Synchronous Events Research Articles

Characterisation and synchronisation of a netted software defined radio radar

AbstractThe present work intends to characterise the combination of two netted software defined radios (SDR) and different radio frequency (RF) front‐ends installed in them, together with a two‐stratum time dissemination and synchronisation system. A modified implementation of the Network Time Protocol is used as coarse event synchronisation for either SDR back‐end. The White rabbit light embedded node implementation of the commonly known white rabbit synchronisation system (IEEE 1588 PTP‐2019) or arbitrary wave form generators are used as fine time dissemination system for either SDR. The resulting netted transceiver system is intended to compose a demonstrator for proof‐of‐concept experiments. The findings presented in this article show that the chosen combination of hardware and software is suitable for radar applications operating within L‐, S‐ and C‐bands. A channel coherency throughout the network with a relative modified Allan deviation of less than 80 fs for averaging intervals of 1 s, a phase noise better than −118 dBc/Hz at 10 Hz frequency offset and a fractional frequency lower than was measured. Within a single transceiver node, a fractional frequency lower than and phase noise of −124 dBc/Hz at 10 Hz frequency offset were measured as well. Multistatic radar systems exploit wide spatial diversity to enhance target detection and tracking, albeit with increased complexity when compared to a monostatic configuration. To exploit these benefits, all participating transceiver nodes within the netted radar need to synchronise to a common time base . The achieved synchronisation level increases the accuracy with which the chain of timed events at the transmitter and at the receiver side occur, intending to maximise the signal‐to‐noise ratio available at the receiver. The Universal software radio peripheral model X310 with two different daughterboard models as RF front‐end was used as SDR on either radar node. A network combining data and synchronisation purposes allowed the radar nodes under test to operate synchronously. The two‐stratum synchronisation system used glass fibres between 2 m and 5 km of length or coaxial cables with 2 m in length for network traffic, time and frequency dissemination purposes. The multiple RF front‐ends were stimulated by means of arbitrary waveform generators with calibrated traceability. Up‐chirp and sinusoid waveforms were used as stimuli for measuring the offset of either channel with regards of to ultimately estimate the achievable coherency limits of the system under test. Both analogue and digital evaluation methods were considered.

CRITICAL CAUSAL EVENTS IN SYSTEMS BASED ON CQRS WITH EVENT SOURCING ARCHITECTURE

Context. The article addresses the problem of causal events asynchrony which appears in the service-oriented information systems that does not guarantee that the events will be delivered in the order they were published. It may cause intermittent faults occurring at intervals, usually irregular, in a system that functions normally at other times. Objective. The goal of the work is the comparison and assessment of several existing approaches and providing a new approach for solving the causal events synchronization issue in application to the systems developed using Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) with Event Sourcing (ES) architecture approach. Methods. Firstly, the method of estimation of the likelihood of causal events occurring within the systems as the foundation for choosing the solution is suggested. Based on the results of the analysis of several projects based on CQRS with ES architecture it shows that the likelihood of critical causal events depends on the relationships among entities and the use-cases connected with the entities. Secondly, the Container of Events method, which represents a variation of event with full causality history, adapted to the needs of CQRS with ES architecture systems, was proposed in this work. The variants of its practical implementation have also been discussed. Also, the different solutions, such as Synchronous Event Queues and variation of Causal Barrier method were formalized and assessed. Thirdly, the methods described have been discussed and evaluated using performance and modification complexity criteria. To make the complexity-performance comparative assessment more descriptive the integrated assessment formula was also proposed. Results. The evaluation results show that the most effective solution of the issue is to use the Container of Events method. To implement the solution, it is proposed to make the modifications of the Event Delivery Subsystem and event handling infrastructure. Conclusions. The work is focused on the solution of the critical causal events issue for the systems based on CQRS with ES architecture. The method of estimation of the likelihood of critical causal events has been provided and different solutions of the problem have been formalized and evaluated. The most effective solution based on Container of Events method was suggested.

