Temporal Limits Research Articles

The Effect of Technical Specifications on Ceramic Tiles used for Cladding of Swimming Pools

The study of the impact of the technical specifications of ceramic tiles requires a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the tiles in order to obtain tiles with special specifications different from ordinary tiles (floors, walls) The research was divided into three chapters and due to the importance of this topic, the researcher wanted to formulate the research issue with the following question: How important are the technical specifications of ceramic tiles used in cladding swimming pools? Relevance: While the importance of the research study is embodied by studying the efficiency of the technical specifications for ceramic tiles, in addition to documenting and enriching the knowledge aspect of the technical specifications. Objectives: While the current study aims to reveal the extent to which the technical specifications of the ceramic tiles used in the cladding of swimming pools are, As for the limits of the research, it was determined through the objective aspect by studying the importance of the technical specifications of ceramic tiles used in the cladding of swimming pools, while the limits of the research included the spatial limit of swimming pools through photographs and the temporal limit of the time period 2014-2024. Methods: The second chapter included the first and its main headings: The specifications of ceramic tiles with architectural cladding, the technique of using cladding in swimming pools, achieving the aesthetic and functional identity of ceramic tiles used in cladding swimming pools The form and organization of the design body using ceramic tiles for swimming pools, the importance of cladding using ceramic tiles in swimming pools, the level of organization of the technical specifications of the design configurations, the design integration of ceramic tiles used in the cladding of swimming pools) The third chapter specialized in defining the topic of research procedures, represented by the research methodology based on the analytical descriptive method, while the research population was based on the purposive selection method. Results: The fourth chapter included the conclusions of the research findings, as well as the recommendations for future proposals and the proposed design of tiles inside swimming pools. Conclusions: It is possible to determine the technical specifications of the tiles in the design and cladding of swimming pools in accordance with the consumer's desire, taking into account the compositional factors in the cladding processes.

Segmentation window of speech information processing in the human auditory cortex

Humans perceive continuous speech signals as discrete sequences. To clarify the temporal segmentation window of speech information processing in the human auditory cortex, the relationship between speech perception and cortical responses was investigated using auditory evoked magnetic fields (AEFs). AEFs were measured while participants heard synthetic Japanese words /atataka/. There were eight types of /atataka/ with different speech rates. The durations of the words ranged from 75 to 600 ms. The results revealed a clear correlation between the AEFs and syllables. Specifically, when the durations of the words were between 375 and 600 ms, the evoked responses exhibited four clear responses from the superior temporal area, M100, that corresponded not only to the onset of speech but also to each group of consonant/vowel syllable units. The number of evoked M100 responses was correlated to the duration of the stimulus as well as the number of perceived syllables. The approximate range of the temporal segmentation window limit of speech perception was considered to be between 75 and 94 ms. This finding may contribute to optimizing the temporal performance of high-speed synthesized speech generation systems.

Human olfactory perception embeds fine temporal resolution within a single sniff.

A sniff in humans typically lasts one to three seconds and is commonly considered to produce a long-exposure shot of the chemical environment that sets the temporal limit of olfactory perception. To break this limit, we devised a sniff-triggered apparatus that controls odorant deliveries within a sniff with a precision of 18 milliseconds. Using this apparatus, we show through rigorous psychophysical testing of 229 participants (649 sessions) that two odorants presented in one order and its reverse become perceptually discriminable when the stimulus onset asynchrony is merely 60 milliseconds (Cohen's d = 0.48; 95% confidence interval, (55, 59); 120-millisecond difference). Discrimination performance improves with the length of stimulus onset asynchrony and is independent of explicit knowledge of the temporal order of odorants or the relative amount of odorant molecules accumulated in a sniff. Our findings demonstrate that human olfactory perception is sensitive to chemical dynamics within a single sniff and provide behavioural evidence for a temporal code of odour identity.

