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Purpose of the Study: After two years of virtual meetings, the Barrels Meeting resumed to an in-person format on 10 and 11 November 2022 in La Jolla California. Materials and Methods: The meeting focused on the rodent sensorimotor system, with a focus on integrated information from the cellular to the systems level. A series of invited and selected oral presentations were delivered in addition to a poster session. Results: The latest results in the whisker-to-barrel pathway were discussed. Presentations included how the system encodes peripheral information, motor planning, and is disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders. Conclusion: The 36th Annual Barrels Meeting brought together the research community to effectively discuss the latest advances in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article refers to the forensic identification of the projectiles ejected through rifled barrels considering the common rules of ballistic identification used in specific literature. Basic and general forensic opportunities will be revealed, rules that an examiner must account for, as well as the relevance of the subjective judgments of the forensic examiner based on personal experience, personal knowledge, and personal reasoning. Developing these theoretical markers, the author will presents an experimental study in which a projectile ejected through a rifled barrel may be identified after the barrel's partition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that a large amount of small arms ammunition has been used up over the past two years, their stocks in warehouses and arsenals in various countries are quite large. And their shelf life is 20 years or more. In addition, over time, the number of such ammunition will increase. Among the large number of requirements for modern small arms, one can highlight the provision of the necessary survivability of its parts and mechanisms. The problem of barrel survivability is especially important. One of the factors affecting barrel survivability is changes in internal ballistics parameters. In turn, these parameters change when using ammunition whose service life exceeds the warranty. In this regard, the task of studying the survivability indicators of small arms barrels when using post-warranty ammunition seems relevant. The requirements for barrel systems and factors affecting the wear of the barrel bore of powder charges during long-term storage have been determined. An analysis of changes in the ballistic characteristics of powder charges was carried out, which allows to state increased wear of barrels when using ammunition with long storage periods. The dependencies for determining the limit number of shots from a weapon sample are analyzed. A method for predicting barrel survivability when using long-term storage ammunition is proposed. Data are presented on an experimental study to determine changes in barrel survivability as a result of the use of long-term storage ammunition by estimating changes in the initial velocity of the projectile. Based on the results obtained, ways for further research are proposed in the direction of expanding the range of ammunition and weapons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally and alternatively aged wines' odour activity values (OAVs) are investigated to differentiate and highlight the differences between the selected methods. An analysis of the volatile aroma compounds of wines derived from ageing in barrels, oak chips, and staves was performed using stir bar sorptive extraction chromatography–mass spectroscopy (SBSE-GC-MS). The results showed that alcohols, esters, and oak compounds were the main contributors to aroma, and their OAVs were higher in the stave samples after 3 months than in the samples from the other two systems of ageing. Furthermore, wines aged with staves have stronger fruity, spiced, and woody aromas, while samples aged in barrels present more chemistry-driven, floral, caramelly, and creamy aromas. The staves—medium plus toast (SMPT at 3 months > 225) and chips—medium plus toast (CMPT at 3 months > 170) showed the highest levels of aromatic series, suggesting that alternative systems provided more powerful aromas than traditional systems, such as barrels—medium plus toast (BMPT at 3 months > 150). A principal component analysis (PCA), orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) analysis, and cluster analysis allowed for a clear differentiation to be made between red wines according to ageing systems and ageing times. The odour activity values fingerprint in winemaking is a feasible approach to characterise and distinguish wines. Moreover, OAVs provide important information on the effects of production methods on wine quality and aroma profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the effect of the barrel bung-hole stave on the volume loss during rum natural ageing in palletized (vertical) system is statistically assessed. Eighty-four traditional 250 L (+/- 10 L) hogshead barrels typically applied in rum natural ageing were studied. For the 50 % of the barrels the bung-hole stave was removed (without bung-hole: WBH) and the others barrels kept the bung - hole stave (BH). Barrels were jointly