Numerical analysis plays vital role in designing gas turbine combustors for improving its performance. It requires deep understanding of turbulent and multiphase reactive flow physics inside the combustor. Hence present work focusses on numerical investigation of turbulent flow and reactive interaction between liquid spray of aviation kerosene droplets and air for the experimentally investigated combustor configuration. The present analysis results agree well with the experimental test results. Mixture fraction based Probability Density Function flamelet combustion model is used to solve transport equations by generating the flamelet library for Jet-A fuel. The analysis provides good insight into the multiphase combustion process and the flow phenomena occurring inside the combustor. Further, combustion performance characteristics at different design point operations are investigated in the present work keeping the air fuel ratio constant. Results show rise in peak velocity by 2.5 times and pressure loss factor by 6 for design point operating at higher flow rates in comparison with the baseline design operating point.


Purpose of the article. The research scientifically substantiates the advisability of competency-based approach implementing into future choreographers' professional training in classical university. The main factors that influence the efficiency of student-choreographers' professional training are found out: the level of domestic choreographic school development, needs and demands of the society about choreographic art; the level of lecturers' training, students' giftedness and academic ability; the material basis of the educational institution and the scientific and methodological content development of the choreographic education. The groups of general and professional competencies that ensure choreographer's successful professional activity are determined. Professional competencies include basic (organizational, psychological and pedagogical, fine art, musical informative and technological, methodical) and special (choreographic, artistic-stage, medical and biological). The methodology of the research is based on the application of a competency-based approach in the development of the syllabus for bachelors of choreographers' training in classical university. The scientific novelty of the work is that: 1) the necessity and advisability of competency-based approach implementation in the development of syllabus for the students of the "Choreography" specialty is substantiated; 2) objective and subjective factors, which depend on the quality of choreographic education in the classical university are revealed; 3) groups of professional competencies that can form the basis of the competency-based model of the choreographer as a dancer, teacher, and head of the choreographic team are defined. Conclusions . The primary goal of teaching student choreographers in a classical university is not mastering of individual knowledge, abilities, and skills, but the formation of general and professional competencies that meets the modern demandsan densurest he success of choreographers' professional activity. The proposed classification of professional competencies can form the basis of the choreographer's competency-based model as the result of his professional training in classical university.


This article proposes a 50 kHz hybrid (series–parallel) resonant inverter-based induction heating (IH) converter which is controlled with commercial frequency pulse density modulation (CFPDM). Since the hybrid resonant inverter enhances the series resonant inverter performance due to short-circuit handling capability and current gain, it has been successfully employed in IH. High power conversion efficiency and wide output power range can be obtained using CFPDM. In addition, some harmonic current problems occurred in conventional pulse density modulation because of the resonant frequency of non-smoothing filter are eliminated via CFPDM. There is no need for the application of any additional switches or passive components in CFPDM. In this article, CFPDM hybrid resonant inverter-based IH converter is modelled and the analysis of the converter is presented in detail. The operation principle of CFPDM controller is shown. In addition, the advantages of hybrid resonant inverter and CFPDM are stated. The theoretical analysis is verified via simulation and experimental studies, which are in very good agreement.


Abstract Objectives: Improved survival has led to a growing population of adults with congenital heart disease (CHD), followed by numerous reports of late complications. Liver disease is a known complication in some patients, with most studies focusing on Fontan associated liver disease. Whether liver disease also exists in other patients with CHD is not fully investigated. Elevated central venous pressure is considered pivotal in the development of liver disease in Fontan associated liver disease, and other patients with alterations in central venous pressure may also be at risk for developing liver fibrosis. We wanted to see if liver fibrosis is present in patients with tetralogy of Fallot. Many patients with tetralogy of Fallot have severe pulmonary regurgitation, which can lead to elevated central venous pressure. Patients with tetralogy of Fallot may be at risk of developing liver fibrosis. Materials and methods: Ten patients (24–56 years) with tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary regurgitation were investigated for liver fibrosis. All patients were examined with magnetic resonance elastography of liver, hepatobiliary iminodiacetic acid scan, indocyanine green elimination by pulse spectrophotometry, elastography via FibroScan, abdominal ultrasound including liver elastography, and blood samples including liver markers. Results: Three out of ten patients had findings indicating possible liver fibrosis. Two of these had a liver biopsy performed, which revealed fibrosis stage 1 and 2, respectively. The same three patients had an estimated elevated central venous pressure in previous echocardiograms. Conclusions: Mild liver fibrosis was present in selected patients with tetralogy of Fallot and may be related to elevated central venous pressure.


