Quantifying fluctuations of resting state networks using arterial spin labeling perfusion MRI.

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Dai, Weiying; Varma, Gopal; Scheidegger, Rachel; Alsop, David C

2016-03-01

Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been widely used to investigate spontaneous low-frequency signal fluctuations across brain resting state networks. However, BOLD only provides relative measures of signal fluctuations. Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI holds great potential for quantitative measurements of resting state network fluctuations. This study systematically quantified signal fluctuations of the large-scale resting state networks using ASL data from 20 healthy volunteers by separating them from global signal fluctuations and fluctuations caused by residual noise. Global ASL signal fluctuation was 7.59% ± 1.47% relative to the ASL baseline perfusion. Fluctuations of seven detected resting state networks vary from 2.96% ± 0.93% to 6.71% ± 2.35%. Fluctuations of networks and residual noise were 6.05% ± 1.18% and 6.78% ± 1.16% using 4-mm resolution ASL data applied with Gaussian smoothing kernel of 6mm. However, network fluctuations were reduced by 7.77% ± 1.56% while residual noise fluctuation was markedly reduced by 39.75% ± 2.90% when smoothing kernel of 12 mm was applied to the ASL data. Therefore, global and network fluctuations are the dominant structured noise sources in ASL data. Quantitative measurements of resting state networks may enable improved noise reduction and provide insights into the function of healthy and diseased brain. © The Author(s) 2015.

Physiological denoising of BOLD fMRI data using Regressor Interpolation at Progressive Time Delays (RIPTiDe) processing of concurrent fMRI and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).

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Frederick, Blaise deB; Nickerson, Lisa D; Tong, Yunjie

2012-04-15

Confounding noise in BOLD fMRI data arises primarily from fluctuations in blood flow and oxygenation due to cardiac and respiratory effects, spontaneous low frequency oscillations (LFO) in arterial pressure, and non-task related neural activity. Cardiac noise is particularly problematic, as the low sampling frequency of BOLD fMRI ensures that these effects are aliased in recorded data. Various methods have been proposed to estimate the noise signal through measurement and transformation of the cardiac and respiratory waveforms (e.g. RETROICOR and respiration volume per time (RVT)) and model-free estimation of noise variance through examination of spatial and temporal patterns. We have previously demonstrated that by applying a voxel-specific time delay to concurrently acquired near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) data, we can generate regressors that reflect systemic blood flow and oxygenation fluctuations effects. Here, we apply this method to the task of removing physiological noise from BOLD data. We compare the efficacy of noise removal using various sets of noise regressors generated from NIRS data, and also compare the noise removal to RETROICOR+RVT. We compare the results of resting state analyses using the original and noise filtered data, and we evaluate the bias for the different noise filtration methods by computing null distributions from the resting data and comparing them with the expected theoretical distributions. Using the best set of processing choices, six NIRS-generated regressors with voxel-specific time delays explain a median of 10.5% of the variance throughout the brain, with the highest reductions being seen in gray matter. By comparison, the nine RETROICOR+RVT regressors together explain a median of 6.8% of the variance in the BOLD data. Detection of resting state networks was enhanced with NIRS denoising, and there were no appreciable differences in the bias of the different techniques. Physiological noise regressors generated using

Placental baseline conditions modulate the hyperoxic BOLD-MRI response.

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Sinding, Marianne; Peters, David A; Poulsen, Sofie S; Frøkjær, Jens B; Christiansen, Ole B; Petersen, Astrid; Uldbjerg, Niels; Sørensen, Anne

2018-01-01

Human pregnancies complicated by placental dysfunction may be characterized by a high hyperoxic Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) MRI response. The pathophysiology behind this phenomenon remains to be established. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether it is associated with altered placental baseline conditions, including a lower oxygenation and altered tissue morphology, as estimated by the placental transverse relaxation time (T2*). We included 49 normal pregnancies (controls) and 13 pregnancies complicated by placental dysfunction (cases), defined by a birth weight baseline BOLD)/baseline BOLD) from a dynamic single-echo gradient-recalled echo (GRE) MRI sequence and the absolute ΔT2* (hyperoxic T2*- baseline T2*) from breath-hold multi-echo GRE sequences. In the control group, the relative ΔBOLD response increased during gestation from 5% in gestational week 20 to 20% in week 40. In the case group, the relative ΔBOLD response was significantly higher (mean Z-score 4.94; 95% CI 2.41, 7.47). The absolute ΔT2*, however, did not differ between controls and cases (p = 0.37), whereas the baseline T2* was lower among cases (mean Z-score -3.13; 95% CI -3.94, -2.32). Furthermore, we demonstrated a strong negative linear correlation between the Log 10 ΔBOLD response and the baseline T2* (r = -0.88, p baseline conditions, as the absolute increase in placental oxygenation (ΔT2*) does not differ between groups. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Task performance changes the amplitude and timing of the BOLD signal

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Akhrif Atae

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Translational studies comparing imaging data of animals and humans have gained increasing scientific interests. With this upcoming translational approach, however, identifying harmonized statistical analysis as well as shared data acquisition protocols and/or combined statistical approaches is necessary. Following this idea, we applied Bayesian Adaptive Regression Splines (BARS, which have until now mainly been used to model neural responses of electrophysiological recordings from rodent data, on human hemodynamic responses as measured via fMRI. Forty-seven healthy subjects were investigated while performing the Attention Network Task in the MRI scanner. Fluctuations in the amplitude and timing of the BOLD response were determined and validated externally with brain activation using GLM and also ecologically with the influence of task performance (i.e. good vs. bad performers. In terms of brain activation, bad performers presented reduced activation bilaterally in the parietal lobules, right prefrontal cortex (PFC and striatum. This was accompanied by an enhanced left PFC recruitment. With regard to the amplitude of the BOLD-signal, bad performers showed enhanced values in the left PFC. In addition, in the regions of reduced activation such as the parietal and striatal regions, the temporal dynamics were higher in bad performers. Based on the relation between BOLD response and neural firing with the amplitude of the BOLD signal reflecting gamma power and timing dynamics beta power, we argue that in bad performers, an enhanced left PFC recruitment hints towards an enhanced functioning of gamma-band activity in a compensatory manner. This was accompanied by reduced parieto-striatal activity, associated with increased and potentially conflicting beta-band activity.

Comparison of methods for detecting nondeterministic BOLD fluctuation in fMRI.

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Kiviniemi, Vesa; Kantola, Juha-Heikki; Jauhiainen, Jukka; Tervonen, Osmo

2004-02-01

Functional MR imaging (fMRI) has been used in detecting neuronal activation and intrinsic blood flow fluctuations in the brain cortex. This article is aimed for comparing the methods for analyzing the nondeterministic flow fluctuations. Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT), cross correlation (CC), spatial principal component analysis (sPCA), and independent component analysis (sICA) were compared. 15 subjects were imaged at 1.5 T. Three quantitative measures were compared: (1) The number of subjects with identifiable fluctuation, (2) the volume, and (3) mean correlation coefficient (MCC) of the detected voxels. The focusing on cortical structures and the overall usability were qualitatively assessed. sICA was spatially most accurate but time consuming, robust, and detected voxels with high temporal synchrony. The CC and FFT were fast suiting primary screening. The CC detected highest temporal synchrony but the subjective detection for reference vector produced excess variance of the detected volumes. The FFT and sPCA were not spatially accurate and did not detect adequate temporal synchrony of the voxels.

Brain functional BOLD perturbation modelling for forward fMRI and inverse mapping

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Robinson, Jennifer; Calhoun, Vince

2018-01-01

Purpose To computationally separate dynamic brain functional BOLD responses from static background in a brain functional activity for forward fMRI signal analysis and inverse mapping. Methods A brain functional activity is represented in terms of magnetic source by a perturbation model: χ = χ0 +δχ, with δχ for BOLD magnetic perturbations and χ0 for background. A brain fMRI experiment produces a timeseries of complex-valued images (T2* images), whereby we extract the BOLD phase signals (denoted by δP) by a complex division. By solving an inverse problem, we reconstruct the BOLD δχ dataset from the δP dataset, and the brain χ distribution from a (unwrapped) T2* phase image. Given a 4D dataset of task BOLD fMRI, we implement brain functional mapping by temporal correlation analysis. Results Through a high-field (7T) and high-resolution (0.5mm in plane) task fMRI experiment, we demonstrated in detail the BOLD perturbation model for fMRI phase signal separation (P + δP) and reconstructing intrinsic brain magnetic source (χ and δχ). We also provided to a low-field (3T) and low-resolution (2mm) task fMRI experiment in support of single-subject fMRI study. Our experiments show that the δχ-depicted functional map reveals bidirectional BOLD χ perturbations during the task performance. Conclusions The BOLD perturbation model allows us to separate fMRI phase signal (by complex division) and to perform inverse mapping for pure BOLD δχ reconstruction for intrinsic functional χ mapping. The full brain χ reconstruction (from unwrapped fMRI phase) provides a new brain tissue image that allows to scrutinize the brain tissue idiosyncrasy for the pure BOLD δχ response through an automatic function/structure co-localization. PMID:29351339

Brain functional BOLD perturbation modelling for forward fMRI and inverse mapping.

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Chen, Zikuan; Robinson, Jennifer; Calhoun, Vince

2018-01-01

To computationally separate dynamic brain functional BOLD responses from static background in a brain functional activity for forward fMRI signal analysis and inverse mapping. A brain functional activity is represented in terms of magnetic source by a perturbation model: χ = χ0 +δχ, with δχ for BOLD magnetic perturbations and χ0 for background. A brain fMRI experiment produces a timeseries of complex-valued images (T2* images), whereby we extract the BOLD phase signals (denoted by δP) by a complex division. By solving an inverse problem, we reconstruct the BOLD δχ dataset from the δP dataset, and the brain χ distribution from a (unwrapped) T2* phase image. Given a 4D dataset of task BOLD fMRI, we implement brain functional mapping by temporal correlation analysis. Through a high-field (7T) and high-resolution (0.5mm in plane) task fMRI experiment, we demonstrated in detail the BOLD perturbation model for fMRI phase signal separation (P + δP) and reconstructing intrinsic brain magnetic source (χ and δχ). We also provided to a low-field (3T) and low-resolution (2mm) task fMRI experiment in support of single-subject fMRI study. Our experiments show that the δχ-depicted functional map reveals bidirectional BOLD χ perturbations during the task performance. The BOLD perturbation model allows us to separate fMRI phase signal (by complex division) and to perform inverse mapping for pure BOLD δχ reconstruction for intrinsic functional χ mapping. The full brain χ reconstruction (from unwrapped fMRI phase) provides a new brain tissue image that allows to scrutinize the brain tissue idiosyncrasy for the pure BOLD δχ response through an automatic function/structure co-localization.

Cortical Network Models of Firing Rates in the Resting and Active States Predict BOLD Responses.

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Maxwell R Bennett

Full Text Available Measurements of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD signals have produced some surprising observations. One is that their amplitude is proportional to the entire activity in a region of interest and not just the fluctuations in this activity. Another is that during sleep and anesthesia the average BOLD correlations between regions of interest decline as the activity declines. Mechanistic explanations of these phenomena are described here using a cortical network model consisting of modules with excitatory and inhibitory neurons, taken as regions of cortical interest, each receiving excitatory inputs from outside the network, taken as subcortical driving inputs in addition to extrinsic (intermodular connections, such as provided by associational fibers. The model shows that the standard deviation of the firing rate is proportional to the mean frequency of the firing when the extrinsic connections are decreased, so that the mean BOLD signal is proportional to both as is observed experimentally. The model also shows that if these extrinsic connections are decreased or the frequency of firing reaching the network from the subcortical driving inputs is decreased, or both decline, there is a decrease in the mean firing rate in the modules accompanied by decreases in the mean BOLD correlations between the modules, consistent with the observed changes during NREM sleep and under anesthesia. Finally, the model explains why a transient increase in the BOLD signal in a cortical area, due to a transient subcortical input, gives rises to responses throughout the cortex as observed, with these responses mediated by the extrinsic (intermodular connections.

EEG-informed fMRI analysis during a hand grip task: estimating the relationship between EEG rhythms and the BOLD signal

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Roberta eSclocco

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In the last decade, an increasing interest has arisen in investigating the relationship between the electrophysiological and hemodynamic measurements of brain activity, such as EEG and (BOLD fMRI. In particular, changes in BOLD have been shown to be associated with changes in the spectral profile of neural activity, rather than with absolute power. Concurrently, recent findings showed that different EEG rhythms are independently related to changes in the BOLD signal: therefore, it would be important to distinguish between the contributions of the different EEG rhythms to BOLD fluctuations when modeling the relationship between the two signals. Here we propose a method to perform EEG-informed fMRI analysis, in which the EEG regressors take into account both the changes in the spectral profile and the rhythms distinction. We applied it to EEG-fMRI data during a hand grip task in healthy subjects, and compared the results with those obtained by two existing models found in literature. Our results showed that the proposed method better captures the correlations between BOLD signal and EEG rhythms modulations, identifying task-related, well localized activated volumes. Furthermore, we showed that including among the regressors also EEG rhythms not primarily involved in the task enhances the performance of the analysis, even when only correlations with BOLD signal and specific EEG rhythms are explored.

Approaches to brain stress testing: BOLD magnetic resonance imaging with computer-controlled delivery of carbon dioxide.

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W Alan C Mutch

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: An impaired vascular response in the brain regionally may indicate reduced vascular reserve and vulnerability to ischemic injury. Changing the carbon dioxide (CO(2 tension in arterial blood is commonly used as a cerebral vasoactive stimulus to assess the cerebral vascular response, changing cerebral blood flow (CBF by up to 5-11 percent/mmHg in normal adults. Here we describe two approaches to generating the CO(2 challenge using a computer-controlled gas blender to administer: i a square wave change in CO(2 and, ii a ramp stimulus, consisting of a continuously graded change in CO(2 over a range. Responses were assessed regionally by blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD magnetic resonance imaging (MRI. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We studied 8 patients with known cerebrovascular disease (carotid stenosis or occlusion and 2 healthy subjects. The square wave stimulus was used to study the dynamics of the vascular response, while the ramp stimulus assessed the steady-state response to CO(2. Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR maps were registered by color coding and overlaid on the anatomical scans generated with 3 Tesla MRI to assess the corresponding BOLD signal change/mmHg change in CO(2, voxel-by-voxel. Using a fractal temporal approach, detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA maps of the processed raw BOLD signal per voxel over the same CO(2 range were generated. Regions of BOLD signal decrease with increased CO(2 (coded blue were seen in all of these high-risk patients, indicating regions of impaired CVR. All patients also demonstrated regions of altered signal structure on DFA maps (Hurst exponents less than 0.5; coded blue indicative of anti-persistent noise. While 'blue' CVR maps remained essentially stable over the time of analysis, 'blue' DFA maps improved. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This combined dual stimulus and dual analysis approach may be complementary in identifying vulnerable brain regions and thus constitute a regional as

Spontaneous Slow Fluctuation of EEG Alpha Rhythm Reflects Activity in Deep-Brain Structures: A Simultaneous EEG-fMRI Study.

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Kei Omata

Full Text Available The emergence of the occipital alpha rhythm on brain electroencephalogram (EEG is associated with brain activity in the cerebral neocortex and deep brain structures. To further understand the mechanisms of alpha rhythm power fluctuation, we performed simultaneous EEGs and functional magnetic resonance imaging recordings in human subjects during a resting state and explored the dynamic relationship between alpha power fluctuation and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD signals of the brain. Based on the frequency characteristics of the alpha power time series (APTS during 20-minute EEG recordings, we divided the APTS into two components: fast fluctuation (0.04-0.167 Hz and slow fluctuation (0-0.04 Hz. Analysis of the correlation between the MRI signal and each component revealed that the slow fluctuation component of alpha power was positively correlated with BOLD signal changes in the brain stem and the medial part of the thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex, while the fast fluctuation component was correlated with the lateral part of the thalamus and the anterior cingulate cortex, but not the brain stem. In summary, these data suggest that different subcortical structures contribute to slow and fast modulations of alpha spectra on brain EEG.

BOLD cardiovascular magnetic resonance at 3.0 tesla in myocardial ischemia.

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Manka, Robert; Paetsch, Ingo; Schnackenburg, Bernhard; Gebker, Rolf; Fleck, Eckart; Jahnke, Cosima

2010-09-22

The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) to detect stress-inducible myocardial ischemic reactions in the presence of angiographically significant coronary artery disease (CAD). Forty-six patients (34 men; age 65 ± 9 years,) with suspected or known coronary artery disease underwent CMR at 3Tesla prior to clinically indicated invasive coronary angiography. BOLD CMR was performed in 3 short axis slices of the heart at rest and during adenosine stress (140 μg/kg/min) followed by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging. In all 16 standard myocardial segments, T2* values were derived at rest and under adenosine stress. Quantitative coronary angiography served as the standard of reference and defined normal myocardial segments (i.e. all 16 segments in patients without any CAD), ischemic segments (i.e. supplied by a coronary artery with ≥50% luminal narrowing) and non-ischemic segments (i.e. supplied by a non-significantly stenosed coronary artery in patients with significant CAD). Coronary angiography demonstrated significant CAD in 23 patients. BOLD CMR at rest revealed significantly lower T2* values for ischemic segments (26.7 ± 11.6 ms) compared to normal (31.9 ± 11.9 ms; p BOLD CMR at 3Tesla proved feasible and differentiated between ischemic, non-ischemic, and normal myocardial segments in a clinical patient population. BOLD CMR during vasodilator stress identified patients with significant CAD.

Beware of Boldness

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Crane, Conrad C

2006-01-01

... to be?"1 Army Field Manual 7.0, Training the Force, states that the goals of operational deployments and major training opportunities are to enhance unit readiness and "produce bold, innovative leaders...

BOLD cardiovascular magnetic resonance at 3.0 tesla in myocardial ischemia

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Gebker Rolf

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR to detect stress-inducible myocardial ischemic reactions in the presence of angiographically significant coronary artery disease (CAD. Methods Forty-six patients (34 men; age 65 ± 9 years, with suspected or known coronary artery disease underwent CMR at 3Tesla prior to clinically indicated invasive coronary angiography. BOLD CMR was performed in 3 short axis slices of the heart at rest and during adenosine stress (140 μg/kg/min followed by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE imaging. In all 16 standard myocardial segments, T2* values were derived at rest and under adenosine stress. Quantitative coronary angiography served as the standard of reference and defined normal myocardial segments (i.e. all 16 segments in patients without any CAD, ischemic segments (i.e. supplied by a coronary artery with ≥50% luminal narrowing and non-ischemic segments (i.e. supplied by a non-significantly stenosed coronary artery in patients with significant CAD. Results Coronary angiography demonstrated significant CAD in 23 patients. BOLD CMR at rest revealed significantly lower T2* values for ischemic segments (26.7 ± 11.6 ms compared to normal (31.9 ± 11.9 ms; p Conclusions Rest and stress BOLD CMR at 3Tesla proved feasible and differentiated between ischemic, non-ischemic, and normal myocardial segments in a clinical patient population. BOLD CMR during vasodilator stress identified patients with significant CAD.

Spatial-temporal-spectral EEG patterns of BOLD functional network connectivity dynamics

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Lamoš, Martin; Mareček, Radek; Slavíček, Tomáš; Mikl, Michal; Rektor, Ivan; Jan, Jiří

2018-06-01

Objective. Growing interest in the examination of large-scale brain network functional connectivity dynamics is accompanied by an effort to find the electrophysiological correlates. The commonly used constraints applied to spatial and spectral domains during electroencephalogram (EEG) data analysis may leave part of the neural activity unrecognized. We propose an approach that blindly reveals multimodal EEG spectral patterns that are related to the dynamics of the BOLD functional network connectivity. Approach. The blind decomposition of EEG spectrogram by parallel factor analysis has been shown to be a useful technique for uncovering patterns of neural activity. The simultaneously acquired BOLD fMRI data were decomposed by independent component analysis. Dynamic functional connectivity was computed on the component’s time series using a sliding window correlation, and between-network connectivity states were then defined based on the values of the correlation coefficients. ANOVA tests were performed to assess the relationships between the dynamics of between-network connectivity states and the fluctuations of EEG spectral patterns. Main results. We found three patterns related to the dynamics of between-network connectivity states. The first pattern has dominant peaks in the alpha, beta, and gamma bands and is related to the dynamics between the auditory, sensorimotor, and attentional networks. The second pattern, with dominant peaks in the theta and low alpha bands, is related to the visual and default mode network. The third pattern, also with peaks in the theta and low alpha bands, is related to the auditory and frontal network. Significance. Our previous findings revealed a relationship between EEG spectral pattern fluctuations and the hemodynamics of large-scale brain networks. In this study, we suggest that the relationship also exists at the level of functional connectivity dynamics among large-scale brain networks when no standard spatial and spectral

"Extreme Bold" in the Faculty Ranks

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Kuusisto, Stephen

2013-01-01

Boldness, defense, and the necessity of talking back remain as central to life with disability in one's time as in Francis Bacon's age. "Therefore all deformed persons are extreme bold," Bacon wrote, "first, as in their own defence, as being exposed to scorn, but in process of time, by a general habit." Perhaps no word carries…

Acetazolamide-augmented dynamic BOLD (aczBOLD imaging for assessing cerebrovascular reactivity in chronic steno-occlusive disease of the anterior circulation: An initial experience

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Junjie Wu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to measure cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR in chronic steno-occlusive disease using a novel approach that couples BOLD imaging with acetazolamide (ACZ vasoreactivity (aczBOLD, to evaluate dynamic effects of ACZ on BOLD and to establish the relationship between aczBOLD and dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC perfusion MRI. Eighteen patients with unilateral chronic steno-occlusive disease of the anterior circulation underwent a 20-min aczBOLD imaging protocol, with ACZ infusion starting at 5 min of scan initiation. AczBOLD reactivity was calculated on a voxel-by-voxel basis to generate CVR maps for subsequent quantitative analyses. Reduced CVR was observed in the diseased vs. the normal hemisphere both by qualitative and quantitative assessment (gray matter (GM: 4.13% ± 1.16% vs. 4.90% ± 0.98%, P = 0.002; white matter (WM: 2.83% ± 1.23% vs. 3.50% ± 0.94%, P = 0.005. In all cases BOLD signal began increasing immediately following ACZ infusion, approaching a plateau at ~8.5 min after infusion, with the tissue volume of reduced augmentation increasing progressively with time, peaking at 2.60 min (time range above 95% of the maximum value: 0–4.43 min for the GM and 1.80 min (time range above 95% of the maximum value: 1.40–3.53 min for the WM. In the diseased hemisphere, aczBOLD CVR significantly correlated with baseline DSC time-to-maximum of the residue function (Tmax (P = 0.008 for the WM and normalized cerebral blood flow (P = 0.003 for the GM, and P = 0.001 for the WM. AczBOLD provides a novel, safe, easily implementable approach to CVR measurement in the routine clinical environments. Further studies can establish quantitative thresholds from aczBOLD towards identification of patients at heightened risk of recurrent ischemia and cognitive decline.

Searching for Conservation Laws in Brain Dynamics—BOLD Flux and Source Imaging

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Henning U. Voss

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD imaging is the most important noninvasive tool to map human brain function. It relies on local blood-flow changes controlled by neurovascular coupling effects, usually in response to some cognitive or perceptual task. In this contribution we ask if the spatiotemporal dynamics of the BOLD signal can be modeled by a conservation law. In analogy to the description of physical laws, which often can be derived from some underlying conservation law, identification of conservation laws in the brain could lead to new models for the functional organization of the brain. Our model is independent of the nature of the conservation law, but we discuss possible hints and motivations for conservation laws. For example, globally limited blood supply and local competition between brain regions for blood might restrict the large scale BOLD signal in certain ways that could be observable. One proposed selective pressure for the evolution of such conservation laws is the closed volume of the skull limiting the expansion of brain tissue by increases in blood volume. These ideas are demonstrated on a mental motor imagery fMRI experiment, in which functional brain activation was mapped in a group of volunteers imagining themselves swimming. In order to search for local conservation laws during this complex cognitive process, we derived maps of quantities resulting from spatial interaction of the BOLD amplitudes. Specifically, we mapped fluxes and sources of the BOLD signal, terms that would appear in a description by a continuity equation. Whereas we cannot present final answers with the particular analysis of this particular experiment, some results seem to be non-trivial. For example, we found that during task the group BOLD flux covered more widespread regions than identified by conventional BOLD mapping and was always increasing during task. It is our hope that these results motivate more work towards the search for conservation

Simultaneous Imaging of CBF Change and BOLD with Saturation-Recovery-T1 Method.

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Xiao Wang

Full Text Available A neuroimaging technique based on the saturation-recovery (SR-T1 MRI method was applied for simultaneously imaging blood oxygenation level dependence (BOLD contrast and cerebral blood flow change (ΔCBF, which is determined by CBF-sensitive T1 relaxation rate change (ΔR1CBF. This technique was validated by quantitatively examining the relationships among ΔR1CBF, ΔCBF, BOLD and relative CBF change (rCBF, which was simultaneously measured by laser Doppler flowmetry under global ischemia and hypercapnia conditions, respectively, in the rat brain. It was found that during ischemia, BOLD decreased 23.1±2.8% in the cortical area; ΔR1CBF decreased 0.020±0.004s-1 corresponding to a ΔCBF decrease of 1.07±0.24 ml/g/min and 89.5±1.8% CBF reduction (n=5, resulting in a baseline CBF value (=1.18 ml/g/min consistent with the literature reports. The CBF change quantification based on temperature corrected ΔR1CBF had a better accuracy than apparent R1 change (ΔR1app; nevertheless, ΔR1app without temperature correction still provides a good approximation for quantifying CBF change since perfusion dominates the evolution of the longitudinal relaxation rate (R1app. In contrast to the excellent consistency between ΔCBF and rCBF measured during and after ischemia, the BOLD change during the post-ischemia period was temporally disassociated with ΔCBF, indicating distinct CBF and BOLD responses. Similar results were also observed for the hypercapnia study. The overall results demonstrate that the SR-T1 MRI method is effective for noninvasive and quantitative imaging of both ΔCBF and BOLD associated with physiological and/or pathological changes.

Pre-stimulus BOLD-network activation modulates EEG spectral activity during working memory retention

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Mara eKottlow

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Working memory (WM processes depend on our momentary mental state and therefore exhibit considerable fluctuations. Here, we investigate the interplay of task-preparatory and task-related brain activity as represented by pre-stimulus BOLD-fluctuations and spectral EEG from the retention periods of a visual WM task. Visual WM is used to maintain sensory information in the brain enabling the performance of cognitive operations and is associated with mental health.We tested 22 subjects simultaneously with EEG and fMRI while performing a visuo-verbal Sternberg task with two different loads, allowing for the temporal separation of preparation, encoding, retention and retrieval periods.Four temporally coherent networks - the default mode network (DMN, the dorsal attention, the right and the left WM network - were extracted from the continuous BOLD data by means of a group ICA. Subsequently, the modulatory effect of these networks’ pre-stimulus activation upon retention-related EEG activity in the theta, alpha and beta frequencies was analyzed. The obtained results are informative in the context of state-dependent information processing.We were able to replicate two well-known load-dependent effects: the frontal-midline theta increase during the task and the decrease of pre-stimulus DMN activity. As our main finding, these two measures seem to depend on each other as the significant negative correlations at frontal-midline channels suggested. Thus, suppressed pre-stimulus DMN levels facilitated later task related frontal midline theta increases. In general, based on previous findings that neuronal coupling in different frequency bands may underlie distinct functions in WM retention, our results suggest that processes reflected by spectral oscillations during retention seem not only to be online synchronized with activity in different attention-related networks but are also modulated by activity in these networks during preparation intervals.

"Boldness" in the domestic dog differs among breeds and breed groups.

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Starling, Melissa J; Branson, Nicholas; Thomson, Peter C; McGreevy, Paul D

2013-07-01

"Boldness" in dogs is believed to be one end of the shy-bold axis, representing a super-trait. Several personality traits fall under the influence of this super-trait. Previous studies on boldness in dogs have found differences among breeds, but grouping breeds on the basis of behavioural similarities has been elusive. This study investigated differences in the expression of boldness among dog breeds, kennel club breed groups, and sub-groups of kennel club breed groups by way of a survey on dog personality circulated among Australian dog-training clubs and internet forums and lists. Breed had a significant effect on boldness (F=1.63, numDF=111, denDF=272, ppurpose. Retrievers were significantly bolder than flushing and pointing breeds (Reg. Coef.=2.148; S.E.=0.593; pdogs. Differences in boldness among groups and sub-groups suggest that behavioural tendencies may be influenced by historical purpose regardless of whether that purpose still factors in selective breeding. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Somatosensory BOLD fMRI reveals close link between salient blood pressure changes and the murine neuromatrix.

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Reimann, Henning Matthias; Todiras, Mihail; Hodge, Russ; Huelnhagen, Till; Millward, Jason Michael; Turner, Robert; Seeliger, Erdmann; Bader, Michael; Pohlmann, Andreas; Niendorf, Thoralf

2018-05-15

The neuromatrix, or "pain matrix", is a network of cortical brain areas which is activated by noxious as well as salient somatosensory stimulation. This has been studied in mice and humans using blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. Here we demonstrate that BOLD effects observed in the murine neuromatrix in response to salient somatosensory stimuli are prone to reflect mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) changes, rather than neural activity. We show that a standard electrostimulus typically used in murine somatosensory fMRI can induce substantial elevations in MABP. Equivalent drug-induced MABP changes - without somatosensory stimulation - evoked BOLD patterns in the neuromatrix strikingly similar to those evoked by electrostimulation. This constitutes a serious caveat for murine fMRI. The regional specificity of these BOLD patterns can be attributed to the co-localization of the neuromatrix with large draining veins. Based on these findings we propose a cardiovascular support mechanism whereby abrupt elevations in MABP provide additional energy supply to the neuromatrix and other essential brain areas in fight-or-flight situations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

BOLD magnetic resonance imaging in nephrology

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Hall, Michael E; Jordan, Jennifer H; Juncos, Luis A; Hundley, W Gregory; Hall, John E

2018-01-01

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, a non-invasive modality that provides anatomic and physiologic information, is increasingly used for diagnosis of pathophysiologic conditions and for understanding renal physiology in humans. Although functional MR imaging methods were pioneered to investigate the brain, they also offer powerful techniques for investigation of other organ systems such as the kidneys. However, imaging the kidneys provides unique challenges due to potential complications from contrast agents. Therefore, development of non-contrast techniques to study kidney anatomy and physiology is important. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) MR is a non-contrast imaging technique that provides functional information related to renal tissue oxygenation in various pathophysiologic conditions. Here we discuss technical considerations, clinical uses and future directions for use of BOLD MR as well as complementary MR techniques to better understand renal pathophysiology. Our intent is to summarize kidney BOLD MR applications for the clinician rather than focusing on the complex physical challenges that functional MR imaging encompasses; however, we briefly discuss some of those issues. PMID:29559807

Higher frequency network activity flow predicts lower frequency node activity in intrinsic low-frequency BOLD fluctuations.

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Bajaj, Sahil; Adhikari, Bhim Mani; Dhamala, Mukesh

2013-01-01

The brain remains electrically and metabolically active during resting conditions. The low-frequency oscillations (LFO) of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) coherent across distributed brain regions are known to exhibit features of this activity. However, these intrinsic oscillations may undergo dynamic changes in time scales of seconds to minutes during resting conditions. Here, using wavelet-transform based time-frequency analysis techniques, we investigated the dynamic nature of default-mode networks from intrinsic BOLD signals recorded from participants maintaining visual fixation during resting conditions. We focused on the default-mode network consisting of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), left middle temporal cortex (LMTC) and left angular gyrus (LAG). The analysis of the spectral power and causal flow patterns revealed that the intrinsic LFO undergo significant dynamic changes over time. Dividing the frequency interval 0 to 0.25 Hz of LFO into four intervals slow-5 (0.01-0.027 Hz), slow-4 (0.027-0.073 Hz), slow-3 (0.073-0.198 Hz) and slow-2 (0.198-0.25 Hz), we further observed significant positive linear relationships of slow-4 in-out flow of network activity with slow-5 node activity, and slow-3 in-out flow of network activity with slow-4 node activity. The network activity associated with respiratory related frequency (slow-2) was found to have no relationship with the node activity in any of the frequency intervals. We found that the net causal flow towards a node in slow-3 band was correlated with the number of fibers, obtained from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data, from the other nodes connecting to that node. These findings imply that so-called resting state is not 'entirely' at rest, the higher frequency network activity flow can predict the lower frequency node activity, and the network activity flow can reflect underlying structural

Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD). Renal imaging. Concepts and applications; Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD). Bildgebung der Nieren. Konzepte und Anwendungen

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Nissen, Johanna C.; Haneder, Stefan; Schoenberg, Stefan O.; Michaely, Henrik J. [Heidelberg Univ. Medizinische Fakultaet Mannheim (Germany). Inst. fuer Klinische Radiologie und Nuklearmedizin; Mie, Moritz B.; Zoellner, Frank G. [Heidelberg Univ. Medizinische Fakultaet Mannheim (DE). Inst. fuer Computerunterstuetzte Klinische Medizin (CKM)

2010-07-01

Many renal diseases as well as several pharmacons cause a change in renal blood flow and/or renal oxygenation. The blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) imaging takes advantage of local field inhomogeneities and is based on a T2{sup *}-weighted sequence. BOLD is a non-invasive method allowing an estimation of the renal, particularly the medullary oxygenation, and an indirect measurement of blood flow without administration of contrast agents. Thus, effects of different drugs on the kidney and various renal diseases can be controlled and observed. This work will provide an overview of the studies carried out so far and identify ways how BOLD can be used in clinical studies. (orig.)

BOLD fMRI of C-Fiber Mediated Nociceptive Processing in Mouse Brain in Response to Thermal Stimulation of the Forepaws.

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Simone C Bosshard

Full Text Available Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in rodents enables non-invasive studies of brain function in response to peripheral input or at rest. In this study we describe a thermal stimulation paradigm using infrared laser diodes to apply noxious heat to the forepaw of mice in order to study nociceptive processing. Stimulation at 45 and 46°C led to robust BOLD signal changes in various brain structures including the somatosensory cortices and the thalamus. The BOLD signal amplitude scaled with the temperature applied but not with the area irradiated by the laser beam. To demonstrate the specificity of the paradigm for assessing nociceptive signaling we administered the quaternary lidocaine derivative QX-314 to the forepaws, which due to its positive charge cannot readily cross biological membranes. However, upon activation of TRPV1 channels following the administration of capsaicin the BOLD signal was largely abolished, indicative of a selective block of the C-fiber nociceptors due to QX-314 having entered the cells via the now open TRPV1 channels. This demonstrates that the cerebral BOLD response to thermal noxious paw stimulation is specifically mediated by C-fibers.

Implications of oxidative stress in the brain plasticity originated by fasting: a BOLD-fMRI study.

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Belaïch, Rachida; Boujraf, Saïd; Benzagmout, Mohammed; Magoul, Rabia; Maaroufi, Mustapha; Tizniti, Siham

2017-11-01

and the maximum intensity of BOLD signal in the activated area M1 was determined for all studied volunteers. The current study allowed measuring regional brain volumes and neural network activity before and during an extended period of fasting using BOLD-fMRI. This demonstrated and confirmed the impact of fasting on human brain structure and function. Further studies are required to elucidate mechanisms and enable direct inference of a diet-induced OS effect on the brain.

Generate the scale-free brain music from BOLD signals.

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Lu, Jing; Guo, Sijia; Chen, Mingming; Wang, Weixia; Yang, Hua; Guo, Daqing; Yao, Dezhong

2018-01-01

Many methods have been developed to translate a human electroencephalogram (EEG) into music. In addition to EEG, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is another method used to study the brain and can reflect physiological processes. In 2012, we established a method to use simultaneously recorded fMRI and EEG signals to produce EEG-fMRI music, which represents a step toward scale-free brain music. In this study, we used a neural mass model, the Jansen-Rit model, to simulate activity in several cortical brain regions. The interactions between different brain regions were represented by the average normalized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) structural connectivity with a coupling coefficient that modulated the coupling strength. Seventy-eight brain regions were adopted from the Automated Anatomical Labeling (AAL) template. Furthermore, we used the Balloon-Windkessel hemodynamic model to transform neural activity into a blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal. Because the fMRI BOLD signal changes slowly, we used a sampling rate of 250 Hz to produce the temporal series for music generation. Then, the BOLD music was generated for each region using these simulated BOLD signals. Because the BOLD signal is scale free, these music pieces were also scale free, which is similar to classic music. Here, to simulate the case of an epileptic patient, we changed the parameter that determined the amplitude of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) in the neural mass model. Finally, we obtained BOLD music for healthy and epileptic patients. The differences in levels of arousal between the 2 pieces of music may provide a potential tool for discriminating the different populations if the differences can be confirmed by more real data. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hemodynamic modelling of BOLD fMRI - A machine learning approach

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Jacobsen, Danjal Jakup

2007-01-01

This Ph.D. thesis concerns the application of machine learning methods to hemodynamic models for BOLD fMRI data. Several such models have been proposed by different researchers, and they have in common a basis in physiological knowledge of the hemodynamic processes involved in the generation...... of the BOLD signal. The BOLD signal is modelled as a non-linear function of underlying, hidden (non-measurable) hemodynamic state variables. The focus of this thesis work has been to develop methods for learning the parameters of such models, both in their traditional formulation, and in a state space...... formulation. In the latter, noise enters at the level of the hidden states, as well as in the BOLD measurements themselves. A framework has been developed to allow approximate posterior distributions of model parameters to be learned from real fMRI data. This is accomplished with Markov chain Monte Carlo...

Subsecond dopamine fluctuations in human striatum encode superposed error signals about actual and counterfactual reward

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Kishida, Kenneth T.; Saez, Ignacio; Lohrenz, Terry; Witcher, Mark R.; Laxton, Adrian W.; Tatter, Stephen B.; White, Jason P.; Ellis, Thomas L.; Phillips, Paul E. M.; Montague, P. Read

2016-01-01

In the mammalian brain, dopamine is a critical neuromodulator whose actions underlie learning, decision-making, and behavioral control. Degeneration of dopamine neurons causes Parkinson’s disease, whereas dysregulation of dopamine signaling is believed to contribute to psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, addiction, and depression. Experiments in animal models suggest the hypothesis that dopamine release in human striatum encodes reward prediction errors (RPEs) (the difference between actual and expected outcomes) during ongoing decision-making. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) imaging experiments in humans support the idea that RPEs are tracked in the striatum; however, BOLD measurements cannot be used to infer the action of any one specific neurotransmitter. We monitored dopamine levels with subsecond temporal resolution in humans (n = 17) with Parkinson’s disease while they executed a sequential decision-making task. Participants placed bets and experienced monetary gains or losses. Dopamine fluctuations in the striatum fail to encode RPEs, as anticipated by a large body of work in model organisms. Instead, subsecond dopamine fluctuations encode an integration of RPEs with counterfactual prediction errors, the latter defined by how much better or worse the experienced outcome could have been. How dopamine fluctuations combine the actual and counterfactual is unknown. One possibility is that this process is the normal behavior of reward processing dopamine neurons, which previously had not been tested by experiments in animal models. Alternatively, this superposition of error terms may result from an additional yet-to-be-identified subclass of dopamine neurons. PMID:26598677

The BOLD cerebrovascular reactivity response to progressive hypercapnia in young and elderly

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bhogal, Alex A.; De Vis, Jill B.; Siero, Jeroen C.W.

2016-01-01

to broaden our interpretation of the BOLD-CVR response. Significant age-related differences were observed. Grey matter CVR at 7 mm Hg above resting PetCO2 was lower amongst elderly (0.19 ± 0.06%ΔBOLD/mm Hg) as compared to young subjects (0.26 ± 0.07%ΔBOLD/mm Hg). White matter CVR at 7 mm Hg above baseline...

Prospective MR image alignment between breath-holds: Application to renal BOLD MRI.

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Kalis, Inge M; Pilutti, David; Krafft, Axel J; Hennig, Jürgen; Bock, Michael

2017-04-01

To present an image registration method for renal blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) measurements that enables semiautomatic assessment of parenchymal and medullary R2* changes under a functional challenge. In a series of breath-hold acquisitions, three-dimensional data were acquired initially for prospective image registration of subsequent BOLD measurements. An algorithm for kidney alignment for BOLD renal imaging (KALIBRI) was implemented to detect the positions of the left and right kidney so that the kidneys were acquired in the subsequent BOLD measurement at consistent anatomical locations. Residual in-plane distortions were corrected retrospectively so that semiautomatic dynamic R2* measurements of the renal cortex and medulla become feasible. KALIBRI was tested in six healthy volunteers during a series of BOLD experiments, which included a 600- to 1000-mL water challenge. Prospective image registration and BOLD imaging of each kidney was achieved within a total measurement time of about 17 s, enabling its execution within a single breath-hold. KALIBRI improved the registration by up to 35% as found with mutual information measures. In four volunteers, a medullary R2* decrease of up to 40% was observed after water ingestion. KALIBRI improves the quality of two-dimensional time-resolved renal BOLD MRI by aligning local renal anatomy, which allows for consistent R2* measurements over many breath-holds. Magn Reson Med 77:1573-1582, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD). Renal imaging. Concepts and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nissen, Johanna C.; Haneder, Stefan; Schoenberg, Stefan O.; Michaely, Henrik J.

2010-01-01

Many renal diseases as well as several pharmacons cause a change in renal blood flow and/or renal oxygenation. The blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) imaging takes advantage of local field inhomogeneities and is based on a T2 * -weighted sequence. BOLD is a non-invasive method allowing an estimation of the renal, particularly the medullary oxygenation, and an indirect measurement of blood flow without administration of contrast agents. Thus, effects of different drugs on the kidney and various renal diseases can be controlled and observed. This work will provide an overview of the studies carried out so far and identify ways how BOLD can be used in clinical studies. (orig.)

Abnormal Striatal BOLD Responses to Reward Anticipation and Reward Delivery in ADHD

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Furukawa, Emi; Bado, Patricia; Tripp, Gail; Mattos, Paulo; Wickens, Jeff R.; Bramati, Ivanei E.; Alsop, Brent; Ferreira, Fernanda Meireles; Lima, Debora; Tovar-Moll, Fernanda; Sergeant, Joseph A.; Moll, Jorge

2014-01-01

Altered reward processing has been proposed to contribute to the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The neurobiological mechanism underlying this alteration remains unclear. We hypothesize that the transfer of dopamine release from reward to reward-predicting cues, as normally observed in animal studies, may be deficient in ADHD. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate striatal responses to reward-predicting cues and reward delivery in a classical conditioning paradigm. Data from 14 high-functioning and stimulant-naïve young adults with elevated lifetime symptoms of ADHD (8 males, 6 females) and 15 well-matched controls (8 males, 7 females) were included in the analyses. During reward anticipation, increased blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the right ventral and left dorsal striatum were observed in controls, but not in the ADHD group. The opposite pattern was observed in response to reward delivery; the ADHD group demonstrated significantly greater BOLD responses in the ventral striatum bilaterally and the left dorsal striatum relative to controls. In the ADHD group, the number of current hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms was inversely related to ventral striatal responses during reward anticipation and positively associated with responses to reward. The BOLD response patterns observed in the striatum are consistent with impaired predictive dopamine signaling in ADHD, which may explain altered reward-contingent behaviors and symptoms of ADHD. PMID:24586543

Functional BOLD MRI: comparison of different field strengths in a motor task

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meindl, T.; Born, C.; Britsch, S.; Reiser, M.; Schoenberg, S.

2008-01-01

The purpose was to evaluate the benefit of an increased field strength for functional magnetic resonance imaging in a motor task. Six right-handed volunteers were scanned at 1.5 T and 3.0 T using a motor task. Each experiment consisted of two runs with four activation blocks, each with right- and left-hand tapping. Analysis was done using BrainVoyagerQX registered . Differences between both field strengths concerning signal to noise (SNR), blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal change, functional sensitivity and BOLD contrast to noise (CNR) were tested using a paired t test. Delineation of activations and artifacts were graded by two independent readers. Results were further validated by means of a phantom study. The sensorimotor and premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area, subcortical and cerebellar structures were activated at each field strength. Additional activations of the right premotor cortex and right superior temporal gyrus were found at 3.0 T. Signal-to-noise, percentage of BOLD signal change, BOLD CNR and functional sensitivity improved at 3.0 T by a factor of up to 2.4. Functional imaging at 3.0 T results in detection of additional activated areas, increased SNR, BOLD signal change, functional sensitivity and BOLD CNR. (orig.)

Post-contractile BOLD contrast in skeletal muscle at 7 T reveals inter-individual heterogeneity in the physiological responses to muscle contraction.

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Towse, Theodore F; Elder, Christopher P; Bush, Emily C; Klockenkemper, Samuel W; Bullock, Jared T; Dortch, Richard D; Damon, Bruce M

2016-12-01

Muscle blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) contrast is greater in magnitude and potentially more influenced by extravascular BOLD mechanisms at 7 T than it is at lower field strengths. Muscle BOLD imaging of muscle contractions at 7 T could, therefore, provide greater or different contrast than at 3 T. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using BOLD imaging at 7 T to assess the physiological responses to in vivo muscle contractions. Thirteen subjects (four females) performed a series of isometric contractions of the calf muscles while being scanned in a Philips Achieva 7 T human imager. Following 2 s maximal isometric plantarflexion contractions, BOLD signal transients ranging from 0.3 to 7.0% of the pre-contraction signal intensity were observed in the soleus muscle. We observed considerable inter-subject variability in both the magnitude and time course of the muscle BOLD signal. A subset of subjects (n = 7) repeated the contraction protocol at two different repetition times (T R : 1000 and 2500 ms) to determine the potential of T 1 -related inflow effects on the magnitude of the post-contractile BOLD response. Consistent with previous reports, there was no difference in the magnitude of the responses for the two T R values (3.8 ± 0.9 versus 4.0 ± 0.6% for T R  = 1000 and 2500 ms, respectively; mean ± standard error). These results demonstrate that studies of the muscle BOLD responses to contractions are feasible at 7 T. Compared with studies at lower field strengths, post-contractile 7 T muscle BOLD contrast may afford greater insight into microvascular function and dysfunction. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Brain alterations in low-frequency fluctuations across multiple bands in obsessive compulsive disorder.

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Giménez, Mònica; Guinea-Izquierdo, Andrés; Villalta-Gil, Victoria; Martínez-Zalacaín, Ignacio; Segalàs, Cinto; Subirà, Marta; Real, Eva; Pujol, Jesús; Harrison, Ben J; Haro, Josep Maria; Sato, Joao R; Hoexter, Marcelo Q; Cardoner, Narcís; Alonso, Pino; Menchón, José Manuel; Soriano-Mas, Carles

2017-12-01

The extent of functional abnormalities in frontal-subcortical circuits in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is still unclear. Although neuroimaging studies, in general, and resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI), in particular, have provided relevant information regarding such alterations, rs-fMRI studies have been typically limited to the analysis of between-region functional connectivity alterations at low-frequency signal fluctuations (i.e., <0.08 Hz). Conversely, the local attributes of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal across different frequency bands have been seldom studied, although they may provide valuable information. Here, we evaluated local alterations in low-frequency fluctuations across different oscillation bands in OCD. Sixty-five OCD patients and 50 healthy controls underwent an rs-fMRI assessment. Alterations in the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) were evaluated, voxel-wise, across four different bands (from 0.01 Hz to 0.25 Hz). OCD patients showed decreased fALFF values in medial orbitofrontal regions and increased fALFF values in the dorsal-medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) at frequency bands <0.08 Hz. This pattern was reversed at higher frequencies, where increased fALFF values also appeared in medial temporal lobe structures and medial thalamus. Clinical variables (i.e., symptom-specific severities) were associated with fALFF values across the different frequency bands. Our findings provide novel evidence about the nature and regional distribution of functional alterations in OCD, which should contribute to refine neurobiological models of the disorder. We suggest that the evaluation of the local attributes of BOLD signal across different frequency bands may be a sensitive approach to further characterize brain functional alterations in psychiatric disorders.

Metabolic Changes Underlying Bold Signal Variations after Administration of Zolpidem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez-Rojas, Rafael; Machado, Calixto; Alvarez, Lazaro; Carballo, Maylen; Perez-Nellar, Jesus; Estevez, Mario; Pavon, Nancy; Chinchilla, Mauricio

2010-12-01

Zolpidem is a non-benzodiazepine drug belonging to the imidazopiridine class, which has selectivity for stimulating the effect of gamma aminobutyric acid [GABA] and is used for the therapy of insomnia. Nonetheless, several reports have been published over recent years about a paradoxical arousing effect of Zolpidem in patients with severe brain damage. We studied a PVS case using 1 H-MRS and BOLD signal, before and after Zolpidem administration. Significantly increased BOLD signal was localized in left frontal superior cortex, bilateral cingulated areas, left thalamus and right head of the caudate nucleus. A transient activation was observed in frontal cortex, comprising portions of anterior cingulate, medial, and orbito-frontal cortices. Additionally, significant pharmacological activation in sensory-motor cortex is observed 1 hour after Zolpidem intake. Significant linear correlations of BOLD signal changes were found with primary concentrations of NAA, Glx and Lac in the right frontal cortex. We discussed that when Zolpidem attaches to the modified GABA receptors of the neurodormant cells, dormancy is switched off, inducing brain activation. This might explain the significant correlations of BOLD signal changes and 1 H-MRS metabolites in our patient. We concluded that 1 H-MRS and BOLD signal assessment might contribute to study neurovascular coupling in PVS cases after Zolpidem administration. Although this is a report of a single case, considering our results we recommend to apply this methodology in series of PVS and MCS patients. (author)

Developmental changes of BOLD signal correlations with global human EEG power and synchronization during working memory.

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Lars Michels

Full Text Available In humans, theta band (5-7 Hz power typically increases when performing cognitively demanding working memory (WM tasks, and simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings have revealed an inverse relationship between theta power and the BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent signal in the default mode network during WM. However, synchronization also plays a fundamental role in cognitive processing, and the level of theta and higher frequency band synchronization is modulated during WM. Yet, little is known about the link between BOLD, EEG power, and EEG synchronization during WM, and how these measures develop with human brain maturation or relate to behavioral changes. We examined EEG-BOLD signal correlations from 18 young adults and 15 school-aged children for age-dependent effects during a load-modulated Sternberg WM task. Frontal load (in-dependent EEG theta power was significantly enhanced in children compared to adults, while adults showed stronger fMRI load effects. Children demonstrated a stronger negative correlation between global theta power and the BOLD signal in the default mode network relative to adults. Therefore, we conclude that theta power mediates the suppression of a task-irrelevant network. We further conclude that children suppress this network even more than adults, probably from an increased level of task-preparedness to compensate for not fully mature cognitive functions, reflected in lower response accuracy and increased reaction time. In contrast to power, correlations between instantaneous theta global field synchronization and the BOLD signal were exclusively positive in both age groups but only significant in adults in the frontal-parietal and posterior cingulate cortices. Furthermore, theta synchronization was weaker in children and was--in contrast to EEG power--positively correlated with response accuracy in both age groups. In summary we conclude that theta EEG-BOLD signal correlations differ between spectral power and

Volumetric BOLD fMRI simulation: from neurovascular coupling to multivoxel imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Zikuan; Calhoun, Vince

2012-01-01

The blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) modality has been numerically simulated by calculating single voxel signals. However, the observation on single voxel signals cannot provide information regarding the spatial distribution of the signals. Specifically, a single BOLD voxel signal simulation cannot answer the fundamental question: is the magnetic resonance (MR) image a replica of its underling magnetic susceptibility source? In this paper, we address this problem by proposing a multivoxel volumetric BOLD fMRI simulation model and a susceptibility expression formula for linear neurovascular coupling process, that allow us to examine the BOLD fMRI procedure from neurovascular coupling to MR image formation. Since MRI technology only senses the magnetism property, we represent a linear neurovascular-coupled BOLD state by a magnetic susceptibility expression formula, which accounts for the parameters of cortical vasculature, intravascular blood oxygenation level, and local neuroactivity. Upon the susceptibility expression of a BOLD state, we carry out volumetric BOLD fMRI simulation by calculating the fieldmap (established by susceptibility magnetization) and the complex multivoxel MR image (by intravoxel dephasing). Given the predefined susceptibility source and the calculated complex MR image, we compare the MR magnitude (phase, respectively) image with the predefined susceptibility source (the calculated fieldmap) by spatial correlation. The spatial correlation between the MR magnitude image and the magnetic susceptibility source is about 0.90 for the settings of T E = 30 ms, B 0 = 3 T, voxel size = 100 micron, vessel radius = 3 micron, and blood volume fraction = 2%. Using these parameters value, the spatial correlation between the MR phase image and the susceptibility-induced fieldmap is close to 1.00. Our simulation results show that the MR magnitude image is not an exact replica of the magnetic susceptibility

BOLD magnetic resonance imaging in nephrology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hall ME

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Michael E Hall,1,2 Jennifer H Jordan,3 Luis A Juncos,1,2 W Gregory Hundley,3 John E Hall2 1Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA; 2Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA; 3Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Cardiovascular Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA Abstract: Magnetic resonance (MR imaging, a non-invasive modality that provides anatomic and physiologic information, is increasingly used for diagnosis of pathophysiologic conditions and for understanding renal physiology in humans. Although functional MR imaging methods were pioneered to investigate the brain, they also offer powerful techniques for investigation of other organ systems such as the kidneys. However, imaging the kidneys provides unique challenges due to potential complications from contrast agents. Therefore, development of non-contrast techniques to study kidney anatomy and physiology is important. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD MR is a non-contrast imaging technique that provides functional information related to renal tissue oxygenation in various pathophysiologic conditions. Here we discuss technical considerations, clinical uses and future directions for use of BOLD MR as well as complementary MR techniques to better understand renal pathophysiology. Our intent is to summarize kidney BOLD MR applications for the clinician rather than focusing on the complex physical challenges that functional MR imaging encompasses; however, we briefly discuss some of those issues. Keywords: functional MRI, kidney, oxygenation, chronic kidney disease 

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback of the mediodorsal and anterior thalamus enhances correlation between thalamic BOLD activity and alpha EEG rhythm.

Science.gov (United States)

Zotev, Vadim; Misaki, Masaya; Phillips, Raquel; Wong, Chung Ki; Bodurka, Jerzy

2018-02-01

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback (rtfMRI-nf) with simultaneous EEG allows volitional modulation of BOLD activity of target brain regions and investigation of related electrophysiological activity. We applied this approach to study correlations between thalamic BOLD activity and alpha EEG rhythm. Healthy volunteers in the experimental group (EG, n = 15) learned to upregulate BOLD activity of the target region consisting of the mediodorsal (MD) and anterior (AN) thalamic nuclei using rtfMRI-nf during retrieval of happy autobiographical memories. Healthy subjects in the control group (CG, n = 14) were provided with a sham feedback. The EG participants were able to significantly increase BOLD activities of the MD and AN. Functional connectivity between the MD and the inferior precuneus was significantly enhanced during the rtfMRI-nf task. Average individual changes in the occipital alpha EEG power significantly correlated with the average MD BOLD activity levels for the EG. Temporal correlations between the occipital alpha EEG power and BOLD activities of the MD and AN were significantly enhanced, during the rtfMRI-nf task, for the EG compared to the CG. Temporal correlations with the alpha power were also significantly enhanced for the posterior nodes of the default mode network, including the precuneus/posterior cingulate, and for the dorsal striatum. Our findings suggest that the temporal correlation between the MD BOLD activity and posterior alpha EEG power is modulated by the interaction between the MD and the inferior precuneus, reflected in their functional connectivity. Our results demonstrate the potential of the rtfMRI-nf with simultaneous EEG for noninvasive neuromodulation studies of human brain function. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Task effects on BOLD signal correlates of implicit syntactic processing

Science.gov (United States)

Caplan, David

2010-01-01

BOLD signal was measured in sixteen participants who made timed font change detection judgments in visually presented sentences that varied in syntactic structure and the order of animate and inanimate nouns. Behavioral data indicated that sentences were processed to the level of syntactic structure. BOLD signal increased in visual association areas bilaterally and left supramarginal gyrus in the contrast of sentences with object- and subject-extracted relative clauses without font changes in which the animacy order of the nouns biased against the syntactically determined meaning of the sentence. This result differs from the findings in a non-word detection task (Caplan et al, 2008a), in which the same contrast led to increased BOLD signal in the left inferior frontal gyrus. The difference in areas of activation indicates that the sentences were processed differently in the two tasks. These differences were further explored in an eye tracking study using the materials in the two tasks. Issues pertaining to how parsing and interpretive operations are affected by a task that is being performed, and how this might affect BOLD signal correlates of syntactic contrasts, are discussed. PMID:20671983

Analysis of Time and Space Invariance of BOLD Responses in the Rat Visual System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bailey, Christopher; Sanganahalli, Basavaraju G; Herman, Peter

2012-01-01

Neuroimaging studies of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electrophysiology provide the linkage between neural activity and the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response. Here, BOLD responses to light flashes were imaged at 11.7T and compared with neural recordings from...... for general linear modeling (GLM) of BOLD responses. Light flashes induced high magnitude neural/BOLD responses reproducibly from both regions. However, neural/BOLD responses from SC and V1 were markedly different. SC signals followed the boxcar shape of the stimulation paradigm at all flash rates, whereas V1...... signals were characterized by onset/offset transients that exhibited different flash rate dependencies. We find that IRF(SC) is generally time-invariant across wider flash rate range compared with IRF(V1), whereas IRF(SC) and IRF(V1) are both space invariant. These results illustrate the importance...

Decreased BOLD responses in audiovisual processing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wiersinga-Post, Esther; Tomaskovic, Sonja; Slabu, Lavinia; Renken, Remco; de Smit, Femke; Duifhuis, Hendrikus

2010-01-01

Audiovisual processing was studied in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using the McGurk effect. Perceptual responses and the brain activity patterns were measured as a function of audiovisual delay. In several cortical and subcortical brain areas, BOLD responses correlated negatively

Non-invasive multiparametric qBOLD approach for robust mapping of the oxygen extraction fraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Domsch, Sebastian; Mie, Moritz B; Wenz, Frederik; Schad, Lothar R

2014-09-01

The quantitative blood oxygenation level-dependent (qBOLD) method has not become clinically established yet because long acquisition times are necessary to achieve an acceptable certainty of the parameter estimates. In this work, a non-invasive multiparametric (nimp) qBOLD approach based on a simple analytical model is proposed to facilitate robust oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) mapping within clinically acceptable acquisition times by using separate measurements. The protocol consisted of a gradient-echo sampled spin-echo sequence (GESSE), a T2-weighted Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) sequence, and a T2(*)-weighted multi-slice multi-echo gradient echo (MMGE) sequence. The GESSE acquisition time was less than 5 minutes and the extra measurement time for CPMG/MMGE was below 2 minutes each. The proposed nimp-qBOLD approach was validated in healthy subjects (N = 5) and one patient. The proposed nimp-qBOLD approach facilitated more robust OEF mapping with significantly reduced inter- and intra-subject variability compared to the standard qBOLD method. Thereby, an average OEF in all subjects of 27±2% in white matter (WM) and 29±2% in gray matter (GM) using the nimp-qBOLD method was more stable compared to 41±10% (WM) and 46±10% (GM) with standard qBOLD. Moreover, the spatial variance in the image slice (i.e. standard deviation divided by mean) was on average reduced from 35% to 25%. In addition, the preliminary results of the patient are encouraging. The proposed nimp-qBOLD technique provides a promising tool for robust OEF mapping within clinically acceptable acquisition times and could therefore provide an important contribution for analyzing tumors or monitoring the success of radio and chemo therapies. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Non-invasive multiparametric qBOLD approach for robust mapping of the oxygen extraction fraction

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Domsch, Sebastian; Mie, Moritz B.; Schad, Lothar R. [Heidelberg Univ., Medical Faculty Mannheim (Germany). Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine; Wenz, Frederik [Heidelberg Univ., Medical Faculty Mannheim (Germany). Dept. of Radiation Oncology

2014-10-01

Introduction: The quantitative blood oxygenation level-dependent (qBOLD) method has not become clinically established yet because long acquisition times are necessary to achieve an acceptable certainty of the parameter estimates. In this work, a non-invasive multiparametric (nimp) qBOLD approach based on a simple analytical model is proposed to facilitate robust oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) mapping within clinically acceptable acquisition times by using separate measurements. Methods: The protocol consisted of a gradient-echo sampled spin-echo sequence (GESSE), a T{sub 2}-weighted Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) sequence, and a T{sub 2}{sup *}-weighted multi-slice multi-echo gradient echo (MMGE) sequence. The GESSE acquisition time was less than 5 minutes and the extra measurement time for CPMG / MMGE was below 2 minutes each. The proposed nimp-qBOLD approach was validated in healthy subjects (N = 5) and one patient. Results: The proposed nimp-qBOLD approach facilitated more robust OEF mapping with significantly reduced inter- and intra-subject variability compared to the standard qBOLD method. Thereby, an average OEF in all subjects of 27 ± 2 % in white matter (WM) and 29 ± 2 % in gray matter (GM) using the nimp-qBOLD method was more stable compared to 41 ± 10 % (WM) and 46 ± 10 % (GM) with standard qBOLD. Moreover, the spatial variance in the image slice (i.e. standard deviation divided by mean) was on average reduced from 35 % to 25 %. In addition, the preliminary results of the patient are encouraging. Conclusion: The proposed nimp-qBOLD technique provides a promising tool for robust OEF mapping within clinically acceptable acquisition times and could therefore provide an important contribution for analyzing tumors or monitoring the success of radio and chemo therapies. (orig.)

BOLD repetition decreases in object-responsive ventral visual areas depend on spatial attention.

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Eger, E; Henson, R N A; Driver, J; Dolan, R J

2004-08-01

Functional imaging studies of priming-related repetition phenomena have become widely used to study neural object representation. Although blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) repetition decreases can sometimes be observed without awareness of repetition, any role for spatial attention in BOLD repetition effects remains largely unknown. We used fMRI in 13 healthy subjects to test whether BOLD repetition decreases for repeated objects in ventral visual cortices depend on allocation of spatial attention to the prime. Subjects performed a size-judgment task on a probe object that had been attended or ignored in a preceding prime display of 2 lateralized objects. Reaction times showed faster responses when the probe was the same object as the attended prime, independent of the view tested (identical vs. mirror image). No behavioral effect was evident from unattended primes. BOLD repetition decreases for attended primes were found in lateral occipital and fusiform regions bilaterally, which generalized across identical and mirror-image repeats. No repetition decreases were observed for ignored primes. Our results suggest a critical role for attention in achieving visual representations of objects that lead to both BOLD signal decreases and behavioral priming on repeated presentation.

Spatial–temporal signature of resting-state BOLD signals in classic trigeminal neuralgia

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Wang Y

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Yanping Wang,1 Congying Xu,1 Liping Zhai,1 Xudong Lu,1 Xiaoqiang Wu,1 Yahui Yi,2 Ziyun Liu,1 Qiaobing Guan,1 Xiaoling Zhang1 1Department of Neurology, the Second Hospital of Jiaxing City, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, 2Department of Radiology, the Second Hospital of Jiaxing City, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China Abstract: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI signals are spatiotemporally organized. R-fMRI studies in patients with classic trigeminal neuralgia (CTN have suggested alterations in functional connectivity. However, far less attention has been given to investigations of the local oscillations and their frequency-specific changes in these patients. The objective of this study was to address this issue in patients with CTN. R-fMRI data from 17 patients with CTN and 19 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs were analyzed using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF. The ALFF was computed across different frequencies (slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz; slow-5: 0.01–0.027 Hz; and typical band: 0.01–0.08 Hz in patients with CTN compared to HCs. In the typical band, patients with CTN showed increases of ALFF in bilateral temporal, occipital, and left middle frontal regions and in the left middle cingulate gyrus, as well as decreases of ALFF in the right inferior temporal region and in regions (medial prefrontal regions of default mode network. These significant group differences were identified in different sub-bands, with greater brainstem findings in higher frequencies (slow-4 and extensive default mode network and right postparietal results in lower frequencies (slow-5. Furthermore, significant relationships were found between subjective pain ratings and both amplitudes of higher frequency (slow-4 blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD signals in pain localization brain regions and lower frequencies (slow-5 in pain signaling/modulating brain regions in the patients, and decreased ALFF within the prefrontal regions was significantly

Infraslow Electroencephalographic and Dynamic Resting State Network Activity.

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Grooms, Joshua K; Thompson, Garth J; Pan, Wen-Ju; Billings, Jacob; Schumacher, Eric H; Epstein, Charles M; Keilholz, Shella D

2017-06-01

A number of studies have linked the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal to electroencephalographic (EEG) signals in traditional frequency bands (δ, θ, α, β, and γ), but the relationship between BOLD and its direct frequency correlates in the infraslow band (resting state magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired simultaneously. The DC EEG signals were correlated with the BOLD signal in patterns that resembled resting state networks. Subsequent dynamic analysis showed that the correlation between DC EEG and the BOLD signal varied substantially over time, even within individual subjects. The variation in DC EEG appears to reflect the time-varying contribution of different resting state networks. Furthermore, some of the patterns of DC EEG and BOLD correlation are consistent with previous work demonstrating quasiperiodic spatiotemporal patterns of large-scale network activity in resting state. These findings demonstrate that infraslow electrical activity is linked to BOLD fluctuations in humans and that it may provide a basis for large-scale organization comparable to that observed in animal studies.