stored (randomly assorted) under palletized ageing system during one year into a non-conditioned cellar of the major rum producer in Cuba. The volume loss of the barrels was determined after one year of ageing period. Statistical analyses demonstrated significant differences in the volume loss between barrels with and without bung-hole staves. It was found, that the bung-hole stave can increase the average volume loss (%/year) in about 17 % system at the studied conditions. Theoretical arguments to explain the increment of the liquid evaporation due to barrel bung-hole stave during palletized ageing system are presented and debated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barrel tool radius compensation is very important to improve the five-axis CNC machining precision and efficiency of sculptured surfaces. By combining macro variables and math function of CNC controller, a radius compensation method of barrel tool based on macro variables in five-axis flank machining of sculptured surfaces was presented. The basic principle of barrel tool radius compensation in five-axis flank machining was firstly investigated. For a specific five-axis CNC machine tool with dual rotary tables, a relationship equation between compensated cutter location (CL) data and machine control (MC) data could be derived. A post-processor with the function of five-axis barrel tool radius compensation was then developed by using the C++ language, which could generate the NC programme with macro variables of barrel tool radius compensation. Finally, the NC programme was obtained automatically by the developed post-processor for the aero-engine blade surface machining. The machining process was simulated on the software VERICUT, and machining experiments were also conducted on the five-axis machine tool. Both the simulation and experimental results showed that the proposed method could perform the function of barrel tool radius compensation in the NC programme for five-axis flank machining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally and alternatively aged wines’ odour activity values (OAVs) are investigated to differentiate and highlight the differences between the selected methods. An analysis of the volatile aroma compounds of wines derived from ageing in barrels, oak chips, and staves was performed using stir bar sorptive extraction chromatography–mass spectroscopy (SBSE-GC-MS). The results showed that alcohols, esters, and oak compounds were the main contributors to aroma, and their OAVs were higher in the stave samples after 3 months than in the samples from the other two systems of ageing. Furthermore, wines aged with staves have stronger fruity, spiced, and woody aromas, while samples aged in barrels present more chemistry-driven, floral, caramelly, and creamy aromas. The staves—medium plus toast (SMPT at 3 months > 225) and chips—medium plus toast (CMPT at 3 months > 170) showed the highest levels of aromatic series, suggesting that alternative systems provided more powerful aromas than traditional systems, such as barrels—medium plus toast (BMPT at 3 months > 150). A principal component analysis (PCA), orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) analysis, and cluster analysis allowed for a clear differentiation to be made between red wines according to ageing systems and ageing times. The odour activity values fingerprint in winemaking is a feasible approach to characterise and distinguish wines. Moreover, OAVs provide important information on the effects of production methods on wine quality and aroma profile.

Most finite element models of small arms focus on an idealized barrel, typically one with a perfectly straight bore centerline. Using five different experimentally measured bore centerlines, this investigation analyzes the effect centerline nonlinearity has on projectile exit conditions. This includes the effect of rotating a centerline through several orientations. Modeled using Abaqus/Explicit, this dynamic analysis simulates a single firing cycle for each centerline. Projectile jump is calculated for each model as a measure of the effects of warped centerlines. The warped centerlines have a small effect on barrel dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inconsistency of the battery pack will cause the "barrel effect" when the battery pack is working. The battery with lower power will first reach the discharge cut-off condition, resulting in the battery pack not being fully discharged, reducing the battery utilization rate. This paper uses the state of charge (SOC) as an equilibrium variable and the forgetting factor recursive least square–extended Kalman filter (FFRLS-EKF) method to estimate the SOC. Using a balanced topology based on a bidirectional impact direct current (DC) converter, the energy transfer can occur between any battery and only between batteries that need to be balanced, increasing energy utilization and the effect of equalization. The equalization system is simulated under various conditions, which proves the effectiveness of the equalization control system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stability and accuracy of temperature control of the injection molding machine is one of the keys to determine the quality and appearance of plastic