Unveiling the brain’s symphony:exploring the necessity and sufficiency of neural networks in behavior control

Since the pioneering work by Broca and Wernicke in the 19th century,who examined individuals with brain lesions to associate them with specific behaviors,it was evident that behaviors are complex and cannot be fully attributable to specific brain areas alone.Instead,they involve connectivity among brain areas,whether close or distant.At that time,this approach was considered the optimal way to dissect brain circuitry and function.These pioneering efforts opened the field to explore the necessity or sufficiency of brain areas in controlling behavior and hence dissecting brain function.However,the connectivity of the brain and the mechanisms through which various brain regions regulate specific behaviors,either individually or collaboratively,remain largely elusive.Utilizing animal models,researchers have endeavored to unravel the necessity or sufficiency of specific brain areas in influencing behavior;however,no clear associations have been firmly established.

Increased excitatory amino acid transporter 2 levels in basolateral amygdala astrocytes mediate chronic stress–induced anxiety-like behavior

The conventional perception of astrocytes as mere supportive cells within the brain has recently been called into question by empirical evidence, which has revealed their active involvement in regulating brain function and encoding behaviors associated with emotions.Specifically, astrocytes in the basolateral amygdala have been found to play a role in the modulation of anxiety-like behaviors triggered by chronic stress. Nevertheless, the precise molecular mechanisms by which basolateral amygdala astrocytes regulate chronic stress–induced anxiety-like behaviors remain to be fully elucidated. In this study, we found that in a mouse model of anxiety triggered by unpredictable chronic mild stress, the expression of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 was upregulated in the basolateral amygdala. Interestingly, our findings indicate that the targeted knockdown of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 specifically within the basolateral amygdala astrocytes was able to rescue the anxiety-like behavior in mice subjected to stress. Furthermore, we found that the overexpression of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 in the basolateral amygdala, whether achieved through intracranial administration of excitatory amino acid transporter 2agonists or through injection of excitatory amino acid transporter 2-overexpressing viruses with GfaABC1D promoters, evoked anxiety-like behavior in mice. Our single-nucleus RNA sequencing analysis further confirmed that chronic stress induced an upregulation of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 specifically in astrocytes in the basolateral amygdala. Moreover, through in vivo calcium signal recordings, we found that the frequency of calcium activity in the basolateral amygdala of mice subjected to chronic stress was higher compared with normal mice.After knocking down the expression of excitatory amino acid transporter 2 in the basolateral amygdala, the frequency of calcium activity was not significantly increased, and anxiety-like behavior was obviously mitigated. Additionally, administration of an excitatory amino acid transporter 2 inhibitor in the basolateral amygdala yielded a notable reduction in anxiety level among mice subjected to stress. These results suggest that basolateral amygdala astrocytic excitatory amino acid transporter 2 plays a role in in the regulation of unpredictable chronic mild stress-induced anxiety-like behavior by impacting the activity of local glutamatergic neurons, and targeting excitatory amino acid transporter 2 in the basolateral amygdala holds therapeutic promise for addressing anxiety disorders.

Rigid-Plastic Dynamic Response of Reinforced Concrete Bridge Pier Impacted by Automobile

Bridge piers are impacted by autos sometimes. The pier usually has not been destroyed after once impact by auto. But there are few research on damage which will affect pier's capability, and most relative studies have focused the problems on piers impacted by vessels. The methods involve mainly sutra experience theory, numerical analysis, and experimental method. Owing to the complicacy of the bridge pier impacted by a vessel, there are few research derived with the sutra mechanics model and the piers impacted by autos. The dynamic response is studied here under the assumption of the rigid-plastic small-deformation for the pier impacted by auto. According to the Parkes beam model, the rigid-plastic theoretical solution is deduced. The final deformation is calculated by a practical example for the pier impacted by auto.

EFFECT OF WALL SLIP ON SQUEEZE FLOW OF RIGID-PLASTIC MEDIA BETWEEN PARALLEL DISK

The squeeze flow of a rigid-plastic medium between parallel disks is considered for small gaps with partial wall slip. The stress distribution and the squeeze force between parallel disks of a rigid-plastic medium with the following four diferent slip boundary conditions are obtained. (1) The Coulombic friction condition is applied, and the stress distribution on the wall is derived, which is linear or exponential distribution in the no-slip area or slip area. (2) It is assumed that the slip velocity at the disks increases linearly with the radius up to the rim slip velocity, with the stress distribution and the squeeze force gained. (3) The assumption that the slip velocity at the disks is related to the shear stress component is used, with the stress distribution and the squeeze force obtained, which is equivalent to the result given in (2). (4) Rational velocity components are introduced, and the stress distribution is satisfed.

