Information processing and higher psychological functions in the disconnected hemispheres of human commissurotomy patients

Several patients of P. J. Vogel who had undergone cerebral commissurotomy for the control of intractable epilepsy were tested on a variety of tasks to measure aspects of cerebral organization concerned with lateralization in hemispheric function. From tests involving identification of shapes it was inferred that in the absence of the neocortical commissures, the left hemisphere still has access to certain types of information from the ipsilateral field. The major hemisphere can still make crude differentiations between various left-field stimuli, but is unable to specify exact stimulus properties. Most of the time the major hemisphere, having access to some ipsilateral stimuli, dominated the minor hemisphere in control of the body.

Competition for control of the body between the hemispheres is seen most clearly in tests of minor hemisphere language competency, in which it was determined that though the minor hemisphere does possess some minimal ability to express language, the major hemisphere prevented its expression much of the time. The right hemisphere was superior to the left in tests of perceptual visualization, and the two hemispheres appeared to use different strategies in attempting to solve the problems, namely, analysis for the left hemisphere and synthesis for the right hemisphere.

Analysis of the patients' verbal and performance I.Q.'s, as well as observations made throughout testing, suggest that the corpus callosum plays a critical role in activities that involve functions in which the minor hemisphere normally excels, that the motor expression of these functions may normally come through the major hemisphere by way of the corpus callosum.

Lateral specialization is thought to be an evolutionary adaptation which overcame problems of a functional antagonism between the abilities normally associated with the two hemispheres. The tests of perception suggested that this function lateralized into the mute hemisphere because of an active counteraction by language. This latter idea was confirmed by the finding that left-handers, in whom there is likely to be bilateral language centers, are greatly deficient on tests of perception.

Theory of ozone isotopic effects and various electron transfer reactions

Three separate topics, each stimulated by experiments, are treated theoretically in this dessertation: isotopic effects of ozone, electron transfer at interfaces, and intramolecular directional electron transfer in a supramolecular system.

The strange mass-independent isotope effect for the enrichment of ozone, which has been a puzzle in the literature for some 20 years, and the equally puzzling unconventional strong mass-dependent effect of individual reaction rate constants are studied as different aspects of a symmetry-driven behavior. A statistical (RRKM-based) theory with a hindered-rotor transition state is used. The individual rate constant ratios of recombination reactions at low pressures are calculated using the theory involving (1) small deviation from the statistical density of states for symmetric isotopomers, and (2) weak collisions for deactivation of the vibrationally excited ozone molecules. The weak collision and partitioning among exit channels play major roles in producing the large unconventional isotope effect in "unscrambled" systems. The enrichment studies reflect instead the non-statistical effect in "scrambled" systems. The theoretical results of low-pressure ozone enrichments and individual rate constant ratios obtained from these calculations are consistent with the corresponding experimental results. The isotopic exchange rate constant for the reaction ^(16)O + ^(18)O ^(18)O→+ ^(16)O ^(18)O + ^(18)O provides information on the nature of a variationally determined hindered-rotor transition state using experimental data at 130 K and 300 K. Pressure effects on the recombination rate constant, on the individual rate constant ratios and on the enrichments are also investigated. The theoretical results are consistent with the experimental data. The temperature dependence of the enrichment and rate constant ratios is also discussed, and experimental tests are suggested. The desirability of a more accurate potential energy surface for ozone in the transition state region is also noted.

Electron transfer reactions at semiconductor /liquid interfaces are studied using a tight-binding model for the semiconductors. The slab method and a z-transform method are employed in obtaining the tight-binding electronic structures of semiconductors having surfaces. The maximum electron transfer rate constants at Si/viologen^(2-/+) and InP /Me_(2)Fc^(+/O) interfaces are computed using the tight-binding type calculations for the solid and the extended-Huckel for the coupling to the redox agent at the interface. These electron transfer reactions are also studied using a free electron model for the semiconductor and the redox molecule, where Bardeen's method is adapted to calculate the coupling matrix element between the molecular and semiconductor electronic states. The calculated results for maximum rate constant of the electron transfer from the semiconductor bulk states are compared with the experimentally measured values of Lewis and coworkers, and are in reasonable agreement, without adjusting parameters. In the case of InP /liquid interface, the unusual current vs applied potential behavior is additionally interpreted, in part, by the presence of surface states.

Photoinduced electron transfer reactions in small supramolecular systems, such as 4-aminonaphthalimide compounds, are interesting in that there are, in principle, two alternative pathways (directions) for the electron transfer. The electron transfer, however, is unidirectional, as deduced from pH-dependent fluorescence quenching studies on different compounds. The role of electronic coupling matrix element and the charges in protonation are considered to explain the directionality of the electron transfer and other various results. A related mechanism is proposed to interpret the fluorescence behavior of similar molecules as fluorescent sensors of metal ions.

Information-theoretic Studies and Capacity Bounds: Group Network Codes and Energy Harvesting Communication Systems

Network information theory and channels with memory are two important but difficult frontiers of information theory. In this two-parted dissertation, we study these two areas, each comprising one part. For the first area we study the so-called entropy vectors via finite group theory, and the network codes constructed from finite groups. In particular, we identify the smallest finite group that violates the Ingleton inequality, an inequality respected by all linear network codes, but not satisfied by all entropy vectors. Based on the analysis of this group we generalize it to several families of Ingleton-violating groups, which may be used to design good network codes. Regarding that aspect, we study the network codes constructed with finite groups, and especially show that linear network codes are embedded in the group network codes constructed with these Ingleton-violating families. Furthermore, such codes are strictly more powerful than linear network codes, as they are able to violate the Ingleton inequality while linear network codes cannot. For the second area, we study the impact of memory to the channel capacity through a novel communication system: the energy harvesting channel. Different from traditional communication systems, the transmitter of an energy harvesting channel is powered by an exogenous energy harvesting device and a finite-sized battery. As a consequence, each time the system can only transmit a symbol whose energy consumption is no more than the energy currently available. This new type of power supply introduces an unprecedented input constraint for the channel, which is random, instantaneous, and has memory. Furthermore, naturally, the energy harvesting process is observed causally at the transmitter, but no such information is provided to the receiver. Both of these features pose great challenges for the analysis of the channel capacity. In this work we use techniques from channels with side information, and finite state channels, to obtain lower and upper bounds of the energy harvesting channel. In particular, we study the stationarity and ergodicity conditions of a surrogate channel to compute and optimize the achievable rates for the original channel. In addition, for practical code design of the system we study the pairwise error probabilities of the input sequences.