The Beauty of the Raku technique in the Works of Potters Shenyar Abdullah and Yaqoub Al-Atoum

Art is an aesthetic message and a means of human communication with its surroundings, as it influences and is influenced by everything that surrounds it, as scientific and intellectual development has a great role in developing the means used in it with the multiplicity of options offered in terms of raw materials and techniques. Undoubtedly, the art of ceramics is one of the arts developed in terms of technology, indicating the development and sophistication of societies throughout history. It offers an aesthetic and utilitarian taste to the community. The color is one of the main elements in the process of adding an aesthetic touch to the surface of the ceramic piece, and this was evident in ceramics of all ages and times, and the implemented idea plays a role in showing an expressive and aesthetic vision in the ceramic surface and in order to keep pace with the rest of the plastic arts. Therefore, the potter always tries to innovate by experimenting with materials and techniques. Accordingly, the potter, especially the Arab potter, relied on coexistence with the modern intellectual dimensions of the era's culture, directing him to research, experimentation, modernization and acculturation from Western arts. This prompted research into Arab ceramics and the study of its ceramic products, especially the art of ceramics and the aesthetics of the raku technique, which is considered the Technique of most potters. The research is part of the methodological framework of the research, as it contains the research question, which concludes with the following question: What is the aesthetic of the raku technique in the works of potters Shunyar Abdullah and Yaqoub Al-Atoum, then the importance of the research, which lies in highlighting the aesthetic effects of the raku technique by identifying the features and characteristics of this Technique reflected in the formal structure of Arab ceramic work and identifying the different reduction processes in this Technique and its impact on the artistic works of potters Shunyar Abdullah and Yaqoub Al-Atoum, to benefit researchers and specialists and enrich scientific libraries and students in the field of ceramics. After that, the aim of the research was discussed: The objective of the research was to identify the raku technique in the works of potters Shinyar Abdullah and Yaqoub Al-Atoum, and then the limits of the research were reached in terms of the objective limits, which were determined by the aesthetic of the raku technique in the works of potters Shinyar Abdullah and Yaqoub Al-Atoum and the temporal limits, which were represented by the period between (2012-2021), the spatial limits (Iraq and Jordan) and the human limits of the potters Shinyar Abdullah and Yaqoub Atoum, and the chapter ends with the definition of the most important terms.

English Prepositions Expressing Temporal Limits: Semantic Features and Functioning

This article explores the semantics and usage of prepositions in the English that denote temporal limits of actions. A review of various lexicographical sources, reference literature, and grammars is conducted, highlighting that not all sources provide comprehensive information on the meanings and functioning of prepositions, often offering only general information. Practical material for the study is extracted from the British National Corpus, comprising approximately two thousand contexts. It is established that making a definitive conclusion about including a temporal limit within the timeframe allocated for an action is not always possible. This semantic ambiguity is noted in around 20% of the total number of analyzed contexts. The study demonstrates that to resolve ambiguity and ensure successful communication, addressees often resort to using clarifying elements or complete / partial paraphrasing of the message text. Clarifications are found to be most typical in texts of a scientific research nature, schedules, legal and economic documents. The article concludes on the necessity of further research related to the semantics and usage of prepositions.

Notes on Voice and Tempo in Anglophone Caribbean Literatures

This article outlines a historic panorama of the dynamic relationship between written and oral forms of expression in the Anglophone Caribbean, focusing on key literary works of poetry, the novel, and theater, as well as musical genres like calypso and reggae. The aim is to identify trends, and the relationships between them, that expand beyond territorial and temporal limits, in order to better understand how the scribal and oral spheres have interacted under the pressures of colonialism and its residual effects. The article begins with a contextualization of the vernacular’s place in literary works in the Anglophone Caribbean during the colonial period and discusses several concepts that have been key in debates on language as a form of cultural resistance. The second section focuses on the growing anticolonial sentiment that began to sweep through the region in the 1930s and the literary, intellectual, and musical developments that sought to articulate these political inclinations. The third and final section examines reggae aesthetics as a driving force of cultural expression since the 1970s, considering the influence of Rastafarianism and reggae’s impact on various forms of literary production.

The Grief Debate, the DSM, and Clinical Practice.

