Dynamic gating in the nucleus accumbens: Behavioral state-dependent synchrony with the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus

Contextual and sensory information, goals, and the motor plan to achieve them are integrated in the nucleus accumbens (NA). Although this integration needs flexibility to operate in a variety of environments, models of NA function rarely consider changing behavioral states. Here, intracellular recordings in anesthetized rats revealed rapid changes in the synchronization between NA up states and prefrontal cortical (PFC) local field potentials (LFPs). The synchronization of the NA with the PFC and ventral hippocampus also varied over time in awake rats, depending on the behavioral state of the animal: NA LFPs followed hippocampal theta rhythms during spatial exploration, but not during an operant task when they were instead synchronized with slower PFC rhythms. These data indicate that the ability of the NA to follow cortical inputs can rapidly change, allowing for a mechanism that could select an optimal response for a given behavioral condition

Geometric phase gate for entangling two Bose-Einstein condensates

We propose a method of entangling two spinor Bose-Einstein condensates using a geometric phase gate. The scheme relies upon only the ac Stark shift and a common controllable optical mode coupled to the spins. Our scheme allows for the creation of an SzSz type interaction where Sz is the total spin. The geometric phase gate can be executed in times of the order of 2{\pi} /G, where G is the magnitude of the Stark shift. In contrast to related schemes which relied on a fourth order interaction to produce entanglement this is a second order interaction in the number of atomic transitions. Closed expressions for the entangling phase are derived and the effects of decoherence due to cavity decay, spontaneous emission and incomplete de-entangling of the light to BEC are analyzed

Risk-based framework for SLA violation abatement from the cloud service provider's perspective

© The British Computer Society 2018. The constant increase in the growth of the cloud market creates new challenges for cloud service providers. One such challenge is the need to avoid possible service level agreement (SLA) violations and their consequences through good SLA management. Researchers have proposed various frameworks and have made significant advances in managing SLAs from the perspective of both cloud users and providers. However, none of these approaches guides the service provider on the necessary steps to take for SLA violation abatement; that is, the prediction of possible SLA violations, the process to follow when the system identifies the threat of SLA violation, and the recommended action to take to avoid SLA violation. In this paper, we approach this process of SLA violation detection and abatement from a risk management perspective. We propose a Risk Management-based Framework for SLA violation abatement (RMF-SLA) following the formation of an SLA which comprises SLA monitoring, violation prediction and decision recommendation. Through experiments, we validate and demonstrate the suitability of the proposed framework for assisting cloud providers to minimize possible service violations and penalties

Acoustics-turbulence interaction

An investigation of the instability frequency was undertaken. Measurements revealed that the hot wire probe induces and sustains stable upstream oscillation of the free shear layer. The characteristics of the free shear layer tone are found to be different from the slit jet wedge edgetone phenomenon. The shear tone induced by a plane wedge in a plane free shear layer was then examined in order to further document the phenomenon. The eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the tone fundamental show agreement with the spatial stability theory. A comprehensive summary of the results is also included

Ubitrack: A Study on Lost Person Activity Estimation Using Accelerometer Data from Smartphones

As smartphones become very more popular, applications are being developed with new and innovative ways to solve problems faced in the day-to-day lives of users. One area of smartphone technology that has been developed in recent years is human activity recognition HAR. This technology uses various sensors that are built into the smartphone to sense a person\u27s activity in real time. Applications that incorporate HAR can be used to track a person\u27s movements and are very useful in areas such as health care. In our research, we use this type of motion sensing technology, specifically, using data collected from the accelerometer sensor. The purpose of this study is to estimate the pilgrim who may become lost on the annual pilgrimage to Hajj. The application is capable of estimating the movements of people in a crowded area, and of indicating whether or not the person is lost in a crowded area based on his/her movements as detected by the smartphone. This will be a great benefit to anyone interested in crowd management strategies, specifically regarding Hajj. In this thesis, we review related literature and research that has given us the basis for our own research. For example, we could not create this application without the use of HAR technology and without specific classification algorithms. We also detail research on lost person behavior. We looked at the typical movements a person will likely make when he/she is lost and used these movements to indicate lost person behavior. We then describe the creation of the application, all of its components, and the testing process. Finally, we discuss the results of our trials and plans for future work

Is women empowerment a zero-sum game? Unintended consequences of Microfinance for women empowerment in Ghana

Purpose: Against the background of growing concerns that development interventions can sometimes be a zero sum game, the purpose of this paper is to examine the unintended consequences of microfinance for women empowerment in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach. The study employs a participatory mixed-method approach including household questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews to investigate the dynamics of microfinance effects on women in communities of different vulnerability status in Ghana. Findings: The results of hierarchical regression, triadic closure and thematic analyses demonstrate that the economic benefits of microfinance for women is also directly associated with conflicts amongst spouses, girl child labour, polygyny and the neglect of perceived female domestic responsibilities due to women’s devotion to their enterprises. Originality/value. In the light of limited empirical evidence on potentially negative impacts of women empowerment interventions in Africa, this paper fills a critical gap in knowledge that will enable NGOs, policy makers and other stakeholders to design and implement more effective interventions that mitigate undesirable consequences

Polaronic behavior of undoped high-Tc cuprates

We present angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) data on undoped La2CuO4, indicating polaronic coupling between bosons and charge carriers. Using a shell model, we calculate the electron-phonon coupling and find that it is strong enough to give polarons. We develop an efficient method for calculating ARPES spectra in undoped systems. Using the calculated couplings, we find the width of the phonon side band in good agreement with experiment. We analyze reasons for the observed dependence of the width on the binding energy.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 5 eps figures, more material available at http://www.fkf.mpg.de/andersen/phonons

The Coronal Structure of AB Doradus

We perform a numerical simulation of the corona of the young, rapidly rotating K0 dwarf AB Doradus using a global MHD model. The model is driven by a surface map of the radial magnetic field constructed using Zeeman-Doppler Imaging. We find that the global structure of the stellar corona is dominated by strong azimuthal tangling of the magnetic field due to the rapid rotation. The MHD solution enables us to calculate realistic Alfv\'en surfaces and we can therefore estimate the stellar mass loss rate and angular momentum loss rate without making undue theoretical simplifications. We consider three cases, parametrized by the base density of the corona, that span the range of possible solutions for the system. We find that overall, the mass and angular-momentum loss rates are higher than in the solar case; the mass loss rates are 10 to 500 times higher, and the angular momentum loss rate can be up to $3\times{10}^4$ higher than present day solar values. Our simulations show that this model can be use to constrain the wide parameter space of stellar systems. It also shows that an MHD approach can provide more information about the physical system over the commonly used potential field extrapolation.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure