We use confocal microscopy and time-resolved light scattering to investigate plasticity in a colloidal polycrystal, following the evolution of the network of grain boundaries as the sample is submitted to thousands of shear deformation cycles. The grain boundary motion is found to be ballistic, with a velocity distribution function exhibiting nontrivial power law tails. The shear-induced dynami...

Consistent evidence from pharmacological and genetic studies shows that cAMP is a critical modulator of synaptic plasticity and memory formation. However, the potential of the cAMP signaling pathway as a target for memory enhancement remains unclear because of contradictory findings from pharmacological and genetic approaches. To address these issues, we have developed a novel conditional genet...

Cyclic AMP (cAMP) and its main effector Protein Kinase A (PKA) are critical for several aspects of neuronal function including synaptic plasticity. Specificity of synaptic plasticity requires that cAMP activates PKA in a highly localized manner despite the speed with which cAMP diffuses. Two mechanisms have been proposed to produce localized elevations in cAMP, known as microdomains: impeded di...

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the stiffness of soils under cyclic loading at small and medium strain level. The influence of some important factors on the shear modulus of soils such as: the strain level, the plasticity index and the mean effective stress are discussed in detail. Behaviour of different kind of soils is also compared based on available laboratory data includin...