The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan is the primary tool for implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the country level. A National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) was prepared for India in 2008, through an inter-ministerial consultative process. Five years later, it was considered necessary to align the existing NBAP in accordance with the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (ABTs). This was achieved by formulating India's National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs) and developing a monitoring framework using indicators, and through an evaluation of funding support for biodiversity conservation in India. The draft document was prepared and reviewed through a series of national stakeholder consultations and technical review meetings, based on which the 'National Biodiversity Action Plan: Addendum 2014 to NBAP 2008' was finalized. As part of its commitments to the CBD to accomplish the global ABTs, India must ensure effective implementation of the NBAP and meet the NBTs. This requires cooperation amongst all stakeholders including the relevant federal ministries and state level agencies along with a rigorous and time-bound application of the monitoring framework.


BACKGROUND
A strong body of evidence links young children's intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) with myriad negative outcomes.

OBJECTIVES
Our research provides insight into whether and to what extent potential intervention strategies can reduce young children's consumption of SSBs.

DESIGN
We built an agent-based model (ABM) of SSB consumption representing participants in the Project Viva longitudinal study between ages 2 and 7 years. In addition to extensive data from Project Viva, our model used nationally representative data as well as recent, high-quality literature. We tested the explanatory power of the model through comparison to consumption patterns observed in the Project Viva cohort. Then, we applied the model to simulate the potential impact of interventions that would reduce SSB availability in one or more settings or affect how families receive and respond to pediatrician advice.

RESULTS
Our model produced age-stratified trends in beverage consumption that closely match those observed in Project Viva cohort data. Among the potential interventions we simulated, reducing availability in the home-where young children spend the greatest amount of time-resulted in the largest consumption decrease. Removing access to all SSBs in the home resulted in them consuming 1.23 (95% CI: 1.21, 1.24) fewer servings of SSBs per week on average between the ages of two and seven, a reduction of about 60%. By comparison, removing all SSB availability outside of the home (i.e., in schools and childcare) had a smaller impact (0.77; CI: 0.75, 0.78), a reduction of about 40%.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that interventions reducing SSB availability in the home would have the strongest effects on SSB consumption.


Oral administration of myelin basic protein (MBP) is an effective means of suppressing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In the Lewis rat model, we have previously shown that this effect is mediated by active suppression as T lymphocytes from animals orally tolerized to MBP suppress in vitro immune responses and in vivo adoptively transfer disease protection to naive recipients. This effect is mediated by the cytokine TGF-beta which is secreted by T cells from orally tolerized animals after being triggered by the oral tolerogen. In the present study we investigated Peyer's patches in SJL mice following orally administered MBP. Peyer's patches are one of the major lymphoid structures of gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and a site thought to play an important role in the induction of oral tolerance. Twenty-four hours after one feeding of 1 mg of MBP, there were no proliferative responses to MBP in Peyer's patches. However, when Peyer's patches from MBP-fed animals were stimulated with IL-2 in the presence of MBP, reduced proliferation to IL-2 was observed, and this inhibition was reversed with anti-TGF-beta antibody. Suppression of IL-2-induced proliferation by MBP was not observed in unfed animals or if Peyer's patches from MBP-fed animals were stimulated with a control antigen (ovalbumin). Stimulation of Peyer's patches T cells from MBP-fed animals with MBP resulted in secretion of TGF-beta in a dose-related fashion with less TGF-beta secretion at higher doses. Furthermore, cells from Peyer's patches of animals fed MBP adoptively transferred protection to actively induced EAE. Thus, MBP-specific TGF-beta-secreting regulatory cells recovered from Peyer's patches after a single oral administration of MBP are not evident as measured by proliferation, but are capable of suppressing in vitro and in vivo cell-mediated immune responses. Peyer's patches appear to be an important site for the induction of cells which mediate the active suppression component of oral tolerance.