There has been an ongoing debate regarding grief, whether it may be at times pathological, and whether it is different from depression. This article addresses those questions by tracking the changing course of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals of Mental Disorders (DSMs) since DSM-III and by reviewing the debate concerning grief and depression. At the time when DSM-III was being prepared in the late 1970s (it was published in 1980), there was a concern that normal bereavement (or grief) was being diagnosed as major depression. To address this concern, the editors of DSM-III added a category of "uncomplicated bereavement." The fourth edition of the DSM (DSM-IV), published in 1994, then followed by a minor change. However, the editors of DSM-5 decided to eliminate the bereavement exclusion entirely. Their concern was simply whether the individual did or did not suffer from major depression. Since an individual might not warrant a diagnosis of major depression but might still be experiencing grief, the DSM discussion leads directly into the question of whether grief-later called prolonged grief disorder-and depression are separate conditions. Advocates for prolonged grief disorder maintained that grief is different from depression but that patients may present with a mix of grief and depressive symptoms that are clinically difficult to distinguish. Advocates of separate conditions have in fact developed an inventory of symptoms that identify prolonged grief disorder. However, inasmuch as a typical grief presentation will include depressive symptoms, the clinical challenge is to distinguish prolonged grief disorder and major depression, as well as to distinguish both from normal grief. Given the temporal limits of an average consultation, this article argues that making the required distinctions is an unrealistic expectation. Finally, researchers have developed specific treatment programs for prolonged grief disorder, but a conflict between the 2 primary researchers involved and the generalities in which the programs are phrased have led to the suggestion of a different approach to treatment that replaces generalities with a person-centered approach.

Pathways of Foundational Diversity in Decorative Design Structure in Contemporary Interior Design

The foundational diversity pathways of the decorative design architecture in contemporary interior design. The founding of the decorative design architecture, arises from the creative will of the designer who collects and distributes his vocabulary objectively so that he realizes between several levels and in various shapes depending on the innovative side within the interior spaces of contemporary interior design .Also, the decorative designer and the contemporary interior designer have contributions in this field in terms of inspiring, adding to and developing heritage works, which increases its beauty and raises its contemporary artistic value,There is no doubt that each design has paths and principles that control it, and organizes the vocabulary mechanism and formative elements in order to add an expressive value, and a goal related to the function and aesthetic,Therefore, the designer’s interest in the art of decorative design is related to an attempt to find alternatives to express the design because it has a spatial structure that we can perceive through the sense of sight,In addition to adhering to the innovative framework of spatial reality, it was necessary to study this topic, which consists of four chapters .For the first semester, the researcher relied on formulating the research problem, which is summarized by the following question: What are the foundational diversity pathways for the decorative design structure in contemporary interior design? While the importance of the research lies in referring to the premises that are adopted within the designer's intellectual vision by meeting the design need while providing a distinctive decorative design product that is compatible with contemporary interior design .In light of this, the researcher focused the research goal in revealing the foundational diversity pathways of the decorative design structure in contemporary interior design.As for the limits of the research, the researcher specified objectively from the study of the foundational diversity paths of the decorative design structure in contemporary interior design.While its spatial and temporal limits included the study of contemporary interior design (of the entrances to the interior spaces of the hotels of the Kingdom of Morocco) implemented for the period 2009-2011 2011,While the second chapter relied on a study first: the structure of decorative design and its relationship in contemporary interior design and secondly

‘If I Knew How to Speak English…’: How language shapes refugee mothers’ perceptions of past, present, and future in Canada

Abstract What role does language learning play in refugees’ memory-construction on the one hand, and imagining of the future self on the other? Using a temporal perspective on migration, I extend scholarship examining the role of language in the space-time continuum of resettlement. With three waves of semi-structured interviews with twenty Syrian refugee mothers (N = 60) who have recently arrived in Canada, this article examines how their experiences with time and future projections are influenced by their experiences of language learning in the host country. First, mothers’ lack of English proficiency and struggle to learn leads to a sense of nostalgia towards the past, where their proficiency in Arabic is associated with past feelings of comfort, security, and mastery. In addition, mothers find themselves ‘stuck’ in the present, where multiple structural barriers (e.g., absence of extended kin; limited government support) and individual challenges (e.g., health issues; having children with disability) significantly slow down their language acquisition process and prevent them from achieving other goals. This leads to a clear conflict between government expectations for the long-term future and the mothers’ immediate priorities. Finally, despite those government temporal expectations building on newcomers’ language acquisition, mothers do not want to envision the future due to past experiences of uncertainty, belief in divine control, and a foreclosure of the future. This article demonstrates the ways in which language, space, and time co-construct notions of the future, and a sense of potential ‘stuckness,’ well beyond the temporal limits of intensive state intervention in refugee lives.

