continuous dynamics reveal subtle differences in movement
strategy that occur among mutants defective in two classes of dopamine
receptors
Locality and low-dimensions in the prediction of natural experience from fMRI
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) provides dynamical access into
the complex functioning of the human brain, detailing the hemodynamic activity
of thousands of voxels during hundreds of sequential time points. One approach
towards illuminating the connection between fMRI and cognitive function is
through decoding; how do the time series of voxel activities combine to provide
information about internal and external experience? Here we seek models of fMRI
decoding which are balanced between the simplicity of their interpretation and
the effectiveness of their prediction. We use signals from a subject immersed
in virtual reality to compare global and local methods of prediction applying
both linear and nonlinear techniques of dimensionality reduction. We find that
the prediction of complex stimuli is remarkably low-dimensional, saturating
with less than 100 features. In particular, we build effective models based on
the decorrelated components of cognitive activity in the classically-defined
Brodmann areas. For some of the stimuli, the top predictive areas were
surprisingly transparent, including Wernicke's area for verbal instructions,
visual cortex for facial and body features, and visual-temporal regions for
velocity. Direct sensory experience resulted in the most robust predictions,
with the highest correlation () between the predicted and
experienced time series of verbal instructions. Techniques based on non-linear
dimensionality reduction (Laplacian eigenmaps) performed similarly. The
interpretability and relative simplicity of our approach provides a conceptual
basis upon which to build more sophisticated techniques for fMRI decoding and
offers a window into cognitive function during dynamic, natural experience.Comment: To appear in: Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 20,
Scholkopf B., Platt J. and Hofmann T. (Editors), MIT Press, 200
An Investigation of the Impact of Corporate Culture on Employee Information Systems Security Behaviour
Information security poses a variety of challenges for any organisation. One such challenge, though often overlooked, is that of the threat posed by users. Whilst a variety of methods are available to control this, none have been particularly successful. An alternative suggested in the literature is the use of organisational culture via corporate governance to improve the security behaviours of individuals (Thomson & von Solms, 2005; von Solms & von Solms, 2004; Mishra & Dhillon, 2006). At the core of these alternative theories is the assumption that culture affects information security, though no literature could be found that tests this relationship. Previous research into the effects of organisational culture on other aspects of an organisation has lead to uncertainty as to the existence of such a relationship, and therefore it needs to be evaluated before these theories can be tested or further utilised. The purpose of this study is twofold, viz, to test the relationship between organisational culture and information security behaviour, and to test the viability of using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method advocated by Chin & Newstead ( 1999) for this type of research. A model was developed to represent information security attitudes, which, combined with Hofstede’s (1990) model of culture, was used to develop the survey. The model and survey were piloted via interview in the organisations. The results lead us to question the existence of a relationship between organisational culture and information security attitudes
Modeling the ballistic-to-diffusive transition in nematode motility reveals variation in exploratory behavior across species
A quantitative understanding of organism-level behavior requires predictive
models that can capture the richness of behavioral phenotypes, yet are simple
enough to connect with underlying mechanistic processes. Here we investigate
the motile behavior of nematodes at the level of their translational motion on
surfaces driven by undulatory propulsion. We broadly sample the nematode
behavioral repertoire by measuring motile trajectories of the canonical lab
strain N2 as well as wild strains and distant species. We focus on
trajectory dynamics over timescales spanning the transition from ballistic
(straight) to diffusive (random) movement and find that salient features of the
motility statistics are captured by a random walk model with independent
dynamics in the speed, bearing and reversal events. We show that the model
parameters vary among species in a correlated, low-dimensional manner
suggestive of a common mode of behavioral control and a trade-off between
exploration and exploitation. The distribution of phenotypes along this primary
mode of variation reveals that not only the mean but also the variance varies
considerably across strains, suggesting that these nematode lineages employ
contrasting ``bet-hedging'' strategies for foraging.Comment: 46 pages, 18 figures, 6 table
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