Introduction: The most common cause of mortality among chronic hemodialysis (HD)
patients is cardiovascular disease. Hypervolemia is an important risk factor for hypertension
and cardiovascular mortality in HD patients that include chronic volume overload and
interdialytic weight gain (IDWG).

Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess the role of blood glucose in IDWG.

Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study we enrolled 231 adult chronic HD
patients. Patients with congestive heart failure, hypoalbuminemia, cirrhosis, hypothyroidism
and recent blood transfusion were excluded. We weighted patients at the end of dialysis and
before initiation the next dialysis in midweek dialysis sessions. Glycosylated hemoglobin
(HbA1C) was measured in all patients. Patients were divided into three groups according
HbA1C levels ( 7%). Additionally IDWG of three groups was compared using
analysis of variance (ANOVA) method.

Results: HbA1C was <6% in 158 (68%) patients (group A), 6-7% in 40 (17%) patients (group
B) and >7% in 33 (14%) patients (group C). Mean IDWG was 2.44 kg in group A, 2.25 kg in
group B and 2.71 kg in group C. In this study, no significant difference of IDWG in patients
with different values of HbA1C was detected (P=0.206).

Conclusion: Our study showed that blood glucose level had no significant role in IDWG in
chronic HD patients.


Conditional cash transfers (CCTs) are programs that transfer cash, generally to poor households, on the condition that those households make pre specified investments in the human capital of their children. This overview of the main report summarizes that there is good evidence that CCTs have improved the lives of poor people. Transfers generally have been well targeted to poor households, have raised consumption levels, and have reduced poverty, by a substantial amount in some countries. Offsetting adjustments that could have blunted the impact of transfers, such as reductions in the labor market participation of beneficiaries, have been relatively modest. The report also considers the rationale for conditioning the transfers on the use of specific health and education services by program beneficiaries. Thus CCTs have increased the likelihood that households will take their children for preventive health checkups, but that has not always led to better child nutritional status; school enrollment rates have increased substantially among program beneficiaries, but there is little evidence of improvements in learning outcomes. These findings suggest that to maximize their potential effects on the accumulation of human capital, CCTs should be combined with other programs to improve the quality of the supply of health and education services, and should provide other supporting services.


The volatile oil of Boswellia serrata. Roxb [1]., showed significant antiulcer activity in albino rats by pyloric ligationmodel. The albino rats of either sex were divided in to three groups the animals were deprived of food for 24 hours before the commencement of experiment. The drugs were given intraperitoneally . The animals were sacrificed 6 hours after pylori ligation to observe gastric lesion. The gastric juice was collected and its pH determined titrimetrically by using 0.01N sodium hydroxide solution. The acid secretion and after index were analyzed by student 't' test. It showed significant antiulcer activity. The extract reduces the gastric activity and ulceration by histaminergic mechanism by H2 receptor blockade.