Evolution of boldness and life-history in response to selective harvesting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ken Haste; Marty, Lise; Arlinghaus, Robert

2018-01-01

Whether intensive harvesting alters the behavioral repertoire of exploited fishes is currently unknown, but plausible. We extend a fish life-history model to account for boldness as a personality trait that affects foraging intensity, which affects energy intake and risk from predation and fishing...... gear. We systematically investigate life-history and behavioral trait evolution along the boldness–timidity axis in response to the full range of common selectivity and exploitation patterns in fisheries. In agreement with previous studies, we find that any type of harvesting selects for fast life...... histories and that merely elevated, yet unselective, fishing mortality favors boldness. We also find that timid-selective fishing (which can be expected in species targeted by active gear types) selects for increased boldness. By contrast, increased timidity is predicted when fishing targets bolder...

Working memory in volunteers and schizophrenics using BOLD fMRI; Das Arbeitsgedaechtnis bei Gesunden und bei Schizophrenen: Untersuchungen mit BOLD-fMRT

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Giesel, F.L. [Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ) Heidelberg, Abteilung Radiologie (Germany); Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ), Abteilung Radiologie, Heidelberg (Germany); Hohmann, N. [Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ) Heidelberg, Abteilung Radiologie (Germany); Psychiatrische Universitaetsklinik Heidelberg, Sektion Gerontopsychiatrie (Germany); Seidl, U.; Kress, K.R.; Schoenknecht, P.; Schroeder, J. [Psychiatrische Universitaetsklinik Heidelberg, Sektion Gerontopsychiatrie (Germany); Kauczor, H.-U.; Essig, M. [Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ) Heidelberg, Abteilung Radiologie (Germany)

2005-02-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging uses the blood oxygen level-dependent effect (BOLD MRI) for noninvasive display of cerebral correlatives of cognitive function. The importance for the understanding of physiological and pathological processes is demonstrated by investigations of working memory in schizophrenics and healthy controls. Working memory is involved in processing rather than storage of information and therefore is linked to complex processes such as learning and problem solving. In schizophrenic psychosis, these functions are clearly restricted. Training effects in the working memory task follow an inverse U-shape function, suggesting that cerebral activation reaches a peak before economics of the brain find a more efficient method and activation decreases. (orig.) [German] Die funktionelle Magnetresonanztomographie (fMRT) nutzt den ''blood oxygen level dependent effect'' (BOLD-Effekt) zur nichtinvasiven Darstellung zerebraler Korrelate kognitiver Funktionen. Die Bedeutung dieses Verfahrens fuer das Verstaendnis physiologischer und pathologischer Prozesse wird anhand von Untersuchungen zum Arbeitsgedaechtnis bei Schizophrenen und gesunden Kontrollpersonen verdeutlicht. Das Arbeitsgedaechtnis dient weniger der Speicherung, sondern vielmehr der Verarbeitung von Informationen und ist deshalb in komplexe Prozesse wie Lernen und Problemloesen eingebunden. Im Rahmen schizophrener Psychosen kommt es zu einer deutlichen Einschraenkung dieser Funktionen. Erwartungsgemaess zeigen sich unter Durchfuehrung eines Arbeitsgedaechtnisparadigmas Unterschiede in der zerebralen Aktivitaet, die jedoch bei den Erkrankten unter Therapie prinzipiell reversibel sind. Von Interesse sind auch Trainingseffekte bei Gesunden, wobei eine verminderte Aktivierung nach Training auf eine ''Oekonomisierung'' schliessen laesst. (orig.)

Calibrating the BOLD signal during a motor task using an extended fusion model incorporating DOT, BOLD and ASL data

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Yücel, Meryem A.; Huppert, Theodore J.; Boas, David A.; Gagnon, Louis

2012-01-01

Multimodal imaging improves the accuracy of the localization and the quantification of brain activation when measuring different manifestations of the hemodynamic response associated with cerebral activity. In this study, we incorporated cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes measured with arterial spin labeling (ASL), Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT) and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) recordings to reconstruct changes in oxy- (ΔHbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin (ΔHbR). Using the Grubb relation between relative changes in CBF and cerebral blood volume (CBV), we incorporated the ASL measurement as a prior to the total hemoglobin concentration change (ΔHbT). We applied this ASL fusion model to both synthetic data and experimental multimodal recordings during a 2-sec finger-tapping task. Our results show that the new approach is very powerful in estimating ΔHbO2 and ΔHbR with high spatial and quantitative accuracy. Moreover, our approach allows the computation of baseline total hemoglobin concentration (HbT0) as well as of the BOLD calibration factor M on a single subject basis. We obtained an average HbT0 of 71 μM, an average M value of 0.18 and an average increase of 13 % in cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2), all of which are in agreement with values previously reported in the literature. Our method yields an independent measurement of M, which provides an alternative measurement to validate the hypercapnic calibration of the BOLD signal. PMID:22546318

Re-examine tumor-induced alterations in hemodynamic responses of BOLD fMRI. Implications in presurgical brain mapping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Liya; Ali, Shazia; Fa, Tianning; Mao, Hui; Dandan, Chen; Olson, Jeffrey

2012-01-01

Background: Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) fMRI is used for presurgical functional mapping of brain tumor patients. Abnormal tumor blood supply may affect hemodynamic responses and BOLD fMRI signals. Purpose: To perform a multivariate and quantitative investigation of the effect of brain tumors on the hemodynamic responses and its impact on BOLD MRI signal time course, data analysis in order to better understand tumor-induced alterations in hemodynamic responses, and accurately mapping cortical regions in brain tumor patients. Material and Methods: BOLD fMRI data from 42 glioma patients who underwent presurgical mapping of the primary motor cortex (PMC) with a block designed finger tapping paradigm were analyzed, retrospectively. Cases were divided into high grade (n = 24) and low grade (n = 18) groups based on pathology. The tumor volume and distance to the activated PMCs were measured. BOLD signal time courses from selected regions of interest (ROIs) in the PMCs of tumor affected and contralateral unaffected hemispheres were obtained from each patient. Tumor-induced changes of BOLD signal intensity and time to peak (TTP) of BOLD signal time courses were analyzed statistically. Results: The BOLD signal intensity and TTP in the tumor-affected PMCs are altered when compared to that of the unaffected hemisphere. The average BOLD signal level is statistically significant lower in the affected PMCs. The average TTP in the affected PMCs is shorter in the high grade group, but longer in the low grade tumor group compared to the contralateral unaffected hemisphere. Degrees of alterations in BOLD signal time courses are related to both the distance to activated foci and tumor volume with the stronger effect in tumor distance to activated PMC. Conclusion: Alterations in BOLD signal time courses are strongly related to the tumor grade, the tumor volume, and the distance to the activated foci. Such alterations may impair accurate mapping of tumor-affected functional

Amplitude of low frequency fluctuation abnormalities in adolescents with online gaming addiction.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Kai; Jin, Chenwang; Cheng, Ping; Yang, Xuejuan; Dong, Tao; Bi, Yanzhi; Xing, Lihong; von Deneen, Karen M; Yu, Dahua; Liu, Junyu; Liang, Jun; Cheng, Tingting; Qin, Wei; Tian, Jie

2013-01-01

The majority of previous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated both structural and task-related functional abnormalities in adolescents with online gaming addiction (OGA). However, few functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies focused on the regional intensity of spontaneous fluctuations in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) during the resting state and fewer studies investigated the relationship between the abnormal resting-state properties and the impaired cognitive control ability. In the present study, we employed the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method to explore the local features of spontaneous brain activity in adolescents with OGA and healthy controls during resting-state. Eighteen adolescents with OGA and 18 age-, education- and gender-matched healthy volunteers participated in this study. Compared with healthy controls, adolescents with OGA showed a significant increase in ALFF values in the left medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the left precuneus, the left supplementary motor area (SMA), the right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) and the bilateral middle cingulate cortex (MCC). The abnormalities of these regions were also detected in previous addiction studies. More importantly, we found that ALFF values of the left medial OFC and left precuneus were positively correlated with the duration of OGA in adolescents with OGA. The ALFF values of the left medial OFC were also correlated with the color-word Stroop test performance. Our results suggested that the abnormal spontaneous neuronal activity of these regions may be implicated in the underlying pathophysiology of OGA.

Amplitude of low frequency fluctuation abnormalities in adolescents with online gaming addiction.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai Yuan

Full Text Available The majority of previous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated both structural and task-related functional abnormalities in adolescents with online gaming addiction (OGA. However, few functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies focused on the regional intensity of spontaneous fluctuations in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD during the resting state and fewer studies investigated the relationship between the abnormal resting-state properties and the impaired cognitive control ability. In the present study, we employed the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF method to explore the local features of spontaneous brain activity in adolescents with OGA and healthy controls during resting-state. Eighteen adolescents with OGA and 18 age-, education- and gender-matched healthy volunteers participated in this study. Compared with healthy controls, adolescents with OGA showed a significant increase in ALFF values in the left medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC, the left precuneus, the left supplementary motor area (SMA, the right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG and the bilateral middle cingulate cortex (MCC. The abnormalities of these regions were also detected in previous addiction studies. More importantly, we found that ALFF values of the left medial OFC and left precuneus were positively correlated with the duration of OGA in adolescents with OGA. The ALFF values of the left medial OFC were also correlated with the color-word Stroop test performance. Our results suggested that the abnormal spontaneous neuronal activity of these regions may be implicated in the underlying pathophysiology of OGA.

BOLD Granger causality reflects vascular anatomy.

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J Taylor Webb

Full Text Available A number of studies have tried to exploit subtle phase differences in BOLD time series to resolve the order of sequential activation of brain regions, or more generally the ability of signal in one region to predict subsequent signal in another region. More recently, such lag-based measures have been applied to investigate directed functional connectivity, although this application has been controversial. We attempted to use large publicly available datasets (FCON 1000, ADHD 200, Human Connectome Project to determine whether consistent spatial patterns of Granger Causality are observed in typical fMRI data. For BOLD datasets from 1,240 typically developing subjects ages 7-40, we measured Granger causality between time series for every pair of 7,266 spherical ROIs covering the gray matter and 264 seed ROIs at hubs of the brain's functional network architecture. Granger causality estimates were strongly reproducible for connections in a test and replication sample (n=620 subjects for each group, as well as in data from a single subject scanned repeatedly, both during resting and passive video viewing. The same effect was even stronger in high temporal resolution fMRI data from the Human Connectome Project, and was observed independently in data collected during performance of 7 task paradigms. The spatial distribution of Granger causality reflected vascular anatomy with a progression from Granger causality sources, in Circle of Willis arterial inflow distributions, to sinks, near large venous vascular structures such as dural venous sinuses and at the periphery of the brain. Attempts to resolve BOLD phase differences with Granger causality should consider the possibility of reproducible vascular confounds, a problem that is independent of the known regional variability of the hemodynamic response.

Correlation between MEG and BOLD fMRI signals induced by visual flicker stimuli

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Chu Renxin; Holroyd Tom; Duyn Jeff

2007-01-01

The goal of this work was to investigate how the MEG signal amplitude correlates with that of BOLD fMRI.To investigate the correlation between fMRI and macroscopic electrical activity, BOLD fMRI and MEG was performed on the same subjects (n =5). A visual flicker stimulus of varying temporal frequency was used to elicit neural responses in early visual areas. A strong similarity was observed in frequency tuning curves between both modalities.Although, averaged over subjects, the BOLD tuning curve was somewhat broader than MEG, both BOLD and MEG had maxima at a flicker frequency of 10 Hz. Also, we measured the first and second harmonic components as the stimuli frequency by MEG. In the low stimuli frequency (less than 6 Hz), the second harmonic has comparable amplitude with the first harmonic, which implies that neural frequency response is nonlinear and has more nonlinear components in low frequency than in high frequency.

Analysis of Neural-BOLD Coupling through Four Models of the Neural Metabolic Demand

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Christopher W Tyler

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The coupling of the neuronal energetics to the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD response is still incompletely understood. To address this issue, we compared the fits of four plausible models of neurometabolic coupling dynamics to available data for simultaneous recordings of the local field potential (LFP and the local BOLD response recorded from monkey primary visual cortex over a wide range of stimulus durations. The four models of the metabolic demand driving the BOLD response were: direct coupling with the overall LFP; rectified coupling to the LFP; coupling with a slow adaptive component of the implied neural population response; and coupling with the non-adaptive intracellular input signal defined by the stimulus time course. Taking all stimulus durations into account, the results imply that the BOLD response is most closely coupled with metabolic demand derived from the intracellular input waveform, without significant influence from the adaptive transients and nonlinearities exhibited by the LFP waveform.

Development of visual cortical function in infant macaques: A BOLD fMRI study.

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Tom J Van Grootel

Full Text Available Functional brain development is not well understood. In the visual system, neurophysiological studies in nonhuman primates show quite mature neuronal properties near birth although visual function is itself quite immature and continues to develop over many months or years after birth. Our goal was to assess the relative development of two main visual processing streams, dorsal and ventral, using BOLD fMRI in an attempt to understand the global mechanisms that support the maturation of visual behavior. Seven infant macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta were repeatedly scanned, while anesthetized, over an age range of 102 to 1431 days. Large rotating checkerboard stimuli induced BOLD activation in visual cortices at early ages. Additionally we used static and dynamic Glass pattern stimuli to probe BOLD responses in primary visual cortex and two extrastriate areas: V4 and MT-V5. The resulting activations were analyzed with standard GLM and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA approaches. We analyzed three contrasts: Glass pattern present/absent, static/dynamic Glass pattern presentation, and structured/random Glass pattern form. For both GLM and MVPA approaches, robust coherent BOLD activation appeared relatively late in comparison to the maturation of known neuronal properties and the development of behavioral sensitivity to Glass patterns. Robust differential activity to Glass pattern present/absent and dynamic/static stimulus presentation appeared first in V1, followed by V4 and MT-V5 at older ages; there was no reliable distinction between the two extrastriate areas. A similar pattern of results was obtained with the two analysis methods, although MVPA analysis showed reliable differential responses emerging at later ages than GLM. Although BOLD responses to large visual stimuli are detectable, our results with more refined stimuli indicate that global BOLD activity changes as behavioral performance matures. This reflects an hierarchical development of

Visual, Auditory, and Cross Modal Sensory Processing in Adults with Autism: An EEG Power and BOLD fMRI Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Hames, Elizabeth’ C.; Murphy, Brandi; Rajmohan, Ravi; Anderson, Ronald C.; Baker, Mary; Zupancic, Stephen; O’Boyle, Michael; Richman, David

2016-01-01

Electroencephalography (EEG) and blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imagining (BOLD fMRI) assessed the neurocorrelates of sensory processing of visual and auditory stimuli in 11 adults with autism (ASD) and 10 neurotypical (NT) controls between the ages of 20–28. We hypothesized that ASD performance on combined audiovisual trials would be less accurate with observable decreased EEG power across frontal, temporal, and occipital channels and decreased BOLD fMRI activity in these same regions; reflecting deficits in key sensory processing areas. Analysis focused on EEG power, BOLD fMRI, and accuracy. Lower EEG beta power and lower left auditory cortex fMRI activity were seen in ASD compared to NT when they were presented with auditory stimuli as demonstrated by contrasting the activity from the second presentation of an auditory stimulus in an all auditory block vs. the second presentation of a visual stimulus in an all visual block (AA2-VV2).We conclude that in ASD, combined audiovisual processing is more similar than unimodal processing to NTs. PMID:27148020

Visual, Auditory, and Cross Modal Sensory Processing in Adults with Autism:An EEG Power and BOLD fMRI Investigation

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Elizabeth C Hames

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Electroencephalography (EEG and Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Functional Magnetic Resonance Imagining (BOLD fMRI assessed the neurocorrelates of sensory processing of visual and auditory stimuli in 11 adults with autism (ASD and 10 neurotypical (NT controls between the ages of 20-28. We hypothesized that ASD performance on combined audiovisual trials would be less accurate with observable decreased EEG power across frontal, temporal, and occipital channels and decreased BOLD fMRI activity in these same regions; reflecting deficits in key sensory processing areas. Analysis focused on EEG power, BOLD fMRI, and accuracy. Lower EEG beta power and lower left auditory cortex fMRI activity were seen in ASD compared to NT when they were presented with auditory stimuli as demonstrated by contrasting the activity from the second presentation of an auditory stimulus in an all auditory block versus the second presentation of a visual stimulus in an all visual block (AA2­VV2. We conclude that in ASD, combined audiovisual processing is more similar than unimodal processing to NTs.

BOLD cardiovascular magnetic resonance at 3.0 tesla in myocardial ischemia.

OpenAIRE

Manka, R; Paetsch, I; Schnackenburg, B; Gebker, R; Fleck, E; Jahnke, C

2010-01-01

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) to detect stress-inducible myocardial ischemic reactions in the presence of angiographically significant coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods Forty-six patients (34 men; age 65 ± 9 years,) with suspected or known coronary artery disease underwent CMR at 3Tesla prior to clinically indicated invasive coronary angiography. BOLD CMR was perfor...

Personality in the cockroach Diploptera punctata: Evidence for stability across developmental stages despite age effects on boldness.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanley, Christina R; Mettke-Hofmann, Claudia; Preziosi, Richard F

2017-01-01

Despite a recent surge in the popularity of animal personality studies and their wide-ranging associations with various aspects of behavioural ecology, our understanding of the development of personality over ontogeny remains poorly understood. Stability over time is a central tenet of personality; ecological pressures experienced by an individual at different life stages may, however, vary considerably, which may have a significant effect on behavioural traits. Invertebrates often go through numerous discrete developmental stages and therefore provide a useful model for such research. Here we test for both differential consistency and age effects upon behavioural traits in the gregarious cockroach Diploptera punctata by testing the same behavioural traits in both juveniles and adults. In our sample, we find consistency in boldness, exploration and sociality within adults whilst only boldness was consistent in juveniles. Both boldness and exploration measures, representative of risk-taking behaviour, show significant consistency across discrete juvenile and adult stages. Age effects are, however, apparent in our data; juveniles are significantly bolder than adults, most likely due to differences in the ecological requirements of these life stages. Size also affects risk-taking behaviour since smaller adults are both bolder and more highly explorative. Whilst a behavioural syndrome linking boldness and exploration is evident in nymphs, this disappears by the adult stage, where links between other behavioural traits become apparent. Our results therefore indicate that differential consistency in personality can be maintained across life stages despite age effects on its magnitude, with links between some personality traits changing over ontogeny, demonstrating plasticity in behavioural syndromes.

Personality in the cockroach Diploptera punctata: Evidence for stability across developmental stages despite age effects on boldness

Science.gov (United States)

Mettke-Hofmann, Claudia; Preziosi, Richard F.

2017-01-01

Despite a recent surge in the popularity of animal personality studies and their wide-ranging associations with various aspects of behavioural ecology, our understanding of the development of personality over ontogeny remains poorly understood. Stability over time is a central tenet of personality; ecological pressures experienced by an individual at different life stages may, however, vary considerably, which may have a significant effect on behavioural traits. Invertebrates often go through numerous discrete developmental stages and therefore provide a useful model for such research. Here we test for both differential consistency and age effects upon behavioural traits in the gregarious cockroach Diploptera punctata by testing the same behavioural traits in both juveniles and adults. In our sample, we find consistency in boldness, exploration and sociality within adults whilst only boldness was consistent in juveniles. Both boldness and exploration measures, representative of risk-taking behaviour, show significant consistency across discrete juvenile and adult stages. Age effects are, however, apparent in our data; juveniles are significantly bolder than adults, most likely due to differences in the ecological requirements of these life stages. Size also affects risk-taking behaviour since smaller adults are both bolder and more highly explorative. Whilst a behavioural syndrome linking boldness and exploration is evident in nymphs, this disappears by the adult stage, where links between other behavioural traits become apparent. Our results therefore indicate that differential consistency in personality can be maintained across life stages despite age effects on its magnitude, with links between some personality traits changing over ontogeny, demonstrating plasticity in behavioural syndromes. PMID:28489864

Working memory in volunteers and schizophrenics using BOLD fMRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giesel, F.L.; Hohmann, N.; Seidl, U.; Kress, K.R.; Schoenknecht, P.; Schroeder, J.; Kauczor, H.-U.; Essig, M.

2005-01-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging uses the blood oxygen level-dependent effect (BOLD MRI) for noninvasive display of cerebral correlatives of cognitive function. The importance for the understanding of physiological and pathological processes is demonstrated by investigations of working memory in schizophrenics and healthy controls. Working memory is involved in processing rather than storage of information and therefore is linked to complex processes such as learning and problem solving. In schizophrenic psychosis, these functions are clearly restricted. Training effects in the working memory task follow an inverse U-shape function, suggesting that cerebral activation reaches a peak before economics of the brain find a more efficient method and activation decreases. (orig.) [de

Dorsal root ganglion stimulation attenuates the BOLD signal response to noxious sensory input in specific brain regions: Insights into a possible mechanism for analgesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pawela, Christopher P; Kramer, Jeffery M; Hogan, Quinn H

2017-02-15

Targeted dorsal root ganglion (DRG) electrical stimulation (i.e. ganglionic field stimulation - GFS) is an emerging therapeutic approach to alleviate chronic pain. Here we describe blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses to noxious hind-limb stimulation in a rat model that replicates clinical GFS using an electrode implanted adjacent to the DRG. Acute noxious sensory stimulation in the absence of GFS caused robust BOLD fMRI response in brain regions previously associated with sensory and pain-related response, such as primary/secondary somatosensory cortex, retrosplenial granular cortex, thalamus, caudate putamen, nucleus accumbens, globus pallidus, and amygdala. These regions differentially demonstrated either positive or negative correlation to the acute noxious stimulation paradigm, in agreement with previous rat fMRI studies. Therapeutic-level GFS significantly attenuated the global BOLD response to noxious stimulation in these regions. This BOLD signal attenuation persisted for 20minutes after the GFS was discontinued. Control experiments in sham-operated animals showed that the attenuation was not due to the effect of repetitive noxious stimulation. Additional control experiments also revealed minimal BOLD fMRI response to GFS at therapeutic intensity when presented in a standard block-design paradigm. High intensity GFS produced a BOLD signal map similar to acute noxious stimulation when presented in a block-design. These findings are the first to identify the specific brain region responses to neuromodulation at the DRG level and suggest possible mechanisms for GFS-induced treatment of chronic pain. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Research progress of BOLD-fMRI in minimal hepatic encephalopathy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Zhiming; Zhao Jiannong

2013-01-01

The minimal hepatic encephalopathy is the early stage of hepatic encephalopathy. It has few apparent clinical symptoms and specific manifestations, and is difficult to diagnose. In the recent years, BOLD-fMRI has been used to study hepatic encephalopathy gradually. Through detection of the brain neuron activities in different states, it can not only locate the abnormal activity of brain functional areas, but also can find the changes of brain functional connectivity. BOLD- fMRI combining with other MR technologies can explore the pathology and pathogenesis of minimal hepatic encephalopathy from micro to macro and from structure to function. (authors)

MEG and fMRI fusion for nonlinear estimation of neural and BOLD signal changes

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Sergey M Plis

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The combined analysis of MEG/EEG and functional MRI measurements can lead to improvement in the description of the dynamical and spatial properties of brain activity. In this paper we empirically demonstrate this improvement using simulated and recorded task related MEG and fMRI activity. Neural activity estimates were derived using a dynamic Bayesian network with continuous real valued parameters by means of a sequential Monte Carlo technique. In synthetic data, we show that MEG and fMRI fusion improves estimation of the indirectly observed neural activity and smooths tracking of the BOLD response. In recordings of task related neural activity the combination of MEG and fMRI produces a result with greater SNR, that confirms the expectation arising from the nature of the experiment. The highly nonlinear model of the BOLD response poses a difficult inference problem for neural activity estimation; computational requirements are also high due to the time and space complexity. We show that joint analysis of the data improves the system's behavior by stabilizing the differential equations system and by requiring fewer computational resources.

Correlative BOLD MR imaging of stages of synovitis in a rabbit model of antigen-induced arthritis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doria, Andrea S.; Crawley, Adrian; Gahunia, Harpal; Rayner, Tammy; Tassos, Vivian; Zhong, Anguo; Moineddin, Rahim; Pritzker, Kenneth; Mendes, Maria; Jong, Roland; Salter, Robert B.

2012-01-01

Because of the ability of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) MRI to assess blood oxygenation changes within the microvasculature, this technique holds potential for evaluating early perisynovial changes in inflammatory arthritis. To evaluate the feasibility of BOLD MRI to detect interval perisynovial changes in knees of rabbits with inflammatory arthritis. Rabbit knees were injected with albumin (n=9) or saline (n=6) intra-articularly, or were not injected (control knees, n=9). Except for two rabbits (albumin-injected, n=2 knees; saline-injected, n=2 knees) that unexpectedly died on days 7 and 21 of the experiment, respectively, all other animals were scanned with BOLD MRI on days 0, 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 after induction of arthritis. T2*-weighted gradient-echo MRI was performed during alternate 30 s of normoxia/hyperoxia. BOLD MRI measurements were compared with clinical, laboratory and histological markers. Percentage of activated voxels was significantly greater in albumin-injected knees than in contralateral saline-injected knees (P=0.04). For albumin-injected knees (P < 0.05) and among different categories of knees (P=0.009), the percentage of activated BOLD voxels varied over time. A quadratic curve for on-and-off BOLD difference was delineated for albumin- and saline-injected knees over time (albumin-injected, P=0.047; saline-injected, P=0.009). A trend toward a significant difference in synovial histological scores between albumin-injected and saline-injected knees was noted only for acute scores (P=0.07). As a proof of concept, BOLD MRI can depict perisynovial changes during progression of experimental arthritis. (orig.)

Correlative BOLD MR imaging of stages of synovitis in a rabbit model of antigen-induced arthritis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Doria, Andrea S. [Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Toronto (Canada); University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto (Canada); Crawley, Adrian [University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto (Canada); Toronto Western Hospital, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto (Canada); Gahunia, Harpal; Rayner, Tammy; Tassos, Vivian; Zhong, Anguo [Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Toronto (Canada); Moineddin, Rahim [Family and Community Medicine, Department of Public Health, Toronto (Canada); Pritzker, Kenneth; Mendes, Maria; Jong, Roland [Mount Sinai Hospital, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Toronto (Canada); Salter, Robert B. [Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Toronto (Canada)

2012-01-15

Because of the ability of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) MRI to assess blood oxygenation changes within the microvasculature, this technique holds potential for evaluating early perisynovial changes in inflammatory arthritis. To evaluate the feasibility of BOLD MRI to detect interval perisynovial changes in knees of rabbits with inflammatory arthritis. Rabbit knees were injected with albumin (n=9) or saline (n=6) intra-articularly, or were not injected (control knees, n=9). Except for two rabbits (albumin-injected, n=2 knees; saline-injected, n=2 knees) that unexpectedly died on days 7 and 21 of the experiment, respectively, all other animals were scanned with BOLD MRI on days 0, 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 after induction of arthritis. T2*-weighted gradient-echo MRI was performed during alternate 30 s of normoxia/hyperoxia. BOLD MRI measurements were compared with clinical, laboratory and histological markers. Percentage of activated voxels was significantly greater in albumin-injected knees than in contralateral saline-injected knees (P=0.04). For albumin-injected knees (P < 0.05) and among different categories of knees (P=0.009), the percentage of activated BOLD voxels varied over time. A quadratic curve for on-and-off BOLD difference was delineated for albumin- and saline-injected knees over time (albumin-injected, P=0.047; saline-injected, P=0.009). A trend toward a significant difference in synovial histological scores between albumin-injected and saline-injected knees was noted only for acute scores (P=0.07). As a proof of concept, BOLD MRI can depict perisynovial changes during progression of experimental arthritis. (orig.)

Differences in aggression, activity and boldness between native and introduced populations of an invasive crayfish

Science.gov (United States)

Pintor, L.M.; Sih, A.; Bauer, M.L.

2008-01-01

Aggressiveness, along with foraging voracity and boldness, are key behavioral mechanisms underlying the competitive displacement and invasion success of exotic species. However, do aggressiveness, voracity and boldness of the invader depend on the presence of an ecologically similar native competitor in the invaded community? We conducted four behavioral assays to compare aggression, foraging voracity, threat response and boldness to forage under predation risk of multiple populations of exotic signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus across its native and invaded range with and without a native congener, the Shasta crayfish P. fortis. We predicted that signal crayfish from the invaded range and sympatric with a native congener (IRS) should be more aggressive to outcompete a close competitor than populations from the native range (NR) or invaded range and allopatric to a native congener (IRA). Furthermore, we predicted that IRS populations of signal crayfish should be more voracious, but less bold to forage under predation risk since native predators and prey likely possess appropriate behavioral responses to the invader. Contrary to our predictions, results indicated that IRA signal crayfish were more aggressive towards conspecifics and more voracious and active foragers, yet also bolder to forage under predation risk in comparison to NR and IRS populations, which did not differ in behavior. Higher aggression/voracity/ boldness was positively correlated with prey consumption rates, and hence potential impacts on prey. We suggest that the positive correlations between aggression/voracity/boldness are the result of an overall aggression syndrome. Results of stream surveys indicated that IRA streams have significantly lower prey biomass than in IRS streams, which may drive invading signal crayfish to be more aggressive/voracious/bold to acquire resources to establish a population. ?? 2008 The Authors.

Ongoing activity in temporally coherent networks predicts intra-subject fluctuation of response time to sporadic executive control demands.

Science.gov (United States)

Nozawa, Takayuki; Sugiura, Motoaki; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Ihara, Mizuki; Kotozaki, Yuka; Miyauchi, Carlos Makoto; Kanno, Akitake; Kawashima, Ryuta

2014-01-01

Can ongoing fMRI BOLD signals predict fluctuations in swiftness of a person's response to sporadic cognitive demands? This is an important issue because it clarifies whether intrinsic brain dynamics, for which spatio-temporal patterns are expressed as temporally coherent networks (TCNs), have effects not only on sensory or motor processes, but also on cognitive processes. Predictivity has been affirmed, although to a limited extent. Expecting a predictive effect on executive performance for a wider range of TCNs constituting the cingulo-opercular, fronto-parietal, and default mode networks, we conducted an fMRI study using a version of the color-word Stroop task that was specifically designed to put a higher load on executive control, with the aim of making its fluctuations more detectable. We explored the relationships between the fluctuations in ongoing pre-trial activity in TCNs and the task response time (RT). The results revealed the existence of TCNs in which fluctuations in activity several seconds before the onset of the trial predicted RT fluctuations for the subsequent trial. These TCNs were distributed in the cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal networks, as well as in perceptual and motor networks. Our results suggest that intrinsic brain dynamics in these networks constitute "cognitive readiness," which plays an active role especially in situations where information for anticipatory attention control is unavailable. Fluctuations in these networks lead to fluctuations in executive control performance.

Right anterior cerebellum BOLD responses reflect age related changes in Simon task sequential effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Aisenberg, D; Sapir, A; Close, A; Henik, A; d'Avossa, G

2018-01-31

Participants are slower to report a feature, such as color, when the target appears on the side opposite the instructed response, than when the target appears on the same side. This finding suggests that target location, even when task-irrelevant, interferes with response selection. This effect is magnified in older adults. Lengthening the inter-trial interval, however, suffices to normalize the congruency effect in older adults, by re-establishing young-like sequential effects (Aisenberg et al., 2014). We examined the neurological correlates of age related changes by comparing BOLD signals in young and old participants performing a visual version of the Simon task. Participants reported the color of a peripheral target, by a left or right-hand keypress. Generally, BOLD responses were greater following incongruent than congruent targets. Also, they were delayed and of smaller amplitude in old than young participants. BOLD responses in visual and motor regions were also affected by the congruency of the previous target, suggesting that sequential effects may reflect remapping of stimulus location onto the hand used to make a response. Crucially, young participants showed larger BOLD responses in right anterior cerebellum to incongruent targets, when the previous target was congruent, but smaller BOLD responses to incongruent targets when the previous target was incongruent. Old participants, however, showed larger BOLD responses to congruent than incongruent targets, irrespective of the previous target congruency. We conclude that aging may interfere with the trial by trial updating of the mapping between the task-irrelevant target location and response, which takes place during the inter-trial interval in the cerebellum and underlays sequential effects in a Simon task. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantifying the microvascular origin of BOLD-fMRI from first principles with two-photon microscopy and an oxygen-sensitive nanoprobe.

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Gagnon, Louis; Sakadžić, Sava; Lesage, Frédéric; Musacchia, Joseph J; Lefebvre, Joël; Fang, Qianqian; Yücel, Meryem A; Evans, Karleyton C; Mandeville, Emiri T; Cohen-Adad, Jülien; Polimeni, Jonathan R; Yaseen, Mohammad A; Lo, Eng H; Greve, Douglas N; Buxton, Richard B; Dale, Anders M; Devor, Anna; Boas, David A

2015-02-25

The blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast is widely used in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies aimed at investigating neuronal activity. However, the BOLD signal reflects changes in blood volume and oxygenation rather than neuronal activity per se. Therefore, understanding the transformation of microscopic vascular behavior into macroscopic BOLD signals is at the foundation of physiologically informed noninvasive neuroimaging. Here, we use oxygen-sensitive two-photon microscopy to measure the BOLD-relevant microvascular physiology occurring within a typical rodent fMRI voxel and predict the BOLD signal from first principles using those measurements. The predictive power of the approach is illustrated by quantifying variations in the BOLD signal induced by the morphological folding of the human cortex. This framework is then used to quantify the contribution of individual vascular compartments and other factors to the BOLD signal for different magnet strengths and pulse sequences. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/353663-13$15.00/0.

PARTICLE FILTERING WITH SEQUENTIAL PARAMETER LEARNING FOR NONLINEAR BOLD fMRI SIGNALS.

Science.gov (United States)

Xia, Jing; Wang, Michelle Yongmei

Analyzing the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) effect in the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is typically based on recent ground-breaking time series analysis techniques. This work represents a significant improvement over existing approaches to system identification using nonlinear hemodynamic models. It is important for three reasons. First, instead of using linearized approximations of the dynamics, we present a nonlinear filtering based on the sequential Monte Carlo method to capture the inherent nonlinearities in the physiological system. Second, we simultaneously estimate the hidden physiological states and the system parameters through particle filtering with sequential parameter learning to fully take advantage of the dynamic information of the BOLD signals. Third, during the unknown static parameter learning, we employ the low-dimensional sufficient statistics for efficiency and avoiding potential degeneration of the parameters. The performance of the proposed method is validated using both the simulated data and real BOLD fMRI data.

Current density fluctuations and ambipolarity of transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, W.; Dexter, R.N.; Prager, S.C.

1991-10-01

The fluctuation in the plasma current density is measured in the MIST reversed field pinch experiment. Such fluctuations, and the measured radial profile of the k spectrum of magnetic fluctuations, supports the view and that low frequency fluctuations (f r >) demonstrates that radial particle transport from particle motion parallel to a fluctuating magnetic field is ambipolar over the full frequency range

Correlations of noninvasive BOLD and TOLD MRI with pO2 and relevance to tumor radiation response.

Science.gov (United States)

Hallac, Rami R; Zhou, Heling; Pidikiti, Rajesh; Song, Kwang; Stojadinovic, Strahinja; Zhao, Dawen; Solberg, Timothy; Peschke, Peter; Mason, Ralph P

2014-05-01

To examine the potential use of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) and tissue oxygenation level dependent (TOLD) contrast MRI to assess tumor oxygenation and predict radiation response. BOLD and TOLD MRI were performed on Dunning R3327-AT1 rat prostate tumors during hyperoxic gas breathing challenge at 4.7 T. Animals were divided into two groups. In Group 1 (n = 9), subsequent (19) F MRI based on spin lattice relaxation of hexafluorobenzene reporter molecule provided quantitative oximetry for comparison. For Group 2 rats (n = 13) growth delay following a single dose of 30 Gy was compared with preirradiation BOLD and TOLD assessments. Oxygen (100%O2 ) and carbogen (95%O2 /5%CO2 ) challenge elicited similar BOLD, TOLD and pO2 responses. Strong correlations were observed between BOLD or R2* response and quantitative (19) F pO2 measurements. TOLD response showed a general trend with weaker correlation. Irradiation caused a significant tumor growth delay and tumors with larger changes in TOLD and R1 values upon oxygen breathing exhibited significantly increased tumor growth delay. These results provide further insight into the relationships between oxygen sensitive (BOLD/TOLD) MRI and tumor pO2 . Moreover, a larger increase in R1 response to hyperoxic gas challenge coincided with greater tumor growth delay following irradiation. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Gamma rays induced bold seeded high yielding mutant in chickpea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wani, A.A.; Anis, M.

2001-01-01

In pulses especially in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), genetic variability has been exhausted due to natural selection and hence conventional breeding methods are not very fruitful. Mutation techniques are the best methods to enlarge the genetically conditioned variability of a species within a short time and have played a significant role in the development of many crop varieties. Investigations on the effects of ionizing radiations and chemical mutagens in induction of macro-mutations have received much attention owing to their utmost importance in plant breeding. The present study reports a bold seeded mutant in chickpea, the most dominating pulse crop on the Indian subcontinent. Fresh seeds of chickpea variety 'Pusa-212' were procured from IARI, New Delhi and treated with different doses/concentrations of gamma rays ( 60 Co source at NBRI, Lucknow) and ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS), individually as well as in combination, to raise the M1 generation. Seeds of M 1 plants were sown to raise M2 plant progenies. A bold seeded mutant was isolated from 400 Gy gamma ray treatments. The mutant was confirmed as true bred, all the mutant seeds gave rise to morphologically similar plants in M 3 , which were quite distinct from the control. The bold seeded mutant showed 'gigas' characteristics and vigorous growth. The plant remained initially straight but later on attained a trailing habit due to heavy secondary branching. The leaves, petioles, flowers, pods and seeds were almost double that of the parent variety, in size. The flowering occurred 10 days later than the parent and maturity was also delayed accordingly. Observations were recorded on various quantitative traits. Plant height and number of primary branches showed a significant improvement over the parent. It is interesting to note that the number of pods and number of seeds per pod significantly decreased. However, the hundred seed weight (31.73±0.59g) in the mutant plants was more than double in the parent

Time courses of MRI BOLD signals in prolonged visual stimulation. Comparison between colors and orders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kashikura, Kenichi; Fujita, Hideaki; Kershaw, J.B.; Matsuura, Tetsuya; Seki, Chie; Kashikura, Akemi; Ardekani, B.A.; Kanno, Iwao

1998-01-01

We investigated: the BOLD signal response during 270 second photic stimulation using an EPI pulse sequence; the BOLD signal response for two different color checkerboards; and the BOLD signal response during six consecutive stimulation series. Ten healthy human subjects (age 25±5.5 years) were studied with a 1.5 T MRI system (Siemens Vision, Erlangen, Germany). Black and white (BW) and red and white (RW) checkerboards alternating at 8 Hz were applied in turns for a total series of six. Stimulation timing was: 30 sec. off, 15 sec. on, 15 sec. off, 270 sec. on, 15 sec. off, 15 sec. on, 15 sec. off. Acquired data were analyzed according to color and/or order: color (without considering the order); color and order (1st BW vs. 1st RW, 2nd BW vs. 2nd RW, 3rd BW vs. 3rd RW); and order (without considering the color). A t-test (p<0.001) was used for obtaining the activated areas, and simple regression and two-way repeated-measures ANOVA were used for testing the statistical significance of the BOLD response. Results were: the BOLD signal responses during sustained photic stimulation maintained a constant level for the full duration and all series, suggesting stable levels of oxygen extraction and metabolism during cortical activation; the BOLD signal responses in two colors showed no significant difference in time response, suggesting that the neuronal populations perceiving black and red give a similar time response; and the effect of habituation or fatigue as observed by a signal decrease was not obtained, although the S.D. for each subject greatly increased with time and might be an indicator for evaluation fatigue or attention. (author)

SU-E-J-223: A BOLD Contrast Imaging Sequence to Evaluate Oxygenation Changes Due to Breath Holding for Breast Radiotherapy: A Pilot Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamson, J; Chang, Z; Cai, J; Palta, M; Horton, J; Yin, F; Blitzblau, R

2015-01-01

Purpose: To develop a robust MRI sequence to measure BOLD breath hold induced contrast in context of breast radiotherapy. Methods: Two sequences were selected from prior studies as candidates to measure BOLD contrast attributable to breath holding within the breast: (1) T2* based Gradient Echo EPI (TR/TE = 500/41ms, flip angle = 60°), and (2) T2 based Single Shot Fast Spin Echo (SSFSE) (TR/TE = 3000/60ms). We enrolled ten women post-lumpectomy for breast cancer who were undergoing treatment planning for whole breast radiotherapy. Each session utilized a 1.5T GE MRI and 4 channel breast coil with the subject immobilized prone on a custom board. For each sequence, 1–3 planes of the lumpectomy breast were imaged continuously during a background measurement (1min) and intermittent breath holds (20–40s per breath hold, 3–5 holds per sequence). BOLD contrast was quantified as correlation of changes in per-pixel intensity with the breath hold schedule convolved with a hemodynamic response function. Subtle motion was corrected using a deformable registration algorithm. Correlation with breath-holding was considered significant if p<0.001. Results: The percentage of the breast ROI with positive BOLD contrast measured by the two sequences were in agreement with a correlation coefficient of R=0.72 (p=0.02). While both sequences demonstrated areas with strong BOLD response, the response was more systematic throughout the breast for the SSFSE (T2) sequence (% breast with response in the same direction: 51.2%±0.7% for T2* vs. 68.1%±16% for T2). In addition, the T2 sequence was less prone to magnetic susceptibility artifacts, especially in presence of seroma, and provided a more robust image with little distortion or artifacts. Conclusion: A T2 SSFSE sequence shows promise for measuring BOLD contrast in the context of breast radiotherapy utilizing a breath hold technique. Further study in a larger patient cohort is warranted to better refine this novel technique

SU-E-J-223: A BOLD Contrast Imaging Sequence to Evaluate Oxygenation Changes Due to Breath Holding for Breast Radiotherapy: A Pilot Study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adamson, J; Chang, Z; Cai, J; Palta, M; Horton, J; Yin, F; Blitzblau, R [Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC (United States)

2015-06-15

Purpose: To develop a robust MRI sequence to measure BOLD breath hold induced contrast in context of breast radiotherapy. Methods: Two sequences were selected from prior studies as candidates to measure BOLD contrast attributable to breath holding within the breast: (1) T2* based Gradient Echo EPI (TR/TE = 500/41ms, flip angle = 60°), and (2) T2 based Single Shot Fast Spin Echo (SSFSE) (TR/TE = 3000/60ms). We enrolled ten women post-lumpectomy for breast cancer who were undergoing treatment planning for whole breast radiotherapy. Each session utilized a 1.5T GE MRI and 4 channel breast coil with the subject immobilized prone on a custom board. For each sequence, 1–3 planes of the lumpectomy breast were imaged continuously during a background measurement (1min) and intermittent breath holds (20–40s per breath hold, 3–5 holds per sequence). BOLD contrast was quantified as correlation of changes in per-pixel intensity with the breath hold schedule convolved with a hemodynamic response function. Subtle motion was corrected using a deformable registration algorithm. Correlation with breath-holding was considered significant if p<0.001. Results: The percentage of the breast ROI with positive BOLD contrast measured by the two sequences were in agreement with a correlation coefficient of R=0.72 (p=0.02). While both sequences demonstrated areas with strong BOLD response, the response was more systematic throughout the breast for the SSFSE (T2) sequence (% breast with response in the same direction: 51.2%±0.7% for T2* vs. 68.1%±16% for T2). In addition, the T2 sequence was less prone to magnetic susceptibility artifacts, especially in presence of seroma, and provided a more robust image with little distortion or artifacts. Conclusion: A T2 SSFSE sequence shows promise for measuring BOLD contrast in the context of breast radiotherapy utilizing a breath hold technique. Further study in a larger patient cohort is warranted to better refine this novel technique.

Pharmacological modulation of the BOLD response: a study of acetazolamide and glyceryl trinitrate in humans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asghar, Mohammed Sohail; Hansen, Adam E; Pedersen, Simon

2011-01-01

To examine the effect of acetazolamide, known to increase cerebral blood flow (CBF) and glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), known to increase cerebral blood volume (CBV) on the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response in humans using 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to evaluate how...... pharmacological agents may modulate cerebral hemodynamic and thereby possibly the BOLD signal....

A comparison of measures of boldness and their relationships to survival in young fish.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James R White

Full Text Available Boldness is the propensity of an animal to engage in risky behavior. Many variations of novel-object or novel-environment tests have been used to quantify the boldness of animals, although the relationship between test outcomes has rarely been investigated. Furthermore, the relationship of outcomes to any ecological aspect of fitness is generally assumed, rather than measured directly. Our study is the first to compare how the outcomes of the same test of boldness differ among observers and how different tests of boldness relate to the survival of individuals in the field. Newly-metamorphosed lemon damselfish, Pomacentrus moluccensis, were placed onto replicate patches of natural habitat. Individual behavior was quantified using four tests (composed of a total of 12 different measures of behavior: latency to enter a novel environment, activity in a novel environment, and reactions to threatening and benign novel objects. After behavior was quantified, survival was monitored for two days during which time fish were exposed to natural predators. Variation among observers was low for most of the 12 measures, except distance moved and the threat test (reaction to probe thrust, which displayed unacceptable amounts of inter-observer variation. Overall, the results of the behavioral tests suggested that novel environment and novel object tests quantified similar behaviors, yet these behavioral measures were not interchangeable. Multiple measures of behavior within the context of novel environment or object tests were the most robust way to assess boldness and these measures have a complex relationship with survivorship of young fish in the field. Body size and distance ventured from shelter were the only variables that had a direct and positive relationship with survival.

Negative BOLD signal changes in ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex are associated with perfusion decreases and behavioral evidence for functional inhibition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schäfer, Katharina; Blankenburg, Felix; Kupers, Ron

2012-01-01

that the negative BOLD signal is associated with functional inhibition. Electrical stimulation of the median nerve at 7Hz evoked robust negative BOLD signals in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) ipsilateral to stimulation, and positive BOLD signals in contralateral SI. The negative BOLD signal in ipsilateral SI......) at the ipsilateral finger during concomitant stimulation of the contralateral median nerve increased significantly, suggesting augmented functional inhibition. Since the CPT in the ipsilateral hallux did not significantly change in response to median nerve stimulation, it is more likely that the CPT......-increase for the finger is due to functional inhibition (Kastrup et al., 2008) than to changes in selective attention. In conclusion, our data provide evidence that stimulus-induced reductions in relative rCBF may underlie the negative BOLD signal, which in turn may reflect increments in functional inhibition....

Measuring vascular reactivity with resting-state blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal fluctuations: A potential alternative to the breath-holding challenge?

Science.gov (United States)

Jahanian, Hesamoddin; Christen, Thomas; Moseley, Michael E; Pajewski, Nicholas M; Wright, Clinton B; Tamura, Manjula K; Zaharchuk, Greg

2017-07-01

Measurement of the ability of blood vessels to dilate and constrict, known as vascular reactivity, is often performed with breath-holding tasks that transiently raise arterial blood carbon dioxide (P a CO 2 ) levels. However, following the proper commands for a breath-holding experiment may be difficult or impossible for many patients. In this study, we evaluated two approaches for obtaining vascular reactivity information using blood oxygenation level-dependent signal fluctuations obtained from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data: physiological fluctuation regression and coefficient of variation of the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging signal. We studied a cohort of 28 older adults (69 ± 7 years) and found that six of them (21%) could not perform the breath-holding protocol, based on an objective comparison with an idealized respiratory waveform. In the subjects that could comply, we found a strong linear correlation between data extracted from spontaneous resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging signal fluctuations and the blood oxygenation level-dependent percentage signal change during breath-holding challenge ( R 2  = 0.57 and 0.61 for resting-state physiological fluctuation regression and resting-state coefficient of variation methods, respectively). This technique may eliminate the need for subject cooperation, thus allowing the evaluation of vascular reactivity in a wider range of clinical and research conditions in which it may otherwise be impractical.

Blood Flow and Brain Function: Investigations of neurovascular coupling using BOLD fMRI at 7 tesla

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Siero, J.C.W.

2013-01-01

The advent of ultra high field (7 tesla) MRI systems has opened the possibility to probe biological processes of the human body in great detail. Especially for studying brain function using BOLD fMRI there is a large benefit from the increased magnetic field strength. BOLD fMRI is the working horse

Distinction between Neural and Vascular BOLD Oscillations and Intertwined Heart Rate Oscillations at 0.1 Hz in the Resting State and during Movement.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gert Pfurtscheller

Full Text Available In the resting state, blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD oscillations with a frequency of about 0.1 Hz are conspicuous. Whether their origin is neural or vascular is not yet fully understood. Furthermore, it is not clear whether these BOLD oscillations interact with slow oscillations in heart rate (HR. To address these two questions, we estimated phase-locking (PL values between precentral gyrus (PCG and insula in 25 scanner-naïve individuals during rest and stimulus-paced finger movements in both hemispheres. PL was quantified in terms of time delay and duration in the frequency band 0.07 to 0.13 Hz. Results revealed both positive and negative time delays. Positive time delays characterize neural BOLD oscillations leading in the PCG, whereas negative time delays represent vascular BOLD oscillations leading in the insula. About 50% of the participants revealed positive time delays distinctive for neural BOLD oscillations, either with short or long unilateral or bilateral phase-locking episodes. An expected preponderance of neural BOLD oscillations was found in the left hemisphere during right-handed movement and unexpectedly in the right hemisphere during rest. Only neural BOLD oscillations were significantly associated with heart rate variability (HRV in the 0.1-Hz range in the first resting state. It is well known that participating in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI studies may be frightening and cause anxiety. In this respect it is important to note that the most significant hemispheric asymmetry (p<0.002 with a right-sided dominance of neural BOLD and a left-sided dominance of vascular BOLD oscillations was found in the first resting session in the scanner-naïve individuals. Whether the enhanced left-sided perfusion (dominance of vascular BOLD or the right-sided dominance of neural BOLD is related to the increased level of anxiety, attention or stress needs further research.

Note: Demonstration of an external-cavity diode laser system immune to current and temperature fluctuations.

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Xinyu; Yin, Longfei; Zhuang, Wei; Luo, Bin; Dang, Anhong; Chen, Jingbiao; Guo, Hong

2011-08-01

We demonstrate an external-cavity laser system using an anti-reflection coated laser diode as gain medium with about 60 nm fluorescence spectrum, and a Rb Faraday anomalous dispersion optical filter (FADOF) as frequency-selecting element with a transmission bandwidth of 1.3 GHz. With 6.4% optical feedback, a single stable longitudinal mode is obtained with a linewidth of 69 kHz. The wavelength of this laser is operating within the center of the highest transmission peak of FADOF over a diode current range from 55 mA to 142 mA and a diode temperature range from 15 °C to 35 °C, thus it is immune to the fluctuations of current and temperature.

BOLD Imaging in Awake Wild-Type and Mu-Opioid Receptor Knock-Out Mice Reveals On-Target Activation Maps in Response to Oxycodone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelsey Moore

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD imaging in awake mice was used to identify differences in brain activity between wild-type, and Mu (µ opioid receptor knock-outs (MuKO in response to oxycodone (OXY. Using a segmented, annotated MRI mouse atlas and computational analysis, patterns of integrated positive and negative BOLD activity were identified across 122 brain areas. The pattern of positive BOLD showed enhanced activation across the brain in WT mice within 15 min of intraperitoneal administration of 2.5 mg of OXY. BOLD activation was detected in 72 regions out of 122, and was most prominent in areas of high µ opioid receptor density (thalamus, ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra, caudate putamen, basal amygdala and hypothalamus, and focus on pain circuits indicated strong activation in major pain processing centers (central amygdala, solitary tract, parabrachial area, insular cortex, gigantocellularis area, ventral thalamus primary sensory cortex and prelimbic cortex. Importantly, the OXY-induced positive BOLD was eliminated in MuKO mice in most regions, with few exceptions (some cerebellar nuclei, CA3 of the hippocampus, medial amygdala and preoptic areas. This result indicates that most effects of OXY on positive BOLD are mediated by the µ opioid receptor (on-target effects. OXY also caused an increase in negative BOLD in WT mice in few regions (16 out of 122 and, unlike the positive BOLD response the negative BOLD was only partially eliminated in the MuKO mice (cerebellum, and in some case intensified (hippocampus. Negative BOLD analysis therefore shows activation and deactivation events in the absence of the µ receptor for some areas where receptor expression is normally extremely low or absent (off-target effects. Together, our approach permits establishing opioid-induced BOLD activation maps in awake mice. In addition, comparison of WT and MuKO mutant mice reveals both on-target and off-target activation events, and set an OXY

Mapping transient hyperventilation induced alterations with estimates of the multi-scale dynamics of BOLD signal.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vesa J Kiviniemi

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Temporal blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD contrast signals in functional MRI during rest may be characterized by power spectral distribution (PSD trends of the form 1/f α. Trends with 1/f characteristics comprise fractal properties with repeating oscillation patterns in multiple time scales. Estimates of the fractal properties enable the quantification of phenomena that may otherwise be difficult to measure, such as transient, non-linear changes. In this study it was hypothesized that the fractal metrics of 1/f BOLD signal trends can map changes related to dynamic, multi-scale alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF after a transient hyperventilation challenge. Twenty-three normal adults were imaged in a resting-state before and after hyperventilation. Different variables (1/f trend constant α, fractal dimension Df, and, Hurst exponent H characterizing the trends were measured from BOLD signals. The results show that fractal metrics of the BOLD signal follow the fractional Gaussian noise model, even during the dynamic CBF change that follows hyperventilation. The most dominant effect on the fractal metrics was detected in grey matter, in line with previous hyperventilation vaso-reactivity studies. The α was able to differentiate also blood vessels from grey matter changes. Df was most sensitive to grey matter. H correlated with default mode network areas before hyperventilation but this pattern vanished after hyperventilation due to a global increase in H. In the future, resting-state fMRI combined with fractal metrics of the BOLD signal may be used for analyzing multi-scale alterations of cerebral blood flow.

Mapping Transient Hyperventilation Induced Alterations with Estimates of the Multi-Scale Dynamics of BOLD Signal.

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Kiviniemi, Vesa; Remes, Jukka; Starck, Tuomo; Nikkinen, Juha; Haapea, Marianne; Silven, Olli; Tervonen, Osmo

2009-01-01

Temporal blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) contrast signals in functional MRI during rest may be characterized by power spectral distribution (PSD) trends of the form 1/f(alpha). Trends with 1/f characteristics comprise fractal properties with repeating oscillation patterns in multiple time scales. Estimates of the fractal properties enable the quantification of phenomena that may otherwise be difficult to measure, such as transient, non-linear changes. In this study it was hypothesized that the fractal metrics of 1/f BOLD signal trends can map changes related to dynamic, multi-scale alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF) after a transient hyperventilation challenge. Twenty-three normal adults were imaged in a resting-state before and after hyperventilation. Different variables (1/f trend constant alpha, fractal dimension D(f), and, Hurst exponent H) characterizing the trends were measured from BOLD signals. The results show that fractal metrics of the BOLD signal follow the fractional Gaussian noise model, even during the dynamic CBF change that follows hyperventilation. The most dominant effect on the fractal metrics was detected in grey matter, in line with previous hyperventilation vaso-reactivity studies. The alpha was able to differentiate also blood vessels from grey matter changes. D(f) was most sensitive to grey matter. H correlated with default mode network areas before hyperventilation but this pattern vanished after hyperventilation due to a global increase in H. In the future, resting-state fMRI combined with fractal metrics of the BOLD signal may be used for analyzing multi-scale alterations of cerebral blood flow.

Socially bold personality in the real communication and Internet communication: the analysis of representations of people of the different age

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pogodina A. V.

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article is concerned with the results of the study, subject of which is the submis- sion of the respondents of the different age groups about the social and bold personality. Required property of the respondents was the presence in the Internet environment and participation in various social networks. They assessed social and bold personal- ity in such contexts of communication, as real communication and Internet communication. Analyses were undertaken to determine the structural and content features of emotional and semantic representations of the phenomenon of the social and bold personality, depending on the context of communication, but also the detection of age-sensitive representations of the young respondents (19—35 years, middle-aged respondents (36-55 years and older respondents (from 56 to 70 years. The concept of the “social and bold personality in real communion” is shown to have a high semantic relevance, strongly marked positive emotional coloration and a similar factor structure for respondents of all age groups. The concept of the “social and bold personality in online communication” with a high semantic significance in the perception of the young respondents moves into a zone of moderate and semantic importance in representations of the middle-aged and older respondents. In representations of the respondents of all age groups, the attractiveness of the "social and bold personality in Internet communication" is less than in comparison with the "social and bold personality in the real communication". The age-specific of the social representations about social and bold personality in the real and virtual communication has been analysed in detail.

Detection of Acute Tubular Necrosis Using Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent (BOLD MRI

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Frederic Bauer

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background/Aims: To date, there is no imaging technique to assess tubular function in vivo. Blood oxygen level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD MRI measures tissue oxygenation based on the transverse relaxation rate (R2*. The present study investigates whether BOLD MRI can assess tubular function using a tubule-specific pharmacological maneuver. Methods: Cross sectional study with 28 participants including 9 subjects with ATN-induced acute kidney injury (AKI, 9 healthy controls, and 10 subjects with nephron sparing tumor resection (NSS with clamping of the renal artery serving as a model of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R-induced subclinical ATN (median clamping time 15 min, no significant decrease of eGFR, p=0.14. BOLD MRI was performed before and 5, 7, and 10 min after intravenous administration of 40 mg furosemide. Results: Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin was significantly higher in ATN-induced AKI and NSS subjects than in healthy controls (p=0.03 and p=0.01, respectively. Before administration of furosemide, absolute medullary R2*, cortical R2*, and medullary/cortical R2* ratio did not significantly differ between ATN-induced AKI vs. healthy controls and between NSS-I/R vs. contralateral healthy kidneys (p>0.05 each. Furosemide led to a significant decrease in the medullary and cortical R2* of healthy subjects and NSS contralateral kidneys (p<0.05 each, whereas there was no significant change of R2* in ATN-induced AKI and the NSS-I/R kidneys (p>0.05 each. Conclusion: BOLD-MRI is able to detect even mild tubular injury but necessitates a tubule-specific pharmacological maneuver, e.g. blocking the Na+-K+-2Cl- transporter by furosemide.

Measurement of oxygen extraction fraction (OEF): An optimized BOLD signal model for use with hypercapnic and hyperoxic calibration.

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Merola, Alberto; Murphy, Kevin; Stone, Alan J; Germuska, Michael A; Griffeth, Valerie E M; Blockley, Nicholas P; Buxton, Richard B; Wise, Richard G

2016-04-01

Several techniques have been proposed to estimate relative changes in cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption (CMRO2) by exploiting combined BOLD fMRI and cerebral blood flow data in conjunction with hypercapnic or hyperoxic respiratory challenges. More recently, methods based on respiratory challenges that include both hypercapnia and hyperoxia have been developed to assess absolute CMRO2, an important parameter for understanding brain energetics. In this paper, we empirically optimize a previously presented "original calibration model" relating BOLD and blood flow signals specifically for the estimation of oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) and absolute CMRO2. To do so, we have created a set of synthetic BOLD signals using a detailed BOLD signal model to reproduce experiments incorporating hypercapnic and hyperoxic respiratory challenges at 3T. A wide range of physiological conditions was simulated by varying input parameter values (baseline cerebral blood volume (CBV0), baseline cerebral blood flow (CBF0), baseline oxygen extraction fraction (OEF0) and hematocrit (Hct)). From the optimization of the calibration model for estimation of OEF and practical considerations of hypercapnic and hyperoxic respiratory challenges, a new "simplified calibration model" is established which reduces the complexity of the original calibration model by substituting the standard parameters α and β with a single parameter θ. The optimal value of θ is determined (θ=0.06) across a range of experimental respiratory challenges. The simplified calibration model gives estimates of OEF0 and absolute CMRO2 closer to the true values used to simulate the experimental data compared to those estimated using the original model incorporating literature values of α and β. Finally, an error propagation analysis demonstrates the susceptibility of the original and simplified calibration models to measurement errors and potential violations in the underlying assumptions of isometabolism

Ultrafast bold fMRI using single-shot spin-echo echo planar imaging

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Boujraf Said

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The choice of imaging parameters for functional MRI can have an impact on the accuracy of functional localization by affecting the image quality and the degree of blood oxygenation-dependent (BOLD contrast achieved. By improving sampling efficiency, parallel acquisition techniques such as sensitivity encoding (SENSE have been used to shorten readout trains in single-shot (SS echo planar imaging (EPI. This has been applied to susceptibility artifact reduction and improving spatial resolution. SENSE together with single-shot spin-echo (SS-SE imaging may also reduce off-resonance artifacts. The goal of this work was to investigate the BOLD response of a SENSE-adapted SE-EPI on a three Tesla scanner. Whole-brain fMRI studies of seven healthy right hand-dominant volunteers were carried out in a three Tesla scanner. fMRI was performed using an SS-SE EPI sequence with SENSE. The data was processed using statistical parametric mapping. Both, group and individual subject data analyses were performed. Individual average percentage and maximal percentage signal changes attributed to the BOLD effect in M1 were calculated for all the subjects as a function of echo time. Corresponding activation maps and the sizes of the activated clusters were also calculated. Our results show that susceptibility artifacts were reduced with the use of SENSE; and the acquired BOLD images were free of the typical quadrature artifacts of SS-EPI. Such measures are crucial at high field strengths. SS SE-EPI with SENSE offers further benefits in this regard and is more specific for oxygenation changes in the microvasculature bed. Functional brain activity can be investigated with the help of single-shot spin echo EPI using SENSE at high magnetic fields.

Cortical layers, rhythms and BOLD signals.

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Scheeringa, René; Fries, Pascal

2017-11-03

This review investigates how laminar fMRI can complement insights into brain function derived from the study of rhythmic neuronal synchronization. Neuronal synchronization in various frequency bands plays an important role in neuronal communication between brain areas, and it does so on the backbone of layer-specific interareal anatomical projections. Feedforward projections originate predominantly in supragranular cortical layers and terminate in layer 4, and this pattern is reflected in inter-laminar and interareal directed gamma-band influences. Thus, gamma-band synchronization likely subserves feedforward signaling. By contrast, anatomical feedback projections originate predominantly in infragranular layers and terminate outside layer 4, and this pattern is reflected in inter-laminar and interareal directed alpha- and/or beta-band influences. Thus, alpha-beta band synchronization likely subserves feedback signaling. Furthermore, these rhythms explain part of the BOLD signal, with independent contributions of alpha-beta and gamma. These findings suggest that laminar fMRI can provide us with a potentially useful method to test some of the predictions derived from the study of neuronal synchronization. We review central findings regarding the role of layer-specific neuronal synchronization for brain function, and regarding the link between neuronal synchronization and the BOLD signal. We discuss the role that laminar fMRI could play by comparing it to invasive and non-invasive electrophysiological recordings. Compared to direct electrophysiological recordings, this method provides a metric of neuronal activity that is slow and indirect, but that is uniquely non-invasive and layer-specific with potentially whole brain coverage. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Music reduces pain and increases resting state fMRI BOLD signal amplitude in the left angular gyrus in fibromyalgia patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Garza-Villarreal, Eduardo A; Jiang, Zhiguo; Vuust, Peter

2015-01-01

, correlated to the analgesia reports. The post-hoc seed-based functional connectivity analysis of the lAnG showed found higher connectivity after listening to music with right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rdlPFC), the left caudate (lCau), and decreased connectivity with right anterior cingulate cortex (r......Music reduces pain in fibromyalgia (FM), a chronic pain disease, but the functional neural correlates of music-induced analgesia (MIA) are still largely unknown. We recruited FM patients (n = 22) who listened to their preferred relaxing music and an auditory control (pink noise) for 5 min without...... external noise from fMRI image acquisition. Resting state fMRI was then acquired before and after the music and control conditions. A significant increase in the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations of the BOLD signal was evident in the left angular gyrus (lAnG) after listening to music, which in turn...

Net charge fluctuations and local charge compensation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu Jinghua

2006-01-01

We propose net charge fluctuation as a measure of local charge correlation length. It is demonstrated that, in terms of a schematic multiperipheral model, net charge fluctuation satisfies the same Quigg-Thomas relation as satisfied by charge transfer fluctuation. Net charge fluctuations measured in finite rapidity windows depend on both the local charge correlation length and the size of the observation window. When the observation window is larger than the local charge correlation length, the net charge fluctuation only depends on the local charge correlation length, while forward-backward charge fluctuations always have strong dependence on the observation window size. Net charge fluctuations and forward-backward charge fluctuations measured in the present heavy ion experiments show characteristic features similar to those from multiperipheral models. But the data cannot all be understood within this simple model

Crossing the implementation chasm: a proposal for bold action.

