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We examined effects of eye position on auditory cortical responses in macaques. Laminar current-source density (CSD) and multiunit activity (MUA) profiles were sampled with linear array multielectrodes. Eye position significantly modulated auditory-evoked CSD amplitude in 24/29 penetrations (83%), across A1 and belt regions; 4/24 cases also showed significant MUA AM. Eye-position effects occurred mainly in the supragranular laminae and lagged the co-located auditory response by, on average, 38 ms. Effects in A1 and belt regions were indistinguishable in amplitude, laminar profile, and latency. The timing and laminar profile of the eye-position effects suggest that they are not combined with auditory signals at a subcortical stage of the lemniscal auditory pathways and simply "fed-forward" into cortex. Rather, these effects may be conveyed to auditory cortex by feedback projections from parietal or frontal cortices, or alternatively, they may be conveyed by nonclassical feedforward projections through auditory koniocellular (calbindin positive) neurons.
Although spatial localization of auditory stimuli is important to survival, its mechanisms are only partially understood. Auditory spatial location is calculated using a combination of interaural intensity and delay cues as well as monaural spectral cues (Middlebrooks and Green 1991). Auditory cortex is essential for sound localization behavior in the macaque monkey (Heffner and Heffner 1990), but studies in cats suggest that spatial processing actually begins at the subcortical level (e.g., Joris and Yin 1995; Yin and Chan 1990). Surprisingly, it was reported recently that the position of the eyes affects the auditory responses of neurons in the inferior colliculus (Groh et al. 2001), indicating that converging visual and/or ocular proprioceptive inputs may influence the spatial localization of acoustic stimuli. In the auditory processing pathway, the inferior colliculus projects to auditory cortex via the medial geniculate of the thalamus (Kaas and Hackett 1999), and this relationship predicts that eye position should influence responses in auditory cortex. A follow-up study suggested that this is the case (Fu et al. 2002; Werner-Reiss et al. 2003).
The present study had two goals: to confirm the presence of eye-position influences in anatomically defined A1 as well as the belt regions of auditory cortex and to develop physiological evidence as to the source of the eye-position input. We assessed neuronal responses using laminar current-source density (CSD) and multiunit activity (MUA) profiles, sampled with linear array multielectrodes, positioned to straddle the layers of auditory cortex, while the subject performed a visual fixation task. In determining the presence of eye-position effects, CSD analysis is advantageous because it indexes the first-order response to synaptic input and transmembrane current flow and thus is extremely sensitive to "modulatory" influences the impact of which on local action potential rates is subtle or undetectable. Analysis of concomitant MUA addresses the relationship of the synaptic response pattern to any subsequent changes in action potentials that do occur and to relate our results to those of other studies the sole measure of which is the action potential (Schroeder et al. 1998). In investigating potential sources of eye-position signals, simultaneous recording across the cortical laminae is important as it allows us to distinguish feedforward (ascending) from feedback (descending) inputs (Mehta et al. 2000; Schroeder and Foxe 2002; Schroeder et al. 1998, 2001). The former tend to target Lamina 4, whereas the latter tend to exclude Lamina 4 (Felleman and Van Essen 1991; Rockland and Pandya 1979).
Our findings confirm the occurrence of eye-position effects in A1 as well as belt regions of auditory cortex. The laminar profile of eye-position effects indicates that they are projected to auditory cortex through either cortical feedback connections or ascending koniocellular afferents. The timing of eye-position effects relative to that of auditory sensory processing is consistent with either alternative.
Two male rhesus macaques (Maccaca mulatta), weighing 5–7 kg, were prepared for chronic-awake electrophysiological recording using standard methods (Schroeder et al. 1998). All procedures were approved in advance by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Nathan Kline Institute. Prior to surgical preparation, each animal was adapted to a custom fitted primate chair and acclimated to the recording chamber. Surgical preparation was conducted under deep anesthesia (1–2% isoflourane). Using aseptic technique, the tissue overlying the calvarium was resected, and appropriate portions of the cranium were removed. The neocortex and overlying dura were left intact. To allow electrode access to the brain and to promote an orderly pattern of sampling across the surface of the auditory cortices, matrices of 18- and 20-gauge thin-wall stainless steel guide tubes were placed over auditory cortex. Not all of the guide tubes were used, but none were used more than once. These matrices were angled so that the electrode track would be normal to plane of auditory cortex, as determined through preoperative MRI, and placed within small, appropriately shaped craniotomies to rest against the intact dura. The matrices, along with socketed Plexiglas bars (permitting painless head restraint), were embedded in a pedestal of dental acrylic, secured to the skull with titanium orthopedic screws.
Subjects were permitted a minimum of 2 wk recovery before the commencement of visual fixation training. All training and recording took place in an electrically shielded, sound-attenuated chamber lined with sound-absorbing foam (Sonex ProSPEC Composite). During training and later recording, subjects were monitored continuously using electroencephalographic (EEG) and infrared video displays. Using a fruit juice reward, monkeys were trained to fixate on one of three light-emitting diodes (LEDs) positioned at 24.5, 0, and –24.5° eccentricity with 0° elevation. To initiate a "trial," an LED was illuminated, and the monkey had to fixate on this LED and maintain fixation while one to five sounds were presented. Eye position was monitored using an ISCAN ETL-200 eye-tracking system, and sounds were presented only when the monkey's gaze was held within a 3° window surrounding the fixation point. Stimulation paused whenever the monkey broke fixation. The fixation LED was kept the same over a block of trials lasting ∼5 min and alternated randomly across trial blocks. Trial blocks were separated by brief breaks in which the monkey was checked and fed dried fruits and other preferred treats.
Auditory stimuli for the main experiment consisted of 60 dB SPL 100 ms (5-ms on-off ramp) bursts of Gaussian noise produced using Tucker Davis Technology's System III coupled with ES-1 free-field speakers positioned with 0° elevation at –90 and 90° azimuth relative to the head. We limited our analysis to two speaker locations to maximize the power in our statistical analysis (following text). That is, we wanted to get as many single trials as possible in each condition during the ∼2 h period during which the monkeys typically performed the task and thus maximize the number of single-trial auditory responses in each experimental condition (2 speakers × 3 fixation locations = 6 conditions). Analyzing two speaker positions was justified because auditory cortical neuron spatial receptive fields are broad and nonbounded in both A1 and CM, although 5–6% of A1 neurons can be described as "spatially tuned," meaning that their receptive fields are bounded if a criterion of >75% of the maximum rate is adopted (Recanzone et al. 2000b). It should be noted that neither A1 nor CM displays a clear spatial topography with methods used thus far (Merzenich and Brugge 1973; Recanzone et al. 2000b).
For a functional assignment of each recording site to A1 versus belt auditory cortex, and the location within the region's characteristic frequency map, we evaluated the response to a series of seven pure tones ranging from 0.5 to 20 kHz. We used a suprathreshold method, entailing binaural presentation of each tone (intensity of 60 dB SPL, duration of 100 ms, 5-ms on-off ramp) in blocks of 100 with blocks in random order (Schroeder et al. 2001; Steinschneider et al. 1995). Although this method approximates a site's characteristic frequency and tuning bandwidth on a coarser scale than the more common "threshold" methods (Merzenich 1983), it does so in <10 min, which is a critical time saving when experimenting with awake-behaving subjects, and both methods agree on the two key bits of information we require for the present experiments (A1 vs. belt and location within the characteristic frequency map).
Laminar activity profiles consisting of concomitant field potentials, CSD measures and MUA were obtained by recording with linear array multielectrodes constructed with an inter-electrode spacing of 150 μm (Schroeder et al. 2001). On each experimental day, a multielectrode was inserted through an electrode guide tube and lowered into auditory cortex. The guide tube matrices were positioned on the dorsal brain surface so that they would constrain the electrode array to an angle orthogonal to the laminae of auditory cortex. The laminar activity profile in response to bilateral Gaussian noise burst was used to position the electrode so that the array of contacts was distributed across the entire laminar expanse (i.e., layers 1–6) of auditory cortex. Once the position was refined, it was left stable for the duration of recording. The "grid" arrangement of the guide tubes in each matrix ensured that successive penetrations would sample different locations in auditory cortex with a relatively constant density across its surface. For all recordings, the reference was an epidural electrode located over occipital cortex. Signals were impedance matched in a preamplifier (10× gain) located near the electrode, and further amplified 1000 times with a band-pass of 1 Hz to 3 kHz by Model 8-16D Grass amplifiers. Field potential profiles were obtained by averaging single-trial responses over 100 stimulus presentations. Prior to averaging, amplifier outputs were integrated down to 1 kHz in and then digitized at 2 kHz. MUA was obtained from the same signal at each contact by high-pass filtering the raw amplifier output at 500 Hz, full-wave rectifying the high-frequency activity, integrating the resultant signal down to 1 kHz, digitizing (at 2 kHz), and averaging the single sweep responses (n = 100). With the rectification step, upward deflection represents an increase in action potentials and downward deflection represents decrease in action potentials relative to the prestimulus baseline.
One-dimensional CSD profiles were calculated from the field potential profiles using a three-point formula for estimation of the second spatial derivative of voltage (Nicholson and Freeman 1975) in which f is the voltage, χ is the point at which D is calculated, and h is the spacing between electrodes (150 μm). Electrode penetrations were made orthogonal to the local lamination pattern in keeping with the requirements of one-dimensional CSD analysis (Mitzdorf 1985). CSD analysis provides an index of the location, direction, and density of transmembrane current flow. Because transmembrane current flow is the first-order response to synaptic input, it provides the ability to assess synaptic responses whether or not they produce net changes in local action potential rates. Quantification of the CSD waveforms in determining eye-position preference was performed by full-wave rectifying then averaging across appropriate channels (AVREC).
Statistical analysis of eye-position effects began with the processing of individual single-trial responses (each response or "sweep" includes all channels in the CSD profile). Individual sweeps were baseline corrected and screened using standard criteria, to eliminate movement, and electromyographic artifacts. Following these initial steps, a repeated-measures ANOVA, with trial as a repeated-measures factor, was used to evaluate the composite question: "is electrical activity associated with eye position (center, left, right) or time (0- to 150-ms post stimulus) for each channel of the CSD profile, stimulus (speaker 1 or 2), monkey, and experiment (electrode penetrations 1–29)?" Due to the processing limitations of our current server and workstation technology, it was not practical to analyze the entire time course of the response for the entire data set. To enable the analyses to incorporate all of the single trials in the data set, we limited our analysis to the first 150-ms poststimulus and ran the analysis program on every fifth data point. Differences were acknowledged only when alpha exceeded a criterion of P < .05 in ≥5 sequential time points, providing a Bonferroni correction level in excess of 0.055 or 3.125 in 10 million. Confirmation was provided by running serial analyses. Five different starting points were used, and the subsequent results were not different, illustrating that the location and time course of the effects was not dependent on the starting point of our analysis.
The rationale for the single-trial analysis we have used here is that it allows us to take advantage of the dynamic variability in signals across recording channels, time points, and single trials and to use this variability to increase the power of the analysis. The reason that this is important is that we have come to recognize that many of the effects we study vary dynamically from trial to trial in their latency, amplitude, and sometimes even in their presence or absence. More traditional analyses, such as averaging responses across trials, within condition and testing for significant differences between conditions are insensitive to this variability except insofar as it increases the noise term in the analysis.