Digital smart board is one of interactive technology tools which has been used widely in schools to facilitate teaching and learning. Empirical evidence shows that digital smart board allows students to construct their knowledge while mastering more advanced thinking skills. Thus integration of digital smart board facilitates active learning, which is fundamental to mastery of skills. Active learning using smart board program is a program which integrates smart board in Data Handling so that primary school students can learn Data Handling concept actively and meaningfully. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the effectiveness of active learning using smart board program to enhance primary school students' learning. Five experts in teaching Mathematics Education and thirty year five students were involved in this study. The students were selected based on purposive sampling. This study used both quantitative and qualitative research approach. A set of interview protocol and a set of questionnaire were used during the data collection phase. Findings from the questionnaire were analysed based on descriptive and inferential statistics by using Winsteps Version 3.72.3. In addition, thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Findings from the study indicate that active learning using smart board program has the attributes which can effectively enhance primary school students' learning. It is hoped that the results from this study can contribute towards development of active learning strategies, methods or activities using smart board in order to enhance primary students' learning in school.


Changing the Subject is a classic critique of traditional psychology in which the foundations of critical and feminist psychology are laid down. Pioneering and foundational, it is still the groundbreaking text crucial to furthering the new psychology in both teaching and research. Now reissued with a new foreword describing the changes which have taken place over the last few years, Changing the Subject will continue to have a significant impact on thinking about psychology and social theory.


For the national economy, agriculture sector remains an important contributor in the national GDP with the provision of almost 16% employment. However, the problem of climate change is observed as a key challenge in the local market with its potential harmful effect on agriculture sector. The research task of this study is to test whether there is any relationship between climate change and agriculture sector of Malaysia. For research purpose, data was collected from different national and international databases during 1975-2015. Agriculture sector is defined with seven different factors and for the climate change, air pollution, greenhouse gas emission, and energy usage are added as main explanatory variables. Additionally, we tried to explore the effect of lagged predictors of explanatory variables on agriculture sector too. Our results depict that there is mixed effect of climate change and energy usage on agriculture economy. However, none of the lag predictor is found to be a significant determinantal variable for agriculture dynamics in Malaysia. In the last, study results are recommended for ministry of agriculture and agro-based industry, and department of environment Malaysia for developing any type of acts, rules and regulations for the environmental quality and agro-based industry. It is suggested that future research contributions should definitely consider the other economies in ASEAN and Asian region for some getting some different facts with more generatability.


Resale price maintenance need not be economically justified by the prevention of free-riding. Consistent with business realities, point-of-sale retailer promotional efforts often have a significant effect on consumer demand for a manufacturer's products; and manufacturers often use resale price maintenance as an efficient way to purchase these promotional services from retailers. Even when there is no retailer free-riding, a retailer that discounts may reduce the compensation received by other retailers for promoting the manufacturer's products, leading other retailers to discontinue distribution or reduce the promotional efforts they devote to the sale of the manufacturer's products. The resulting reduction in demand for the manufacturer's products provides a procompetitive rationale for the prevention of retailer price discounting. This broadly applicable procompetitive motivation for resale price maintenance has important implications for antitrust analysis, whether the legal standard is rule of reason or per se liability.


Active marijuana produces significant subjective, psychomotor, and physiological effects relative to inactive marijuana, yet demonstrating that these effects are dose-dependent has proven difficult. This within-subject, double-blind study was designed to develop a smoking procedure to obtain a marijuana dose-response function. In four outpatient laboratory sessions, daily marijuana smokers (N = 17 males, 1 female) smoked six 5-s puffs from 3 marijuana cigarettes (2 puffs/cigarette). The number of puffs from active (≥5.5% Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol/THC) and inactive (0.0% THC) marijuana varied according to condition (0, 2, 4, or 6 active puffs); active puffs were always smoked before inactive puffs. Subjective, physiological, and performance effects were assessed prior to and at set time points after marijuana administration. Active marijuana dose-dependently increased heart rate and decreased marijuana craving, despite evidence (carbon monoxide expiration, weight of marijuana cigarettes post-smoking) that participants inhaled less of each active marijuana cigarette than inactive cigarettes. Subjective ratings of marijuana "strength," "high," "liking," "good effect," and "take again" were increased by active marijuana compared with inactive marijuana, but these effects were not dose-dependent. Active marijuana also produced modest, non-dose-dependent deficits in attention, psychomotor function, and recall relative to the inactive condition. In summary, although changes in inhalation patterns as a function of marijuana strength likely minimized the difference between dose conditions, dose-dependent differences in marijuana's cardiovascular effects and ratings of craving were observed, whereas subjective ratings of marijuana effects did not significantly vary as a function of dose.