parts. Due to the temperature control system of water-cooled injection molding machine has the characteristics of coupling, nonlinearity, and hysteresis, the traditional proportion-integral-derivative (PID) method to control the barrel temperature of injection molding machine will yield temperature overshoot and oscillation, affecting the product and appearance quality. In order to improve the effect of barrel temperature control, in this paper, an expert adjustable fuzzy control strategy (EAFCA) is designed to optimize the barrel temperature control system through the combination of expert control, fuzzy control, and PID control. The expert control rules are designed according to the barrel temperature deviation e and its change rate ec. The expert rules are used to adjust the mapping range of the fuzzy universe in real time for the input and output variables of the fuzzy controller and finally to realize the accurate adjustment of the PID controller parameters. In terms of control systems, the distributed control system (DCS) monitoring system of injection molding machine is designed with Siemens CPU315-2PN/DP and industrial computer as the hardware core and Step7 and windows control center (WinCC) as the software platform to complete the tool plastic production monitoring system. The DCS improves the operability, data management convenience, and plastic production efficiency of the injection molding machine monitoring system. The Simulink simulation and field test show that the EAFCA method can increase the adjustment speed by approximately 34 s and reduce the overshoot by nearly 3.1%, which significantly improves the stability and accuracy of the barrel temperature and improves the quality of plastic parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Movable tactile sensors in the form of whiskers are present in most mammals, but sensory coding in the cortical whisker representation has been studied almost exclusively in mice and rats. Many species that possess whiskers lack the modular "barrel" organization found in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of mice and rats, but it is unclear how whisker-related input is represented in these species. We used single-unit extracellular recording techniques to characterize receptive fields and response properties in S1 of Monodelphis domestica (short-tailed opossum), a nocturnal, terrestrial marsupial that shared its last common ancestor with placental mammals over 160 million years ago. Short-tailed opossums lack barrels and septa in S1 but show active whisking behavior similar to that of mice and rats. Most neurons in short-tailed opossum S1 exhibited multiwhisker receptive fields, including a single best whisker (BW) and lower magnitude responses to the deflection of surrounding whiskers. Mean tuning width was similar to that reported for mice and rats. Both symmetrical and asymmetrical receptive fields were present. Neurons tuned to ventral whiskers tended to show broad tuning along the rostrocaudal axis. Thus, despite the absence of barrels, most receptive field properties were similar to those reported for mice and rats. However, unlike those species, S1 neuronal responses to BW and surround whisker deflection showed comparable latencies in short-tailed opossums. This dissimilarity suggests that some aspects of barrel cortex function may not generalize to tactile processing across mammalian species and may be related to differences in the architecture of the whisker-to-cortex pathway. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:3587-3613, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Microbiological and chemical contamination of oak barrels poses significant challenges in the wine ageing process. This study explores the Plasma Activated Water (PAW) as an innovative probable solution for cleaning oak wood of various origins. Although data demonstrated reductions in the culturable microbial populations of three wine spoilage microorganisms from the tested wood (American, French and Spanish with medium and plus toastings), this initial study was focused on physicochemical and sensorial parameters of wines. Importantly, wines aged with PAW-treated wood showed physicochemical parameters like those of traditional oak barrel ageing, maintaining colour and avoiding oxidation. Sensory analysis revealed high quality red wines with harmonious balance of fruity and spicy notes, comparable to those treated with sulphur, without significant differences between PAW generation methods. The results of this study highlight PAW as a promising and sustainable method that might be tested in the wine industry under industrial conditions. PAW could offer an effective approach to disinfecting oak wood, ensuring consistent wine quality without compromising sensory or physicochemical attributes. This research provides a valuable preliminary contribution to the scientific community and the wine industry, paving the way for the adoption of PAW as a cutting-edge technology in wine production. • PAW treatment of wood significantly could reduce spoilage microorganisms. • This concrete PAW treatment outperformed SO 2 in Brettanomyces inactivation. • Aging in PAW-treated wood gave rise to high sensorial quality red wines. • The results highlight PAW as possible