Because the experimental analysis assumes that the position of the electrode array is stable throughout the experiment, it is important to rule out any contribution from an electrode shift, to the pattern of eye-position effects. The design of the experiment makes it unlikely that an electrode shift, could produce significant differences. There were two speakers and three eye positions for a total of six conditions. We typically cycled through these six condition blocks three or more times (minimally twice) in random order. An electrode shift between any two blocks would produce a significant difference if only those trial blocks were analyzed. However, the effect would have an "unphysiological" appearance as changes would be detected at response onset in nearly all channels. More importantly, because each condition is repeated over multiple trial blocks, the change (variance) between conditions in the two-trial block case would register as within condition variance. This would enlarge the error term in the statistical test, thereby decreasing the probability of any between condition differences reaching statistical significance. In short, electrode slippage would obliterate effects due to eye position. We also monitored for the possibility of electrode slippage by comparing the laminar profile of auditory-evoked response recorded at the beginning of the experiment (i.e., after initial positioning of the electrode), with one recorded using the same stimulus at the end of the experiment; this profile has characteristic qualities that identify specific cortical layers (Schroeder et al. 2001; Steinschneider et al. 1992, 1995). Based on these analyses, data from four experiments were eliminated from the analysis.
After serving as a subject in this experiment, monkey S went on to participate in additional experiments. However, this was the last of a series of experiments for monkey A, and his brain was therefore available for histological analysis and anatomical reconstruction of the recording sites. At the end of data collection the monkey was given an overdose of pentobarbital sodium (50 mg/kg iv), and once deeply anesthetized, was perfused through the heart with 4% paraformaldehyde. Following 3-day immersion in a 30% sucrose/phosphate buffer solution for cryoprotection, the brain was cut in 80-μm, whole-brain, coronal sections on a freezing microtome. The anterior-posterior angle of sectioning was set parallel to the angle of electrode penetrations, ∼20° anterior of vertical (defined by the angle of the guide tube matrix). Alternate sections were stained for Nissl substance, acetylcholine esterase (AchE) and parvalbumin (PV) to help determine the borders between A1 and surrounding regions (e.g., Hackett et al. 1998a; Schroeder et al. 2001). Individual histological sections were digitally scanned, and a whole-brain three-dimensional reconstruction was made using MEDEX software (Abraham and Bear 1996; Schroeder et al. 2001). Because our monkeys are usually subjects in several experiments recording from auditory cortex, as well as other brain regions, the whole brain reconstructions are extremely valuable. With this technique, we can accurately reconstruct the complete pattern of electrode penetrations through the regions(s) of interest in each subject. In the present study, reconstruction of the brain of one subject (A) is presented.
Auditory responses were sampled during 29 electrode penetrations distributed across A1 and the posterior auditory belt regions in two monkeys. Based on histological analysis, illustrated in Fig. 1, four of the relevant electrode penetrations (red dots) in subject A were in A1 and the remainder (6) were in belt cortex. The more rostral fields of primary auditory cortex (R and RT) were not systematically explored in this study, although, because we did not record enough of the more anterior sites to define the functional sign of the A1/R border (i.e., the reversal of the tonotopic progression), it is possible that some of the low-frequency (anterior) sites are in R. The black dots represent penetrations made for earlier, unrelated experiments (see methods). These dots are shown because they provide information on the position of our recording sites relative the local characteristic frequency map at the posterior border of A1. Analysis of pure-tone responses in A1 and belt penetrations revealed narrow and broad frequency tuning profiles, respectively. This point is illustrated in Fig. 2A by using individual frequency-tuning profiles to contrast the tuning characteristics of representative A1 sites (thick black line) with representative belt cortex (gray dotted line) sites with low characteristic frequencies (1 kHz) and in Fig. 2B by depicting the same comparison for representative A1 and belt sites with higher characteristic frequencies (16 kHz). To promote ready comparison, response amplitude is expressed as percentage of the maximum response amplitude at the characteristic frequency; however, this does obscure another clear difference between A1 and belt recordings. That is, A1 pure-tone responses at the characteristic frequency were generally two to three times larger in absolute scale than those noted in belt regions. A1 sites often display off-frequency inhibition, evident in points at which the tuning curve assumes a "negative" amplitude (Fig. 2A). This is rarely observed in belt regions. To express the differences in tuning characteristics more quantitatively, Fig. 2C presents mean half-amplitude bandwidth for the entire sample of 29 penetrations in this study. Half-amplitude bandwidth differs significantly between A1 and belt region recordings (Wilcoxen Matched-Pairs Signed-Ranks Test, P < 0.01). The contrast of narrow characteristic frequency tuning in A1 with much broader tuning in belt regions is typical of findings with these methods (Schroeder et al. 2001; Steinschneider et al. 1992, 1995) and in agreement with threshold-based evaluation of single-unit responses (Kosaki et al. 1997; Merzenich and Brugge 1973). Because histological confirmation in the second subject is not yet available, assignment to A1 (10 penetrations) versus belt cortex (9 penetrations) is based on functional criteria alone.
To quantify the effects of eye position, modulation indices (MIs) were calculated for each experiment (electrode penetration). The MI expresses modulation due to eye position as a function of the auditory evoked response amplitude. Figure 3 illustrates several points relevant to a firm appreciation of this analysis. On the far left of Fig. 3 is a depiction of the multielectrode positioned with respect to the laminae of auditory cortex. To the right is an overlay of two averaged laminar CSD profiles (red and black traces) generated in response to Gaussian noise burst stimulation of the contralateral ear. Based on our earlier work, (Schroeder et al. 2001; Steinschneider et al. 1992, 1995), these are in all respects typical auditory cortical response profiles with initial responses (current sinks) in and just above Layer 4, corresponding to the ascending activation of local stellate cells with subsequent current sources and sinks above and below corresponding to the postsynaptic responses of supra- and infragranular pyramidal cell ensembles. The relevant difference between these profiles is that in one case (red) the animal was fixating at the center location throughout the trial block, whereas in the second (black), the animal was fixating at the location to his left. The areas of significant difference between the "left" and "center" responses (i.e., modulation due to eye position), as determined by the statistical tests (see methods), are shaded gray. The subsequent columns in the figure illustrate the methods for calculating the MI using the quantified significant differences as a function of the total response amplitude. Separate MIs were calculated for the supragranular, granular, and infragranular layers (for simplicity, only that for the supragranular layers is shown in Fig. 3). First, significant eye-position-related differences in response amplitudes are determined for each electrode channel (as described in methods). These are full-wave rectified and summed over the channels comprising the laminar groupings. Figure 3 illustrates the computation of the MI for the supragranular laminae (CSD channels 1–6). Second, the sensory responses from the eye-position conditions used to compute the significant differences, for each of the same channels, are rectified and then summed across channels. These operations yield the total significant difference due to eye position, and total sensory response, respectively. For each laminar grouping, the first quantity is divided by the second quantity, thus scaling the effects of eye position by the total response amplitude. At each recording site, 6 comparisons were made (left vs. center, center vs. right, right vs. left for 2 speakers). The MI for a recording site is the sum of the MIs from all six comparisons. This provides a numerical value allowing us to compare effects across laminae, sites in auditory cortex, and across subjects.
Twenty-four of 29 penetrations displayed significant effects of eye position on auditory responsiveness. Eye-position effects were quantified using the MI described in the preceding text (see Fig. 3). The MI is the ratio of the response modulation due to eye position scaled by the amplitude of the raw sensory response. Collapsing modulation across time (from 0 to 150 ms post stimulus), space (combined from relevant channels within the same lamina grouping, i.e., supragranular, granular, or infragranular), and condition (the sum of 6 individual MIs), the MI provides an overall index of modulatory activity in a specific laminar grouping at a given recording site. Figure 4 presents the distribution of MIs for all recording sites, organized by laminar and anatomical location, along with the average supragranular MIs for both A1 and belt cortex. Because significant effects in the granular and infragranular laminae were rare, their central tendencies measures were not calculated.
Two trends are apparent in Fig. 4. First, eye-position modulation is heavily biased toward the supragranular layers. Significant modulation resolved in the granular layer at only three recording sites. Modulation in the infragranular layers was detected at only one recording site. By contrast, 24 of 29 recording sites displayed modulation in the supragranular layers. Second, there is no significant difference in the MIs of A1 and belt cortices. Recording sites in A1 displayed an average supragranular MI of 0.25, whereas those in the belt had an average of 0.18, and these values were not significantly different (P < 0.167, 2-tailed t-test).
To examine the physiology of eye-position modulations, we compared the CSD profiles with their corresponding MUA profiles. However, significant MUA modulations were only found in 4 of the 24 recording sites exhibiting CSD modulations, limiting the number of direct comparisons. Figure 5 illustrates results from one site in which a significant CSD effect (Fig. 5A) was accompanied by a significant MUA modulation (Fig. 5B). These measures were both taken from the same electrode channel in supragranular Layer 3. Significant differences between center fixation (red) and left fixation (black) are outlined in gray. A relative increase in current sink amplitude is found when the subject fixates toward the center as opposed to the left position. An increase in MUA, congruent with the CSD effect, albeit of shorter duration, is seen in the same condition. The lower Lamina 3 current sinks generally indicate net inward flowing transmembrane currents (depolarization) in the local pyramidal neuron ensemble (Schroeder et al. 2001) and, with the coincident MUA burst, indicate that the ensemble response is a net local excitation. The eye-position-related difference, therefore appears to be one of increased excitatory response to the auditory stimulus when the monkey fixates to the center versus to the left position.
To test for directionality in eye-position effects, for each electrode penetration (recording site) that showed a significant eye-position effect, eye-position preference was determined using statistical comparison of auditory responses across the three fixation conditions. Initially, responses to ipsilateral and contralateral speakers were evaluated separately. For each speaker, we compared the auditory response under central fixation versus ipsilateral (to the side of stimulation), central versus contralateral, and ipsilateral versus contralateral fixation conditions. If the response was larger under center fixation than under ipsilateral or contralateral fixation, then it was assigned to the "center preference" category. Using the same rules, the response was assigned to "ipsilateral preference" or "contralateral preference," or "not center" in cases where responses under ipsilateral and contralateral fixation were equivalent, and both greater than the response under center fixation. The results for auditory responses combined across speakers, are summarized in Fig. 6A.
The smallest category of preference is "not center" (n = 3), a category that would predict a preference map with more than one mode. The largest category is preference for center, followed by lesser but comparable proportions of preference for ipsilateral and contralateral eye positions. Each of these categories (center, ipsilateral, and contralateral) predicts a preference with one mode. When responses to stimuli presented contralateral to the recording site were analyzed separately, (Fig. 6B) there was even stronger preference for the center eye position. Cases exhibiting center preference were nearly twice as frequent as the next strongest preference (the fixation position contralateral to the side of stimulation), in turn nearly twice as frequent as preference for the fixation position ipsilateral to stimulation. "Not center" was the least-preferred category. When we separated out the responses to sounds presented ipsilateral to the recording site (Fig. 6C), auditory responses appeared to prefer the ipsilateral fixation position (i.e., the position nearest the origin of the auditory stimuli). The effect is slight, however, (9 cases favoring ipsilateral vs. 7 cases favoring center), and in other respects, the pattern of preference is like that for responses to the contralateral speaker.
Using the integrated amplitude of the AVREC (see methods) waveform as the basis for comparison, 22 of the 24 recording sites with eye-position modulation had auditory responses with greater amplitude when stimuli were presented from the contralateral speaker. Regardless of any eye-position preferences, this finding is in keeping with earlier estimates of the proportions of auditory cortical neurons dominated by contralateral, as opposed to ipsilateral, ear inputs (Brugge and Merzenich 1973). Our sample of sites dominated by ipsilateral ear inputs is not large enough to make a statement about any differences from the contralaterally dominated response sites.