Spatiotemporal desynchronization in the propagation from meteorological to soil moisture drought in the Loess Plateau, China

Study RegionThe Loess Plateau (LP) of China Study FocusMeteorological drought (MD) would propagate to soil moisture drought (SMD) with spatiotemporal desynchronization. The spatial desynchronization between them has frequently been ignored in previous studies due to limitation of identified droughts, which did not consider their 3-dimensional (3D, i.e. longitude, latitude and time) properties. This study presents a 3D perspective on the spatiotemporal desynchronization in the propagation from meteorological to soil moisture drought in the the Loess Plateau (LP) of China, using an improved drought matching method. Event Synchronization (ES) is extended to determine temporal linkage of the two types of droughts and spatial connection is tested using overlapping area. New Hydrological Insights for the RegionThe results showed that: (1) the improved method is reasonable for identifying MDs that trigger SMDs, down to specific clusters; (2) 8 SMDs preceded MDs 1 month, while approximately 79 % of SMDs did not recover after the determination of MDs; (3) severity of MD is an impact factor on recovery lag, while antecedent soil moisture dominates onset lag with the relative importance of approximately 50 %; and (4) incompletely overlap in migration trajectory between the two types of droughts was mainly caused by temperature, followed by antecedent soil moisture and potential evapotranspiration, with relative importance of 55 %, 14 % and 12 %, respectively.

Synchronization evaluation of digital twin for a robotic assembly system using computer vision

Traditional production processes are profoundly transforming in the era of Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing. Smart manufacturing, a core element of Industry 4.0, employs advanced technologies such as automation, robotics, AI, big data analytics, and machine learning to boost productivity and manufacturing performance. Central to this evolution is the Digital Twin (DT), digital replicas of physical assets that blend real-time data with advanced analytics and simulations. Ensuring synchronization between the digital replica and its physical counterpart is crucial for the success of Digital Twins. This paper addresses the challenge of achieving and quantifying synchronization within DTs, focusing on replicating physical system behaviour and measuring deviations or delays. The study delves into the critical aspects of synchronization within digital twin applications, focusing on its implications for a robotic assembly system. The research successfully harnessed YOLOv8 to facilitate real-time event tracking and synchronization characterization, highlighting the potential of computer vision in enhancing synchronization accuracy and, consequently, the efficiency and reliability of manufacturing processes.

Concurrent droughts across Major River Basins of the World modulated by El Niño–Southern Oscillation

Droughts are among the costliest natural disasters with far-reaching impacts. Focusing on the influence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on worldwide droughts, this paper presents a formulation of the complex network of concurrent droughts across the Major River Basins (MRBs) of the World. Specifically, concurrent droughts are measured by event synchronization and interconnections of concurrent droughts are determined by significance test. Event coincidence analysis is incorporated into interconnections to quantify the effects of El Niño and La Niña events. A case study is devised for the 3-monthly standardized precipitation index (SPI) of Global Drought and Flood Catalogue during the period from 1950 to 2016. The results highlight that owing to the synchronization of droughts, there exist nine communities of the MRBs, each covering MRBs across different continents. While the correlation between SPI and ENSO exhibits mixed patterns for MRBs grouped by continent, there exist distinct patterns of correlation for MRBs grouped by community. Overall, 28.88% of concurrent droughts tend to be modulated by El Niño events, especially over MRBs in South-West Pacific, South Africa, northern South America and South Asia. In the meantime, 23.51% of concurrent droughts tend to be modulated by La Niña events, especially over MRBs in the United States, southwestern South America, northern China and Central Asia. The modulation of El Niño and La Niña is confirmed by composite analysis of SPI and detailed analysis of the Yangtze River Basin. Overall, the complex network provides useful information for drought forecasting and disaster mitigation.

Late mesozoic exhumation of silurian – Devonian and permian Ni-Co sulfide deposits in the East Kunlun orogenic belt: Constraints from zircon fission track ages