cutting-edge technology for the wine industry. • PAW might ensure wine quality without compromising oenological attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nervous systems respond with structural changes to environmental changes even in adulthood. In recent years, experience-dependent structural plasticity was shown not to be restricted to the cerebral cortex, as it also occurs at subcortical and even peripheral levels. We have previously shown that two populations of trigeminal nuclei neurons, trigeminothalamic barrelette neurons of the principal nucleus (Pr5), and intersubnuclear neurons in the caudal division of the spinal trigeminal nucleus (Sp5C) that project to Pr5 underwent morphometric and topological changes in their dendritic trees after a prolonged total or partial loss of afferent input from the vibrissae. Here we examined whether and what structural alterations could be elicited in the dendritic trees of the same cell populations in young adult rats after being exposed for 2 months to an enriched environment (EE), and how these changes evolved when animals were returned to standard housing for an additional 2 months. Neurons were retrogradely labeled with BDA delivered to, respectively, the ventral posteromedial thalamic nucleus or Pr5. Fully labeled cells were digitally reconstructed with Neurolucida and analyzed with NeuroExplorer. EE gave rise to increases in dendritic length, number of trees and branching nodes, spatial expansion of the trees, and dendritic spines, which were less pronounced in Sp5C than in Pr5 and differed between sides. In Pr5, these parameters returned, but only partially, to control values after EE withdrawal. These results underscore a ubiquity of experience-dependent changes that should not be overlooked when interpreting neuroplasticity and developing plasticity-based therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin-coal-seam shearer mining efficiency is seriously restricted by the poor loading performance of the drum. The loading of the drum to the cracked coal lumps is based on a screw-conveying mechanism, and its loading performance is influenced by many structural parameters, including drum width, helical angle, axial tilt angle, number of blades and form and diameter of the barrel. The barrel diameter directly influences the drum envelope zone's capacity, and its influence on loading performance is not yet clear. Therefore, this work first compared the drum-loading results between experiments and numerical modeling, and the results proved that the application of the discrete element method (DEM) to the modeling drum loading process is feasible and the results are reliable. Secondly, the influence of barrel diameter on particles' axial velocity, loading rate and web depth was studied using the ejection and pushing modes. The results showed that the particles' axial velocity has a noticeable impact on loading rate under ejection loading conditions, and the loading rate first increases and then decreases with the increase in barrel diameter. When the diameter is less than 700 mm in drum-pushing modes, the particles' axial velocity plays an important role on drum loading; the filling level has an obvious impact on loading performance when the barrel diameter is larger than 700 mm. The drum loading ejection rate is 25% higher than that of pushing mode, which is due to the loading rate of particles located in a web depth from 300 to 600 mm. The influence of barrel diameter on loading performance using drum ejection is more obvious than that in pushing mode. The results provide a reference for drum structural design to some extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Economic Administrative & Legal Sciences is the property of Arab Journal of Sciences & Research Publishing (AJSRP) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As a new type of crude oil recovery and lifting equipment, a multistage self-compensating soft plunger pump, which is suitable for alkaline-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding oil wells, has advantages over conventional pumping equipment. Owing to the existence of a soft plunger-pump barrel pair clearance, the pump will inevitably leak under the influence of alternating load factors, and the leakage is the main parameter in its operation. To explore the coincident relationship between the leakage of a multistage self-compensating soft plunger pump and different calculation methods, a numerical simulation model of vertical annular slit flow between a self-compensating soft plunger and a pump barrel was proposed in the study. Through the use of the Euler-Lagrange equation to describe the displacement of interface between fluid and solid, unidirectional and bidirectional fluid-structure coupling methods were presented, and the leakage distribution of a multistage self-compensating soft piston pump was determined. At the same time, a theoretical calculation model of the leakage of a multistage self-compensating soft plunger pump was obtained on the basis of hydrodynamics and the mass conservation law. Theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental study were performed to explore the influence of parameters, including the structural parameter of soft plunger length and the differential