docs: def quantity_yXL(fig, left, bottom, top, quantity=params.L_yXL, label=r'$\mathcal{L}_{yXL}$'):
                              
      '''make a bunch of image plots, each showing the spatial normalized
      connectivity of synapses'''
      
   
      layers = ['L1', 'L2/3', 'L4', 'L5', 'L6']
      ncols = len(params.y) / 4
      
      #assess vlims
      vmin = 0
      vmax = 0
      for y in params.y:
          if quantity[y].max() > vmax:
              vmax = quantity[y].max()
      
      gs = gridspec.GridSpec(4, 4, left=left, bottom=bottom, top=top)
      
      for i, y in enumerate(params.y):
          ax = fig.add_subplot(gs[i/4, i%4])
  
          masked_array = np.ma.array(quantity[y], mask=quantity[y]==0)
          # cmap = plt.get_cmap('hot', 20)
          # cmap.set_bad('k', 0.5)
          
          # im = ax.imshow(masked_array,
          im = ax.pcolormesh(masked_array,
                              vmin=vmin, vmax=vmax,
                              cmap=cmap,
                              #interpolation='nearest',
                              )
          ax.invert_yaxis()
  
          ax.axis(ax.axis('tight'))
          ax.xaxis.set_ticks_position('top')
          ax.set_xticks(np.arange(9)+0.5)
          ax.set_yticks(np.arange(5)+0.5)
          
          #if divmod(i, 4)[1] == 0:
          if i % 4 == 0:
              ax.set_yticklabels(layers, )
              ax.set_ylabel('$L$', labelpad=0.)
          else:
              ax.set_yticklabels([])
          if i < 4:
              ax.set_xlabel(r'$X$', labelpad=-1,fontsize=8)
              ax.set_xticklabels(params.X, rotation=270)
          else:
              ax.set_xticklabels([])
          ax.xaxis.set_label_position('top')
          
          ax.text(0.5, -0.13, r'$y=$'+y,
              horizontalalignment='center',
              verticalalignment='center',
              #
                  transform=ax.transAxes,fontsize=5.5)
      
      #colorbar
      rect = np.array(ax.get_position().bounds)
      rect[0] += rect[2] + 0.01
      rect[1] = bottom
      rect[2] = 0.01
      rect[3] = top-bottom
      cax = fig.add_axes(rect)
      cbar = plt.colorbar(im, cax=cax)
      #cbar.set_label(label, ha='center')
      cbar.set_label(label, labelpad=0)