People's experiences of their involvement in nursing care: a systematic review protocol.

People's involvement and participation are the essential basis of nursing care. This phenomenon can be characterised as an approach based on the integration of the person's values, beliefs, and preferences during nursing care. This process contributes to improve the quality of care, satisfaction levels, and a better experience for people. To promote the person's participation in nursing care, it is necessary to better understand their experiences about this topic. To synthesise the available evidence on people's experiences of their involvement and participation in nursing care in a hospital setting. A systematic review that will be conducted according to the JBI methodology for systematic reviews of qualitative evidence. The study selection, critical appraisal, and data extraction will be conducted by two independent reviewers. This review will consider studies with a qualitative approach, published and unpublished, in Portuguese, English and Spanish with no temporal limit, that include adults, aged 18 years or older, who have experienced an admission in a hospital; that explore people's experiences of their involvement and participation in nursing care in hospital wards settings. Findings will be presented using meta-aggregation approach and narrative format, and the final synthesised findings will be graded according to the ConQual approach. It is expected that this qualitative synthesis will inform people, health professionals and policymakers, allowing them to develop recommendations to promote the person's participation in nursing care.

Sustaining spontaneous volunteer groups following their response to a disaster

PurposeThis research explores the drivers that determine the ability of spontaneous volunteer groups (SVGs) to sustain their operations. That sustainability aims to support those affected in the community beyond the response phases of a disaster and into the recovery and mitigation phases to build resilience to the next disaster.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate the sustainability of spontaneous volunteering that takes place in the aftermath of a disaster, we conducted qualitative interviews in three English locations where groups of spontaneous volunteers emerged following major floods. We analysed our qualitative data using thematic analysis.FindingsOur findings theorise the drivers of SVG sustainability and present these in four themes: (1) assessment of ongoing needs; (2) organisation of resources to address that need; (3) leadership and followership creating a weight of operational capability and (4) influence of political will. Through exploring these drivers, we uncover key factors to developing a sustainable SVG system including trusted leadership and social capital.Research limitations/implicationsWe show how the four drivers interact to support the continuity of SVGs and sustain their operations. This has implications for how leaders of SVGs create a volunteering environment that encourages ongoing involvement and has implications for officials to view SVGs as a support rather than a risk.Originality/valueThe novelty of our paper is in rejecting the argument of the temporal limit of SVGs to the response phase by theorising the drivers that make their operations sustainable for recovery and resilience building to mitigate the next disaster. This includes our examination of the interplay between those drivers.

Multi-scale modelling of boiling heat transfer: Exploring the applicability of an enhanced volume of fluid method in sub-micron scales

The advancement of technology has led to a significant increase in thermal loads, thus presenting new challenges in heat dissipation. Traditional single-phase cooling systems are often inadequate to meet these demands. As a result, phase-change technologies utilizing boiling and condensation, which can achieve high heat transfer coefficients, have garnered considerable attention. To delve into the complex physics of boiling heat transfer, researchers are increasingly turning to numerical simulation methods such as the Volume of Fluid (VOF) and the Diffuse Interface (DI) approaches. The VOF method, widely employed for macro-scale simulations ranging from micrometers to millimeters, effectively tracks bubble growth and detachment. Conversely, the DI method represents the interface as a continuous phase field and is primarily used for mesoscale simulations spanning from nanometers to micrometers. While the DI method excels in resolving mesoscale interfacial phenomena, it is computationally expensive for larger domains. Considering the strengths and weaknesses of both the VOF and DI methods, there is a growing interest in developing a multi-scale modeling approach that amalgamates their benefits. To pursue this objective, initial efforts are being made to evaluate the scaling capability of VOF towards lower spatial and temporal limits. Hence, an enhanced and customized VOF methodology has been developed within the OpenFOAM toolbox. This methodology is employed to investigate various bubble growth scenarios, progressively exploring its applicability at lower temporal and spatial scales to identify the lower limits of its application. By taking this first step towards combining the strengths of both the VOF and DI methods through a multi-scale modeling approach, the presented paper paves the way for enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of modelling approaches for boiling heat transfer while tackling a challenge associated with varying spatial and temporal scales. This endeavor not only pushes the boundaries of computational fluid dynamics but also holds promise for addressing real-world thermal management issues in diverse technological applications.