pressure operation parameter, on leakage. Meanwhile, the data of unidirectional fluid-structure coupling, bidirectional fluid-structure coupling, and theoretical calculation were compared with test results, and the optimal calculation method was proposed. Results demonstrate that under different initial clearance conditions between the soft plunger and the cylinder pair, the leakage of the pump and the length of the soft plunger are negatively correlated, that is, the larger the length of the soft plunger is, the smaller the leakage is. The pump leakage increases with the increase in pressure difference, but the rate of change of the leakage decreases gradually, which is also reflected in the change in the volume efficiency of the soft piston pump. The leakage of the multistage soft piston pump calculated by numerical simulation of bidirectional fluid-structure coupling is in the highest agreement with the leakage calculated using the experimental test method, and the difference between the two methods is within the allowable range. Therefore, the bidirectional fluid-structure coupling method adopted in this study is effective in analyzing the pressure characteristics and leakage of the multistage soft plunger pump and the proposed method provides engineering application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mechanics & Advanced Technologies is the property of National Technical University of Ukraine KPI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The cortical subplate is critical in regulating the entry of thalamocortical sensory afferents into the cortex. These afferents reach the subplate at embryonic day (E)15.5 in the mouse, but "wait" for several days, entering the cortical plate postnatally. We report that when transcription factor LHX2 is lost in E11.5 cortical progenitors, which give rise to subplate neurons, thalamocortical afferents display premature, exuberant ingrowth into the E15.5 cortex. Embryonic mutant subplate neurons are correctly positioned below the cortical plate, but they display an altered transcriptome and immature electrophysiological properties during the waiting period. The sensory thalamus in these cortex-specific Lhx2 mutants displays atrophy and by postnatal day (P) 7, sensory innervation to the cortex is nearly eliminated leading to a loss of the somatosensory barrels. Strikingly, these phenotypes do not manifest if LHX2 is lost in postmitotic subplate neurons, and the transcriptomic dysregulation in the subplate resulting from postmitotic loss of LHX2 is vastly distinct from that seen when LHX2 is lost in progenitors. These results demonstrate a mechanism operating in subplate progenitors that has profound consequences on the growth of thalamocortical axons into the cortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of the addition of oak chips and barrel ageing on basic wine parameters and volatile compounds of Chardonnay wines has been studied. Chardonnay wines were obtained by the traditional wine-making process. Oak chips (4 g/L—non-toasted and light toasted) were added at the final stage of the winemaking process for ageing 1, 2 and 3 months, respectively. Also, the control wine was aged in non-toasted barrels for the same period of time. Following Liquid-liquid extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, alcohols, esters, fatty acids, lactones, and phenolic compounds were identified and quantified. The light toasted wine was clearly separated by phenolic compounds (vanillin, p-vinyl guaiacol and acetovanillone). The floral aroma supplied by 2-phenylethanol was slowly increased by ageing with odor activity values (OAV) higher in aged samples than control wine (1.07). The vanilla scent could be easily perceived in all aged samples, mainly for light toasted chip-treated samples with OAV values between 2.30 and 2.37. After 3 months, the volatile compounds of wine from non-toasted medium (chips and barrels) were almost similar from the volatile profile point of view. This could have economic and vinification management implications since oak barrels are expensive and the wine oak barrel aging is a long process. All wines studied in this research can provide a viable alternative to young varietal wines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A report published in 2016 by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) criticized studies that have been published regarding the discipline of firearm identification. This study was designed to answer some of these criticisms and involved 30 consecutively manufactured Beretta brand 9 mm Luger caliber barrels. This study had an "open set" design to help the discipline of firearm identification establish "Foundational Validity" which is outlined in the PCAST report. Seventy‐two qualified firearm examiners completed and submitted answers for this study that included 15 knowns and 20 unknowns. There were an additional 5 firearms with similar characteristics as the Beretta barrels that were also included as unknowns which provided "known non‐match" comparisons. Test sets were created using the random function in Microsoft Excel. Collaborative Testing Services (CTS) funded, facilitated, distributed the tests, and collected the answers from qualified firearm examiners throughout the United States and the world. Firearm examiners were able to complete the test of fired bullets with a low error rate. The error rate for the corrected data was 0.08% (1 in 1250) with the lower confidence interval as low as 0.01% (1 in 10,000) and the upper confidence interval being as high as 0.4% (1 in 250). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whiskers are important sensory organs that play a key role in rodents' discriminative and exploration behaviours and unilateral injuries of the somatosensory cortex related to whisker barrel cortex can change the activity of neurons in the intact contralateral barrel cortex. We evaluated the effects of unilateral mechanical lesion of right barrel cortex on novel texture discrimination in behavioural test and neuronal responses of left barrel cortex. Ten days after a unilateral mechanical lesion in the right barrel cortex, adult male rats were experimented regarding three paired different textures in novel texture discrimination test dependent on whiskers. In addition, responses of left barrel cortical neurons to controlled deflections of right whiskers were recorded using extracellular single-unit recordings technique. Data analysis showed that the discrimination ratio and preference indexes as criteria to find a novel texture significantly decreased in the lesion group compared to the intact rats (p <.05). In electrophysiological level, the barrel neural cortical spontaneous activity and the ON and OFF response magnitude of intact barrel cortex neurons in the lesion group decreased compared to the intact group (p <.05). The present study showed that unilateral mechanical lesion in the rats' barrel cortex cause a decrease in their abilities for discriminating textures, as well as, the anaesthetized rats whose response properties of intact barrel cortical area changed to whisker deflection, too. These changes can influence on the ability of rats to differentiate textures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correlated spontaneous activity plays critical role in the organization of neocortical circuits during development. However, cortical mechanisms regulating activity correlation are still elusive. In this study, using two-photon calcium imaging of the barrel cortex layer 4 (L4) in living neonatal mice, we found that NMDA receptors (NMDARs) in L4 neurons are important for enhancement of spontaneous activity correlation. Disruption of GluN1 (Grin1), an obligatory NMDAR subunit, in a sparse population of L4 neurons reduced activity correlation between GluN1 knock-out (GluN1KO) neuron pairs within a barrel. This reduction in activity correlation was even detected in L4 neuron pairs in neighboring barrels and most evident when either or both of neurons are located on the barrel edge. Our results provide evidence for the involvement of L4 neuron NMDARs in spatial organization of the spontaneous firing activity of L4 neurons in the neonatal barrel cortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stimulation of a single neuron in the rat somatosensory cortex can elicit a behavioral response. The probability of a behavioral response does not depend appreciably on the duration or intensity of a constant stimulation, whereas the response probability increases significantly upon injection of an irregular current. Biological mechanisms that can potentially suppress a constant input signal are present in the dynamics of both neurons and synapses and seem ideal candidates to explain these experimental findings. Here, we study a large network of integrate-and-fire neurons with several salient features of neuronal populations in the rat barrel cortex. The model includes cellular spike-frequency adaptation, experimentally constrained numbers and types of chemical synapses endowed with short-term plasticity, and gap junctions. Numerical simulations of this model indicate that cellular and synaptic adaptation mechanisms alone may not suffice to account for the experimental results if the local network activity is read out by an integrator. However, a circuit that approximates a differentiator can detect the single-cell stimulation with a reliability that barely depends on the length or intensity of the stimulus, but that increases when an irregular signal is used. This finding is in accordance with the experimental results obtained for the stimulation of a regularly-spiking excitatory cell. Author summary: It is widely assumed that only a large group of neurons can encode a stimulus or control behavior. This tenet of neuroscience has been challenged by experiments in which stimulating a single cortical neuron has had a measurable effect on an animal's behavior. Recently, theoretical studies have explored how a single-neuron stimulation could be detected in a large recurrent network. However, these studies missed essential biological mechanisms of cortical networks and are unable to explain more recent experiments in the barrel cortex. Here, to describe the stimulated brain area, we propose and study a network model endowed with many important biological features of the barrel cortex. Importantly, we also investigate different readout mechanisms, i.e. ways in which the stimulation effects can propagate to other brain areas. We show that a readout