Ni-Co sulfide deposits of late Silurian – early Devonian and Permian ages hosted within in basic-ultrabasic rock bodies in the East Kunlun orogenic belt have been extensively investigated. Nevertheless, we have only a limited understanding of the history and dynamics of uplift, exhumation, and tectonic deformation of the basic-ultrabasic ore-bearing rock bodies of these Ni-Co sulfide deposits. We used the zircon fission track ages of seven samples obtained from basic-ultrabasic ore-bearing rocks to determine the timing of the exhumation of these Ni-Co sulfide deposits. Combining our results with published data on the timing of orogenesis, cooling events, magmatic activities, and basin infilling in adjacent areas, we conclude the following: 1) The ZFT ages obtained in this study indicate the exhumation during 169.6 ± 5.5–142.2 ± 3.2 Ma; 2) Combined with previous results, our data indicate that the exhumation during the Jurassic – Cretaceous occurred across a large area along the East Kunlun orogenic belt to the Alxa block; 3) The synchroneity of orogeny, magmatic activity, and basin infilling events suggests that the late Mesozoic exhumation was a geomorphological response to the Lhasa-Qiangtang collision driven by the breakup of Gondwanaland.

Pine woodland fire dynamics mirror industrial history at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, West Virginia, USA

Fire is an important biophysical process in pine (Pinus) and mixed pine-oak (Quercus) forests and woodlands across the Central Appalachian Mountains. Decades of fire exclusion, however, particularly on public lands, have resulted in a well-documented homogenization of species composition and forest structure. Our objective was to inform management and restoration efforts by expanding on previous dendroecological research at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and adjacent Babcock State Park in southern West Virginia. Specifically, we assessed pine woodland fire activity in the context of local industrial history, land management, and regional drought. Samples cut from 110 fire-scarred pine trees, distributed across four sites, were used to develop a fire-scar record that spans the period 1842–2010; however, sample depth diminishes rapidly before the 1860s. Fires occurred frequently and extensively in the early–mid 20th century, coinciding with peak coal production and population density. Eleven major fires, or years when at least two trees and 25 % of samples recorded a fire scar at an individual site, were documented in the tree-ring record, but none occurred during the federal land management era (1978–present). Synchronous fire events recorded at two or more sites were associated with drier than average September–May (‘dormant season’) climate conditions. Our results indicate that, since the late 19th century, fire activity in pine woodlands at the New River Gorge has been driven primarily by human ignitions associated with industrial activities, and that periods of drought have amplified landscape-scale fire occurrence. Land managers should consider these historical fire patterns when developing restoration strategies that may include prescribed fire, thinning treatments, and managed wildfires.

Lysophospholipid remodeling mediated by the LplT and Aas protein complex in the bacterial envelope

Lysophospholipid transporter LplT and acyltransferase Aas consist of a lysophospholipid-remodeling system ubiquitously found in gram-negative microorganisms. LplT flips lysophospholipids across the inner membrane, which are subsequently acylated by Aas on the cytoplasmic membrane surface. Our previous study showed that the proper functioning of this system is important to protecting E. coli from phospholipase-mediated host attack by maintaining the integrity of the bacterial cell envelope. However, the working mechanism of this system is still unclear. Herein, we report that LplT and Aas form a membrane protein complex in E. coli which allows these two enzymes to cooperate efficiently to move lysophospholipids across the bacterial membrane and catalyze their acylation. The direct interaction of LplT and Aas was demonstrated both in vivo and in vitro with a binding affinity of 2.3 μM. We found that a cytoplasmic loop of LplT adjacent to the exit of the substrate translocation pathway plays an important role in maintaining its interaction with Aas. Aas contains an acyl-acyl carrier protein synthase domain and an acyl-transferase domain. Its interaction with LplT is mediated exclusively by its transferase domain. Mutations within the three loops near the putative catalytic site of the transferase domain, respectively, disrupt its interaction with LplT and lysophospholipid acylation activity. These results support a hypothesis of the functional coupling mechanism, in which LplT directly interacts with the transferase domain of Aas for specific substrate membrane migration, providing synchronization of substrate translocation and biosynthetic events.

