Displayed will be spike trains and raw spike records from several somatosensory cortical neuron recordings involved in active touch. The database employs a completely open and platorm-independent model for client access. No special client software is needed by the user. Searches and dynamic views of datasets and metadata require only conventional Java-enabled Web browsers such as Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer on client computers. Unlike single-user lab notebooks, community databases also need uniform and intuitive data models, metadata and protocol vocabulary, neuron descriptors, and display and data exchange formats.
Metadata accompany datasets at all levels.
To represent CDM, we have attempted to identify a set of near-orthogonal hierarchical descriptors that span contemporary neurophysiology while providing specificity for searches among similar data. Receptive field descriptors span linked modality and location specifiers. CDM is implemented using an object-relational database engine. A universal binary large object provides a multidimensional, multitechnique format for time-series, event marker, bivariate, and histogram data records. An extended histogram data type encompasses channel lifetimes, PSTHs, and event rates.