From Farm to Fork: Irrigation Management and Cold Storage Strategies for the Shelf Life of Seedless Sugrathirtyfive Table Grape Variety

Background: Sustainable water management for table grape has the primary goal of optimizing irrigation through Smart Irrigation (SI) approaches, particularly in Mediterranean regions. In addition, extending the shelf life of table grapes through effective cold storage practices is crucial to meet consumer demands year-round. This research examined the journey “from farm to fork” of Sugrathirtyfive variety (Autumn Crisp® brand), exploring the combined effects of Irrigation Volumes (IV), SO2-Generating Pads (SGPs) and Cold Storage Duration (CSD) on the quality of grapes. Methods: Normal Irrigation (NI—based on the farmer’s experience) and SI (100% vine evapotranspiration restored) were supplied in 2023 to Sugrathirtyfive variety white table grape, trained to an overhead tendone system. Yield and quality parameters, berry texture, CIELAB colour coordinates, phenolic content, flavonoids, antioxidant activity and sensory attributes were evaluated on grapes subjected to different times and methods of cold storage. Results: SI grapes showed higher Total Soluble Solids (TSSs) and nutraceutical content, as well as improved CIELAB coordinates with interesting improved berry texture parameters. No differences emerged between single- or dual-release SGPs after 15 days (T1) and 40 days (T2) of CSD. Conclusions: Under our cold storage conditions (3 °C, 85% U.R.), 40 days represent the maximum temporal limit for the cold storage of Sugrathirtyfive variety, regardless of IV, provided they are refrigerated with the aid of SGPs.

JUSTICE IN THE LIMINAL: THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND THE RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

AbstractAs the human right to a healthy environment is codified around the globe, some systems still lag behind. One noticeable straggler is the Council of Europe, which is currently undergoing its fourth attempt to recognize the right. This article examines the proposals tabled within this system in light of overarching debates about climate justice and environmental rights, before focusing specifically on the spatial and temporal limits of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the institutional features of its Court. First, the article describes what the author sees as the current liminal moment in the development of human rights law, a time of transition in which established legal concepts can be questioned or reaffirmed. Second, it sketches recent proposals for locating and conceptualizing the right to a healthy environment within the Council of Europe. Evaluating different options, it makes the case for including this right in the ECHR. Third, the article discusses the right's potential to reshape the spatial and temporal limitations on legal subjectivity and Convention protections. These proposals come at a crucial time when the system's ability to protect human rights from environment-related impacts is being tested by climate litigation. The article understands these developments as interrelated and discusses whether current proposals could deliver on demands for climate justice by extending protection to future generations and for extraterritorial environmental impacts.

Damascius on the Sudden (to exaiphnēs) and the Now (to nun)

Abstract Damascius’ discussion of the Platonic notions of the sudden (to exaiphnēs) and the now (to nun) occurs in the context of his Commentary on Plato’s Parmenides. His view is that the Platonic sudden should be identified not with the timeless essence of the individual human soul, as Proclus suggested, but with the cohesive element that holds the individual human soul together through the cycles of reincarnation. For Damascius, the human soul is so thoroughly intertwined with time, when it descends to the realm of Becoming, that its very essence gets altered. Damascius also maintains that the Platonic now is not a dimensionless boundary or temporal limit but an indivisible stretch of extended time. For Damascius, time progresses by ‘leaps’, and those leaps, determined once for all by the Demiurgic Intellect, are the atomic nows. Behind the flowing atomic nows there lies a numerically identical non-flowing now that is their eternal origin and form. The paper addresses the issue of the relationship of the sudden as the cohesive element of the soul to the now as the cohesive element of time, in the context of Damascius’ views about timeless Being and ever-flowing Becoming.