Three-Dimensional Rigid-Plastic FEM Simulation of Bulk Forming Processes with New Contact and Remeshing Techniques

Some techniques such as die surface description, contact judgement algorithm and remeshing are proposed to improve the robustness of the numerical solution. Based on these techniques, a three-dimensional rigid-plastic FEM code has been developed. Isothermal forging process of a cylindrical housing has been simulated. The simulation results show that the given techniques and the FEM code are reasonable and feasible for three-dimensional bulk forming processes.

ADAPTIVE RIGID-PLASTIC MESHLESS GALERKIN METHOD AND ITS APPLICATION IN ANALYSIS OF EXTRUSION PROCESSES

Under the hypothesis of the rigid-plastic material, specific efforts are placed on the developments of the key simulation techniques of the meshless Galerkin method because of the complexity of the deformation process as well as the generality and atomization of the simulation procedures for non-steady state large deformation plastic processes, therefore, an adaptive rigid meshless Galerkin method is developed. The influence domain control method is used in the least square approximation by dynamic evaluation of the magnitude of the influence domain and the effective control of the amount and the positions of the points in the least square approximation in order to improve approximation precision. The amount of the Gauss integration points in the discrete domain is maintained in a considerable magnitude in order to ensure the integration precision in the discrete domain. The length of the frictional boundary of the plastic deformation process may be getting longer when its deforma- tion is getting severe. Thus, the densities of the boundary points of some places get lower. The adaptive boundary points setting method is employed to improve the approximation precision of the boundary points and enhance the constraint of the boundary condition by adaptive control of boundary point density. Some typical extrusion processes are analyzed, detail simulation results such as the deformation field, velocity field, effective strain field, effective strain rate field, the volume loss curve and load-stroke curve are obtained. The effectiveness of the method developed is demonstrated and the precision of the meshless simulation is proved by overall comparison with the results obtained by using the commercial software deform.

A Numerical Method for Rigid-plastic FEM Analysis Basing on Mathematical Programming

The rigid-plastic analysis of mental forming simulation is formulated as a discrete nonlinear mathematical programming problem with equality and inequality constraints by means of the finite element technique. An iteration algorithm is used to solve this formulation, which distinguishes the integration points of the rigid zones and the plastic zones and solves a series of the quadratic programming to overcome the difficulties caused by the nonsmoothness and the nonlinearity of the objective function. This method has been used to carry out the rigid-plastic FEM analysis. An example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method.

RIGID-PLASTIC/RIGID-VISCOPLASTIC FEM BASED ON LINEAR PROGRAMMING-THEORETICAL MODELING AND APPLICATION FOR PLANE-STRAIN PROBLEMS

A new rigid-plastic/rigid-viscoplastic (RP/RVP) FEM based on linearprogramming (LP) for plane-strain metal forming simulation is proposed. Compared with thetraditional RP/RVP FEM based on iteration solution, it has some remarkable advantages, such a it'sfree of convergence problem and its convenience in contact, incompressibility constraint and rigidzone treatment. Two solution examples are provided to validate its accuracy and efficiency.

Study on Remeshing Technique for Three-Dimensional Rigid-plastic Finite Element Simulation

A new method of three-dimensional remeshing is proposed for rigid-plastic finiteelement analysis of a complicated forging process.The forging process of a cylindricalhousing has been simulated to show the effectiveness of the scheme.The result ofsimulation shows that the computation can be effectively carried out by using the des-cribed remeshing scheme.

