938 research outputs found
Transcranial magnetic stimulation over sensorimotor cortex disrupts anticipatory reflex gain modulation for skilled action
Skilled interactions with new environments require flexible changes to the transformation from somatosensory signals to motor outputs. Transcortical reflex gains are known to be modulated according to task and environmental dynamics, but the mechanism of this modulation remains unclear. We examined reflex organization in the sensorimotor cortex. Subjects performed point- to- point arm movements into predictable force fields. When a small perturbation was applied just before the arm encountered the force field, reflex responses in the shoulder muscles changed according to the upcoming force field direction, indicating anticipatory reflex gain modulation. However, when a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied before the reflex response to such perturbations so that the silent period caused by TMS overlapped the reflex processing period, this modulation was abolished, while the reflex itself remained. Loss of reflex gain modulation could not be explained by reduced reflex amplitudes nor by peripheral effects of TMS on the muscles themselves. Instead, we suggest that TMS disrupted interneuronal networks in the sensorimotor cortex, which contribute to reflex gain modulation rather than reflex generation. We suggest that these networks normally provide the adaptability of rapid sensorimotor reflex responses by regulating reflex gains according to the current dynamical environment
Application of Hamamatsu MPPC to T2K Neutrino Detectors
A special type of Hamamatsu MPPC, with a sensitive area of 1.3x1.3mm^2
containing 667 pixels with 50x50um^2 each, has been developed for the near
neutrino detector in the T2K long baseline neutrino experiment. About 60 000
MPPCs will be used in total to read out the plastic scintillator detectors with
wavelength shifting fibers. We report on the basic performance of MPPCs
produced for T2K.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of NDIP 2008, Aix-les-Bains, France,
June 15-20, 200
World model learning and inference
Understanding information processing in the brain-and creating general-purpose artificial intelligence-are long-standing aspirations of scientists and engineers worldwide. The distinctive features of human intelligence are high-level cognition and control in various interactions with the world including the self, which are not defined in advance and are vary over time. The challenge of building human-like intelligent machines, as well as progress in brain science and behavioural analyses, robotics, and their associated theoretical formalisations, speaks to the importance of the world-model learning and inference. In this article, after briefly surveying the history and challenges of internal model learning and probabilistic learning, we introduce the free energy principle, which provides a useful framework within which to consider neuronal computation and probabilistic world models. Next, we showcase examples of human behaviour and cognition explained under that principle. We then describe symbol emergence in the context of probabilistic modelling, as a topic at the frontiers of cognitive robotics. Lastly, we review recent progress in creating human-like intelligence by using novel probabilistic programming languages. The striking consensus that emerges from these studies is that probabilistic descriptions of learning and inference are powerful and effective ways to create human-like artificial intelligent machines and to understand intelligence in the context of how humans interact with their world
Performance of Multi-Pixel Photon Counters for the T2K near detectors
We have developed a Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) for the neutrino
detectors of T2K experiment. About 64,000 MPPCs have been produced and tested
in about a year. In order to characterize a large number of MPPCs, we have
developed a system that simultaneously measures 64 MPPCs with various bias
voltage and temperature. The performance of MPPCs are found to satisfy the
requirement of T2K experiment. In this paper, we present the performance of
17,686 MPPCs measured at Kyoto University.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure
Transient dynamics for sequence processing neural networks
An exact solution of the transient dynamics for a sequential associative
memory model is discussed through both the path-integral method and the
statistical neurodynamics. Although the path-integral method has the ability to
give an exact solution of the transient dynamics, only stationary properties
have been discussed for the sequential associative memory. We have succeeded in
deriving an exact macroscopic description of the transient dynamics by
analyzing the correlation of crosstalk noise. Surprisingly, the order parameter
equations of this exact solution are completely equivalent to those of the
statistical neurodynamics, which is an approximation theory that assumes
crosstalk noise to obey the Gaussian distribution. In order to examine our
theoretical findings, we numerically obtain cumulants of the crosstalk noise.
We verify that the third- and fourth-order cumulants are equal to zero, and
that the crosstalk noise is normally distributed even in the non-retrieval
case. We show that the results obtained by our theory agree with those obtained
by computer simulations. We have also found that the macroscopic unstable state
completely coincides with the separatrix.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
One-neutron knockout reaction of 17C on a hydrogen target at 70 MeV/nucleon
First experimental evidence of the population of the first 2- state in 16C
above the neutron threshold is obtained by neutron knockout from 17C on a
hydrogen target. The invariant mass method combined with in-beam gamma-ray
detection is used to locate the state at 5.45(1) MeV. Comparison of its
populating cross section and parallel momentum distribution with a Glauber
model calculation utilizing the shell-model spectroscopic factor confirms the
core-neutron removal nature of this state. Additionally, a previously known
unbound state at 6.11 MeV and a new state at 6.28(2) MeV are observed. The
position of the first 2- state, which belongs to a member of the lowest-lying
p-sd cross shell transition, is reasonably well described by the shell-model
calculation using the WBT interaction.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
Search for low lying dipole strength in the neutron rich nucleus Ne
Coulomb excitation of the exotic neutron-rich nucleus Ne on a
Pb target was measured at 58 A.MeV in order to search for low-lying E1
strength above the neutron emission threshold. Data were also taken on an
Al target to estimate the nuclear contribution. The radioactive beam
was produced by fragmentation of a 95 A.MeV Ar beam delivered by the
RIKEN Research Facility. The set-up included a NaI gamma-ray array, a charged
fragment hodoscope and a neutron wall. Using the invariant mass method in the
Ne+n channel, we observe a sizable amount of E1 strength between 6 and
10 MeV. The reconstructed Ne angular distribution confirms its E1
nature. A reduced dipole transition probability of B(E1)=0.490.16
is deduced. For the first time, the decay pattern of low-lying
strength in a neutron-rich nucleus is obtained. The results are discussed in
terms of a pygmy resonance centered around 9 MeV
Effects of radiation damage caused by proton irradiation on Multi-Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs)
We have investigated the effects caused by proton-induced radiation damage on
Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC), a pixelized photon detector developed by
Hamamatsu Photonics. The leakage current of irradiated MPPC samples linearly
increases with total irradiated doses due to radiation damage, which is not
completely recovered even after a year from the irradiation. No significant
change has been observed in the gains at least up to 8.0 Gy (
n/mm in 1 MeV neutron equivalent fluence, ). The device has
completely lost its photon-counting capability due to baseline fluctuations and
noise pile-up after 21 Gy irradiation ( n/mm in ), which might be problematic for some applications, such as ring-imaging
Cherenkov detectors. We have found that the pulse-height resolution has been
slightly deteriorated after 42 Gy irradiation ( n/mm in
), where the measured sample has been illuminated with a few
hundred photons. This effect should be considered in the case of
energy-measurement applications.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure
Mass production test of Hamamatsu MPPC for T2K neutrino oscillation experiment
In the T2K near neutrino detectors, about 60 000 Hamamatsu Multi-Pixel Photon
Counters (MPPCs) will be used. The mass production of MPPC has started in
February 2008.In order to perform quality assurance and to characterize each
device, we have developed an MPPC test system. For each MPPC, gain, breakdown
voltage, noise rate, photo detection efficiency, and cross-talk and after-pulse
rate are measured as functions of the bias voltage and temperature. The design
of the test system and the measurement procedure are described.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of NDIP 2008, Aix-les-Bains, France,
June 15-20, 200
- …