A three-sector endogenous growth model with combined technological change : the choice between basic innovations and quality improvements

Abstract not availableeconomics of technology ;

Heterogeneous responses of nucleus incertus neurons to corticotrophin-releasing factor and coherent activity with hippocampal theta rhythm in the rat

The nucleus incertus (NI) of the rat hindbrain is a putative node in the ascending control of the septohippocampal system and hippocampal theta rhythm and is stress and arousal responsive. NI contains GABA neurons that express multiple neuropeptides, including relaxin-3 (RLN3) and neuropeptide receptors, including corticotrophin-releasing factor receptor-1 (CRF-R1), but the precise anatomical and physiological characteristics of NI neurons are unclear. Therefore, we examined the firing properties of NI neurons and their responses to CRF, the correlation of these responses with occurrence of relaxin-3, and NI neuron morphology in the rat. Most NI neurons excited by intracerebroventricular CRF infusion were RLN3-positive (9 of 10), whereas all inhibited cells were RLN3-negative (8 of 8). The spontaneous firing of RLN3 (n= 6) but not non-RLN3 neurons (n= 6) was strongly modulated and phase-locked with the initial ascending phase of hippocampal theta oscillations. In brain slices, the majority of recorded NI neurons (15 of 19) displayed excitatory responses to CRF, which uniformly increased action potential frequency and membrane potential depolarization in the presence of tetrodotoxin, indicating a direct, postsynaptic action of CRF on NI neurons. This excitation was associated with reduction in the slow component of afterhyperpolarization and a strong depolarization. Quantitative analysis in naïve rats of validated CRF-R1, RLN3 and neuronal nuclear antigen (NeuN) immunoreactivity revealed 52% of NI neurons as CRF-R1 positive, of which 53% were RLN3 positive, while 48% of NI neurons lacked CRF-R1 and RLN3. All RLN3 neurons expressed CRF-R1. CRF neurons that projected to the NI were identified in lateral preoptic hypothalamus, but not in paraventricular hypothalamus, bed nucleus of stria terminalis or central amygdala. Our findings suggest NI is an important site for CRF modulation of hippocampal theta rhythm via effects on GABA/RLN3 transmission

Principais dúvidas das mulheres sobre câncer de colo de útero e mama: revisão de escopo

Mapear as principais dúvidas das mulheres a respeito da prevenção do câncer de colo de útero e mama no contexto mundial

The physics of fault friction: Insights from experiments on simulated gouges at low shearing velocities

The strength properties of fault rocks at shearing rates spanning the transition from crystal-plastic flow to frictional slip play a central role in determining the distribution of crustal stress, strain, and seismicity in tectonically active regions. We review experimental and microphysical modelling work, which is aimed at elucidating the processes that control the transition from pervasive ductile flow of fault rock to rate-and-state-dependent frictional (RSF) slip and to runaway rupture, carried out at Utrecht University in the past 2 decades or so. We address shear experiments on simulated gouges composed of calcite, halite-phyllosilicate mixtures, and phyllosilicate-quartz mixtures performed under laboratory conditions spanning the brittle-ductile transition. With increasing shear rate (or decreasing temperature), the results consistently show transitions from (1) stable velocity-strengthening (v-strengthening) behaviour, to potentially unstable v-weakening behaviour, and (2) back to v strengthening. Sample microstructures show that the first transition seen at low shear rates and/or high temperatures represents a switch from pervasive, fully ductile deformation to frictional sliding involving dilatant granular flow in localized shear bands where intergranular slip is incompletely accommodated by creep of individual mineral grains. A recent microphysical model, which treats fault rock deformation as controlled by competition between ratesensitive (diffusional or crystal-plastic) deformation of individual grains and rate-insensitive sliding interactions between grains (granular flow), predicts both transitions well. Unlike classical RSF approaches, this model quantitatively reproduces a wide range of (transient) frictional behaviours using input parameters with direct physical meaning, with the latest progress focusing on incorporation of dynamic weakening processes characterizing co-seismic fault rupture. When implemented in numerical codes for crustal fault slip, the model offers a single unified framework for understanding slip patch nucleation and growth to critical (seismogenic) dimensions, as well as for simulating the entire seismic cycle. Applied Geophysics and Petrophysic