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Lorenzi, Nancy M; Novak, Laurie L; Weiss, Jacob B; Gadd, Cynthia S; Unertl, Kim M

2008-01-01

As health care organizations dramatically increase investment in information technology (IT) and the scope of their IT projects, implementation failures become critical events. Implementation failures cause stress on clinical units, increase risk to patients, and result in massive costs that are often not recoverable. At an estimated 28% success rate, the current level of investment defies management logic. This paper asserts that there are "chasms" in IT implementations that represent risky stages in the process. Contributors to the chasms are classified into four categories: design, management, organization, and assessment. The American College of Medical Informatics symposium participants recommend bold action to better understand problems and challenges in implementation and to improve the ability of organizations to bridge these implementation chasms. The bold action includes the creation of a Team Science for Implementation strategy that allows for participation from multiple institutions to address the long standing and costly implementation issues. The outcomes of this endeavor will include a new focus on interdisciplinary research and an inter-organizational knowledge base of strategies and methods to optimize implementations and subsequent achievement of organizational objectives.

Comparison between subjects with long- and short-allele carriers in the BOLD signal within amygdala during emotional tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Hadi, Shamil; Siadat, Mohamad R.; Babajani-Feremi, Abbas

2012-03-01

Emotional tasks may result in a strong blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the amygdala in 5- HTTLRP short-allele. Reduced anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)-amygdala connectivity in short-allele provides a potential mechanistic account for the observed increase in amygdala activity. In our study, fearful and threatening facial expressions were presented to two groups of 12 subjects with long- and short-allele carriers. The BOLD signals of the left amygdala of each group were averaged to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. A Bayesian approach was used to estimate the model parameters to elucidate the underlying hemodynamic mechanism. Our results showed a positive BOLD signal in the left amygdala for short-allele individuals, and a negative BOLD signal in the same region for long-allele individuals. This is due to the fact that short-allele is associated with lower availability of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and this leads to an increase of serotonin (5-HT) concentration in the cACC-amygdala synapse.

Systematic protocol for assessment of the validity of BOLD MRI in a rabbit model of inflammatory arthritis at 1.5 tesla

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chan, Michael W.; Nathanael, George; Kis, Antonella; Amirabadi, Afsaneh; Zhong, Anguo; Rayner, Tammy; Weiss, Ruth; Detzler, Garry; Gahunia, Harpal [The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Toronto (Canada); Jong, Roland [Mount Sinai Hospital, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Toronto (Canada); Moineddin, Rahim [Family and Community Medicine, Department of Public Health, Toronto (Canada); Crawley, Adrian [University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto (Canada); Toronto Western Hospital, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto (Canada); Doria, Andrea S. [The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Toronto (Canada); University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto (Canada)

2014-05-15

Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) MRI has the potential to identify regions of early hypoxic and vascular joint changes in inflammatory arthritis. There is no standard protocol for analysis of BOLD MRI measurements in musculoskeletal disorders. To optimize the following BOLD MRI reading parameters: (1) statistical threshold values (low, r > 0.01 versus high, r > 0.2); (2) summary measures of BOLD contrast (percentage of activated voxels [PT%] versus percentage signal difference between on-and-off signal intensities [diff{sub o}n{sub o}ff]); and (3) direction of BOLD response (positive, negative and positive + negative). Using BOLD MRI protocols at 1.5 T, arthritic (n = 21) and contralateral (n = 21) knees of 21 juvenile rabbits were imaged at baseline and on days 1, 14 and 28 after a unilateral intra-articular injection of carrageenan. Nine non-injected rabbits served as external control knees (n = 18). By comparing arthritic to contralateral knees, receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine diagnostic accuracy. Using diff{sub o}n{sub o}ff and positive + negative responses, a threshold of r > 0.01 was more accurate than r > 0.2 (P = 0.03 at day 28). Comparison of summary measures yielded no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). Although positive + negative (AUC = 0.86 at day 28) and negative responses (AUC = 0.90 at day 28) for PT% were the most diagnostically accurate, positive + negative responses for diff{sub o}n{sub o}ff (AUC = 0.78 at day 28) also had acceptable accuracy. The most clinically relevant reading parameters included a lower threshold of r > 0.01 and a positive + negative BOLD response. We propose that diff{sub o}n{sub o}ff is a more clinically relevant summary measure of BOLD MRI, while PT% can be used as an ancillary measure. (orig.)

Associations of resting-state fMRI functional connectivity with flow-BOLD coupling and regional vasculature.

Science.gov (United States)

Tak, Sungho; Polimeni, Jonathan R; Wang, Danny J J; Yan, Lirong; Chen, J Jean

2015-04-01

There has been tremendous interest in applying functional magnetic resonance imaging-based resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fcMRI) measurements to the study of brain function. However, a lack of understanding of the physiological mechanisms of rs-fcMRI limits their ability to interpret rs-fcMRI findings. In this work, the authors examine the regional associations between rs-fcMRI estimates and dynamic coupling between the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) and cerebral blood flow (CBF), as well as resting macrovascular volume. Resting-state BOLD and CBF data were simultaneously acquired using a dual-echo pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (pCASL) technique, whereas macrovascular volume fraction was estimated using time-of-flight MR angiography. Functional connectivity within well-known functional networks—including the default mode, frontoparietal, and primary sensory-motor networks—was calculated using a conventional seed-based correlation approach. They found the functional connectivity strength to be significantly correlated with the regional increase in CBF-BOLD coupling strength and inversely proportional to macrovascular volume fraction. These relationships were consistently observed within all functional networks considered. Their findings suggest that highly connected networks observed using rs-fcMRI are not likely to be mediated by common vascular drainage linking distal cortical areas. Instead, high BOLD functional connectivity is more likely to reflect tighter neurovascular connections, attributable to neuronal pathways.

Towards a mechanistic understanding of vulnerability to hook-and-line fishing: Boldness as the basic target of angling-induced selection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klefoth, Thomas; Skov, Christian; Kuparinen, Anna

2017-01-01

by juvenile growth rate, while morphological traits were only weakly related to angling vulnerability. In addition, we found juvenile growth rate to be moderately correlated with boldness. Hence, direct selection on boldness will also induce indirect selection on juvenile growth and vice versa, but given......In passively operated fishing gear, boldness-related behaviors should fundamentally affect the vulnerability of individual fish and thus be under fisheries selection. To test this hypothesis, we used juvenile common-garden reared carp (Cyprinus carpio) within a narrow size range to investigate...... the mechanistic basis of behavioral selection caused by angling. We focused on one key personality trait (i.e., boldness), measured in groups within ponds, two morphological traits (body shape and head shape), and one life-history trait (juvenile growth capacity) and studied mean standardized selection gradients...

Thermodynamic theory of equilibrium fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mishin, Y.

2015-01-01

The postulational basis of classical thermodynamics has been expanded to incorporate equilibrium fluctuations. The main additional elements of the proposed thermodynamic theory are the concept of quasi-equilibrium states, a definition of non-equilibrium entropy, a fundamental equation of state in the entropy representation, and a fluctuation postulate describing the probability distribution of macroscopic parameters of an isolated system. Although these elements introduce a statistical component that does not exist in classical thermodynamics, the logical structure of the theory is different from that of statistical mechanics and represents an expanded version of thermodynamics. Based on this theory, we present a regular procedure for calculations of equilibrium fluctuations of extensive parameters, intensive parameters and densities in systems with any number of fluctuating parameters. The proposed fluctuation formalism is demonstrated by four applications: (1) derivation of the complete set of fluctuation relations for a simple fluid in three different ensembles; (2) fluctuations in finite-reservoir systems interpolating between the canonical and micro-canonical ensembles; (3) derivation of fluctuation relations for excess properties of grain boundaries in binary solid solutions, and (4) derivation of the grain boundary width distribution for pre-melted grain boundaries in alloys. The last two applications offer an efficient fluctuation-based approach to calculations of interface excess properties and extraction of the disjoining potential in pre-melted grain boundaries. Possible future extensions of the theory are outlined.

The effect of sleep deprivation on BOLD activity elicited by a divided attention task.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Melinda L; Hughes, Matthew E; Croft, Rodney J; Howard, Mark E; Crewther, David; Kennedy, Gerard A; Owens, Katherine; Pierce, Rob J; O'Donoghue, Fergal J; Johnston, Patrick

2011-06-01

Sleep loss, widespread in today's society and associated with a number of clinical conditions, has a detrimental effect on a variety of cognitive domains including attention. This study examined the sequelae of sleep deprivation upon BOLD fMRI activation during divided attention. Twelve healthy males completed two randomized sessions; one after 27 h of sleep deprivation and one after a normal night of sleep. During each session, BOLD fMRI was measured while subjects completed a cross-modal divided attention task (visual and auditory). After normal sleep, increased BOLD activation was observed bilaterally in the superior frontal gyrus and the inferior parietal lobe during divided attention performance. Subjects reported feeling significantly more sleepy in the sleep deprivation session, and there was a trend towards poorer divided attention task performance. Sleep deprivation led to a down regulation of activation in the left superior frontal gyrus, possibly reflecting an attenuation of top-down control mechanisms on the attentional system. These findings have implications for understanding the neural correlates of divided attention and the neurofunctional changes that occur in individuals who are sleep deprived.

Transfer function between EEG and BOLD signals of epileptic activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco eLeite

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings have seen growing application in the evaluation of epilepsy, namely in the characterization of brain networks related to epileptic activity. In EEG-correlated fMRI studies, epileptic events are usually described as boxcar signals based on the timing information retrieved from the EEG, and subsequently convolved with a heamodynamic response function to model the associated BOLD changes. Although more flexible approaches may allow a higher degree of complexity for the haemodynamics, the issue of how to model these dynamics based on the EEG remains an open question. In this work, a new methodology for the integration of simultaneous EEG-fMRI data in epilepsy is proposed, which incorporates a transfer function from the EEG to the BOLD signal. Independent component analysis (ICA of the EEG is performed, and a number of metrics expressing different models of the EEG-BOLD transfer function are extracted from the resulting time courses. These metrics are then used to predict the fMRI data and to identify brain areas associated with the EEG epileptic activity. The methodology was tested on both ictal and interictal EEG-fMRI recordings from one patient with a hypothalamic hamartoma. When compared to the conventional analysis approach, plausible, consistent and more significant activations were obtained. Importantly, frequency-weighted EEG metrics yielded superior results than those weighted solely on the EEG power, which comes in agreement with previous literature. Reproducibility, specificity and sensitivity should be addressed in an extended group of patients in order to further validate the proposed methodology and generalize the presented proof of concept.

Interleaved quantitative BOLD: Combining extravascular R2' - and intravascular R2-measurements for estimation of deoxygenated blood volume and hemoglobin oxygen saturation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Hyunyeol; Englund, Erin K; Wehrli, Felix W

2018-03-23

Quantitative BOLD (qBOLD), a non-invasive MRI method for assessment of hemodynamic and metabolic properties of the brain in the baseline state, provides spatial maps of deoxygenated blood volume fraction (DBV) and hemoglobin oxygen saturation (HbO 2 ) by means of an analytical model for the temporal evolution of free-induction-decay signals in the extravascular compartment. However, mutual coupling between DBV and HbO 2 in the signal model results in considerable estimation uncertainty precluding achievement of a unique set of solutions. To address this problem, we developed an interleaved qBOLD method (iqBOLD) that combines extravascular R 2 ' and intravascular R 2 mapping techniques so as to obtain prior knowledge for the two unknown parameters. To achieve these goals, asymmetric spin echo and velocity-selective spin-labeling (VSSL) modules were interleaved in a single pulse sequence. Prior to VSSL, arterial blood and CSF signals were suppressed to produce reliable estimates for cerebral venous blood volume fraction (CBV v ) as well as venous blood R 2 (to yield HbO 2 ). Parameter maps derived from the VSSL module were employed to initialize DBV and HbO 2 in the qBOLD processing. Numerical simulations and in vivo experiments at 3 T were performed to evaluate the performance of iqBOLD in comparison to the parent qBOLD method. Data obtained in eight healthy subjects yielded plausible values averaging 60.1 ± 3.3% for HbO 2 and 3.1 ± 0.5 and 2.0 ± 0.4% for DBV in gray and white matter, respectively. Furthermore, the results show that prior estimates of CBV v and HbO 2 from the VSSL component enhance the solution stability in the qBOLD processing, and thus suggest the feasibility of iqBOLD as a promising alternative to the conventional technique for quantifying neurometabolic parameters. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Universal mesoscopic conductance fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evangelou, S.N.

1992-01-01

The theory of conductance fluctuations in disordered metallic systems with size large compared to the mean free path of the electron but small compared to localization length is considered. It is demonstrates that fluctuations have an universal character and are due to repulsion between levels and spectral rigidity. The basic fluctuation measures for the energy spectrum in the mesoscopic regime of disordered systems are consistent with the Gaussian random matrix ensemble predictions. Although our disordered electron random matrix ensemble does not belong to the Gaussian ensemble the two ensembles turn out to be essentially similar. The level repulsion and the spectral rigidity found in nuclear spectra should also be observed in the metallic regime of Anderson localization. 7 refs. (orig.)

Mapping and characterization of positive and negative BOLD responses to visual stimulation in multiple brain regions at 7T.

Science.gov (United States)

Jorge, João; Figueiredo, Patrícia; Gruetter, Rolf; van der Zwaag, Wietske

2018-02-20

External stimuli and tasks often elicit negative BOLD responses in various brain regions, and growing experimental evidence supports that these phenomena are functionally meaningful. In this work, the high sensitivity available at 7T was explored to map and characterize both positive (PBRs) and negative BOLD responses (NBRs) to visual checkerboard stimulation, occurring in various brain regions within and beyond the visual cortex. Recently-proposed accelerated fMRI techniques were employed for data acquisition, and procedures for exclusion of large draining vein contributions, together with ICA-assisted denoising, were included in the analysis to improve response estimation. Besides the visual cortex, significant PBRs were found in the lateral geniculate nucleus and superior colliculus, as well as the pre-central sulcus; in these regions, response durations increased monotonically with stimulus duration, in tight covariation with the visual PBR duration. Significant NBRs were found in the visual cortex, auditory cortex, default-mode network (DMN) and superior parietal lobule; NBR durations also tended to increase with stimulus duration, but were significantly less sustained than the visual PBR, especially for the DMN and superior parietal lobule. Responses in visual and auditory cortex were further studied for checkerboard contrast dependence, and their amplitudes were found to increase monotonically with contrast, linearly correlated with the visual PBR amplitude. Overall, these findings suggest the presence of dynamic neuronal interactions across multiple brain regions, sensitive to stimulus intensity and duration, and demonstrate the richness of information obtainable when jointly mapping positive and negative BOLD responses at a whole-brain scale, with ultra-high field fMRI. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evidence accumulation detected in BOLD signal using slow perceptual decision making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krueger, Paul M.; van Vugt, Marieke K.; Simen, Patrick; Nystrom, Leigh; Holmes, Philip; Cohen, Jonathan D.

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: We assessed whether evidence accumulation could be observed in the BOLD signal during perceptual decision making. This presents a challenge since the hemodynamic response is slow, while perceptual decisions are typically fast. NEW METHOD: Guided by theoretical predictions of the drift

Physiologic characterization of inflammatory arthritis in a rabbit model with BOLD and DCE MRI at 1.5 Tesla

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nasui, Otilia C.; Chan, Michael W.; Nathanael, George; Rayner, Tammy; Weiss, Ruth; Detzler, Garry; Zhong, Anguo [The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Toronto, ON (Canada); Crawley, Adrian [University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, ON (Canada); Toronto Western Hospital, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, ON (Canada); Miller, Elka [Children' s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Ottawa, ON (Canada); Belik, Jaques [The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Neonatology, Toronto, ON (Canada); Cheng, Hai-Ling; Kassner, Andrea; Doria, Andrea S. [The Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Toronto, ON (Canada); University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, Toronto, ON (Canada); Moineddin, Rahim [Department of Public Health, Family and Community Medicine, Toronto, ON (Canada); Jong, Roland; Rogers, Marianne [Mount Sinai Hospital, Department of Pathology, Toronto, ON (Canada)

2014-11-15

Our aim was to test the feasibility of blood oxygen level dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD MRI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI to monitor periarticular hypoxic/inflammatory changes over time in a juvenile rabbit model of arthritis. We examined arthritic and contralateral nonarthritic knees of 21 juvenile rabbits at baseline and days 1,14, and 28 after induction of arthritis by unilateral intra-articular injection of carrageenin with BOLD and DCE MRI at 1.5 Tesla (T). Nine noninjected rabbits served as controls. Associations between BOLD and DCE-MRI and corresponding intra-articular oxygen pressure (PO{sub 2}) and blood flow [blood perfusion units (BPU)] (polarographic probes, reference standards) or clinical-histological data were measured by correlation coefficients. Percentage BOLD MRI change obtained in contralateral knees correlated moderately with BPU on day 0 (r = -0.51, p = 0.02) and excellently on day 28 (r = -0.84, p = 0.03). A moderate correlation was observed between peak enhancement DCE MRI (day 1) and BPU measurements in arthritic knees (r = 0.49, p = 0.04). In acute arthritis, BOLD and DCE MRI highly correlated (r = 0.89, p = 0.04; r = 1.0, p < 0.0001) with histological scores in arthritic knees. The proposed techniques are feasible to perform at 1.5 T, and they hold potential as surrogate measures to monitor hypoxic and inflammatory changes over time in arthritis at higher-strength MRI fields. (orig.)

Using BOLD imaging to measure renal oxygenation dynamics in rats injected with diuretics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kusakabe, Yoshinori; Matsushita, Taro; Honda, Saori; Okada, Sakie; Murase, Kenya

2010-01-01

We used blood oxygenation level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD MRI) to measure renal oxygenation dynamics in rats injected with diuretics and evaluated diuretic effect on renal oxygenation. We performed BOLD MRI studies in 32 rats using a 1.5-tesla MR imaging system for animal experiments. We intravenously injected rats with saline (n=7), furosemide (n=7), acetazolamide (n=6), or mannitol (n=6). For controls, 6 rats were not injected with drugs. We estimated the apparent transverse relaxation rate (R 2 *) from the apparent transverse relaxation time (T 2 *)-weighted images and measured the time course of R 2 * at 4-min intervals over approximately 30 min. Compared with preadministration values, the R 2 * value did not change significantly in either the cortex or medulla in the control and mannitol groups but decreased significantly in the saline group; the R 2 * value significantly decreased in the medulla but did not change significantly in the cortex in the furosemide group; and the R 2 * value significantly increased in the medulla and significantly decreased in the cortex in the acetazolamide group. Our study results suggest that BOLD MRI is useful for evaluating the dynamics of renal oxygenation in response to various diuretics in the renal cortex and in the medulla. (author)

Using pulse oximetry to account for high and low frequency physiological artifacts in the BOLD signal.

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Verstynen, Timothy D; Deshpande, Vibhas

2011-04-15

The BOLD signal not only reflects changes in local neural activity, but also exhibits variability from physiological processes like cardiac rhythms and breathing. We investigated how both of these physiological sources are reflected in the pulse oximetry (PO) signal, a direct measure of blood oxygenation, and how this information can be used to account for different types of noise in the BOLD response. Measures of heart rate, respiration and PO were simultaneously recorded while neurologically healthy participants performed an eye-movement task in a 3T MRI. PO exhibited power in frequencies that matched those found in the independently recorded cardiac and respiration signals. Using the phasic and aphasic properties of these signals as nuisance regressors, we found that the different frequency components of the PO signal could be used to identify different types of physiological artifacts in the BOLD response. A comparison of different physiological noise models found that a simple, down-sampled version of the PO signal improves the estimation of task-relevant statistics nearly as well as more established noise models that may run the risk of over-parameterization. These findings suggest that the PO signal captures multiple sources of physiological noise in the BOLD response and provides a simple and efficient way of modeling these noise sources in subsequent analysis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Frequency-dependent tACS modulation of BOLD signal during rhythmic visual stimulation.

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Chai, Yuhui; Sheng, Jingwei; Bandettini, Peter A; Gao, Jia-Hong

2018-05-01

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has emerged as a promising tool for modulating cortical oscillations. In previous electroencephalogram (EEG) studies, tACS has been found to modulate brain oscillatory activity in a frequency-specific manner. However, the spatial distribution and hemodynamic response for this modulation remains poorly understood. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has the advantage of measuring neuronal activity in regions not only below the tACS electrodes but also across the whole brain with high spatial resolution. Here, we measured fMRI signal while applying tACS to modulate rhythmic visual activity. During fMRI acquisition, tACS at different frequencies (4, 8, 16, and 32 Hz) was applied along with visual flicker stimulation at 8 and 16 Hz. We analyzed the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal difference between tACS-ON vs tACS-OFF, and different frequency combinations (e.g., 4 Hz tACS, 8 Hz flicker vs 8 Hz tACS, 8 Hz flicker). We observed significant tACS modulation effects on BOLD responses when the tACS frequency matched the visual flicker frequency or the second harmonic frequency. The main effects were predominantly seen in regions that were activated by the visual task and targeted by the tACS current distribution. These findings bridge different scientific domains of tACS research and demonstrate that fMRI could localize the tACS effect on stimulus-induced brain rhythms, which could lead to a new approach for understanding the high-level cognitive process shaped by the ongoing oscillatory signal. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cerebral Metabolic Rate of Oxygen (CMRO2 ) Mapping by Combining Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) and Quantitative Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent Imaging (qBOLD).

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Junghun; Kee, Youngwook; Spincemaille, Pascal; Nguyen, Thanh D; Zhang, Jingwei; Gupta, Ajay; Zhang, Shun; Wang, Yi

2018-03-07

To map the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO 2 ) by estimating the oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) from gradient echo imaging (GRE) using phase and magnitude of the GRE data. 3D multi-echo gradient echo imaging and perfusion imaging with arterial spin labeling were performed in 11 healthy subjects. CMRO 2 and OEF maps were reconstructed by joint quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) to process GRE phases and quantitative blood oxygen level-dependent (qBOLD) modeling to process GRE magnitudes. Comparisons with QSM and qBOLD alone were performed using ROI analysis, paired t-tests, and Bland-Altman plot. The average CMRO 2 value in cortical gray matter across subjects were 140.4 ± 14.9, 134.1 ± 12.5, and 184.6 ± 17.9 μmol/100 g/min, with corresponding OEFs of 30.9 ± 3.4%, 30.0 ± 1.8%, and 40.9 ± 2.4% for methods based on QSM, qBOLD, and QSM+qBOLD, respectively. QSM+qBOLD provided the highest CMRO 2 contrast between gray and white matter, more uniform OEF than QSM, and less noisy OEF than qBOLD. Quantitative CMRO 2 mapping that fits the entire complex GRE data is feasible by combining QSM analysis of phase and qBOLD analysis of magnitude. © 2018 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Co-localization between the BOLD response and epileptiform discharges recorded by simultaneous intracranial EEG-fMRI at 3 T

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Yahya Aghakhani

2015-01-01

Conclusions: iEEG-fMRI is a feasible and low-risk method for assessment of hemodynamic changes of very focal IEDs that may not be recorded by scalp EEG. A high concordance rate between the location of the BOLD response and IEDs was seen for mesial temporal (6/7 IEDs. Significant BOLD activation was also seen in areas distant from the active electrode and these sites exhibited maximal BOLD activation in the majority of cases. This implies that iEEG-fMRI may further describe the areas involved in the generation of IEDs beyond the vicinity of the electrode(s.

Mapping human preictal and ictal haemodynamic networks using simultaneous intracranial EEG-fMRI

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Umair J. Chaudhary

2016-01-01

In conclusion, icEEG-fMRI allowed us to reveal BOLD changes within and beyond the SOZ linked to very localised ictal fluctuations in beta and gamma activity measured in the amygdala and hippocampus. Furthermore, the BOLD changes within the SOZ structures were better captured by the quantitative models, highlighting the interest in considering seizure-related EEG fluctuations across the entire spectrum.

Comparison of diffusion-weighted fMRI and BOLD fMRI responses in a verbal working memory task

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aso, Toshihiko; Urayama, Shin-ichi; Fukuyama, Hidenao; Le Bihan, Denis

2013-01-01

Diffusion-weighted functional MRI (DfMRI) has been reported to have a different response pattern in the visual cortex than that of BOLD-fMRI. Especially, the DfMRI signal shows a constantly faster response at both onset and offset of the stimulus, suggesting that the DfMRI signal might be more directly linked to neuronal events than the hemodynamic response. However, because the DfMRI response also contains a residual sensitivity to BOLD this hypothesis has been challenged. Using a verbal working memory task we show that the DfMRI time-course features are preserved outside visual cortices, but also less liable to between-subject/between-regional variation than the BOLD response. The overall findings not only support the feasibility of DfMRI as an approach for functional brain imaging, but also strengthen the uniqueness of the DfMRI signal origin. (authors)

Ghrelin modulates the fMRI BOLD response of homeostatic and hedonic brain centers regulating energy balance in the rat.

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Miklós Sárvári

Full Text Available The orexigenic gut-brain peptide, ghrelin and its G-protein coupled receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHS-R1A are pivotal regulators of hypothalamic feeding centers and reward processing neuronal circuits of the brain. These systems operate in a cooperative manner and receive a wide array of neuronal hormone/transmitter messages and metabolic signals. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was employed in the current study to map BOLD responses to ghrelin in different brain regions with special reference on homeostatic and hedonic regulatory centers of energy balance. Experimental groups involved male, ovariectomized female and ovariectomized estradiol-replaced rats. Putative modulation of ghrelin signaling by endocannabinoids was also studied. Ghrelin-evoked effects were calculated as mean of the BOLD responses 30 minutes after administration. In the male rat, ghrelin evoked a slowly decreasing BOLD response in all studied regions of interest (ROI within the limbic system. This effect was antagonized by pretreatment with GHS-R1A antagonist JMV2959. The comparison of ghrelin effects in the presence or absence of JMV2959 in individual ROIs revealed significant changes in the prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens of the telencephalon, and also within hypothalamic centers like the lateral hypothalamus, ventromedial nucleus, paraventricular nucleus and suprachiasmatic nucleus. In the female rat, the ghrelin effects were almost identical to those observed in males. Ovariectomy and chronic estradiol replacement had no effect on the BOLD response. Inhibition of the endocannabinoid signaling by rimonabant significantly attenuated the response of the nucleus accumbens and septum. In summary, ghrelin can modulate hypothalamic and mesolimbic structures controlling energy balance in both sexes. The endocannabinoid signaling system contributes to the manifestation of ghrelin's BOLD effect in a region specific manner. In females, the

Patterns of cortical oscillations organize neural activity into whole-brain functional networks evident in the fMRI BOLD signal

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Jennifer C Whitman

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Recent findings from electrophysiology and multimodal neuroimaging have elucidated the relationship between patterns of cortical oscillations evident in EEG / MEG and the functional brain networks evident in the BOLD signal. Much of the existing literature emphasized how high-frequency cortical oscillations are thought to coordinate neural activity locally, while low-frequency oscillations play a role in coordinating activity between more distant brain regions. However, the assignment of different frequencies to different spatial scales is an oversimplification. A more informative approach is to explore the arrangements by which these low- and high-frequency oscillations work in concert, coordinating neural activity into whole-brain functional networks. When relating such networks to the BOLD signal, we must consider how the patterns of cortical oscillations change at the same speed as cognitive states, which often last less than a second. Consequently, the slower BOLD signal may often reflect the summed neural activity of several transient network configurations. This temporal mismatch can be circumvented if we use spatial maps to assess correspondence between oscillatory networks and BOLD networks.

In contrast to BOLD: signal enhancement by extravascular water protons as an alternative mechanism of endogenous fMRI signal change.

Science.gov (United States)

Figley, Chase R; Leitch, Jordan K; Stroman, Patrick W

2010-10-01

Despite the popularity and widespread application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in recent years, the physiological bases of signal change are not yet fully understood. Blood oxygen level-dependant (BOLD) contrast - attributed to local changes in blood flow and oxygenation, and therefore magnetic susceptibility - has become the most prevalent means of functional neuroimaging. However, at short echo times, spin-echo sequences show considerable deviations from the BOLD model, implying a second, non-BOLD component of signal change. This has been dubbed "signal enhancement by extravascular water protons" (SEEP) and is proposed to result from proton-density changes associated with cellular swelling. Given that such changes are independent of magnetic susceptibility, SEEP may offer new and improved opportunities for carrying out fMRI in regions with close proximity to air-tissue and/or bone-tissue interfaces (e.g., the prefrontal cortex and spinal cord), as well as regions close to large blood vessels, which may not be ideally suited for BOLD imaging. However, because of the interdisciplinary nature of the literature, there has yet to be a thorough synthesis, tying together the various and sometimes disparate aspects of SEEP theory. As such, we aim to provide a concise yet comprehensive overview of SEEP, including recent and compelling evidence for its validity, its current applications and its future relevance to the rapidly expanding field of functional neuroimaging. Before presenting the evidence for a non-BOLD component of endogenous functional contrast, and to enable a more critical review for the nonexpert reader, we begin by reviewing the fundamental principles underlying BOLD theory. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Origin of fluctuations in atmospheric pressure arc plasma devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghorui, S.; Das, A.K.

2004-01-01

Fluctuations in arc plasma devices are extremely important for any technological application in thermal plasma. The origin of such fluctuations remains unexplained. This paper presents a theory for observed fluctuations in atmospheric pressure arc plasma devices. A qualitative explanation for observed behavior on atmospheric pressure arc plasma fluctuations, reported in the literature, can be obtained from the theory. The potential of the theory is demonstrated through comparison of theoretical predictions with reported experimental observations

Changes in BOLD and ADC weighted imaging in acute hypoxia during sea-level and altitude adapted states

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rostrup, Egill; Larsson, Henrik B.W.; Born, Alfred P.

2005-01-01

possible structural changes as measured by diffusion weighted imaging. Eleven healthy sea-level residents were studied after 5 weeks of adaptation to high altitude conditions at Chacaltaya, Bolivia (5260 m). The subjects were studied immediately after return to sea-level in hypoxic and normoxic conditions...... was slightly elevated in high altitude as compared to sea-level adaptation. It is concluded that hypoxia significantly diminishes the BOLD response, and the mechanisms underlying this finding are discussed. Furthermore, altitude adaptation may influence both the magnitude of the activation-related response......, and the examinations repeated 6 months later after re-adaptation to sea-level conditions. The BOLD response, measured at 1.5 T, was severely reduced during acute hypoxia both in the altitude and sea-level adapted states (50% reduction during an average S(a)O(2) of 75%). On average, the BOLD response magnitude was 23...

Distinct BOLD activation profiles following central and peripheral oxytocin administration in awake rats

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Craig F Ferris

2015-09-01

Full Text Available A growing body of literature has suggested that intranasal oxytocin (OT or other systemic routes of administration can alter prosocial behavior, presumably by directly activating OT sensitive neural circuits in the brain. Yet there is no clear evidence that OT given peripherally can cross the blood-brain-barrier at levels sufficient to engage the OT receptor. To address this issue we examined changes in blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD signal intensity in response to peripheral OT injections (0.1, 0.5 or 2.5 mg/kg during functional magnetic resonance (fMRI in awake rats imaged at 7.0 tesla. These data were compared to OT (1ug/5 µl given directly to the brain via the lateral cerebroventricle. Using a 3D annotated MRI atlas of the rat brain segmented into 171 brain areas and computational analysis we reconstructed the distributed integrated neural circuits identified with BOLD fMRI following central and peripheral OT. Both routes of administration caused significant changes in BOLD signal within the first 10 min of administration. As expected, central OT activated a majority of brain areas known to express a high density of OT receptors e.g., lateral septum, subiculum, shell of the accumbens, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. This profile of activation was not matched by peripheral OT. The change in BOLD signal to peripheral OT did not show any discernible dose-response. Interestingly, peripheral OT affected all subdivisions of the olfactory bulb, in addition to the cerebellum and several brainstem areas relevant to the autonomic nervous system, including the solitary tract nucleus. The results from this imaging study do not support a direct central action of peripheral OT on the brain. Instead, the patterns of brain activity suggest that peripheral OT may interact at the level of the olfactory bulb and through sensory afferents from the autonomic nervous system to influence brain activity.

Distinct BOLD Activation Profiles Following Central and Peripheral Oxytocin Administration in Awake Rats.

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Ferris, Craig F; Yee, Jason R; Kenkel, William M; Dumais, Kelly Marie; Moore, Kelsey; Veenema, Alexa H; Kulkarni, Praveen; Perkybile, Allison M; Carter, C Sue

2015-01-01

A growing body of literature has suggested that intranasal oxytocin (OT) or other systemic routes of administration can alter prosocial behavior, presumably by directly activating OT sensitive neural circuits in the brain. Yet there is no clear evidence that OT given peripherally can cross the blood-brain barrier at levels sufficient to engage the OT receptor. To address this issue we examined changes in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity in response to peripheral OT injections (0.1, 0.5, or 2.5 mg/kg) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake rats imaged at 7.0 T. These data were compared to OT (1 μg/5 μl) given directly to the brain via the lateral cerebroventricle. Using a 3D annotated MRI atlas of the rat brain segmented into 171 brain areas and computational analysis, we reconstructed the distributed integrated neural circuits identified with BOLD fMRI following central and peripheral OT. Both routes of administration caused significant changes in BOLD signal within the first 10 min of administration. As expected, central OT activated a majority of brain areas known to express a high density of OT receptors, e.g., lateral septum, subiculum, shell of the accumbens, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. This profile of activation was not matched by peripheral OT. The change in BOLD signal to peripheral OT did not show any discernible dose-response. Interestingly, peripheral OT affected all subdivisions of the olfactory bulb, in addition to the cerebellum and several brainstem areas relevant to the autonomic nervous system, including the solitary tract nucleus. The results from this imaging study do not support a direct central action of peripheral OT on the brain. Instead, the patterns of brain activity suggest that peripheral OT may interact at the level of the olfactory bulb and through sensory afferents from the autonomic nervous system to influence brain activity.

Fluctuations, dynamical instabilities and clusterization processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgio, G.F.; Chomaz, Ph.; Randrup, J.

1992-01-01

Recent progress with regard to the numerical simulation of fluctuations in nuclear dynamics is reported. Cluster formation in unstable nuclear matter is studied within the framework of a Boltzmann-Langevin equation developed to describe large amplitude fluctuations. Through the Fourier analysis of the fluctuating nuclear density in coordinate space, the onset of the clusterization is related to the dispersion relation of harmonic density oscillations. This detailed study on the simple two-dimensional case demonstrates the validity of the general approach. It is also shown, how the inclusion of fluctuations implies a description in terms of ensemble of trajectories and it is discussed why the presence of a stochastic term may cure the intrinsic unpredictability of deterministic theories (such as mean-field approximation) in presence of instabilities and/or chaos. (author) 8 refs., 3 figs

Hypercapnic normalization of BOLD fMRI: comparison across field strengths and pulse sequences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cohen, Eric R.; Rostrup, Egill; Sidaros, Karam

2004-01-01

to be more accurately localized and quantified based on changes in venous blood oxygenation alone. The normalized BOLD signal induced by the motor task was consistent across different magnetic fields and pulse sequences, and corresponded well with cerebral blood flow measurements. Our data suggest...... size, as well as experimental, such as pulse sequence and static magnetic field strength (B(0)). Thus, it is difficult to compare task-induced fMRI signals across subjects, field strengths, and pulse sequences. This problem can be overcome by normalizing the neural activity-induced BOLD fMRI response...... for global stimulation, subjects breathed a 5% CO(2) gas mixture. Under all conditions, voxels containing primarily large veins and those containing primarily active tissue (i.e., capillaries and small veins) showed distinguishable behavior after hypercapnic normalization. This allowed functional activity...

Functional dissociation of transient and sustained fMRI BOLD components in human auditory cortex revealed with a streaming paradigm based on interaural time differences.

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Schadwinkel, Stefan; Gutschalk, Alexander

2010-12-01

A number of physiological studies suggest that feature-selective adaptation is relevant to the pre-processing for auditory streaming, the perceptual separation of overlapping sound sources. Most of these studies are focused on spectral differences between streams, which are considered most important for streaming. However, spatial cues also support streaming, alone or in combination with spectral cues, but physiological studies of spatial cues for streaming remain scarce. Here, we investigate whether the tuning of selective adaptation for interaural time differences (ITD) coincides with the range where streaming perception is observed. FMRI activation that has been shown to adapt depending on the repetition rate was studied with a streaming paradigm where two tones were differently lateralized by ITD. Listeners were presented with five different ΔITD conditions (62.5, 125, 187.5, 343.75, or 687.5 μs) out of an active baseline with no ΔITD during fMRI. The results showed reduced adaptation for conditions with ΔITD ≥ 125 μs, reflected by enhanced sustained BOLD activity. The percentage of streaming perception for these stimuli increased from approximately 20% for ΔITD = 62.5 μs to > 60% for ΔITD = 125 μs. No further sustained BOLD enhancement was observed when the ΔITD was increased beyond ΔITD = 125 μs, whereas the streaming probability continued to increase up to 90% for ΔITD = 687.5 μs. Conversely, the transient BOLD response, at the transition from baseline to ΔITD blocks, increased most prominently as ΔITD was increased from 187.5 to 343.75 μs. These results demonstrate a clear dissociation of transient and sustained components of the BOLD activity in auditory cortex. © 2010 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2010 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Multi-regional investigation of the relationship between functional MRI blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD activation and GABA concentration.

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Ashley D Harris

Full Text Available Several recent studies have reported an inter-individual correlation between regional GABA concentration, as measured by MRS, and the amplitude of the functional blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD response in the same region. In this study, we set out to investigate whether this coupling generalizes across cortex. In 18 healthy participants, we performed edited MRS measurements of GABA and BOLD-fMRI experiments using regionally related activation paradigms. Regions and tasks were the: occipital cortex with a visual grating stimulus; auditory cortex with a white noise stimulus; sensorimotor cortex with a finger-tapping task; frontal eye field with a saccade task; and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with a working memory task. In contrast to the prior literature, no correlation between GABA concentration and BOLD activation was detected in any region. The origin of this discrepancy is not clear. Subtle differences in study design or insufficient power may cause differing results; these and other potential reasons for the discrepant results are discussed. This negative result, although it should be interpreted with caution, has a larger sample size than prior positive results, and suggests that the relationship between GABA and the BOLD response may be more complex than previously thought.

Boldness and intermittent locomotion in the bluegill sunfish, Lepomis macrochirus

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Alexander D.M. Wilson; Jean-Guy J. Godin

2009-01-01

Intermittent locomotion, characterized by moves interspersed with pauses, is a common pattern of locomotion in animals, but its ecological and evolutionary significance relative to continuous locomotion remains poorly understood. Although many studies have examined individual differences in both intermittent locomotion and boldness separately, to our knowledge, no study to date has investigated the relationship between these 2 traits. Characterizing and understanding this relationship is impo...

Accounting for the role of hematocrit in between-subject variations of MRI-derived baseline cerebral hemodynamic parameters and functional BOLD responses.

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Xu, Feng; Li, Wenbo; Liu, Peiying; Hua, Jun; Strouse, John J; Pekar, James J; Lu, Hanzhang; van Zijl, Peter C M; Qin, Qin

2018-01-01

Baseline hematocrit fraction (Hct) is a determinant for baseline cerebral blood flow (CBF) and between-subject variation of Hct thus causes variation in task-based BOLD fMRI signal changes. We first verified in healthy volunteers (n = 12) that Hct values can be derived reliably from venous blood T 1 values by comparison with the conventional lab test. Together with CBF measured using phase-contrast MRI, this noninvasive estimation of Hct, instead of using a population-averaged Hct value, enabled more individual determination of oxygen delivery (DO 2 ), oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO 2 ). The inverse correlation of CBF and Hct explained about 80% of between-subject variation of CBF in this relatively uniform cohort of subjects, as expected based on the regulation of DO 2 to maintain constant CMRO 2 . Furthermore, we compared the relationships of visual task-evoked BOLD response with Hct and CBF. We showed that Hct and CBF contributed 22%-33% of variance in BOLD signal and removing the positive correlation with Hct and negative correlation with CBF allowed normalization of BOLD signal with 16%-22% lower variability. The results of this study suggest that adjustment for Hct effects is useful for studies of MRI perfusion and BOLD fMRI. Hum Brain Mapp 39:344-353, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Big Five facet analysis of sub-clinical narcissism: understanding boldness in terms of well-known personality traits.

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Furnham, Adrian; Crump, John

2014-08-01

This study aimed to examine a Big Five 'bright-side' analysis of a sub-clinical personality disorder, i.e. narcissism. A total of 6957 British adults completed the NEO-PI-R, which measures the Big Five Personality factors at the domain and the facet level, as well as the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), which has a measure of Narcissism called Bold as one of its dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies. Correlation and regression results confirmed many of the associations between the Big Five domains and facets (NEO-PI-R) and sub-clinical narcissism. The Bold (Narcissism) scale from the HDS was the criterion variable in all analyses. Bold individuals are disagreeable extraverts with very low scores on facet Modesty but moderately high scores on Assertiveness, Competence and Achievement Striving. The study confirmed work using different population groups and different measures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Effect of hypoxia on BOLD fMRI response and total cerebral blood flow in migraine with aura patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arngrim, Nanna; Hougaard, Anders; Schytz, Henrik W

2018-01-01

was measured in the visual cortex ROIs V1-V5. Total cerebral blood flow (CBF) was calculated by measuring the blood velocity in the internal carotid arteries and the basilar artery using phase-contrast mapping (PCM) MRI. Hypoxia induced a greater decrease in BOLD response to visual stimulation in V1-V4 in MA......Experimentally induced hypoxia triggers migraine and aura attacks in patients suffering from migraine with aura (MA). We investigated the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal response to visual stimulation during hypoxia in MA patients and healthy volunteers. In a randomized double......-blind crossover study design, 15 MA patients were allocated to 180 min of normobaric poikilocapnic hypoxia (capillary oxygen saturation 70-75%) or sham (normoxia) on two separate days and 14 healthy volunteers were exposed to hypoxia. The BOLD functional MRI (fMRI) signal response to visual stimulation...

Nonequilibrium Langevin dynamics: A demonstration study of shear flow fluctuations in a simple fluid

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Belousov, Roman; Cohen, E. G. D.; Rondoni, Lamberto

2017-08-01

The present paper is based on a recent success of the second-order stochastic fluctuation theory in describing time autocorrelations of equilibrium and nonequilibrium physical systems. In particular, it was shown to yield values of the related deterministic parameters of the Langevin equation for a Couette flow in a microscopic molecular dynamics model of a simple fluid. In this paper we find all the remaining constants of the stochastic dynamics, which then is simulated numerically and compared directly with the original physical system. By using these data, we study in detail the accuracy and precision of a second-order Langevin model for nonequilibrium physical systems theoretically and computationally. We find an intriguing relation between an applied external force and cumulants of the resulting flow fluctuations. This is characterized by a linear dependence of an athermal cumulant ratio, an apposite quantity introduced here. In addition, we discuss how the order of a given Langevin dynamics can be raised systematically by introducing colored noise.

Relationship between BOLD amplitude and pattern classification of orientation-selective activity in the human visual cortex

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Tong, Frank; Harrison, Stephenie A.; Dewey, John A.; Kamitani, Yukiyasu

2012-01-01

Orientation-selective responses can be decoded from fMRI activity patterns in the human visual cortex, using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). To what extent do these feature-selective activity patterns depend on the strength and quality of the sensory input, and might the reliability of these activity patterns be predicted by the gross amplitude of the stimulus-driven BOLD response? Observers viewed oriented gratings that varied in luminance contrast (4, 20 or 100%) or spatial frequency (0.25, 1.0 or 4.0 cpd). As predicted, activity patterns in early visual areas led to better discrimination of orientations presented at high than low contrast, with greater effects of contrast found in area V1 than in V3. A second experiment revealed generally better decoding of orientations at low or moderate as compared to high spatial frequencies. Interestingly however, V1 exhibited a relative advantage at discriminating high spatial frequency orientations, consistent with the finer scale of representation in the primary visual cortex. In both experiments, the reliability of these orientation-selective activity patterns was well predicted by the average BOLD amplitude in each region of interest, as indicated by correlation analyses, as well as decoding applied to a simple model of voxel responses to simulated orientation columns. Moreover, individual differences in decoding accuracy could be predicted by the signal-to-noise ratio of an individual's BOLD response. Our results indicate that decoding accuracy can be well predicted by incorporating the amplitude of the BOLD response into simple simulation models of cortical selectivity; such models could prove useful in future applications of fMRI pattern classification. PMID:22917989

Increased BOLD Signals Elicited by High Gamma Auditory Stimulation of the Left Auditory Cortex in Acute State Schizophrenia

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Hironori Kuga, M.D.

2016-10-01

We acquired BOLD responses elicited by click trains of 20, 30, 40 and 80-Hz frequencies from 15 patients with acute episode schizophrenia (AESZ, 14 symptom-severity-matched patients with non-acute episode schizophrenia (NASZ, and 24 healthy controls (HC, assessed via a standard general linear-model-based analysis. The AESZ group showed significantly increased ASSR-BOLD signals to 80-Hz stimuli in the left auditory cortex compared with the HC and NASZ groups. In addition, enhanced 80-Hz ASSR-BOLD signals were associated with more severe auditory hallucination experiences in AESZ participants. The present results indicate that neural over activation occurs during 80-Hz auditory stimulation of the left auditory cortex in individuals with acute state schizophrenia. Given the possible association between abnormal gamma activity and increased glutamate levels, our data may reflect glutamate toxicity in the auditory cortex in the acute state of schizophrenia, which might lead to progressive changes in the left transverse temporal gyrus.

Nonlinear Bayesian Estimation of BOLD Signal under Non-Gaussian Noise

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Ali Fahim Khan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Modeling the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD signal has been a subject of study for over a decade in the neuroimaging community. Inspired from fluid dynamics, the hemodynamic model provides a plausible yet convincing interpretation of the BOLD signal by amalgamating effects of dynamic physiological changes in blood oxygenation, cerebral blood flow and volume. The nonautonomous, nonlinear set of differential equations of the hemodynamic model constitutes the process model while the weighted nonlinear sum of the physiological variables forms the measurement model. Plagued by various noise sources, the time series fMRI measurement data is mostly assumed to be affected by additive Gaussian noise. Though more feasible, the assumption may cause the designed filter to perform poorly if made to work under non-Gaussian environment. In this paper, we present a data assimilation scheme that assumes additive non-Gaussian noise, namely, the e-mixture noise, affecting the measurements. The proposed filter MAGSF and the celebrated EKF are put to test by performing joint optimal Bayesian filtering to estimate both the states and parameters governing the hemodynamic model under non-Gaussian environment. Analyses using both the synthetic and real data reveal superior performance of the MAGSF as compared to EKF.

The role of ecological context and predation risk-stimuli in revealing the true picture about the genetic basis of boldness evolution in fish

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klefoth, Thomas; Skov, Christian; Krause, Jens

2011-01-01

To showcase the importance of genotype × environment interactions and the presence of predation risk in the experimental assessment of boldness in fish, we investigated boldness in terms of feeding behavior and refuge use in two genetically different populations of juvenile carp (Cyprinus carpio)...

BOLD quantified renal pO2 is sensitive to pharmacological challenges in rats.

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Thacker, Jon; Zhang, Jeff L; Franklin, Tammy; Prasad, Pottumarthi

2017-07-01

Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) MRI has been effectively used to monitor changes in renal oxygenation. However, R2* (or T2*) is not specific to blood oxygenation and is dependent on other factors. This study investigates the use of a statistical model that takes these factors into account and maps BOLD MRI measurements to blood pO2. Spin echo and gradient echo images were obtained in six Sprague-Dawley rats and R2 and R2* maps were computed. Measurements were made at baseline, post-nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (L-NAME), and post-furosemide administration. A simulation of each region was performed to map R2' (computed as R2*-R2) to blood pO2. At baseline, blood pO2 in the outer medulla was 30.5 ± 1.2 mmHg and 51.9 ± 5.2 mmHg in the cortex, in agreement with previous invasive studies. Blood pO2 was found to decrease within the outer medulla following L-NAME (P pO2 in the cortex increased following furosemide (P pO2 is sensitive to pharmacological challenges, and baseline pO2 is comparable to literature values. Reporting pO2 instead of R2* could lead to a greater clinical impact of renal BOLD MRI and facilitate the identification of hypoxic regions. Magn Reson Med 78:297-302, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

"To Boldly Go" versus "Last, Best Hope" : The Future of Human Civilization as Depicted in American Science Fiction

OpenAIRE

Glasø, Alexander

2012-01-01

"'To Boldly Go" versus "Last, Best Hope'" examines a total of four American television series from the Star Trek and Babylon 5 franchises, and the portrayal of human civilization in the future. The thesis traces how Star Trek set out "to boldly go" and how Babylon 5 was the "last, best hope" in depicting a coherent, futuristic vision for humanity. The initial chapter focuses on the background of the series and also the ways they differed from one another, while chapter 2 is devoted to the por...

Edge fluctuation studies in Heliotron J

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mizuuchi, T.; Chechkin, V.V.; Ohashi, K.; Sorokovoy, E.L.; Chechkin, A.V.; Gonchar, V.Yu.; Takahashi, K.; Kobayashi, S.; Nagasaki, K.; Okada, H.; Yamamoto, S.; Sano, F.; Kondo, K.; Nishino, N.; Kawazome, H.; Shidara, H.; Kaneko, S.; Fukagawa, Y.; Morita, Y.; Nakazawa, S.; Nishio, S.; Tsuboi, S.; Yamada, M.

2005-01-01

Low frequency and small-scale fluctuations of density and potential near the last closed flux surface are investigated by using Langmuir probes for the second harmonic ECH plasmas in a helical-axis heliotron device, Heliotron J. The existence of a plasma layer with a radial electric field shear was indicated near the last closed flux surface. Near this layer, the reversal of phase velocity and de-correlation of the fluctuations were observed. On the other hand, it is suggested that a considerable fraction of the fluctuation induced particle flux is carried off through the intermittent events. Preliminary analyses to classify the PDFs of the ion-saturation current fluctuation as stable Levy distributions demonstrate that the Levy index decreases from the inner to the outer region of edge plasma, suggesting that the PDFs near the boundary region of Heliotron J are nearly Gaussian, whereas at the outer regions of plasma they become strongly non-Gaussian

Fluctuation-enhanced electric conductivity in electrolyte solutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Péraud, Jean-Philippe; Nonaka, Andrew J; Bell, John B; Donev, Aleksandar; Garcia, Alejandro L

2017-10-10

We analyze the effects of an externally applied electric field on thermal fluctuations for a binary electrolyte fluid. We show that the fluctuating Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) equations for charged multispecies diffusion coupled with the fluctuating fluid momentum equation result in enhanced charge transport via a mechanism distinct from the well-known enhancement of mass transport that accompanies giant fluctuations. Although the mass and charge transport occurs by advection by thermal velocity fluctuations, it can macroscopically be represented as electrodiffusion with renormalized electric conductivity and a nonzero cation-anion diffusion coefficient. Specifically, we predict a nonzero cation-anion Maxwell-Stefan coefficient proportional to the square root of the salt concentration, a prediction that agrees quantitatively with experimental measurements. The renormalized or effective macroscopic equations are different from the starting PNP equations, which contain no cross-diffusion terms, even for rather dilute binary electrolytes. At the same time, for infinitely dilute solutions the renormalized electric conductivity and renormalized diffusion coefficients are consistent and the classical PNP equations with renormalized coefficients are recovered, demonstrating the self-consistency of the fluctuating hydrodynamics equations. Our calculations show that the fluctuating hydrodynamics approach recovers the electrophoretic and relaxation corrections obtained by Debye-Huckel-Onsager theory, while elucidating the physical origins of these corrections and generalizing straightforwardly to more complex multispecies electrolytes. Finally, we show that strong applied electric fields result in anisotropically enhanced "giant" velocity fluctuations and reduced fluctuations of salt concentration.

Resting bold fMRI differentiates dementia with Lewy bodies vs Alzheimer disease

Science.gov (United States)

Price, J.L.; Yan, Z.; Morris, J.C.; Sheline, Y.I.

2011-01-01

Objective: Clinicopathologic phenotypes of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer disease (AD) often overlap, making discrimination difficult. We performed resting state blood oxygen level–dependent (BOLD) functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) to determine whether there were differences between AD and DLB. Methods: Participants (n = 88) enrolled in a longitudinal study of memory and aging underwent 3-T fcMRI. Clinical diagnoses of probable DLB (n = 15) were made according to published criteria. Cognitively normal control participants (n = 38) were selected for the absence of cerebral amyloid burden as imaged with Pittsburgh compound B (PiB). Probable AD cases (n = 35) met published criteria and had appreciable amyloid deposits with PiB imaging. Functional images were collected using a gradient spin-echo sequence sensitive to BOLD contrast (T2* weighting). Correlation maps selected a seed region in the combined bilateral precuneus. Results: Participants with DLB had a functional connectivity pattern for the precuneus seed region that was distinct from AD; both the DLB and AD groups had functional connectivity patterns that differed from the cognitively normal group. In the DLB group, we found increased connectivity between the precuneus and regions in the dorsal attention network and the putamen. In contrast, we found decreased connectivity between the precuneus and other task-negative default regions and visual cortices. There was also a reversal of connectivity in the right hippocampus. Conclusions: Changes in functional connectivity in DLB indicate patterns of activation that are distinct from those seen in AD and may improve discrimination of DLB from AD and cognitively normal individuals. Since patterns of connectivity differ between AD and DLB groups, measurements of BOLD functional connectivity can shed further light on neuroanatomic connections that distinguish DLB from AD. PMID:21525427

Escape routes, weak links, and desynchronization in fluctuation-driven networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schäfer, Benjamin; Matthiae, Moritz; Zhang, Xiaozhu

2017-01-01

Shifting our electricity generation from fossil fuel to renewable energy sources introduces large fluctuations to the power system. Here, we demonstrate how increased fluctuations, reduced damping, and reduced intertia may undermine the dynamical robustness of power grid networks. Focusing...... on fundamental noise models, we derive analytic insights into which factors limit the dynamic robustness and how fluctuations may induce a system escape from an operating state. Moreover, we identify weak links in the grid that make it particularly vulnerable to fluctuations. These results thereby not only...

Intraindividual variability of boldness is repeatable across contexts in a wild lizard.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Highcock

Full Text Available Animals do not behave in exactly the same way when repeatedly tested in the same context or situation, even once systematic variation, such as habituation, has been controlled for. This unpredictability is called intraindividual variability (IIV and has been little studied in animals. Here we investigated how IIV in boldness (estimated by flight initiation distances changed across two seasons--the dry, non-breeding season and the wet, breeding season--in a wild population of the Namibian rock agama, Agama planiceps. We found significant differences in IIV both between individuals and seasons, and IIV was higher in the wet season, suggesting plasticity in IIV. Further, IIV was highly repeatable (r = 0.61 between seasons and we found strong negative correlations between consistent individual differences in flight initiation distances, i.e. their boldness, and individuals' IIVs. We suggest that to understand personality in animals, researchers should generate a personality 'profile' that includes not only the relative level of a trait (i.e. its personality, but also its plasticity and variability under natural conditions.

Visual BOLD Response in Late Blind Subjects with Argus II Retinal Prosthesis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E Castaldi

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Retinal prosthesis technologies require that the visual system downstream of the retinal circuitry be capable of transmitting and elaborating visual signals. We studied the capability of plastic remodeling in late blind subjects implanted with the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis with psychophysics and functional MRI (fMRI. After surgery, six out of seven retinitis pigmentosa (RP blind subjects were able to detect high-contrast stimuli using the prosthetic implant. However, direction discrimination to contrast modulated stimuli remained at chance level in all of them. No subject showed any improvement of contrast sensitivity in either eye when not using the Argus II. Before the implant, the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD activity in V1 and the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN was very weak or absent. Surprisingly, after prolonged use of Argus II, BOLD responses to visual input were enhanced. This is, to our knowledge, the first study tracking the neural changes of visual areas in patients after retinal implant, revealing a capacity to respond to restored visual input even after years of deprivation.

Resting State BOLD Variability in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Marker of Cognitive Decline or Cerebrovascular Status?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vanessa Scarapicchia

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD is a neurodegenerative disorder that may benefit from early diagnosis and intervention. Therefore, there is a need to identify early biomarkers of AD using non-invasive techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. Recently, novel approaches to the analysis of resting-state fMRI data have been developed that focus on the moment-to-moment variability in the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD signal. The objective of the current study was to investigate BOLD variability as a novel early biomarker of AD and its associated psychophysiological correlates.Method: Data were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI 2 database from 19 participants with AD and 19 similarly aged controls. For each participant, a map of BOLD signal variability (SDBOLD was computed as the standard deviation of the BOLD timeseries at each voxel. Group comparisons were performed to examine global differences in resting state SDBOLD in AD versus healthy controls. Correlations were then examined between participant SDBOLD maps and (1 ADNI-derived composite scores of memory and executive function and (2 neuroimaging markers of cerebrovascular status.Results: Between-group comparisons revealed significant (p < 0.05 increases in SDBOLD in patients with AD relative to healthy controls in right-lateralized frontal regions. Lower memory scores and higher WMH burden were associated with greater SDBOLD in the healthy control group (p < 0.1, but not individuals with AD.Conclusion: The current study provides proof of concept of a novel resting state fMRI analysis technique that is non-invasive, easily accessible, and clinically compatible. To further explore the potential of SDBOLD as a biomarker of AD, additional studies in larger, longitudinal samples are needed to better understand the changes in SDBOLD that characterize earlier stages of disease progression and their underlying psychophysiological

Spatiotopic coding of BOLD signal in human visual cortex depends on spatial attention.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sofia Crespi

Full Text Available The neural substrate of the phenomenological experience of a stable visual world remains obscure. One possible mechanism would be to construct spatiotopic neural maps where the response is selective to the position of the stimulus in external space, rather than to retinal eccentricities, but evidence for these maps has been inconsistent. Here we show, with fMRI, that when human subjects perform concomitantly a demanding attentive task on stimuli displayed at the fovea, BOLD responses evoked by moving stimuli irrelevant to the task were mostly tuned in retinotopic coordinates. However, under more unconstrained conditions, where subjects could attend easily to the motion stimuli, BOLD responses were tuned not in retinal but in external coordinates (spatiotopic selectivity in many visual areas, including MT, MST, LO and V6, agreeing with our previous fMRI study. These results indicate that spatial attention may play an important role in mediating spatiotopic selectivity.

A NO way to BOLD?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aamand, Rasmus; Dalsgaard, Thomas; Ho, Yi Ching Lynn

2013-01-01

Neurovascular coupling links neuronal activity to vasodilation. Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasodilator, and in neurovascular coupling NO production from NO synthases plays an important role. However, another pathway for NO production also exists, namely the nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway. On this ......Neurovascular coupling links neuronal activity to vasodilation. Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasodilator, and in neurovascular coupling NO production from NO synthases plays an important role. However, another pathway for NO production also exists, namely the nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway...... to stimuli. A faster and smaller BOLD response, with less variation across local cortex, is consistent with an enhanced hemodynamic coupling during elevated nitrate intake. These findings suggest that dietary patterns, via the nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway, may be a potential way to affect key properties....... On this basis, we hypothesized that dietary nitrate (NO3-) could influence the brain's hemodynamic response to neuronal stimulation. In the present study, 20 healthy male participants were given either sodium nitrate (NaNO3) or sodium chloride (NaCl) (saline placebo) in a crossover study and were shown visual...

Hypoxia in Prostate Cancer: Correlation of BOLD-MRI With Pimonidazole Immunohistochemistry-Initial Observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoskin, Peter J.; Carnell, Dawn M.; Taylor, N. Jane; Smith, Rowena E.; Stirling, J. James; Daley, Frances M.; Saunders, Michele I.; Bentzen, Soren M.; Collins, David J.; D'Arcy, James A.; Padhani, Anwar P.

2007-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the ability of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) MRI to depict clinically significant prostate tumor hypoxia. Methods and Materials: Thirty-three patients with prostate carcinoma undergoing radical prostatectomy were studied preoperatively, using gradient echo sequences without and with contrast medium enhancement, to map relative tissue oxygenation according to relaxivity rates and relative blood volume (rBV). Pimonidazole was administered preoperatively, and whole-mount sections of selected tumor-bearing slices were stained for pimonidazole fixation and tumor and nontumor localization. Histologic and imaging parameters were independently mapped onto patient prostate outlines. Using 5-mm grids, 861 nontumor grid locations were compared with 237 tumor grids (with >50% tumor per location) using contingency table analysis with respect to the ability of imaging to predict pimonidazole staining. Results: Twenty patients completed the imaging and histologic protocols. Pimonidazole staining was found in 33% of nontumor and in 70% of tumor grids. The sensitivity of the MR relaxivity parameter R 2 * in depicting tumor hypoxia was high (88%), improving with the addition of low rBV information (95%) without changing specificity (36% and 29%, respectively). High R 2 * increased the positive predictive value for hypoxia by 6% (70% to 76%); conversely, low R 2 * decreased the likelihood of hypoxia being present by 26% (70% to 44%) and by 41% (71% to 30%) when combined with rBV information. Conclusion: R 2 * maps from BOLD-MRI have high sensitivity but low specificity for defining intraprostatic tumor hypoxia. This together with the negative predictive value of 70% when combined with blood volume information makes BOLD-MRI a potential noninvasive technique for mapping prostatic tumor hypoxia

Dictionary-driven Ischemia Detection from Cardiac Phase-Resolved Myocardial BOLD MRI at Rest

Science.gov (United States)

Bevilacqua, Marco; Dharmakumar, Rohan; Tsaftaris, Sotirios A.

2016-01-01

Cardiac Phase-resolved Blood-Oxygen-Level Dependent (CP–BOLD) MRI provides a unique opportunity to image an ongoing ischemia at rest. However, it requires post-processing to evaluate the extent of ischemia. To address this, here we propose an unsupervised ischemia detection (UID) method which relies on the inherent spatio-temporal correlation between oxygenation and wall motion to formalize a joint learning and detection problem based on dictionary decomposition. Considering input data of a single subject, it treats ischemia as an anomaly and iteratively learns dictionaries to represent only normal observations (corresponding to myocardial territories remote to ischemia). Anomaly detection is based on a modified version of One-class Support Vector Machines (OCSVM) to regulate directly the margins by incorporating the dictionary-based representation errors. A measure of ischemic extent (IE) is estimated, reflecting the relative portion of the myocardium affected by ischemia. For visualization purposes an ischemia likelihood map is created by estimating posterior probabilities from the OCSVM outputs, thus obtaining how likely the classification is correct. UID is evaluated on synthetic data and in a 2D CP–BOLD data set from a canine experimental model emulating acute coronary syndromes. Comparing early ischemic territories identified with UID against infarct territories (after several hours of ischemia), we find that IE, as measured by UID, is highly correlated (Pearson’s r = 0.84) w.r.t. infarct size. When advances in automated registration and segmentation of CP–BOLD images and full coverage 3D acquisitions become available, we hope that this method can enable pixel-level assessment of ischemia with this truly non-invasive imaging technique. PMID:26292338

Driving innovation through big open linked data (BOLD) : Exploring antecedents using interpretive structural modelling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dwivedi, Yogesh K.; Janssen, M.F.W.H.A.; Slade, Emma L.; Rana, Nripendra P.; Weerakkody, Vishanth; Millard, Jeremy; Hidders, Jan; Snijders, D.

2016-01-01

Innovation is vital to find new solutions to problems, increase quality, and improve profitability. Big open linked data (BOLD) is a fledgling and rapidly evolving field that creates new opportunities for innovation. However, none of the existing literature has yet considered the

Music reduces pain and increases resting state fMRI BOLD signal amplitude in the left angular gyrus in fibromyalgia patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eduardo A. Garza-Villarreal

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Music reduces pain in fibromyalgia (FM, a chronic pain disease, but the functional neural correlates of music-induced analgesia are still largely unknown. We recruited FM patients (n = 22 who listened to their preferred relaxing music and an auditory control (pink noise for 5 minutes without external noise from fMRI image acquisition. Resting state fMRI was then acquired before and after the music and control conditions. A significant increase in the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations of the BOLD signal was evident in the left angular gyrus after listening to music, which in turn, correlated to the analgesia reports. The post-hoc seed-based functional connectivity analysis of the left angular gyrus showed found higher connectivity after listening to music with right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the left caudate, and decreased connectivity with right anterior cingulate cortex, right supplementary motor area, precuneus and right precentral gyrus. Pain intensity analgesia was correlated (r = .61 to the connectivity of the left angular gyrus with the right precentral gyrus. Our results show that music-induced analgesia in FM is related to top-down regulation of the pain modulatory network by the default-mode network.