Troubling grief: Spectrality, temporality, refusal, catharsis

In the cultural imaginary of death and dying, the felt contours of grief are still often taken for granted. Grief is predominantly understood as sadness at loss; as melancholia at the finitude of relationships. Grief is conceived as a temporally-bound affective period in which one processes the pain of loss – that is, gets used to absence and works toward ‘moving on’. In this article, we centre the accounts of people caring for the dying, or recently having experienced the death of a loved one to cancer, to advance a sociological analysis of grief that untethers it from this normative environ. In the lives of those living with death, we argue, grief evades social conventions and temporal limits. It is a spectral presence that shows little concern for expected affective crescendos (being at death’s door/just departed). In its unruliness, grief reveals and resists the normative scene of death and dying, as collective pressure – for closure, for forgetting, for moving on – amplifies rather than ameliorates its felt experience. Centring the experiences of carers, we thus argue for an enlivened sociology of grief that illuminates its disruptive temporality, its haunting spectrality, and its propensity to instigate both affective refusals and (attempted) moments of collective catharsis.

3D atomic structure from a single X-ray free electron laser pulse

X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFEL) are cutting-edge pulsed x-ray sources, whose extraordinary pulse parameters promise to unlock unique applications. Several new methods have been developed at XFELs; however, no methods are known, which allow ab initio atomic level structure determination using only a single XFEL pulse. Here, we present experimental results, demonstrating the determination of the 3D atomic structure from data obtained during a single 25 fs XFEL pulse. Parallel measurement of hundreds of Bragg reflections was done by collecting Kossel line patterns of GaAs and GaP. To the best of our knowledge with these measurements, we reached the ultimate temporal limit of the x-ray structure solution possible today. These measurements open the way for obtaining crystalline structures during non-repeatable fast processes, such as structural transformations. For example, the atomic structure of matter at extremely non-ambient conditions or transient structures formed in irreversible physical, chemical, or biological processes may be captured in a single shot measurement during the transformation. It would also facilitate time resolved pump-probe structural studies making them significantly shorter than traditional serial crystallography.

Lactation performances in primiparous Holstein cows following short and normal gestation lengths.

Despite decades of research, little is known regarding physiologic temporal limits for initiation of lactation in pregnant non-lactating cattle the aim of this study was to compare the lactation performances in primiparous Holstein cows after a short gestation length (GL) or abortion to those after a normal GL. The data were collected using an automated data collection system. The 94 herds evaluated were located in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. Data from a wide range of physiological cow-life events including birth and calving events, reproduction events (insemination, pregnancy checks, and abortions), and milking events were collected. The GL was defined as the interval between the last insemination and the subsequent calving (or abortion) within a range of 150-297 days. Animals were categorized into one of five categories based on GL quantiles (C-I to C-V). Lactation curve parameters including the scale, ramp, and decay were estimated using the Milkbot model. Then, the derived 305-day milk yield (M305-d), peak yield, and time to peak were compared between different GL categories. Of 13,732 lactations, 15 (0.11%) were found with a GL shorter than 210 days (ranging from 158 to 208 days). The 305-day milk yield was significantly lower in the C-I (7,566 ± 186) and C-II groups (7,802 ± 136 kg), compared to the C-III (8,254 ± 116 kg), C-IV (8,148 ± 119 kg), and C-V (8,255 ± 117 kg) groups. The same trends were found for the scale and peak yield of the lactation; the lowest scale were found for the C-I (31.5 ± 0.73) and C-II (32.8 ± 0.53) groups, and the highest were found for the C-III (34.5 ± 0.46), C-IV (34.9 ± 0.45), and C-V (35.0 ± 0.45) groups. Peak yield increased significantly from C-I (27.8 ± 0.66 kg) and C-II group (28.8 ± 0.48 kg) to the C-III (30.2 ± 0.42 kg) and further to the C-IV (30.6 ± 0.40 kg) and C-V (30.6 ± 0.41 kg) groups. Moreover, primiparous cows in the C-II GL category showed a higher milk yield persistency (decay of 1.30E-4 ± 3.55E-5) compared to those belonging to the C-IV (decay of 1.38E-4 ± 2.51E-5) and C-V (decay of 1.38E-4 ± 2.58E-5) group. In conclusion, results showed that primiparous cows with a shorter GL produced significantly less 305-day milk and peak yields, had a higher lactation persistency, and showed a lower upward slope of the lactation curve compared to those with a normal GL.