Symposium 4: Reflections on Hybridity in the Malta Networked Learning Forum 2021

This paper discusses the practicality, successes and possible failures of the Malta Networked Learning (NL) Forum held in May 2021. The forum was held in a hybrid synchronous face-to-face and virtual context, with a wide range of international participants, planned at short notice due to continuing uncertainty of Covid-19 restrictions. The paper outlines contexts and understandings of hybridity in both events and pedagogical approaches, noting varying definitions and concepts that may utilise this term to indicate forms of barrier breaking, overcoming limitation or supporting flexibility. Further context highlights recent literature concerning other digitally hybrid conference events, the need for which have been accelerated in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and additional considerations of climate change for reducing the carbon footprint of academic communities. Discussion leads to the type of hybridity implemented for the Malta NL Forum in May 2021, where pandemic international travel restrictions, local regulations and participant planning uncertainty required the adoption of a face-to-face and virtual synchronous event. The local organising team (authoring this paper) provides commentary to critically reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the modality adopted. Emphasis is placed on designing for hybridity in future events, to improve planning and organisation for flexible and agile awareness to support the full range of participants in hybrid contexts and activities. The paper attempts to support those whose role is to convene and host similar events aiming to foster rewarding engagement for those participating, both presenting as well as attending.

Deliberative Behaviors and Prefrontal-Hippocampal Coupling are Disrupted in a Rat Model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are characterized by a range of physical, cognitive, and behavioral impairments. Determining how temporally specific alcohol exposure (AE) affects neural circuits is crucial to understanding the FASD phenotype. Third trimester AE can be modeled in rats by administering alcohol during the first two postnatal weeks, which damages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), thalamic nucleus reuniens, and hippocampus (HPC), structures whose functional interactions are required for working memory and executive function. Therefore, we hypothesized that AE during this period would impair working memory, disrupt choice behaviors, and alter mPFC-HPC oscillatory synchrony. To test this hypothesis, we recorded local field potentials from the mPFC and dorsal HPC as AE and sham intubated (SI) rats performed a spatial working memory task in adulthood and implemented algorithms to detect vicarious trial and errors (VTEs), behaviors associated with deliberative decision-making. We found that, compared to the SI group, the AE group performed fewer VTEs and demonstrated a disturbed relationship between VTEs and choice outcomes, while spatial working memory was unimpaired. This behavioral disruption was accompanied by alterations to mPFC and HPC oscillatory activity in the theta and beta bands, respectively, and a reduced prevalence of mPFC-HPC synchronous events. When trained on multiple behavioral variables, a machine learning algorithm could accurately predict whether rats were in the AE or SI group, thus characterizing a potential phenotype following third trimester AE. Together, these findings indicate that third trimester AE disrupts mPFC-HPC oscillatory interactions and choice behaviors.

Virtual Time III, Part 3: Throttling and Message Cancellation

This is Part 3 of a trio of papers that unify in a natural way the two historically distinct parallel discrete event synchronization paradigms, optimistic and conservative, combining the best properties of both into a single framework called Unified Virtual Time (UVT) . In this part we survey the synchronization effects that can be achieved by restricting to corner cases the relationships permitted among the control variables, GVT , CVT , TVT , and LVT , which were defined in Part 1 . We also survey various throttling policies from the literature and describe how they can be implemented in UVT by controlling the value of TVT , including policies that can take advantage of rollback in addition to LP blocking. A significant result is a new category of efficient and higher precision throttling algorithms for optimistic execution that are based on optimistic lookahead , defined in a way that is symmetric to what we now call the conservative lookahead information that is traditionally used for conservative synchronization. Finally, we present a novel algorithm allowing the choice between lazy and aggressive cancellation to be made on a message-by-message basis using either external logic expressed in the model code, or policy code internal to the simulator, or a mixture of both.

Investigating the spatial propagation patterns of meteorological drought events and underlying mechanisms using complex network theory: A case study of the Yangtze River Basin, China

The spatial propagation patterns of meteorological drought events (MDEs) and underlying mechanisms contribute to elucidating and forecasting drought evolution. In this study, gridded MDEs in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) throughout the entire year, wet season and dry season were extracted from 3-month Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI-3) series. Event synchronization (ES) and complex networks (CN) were employed to construct the MDE synchronization networks and MDE spatial propagation networks for various periods. The former were utilized to identify MDE synchronized subregions where MDEs co-occur and co-evolve in the YRB, while the latter were used to quantify the MDE spatial propagation patterns over both the basin and its subregions. The driving mechanisms behind MDE spatial propagation were further investigated by diagnosing the concomitant drought-inducing climate systems. The findings reveal the presence of four MDE synchronized subregions during the wet season and five subregions during the entire year and dry season. These subregions exhibited distinct spatial propagation patterns of MDEs, aligning with overall findings across the YRB. Notable differences were observed between wet and dry seasons, with various subregions exhibiting distinctive spatial propagation patterns during each season. These patterns are driven by variations in the controlling atmospheric circulation systems, leading to anomalies of wind patterns and moisture distribution, ultimately resulting in deficient moisture supply. The variations of tropical sea surface thermal conditions, influences of the Tibetan Plateau and MDE self-propagation triggered by land–atmosphere feedback are considered as three primary influencing factors for MDE spatial propagation in the YRB.