Negative BOLD response and serotonin concentration within rostral subgenual portion of the anterior cingulate cortex for long-allele carriers during perceptual processing of emotional tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Hadi, Shamil M.; Siadat, Mohamad R.; Babajani-Feremi, Abbas

2012-03-01

We investigated the effect of synaptic serotonin concentration on hemodynamic responses. The stimuli paradigm involved the presentation of fearful and threatening facial expressions to a set of 24 subjects who were either5HTTLPR long- or short-allele carriers (12 of each type in each group). The BOLD signals of the rACC from subjects of each group were averaged to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. We used a Bayesian approach to estimate the parameters of the underlying hemodynamic model. Our results, during this perceptual processing of emotional task, showed a negative BOLD signal in the rACC in the subjects with long-alleles. In contrast, the subjects with short-alleles showed positive BOLD signals in the rACC. These results suggest that high synaptic serotonin concentration in the rACC inhibits neuronal activity in a fashion similar to GABA, and a consequent negative BOLD signal ensues.

Longitudinal fluctuations and decorrelation of anisotropic flow

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pang, Long-Gang [Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Ruth-Moufang-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main (Germany); Petersen, Hannah [Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Ruth-Moufang-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main (Germany); Institute for Theoretical Physics, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main (Germany); GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Planckstr. 1, 64291 Darmstadt (Germany); Qin, Guang-You [Key Laboratory of Quark & Lepton Physics (MOE) and Institute of Particle Physics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079 (China); Roy, Victor [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 1, 60438 Frankfurt am Main (Germany); Wang, Xin-Nian [Key Laboratory of Quark & Lepton Physics (MOE) and Institute of Particle Physics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079 (China); Nuclear Science Division MS70R0319, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

2016-12-15

We investigate the decorrelation of 2nd and 3rd order anisotropic flow for charged particles in two different pseudo rapidity (η) windows by varying the pseudo rapidity gap, in an event-by-event (3+1)D ideal hydrodynamic model, with fluctuating initial conditions from A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model. We visualize the parton distribution at initial state for Pb+Pb collisions at LHC and Au+Au collisions at RHIC, and demonstrate the longitudinal fluctuations originating from the asymmetry between forward and backward going participants, the fluctuations of the string length and the fluctuations due to finite number of partons at different beam energies. The decorrelation of anisotropic flow of final hadrons with large η gaps is found to originate from the spatial decorrelation along the longitudinal direction in the AMPT initial conditions through hydrodynamic evolution. The agreement between our results and recent CMS data in most centralities suggests that the string-like mechanism of initial parton production in AMPT model captures the initial longitudinal fluctuation that is responsible for the measured decorrelation of anisotropic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC. Our predictions for Au+Au collisions at the highest RHIC energy show stronger longitudinal decorrelation than at LHC, indicating larger longitudinal fluctuations at lower beam energies.

The effect of renal denervation on kidney oxygenation as determined by BOLD MRI in patients with hypertension

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vink, E.E.; Boer, A.; Blankestijn, P.J. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Nephrology, P.O. Box 85500, GA, Utrecht (Netherlands); Verloop, W.L.; Voskuil, M. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Cardiology, Utrecht (Netherlands); Spiering, W.; Leiner, T. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Vascular Medicine, Utrecht (Netherlands); Vonken, E.; Hoogduin, J.M. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Radiology, Utrecht (Netherlands); Bots, M.L. [University Medical Center Utrecht, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht (Netherlands)

2015-07-15

Renal denervation (RDN) is a promising therapy for resistant hypertension. RDN is assumed to decrease sympathetic activity. Consequently, RDN can potentially increase renal oxygenation. Blood oxygen level-dependent MRI (BOLD-MRI) provides a non-invasive tool to determine renal oxygenation in humans. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of RDN on renal oxygenation as determined by BOLD-MRI. Patients with resistant hypertension or the inability to follow a stable drug regimen due to unacceptable side effects were included. BOLD-MRI was performed before and 12 months after RDN. Twenty-seven patients were imaged on 3 T and 19 on 1.5 T clinical MRI systems. Fifty-four patients were included, 46 patients (23 men, mean age 57 years) completed the study. Mean 24-h BP changed from 163(±20)/98(±14) mmHg to 154(±22)/92(±13) mmHg (p = 0.001 and p < 0.001). eGFR did not change after RDN [77(±18) vs. 79(±20) mL/min/1.73 m{sup 2}; p = 0.13]. RDN did not affect renal oxygenation [1.5 T: cortical R2*: 12.5(±0.9) vs. 12.5(±0.9), p = 0.94; medullary R2*: 19.6(±1.7) vs. 19.3(1.4), p = 0.40; 3 T: cortical R2*: 18.1(±0.8) vs. 17.8(±1.2), p = 0.47; medullary R2*: 27.4(±1.9) vs. 26.7(±1.8), p = 0.19]. The current study shows that RDN does not lead to changes in renal oxygenation 1 year after RDN as determined by BOLD-MRI. (orig.)

Collective fluctuations in networks of noisy components

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masuda, Naoki; Kawamura, Yoji; Kori, Hiroshi

2010-01-01

Collective dynamics result from interactions among noisy dynamical components. Examples include heartbeats, circadian rhythms and various pattern formations. Because of noise in each component, collective dynamics inevitably involve fluctuations, which may crucially affect the functioning of the system. However, the relation between the fluctuations in isolated individual components and those in collective dynamics is not clear. Here, we study a linear dynamical system of networked components subjected to independent Gaussian noise and analytically show that the connectivity of networks determines the intensity of fluctuations in the collective dynamics. Remarkably, in general directed networks including scale-free networks, the fluctuations decrease more slowly with system size than the standard law stated by the central limit theorem. They even remain finite for a large system size when global directionality of the network exists. Moreover, such non-trivial behavior appears even in undirected networks when nonlinear dynamical systems are considered. We demonstrate it with a coupled oscillator system.

Personalities influence spatial responses to environmental fluctuations in wild fish.

Science.gov (United States)

Villegas-Ríos, David; Réale, Denis; Freitas, Carla; Moland, Even; Olsen, Esben M

2018-06-11

1.Although growing evidence supports the idea that animal personality can explain plasticity in response to changes in the social environment, it remains to be tested whether it can explain spatial responses of individuals in the face of natural environmental fluctuations. This is a major challenge in ecology and evolution as spatial dynamics link individual- and population-level processes. 2.In this study we investigated the potential of individual personalities to predict differences in fish behaviour in the wild. Specifically, our goal was to answer if individual differences in plasticity of space use to sea surface temperature could be explained by differences in personality along the reactive-proactive axis. 3.To address this question we first conducted repeated standard laboratory assays (i.e. open-field test, novel object test and mirror-stimulation test) to assess the personality type of 76 wild-caught Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). Next, we released the fish back into the sea and monitored their spatial behaviour over large temporal (16 months) and spatial (a whole fjord) scales, using high-resolution acoustic tracking. 4. We demonstrate that 1) cod personality traits are structured into a proactive-reactive syndrome (proactive fish being more bold, exploratory and aggressive), 2) mean depth use of individuals is mainly driven by sea temperature and 3) personality is a significant predictor of home range changes in the wild, where reactive, but not proactive, individuals reduced their home range as sea temperature increased. 5. These findings expand our understanding of the ecological consequences of animal personality and the mechanisms shaping spatial dynamics of animals in nature. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 The Authors Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

Effects of glyceryl trinitrate and calcitonin-gene-related peptide on BOLD signal and arterial diameter –methodological studies by fMRI and MRA

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asghar, Mohammed Sohail; Ashina, Messoud

2013-01-01

Over the last decades MRI has proved to be very useful in the field of drug development and discovery. Pharmacological MRI (phMRI) explores the interaction between brain physiology, neuronal activity and drugs[1]. The BOLD-signal is an indirect method to investigate brain activity by way...... of measuring task-related hemodynamic changes. Pharmacological substances that induce hemodynamic changes can therefore potentially alter the BOLD-signal that in turn falsely can be interpreted as changes in neuronal activity. It is therefore important to characterize possible effects of a pharmacological...... substance on the BOLD-response per see before that substance can be used in an fMRI experiment. Furthermore MR-angiography is useful in determining the vascular site-of-action of vasoactive substances....

Value of Frequency Domain Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Metrics Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation and Fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation in the Assessment of Brain Tumor-Induced Neurovascular Uncoupling.

Science.gov (United States)

Agarwal, Shruti; Lu, Hanzhang; Pillai, Jay J

2017-08-01

The aim of this study was to explore whether the phenomenon of brain tumor-related neurovascular uncoupling (NVU) in resting-state blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) (rsfMRI) may also affect the resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) frequency domain metrics the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF). Twelve de novo brain tumor patients, who underwent clinical fMRI examinations, including task-based fMRI (tbfMRI) and rsfMRI, were included in this Institutional Review Board-approved study. Each patient displayed decreased/absent tbfMRI activation in the primary ipsilesional (IL) sensorimotor cortex in the absence of a corresponding motor deficit or suboptimal task performance, consistent with NVU. Z-score maps for the motor tasks were obtained from general linear model analysis (reflecting motor activation vs. rest). Seed-based correlation analysis (SCA) maps of sensorimotor network, ALFF, and fALFF were calculated from rsfMRI data. Precentral and postcentral gyri in contralesional (CL) and IL hemispheres were parcellated using an automated anatomical labeling template for each patient. Region of interest (ROI) analysis was performed on four maps: tbfMRI, SCA, ALFF, and fALFF. Voxel values in the CL and IL ROIs of each map were divided by the corresponding global mean of ALFF and fALFF in the cortical brain tissue. Group analysis revealed significantly decreased IL ALFF (p = 0.02) and fALFF (p = 0.03) metrics compared with CL ROIs, consistent with similar findings of significantly decreased IL BOLD signal for tbfMRI (p = 0.0005) and SCA maps (p = 0.0004). The frequency domain metrics ALFF and fALFF may be markers of lesion-induced NVU in rsfMRI similar to previously reported alterations in tbfMRI activation and SCA-derived resting-state functional connectivity maps.

Determination of relative CMRO2 from CBF and BOLD changes: significant increase of oxygen consumption rate during visual stimulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kim, S.G.; Rostrup, Egill; Larsson, H.B.

1999-01-01

signal changes were measured simultaneously using the flow-sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) technique. During hypercapnia established by an end-tidal CO2 increase of 1.46 kPa, CBF in the visual cortex increased by 47.3 +/- 17.3% (mean +/- SD; n = 9), and deltaR2* was -0.478 +/- 0.147 sec......The blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) effect in functional magnetic resonance imaging depends on at least partial uncoupling between cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) changes. By measuring CBF and BOLD simultaneously, the relative change in CMRO2 can...

Non-linear Relationship between BOLD Activation and Amplitude of Beta Oscillations in the Supplementary Motor Area during Rhythmic Finger Tapping and Internal Timing

Science.gov (United States)

Gompf, Florian; Pflug, Anja; Laufs, Helmut; Kell, Christian A.

2017-01-01

Functional imaging studies using BOLD contrasts have consistently reported activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) both during motor and internal timing tasks. Opposing findings, however, have been shown for the modulation of beta oscillations in the SMA. While movement suppresses beta oscillations in the SMA, motor and non-motor tasks that rely on internal timing increase the amplitude of beta oscillations in the SMA. These independent observations suggest that the relationship between beta oscillations and BOLD activation is more complex than previously thought. Here we set out to investigate this rapport by examining beta oscillations in the SMA during movement with varying degrees of internal timing demands. In a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment, 20 healthy right-handed subjects performed an auditory-paced finger-tapping task. Internal timing was operationalized by including conditions with taps on every fourth auditory beat, which necessitates generation of a slow internal rhythm, while tapping to every auditory beat reflected simple auditory-motor synchronization. In the SMA, BOLD activity increased and power in both the low and the high beta band decreased expectedly during each condition compared to baseline. Internal timing was associated with a reduced desynchronization of low beta oscillations compared to conditions without internal timing demands. In parallel with this relative beta power increase, internal timing activated the SMA more strongly in terms of BOLD. This documents a task-dependent non-linear relationship between BOLD and beta-oscillations in the SMA. We discuss different roles of beta synchronization and desynchronization in active processing within the same cortical region. PMID:29249950

Non-linear Relationship between BOLD Activation and Amplitude of Beta Oscillations in the Supplementary Motor Area during Rhythmic Finger Tapping and Internal Timing.

Science.gov (United States)

Gompf, Florian; Pflug, Anja; Laufs, Helmut; Kell, Christian A

2017-01-01

Functional imaging studies using BOLD contrasts have consistently reported activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) both during motor and internal timing tasks. Opposing findings, however, have been shown for the modulation of beta oscillations in the SMA. While movement suppresses beta oscillations in the SMA, motor and non-motor tasks that rely on internal timing increase the amplitude of beta oscillations in the SMA. These independent observations suggest that the relationship between beta oscillations and BOLD activation is more complex than previously thought. Here we set out to investigate this rapport by examining beta oscillations in the SMA during movement with varying degrees of internal timing demands. In a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment, 20 healthy right-handed subjects performed an auditory-paced finger-tapping task. Internal timing was operationalized by including conditions with taps on every fourth auditory beat, which necessitates generation of a slow internal rhythm, while tapping to every auditory beat reflected simple auditory-motor synchronization. In the SMA, BOLD activity increased and power in both the low and the high beta band decreased expectedly during each condition compared to baseline. Internal timing was associated with a reduced desynchronization of low beta oscillations compared to conditions without internal timing demands. In parallel with this relative beta power increase, internal timing activated the SMA more strongly in terms of BOLD. This documents a task-dependent non-linear relationship between BOLD and beta-oscillations in the SMA. We discuss different roles of beta synchronization and desynchronization in active processing within the same cortical region.

Neural Correlates of Facial Mimicry: Simultaneous Measurements of EMG and BOLD Responses during Perception of Dynamic Compared to Static Facial Expressions

Science.gov (United States)

Rymarczyk, Krystyna; Żurawski, Łukasz; Jankowiak-Siuda, Kamila; Szatkowska, Iwona

2018-01-01

Facial mimicry (FM) is an automatic response to imitate the facial expressions of others. However, neural correlates of the phenomenon are as yet not well established. We investigated this issue using simultaneously recorded EMG and BOLD signals during perception of dynamic and static emotional facial expressions of happiness and anger. During display presentations, BOLD signals and zygomaticus major (ZM), corrugator supercilii (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) EMG responses were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals. Subjects reacted spontaneously to happy facial expressions with increased EMG activity in ZM and OO muscles and decreased CS activity, which was interpreted as FM. Facial muscle responses correlated with BOLD activity in regions associated with motor simulation of facial expressions [i.e., inferior frontal gyrus, a classical Mirror Neuron System (MNS)]. Further, we also found correlations for regions associated with emotional processing (i.e., insula, part of the extended MNS). It is concluded that FM involves both motor and emotional brain structures, especially during perception of natural emotional expressions. PMID:29467691

Colloid mobilization and transport during capillary fringe fluctuations.

Science.gov (United States)

Aramrak, Surachet; Flury, Markus; Harsh, James B; Zollars, Richard L

2014-07-01

Capillary fringe fluctuations due to changing water tables lead to displacement of air-water interfaces in soils and sediments. These moving air-water interfaces can mobilize colloids. We visualized colloids interacting with moving air-water interfaces during capillary fringe fluctuations by confocal microscopy. We simulated capillary fringe fluctuations in a glass-bead-filled column. We studied four specific conditions: (1) colloids suspended in the aqueous phase, (2) colloids attached to the glass beads in an initially wet porous medium, (3) colloids attached to the glass beads in an initially dry porous medium, and (4) colloids suspended in the aqueous phase with the presence of a static air bubble. Confocal images confirmed that the capillary fringe fluctuations affect colloid transport behavior. Hydrophilic negatively charged colloids initially suspended in the aqueous phase were deposited at the solid-water interface after a drainage passage, but then were removed by subsequent capillary fringe fluctuations. The colloids that were initially attached to the wet or dry glass bead surface were detached by moving air-water interfaces in the capillary fringe. Hydrophilic negatively charged colloids did not attach to static air-bubbles, but hydrophobic negatively charged and hydrophilic positively charged colloids did. Our results demonstrate that capillary fringe fluctuations are an effective means for colloid mobilization.

Computing moment to moment BOLD activation for real-time neurofeedback

Science.gov (United States)

Hinds, Oliver; Ghosh, Satrajit; Thompson, Todd W.; Yoo, Julie J.; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan; Triantafyllou, Christina; Gabrieli, John D.E.

2013-01-01

Estimating moment to moment changes in blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activation levels from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data has applications for learned regulation of regional activation, brain state monitoring, and brain-machine interfaces. In each of these contexts, accurate estimation of the BOLD signal in as little time as possible is desired. This is a challenging problem due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of fMRI data. Previous methods for real-time fMRI analysis have either sacrificed the ability to compute moment to moment activation changes by averaging several acquisitions into a single activation estimate or have sacrificed accuracy by failing to account for prominent sources of noise in the fMRI signal. Here we present a new method for computing the amount of activation present in a single fMRI acquisition that separates moment to moment changes in the fMRI signal intensity attributable to neural sources from those due to noise, resulting in a feedback signal more reflective of neural activation. This method computes an incremental general linear model fit to the fMRI timeseries, which is used to calculate the expected signal intensity at each new acquisition. The difference between the measured intensity and the expected intensity is scaled by the variance of the estimator in order to transform this residual difference into a statistic. Both synthetic and real data were used to validate this method and compare it to the only other published real-time fMRI method. PMID:20682350

BOLD signal and functional connectivity associated with loving kindness meditation

Science.gov (United States)

Garrison, Kathleen A; Scheinost, Dustin; Constable, R Todd; Brewer, Judson A

2014-01-01

Loving kindness is a form of meditation involving directed well-wishing, typically supported by the silent repetition of phrases such as “may all beings be happy,” to foster a feeling of selfless love. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the neural substrate of loving kindness meditation in experienced meditators and novices. We first assessed group differences in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal during loving kindness meditation. We next used a relatively novel approach, the intrinsic connectivity distribution of functional connectivity, to identify regions that differ in intrinsic connectivity between groups, and then used a data-driven approach to seed-based connectivity analysis to identify which connections differ between groups. Our findings suggest group differences in brain regions involved in self-related processing and mind wandering, emotional processing, inner speech, and memory. Meditators showed overall reduced BOLD signal and intrinsic connectivity during loving kindness as compared to novices, more specifically in the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PCu), a finding that is consistent with our prior work and other recent neuroimaging studies of meditation. Furthermore, meditators showed greater functional connectivity during loving kindness between the PCC/PCu and the left inferior frontal gyrus, whereas novices showed greater functional connectivity during loving kindness between the PCC/PCu and other cortical midline regions of the default mode network, the bilateral posterior insula lobe, and the bilateral parahippocampus/hippocampus. These novel findings suggest that loving kindness meditation involves a present-centered, selfless focus for meditators as compared to novices. PMID:24944863

Olfactory responses to natal stream water in sockeye salmon by BOLD fMRI.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hiroshi Bandoh

Full Text Available Many studies have shown that juvenile salmon imprint olfactory memory of natal stream odors during downstream migration, and adults recall this stream-specific odor information to discriminate their natal stream during upstream migration for spawning. The odor information processing of the natal stream in the salmon brain, however, has not been clarified. We applied blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the odor information processing of the natal stream in the olfactory bulb and telencephalon of lacustrine sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka. The strong responses to the natal stream water were mainly observed in the lateral area of dorsal telencephalon (Dl, which are homologous to the medial pallium (hippocampus in terrestrial vertebrates. Although the concentration of L-serine (1 mM in the control water was 20,000-times higher than that of total amino acid in the natal stream water (47.5 nM, the BOLD signals resulting from the natal stream water were stronger than those by L-serine in the Dl. We concluded that sockeye salmon could process the odor information of the natal stream by integrating information in the Dl area of the telencephalon.

Increased BOLD activation to predator stressor in subiculum and midbrain of amphetamine-sensitized maternal rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Febo, Marcelo; Pira, Ashley S

2011-03-25

Amphetamine, which is known to cause sensitization, potentiates the hormonal and neurobiological signatures of stress and may also increase sensitivity to stress-inducing stimuli in limbic areas. Trimethylthiazoline (5μL TMT) is a chemical constituent of fox feces that evokes innate fear and activates the neuronal and hormonal signatures of stress in rats. We used blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) MRI to test whether amphetamine sensitization (1mg/kg, i.p. ×3days) in female rats has a lasting effect on the neural response to a stress-evoking stimulus, the scent of a predator, during the postpartum period. The subiculum and dopamine-enriched midbrain VTA/SN of amphetamine-sensitized but not control mothers showed a greater BOLD signal response to predator odor than a control putrid scent. The greater responsiveness of these two brain regions following stimulant sensitization might impact neural processing in response to stressors in the maternal brain. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Audiovisual synchrony enhances BOLD responses in a brain network including multisensory STS while also enhancing target-detection performance for both modalities

Science.gov (United States)

Marchant, Jennifer L; Ruff, Christian C; Driver, Jon

2012-01-01

The brain seeks to combine related inputs from different senses (e.g., hearing and vision), via multisensory integration. Temporal information can indicate whether stimuli in different senses are related or not. A recent human fMRI study (Noesselt et al. [2007]: J Neurosci 27:11431–11441) used auditory and visual trains of beeps and flashes with erratic timing, manipulating whether auditory and visual trains were synchronous or unrelated in temporal pattern. A region of superior temporal sulcus (STS) showed higher BOLD signal for the synchronous condition. But this could not be related to performance, and it remained unclear if the erratic, unpredictable nature of the stimulus trains was important. Here we compared synchronous audiovisual trains to asynchronous trains, while using a behavioral task requiring detection of higher-intensity target events in either modality. We further varied whether the stimulus trains had predictable temporal pattern or not. Synchrony (versus lag) between auditory and visual trains enhanced behavioral sensitivity (d') to intensity targets in either modality, regardless of predictable versus unpredictable patterning. The analogous contrast in fMRI revealed BOLD increases in several brain areas, including the left STS region reported by Noesselt et al. [2007: J Neurosci 27:11431–11441]. The synchrony effect on BOLD here correlated with the subject-by-subject impact on performance. Predictability of temporal pattern did not affect target detection performance or STS activity, but did lead to an interaction with audiovisual synchrony for BOLD in inferior parietal cortex. PMID:21953980

Fluctuations and Photons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gupta, Sourendu

2007-01-01

In this talk I discuss measures of fluctuations, especially those leading to the proof that the quark gluon plasma indeed contains quarks. I discuss the quark mass dependence of the critical end point of QCD. Then I discuss probes of the QCD critical point. Non-gaussian behaviour of event-to-event fluctuations of conserved quantum numbers is one such probe. Another is due to the coupling of fluctuations in baryon number and electrical charge, giving rise to long range random fluctuations of local charge density which relax slowly. These fluctuations can scatter photons, giving rise to critical opalescence

Fluctuations and Photons

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Sourendu

2007-02-01

In this talk I discuss measures of fluctuations, especially those leading to the proof that the quark gluon plasma indeed contains quarks. I discuss the quark mass dependence of the critical end point of QCD. Then I discuss probes of the QCD critical point. Non-gaussian behaviour of event-to-event fluctuations of conserved quantum numbers is one such probe. Another is due to the coupling of fluctuations in baryon number and electrical charge, giving rise to long range random fluctuations of local charge density which relax slowly. These fluctuations can scatter photons, giving rise to critical opalescence.

Fluctuations and Photons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gupta, Sourendu [Department of Theoretical Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai 400005 (India)

2007-02-15

In this talk I discuss measures of fluctuations, especially those leading to the proof that the quark gluon plasma indeed contains quarks. I discuss the quark mass dependence of the critical end point of QCD. Then I discuss probes of the QCD critical point. Non-gaussian behaviour of event-to-event fluctuations of conserved quantum numbers is one such probe. Another is due to the coupling of fluctuations in baryon number and electrical charge, giving rise to long range random fluctuations of local charge density which relax slowly. These fluctuations can scatter photons, giving rise to critical opalescence.

Charge Fluctuations in Nanoscale Capacitors

Science.gov (United States)

Limmer, David T.; Merlet, Céline; Salanne, Mathieu; Chandler, David; Madden, Paul A.; van Roij, René; Rotenberg, Benjamin

2013-09-01

The fluctuations of the charge on an electrode contain information on the microscopic correlations within the adjacent fluid and their effect on the electronic properties of the interface. We investigate these fluctuations using molecular dynamics simulations in a constant-potential ensemble with histogram reweighting techniques. This approach offers, in particular, an efficient, accurate, and physically insightful route to the differential capacitance that is broadly applicable. We demonstrate these methods with three different capacitors: pure water between platinum electrodes and a pure as well as a solvent-based organic electrolyte each between graphite electrodes. The total charge distributions with the pure solvent and solvent-based electrolytes are remarkably Gaussian, while in the pure ionic liquid the total charge distribution displays distinct non-Gaussian features, suggesting significant potential-driven changes in the organization of the interfacial fluid.

Charge fluctuations in nanoscale capacitors.

Science.gov (United States)

Limmer, David T; Merlet, Céline; Salanne, Mathieu; Chandler, David; Madden, Paul A; van Roij, René; Rotenberg, Benjamin

2013-09-06

The fluctuations of the charge on an electrode contain information on the microscopic correlations within the adjacent fluid and their effect on the electronic properties of the interface. We investigate these fluctuations using molecular dynamics simulations in a constant-potential ensemble with histogram reweighting techniques. This approach offers, in particular, an efficient, accurate, and physically insightful route to the differential capacitance that is broadly applicable. We demonstrate these methods with three different capacitors: pure water between platinum electrodes and a pure as well as a solvent-based organic electrolyte each between graphite electrodes. The total charge distributions with the pure solvent and solvent-based electrolytes are remarkably Gaussian, while in the pure ionic liquid the total charge distribution displays distinct non-Gaussian features, suggesting significant potential-driven changes in the organization of the interfacial fluid.

Using CO5BOLD models to predict the effects of granulation on colours .

Science.gov (United States)

Bonifacio, P.; Caffau, E.; Ludwig, H.-G.; Steffen, M.; Castelli, F.; Gallagher, A. J.; Prakapavičius, D.; Kučinskas, A.; Cayrel, R.; Freytag, B.; Plez, B.; Homeier, D.

In order to investigate the effects of granulation on fluxes and colours, we computed the emerging fluxes from the models in the CO5BOLD grid with metallicities [M/H]=0.0,-1.0,-2.0 and -3.0. These fluxes have been used to compute colours in different photometric systems. We explain here how our computations have been performed and provide some results.

Fluctuation relations with intermittent non-Gaussian variables.

Science.gov (United States)

Budini, Adrián A

2011-12-01

Nonequilibrium stationary fluctuations may exhibit a special symmetry called fluctuation relations (FRs). Here, we show that this property is always satisfied by the subtraction of two random and independent variables related by a thermodynamiclike change of measure. Taking one of them as a modulated Poisson process, it is demonstrated that intermittence and FRs are compatible properties that may coexist naturally. Strong non-Gaussian features characterize the probability distribution and its generating function. Their associated large deviation functions develop a "kink" at the origin and a plateau regime respectively. Application of this model in different stationary nonequilibrium situations is discussed.

Mesoscale wind fluctuations over Danish waters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vincent, C.L.

2010-12-15

mesoscale fluctuations in a mesoscale model is then examined using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. A set of case studies demonstrate that realistic hour-scale wind fluctuations and open cellular convection patterns develop in WRF simulations with 2 km horizontal grid spacing. The atmospheric conditions during one of the case studies are then used to initialise a simplified version of the model that has no large scale weather forcing, topography or surface inhomogeneties. Using the simplified model, the sensitivity of the modelled open cellular convection to choices in model setup and to aspects of the environmental forcing are tested. Finally, the cell-scale kinetic energy budget of the modelled cells is calculated, and it is shown that the buoyancy and pressure balance terms are important for cell maintenance. It is explained that the representation of mesoscale convection in a mesoscale model is not only important to end users such as wind farm operators, but to the treatment of energy transport within the boundary layer. (Author)

The Thick Market Effect on Local Unemployment Rate Fluctuations

OpenAIRE

Li Gan; Qinghua Zhang

2005-01-01

This paper studies how the thick market effect influences local unemployment rate fluctuations. The paper presents a model to demonstrate that the average matching quality improves as the number of workers and firms increases. Unemployed workers accumulate in a city until the local labor market reaches a critical minimum size, which leads to cyclical fluctuations in the local unemployment rates. Since larger cities attain the critical market size more frequently, they have shorter unemploymen...

Sustained negative BOLD response in human fMRI finger tapping task.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yadong; Shen, Hui; Zhou, Zongtan; Hu, Dewen

2011-01-01

In this work, we investigated the sustained negative blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response (sNBR) using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a finger tapping task. We observed that the sNBR for this task was more extensive than has previously been reported. The cortical regions involved in sNBR are divided into the following three groups: frontal, somatosensory and occipital. By investigating the spatial structure, area, amplitude, and dynamics of the sNBR in comparison with those of its positive BOLD response (PBR) counterpart, we made the following observations. First, among the three groups, the somatosensory group contained the greatest number of activated voxels and the fewest deactivated voxels. In addition, the amplitude of the sNBR in this group was the smallest among the three groups. Second, the onset and peak time of the sNBR are both larger than those of the PBR, whereas the falling edge time of the sNBR is less than that of the PBR. Third, the long distance between most sNBR foci and their corresponding PBR foci makes it unlikely that they share the same blood supply artery. Fourth, the couplings between the sNBR and its PBR counterpart are distinct among different regions and thus should be investigated separately. These findings imply that the origin of most sNBR foci in the finger-tapping task is much more likely to be neuronal activity suppression rather than "blood steal."

Sustained negative BOLD response in human fMRI finger tapping task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yadong Liu

Full Text Available In this work, we investigated the sustained negative blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD response (sNBR using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a finger tapping task. We observed that the sNBR for this task was more extensive than has previously been reported. The cortical regions involved in sNBR are divided into the following three groups: frontal, somatosensory and occipital. By investigating the spatial structure, area, amplitude, and dynamics of the sNBR in comparison with those of its positive BOLD response (PBR counterpart, we made the following observations. First, among the three groups, the somatosensory group contained the greatest number of activated voxels and the fewest deactivated voxels. In addition, the amplitude of the sNBR in this group was the smallest among the three groups. Second, the onset and peak time of the sNBR are both larger than those of the PBR, whereas the falling edge time of the sNBR is less than that of the PBR. Third, the long distance between most sNBR foci and their corresponding PBR foci makes it unlikely that they share the same blood supply artery. Fourth, the couplings between the sNBR and its PBR counterpart are distinct among different regions and thus should be investigated separately. These findings imply that the origin of most sNBR foci in the finger-tapping task is much more likely to be neuronal activity suppression rather than "blood steal."

Exploring BOLD changes during spatial attention in non-stimulated visual cortex.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Linda Heinemann

Full Text Available Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD responses were measured in parts of primary visual cortex that represented unstimulated visual field regions at different distances from a stimulated central target location. The composition of the visual scene varied by the presence or absence of additional peripheral distracter stimuli. Bottom-up effects were assessed by comparing peripheral activity during central stimulation vs. no stimulation. Top-down effects were assessed by comparing active vs. passive conditions. In passive conditions subjects simply watched the central letter stimuli and in active conditions they had to report occurrence of pre-defined targets in a rapid serial letter stream. Onset of the central letter stream enhanced activity in V1 representations of the stimulated region. Within representations of the periphery activation decreased and finally turned into deactivation with increasing distance from the stimulated location. This pattern was most pronounced in the active conditions and during the presence of peripheral stimuli. Active search for a target did not lead to additional enhancement at areas representing the attentional focus but to a stronger deactivation in the vicinity. Suppressed neuronal activity was also found in the non distracter condition suggesting a top-down attention driven effect. Our observations suggest that BOLD signal decreases in primary visual cortex are modulated by bottom-up sensory-driven factors such as the presence of distracters in the visual field as well as by top-down attentional processes.

Magnetic fluctuations associated with density fluctuations in the tokamak edge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Y.J.; Gentle, K.W.; Ritz, C.P.; Rhodes, T.L.; Bengtson, R.D.

1989-01-01

Electrostatic density and potential fluctuations occurring with high amplitude near the edge of a tokamak are correlated with components of the fluctuating magnetic field measured outside the limiter radius. It has been established that this turbulence is associated with fluctuations in current as well as density and potential. The correlation extends for substantial toroidal distances, but only if the probes are displaced approximately along field lines, consistent with the short coherence lengths poloidally but long coherence lengths parallel to the field which are characteristic for this turbulence. Furthermore, the correlation can be found only with density fluctuations measured inside the limiter radius; density fluctuations behind the limiter have no detectable magnetic concomitant for the toroidally spaced probes used here. (author). Letter-to-the-editor. 12 refs, 3 figs

High-frequency fluctuations of surface temperatures in an urban environment

Science.gov (United States)

Christen, Andreas; Meier, Fred; Scherer, Dieter

2012-04-01

This study presents an attempt to resolve fluctuations in surface temperatures at scales of a few seconds to several minutes using time-sequential thermography (TST) from a ground-based platform. A scheme is presented to decompose a TST dataset into fluctuating, high-frequency, and long-term mean parts. To demonstrate the scheme's application, a set of four TST runs (day/night, leaves-on/leaves-off) recorded from a 125-m-high platform above a complex urban environment in Berlin, Germany is used. Fluctuations in surface temperatures of different urban facets are measured and related to surface properties (material and form) and possible error sources. A number of relationships were found: (1) Surfaces with surface temperatures that were significantly different from air temperature experienced the highest fluctuations. (2) With increasing surface temperature above (below) air temperature, surface temperature fluctuations experienced a stronger negative (positive) skewness. (3) Surface materials with lower thermal admittance (lawns, leaves) showed higher fluctuations than surfaces with high thermal admittance (walls, roads). (4) Surface temperatures of emerged leaves fluctuate more compared to trees in a leaves-off situation. (5) In many cases, observed fluctuations were coherent across several neighboring pixels. The evidence from (1) to (5) suggests that atmospheric turbulence is a significant contributor to fluctuations. The study underlines the potential of using high-frequency thermal remote sensing in energy balance and turbulence studies at complex land-atmosphere interfaces.

Analysis of Meniscus Fluctuation in a Continuous Casting Slab Mold

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Kaitian; Liu, Jianhua; Cui, Heng; Xiao, Chao

2018-03-01

A water model of slab mold was established to analyze the microscopic and macroscopic fluctuation of meniscus. The fast Fourier transform and wavelet entropy were adopted to analyze the wave amplitude, frequency, and components of fluctuation. The flow patterns under the meniscus were measured by using particle image velocimetry measurement and then the mechanisms of meniscus fluctuation were discussed. The results reflected that wavelet entropy had multi-scale and statistical properties, and it was suitable for the study of meniscus fluctuation details both in time and frequency domain. The basic wave, frequency of which exceeding 1 Hz in the condition of no mold oscillation, was demonstrated in this work. In fact, three basic waves were found: long-wave with low frequency, middle-wave with middle frequency, and short-wave with high frequency. In addition, the upper roll flow in mold had significant effect on meniscus fluctuation. When the position of flow impinged was far from the meniscus, long-wave dominated the fluctuation and the stability of meniscus was enhanced. However, when the velocity of flow was increased, the short-wave dominated the meniscus fluctuation and the meniscus stability was decreased.

Transient fluctuation relations for time-dependent particle transport

Science.gov (United States)

Altland, Alexander; de Martino, Alessandro; Egger, Reinhold; Narozhny, Boris

2010-09-01

We consider particle transport under the influence of time-varying driving forces, where fluctuation relations connect the statistics of pairs of time-reversed evolutions of physical observables. In many “mesoscopic” transport processes, the effective many-particle dynamics is dominantly classical while the microscopic rates governing particle motion are of quantum-mechanical origin. We here employ the stochastic path-integral approach as an optimal tool to probe the fluctuation statistics in such applications. Describing the classical limit of the Keldysh quantum nonequilibrium field theory, the stochastic path integral encapsulates the quantum origin of microscopic particle exchange rates. Dynamically, it is equivalent to a transport master equation which is a formalism general enough to describe many applications of practical interest. We apply the stochastic path integral to derive general functional fluctuation relations for current flow induced by time-varying forces. We show that the successive measurement processes implied by this setup do not put the derivation of quantum fluctuation relations in jeopardy. While in many cases the fluctuation relation for a full time-dependent current profile may contain excessive information, we formulate a number of reduced relations, and demonstrate their application to mesoscopic transport. Examples include the distribution of transmitted charge, where we show that the derivation of a fluctuation relation requires the combined monitoring of the statistics of charge and work.

BOLD VENTURE COMPUTATION SYSTEM for nuclear reactor core analysis, Version III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vondy, D.R.; Fowler, T.B.; Cunningham, G.W. III.

1981-06-01

This report is a condensed documentation for VERSION III of the BOLD VENTURE COMPUTATION SYSTEM for nuclear reactor core analysis. An experienced analyst should be able to use this system routinely for solving problems by referring to this document. Individual reports must be referenced for details. This report covers basic input instructions and describes recent extensions to the modules as well as to the interface data file specifications. Some application considerations are discussed and an elaborate sample problem is used as an instruction aid. Instructions for creating the system on IBM computers are also given

BOLD VENTURE COMPUTATION SYSTEM for nuclear reactor core analysis, Version III

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vondy, D.R.; Fowler, T.B.; Cunningham, G.W. III.

1981-06-01

This report is a condensed documentation for VERSION III of the BOLD VENTURE COMPUTATION SYSTEM for nuclear reactor core analysis. An experienced analyst should be able to use this system routinely for solving problems by referring to this document. Individual reports must be referenced for details. This report covers basic input instructions and describes recent extensions to the modules as well as to the interface data file specifications. Some application considerations are discussed and an elaborate sample problem is used as an instruction aid. Instructions for creating the system on IBM computers are also given.

Quantum fluctuations from thermal fluctuations in Jacobson formalism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faizal, Mir [University of British Columbia-Okanagan, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Kelowna, BC (Canada); University of Lethbridge, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lethbridge, AB (Canada); Ashour, Amani; Alcheikh, Mohammad [Damascus University, Mathematics Department, Faculty of Science, Damascus (Syrian Arab Republic); Alasfar, Lina [Universite Clermont Auvergne, Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire de Clermont-Ferrand, Aubiere (France); Alsaleh, Salwa; Mahroussah, Ahmed [King Saud University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)

2017-09-15

In the Jacobson formalism general relativity is obtained from thermodynamics. This is done by using the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy-area relation. However, as a black hole gets smaller, its temperature will increase. This will cause the thermal fluctuations to also increase, and these will in turn correct the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy-area relation. Furthermore, with the reduction in the size of the black hole, quantum effects will also start to dominate. Just as the general relativity can be obtained from thermodynamics in the Jacobson formalism, we propose that the quantum fluctuations to the geometry can be obtained from thermal fluctuations. (orig.)

Comparison of fMRI BOLD response patterns by electrical stimulation of the ventroposterior complex and medial thalamus of the rat.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pai-Feng Yang

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to compare the functional connectivity of the lateral and medial thalamocortical pain pathways by investigating the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD activation patterns in the forebrain elicited by direct electrical stimulation of the ventroposterior (VP and medial (MT thalamus. An MRI-compatible stimulation electrode was implanted in the VP or MT of α-chloralose-anesthetized rats. Electrical stimulation was applied to the VP or MT at various intensities (50 µA to 300 µA and frequencies (1 Hz to 12 Hz. BOLD responses were analyzed in the ipsilateral forelimb region of the primary somatosensory cortex (iS1FL after VP stimulation and in the ipsilateral cingulate cortex (iCC after MT stimulation. When stimulating the VP, the strongest activation occurred at 3 Hz. The stimulation intensity threshold was 50 µA and the response rapidly peaked at 100 µA. When stimulating the MT, The optimal frequency for stimulation was 9 Hz or 12 Hz, the stimulation intensity threshold was 100 µA and we observed a graded increase in the BOLD response following the application of higher intensity stimuli. We also evaluated c-Fos expression following the application of a 200-µA stimulus. Ventroposterior thalamic stimulation elicited c-Fos-positivity in few cells in the iS1FL and caudate putamen (iCPu. Medial thalamic stimulation, however, produced numerous c-Fos-positive cells in the iCC and iCPu. The differential BOLD responses and c-Fos expressions elicited by VP and MT stimulation indicate differences in stimulus-response properties of the medial and lateral thalamic pain pathways.

Personality and the collective: bold homing pigeons occupy higher leadership ranks in flocks.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasaki, Takao; Mann, Richard P; Warren, Katherine N; Herbert, Tristian; Wilson, Tara; Biro, Dora

2018-05-19

While collective movement is ecologically widespread and conveys numerous benefits on individuals, it also poses a coordination problem: who controls the group's movements? The role that animal 'personalities' play in this question has recently become a focus of research interest. Although many animal groups have distributed leadership (i.e. multiple individuals influence collective decisions), studies linking personality and leadership have focused predominantly on the group's single most influential individual. In this study, we investigate the relationship between personality and the influence of multiple leaders on collective movement using homing pigeons, Columba livia , a species known to display complex multilevel leadership hierarchies during flock flights. Our results show that more exploratory (i.e. 'bold') birds are more likely to occupy higher ranks in the leadership hierarchy and thus have more influence on the direction of collective movement than less exploratory (i.e. 'shy') birds during both free flights around their lofts and homing flights from a distant site. Our data also show that bold pigeons fly faster than shy birds during solo flights. We discuss our results in light of theories about the evolution of personality, with specific reference to the adaptive value of heterogeneity in animal groups.This article is part of the theme issue 'Collective movement ecology'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Background MR gradient noise and non-auditory BOLD activations: a data-driven perspective.

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Haller, Sven; Homola, György A; Scheffler, Klaus; Beckmann, Christian F; Bartsch, Andreas J

2009-07-28

The effect of echoplanar imaging (EPI) acoustic background noise on blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activations was investigated. Two EPI pulse sequences were compared: (i) conventional EPI with a pulsating sound component of typically 8-10 Hz, which is a potent physiological stimulus, and (ii) the more recently developed continuous-sound EPI, which is perceived as less distractive despite equivalent peak sound pressure levels. Sixteen healthy subjects performed an established demanding visual n-back working memory task. Using an exploratory data analysis technique (tensorial probabilistic independent component analysis; tensor-PICA), we studied the inter-session/within-subject response variability introduced by continuous-sound versus conventional EPI acoustic background noise in addition to temporal and spatial signal characteristics. The analysis revealed a task-related component associated with the established higher-level working memory and motor feedback response network, which exhibited a significant 19% increase in its average effect size for the continuous-sound as opposed to conventional EPI. Stimulus-related lower-level activations, such as primary visual areas, were not modified. EPI acoustic background noise influences much more than the auditory system per se. This analysis provides additional evidence for an enhancement of task-related, extra-auditory BOLD activations by continuous-sound EPI due to less distractive acoustic background gradient noise.

Early Changes in Alpha Band Power and DMN BOLD Activity in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Simultaneous Resting State EEG-fMRI Study

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Katharina Brueggen

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Simultaneous resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI–resting state electroencephalography (rsEEG studies in healthy adults showed robust positive associations of signal power in the alpha band with BOLD signal in the thalamus, and more heterogeneous associations in cortical default mode network (DMN regions. Negative associations were found in occipital regions. In Alzheimer’s disease (AD, rsfMRI studies revealed a disruption of the DMN, while rsEEG studies consistently reported a reduced power within the alpha band. The present study is the first to employ simultaneous rsfMRI-rsEEG in an AD sample, investigating the association of alpha band power and BOLD signal, compared to healthy controls (HC. We hypothesized to find reduced positive associations in DMN regions and reduced negative associations in occipital regions in the AD group. Simultaneous resting state fMRI–EEG was recorded in 14 patients with mild AD and 14 HC, matched for age and gender. Power within the EEG alpha band (8–12 Hz, 8–10 Hz, and 10–12 Hz was computed from occipital electrodes and served as regressor in voxel-wise linear regression analyses, to assess the association with the BOLD signal. Compared to HC, the AD group showed significantly decreased positive associations between BOLD signal and occipital alpha band power in clusters in the superior, middle and inferior frontal cortex, inferior temporal lobe and thalamus (p < 0.01, uncorr., cluster size ≥ 50 voxels. This group effect was more pronounced in the upper alpha sub-band, compared to the lower alpha sub-band. Notably, we observed a high inter-individual heterogeneity. Negative associations were only reduced in the lower alpha range in the hippocampus, putamen and cerebellum. The present study gives first insights into the relationship of resting-state EEG and fMRI characteristics in an AD sample. The results suggest that positive associations between alpha band power and BOLD

Cholinergic enhancement reduces functional connectivity and BOLD variability in visual extrastriate cortex during selective attention.

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Ricciardi, Emiliano; Handjaras, Giacomo; Bernardi, Giulio; Pietrini, Pietro; Furey, Maura L

2013-01-01

Enhancing cholinergic function improves performance on various cognitive tasks and alters neural responses in task specific brain regions. We have hypothesized that the changes in neural activity observed during increased cholinergic function reflect an increase in neural efficiency that leads to improved task performance. The current study tested this hypothesis by assessing neural efficiency based on cholinergically-mediated effects on regional brain connectivity and BOLD signal variability. Nine subjects participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover fMRI study. Following an infusion of physostigmine (1 mg/h) or placebo, echo-planar imaging (EPI) was conducted as participants performed a selective attention task. During the task, two images comprised of superimposed pictures of faces and houses were presented. Subjects were instructed periodically to shift their attention from one stimulus component to the other and to perform a matching task using hand held response buttons. A control condition included phase-scrambled images of superimposed faces and houses that were presented in the same temporal and spatial manner as the attention task; participants were instructed to perform a matching task. Cholinergic enhancement improved performance during the selective attention task, with no change during the control task. Functional connectivity analyses showed that the strength of connectivity between ventral visual processing areas and task-related occipital, parietal and prefrontal regions reduced significantly during cholinergic enhancement, exclusively during the selective attention task. Physostigmine administration also reduced BOLD signal temporal variability relative to placebo throughout temporal and occipital visual processing areas, again during the selective attention task only. Together with the observed behavioral improvement, the decreases in connectivity strength throughout task-relevant regions and BOLD variability within stimulus

Scattering and Gaussian Fluctuation Theory for Semiflexible Polymers

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Xiangyu Bu

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The worm-like chain is one of the best theoretical models of the semiflexible polymer. The structure factor, which can be obtained by scattering experiment, characterizes the density correlation in different length scales. In the present review, the numerical method to compute the static structure factor of the worm-like chain model and its general properties are demonstrated. Especially, the chain length and persistence length involved multi-scale nature of the worm-like chain model are well discussed. Using the numerical structure factor, Gaussian fluctuation theory of the worm-like chain model can be developed, which is a powerful tool to analyze the structure stability and to predict the spinodal line of the system. The microphase separation of the worm-like diblock copolymer is considered as an example to demonstrate the usage of Gaussian fluctuation theory.

The Relationship Between Dopamine Neurotransmitter Dynamics and the Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD Signal: A Review of Pharmacological Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Tyler J. Bruinsma

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI is widely used in investigations of normal cognition and brain disease and in various clinical applications. Pharmacological fMRI (pharma-fMRI is a relatively new application, which is being used to elucidate the effects and mechanisms of pharmacological modulation of brain activity. Characterizing the effects of neuropharmacological agents on regional brain activity using fMRI is challenging because drugs modulate neuronal function in a wide variety of ways, including through receptor agonist, antagonist, and neurotransmitter reuptake blocker events. Here we review current knowledge on neurotransmitter-mediated blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD fMRI mechanisms as well as recently updated methodologies aimed at more fully describing the effects of neuropharmacologic agents on the BOLD signal. We limit our discussion to dopaminergic signaling as a useful lens through which to analyze and interpret neurochemical-mediated changes in the hemodynamic BOLD response. We also discuss the need for future studies that use multi-modal approaches to expand the understanding and application of pharma-fMRI.

Resting-state functional MR changes in Alzheimer's disease patients visualized by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and fraction of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long Miaomiao; Ni Hongyan; Feng Jie; Zhang Hongtao; Liu Tie; Shen Wen; Qi Ji

2013-01-01

Objective: To investigate the difference of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and fraction of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) between Alzheimer's disease (AD)patients and normal aging (NA) controls by voxel-based analysis. Methods: Thirty-one AD patients and 44 NA controls were enrolled in the study. Blood oxygen level dependent functional (BOLD) EPI data were obtained during resting-state by using 32-channel head coil. Data were realigned, normalized and then smoothed with 8 mm FWHM kernel. Resting-state fMRI toolkit (version 1.6) was used to generate ALFF and fALFF images. Independent two sample t-test was performed with SPM5 to compare ALFF and fALFF of AD and NA controls. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between MMSE score and ALFF, fALFF parameters. The significance level was set to be uncorrected O.001 on the voxel level and 0.05 on the cluster level. Results: AD patients showed increased ALFF in left temporal lobe (0.492 ± 0.119) and right cingulated cortex (0.434 ± 0.093) of AD patients, which were 0.443 ± 0.068 and 0.380 ± 0.081 in NA controls (t = 2.658, 2.227, P < 0.05). Decreased fALFF was found in bilateral posterior cingulate cortices (1.167 ± 0.203) and increased fALFF was found in bilateral temporal lobes (left 1.226 ± 0.127, right 1.146 ± 0.214) with left side dominance, which were 1.453 ± 0.269, 1.134 ± 0.088, 1.014 ± O.132 in NA controls (t =5.001, 3.695, 3.285, P < 0.05). Bilateral temporal ALFF and fALFF correlated with MMSE positively (r = 0.768-0.909, P < 0.05) with left dominance. Conclusion: AD patients showed increased resting-state functional MRI changes correlated with MMSE score in the temporal lobes with left dominance, which indicated left temporal lobe may be the best location for the observation of disease progression in AD patients. (authors)

Local activity determines functional connectivity in the resting human brain: a simultaneous FDG-PET/fMRI study.

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Riedl, Valentin; Bienkowska, Katarzyna; Strobel, Carola; Tahmasian, Masoud; Grimmer, Timo; Förster, Stefan; Friston, Karl J; Sorg, Christian; Drzezga, Alexander

2014-04-30

Over the last decade, synchronized resting-state fluctuations of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals between remote brain areas [so-called BOLD resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC)] have gained enormous relevance in systems and clinical neuroscience. However, the neural underpinnings of rs-FC are still incompletely understood. Using simultaneous positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging we here directly investigated the relationship between rs-FC and local neuronal activity in humans. Computational models suggest a mechanistic link between the dynamics of local neuronal activity and the functional coupling among distributed brain regions. Therefore, we hypothesized that the local activity (LA) of a region at rest determines its rs-FC. To test this hypothesis, we simultaneously measured both LA (glucose metabolism) and rs-FC (via synchronized BOLD fluctuations) during conditions of eyes closed or eyes open. During eyes open, LA increased in the visual system, and the salience network (i.e., cingulate and insular cortices) and the pattern of elevated LA coincided almost exactly with the spatial pattern of increased rs-FC. Specifically, the voxelwise regional profile of LA in these areas strongly correlated with the regional pattern of rs-FC among the same regions (e.g., LA in primary visual cortex accounts for ∼ 50%, and LA in anterior cingulate accounts for ∼ 20% of rs-FC with the visual system). These data provide the first direct evidence in humans that local neuronal activity determines BOLD FC at rest. Beyond its relevance for the neuronal basis of coherent BOLD signal fluctuations, our procedure may translate into clinical research particularly to investigate potentially aberrant links between local dynamics and remote functional coupling in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders.

Detecting quantum critical points using bipartite fluctuations.

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Rachel, Stephan; Laflorencie, Nicolas; Song, H Francis; Le Hur, Karyn

2012-03-16

We show that the concept of bipartite fluctuations F provides a very efficient tool to detect quantum phase transitions in strongly correlated systems. Using state-of-the-art numerical techniques complemented with analytical arguments, we investigate paradigmatic examples for both quantum spins and bosons. As compared to the von Neumann entanglement entropy, we observe that F allows us to find quantum critical points with much better accuracy in one dimension. We further demonstrate that F can be successfully applied to the detection of quantum criticality in higher dimensions with no prior knowledge of the universality class of the transition. Promising approaches to experimentally access fluctuations are discussed for quantum antiferromagnets and cold gases.

Statistical fluctuations in reactors (1960); Fluctuations statistiques dans les piles (1960)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raievski, V [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France).Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1960-07-01

The theory of space dependent fluctuations is developed, taking into account the effect of delayed neutrons. The 'diffusion equation' or Fokker-Planck equation is worked out in the case of age and two group theory, but the first one because of in physical significance is used in this report. The theory is applied to the study of the spectral density of fluctuations and fluctuations of counting rate and current flowing through the charge resistor of an ionisation chamber, the effect of the entrance capacity is discussed. The space dependent theory shows that the fluctuations in the core and reflector of a near critical pile obey to the same law. The spectral densities in the core and reflector are similar, there is no sensible attenuation of high frequency fluctuations in the reflector. Compared to the space independent theory, this theory give better agreement with experience, one can use the simple space independent theory but in checking with experiment it is necessary to introduce numerical factors given by the space dependent theory. (author) [French] La theorie des fluctuations statistiques est developpee dans le cas spatial en tenant compte des neutrons retardes, et dans le cadre de la theorie de l'age vitesse. L'equation d'evolution de la probabilite est egalement etablie dans le cadre de la theorie a deux groupes. Ces considerations sont appliquees a l'etude de la densite spectrale des fluctuations et aux fluctuations des taux de comptage et du courant circulant dans la resistance de charge du detecteur. On etudie en particulier l'effet de la constante de temps introduite par la capacite d'entree. Cette theorie etablit que les fluctuations dans le coeur et le reflecteur suivent la meme loi pour une pile critique, il en est de meme pour la densite spectrale meme a frequence elevee. Par rapport a la theorie d'ensemble, la theorie spatiale donne des coefficients numeriques ou facteurs de forme, qui permettent d'obtenir un bon accord entre la theorie et l

Thermodynamic fluctuations within the Gibbs and Einstein approaches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudoi, Yurii G; Sukhanov, Alexander D

2000-01-01

A comparative analysis of the descriptions of fluctuations in statistical mechanics (the Gibbs approach) and in statistical thermodynamics (the Einstein approach) is given. On this basis solutions are obtained for the Gibbs and Einstein problems that arise in pressure fluctuation calculations for a spatially limited equilibrium (or slightly nonequilibrium) macroscopic system. A modern formulation of the Gibbs approach which allows one to calculate equilibrium pressure fluctuations without making any additional assumptions is presented; to this end the generalized Bogolyubov - Zubarev and Hellmann - Feynman theorems are proved for the classical and quantum descriptions of a macrosystem. A statistical version of the Einstein approach is developed which shows a fundamental difference in pressure fluctuation results obtained within the context of two approaches. Both the 'genetic' relation between the Gibbs and Einstein approaches and the conceptual distinction between their physical grounds are demonstrated. To illustrate the results, which are valid for any thermodynamic system, an ideal nondegenerate gas of microparticles is considered, both classically and quantum mechanically. Based on the results obtained, the correspondence between the micro- and macroscopic descriptions is considered and the prospects of statistical thermodynamics are discussed. (reviews of topical problems)

Association Between Brain Activation and Functional Connectivity.

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Tomasi, Dardo; Volkow, Nora D

2018-04-13

The origin of the "resting-state" brain activity recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is still uncertain. Here we provide evidence for the neurovascular origins of the amplitude of the low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and the local functional connectivity density (lFCD) by comparing them with task-induced blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses, which are considered a proxy for neuronal activation. Using fMRI data for 2 different tasks (Relational and Social) collected by the Human Connectome Project in 426 healthy adults, we show that ALFF and lFCD have linear associations with the BOLD response. This association was significantly attenuated by a novel task signal regression (TSR) procedure, indicating that task performance enhances lFCD and ALFF in activated regions. We also show that lFCD predicts BOLD activation patterns, as was recently shown for other functional connectivity metrics, which corroborates that resting functional connectivity architecture impacts brain activation responses. Thus, our findings indicate a common source for BOLD responses, ALFF and lFCD, which is consistent with the neurovascular origin of local hemodynamic synchrony presumably reflecting coordinated fluctuations in neuronal activity. This study also supports the development of task-evoked functional connectivity density mapping.

Modulation of cognitive control levels via manipulation of saccade trial-type probability assessed with event-related BOLD fMRI.

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Pierce, Jordan E; McDowell, Jennifer E

2016-02-01

Cognitive control supports flexible behavior adapted to meet current goals and can be modeled through investigation of saccade tasks with varying cognitive demands. Basic prosaccades (rapid glances toward a newly appearing stimulus) are supported by neural circuitry, including occipital and posterior parietal cortex, frontal and supplementary eye fields, and basal ganglia. These trials can be contrasted with complex antisaccades (glances toward the mirror image location of a stimulus), which are characterized by greater functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the aforementioned regions and recruitment of additional regions such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The current study manipulated the cognitive demands of these saccade tasks by presenting three rapid event-related runs of mixed saccades with a varying probability of antisaccade vs. prosaccade trials (25, 50, or 75%). Behavioral results showed an effect of trial-type probability on reaction time, with slower responses in runs with a high antisaccade probability. Imaging results exhibited an effect of probability in bilateral pre- and postcentral gyrus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and medial frontal gyrus. Additionally, the interaction between saccade trial type and probability revealed a strong probability effect for prosaccade trials, showing a linear increase in activation parallel to antisaccade probability in bilateral temporal/occipital, posterior parietal, medial frontal, and lateral prefrontal cortex. In contrast, antisaccade trials showed elevated activation across all runs. Overall, this study demonstrated that improbable performance of a typically simple prosaccade task led to augmented BOLD signal to support changing cognitive control demands, resulting in activation levels similar to the more complex antisaccade task. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

Consistency in boldness, activity and exploration at different stages of life

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Background Animals show consistent individual behavioural patterns over time and over situations. This phenomenon has been referred to as animal personality or behavioural syndromes. Little is known about consistency of animal personalities over entire life times. We investigated the repeatability of behaviour in common voles (Microtus arvalis) at different life stages, with different time intervals, and in different situations. Animals were tested using four behavioural tests in three experimental groups: 1. before and after maturation over three months, 2. twice as adults during one week, and 3. twice as adult animals over three months, which resembles a substantial part of their entire adult life span of several months. Results Different behaviours were correlated within and between tests and a cluster analysis showed three possible behavioural syndrome-axes, which we name boldness, exploration and activity. Activity and exploration behaviour in all tests was highly repeatable in adult animals tested over one week. In animals tested over maturation, exploration behaviour was consistent whereas activity was not. Voles that were tested as adults with a three-month interval showed the opposite pattern with stable activity but unstable exploration behaviour. Conclusions The consistency in behaviour over time suggests that common voles do express stable personality over short time. Over longer periods however, behaviour is more flexible and depending on life stage (i.e. tested before/after maturation or as adults) of the tested individual. Level of boldness or activity does not differ between tested groups and maintenance of variation in behavioural traits can therefore not be explained by expected future assets as reported in other studies. PMID:24314274

Multifractal fluctuations in joint angles during infant spontaneous kicking reveal multiplicativity-driven coordination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stephen, Damian G.; Hsu, Wen-Hao; Young, Diana; Saltzman, Elliot L.; Holt, Kenneth G.; Newman, Dava J.; Weinberg, Marc; Wood, Robert J.; Nagpal, Radhika; Goldfield, Eugene C.

2012-01-01

Previous research has considered infant spontaneous kicking as a form of exploration. According to this view, spontaneous kicking provides information about motor degrees of freedom and may shape multijoint coordinations for more complex movement patterns such as gait. Recent work has demonstrated that multifractal, multiplicative fluctuations in exploratory movements index energy flows underlying perceptual-motor information. If infant spontaneous kicking is exploratory and occasions an upstream flow of information from the motor periphery, we expected not only that multiplicativity of fluctuations at the hip should promote multiplicativity of fluctuations at more distal joints (i.e., reflecting downstream effects of neural control) but also that multiplicativity at more distal joints should promote multiplicativity at the hip. Multifractal analysis demonstrated that infant spontaneous kicking in four typically developing infants for evidence of multiplicative fluctuations in multiple joint angles along the leg (i.e., hip, knee, and ankle) exhibited multiplicativity. Vector autoregressive modeling demonstrated that only one leg exhibited downstream effects but that both legs exhibited upstream effects. These results confirm the exploratory aspect of infant spontaneous kicking and suggest chaotic dynamics in motor coordination. They also resonate with existing models of chaos-controlled robotics and noise-based interventions for rehabilitating motor coordination in atypically developing patients.

Shy and bold great tits (Parus major): body temperature and breath rate in response to handling stress

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carere, C.; Van Oers, K.

2004-01-01

A standard handling protocol was used to test the hypothesis that boldness predicts stress responsiveness in body temperature and breath rate. Great tit (Parus major) nestlings were taken from the field, hand reared until independence, and their response to a novel object was assessed. At the age of

Shy and bold great tits (Parus major) : body temperature and breath rate in response to handling stress

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Carere, C; van Oers, K

2004-01-01

A standard handling protocol was used to test the hypothesis that boldness predicts stress responsiveness in body temperature and breath rate. Great tit (Parus major) nestlings were taken from the field, hand reared until independence, and their response to a novel object was assessed. At the age of

Maximal Fluctuations of Confined Actomyosin Gels: Dynamics of the Cell Nucleus.

Science.gov (United States)

Rupprecht, J-F; Singh Vishen, A; Shivashankar, G V; Rao, M; Prost, J

2018-03-02

We investigate the effect of stress fluctuations on the stochastic dynamics of an inclusion embedded in a viscous gel. We show that, in nonequilibrium systems, stress fluctuations give rise to an effective attraction towards the boundaries of the confining domain, which is reminiscent of an active Casimir effect. We apply this generic result to the dynamics of deformations of the cell nucleus, and we demonstrate the appearance of a fluctuation maximum at a critical level of activity, in agreement with recent experiments [E. Makhija, D. S. Jokhun, and G. V. Shivashankar, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113, E32 (2016)PNASA60027-842410.1073/pnas.1513189113].

Multiscale probability distribution of pressure fluctuations in fluidized beds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghasemi, Fatemeh; Sahimi, Muhammad; Reza Rahimi Tabar, M; Peinke, Joachim

2012-01-01

Analysis of flow in fluidized beds, a common chemical reactor, is of much current interest due to its fundamental as well as industrial importance. Experimental data for the successive increments of the pressure fluctuations time series in a fluidized bed are analyzed by computing a multiscale probability density function (PDF) of the increments. The results demonstrate the evolution of the shape of the PDF from the short to long time scales. The deformation of the PDF across time scales may be modeled by the log-normal cascade model. The results are also in contrast to the previously proposed PDFs for the pressure fluctuations that include a Gaussian distribution and a PDF with a power-law tail. To understand better the properties of the pressure fluctuations, we also construct the shuffled and surrogate time series for the data and analyze them with the same method. It turns out that long-range correlations play an important role in the structure of the time series that represent the pressure fluctuation. (paper)

Mapping of the brain hemodynamic responses to sensorimotor stimulation in a rodent model: A BOLD fMRI study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salem Boussida

Full Text Available Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent functional MRI (BOLD fMRI during electrical paw stimulation has been widely used in studies aimed at the understanding of the somatosensory network in rats. However, despite the well-established anatomical connections between cortical and subcortical structures of the sensorimotor system, most of these functional studies have been concentrated on the cortical effects of sensory electrical stimulation. BOLD fMRI study of the integration of a sensorimotor input across the sensorimotor network requires an appropriate methodology to elicit functional activation in cortical and subcortical areas owing to the regional differences in both neuronal and vascular architectures between these brain regions. Here, using a combination of low level anesthesia, long pulse duration of the electrical stimulation along with improved spatial and temporal signal to noise ratios, we provide a functional description of the main cortical and subcortical structures of the sensorimotor rat brain. With this calibrated fMRI protocol, unilateral non-noxious sensorimotor electrical hindpaw stimulation resulted in robust positive activations in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex and bilaterally in the sensorimotor thalamus nuclei, whereas negative activations were observed bilaterally in the dorsolateral caudate-putamen. These results demonstrate that, once the experimental setup allowing necessary spatial and temporal signal to noise ratios is reached, hemodynamic changes related to neuronal activity, as preserved by the combination of a soft anesthesia with a soft muscle relaxation, can be measured within the sensorimotor network. Moreover, the observed responses suggest that increasing pulse duration of the electrical stimulus adds a proprioceptive component to the sensory input that activates sensorimotor network in the brain, and that these activation patterns are similar to those induced by digits paw's movements. These findings may

Teacherpreneurs: a bold brand of teacher leadership for 21st-century teaching and learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Barnett

2013-04-19

Challenges facing our public schools demand a bold brand of teacher leadership. Teacherpreneurs, effective teachers who teach students regularly but also incubate and execute the kinds of policies and pedagogies students deserve, represent a new culture of training and ingenuity. Teachers who lead outside the classroom but do not lose their connection to students are best positioned to develop and disseminate best policies and practices for 21st-century teaching and learning.