As seen in Fig. 3, eye-position modulation occurs over an extended time frame and generally lags the onset of the sensory response. To visualize the overall temporal pattern of eye-position effects, Fig. 7 presents a grand mean of the significant CSD modulations (in the supragranular laminae) due to eye position, averaged across penetrations, in contrast with the grand mean of the total sensory response averaged across the same recordings. Data from each experiment (penetration) include all of the significant eye-position effects from that experiment. To compute the grand means, we condensed the data using the same procedure used to compute the MI for each individual penetration (described in the preceding text) with the exception of the last step of dividing by the total sensory response. That is, significant eye-position effects were summed across conditions and averaged across electrode channels to yield a single waveform. Then the resultant quantities were averaged together across experiments. To avoid giving undue weight to single cases, data from each individual experiment (penetration) were normalized before averaging. Onset latency of significant eye-position modulation was determined for each experiment by testing the single condensed representation of the eye-position effects. The first time point of sustained deviation (>4 ms) by ≥2 SD units from the baseline, was defined as the onset latency of the eye-position effect for that penetration. Based on these measurements across the set of 24 experiments showing significant eye-position effects, the onset latency of the effect ranges from 12.5 to 127.5 with an average of 51.8. The average onset of the eye-position modulation lags the average onset of the sensory response by about 40 ms, however there is no systematic relationship between the two latency values on a case-by-case basis (r = −0.13; P < .42). The average onset latency of eye-position modulation in A1 (53.7 ms) and Belt regions (49.9 ms) do not differ significantly (P < 0.69), nor do the average auditory onset latencies in A1 (9.6 ms) differ from those in the belt region (11.6 ms) (P > 0.14). Finally, there is no significant difference (P > .05) between the latencies of eye-position modulation when responses to contralateral versus ipsilateral speakers are compared.
The present findings demonstrate that eye position affects the neuronal responses to sound in primary auditory cortex, A1, as well as secondary belt regions. Multisensory/sensorimotor interactions in auditory association cortex are not unexpected as these regions display convergent visual inputs (Butler et al. 2001; Calvert et al. 1997; Doniger et al. 2000, 2002; Foxe et al. 2002) and somatosensory inputs (Abraham and Bear 1996; Foxe et al. 2002; Levanen et al. 1998; Schroeder et al. 2001). The presence of such an effect in A1 was unexpected because the visual multisensory convergence regions generally do not seem to include A1 (Schroeder et al. 2003). However, effects of eye position on neuronal responses in A1 was reported recently by another laboratory (Werner-Reiss et al. 2003), and our report confirms this finding anatomically as well as physiologically. There are several differences between the two studies. The most prominent methodological difference is that Werner-Reiss and colleagues sampled extracellular single-unit recording with a single electrode, whereas the present study sampled laminar multiunit activity and CSD profiles. These approaches have offsetting strengths and limitations. CSD analysis has the strength of being an index of the first-order synaptic response, transmembrane current flow and can represent this response whether or not the activation is sufficient to cross the threshold for action potential generation in postsynaptic neurons. In addition, the present methods have the advantage that recording of activity across all cortical layers simultaneously allows us to define the laminar activation sequence, and thus to distinguish Layer 4-initiated (feedforward) from non-Layer 4-initiated (feedback and lateral) responses (Schroeder et al. 1995, 1998, 2001). Despite these strengths in defining the net response in a population of neurons, our approach has the limitation that it cannot isolate and separately analyze the activity of single neurons. In isolating single neuron responses, Werner-Reiss et al. (2003) reported that ∼1/3 of the neurons in auditory cortex show eye-position effects, and many of these display modulation of baseline activity, in the absence of auditory input. Perhaps because the multiunit recording method does not easily distinguish individual neurons' action potentials trains, it fails to detect prestimulus effects of any sort and appears to underestimate the incidence of effects of eye position on action potentials. CSD analysis, as currently implemented, appears insensitive to effects that manifest in the baseline activity level.
Laminar profile of eye-position effects
The finding of eye-position effects in auditory cortex is predictable from similar findings in the inferior colliculus (Groh et al. 2001). However, the laminar pattern of the responses at most recording sites in A1 and the posterior belt is not the one predicted by the anatomy of a feedforward projection through the primary auditory pathways. The main (frequency specific) input to auditory cortex comes from the ventral nucleus of the medial geniculate (MGv), which projects to Lamina 4 and lower Lamina 3 of A1 (Hackett et al. 1998). If effects of eye position were combined with the auditory input at an earlier stage of the lemniscal auditory pathways and fed-forward into A1, the effects should manifest first in Lamina 4 of A1. The same prediction would hold for belt cortices because the feedforward projection of the specific input from A1 also targets in and near Layer 4 (Hackett et al. 1998). Although significant eye-position effects in the supragranular layers of auditory cortex were detected in 24/29 penetrations, corresponding effects in the granular layers were resolved in only three cases, and only one penetration revealed an effect in the infragranular laminae. The small numbers of granular and infragranular effects preclude any meaningful analysis of laminar differences in magnitude or quality of effects.
Mediation by cortical feedback?
An alternative possibility is that eye-position effects are conveyed by feedback from a higher cortical area. Neural activity in several parietal cortical areas involved in spatial processing is affected by the position of the eyes (Bremmer et al. 1999; Russo and Bruce 1993, 1994; Stricanne et al. 1996), and several of these areas project to posterior auditory cortex (Lewis and Van Essen 2000; Romanski et al. 1999). Feedback projections (Felleman and Van Essen 1991) usually manifest in the supragranular or supra- and infragranular layers (Foxe et al. 2002; Mehta and Schroeder 2000), and this corresponds with our results. Additionally, though the onset latency of eye-position effects in auditory cortex is highly variable, on average, it is much later that that of the ascending auditory response. This is consistent with the view that eye-position effects are mediated by phasic cortical feedback inputs triggered by auditory input. Unlike the study of Werner-Reiss et al. (2003) our findings do not suggest that eye-position effects entail a tonic bias in excitability in auditory cortical neurons as we do not detect eye-position effects in the baseline prestimulus period. As discussed in the preceding text, this may stem from methodological factors. If eye-position effects in auditory cortices are driven by feedback from higher cortical regions, it follows that effects in the tectum (Groh et al. 2001) may be driven by feedback from cortex.
Mediation by koniocellular input?
Another possible explanation for our findings is that eye-position effects are conveyed to cortex by the koniocellular system. As reviewed earlier (Jones 1998), there are two thalamic sensory systems: a core system that projects topographically (or tonotopically) organized sensory information to well-defined primary sensory cortical areas and a matrix system, composed of koniocellular neurons that project less specific sensory information to a wider array of areas, including nonprimary cortices (Jones 1998). The koniocellular neurons project to the superficial layers across broad expanses of cortex unrestricted by architectonic boundaries. This projection pattern reconciles with our findings of little difference in the effect between A1 and the posterior belt regions, and it dovetails with our finding that the most prominent effects are detected in the supragranular layers. On the other hand, the timing of eye-position effects in auditory cortex is not informative as we have no information on the relative latencies of "core" and "matrix" inputs to auditory cortex. Several nuclei of the inferior colliculus project to divisions of the MGN that are involved in the matrix system. The pericentral, dorsal, and external nuclei of the inferior colliculus project to the dorsal (MGd) and the magnocellular (MGm) nuclei (Catania et al. 2000). These nuclei in turn project to the core, belt, and parabelt areas of auditory cortex (Hackett et al. 1998; Molinari et al. 1995). In the initial report of eye-position effects in the inferior colliculus (Groh et al. 2001), there was some uncertainty in localizing the effects to a specific nucleus. It is thus possible that the Groh et al. (2001) findings did not reflect responses in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus, the one that projects to MGv, but rather, in one or more of the inferior colliculus nuclei that project in parallel through MGd and MGm.
Do eye-position effects correspond to selective attention?
The complexity of eye-position effects in auditory cortex (Werner-Reiss et al. 2003) argues that these effects are not simply a result of visuospatial attention. Although visuospatial attention can be moved independently of eye position (Harter et al. 1982; Hillyard et al. 1985; Moran and Desimone 1985; Treue and Maunsell 1996), the direction of visual attention generally correlates with the position of the eyes (Emery et al. 1997; Jellema et al. 2000), and it is clear that the cortical mechanisms in control of spatial attention overlap extensively with those that control eye position (Bisley and Goldberg 2003; Goldberg et al. 2002). Although one study (Robinson et al. 1995) reported attentional suppression of stimulus-evoked activity in parietal cortex, the nature of this effect is likely related to the mechanistic orienting of attentional resources rather than a general reflection of attention's effects on sensory processing. Because attention generally enhances the processing of effective stimuli (Harter et al. 1982; Hillyard et al. 1985; Moran and Desimone 1985; Treue and Maunsell 1996), we would expect that if the eye-position effect is due to a shift in visuospatial attention, then auditory responsiveness would increase when the subject looked toward the sound source and decrease when he looked away. This pattern was not observed by the present study. The most common effect we encountered across recording sites was enhancement of the auditory response when the subject fixated centrally regardless of actual sound source. Beyond this, enhancement of the auditory response was just as common when the monkey fixated in the field opposite to the sound source as it was for fixation in the direction of the sound source. Although the foregoing makes a circumstantial argument against an attentional interpretation of eye-position effects, the question remains open. In the present and earlier experiments (Groh et al. 2001; Werner-Reis et al. 2003), monkeys were required to fixate at points varying in direction and distance from the sound source, but they were not required to discriminate the location of the sound itself. Additional experimentation will be necessary to determine if eye position interacts with auditory spatial selective attention.
Relationship to hypothesized auditory spatial functions?
Posterior auditory cortex, including the core area A1 and the caudal belt and parabelt regions, are hypothesized to compose a "where" pathway for auditory localization (Rauschecker 1998; Rauschecker and Tian 2000). Neurons in the caudomedial belt area (CM) demonstrate better spatial tuning than neurons in the anterior belt regions (Cannestra et al. 2001; Rauschecker et al. 1995), and their responses are correlated with sound-localization behavior (Recanzone et al. 2000a). Further, posterior auditory cortex projects to the frontal eye fields and caudal principle sulcus (Hackett et al. 1999; Romanski et al. 1999) as well as to the posterior parietal cortex (Lewis and Van Essen 2000) areas involved in spatial processing (Tune et al. 1993). In addition to the present results, eye-position effects in auditory cortex have been reported in a published study by an independent collaborator (Werner-Reiss et al. 2003) and in a preliminary report by a third laboratory (Wu and Andersen 2000). In the first two cases, effects were noted in posterior A1 and posterior auditory association areas, whereas in the preliminary report, the findings were attributed to Area Tpt (temporoparietal cortex), though it is not clear which part of Tpt (Wu and Andersen 2000). The findings in the posterior auditory cortices are consistent with the proposed role of these regions in auditory spatial processing; however, it should be noted that no one has yet determined whether or not eye-position effects are present in the more rostral auditory cortices. Thus the linkage of posterior auditory cortex with spatial processing functions remains speculative.
This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-61989.
We thank Dr. Zsuzsa Pincze and A. Mills for invaluable assistance, Drs. Craig Branch and Michael Lipton for help with MR imaging, and Drs. Mark Wallace and Jennifer Groh for helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
- Copyright © 2004 by the American Physiological Society


