The one-to-one relationship between whiskers, barrels, and barrel columns described for rat barrel cortex demonstrates that the organization of cortical function adheres to topographical and columnar principles. Supporting evidence is typically based on a single or few whiskers being stimulated, although behaving rats rely on the use of all their whiskers. Less is known about the cortical respo...

This study tested the hypothesis that the receptive fields (RFs) of neurons in the adult sensory cortex are shaped by the recent history of sensory experience. Sensory experience was altered by a brief period of "whisker pairing": whiskers D2 and either D1 or D3 were left intact, while all other whiskers on the right side of the face were trimmed close to the fur. The animals were anesthetized ...

The role of facial vibrissae (whiskers) in the behavior of terrestrial mammals is principally as a supplement or substitute for short-distance vision. Each whisker in the array functions as a mechanical transducer, conveying forces applied along the shaft to mechanoreceptors in the follicle at the whisker base. Subsequent processing of mechanoreceptor output in the trigeminal nucleus and somato...

Temperature dependencies of GaSb whiskers' resistance doped with Te to concentration of 1.7 × 1018 cm-3 were measured in temperature range 1.5-300 K. At 4.2 K temperature, a sharp drop in the whisker resistance was found. The observed effect is likely connected with the contribution of two processes such as the electron localization in the whiskers and transition in superconducting state at tem...

The vapor—liquid—solid growth of Si whiskers from disilane has been studied in a gas source MBE system. The wire-like Si crystals are grown on Si(1 1 1) substrates in a temperature range of 600—800°C, a disilane pressure between 1]10~4 and 1]10~7 Torr, and using Au as a growth-promoting agent. The morphology of the Si whiskers is investigated. It is found that the growth rate of the vertical wi...

The magnetization and magnetoresistance of Si whiskers doped with to boron concentrations corresponding to the metal-insulator transition (2 × 1018 cm-3 ÷ 5 × 1018 cm-3) were measured at high magnetic fields up to 14 T in a wide temperature range 4.2-300 K. Hysteresis of the magnetic moment was observed for Si p-type whiskers with nickel impurity in a wide temperature range 4.2-300 K in...

The ultralong strontium- (Sr-) substituted hydroxyapatite (SrHAp) whiskers were successfully prepared using acetamide as homogeneous precipitation reagent. The effect of the Sr substitution amount on the lattice constants and proliferation of human osteoblast cells (MG-63) was further investigated. The results showed that the SrHAp whiskers with diameter of 0.2-12 μm and ultralong length up to ...

Calcium hydroxyapatite (HA) whiskers and crystals were produced by the route of molten salt synthesis. The effects on whisker morphology of chosen flux, flux-to-HA ratio, synthesis temperature, and reaction time were investigated. The thermal stabilities of the produced whiskers were tested at 1300°C in an air atmosphere. A tentative X-ray diffraction pattern was proposed for the HA whiskers. M...

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) was reinforced with 0-40 vol% hydroxyapatite (HA) whiskers using a novel powder processing and compression molding technique. A powder mixture was uniaxially pressed into a composite powder compact and compression molded into a flat composite bar using an open-channel die, such that the HA whiskers exhibited a preferred orientation along the length of the bar and ten...

The effect of innocuously biasing the flow of sensory activity from the whiskers for periods of 3-30 d in awake, behaving adult rats on the receptive field organization of rat SI barrel cortex neurons was studied. One pair of adjacent whiskers, D2 and either D1 or D3, remained intact unilaterally (whisker pairing), all others being trimmed throughout the period of altered sensation. Receptive f...