Phase shift extraction and wavefront retrieval from interferograms with background and contrast fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Qian; Wang, Yang; He, Jianguo; Ji, Fang

2015-01-01

The fluctuations of background and contrast cause measurement errors in the phase-shifting technique. To extract the phase shifts from interferograms with background and contrast fluctuations, an iterative algorithm is represented. The phase shifts and wavefront phase are calculated in two individual steps with the least-squares method. The fluctuation factors are determined when the phase shifts are calculated, and the fluctuations are compensated when the wavefront phase is calculated. The advantage of the algorithm lies in its ability to extract phase shifts from interferograms with background and contrast fluctuations converging stably and rapidly. Simulations and experiments verify the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed algorithm. The convergence accuracy and speed are demonstrated by the simulation results. The experiment results show its ability for suppressing phase retrieval errors. (paper)

Redistribution of phase fluctuations in a periodically driven cuprate superconductor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoeppner, Robert; Zhu, Beilei; Rexin, Tobias [Zentrum fuer Optische Quantentechnologien und Institut fuer Laserphysik, Hamburg (Germany); Mathey, Ludwig [Zentrum fuer Optische Quantentechnologien und Institut fuer Laserphysik, Hamburg (Germany); The Hamburg Centre for Ultrafast Imaging, Hamburg (Germany); Cavalleri, Andrea [Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Hamburg (Germany); Department of Physics, Oxford University, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford (United Kingdom)

2015-07-01

We study the thermally fluctuating state of a bi-layer cuprate superconductor under the periodic action of a staggered field oscillating at optical frequencies. This analysis distills essential elements of the recently discovered phenomenon of light enhanced coherence in YBCO, which was achieved by periodically driving infrared active apical oxygen distortions. The effect of a staggered periodic perturbation is studied using a Langevin description of driven, coupled Josephson junctions, which represent two neighboring pairs of layers and their two plasmons. We demonstrate that the external driving leads to a suppression of phase fluctuations of the low-energy plasmon, an effect which is amplified via the resonance of the high energy plasmon, with a striking suppression of the low-energy fluctuations, as visible in the power spectrum. We also find that this effect acts onto the in-plane fluctuations, which are reduced on long length scales and we discuss the behavior of vortices in the ab-planes and across the weakly coupled junctions.

Decoding vigilance with NIRS.

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Bogler, Carsten; Mehnert, Jan; Steinbrink, Jens; Haynes, John-Dylan

2014-01-01

Sustained, long-term cognitive workload is associated with variations and decrements in performance. Such fluctuations in vigilance can be a risk factor especially during dangerous attention demanding activities. Functional MRI studies have shown that attentional performance is correlated with BOLD-signals, especially in parietal and prefrontal cortical regions. An interesting question is whether these BOLD-signals could be measured in real-world scenarios, say to warn in a dangerous workplace whenever a subjects' vigilance is low. Because fMRI lacks the mobility needed for such applications, we tested whether the monitoring of vigilance might be possible using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). NIRS is a highly mobile technique that measures hemodynamics in the surface of the brain. We demonstrate that non-invasive NIRS signals correlate with vigilance. These signals carry enough information to decode subjects' reaction times at a single trial level.

Visual cortex and auditory cortex activation in early binocularly blind macaques: A BOLD-fMRI study using auditory stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Rong; Wu, Lingjie; Tang, Zuohua; Sun, Xinghuai; Feng, Xiaoyuan; Tang, Weijun; Qian, Wen; Wang, Jie; Jin, Lixin; Zhong, Yufeng; Xiao, Zebin

2017-04-15

Cross-modal plasticity within the visual and auditory cortices of early binocularly blind macaques is not well studied. In this study, four healthy neonatal macaques were assigned to group A (control group) or group B (binocularly blind group). Sixteen months later, blood oxygenation level-dependent functional imaging (BOLD-fMRI) was conducted to examine the activation in the visual and auditory cortices of each macaque while being tested using pure tones as auditory stimuli. The changes in the BOLD response in the visual and auditory cortices of all macaques were compared with immunofluorescence staining findings. Compared with group A, greater BOLD activity was observed in the bilateral visual cortices of group B, and this effect was particularly obvious in the right visual cortex. In addition, more activated volumes were found in the bilateral auditory cortices of group B than of group A, especially in the right auditory cortex. These findings were consistent with the fact that there were more c-Fos-positive cells in the bilateral visual and auditory cortices of group B compared with group A (p visual cortices of binocularly blind macaques can be reorganized to process auditory stimuli after visual deprivation, and this effect is more obvious in the right than the left visual cortex. These results indicate the establishment of cross-modal plasticity within the visual and auditory cortices. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatial attention related SEP amplitude modulations covary with BOLD signal in S1--a simultaneous EEG--fMRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Schubert, Ruth; Ritter, Petra; Wüstenberg, Torsten; Preuschhof, Claudia; Curio, Gabriel; Sommer, Werner; Villringer, Arno

2008-11-01

Recent studies investigating the influence of spatial-selective attention on primary somatosensory processing have produced inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of tactile spatial-selective attention on spatiotemporal aspects of evoked neuronal activity in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1). We employed simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG)-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 14 right-handed subjects during bilateral index finger Braille stimulation to investigate the relationship between attentional effects on somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) components and the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal. The 1st reliable EEG response following left tactile stimulation (P50) was significantly enhanced by spatial-selective attention, which has not been reported before. FMRI analysis revealed increased activity in contralateral S1. Remarkably, the effect of attention on the P50 component as well as long-latency SEP components starting at 190 ms for left stimuli correlated with attentional effects on the BOLD signal in contralateral S1. The implications are 2-fold: First, the correlation between early and long-latency SEP components and the BOLD effect suggest that spatial-selective attention enhances processing in S1 at 2 time points: During an early passage of the signal and during a later passage, probably via re-entrant feedback from higher cortical areas. Second, attentional modulations of the fast electrophysiological signals and the slow hemodynamic response are linearly related in S1.

Effects of thermal fluctuations on the thermodynamics of modified Hayward black hole

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pourhassan, Behnam [Damghan University, School of Physics, Damghan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Faizal, Mir [University of Lethbridge, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lethbridge, AB (Canada); Debnath, Ujjal [Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Department of Mathematics, Howrah (India)

2016-03-15

In this work, we analyze the effects of thermal fluctuations on the thermodynamics of a modified Hayward black hole. These thermal fluctuations will produce correction terms for various thermodynamical quantities like entropy, pressure, internal energy, and specific heats. We also investigate the effect of these correction terms on the first law of thermodynamics. Finally, we study the phase transition for the modified Hayward black hole. It is demonstrated that the modified Hayward black hole is stable even after the thermal fluctuations are taken into account, as long as the event horizon is larger than a certain critical value. (orig.)

Enhanced quantum spin fluctuations in a binary Bose-Einstein condensate

Science.gov (United States)

Bisset, R. N.; Kevrekidis, P. G.; Ticknor, C.

2018-02-01

For quantum fluids, the role of quantum fluctuations may be significant in several regimes such as when the dimensionality is low, the density is high, the interactions are strong, or for low particle numbers. In this paper, we propose a fundamentally different regime for enhanced quantum fluctuations without being restricted by any of the above conditions. Instead, our scheme relies on the engineering of an effective attractive interaction in a dilute, two-component Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) consisting of thousands of atoms. In such a regime, the quantum spin fluctuations are significantly enhanced (atom bunching with respect to the noninteracting limit) since they act to reduce the interaction energy, a remarkable property given that spin fluctuations are normally suppressed (antibunching) at zero temperature. In contrast to the case of true attractive interactions, our approach is not vulnerable to BEC collapse. We numerically demonstrate that these quantum fluctuations are experimentally accessible by either spin or single-component Bragg spectroscopy, offering a useful platform on which to test beyond-mean-field theories. We also develop a variational model and use it to analytically predict the shift of the immiscibility critical point, finding good agreement with our numerics.

Boldness towards novelty and translocation success in captive-raised, orphaned Tasmanian devils.

Science.gov (United States)

Sinn, David L; Cawthen, Lisa; Jones, Susan M; Pukk, Chrissy; Jones, Menna E

2014-01-01

Translocation of endangered animals is common, but success is often variable and/or poor. Despite its intuitive appeal, little is known with regards to how individual differences amongst translocated animals influence their post-release survival, growth, and reproduction. We measured consistent pre-release responses to novelty in a familiar environment (boldness; repeatability=0.55) and cortisol response in a group of captive-reared Tasmanian devils, currently listed as "Endangered" by the IUCN. The devils were then released at either a hard- or soft-release site within their mothers' population of origin, and individual growth, movement, reproduction (females only), and survival across 2-8 months post-release was measured. Sex, release method, cohort, behavior, and cortisol response did not affect post-release growth, nor did these factors influence the home range size of orphan devils. Final linear distances moved from the release site were impacted heavily by the release cohort, but translocated devils' movement overall was not different from that in the same-age wild devils. All orphan females of reproductive age were subsequently captured with offspring. Overall survival rates in translocated devils were moderate (∼42%), and were not affected by devil sex, release method, cohort, release weight, or pre-release cortisol response. Devils that survived during the study period were, however, 3.5 times more bold than those that did not (effect size r=0.76). Our results suggest that conservation managers may need to provide developmental conditions in captivity that promote a wide range of behaviors across individuals slated for wild release. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fluctuations and structure of amphiphilic films; Fluctuations et structure de films d`amphiphiles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gourier, CH

1996-07-01

This thesis is divided in three parts.The first part exposes in a theoretical point of view, how the fluctuations spectrum of an amphiphilic film is governed by its properties and its bidimensional characteristics.The measurements of fluctuations spectra of an interface are accessible with the measurement of intensity that interface diffuses out of the specular angle, we present in the second chapter the principles of the X rays diffusion by a real interface and see how the diffuse diffusion experiments allow to determine the fluctuations spectrum of an amphiphilic film. The second part is devoted to the different experimental techniques that have allowed to realize the study of fluctuation as well as the structural study.The third part is devoted to experimental results concerning the measurements of fluctuations spectra and to the study of the structure of amphiphilic films. We show that it is possible by using an intense source of X rays (ESRF: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) to measure the water and amphiphilic films fluctuations spectra until molecular scales. The last chapter is devoted to the structural study and film fluctuations made of di-acetylenic molecules. (N.C.)

Influence of thermal fluctuations on ligament break-up: a fluctuating lattice Boltzmann study

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Xiao; Biferale, Luca; Sbragaglia, Mauro; Toschi, Federico

2017-11-01

Thermal fluctuations are essential ingredients in a nanoscale system, driving Brownian motion of particles and capillary waves at non-ideal interfaces. Here we study the influence of thermal fluctuations on the breakup of liquid ligaments at the nanoscale. We offer quantitative characterization of the effects of thermal fluctuations on the Plateau-Rayleigh mechanism that drives the breakup process of ligaments. Due to thermal fluctuations, the droplet sizes after break-up need to be analyzed in terms of their distribution over an ensemble made of repeated experiments. To this aim, we make use of numerical simulations based on the fluctuating lattice Boltzmann method (FLBM) for multicomponent mixtures. The method allows an accurate and efficient simulation of the fluctuating hydrodynamics equations of a binary mixture, where both stochastic viscous stresses and diffusion fluxes are introduced. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 642069.

Parametric Amplification of Vacuum Fluctuations in a Spinor Condensate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klempt, C.; Topic, O.; Gebreyesus, G.

2010-01-01

to correlated pair creation in the mF=±1 states from an initial mF=0 condensate, which acts as a vacuum for mF≠0. Although this pair creation from a pure mF=0 condensate is ideally triggered by vacuum fluctuations, unavoidable spurious initial mF=±1 atoms induce a classical seed which may become the dominant...... triggering mechanism. We show that pair creation is insensitive to a classical seed for sufficiently large magnetic fields, demonstrating the dominant role of vacuum fluctuations. The presented system thus provides a direct path towards the generation of nonclassical states of matter....

Unemployment in chronic airflow obstruction around the world: results from the BOLD study.

Science.gov (United States)

Grønseth, Rune; Erdal, Marta; Tan, Wan C; Obaseki, Daniel O; Amaral, Andre F S; Gislason, Thorarinn; Juvekar, Sanjay K; Koul, Parvaiz A; Studnicka, Michael; Salvi, Sundeep; Burney, Peter; Buist, A Sonia; Vollmer, William M; Johannessen, Ane

2017-09-01

We aimed to examine associations between chronic airflow obstruction (CAO) and unemployment across the world.Cross-sectional data from 26 sites in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study were used to analyse effects of CAO on unemployment. Odds ratios for unemployment in subjects aged 40-65 years were estimated using a multilevel mixed-effects generalised linear model with study site as random effect. Site-by-site heterogeneity was assessed using individual participant data meta-analyses.Out of 18 710 participants, 11.3% had CAO. The ratio of unemployed subjects with CAO divided by subjects without CAO showed large site discrepancies, although these were no longer significant after adjusting for age, sex, smoking and education. The site-adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) for unemployment was 1.79 (1.41-2.27) for CAO cases, decreasing to 1.43 (1.14-1.79) after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, comorbidities and forced vital capacity. Of other covariates that were associated with unemployment, age and education were important risk factors in high-income sites (4.02 (3.53-4.57) and 3.86 (2.80-5.30), respectively), while female sex was important in low- to middle-income sites (3.23 (2.66-3.91)).In the global BOLD study, CAO was associated with increased levels of unemployment, even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, comorbidities and lung function. Copyright ©ERS 2017.

Correcting for Blood Arrival Time in Global Mean Regression Enhances Functional Connectivity Analysis of Resting State fMRI-BOLD Signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Erdoğan, Sinem B; Tong, Yunjie; Hocke, Lia M; Lindsey, Kimberly P; deB Frederick, Blaise

2016-01-01

Resting state functional connectivity analysis is a widely used method for mapping intrinsic functional organization of the brain. Global signal regression (GSR) is commonly employed for removing systemic global variance from resting state BOLD-fMRI data; however, recent studies have demonstrated that GSR may introduce spurious negative correlations within and between functional networks, calling into question the meaning of anticorrelations reported between some networks. In the present study, we propose that global signal from resting state fMRI is composed primarily of systemic low frequency oscillations (sLFOs) that propagate with cerebral blood circulation throughout the brain. We introduce a novel systemic noise removal strategy for resting state fMRI data, "dynamic global signal regression" (dGSR), which applies a voxel-specific optimal time delay to the global signal prior to regression from voxel-wise time series. We test our hypothesis on two functional systems that are suggested to be intrinsically organized into anticorrelated networks: the default mode network (DMN) and task positive network (TPN). We evaluate the efficacy of dGSR and compare its performance with the conventional "static" global regression (sGSR) method in terms of (i) explaining systemic variance in the data and (ii) enhancing specificity and sensitivity of functional connectivity measures. dGSR increases the amount of BOLD signal variance being modeled and removed relative to sGSR while reducing spurious negative correlations introduced in reference regions by sGSR, and attenuating inflated positive connectivity measures. We conclude that incorporating time delay information for sLFOs into global noise removal strategies is of crucial importance for optimal noise removal from resting state functional connectivity maps.

SU-D-207A-03: Potential Role of BOLD MRI in Discrimination of Aggressive Tumor Habitat in Prostate Cancer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ford, J; Lopez, C; Tschudi, Y; Breto, A; Padgett, K; Pollack, A; Stoyanova, R [University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: To determine whether blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) MRI signal measured in prostate cancer patients, in addition to quantitative diffusion and perfusion parameters from multiparametric (mp)MRI exams, can help discriminate aggressive and/or radioresistant lesions. Methods: Several ongoing clinical trials in our institution require mpMRI exam to determine eligibility (presence of identifiable tumor lesion on mpMRI) and prostate volumes for dose escalation. Upon consent, patients undergo fiducial markers placement and a T2*-weighted imaging at the time of CT sim to facilitate the fusion. In a retrospective analysis eleven clinical trial patients were identified who had undergone mpMRI on GE 3T magnet, followed by T2*-weighted imaging (time-period mean±SD = 48±20 days) using a consistent protocol (gradient echo, TR/TE=30/11.8ms, flip angle=12, matrix=256×256×75, voxel size=1.25×1.25×2.5mm). ROIs for prostate tumor lesions were automatically determined using ADC threshold ≤1200 µm2/s. Although the MR protocol was not intended for BOLD analysis, we utilized the T2*-weighted signal normalized to that in nearby muscle; likewise, T2-weighted lesion signal was normalized to muscle, following rigid registration of the T2 to T2* images. The ratio of these normalized signals, T2*/T2, is a measure of BOLD effect in the prostate tumors. Perfusion parameters (Ktrans, ve, kep) were also calculated. Results: T2*/T2 (mean±SE) was found to be substantially lower for Gleason score (GS) 8&9 (0.82±0.04) compared to GS 7 (1.08±0.07). A k-means cluster analysis of T2*/T2 versus kep = Ktrans/ve revealed two distinct clusters, one with higher T2*/T2 and lower kep, containing only GS 7 lesions, and another with lower T2*/T2 and higher kep, associated with tumor aggressiveness. This latter cluster contained all GS 8&9 lesions, as well as some GS 7. Conclusion: BOLD MRI, in addition to ADC and kep, may play a role (perhaps orthogonal to Gleason score) in

Leggett-Garg Inequalities for Quantum Fluctuating Work

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harry J. D. Miller

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The Leggett-Garg inequalities serve to test whether or not quantum correlations in time can be explained within a classical macrorealistic framework. We apply this test to thermodynamics and derive a set of Leggett-Garg inequalities for the statistics of fluctuating work done on a quantum system unitarily driven in time. It is shown that these inequalities can be violated in a driven two-level system, thereby demonstrating that there exists no general macrorealistic description of quantum work. These violations are shown to emerge within the standard Two-Projective-Measurement scheme as well as for alternative definitions of fluctuating work that are based on weak measurement. Our results elucidate the influences of temporal correlations on work extraction in the quantum regime and highlight a key difference between quantum and classical thermodynamics.

Do investment-specific technological changes matter for business fluctuations? Evidence from Japan

OpenAIRE

Hirose, Yasuo; Kurozumi, Takushi

2011-01-01

The observed decline in the relative price of investment goods to consumption goods in Japan suggests the existence of investment-specific technological (IST) changes. We examine whether IST changes are a major source of business fluctuations in Japan, by estimating a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with Bayesian methods. We show that IST changes are less important than neutral technological changes in explaining output fluctuations. We also demonstrate that investment fluctuatio...

The effect of Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales on the aggression and boldness of Myrmica scabrinodis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferenc Báthori

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The interactions of ectosymbiotic Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota fungi and their hosts are rather understudied. Rickia wasmannii Cavara is a common ant-associated Laboulbeniales species that has been reported in 17 countries of Europe, and frequently infects Myrmica scabrinodis Nylander, 1846 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae, a common ant species host, in high density. These make M. scabrinodis and R. wasmannii appropriate model organisms for studies on fungal host-ectosymbiont interactions. Aggressiveness and boldness of infected and uninfected M. scabrinodis workers from northern and eastern Hungary were studied in two laboratory-established behavioural experiments. Infected workers were significantly less aggressive and less bold (i.e. less likely to leave nest shelters than the uninfected ones. These results suggest that R. wasmannii has considerable effects on the behaviour of M. scabrinodis. Our study brings an evidence that infection of ants with Laboulbeniales might negatively affect the workers’ behaviour. In special, the competitive abilities might be affected most by these fungi, since remaining inside and behaving submissively is not effective behaviour in the case of significant competition for resources among colonies.

Boldness in a deep sea hermit crab to simulated tactile predator attacks is unaffected by ocean acidification

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Tae Won; Barry, James P.

2016-09-01

Despite rapidly growing interest in the effects of ocean acidification on marine animals, the ability of deep-sea animals to acclimate or adapt to reduced pH conditions has received little attention. Deep-sea species are generally thought to be less tolerant of environmental variation than shallow-living species because they inhabit relatively stable conditions for nearly all environmental parameters. To explore whether deep-sea hermit crabs ( Pagurus tanneri) can acclimate to ocean acidification over several weeks, we compared behavioral "boldness," measured as time taken to re-emerge from shells after a simulated predatory attack by a toy octopus, under ambient (pH ˜7.6) and expected future (pH ˜7.1) conditions. The boldness measure for crab behavioral responses did not differ between different pH treatments, suggesting that future deep-sea acidification would not influence anti-predatory behavior. However, we did not examine the effects of olfactory cues released by predators that may affect hermit crab behavior and could be influenced by changes in the ocean carbonate system driven by increasing CO2 levels.

Can Intrinsic Fluctuations Increase Efficiency in Neural Information Processing?

Science.gov (United States)

Liljenström, Hans

2003-05-01

All natural processes are accompanied by fluctuations, characterized as noise or chaos. Biological systems, which have evolved during billions of years, are likely to have adapted, not only to cope with such fluctuations, but also to make use of them. We investigate how the complex dynamics of the brain, including oscillations, chaos and noise, can affect the efficiency of neural information processing. In particular, we consider the amplification and functional role of internal fluctuations. Using computer simulations of a neural network model of the olfactory cortex and hippocampus, we demonstrate how microscopic fluctuations can result in global effects at the network level. We show that the rate of information processing in associative memory tasks can be maximized for optimal noise levels, analogous to stochastic resonance phenomena. Noise can also induce transitions between different dynamical states, which could be of significance for learning and memory. A chaotic-like behavior, induced by noise or by an increase in neuronal excitability, can enhance system performance if it is transient and converges to a limit cycle memory state. We speculate whether this dynamical behavior perhaps could be related to (creative) thinking.

Large fluctuations and fixation in evolutionary games

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Assaf, Michael; Mobilia, Mauro

2010-01-01

We study large fluctuations in evolutionary games belonging to the coordination and anti-coordination classes. The dynamics of these games, modeling cooperation dilemmas, is characterized by a coexistence fixed point separating two absorbing states. We are particularly interested in the problem of fixation that refers to the possibility that a few mutants take over the entire population. Here, the fixation phenomenon is induced by large fluctuations and is investigated by a semiclassical WKB (Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin) theory generalized to treat stochastic systems possessing multiple absorbing states. Importantly, this method allows us to analyze the combined influence of selection and random fluctuations on the evolutionary dynamics beyond the weak selection limit often considered in previous works. We accurately compute, including pre-exponential factors, the probability distribution function in the long-lived coexistence state and the mean fixation time necessary for a few mutants to take over the entire population in anti-coordination games, and also the fixation probability in the coordination class. Our analytical results compare excellently with extensive numerical simulations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our treatment is superior to the Fokker–Planck approximation when the selection intensity is finite

Observational Analysis of Variation Characteristics of GPS-Based TEC Fluctuation over China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xifeng Liu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available In this study, the characteristics of the total electron content (TEC fluctuations and their regional differences over China were analyzed by utilizing the rate of the TEC index (ROTI based on GPS data from 21 reference stations across China during a solar cycle. The results show that there were significant regional differences at different latitudes. Strong ionospheric TEC fluctuations were usually observed at lower latitudes in southern China, where the occurrence of TEC fluctuations demonstrated typical nighttime- and season-dependent (equinox months features. This phenomenon was consistent with the ionospheric scintillation characteristics of this region. Additionally, compared to low-latitude China, the intensity of TEC fluctuations over mid-latitude China was significantly weaker, and the occurrence of TEC fluctuations was not a nighttime-dependent phenomenon. Moreover, the intensity of TEC fluctuations was much stronger during high solar activity than during low solar activity. Furthermore, the summer-dependent characteristics of TEC fluctuations gradually emerged over lower mid-latitude areas as equinox characteristics weakened. Similar to the equinox characteristics, the summer-dependent characteristics gradually weakened or even disappeared with the increasing latitude. Relevant discussions of this phenomenon are still relatively rare, and it requires further study and analysis.

Fluctuating Thermodynamics for Biological Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Ham, Sihyun

Because biomolecular processes are largely under thermodynamic control, dynamic extension of thermodynamics is necessary to uncover the mechanisms and driving factors of fluctuating processes. The fluctuating thermodynamics technology presented in this talk offers a practical means for the thermodynamic characterization of conformational dynamics in biomolecules. The use of fluctuating thermodynamics has the potential to provide a comprehensive picture of fluctuating phenomena in diverse biological processes. Through the application of fluctuating thermodynamics, we provide a thermodynamic perspective on the misfolding and aggregation of the various proteins associated with human diseases. In this talk, I will present the detailed concepts and applications of the fluctuating thermodynamics technology for elucidating biological processes. This work was supported by Samsung Science and Technology Foundation under Project Number SSTF-BA1401-13.

Low prevalence of obstructive lung disease in a suburban population of Malaysia: A BOLD collaborative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Loh, Li Cher; Rashid, Abdul; Sholehah, Siti; Gnatiuc, Louisa; Patel, Jaymini H; Burney, Peter

2016-08-01

As a Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) collaboration, we studied the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its associated risk factors in a suburban population in Malaysia. Nonhospitalized men or women of age ≥ 40 years from a Penang district were recruited by stratified simple random sampling. Participants completed detailed questionnaires on respiratory symptoms and exposure to COPD risk factors. Prebronchodilator and post-bronchodilator spirometry conducted was standardized across all international BOLD sites in device and data quality control. Of the 1218 individuals recruited for the study, 663 (340 men and 323 women) had complete questionnaire data and acceptable post-bronchodilator spirometry. The estimated population prevalence of Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) ≥ stage I was 6.5% or 3.4% based on either fixed forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity ratio of population-based epidemiology data on COPD for Malaysia. Compared with other sites globally, our estimated population prevalence was relatively low. In addition to cigarette smoking, use of biomass fuel and exposure to dusty job represented significant risk to the development of COPD. © 2016 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

fMRI BOLD response to the eyes task in offspring from multiplex alcohol dependence families.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, Shirley Y; Kostelnik, Bryan; Holmes, Brian; Goradia, Dhruman; McDermott, Michael; Diwadkar, Vaibhav; Keshavan, Matcheri

2007-12-01

Increased susceptibility for developing alcohol dependence (AD) may be related to structural and functional differences in brain circuits that influence social cognition and more specifically, theory of mind (ToM). Alcohol dependent individuals have a greater likelihood of having deficits in social skills and greater social alienation. These characteristics may be related to inherited differences in the neuroanatomical network that comprises the social brain. Adolescent/young adult participants from multiplex AD families and controls (n = 16) were matched for gender, age, IQ, education, and handedness and administered the Eyes Task of Baron-Cohen during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). High-risk (HR) subjects showed significantly diminished blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response in comparison with low-risk control young adults in the right middle temporal gyrus (RMTG) and the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), areas that have previously been implicated in ToM tasks. Offspring from multiplex families for AD may manifest one aspect of their genetic susceptibility by having a diminished BOLD response in brain regions associated with performance of ToM tasks. These results suggest that those at risk for developing AD may have reduced ability to empathize with others' state of mind, possibly resulting in diminished social skill.

Detecting Activation in fMRI Data: An Approach Based on Sparse Representation of BOLD Signal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blanca Guillen

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a simple yet effective approach for detecting activated voxels in fMRI data by exploiting the inherent sparsity property of the BOLD signal in temporal and spatial domains. In the time domain, the approach combines the General Linear Model (GLM with a Least Absolute Deviation (LAD based regression method regularized by the pseudonorm l0 to promote sparsity in the parameter vector of the model. In the spatial domain, detection of activated regions is based on thresholding the spatial map of estimated parameters associated with a particular stimulus. The threshold is calculated by exploiting the sparseness of the BOLD signal in the spatial domain assuming a Laplacian distribution model. The proposed approach is validated using synthetic and real fMRI data. For synthetic data, results show that the proposed approach is able to detect most activated voxels without any false activation. For real data, the method is evaluated through comparison with the SPM software. Results indicate that this approach can effectively find activated regions that are similar to those found by SPM, but using a much simpler approach. This study may lead to the development of robust spatial approaches to further simplifying the complexity of classical schemes.

Superconductivity and spin fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scalapino, D.J.

1999-01-01

The organizers of the Memorial Session for Herman Rietschel asked that the author review some of the history of the interplay of superconductivity and spin fluctuations. Initially, Berk and Schrieffer showed how paramagnon spin fluctuations could suppress superconductivity in nearly-ferromagnetic materials. Following this, Rietschel and various co-workers wrote a number of papers in which they investigated the role of spin fluctuations in reducing the Tc of various electron-phonon superconductors. Paramagnon spin fluctuations are also believed to provide the p-wave pairing mechanism responsible for the superfluid phases of 3 He. More recently, antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations have been proposed as the mechanism for d-wave pairing in the heavy-fermion superconductors and in some organic materials as well as possibly the high-Tc cuprates. Here the author will review some of this early history and discuss some of the things he has learned more recently from numerical simulations

Mapping and characterization of positive and negative BOLD responses to visual stimulation in multiple brain regions at 7T

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jorge, João; Figueiredo, Patrícia; Gruetter, Rolf; Van der Zwaag, W.

External stimuli and tasks often elicit negative BOLD responses in various brain regions, and growing experimental evidence supports that these phenomena are functionally meaningful. In this work, the high sensitivity available at 7T was explored to map and characterize both positive (PBRs) and

Fluctuation between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism.

Science.gov (United States)

Gore, Whitney L; Widiger, Thomas A

2016-10-01

Current literature on narcissistic personality disorder has emphasized a distinction between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Some researchers have further suggested that narcissistic persons fluctuate between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. However, this perception has been confined largely to clinical experience with no systematic research testing the hypothesis. Clinicians and clinical psychology professors in the current study identified 143 persons who fit a description of either a grandiose or a vulnerable narcissist and indicated the extent to which these persons ever demonstrated traits of the complementary variant. The results supported the fluctuation hypothesis, particularly for episodes of vulnerable narcissism in persons identified as a grandiose narcissist. Correlations of the grandiose and vulnerable narcissism traits with a brief five-factor model measure corroborated past trait descriptions of the 2 respective variants of narcissism. The results of the current study are compared with existing cross-sectional and longitudinal research, and suggestions for future research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Non-Gaussian conductivity fluctuations in semiconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melkonyan, S.V.

2010-01-01

A theoretical study is presented on the statistical properties of conductivity fluctuations caused by concentration and mobility fluctuations of the current carriers. It is established that mobility fluctuations result from random deviations in the thermal equilibrium distribution of the carriers. It is shown that mobility fluctuations have generation-recombination and shot components which do not satisfy the requirements of the central limit theorem, in contrast to the current carrier's concentration fluctuation and intraband component of the mobility fluctuation. It is shown that in general the mobility fluctuation consist of thermal (or intraband) Gaussian and non-thermal (or generation-recombination, shot, etc.) non-Gaussian components. The analyses of theoretical results and experimental data from literature show that the statistical properties of mobility fluctuation and of 1/f-noise fully coincide. The deviation from Gaussian statistics of the mobility or 1/f fluctuations goes hand in hand with the magnitude of non-thermal noise (generation-recombination, shot, burst, pulse noises, etc.).

Fluctuations in quantum chaos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casati, G.; Chirikov, B.V.

1996-01-01

Various fluctuations in quantum systems with discrete spectrum are discussed, including recent unpublished results. Open questions and unexplained peculiarities of quantum fluctuations are formulated [ru

Density Fluctuations of Hard-Sphere Fluids in Narrow Confinement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim Nygård

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Spatial confinement induces microscopic ordering of fluids, which in turn alters many of their dynamic and thermodynamic properties. However, the isothermal compressibility has hitherto been largely overlooked in the literature, despite its obvious connection to the underlying microscopic structure and density fluctuations in confined geometries. Here, we address this issue by probing density profiles and structure factors of hard-sphere fluids in various narrow slits, using x-ray scattering from colloid-filled nanofluidic containers and integral-equation-based statistical mechanics at the level of pair distributions for inhomogeneous fluids. Most importantly, we demonstrate that density fluctuations and isothermal compressibilities in confined fluids can be obtained experimentally from the long-wavelength limit of the structure factor, providing a formally exact and experimentally accessible connection between microscopic structure and macroscopic, thermodynamic properties. Our approach will thus, for example, allow direct experimental verification of theoretically predicted enhanced density fluctuations in liquids near solvophobic interfaces.

Integration of BOLD-fMRI and DTI into radiation treatment planning for high-grade gliomas located near the primary motor cortexes and corticospinal tracts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Minglei; Ma, Hui; Wang, Xiaodong; Guo, Yanhong; Xia, Xinshe; Xia, Hechun; Guo, Yulin; Huang, Xueying; He, Hong; Jia, Xiaoxiong; Xie, Yan

2015-01-01

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of integrating the blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data into radiation treatment planning for high-grade gliomas located near the primary motor cortexes (PMCs) and corticospinal tracts (CSTs). A total of 20 patients with high-grade gliomas adjacent to PMCs and CSTs between 2012 and 2014 were recruited. The bilateral PMCs and CSTs were located in the normal regions without any overlapping with target volume of the lesions. BOLD-fMRI, DTI and conventional MRI were performed on patients (Karnofsky performance score ≥ 70) before radical radiotherapy treatment. Four different imaging studies were conducted in each patient: a planning computed tomography (CT), an anatomical MRI, a DTI and a BOLD-fMRI. For each case, three treatment plans (3DCRT, IMRT and IMRT-PMC&CST) were developed by 3 different physicists using the Pinnacle planning system. Our study has shown that there was no significant difference between the 3DCRT and IMRT plans in terms of dose homogeneity, but IMRT displayed better planning target volume (PTV) dose conformity. In addition, we have found that the Dmax and Dmean to the ipsilateral and contralateral PMC and CST regions were considerably decreased in IMRT-PMC&CST group (p < 0.001). In conclusion, integration of BOLD-fMRI and DTI into radiation treatment planning is feasible and beneficial. With the assistance of the above-described techniques, the bilateral PMCs and CSTs adjacent to the target volume could be clearly marked as OARs and spared during treatment

Fluctuation Relations for Currents

Science.gov (United States)

Sinitsyn, Nikolai; Akimov, Alexei; Chernyak, Vladimir; Chertkov, Michael

2011-03-01

We consider a non-equilibrium statistical system on a graph or a network. Identical particles are injected, interact with each other, traverse, and leave the graph in a stochastic manner described in terms of Poisson rates, possibly strongly dependent on time and instantaneous occupation numbers at the nodes of the graph. We show that the system demonstrates a profound statistical symmetry, leading to new Fluctuation Relations that originate from the supersymmetry and the principle of the geometric universality of currents rather than from the relations between probabilities of forward and reverse trajectories. NSF/ECCS-0925618, NSF/CHE-0808910 and DOE at LANL under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25396.

Decoding vigilance with NIRS.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carsten Bogler

Full Text Available Sustained, long-term cognitive workload is associated with variations and decrements in performance. Such fluctuations in vigilance can be a risk factor especially during dangerous attention demanding activities. Functional MRI studies have shown that attentional performance is correlated with BOLD-signals, especially in parietal and prefrontal cortical regions. An interesting question is whether these BOLD-signals could be measured in real-world scenarios, say to warn in a dangerous workplace whenever a subjects' vigilance is low. Because fMRI lacks the mobility needed for such applications, we tested whether the monitoring of vigilance might be possible using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS. NIRS is a highly mobile technique that measures hemodynamics in the surface of the brain. We demonstrate that non-invasive NIRS signals correlate with vigilance. These signals carry enough information to decode subjects' reaction times at a single trial level.

Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy (FFS)

CERN Document Server

Tetin, Sergey

2012-01-01

This new volume of Methods in Enzymology continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field. This volume covers fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy and includes chapters on such topics as Förster resonance energy transfer (fret) with fluctuation algorithms, protein corona on nanoparticles by FCS, and FFS approaches to the study of receptors in live cells. Continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field Covers fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy Contains chapters on such topics as Förster resonance energy transfer (fret) with fluctuation algorithms, protein corona on nanoparticles by FCS, and FFS approaches to the study of receptors in live cells.

Gamma-ray-induced bold seeded early maturing groundnut selections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manoharan, V.; Thangavelu, S.

1990-01-01

Full text: ''Chico'' is an early maturing (85-90 days) erect groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genotype utilised in groundnut improvement to incorporate earliness in high yielding varieties. Though it has high shelling out-turn, its yield potential is low since it has small seeds. Mutation breeding was started with the objective of improving the seed size. In a preliminary experiment, dry seeds were treated with 20, 30, 40 or 50 kR of gamma rays. The M 1 generation was grown during the post rainy season of 1988-1989. The M 2 generation was planted as individual plant progeny rows during the rainy season of 1989. 105 progeny rows were studied, the total number of M 2 plants being 1,730. All the M 2 plants were harvested 90 days after sowing. Seven mutants with bold seed size were obtained. The mutants had 100 kernel weight ranging from 22.2 to 40.4 g compared to 21.1 g of control. The study is in progress. (author)

Fluctuation dynamics in geoelectrical data: an investigation by using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Telesca, Luciano; Colangelo, Gerardo; Lapenna, Vincenzo; Macchiato, Maria

2004-01-01

We analyzed fluctuations in the time dynamics of nonstationary geoelectrical data, recorded in a seismic area of southern Italy, by means of the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). The multifractal character of the signal depends mostly on the different long-range properties for small and large fluctuations. The time variation of indices, denoting the departure from monofractal behaviour, reveals an enhancement of the multifractality of the signal prior seismic occurrences

Bold Ideas for the 4th H in 4-H: Teen Identified Concerns and Actions

OpenAIRE

Virginia Brown; Bonnie Braun; JoAnne Leatherman

2015-01-01

This article summarizes a literature review; teen-identified health concerns and issues; and teen bold ideas for actions. Findings from the National 4-H Council and Molina Healthcare Teens Take on Health initiative are provided and implications for 4-H programming tied to the new Cooperative Extension National Framework for Health and Wellness are addressed. The article is intended as background for Extension educators, volunteers and administrators as they review the 4-H Healthy Living Missi...

Modeling of low- and high-frequency noise by slow and fast fluctuators

Science.gov (United States)

Nesterov, Alexander I.; Berman, Gennady P.

2012-05-01

We study the dynamics of dephasing in a quantum two-level system by modeling both 1/f and high-frequency noise by random telegraph processes. Our approach is based on a so-called spin-fluctuator model in which a noisy environment is modeled by a large number of fluctuators. In the continuous limit we obtain an effective random process (ERP) that is described by a distribution function of the fluctuators. In a simplified model, we reduce the ERP to the two (slow and fast) ensembles of fluctuators. Using this model, we study decoherence in a superconducting flux qubit and we compare our theoretical results with the available experimental data. We demonstrate good agreement of our theoretical predictions with the experiments. Our approach can be applied to many quantum systems, such as biological complexes, semiconductors, superconducting, and spin qubits, where the effects of interaction with the environment are essential.

Strain fluctuations and elastic constants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parrinello, M.; Rahman, A.

1982-03-01

It is shown that the elastic strain fluctuations are a direct measure of elastic compliances in a general anisotropic medium; depending on the ensemble in which the fluctuation is measured either the isothermal or the adiabatic compliances are obtained. These fluctuations can now be calculated in a constant enthalpy and pressure, and hence, constant entropy, ensemble due to recent develpments in the molecular dynamics techniques. A calculation for a Ni single crystal under uniform uniaxial 100 tensile or compressive load is presented as an illustration of the relationships derived between various strain fluctuations and the elastic modulii. The Born stability criteria and the behavior of strain fluctuations are shown to be related.

Parametric amplification of metric fluctuations during reheating in two field models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finelli, F.; Brandenberger, R.

2000-01-01

We study the parametric amplification of super-Hubble-scale scalar metric fluctuations at the end of inflation in some specific two-field models of inflation, a class of which is motivated by hybrid inflation. We demonstrate that there can indeed be a large growth of fluctuations due to parametric resonance and that this effect is not taken into account by the conventional theory of isocurvature perturbations. Scalar field interactions play a crucial role in this analysis. We discuss the conditions under which there can be nontrivial parametric resonance effects on large scales

Control of density fluctuations in atomistic-continuum simulations of dense liquids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kotsalis, E.M.; Walther, Jens Honore; Koumoutsakos, P.

2007-01-01

with a continuum solver for the simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations. The lack of periodic boundary conditions in the molecular dynamics simulations hinders the proper accounting for the virial pressure leading to spurious density fluctuations at the continuum-atomistic interface. An ad hoc boundary force...... is usually employed to remedy this situation.We propose the calculation of this boundary force using a control algorithm that explicitly cancels the density fluctuations. The results demonstrate that the present approach outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms. The conceptual and algorithmic simplicity...

Learning in neural networks based on a generalized fluctuation theorem

Science.gov (United States)

Hayakawa, Takashi; Aoyagi, Toshio

2015-11-01

Information maximization has been investigated as a possible mechanism of learning governing the self-organization that occurs within the neural systems of animals. Within the general context of models of neural systems bidirectionally interacting with environments, however, the role of information maximization remains to be elucidated. For bidirectionally interacting physical systems, universal laws describing the fluctuation they exhibit and the information they possess have recently been discovered. These laws are termed fluctuation theorems. In the present study, we formulate a theory of learning in neural networks bidirectionally interacting with environments based on the principle of information maximization. Our formulation begins with the introduction of a generalized fluctuation theorem, employing an interpretation appropriate for the present application, which differs from the original thermodynamic interpretation. We analytically and numerically demonstrate that the learning mechanism presented in our theory allows neural networks to efficiently explore their environments and optimally encode information about them.

Nonequilibrium fluctuations in a resistor.

Science.gov (United States)

Garnier, N; Ciliberto, S

2005-06-01

In small systems where relevant energies are comparable to thermal agitation, fluctuations are of the order of average values. In systems in thermodynamical equilibrium, the variance of these fluctuations can be related to the dissipation constant in the system, exploiting the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. In nonequilibrium steady systems, fluctuations theorems (FT) additionally describe symmetry properties of the probability density functions (PDFs) of the fluctuations of injected and dissipated energies. We experimentally probe a model system: an electrical dipole driven out of equilibrium by a small constant current I, and show that FT are experimentally accessible and valid. Furthermore, we stress that FT can be used to measure the dissipated power P = R I2 in the system by just studying the PDFs' symmetries.

Rearing environment influences boldness and prey acquisition behavior, and brain and lens development of bull trout

Science.gov (United States)

Brignon, William R.; Pike, Martin M.; Ebbesson, Lars O.E.; Schaller, Howard A.; Peterson, James T.; Schreck, Carl B.

2018-01-01

Animals reared in barren captive environments exhibit different developmental trajectories and behaviors than wild counterparts. Hence, the captive phenotypes may influence the success of reintroduction and recovery programs for threatened and endangered species. We collected wild bull trout embryos from the Metolius River Basin, Oregon and reared them in differing environments to better understand how captivity affects the bull trout Salvelinus confluentusphenotype. We compared the boldness and prey acquisition behaviors and development of the brain and eye lens of bull trout reared in conventional barren and more structurally complex captive environments with that of wild fish. Wild fish and captive reared fish from complex habitats exhibited a greater level of boldness and prey acquisition ability, than fish reared in conventional captive environments. In addition, the eye lens of conventionally reared bull trout was larger than complex reared captive fish or same age wild fish. Interestingly, we detected wild fish had a smaller relative cerebellum than either captive reared treatment. Our results suggest that rearing fish in more complex captive environments can create a more wild-like phenotype than conventional rearing practices. A better understanding of the effects of captivity on the development and behavior of bull trout can inform rearing and reintroduction programs though prediction of the performance of released individuals.

Distinct BOLD fMRI Responses of Capsaicin-Induced Thermal Sensation Reveal Pain-Related Brain Activation in Nonhuman Primates.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abu Bakar Ali Asad

Full Text Available Approximately 20% of the adult population suffer from chronic pain that is not adequately treated by current therapies, highlighting a great need for improved treatment options. To develop effective analgesics, experimental human and animal models of pain are critical. Topically/intra-dermally applied capsaicin induces hyperalgesia and allodynia to thermal and tactile stimuli that mimics chronic pain and is a useful translation from preclinical research to clinical investigation. Many behavioral and self-report studies of pain have exploited the use of the capsaicin pain model, but objective biomarker correlates of the capsaicin augmented nociceptive response in nonhuman primates remains to be explored.Here we establish an aversive capsaicin-induced fMRI model using non-noxious heat stimuli in Cynomolgus monkeys (n = 8. BOLD fMRI data were collected during thermal challenge (ON:20 s/42°C; OFF:40 s/35°C, 4-cycle at baseline and 30 min post-capsaicin (0.1 mg, topical, forearm application. Tail withdrawal behavioral studies were also conducted in the same animals using 42°C or 48°C water bath pre- and post- capsaicin application (0.1 mg, subcutaneous, tail.Group comparisons between pre- and post-capsaicin application revealed significant BOLD signal increases in brain regions associated with the 'pain matrix', including somatosensory, frontal, and cingulate cortices, as well as the cerebellum (paired t-test, p<0.02, n = 8, while no significant change was found after the vehicle application. The tail withdrawal behavioral study demonstrated a significant main effect of temperature and a trend towards capsaicin induced reduction of latency at both temperatures.These findings provide insights into the specific brain regions involved with aversive, 'pain-like', responses in a nonhuman primate model. Future studies may employ both behavioral and fMRI measures as translational biomarkers to gain deeper understanding of pain processing and evaluate

The Rule of Three for Prizes in Science and the Bold Triptychs of Francis Bacon.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldstein, Joseph L

2016-09-22

For many scientific awards, such as Nobels and Laskers, the maximum number of recipients is three. This Rule of Three forces selection committees to make difficult decisions that increase the likelihood of singling out those individuals who open a new field and continue to lead it. The Rule of Three is reminiscent of art's three-panel triptych, a form that the modern master Francis Bacon used to distill complex stories in a bold way. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hydrodynamical fluctuations in smooth shear flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chagelishvili, G.D.; Khujadze, G.R.; Lominadze, J.G.

1999-11-01

Background of hydrodynamical fluctuations in a intrinsically/stochastically forced, laminar, uniform shear flow is studied. The employment of so-called nonmodal mathematical analysis makes it possible to represent the background of fluctuations in a new light and to get more insight into the physics of its formation. The basic physical processes responsible for the formation of vortex and acoustic wave fluctuation backgrounds are analyzed. Interplay of the processes at low and moderate shear rates is described. Three-dimensional vortex fluctuations around a given macroscopic state are numerically calculated. The correlation functions of the fluctuations of physical quantities are analyzed. It is shown that there exists subspace D k in the wave-number space (k-space) that is limited externally by spherical surface with radius k ν ≡ A/ν (where A is the velocity shear parameter, ν - the kinematic viscosity) in the nonequilibrium open system under study. The spatial Fourier harmonics of vortex as well as acoustic wave fluctuations are strongly subjected by flow shear (by the open character of the system) at wave-numbers satisfying the condition k ν . Specifically it is shown that in D k : The fluctuations are non-Markovian; the spatial spectral density of energy of the vortex fluctuations by far exceeds the white-noise; the term of a new type associated to the hydrodynamical fluctuation of velocity appears in the correlation function of pressure; the fluctuation background of the acoustic waves is completely different at low and moderate shear rates (at low shear rates it is reduced in D k in comparison to the uniform (non-shear) flow; at moderate shear rates it it comparable to the background of the vortex fluctuations). The fluctuation background of both the vortex and the acoustic wave modes is anisotropic. The possible significance of the fluctuation background of vortices for the subcritical transition to turbulence and Brownian motion of small macroscopic

Hadronic Correlations and Fluctuations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koch, Volker

2008-10-09

We will provide a review of some of the physics which can be addressed by studying fluctuations and correlations in heavy ion collisions. We will discuss Lattice QCD results on fluctuations and correlations and will put them into context with observables which have been measured in heavy-ion collisions. Special attention will be given to the QCD critical point and the first order co-existence region, and we will discuss how the measurement of fluctuations and correlations can help in an experimental search for non-trivial structures in the QCD phase diagram.

Fluctuating ideal-gas lattice Boltzmann method with fluctuation dissipation theorem for nonvanishing velocities.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaehler, G; Wagner, A J

2013-06-01

Current implementations of fluctuating ideal-gas descriptions with the lattice Boltzmann methods are based on a fluctuation dissipation theorem, which, while greatly simplifying the implementation, strictly holds only for zero mean velocity and small fluctuations. We show how to derive the fluctuation dissipation theorem for all k, which was done only for k=0 in previous derivations. The consistent derivation requires, in principle, locally velocity-dependent multirelaxation time transforms. Such an implementation is computationally prohibitively expensive but, with a small computational trick, it is feasible to reproduce the correct FDT without overhead in computation time. It is then shown that the previous standard implementations perform poorly for non vanishing mean velocity as indicated by violations of Galilean invariance of measured structure factors. Results obtained with the method introduced here show a significant reduction of the Galilean invariance violations.

Fluctuations in Schottky barrier heights

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahan, G.D.

1984-01-01

A double Schottky barrier is often formed at the grain boundary in polycrystalline semiconductors. The barrier height is shown to fluctuate in value due to the random nature of the impurity positions. The magnitude of the fluctuations is 0.1 eV, and the fluctuations cause the barrier height measured by capacitance to differ from the one measured by electrical conductivity

Statistical properties of entropy production derived from fluctuation theorems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merhav, Neri; Kafri, Yariv

2010-01-01

Several implications of well-known fluctuation theorems, on the statistical properties of entropy production, are studied using various approaches. We begin by deriving a tight lower bound on the variance of the entropy production for a given mean of this random variable. It is shown that the Evans–Searles fluctuation theorem alone imposes a significant lower bound on the variance only when the mean entropy production is very small. It is then nonetheless demonstrated that upon incorporating additional information concerning the entropy production, this lower bound can be significantly improved, so as to capture extensivity properties. Another important aspect of the fluctuation properties of the entropy production is the relationship between the mean and the variance, on the one hand, and the probability of the event where the entropy production is negative, on the other hand. Accordingly, we derive upper and lower bounds on this probability in terms of the mean and the variance. These bounds are tighter than previous bounds that can be found in the literature. Moreover, they are tight in the sense that there exist probability distributions, satisfying the Evans–Searles fluctuation theorem, that achieve them with equality. Finally, we present a general method for generating a wide class of inequalities that must be satisfied by the entropy production. We use this method to derive several new inequalities that go beyond the standard derivation of the second law

Fully Quantum Fluctuation Theorems

Science.gov (United States)

Åberg, Johan

2018-02-01

Systems that are driven out of thermal equilibrium typically dissipate random quantities of energy on microscopic scales. Crooks fluctuation theorem relates the distribution of these random work costs to the corresponding distribution for the reverse process. By an analysis that explicitly incorporates the energy reservoir that donates the energy and the control system that implements the dynamic, we obtain a quantum generalization of Crooks theorem that not only includes the energy changes in the reservoir but also the full description of its evolution, including coherences. Moreover, this approach opens up the possibility for generalizations of the concept of fluctuation relations. Here, we introduce "conditional" fluctuation relations that are applicable to nonequilibrium systems, as well as approximate fluctuation relations that allow for the analysis of autonomous evolution generated by global time-independent Hamiltonians. We furthermore extend these notions to Markovian master equations, implicitly modeling the influence of the heat bath.

Curvature of fluctuation geometry and its implications on Riemannian fluctuation theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Velazquez, L

2013-01-01

Fluctuation geometry was recently proposed as a counterpart approach of the Riemannian geometry of inference theory (widely known as information geometry). This theory describes the geometric features of the statistical manifold M of random events that are described by a family of continuous distributions dp(x|θ). A main goal of this work is to clarify the statistical relevance of the Levi-Civita curvature tensor R ijkl (x|θ) of the statistical manifold M. For this purpose, the notion of irreducible statistical correlations is introduced. Specifically, a distribution dp(x|θ) exhibits irreducible statistical correlations if every distribution dp(x-check|θ) obtained from dp(x|θ) by considering a coordinate change x-check = φ(x) cannot be factorized into independent distributions as dp(x-check|θ) = prod i dp (i) (x-check i |θ). It is shown that the curvature tensor R ijkl (x|θ) arises as a direct indicator about the existence of irreducible statistical correlations. Moreover, the curvature scalar R(x|θ) allows us to introduce a criterium for the applicability of the Gaussian approximation of a given distribution function. This type of asymptotic result is obtained in the framework of the second-order geometric expansion of the distribution family dp(x|θ), which appears as a counterpart development of the high-order asymptotic theory of statistical estimation. In physics, fluctuation geometry represents the mathematical apparatus of a Riemannian extension for Einstein’s fluctuation theory of statistical mechanics. Some exact results of fluctuation geometry are now employed to derive the invariant fluctuation theorems. Moreover, the curvature scalar allows us to express some asymptotic formulae that account for the system fluctuating behavior beyond the Gaussian approximation, e.g.: it appears as a second-order correction of the Legendre transformation between thermodynamic potentials, P(θ)=θ i x-bar i -s( x-bar |θ)+k 2 R(x|θ)/6. (paper)

Instantaneous fluctuation velocity and skewness distributions upstream of transition onset

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernon, D.; Walsh, E.J.; McEligot, D.M.

2007-01-01

The development of streamwise orientated disturbances through the boundary layer thickness prior to transition onset for zero-pressure gradient boundary layer flow under the influence %Tu = 4.2 is presented. The analysis concentrates on the development of the maximum positive and negative of the fluctuation velocity in order to gain further insight into the transition process. The average location of the peak negative fluctuation velocity over a range of Reynolds numbers was measured in the upper portion of the boundary layer at y/δ ∼ 0.6, whereas the location of the peak positive value was measured at y/δ ∼ 0.3. The disturbance magnitude of the negative fluctuation velocity increased beyond that of the positive as transition onset approached. The distribution and disturbance magnitude of the maximum positive and negative fluctuation velocities indicate that the initiation of transition may occur on the low-speed components of the flow that are lifted up to the upper region of the boundary layer. This is in qualitative agreement with recent direct numerical simulations on the breakdown of the flow on the lifted low-speed streaks near the boundary layer edge. The results presented in this investigation also demonstrate the increased physical insight gained by examining the distributions of the maximum positive and negative of the streamwise fluctuation velocity component associated with the low- and high-speed streaks, compared to time-averaged values, in determining what structures cause the breakdown to turbulence

Quantum fluctuations and inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bardeen, J.M.; Bublik, G.J.

1986-05-01

We study the effect of quantum fluctuations on the roll-down rate of the inflation field in a semiclassical approximation; this is done by treating the inflation field as a classical random field. The quantum fluctuations are simulated by a noise term in the equation of motion. We consider two different inflationary scenarios (new and chaotic inflation) and find that the roll-down rate of the median value of the inflation field is increased by the quantum fluctuations. Non-linear effects may become important in the later stages of the inflationary regime. 8 refs., 2 figs

Quantum fluctuations and inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bardeen, J.M.; Bublik, G.J.

1987-01-01

The authors study the effect of quantum fluctuations on the roll-down rate of the inflation field in a semiclassical approximation; this is done by treating the inflation field as a classical random field. The quantum fluctuations are simulated by a noise term in the equation of motion. Two different inflationary scenarios (new and chaotic inflation) are considered and it is found that the roll-down rate of the median value of the inflation field is increased by the quantum fluctuations. Non-linear effects may become important in the later stages of the inflationary regime. (author)

Gamma-ray-induced bold seeded early maturing groundnut selections

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manoharan, V; Thangavelu, S [Regional Research Station, Vriddhachalam, Tamil Nadu (India)

1990-07-01

Full text: ''Chico'' is an early maturing (85-90 days) erect groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) genotype utilised in groundnut improvement to incorporate earliness in high yielding varieties. Though it has high shelling out-turn, its yield potential is low since it has small seeds. Mutation breeding was started with the objective of improving the seed size. In a preliminary experiment, dry seeds were treated with 20, 30, 40 or 50 kR of gamma rays. The M{sub 1} generation was grown during the post rainy season of 1988-1989. The M{sub 2} generation was planted as individual plant progeny rows during the rainy season of 1989. 105 progeny rows were studied, the total number of M{sub 2} plants being 1,730. All the M{sub 2} plants were harvested 90 days after sowing. Seven mutants with bold seed size were obtained. The mutants had 100 kernel weight ranging from 22.2 to 40.4 g compared to 21.1 g of control. The study is in progress. (author)

The Spectrum of Wind Power Fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Bandi, Mahesh

2016-11-01

Wind is a variable energy source whose fluctuations threaten electrical grid stability and complicate dynamical load balancing. The power generated by a wind turbine fluctuates due to the variable wind speed that blows past the turbine. Indeed, the spectrum of wind power fluctuations is widely believed to reflect the Kolmogorov spectrum; both vary with frequency f as f - 5 / 3. This variability decreases when aggregate power fluctuations from geographically distributed wind farms are averaged at the grid via a mechanism known as geographic smoothing. Neither the f - 5 / 3 wind power fluctuation spectrum nor the mechanism of geographic smoothing are understood. In this work, we explain the wind power fluctuation spectrum from the turbine through grid scales. The f - 5 / 3 wind power fluctuation spectrum results from the largest length scales of atmospheric turbulence of order 200 km influencing the small scales where individual turbines operate. This long-range influence spatially couples geographically distributed wind farms and synchronizes farm outputs over a range of frequencies and decreases with increasing inter-farm distance. Consequently, aggregate grid-scale power fluctuations remain correlated, and are smoothed until they reach a limiting f - 7 / 3 spectrum. This work was funded by the Collective Interactions Unit, OIST Graduate University, Japan.

Internal representations for face detection: an application of noise-based image classification to BOLD responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Nestor, Adrian; Vettel, Jean M; Tarr, Michael J

2013-11-01

What basic visual structures underlie human face detection and how can we extract such structures directly from the amplitude of neural responses elicited by face processing? Here, we address these issues by investigating an extension of noise-based image classification to BOLD responses recorded in high-level visual areas. First, we assess the applicability of this classification method to such data and, second, we explore its results in connection with the neural processing of faces. To this end, we construct luminance templates from white noise fields based on the response of face-selective areas in the human ventral cortex. Using behaviorally and neurally-derived classification images, our results reveal a family of simple but robust image structures subserving face representation and detection. Thus, we confirm the role played by classical face selective regions in face detection and we help clarify the representational basis of this perceptual function. From a theory standpoint, our findings support the idea of simple but highly diagnostic neurally-coded features for face detection. At the same time, from a methodological perspective, our work demonstrates the ability of noise-based image classification in conjunction with fMRI to help uncover the structure of high-level perceptual representations. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Interplanetary Alfvenic fluctuations: A stochastic model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, A.

1981-01-01

The strong alignment of the average directions of minimum magnetic variance and mean magnetic field in interplanetary Alfvenic fluctuations is inconsistent with the usual wave-propagation models. We investigate the concept of minimum variance for nonplanar Alfvenic fluctuations in which the field direction varies stochastically. It is found that the tendency of the minimum variance and mean field directions to be aligned may be purely a consequence of the randomness of the field direction. In particular, a well-defined direction of minimum variance does not imply that the fluctuations are necessarily planar. The fluctuation power spectrum is a power law for frequencies much higher than the inverse of the correlation time. The probability distribution of directions a randomly fluctuating field of constant magnitude is calculated. A new approach for observational studies of interplanetary fluctuations is suggested

Role of 3T multiparametric-MRI with BOLD hypoxia imaging for diagnosis and post therapy response evaluation of postoperative recurrent cervical cancers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahajan, Abhishek; Engineer, Reena; Chopra, Supriya; Mahanshetty, Umesh; Juvekar, S.L.; Shrivastava, S.K.; Desekar, Naresh; Thakur, M.H.

2015-01-01

•In operated cervix cancer, the accuracy of diagnosing vaginal vault/local recurrent lesions was higher at combined multiparametric MR imaging and conventional MR imaging (100%) than at conventional MR imaging (70%) or multiparametric MR imaging (96.7%) alone.•We found a significant correlation between percentage tumor regression and pre-treatment parameters: NEI (p = 0.02), the maximum slope (p = 0.04), mADC value (p = 0.001) and amount of hypoxic fraction present in the pretherapy MRI (p = 0.01).•Multiparametric and BOLD hypoxia MR Imaging are feasible and reliable in diagnosing post-operative recurrence in cervical cancer and should be applied when there is clinical suspicion of post-operative recurrence.•Quantitative image features obtained at multiparametric-MRI with BOLD hypoxia imaging has potential to be an appropriate and reliable biologic target for radiation dose painting to optimize therapy in future. In operated cervix cancer, the accuracy of diagnosing vaginal vault/local recurrent lesions was higher at combined multiparametric MR imaging and conventional MR imaging (100%) than at conventional MR imaging (70%) or multiparametric MR imaging (96.7%) alone. We found a significant correlation between percentage tumor regression and pre-treatment parameters: NEI (p = 0.02), the maximum slope (p = 0.04), mADC value (p = 0.001) and amount of hypoxic fraction present in the pretherapy MRI (p = 0.01). Multiparametric and BOLD hypoxia MR Imaging are feasible and reliable in diagnosing post-operative recurrence in cervical cancer and should be applied when there is clinical suspicion of post-operative recurrence. Quantitative image features obtained at multiparametric-MRI with BOLD hypoxia imaging has potential to be an appropriate and reliable biologic target for radiation dose painting to optimize therapy in future. To assess the diagnostic value of multiparametric-MRI (MPMRI) with hypoxia imaging as a functional marker for characterizing and detecting

Critical behavior of order-parameter fluctuations in liquid 4He near T/sub lambda/

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lambert, B.; Perzynski, R.; Salin, D.

1979-01-01

We hve measured the critical attenuation of first sound in liquid 4 He from 550 to 1700 MHz. We can describe the attenuation due to the fluctuations of the order parameter up to 1.7 GHz, using experimental data at lower frequencies from various authors. Above T/sub lambda/, the fluctuations are the only phenomena and are analyzed with a scaling function of ωtau 2 with a characteristic time tau 2 = 2 x 10 -12 x t/sup -1.062/ sec, t = vertical-bar (T-T/sub lambda/)/T/sub lambda/vertical-bar. Below T/sub lambda/, several phenomena are present. In the range of 1 GHz, the main contribution is due to the fluctuations. We demonstrate experimentally that the fluctuation attenuation is not symmetric about T/sub lambda/. We fit our data with a scaling function of ωtau 2

Topics in fluctuating nonlinear hydrodynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milner, S.T.

1986-01-01

Models of fluctuating nonlinear hydrodynamics have enjoyed much success in explaining the effect of long-wavelength fluctuations in diverse hydrodynamic systems. This thesis explores two such problems; in both, the body of hydrodynamic assumptions powerfully constrains the predictions of a well-posed theory. The effects of layer fluctuations in smectic-A liquid crystals are first examined. The static theory (introduced by Grinstein and Pelcovits) is reviewed. Ward identities, resulting from the arbitrariness of the layering direction, are derived and exploited. The static results motivate an examination of dynamic fluctuation effects. A new sound-damping experiment is proposed that would probe singular dependence of viscosities on applied stress. A theory of Procaccia and Gitterman that reaction rates of chemically reacting binary mixtures are drastically reduced near their thermodynamic critical points is analyzed. Hydrodynamic arguments and Van Hove theory are applied, concluding that the PG idea is drastically slowed, and spatially varying composition fluctuations are at best slowed down over a narrow range of wavenumbers

Consistent inter-individual differences in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) in Boldness-Shyness, Stress-Activity, and Exploration-Avoidance.

Science.gov (United States)

Šlipogor, Vedrana; Gunhold-de Oliveira, Tina; Tadić, Zoran; Massen, Jorg J M; Bugnyar, Thomas

2016-09-01

The study of animal personality, defined as consistent inter-individual differences in correlated behavioral traits stable throughout time and/or contexts, has recently become one of the fastest growing areas in animal biology, with study species ranging from insects to non-human primates. The latter have, however, only occasionally been tested with standardized experiments. Instead their personality has usually been assessed using questionnaires. Therefore, this study aimed to test 21 common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) living in three family groups, in five different experiments, and their corresponding controls. We found that behavioral differences between our animals were not only consistent over time, but also across different contexts. Moreover, the consistent behaviors formed a construct of four major non-social personality components: Boldness-Shyness in Foraging, Boldness-Shyness in Predation, Stress-Activity, and Exploration-Avoidance. We found no sex or age differences in these components, but our results did reveal differences in Exploration-Avoidance between the three family groups. As social environment can have a large influence on behavior of individuals, our results may suggest group-level similarity in personality (i.e., "group personality") in common marmosets, a species living in highly cohesive social groups. Am. J. Primatol. 78:961-973, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Principle of minimal work fluctuations.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Gaoyang; Gong, Jiangbin

2015-08-01

Understanding and manipulating work fluctuations in microscale and nanoscale systems are of both fundamental and practical interest. For example, in considering the Jarzynski equality 〈e-βW〉=e-βΔF, a change in the fluctuations of e-βW may impact how rapidly the statistical average of e-βW converges towards the theoretical value e-βΔF, where W is the work, β is the inverse temperature, and ΔF is the free energy difference between two equilibrium states. Motivated by our previous study aiming at the suppression of work fluctuations, here we obtain a principle of minimal work fluctuations. In brief, adiabatic processes as treated in quantum and classical adiabatic theorems yield the minimal fluctuations in e-βW. In the quantum domain, if a system initially prepared at thermal equilibrium is subjected to a work protocol but isolated from a bath during the time evolution, then a quantum adiabatic process without energy level crossing (or an assisted adiabatic process reaching the same final states as in a conventional adiabatic process) yields the minimal fluctuations in e-βW, where W is the quantum work defined by two energy measurements at the beginning and at the end of the process. In the classical domain where the classical work protocol is realizable by an adiabatic process, then the classical adiabatic process also yields the minimal fluctuations in e-βW. Numerical experiments based on a Landau-Zener process confirm our theory in the quantum domain, and our theory in the classical domain explains our previous numerical findings regarding the suppression of classical work fluctuations [G. Y. Xiao and J. B. Gong, Phys. Rev. E 90, 052132 (2014)].

