Lyon College

Facial mimicry (FM) is an evolved mechanism in social mammals that potentially fosters emotional and physical connections through the production of congruent facial signals. Most research on FM has primarily examined relaxed open-mouth facial displays in the context of play. However, if the primary function of FM is to enhance the accuracy of predicting others' behaviors, it stands to reason that FM would extend to various contexts and signal types. The aim of our current study was to determine whether rapid FM also occurred in different contexts and types of facial signals in a captive troop of chimpanzees. We hypothesized that rapid FM would be more prevalent in social contexts where evidence of FM has been reported across multiple species (hypothesis 1), as well as in the facial signal types associated with these contexts (hypothesis 2). Additionally, we expected that rapid FM would occur more frequently with simpler facial signals composed of fewer distinct muscle movements (hypothesis 3). We tested our three hypotheses across ten different contexts and with nine types of facial signals. We employed new computational methods that measure the number and proportion of facial muscle movements mimicked, which we refer to as RMsize and RMratio, respectively. These methods help us differentiate between types of rapid FM (exact matching versus type matching). We found no evidence to support our three hypotheses, suggesting that FM may be a more widespread mechanism than previously believed.

Channel charting is an integrated sensing and communication technique where passively collected channel state information (CSI) at the base-station is used for obtaining a low-dimensional representation of the distribution of all observed CSI samples, referred to as a channel chart. The usage of the channel chart for various applications depends highly on the charting accuracy, which is typically defined by its similarity to the users’ geometric positions; an accurate channel chart can be used for a variety of applications like beam selection, beam tracking, radio maps, pilot assignment, signal strength prediction etc. Thus, improving the charting performance is of utmost importance. In this paper, we propose to exploit the delay-Doppler based multipath CSI which occurs naturally in modern techniques such as orthogonal time frequency space modulation as a form of supervision to produce channel charts that more closely match the geometric ground truth of user positions. We use a combination of classical triplet based loss function along with a novel Doppler based loss function to train a deep neural network which provides an efficient charting function. The charting performance for a variety of user trajectories demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed approach.

Background: There are currently three FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder (OUD), but none of them are especially effective, some can precipitate withdrawal in dependent individuals, and all of them require daily administration. In the appropriate settings, single administrations of psychedelics can elicit persistent anti-addiction effects in humans and in laboratory animals, but very few studies have assessed the potential therapeutic utility of psychedelics in OUD. Methods: We have recently established a model of oral opioid consumption in mice that captures an “addiction-like” phenotype characterized by induction of physical dependence and defense of opioid consumption when drug solutions are devalued. In these studies, we used this procedure to assess the effects of two different psychedelics on abuse-related effects of two distinct fentanyl analogs. Results: Mice consumed solutions of water, acryl fentanyl (AF), or 4-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl (4-FIBF) for 2 h per day, 7 days per week, demonstrating postsession antinociceptive effects and becoming physically dependent. Four days after a single treatment with saline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), or R (–)-2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI), mice were given access to their maintenance solutions, which were now adulterated with bitter quinine. In mice drinking water, quinine significantly decreased consumption, but mice consuming AF or 4-FIBF solutions defended their consumption despite the bitter taste. In all cases, treatment with LSD or DOI did not alter the defense of consumption observed with opioid solutions, suggesting no effects on opioid taking. Fifteen days after psychedelic treatment, mice were injected with the opioid antagonist naloxone, and withdrawal-associated jumping, restlessness, and thermal hyperalgesia were measured. Neither LSD nor DOI treatment altered naloxone-precipitated jumping or restlessness, but both psychedelics significantly attenuated withdrawal-associated thermal hyperalgesia. Conclusions: These data do not strongly support the use of a single exposure to psychedelics in the treatment of OUD but may suggest persistent effects of psychedelics on heightened pain perception typically observed in opioid withdrawal.

This article explores how and why Horatio Gates went from a loyal British Army officer to a general in the Continental Army bent on dismembering the British Empire. In doing so, it argues that Gates highlights how self-interest and ideology were often tightly linked, and especially that self-interest could shape and strengthen political views. Born to a modest family in England, Gates made his career in the British Army. After the Seven Years' War, however, he was unable to advance within the military in large part because of middling birth and limited finances. Frustrated in his professional life, Gates turned to radical Whig politics. He came to see the British political system as corrupt and despotic and believed that it elevated unqualified men rather than those of merit. He felt that his own experiences supported this view. Disappointed in England, Gates moved with his family to Virginia in 1772. There, Gates found fertile ground for his radical politics and became a leader of local resistance to Britain. Gates became convinced that Britain meant to spread autocracy and corruption to America. When the war began in 1775, Gates offered his services for the cause and became a general in the Continental Army. The British system's shortcomings that Gates personally experienced were pivotal in shaping his radical political perspectives.