Capabilities of monkey cortical cells in spatial-resolution tasks

1985 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. 1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Parker ◽  
Mike Hawken
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. Wagenhäuser ◽  
Lutz Wiegrebe ◽  
A. Leonie Baier

AbstractUnlike all other remote senses like vision or hearing, echolocation allows estimating the distance of an object. Not only have echolocating bats and toothed whales been shown to measure distance by echolocation extremely precisely, distance information is even topographically represented by a neuro-computational map in bats’ auditory cortex. This topographic representation and the corresponding tuning of cortical cells to object distance suggests the bats may be able to perceptually resolve multiple, simultaneously present objects along the distance axis. Here we use a novel psychophysical paradigm with complex phantom targets to quantity spatial resolution along the distance axis in the echolocating bat Phyllostomus discolor. We show that our bats can indeed perceptually resolve objects along the distance axis when they are separated by about 40 cm (around a reference distance of 108 cm) along the distance axis. These results are well comparable to earlier work on bats’ clutter interference zone (Simmons et al., 1988) and confirm those results with a more robust psychophysical paradigm.Summary statementEcholocating bats perceive absolute distance to objects by measuring the time delay between call and echo. In addition, they possess spatial resolution along the distance axis.


Author(s):  
T. M. Murad ◽  
Karen Israel ◽  
Jack C. Geer

Adrenal steroids are normally synthesized from acetyl coenzyme A via cholesterol. Cholesterol is also shown to enter the adrenal gland and to be localized in the lipid droplets of the adrenal cortical cells. Both pregnenolone and progesterone act as intermediates in the conversion of cholesterol into steroid hormones. During pregnancy an increased level of plasma cholesterol is known to be associated with an increase of the adrenal corticoid and progesterone. The present study is designed to demonstrate whether the adrenal cortical cells show any dynamic changes during pregnancy.


Author(s):  
R. Hutchings ◽  
I.P. Jones ◽  
M.H. Loretto ◽  
R.E. Smallman

There is increasing interest in X-ray microanalysis of thin specimens and the present paper attempts to define some of the factors which govern the spatial resolution of this type of microanalysis. One of these factors is the spreading of the electron probe as it is transmitted through the specimen. There will always be some beam-spreading with small electron probes, because of the inevitable beam divergence associated with small, high current probes; a lower limit to the spatial resolution is thus 2αst where 2αs is the beam divergence and t the specimen thickness.In addition there will of course be beam spreading caused by elastic and inelastic interaction between the electron beam and the specimen. The angle through which electrons are scattered by the various scattering processes can vary from zero to 180° and it is clearly a very complex calculation to determine the effective size of the beam as it propagates through the specimen.


Author(s):  
R.W. Carpenter

Interest in precipitation processes in silicon appears to be centered on transition metals (for intrinsic and extrinsic gettering), and oxygen and carbon in thermally aged materials, and on oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen in ion implanted materials to form buried dielectric layers. A steadily increasing number of applications of microanalysis to these problems are appearing. but still far less than the number of imaging/diffraction investigations. Microanalysis applications appear to be paced by instrumentation development. The precipitation reaction products are small and the presence of carbon is often an important consideration. Small high current probes are important and cryogenic specimen holders are required for consistent suppression of contamination buildup on specimen areas of interest. Focussed probes useful for microanalysis should be in the range of 0.1 to 1nA, and estimates of spatial resolution to be expected for thin foil specimens can be made from the curves shown in Fig. 1.


Author(s):  
J. R. Michael

X-ray microanalysis in the analytical electron microscope (AEM) refers to a technique by which chemical composition can be determined on spatial scales of less than 10 nm. There are many factors that influence the quality of x-ray microanalysis. The minimum probe size with sufficient current for microanalysis that can be generated determines the ultimate spatial resolution of each individual microanalysis. However, it is also necessary to collect efficiently the x-rays generated. Modern high brightness field emission gun equipped AEMs can now generate probes that are less than 1 nm in diameter with high probe currents. Improving the x-ray collection solid angle of the solid state energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) results in more efficient collection of x-ray generated by the interaction of the electron probe with the specimen, thus reducing the minimum detectability limit. The combination of decreased interaction volume due to smaller electron probe size and the increased collection efficiency due to larger solid angle of x-ray collection should enhance our ability to study interfacial segregation.