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text:
Upon your arrival at Goa airport/ railway station, our tour representative assists you in smooth transfer to the hotel for a pre-booked stay.
The first day of your Goa trip will acquaint you with the rich Portuguese culture and heritage of this tiny Indian state. There are several remnants in Old Goa in the form of century old cathedrals such as Basilica of Bom Jesus and Chapel of St. Francis Xavier.
Goa is also known for its massive forts which were built by Indian rulers and Portuguese colonies which settled in Goa in the 15th century. Besides, you can visit the famous 'Fort Aguada' whose major portions have been converted into a luxury hotel.
Post sightseeing, return to the hotel for dinner and night stay.
he charm of Goa beaches lies in its beautiful beaches lined on the seashore and attracts a huge crowd of Indian and international tourists. Some popular beaches that you can visit include Anjuna, Baga and Calangute. These beaches will allow you to indulge in water sports such as Para sailing, scuba diving and water skiing.
Besides, you can visit the local markets at Anjuna where you can purchase traditional jewelry, handicrafts and souvenirs.
The 2nd day of your Goa Trip will make you experience the nightlife of Goa. Proceed towards the Tito's bar, one of the most happening party places in Goa to enjoy the vibrant nightlife. Besides, you can also visit the Ingo's Saturday Night Bazaar famous for shopping.
On the 3rd day of your Goa Trip, you will head straight towards South Goa. Colva is a popular beach in South Goa. The beach is home to shacks, resort complexes, tourist cottages, discos and eateries.
Have some fun and laze around as the day will mark the end of your holiday in Goa.
You will be assisted in smooth transfer to the Goa airport/railway station to board flight/train for onwards journey.
Mr. Bharat Parikh / Mr. Saurin Parikh
SB2 Saikruti Complex, Harinagar Char Rasta, Op Indian Bank, Gotri Road, Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat, India - 390021
+91-9227522144, 9227696310, 7043909011
Thailand Tour - 5 D / 4 N
Pattaya - Bangkok
Amazing Thailand Tour - 5 D / 4 N
Pattaya - Bangkok - Coral Island - Gems Gallery
Visit Singapur - Vacation Special Tour - 4 D / 3 N
Singapore - Sentosa - Jurong Bird Park - Universal Studio
Best Of Singapore And Bali Combo- 6N/7D Tour - 7 D / 6 N
Bali - Singapore
Europe For All Tour - 7 D / 6 N
Europe - France - Paris - Belgium - Brussels - Germany - Switzerland - Schaffhausen - Lucerne
Europe(Switzerland) Tour - 6 D / 5 N
Zurich - Lucerne - Mt Titlis - Lucerne - Interlaken - Mt Jungfraujoch - Interlaken - Zurich Sightseeing
Hong Kong with Ocean (Land Package Only) Tour - 4 D / 3 N
Hong Kong
Discover Hong Kong-3N/4D Tour - 4 D / 3 N
Hong Kong
Dubai Oasis 3N|4D Tour - 5 D / 4 N
DUBAI Signature Package With Burj Al Arab - 5 D / 4 N
Dubai - Abu Dhabi


