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Odours are transported in turbulent plumes, which result in rapid concentration fluctuations.sup.1,2 that contain rich information about the olfactory scenery, such as the composition and location of an odour source.sup.2-4. However, it is unclear whether the mammalian olfactory system can use the underlying temporal structure to extract information about the environment. Here we show that ten-millisecond odour pulse patterns produce distinct responses in olfactory receptor neurons. In operant conditioning experiments, mice discriminated temporal correlations of rapidly fluctuating odours at frequencies of up to 40 Hz. In imaging and electrophysiological recordings, such correlation information could be readily extracted from the activity of mitral and tufted cells--the output neurons of the olfactory bulb. Furthermore, temporal correlation of odour concentrations.sup.5 reliably predicted whether odorants emerged from the same or different sources in naturalistic environments with complex airflow. Experiments in which mice were trained on such tasks and probed using synthetic correlated stimuli at different frequencies suggest that mice can use the temporal structure of odours to extract information about space. Thus, the mammalian olfactory system has access to unexpectedly fast temporal features in odour stimuli. This endows animals with the capacity to overcome key behavioural challenges such as odour source separation.sup.5, figure-ground segregation.sup.6 and odour localization.sup.7 by extracting information about space from temporal odour dynamics. Fast temporal dynamics of the olfactory environment can be perceived by mice and used to perform scene segmentation., Author(s): Tobias Ackels [sup.1] [sup.2] , Andrew Erskine [sup.1] [sup.2] , Debanjan Dasgupta [sup.1] [sup.2] , Alina Cristina Marin [sup.1] , Tom P. A. Warner [sup.1] , Sina Tootoonian [sup.1] [...]

To capture the growing great-power competition and potential confrontation in the Indo-Pacific, this article seeks to uncover how current Sino-US naval and maritime policies are being guided. Specifically, this article examines the theoretical, historical, and conventional nature of naval and maritime strategies employed by the United States, China, and other great powers to understand how these two great regional actors have developed notions of maritime hegemony and to shed light on how their strategies will steer the Indo-Pacific's orderly architecture. It is also imperative to highlight that the analysis presented in this article is conducted through a high degree of abstraction. The goal is to provide intellectually and normatively provoking research, thereby offering policy and military officers a framework to guide operational thinking about the rapidly shifting naval and maritime dynamic in the Indo-Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]