RAINIER: A simulation tool for distributions of excited nuclear states and cascade fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Kirsch, L. E.; Bernstein, L. A.

2018-06-01

A new code has been developed named RAINIER that simulates the γ-ray decay of discrete and quasi-continuum nuclear levels for a user-specified range of energy, angular momentum, and parity including a realistic treatment of level spacing and transition width fluctuations. A similar program, DICEBOX, uses the Monte Carlo method to simulate level and width fluctuations but is restricted in its initial level population algorithm. On the other hand, modern reaction codes such as TALYS and EMPIRE populate a wide range of states in the residual nucleus prior to γ-ray decay, but do not go beyond the use of deterministic functions and therefore neglect cascade fluctuations. This combination of capabilities allows RAINIER to be used to determine quasi-continuum properties through comparison with experimental data. Several examples are given that demonstrate how cascade fluctuations influence experimental high-resolution γ-ray spectra from reactions that populate a wide range of initial states.

RF current drive and plasma fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peysson, Yves; Decker, Joan; Morini, L; Coda, S

2011-01-01

The role played by electron density fluctuations near the plasma edge on rf current drive in tokamaks is assessed quantitatively. For this purpose, a general framework for incorporating density fluctuations in existing modelling tools has been developed. It is valid when rf power absorption takes place far from the fluctuating region of the plasma. The ray-tracing formalism is modified in order to take into account time-dependent perturbations of the density, while the Fokker–Planck solver remains unchanged. The evolution of the electron distribution function in time and space under the competing effects of collisions and quasilinear diffusion by rf waves is determined consistently with the time scale of fluctuations described as a statistical process. Using the ray-tracing code C3PO and the 3D linearized relativistic bounce-averaged Fokker–Planck solver LUKE, the effect of electron density fluctuations on the current driven by the lower hybrid (LH) and the electron cyclotron (EC) waves is estimated quantitatively. A thin fluctuating layer characterized by electron drift wave turbulence at the plasma edge is considered. The effect of fluctuations on the LH wave propagation is equivalent to a random scattering process with a broadening of the poloidal mode spectrum proportional to the level of the perturbation. However, in the multipass regime, the LH current density profile remains sensitive to the ray chaotic behaviour, which is not averaged by fluctuations. The effect of large amplitude fluctuations on the EC driven current is found to be similar to an anomalous radial transport of the fast electrons. The resulting lower current drive efficiency and broader current profile are in better agreement with experimental observations. Finally, applied to the ITER ELMy H-mode regime, the model predicts a significant broadening of the EC driven current density profile with the fluctuation level, which can make the stabilization of neoclassical tearing mode potentially

Neutrino propagation in a fluctuating sun

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, C.P.; Michaud, D.

1997-01-01

We adapt to neutrino physics a general formulation for particle propagation in fluctuating media, initially developed for applications to electromagnetism and neutron optics. In leading approximation this formalism leads to the usual MSW effective Hamiltonian governing neutrino propagation through a medium. Next-to-leading contributions describe deviations from this description, which arise due to neutrino interactions with fluctuations in the medium. We compute these corrections for two types of fluctuations: (i) microscopic thermal fluctuations and (ii) macroscopic fluctuations in the medium s density. While the first of these reproduces standard estimates, which are negligible for applications to solar neutrinos, we find that the second can be quite large, since it grows in size with the correlation length of the fluctuation. We consider two models in some detail. For fluctuations whose correlations extend only over a local region in space of length l, appreciable effects for MSW oscillations arise if (δn/n) 2 l approx-gt 100m or so. Alternatively, a crude model of helioseismic p-waves gives appreciable effects only when (δn/n)approx-gt 1%. In general the dominant effect is to diminish the quality of the resonance, making the suppression of the 7 Be neutrinos a good experimental probe of fluctuations deep within the sun. Fluctuations can also provide a new mechanism for reducing the solar neutrino flux, giving an energy-independent suppression factor of 1/2 away from the resonant region, even for small vacuum mixing angles. copyright 1997 Academic Press, Inc

Food intake rates of inactive fish are positively linked to boldness in three‐spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus

Science.gov (United States)

Manica, A.; Boogert, N. J.

2016-01-01

To investigate the link between personality and maximum food intake of inactive individuals, food‐deprived three‐spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus at rest in their home compartments were provided with ad libitum prey items. Bolder individuals ate considerably more than shyer individuals, even after accounting for body size, while sociability did not have an effect. These findings support pace‐of‐life theory predicting that life‐history strategies are linked to boldness. PMID:26940195

The importance for speech intelligibility of random fluctuations in "steady" background noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Stone, Michael A; Füllgrabe, Christian; Mackinnon, Robert C; Moore, Brian C J

2011-11-01

Spectrally shaped steady noise is commonly used as a masker of speech. The effects of inherent random fluctuations in amplitude of such a noise are typically ignored. Here, the importance of these random fluctuations was assessed by comparing two cases. For one, speech was mixed with steady speech-shaped noise and N-channel tone vocoded, a process referred to as signal-domain mixing (SDM); this preserved the random fluctuations of the noise. For the second, the envelope of speech alone was extracted for each vocoder channel and a constant was added corresponding to the root-mean-square value of the noise envelope for that channel. This is referred to as envelope-domain mixing (EDM); it removed the random fluctuations of the noise. Sinusoidally modulated noise and a single talker were also used as backgrounds, with both SDM and EDM. Speech intelligibility was measured for N = 12, 19, and 30, with the target-to-background ratio fixed at -7 dB. For SDM, performance was best for the speech background and worst for the steady noise. For EDM, this pattern was reversed. Intelligibility with steady noise was consistently very poor for SDM, but near-ceiling for EDM, demonstrating that the random fluctuations in steady noise have a large effect.

Electrostatic fluctuation and fluctuation-induced particle flux during formation of the edge transport barrier in the JFT-2M tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ido, T.; Hamada, Y.; Nagashima, Y.; Nishizawa, A.; Kawasumi, Y.; Miura, Y.; Hoshino, K.; Ogawa, H.; Shinohara, K.; Kamiya, K.; Kusama, Y.

2005-01-01

The electrostatic fluctuation with Geodesic-Acoustic-Mode (GAM) frequency is observed in L-mode plasmas. The fluctuation has the poloidal wave number (k θ ) of (-2 ± 24) x 10 -3 (cm -1 ), that corresponds to the poloidal mode number of 1.5 or less, and the radial wave number (k r ) of 0.94 ± 0.05 (cm -1 ), that is corresponds to k r ρ i = 0.26 < 1. The amplitude of the fluctuation changes in the radial direction; it is small near the separatrix and it has maximum at 3 cm inside the separatrix. The relation between the amplitude of potential fluctuation and that of density fluctuation is the same as that of the predicted GAM. The fluctuation is probably GAM. The envelope of ambient density fluctuation and the potential fluctuation have a significant coherence at the GAM frequency. Thus, it is clearly verified that the fluctuation with the GAM frequency correlates with the ambient density fluctuation. The fluctuation with the GAM frequency affects the particle transport through the modulation of the ambient fluctuation. But the effect is not large, and it is not a sufficient condition to form the edge transport barrier and to drive the intermittent particle flux. (author)

Electrostatic fluctuation and fluctuation-induced particle flux during formation of the edge transport barrier in the JFT-2M tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ido, T.; Miura, K.; Hoshino, K.

2005-01-01

The electrostatic fluctuation with Geodesic-Acoustic-Mode (GAM) frequency is observed in L-mode plasmas. The fluctuation has the poloidal wave number (k θ ) of (-2 ± 24) x 10 -3 (cm -1 ), that corresponds to the poloidal mode number of 1.5 or less, and the radial wave number (k γ ) of 0.94±0.05 (cm -1 ), that is corresponds to k γ ρ i =0.26 < 1. The amplitude of the fluctuation changes in the radial direction; it is small near the separatrix and it has maximum at 3 cm inside the separatrix. The relation between the amplitude of potential fluctuation and that of density fluctuation is the same as that of the predicted GAM. The fluctuation is probably GAM. The envelope of ambient density fluctuation and the potential fluctuation have a significant coherence at the GAM frequency. Thus, it is clearly verified that the fluctuation with the GAM frequency correlates with the ambient density fluctuation. The fluctuation with the GAM frequency affects the particle transport through the modulation of the ambient fluctuation. But the effect is not large, and it is not a sufficient condition to form the edge transport barrier and to drive the intermittent particle flux. (author)

Integrated cantilever-based flow sensors with tunable sensitivity for in-line monitoring of flow fluctuations in microfluidic systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Noeth, Nadine-Nicole; Keller, Stephan Sylvest; Boisen, Anja

2014-01-01

For devices such as bio-/chemical sensors in microfluidic systems, flow fluctuations result in noise in the sensor output. Here, we demonstrate in-line monitoring of flow fluctuations with a cantilever-like sensor integrated in a microfluidic channel. The cantilevers are fabricated in different...... is directly proportional to the flow rate fluctuations in the microfluidic channel. The SiN cantilevers show a detection limit below 1 nL/min and the thinnest SU-8 cantilevers a detection limit below 5 nL/min. Finally, the sensor is applied for in-line monitoring of flow fluctuations generated by external...

Measuring shape fluctuations in biological membranes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monzel, C; Sengupta, K

2016-01-01

Shape fluctuations of lipid membranes have intrigued cell biologists and physicists alike. In the cellular context, their origin—thermal or active—and their physiological significance are open questions. These small incessant displacements, also called membrane undulations, have mostly been studied in model membranes and membranes of simple cells like erythrocytes. Thermal fluctuations of such membranes have been very well described both theoretically and experimentally; active fluctuations are a topic of current interest. Experimentally, membrane fluctuations are not easy to measure, the main challenge being to develop techniques which are capable of measuring very small displacements at very high speed, and preferably over a large area and long time. Scattering techniques have given access to fluctuations in membrane stacks and a variety of optical microscopy based techniques have been devised to study membrane fluctuations of unilamellar vesicles, erythrocytes and other cells. Among them are flicker spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, diffraction phase microscopy and reflection interference contrast microscopy. Each of these techniques has its advantages and limitations. Here we review the basic principles of the major experimental techniques used to measure bending or shape fluctuations of biomembranes. We report seminal results obtained with each technique and highlight how these studies furthered our understanding of physical properties of membranes and their interactions. We also discuss suggested role of membrane fluctuations in different biological processes. (topical review)

Fluctuation analysis of rotational spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doessing, T.; Bracco, A.; Broglia, R.A.; Matsuo, M.

1996-01-01

The compound state rotational degree of freedom is ''damped'' in the sense that the electric quadrupole decay of a single quantum state with angular momentum I exhibits a spectrum of final states all having spin I-2. In actual experiments, the cascade of γ-rays associated with each of the members of the ensemble of compound nuclei uses each of the ''discrete'' transitions many more times than the ''continuum'' transitions. Relatively large and small fluctuations in the recorded coincidence spectrum ensue, respectively. The analysis of the fluctuations will be shown to be instrumental to gain insight into the phenomenon of rotational damping. For this purpose, two- and higher-fold coincidence spectra emitted from rotating nuclei are analyzed with respect to the count fluctuations. The coincidences from consecutive γ-rays emitted from discrete rotational bands generate ridges in the E γ1 .E γ2 spectrum, and the fluctuation analysis of the ridges is based upon the ansatz of a random selection of transition energies from band to band. This ansatz is supported by a cranked mean-field calculation for the nucleus 168 Yb, as well as by analyzing resolved bands in 168 Yb and its neighbors. The fluctuation analysis of the central valley (E γ1 =E γ2 ) is based upon the ansatz of fluctuations in the intensity of the transitions of Porter-Thomas type superposed on a smooth spectrum of transition energies. This ansatz is again supported by a mixed-band calculation. The mathematical treatment of count fluctuations is formulated in general (orig.)

Single molecule detection, thermal fluctuation and life

Science.gov (United States)

YANAGIDA, Toshio; ISHII, Yoshiharu

2017-01-01

Single molecule detection has contributed to our understanding of the unique mechanisms of life. Unlike artificial man-made machines, biological molecular machines integrate thermal noises rather than avoid them. For example, single molecule detection has demonstrated that myosin motors undergo biased Brownian motion for stepwise movement and that single protein molecules spontaneously change their conformation, for switching to interactions with other proteins, in response to thermal fluctuation. Thus, molecular machines have flexibility and efficiency not seen in artificial machines. PMID:28190869

Fluctuations and structure of amphiphilic films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gourier, CH.

1996-01-01

This thesis is divided in three parts.The first part exposes in a theoretical point of view, how the fluctuations spectrum of an amphiphilic film is governed by its properties and its bidimensional characteristics.The measurements of fluctuations spectra of an interface are accessible with the measurement of intensity that interface diffuses out of the specular angle, we present in the second chapter the principles of the X rays diffusion by a real interface and see how the diffuse diffusion experiments allow to determine the fluctuations spectrum of an amphiphilic film. The second part is devoted to the different experimental techniques that have allowed to realize the study of fluctuation as well as the structural study.The third part is devoted to experimental results concerning the measurements of fluctuations spectra and to the study of the structure of amphiphilic films. We show that it is possible by using an intense source of X rays (ESRF: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility) to measure the water and amphiphilic films fluctuations spectra until molecular scales. The last chapter is devoted to the structural study and film fluctuations made of di-acetylenic molecules. (N.C.)

The Fluctuation Niche in Plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaume Terradas

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Classical approaches to niche in coexisting plants have undervalued temporal fluctuations. We propose that fluctuation niche is an important dimension of the total niche and interacts with habitat and life-history niches to provide a better understanding of the multidimensional niche space where ecological interactions occur. To scale a fluctuation niche, it is necessary to relate environmental constrictions or species performance not only to the absolute values of the usual environmental and ecophysiological variables but also to their variances or other measures of variability. We use Mediterranean plant communities as examples, because they present characteristic large seasonal and interannual fluctuations in water and nutrient availabilities, along an episodic-constant gradient, and because the plant responses include a number of syndromes coupled to this gradient.

The Fluctuation Niche in Plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terradas, J.; Penuelas, J.; Lloret, F.; Penuelas, J.

2009-01-01

Classical approaches to niche in coexisting plants have undervalued temporal fluctuations. We propose that fluctuation niche is an important dimension of the total niche and interacts with habitat and life-history niches to provide a better understanding of the multidimensional niche space where ecological interactions occur. To scale a fluctuation niche, it is necessary to relate environmental constrictions or species performance not only to the absolute values of the usual environmental and eco physiological variables but also to their variances or other measures of variability. We use Mediterranean plant communities as examples, because they present characteristic large seasonal and inter annual fluctuations in water and nutrient availabilities, along an episodic-constant gradient, and because the plant responses include a number of syndromes coupled to this gradient.

Fluctuations at electrode-YSZ interfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Torben; Hansen, Karin Vels; Skou, Eivind

2005-01-01

Current fluctuations at potentiostatically controlled point electrodes of Pt, La$_{0.85}$Sr$_{0.15}$MnO$_3$ and Ni on YSZ surfaces are determined at 1000$^\\circ$C. For the oxygen reduction process on Pt electrodes characteristic sawtooth shaped low frequency fluctuations are observed. At temperat......Current fluctuations at potentiostatically controlled point electrodes of Pt, La$_{0.85}$Sr$_{0.15}$MnO$_3$ and Ni on YSZ surfaces are determined at 1000$^\\circ$C. For the oxygen reduction process on Pt electrodes characteristic sawtooth shaped low frequency fluctuations are observed....../water atmosphere are presented for discussion. The origin of the observations is not known at present but it appears likely that they are related to the activation/deactivation mechanism of SOFCs....

Big Bang or vacuum fluctuation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zel'dovich, Ya.B.

1980-01-01

Some general properties of vacuum fluctuations in quantum field theory are described. The connection between the ''energy dominance'' of the energy density of vacuum fluctuations in curved space-time and the presence of singularity is discussed. It is pointed out that a de-Sitter space-time (with the energy density of the vacuum fluctuations in the Einstein equations) that matches the expanding Friedman solution may describe the history of the Universe before the Big Bang. (P.L.)

Anti-correlated cortical networks of intrinsic connectivity in the rat brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwarz, Adam J; Gass, Natalia; Sartorius, Alexander; Risterucci, Celine; Spedding, Michael; Schenker, Esther; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Weber-Fahr, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

In humans, resting-state blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals in the default mode network (DMN) are temporally anti-correlated with those from a lateral cortical network involving the frontal eye fields, secondary somatosensory and posterior insular cortices. Here, we demonstrate the existence of an analogous lateral cortical network in the rat brain, extending laterally from anterior secondary sensorimotor regions to the insular cortex and exhibiting low-frequency BOLD fluctuations that are temporally anti-correlated with a midline "DMN-like" network comprising posterior/anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortices. The primary nexus for this anti-correlation relationship was the anterior secondary motor cortex, close to regions that have been identified with frontal eye fields in the rat brain. The anti-correlation relationship was corroborated after global signal removal, underscoring this finding as a robust property of the functional connectivity signature in the rat brain. These anti-correlated networks demonstrate strong anatomical homology to networks identified in human and monkey connectivity studies, extend the known preserved functional connectivity relationships between rodent and primates, and support the use of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging as a translational imaging method between rat models and humans.

Spin fluctuations and the

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.M. Loktev

2008-09-01

Full Text Available We analyze the spectral properties of a phenomenological model for a weakly doped two-dimensional antiferromagnet, in which the carriers move within one of the two sublattices where they were introduced. Such a constraint results in the free carrier spectra with the maxima at k=(± π/2 , ± π/2 observed in some cuprates. We consider the spectral properties of the model by taking into account fluctuations of the spins in the antiferromagnetic background. We show that such fluctuations lead to a non-pole-like structure of the single-hole Green's function and these fluctuations can be responsible for some anomalous "strange metal" properties of underdoped cuprates in the nonsuperconducting regime.

An Objective Fluctuation Score for Parkinson's Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Horne, Malcolm K.; McGregor, Sarah; Bergquist, Filip

2015-01-01

Introduction Establishing the presence and severity of fluctuations is important in managing Parkinson’s Disease yet there is no reliable, objective means of doing this. In this study we have evaluated a Fluctuation Score derived from variations in dyskinesia and bradykinesia scores produced by an accelerometry based system. Methods The Fluctuation Score was produced by summing the interquartile range of bradykinesia scores and dyskinesia scores produced every 2 minutes between 0900-1800 for at least 6 days by the accelerometry based system and expressing it as an algorithm. Results This Score could distinguish between fluctuating and non-fluctuating patients with high sensitivity and selectivity and was significant lower following activation of deep brain stimulators. The scores following deep brain stimulation lay in a band just above the score separating fluctuators from non-fluctuators, suggesting a range representing adequate motor control. When compared with control subjects the score of newly diagnosed patients show a loss of fluctuation with onset of PD. The score was calculated in subjects whose duration of disease was known and this showed that newly diagnosed patients soon develop higher scores which either fall under or within the range representing adequate motor control or instead go on to develop more severe fluctuations. Conclusion The Fluctuation Score described here promises to be a useful tool for identifying patients whose fluctuations are progressing and may require therapeutic changes. It also shows promise as a useful research tool. Further studies are required to more accurately identify therapeutic targets and ranges. PMID:25928634

Global fluctuation spectra in big-crunch-big-bang string vacua

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Craps, Ben; Ovrut, Burt A.

2004-01-01

We study big-crunch-big-bang cosmologies that correspond to exact world-sheet superconformal field theories of type II strings. The string theory spacetime contains a big crunch and a big bang cosmology, as well as additional 'whisker' asymptotic and intermediate regions. Within the context of free string theory, we compute, unambiguously, the scalar fluctuation spectrum in all regions of spacetime. Generically, the big crunch fluctuation spectrum is altered while passing through the bounce singularity. The change in the spectrum is characterized by a function Δ, which is momentum and time dependent. We compute Δ explicitly and demonstrate that it arises from the whisker regions. The whiskers are also shown to lead to 'entanglement' entropy in the big bang region. Finally, in the Milne orbifold limit of our superconformal vacua, we show that Δ→1 and, hence, the fluctuation spectrum is unaltered by the big-crunch-big-bang singularity. We comment on, but do not attempt to resolve, subtleties related to gravitational back reaction and light winding modes when interactions are taken into account

Negative BOLD in sensory cortices during verbal memory: a component in generating internal representations?

Science.gov (United States)

Azulay, Haim; Striem, Ella; Amedi, Amir

2009-05-01

People tend to close their eyes when trying to retrieve an event or a visual image from memory. However the brain mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain poorly understood. Recently, we showed that during visual mental imagery, auditory areas show a much more robust deactivation than during visual perception. Here we ask whether this is a special case of a more general phenomenon involving retrieval of intrinsic, internally stored information, which would result in crossmodal deactivations in other sensory cortices which are irrelevant to the task at hand. To test this hypothesis, a group of 9 sighted individuals were scanned while performing a memory retrieval task for highly abstract words (i.e., with low imaginability scores). We also scanned a group of 10 congenitally blind, which by definition do not have any visual imagery per se. In sighted subjects, both auditory and visual areas were robustly deactivated during memory retrieval, whereas in the blind the auditory cortex was deactivated while visual areas, shown previously to be relevant for this task, presented a positive BOLD signal. These results suggest that deactivation may be most prominent in task-irrelevant sensory cortices whenever there is a need for retrieval or manipulation of internally stored representations. Thus, there is a task-dependent balance of activation and deactivation that might allow maximization of resources and filtering out of non relevant information to enable allocation of attention to the required task. Furthermore, these results suggest that the balance between positive and negative BOLD might be crucial to our understanding of a large variety of intrinsic and extrinsic tasks including high-level cognitive functions, sensory processing and multisensory integration.

Kinetic evolution and correlation of fluctuations in an expanding quark gluon plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Sarwar, Golam; Alam, Jan-E.

2018-03-01

Evolution of spatially anisotropic perturbation created in the system formed after Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions has been studied. The microscopic evolution of the fluctuations has been examined within the ambit of Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE) in a hydrodynamically expanding background. The expansion of the background composed of quark gluon plasma (QGP) is treated within the framework of relativistic hydrodynamics. Spatial anisotropic fluctuations with different geometries have been evolved through Boltzmann equation. It is observed that the trace of such fluctuation survives the evolution. Within the relaxation time approximation, analytical results have been obtained for the evolution of these anisotropies. Explicit relations between fluctuations and transport coefficients have been derived. The mixing of various Fourier (or k) modes of the perturbations during the evolution of the system has been explicitly demonstrated. This study is very useful in understanding the presumption that the measured anisotropies in the data from heavy ion collisions at relativistic energies imitate the initial state effects. The evolution of correlation function for the perturbation in pressure has been studied and shows that the initial correlation between two neighbouring points in real space evolves to a constant value at later time which gives rise to Dirac delta function for the correlation function in Fourier space. The power spectrum of the fluctuation in thermodynamic quantities (like temperature estimated in this work) can be connected to the fluctuation in transverse momentum of the thermal hadrons measured experimentally. The bulk viscous coefficient of the QGP has been estimated by using correlations of pressure fluctuation with the help of Green-Kubo relation. Angular power spectrum of the anisotropies has been estimated in the appendix.

Analysis of fMRI data using noise-diffusion network models: a new covariance-coding perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilson, Matthieu

2018-04-01

Since the middle of the 1990s, studies of resting-state fMRI/BOLD data have explored the correlation patterns of activity across the whole brain, which is referred to as functional connectivity (FC). Among the many methods that have been developed to interpret FC, a recently proposed model-based approach describes the propagation of fluctuating BOLD activity within the recurrently connected brain network by inferring the effective connectivity (EC). In this model, EC quantifies the strengths of directional interactions between brain regions, viewed from the proxy of BOLD activity. In addition, the tuning procedure for the model provides estimates for the local variability (input variances) to explain how the observed FC is generated. Generalizing, the network dynamics can be studied in the context of an input-output mapping-determined by EC-for the second-order statistics of fluctuating nodal activities. The present paper focuses on the following detection paradigm: observing output covariances, how discriminative is the (estimated) network model with respect to various input covariance patterns? An application with the model fitted to experimental fMRI data-movie viewing versus resting state-illustrates that changes in local variability and changes in brain coordination go hand in hand.

Fluctuations and Instability in Sedimentation

KAUST Repository

Guazzelli, É lisabeth; Hinch, John

2011-01-01

This review concentrates on the fluctuations of the velocities of sedimenting spheres, and on the structural instability of a suspension of settling fibers. For many years, theoretical estimates and numerical simulations predicted the fluctuations

Localized description of valence fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alascio, B.; Allub, R.; Aligia, A.

1979-07-01

The authors set up a model for intermediate valence equivalent to the ''atomic'' limit of the Anderson Hamiltonian. Detailed analysis of this model shows that most of the essential characteristics of valence fluctuators are already present in this crudely simplified Hamiltonian. The spin-spin and the 4f charge-charge correlation functions are studied and it is shown that it is possible to define a spin fluctuation frequency ωsub(s.f.) and a charge fluctuation frequency ωsub(ch.f.).ωsub(s.f.) and ωsub(ch.f.) can differ considerably for some values of the parameters of the model. The magnetic susceptibility and the specific heat are calculated as functions of temperature and it is shown how the results simulate the behaviour found in valence fluctuators. (author)

Quantum fluctuations in insulating ferroelectrics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riseborough, Peter S.

2010-01-01

Graphical abstract: It has been proposed that in a ferroelectric insulator, an applied magnetic field may couple the transverse phonon modes and produce left and right circularly polarized phonon modes which are no longer degenerate. We quantize the theory and examine the effects of quantal fluctuations. In particular, we show that the zero point fluctuations result in a large diamagnetic contribution to the magnetic susceptibility. - Abstract: It has been proposed that in a ferroelectric insulator, an applied magnetic field may couple the transverse phonon modes and produce left and right circularly polarized phonon modes which are no longer degenerate. We quantize the theory and examine the effects of quantal fluctuations. In particular, we show that the zero-point fluctuations result in a large diamagnetic contribution to the magnetic susceptibility.

The fluctuating gap model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cao, Xiaobin

2011-01-15

The quasi-one-dimensional systems exhibit some unusual phenomenon, such as the Peierls instability, the pseudogap phenomena and the absence of a Fermi-Dirac distribution function line shape in the photoemission spectroscopy. Ever since the discovery of materials with highly anisotropic properties, it has been recognized that fluctuations play an important role above the three-dimensional phase transition. This regime where the precursor fluctuations are presented can be described by the so called fluctuating gap model (FGM) which was derived from the Froehlich Hamiltonian to study the low energy physics of the one-dimensional electron-phonon system. Not only is the FGM of great interest in the context of quasi-one-dimensional materials, liquid metal and spin waves above T{sub c} in ferromagnets, but also in the semiclassical approximation of superconductivity, it is possible to replace the original three-dimensional problem by a directional average over effectively one-dimensional problem which in the weak coupling limit is described by the FGM. In this work, we investigate the FGM in a wide temperature range with different statistics of the order parameter fluctuations. We derive a formally exact solution to this problem and calculate the density of states, the spectral function and the optical conductivity. In our calculation, we show that a Dyson singularity appears in the low energy density of states for Gaussian fluctuations in the commensurate case. In the incommensurate case, there is no such kind of singularity, and the zero frequency density of states varies differently as a function of the correlation lengths for different statistics of the order parameter fluctuations. Using the density of states we calculated with non-Gaussian order parameter fluctuations, we are able to calculate the static spin susceptibility which agrees with the experimental data very well. In the calculation of the spectral functions, we show that as the correlation increases, the

The fluctuating gap model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Xiaobin

2011-01-01

The quasi-one-dimensional systems exhibit some unusual phenomenon, such as the Peierls instability, the pseudogap phenomena and the absence of a Fermi-Dirac distribution function line shape in the photoemission spectroscopy. Ever since the discovery of materials with highly anisotropic properties, it has been recognized that fluctuations play an important role above the three-dimensional phase transition. This regime where the precursor fluctuations are presented can be described by the so called fluctuating gap model (FGM) which was derived from the Froehlich Hamiltonian to study the low energy physics of the one-dimensional electron-phonon system. Not only is the FGM of great interest in the context of quasi-one-dimensional materials, liquid metal and spin waves above T c in ferromagnets, but also in the semiclassical approximation of superconductivity, it is possible to replace the original three-dimensional problem by a directional average over effectively one-dimensional problem which in the weak coupling limit is described by the FGM. In this work, we investigate the FGM in a wide temperature range with different statistics of the order parameter fluctuations. We derive a formally exact solution to this problem and calculate the density of states, the spectral function and the optical conductivity. In our calculation, we show that a Dyson singularity appears in the low energy density of states for Gaussian fluctuations in the commensurate case. In the incommensurate case, there is no such kind of singularity, and the zero frequency density of states varies differently as a function of the correlation lengths for different statistics of the order parameter fluctuations. Using the density of states we calculated with non-Gaussian order parameter fluctuations, we are able to calculate the static spin susceptibility which agrees with the experimental data very well. In the calculation of the spectral functions, we show that as the correlation increases, the quasi

Analysis of fluctuations in semiconductor devices

Science.gov (United States)

Andrei, Petru

The random nature of ion implantation and diffusion processes as well as inevitable tolerances in fabrication result in random fluctuations of doping concentrations and oxide thickness in semiconductor devices. These fluctuations are especially pronounced in ultrasmall (nanoscale) semiconductor devices when the spatial scale of doping and oxide thickness variations become comparable with the geometric dimensions of devices. In the dissertation, the effects of these fluctuations on device characteristics are analyzed by using a new technique for the analysis of random doping and oxide thickness induced fluctuations. This technique is universal in nature in the sense that it is applicable to any transport model (drift-diffusion, semiclassical transport, quantum transport etc.) and it can be naturally extended to take into account random fluctuations of the oxide (trapped) charges and channel length. The technique is based on linearization of the transport equations with respect to the fluctuating quantities. It is computationally much (a few orders of magnitude) more efficient than the traditional Monte-Carlo approach and it yields information on the sensitivity of fluctuations of parameters of interest (e.g. threshold voltage, small-signal parameters, cut-off frequencies, etc.) to the locations of doping and oxide thickness fluctuations. For this reason, it can be very instrumental in the design of fluctuation-resistant structures of semiconductor devices. Quantum mechanical effects are taken into account by using the density-gradient model as well as through self-consistent Poisson-Schrodinger computations. Special attention is paid to the presenting of the technique in a form that is suitable for implementation on commercial device simulators. The numerical implementation of the technique is discussed in detail and numerous computational results are presented and compared with those previously published in literature.

Analysis of dynamic multiplicity fluctuations at PHOBOS

Science.gov (United States)

Chai, Zhengwei; PHOBOS Collaboration; Back, B. B.; Baker, M. D.; Ballintijn, M.; Barton, D. S.; Betts, R. R.; Bickley, A. A.; Bindel, R.; Budzanowski, A.; Busza, W.; Carroll, A.; Chai, Z.; Decowski, M. P.; García, E.; George, N.; Gulbrandsen, K.; Gushue, S.; Halliwell, C.; Hamblen, J.; Heintzelman, G. A.; Henderson, C.; Hofman, D. J.; Hollis, R. S.; Holynski, R.; Holzman, B.; Iordanova, A.; Johnson, E.; Kane, J. L.; Katzy, J.; Khan, N.; Kucewicz, W.; Kulinich, P.; Kuo, C. M.; Lin, W. T.; Manly, S.; McLeod, D.; Mignerey, A. C.; Nouicer, R.; Olszewski, A.; Pak, R.; Park, I. C.; Pernegger, H.; Reed, C.; Remsberg, L. P.; Reuter, M.; Roland, C.; Roland, G.; Rosenberg, L.; Sagerer, J.; Sarin, P.; Sawicki, P.; Skulski, W.; Steinberg, P.; Stephans, G. S. F.; Sukhanov, A.; Tang, J. L.; Trzupek, A.; Vale, C.; van Nieuwenhuizen, G. J.; Verdier, R.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Wosiek, B.; Wozniak, K.; Wuosmaa, A. H.; Wyslouch, B.

2005-01-01

This paper presents the analysis of the dynamic fluctuations in the inclusive charged particle multiplicity measured by PHOBOS for Au+Au collisions at surdsNN = 200GeV within the pseudo-rapidity range of -3 < η < 3. First the definition of the fluctuations observables used in this analysis is presented, together with the discussion of their physics meaning. Then the procedure for the extraction of dynamic fluctuations is described. Some preliminary results are included to illustrate the correlation features of the fluctuation observable. New dynamic fluctuations results will be available in a later publication.

Complex motor task associated with non-linear BOLD responses in cerebro-cortical areas and cerebellum.

Science.gov (United States)

Alahmadi, Adnan A S; Samson, Rebecca S; Gasston, David; Pardini, Matteo; Friston, Karl J; D'Angelo, Egidio; Toosy, Ahmed T; Wheeler-Kingshott, Claudia A M

2016-06-01

Previous studies have used fMRI to address the relationship between grip force (GF) applied to an object and BOLD response. However, whilst the majority of these studies showed a linear relationship between GF and neural activity in the contralateral M1 and ipsilateral cerebellum, animal studies have suggested the presence of non-linear components in the GF-neural activity relationship. Here, we present a methodology for assessing non-linearities in the BOLD response to different GF levels, within primary motor as well as sensory and cognitive areas and the cerebellum. To be sensitive to complex forms, we designed a feasible grip task with five GF targets using an event-related visually guided paradigm and studied a cohort of 13 healthy volunteers. Polynomial functions of increasing order were fitted to the data. (1) activated motor areas irrespective of GF; (2) positive higher-order responses in and outside M1, involving premotor, sensory and visual areas and cerebellum; (3) negative correlations with GF, predominantly involving the visual domain. Overall, our results suggest that there are physiologically consistent behaviour patterns in cerebral and cerebellar cortices; for example, we observed the presence of a second-order effect in sensorimotor areas, consistent with an optimum metabolic response at intermediate GF levels, while higher-order behaviour was found in associative and cognitive areas. At higher GF levels, sensory-related cortical areas showed reduced activation, interpretable as a redistribution of the neural activity for more demanding tasks. These results have the potential of opening new avenues for investigating pathological mechanisms of neurological diseases.

Interneuronal systems of the cervical spinal cord assessed with BOLD imaging at 1.5 T

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stracke, C.P.; Schoth, F.; Moeller-Hartmann, W.; Krings, T.; Pettersson, L.G.

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate if functional activity with spinal cord somatosensory stimulation can be visualized using BOLD fMRI. We investigated nine healthy volunteers using a somatosensory stimulus generator. The stimuli were applied in three different runs at the first, third, and fifth finger tip of the right hand, respectively, corresponding to dermatomes c6, c7, and c8. The stimuli gave an increase of BOLD signal (activation) in three different locations of the spinal cord and brain stem. First, activations could be seen in the spinal segment corresponding to the stimulated dermatome in seven out of nine volunteers for c6 stimulation, two out of eight for c7, and three out of eight for c8. These activations were located close to the posterior margin of the spinal cord, presumably reflecting synaptic transmission to dorsal horn interneurons. Second, activation in the medulla oblongata was evident in four subjects, most likely corresponding to the location of the nucleus cuneatus. The third location of activation, which was the strongest and most reliable observed was inside the spinal cord in the c3 and c4 segments. Activation at these spinal levels was almost invariably observed independently of the dermatome stimulated (9/9 for c6, 8/8 for c7, and 7/8 for c8 stimulation). These activations may pertain to an interneuronal system at this spinal level. The results are discussed in relation to neurophysiological studies on cervical spinal interneuronal pathways in animals and humans. (orig.)

Sub-picosecond timing fluctuation suppression in laser-based atmospheric transfer of microwave signal using electronic phase compensation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Shijun; Sun, Fuyu; Bai, Qingsong; Chen, Dawei; Chen, Qiang; Hou, Dong

2017-10-01

We demonstrated a timing fluctuation suppression in outdoor laser-based atmospheric radio-frequency transfer over a 110 m one-way free-space link using an electronic phase compensation technique. Timing fluctuations and Allan Deviation are both measured to characterize the instability of transferred frequency incurred during the transfer process. With transferring a 1 GHz microwave signal over a timing fluctuation suppressed transmission link, the total root-mean-square (rms) timing fluctuation was measured to be 920 femtoseconds in 5000 s, with fractional frequency instability on the order of 1 × 10-12 at 1 s, and order of 2 × 10-16 at 1000 s. This atmospheric frequency transfer scheme with the timing fluctuation suppression technique can be used to fast build an atomic clock-based frequency free-space transmission link since its stability is superior to a commercial Cs and Rb clock.

Does urban poverty increase body fluctuating asymmetry?

Science.gov (United States)

Ozener, Bariş

2011-12-01

Perturbations during development leave enduring signs on the adult body. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is a good bio-indicator of stress during ontogeny. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of urban poverty on the fluctuating asymmetry of young Turkish males. Young males from a lower socioeconomic group (N = 140, Mean age = 18.17 +/- 0.61) were selected from slum areas of Ankara, the capital of Turkey, where urban poverty is intense. An upper socioeconomic group, on the other hand, consisted of students from two private colleges and included children from some of the richest families in Turkey (N = 120, Mean age = 18.08 +/- 0.54). Eight anthropometric traits of all subjects were measured. Considering the seven measurements demonstrate ideal FA, the individuals living in poor areas of the city displayed higher FA. The discrepancy between the two groups was even greater for a measure of composite FA. In conclusion, poor living conditions in Ankara, where urban poverty is intense, adversely impact the developmental stability of young Turkish males.

Wind fluctuations over the North Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vincent, Claire Louise; Pinson, Pierre; Giebel, Gregor

2011-01-01

Climatological patterns in wind speed fluctuations with periods of 1 min to 10 h are analysed using data from a meteorological mast in the Danish North Sea. Fluctuations on these time scales are of particular relevance to the effective management of the power supply from large wind farms. The Hil......Climatological patterns in wind speed fluctuations with periods of 1 min to 10 h are analysed using data from a meteorological mast in the Danish North Sea. Fluctuations on these time scales are of particular relevance to the effective management of the power supply from large wind farms...

Electric Field Fluctuations in Water

Science.gov (United States)

Thorpe, Dayton; Limmer, David; Chandler, David

2013-03-01

Charge transfer in solution, such as autoionization and ion pair dissociation in water, is governed by rare electric field fluctuations of the solvent. Knowing the statistics of such fluctuations can help explain the dynamics of these rare events. Trajectories short enough to be tractable by computer simulation are virtually certain not to sample the large fluctuations that promote rare events. Here, we employ importance sampling techniques with classical molecular dynamics simulations of liquid water to study statistics of electric field fluctuations far from their means. We find that the distributions of electric fields located on individual water molecules are not in general gaussian. Near the mean this non-gaussianity is due to the internal charge distribution of the water molecule. Further from the mean, however, there is a previously unreported Bjerrum-like defect that stabilizes certain large fluctuations out of equilibrium. As expected, differences in electric fields acting between molecules are gaussian to a remarkable degree. By studying these differences, though, we are able to determine what configurations result not only in large electric fields, but also in electric fields with long spatial correlations that may be needed to promote charge separation.

The effect of Gaussian white noise on the fractality of fluctuations in the plasma of a symmetrical discharge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stan, Cristina; Cristescu, Cristina Maria; Alexandroaei, D.; Cristescu, C.P.

2014-01-01

Highlights: •We study the white Gaussian noise effect on the fractality of plasma fluctuations. •Multifractality strength is increased by the noise, at all inter-anode voltages. •New positive influence of noise resulting in an increasing of the predictability. •Identifying the fluctuations nature: chaotic or stochastic by multifractal analysis. •Noise changes the position of the maximum in the singularity spectra. - Abstract: In this work we investigate the influence of white Gaussian noise on the fluctuations in the plasma of a symmetrical discharge using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis. We observe that in the range of noise intensity used in our study, the multifractality strength is increased by the noise, at all values of the inter-anode voltage, both for original and filtered time-series. This is interpreted as a new positive influence of noise because this effect can be understood as an increasing in the predictability on the dynamics in a time-series. A constructive influence of noise can appear only for fluctuations with underlying chaotic dynamics. The shuffling analysis demonstrates that the multifractality is purely a consequence of the correlations of the fluctuations. The noise influence is also observed in the change of the position of the maximum in the singularity spectra. The multifractal detrended cross correlation between light intensity and current intensity demonstrates that the fluctuations in both parameters are generated by the same physical processes though they are very different in nature: one is a local parameter and the other is a global one

Insects in fluctuating thermal environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Colinet, Hervé; Sinclair, Brent J; Vernon, Philippe; Renault, David

2015-01-07

All climate change scenarios predict an increase in both global temperature means and the magnitude of seasonal and diel temperature variation. The nonlinear relationship between temperature and biological processes means that fluctuating temperatures lead to physiological, life history, and ecological consequences for ectothermic insects that diverge from those predicted from constant temperatures. Fluctuating temperatures that remain within permissive temperature ranges generally improve performance. By contrast, those which extend to stressful temperatures may have either positive impacts, allowing repair of damage accrued during exposure to thermal extremes, or negative impacts from cumulative damage during successive exposures. We discuss the mechanisms underlying these differing effects. Fluctuating temperatures could be used to enhance or weaken insects in applied rearing programs, and any prediction of insect performance in the field-including models of climate change or population performance-must account for the effect of fluctuating temperatures.

Nonequilibrium quantum fluctuations of work.

Science.gov (United States)

Allahverdyan, A E

2014-09-01

The concept of work is basic for statistical thermodynamics. To gain a fuller understanding of work and its (quantum) features, it needs to be represented as an average of a fluctuating quantity. Here I focus on the work done between two moments of time for a thermally isolated quantum system driven by a time-dependent Hamiltonian. I formulate two natural conditions needed for the fluctuating work to be physically meaningful for a system that starts its evolution from a nonequilibrium state. The existing definitions do not satisfy these conditions due to issues that are traced back to noncommutativity. I propose a definition of fluctuating work that is free of previous drawbacks and that applies for a wide class of nonequilibrium initial states. It allows the deduction of a generalized work-fluctuation theorem that applies for an arbitrary (out-of-equilibrium) initial state.

Bold Ideas for the 4th H in 4-H: Teen Identified Concerns and Actions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virginia Brown

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This article summarizes a literature review; teen-identified health concerns and issues; and teen bold ideas for actions. Findings from the National 4-H Council and Molina Healthcare Teens Take on Health initiative are provided and implications for 4-H programming tied to the new Cooperative Extension National Framework for Health and Wellness are addressed. The article is intended as background for Extension educators, volunteers and administrators as they review the 4-H Healthy Living Mission Mandate, learn what mattered to teens and consider how to incorporate the findings into state and local 4-H youth development programming.

Coupled Quantum Fluctuations and Quantum Annealing

Science.gov (United States)

Hormozi, Layla; Kerman, Jamie

We study the relative effectiveness of coupled quantum fluctuations, compared to single spin fluctuations, in the performance of quantum annealing. We focus on problem Hamiltonians resembling the the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model of Ising spin glass and compare the effectiveness of different types of fluctuations by numerically calculating the relative success probabilities and residual energies in fully-connected spin systems. We find that for a small class of instances coupled fluctuations can provide improvement over single spin fluctuations and analyze the properties of the corresponding class. Disclaimer: This research was funded by ODNI, IARPA via MIT Lincoln Laboratory under Air Force Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0002. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of ODNI, IARPA, or the US Government.

Fluctuations and correlations in rotating Bose-Einstein condensates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baharian, Soheil; Baym, Gordon

2010-01-01

We investigate the effects of correlations on the properties of the ground state of the rotating harmonically trapped Bose gas by adding Bogoliubov fluctuations to the mean-field ground state of an N-particle single-vortex system. We demonstrate that the fluctuation-induced correlations lower the energy compared to that of the mean-field ground state, that the vortex core is pushed slightly away from the center of the trap, and that an unstable mode with negative energy (for rotations slower than a critical frequency) emerges in the energy spectrum, thus pointing to a better state for slow rotation. We construct mean-field ground states of zero-, one-, and two-vortex states as a function of rotation rate and determine the critical frequencies for transitions between these states, as well as the critical frequency for appearance of a metastable state with an off-center vortex and its image vortex in the evanescent tail of the cloud.

Stability and fluctuations in black hole thermodynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruppeiner, George

2007-01-01

I examine thermodynamic fluctuations for a Kerr-Newman black hole in an extensive, infinite environment. This problem is not strictly solvable because full equilibrium with such an environment cannot be achieved by any black hole with mass M, angular momentum J, and charge Q. However, if we consider one (or two) of M, J, or Q to vary so slowly compared with the others that we can regard it as fixed, instances of stability occur, and thermodynamic fluctuation theory could plausibly apply. I examine seven cases with one, two, or three independent fluctuating variables. No knowledge about the thermodynamic behavior of the environment is needed. The thermodynamics of the black hole is sufficient. Let the fluctuation moment for a thermodynamic quantity X be √( 2 >). Fluctuations at fixed M are stable for all thermodynamic states, including that of a nonrotating and uncharged environment, corresponding to average values J=Q=0. Here, the fluctuation moments for J and Q take on maximum values. That for J is proportional to M. For the Planck mass it is 0.3990(ℎ/2π). That for Q is 3.301e, independent of M. In all cases, fluctuation moments for M, J, and Q go to zero at the limit of the physical regime, where the temperature goes to zero. With M fluctuating there are no stable cases for average J=Q=0. But, there are transitions to stability marked by infinite fluctuations. For purely M fluctuations, this coincides with a curve which Davies identified as a phase transition

Charge-imbalance fluctuations in superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemberger, T.R.

1981-01-01

We calculate that the mean-square amplitude of the fluctuations of the condensate chemical potential μ/sub s/ due to charge-imbalance fluctuations in the limit Δ/k/sub B/T 2 > = 2(k/sub B/T) 2 /πdeltaΩN(0) in a volume Ω of superconductor. We relate these fluctuations via Nyquist's theorem to measured values of the contribution of self-injected charge imbalance to the dc resistance of SIN tunnel junctions. In this relation the dynamic charge-imbalance relaxation rate is 1/tau/sub E/, the electron-phonon scattering rate

Correlated alpha activity with the facial expression processing network in a simultaneous EEG-fMRI experiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Simoes, Marco; Direito, Bruno; Lima, Joao; Castelhano, Joao; Ferreira, Carlos; Couceiro, Ricardo; Carvalho, Paulo; Castelo-Branco, Miguel

2017-07-01

The relationship between EEG and fMRI data is poorly covered in the literature. Extensive work has been conducted in resting-state and epileptic activity, highlighting a negative correlation between the alpha power band of the EEG and the BOLD activity in the default-mode-network. The identification of an appropriate task-specific relationship between fMRI and EEG data for predefined regions-of-interest, would allow the transfer of interventional paradigms (such as BOLD-based neurofeedback sessions) from fMRI to EEG, enhancing its application range by lowering its costs and improving its flexibility. In this study, we present an analysis of the correlation between task-specific alpha band fluctuations and BOLD activity in the facial expressions processing network. We characterized the network ROIs through a stringent localizer and identified two clusters on the scalp (one frontal, one parietal-occipital) with marked alpha fluctuations, related to the task. We then check whether such power variations throughout the time correlate with the BOLD activity in the network. Our results show statistically significant negative correlations between the alpha power in both clusters and for all the ROIs of the network. The correlation levels have still not met the requirements for transferring the protocol to an EEG setup, but they pave the way towards a better understand on how frontal and parietal-occipital alpha relates to the activity of the facial expressions processing network.

Quantum random bit generation using energy fluctuations in stimulated Raman scattering.

Science.gov (United States)

Bustard, Philip J; England, Duncan G; Nunn, Josh; Moffatt, Doug; Spanner, Michael; Lausten, Rune; Sussman, Benjamin J

2013-12-02

Random number sequences are a critical resource in modern information processing systems, with applications in cryptography, numerical simulation, and data sampling. We introduce a quantum random number generator based on the measurement of pulse energy quantum fluctuations in Stokes light generated by spontaneously-initiated stimulated Raman scattering. Bright Stokes pulse energy fluctuations up to five times the mean energy are measured with fast photodiodes and converted to unbiased random binary strings. Since the pulse energy is a continuous variable, multiple bits can be extracted from a single measurement. Our approach can be generalized to a wide range of Raman active materials; here we demonstrate a prototype using the optical phonon line in bulk diamond.

Statistical properties of fluctuations of time series representing appearances of words in nationwide blog data and their applications: An example of modeling fluctuation scalings of nonstationary time series.

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Hayafumi; Sano, Yukie; Takayasu, Hideki; Takayasu, Misako

2016-11-01

To elucidate the nontrivial empirical statistical properties of fluctuations of a typical nonsteady time series representing the appearance of words in blogs, we investigated approximately 3×10^{9} Japanese blog articles over a period of six years and analyze some corresponding mathematical models. First, we introduce a solvable nonsteady extension of the random diffusion model, which can be deduced by modeling the behavior of heterogeneous random bloggers. Next, we deduce theoretical expressions for both the temporal and ensemble fluctuation scalings of this model, and demonstrate that these expressions can reproduce all empirical scalings over eight orders of magnitude. Furthermore, we show that the model can reproduce other statistical properties of time series representing the appearance of words in blogs, such as functional forms of the probability density and correlations in the total number of blogs. As an application, we quantify the abnormality of special nationwide events by measuring the fluctuation scalings of 1771 basic adjectives.

Current fluctuation of electron and hole carriers in multilayer WSe{sub 2} field effect transistors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ko, Seung-Pil; Shin, Jong Mok; Jang, Ho-Kyun; Jin, Jun Eon; Kim, Gyu-Tae, E-mail: gtkim@korea.ac.kr [School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Yong Jin; Kim, Young Keun [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481 (Korea, Republic of); Shin, Minju [School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02481 (Korea, Republic of); IMEP-LAHC, Grenoble INP-MINATEC, 3 Parvis Louis Neel, 38016 Grenoble (France)

2015-12-14

Two-dimensional materials have outstanding scalability due to their structural and electrical properties for the logic devices. Here, we report the current fluctuation in multilayer WSe{sub 2} field effect transistors (FETs). In order to demonstrate the impact on carrier types, n-type and p-type WSe{sub 2} FETs are fabricated with different work function metals. Each device has similar electrical characteristics except for the threshold voltage. In the low frequency noise analysis, drain current power spectral density (S{sub I}) is inversely proportional to frequency, indicating typical 1/f noise behaviors. The curves of the normalized drain current power spectral density (NS{sub I}) as a function of drain current at the 10 Hz of frequency indicate that our devices follow the carrier number fluctuation with correlated mobility fluctuation model. This means that current fluctuation depends on the trapping-detrapping motion of the charge carriers near the channel interface. No significant difference is observed in the current fluctuation according to the charge carrier type, electrons and holes that occurred in the junction and channel region.

Single-trial EEG-informed fMRI reveals spatial dependency of BOLD signal on early and late IC-ERP amplitudes during face recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wirsich, Jonathan; Bénar, Christian; Ranjeva, Jean-Philippe; Descoins, Médéric; Soulier, Elisabeth; Le Troter, Arnaud; Confort-Gouny, Sylviane; Liégeois-Chauvel, Catherine; Guye, Maxime

2014-10-15

Simultaneous EEG-fMRI has opened up new avenues for improving the spatio-temporal resolution of functional brain studies. However, this method usually suffers from poor EEG quality, especially for evoked potentials (ERPs), due to specific artifacts. As such, the use of EEG-informed fMRI analysis in the context of cognitive studies has particularly focused on optimizing narrow ERP time windows of interest, which ignores the rich diverse temporal information of the EEG signal. Here, we propose to use simultaneous EEG-fMRI to investigate the neural cascade occurring during face recognition in 14 healthy volunteers by using the successive ERP peaks recorded during the cognitive part of this process. N170, N400 and P600 peaks, commonly associated with face recognition, were successfully and reproducibly identified for each trial and each subject by using a group independent component analysis (ICA). For the first time we use this group ICA to extract several independent components (IC) corresponding to the sequence of activation and used single-trial peaks as modulation parameters in a general linear model (GLM) of fMRI data. We obtained an occipital-temporal-frontal stream of BOLD signal modulation, in accordance with the three successive IC-ERPs providing an unprecedented spatio-temporal characterization of the whole cognitive process as defined by BOLD signal modulation. By using this approach, the pattern of EEG-informed BOLD modulation provided improved characterization of the network involved than the fMRI-only analysis or the source reconstruction of the three ERPs; the latter techniques showing only two regions in common localized in the occipital lobe. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Charge Fluctuations in Nanoscale Capacitors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Limmer, D.T.; Merlet, C.; Salanne, M.; Chandler, D.; Madden, P.A.; van Roij, R.H.H.G.; Rotenberg, B.

2013-01-01

The fluctuations of the charge on an electrode contain information on the microscopic correlations within the adjacent fluid and their effect on the electronic properties of the interface. We investigate these fluctuations using molecular dynamics simulations in a constant-potential ensemble with

Fluctuating attention in Parkinson's disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Starrfelt, Randi; Aarsland, Dag; Janvin, Carmen

2001-01-01

Lewy body dementia (DLB), which share many clinical and pathological features with Parkinson’s disease (PD), is charac- terised by marked fluctuations in cognition and consciousness. Fluctuating cognition has not been formally studied in PD, although some studies indicate that PD patients show...

Fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banday, A.J.; Wolfendale, A.W.

1990-01-01

In view of the importance to contemporary cosmology, and to our understanding of the Universe, of the precise nature of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) spectrum, we consider the effects on this spectrum of contamination by other radiation fields of both galactic and extragalactic origin. Particular attention is given to the significance of measurements of the fluctuations in the 'background' radiation detected at 10.46 GHz and we conclude that these fluctuations are of the same magnitude as those expected from galactic cosmic-ray effects. A more detailed study of the cosmic-ray induced fluctuations and measurements at higher frequencies will be needed before genuine CMB fluctuations can be claimed. (author)

Fluctuations and Instability in Sedimentation

KAUST Repository

Guazzelli, Élisabeth

2011-01-21

This review concentrates on the fluctuations of the velocities of sedimenting spheres, and on the structural instability of a suspension of settling fibers. For many years, theoretical estimates and numerical simulations predicted the fluctuations of the velocities of spheres to increase with the size of the container, whereas experiments found no such variation. Two ideas have increased our understanding. First, the correlation length of the velocity fluctuations was found experimentally to be 20 interparticle separations. Second, in dilute suspensions, a vertical variation in the concentration due to the spreading of the front with the clear fluid can inhibit the velocity fluctuations. In a very dilute regime, a homogeneous suspension of fibers suffers a spontaneous instability in which fast descending fiber-rich columns are separated by rising fiber-sparse columns. In a semidilute regime, the settling is hindered, more so than for spheres. © 2011 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.

Detrended fluctuation analysis made flexible to detect range of cross-correlated fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Kwapień, Jarosław; Oświecimka, Paweł; DroŻdŻ, Stanisław

2015-11-01

The detrended cross-correlation coefficient ρDCCA has recently been proposed to quantify the strength of cross-correlations on different temporal scales in bivariate, nonstationary time series. It is based on the detrended cross-correlation and detrended fluctuation analyses (DCCA and DFA, respectively) and can be viewed as an analog of the Pearson coefficient in the case of the fluctuation analysis. The coefficient ρDCCA works well in many practical situations but by construction its applicability is limited to detection of whether two signals are generally cross-correlated, without the possibility to obtain information on the amplitude of fluctuations that are responsible for those cross-correlations. In order to introduce some related flexibility, here we propose an extension of ρDCCA that exploits the multifractal versions of DFA and DCCA: multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis and multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis, respectively. The resulting new coefficient ρq not only is able to quantify the strength of correlations but also allows one to identify the range of detrended fluctuation amplitudes that are correlated in two signals under study. We show how the coefficient ρq works in practical situations by applying it to stochastic time series representing processes with long memory: autoregressive and multiplicative ones. Such processes are often used to model signals recorded from complex systems and complex physical phenomena like turbulence, so we are convinced that this new measure can successfully be applied in time-series analysis. In particular, we present an example of such application to highly complex empirical data from financial markets. The present formulation can straightforwardly be extended to multivariate data in terms of the q -dependent counterpart of the correlation matrices and then to the network representation.

Measurement of magnetic fluctuation induced energy transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fiksel, G.; Prager, S.C.; Shen, W.; Stoneking, M.

1993-11-01

The local electron energy flux produced by magnetic fluctuations has been measured directly in the MST reversed field pinch (over the radial range r/a > 0.75). The flux, produced by electrons traveling parallel to a fluctuating magnetic field, is obtained from correlation between the fluctuations in the parallel heat flux and the radial magnetic field. The fluctuation induced flux is large (100 kW/cm 2 ) in the ''core'' (r/a 2 ) in the edge

Listening to the Noise: Random Fluctuations Reveal Gene Network Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Munsky, Brian; Trinh, Brooke; Khammash, Mustafa

2010-03-01

The cellular environment is abuzz with noise originating from the inherent random motion of reacting molecules in the living cell. In this noisy environment, clonal cell populations exhibit cell-to-cell variability that can manifest significant prototypical differences. Noise induced stochastic fluctuations in cellular constituents can be measured and their statistics quantified using flow cytometry, single molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization, time lapse fluorescence microscopy and other single cell and single molecule measurement techniques. We show that these random fluctuations carry within them valuable information about the underlying genetic network. Far from being a nuisance, the ever-present cellular noise acts as a rich source of excitation that, when processed through a gene network, carries its distinctive fingerprint that encodes a wealth of information about that network. We demonstrate that in some cases the analysis of these random fluctuations enables the full identification of network parameters, including those that may otherwise be difficult to measure. We use theoretical investigations to establish experimental guidelines for the identification of gene regulatory networks, and we apply these guideline to experimentally identify predictive models for different regulatory mechanisms in bacteria and yeast.

Energy and transverse momentum fluctuations in the equilibrium quantum systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gorenstein, M.I.; Rybczyński, M.

2014-01-01

The fluctuations in the ideal quantum gases are studied using the strongly intensive measures Δ[A,B] and Σ[A,B] defined in terms of two extensive quantities A and B. In the present Letter, these extensive quantities are taken as the motional variable, A=X, the system energy E or transverse momentum P T , and number of particles, B=N. This choice is most often considered in studying the event-by-event fluctuations and correlations in high energy nucleus–nucleus collisions. The recently proposed special normalization ensures that Δ and Σ are dimensionless and equal to unity for fluctuations given by the independent particle model. In statistical mechanics, the grand canonical ensemble formulation within the Boltzmann approximation gives an example of independent particle model. Our results demonstrate the effects due to the Bose and Fermi statistics. Estimates of the effects of quantum statistics in the hadron gas at temperatures and chemical potentials typical for thermal models of hadron production in high energy collisions are presented. In the case of massless particles and zero chemical potential the Δ and Σ measures are calculated analytically/

Resonant behavior of a fractional oscillator with fluctuating frequency

Science.gov (United States)

Soika, Erkki; Mankin, Romi; Ainsaar, Ain

2010-01-01

The long-time behavior of the first moment for the output signal of a fractional oscillator with fluctuating frequency subjected to an external periodic force is considered. Colored fluctuations of the oscillator eigenfrequency are modeled as a dichotomous noise. The viscoelastic type friction kernel with memory is assumed as a power-law function of time. Using the Shapiro-Loginov formula, exact expressions for the response to an external periodic field and for the complex susceptibility are presented. On the basis of the exact formulas it is demonstrated that interplay of colored noise and memory can generate a variety of cooperation effects, such as multiresonances versus the driving frequency and the friction coefficient as well as stochastic resonance versus noise parameters. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the cooperation effects are also discussed. Particularly, two different critical memory exponents have been found, which mark dynamical transitions in the behavior of the system.

Plasmon mass scale and quantum fluctuations of classical fields on a real time lattice

Science.gov (United States)

Kurkela, Aleksi; Lappi, Tuomas; Peuron, Jarkko

2018-03-01

Classical real-time lattice simulations play an important role in understanding non-equilibrium phenomena in gauge theories and are used in particular to model the prethermal evolution of heavy-ion collisions. Above the Debye scale the classical Yang-Mills (CYM) theory can be matched smoothly to kinetic theory. First we study the limits of the quasiparticle picture of the CYM fields by determining the plasmon mass of the system using 3 different methods. Then we argue that one needs a numerical calculation of a system of classical gauge fields and small linearized fluctuations, which correspond to quantum fluctuations, in a way that keeps the separation between the two manifest. We demonstrate and test an implementation of an algorithm with the linearized fluctuation showing that the linearization indeed works and that the Gauss's law is conserved.

ON THE NATURE OF X-RAY SURFACE BRIGHTNESS FLUCTUATIONS IN M87

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arévalo, P. [Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaíso, Gran Bretana N 1111, Playa Ancha, Valparaíso (Chile); Churazov, E. [Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, D-85741 Garching (Germany); Zhuravleva, I. [Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-4085 (United States); Forman, W. R.; Jones, C. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

2016-02-10

X-ray images of galaxy clusters and gas-rich elliptical galaxies show a wealth of small-scale features that reflect fluctuations in density and/or temperature of the intracluster medium. In this paper we study these fluctuations in M87/Virgo to establish whether sound waves/shocks, bubbles, or uplifted cold gas dominate the structure. We exploit the strong dependence of the emissivity on density and temperature in different energy bands to distinguish between these processes. Using simulations we demonstrate that our analysis recovers the leading type of fluctuation even in the presence of projection effects and temperature gradients. We confirm the isobaric nature of cool filaments of gas entrained by buoyantly rising bubbles, extending to 7′ to the east and southwest, and the adiabatic nature of the weak shocks at 40″ and 3′ from the center. For features of ∼5–10 kpc, we show that the central 4′ × 4′ region is dominated by cool structures in pressure equilibrium with the ambient hotter gas while up to 30% of the variance in this region can be ascribed to adiabatic fluctuations. The remaining part of the central 14′ × 14′ region, excluding the arms and shocks described above, is dominated by apparently isothermal fluctuations (bubbles) with a possible admixture (at the level of ∼30%) of adiabatic (sound waves) and by isobaric structures. Larger features, of about 30 kpc, show a stronger contribution from isobaric fluctuations. The results broadly agree with a model based on feedback from an active galactic nucleus mediated by bubbles of relativistic plasma.

Magnetic fluctuation measurements in the Tokapole II tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

LaPointe, M.A.

1990-09-01

Magnetic fluctuation measurements have been made in the Tokapole II tokamak in the frequency range 10 kHz ≤ f ≤ 5 MHz. The fluctuations above 500 kHz varied greatly as the effective edge safety factor, q a , was varied over the range 0.8 ≤ q a ≤ 3.8. As q a was varied from 3.8 to 0.8 the high frequency magnetic fluctuation amplitude increased by over three orders of magnitude. The fluctuation amplitude for 0.5 to 2.0 MHz was a factor of 10 lower than the fluctuation amplitude in the range 100 to 400 kHz for q a of 0.8. When q a was increased to 3.8 the difference between the differing frequency ranges increased to a factor of 10 3 . Comparison of the measured broadband fluctuation amplitudes with those predicted from thermally driven Alfven and magnetosonic waves shows that the amplitudes are at least 1000 times larger than the theoretical predictions. This indicates that there is some other mechanism driving the higher frequency magnetic fluctuations. Estimates show that the contribution by the magnetic fluctuations above 500 kHz to the estimated electron energy loss from stochastic fields is negligible. The profiles of the various components of the magnetic fluctuations indicate the possibility that the shear in the magnetic field may stabilize whatever instabilities drive the magnetic fluctuations

Impact of pitch angle fluctuations on airborne lidar forward sensing along the flight direction

Science.gov (United States)

Sergeevich Gurvich, Alexander; Alexeevich Kulikov, Victor

2017-10-01

Airborne lidar forward sensing along the flight direction can serve for notification of clear air turbulence (CAT) and help to prevent injuries or fatal air accidents. The validation of this concept was presented in the framework of the DELICAT (DEmonstration of LIdar-based CAT detection) project. However, the strong variations in signal level, which were observed during the DELICAT measurements but not explained, sometimes indicated the need of a better understanding the observational errors due to geometrical factors. In this paper, we discuss possible error sources pertinent to this technique, related to fluctuations of the flight parameters, which may lead to strong signal variations caused by the random deviations of the sensing beam from the forward flight trajectory. We analyze the variations in backscattered lidar signal caused by fluctuations of the most important forward-sensing flight parameter, the pitch angle. The fluctuation values considered in the paper correspond to the error limits of the compensational gyro platform used in civil aviation. The part of the pitch angle fluctuations not compensated for by the beam-steering device in the presence of aerosol concentration variations can lead to noticeable signal variations that can be mistakenly attributed to wind shear, turbulence, or fast evolution of the aerosol layer. We formulate the criteria that allow the recognition of signal variations caused by pitch angle fluctuations. Influence of these fluctuations is shown to be stronger for aerosol variations on smaller vertical scales. An example of DELICAT observations indicating a noticeable pitch angle fluctuation impact is presented.

