The barrel cortex contains the somatosensory representation of the whiskers on the face of the rodent and forms an early stage of cortical processing for tactile information. It is an area of great importance for understanding how the cerebral cortex works because the cortical columns that form the basic building blocks of the cerebral cortex can be seen within the barrel cortex. In this advanced graduate and research level text, Kevin Fox explores three main aspects of the barrel cortex: development, sensory processing and plasticity. Initial chapters introduce the topic, describing those...

The Materials Science and Technology 2009 Conference and Exhibition (MS&T'09) was held October 25-29, 2009, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A major theme of the conference was Environmental and Energy Issues. Papers from three of the symposia held under that theme are included in this volume. These symposia include Materials Solutions for the Nuclear Renaissance; Green Engineering and Environmental Stewardship; and Nanotechnology for Energy. These symposia included a variety of presentations with sessions focused on sustainable energy, photovoltaics, nanowires and composites, energy harvesting,...

This book is a collection of papers from The American Ceramic Society's 35th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, held in Daytona Beach, Florida, January 23-28, 2011. This issue includes papers presented in the Ceramics for Electric Energy Generation, Storage and Distribution; Advanced Ceramics and Composites for Nuclear and Fusion Applications; and Advanced Materials and Technologies for Rechargeable Batteries symposia.