Influence of heat treatment on microstructure,mechanical and corrosion behavior of WE43 alloy fabricated by laser-beam powder bed fusion

Magnesium(Mg)alloys are considered to be a new generation of revolutionary medical metals.Laser-beam powder bed fusion(PBF-LB)is suitable for fabricating metal implants withpersonalized and complicated structures.However,the as-built part usually exhibits undesirable microstructure and unsatisfactory performance.In this work,WE43 parts were firstly fabricated by PBF-LB and then subjected to heat treatment.Although a high densification rate of 99.91%was achieved using suitable processes,the as-built parts exhibited anisotropic and layeredmicrostructure with heterogeneously precipitated Nd-rich intermetallic.After heat treatment,fine and nano-scaled Mg24Y5particles were precipitated.Meanwhile,theα-Mg grainsunderwent recrystallization and turned coarsened slightly,which effectively weakened thetexture intensity and reduced the anisotropy.As a consequence,the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were significantly improved to(250.2±3.5)MPa and(312±3.7)MPa,respectively,while the elongation was still maintained at a high level of 15.2%.Furthermore,the homogenized microstructure reduced the tendency of localized corrosion and favoredthe development of uniform passivation film.Thus,the degradation rate of WE43 parts was decreased by an order of magnitude.Besides,in-vitro cell experiments proved their favorable biocompatibility.

BCCLR:A Skeleton-Based Action Recognition with Graph Convolutional Network Combining Behavior Dependence and Context Clues

In recent years,skeleton-based action recognition has made great achievements in Computer Vision.A graph convolutional network(GCN)is effective for action recognition,modelling the human skeleton as a spatio-temporal graph.Most GCNs define the graph topology by physical relations of the human joints.However,this predefined graph ignores the spatial relationship between non-adjacent joint pairs in special actions and the behavior dependence between joint pairs,resulting in a low recognition rate for specific actions with implicit correlation between joint pairs.In addition,existing methods ignore the trend correlation between adjacent frames within an action and context clues,leading to erroneous action recognition with similar poses.Therefore,this study proposes a learnable GCN based on behavior dependence,which considers implicit joint correlation by constructing a dynamic learnable graph with extraction of specific behavior dependence of joint pairs.By using the weight relationship between the joint pairs,an adaptive model is constructed.It also designs a self-attention module to obtain their inter-frame topological relationship for exploring the context of actions.Combining the shared topology and the multi-head self-attention map,the module obtains the context-based clue topology to update the dynamic graph convolution,achieving accurate recognition of different actions with similar poses.Detailed experiments on public datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves better results and realizes higher quality representation of actions under various evaluation protocols compared to state-of-the-art methods.

DEEP-DRAWING PROCESS ANALYSIS OF ELLIPTIC CUPS BY RIGID-PLASTIC FEM

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ANALYSIS OF THE LARGE DEFLECTION DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF RIGID-PLASTIC CIRCULAR PLATE RESTING ON FLUID

A study is presented for the large deflection dynamic response of rigid- plastic circular plate resting on potential fluid under a rectangular pressure pulse load. By virtue of Hankel integral transform technique,this interaction problem is reduced to a problem of dynamic plastic response of the plate in vacuum.The closed-form solutions are derived for both middle and high pressure loads by solving the equations of motion with the large deflection in the range where both bending moments and membrane forces are important.Some numerical results are given.

Integrated ribosome and proteome analyses reveal insights into sevoflurane-induced long-term social behavior and cognitive dysfunctions through ADNP inhibition in neonatal mice

A growing number of studies have demonstrated that repeated exposure to sevoflurane during development results in persistent social abnormalities and cognitive impairment.Davunetide,an active fragment of the activity-dependent neuroprotective protein(ADNP),has been implicated in social and cognitive protection.However,the potential of davunetide to attenuate social deficits following sevoflurane exposure and the underlying developmental mechanisms remain poorly understood.In this study,ribosome and proteome profiles were analyzed to investigate the molecular basis of sevoflurane-induced social deficits in neonatal mice.The neuropathological basis was also explored using Golgi staining,morphological analysis,western blotting,electrophysiological analysis,and behavioral analysis.Results indicated that ADNP was significantly down-regulated following developmental exposure to sevoflurane.In adulthood,anterior cingulate cortex(ACC)neurons exposed to sevoflurane exhibited a decrease in dendrite number,total dendrite length,and spine density.Furthermore,the expression levels of Homer,PSD95,synaptophysin,and vglut2 were significantly reduced in the sevoflurane group.Patch-clamp recordings indicated reductions in both the frequency and amplitude of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents(mEPSCs).Notably,davunetide significantly ameliorated the synaptic defects,social behavior deficits,and cognitive impairments induced by sevoflurane.Mechanistic analysis revealed that loss of ADNP led to dysregulation of Ca^(2+)activity via the Wnt/β-catenin signaling,resulting in decreased expression of synaptic proteins.Suppression of Wnt signaling was restored in the davunetide-treated group.Thus,ADNP was identified as a promising therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of neurodevelopmental toxicity caused by general anesthetics.This study provides important insights into the mechanisms underlying social and cognitive disturbances caused by sevoflurane exposure in neonatal mice and elucidates the regulatory pathways involved.