Since the middle of the 1990s, parentage assignment using microsatellite markers has been introduced as a tool in aquaculture breeding. It now allows close to 100% assignment success, and offered new ways to develop aquaculture breeding using mixed family designs in commercial conditions. Its main achievements are the knowledge and control of family representation and inbreeding, especially in mass spawning species, above all the capacity to estimate reliable genetic parameters in any species and rearing system with no prior investment in structures, and the development of new breeding programs in many species. Parentage assignment should not be seen as a way to replace physical tagging, but as a new way to conceive breeding programs, which have to be optimized with its specific constraints, one of the most important being to well define the number of individuals to genotype to limit costs, maximize genetic gain while minimizing inbreeding. The recent possible shift to (for the moment) more costly single nucleotide polymorphism markers should benefit from future developments in genomics and marker-assisted selection to combine parentage assignment and indirect prediction of breeding values.


Patent and trademark offices which run according to principles of new management have an inherent need for dependable forecasting data in planning capacity and service levels. The ability of the Spanish Office of Patents and Trademarks to carry out efficient planning of its resource needs requires the use of methods which allow it to predict the changes in the number of patent and trademark applications at different time horizons. The approach for the prediction of time series of Spanish patents and trademarks applications (1979e2009) was based on the use of different techniques of time series prediction in a short-term horizon. The methods used can be grouped into two specifics areas: regression models of trends and time series models. The results of this study show that it is possible to model the series of patents and trademarks applications with different models, especially ARIMA, with satisfactory model adjustment and relatively low error.


This paper is focused on searching for the suitable discount rate to be applied to the valuation of a project related to forests in the USA, e.g., a recreational area inside a national park. To do this, we propose a new model based on hazard rate concepts, i.e., based on the risk that waiting time implies. More specifically, we derive the discount function whose instantaneous discount rate is the hazard rate of the system supporting the investment. We determine the rate of failure corresponding to different partition criteria of the whole system; in our case, we can use the information on forest fires caused in different ways, in different states or in different types of forest surfaces. After showing independence between the forest fires by states and causes, we derive a specific discount function for each cause which can be applied to every state or set of states which agree to fight against a concrete cause of forest fire. Additionally, we obtain a unique discount function by weighting the partial discount functions by type of forest surfaces. Our results are in line with the recommendations from several authors about using decreasing discount rates for projects with very long-term impacts.


Abstract. Automatic patterned fabric defect detection is a promising technique for textile manufacturing due to its low cost and high efficiency. The applicability of most existing algorithms, however, is limited by their intensive computation. To overcome or alleviate the problem, this paper presents a convolutional matching pursuit (CMP) dual-dictionary algorithm for patterned fabric defect detection. A preprocessing with mean sampling is performed to eliminate the influence of background texture of fabric defects. Subsequently, a set of defect-free image blocks are selected as a sample set by sliding window. Dual-dictionary and sparse coefficiencies of the defect-free sample set are obtained via CMP and the K-singular value decomposition (K-SVD) based on a Gabor filter. Then we employ the defect-free and defective fabric image's projections onto the dual-dictionary as features for defect detection. Finally, the test results are determined by comparing the distance between the features to be measured. Experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm is effective for patterned fabric defect detection and an acceptable average detection rate reaches by 94.2%.


