A model of naturalistic decision making in preference tests

Decisions as to whether to continue with an ongoing activity or to switch to an alternative are a constant in an animal’s natural world, and in particular underlie foraging behavior and performance in food preference tests. Stimuli experienced by the animal both impact the choice and are themselves impacted by the choice, in a dynamic back and forth. Here, we present model neural circuits, based on spiking neurons, in which the choice to switch away from ongoing behavior instantiates this back and forth, arising as a state transition in neural activity. We analyze two classes of circuit, which differ in whether state transitions result from a loss of hedonic input from the stimulus (an “entice to stay” model) or from aversive stimulus-input (a “repel to leave” model). In both classes of model, we find that the mean time spent sampling a stimulus decreases with increasing value of the alternative stimulus, a fact that we linked to the inclusion of depressing synapses in our model. The competitive interaction is much greater in “entice to stay” model networks, which has qualitative features of the marginal value theorem, and thereby provides a framework for optimal foraging behavior. We offer suggestions as to how our models could be discriminatively tested through the analysis of electrophysiological and behavioral data.

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A model of naturalistic decision making in preference tests

10.1101/2021.04.29.441919 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

John Ksander ◽

Donald B Katz ◽

Paul Miller

Keyword(s):

Foraging Behavior ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Neural Circuit ◽

Aversive Stimulus ◽

Rapid Change ◽

Natural World ◽

State Transitions ◽

Neural Firing ◽

Stimulus Input ◽

Preference Tests

AbstractDecisions as to whether to continue with an ongoing activity or to switch to an alternative are a constant in an animal’s natural world, and in particular underlie foraging behavior and performance in food preference tests. Stimuli experienced by the animal both impact the choice and are themselves impacted by the choice, in a dynamic back and forth. Here, we present model neural circuits, based on spiking neurons, in which the choice to switch away from ongoing behavior instantiates this back and forth, arising as a state transition in neural activity. We analyze two classes of circuit, which differ in whether state transitions result from a loss of hedonic input from the stimulus (an “entice to stay” model) or from aversive stimulus input (a “repel to leave” model). In both classes of model, we find that the mean time spent sampling a stimulus decreases with increasing value of the alternative stimulus, a fact that we linked to the inclusion of depressing synapses in our model. The competitive interaction is much greater in “entice to stay” model networks, which has qualitative features of the marginal value theorem, and thereby provides a framework for optimal foraging behavior. We offer suggestions as to how our models could be discriminatively tested through the analysis of electrophysiological and behavioral data.Author summaryMany decisions are of the ilk of whether to continue sampling a stimulus or to switch to an alternative, a key feature of foraging behavior. We produce two classes of model for such stay-switch decisions, which differ in how decisions to switch stimuli can arise. In an “entice-to-stay” model, a reduction in the necessary positive stimulus input causes switching decisions. In a “repel-to-leave” model, a rise in aversive stimulus input produces a switch decision. We find that in tasks where the sampling of one stimulus follows another, adaptive biological processes arising from a highly hedonic stimulus can reduce the time spent at the following stimulus, by up to ten-fold in the “entice-to-stay” models. Along with potentially observable behavioral differences that could distinguish the classes of networks, we also found signatures in neural activity, such as oscillation of neural firing rates and a rapid change in rates preceding the time of choice to leave a stimulus. In summary, our model findings lead to testable predictions and suggest a neural circuit-based framework for explaining foraging choices.

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Choreographies of the Living

10.1093/oso/9780190604400.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Carrie Rohman

Keyword(s):

Visual Art ◽

Contemporary Literature ◽

Natural World ◽

Felix Guattari ◽

Avant Garde ◽

Human Endeavor ◽

Theatrical Performance ◽

Aesthetic Practice ◽

And Performance ◽

The Aesthetic

Animals seem to be everywhere in contemporary literature, visual art, and performance. But though writers, artists, and performers are now engaging more and more with ideas about animals, and even with actual living animals, their aesthetic practice continues to be interpreted within a primarily human frame of reference—with art itself being understood as an exclusively human endeavor. The critical wager in this book is that the aesthetic impulse itself is profoundly trans-species. Rohman suggests that if we understand artistic and performative impulses themselves as part of our evolutionary inheritance—as that which we borrow, in some sense, from animals and the natural world—the ways we experience, theorize, and value literary, visual, and performance art fundamentally shift. Although other arguments suggest that certain modes of aesthetic expression are closely linked to animality, Rohman argues that the aesthetic is animal, showing how animality and actual animals are at the center of the aesthetic practices of crucial modernist, contemporary, and avant-garde artists. Exploring the implications of the shift from an anthropocentric to a bioaesthetic conception of art, this book turns toward animals as artistic progenitors in a range of case studies that spans print texts, visual art, dance, music, and theatrical performance. Drawing on the ideas of theorists such as Elizabeth Grosz, Jane Bennett, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Jacques Derrida, Una Chaudhuri, Timothy Morton, and Cary Wolfe, Rohman articulates a deep coincidence of the human and animal elaboration of life forces in aesthetic practices.

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Game-Theoretic Methods for Functional Response and Optimal Foraging Behavior

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0088773 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. e88773 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Ross Cressman ◽

Vlastimil Křivan ◽

Joel S. Brown ◽

József Garay

Keyword(s):

Functional Response ◽

Foraging Behavior ◽

Optimal Foraging ◽

Game Theoretic ◽

Optimal Foraging Behavior

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Variable Ingestion Rate and Its Role in Optimal Foraging Behavior of Marine Deposit Feeders

Ecology ◽

10.2307/1941417 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 65 (2) ◽

pp. 549-558 ◽

Cited By ~ 67

Author(s):

Gary L. Taghon ◽

Peter A. Jumars

Keyword(s):

Foraging Behavior ◽

Optimal Foraging ◽

Ingestion Rate ◽

Deposit Feeders ◽

Optimal Foraging Behavior ◽

Marine Deposit

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Pigeon's foraging behavior in the depleting patches and an applicability of the marginal value theorem

Japanese Journal of Animal Psychology ◽

10.2502/janip.58.2.4 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 58 (2) ◽

pp. 123-132 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

MASANORI KONO ◽

TAKASHI OMINO

Keyword(s):

Foraging Behavior ◽

Marginal Value Theorem ◽

Marginal Value

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Evaluation of new indigenous “point‑of‑care” ABO and Rh grouping device

Journal of Laboratory Physicians ◽

10.4103/jlp.jlp_71_17 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (01) ◽

pp. 080-084 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Aseem Kumar Tiwari ◽

Divya Setya ◽

Geet Aggarwal ◽

Dinesh Arora ◽

Ravi C. Dara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Storage Conditions ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Paramedical Staff ◽

Blood Donor Screening ◽

And Performance ◽

And Storage ◽

Slide Technique ◽

Mean Time ◽

Blood Grouping

Abstract BACKGROUND: Erycard 2.0 is a “point-of-care” device that is primarily being used for patient blood grouping before transfusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Erycard 2.0 was compared with conventional slide technology for accuracy and time taken for ABO and Rh forward grouping result with column agglutination technology (CAT) being the gold standard. Erycard 2.0 as a device was also evaluated for its stability under different storage conditions and stability of result till 48 h. In addition, grouping of hemolyzed samples was also tested with Erycard 2.0. Ease of use of Erycard 2.0 was evaluated with a survey among paramedical staff. RESULTS: Erycard 2.0 demonstrated 100% concordance with CAT as compared with slide technique (98.9%). Mean time taken per test by Erycard 2.0 and slide technique was 5.13 min and 1.7 min, respectively. After pretesting storage under different temperature and humidity conditions, Erycard 2.0 did not show any deviation from the result. The result did not change even after 48 h of testing and storage under room temperature. 100% concordance was recorded between pre- and post-hemolyzed blood grouping. Ease of use survey revealed that Erycard 2.0 was more acceptable to paramedical staff for its simplicity, objectivity, and performance than conventional slide technique. CONCLUSION: Erycard 2.0 can be used as “point-of-care” device for blood donor screening for ABO and Rh blood group and can possibly replace conventional slide technique.