network which tracks rapid variations in the local network activity is in agreement with the experiments. Our model demonstrates a possible mechanism for how the stimulation of a single neuron translates into a signal at the population level, which is taken as a proxy of the animal's response. Our results illustrate the power of spiking neural networks to properly describe the effects of a single neuron's activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The axon initial segment (AIS) is a critical microdomain for action potential initiation and implicated in the regulation of neuronal excitability during activity-dependent plasticity. While structural AIS plasticity has been suggested to fine-tune neuronal activity when network states change, whether it acts in vivo as a homeostatic regulatory mechanism in behaviorally relevant contexts remains poorly understood. Using the mouse whisker-to-barrel pathway as a model system in combination with immunofluorescence, confocal analysis and electrophysiological recordings, we observed bidirectional AIS plasticity in cortical pyramidal neurons. Furthermore, we find that structural and functional AIS remodeling occurs in distinct temporal domains: Long-term sensory deprivation elicits an AIS length increase, accompanied with an increase in neuronal excitability, while sensory enrichment results in a rapid AIS shortening, accompanied by a decrease in action potential generation. Our findings highlight a central role of the AIS in the homeostatic regulation of neuronal input-output relations. The axon initial segment (AIS) is critical for action potential initiation and implicated in the regulation of neuronal excitability. The authors describe bidirectional AIS plasticity in a behaviourally relevant context, revealing that the AIS acts in vivo as a homeostatic regulatory domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Currently, there are two well-established methods of bowel lengthening in patients with short bowel syndrome (SBS)-longitudinal intestinal lengthening and tailoring (LILT) and serial transverse enteroplasty (STEP) [1–4]. Both procedures may carry a high reported morbidity and mortality of 30.2% and 14.4%, respectively [5]. We report the outcomes of a novel technique: double barrel enteroplasty (DBE) for autologous intestinal reconstruction. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all ten patients who underwent DBE at our institution since 2011. All patients have SBS and were dependent on parenteral nutrition (PN) at the time of surgery. Etiologies were gastroschisis (n = 4), bowel atresia (n = 3), necrotising enterocolitis (n = 1), volvulus (n = 1), and near-total intestinal aganglionosis (n = 1). Patient survival, complications, and subsequent enteral autonomy were evaluated. Results: All patients are alive with normal liver function. Five children achieved enteral autonomy, while the remaining are on weaning PN. There was no bleeding, anastomotic leak, perforation, infective complications, or intestinal necrosis. No patient has required a liver and/or intestinal transplant. Conclusions: Double barrel enteroplasty is technically feasible and safe. It has similar efficacy and may have fewer complications when compared with other methods of autologous intestinal reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brick barrel vault can be bonded basically according to three techniques depending on the arrangement of the bricks main planes: they can be radially orientated with respect to the vault axis (radial brick vault); they can be aligned with the vault surface (tile vault) or they can be vertical or slightly inclined, forming slices (vault by slices). The last two types do not require any formwork to be built. This work deals with the last case, vaults by slices, focusing on the study and comparison of two late nineteenth-century texts in France and Spain that go deeply into the geometry of this type of vault and still remain unstudied from this point of view: that of Choisy (Annales des Ponts et Chaussées 12: 439–449, 1876 and L'Art de bâtir chez les Byzantins. Librairie de la Société Anonyme de Publications Periodiques, Paris, 1883), who addresses the study of this type of vault in Byzantium, and that of Paredes (ca. 1883), who analyses the Spanish vault building tradition of this type in the region of Extremadura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporal patterns in giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta) spawning were compiled from 32 observations spanning 17 years and three Caribbean locations (Florida, Belize, and Haiti). The records were analyzed for patterns in seasonality, lunar periodicity, and diel rhythm to develop a predictive spawning window. Results indicate that spawning is concentrated from mid-April to late May. Most spawning events occurred around the first quarter moon; a smaller pulse occurred just before the third quarter moon. All spawning events were observed in the morning and fell within 779–987 min of the previous night's sunset. Eggs of X. muta were all negatively buoyant and blanketed the areas within and surrounding the sponge; this limited gamete dispersal may be the driver behind heavily localized genetic retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]