Drought and wetness events encounter and cascade effect in the Yangtze River and Yellow River Basin

Under the background of global change, the multivariate attributes, multi-temporal and multi-watershed regional characteristics of extreme drought and flood disasters are significant. It is very important to identify the drought and wetness encounter law and spatial cascade effect in the source region-upper-middle-lower reaches of the basin. In this paper, the Yangtze River and Yellow River basins are taken as the research objects. Based on the standardized precipitation index (SPI) characterizing meteorological drought and wetness and the standardized runoff index (SRI) characterizing hydrological drought and wetness, the evolution law of extreme drought and flood events in the source region-upper-middle-lower reaches of the two basins is analyzed. On this basis, the correlation analysis and transfer function analysis are used to explore the response relationship and lag effect between the two in different partitions. A two-dimensional joint distribution model is constructed by Copula function to quantitatively analyze the joint probability of drought and wetness encounters of 9 combined events, and to deeply analyze the impact of different drought and wetness encounter scenarios. The results show that: from 1957 to 2020, the two basins showed a trend from drought to wet. The SPI-12 in the Yellow River Basin ranged from-1.57 to 1.32, and that in the Yangtze River Basin ranged from-1.24 to 1.11. The severity of drought and wetness in the Yellow River Basin was higher than that in the Yangtze River Basin; The correlation coefficients between SPI and SRI in the source-upper-middle-lower reaches of the Yellow River (Yangtze River) were 0.78 (0.76), 0.23 (0.73), 0.44 (0.55) and 0.23 (0.63), respectively. The correlation degree of meteorological-hydrological drought and wetness in the Yangtze River Basin was significantly higher than that in the Yellow River Basin. The average probability of synchronous combination events of drought and wetness in the two basins is greater than 51.43 %. The probability of drought in the Yellow River Basin is greater than that of flood, while the Yangtze River Basin is the opposite. In the same drought and wetness scenario, an average of 54.1% of the event pairs were aggravated by disasters, and more than 52 % of the events in the wetness-drought scenario had obvious drought mitigation effects. The research results can provide important support for improving the early warning and risk management of river basin disasters.

Wind power forecasting based on a novel gated recurrent neural network model

Accurate wind power forecasting is crucial for upgrading the operation and maintenance of wind turbines and the effectiveness in wind power dispatching. In this work, density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) is adopted to exclude outliers, and is examined to yield top-quality data filtering for neural networks when implemented on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data from a 7-MW wind turbine. Apart from features, such as wind and rotor speeds, time is a vital feature involved with synchronous or asynchronous events. Thus, a model-agnostic vector representation for time, Time2Vec (T2V), is used. This can be embedded with neural network architectures, such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). The novel neural network model, T2V-GRU, concatenates T2V into vanilla GRU, replacing the notion of time vector by T2V. Forecasting results are evaluated by mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), and accuracy. In comparison to T2V-LSTM, LSTM and GRU, the proposed T2V-GRU model in combination with DBSCAN refinement has superior forecasting results for the 7-MW turbine, yielding maximum forecasting accuracy (93.12 %) and minimal prediction errors in terms of MAE (286.10 kW) and RMSE (489.54 kW), while simultaneously reducing the computational cost and time.