Impact of pitch angle fluctuations on airborne lidar forward sensing along the flight direction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. S. Gurvich

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Airborne lidar forward sensing along the flight direction can serve for notification of clear air turbulence (CAT and help to prevent injuries or fatal air accidents. The validation of this concept was presented in the framework of the DELICAT (DEmonstration of LIdar-based CAT detection project. However, the strong variations in signal level, which were observed during the DELICAT measurements but not explained, sometimes indicated the need of a better understanding the observational errors due to geometrical factors. In this paper, we discuss possible error sources pertinent to this technique, related to fluctuations of the flight parameters, which may lead to strong signal variations caused by the random deviations of the sensing beam from the forward flight trajectory. We analyze the variations in backscattered lidar signal caused by fluctuations of the most important forward-sensing flight parameter, the pitch angle. The fluctuation values considered in the paper correspond to the error limits of the compensational gyro platform used in civil aviation. The part of the pitch angle fluctuations not compensated for by the beam-steering device in the presence of aerosol concentration variations can lead to noticeable signal variations that can be mistakenly attributed to wind shear, turbulence, or fast evolution of the aerosol layer. We formulate the criteria that allow the recognition of signal variations caused by pitch angle fluctuations. Influence of these fluctuations is shown to be stronger for aerosol variations on smaller vertical scales. An example of DELICAT observations indicating a noticeable pitch angle fluctuation impact is presented.

The dependencies of fronto-parietal BOLD responses evoked by covert visual search suggest eye-centred coding.

Science.gov (United States)

Atabaki, A; Dicke, P W; Karnath, H-O; Thier, P

2013-04-01

Visual scenes explored covertly are initially represented in a retinal frame of reference (FOR). On the other hand, 'later' stages of the cortical network allocating spatial attention most probably use non-retinal or non-eye-centred representations as they may ease the integration of different sensory modalities for the formation of supramodal representations of space. We tested if the cortical areas involved in shifting covert attention are based on eye-centred or non-eye-centred coding by using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects were scanned while detecting a target item (a regularly oriented 'L') amidst a set of distractors (rotated 'L's). The array was centred either 5° right or left of the fixation point, independent of eye-gaze orientation, the latter varied in three steps: straight relative to the head, 10° left or 10° right. A quantitative comparison of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses for the three eye-gaze orientations revealed stronger BOLD responses in the right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and the right frontal eye field (FEF) for search in the contralateral (i.e. left) eye-centred space, independent of whether the array was located in the right or left head-centred hemispace. The left IPS showed the reverse pattern, i.e. an activation by search in the right eye-centred hemispace. In other words, the IPS and the right FEF, members of the cortical network underlying covert search, operate in an eye-centred FOR. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

WE-FG-BRA-08: Potential Role of the Glycolytic Oscillator in Acute Hypoxia in Tumors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Che Fru, L [University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, WI (United States); Adamson, E; Campos, D; Song, C; Kimple, R [University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI (United States); Fain, S; Kissick, M [University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Jacques, S [Oregon Health and Science University, Portland OR USA, Portland, OR (United States); Kogel, A van der [University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI (United States); Nickel, K [University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, Wisconsin (United States)

2016-06-15

Purpose: Oscillatory dynamics in acute hypoxia have been observed, but poorly understood. They have mostly been attributed to vascular perturbations, but no link has yet been made to metabolic causes. We set out to determine the fundamental frequencies and test for coherence in tumor oxygen dynamics and spatial properties. Methods: Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were inoculated onto bilateral flanks with human derived head and neck carcinoma (UW-SCC22) cell line xenografts. Oxygen dynamics were monitored in the tumor every minute for an hour using three modalities: blood oxygen level dependent - magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-MRI), hemoglobin oxygen saturation photoacoustic, and locally manufactured optical probes for spectral fitting. A statistical test was used to separate fluctuating from non-fluctuating voxels and pixels in BOLD-MRI and photoacoustic data respectively. The power spectrum density (PSD) and the autocorrelation functions were calculated for the time series of each voxel, pixel and region, of the BOLD-MRI, photoacoustic or fiber optic data respectively. Results: Using all three techniques, intermittent oxygen dynamics with both coherent and incoherent signatures was observed in the tumors. Upon averaging the PSDs of fluctuating voxels and pixels, it was found that these oscillations occurred with periods of minutes to tens of minutes from all three approaches. Observations from the BOLD-MRI and photoacoustic data showed that clusters of voxels oscillated in a synchronized manner. Conclusion: We were able to use three different modalities to show that fluctuation in tumor oxygen is both coherent and incoherent, with periods of minutes to tens of minutes. These periods are very similar to those from the well-established metabolic, non-linear biomechanical phenomenon called the glycolytic oscillator. This may provide an additional explanation to the cause of cyclic hypoxia. Such dynamics could have profound implications in

WE-FG-BRA-08: Potential Role of the Glycolytic Oscillator in Acute Hypoxia in Tumors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Che Fru, L; Adamson, E; Campos, D; Song, C; Kimple, R; Fain, S; Kissick, M; Jacques, S; Kogel, A van der; Nickel, K

2016-01-01

Purpose: Oscillatory dynamics in acute hypoxia have been observed, but poorly understood. They have mostly been attributed to vascular perturbations, but no link has yet been made to metabolic causes. We set out to determine the fundamental frequencies and test for coherence in tumor oxygen dynamics and spatial properties. Methods: Severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were inoculated onto bilateral flanks with human derived head and neck carcinoma (UW-SCC22) cell line xenografts. Oxygen dynamics were monitored in the tumor every minute for an hour using three modalities: blood oxygen level dependent - magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-MRI), hemoglobin oxygen saturation photoacoustic, and locally manufactured optical probes for spectral fitting. A statistical test was used to separate fluctuating from non-fluctuating voxels and pixels in BOLD-MRI and photoacoustic data respectively. The power spectrum density (PSD) and the autocorrelation functions were calculated for the time series of each voxel, pixel and region, of the BOLD-MRI, photoacoustic or fiber optic data respectively. Results: Using all three techniques, intermittent oxygen dynamics with both coherent and incoherent signatures was observed in the tumors. Upon averaging the PSDs of fluctuating voxels and pixels, it was found that these oscillations occurred with periods of minutes to tens of minutes from all three approaches. Observations from the BOLD-MRI and photoacoustic data showed that clusters of voxels oscillated in a synchronized manner. Conclusion: We were able to use three different modalities to show that fluctuation in tumor oxygen is both coherent and incoherent, with periods of minutes to tens of minutes. These periods are very similar to those from the well-established metabolic, non-linear biomechanical phenomenon called the glycolytic oscillator. This may provide an additional explanation to the cause of cyclic hypoxia. Such dynamics could have profound implications in

Fluctuation traits of Litchi wholesale price in China

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, F. F.; Qi, W. E.; Ouyang, X.

2017-07-01

This paper chose the wholesale price of litchi as research object based on the daily data of 11 main sales markets in China -- Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hefei, Jiaxing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Changsha, Zhengzhou and Chongqing from April 1, 2012 to September 30, 2016. After analyzing the fluctuation characteristics with BP filter method and H-P filter method, and the fluctuation trends of litchi wholesale price in China obtained by BP filter are roughly consistent with the trends obtained by H-P filter. The main conclusions are as follows: there is strong cyclicality in the fluctuation of litchi wholesale price; the period of fluctuations of litchi wholesale prices are not repeatable; litchi wholesale price fluctuates asymmetrically in one fluctuation cycle.

Density, temperature, and potential fluctuation measurements by the swept Langmuir probe technique in Wendelstein 7-AS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giannone, L.; Balbin, R.; Niedermeyer, H.; Endler, M.; Herre, G.; Hidalgo, C.; Rudyj, A.; Theimer, G.; Verplanke, P.

1994-01-01

In the Wendelstein 7-AS stellarator (W7-AS) [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 33, 1591 (1991)], current-voltage characteristics of the Langmuir probe at sweep frequencies in the range 400 kHz to 1 MHz were measured and it was found that the mean and fluctuation values of the ion saturation current, floating potential, and electron temperature were independent of the sweep frequency. A radial scan in the vicinity of the velocity shear layer was performed. The simultaneous sweeping of 3 probe tips showed a statistically significant spatial coherence of the fluctuations in the poloidal direction and a decrease in spatial coherence of the fluctuations with increasing tip separation could be demonstrated. The observation of a change in the propagation direction of fluctuations as the shear layer was crossed and a calculation of the transport spectrum show that the swept probe method is capable of reproducing known results. Apparent temperature fluctuations, due to variations of density and potential during a sweep, are shown by simulations to be only of importance at frequencies above half the Nyquist frequency

Generation of a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations in cosmological models with a contracting phase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finelli, Fabio; Brandenberger, Robert

2002-01-01

In pre-big-bang and in ekpyrotic cosmology, perturbations on cosmological scales today are generated from quantum vacuum fluctuations during a phase when the Universe is contracting (viewed in the Einstein frame). The backgrounds studied to date do not yield a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations. Here, we present a new contracting background model (neither of pre-big-bang nor of the ekpyrotic form) involving a single scalar field coupled to gravity in which a scale-invariant spectrum of curvature fluctuations and gravitational waves results. The equation of state of this scalar field corresponds to cold matter. We demonstrate that if this contracting phase can be matched via a nonsingular bounce to an expanding Friedmann cosmology, the scale-invariance of the curvature fluctuations is maintained. We also find new background solutions for pre-big-bang and for ekpyrotic cosmology, which involve two scalar fields with exponential potentials with background values which are evolving in time. We comment on the difficulty of obtaining a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations with background solutions which have been studied in the past

Significance of quantum fluctuations in roentgen imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strid, K G [Sahlgrenska Sjukhuset, Goeteborg (Sweden)

1980-01-01

Quantum fluctuations in the roentgen radiation relief are analysed mathematically. The intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio of the radiation relief for a given object contrast is proportional to the square root of the number of photons contributing to the image of a characteristic detail in the object. In the presence of secondary radiation the signal-to-noise ratio is impaired, since the fluctuations of secondary radiation increase the noise of the radiation relief. By efficient secondary screening, the quality of the relief can be partially recovered. With a dynamically limited recording device, i.e. a film-screen combination, increased detection speed in conjunction with improved secondary screening will either result in unchanged image quality with the gain of an object-dose reduction or provide improved imaging at an unchanged dose value. As regards the relation between contrast resolution and spatial resolution, the dose required to barely demonstrate an object detail of given geometry and composition is found to vary inversely with the fourth power of the linear size of the detail. It is also concluded that recording and secondary-screening devices should always be considered together as far as recording quality is concerned.

Fluctuation characteristics in detached recombining plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohno, Noriyasu; Tanaka, Naoyuki; Takamura, Shuichi; Budaev, Viatcheslav

2002-01-01

Fluctuation in detached recombining plasmas has been investigated experimentally in the linear divertor plasma simulator, NAGDIS-II. As increasing neutral gas pressure, floating potential fluctuation of the target plate installed at the end of the NADIS-II device becomes larger and bursty negative spikes are observed in the signal associated with a transition from attached to detached a plasmas. The fluctuation property has been analyzed by using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), probability distribution function (PDF) and wavelet transform. The PDF of the floating potential fluctuation in the attached plasma condition obeys the Gaussian distribution function, on the other hand, the PDF in detached plasma shows a strong deviation from the Gaussian distribution function, which can be characterized by flatness and skewness. Comparison of the fluctuation properties between the floating potential and the optical emission from the detached plasma has been done based on the wavelet transform to show that a strong correlation between them, which could indicate bursty transport of energetic electrons from upstream to downstream region along the magnetic field. (author)

Intrinsic Patterns of Coupling between Correlation and Amplitude of Low-Frequency fMRI Fluctuations Are Disrupted in Degenerative Dementia Mainly due to Functional Disconnection

Science.gov (United States)

Mascali, Daniele; DiNuzzo, Mauro; Gili, Tommaso; Moraschi, Marta; Fratini, Michela; Maraviglia, Bruno; Serra, Laura; Bozzali, Marco; Giove, Federico

2015-01-01

Low frequency fluctuations (LFFs) of the BOLD signal are a major discovery in the study of the resting brain with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Two fMRI-based measures, functional connectivity (FC), a measure of signal synchronicity, and the amplitude of LFFs (ALFF), a measure of signal periodicity, have been proved to be sensitive to changes induced by several neurological diseases, including degenerative dementia. In spite of the increasing use of these measures, whether and how they are related to each other remains to be elucidated. In this work we used voxel-wise FC and ALFF computed in different frequency bands (slow-5: 0.01-0.027 Hz; slow-4: 0.027-0.073 Hz; and full-band: 0.01-0.073 Hz), in order to assess their relationship in healthy elderly as well as the relevant changes induced by Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). We found that in healthy elderly subjects FC and ALFF are positively correlated in anterior and posterior cingulate cortex (full-band, slow-4 and slow-5), temporal cortex (full-band and slow-5), and in a set of subcortical regions (full-band and slow-4). These correlation patterns between FC and ALFF were absent in either AD or MCI patients. Notably, the loss of correlation between FC and ALFF in the AD group was primarily due to changes in FC rather than in ALFF. Our results indicate that degenerative dementia is characterized by a loss of global connection rather than by a decrease of fluctuation amplitude. PMID:25844531

Thermal fluctuations in a hyperscaling-violation background

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pourhassan, Behnam [Damghan University, School of Physics, Damghan (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Faizal, Mir [University of British Columbia-Okanagan, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences, Kelowna, BC (Canada); University of Lethbridge, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lethbridge, AB (Canada); Upadhyay, Sudhaker [Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Centre for Theoretical Studies, Kharagpur (India); Al Asfar, Lina [Universite Blaise Pascal, Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire de Clermont-Ferrand, Aubiere (France)

2017-08-15

In this paper, we study the effect of thermal fluctuations on the thermodynamics of a black geometry with hyperscaling violation. These thermal fluctuations in the thermodynamics of this system are produced from quantum corrections of geometry describing this system. We discuss the stability of this system using specific heat and the entire Hessian matrix of the free energy. We will analyze the effects of thermal fluctuations on the stability of this system. We also analyze the effects of thermal fluctuations on the criticality of the hyperscaling-violation background. (orig.)

Fluctuating Asymmetry of Human Populations: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John H. Graham

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Fluctuating asymmetry, the random deviation from perfect symmetry, is a widely used population-level index of developmental instability, developmental noise, and robustness. It reflects a population’s state of adaptation and genomic coadaptation. Here, we review the literature on fluctuating asymmetry of human populations. The most widely used bilateral traits include skeletal, dental, and facial dimensions; dermatoglyphic patterns and ridge counts; and facial shape. Each trait has its advantages and disadvantages, but results are most robust when multiple traits are combined into a composite index of fluctuating asymmetry (CFA. Both environmental (diet, climate, toxins and genetic (aneuploidy, heterozygosity, inbreeding stressors have been linked to population-level variation in fluctuating asymmetry. In general, these stressors increase average fluctuating asymmetry. Nevertheless, there have been many conflicting results, in part because (1 fluctuating asymmetry is a weak signal in a sea of noise; and (2 studies of human fluctuating asymmetry have not always followed best practices. The most serious concerns are insensitive asymmetry indices (correlation coefficient and coefficient of indetermination, inappropriate size scaling, unrecognized mixture distributions, inappropriate corrections for directional asymmetry, failure to use composite indices, and inattention to measurement error. Consequently, it is often difficult (or impossible to compare results across traits, and across studies.

Superposed epoch analysis of physiological fluctuations: possible space weather connections.

Science.gov (United States)

Wanliss, James; Cornélissen, Germaine; Halberg, Franz; Brown, Denzel; Washington, Brien

2018-03-01

There is a strong connection between space weather and fluctuations in technological systems. Some studies also suggest a statistical connection between space weather and subsequent fluctuations in the physiology of living creatures. This connection, however, has remained controversial and difficult to demonstrate. Here we present support for a response of human physiology to forcing from the explosive onset of the largest of space weather events-space storms. We consider a case study with over 16 years of high temporal resolution measurements of human blood pressure (systolic, diastolic) and heart rate variability to search for associations with space weather. We find no statistically significant change in human blood pressure but a statistically significant drop in heart rate during the main phase of space storms. Our empirical findings shed light on how human physiology may respond to exogenous space weather forcing.

Superposed epoch analysis of physiological fluctuations: possible space weather connections

Science.gov (United States)

Wanliss, James; Cornélissen, Germaine; Halberg, Franz; Brown, Denzel; Washington, Brien

2018-03-01

There is a strong connection between space weather and fluctuations in technological systems. Some studies also suggest a statistical connection between space weather and subsequent fluctuations in the physiology of living creatures. This connection, however, has remained controversial and difficult to demonstrate. Here we present support for a response of human physiology to forcing from the explosive onset of the largest of space weather events—space storms. We consider a case study with over 16 years of high temporal resolution measurements of human blood pressure (systolic, diastolic) and heart rate variability to search for associations with space weather. We find no statistically significant change in human blood pressure but a statistically significant drop in heart rate during the main phase of space storms. Our empirical findings shed light on how human physiology may respond to exogenous space weather forcing.

When the Brain Takes 'BOLD' Steps: Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Can Further Enhance the Ability to Gradually Self-regulate Regional Brain Activation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorger, Bettina; Kamp, Tabea; Weiskopf, Nikolaus; Peters, Judith Caroline; Goebel, Rainer

2018-05-15

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) are currently explored in the context of developing alternative (motor-independent) communication and control means for the severely disabled. In such BCI systems, the user encodes a particular intention (e.g., an answer to a question or an intended action) by evoking specific mental activity resulting in a distinct brain state that can be decoded from fMRI activation. One goal in this context is to increase the degrees of freedom in encoding different intentions, i.e., to allow the BCI user to choose from as many options as possible. Recently, the ability to voluntarily modulate spatial and/or temporal blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD)-signal features has been explored implementing different mental tasks and/or different encoding time intervals, respectively. Our two-session fMRI feasibility study systematically investigated for the first time the possibility of using magnitudinal BOLD-signal features for intention encoding. Particularly, in our novel paradigm, participants (n=10) were asked to alternately self-regulate their regional brain-activation level to 30%, 60% or 90% of their maximal capacity by applying a selected activation strategy (i.e., performing a mental task, e.g., inner speech) and modulation strategies (e.g., using different speech rates) suggested by the experimenters. In a second step, we tested the hypothesis that the additional availability of feedback information on the current BOLD-signal level within a region of interest improves the gradual-self regulation performance. Therefore, participants were provided with neurofeedback in one of the two fMRI sessions. Our results show that the majority of the participants were able to gradually self-regulate regional brain activation to at least two different target levels even in the absence of neurofeedback. When provided with continuous feedback on their current BOLD-signal level, most

Food intake rates of inactive fish are positively linked to boldness in three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus.

Science.gov (United States)

Jolles, J W; Manica, A; Boogert, N J

2016-04-01

To investigate the link between personality and maximum food intake of inactive individuals, food-deprived three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus at rest in their home compartments were provided with ad libitum prey items. Bolder individuals ate considerably more than shyer individuals, even after accounting for body size, while sociability did not have an effect. These findings support pace-of-life theory predicting that life-history strategies are linked to boldness. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Fluctuations in email size

Science.gov (United States)

Matsubara, Yoshitsugu; Musashi, Yasuo

2017-12-01

The purpose of this study is to explain fluctuations in email size. We have previously investigated the long-term correlations between email send requests and data flow in the system log of the primary staff email server at a university campus, finding that email size frequency follows a power-law distribution with two inflection points, and that the power-law property weakens the correlation of the data flow. However, the mechanism underlying this fluctuation is not completely understood. We collected new log data from both staff and students over six academic years and analyzed the frequency distribution thereof, focusing on the type of content contained in the emails. Furthermore, we obtained permission to collect "Content-Type" log data from the email headers. We therefore collected the staff log data from May 1, 2015 to July 31, 2015, creating two subdistributions. In this paper, we propose a model to explain these subdistributions, which follow log-normal-like distributions. In the log-normal-like model, email senders -consciously or unconsciously- regulate the size of new email sentences according to a normal distribution. The fitting of the model is acceptable for these subdistributions, and the model demonstrates power-law properties for large email sizes. An analysis of the length of new email sentences would be required for further discussion of our model; however, to protect user privacy at the participating organization, we left this analysis for future work. This study provides new knowledge on the properties of email sizes, and our model is expected to contribute to the decision on whether to establish upper size limits in the design of email services.

Boldness predicts an individual's position along an exploration-exploitation foraging trade-off.

Science.gov (United States)

Patrick, Samantha C; Pinaud, David; Weimerskirch, Henri

2017-09-01

-off itself. These results demonstrate a clear trade-off between information gathering and exploitation of prey patches, and reveals for the first time that boldness may drive these differences. This provides a mechanism through which widely reported links between personality and foraging may emerge. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

Fluctuations in the multiparticle dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bozek, P.; Ploszajczak, M.

1993-01-01

The appearance and properties of intermittent fluctuations in physical systems, in particular the formation of rare structures in transport phenomena are discussed. The distribution of fluctuations approaches a limiting log-normal statistical distribution. The log-normal distribution is introduced as a simple parametrization of the energy fluctuations leading to the subthreshold production of particles in nuclear collisions, and it is shown that it fits all available data both for total π 0 production cross section as well as the π 0 kinetic energy spectra for E/A < 90 MeV. It is suggested that the same universal distribution should also describe the subthreshold production of other hadrons like η and K. (author) 36 refs., 11 figs

Origin of density fluctuations in extended inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolb, E.W.; Salopek, D.S.; Turner, M.S.

1990-01-01

We calculate both the curvature and isocurvature density fluctuations that arise due to quantum fluctuations in a simple model of extended inflation based upon the Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. The curvature fluctuations that arise due to quantum fluctuations in the Brans-Dicke field in general have a non-scale-invariant spectrum and an amplitude that is cosmologically acceptable and interesting without having to tune any coupling constant to a very small value. The curvature perturbations that arise due to the Higgs field are subdominant. If there are other massless fields in the theory, e.g., an axion or an ilion, then isocurvature fluctuations arise in these fields too. Production of gravitational waves and the massless particles associated with excitations of the Brans-Dicke field are also discussed. Several attempts at more realistic models of extended inflation are also analyzed. The importance of the Einstein conformal frame in calculating curvature fluctuations is emphasized. When viewed in this frame, extended inflation closely resembles slow-rollover inflation with an exponential potential, and the usual formula for the amplitude of curvature perturbations applies directly

Origin of density fluctuations in extended inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolb, E.W.; Salopek, D.S.; Turner, M.S.

1990-05-01

The density fluctuations (both curvature and isocurvature) that arise due to quantum fluctuations in a simple model of extended inflation based upon the Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory are calculated. Curvature fluctuations arise due to quantum fluctuations in the Brans-Dicke field, in general have a nonscale-invariant spectrum, and can have an amplitude that is cosmologically acceptable and interesting without having to tune any coupling constant to a very small value. The density perturbations that arise due to the inflation field are subdominant. If there are other massless fields in the theory, e.g., an axion or an ilion, then isocurvature fluctuations arise in these fields too. Production of gravitational waves and the massless particles associated with excitations of the Brans-Dicke field are also discussed. Several attempts at more realistic models of extended inflation are also analyzed. The importance of the Einstein conformal frame in calculating curvature fluctuations is emphasized. When viewed in this frame, extended inflation closely resembles slow-rollover inflation with an exponential potential and the usual formula for the amplitude of curvature perturbations applies

Evolutionary dynamics with fluctuating population sizes and strong mutualism

Science.gov (United States)

Chotibut, Thiparat; Nelson, David R.

2015-08-01

Game theory ideas provide a useful framework for studying evolutionary dynamics in a well-mixed environment. This approach, however, typically enforces a strictly fixed overall population size, deemphasizing natural growth processes. We study a competitive Lotka-Volterra model, with number fluctuations, that accounts for natural population growth and encompasses interaction scenarios typical of evolutionary games. We show that, in an appropriate limit, the model describes standard evolutionary games with both genetic drift and overall population size fluctuations. However, there are also regimes where a varying population size can strongly influence the evolutionary dynamics. We focus on the strong mutualism scenario and demonstrate that standard evolutionary game theory fails to describe our simulation results. We then analytically and numerically determine fixation probabilities as well as mean fixation times using matched asymptotic expansions, taking into account the population size degree of freedom. These results elucidate the interplay between population dynamics and evolutionary dynamics in well-mixed systems.

Evolutionary dynamics with fluctuating population sizes and strong mutualism.

Science.gov (United States)

Chotibut, Thiparat; Nelson, David R

2015-08-01

Game theory ideas provide a useful framework for studying evolutionary dynamics in a well-mixed environment. This approach, however, typically enforces a strictly fixed overall population size, deemphasizing natural growth processes. We study a competitive Lotka-Volterra model, with number fluctuations, that accounts for natural population growth and encompasses interaction scenarios typical of evolutionary games. We show that, in an appropriate limit, the model describes standard evolutionary games with both genetic drift and overall population size fluctuations. However, there are also regimes where a varying population size can strongly influence the evolutionary dynamics. We focus on the strong mutualism scenario and demonstrate that standard evolutionary game theory fails to describe our simulation results. We then analytically and numerically determine fixation probabilities as well as mean fixation times using matched asymptotic expansions, taking into account the population size degree of freedom. These results elucidate the interplay between population dynamics and evolutionary dynamics in well-mixed systems.

Plasmon mass scale and quantum fluctuations of classical fields on a real time lattice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kurkela Aleksi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Classical real-time lattice simulations play an important role in understanding non-equilibrium phenomena in gauge theories and are used in particular to model the prethermal evolution of heavy-ion collisions. Above the Debye scale the classical Yang-Mills (CYM theory can be matched smoothly to kinetic theory. First we study the limits of the quasiparticle picture of the CYM fields by determining the plasmon mass of the system using 3 different methods. Then we argue that one needs a numerical calculation of a system of classical gauge fields and small linearized fluctuations, which correspond to quantum fluctuations, in a way that keeps the separation between the two manifest. We demonstrate and test an implementation of an algorithm with the linearized fluctuation showing that the linearization indeed works and that the Gauss’s law is conserved.

Turbulent fluctuations and radial transport in the scrape-off layer of the ASDEX tokamak

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Endler, M [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, 85740 Garching (Germany); Giannone, L. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, 85740 Garching (Germany); McCormick, K [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, 85740 Garching (Germany); Niedermeyer, H [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, 85740 Garching (Germany); Rudyj, A [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, 85740 Garching (Germany); Theimer, G [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM Association, 85740 Garching (Germany); Tsois, N [NCSR ` Demokritos` , Athens (Greece); ASDEX Team

1995-04-01

Electrostatic fluctuations have been measured in the scrape-off layer of ASDEX by Langmuir probes and by observation of H{sub {alpha}} light with high poloidal and temporal resolution. It was demonstrated that these fluctuations contribute a significant, if not dominant, fraction of the ``anomalous`` radial particle transport. A model for an instability mechanism specific to the SOL is presented including density, temperature and electric potential fluctuations. From this model mixing length estimates for the radial transport and resulting density and pressure gradients in the SOL are derived and compared to measurements in the mid-plane and in the divertor of ASDEX. In spite of several simplifications in the model a quantitative agreement up to factors of 1-3 and a qualitative agreement for variations of discharge parameters is achieved between the model predictions and the measurements. ((orig.)).

Turbulent fluctuations and radial transport in the scrape-off layer of the ASDEX tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endler, M.; Giannone, L.; McCormick, K.; Niedermeyer, H.; Rudyj, A.; Theimer, G.; Tsois, N.

1995-01-01

Electrostatic fluctuations have been measured in the scrape-off layer of ASDEX by Langmuir probes and by observation of H α light with high poloidal and temporal resolution. It was demonstrated that these fluctuations contribute a significant, if not dominant, fraction of the ''anomalous'' radial particle transport. A model for an instability mechanism specific to the SOL is presented including density, temperature and electric potential fluctuations. From this model mixing length estimates for the radial transport and resulting density and pressure gradients in the SOL are derived and compared to measurements in the mid-plane and in the divertor of ASDEX. In spite of several simplifications in the model a quantitative agreement up to factors of 1-3 and a qualitative agreement for variations of discharge parameters is achieved between the model predictions and the measurements. ((orig.))

Zero-point oscillations, zero-point fluctuations, and fluctuations of zero-point oscillations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khalili, Farit Ya

2003-01-01

Several physical effects and methodological issues relating to the ground state of an oscillator are considered. Even in the simplest case of an ideal lossless harmonic oscillator, its ground state exhibits properties that are unusual from the classical point of view. In particular, the mean value of the product of two non-negative observables, kinetic and potential energies, is negative in the ground state. It is shown that semiclassical and rigorous quantum approaches yield substantially different results for the ground state energy fluctuations of an oscillator with finite losses. The dependence of zero-point fluctuations on the boundary conditions is considered. Using this dependence, it is possible to transmit information without emitting electromagnetic quanta. Fluctuations of electromagnetic pressure of zero-point oscillations are analyzed, and the corresponding mechanical friction is considered. This friction can be viewed as the most fundamental mechanism limiting the quality factor of mechanical oscillators. Observation of these effects exceeds the possibilities of contemporary experimental physics but almost undoubtedly will be possible in the near future. (methodological notes)

The Effect of Quantum Fluctuations in Compact Star Observables

Science.gov (United States)

Pósfay, P.; Barnaföldi, G. G.; Jakovác, A.

2018-05-01

Astrophysical measurements regarding compact stars are just ahead of a big evolution jump, since the NICER experiment deployed on ISS on 2017 June 14. This will provide soon data that would enable the determination of compact star radius with less than 10% error. This can be further constrained by the new observation of gravitational waves originated from merging neutron stars, GW170817. This poses new challenges to nuclear models aiming to explain the structure of super dense nuclear matter found in neutron stars. Detailed studies of the QCD phase diagram show the importance of bosonic quantum fluctuations in the cold dense matter equation of state. Here we used a demonstrative model with one bosonic and one fermionic degree of freedom coupled by Yukawa coupling, we show the effect of bosonic quantum fluctuations on compact star observables such as mass, radius, and compactness. We have also calculated the difference in the value of compressibility which is caused by quantum fluctuations. The above-mentioned quantities are calculated in the mean field, one-loop, and in high order many loop approximation. The results show that the magnitude of these effects is in the range of 4-5%, which place it into the region where modern measurements may detect it. This forms a base for further investigations that how these results carry over to more complicated models.

Separating intrinsic from extrinsic fluctuations in dynamic biological systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilfinger, Andreas; Paulsson, Johan

2011-07-19

From molecules in cells to organisms in ecosystems, biological populations fluctuate due to the intrinsic randomness of individual events and the extrinsic influence of changing environments. The combined effect is often too complex for effective analysis, and many studies therefore make simplifying assumptions, for example ignoring either intrinsic or extrinsic effects to reduce the number of model assumptions. Here we mathematically demonstrate how two identical and independent reporters embedded in a shared fluctuating environment can be used to identify intrinsic and extrinsic noise terms, but also how these contributions are qualitatively and quantitatively different from what has been previously reported. Furthermore, we show for which classes of biological systems the noise contributions identified by dual-reporter methods correspond to the noise contributions predicted by correct stochastic models of either intrinsic or extrinsic mechanisms. We find that for broad classes of systems, the extrinsic noise from the dual-reporter method can be rigorously analyzed using models that ignore intrinsic stochasticity. In contrast, the intrinsic noise can be rigorously analyzed using models that ignore extrinsic stochasticity only under very special conditions that rarely hold in biology. Testing whether the conditions are met is rarely possible and the dual-reporter method may thus produce flawed conclusions about the properties of the system, particularly about the intrinsic noise. Our results contribute toward establishing a rigorous framework to analyze dynamically fluctuating biological systems.

Quantum Fluctuations for Gravitational Impulsive Waves

OpenAIRE

Enginer, Y.; Hortacsu, M.; Ozdemir, N.

1998-01-01

Quantum fluctuations for a massless scalar field in the background metric of spherical impulsive gravitational waves through Minkowski and de Sitter spaces are investigated. It is shown that there exist finite fluctuations for de Sitter space.

Cosmic bubble and domain wall instabilities I: parametric amplification of linear fluctuations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Braden, Jonathan [CITA, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H8 (Canada); Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H8 (Canada); Bond, J. Richard [CITA, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3H8 (Canada); Mersini-Houghton, Laura [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255 (United States)

2015-03-03

This is the first paper in a series where we study collisions of nucleated bubbles taking into account the effects of small initial (quantum) fluctuations in a fully 3+1-dimensional setting. In this paper, we consider the evolution of linear fluctuations around highly symmetric though inhomogeneous backgrounds. In particular, we demonstrate that a large degree of asymmetry develops over time from tiny initial fluctuations superposed upon planar and SO(2,1) symmetric backgrounds. These fluctuations are inevitable consequences of zero-point vacuum oscillations, so excluding them by enforcing a high degree of spatial symmetry is inconsistent in a quantum treatment. To simplify the analysis we consider the limit of two colliding planar walls, with mode functions for the fluctuations characterized by the wavenumber transverse to the collision direction and a longitudinal shape along the collision direction x, which we solve for. In the linear regime, the fluctuations obey a linear wave equation with a time- and space-dependent mass m{sub eff}(x,t). In situations where the walls collide multiple times, m{sub eff} oscillates in time. We use Floquet theory to study the evolution of the fluctuations and generalize the calculations familiar from the preheating literature to the case with many coupled degrees of freedom. The inhomogeneous case has bands of unstable transverse wavenumbers k{sub ⊥} whose corresponding mode functions grow exponentially. By examining the detailed spatial structure of the mode functions in x, we identify both broad and narrow parametric resonance generalizations of the homogeneous m{sub eff}(t) case of preheating. The unstable k{sub ⊥} modes are longitudinally localized, yet can be described as quasiparticles in the Bogoliubov sense. We define an effective occupation number and show they are created in bursts for the case of well-defined collisions in the background. The transverse-longitudinal coupling accompanying nonlinearity radically

Cosmic bubble and domain wall instabilities I: parametric amplification of linear fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braden, Jonathan; Bond, J. Richard; Mersini-Houghton, Laura

2015-01-01

This is the first paper in a series where we study collisions of nucleated bubbles taking into account the effects of small initial (quantum) fluctuations in a fully 3+1-dimensional setting. In this paper, we consider the evolution of linear fluctuations around highly symmetric though inhomogeneous backgrounds. In particular, we demonstrate that a large degree of asymmetry develops over time from tiny initial fluctuations superposed upon planar and SO(2,1) symmetric backgrounds. These fluctuations are inevitable consequences of zero-point vacuum oscillations, so excluding them by enforcing a high degree of spatial symmetry is inconsistent in a quantum treatment. To simplify the analysis we consider the limit of two colliding planar walls, with mode functions for the fluctuations characterized by the wavenumber transverse to the collision direction and a longitudinal shape along the collision direction x, which we solve for. In the linear regime, the fluctuations obey a linear wave equation with a time- and space-dependent mass m eff (x,t). In situations where the walls collide multiple times, m eff oscillates in time. We use Floquet theory to study the evolution of the fluctuations and generalize the calculations familiar from the preheating literature to the case with many coupled degrees of freedom. The inhomogeneous case has bands of unstable transverse wavenumbers k ⊥ whose corresponding mode functions grow exponentially. By examining the detailed spatial structure of the mode functions in x, we identify both broad and narrow parametric resonance generalizations of the homogeneous m eff (t) case of preheating. The unstable k ⊥ modes are longitudinally localized, yet can be described as quasiparticles in the Bogoliubov sense. We define an effective occupation number and show they are created in bursts for the case of well-defined collisions in the background. The transverse-longitudinal coupling accompanying nonlinearity radically breaks this localized

One-loop fluctuation-dissipation formula for bubble-wall velocity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnold, P.

1993-01-01

The limiting bubble wall velocity during a first-order electroweak phase transition is of interest in scenarios for electroweak baryogenesis. Khlebnikov has recently proposed an interesting method for computing this velocity based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. It is demonstrated that at one-loop order this method is identical to simple, earlier techniques for computing the wall velocity based on computing the friction from particles reflecting off or transmitting through the wall in the ideal gas limit

One-loop fluctuation-dissipation formula for bubble-wall velocity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arnold, P.

1993-01-01

The limiting bubble-wall velocity during a first-order electroweak phase transition is of interest in scenarios for electroweak baryogenesis. Khlebnikov has recently proposed an interesting method for computing this velocity based on the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. I demonstrate that at one-loop order this method is identical to simple, earlier techniques for computing the wall velocity based on computing the friction from particles reflecting off or transmitting through the wall in the ideal gas (''thin-wall'') limit

Uncovering intrinsic modular organization of spontaneous brain activity in humans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong He

Full Text Available The characterization of topological architecture of complex brain networks is one of the most challenging issues in neuroscience. Slow (<0.1 Hz, spontaneous fluctuations of the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD signal in functional magnetic resonance imaging are thought to be potentially important for the reflection of spontaneous neuronal activity. Many studies have shown that these fluctuations are highly coherent within anatomically or functionally linked areas of the brain. However, the underlying topological mechanisms responsible for these coherent intrinsic or spontaneous fluctuations are still poorly understood. Here, we apply modern network analysis techniques to investigate how spontaneous neuronal activities in the human brain derived from the resting-state BOLD signals are topologically organized at both the temporal and spatial scales. We first show that the spontaneous brain functional networks have an intrinsically cohesive modular structure in which the connections between regions are much denser within modules than between them. These identified modules are found to be closely associated with several well known functionally interconnected subsystems such as the somatosensory/motor, auditory, attention, visual, subcortical, and the "default" system. Specifically, we demonstrate that the module-specific topological features can not be captured by means of computing the corresponding global network parameters, suggesting a unique organization within each module. Finally, we identify several pivotal network connectors and paths (predominantly associated with the association and limbic/paralimbic cortex regions that are vital for the global coordination of information flow over the whole network, and we find that their lesions (deletions critically affect the stability and robustness of the brain functional system. Together, our results demonstrate the highly organized modular architecture and associated topological properties in

Quantum horizon fluctuations of an evaporating black hole

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roura, Albert

2007-01-01

The quantum fluctuations of a black hole spacetime are studied within a low-energy effective field theory approach to quantum gravity. Our approach accounts for both intrinsic metric fluctuations and those induced by matter fields interacting with the gravitational field. Here we will concentrate on spherically symmetric fluctuations of the black hole horizon. Our results suggest that for a sufficiently massive evaporating black hole, fluctuations can accumulate over time and become significant well before reaching Planckian scales. In addition, we provide the sketch of a proof that the symmetrized two-point function of the stress-tensor operator smeared over a null hypersurface is actually divergent and discuss the implications for the analysis of horizon fluctuations. Finally, a natural way to probe quantum metric fluctuations near the horizon is briefly described

Suppression of alloy fluctuations in GaAs-AlGaAs core-shell nanowires

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loitsch, Bernhard; Winnerl, Julia; Parzinger, Eric; Matich, Sonja; Wurstbauer, Ursula; Riedl, Hubert; Abstreiter, Gerhard; Finley, Jonathan J.; Koblmüller, Gregor [Walter Schottky Institut and Physik Department, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching (Germany); Jeon, Nari; Lauhon, Lincoln J. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (United States); Döblinger, Markus [Department of Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, 81377 München (Germany)

2016-08-29

Probing localized alloy fluctuations and controlling them by growth kinetics have been relatively limited so far in nanoscale structures such as semiconductor nanowires (NWs). Here, we demonstrate the tuning of alloy fluctuations in molecular beam epitaxially grown GaAs-AlGaAs core-shell NWs by modifications of shell growth temperature, as investigated by correlated micro-photoluminescence, scanning transmission electron microscopy, and atom probe tomography. By reducing the shell growth temperature from T > 600 °C to below 400 °C, we find a strong reduction in alloy fluctuation mediated sharp-line luminescence, concurrent with a decrease in the non-randomness of the alloy distribution in the AlGaAs shell. This trend is further characterized by a change in the alloy compositional structure from unintentional quasi-superlattices of Ga- and Al-rich AlGaAs layers at high T to a nearly homogeneous random alloy distribution at low T.

Invariant-based inverse engineering for fluctuation transfer between membranes in an optomechanical cavity system

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ye-Hong; Shi, Zhi-Cheng; Song, Jie; Xia, Yan

2018-02-01

In this paper, by invariant-based inverse engineering, we design classical driving fields to transfer quantum fluctuations between two suspended membranes in an optomechanical cavity system. The transfer can be quickly attained through a nonadiabatic evolution path determined by a so-called dynamical invariant. Such an evolution path allows one to optimize the occupancies of the unstable "intermediate" states; thus, the influence of cavity decays can be suppressed. Numerical simulation demonstrates that a perfect fluctuation transfer between two membranes can be rapidly achieved in one step, and the transfer is robust to both the amplitude noises and cavity decays.

A statistical approach for segregating cognitive task stages from multivariate fMRI BOLD time series

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charmaine eDemanuele

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Multivariate pattern analysis can reveal new information from neuroimaging data to illuminate human cognition and its disturbances. Here, we develop a methodological approach, based on multivariate statistical/machine learning and time series analysis, to discern cognitive processing stages from fMRI blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD time series. We apply this method to data recorded from a group of healthy adults whilst performing a virtual reality version of the delayed win-shift radial arm maze task. This task has been frequently used to study working memory and decision making in rodents. Using linear classifiers and multivariate test statistics in conjunction with time series bootstraps, we show that different cognitive stages of the task, as defined by the experimenter, namely, the encoding/retrieval, choice, reward and delay stages, can be statistically discriminated from the BOLD time series in brain areas relevant for decision making and working memory. Discrimination of these task stages was significantly reduced during poor behavioral performance in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC, but not in the primary visual cortex (V1. Experimenter-defined dissection of time series into class labels based on task structure was confirmed by an unsupervised, bottom-up approach based on Hidden Markov Models. Furthermore, we show that different groupings of recorded time points into cognitive event classes can be used to test hypotheses about the specific cognitive role of a given brain region during task execution. We found that whilst the DLPFC strongly differentiated between task stages associated with different memory loads, but not between different visual-spatial aspects, the reverse was true for V1. Our methodology illustrates how different aspects of cognitive information processing during one and the same task can be separated and attributed to specific brain regions based on information contained in multivariate patterns of voxel

Distributed BOLD-response in association cortex vector state space predicts reaction time during selective attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Musso, Francesco; Konrad, Andreas; Vucurevic, Goran; Schäffner, Cornelius; Friedrich, Britta; Frech, Peter; Stoeter, Peter; Winterer, Georg

2006-02-15

Human cortical information processing is thought to be dominated by distributed activity in vector state space (Churchland, P.S., Sejnowski, T.J., 1992. The Computational Brain. MIT Press, Cambridge.). In principle, it should be possible to quantify distributed brain activation with independent component analysis (ICA) through vector-based decomposition, i.e., through a separation of a mixture of sources. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a selective attention-requiring task (visual oddball), we explored how the number of independent components within activated cortical areas is related to reaction time. Prior to ICA, the activated cortical areas were determined on the basis of a General linear model (GLM) voxel-by-voxel analysis of the target stimuli (checkerboard reversal). Two activated cortical areas (temporoparietal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex) were further investigated as these cortical regions are known to be the sites of simultaneously active electromagnetic generators which give rise to the compound event-related potential P300 during oddball task conditions. We found that the number of independent components more strongly predicted reaction time than the overall level of "activation" (GLM BOLD-response) in the left temporoparietal area whereas in the medial prefrontal cortex both ICA and GLM predicted reaction time equally well. Comparable correlations were not seen when principle components were used instead of independent components. These results indicate that the number of independently activated components, i.e., a high level of cortical activation complexity in cortical vector state space, may index particularly efficient information processing during selective attention-requiring tasks. To our best knowledge, this is the first report describing a potential relationship between neuronal generators of cognitive processes, the associated electrophysiological evidence for the existence of distributed networks

Quantum fluctuations of the Coulomb potential as a source of flicker noise: the influence of external electric field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kazakov, Kirill A

2006-01-01

Fluctuations of the electromagnetic field produced by quantized matter in an external electric field are investigated. A general expression for the power spectrum of fluctuations is derived within the long-range expansion. It is found that in the whole measured frequency band, the power spectrum of fluctuations exhibits an inverse frequency dependence. A general argument is given showing that for all practically relevant values of the electric field, the power spectrum of induced fluctuations is proportional to the field strength squared. As an illustration, the power spectrum is calculated explicitly using a kinetic model with a relaxation-type collision term. Finally, it is shown that the magnitude of fluctuations produced by a sample generally has a Gaussian distribution around its mean value, and its dependence on the sample geometry is determined. In particular, it is demonstrated that for geometrically similar samples the power spectrum is inversely proportional to the sample volume. Application of the results obtained to the problem of flicker noise is discussed

Information-to-free-energy conversion: Utilizing thermal fluctuations.

Science.gov (United States)

Toyabe, Shoichi; Muneyuki, Eiro

2013-01-01

Maxwell's demon is a hypothetical creature that can convert information to free energy. A debate that has lasted for more than 100 years has revealed that the demon's operation does not contradict the laws of thermodynamics; hence, the demon can be realized physically. We briefly review the first experimental demonstration of Maxwell's demon of Szilard's engine type that converts information to free energy. We pump heat from an isothermal environment by using the information about the thermal fluctuations of a Brownian particle and increase the particle's free energy.

Fluctuation relations for anomalous dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chechkin, A V; Klages, R

2009-01-01

We consider work fluctuation relations (FRs) for generic types of dynamics generating anomalous diffusion: Lévy flights, long-correlated Gaussian processes and time-fractional kinetics. By combining Langevin and kinetic approaches we calculate the probability distributions of mechanical and thermodynamical work in two paradigmatic nonequilibrium situations, respectively: a particle subject to a constant force and a particle in a harmonic potential dragged by a constant force. We check the transient FR for two models exhibiting superdiffusion, where a fluctuation-dissipation relation does not exist, and for two other models displaying subdiffusion, where there is a fluctuation-dissipation relation. In the two former cases the conventional transient FR is not recovered, whereas in the latter two it holds either exactly or in the long-time limit. (letter)

Multiscale fluctuations in nuclear response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lacroix, D.; Chomaz, Ph.

1999-01-01

The nuclear collective response is investigated in the framework of a doorway picture in which the spreading width of the collective emotion is described as a coupling to more and more complex configurations. It is shown that this coupling induces fluctuations of the observed strength. In the case of a hierarchy of overlapping decay channels, Ericson fluctuations are observed at different scales. Methods for extracting these scales and the related lifetimes are discussed. Finally, it is shown that the coupling of different states at one level of complexity to some common decay channels at the next level, may produce interference-like patterns in the nuclear response. This quantum effect leads to anew type of fluctuations with a typical width related to the level spacing. (author)

Multiscale fluctuations in nuclear response

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lacroix, D.; Chomaz, Ph

1999-01-01

The nuclear collective response is investigated in the framework of a doorway picture in which the spreading width of the collective emotion is described as a coupling to more and more complex configurations. It is shown that this coupling induces fluctuations of the observed strength. In the case of a hierarchy of overlapping decay channels, Ericson fluctuations are observed at different scales. Methods for extracting these scales and the related lifetimes are discussed. Finally, it is shown that the coupling of different states at one level of complexity to some common decay channels at the next level, may produce interference-like patterns in the nuclear response. This quantum effect leads to anew type of fluctuations with a typical width related to the level spacing. (author) 25 refs.

Pairing fluctuations in trapped Fermi gases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Viverit, Luciano; Bruun, Georg M.; Minguzzi, Anna; Fazio, Rosario

2004-01-01

We examine the contribution of pairing fluctuations to the superfluid order parameter for harmonically trapped atomic Fermi gases in the BCS regime. In the limit of small systems we consider, both analytically and numerically, their space and temperature dependence. We predict a parity effect, i.e., that pairing fluctuations show a maximum or a minimum at the center of the trap, depending on the value of the last occupied shell being even or odd. We propose to detect pairing fluctuations by measuring the density-density correlation function after a ballistic expansion of the gas

Can Weather Radars Help Monitoring and Forecasting Wind Power Fluctuations at Large Offshore Wind Farms?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trombe, Pierre-Julien; Pinson, Pierre; Madsen, Henrik

2011-01-01

The substantial impact of wind power fluctuations at large offshore wind farms calls for the development of dedicated monitoring and prediction approaches. Based on recent findings, a Local Area Weather Radar (LAWR) was installed at Horns Rev with the aim of improving predictability, controlability...... and potentially maintenance planning. Additional images are available from a Doppler radar covering the same area. The parallel analysis of rain events detection and of regime sequences in wind (and power) fluctuations demonstrates the interest of employing weather radars for a better operation and management...... of offshore wind farms....

Fluctuating dynamics of nematic liquid crystals using the stochastic method of lines

Science.gov (United States)

Bhattacharjee, A. K.; Menon, Gautam I.; Adhikari, R.

2010-07-01

We construct Langevin equations describing the fluctuations of the tensor order parameter Qαβ in nematic liquid crystals by adding noise terms to time-dependent variational equations that follow from the Ginzburg-Landau-de Gennes free energy. The noise is required to preserve the symmetry and tracelessness of the tensor order parameter and must satisfy a fluctuation-dissipation relation at thermal equilibrium. We construct a noise with these properties in a basis of symmetric traceless matrices and show that the Langevin equations can be solved numerically in this basis using a stochastic version of the method of lines. The numerical method is validated by comparing equilibrium probability distributions, structure factors, and dynamic correlations obtained from these numerical solutions with analytic predictions. We demonstrate excellent agreement between numerics and theory. This methodology can be applied to the study of phenomena where fluctuations in both the magnitude and direction of nematic order are important, as for instance, in the nematic swarms which produce enhanced opalescence near the isotropic-nematic transition or the problem of nucleation of the nematic from the isotropic phase.

Density Fluctuations in a Polar Coronal Hole

Science.gov (United States)

Hahn, Michael; D’Huys, Elke; Savin, Daniel Wolf

2018-06-01

We have measured the root-mean-square (rms) amplitude of intensity fluctuations, ΔI, in plume and interplume regions of a polar coronal hole. These intensity fluctuations correspond to density fluctuations. Using data from the Sun Watcher using the Active Pixel System detector and Image Processing on the Project for Onboard Autonomy (Proba2), our results extend up to a height of about 1.35 R ⊙. One advantage of the rms analysis is that it does not rely on a detailed evaluation of the power spectrum, which is limited by noise levels to low heights in the corona. The rms approach can be performed up to larger heights where the noise level is greater, provided that the noise itself can be quantified. At low heights, both the absolute ΔI, and the amplitude relative to the mean intensity, ΔI/I, decrease with height. However, starting at about 1.2 R ⊙, ΔI/I increases, reaching 20%–40% by 1.35 R ⊙. This corresponds to density fluctuations of Δn e/n e ≈ 10%–20%. The increasing relative amplitude implies that the density fluctuations are generated in the corona itself. One possibility is that the density fluctuations are generated by an instability of Alfvén waves. This generation mechanism is consistent with some theoretical models and with observations of Alfvén wave amplitudes in coronal holes. Although we find that the energy of the observed density fluctuations is small, these fluctuations are likely to play an important indirect role in coronal heating by promoting the reflection of Alfvén waves and driving turbulence.

Statistical fluctuations of the number of neutrons in a pile; Fluctuations statistiques du nombre de neutrons dans une pile

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raievski, V [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1958-07-01

The theory of the statistical fluctuations in a pile is extended to the space dependent case, and gives the fluctuations of the number of neutrons in a cell of the core or reflector of the pile. This number changes through elementary processes occurring at random, which are, capture, source, fission and scattering. Of all these processes, fission is the only one which changes more than one neutron at a time and so is responsible of the deviation of the fluctuations from a Poisson law. The importance of this deviation depends on the dimensions of the cell compared to the slowing down length. When the dimensions are small, the fluctuations close to a Poisson law. (author) [French] La theorie des fluctuations statistiques est etendue au cas local et donne les fluctuations du nombre de neutrons dans une cellule situee dans le coeur ou le reflecteur de la pile. Ce nombre evolue au cours du temps sous l'influence de phenomenes aleatoires qui sont la capture, la diffusion, les sources et les neutrons secondaires de fission. L'emission simultanee de plusieurs neutrons distingue ce phenomene des precedents qui n'affectent qu'un neutron individuellement. L'importance de ce phenomene sur la loi de fluctuation depend des dimensions de la cellule par rapport a la longueur de ralentissement. Quand ces dimensions sont petites, le caractere particulier de ce phenomene disparait. (auteur)

Fluctuating hydrodynamics for ionic liquids

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lazaridis, Konstantinos [Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Washington State University, Pullman, 99163 (United States); Wickham, Logan [Department of Computer Science, Washington State University, Richland, 99354 (United States); Voulgarakis, Nikolaos, E-mail: n.voulgarakis@wsu.edu [Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Washington State University, Pullman, 99163 (United States)

2017-04-25

We present a mean-field fluctuating hydrodynamics (FHD) method for studying the structural and transport properties of ionic liquids in bulk and near electrified surfaces. The free energy of the system consists of two competing terms: (1) a Landau–Lifshitz functional that models the spontaneous separation of the ionic groups, and (2) the standard mean-field electrostatic interaction between the ions in the liquid. The numerical approach used to solve the resulting FHD-Poisson equations is very efficient and models thermal fluctuations with remarkable accuracy. Such density fluctuations are sufficiently strong to excite the experimentally observed spontaneous formation of liquid nano-domains. Statistical analysis of our simulations provides quantitative information about the properties of ionic liquids, such as the mixing quality, stability, and the size of the nano-domains. Our model, thus, can be adequately parameterized by directly comparing our prediction with experimental measurements and all-atom simulations. Conclusively, this work can serve as a practical mathematical tool for testing various theories and designing more efficient mixtures of ionic liquids. - Highlights: • A new fluctuating hydrodynamics method for ionic liquids. • Description of ionic liquid morphology in bulk and near electrified surfaces. • Direct comparison with experimental measurements.

A novel Bayesian approach to accounting for uncertainty in fMRI-derived estimates of cerebral oxygen metabolism fluctuations.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Aaron B; Dubowitz, David J; Blockley, Nicholas P; Buxton, Richard B

2016-04-01

Calibrated blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) imaging is a multimodal functional MRI technique designed to estimate changes in cerebral oxygen metabolism from measured changes in cerebral blood flow and the BOLD signal. This technique addresses fundamental ambiguities associated with quantitative BOLD signal analysis; however, its dependence on biophysical modeling creates uncertainty in the resulting oxygen metabolism estimates. In this work, we developed a Bayesian approach to estimating the oxygen metabolism response to a neural stimulus and used it to examine the uncertainty that arises in calibrated BOLD estimation due to the presence of unmeasured model parameters. We applied our approach to estimate the CMRO2 response to a visual task using the traditional hypercapnia calibration experiment as well as to estimate the metabolic response to both a visual task and hypercapnia using the measurement of baseline apparent R2' as a calibration technique. Further, in order to examine the effects of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) signal contamination on the measurement of apparent R2', we examined the effects of measuring this parameter with and without CSF-nulling. We found that the two calibration techniques provided consistent estimates of the metabolic response on average, with a median R2'-based estimate of the metabolic response to CO2 of 1.4%, and R2'- and hypercapnia-calibrated estimates of the visual response of 27% and 24%, respectively. However, these estimates were sensitive to different sources of estimation uncertainty. The R2'-calibrated estimate was highly sensitive to CSF contamination and to uncertainty in unmeasured model parameters describing flow-volume coupling, capillary bed characteristics, and the iso-susceptibility saturation of blood. The hypercapnia-calibrated estimate was relatively insensitive to these parameters but highly sensitive to the assumed metabolic response to CO2. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A novel Bayesian approach to accounting for uncertainty in fMRI-derived estimates of cerebral oxygen metabolism fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Aaron B.; Dubowitz, David J.; Blockley, Nicholas P.; Buxton, Richard B.

2016-01-01

Calibrated blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) imaging is a multimodal functional MRI technique designed to estimate changes in cerebral oxygen metabolism from measured changes in cerebral blood flow and the BOLD signal. This technique addresses fundamental ambiguities associated with quantitative BOLD signal analysis; however, its dependence on biophysical modeling creates uncertainty in the resulting oxygen metabolism estimates. In this work, we developed a Bayesian approach to estimating the oxygen metabolism response to a neural stimulus and used it to examine the uncertainty that arises in calibrated BOLD estimation due to the presence of unmeasured model parameters. We applied our approach to estimate the CMRO2 response to a visual task using the traditional hypercapnia calibration experiment as well as to estimate the metabolic response to both a visual task and hypercapnia using the measurement of baseline apparent R2′ as a calibration technique. Further, in order to examine the effects of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) signal contamination on the measurement of apparent R2′, we examined the effects of measuring this parameter with and without CSF-nulling. We found that the two calibration techniques provided consistent estimates of the metabolic response on average, with a median R2′-based estimate of the metabolic response to CO2 of 1.4%, and R2′- and hypercapnia-calibrated estimates of the visual response of 27% and 24%, respectively. However, these estimates were sensitive to different sources of estimation uncertainty. The R2′-calibrated estimate was highly sensitive to CSF contamination and to uncertainty in unmeasured model parameters describing flow-volume coupling, capillary bed characteristics, and the iso-susceptibility saturation of blood. The hypercapnia-calibrated estimate was relatively insensitive to these parameters but highly sensitive to the assumed metabolic response to CO2. PMID:26790354

Fluctuations in high-energy particle collisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gronqvist, Hanna

2016-01-01

We study fluctuations that are omnipresent in high-energy particle collisions. These fluctuations can be either of either classical or quantum origin and we will study both. Firstly, we consider the type of quantum fluctuations that arise in proton-proton collisions. These are computable perturbatively in quantum field theory and we will focus on a specific class of diagrams in this set-up. Secondly, we will consider the fluctuations that are present in collisions between nuclei that can be heavier than protons. These are the quantum laws of nature that describe the positions of nucleons within a nucleus, but also the hydrodynamic fluctuations of classical, thermal origin that affect the evolution of the medium produced in heavy-ion collisions. The fluctuations arising in proton-proton collisions can be computed analytically up to a certain order in perturbative quantum field theory. We will focus on one-loop diagrams of a fixed topology. Loop diagrams give rise to integrals that typically are hard to evaluate. We show how modern mathematical methods can be used to ease their computation. We will study the relations among unitarity cuts of a diagram, the discontinuity across the corresponding branch cut and the coproduct. We show how the original integral corresponding to a given diagram can be reconstructed from the information contained in the coproduct. We expect that these methods can be applied to solve more complicated topologies and help in the computation of new amplitudes in the future. Finally, we study the two types of fluctuations arising in heavy-ion collisions. These are related either to the initial state or the intermediate state of matter produced in such collisions. The initial state fluctuations are experimentally observed to give rise to non-Gaussianities in the final-state spectra. We show how these non-Gaussianities can be explained by the random position and interaction energy of 'sources' in the colliding nuclei. Furthermore, we

Effect of CGRP and sumatriptan on the BOLD response in visual cortex

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Asghar, Mohammed Sohail; Hansen, Adam E; Larsson, Henrik B W

2012-01-01

To test the hypothesis that calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) modulates brain activity, we investigated the effect of intravenous CGRP on brain activity in response to a visual stimulus. In addition, we examined if possible alteration in brain activity was reversed by the anti-migraine drug......% of the participants reported headache after CGRP. We found no changes in brain activity after CGRP (P = 0.12) or after placebo (P = 0.41). Sumatriptan did not affect brain activity after CGRP (P = 0.71) or after placebo (P = 0.98). Systemic CGRP or sumatriptan has no direct effects on the BOLD activity in visual...... sumatriptan. Eighteen healthy volunteers were randomly allocated to receive CGRP infusion (1.5 µg/min for 20 min) or placebo. In vivo activity in the visual cortex was recorded before, during and after infusion and after 6 mg subcutaneous sumatriptan by functional magnetic resonance imaging (3 T). 77...

How to resolve microsecond current fluctuations in single ion channels: The power of beta distributions

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Indra

2015-01-01

Abstract A main ingredient for the understanding of structure/function correlates of ion channels is the quantitative description of single-channel gating and conductance. However, a wealth of information provided from fast current fluctuations beyond the temporal resolution of the recording system is often ignored, even though it is close to the time window accessible to molecular dynamics simulations. This kind of current fluctuations provide a special technical challenge, because individual opening/closing or blocking/unblocking events cannot be resolved, and the resulting averaging over undetected events decreases the single-channel current. Here, I briefly summarize the history of fast-current fluctuation analysis and focus on the so-called “beta distributions.” This tool exploits characteristics of current fluctuation-induced excess noise on the current amplitude histograms to reconstruct the true single-channel current and kinetic parameters. A guideline for the analysis and recent applications demonstrate that a construction of theoretical beta distributions by Markov Model simulations offers maximum flexibility as compared to analytical solutions. PMID:26368656

Adapted Method for Separating Kinetic SZ Signal from Primary CMB Fluctuations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Forni Olivier

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In this first attempt to extract a map of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (KSZ temperature fluctuations from the cosmic microwave background (CMB anisotropies, we use a method which is based on simple and minimal assumptions. We first focus on the intrinsic limitations of the method due to the cosmological signal itself. We demonstrate using simulated maps that the KSZ reconstructed maps are in quite good agreement with the original input signal with a correlation coefficient between original and reconstructed maps of on average, and an error on the standard deviation of the reconstructed KSZ map of only % on average. To achieve these results, our method is based on the fact that some first-step component separation provides us with (i a map of Compton parameters for the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (TSZ effect of galaxy clusters, and (ii a map of temperature fluctuations which is the sum of primary CMB and KSZ signals. Our method takes benefit from the spatial correlation between KSZ and TSZ effects which are both due to the same galaxy clusters. This correlation allows us to use the TSZ map as a spatial template in order to mask, in the map, the pixels where the clusters must have imprinted an SZ fluctuation. In practice, a series of TSZ thresholds is defined and for each threshold, we estimate the corresponding KSZ signal by interpolating the CMB fluctuations on the masked pixels. The series of estimated KSZ maps is finally used to reconstruct the KSZ map through the minimisation of a criterion taking into account two statistical properties of the KSZ signal (KSZ dominates over primary anisotropies at small scales, KSZ fluctuations are non-Gaussian distributed. We show that the results are quite sensitive to the effect of beam convolution, especially for large beams, and to the corruption by instrumental noise.

Theory of electromagnetic fluctuations for magnetized multi-species plasmas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Navarro, Roberto E., E-mail: roberto.navarro@ug.uchile.cl; Muñoz, Víctor [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago (Chile); Araneda, Jaime [Departamento de Física, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción 4070386 (Chile); Moya, Pablo S. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Science Division, Geospace Physics Laboratory, Mail Code 673, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (United States); Department of Physics, Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. 20064 (United States); Viñas, Adolfo F. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Science Division, Geospace Physics Laboratory, Mail Code 673, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 (United States); Valdivia, Juan A. [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago (Chile); Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios Básicos y Aplicados en Complejidad, CEIBA complejidad, Bogotá (Colombia)

2014-09-15

Analysis of electromagnetic fluctuations in plasma provides relevant information about the plasma state and its macroscopic properties. In particular, the solar wind persistently sustains a small but detectable level of magnetic fluctuation power even near thermal equilibrium. These fluctuations may be related to spontaneous electromagnetic fluctuations arising from the discreteness of charged particles. Here, we derive general expressions for the plasma fluctuations in a multi-species plasma following arbitrary distribution functions. This formalism, which generalizes and includes previous works on the subject, is then applied to the generation of electromagnetic fluctuations propagating along a background magnetic field in a plasma of two proton populations described by drifting bi-Maxwellians.

Plasma diffusion due to magnetic field fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okuda, H.; Lee, W.W.; Lin, A.T.

1979-01-01

Plasma diffusion due to magnetic field fluctuations has been studied in two dimensions for a plasma near thermal equilibrium and when the fluctuations are suprathermal. It is found that near thermal equilibrium electron diffusion varies as B -2 when the collisionless skin depth is greater than the thermal electron gyroradius and is generally smaller than the diffusion due to collisions or electrostatic fluctuations for a low-β plasma. When the suprathermal magnetic fluctuation exists because of macroscopic plasma currents, electron diffusion is enhanced due to the coalescence of current filaments and magnetic islands. Magnetic field energy is found to condense to the longest wavelength available in the system and stays there longer than the electron diffusion time scale

Fluctuation microscopy: a probe of medium range order

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Treacy, M M J; Gibson, J M; Fan, L; Paterson, D J; McNulty, I

2005-01-01

Fluctuation microscopy is a hybrid diffraction-imaging technique that detects medium range order in amorphous materials by examining spatial fluctuations in coherent scattering. These fluctuations appear as speckle in images and diffraction patterns. The volume of material contributing to the speckle is determined by the point-spread function (the resolution) of the imaging optics and the sample thickness. The spatial periodicities being probed are related to the diffraction vector. Statistical analysis of the speckle allows the random and non-random (ordered) contributions to be discriminated. The image resolution that gives the maximum speckle contrast, as determined by the normalized variance of the image intensity, is determined by the characteristic length scale of the ordering. Because medium range ordering length scales can extend out to about the tenth coordination shell, fluctuation microscopy tends to be a low image resolution technique. This review presents the kinematical scattering theory underpinning fluctuation microscopy and a description of fluctuation electron microscopy as it has been employed in the transmission electron microscope for studying amorphous materials. Recent results using soft x-rays for studying nanoscale materials are also presented. We summarize outstanding issues and point to possible future directions for fluctuation microscopy as a technique

Non-equilibrium fluctuation-induced interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dean, David S

2012-01-01

We discuss non-equilibrium aspects of fluctuation-induced interactions. While the equilibrium behavior of such interactions has been extensively studied and is relatively well understood, the study of these interactions out of equilibrium is relatively new. We discuss recent results on the non-equilibrium behavior of systems whose dynamics is of the dissipative stochastic type and identify a number of outstanding problems concerning non-equilibrium fluctuation-induced interactions.