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175 GPS Tracking Collars and Accelerometers Provide Detailed Tracking of Foraging Behavior and Space Use in Grazing Steers in Bermudagrass and Tall Fescue Pasture

Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.1093/jas/skab235.171 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽

pp. 95-96

Author(s):

Ira L Parsons ◽

Brandi B Karisch ◽

Stephen L Webb ◽

Amanda E Stone ◽

Cassidy C Catrett ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Foraging Behavior ◽

Tall Fescue ◽

Animal Health ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Pasture Management ◽

Grazing Behavior ◽

Day Range ◽

Grazing Cattle ◽

Cattle Feeding ◽

And Performance

Abstract Previous research in feedlot studies has demonstrated that cattle feeding behavior is driven by internal metabolic processes and external environmental stimuli and serves as an indicator of animal health, nutritional status, and growth and feed quality and availability. However, technology has only recently allowed measurement of foraging behavior in grazing cattle. Objectives of this study were to measure frequency and duration of foraging bouts, meals, and total distance traveled during meals in grazing steers. The study was conducted as part of a larger grazing study on a 10-hectare Bermudagrass and Tall Fescue pasture, overseeded with Annual Ryegrass, located at the HH Leveck Animal Research Center, Mississippi State, MS. Using tri-axial accelerometers and GPS information from 10 crossbred steers, we examined foraging and meal bout frequency and duration and distance and speed traveled per meal for the period of March 2019. Observed animal behavior was used to train a randomforest model to predict foraging behavior, with model accuracy and sensitivity of 0.95 and 0.93, respectively. We found individual foraging bouts occurred on average 2,849 bouts per day and took on average 5.0 ± 1.8 min (range: 3–9 min), and that steers fed on average 205 ± 52.8 min/day (range: 120–270 min/day). Steers had an average of 9.5 ± 2.9 meals/day, that took on average, 89.3 ± 93.9 min/meal (range: 0.5–938.5 min/meal). Steers traveled an average of 412.4 ± 93.9 meters per meal, with an average foraging speed between 0 and 0.63 m/s. Traveling distance while foraging was positively correlated with meal length (0.83, P < 0.01) and foraging speed (0.70, P < 0.01). These results show that cattle grazing behavior can be accurately quantified in grazing cattle and warrants further research to examine associations between animal efficiency and performance, forage quality, and pasture management.

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A HIERARCHICAL MARKOV RELIABILITY MODEL FOR DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS WITH MEDIA SELF-RECOVERY

International Journal of Reliability Quality and Safety Engineering ◽

10.1142/s0218539311004019 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 18 (01) ◽

pp. 25-41 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

TONGDAN JIN ◽

LIUDONG XING ◽

YING YU

Keyword(s):

Markov Model ◽

Data Storage ◽

Markov Models ◽

System Level ◽

Hard Drives ◽

Single Disk ◽

Restoration Mechanism ◽

The Media ◽

And Performance ◽

Mean Time

A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) system with n disks or hard drives can be modeled as a k-out-of-n repairable system for which at least k operational disks are required. This paper proposes a hierarchical Markov model to estimate the reliability of RAID systems. The method encompasses Markov models for evaluating the reliability of individual disks at the lower level and the redundant model for evaluating the reliability of entire RAID at the system level. Both hardware and media failures are considered, and the media failures can be potentially recovered via the disk self-restoration mechanism. The system mean-time-to-data-loss is also derived and results are compared to those estimated from system-based Markov models. The major contribution of this work is that the reliability for RAID systems is approached by combining the redundant modeling technique with the single disk-based Markov model, thus simplifying the computational efforts. The proposed method is applied on RAID-5 and RAID-6 systems to demonstrate the applicability and performance of the new model.

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