An algorithm-guided Ediacaran global composite δ13Ccarb–Bayesian age model

While it remains uncertain whether excursions in the stable carbon isotopic composition of Ediacaran marine carbonate (δ13Ccarb) represent globally synchronous events (or a direct measure of ocean carbon cycling), the absence of widely distributed and readily preservable fauna, and the presence of several iconic carbon isotope excursions (CIEs), has sustained δ13Ccarb correlation as the primary means to establish relative time relationships for Ediacaran successions. Here we present an Ediacaran global δ13Ccarb composite built with a dynamic time warping (DTW) time-normalization algorithm that generates libraries of least-squares alignments between chemostratigraphic records of unequal length and distinct sediment accumulation rates. When developing a δ13Ccarb composite for each of 16 globally distributed Ediacaran paleo-depositional regions, we selected high Pearson r alignments that conformed with published geological guidance about the correlation of constituent sections. When applying DTW to align these regional algorithmic composites into one global δ13Ccarb stack, we selected alignments that allied the excursions that field workers have established (or speculated) are the Marinoan cap carbonate excursion, the Shuram excursion, and/or the basal Cambrian excursion. There are strengths and weaknesses to making explicit the temporal relationships (point-to-point correspondences) often left implicit in visual correlation. One strength is to extrapolate depositional ages by means of isotopic correlation, and here we explored this with a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo age model that predicts a median age, and uncertainty, for every carbonate stratum in the global Ediacaran δ13Ccarb composite. Yet, one must caution against a false accuracy that can arise from selecting one alignment among many possibilities––the likelihood that time-uncertain time series can be stretched and squeezed into one unequivocal alignment is low. Thus, while these alignments are grounded in the expert assessment of the field worker, this global Ediacaran δ13Ccarb–Bayesian age model should be viewed as a working hypothesis to enrich, but not arbitrate, discussions of the correlation, synchrony, and completeness of Ediacaran successions.

Characterization and Timing of Mineralization in the Garrison Gold District, Southern Abitibi Greenstone Belt, Canada

Abstract The decrease in gold discoveries is affecting the deployment of new technology and the general society demand, demonstrating the need for new gold exploration approaches. To date, gold exploration remains primarily focused in areas near well-known large gold districts. We demonstrate the potential for new discoveries and significant resource expansion in the Abitibi greenstone belt distal from the giant gold districts across the belt. Unlocking of additional resources in the Garrison district was accomplished by identification of zones of compentency contrast, which resulted in a variety of locally complex and unrecognized structural traps receptive to gold. Our approach is applicable to other little-explored areas in the Abitibi greenstone belt and other orogenic belts worldwide. The Garrison district, situated in the southern part of the Abitibi greenstone belt in the Superior province, lies along an ~3-km NE-trending segment of the gold-rich, Archean Porcupine-Destor deformation zone. The district contains several discoveries, which include the Buffonta deposit hosted in mafic volcanic rocks, the syenite-hosted 903 deposit, and the albitite dike-hosted Jonpol deposit. These deposits occur along high-strain zones developed in embayments and elongate, NE-trending domains of talc-chlorite-serpentine–altered ultramafic rocks, which localized strands and splays of the Porcupine-Destor deformation zone. In addition, the Garrcon deposit comprises northerly-trending gold-bearing quartz veins and lamprophyre dike swarms hosted in sedimentary host rocks that are bounded by high-strain zones. The intrusive rocks in all of these deposits were emplaced prior to gold deposition. They provided a competent substrate in areas of heterogeneous strain that localized gold mineralization. Initial alteration made the surrounding volcanic and sedimentary rocks also rheologically competent. This resulted in enhanced hydrofracturing and the formation of paragenetically late gold-bearing quartz veins. Widespread albite-pyrite-carbonate alteration in all of the gold deposits temporally overlapped with gold mineralization. New U-Pb zircon geochronology data reveal that ~2719 to 2712 Ma volcanism was followed by granitic magmatism and emplacement of a series of ~2683 to 2672 Ma dikes. One Re-Os analysis of a synmineralization molybdenite sample indicates that orogenic gold was deposited at 2671 ± 12 Ma. This is comparable to published ages of major orogenic gold deposits throughout the southern part of the Abitibi greenstone belt, indicating a broadly synchronous principal gold event across the belt.