Association of preschool children behavior and emotional problems with the parenting behavior of both parents

BACKGROUND Parental behaviors are key in shaping children’s psychological and behavioral development,crucial for early identification and prevention of mental health issues,reducing psychological trauma in childhood.AIM To investigate the relationship between parenting behaviors and behavioral and emotional issues in preschool children.METHODS From October 2017 to May 2018,7 kindergartens in Ma’anshan City were selected to conduct a parent self-filled questionnaire-Health Development Survey of Preschool Children.Children’s Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire(Parent Version)was applied to measures the children’s behavioral and emotional performance.Parenting behavior was evaluated using the Parental Behavior Inventory.Binomial logistic regression model was used to analyze the association between the detection rate of preschool children’s behavior and emotional problems and their parenting behaviors.RESULTS High level of parental support/participation was negatively correlated with conduct problems,abnormal hyperactivity,abnormal total difficulty scores and abnormal prosocial behavior problems.High level of maternal support/participation was negatively correlated with abnormal emotional symptoms and abnormal peer interaction in children.High level of parental hostility/coercion was positively correlated with abnormal emotional symptoms,abnormal conduct problems,abnormal hyperactivity,abnormal peer interaction,and abnormal total difficulty scores in children(all P<0.05).Moreover,paternal parenting behaviors had similarly effects on behavior and emotional problems of preschool children compared with maternal parenting behaviors(all P>0.05),after calculating ratio of odds ratio values.CONCLUSION Our study found that parenting behaviors are associated with behavioral and emotional issues in preschool children.Overall,the more supportive or involved the parents are,the fewer behavioral and emotional problems the children experience;conversely,the more hostile or controlling the parents are,the more behavioral and emotional problems the children face.Moreover,the impact of fathers’parenting behaviors on preschool children’s behavior and emotions is no less significant than that of mothers’parenting behaviors.

Shear behavior of single-joint bolted sandstone subjected to dryewet cycles:Experimental and analytical approaches

A series of direct shear tests under constant normal loading conditions were carried out on specimens of bolted sandstone single-joint treated with different numbers of dryewet cycles.The experimental results show that the peak shear strength and shear stiffness of bolted sandstone joints were significantly reduced after 12 dryewet cycles.The decrease in the shear strength of rough joints is more significant than that of flat joints.Due to the decrease in the strength of the surrounding rock,the deformation characteristics of the bolts are significantly affected by the number of dryewet cycles performed.With an increase in the number of dryewet cycles,the plastic hinge length of the bolt gradually increases,resulting in an increase in the corresponding shear displacement when the bolt breaks.Compared with the tensileeshear failure mode of the bolts in flat joints,the tensileebending failure mode arises for bolts in rough joints.A shear curve model describing the whole process of bolted rock joints is established based on the deterioration of rock mechanical parameters caused by dry‒wet cycles.The model proposed considers the change in the friction angle of the joint surface with the shear displacement,which is applied to the derivation of the model by introducing the dynamic evolutionary friction angle parameter.The reasonably good agreement between a predicted curve and the corresponding experimental curve indicates that this method can effectively predict the shear strength of a bolted rock joint involving rough joint under dryewet cycling conditions.

Microstructures and micromechanical behaviors of high -entropy alloys investigated by synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques: A review

High-entropy alloys(HEAs)possess outstanding features such as corrosion resistance,irradiation resistance,and good mechan-ical properties.A few HEAs have found applications in the fields of aerospace and defense.Extensive studies on the deformation mech-anisms of HEAs can guide microstructure control and toughness design,which is vital for understanding and studying state-of-the-art structural materials.Synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction are necessary techniques for materials science research,especially for in situ coupling of physical/chemical fields and for resolving macro/microcrystallographic information on materials.Recently,several re-searchers have applied synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction methods to study the deformation mechanisms,phase transformations,stress behaviors,and in situ processes of HEAs,such as variable-temperature,high-pressure,and hydrogenation processes.In this review,the principles and development of synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction are presented,and their applications in the deformation mechanisms of HEAs are discussed.The factors that influence the deformation mechanisms of HEAs are also outlined.This review fo-cuses on the microstructures and micromechanical behaviors during tension/compression or creep/fatigue deformation and the application of synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction methods to the characterization of dislocations,stacking faults,twins,phases,and intergrain/interphase stress changes.Perspectives on future developments of synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction and on research directions on the deformation mechanisms of novel metals are discussed.