This paper develops and estimates an equilibrium model of the term structures of nominal and real interest rates. The term structures are driven by state variables that include the short term real interest rate, expected inflation, a factor that models the changing level to which inflation is expected to revert, as well as four volatility factors that follow GARCH processes. We derive analytical solutions for the prices of nominal bonds, inflation-indexed bonds that have an indexation lag, the term structure of expected inflation, and inflation swap rates. The model parameters are estimated using data on nominal Treasury yields, survey forecasts of inflation, and inflation swap rates. We find that allowing for GARCH effects is particularly important for real interest rate and expected inflation processes, but that long–horizon real and inflation risk premia are relatively stable. Comparing our model prices of inflation-indexed bonds to those of Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) suggests that TIPS were underpriced prior to 2004 but subsequently were valued fairly. We find that unexpected increases in both short run and longer run inflation implied by our model have a negative impact on stock market returns.


IT architectures are of central importance to organizations today, and it is therefore essential to think and plan strategically for their composition, acquisition, maintenance, and evolution. IT strategies thereby become an important tool for organizational growth. However, even if strategies exist to some extent, primarily in large organizations, they are rarely used, disseminated or updated in a systematic way. This paper provides a strategy framework comprised of: strategy types, an extended strategic management process, and recommendations for how to manage various strategies. The overview can be used as a roadmap for organizations to facilitate their overall strategic planning.


A framework for the description and analysis of multilayer networks is established in statistical physics, and calls are increasing for their adoption by community ecologists. Multilayer networks in community ecology will allow space, time and multiple interaction types to be incorporated into species interaction networks. While the multilayer network framework is applicable to ecological questions, it is one thing to be able to describe ecological communities as multilayer networks and another for multilayer networks to actually prove useful for answering ecological questions. Importantly, documenting multilayer network structure requires substantially greater empirical investment than standard ecological networks. In response, we argue that this additional effort is worthwhile and describe a series of research lines where we expect multilayer networks will generate the greatest impact. Inter‐layer edges are the key component that differentiate multilayer networks from standard ecological networks. Inter‐layer edges join different networks—termed layers—together and represent ecological processes central to the species interactions studied (e.g., inter‐layer edges representing movement for networks separated in space). Inter‐layer edges may take a variety of forms, be species‐ or network‐specific, and be measured with a large suite of empirical techniques. Additionally, the sheer size of ecological multilayer networks also requires some changes to empirical data collection around interaction quantification, collaborative efforts and collation in public databases. Network ecology has already touched on a wide swath of ecology and evolutionary biology. Because network stability and patterns of species linkage are the most developed areas of network ecology, they are a natural starting place for multilayer investigations. However, multilayer networks will also provide novel insights to niche partitioning, the connection between traits and species' interactions, and even the geographic mosaic of co‐evolution. Synthesis. Multilayer networks provide a formal way to bring together the study of species interaction networks and the processes that influence them. However, describing inter‐layer edges and the increasing amounts of data required represent challenges. The pay‐off for added investment will be ecological networks that describe the composition and capture the dynamics of ecological communities more completely and, consequently, have greater power for understanding the patterns and processes that underpin diversity in ecological communities. A plain language summary is available for this article.


Scale mineral deposition is a critical problem that hinders the daily production of oil and gas fields. Chemical removal of these scales, based on the scale type, is common. In this paper, borax and diethylene tremaine penta acetic (DTPA) acid-based formulations are used for the removal of sulfides, carbonates, and sulfate scales. In particular, the dissolution rates of sulfide (pyrite, pyrrhotite, and galena), sulfate (celestite and barite), and carbonate (calcite) scales were investigated in a rotating disc apparatus at typical well conditions. Scanning electron microscopy–energy-dispersive X-ray and X-ray diffraction analyses were performed for characterizing scale composition and type. The effect of temperature, scale type, and formulation on the dissolution rate is studied. Even though borax formulation has been developed for the sulfide scale removal, it showed a high dissolution rate for the carbonate scale (7.23 × 10–7 mol·L–1·s–1·cm–2). For the sulfide scale, the highest dissolution in borax formulation was obtained with galena (lead sulfide, PbS), followed by pyrrhotite, and the lowest dissolution was reported for pyrite (1.55 × 10–8 mol·L–1·s–1·cm–2). Borax formulation was found to be inefficient in the removal of sulfate scales with a dissolution rate lower than carbonate and sulfide scales by 3 and 2 orders of magnitude, respectively. Similarly, DTPA-based formulation has yielded the highest dissolution for the carbonate scale (7.98 × 10–6 mol·L–1·s–1·cm–2). However, for sulfate, DTPA-based formulation showed better performance than borax. The increase in temperature leads to an increase in the dissolution rate for almost all types of scales; however, DTPA-based formulation showed improved performance with temperature. Both formulations are efficient in removing sulfate- and sulfide-rich scales. The experimental results of DTPA have been validated by density functional theory calculations of binding energies between DTPA and metal ions present in the mixed scale.