The NKCC1 Inhibitor Bumetanide Restores Cortical Feedforward Inhibition and Lessens Sensory Hypersensitivity in Early Postnatal Fragile X Mice

BackgroundExaggerated responses to sensory stimuli, a hallmark of fragile X syndrome, contribute to anxiety and learning challenges. Sensory hypersensitivity is recapitulated in the Fmr1 knockout (KO) mouse model of fragile X syndrome. Recent studies in Fmr1 KO mice have demonstrated differences in the activity of cortical interneurons and a delayed switch in the polarity of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) signaling during development. Previously, we reported that blocking the chloride transporter NKCC1 with the diuretic bumetanide could rescue synaptic circuit phenotypes in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of Fmr1 KO mice. However, it remains unknown whether bumetanide can rescue earlier circuit phenotypes or sensory hypersensitivity in Fmr1 KO mice. MethodsWe used acute and chronic systemic administration of bumetanide in Fmr1 KO mice and performed in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging to record neuronal activity, while tracking mouse behavior with high-resolution videos. ResultsWe demonstrated that layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons in the S1 of Fmr1 KO mice showed a higher frequency of synchronous events on postnatal day 6 than wild-type controls. This was reversed by acute administration of bumetanide. Furthermore, chronic bumetanide treatment (postnatal days 5–14) restored S1 circuit differences in Fmr1 KO mice, including reduced neuronal adaptation to repetitive whisker stimulation, and ameliorated tactile defensiveness. Bumetanide treatment also rectified the reduced feedforward inhibition of layer 2/3 neurons in the S1 and boosted the circuit participation of parvalbumin interneurons. ConclusionsThis further supports the notion that synaptic, circuit, and sensory behavioral phenotypes in Fmr1 KO can be mitigated by inhibitors of NKCC1, such as the Food and Drug Administration–approved diuretic bumetanide.

Network state transitions during cortical development.

Mammalian cortical networks are active before synaptogenesis begins in earnest, before neuronal migration is complete, and well before an animal opens its eyes and begins to actively explore its surroundings. This early activity undergoes several transformations during development. The most important of these is a transition from episodic synchronous network events, which are necessary for patterning the neocortex into functionally related modules, to desynchronized activity that is computationally more powerful and efficient. Network desynchronization is perhaps the most dramatic and abrupt developmental event in an otherwise slow and gradual process of brain maturation. In this Review, we summarize what is known about the phenomenology of developmental synchronous activity in the rodent neocortex and speculate on the mechanisms that drive its eventual desynchronization. We argue that desynchronization of network activity is a fundamental step through which the cortex transitions from passive, bottom-up detection of sensory stimuli to active sensory processing with top-down modulation.

Model checking distributed temporal logic

Abstract The distributed temporal logic (DTL) is a logic for reasoning about temporal properties of distributed systems from the local point of view of the system’s agents, which are assumed to execute sequentially and to interact by means of synchronous event sharing. Different versions of DTL have been provided over the years for a number of different applications, reflecting different perspectives on how non-local information can be accessed by each agent. In this paper, we propose an automata-theoretic model checking algorithm for DTL. To this end, we propose a notion of distributed transition system that will be used to specify the system to be verified. The properties that the system should meet are specified in DTL. In order to capture the models of these properties, we propose the notions of generalized distributed Büchi automaton and of distributed Büchi automaton. With these concepts, we are able to adapt results from automata-theoretic approaches to model checking in LTL to the distributed case.

The interaction system of the virtual reality helmet and the neurointerface

Problem statement. Assessing the quality of physiotherapeutic stimulation of virtual reality is complicated by the use of a classical device for recording brain parameters, such as an encephalograph, due to its significant overall dimensions. The work presents a system that includes a mobile device for recording brain parameters, a virtual reality helmet and wireless data transfer interfaces. Work purpose. Assessing the quality of physiotherapeutic stimulation of virtual reality is complicated by the use of a classical device for recording brain parameters, such as an encephalograph, due to its significant overall dimensions. The work presents a system that includes a mobile device for recording brain parameters, a virtual reality helmet and wireless data transfer interfaces. Results. An algorithm has been developed for integrating a neural interface with virtual reality environments to ensure mobility, precise synchronization of events in the virtual world and corresponding brain reactions to create an objective picture of a person’s health status as a result of external influences. Practical significance. A software implementation of a system for interaction between a virtual reality helmet and a neural interface is presented, aimed at increasing the mobility of recording, monitoring, recording and processing of brain signals in conditions of user immersion in virtual space.