Human organotypic brain slice cultures: a detailed and improved protocol for preparation and long-term maintenance

The investigation of the human brain at cellular and microcircuit level remains challenging due to the fragile viability of neuronal tissue, inter- and intra-variability of the samples and limited availability of human brain material. Especially brain slices have proven to be an excellent source to investigate brain physiology and disease at cellular and small network level, overcoming the temporal limits of acute slices. Here we provide a revised, detailed protocol of the production and in-depth knowledge on long-term culturing of such human organotypic brain slice cultures for research purposes. We highlight the critical pitfalls of the culturing process of the human brain tissue and present exemplary results on viral expression, single-cell Patch-Clamp recordings, as well as multi-electrode array recordings as readouts for culture viability, enabling the use of organotypic brain slice cultures of these valuable tissue samples for basic neuroscience and disease modeling (Fig. 1).

Temporal Information Processing in the Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia.

Temporal information processing in the range of a few hundred milliseconds to seconds involves the cerebellum and basal ganglia. In this chapter, we present recent studies on nonhuman primates. In the studies presented in the first half of the chapter, monkeys were trained to make eye movements when a certain amount of time had elapsed since the onset of the visual cue (time production task). The animals had to report time lapses ranging from several hundred milliseconds to a few seconds based on the color of the fixation point. In this task, the saccade latency varied with the time length to be measured and showedstochastic variability from one trial to the other. Trial-to-trial variability under the same conditions correlated well with pupil diameter and the preparatory activity in the deep cerebellar nuclei and the motor thalamus. Inactivation of these brain regions delayed saccades when asked to report subsecond intervals. These results suggestthat the internal state, which changes with each trial, may cause fluctuations in cerebellar neuronal activity, thereby producing variations in self-timing. When measuring different time intervals, the preparatory activity in the cerebellum always begins approximately 500ms before movements, regardless of the length of the time interval being measured. However, the preparatory activity in the striatum persists throughout the mandatory delay period, which can be up to 2s, with different rate of increasing activity. Furthermore, in the striatum, the visual response and low-frequency oscillatory activity immediately before time measurement were altered by the length of the intended time interval. These results indicate that the state of the network, including the striatum, changes with the intended timing, which lead to different time courses of preparatory activity. Thus, the basal ganglia appear to be responsible for measuring time in the range of several hundred milliseconds to seconds, whereas the cerebellum is responsible for regulating self-timing variability in the subsecond range. The second half of this chapter presents studies related to periodic timing. During eye movements synchronized with alternating targets at regular intervals, different neurons in the cerebellar nuclei exhibit activity related to movement timing, predicted stimulus timing, and the temporal error of synchronization. Among these, the activity associated with target appearance is particularly enhanced during synchronized movements and may represent an internal model of the temporal structure of stimulus sequence. We also considered neural mechanism underlying the perception of periodic timing in the absence of movement. During perception of rhythm, we predict the timing of the next stimulus and focus our attention on that moment. In the missing oddball paradigm, the subjects had to detect the omission of a regularly repeated stimulus. When employed in humans, the results show that the fastest temporal limit for predicting each stimulus timing is about 0.25s (4Hz). In monkeys performing this task, neurons in the cerebellar nuclei, striatum, and motor thalamus exhibit periodic activity, with different time courses depending on the brain region. Since electrical stimulation or inactivation of recording sites changes the reaction time to stimulus omission, these neuronal activities must be involved in periodic temporal processing. Future research is needed to elucidate the mechanism of rhythm perception, which appears to be processed by both cortico-cerebellar and cortico-basal ganglia pathways.