PCDH17 restricts dendritic spine morphogenesis by regulating ROCK2-dependent control of the actin cytoskeleton,modulating emotional behavior

Proper regulation of synapse formation and elimination is critical for establishing mature neuronal circuits and maintaining brain function.Synaptic abnormalities,such as defects in the density and morphology of postsynaptic dendritic spines,underlie the pathology of various neuropsychiatric disorders.Protocadherin 17(PCDH17)is associated with major mood disorders,including bipolar disorder and depression.However,the molecular mechanisms by which PCDH17 regulates spine number,morphology,and behavior remain elusive.In this study,we found that PCDH17 functions at postsynaptic sites,restricting the number and size of dendritic spines in excitatory neurons.Selective overexpression of PCDH17 in the ventral hippocampal CA1 results in spine loss and anxiety-and depression-like behaviors in mice.Mechanistically,PCDH17 interacts with actin-relevant proteins and regulates actin filament(F-actin)organization.Specifically,PCDH17 binds to ROCK2,increasing its expression and subsequently enhancing the activity of downstream targets such as LIMK1 and the phosphorylation of cofilin serine-3(Ser3).Inhibition of ROCK2 activity with belumosudil(KD025)ameliorates the defective F-actin organization and spine structure induced by PCDH17 overexpression,suggesting that ROCK2 mediates the effects of PCDH17 on F-actin content and spine development.Hence,these findings reveal a novel mechanism by which PCDH17 regulates synapse development and behavior,providing pathological insights into the neurobiological basis of mood disorders.

Snap-through behaviors and nonlinear vibrations of a bistable composite laminated cantilever shell:an experimental and numerical study

The snap-through behaviors and nonlinear vibrations are investigated for a bistable composite laminated cantilever shell subjected to transversal foundation excitation based on experimental and theoretical approaches.An improved experimental specimen is designed in order to satisfy the cantilever support boundary condition,which is composed of an asymmetric region and a symmetric region.The symmetric region of the experimental specimen is entirely clamped,which is rigidly connected to an electromagnetic shaker,while the asymmetric region remains free of constraint.Different motion paths are realized for the bistable cantilever shell by changing the input signal levels of the electromagnetic shaker,and the displacement responses of the shell are collected by the laser displacement sensors.The numerical simulation is conducted based on the established theoretical model of the bistable composite laminated cantilever shell,and an off-axis three-dimensional dynamic snap-through domain is obtained.The numerical solutions are in good agreement with the experimental results.The nonlinear stiffness characteristics,dynamic snap-through domain,and chaos and bifurcation behaviors of the shell are quantitatively analyzed.Due to the asymmetry of the boundary condition and the shell,the upper stable-state of the shell exhibits an obvious soft spring stiffness characteristic,and the lower stable-state shows a linear stiffness characteristic of the shell.

Impact of parenting styles on preschoolers’behaviors

In this editorial,I comment on the article“Association of preschool children behavior and emotional problems with the parenting behavior of both parents”which was published in the latest issue of“World Journal of Clinical Cases”that demonstrates the prevalence of behavioral disorders in preschool children.Therefore I am focused on parenting which is the most effective factor shown to affect the development and continuity of these behaviors.The management of child behavior problems is crucial.Children in early ages,especially preschoolers who are in the first 5 years of life,are influenced by dramatic changes in various aspects of development,such as social,emotional,and physical.Also,children experience many changes linked to different developmental tasks,such as discovering themselves,getting new friendships,and adapting to a new environment.In this period,parents have a critical role in supporting child development.If parents do not manage and overcome their child’s misbehavior,it could be transformed into psychosocial problems in adulthood.Parenting is the most powerful predictor in the social development of preschool children.Several studies have shown that to reduce the child’s emotional and behavioral problems,a warm relationship between parents and children is needed.In addition,recent studies have demonstrated significant relationships between family regulation factors and parenting,as well as with child behaviors.