text:
Man charged with cocaine possession
A Harrodsburg man was arrested Sunday in Danville and charged with possession of cocaine. Police said Jerome Penman, 34, of Harrodsburg, was arrested at 10:23 p.m. on East Main Street.
Auto stolen from Caldwell Street
Christopher Derry of Danville reported to city police the theft of a 1997 red Chrysler Sebring at 10 p.m. Saturday at 305 Caldwell St.
Wheels removed from car
Danville police investigated a case of criminal mischief Sept. 17 at Stuart Powell Ford. Police said four wheels were removed from a 2004 Mazda RX-8, causing damage to the vehicle. The wheels were not removed from the scene.|None***


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On Second Thought is a one-hour, daily news talk show that airs at 9 a.m. ET weekdays.
Discover how the prolific "All in the Family" creator effected social change through his sitcoms. Tuesday, October 25 at 9 PM
High School Football is Back, and so is Football Fridays on GPB!
The long wait is finally over. Yes, I went to some spring practices. Sure I checked out some 7 on 7 action this summer. Of course I... MORE
GPB Passport is the new member benefit that provides you with extended access to an on-demand library of quality local and national public television programming, including tens of thousands of hours of your favorite programs.
Wed., February 22, 2012 6:00am
Birds Could Doom Waste Station
The threat of bird strikes to aircraft could doom plans for a waste transfer station in metro Atlanta. A Federal Aviation Administration study has led to concerns about a waste project planned for the Mableton area in Cobb County. At issue is the waste station's proximity to the Fulton County Airport at Charlie Brown Field.
Full Story
Mon., September 20, 2010 9:13am
Who Bought the Winning Powerball?
A Georgia Lottery spokeswoman says a Powerball ticket worth $116 million is still unclaimed. Lottery spokeswoman Kimberly Starks said Monday the winning ticket was sold at Heby's Shell on Floyd Road in Mableton.