Author(s):  
Brian Cross

A relatively new entry, in the field of microscopy, is the Scanning X-Ray Fluorescence Microscope (SXRFM). Using this type of instrument (e.g. Kevex Omicron X-ray Microprobe), one can obtain multiple elemental x-ray images, from the analysis of materials which show heterogeneity. The SXRFM obtains images by collimating an x-ray beam (e.g. 100 μm diameter), and then scanning the sample with a high-speed x-y stage. To speed up the image acquisition, data is acquired "on-the-fly" by slew-scanning the stage along the x-axis, like a TV or SEM scan. To reduce the overhead from "fly-back," the images can be acquired by bi-directional scanning of the x-axis. This results in very little overhead with the re-positioning of the sample stage. The image acquisition rate is dominated by the x-ray acquisition rate. Therefore, the total x-ray image acquisition rate, using the SXRFM, is very comparable to an SEM. Although the x-ray spatial resolution of the SXRFM is worse than an SEM (say 100 vs. 2 μm), there are several other advantages.


Author(s):  
Gianluigi Botton ◽  
Gilles L'espérance

As interest for parallel EELS spectrum imaging grows in laboratories equipped with commercial spectrometers, different approaches were used in recent years by a few research groups in the development of the technique of spectrum imaging as reported in the literature. Either by controlling, with a personal computer both the microsope and the spectrometer or using more powerful workstations interfaced to conventional multichannel analysers with commercially available programs to control the microscope and the spectrometer, spectrum images can now be obtained. Work on the limits of the technique, in terms of the quantitative performance was reported, however, by the present author where a systematic study of artifacts detection limits, statistical errors as a function of desired spatial resolution and range of chemical elements to be studied in a map was carried out The aim of the present paper is to show an application of quantitative parallel EELS spectrum imaging where statistical analysis is performed at each pixel and interpretation is carried out using criteria established from the statistical analysis and variations in composition are analyzed with the help of information retreived from t/γ maps so that artifacts are avoided.


Author(s):  
Pham V. Huong ◽  
Stéphanie Bouchet ◽  
Jean-Claude Launay

Microstructure of epitaxial layers of doped GaAs and its crystal growth dynamics on single crystal GaAs substrate were studied by Raman microspectroscopy with a Dilor OMARS instrument equipped with a 1024 photodiode multichannel detector and a ion-argon laser Spectra-Physics emitting at 514.5 nm.The spatial resolution of this technique, less than 1 μm2, allows the recording of Raman spectra at several spots in function of thickness, from the substrate to the outer deposit, including areas around the interface (Fig.l).The high anisotropy of the LO and TO Raman bands is indicative of the orientation of the epitaxial layer as well as of the structural modification in the deposit and in the substrate at the interface.With Sn doped, the epitaxial layer also presents plasmon in Raman scattering. This fact is already very well known, but we additionally observed that its frequency increases with the thickness of the deposit. For a sample with electron density 1020 cm-3, the plasmon L+ appears at 930 and 790 cm-1 near the outer surface.


Author(s):  
J. Zhang ◽  
D.B. Williams ◽  
J.I. Goldstein

Analytical sensitivity and spatial resolution are important and closely related factors in x-ray microanalysis using the AEM. Analytical sensitivity is the ability to distinguish, for a given element under given conditions, between two concentrations that are nearly equal. The analytical sensitivity is directly related to the number of x-ray counts collected and, therefore, to the probe current, specimen thickness and counting time. The spatial resolution in AEM analysis is determined by the probe size and beam broadening in the specimen. A finer probe and a thinner specimen give a higher spatial resolution. However, the resulting lower beam current and smaller X-ray excitation volume degrade analytical sensitivity. A compromise must be made between high spatial resolution and an acceptable analytical sensitivity. In this paper, we show the necessity of evaluating these two parameters in order to determine the low temperature Fe-Ni phase diagram.A Phillips EM400T AEM with an EDAX/TN2000 EDS/MCA system and a VG HB501 FEG STEM with a LINK AN10 EDS/MCA system were used.


Author(s):  
K. Przybylski ◽  
A. J. Garratt-Reed ◽  
G. J. Yurek

The addition of so-called “reactive” elements such as yttrium to alloys is known to enhance the protective nature of Cr2O3 or Al2O3 scales. However, the mechanism by which this enhancement is achieved remains unclear. An A.E.M. study has been performed of scales grown at 1000°C for 25 hr. in pure O2 on Co-45%Cr implanted at 70 keV with 2x1016 atoms/cm2 of yttrium. In the unoxidized alloys it was calculated that the maximum concentration of Y was 13.9 wt% at a depth of about 17 nm. SIMS results showed that in the scale the yttrium remained near the outer surface.


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