Categorization of behavioural sequences in the prefrontal cortex

Although it has long been thought that the prefrontal cortex of primates is involved in the integrative regulation of behaviours, the neural architecture underlying specific aspects of cognitive behavioural planning has yet to be clarified. If subjects are required to remember a large number of complex motor sequences and plan to execute each of them individually, categorization of the sequences according to the specific temporal structure inherent in each subset of sequences serves to facilitate higher-order planning based on memory. Here we show, using these requirements, that cells in the lateral prefrontal cortex selectively exhibit activity for a specific category of behavioural sequences, and that categories of behaviours, embodied by different types of movement sequences, are represented in prefrontal cells during the process of planning. This cellular activity implies the generation of neural representations capable of storing structured event complexes at an abstract level, exemplifying the development of macro-structured action knowledge in the lateral prefrontal cortex.     

Crystallographic preferred orientation of akimotoite and seismic anisotropy of Tonga slab

The mineral akimotoite, ilmenite-structured MgSiO(3), exists at the bottom of the Earth's mantle transition zone and within the uppermost lower mantle, especially under low-temperature conditions. Akimotoite is thought to be a major constituent of the harzburgite layer of subducting slabs, and the most anisotropic mineral in the mantle transition zone. It has been predicted that if akimotoite crystals are preferentially oriented by plastic deformation, a cold subducted slab would be extremely anisotropic. However, there have been no studies of crystallographic preferred orientations and very few reports of plastic deformation experiments for MgSiO(3) ilmenite. Here we present plastic deformation experiments on polycrystalline akimotoite, which were conducted at confining pressures of 20-22 GPa and temperatures of 1,000-1,300 degrees C. We found a change in crystallographic preferred orientation pattern of akimotoite with temperature, where the c-axis maximum parallel to the compression direction develops at high temperature, whereas the c axes are preferentially oriented parallel to the shear direction or perpendicular to the compression direction at lower temperature. The previously reported difference in compressional-wave seismic anisotropy between the northern and southern segments of the Tonga slab at depths of the mantle transition zone can conceivably be attributed to the difference in the crystallographic preferred orientation pattern of akimotoite at varying temperature within the slab.     

Stability of hydrous melt at the base of the Earth's upper mantle

Seismological observations have revealed the existence of low-velocity and high-attenuation zones above the discontinuity at 410 km depth, at the base of the Earth's upper mantle. It has been suggested that a small amount of melt could be responsible for such anomalies. The density of silicate melt under dry conditions has been measured at high pressure and found to be denser than the surrounding solid, thereby allowing the melt to remain at depth. But no experimental investigation of the density of hydrous melt has yet been carried out. Here we present data constraining the density of hydrous basaltic melt under pressure to examine the stability of melt above the 410-km discontinuity. We infer that hydrous magma formed by partial melting above the 410-km discontinuity may indeed be gravitationally stable, thereby supporting the idea that low-velocity or high-attentuation regions just above the mantle transition zone may result from the presence of melt.     

Violation of the incompressibility of liquid by simple shear flow

In standard fluid dynamics, the density change associated with flow is often assumed to be negligible, implying that the fluid is incompressible. For example, this has been established for simple shear flows, where no pressure change is associated with flow: there is no volume deformation due to viscous stress and inertial effects can be neglected. Accordingly, any flow-induced instabilities (such as cavitation) are unexpected for simple shear flows. Here we demonstrate that the incompressibility condition can be violated even for simple shear flows, by taking into account the coupling between the flow and density fluctuations, which arises owing to the density dependence of the viscosity. We show that a liquid can become mechanically unstable above a critical shear rate that is given by the inverse of the derivative of viscosity with respect to pressure. Our model predicts that, for very viscous liquids, this shear-induced instability should occur at moderate shear rates that are experimentally accessible. Our results explain the unusual shear-induced instability observed in viscous lubricants, and may illuminate other poorly understood phenomena associated with mechanical instability of liquids at low Reynolds number; for example, shear-induced cavitation and bubble growth, and shear-banding of very viscous liquids such as metallic glasses and the Earth's mantle.     

Cold ions in the hot plasma sheet of Earth's magnetotail

Most visible matter in the Universe exists as plasma. How this plasma is heated, and especially how the initial non-equilibrium plasma distributions relax to thermal equilibrium (as predicted by Maxwell-Boltzman statistics), is a fundamental question in studies of astrophysical and laboratory plasmas. Astrophysical plasmas are often so tenuous that binary collisions can be ignored, and it is not clear how thermal equilibrium develops for these 'collisionless' plasmas. One example of a collisionless plasma is the Earth's plasma sheet, where thermalized hot plasma with ion temperatures of about 5 x 10(7) K has been observed. Here we report direct observations of a plasma distribution function during a solar eclipse, revealing cold ions in the Earth's plasma sheet in coexistence with thermalized hot ions. This cold component cannot be detected by plasma sensors on satellites that are positively charged in sunlight, but our observations in the Earth's shadow show that the density of the cold ions is comparable to that of hot ions. This high density is difficult to explain within existing theories, as it requires a mechanism that permits half of the source plasma to remain cold upon entry into the hot turbulent plasma sheet.     

Metastable garnet in oceanic crust at the top of the lower mantle

As oceanic tectonic plates descend into the Earth's lower mantle, garnet (in the basaltic crust) and silicate spinel (in the underlying peridotite layer) each decompose to form silicate perovskite-the 'post-garnet' and 'post-spinel' transformations, respectively. Recent phase equilibrium studies have shown that the post-garnet transformation occurs in the shallow lower mantle in a cold slab, rather than at approximately 800 km depth as earlier studies indicated, with the implication that the subducted basaltic crust is unlikely to become buoyant enough to delaminate as it enters the lower mantle. But here we report results of a kinetic study of the post-garnet transformation, obtained from in situ X-ray observations using sintered diamond anvils, which show that the kinetics of the post-garnet transformation are significantly slower than for the post-spinel transformation. Although metastable spinel quickly breaks down at a temperature of 1,000 K, we estimate that metastable garnet should survive of the order of 10 Myr even at 1,600 K. Accordingly, the expectation of where the subducted oceanic crust would be buoyant spans a much wider depth range at the top of the lower mantle, when transformation kinetics are taken into account.     

Fluorescence replication banding of frog chromosomes

To identify individual chromosomes of a frog karyotype by their fluorescence banding patterns, chromosomes were stained with actinomycin D and 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) after incorporation of BrdU during the late S-phase. The chromosomes of three Rana species which were selected for this study (R. ridibunda, R. lessonae and R. japonica) showed well-defined late replication bands. The fluorescence patterns obtained were the reverse of those produced by a 4Na-EDTA Giemsa-staining technique. Fluorescence patterns of the two water frog species (R. ridibunda and R. lessonae) were similar to each other, except for the different fluorescence of the centromeric heterochromatin, which gave extremely bright signals in R. ridibunda but no signal in R. lessonae. Experiments also showed differences between the fluorescence patterns of R. lessonae chromosome 13 in the Italian and Luxembourgian populations. These results sho w that the fluorescence replication banding using actinomycin D and DAPI is very effective in identifying individual frog chromosomes and detecting their structural changes. Received 7 June 1996; received after revision 23 July 1996; accepted 21 August 1996     

预蠕变损伤对高温疲劳宏观裂纹扩展的影响

针对ＳＵＳ３０４不锈钢光滑试棒预先导入１０７３ Ｋ·ｃｐ－ｔｙｐｅ条件下的预蠕变疲劳损伤，然后开小切口进行时间依存性 ９２３ Ｋ·ｃｐ－ｔｙｐｅ，１０７３ Ｋ·ｃｐ－ｔｙｐｅ及循环数依存性９２３ Ｋ·ｐｐ－ｔｙｐｅ的宏观裂纹扩展试验，考察了试棒内部因预蠕变疲劳而产生的大量的粒界微小裂纹对高温疲劳宏观裂纹扩展的影响．结果如下： １．预损伤加速了９２３ Ｋ·ｃｐ－ｔｙｐｅ下的蠕变裂纹扩展，对于同一蠕变Ｊ积分范围△Ｊｃ，损伤值越大，裂纹扩展速度ｄｌ／ｄＮ也越大．这种加速起因于主裂纹与微小裂纹的合体． ２．１０７３ Ｋ·ｃｐ－ｔｙｐｅ下的预损伤材料和处女材料的ｄｌ／ｄＮ在同一△Ｊｃ。下相等．即，损伤材料的裂纹扩展速度的上限值由１０７３ Ｋ·ｃｐ－ｔｙｐｅ下的处女材料的ｄｌ／ｄＮ－△Ｊｃ关系给出． ３．在９２３ Ｋ·ｐｐ－ｔｙｐｅ条件下，对于同一疲劳Ｊ积分范围△Ｊｆ，预损伤材料的ｄｌ／ｄＮ要比处女材料快１０倍左右．一般ｐｐ－ｔｙｐｅ的破坏形式为粒内破坏．预损伤材料的场合，因为试棒内部分布有大量的微小粒界裂纹，主裂纹便沿这些破坏阻抗最小的微小裂纹边合体边扩展，主要在粒界上扩展．即微小粒界裂纹是裂纹扩展阻抗减小的主因．