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"Germany and Israel - 50 Years after the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations," BUJS Forum with German Consul General Rolf Schuette
- Starts:
- 12:30 pm on Tuesday, September 23, 2014
- Ends:
- 2:00 pm on Tuesday, September 23, 2014
- Location:
- Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies, 2nd Floor Library
Many Israelis consider Germany to be their country's second-most important partner internationally today. This sounds like a miracle against the background of the Holocaust and the fact that only 50 years have passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Consul General Schuette will shed some light on the question how this very special relationship has evolved and changed over the years. One of Mr. Schuette's foreign assignments was at the German Embassy in Tel Aviv. He also held the position of Deputy Director for Middle East Affairs in the Foreign Office and, during a sabbatical, spent a few months as a visiting scholar at the American Jewish Committee headquarters in New York working on a publication about German-Jewish relations today, a subject which is very dear to him personally and on which he has given many talks. Mr Schuette was invited by the Holocaust survivors' organization to speak at the 2012 Yom Ha'Shoah observance at Faneuil Hall in Boston.


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"Many people have come to Christ as a result of my participation in presenting the Gospel to them. It's all the work of the Holy Spirit."
Related quotes
"To further the appreciation of culture among all the people, to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art - this is one of the fascinating challenges of these days"
"Last year was the first time I actually participated in Halloween. I dressed up as a pimp, and my sister was my bitch. We had to walk down Sunset Boulevard because we couldn't get a ride to the party, and everyone was sticking their heads out of their cars and yelling at us. It was great."
"As the audiences got larger, the participation got larger. And I found myself in Dallas, and 20,000 people were singing 'Madonna Whore' back at me. I thought ... this is really a great thing. They wanted to hear it really badly, and here they are."
"The building is a special place because of its architecture, ... But it's people who make it special by participating in it."
"Of course membership in or participation in Federalist Society events doesn't disqualify someone from office but it can help people understand the judicial philosophy of the nominee, ... The Federalist Society likes to pretend it's just a debating club, but for last 20 years it has been at the forefront of the efforts to push a right-wing counterrevolution in the courts and undo decades worth of precedent."


text:
Definition: 'Nitrogen 15'
nitrogen 15 (
Type: Term
Pronunciation: nī′trō-jen
1. The less common stable nitrogen isotope, making up 0.37% of natural nitrogen.
Synonyms: heavy nitrogen
The definition information for nitrogen 15 is provided by Stedman's. You can search our medical dictionary here.
Stedman's Medical Dictionary © Wolters Kluwer Health. All rights reserved.


text:
Check out UFC light heavyweight Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson as he talks to Craig Ferguson on CBS' Late, Late Show.
UFC lightweight contender Nate Diaz has called out president Dana White, as well as lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and featherweight king Conor McGregor following the announcement the two will me read news >>
BRASILIA, Brazil – While he believes Luke Rockhold had been ducking their rematch for years, Ronaldo 'Jacare' Souza still holds a lot of respect for his confident UFC Fight Night 101 opponent. As for read news >>
Rashad Evans talks about facing Tim Kennedy at UFC 205 in New York, dropping down to middleweight and Conor McGregor attempting to hold simultaneous UFC belts. read news >>
John Dodson talks about his UFC Portland headlining bout with John Lineker, comparing the fight to Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz. read news >>
John Lineker talks about his UFC Portland split decision win over John Lineker following the event. He also discusses missing weight and getting a title shot. read news >>
Jason High has a fight coming up Saturday in his native Kansas City, Missouri, against a dangerous submission artist. If he can notch a victory, he has a pretty airtight case to compete for World Ser read news >>
Dan Henderson talks about his KO of Michael Bisping at UFC 100, their rematch for the middleweight title at UFC 204, his retirement and more. read news >>
Dan Henderson is getting ready to fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight title at UFC 204, but we took some time to ask him some fun questions. read news >>
The UFC heads to Manchester, England, this week for UFC 204, and the promotion is rolling out the "Embedded" treatment. In the fourth episode, Bisping and Henderson try to win over fans at open worko read news >>
UFC President Dana White discusses Ronda Rousey's return at UFC 207, if she will ever fight Cyborg, Conor McGregor, Dana White and more. read news >>


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New in Symfony 3.2: PHP constants in YAML files
In Symfony 3.2, we decided to augment the YAML format with a custom extension to support PHP constants. This feature provides feature parity with other configuration formats, such as XML.
Symfony Project achieves 500 million downloads
In Symfony 3.2, we decided to augment the YAML format with a custom extension to support PHP constants. This feature provides feature parity with other configuration formats, such as XML.
June 30, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
Symfony 3.2 adds a new helper method to the base controller called file(). Its purpose is to simplify serving binary files.
June 29, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
The Cache component is a strict implementation of the PSR-6: Caching Interface standard. You can use it to cache arbitrary content in your application and some Symfony components use it internally to improve their performance.
June 28, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
In Symfony 3.1, the YAML component introduces configuration flags to simplify the parsing/dumping methods and to keep adding new features.
April 27, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
The web debug toolbar and the profiler are two of the most used features of Symfony. They provide detailed debug information about the execution of the page you are looking at. In Symfony 3.1 we decided to improve them to display the information about forwards and redirects.
April 22, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
The FrameworkBundle is the piece that glues all the different Symfony components to create a robust and flexible framework. In Symfony 3.1 we introduced some minor but useful improvements to it.
April 20, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
In Symfony 2.8 we introduced some YAML deprecations to make configuration files compliant with the YAML spec. In Symfony 3.1 we introduced additional deprecations, some of them needed for the new YAML features which will be explained in an upcoming article.
April 19, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
The PHPUnitBridge component is mostly used for its "deprecation helper" which detects the deprecated Symfony features used by your application. In Symfony 3.1, the deprecation helper has been improved to help you find and fix deprecations more easily.
April 18, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
The Serializer component has been greatly improved in Symfony 3.1. The DateTime normalizer is one of its many new features.
April 15, 2016 Javier Eguiluz
Symfony 3.1 will improve the security profiler panel to display the list of security voters and the full log of access decisions made during the rendering of the page.
April 14, 2016 Javier Eguiluz


text:
Chocolate Bar App
by: Jamal Makes Apps • 1
All Android applications categories
All Android games categories
by: Jamal Makes Apps • 1
Experience Chocolate like never before @ The Original Chocolate Bar of Decatur.View Menu,Specials,Tweets,Status,and more.Please Rate.Comment.Share. - Jay Fisha
Tags: original chocolate bar , original chocolate , chocolate bar , chocolade bar game , apps chocolate bar , chocolate
Users review
from 1 reviews
Download Chocolate Bar App
Free - V220.127.116.11 - 2M
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This app is no longer available.
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text:
Mar Easyfit Shade LightID 24030832
The Mar easy to fit ceiling light is a cylinder wired form encasing cut crystal glass droppers. Fits to your existing pendant cord, no electrician required.
- Dimensions (HW) 27 x 15.5cm
- Main material: Steel
- Weight: 0.97kg
- Bulb requirements: 42W Gls (Not Included)
- Care instructions: Carefully wipe with a soft, dry cloth
Standard Delivery
FREE Standard Delivery on ALL orders over £50.
£3.50 Standard Delivery on orders under £50.
Items are delivered within 3-5 working days, Monday to Friday.
Next Day Delivery
£6.95 Next Day Delivery
Orders must be placed before 5pm Sunday-Friday for next day delivery. Orders received after 5pm on Friday will be delivered on the following Monday (excluding Bank Holidays).
Next day delivery is not available to non-Mainland UK addresses.


