The Court of Justice as a Decisionmaking Authority

Eric Stein, to whom this Article is dedicated, has written a number of commentaries on the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice on the basis of his experience with both the European continental law and the common law systems. In conformity with his pragmatic approach, the following examination of the Court of Justice as a decisionmaking authority devotes less attention to the theoretical context than to the manner in which the Court attempts to accomplish its task in practice. This essay is intended to provide a judge\u27s point of view, that is to say, a subjective contribution on the basis of personal experience gained up to the present time. Although of course duties of office impose limitations on such an approach, it is nonetheless possible to set down a number of conclusions. The first section discusses problems concerning the decisionmaking process, in order to clarify the conditions under which the Court of Justice must form its opinions. There will then follow some observations on the manner in which the Court finds the substantive principles on which to base its decisions. Finally, certain conclusions regarding the appraisal of the case law will be drawn

Moving to the Beat: Examining Excitability of the Motor System During Beat Perception with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Moving along to the beat of music is a universal human trait. It is a behaviour that displays the interaction between auditory and motor systems during beat perception. While several studies demonstrate that motor structures are involved in beat perception, the time course of motor system excitability during beat perception is not well understood. To examine the time course of motor system excitability in beat perception, we stimulated the motor cortex with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and measured the amplitude of the corresponding motor evoked potentials from the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle while participants listened to rhythms that induced a strong, weak, or no sense of beat. The amplitude of the resultant MEPs is an index of motor excitability. Using TMS allowed for causal interpretations of the effect of beat perception on motor system excitability. It was found that there were numerical differences in motor excitability between conditions: excitability was greater for rhythms with a stronger sense of beat. Moreover, as predicted, the trends we observed suggest that motor system excitability may increase in anticipation of the induced beat. These findings support the need for different, more sensitive, approaches in determining the dynamics of motor system excitability

Speed limits of aircraft

This paper is restricted to the question of attainable speed limits and attacks the problem from different angles. Theoretical limits due to air resistance are presented along with design factors which may affect speed such as wing loads, wing areas, wing section shifting, landing speeds, drag-lift ratios, and power coefficients

Selective Theta-Synchronization of Choice-Relevant Information Subserves Goal-Directed Behavior

Theta activity reflects a state of rhythmic modulation of excitability at the level of single neuron membranes, within local neuronal groups and between distant nodes of a neuronal network. A wealth of evidence has shown that during theta states distant neuronal groups synchronize, forming networks of spatially confined neuronal clusters at specific time periods during task performance. Here, we show that a functional commonality of networks engaging in theta rhythmic states is that they emerge around decision points, reflecting rhythmic synchronization of choice-relevant information. Decision points characterize a point in time shortly before a subject chooses to select one action over another, i.e., when automatic behavior is terminated and the organism reactivates multiple sources of information to evaluate the evidence for available choices. As such, decision processes require the coordinated retrieval of choice-relevant information including (i) the retrieval of stimulus evaluations (stimulus–reward associations) and reward expectancies about future outcomes, (ii) the retrieval of past and prospective memories (e.g., stimulus–stimulus associations), (iii) the reactivation of contextual task rule representations (e.g., stimulus–response mappings), along with (iv) an ongoing assessment of sensory evidence. An increasing number of studies reveal that retrieval of these multiple types of information proceeds within few theta cycles through synchronized spiking activity across limbic, striatal, and cortical processing nodes. The outlined evidence suggests that evolving spatially and temporally specific theta synchronization could serve as the critical correlate underlying the selection of a choice during goal-directed behavior

Slotted-Wing Airplanes

Different applications of the slotted-wing principle are discussed as well as the advantages of using them

Monkey in the middle: why non-human primates are needed to bridge the gap in resting-state investigations

Resting-state investigations based on the evaluation of intrinsic low-frequency fluctuations of the BOLD fMRI signal have been extensively utilized to map the structure and dynamics of large-scale functional network organization in humans. In addition to increasing our knowledge of normal brain connectivity, disruptions of the spontaneous hemodynamic fluctuations have been suggested as possible diagnostic indicators of neurological and psychiatric disease states. Though the non-invasive technique has been received with much acclamation, open questions remain regarding the origin, organization, phylogenesis, as well as the basis of disease-related alterations underlying the signal patterns. Experimental work utilizing animal models, including the use of neurophysiological recordings and pharmacological manipulations, therefore, represents a critical component in the understanding and successful application of resting-state analysis, as it affords a range of experimental manipulations not possible in human subjects. In this article, we review recent rodent and non-human primate studies and based on the examination of the homologous brain architecture propose the latter to be the best-suited model for exploring these unresolved resting-state concerns. Ongoing work examining the correspondence of functional and structural connectivity, state-dependency and the neuronal correlates of the hemodynamic oscillations are discussed. We then consider the potential experiments that will allow insight into different brain states and disease-related network disruptions that can extend the clinical applications of resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI)