A Simple Chaotic Circuit with Impulsive Switch Depending on Time and State

This paper presents a simple chaotic circuit consisting of two capacitors, one linear two-port VCCS and one time-state-controlled impulsive switch. The impulsive switch causes rich chaotic and periodic behavior. The circuit dynamics can be simplified into a one-dimensional return map that is piecewise linear and piecewise monotone. Using the return map, we clarify parameter conditions for existence of chaotic and periodic attractors and coexistence state of attractors.     

基于抑制性突触可塑性的反馈神经回路兴奋性与抑制性动态平衡

大脑皮层的兴奋性与抑制性平衡是维持正常脑功能的前提, 而其失衡会诱发癫痫、帕金森、抑郁症等多种神经疾病, 因此兴奋性与抑制性平衡的研究是脑科学领域的核心科学问题. 反馈神经回路是脑皮层网络的典型连接模式, 抑制性突触可塑性在兴奋性与抑制性平衡中扮演关键角色. 本文首先构建具有抑制性突触可塑性的反馈神经回路模型; 然后通过计算模拟研究揭示在抑制性突触可塑性的调控下反馈神经回路的兴奋性与抑制性可取得较高程度的动态平衡, 并且二者的平衡对输入扰动具有较强的鲁棒性; 其次给出了基于抑制性突触可塑性的反馈神经回路兴奋性与抑制性平衡机理的解释; 最后发现反馈回路神经元数目有利于提高兴奋性与抑制性平衡的程度, 这在一定程度上解释了为何神经元之间会存在较多的连接. 本文的研究对于理解脑皮层的兴奋性与抑制性动态平衡机理具有重要的参考价值.     

Models of the temporal dynamics of visual processing

Single unit recordings of neurons in primary visual cortex have demonstrated complex temporal patterns in the interspike interval return maps when presented with periodic input. Two models are tested to account for these patterns. An integrate-and-fire model is only able to replicate thein vivo data if its synaptic input is a chaotic function of time (such as a time series derived from the sinusoidally driven Duffing equation). Simpler purely periodic inputs are insufficient to replicate the experimental data. A Hodgkin-Huxley ionic model with a periodic input can replicate some of the features of the neural data, however it seems to be lacking as a complete model. These results indicate that thein vivo dynamics are not a result of the intrinsic properties of the neuron, but arise from a chaotic input to the neuron.     

Integrate-and-fire models with an almost periodic input function

We investigate leaky integrate-and-fire models (LIF models for short) driven by Stepanov and μ-almost periodic functions. Special attention is paid to the properties of the firing map and its displacement, which give information about the spiking behavior of the considered system. We provide conditions under which such maps are well-defined and are uniformly continuous. We show that the LIF models with Stepanov almost periodic inputs have uniformly almost periodic displacements. We also show that in the case of μ-almost periodic drives it may happen that the displacement map is uniformly continuous, but is not μ-almost periodic (and thus cannot be Stepanov or uniformly almost periodic). By allowing discontinuous inputs, we extend some previous results, showing, for example, that the firing rate for the LIF models with Stepanov almost periodic input exists and is unique. This is a starting point for the investigation of the dynamics of almost-periodically driven integrate-and-fire systems.     

Characterization of Stochastic Bifurcations in a Simple Biological Oscillator

This study of the effect of noise on bifurcations in a simple biological oscillator with a periodically modulated threshold uses the first-passage-time problem of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process with a periodic boundary to define the operator governing the transition of a threshold phase density. Stochastic phase-locking is analyzed numerically by evaluating the evolution of the probability density function of the threshold phase. A firing phase map in a noisy environment is extended to a stochastic kernel so that stochastic bifurcations can be investigated by spectral analysis of the kernel.