text: Baseball playoff picture coming into focus Back to Article Comments Need to Register? X Remember Me Forgot your password? SETX Sports Sportscast: Interview with Hardin-Jefferson coach Jared Sloan... 5 takeaways from Lamar basketball's Red vs. White scrimmage Q&A: What it's like to be Bridge City mascot 'Big Red' West Brook falls to Deer Park, will be No. 2 seed as playoffs... LC-M, Silsbee 22-4A co-champions after Lady Bears victory Top Stories Photos: Project helps preserve 114-year-old Beaumont church Appeal: Hardin Co. officer 'took advantage' of supplier Getz: City attorney doesn't deserve 24% pay raise Q&A: Meet the student under Bridge City's 'Big Red' costume Woman live tweets 'being groped' by man on flight to Austin Texas wife pleas for husband's re-election in hilarious ad Texas rep. charged with family violence has criminal history Renovated farmhouse west of Beaumont a country dream Today's Deals Powered by SHOP NOWCedar Summit Bancroft Playhouse for $300 + pickup at WalmartWalmartPosted 5 hr 17 min ago SHOP NOWBudweiser Retro Bowling Ball for $85 + free shippingBowlingBall.comPosted 14 hr 32 min ago SHOP NOWSheIn Women's Flower Print Sleeve Jacket for $19 + free shippingSheInPosted 5 days 14 hr ago SHOP NOWSheIn Women's Birds Pattern Loose Dress for $15 + free shippingSheInPosted 1 day 12 hr ago


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Aeropostale (ARO) - Hostile Takeover Is Best For Shareholders... 1 commentJan 14, 2011 9:47 AM | about stocks: ARO
For the past few months, Aeropostale has been on the active radar as a takeover target by private equity firms. Retailers that have been bought out in the past few months include Gymboree, J.Crew, and Jo-Ann Stores. Aeropostale has seen real interest from private equity firms KKR and Blackrock. However, unlike its fellow retailers, Aeropostale not only passed up offers from potential buyers, but hired Barclays to defend against any type of takeover attempts. The price that the company was reported to turn down was an offer amounting to $40 per share. This is roughly a 60% premium from the most recent closing price. I love the job that management has done in the past, but believe they are making a significant mistake by not accepting this $40 per share offer. In the following paragraphs I am going to point out the pros and cons of a takeover of Aeropostale and why it would be beneficial for shareholders to go around management and accept an offer.
Pros of Potential Takeover:
1. Instant 60% price appreciation for shareholders (assuming $40 per share)
2. Buyout at 16 P/E ratio, which is high for a company with little to no near-term growth
3. Guaranteed money in investor's pocket, rarely available to shareholders
Cons of Potential Takeover:
1. Does not allow for future growth to be reflected for shareholders down the road
2. Forces investors to reallocate money to less desirable investments
Here's the way I came to my decision to be in support a hostile takeover. If the company chooses to stay public, the company must be able to explain how it can achieve more than $40 per share in a reasonable amount of time. I would consider a reasonable amount of time one year. Aeropostale has proven that it is an ultra-efficient operator and that it is quite profitable. However, now that the recession is over, there are significant headwinds that will hamper EPS growth in the coming years. Margins have been contracting in recent quarters, as same store sales are coming down from record marks set last year. To help solidify the earnings per share, the company has continued its store expansions with the Aeropostale and P.S. from Aeropostale concepts, as well as accelerate a highly successful buyback policy. I think that both of these decisions are excellent from a capital allocation point of view, but can only move the needle a little. For the current fiscal year ending January 31, 2011, Aeropostale will earn roughly $2.50 per share. Next year, the best case scenario for earnings is $2.75. In order to simply meet this $40 per share buyout offer, the company must trade at a 14.5 P/E multiple. For a company with slow growth, I find it quite questionable and even risky for the market to value the company at this level. The fact that the company is counter-cyclical does not help the company's cause for staying public. I believe that the true reason Aeropostale is staying public is for management to protect their jobs. I sincerely believe that if management held a large ownership stake a buyout would have already occurred. Though I love the job management has done and think that they could send the share price higher than $40 per share years down the road, the fact is that this outcome is not a 100% certainty and may take way too long. This is why I am advocating for shareholders to go around management and accept a buyout from private equity. I write this article not because I don't believe in management, but because I am a dedicated value investor who is more than willing to accept a great offer when he sees one. This company is worth much more to a private equity firm than the public market because of private equity's abilities to perform a leveraged buyout. I will try to send this article to the largest shareholders of the company and incite a call to action. I hope I have convinced you of being in favor of a buyout at all costs and would appreciate any help in spreading the contents of this message!
Disclosure: I am long ARO.Stocks: AROBack To Greg Herman's Instablog HomePage »
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I totally agree. I think the "new" CEO wants to keep his job. It kind of makes me mad that they are spending shareholder money to fend off exactly what the shareholders want. Obviously, I would like for them to get as much money as they can for the company but they should be willing to take any offer over the all time high for the stock (~$33). I have a larger portion of my portfolio in this company at a $27 level and it has been painful.
Bye Bye Europe haha... You are simply getting what you had coming, I have to thank you though for future incredibe valuations!!! Oct 4, 2011
Cash is King, even when Bernanke tries to print it all away... Bye Bye Phony stock market... Aug 7, 2011
How much longer can Wall Street and Main Street not resemble each other... Jul 13, 2011
Latest Comments
- Greg Herman on 04/08/2012 It's Been Awhile Since I Last Wrote, But We're Getting Closer To The Big Opportunity I am happy to report, yes... It has taken a com...
- slash32is4 on 04/08/2012 It's Been Awhile Since I Last Wrote, But We're Getting Closer To The Big Opportunity can the market stay irrational longer than you ...
- rleinvestments on Aeropostale (ARO) - Hostile Takeover Is Best For Shareholders... I totally agree. I think the "new" CE...
- Andrew Schneck on The Hardest Lesson for Value Investors - Dealing with Slow Times I've been somewhat bored/depressed with the mar...
- Greg Herman on Apple (AAPL) - Everyone's Love, But When Does the Multiple Contract? rubicon59, this may very well happen and I woul...
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Reviews - Le Ville Hotel3
38-42 Canal Street, Manchester, M1 3WD
Price From £60View Rooms
Customer Reviews
Our reviews are from genuine LateRooms.com customers. We verify that the customer has stayed before leaving a review.
Very Good
76% would recommend it to a friend
Customer service
Food quality
Room quality
Small, nice room
The room was very small.
Exept the bath it was clean. The worst was the location. On the gaystreet they have party still late night and it was too loud. Pity for the nice hotel.
Read More Less
Le Ville Hotel
Perfect spot for nights out or shopping trips, the hotel and staff had very friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
Rooms where a little small and bed sheets were tough but unless your planning in living in your room it's not a problem.
Would defiantly recommend and would stay here again 👍🏼
Read More Less
Room for improvement but very handy hotel
Great location in central Manchester.
Parking at rear of hotel is a godsend. Staff couldn't be more friendly and helpful. Room was compact and bijou with tea/coffee facilities, tiny ensuite shower/wc and TV. The room had no air conditioning but on such a warm night a fan provided in the room was fine. First impressions all great and hotel was excellent value but on this occasion the room heavily smelt of cigarette ash and the wifi was next to useless.
Read More Less
Need soundproof Windows
Our room was on the side of the cocktail bar next door so we could hear music until they closed.
The Windows did little to block out the music.
Read More Less
Le Ville Hotel
Awful lighting.
Kettle could not be plugged in safely. Small room. Inflated price for the night. Nightmare car parking despite paying.
Scaffolding construction at 9 am on Sunday morning.
Wonderful staff.
Read More Less
A friendly welcome at reception, the room fairly basic (economy basement room) which was ok for our purposes but did feel it was a bit overpriced for what it was.
value for money
Room had small double and no window but good value for money until we where woken at 8.30 by workmen Started sawing outside are room
Good price but noisy location and small room
I needed somewhere good value for money to attend a Diploma workshops at a university- and price wise Le Ville Hotel was ideal.
It had basic facilities that I needed and tea and coffee in the room.
However, the room was tiny and being on the bottom floor I did not even have a full window- a mere slit at the top of the wall. The room was very dusty and the shower area looked like the building work had not been complete after it had been inserted. Extremely noisy- got very little sleep. This was both external (on Canal street so expected some noise from pubs and bars but not on a Thurs night at 3am) but also internal. People going up and downstairs continuously and in and out of doors at all hours. Not only did the toilet have a pleasant quirk of making the noise of an airline one when flushing, but you got the luxury of hearing this when other guests in rooms nearby used their toilet too. No options for breakfast except a 'complementary muffin' given to you on your first night (not for each morning you were there).
Read More Less
Le Ville Hotel
An excellent hotel.
Carl on reception was brilliant and very helpful. I would definitely stay here again.
Read More Less
Stated on site all rooms came with breakfast & this changed last year.
No food served !
Read More Less


