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The interaction of an elastic structure such as an airfoil and fluid flow can give rise to nonlinear phenomenon such as limit cycle oscillations, period doubling or chaos. These phenomena are indicated by a change in the stability behaviour of the dynamical known as bifurcations. Presence of viscous effects in the fluid flow can give rise to flow separation which causes a stability change in the system that is identified to happen via a Hopf bifurcation. In such cases, the airfoil exhibits limit cycle oscillations which are torsionally dominant, known as stall flutter. Despite identifying the route to stall flutter under uniform flow conditions, investigating a stall problem under stochastic wind has received minimal attention. The ability of fluctuating flows to change the stability boundaries and disrupt the route to flutter, compels the need to carry out a stochastic analysis of stalling airfoils. Study of stall flutter in such systems under the influence of a time varying sinusoidal gust is undertaken and the route to flutter is identified by carrying out a stochastic bifurcation analysis.

Understanding sex differences in disease prevalence is critical to public health, particularly in the context of alcohol use disorder (AUD). The goal of this study was to understand sex differences in ethanol drinking behavior and define the precise conditions under which sex differences emerge. Consistent with prior work, C57BL/6J females drank more than males under continuous access two-bottle choice conditions. However, using ethanol self-administration - where an operant response results in access to an ethanol sipper for a fixed time period - we found no sex differences in operant response rates or ethanol consumption (volume per body weight consumed, as well as lick behavior). This remained true across a wide range of parameters including acquisition, when the ethanol sipper access period was manipulated, and when the concentration of the ethanol available was scaled. The only sex differences observed were in total ethanol consumption, which was explained by differences in body weight between males and females, rather than by sex differences in motivation to drink. Using dimensionality reduction approaches, we found that drinking behavior in the operant context did not cluster by sex, but rather clustered by high and low drinking phenotypes. Interestingly, these high and low drinking phenotypes in the operant context showed no correlation with those same categorizations in the home cage context within the same animals. These data underscore the complexity of sex differences in ethanol consumption, highlighting the important role that drinking conditions/context plays in the expression of these differences., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Substance use disorder is characterized by long-lasting changes in reward-related brain regions, such as the nucleus accumbens. Previous work has shown that cocaine exposure induces plasticity in broad, genetically defined cell types in the nucleus accumbens; however, in response to a stimulus, only a small percentage of neurons are transcriptionally active-termed an ensemble. Here, we identify an Arc-expressing neuronal ensemble that has a unique trajectory of recruitment and causally controls drug self-administration after repeated, but not acute, cocaine exposure., Methods: Using Arc-CreER T2 transgenic mice, we expressed transgenes in Arc+ ensembles activated by cocaine exposure (either acute [1 × 10 mg/kg intraperitoneally] or repeated [10 × 10 mg/kg intraperitoneally]). Using genetic, optical, and physiological recording and manipulation strategies, we assessed the contribution of these ensembles to behaviors associated with substance use disorder., Results: Repeated cocaine exposure reduced the size of the ensemble while simultaneously increasing its control over behavior. Neurons within the repeated cocaine ensemble were hyperexcitable, and their optogenetic excitation was sufficient for reinforcement. Finally, lesioning the repeated cocaine, but not the acute cocaine, ensemble blunted cocaine self-administration. Thus, repeated cocaine exposure reduced the size of the ensemble while simultaneously increasing its contributions to drug reinforcement., Conclusions: We showed that repeated, but not acute, cocaine exposure induced a physiologically distinct ensemble characterized by the expression of the immediate early gene Arc, which was uniquely capable of modulating reinforcement behavior., (Copyright © 2024 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

At the core of value-based learning is the nucleus accumbens (NAc). D1- and D2-receptor-containing medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the NAc core are hypothesized to have opposing valence-based roles in behavior. Using optical imaging and manipulation approaches in mice, we show that neither D1 nor D2 MSNs signal valence. D1 MSN responses were evoked by stimuli regardless of valence or contingency. D2 MSNs were evoked by both cues and outcomes, were dynamically changed with learning, and tracked valence-free prediction error at the population and individual neuron level. Finally, D2 MSN responses to cues were necessary for associative learning. Thus, D1 and D2 MSNs work in tandem, rather than in opposition, by signaling specific properties of stimuli to control learning., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)