In Situ Visualization of the Growth and Fluctuations of Nanoparticle Superlattice in Liquids

Science.gov (United States)

Ou, Zihao; Shen, Bonan; Chen, Qian

We use liquid phase transmission electron microscopy to image and understand the crystal growth front and interfacial fluctuation of a nanoparticle superlattice. With single particle resolution and hundreds of nanoscale building blocks in view, we are able to identify the interface between ordered lattice and disordered structure and visualize the kinetics of single building block attachment at the lattice growth front. The spatial interfacial fluctuation profiles support the capillary wave theory, from which we derive a surface stiffness value consistent with scaling analysis. Our experiments demonstrate the potential of extending model study on collective systems to nanoscale with single particle resolution and testing fundamental theories of condensed matter at a length scale linking atoms and micron-sized colloids.

Effects of limited spatial resolution on fluctuation measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bravenec, R.V.; Wootton, A.J.

1994-01-01

The finite sample volumes of fluctuation diagnostics distort the measurements not only by averaging the gross fluctuation parameters over the sample volumes, but more importantly (except for collective scattering), by attenuating the shorter wavelength components. In this work the response of various sample volume sizes and orientations to a model fluctuation power spectrum S(k,ω) are examined. The model spectrum is fashioned after observations by far-infrared scattering on TEXT. The sample-volume extent in the direction of propagation of the turbulence is shown to be the most critical - not only does it reduce the measured fluctuation amplitude and correlation length (as does an extent perpendicular to the propagation direction), but also reduces the measured mean frequency and increases the apparent average phase velocity of the fluctuations. The differing sizes, shapes, and orientations of the sample volumes among fluctuation diagnostics, as well as deliberate variations within a single diagnostic, provide information on the form of the underlying turbulence and can be exploited to refine the model

Studies of Fluctuation Processes in Nuclear Collisions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ayik, Sakir [Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics

2016-04-14

The standard one-body transport approaches have been extensively applied to investigate heavy-ion collision dynamics at low and intermediate energies. At low energies the approach is the mean-field description of the time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) theory. At intermediate energies the approach is extended by including a collision term, and its application has been carried out mostly in the semi-classical framework of the Boltzmann-Uhling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) model. The standard transport models provide a good understanding of the average properties of the collision dynamics in terms of the effective interactions in both low and intermediate energies. However, the standard models are inadequate for describing the fluctuation dynamics of collective motion at low energies and disassembling of the nuclear system into fragments at intermediate energies resulting from the growth of density fluctuations in the spinodal region. Our tasks have been to improve the standard transport approaches by incorporating fluctuation mechanisms into the description. There are mainly two different mechanisms for fluctuations: (i) Collisional fluctuations generated by binary nucleon collisions, which provide the dominant mechanism at intermediate energies, and (ii) One-body mechanism or mean-field fluctuations, which is the dominant mechanism at low energies. In the first part of our project, the PI extended the standard transport model at intermediate energies by incorporating collisional mechanism according to the “Generalized Langevin Description” of Mori formalism. The PI and his collaborators carried out a number of applications for describing dynamical mechanism of nuclear multi fragmentations, and nuclear collective response in the semi-classical framework of the approach, which is known as the Boltzmann-Langevin model. In the second part of the project, we considered dynamical description at low energies. Because of the effective Pauli blocking, the collisional dissipation and

The impact of susceptibility gradients on cartesian and spiral EPI for BOLD fMRI

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sangill, Ryan; Wallentin, Mikkel; Østergaard, Leif

2006-01-01

, with special emphasis on spiral EPI (spiral) and cartesian EPI (EPI) and their performance under influence of induced field gradients (SFGs) and stochastic noise. A numerical method for calculating synthetic MR images is developed and used to simulate BOLD fMRI experiments using EPI and spirals. The data...... is then examined for activation using a pixel-wise t test. Nine subjects are scanned with both techniques while performing a motor task. SPM99 is used for analysing the experimental data. The simulated spirals provide generally higher t scores at low SFGs but lose more strength than EPI at higher SFGs, where EPI...... activation is offset from the true position. In the primary motor area spirals provide significantly higher t scores (P SFG areas spirals provide stronger activation than...

Queues and Lévy fluctuation theory

CERN Document Server

Dębicki, Krzysztof

2015-01-01

The book provides an extensive introduction to queueing models driven by Lévy-processes as well as a systematic account of the literature on Lévy-driven queues. The objective is to make the reader familiar with the wide set of probabilistic techniques that have been developed over the past decades, including transform-based techniques, martingales, rate-conservation arguments, change-of-measure, importance sampling, and large deviations. On the application side, it demonstrates how Lévy traffic models arise when modelling current queueing-type systems (as communication networks) and includes applications to finance. Queues and Lévy Fluctuation Theory will appeal to graduate/postgraduate students and researchers in mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering. Basic prerequisites are probability theory and stochastic processes.

Charge Fluctuations of an Uncharged Black Hole

OpenAIRE

Schiffer, Marcelo

2016-01-01

In this paper we calculate charge fluctuations of a Schwarzschild black-hole of mass $M$ confined within a perfectly reflecting cavity of radius R in thermal equilibrium with various species of radiation and fermions . Charge conservation is constrained by a Lagrange multiplier (the chemical potential). Black hole charge fluctuations are expected owing to continuous absorption and emission of particles by the black hole. For black holes much more massive than $10^{16} g$ , these fluctuations ...

Quantum fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reynaud, S.; Giacobino, S.; Zinn-Justin, J.

1997-01-01

This course is dedicated to present in a pedagogical manner the recent developments in peculiar fields concerned by quantum fluctuations: quantum noise in optics, light propagation through dielectric media, sub-Poissonian light generated by lasers and masers, quantum non-demolition measurements, quantum electrodynamics applied to cavities and electrical circuits involving superconducting tunnel junctions. (A.C.)

Multi moment cancellation of participant fluctuations

OpenAIRE

Begun, Viktor; Mackowiak-Pawlowska, Maja

2017-01-01

We summarize the new method for the correction of participant fluctuations in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions. It allows to estimate a fluctuation baseline in comparison to a useful signal. In particular cases of a weak signal compared to baseline, it allows to cancel the baseline contribution from participants.

Cosmic Infrared Background Fluctuations in Deep Spitzer Infrared Array Camera Images: Data Processing and Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Arendt, Richard; Kashlinsky, A.; Moseley, S.; Mather, J.

2010-01-01

This paper provides a detailed description of the data reduction and analysis procedures that have been employed in our previous studies of spatial fluctuation of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) using deep Spitzer Infrared Array Camera observations. The self-calibration we apply removes a strong instrumental signal from the fluctuations that would otherwise corrupt the results. The procedures and results for masking bright sources and modeling faint sources down to levels set by the instrumental noise are presented. Various tests are performed to demonstrate that the resulting power spectra of these fields are not dominated by instrumental or procedural effects. These tests indicate that the large-scale ([greater, similar]30') fluctuations that remain in the deepest fields are not directly related to the galaxies that are bright enough to be individually detected. We provide the parameterization of these power spectra in terms of separate instrument noise, shot noise, and power-law components. We discuss the relationship between fluctuations measured at different wavelengths and depths, and the relations between constraints on the mean intensity of the CIB and its fluctuation spectrum. Consistent with growing evidence that the [approx]1-5 [mu]m mean intensity of the CIB may not be as far above the integrated emission of resolved galaxies as has been reported in some analyses of DIRBE and IRTS observations, our measurements of spatial fluctuations of the CIB intensity indicate the mean emission from the objects producing the fluctuations is quite low ([greater, similar]1 nW m-2 sr-1 at 3-5 [mu]m), and thus consistent with current [gamma]-ray absorption constraints. The source of the fluctuations may be high-z Population III objects, or a more local component of very low luminosity objects with clustering properties that differ from the resolved galaxies. Finally, we discuss the prospects of the upcoming space-based surveys to directly measure the epochs

COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND FLUCTUATIONS IN DEEP SPITZER INFRARED ARRAY CAMERA IMAGES: DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arendt, Richard G.; Kashlinsky, A.; Moseley, S. H.; Mather, J.

2010-01-01

This paper provides a detailed description of the data reduction and analysis procedures that have been employed in our previous studies of spatial fluctuation of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) using deep Spitzer Infrared Array Camera observations. The self-calibration we apply removes a strong instrumental signal from the fluctuations that would otherwise corrupt the results. The procedures and results for masking bright sources and modeling faint sources down to levels set by the instrumental noise are presented. Various tests are performed to demonstrate that the resulting power spectra of these fields are not dominated by instrumental or procedural effects. These tests indicate that the large-scale (∼>30') fluctuations that remain in the deepest fields are not directly related to the galaxies that are bright enough to be individually detected. We provide the parameterization of these power spectra in terms of separate instrument noise, shot noise, and power-law components. We discuss the relationship between fluctuations measured at different wavelengths and depths, and the relations between constraints on the mean intensity of the CIB and its fluctuation spectrum. Consistent with growing evidence that the ∼1-5 μm mean intensity of the CIB may not be as far above the integrated emission of resolved galaxies as has been reported in some analyses of DIRBE and IRTS observations, our measurements of spatial fluctuations of the CIB intensity indicate the mean emission from the objects producing the fluctuations is quite low (∼>1 nW m -2 sr -1 at 3-5 μm), and thus consistent with current γ-ray absorption constraints. The source of the fluctuations may be high-z Population III objects, or a more local component of very low luminosity objects with clustering properties that differ from the resolved galaxies. Finally, we discuss the prospects of the upcoming space-based surveys to directly measure the epochs inhabited by the populations producing these

Phase space fluctuations and dynamics of fluctuations of collective variables

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benhassine, B.; Farine, M.; Idier, D.; Remaud, B.; Sebille, F. (Lab. de Physique Nucleaire, IN2P3/CNRS, 44 - Nantes (France) Nantes Univ., 44 (France)); Hernandez, E.S. (Dept. de Fisica, Ciudad Universitaria, Buenos Aires (Argentina))

1992-08-03

Within the framework of theoretical approaches based on stochastic transport equation of one-body distribution function, a numerical treatment of the fluctuations of collective observables is studied and checked in comparison with analytical results either at equilibrium or close to it. (orig.).

Phase space fluctuations and dynamics of fluctuations of collective variables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benhassine, B.; Farine, M.; Idier, D.; Remaud, B.; Sebille, F.; Hernandez, E.S.

1992-01-01

Within the framework of theoretical approaches based on stochastic transport equation of one-body distribution function, a numerical treatment of the fluctuations of collective observables is studied and checked in comparison with analytical results either at equilibrium or close to it. (orig.)

Preformed template fluctuations promote fibril formation: Insights from lattice and all-atom models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kouza, Maksim, E-mail: mkouza@chem.uw.edu.pl; Kolinski, Andrzej [Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, ul. Pasteura 1, 02-093 Warszaw (Poland); Co, Nguyen Truong [Department of Physics, Institute of Technology, National University of HCM City, 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam); Institute for Computational Science and Technology, Quang Trung Software City, Tan Chanh Hiep Ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam); Nguyen, Phuong H. [Laboratoire de Biochimie Theorique, UPR 9080 CNRS, IBPC, Universite Paris 7, 13 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris (France); Li, Mai Suan, E-mail: masli@ifpan.edu.pl [Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Al. Lotnikow 32/46, 02-668 Warsaw (Poland)

2015-04-14

Fibril formation resulting from protein misfolding and aggregation is a hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Despite the fact that the fibril formation process is very slow and thus poses a significant challenge for theoretical and experimental studies, a number of alternative pictures of molecular mechanisms of amyloid fibril formation have been recently proposed. What seems to be common for the majority of the proposed models is that fibril elongation involves the formation of pre-nucleus seeds prior to the creation of a critical nucleus. Once the size of the pre-nucleus seed reaches the critical nucleus size, its thermal fluctuations are expected to be small and the resulting nucleus provides a template for sequential (one-by-one) accommodation of added monomers. The effect of template fluctuations on fibril formation rates has not been explored either experimentally or theoretically so far. In this paper, we make the first attempt at solving this problem by two sets of simulations. To mimic small template fluctuations, in one set, monomers of the preformed template are kept fixed, while in the other set they are allowed to fluctuate. The kinetics of addition of a new peptide onto the template is explored using all-atom simulations with explicit water and the GROMOS96 43a1 force field and simple lattice models. Our result demonstrates that preformed template fluctuations can modulate protein aggregation rates and pathways. The association of a nascent monomer with the template obeys the kinetics partitioning mechanism where the intermediate state occurs in a fraction of routes to the protofibril. It was shown that template immobility greatly increases the time of incorporating a new peptide into the preformed template compared to the fluctuating template case. This observation has also been confirmed by simulation using lattice models and may be invoked to understand the role of template fluctuations in

Fluctuation Dominated Josephson Tunneling with a Scanning Tunneling Microscope

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naaman, O.; Teizer, W.; Dynes, R. C.

2001-01-01

We demonstrate Josephson tunneling in vacuum tunnel junctions formed between a superconducting scanning tunneling microscope tip and a Pb film, for junction resistances in the range 50--300 k Omega. We show that the superconducting phase dynamics is dominated by thermal fluctuations, and that the Josephson current appears as a peak centered at small finite voltage. In the presence of microwave fields (f=15.0 GHz) the peak decreases in magnitude and shifts to higher voltages with increasing rf power, in agreement with theory

Long-term competitive dynamics of two cryptic rotifer species: diapause and fluctuating conditions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Gabaldón

Full Text Available Life-history traits may have an important role in promoting species coexistence. However, the complexity of certain life cycles makes it difficult to draw conclusions about the conditions for coexistence or exclusion based on the study of short-term competitive dynamics. Brachionus plicatilis and B. manjavacasare two cryptic rotifer species co-occurring in many lakes on the Iberian Peninsula. They have a complex life cycle in which cyclical parthenogenesis occurs with diapausing stages being the result of sexual reproduction. B. plicatilis and B. manjavacasare identical in morphology and size, their biotic niches are broadly overlapping, and they have similar competitive abilities. However, the species differ in life-history traits involving sexual reproduction and diapause, and respond differently to salinity and temperature. As in the case of certain other species that are extremely similar in morphology, a fluctuating environment are considered to be important for their coexistence. We studied the long-term competitive dynamics of B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas under different salinity regimes (constant and fluctuating. Moreover, we focused on the dynamics of the diapausing egg bank to explore how the outcome of the entire life cycle of these rotifers can work to mediate stable coexistence. We demonstrated that these species do not coexist under constant-salinity environment, as the outcome of competition is affected by the level of salinity-at low salinity, B. plicatilis excluded B. manjavacas, and the opposite outcome occurred at high salinity. Competitive dynamics under fluctuating salinity showed that the dominance of one species over the other also tended to fluctuate. The duration of co-occurrence of these species was favoured by salinity fluctuation and perhaps by the existence of a diapausing egg bank. Stable coexistence was not found in our system, which suggests that other factors or other salinity fluctuation patterns might act as

Long-term competitive dynamics of two cryptic rotifer species: diapause and fluctuating conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gabaldón, Carmen; Carmona, María José; Montero-Pau, Javier; Serra, Manuel

2015-01-01

Life-history traits may have an important role in promoting species coexistence. However, the complexity of certain life cycles makes it difficult to draw conclusions about the conditions for coexistence or exclusion based on the study of short-term competitive dynamics. Brachionus plicatilis and B. manjavacasare two cryptic rotifer species co-occurring in many lakes on the Iberian Peninsula. They have a complex life cycle in which cyclical parthenogenesis occurs with diapausing stages being the result of sexual reproduction. B. plicatilis and B. manjavacasare identical in morphology and size, their biotic niches are broadly overlapping, and they have similar competitive abilities. However, the species differ in life-history traits involving sexual reproduction and diapause, and respond differently to salinity and temperature. As in the case of certain other species that are extremely similar in morphology, a fluctuating environment are considered to be important for their coexistence. We studied the long-term competitive dynamics of B. plicatilis and B. manjavacas under different salinity regimes (constant and fluctuating). Moreover, we focused on the dynamics of the diapausing egg bank to explore how the outcome of the entire life cycle of these rotifers can work to mediate stable coexistence. We demonstrated that these species do not coexist under constant-salinity environment, as the outcome of competition is affected by the level of salinity-at low salinity, B. plicatilis excluded B. manjavacas, and the opposite outcome occurred at high salinity. Competitive dynamics under fluctuating salinity showed that the dominance of one species over the other also tended to fluctuate. The duration of co-occurrence of these species was favoured by salinity fluctuation and perhaps by the existence of a diapausing egg bank. Stable coexistence was not found in our system, which suggests that other factors or other salinity fluctuation patterns might act as stabilizing

Fluctuations and synchrony of RNA synthesis in nucleoli.

Science.gov (United States)

Pliss, Artem; Kuzmin, Andrey N; Kachynski, Aliaksandr V; Baev, Alexander; Berezney, Ronald; Prasad, Paras N

2015-06-01

Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences are synthesized at exceptionally high rates and, together with ribosomal proteins (r-proteins), are utilized as building blocks for the assembly of pre-ribosomal particles. Although it is widely acknowledged that tight regulation and coordination of rRNA and r-protein production are fundamentally important for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, still little is known about the real-time kinetics of the ribosome component synthesis in individual cells. In this communication we introduce a label-free MicroRaman spectrometric approach for monitoring rRNA synthesis in live cultured cells. Remarkably high and rapid fluctuations of rRNA production rates were revealed by this technique. Strikingly, the changes in the rRNA output were synchronous for ribosomal genes located in separate nucleoli of the same cell. Our findings call for the development of new concepts to elucidate the coordination of ribosomal components production. In this regard, numerical modeling further demonstrated that the production of rRNA and r-proteins can be coordinated, regardless of the fluctuations in rRNA synthesis. Overall, our quantitative data reveal a spectacular interplay of inherently stochastic rates of RNA synthesis and the coordination of gene expression.

Fluctuation conductivity of thin superconductive vanadium films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dmitrenko, I.M.; Sidorenko, A.S.; Fogel, N.Y.

1982-01-01

Resistive transitions into the superconductive state are studied in thin [d >T/sub c/ the experimental data on the excess conductivity of the films agree qualitatively and quantitively with Aslamazov--Larkin theory. There is no Maki--Thompson contribution to fluctuation conductivity. Near T/sub c/ the excess conductivity sigma' changes exponentially with temperature in accordance with the predictions of the theory of the critical fluctuations of the order parameter. The values of the effective charge carrier mass defined from data on sigma' for the low fluctuation and critical fluctuation regions differ markedly. This difference is within the spread of effective masses for various charge carrier groups already known for vanadium. Causes of the difference in resistive behavior for the regions T >T/sub c/ are considered

Event-by-Event Elliptic Flow Fluctuations from PHOBOS

Science.gov (United States)

Wosiek, B.; Alver, B.; Back, B. B.; Baker, M. D.; Ballintijn, M.; Barton, D. S.; Betts, R. R.; Bickley, A. A.; Bindel, R.; Busza, W.; Carroll, A.; Chai, Z.; Chetluru, V.; Decowski, M. P.; García, E.; Gburek, T.; George, N.; Gulbrandsen, K.; Halliwell, C.; Hamblen, J.; Harnarine, I.; Hauer, M.; Henderson, C.; Hofman, D. J.; Hollis, R. S.; Hołyński, R.; Holzman, B.; Iordanova, A.; Johnson, E.; Kane, J. L.; Khan, N.; Kulinich, P.; Kuo, C. M.; Li, W.; Lin, W. T.; Loizides, C.; Manly, S.; Mignerey, A. C.; Nouicer, R.; Olszewski, A.; Pak, R.; Reed, C.; Richardson, E.; Roland, C.; Roland, G.; Sagerer, J.; Seals, H.; Sedykh, I.; Smith, C. E.; Stankiewicz, M. A.; Steinberg, P.; Stephans, G. S. F.; Sukhanov, A.; Szostak, A.; Tonjes, M. B.; Trzupek, A.; Vale, C.; van Nieuwenhuizen, G. J.; Vaurynovich, S. S.; Verdier, R.; Veres, G. I.; Walters, P.; Wenger, E.; Willhelm, D.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woźniak, K.; Wyngaardt, S.; Wysłouch, B.

2009-04-01

Recently PHOBOS has focused on the study of fluctuations and correlations in particle production in heavy-ion collisions at the highest energies delivered by the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). In this report, we present results on event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations in (Au+Au) collisions at sqrt {sNN}=200 GeV. A data-driven method was used to estimate the dominant contribution from non-flow correlations. Over the broad range of collision centralities, the observed large elliptic flow fluctuations are in agreement with the fluctuations in the initial source eccentricity.

Number fluctuations of cold, spatially split bosonic objects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sakmann, Kaspar; Streltsov, Alexej I.; Cederbaum, Lorenz S.; Alon, Ofir E.

2011-01-01

We investigate the number fluctuations of spatially split many-boson systems employing a theorem about the maximally and minimally attainable variances of an observable. The number fluctuations of many-boson systems are given for different numbers of lattice sites and both mean-field and many-body wave functions. It is shown which states maximize the particle number fluctuations, both in lattices and double wells. The fragmentation of the states is discussed, and it is shown that the number fluctuations of some fragmented states are identical to those of fully condensed states.

Bistability and low-frequency fluctuations in semiconductor lasers with optical feedback: a theoretical analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørk, Jesper; Tromborg, Bjarne; Christiansen, Peter Leth

1988-01-01

Near-threshold operation of a semiconductor laser exposed to moderate optical feedback may lead to low-frequency fluctuations. In the same region, a kink is observed in the light-current characteristic. Here it is demonstrated that these nonlinear phenomena are predicted by a noise driven multimode...

Determination of structural fluctuations of proteins from structure-based calculations of residual dipolar couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montalvao, Rinaldo W.; De Simone, Alfonso; Vendruscolo, Michele

2012-01-01

Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) have the potential of providing detailed information about the conformational fluctuations of proteins. It is very challenging, however, to extract such information because of the complex relationship between RDCs and protein structures. A promising approach to decode this relationship involves structure-based calculations of the alignment tensors of protein conformations. By implementing this strategy to generate structural restraints in molecular dynamics simulations we show that it is possible to extract effectively the information provided by RDCs about the conformational fluctuations in the native states of proteins. The approach that we present can be used in a wide range of alignment media, including Pf1, charged bicelles and gels. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by the analysis of the Q factors for RDCs not used as restraints in the calculations, which are significantly lower than those corresponding to existing high-resolution structures and structural ensembles, hence showing that we capture effectively the contributions to RDCs from conformational fluctuations.

Non-linear Membrane Properties in Entorhinal Cortical Stellate Cells Reduce Modulation of Input-Output Responses by Voltage Fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Fernando R.; Malerba, Paola; White, John A.

2015-01-01

The presence of voltage fluctuations arising from synaptic activity is a critical component in models of gain control, neuronal output gating, and spike rate coding. The degree to which individual neuronal input-output functions are modulated by voltage fluctuations, however, is not well established across different cortical areas. Additionally, the extent and mechanisms of input-output modulation through fluctuations have been explored largely in simplified models of spike generation, and with limited consideration for the role of non-linear and voltage-dependent membrane properties. To address these issues, we studied fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses in medial entorhinal cortical (MEC) stellate cells of rats, which express strong sub-threshold non-linear membrane properties. Using in vitro recordings, dynamic clamp and modeling, we show that the modulation of input-output responses by random voltage fluctuations in stellate cells is significantly limited. In stellate cells, a voltage-dependent increase in membrane resistance at sub-threshold voltages mediated by Na+ conductance activation limits the ability of fluctuations to elicit spikes. Similarly, in exponential leaky integrate-and-fire models using a shallow voltage-dependence for the exponential term that matches stellate cell membrane properties, a low degree of fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses can be attained. These results demonstrate that fluctuation-based modulation of input-output responses is not a universal feature of neurons and can be significantly limited by subthreshold voltage-gated conductances. PMID:25909971

Power injected in dissipative systems and the fluctuation theorem

Science.gov (United States)

Aumaître, S.; Fauve, S.; McNamara, S.; Poggi, P.

We consider three examples of dissipative dynamical systems involving many degrees of freedom, driven far from equilibrium by a constant or time dependent forcing. We study the statistical properties of the injected and dissipated power as well as the fluctuations of the total energy of these systems. The three systems under consideration are: a shell model of turbulence, a gas of hard spheres colliding inelastically and excited by a vibrating piston, and a Burridge-Knopoff spring-block model. Although they involve different types of forcing and dissipation, we show that the statistics of the injected power obey the ``fluctuation theorem" demonstrated in the case of time reversible dissipative systems maintained at constant total energy, or in the case of some stochastic processes. Although this may be only a consequence of the theory of large deviations, this allows a possible definition of ``temperature" for a dissipative system out of equilibrium. We consider how this ``temperature" scales with the energy and the number of degrees of freedom in the different systems under consideration.

Considering fluctuation energy as a measure of gyrokinetic turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Plunk, G G; Tatsuno, T; Dorland, W

2012-01-01

In gyrokinetic theory, there are two quadratic measures of fluctuation energy, left invariant under nonlinear interactions, that constrain turbulence. In a recent work (Plunk and Tatsuno 2011 Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 165003) we reported on the novel consequences that this constraint has for the direction and locality of spectral energy transfer. This paper builds on that previous work. We provide a detailed analysis in support of the results of Plunk and Tatsuno (2011 Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 165003), but significantly broaden the scope and use additional methods to address the problem of energy transfer. The perspective taken here is that the fluctuation energies are not merely formal invariants of an idealized model (two-dimensional gyrokinetics (Plunk et al 2010 J. Fluid Mech. 664 407–35)) but also general measures of gyrokinetic turbulence, i.e. quantities that can be used to predict the behavior of turbulence. Although many questions remain open, this paper collects evidence in favor of this perspective by demonstrating in several contexts that constrained spectral energy transfer governs the dynamics. (paper)

Growth of floating-leaved and submerged plants in artificial co-cultured microcosms: morphological responses to various water fluctuation regimes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, Q.J.

2015-01-01

Hydrocharis dubia can alternate between a rooted floating-leaved and a free-floating form, so given increasingly frequent precipitation extremes, it is not expected to be more negatively impacted by rapid water fluctuations than by gradual ones and may adapt water fluctuations by alteration of life forms. However, the opposite may be true for Nymphoides peltata, with only a rooted floating-leaved form. We designed an experiment combining six water depth treatments (constant shallow, constant deep, and two rapidly and two gradually fluctuating treatments) with three speciescombinations (N. peltata H. dubia, N. peltata Ceratophyllum demersum, and H. dubia C. demersum) to investigate plant responses to depth fluctuations and their co-cultured species. The total mass of N. peltata was considerably lower in the rapidly- than in the gradually-fluctuating treatments. However, total mass of H. dubia in the rapidly-fluctuating treatments was similar to or higher than in the gradually-fluctuating ones. Rapid fluctuations had a negative impact on the growth of C. demersum than gradual fluctuating. The floating-leaved species demonstrated divergent adaptive strategies to different water fluctuation patterns. In addition to expanding leaf blades, H. dubia can adapt to changing water depths by changing its life form. However, N. peltata, which mainly relies on morphological plasticity, such as petiole elongation, to adapt to water rise may reduce its abundance in communities subjected to increasingly frequent floods. The growth of submerged C. demersum, either co-occurring with H. dubia or with N. peltata, may be repressed by high flooding rates. (author)

Fluctuations effects in diblock copolymer fluids: Comparison of theories and experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guenza, M.; Schweizer, K.S.

1997-01-01

The analytic Polymer Reference Interaction Site Model (PRISM) theory of structurally and interaction symmetric Gaussian diblock copolymer fluids is reformulated, extended, and applied to make predictions for experimentally observable equilibrium properties of the disordered state. These include the temperature, degree of polymerization, copolymer composition, and polymer density or concentration dependences of the peak scattering intensity, effective chi-parameter, and heat capacity. The location of the order-disorder transition is empirically estimated based on the disordered, strongly fluctuating state scattering function. Detailed numerical applications of PRISM theory demonstrates it provides an excellent description of the data. An in depth comparison of the mathematical structure and predictions of PRISM theory with the highly coarse-grained, incompressible Brazovski endash Leibler endash Fredrickson endash Helfand (BLFH) fluctuation corrected field theory is also carried out. Under some conditions (nearly symmetric composition, high melt densities, moderate temperatures) there are striking mathematical similarities between the predictions of the physically very different theories, although quantitative differences always persist. However, for strongly asymmetric copolymer compositions, short chains, compressible copolymer solutions, and low temperatures many qualitative differences emerge. The possibility of multiple, self-consistent fluctuation feedback mechanisms within the most general PRISM approach are identified, their qualitative features discussed, and contrasted with alternative versions of the fluctuation-corrected incompressible field theories due to BLFH and Stepanow. The predictions of PRISM and BLFH theory for the composition, copolymer density, temperature, and molecular weight dependence of the effective chi-parameter are presented and qualitatively compared with recent experiments. copyright 1997 American Institute of Physics

Electronic zero-point fluctuation forces inside circuit components

Science.gov (United States)

Leonhardt, Ulf

2018-01-01

One of the most intriguing manifestations of quantum zero-point fluctuations are the van der Waals and Casimir forces, often associated with vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. We study generalized fluctuation potentials acting on internal degrees of freedom of components in electrical circuits. These electronic Casimir-like potentials are induced by the zero-point current fluctuations of any general conductive circuit. For realistic examples of an electromechanical capacitor and a superconducting qubit, our results reveal the possibility of tunable forces between the capacitor plates, or the level shifts of the qubit, respectively. Our analysis suggests an alternative route toward the exploration of Casimir-like fluctuation potentials, namely, by characterizing and measuring them as a function of parameters of the environment. These tunable potentials may be useful for future nanoelectromechanical and quantum technologies. PMID:29719863

Size effects in many-valley fluctuations in semiconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sokolov, V.N.; Kochelap, V.A.

1995-08-01

We present the results of theoretical investigations of nonhomogeneous fluctuations in submicron active regions of many-valley semiconductors with equivalent valleys(Ge, Si-type), where the dimension 2d of the region is comparable to or less than the intervalley diffusion relaxation length L iv . It is shown that for arbitrary orientations of the valley axes (the crystal axes) with respect to lateral sample surfaces, the fluctuation spectra depend on the bias voltage applied to the layer in the region of weak nonheating electric fields. The new physical phenomenon is reported: the fluctuation spectra depend on the sample thickness, with 2d iv the suppression of fluctuations arises for fluctuation frequencies ω -1 iv , τ -1 iv is the characteristic intervalley relaxation time. (author). 43 refs, 5 figs

Electronic zero-point fluctuation forces inside circuit components.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahmoon, Ephraim; Leonhardt, Ulf

2018-04-01

One of the most intriguing manifestations of quantum zero-point fluctuations are the van der Waals and Casimir forces, often associated with vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. We study generalized fluctuation potentials acting on internal degrees of freedom of components in electrical circuits. These electronic Casimir-like potentials are induced by the zero-point current fluctuations of any general conductive circuit. For realistic examples of an electromechanical capacitor and a superconducting qubit, our results reveal the possibility of tunable forces between the capacitor plates, or the level shifts of the qubit, respectively. Our analysis suggests an alternative route toward the exploration of Casimir-like fluctuation potentials, namely, by characterizing and measuring them as a function of parameters of the environment. These tunable potentials may be useful for future nanoelectromechanical and quantum technologies.

Mercury exposure may influence fluctuating asymmetry in waterbirds

Science.gov (United States)

Herring, Garth; Eagles-Smith, Collin A.; Ackerman, Joshua T.

2017-01-01

Variation in avian bilateral symmetry can be an indicator of developmental instability in response to a variety of stressors, including environmental contaminants. The authors used composite measures of fluctuating asymmetry to examine the influence of mercury concentrations in 2 tissues on fluctuating asymmetry within 4 waterbird species. Fluctuating asymmetry increased with mercury concentrations in whole blood and breast feathers of Forster's terns (Sterna forsteri), a species with elevated mercury concentrations. Specifically, fluctuating asymmetry in rectrix feather 1 was the most strongly correlated structural variable of those tested (wing chord, tarsus, primary feather 10, rectrix feather 6) with mercury concentrations in Forster's terns. However, for American avocets (Recurvirostra americana), black-necked stilts (Himantopus mexicanus), and Caspian terns (Hydroprogne caspia), the authors found no relationship between fluctuating asymmetry and either whole-blood or breast feather mercury concentrations, even though these species had moderate to elevated mercury exposure. The results indicate that mercury contamination may act as an environmental stressor during development and feather growth and contribute to fluctuating asymmetry of some species of highly contaminated waterbirds.

Stochastic level-set variational implicit-solvent approach to solute-solvent interfacial fluctuations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Shenggao, E-mail: sgzhou@suda.edu.cn, E-mail: bli@math.ucsd.edu [Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Center for Interdiscipline Research, Soochow University, 1 Shizi Street, Jiangsu, Suzhou 215006 (China); Sun, Hui; Cheng, Li-Tien [Department of Mathematics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0112 (United States); Dzubiella, Joachim [Soft Matter and Functional Materials, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, 14109 Berlin, Germany and Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 12489 Berlin (Germany); Li, Bo, E-mail: sgzhou@suda.edu.cn, E-mail: bli@math.ucsd.edu [Department of Mathematics and Quantitative Biology Graduate Program, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0112 (United States); McCammon, J. Andrew [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Department of Pharmacology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0365 (United States)

2016-08-07

Recent years have seen the initial success of a variational implicit-solvent model (VISM), implemented with a robust level-set method, in capturing efficiently different hydration states and providing quantitatively good estimation of solvation free energies of biomolecules. The level-set minimization of the VISM solvation free-energy functional of all possible solute-solvent interfaces or dielectric boundaries predicts an equilibrium biomolecular conformation that is often close to an initial guess. In this work, we develop a theory in the form of Langevin geometrical flow to incorporate solute-solvent interfacial fluctuations into the VISM. Such fluctuations are crucial to biomolecular conformational changes and binding process. We also develop a stochastic level-set method to numerically implement such a theory. We describe the interfacial fluctuation through the “normal velocity” that is the solute-solvent interfacial force, derive the corresponding stochastic level-set equation in the sense of Stratonovich so that the surface representation is independent of the choice of implicit function, and develop numerical techniques for solving such an equation and processing the numerical data. We apply our computational method to study the dewetting transition in the system of two hydrophobic plates and a hydrophobic cavity of a synthetic host molecule cucurbit[7]uril. Numerical simulations demonstrate that our approach can describe an underlying system jumping out of a local minimum of the free-energy functional and can capture dewetting transitions of hydrophobic systems. In the case of two hydrophobic plates, we find that the wavelength of interfacial fluctuations has a strong influence to the dewetting transition. In addition, we find that the estimated energy barrier of the dewetting transition scales quadratically with the inter-plate distance, agreeing well with existing studies of molecular dynamics simulations. Our work is a first step toward the

Reliable quantification of BOLD fMRI cerebrovascular reactivity despite poor breath-hold performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Bright, Molly G; Murphy, Kevin

2013-12-01

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) can be mapped using BOLD fMRI to provide a clinical insight into vascular health that can be used to diagnose cerebrovascular disease. Breath-holds are a readily accessible method for producing the required arterial CO2 increases but their implementation into clinical studies is limited by concerns that patients will demonstrate highly variable performance of breath-hold challenges. This study assesses the repeatability of CVR measurements despite poor task performance, to determine if and how robust results could be achieved with breath-holds in patients. Twelve healthy volunteers were scanned at 3 T. Six functional scans were acquired, each consisting of 6 breath-hold challenges (10, 15, or 20 s duration) interleaved with periods of paced breathing. These scans simulated the varying breath-hold consistency and ability levels that may occur in patient data. Uniform ramps, time-scaled ramps, and end-tidal CO2 data were used as regressors in a general linear model in order to measure CVR at the grey matter, regional, and voxelwise level. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) quantified the repeatability of the CVR measurement for each breath-hold regressor type and scale of interest across the variable task performances. The ramp regressors did not fully account for variability in breath-hold performance and did not achieve acceptable repeatability (ICC0.4). Further analysis of intra-subject CVR variability across the brain (ICCspatial and voxelwise correlation) supported the use of end-tidal CO2 data to extract robust whole-brain CVR maps, despite variability in breath-hold performance. We conclude that the incorporation of end-tidal CO2 monitoring into scanning enables robust, repeatable measurement of CVR that makes breath-hold challenges suitable for routine clinical practice. © 2013.

Influence of electroencephalograph bionic electrical stimulation on neuronal activities in patients with Alzheimer's disease: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liling Jiang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To investigate the influence of electroencephalograph bionic electrical stimulation on neuronal activity in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD using resting-state blood oxygen level dependent functional MRI (BOLD-fMRI and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF and fraction ALFF (fALFF analysis. Methods: 42 AD patients were divided into two groups in accordance with the randomized double blind principle, every group was 21. Treatment group received electroencephalograph bionic electrical stimulation. Both groups received resting-state BOLD-fMRI scanning before and after treatment and comparing differences in ALFF and fALFF in each group by statistical methods. Correlation analysis was performed between ALFF or fALFF images and neuropsychological tests scale after treatment. Results: Post-therapy brain regions with higher ALFF included left cerebellum posterior lobe, right cerebellum posterior lobe, left hippocampus/parahippocampus, left posterior cingulated cortex, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right inferior parietal lobule in treatment group. Higher fALFF was observed in the right inferior parietal lobule. In the placebo group lower ALFF was observed in bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe and left posterior cingulated cortex. Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive section was closely correlated with ALFF in left cerebellum posterior lobe and right cerebellum posterior lobe. Conclusion: These results indicated improved neuronal activity in some brain areas could be achieved in AD after treatment of electroencephalograph bionic electrical stimulation. The change of BOLD-fMRI signal might provide a potential imaging strategy for studying neural mechanisms of electroencephalograph bionic electrical stimulation for AD. Keywords: Electroencephalograph bionic electrical stimulation, Alzheimer's disease, Low-frequency fluctuation, Fraction low-frequency fluctuation

Novikov Engine with Fluctuating Heat Bath Temperature

Science.gov (United States)

Schwalbe, Karsten; Hoffmann, Karl Heinz

2018-04-01

The Novikov engine is a model for heat engines that takes the irreversible character of heat fluxes into account. Using this model, the maximum power output as well as the corresponding efficiency of the heat engine can be deduced, leading to the well-known Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency. The classical model assumes constant heat bath temperatures, which is not a reasonable assumption in the case of fluctuating heat sources. Therefore, in this article the influence of stochastic fluctuations of the hot heat bath's temperature on the optimal performance measures is investigated. For this purpose, a Novikov engine with fluctuating heat bath temperature is considered. Doing so, a generalization of the Curzon-Ahlborn efficiency is found. The results can help to quantify how the distribution of fluctuating quantities affects the performance measures of power plants.

Joint probability distributions and fluctuation theorems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

García-García, Reinaldo; Kolton, Alejandro B; Domínguez, Daniel; Lecomte, Vivien

2012-01-01

We derive various exact results for Markovian systems that spontaneously relax to a non-equilibrium steady state by using joint probability distribution symmetries of different entropy production decompositions. The analytical approach is applied to diverse problems such as the description of the fluctuations induced by experimental errors, for unveiling symmetries of correlation functions appearing in fluctuation–dissipation relations recently generalized to non-equilibrium steady states, and also for mapping averages between different trajectory-based dynamical ensembles. Many known fluctuation theorems arise as special instances of our approach for particular twofold decompositions of the total entropy production. As a complement, we also briefly review and synthesize the variety of fluctuation theorems applying to stochastic dynamics of both continuous systems described by a Langevin dynamics and discrete systems obeying a Markov dynamics, emphasizing how these results emerge from distinct symmetries of the dynamical entropy of the trajectory followed by the system. For Langevin dynamics, we embed the 'dual dynamics' with a physical meaning, and for Markov systems we show how the fluctuation theorems translate into symmetries of modified evolution operators

Influence of fluctuating strain on exciton reflection spectra

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Skettrup, Torben

1982-01-01

The influence of an internal distribution of strain on the exciton reflection spectra is investigated. The resulting fluctuating optical constants give rise to a fluctuating phase of reflectivity. The standard deviation σ of these phase fluctuations is the quantity which can be observed...... to derive the dependence of the phase of reflectivity on the direction of the fluctuating optical axis. The results obtained for σ are compared with the experimental depolarization spectra of ZnO. The only fitting parameter is the common standard deviation of the strain components. It is found......, for example, between crossed polarizers or from ellipsometric measurements. Assuming the phase fluctuations to obey a Gaussian distribution, σ can be expressed in a simple way in terms of the degree of polarization or the depolarization of the reflected light. σ is then derived in terms of the standard...

Nonequilibrium fluctuations in micro-MHD effects on electrodeposition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aogaki, Ryoichi; Morimoto, Ryoichi; Asanuma, Miki

2010-01-01

In copper electrodeposition under a magnetic field parallel to electrode surface, different roles of two kinds of nonequilibrium fluctuations for micro-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects are discussed; symmetrical fluctuations are accompanied by the suppression of three dimensional (3D) nucleation by micro-MHD flows (the 1st micro-MHD effect), whereas asymmetrical fluctuations controlling 2D nucleation yield secondary nodules by larger micro-MHD flows (the 2nd micro-MHD effect). Though the 3D nucleation with symmetrical fluctuations is always suppressed by the micro-MHD flows, due to the change in the rate-determining step from electron transfer to mass transfer, the 2D nucleation with asymmetrical fluctuations newly turns unstable, generating larger micro-MHD flows. As a result, round semi-spherical deposits, i.e., secondary nodules are yielded. Using computer simulation, the mechanism of the 2nd micro-MHD effect is validated.

Discussion on the establishment of blood glucose fluctuation animal models

OpenAIRE

Chun-Liu Gai; Jing-Ru Zhao; Xiao-Long Chen

2014-01-01

AIM: To provide the experimental basis for the in vivo study of blood glucose fluctuation injury mechanism, through intraperitoneal injection of glucose to establish blood glucose fluctuation animal models and to simulate blood glucose fluctuation of patients with diabetes.METHODS: Rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal control group(NC), normal fluctuation group(NF), diabetes mellitus group(DM)and diabetes fluctuation group(DF). Diabetic models were induced through intraperitone...

Intrinsic intensity fluctuations in random lasers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molen, Karen L. van der; Mosk, Allard P.; Lagendijk, Ad

2006-01-01

We present a quantitative experimental and theoretical study of intensity fluctuations in the emitted light of a random laser that has different realizations of disorder for every pump pulse. A model that clarifies these intrinsic fluctuations is developed. We describe the output versus input power graphs of the random laser with an effective spontaneous emission factor (β factor)

Does water-level fluctuation affect mercury methylation in wetland soils?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Branfireun, B.A.; Mitchell, C.P.J.; Iraci, J.M. [Toronto Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Geography; Krabbenhoft, D.P. [United States Geological Survey, Middleton, WI (United States); Fowle, D.A. [Kansas Univ., Lawrence, KS (United States). Dept. of Geology; Neudahl, L. [Minnesota Power, Duluth, MN (United States)

2006-07-01

Mercury (Hg) concentrations in fish vary considerably in freshwater lakes and reservoirs. However, the variations are not generally consistent with physical factors such as basin characteristics, wetland cover or lake chemistry. Pronounced differences in Hg concentrations in fish have been noted in the reservoirs of the St. Louis River system near Duluth Minnesota. The differences were observed between headwater reservoir systems with seasonal flooding and drawdown, and a peaking reservoir with approximately daily water level fluctuations during seasonal lower flow periods. It was suggested that these differences could be attributed to water level fluctuations in the reservoir which influenced the actual production of methylmercury (MeHg) in the surrounding wetland soils. In response to this hypothesis, the authors investigated the role of water level fluctuation in the production and mobilization of MeHg in sediments from wetlands that lie adjacent to a headwater reservoir, a peaking reservoir, and a nearby natural flowage lake used as a control. Preliminary field surveys of the wetland soils revealed that although the average MeHg concentrations in the headwater and peaking reservoir wetlands were not considerably different, both were much higher than the natural lake. Each site demonstrated high variability, but maximum MeHg concentrations ranged from 29.2 ng/g for the peaking reservoir to 4.44 ng/g at the natural lake. A laboratory experiment was therefore performed in which sediments from each wetland were subjected to different water level regimes. The purpose was to assess Hg methylation potential. Stable Hg isotopes were used at the beginning and end of the experiment. In order to determine if water level fluctuation can significantly change the methylation potential of wetland soils on its own, the microbial consortia will also be assessed during the laboratory experiment.

Characteristics of fluctuating pressure generated in BWR main steam lines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takahashi, Shiro; Okuyama, Keita; Tamura, Akinori

2009-01-01

The BWR-3 steam dryer in the Quad Cities Unit 2 Nuclear Power Plant was damaged by high cycle fatigue due to acoustic-induced vibration. The dryer failure was as attributed to flow-induced acoustic resonance at the stub pipes of safety relief valves (SRVs) in the main steam lines (MSLs). The acoustic resonance was considered to be generated by interaction between the sound field and an unstable shear layer across the closed side branches with SRV stub pipes. We have started a research program on BWR dryers to develop their loading evaluation methods. Moreover, it has been necessary to evaluate the dryer integrity of BWR-5 plants which are the main type of BWR in Japan. In the present study, we used 1/10-scale BWR tests and analyses to investigate the flow-induced acoustic resonance and acoustic characteristics in MSLs. The test apparatus consisted of a steam dryer, a steam dome and 4 MSLs with 20 SRV stub pipes. A finite element method (FEM) was applied for the calculation of three-dimensional wave equations in acoustic analysis. We demonstrated that remarkable fluctuating pressures occurred in high and low frequency regions. High frequency fluctuating pressures was generated by the flow-induced acoustic resonance in the SRV stub pipes. Low frequency fluctuating pressure was generated in an MSL with the dead leg. The frequency of the latter almost coincided with the natural frequency of the MSL with the dead leg. The amplitude of the fluctuating pressures in the multiple stub pipes became more intense because of interaction between them compared with that in the single stub pipe. Acoustic analysis results showed that the multiple stub pipes caused several natural frequencies in the vicinity of the natural frequency of the single stub pipe and several modes of the standing wave in the MSLs. (author)

Genetic and environmental transmission of body mass index fluctuation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergin, Jocilyn E; Neale, Michael C; Eaves, Lindon J; Martin, Nicholas G; Heath, Andrew C; Maes, Hermine H

2012-11-01

This study sought to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) fluctuation and cardiovascular disease phenotypes, diabetes, and depression and the role of genetic and environmental factors in individual differences in BMI fluctuation using the extended twin-family model (ETFM). This study included 14,763 twins and their relatives. Health and Lifestyle Questionnaires were obtained from 28,492 individuals from the Virginia 30,000 dataset including twins, parents, siblings, spouses, and children of twins. Self-report cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression data were available. From self-reported height and weight, BMI fluctuation was calculated as the difference between highest and lowest BMI after age 18, for individuals 18-80 years. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between BMI fluctuation and disease status. The ETFM was used to estimate the significance and contribution of genetic and environmental factors, cultural transmission, and assortative mating components to BMI fluctuation, while controlling for age. We tested sex differences in additive and dominant genetic effects, parental, non-parental, twin, and unique environmental effects. BMI fluctuation was highly associated with disease status, independent of BMI. Genetic effects accounted for ~34 % of variance in BMI fluctuation in males and ~43 % of variance in females. The majority of the variance was accounted for by environmental factors, about a third of which were shared among twins. Assortative mating, and cultural transmission accounted for only a small proportion of variance in this phenotype. Since there are substantial health risks associated with BMI fluctuation and environmental components of BMI fluctuation account for over 60 % of variance in males and over 50 % of variance in females, environmental risk factors may be appropriate targets to reduce BMI fluctuation.

Origin of cosmological density fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, B.J.

1984-11-01

The density fluctuations required to explain the large-scale cosmological structure may have arisen spontaneously as a result of a phase transition in the early Universe. There are several ways in which such fluctuations may have ben produced, and they could have a variety of spectra, so one should not necessarily expect all features of the large-scale structure to derive from a simple power law spectrum. Some features may even result from astrophysical amplification mechanisms rather than gravitational instability. 128 references

Large fluctuations of the macroscopic current in diffusive systems: a numerical test of the additivity principle.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurtado, Pablo I; Garrido, Pedro L

2010-04-01

Most systems, when pushed out of equilibrium, respond by building up currents of locally conserved observables. Understanding how microscopic dynamics determines the averages and fluctuations of these currents is one of the main open problems in nonequilibrium statistical physics. The additivity principle is a theoretical proposal that allows to compute the current distribution in many one-dimensional nonequilibrium systems. Using simulations, we validate this conjecture in a simple and general model of energy transport, both in the presence of a temperature gradient and in canonical equilibrium. In particular, we show that the current distribution displays a Gaussian regime for small current fluctuations, as prescribed by the central limit theorem, and non-Gaussian (exponential) tails for large current deviations, obeying in all cases the Gallavotti-Cohen fluctuation theorem. In order to facilitate a given current fluctuation, the system adopts a well-defined temperature profile different from that of the steady state and in accordance with the additivity hypothesis predictions. System statistics during a large current fluctuation is independent of the sign of the current, which implies that the optimal profile (as well as higher-order profiles and spatial correlations) are invariant upon current inversion. We also demonstrate that finite-time joint fluctuations of the current and the profile are well described by the additivity functional. These results suggest the additivity hypothesis as a general and powerful tool to compute current distributions in many nonequilibrium systems.

Broadband magnetic and density fluctuations in the TCA tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hollenstein, Ch.; Keller, R.; Pochelon, A.; Ryter, F.; Sawley, M.L.; Simm, W.; Weisen, H.

1987-01-01

The results of comparative studies of broadband magnetic and density fluctuations during ohmic discharges in the TCA tokamak are described. Long coherence lengths are observed in poloidal and toroidal directions between magnetic probes in the scrape-off layer. A phase contrast diagnostic provides a newly accessible range of density fluctuations in the bulk plasma with very long wavelengths. Langmuir probes provide similar measurements in the scrape-off layer. Statistical dispersion relations for both density and magnetic fluctuations are deduced and are shown to be substantially different. Low mean poloidal wavenumbers (m ∼ 2 at 100 kHz) are obtained for the magnetic fluctuations, in contrast to the much higher values measured for density fluctuations. The difference between magnetic and density fluctuations is also reflected in different scalings with plasma parameters and with electron confinement time. The helicity of the coherent magnetic structures is analyzed to show that interior regions of the plasma, such as the q = 2 region contribute to the magnetic activity at the edge. This explains why the magnetic fluctuations measured at the edge are likely to reflect the confinement properties of the bulk plasma. The results of detailed probe rotation experiments and coherence measurements give indications of the physical nature and origin of magnetic fluctuations

Frequency-Specific Alternations in the Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Chronic Tinnitus

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Yu-Chen eChen

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Tinnitus, a phantom ringing, buzzing or hissing sensation with potentially debilitating consequences, is thought to arise from aberrant spontaneous neural activity at one or more sites within the central nervous system; however, the location and specific features of these oscillations are poorly understood with respect to specific tinnitus features. Recent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies suggest that aberrant fluctuations in spontaneous low-frequency oscillations (LFO of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD signal may be an important factor in chronic tinnitus; however, the role that frequency-specific components of LFO play in subjective tinnitus remains unclear. A total of 39 chronic tinnitus patients and 41 well-matched healthy controls participated in the resting-state fMRI scans. The LFO amplitudes were investigated using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF and fractional ALFF (fALFF in two different frequency bands (slow-4: 0.027-0.073 Hz and slow-5: 0.01-0.027 Hz. We observed significant differences between tinnitus patients and normal controls in ALFF/fALFF in the two bands (slow-4 and slow-5 in several brain regions including the superior frontal gyrus (SFG, inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, angular gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus. Across the entire subject pool, significant differences in ALFF/fALFF between the two bands were found in the midbrain, basal ganglia, hippocampus and cerebellum (Slow 4>Slow 5, and in the middle frontal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus (Slow 5>Slow 4. We also observed significant interaction between frequency bands and patient groups in the orbitofrontal gyrus. Furthermore, tinnitus distress was positively correlated with the magnitude of ALFF in right SFG and the magnitude of fALFF slow-4 band in left SFG, whereas tinnitus duration was positively correlated with the magnitude of ALFF in

Study of the statistical physics bases on superstatistics from the β-fluctuated to the T-fluctuated form

Science.gov (United States)

Sargolzaeipor, S.; Hassanabadi, H.; Chung, W. S.

2018-04-01

In this paper, we study the T -fluctuated form of superstatistics. In this form, some thermodynamic quantities such as the Helmholtz energy, the entropy and the internal energy, are expressed in terms of the T -fluctuated form for a canonical ensemble. In addition, the partition functions in the formalism for 2-level and 3-level distributions are derived. Then we make use of the T -fluctuated superstatistics for a quantum harmonic oscillator problem and the thermal properties of the system for three statistics of the Bose-Einstein, Maxwell-Boltzmann and Fermi-Dirac statistics are calculated. The effect of the deformation parameter on these properties is examined. All the results recover the well-known results by removing the deformation parameter.

Role of 3T multiparametric-MRI with BOLD hypoxia imaging for diagnosis and post therapy response evaluation of postoperative recurrent cervical cancers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhishek Mahajan

2016-01-01

Conclusion: Conventional-MR with MPMRI significantly increases the diagnostic accuracy for suspected vaginal vault/local recurrence. Post therapy serial MPMRI with hypoxia imaging follow-up objectively documents the response. MPMRI and BOLD hypoxia imaging provide information regarding tumor biology at the molecular, subcellular, cellular and tissue levels and this information may be used as an appropriate and reliable biologic target for radiation dose painting to optimize therapy in future.

Brain spontaneous fluctuations in sensorimotor regions were directly related to eyes open and eyes closed: evidences from a machine learning approach

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Bishan eLiang

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have demonstrated that the difference between resting-state brain activations depends on whether the subject was eyes open (EO or eyes closed (EC. However, whether the spontaneous fluctuations are directly related to these two different resting states are still largely unclear. In the present study, we acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 24 healthy subjects (11 males, 20.17 ± 2.74 years under the EO and EC states. The amplitude of the spontaneous brain activity in low-frequency band was subsequently investigated by using the metric of fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF for each subject under each state. A support vector machine (SVM analysis was then applied to evaluate whether the category of resting states could be determined from the brain spontaneous fluctuations. We demonstrated that these two resting states could be decoded from the identified pattern of brain spontaneous fluctuations, predominantly based on fALFF in the sensorimotor module. Specifically, we observed prominent relationships between increased fALFF for EC and decreased fALFF for EO in sensorimotor regions. Overall, the present results indicate that a SVM performs well in the discrimination between the brain spontaneous fluctuations of distinct resting states and provide new insight into the neural substrate of the resting states during EC and EO.

Computer simulations of phospholipid - membrane thermodynamic fluctuations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, U.R.; Peters, Günther H.j.; Schröder, T.B.

2008-01-01

This paper reports all-atom computer simulations of five phospholipid membranes, DMPC, DPPC, DMPG, DMPS, and DMPSH, with a focus on the thermal equilibrium fluctuations of volume, energy, area, thickness, and order parameter. For the slow fluctuations at constant temperature and pressure (defined...... membranes, showing a similar picture. The cause of the observed strong correlations is identified by splitting volume and energy into contributions from tails, heads, and water, showing that the slow volume-energy fluctuations derive from the tail region’s van der Waals interactions and are thus analogous...

Fluctuations of wormlike micelle fluids in capillary flow

Science.gov (United States)

Salipante, Paul; Meek, Stephen; Hudson, Steven; Polymers; Complex Fluids Group Team

2017-11-01

We investigate the effect of entrance geometry on the flow stability of wormlike micelles solutions in capillary flow. These solutions exhibit strong shear thinning behavior resulting from micelle breakage and have been observed to undergo large flow rate fluctuations. We investigate these fluctuations using simultaneous measurements of flow rate and pressure drop across a capillary, and we adjust entrance geometry. With a tapered constriction, we observe large persistent fluctuations above a critical flow rate, characterized by rapid decreases in the pressure drop with corresponding increase in flow rate followed by a period of recovery where pressure increases and flow rate decreases. Flow field observations in the tapered entrance show large flow circulations. An abrupt contraction produces smaller transient fluidized jets forming upstream of the constriction and the magnitude of the fluctuations are significantly diminished. The effect of fluid properties is studied by comparing the magnitude and timescales of the fluctuations for surfactant systems with different relaxation times. The onset of fluctuations is compared to a criterion for the onset of elastic instabilities and the magnitude is compared to estimates for changes in channel resistance. NIST on a Chip.

Manipulating lightcone fluctuations in an analogue cosmic string

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Jiawei Hu

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We study the flight time fluctuations in an anisotropic medium inspired by a cosmic string with an effective fluctuating refractive index caused by fluctuating vacuum electric fields, which are analogous to the lightcone fluctuations due to fluctuating spacetime metric when gravity is quantized. The medium can be realized as a metamaterial that mimics a cosmic string in the sense of transformation optics. For a probe light close to the analogue string, the flight time variance is ν times that in a normal homogeneous and isotropic medium, where ν is a parameter characterizing the deficit angle of the spacetime of a cosmic string. The parameter ν, which is always greater than unity for a real cosmic string, is determined by the dielectric properties of the metamaterial for an analogue string. Therefore, the flight time fluctuations of a probe light can be manipulated by changing the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability of the analogue medium. We argue that it seems possible to fabricate a metamaterial that mimics a cosmic string with a large ν in laboratory so that a currently observable flight time variance might be achieved.

Manipulating lightcone fluctuations in an analogue cosmic string

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Jiawei; Yu, Hongwei

2018-02-01

We study the flight time fluctuations in an anisotropic medium inspired by a cosmic string with an effective fluctuating refractive index caused by fluctuating vacuum electric fields, which are analogous to the lightcone fluctuations due to fluctuating spacetime metric when gravity is quantized. The medium can be realized as a metamaterial that mimics a cosmic string in the sense of transformation optics. For a probe light close to the analogue string, the flight time variance is ν times that in a normal homogeneous and isotropic medium, where ν is a parameter characterizing the deficit angle of the spacetime of a cosmic string. The parameter ν, which is always greater than unity for a real cosmic string, is determined by the dielectric properties of the metamaterial for an analogue string. Therefore, the flight time fluctuations of a probe light can be manipulated by changing the electric permittivity and magnetic permeability of the analogue medium. We argue that it seems possible to fabricate a metamaterial that mimics a cosmic string with a large ν in laboratory so that a currently observable flight time variance might be achieved.

Power fluctuations from large wind farms - Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soerensen, Poul; Pinson, P.; Cutululis, N.A.; Madsen, Henrik; Jensen, Leo Enrico; Hjerrild, J.; Heyman Donovan, M.; Vigueras-ROdriguez, A.

2009-08-15

Experience from power system operation with the first large offshore wind farm in Denmark: Horns Rev shows that the power from the wind farm is fluctuating significantly at certain times, and that this fluctuation is seen directly on the power exchange between Denmark and Germany. This report describes different models for simulation and prediction of wind power fluctuations from large wind farms, and data acquired at the two large offshore wind farms in Denmark are applied to validate the models. Finally, the simulation model is further developed to enable simulations of power fluctuations from several wind farms simultaneously in a larger geographical area, corresponding to a power system control area. (au)

Fluctuation spectroscopy: From Rayleigh-Jeans waves to Abrikosov vortex clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Varlamov, A. A.; Galda, A.; Glatz, A.

2018-01-01

Superconducting (SC) fluctuations, discovered in the late 1960s, have constituted an important research area in superconductivity as they are manifest in a variety of phenomena. Indeed, the underlying physics of SC fluctuations makes it possible to elucidate the fundamental properties of the superconducting state. The interest in SC fluctuation phenomena was further enhanced with the discovery of cuprate high-temperature superconductors (HTSs). In these materials, superconducting fluctuations appear over a wide range of temperatures due to the superconductors extremely short coherence lengths and low effective dimensionality of the electron systems. These strong fluctuations lead to anomalous properties of the normal state in some HTS materials. Within the framework of the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau theory, and more extensively in the diagrammatic microscopic approach based on BCS theory, SC fluctuations as well as other quantum contributions (weak localization, etc.) enabled a new way to investigate and characterize disordered electron systems, granular metals, Josephson structures, artificial superlattices, and others. The characteristic feature of SC fluctuations is its strong dependence on temperature and magnetic field in the vicinity of the superconducting phase transition. This dependence allows the separation of fluctuation effects from other contributions and provides information about the microscopic parameters of a material, in particular, the critical temperature and the zero-temperature critical magnetic field. As such, SC fluctuations are very sensitive to the relaxation processes that break phase coherence and can be used as a versatile characterization instrument for SCs: Fluctuation spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful tool for studying the properties of superconducting systems on a quantitative level. Here the physics of SC fluctuations is reviewed, commencing from a qualitative description of thermodynamic fluctuations close to the

Altered auditory BOLD response to conspecific birdsong in zebra finches with stuttered syllables.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henning U Voss

2010-12-01

Full Text Available How well a songbird learns a song appears to depend on the formation of a robust auditory template of its tutor's song. Using functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging we examine auditory responses in two groups of zebra finches that differ in the type of song they sing after being tutored by birds producing stuttering-like syllable repetitions in their songs. We find that birds that learn to produce the stuttered syntax show attenuated blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD responses to tutor's song, and more pronounced responses to conspecific song primarily in the auditory area field L of the avian forebrain, when compared to birds that produce normal song. These findings are consistent with the presence of a sensory song template critical for song learning in auditory areas of the zebra finch forebrain. In addition, they suggest a relationship between an altered response related to familiarity and/or saliency of song stimuli and the production of variant songs with stuttered syllables.

Analysis of water-level fluctuations in Wisconsin wells

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, G.L.; Zaporozec, A.

1987-01-01

More than 60 percent of the residents of Wisconsin use ground water as their primary water source. Water supplies presently are abundant, but ground-water levels continually fluctuate in response to natural factors and human-related stresses. A better understanding of the magnitude, duration, and frequency of past fluctuations, and the factors controlling these fluctuations may help anticipate future changes in ground-water levels.

To Boldly Go: Practical Career Advice for Young Scientists

Science.gov (United States)

Fiske, P.

1998-05-01

Young scientists in nearly every field are finding the job market of the 1990's a confusing and frustrating place. Ph.D. supply is far larger than that needed to fill entry-level positions in "traditional" research careers. More new Ph.D. and Master's degree holders are considering a wider range of careers in and out of science, but feel ill-prepared and uninformed about their options. Some feel their Ph.D. training has led them to a dead-end. I present a thorough and practical overview to the process of career planning and job hunting in the 1990's, from the perspective of a young scientist. I cover specific steps that young scientists can take to broaden their horizons, strengthen their skills, and present their best face to potential employers. An important part of this is the realization that most young scientists possess a range of valuable "transferable skills" that are highly sought after by employers in and out of science. I will summarize the specifics of job hunting in the 90's, including informational interviewing, building your network, developing a compelling CV and resume, cover letters, interviewing, based on my book "To Boldly Go: A Practical Career Guide for Scientists". I will also identify other resources available for young scientists. Finally, I will highlight individual stories of Ph.D.-trained scientists who have found exciting and fulfilling careers outside the "traditional" world of academia.

An analog model for quantum lightcone fluctuations in nonlinear optics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, L.H.; De Lorenci, V.A.; Menezes, G.; Svaiter, N.F.

2013-01-01

We propose an analog model for quantum gravity effects using nonlinear dielectrics. Fluctuations of the spacetime lightcone are expected in quantum gravity, leading to variations in the flight times of pulses. This effect can also arise in a nonlinear material. We propose a model in which fluctuations of a background electric field, such as that produced by a squeezed photon state, can cause fluctuations in the effective lightcone for probe pulses. This leads to a variation in flight times analogous to that in quantum gravity. We make some numerical estimates which suggest that the effect might be large enough to be observable. - Highlights: ► Lightcone fluctuations, quantum fluctuations of the effective speed of light, are a feature of quantum gravity. ► Nonlinear dielectrics have a variable speed of light, analogous to the effects of gravity. ► Fluctuating electric fields create the effect of lightcone fluctuations in a nonlinear material. ► We propose to use squeezed light in a nonlinear material as an analog model of lightcone fluctuations. ► Variation in the speed of propagation of pulses is the observational signature of lightcone fluctuations.