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Missed the live Ask the Expert event?
Not to worry. Check out the archived thread of the Q&A with Ken Hutcheson, President of U.S. Lawns, and the LawnSite community in the Franchising forum .
Keeping track of mowing dates and monthly amount?
Discussion in 'Lawn Mowing' started by Turf Technologies, Feb 18, 2004.
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text:
(re)Present Yourself: Mastering Visual Communication & Presentations
Nate Cooper
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)
Who's Going
San Francisco, California
London, United Kingdom
Florence, Italy
Event Details
For a Limited time use code: snowday to sign up for free.
Join us for this fireside chat with two presentation experts: Martha Denton and Jonny Goldstein. In this panel format event we'll discuss the ins and outs of putting together solid presentations and the importance of visual communication to branding. Hosted by Nate Cooper and Richard Burst-Lazarus, you'll have a chance to hear what the experts do when putting together large-scale professional events. Learn what it takes to coach others on brand and public speaking skills.
Beer, wine and light refreshments are provided by:
Expected attendees:
Martha Denton
Martha is a corporate communication strategist and practitioner, who focuses on: helping her clients understand their audiences, write their content, design their slides, and deliver the best presentations possible. She does this either by training her clients develop communication skills capabilities themselves or extending their capacity by executing on the work for them. Everything she does is rooted in deep audience analysis, believing that effective communication involves audiences that understand her clients' messages in the most effective manner possible.
Jonny Goldstein
Photo Credit: Steve Garfield Creative Commons Licensed Flickr link
Jonny Goldstein a visual communications specialist (he draws live pictures on stage of what speakers say at events) about his life path and how he's able to pull together his varied experience into his work. Jonny's been a talk show host on an early web series, he's worked as a videographer and new media producer and lived in about twenty different places around the world.
Richard Burst-Lazarus
Richard Burst-Lazarus is a freelance writer with seven years of experience reviewing films of all kinds. He is currently an in-house film screener at SnagFilms, a free-to-stream online film site.
Nate Cooper
Nate Cooper is an Adjunct Faculty member at the School for Visual Arts. He is founder of Simple Labs, a boutique web and social consultancy with a focus on client education. Through his company he has provided corporate training seminars to TIME Inc, NBC Universal and GAP Inc. He's a regular writer on the topic of entrepreneurship for Contently.com and his writing has appeared in Mashable. He has been blogging on natecooper.netsince 2005. He regularly teaches WordPress, social media and blogging both online and offline for Mediabistro, General Assembly, 3rdWard & Noble Desktop. Nate cofounded the Reboot Workshop in 2011.
When & Where
Centre for Social Innovation, 601 West 26th St., Suite 325,
Suite 325, 3rd Floor
New York,
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (EST)
Add to my calendar
Nate Cooper
Nate Cooper has been building websites professionally since 1997. Since 2005, Nate has been dedicated to the WordPress platform and has operated as a part-time freelance web developer. In 2011, Nate formed his company, now called Simple Labs, which focuses on web development and web presence and has established himself as a trusted expert within the WordPress community. Through Simple Labs, Nate works with companies large and small to customize and optimize their websites. Nate is "deeply embedded in the New York tech scene, giving practical and insightful advice..." Forbes 2012.
His book Build Your Own Website: A Comic Guide to HTML, CSS and WordPress from No Starch Press has been a bestseller in Programming: CSS books on Amazon.com.


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Moonraker Laser Rifle
this wiki
The Moonraker laser rifle is a powerful handheld laser weapon designed primarily for space combat. It was first featured in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker and went on to appear in the videogames: GoldenEye and 007 Legends.
Film appearance
The Moonraker laser rifle is first featured in 1979 film Moonraker. The laser rifle is first seen as a prototype in the courtyard of the ranch with Q-Branch testing it on a dummy. At the climax of the film, laser rifles are wielded by both the US Marines and Drax's space station crew as they battle each other in space. Its possible the Drax Industries also made the laser rifle.
The prop laser weapons were dressed-up IMI Uzi replicas, apparently store-bought plastic toys. These toy Uzis were also used in quite a few Sci-fi and 'action' B movies during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The crew of Drax's space station are also armed with smaller laser pistols.
Video-game appearances
The Moonraker laser rifle appears in the video-games GoldenEye (1995), Goldeneye 007: Reloaded (2010), and 007 Legends (2012). In all its incarnations the rifle is noted for its unlimited ammo, range, and accuracy.
GoldenEye 007 (N64)
The Moonraker Laser made its first video-game appearance in 1995's GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, under the name "Military Laser". In the game it is a very powerful weapon, comparable to the Cougar Magnum but with a much higher rate of fire and no magazine or ammunition limitations.
The rifle can normally only be found in the "Aztec" map, but two cheats exist specifically to give Bond this weapon in every mission. It has been noted that the laser was much more common in pre-release versions of the game, appearing in several maps - "Facility", "Bunker 1", and "Silo". It was probably only used for testing and never intended to actually appear in those missions.
Goldeneye 007: Reloaded
The weapon made its second appearance in the "00 Edition" of Goldeneye 007: Reloaded (2010) on Playstation 3. When purchased, the player received a redeemable code for an extra multiplayer character and the Moonraker Laser, also for multiplayer use.
007 Legends
In the 2012 game 007 Legends, the laser rifle appears in both the Moonraker-inspired single player mission and the game's multiplayer mode. Two types of laser rifle are available: the "standard" model and the "MK 2" rifle.


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FRANCE: 150 jobs to go at Jean Caby following plants sale - union
France's CFDT union has claimed 150 jobs will go at loss-making cooked meats firm Jean Caby in the event of the company's two production plants in Brittany being sold.
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Enola's Barbecued Shrimp
Total Time
Prep 10 mins
Cook 10 mins
The title refers to the sauce; the dish is actually cooked in a skillet, not on the grill. From Enola Prudhomme.
Ingredients Nutrition
- 1 tablespoon reduced-calorie margarine
- 12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1⁄2 teaspoon dried basil leaves, crushed
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1⁄8 teaspoon white pepper
- 1⁄8 teaspoon red pepper
- 1⁄8 teaspoon file powder
- 1 tablespoon steak sauce
- 1⁄4 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1⁄2 cup light beer
- In a large skillet over high heat, melt the margarine.
- Add the shrimp, basil, salt, oregano, white and red peppers and file powder.
- Saute for 3 minutes or until the shrimp starts to stick to the bottom of the skillet, but stirring constantly to prevent burning.
- Add the remaining ingredients; cook, stirring, for minutes or until the sauce thickens.
- Serve hot.
Most Helpful
Great shrimp. Loved all the herbs and spices which provided just the right amount of heat. I decreased the amount of beer in the sauce to about 1/4 cup. Served over rice, it was a very tasty meal. Thank you.
Very tasty; quick; easy. I eyeballed all measurements since I had more than 12 shrimp. We'll DEFINITELY have this again. Thanks, JeriB.


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Comment Re:pixel (Score 1) 212
I think a lot of people assume it's a Samsung ecosystem they're switching out of, not Android.
I'm pretty sure that isn't true. That would be like saying that drivers that buy cars don't know they whether they are getting a sedan, SUV or truck. Most people test drive it before they dish out the money. In my surroundings I can only point at 1 or 2 mobile device users that don't know and don't care and they are all above 60 years old.
Keep in mind that I still thing this analyst's numbers are way off.