Investigation of Neuron Latency Modulated by Bilateral Inferior Collicular Interactions Using Whole-Cell Patch Clamp Recording in Brain Slices

As the final level of the binaural integration center in the subcortical nucleus, the inferior colliculus (IC) plays an essential role in receiving binaural information input. Previous studies have focused on how interactions between the bilateral IC affect the firing rate of IC neurons. However, little is known concerning how the interactions within the bilateral IC affect neuron latency. In this study, we explored the synaptic mechanism of the effect of bilateral IC interactions on the latency of IC neurons. We used whole-cell patch clamp recordings to assess synaptic responses in isolated brain slices of Kunming mice. The results demonstrated that the excitation-inhibition projection was the main projection between the bilateral IC. Also, the bilateral IC interactions could change the reaction latency of most neurons to different degrees. The variation in latency was related to the type of synaptic input and the relative intensity of the excitation and inhibition. Furthermore, the latency variation also was caused by the duration change of the first subthreshold depolarization firing response of the neurons. The distribution characteristics of the different types of synaptic input also differed. Excitatory-inhibitory neurons were widely distributed in the IC dorsal and central nuclei, while excitatory neurons were relatively concentrated in these two nuclei. Inhibitory neurons did not exhibit any apparent distribution trend due to the small number of assessed neurons. These results provided an experimental reference to reveal the modulatory functions of bilateral IC projections.

Delay Analysis in IoT Sensor Networks

Internet of Things (IoT) devices, particularly those used for sensor networks, are often latency-sensitive devices. The topology of the sensor network largely depends on the overall system application. Various configurations include linear, star, hierarchical and mesh in 2D or 3D deployments. Other applications include underwater communication with high attenuation of radio waves, disaster relief networks, rural networking, environmental monitoring networks, and vehicular networks. These networks all share the same characteristics, including link latency, latency variation (jitter), and tail latency. Achieving a predictable performance is critical for many interactive and latency-sensitive applications. In this paper, a two-stage tandem queuing model is developed to estimate the average end-to-end latency and predict the latency variation in closed forms. This model also provides a feedback mechanism to investigate other major performance metrics, such as utilization, and the optimal number of computing units needed in a single cluster. The model is applied for two classes of networks, namely, Edge Sensor Networks (ESNs) and Data Center Networks (DCNs). While the proposed model is theoretically derived from a queuing-based model, the simulation results of various network topologies and under different traffic conditions prove the accuracy of our model.

Secure and Guarantee QoS in a Video Sequence: a New Approach Based on TLS Protocol to Secure Data and RTP to Ensure Real-time Exchanges

The continued development of networks has significantly contributed to increasing the quantity of information available to replace old intelligence-gathering methods faster and more efficiently. For this, it is necessary to implement services that meet the consumers' requirements and measure precisely the factors that can generate obstacles to any communication, among these causes we can cite strong security and high quality of services. In this work, we implement a secure approach useful in continuous communications in a time axis (video sequence, VOIP call...), the process consists in establishing a well-secured connection between two interlocutors (the server that broadcasts the video sequence and a client) using an AES encryption key of size 256. A step of jitter check (latency variation) periodically is essential for the customer in order to make a decision: If the jitter is within the standards (compared to the tolerable value), we continue to encrypt with the AES256 key, if no, both ends must go through an automatic and uninterrupted fast renegotiation of the video to switch to a small AES key (192,128) to reduce the bandwidth on the channel, this operation must be repeated in an alternative way until the end of the communication.