PURPOSE OF REVIEW
In this review, we discuss the most recent evidence on mechanisms underlying pathological nociceptive processing in Parkinson's disease patients, as well as novel treatment strategies.

RECENT FINDINGS
In Parkinson's disease, specific neurodegenerative changes may cause alterations in nociceptive processing at multiple levels. Optimization of dopaminergic therapies should always be the first step in the management of Parkinson's disease pain. Reportedly, rotigotine transdermal patch, a monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor safinamide (as an add-on therapy to levodopa), subcutaneous apomorphine and intrajejunal levodopa infusion therapy may have a beneficial effect on pain sensations in Parkinson's disease patients. Among the nondopaminergic pharmacological therapies, prolonged-release oxycodone/naloxone and duloxetine may be effective in the treatment of chronic pain in Parkinson's disease. Botulinum toxin (BTX) injections should be considered for the treatment of dystonic Parkinson's disease pain. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) may lead to pain relief with a long-lasting effect in Parkinson's disease patients. Physiotherapy and physical activity in general are essential for Parkinson's disease patients suffering from pain.

SUMMARY
Pain in Parkinson's disease is not simply a consequence of motor complainants. The management of Parkinson's disease-related pain implicates maintenance of stable levels of dopaminergic drugs. Nondopaminergic pharmacological therapies (prolonged-release oxycodone/naloxone, duloxetine, BTX) and nonpharmacological interventions (DBS, physiotherapie) may also be beneficial in treatment of Parkinson's disease pain.


Implantation and growth of endometriosis was determined by immune cell. There were several immunologic cells that promoting implantation and cell proliferation such as macrophages, Natural killer, lymphocyte and monocyte. Infected endometrioma was associated in women with revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) stage III-IV. Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was a simple systemic inflammation response markers. The sensitivity and spesificity CA-125 in predicting endometrioma was very low but it had been used to monitor the progress of endometriosis. Therefore, measuring mean in leucocyte, NLR, PLR and CA-125 level in infected endometrioma was necessary.


Several undesired effects following chronic use of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (particularly, sildenafil and tadalafil) and opioid (tramadol) have been reported. This study assessed the effect of chronic administration of sildenafil, tadalafil, tramadol and sildenafil+tramadol (as used in Nigeria today), on serum lipid profile (cardiovascular risk assessment), since alterations may not be easily discernable by their users. Fifty male albino wistar rats weighing 180-200 g were randomly divided into 5 groups (n = 10), thus; control (0.2 mL normal saline), sildenafil treated (10 mg kgG1), tadalafil treated (10 mg kgG1), tramadol treated (20 mg kgG1) and sildenafil+tramadol treated (10 and 20 mg kgG1, respectively) group. The drugs were administered every two days, per oral route, for eight weeks. All animals had access to food and water ad libitum. At the end of eight weeks, 5 animals were sacrificed from each group, leaving the remaining 5 per group for another 8 weeks without treatment (recovery phase). Blood was collected from each animal via cardiac puncture and serum lipid profile assessed. Serum total cholesterol was significantly (p<0.001) increased in tadalafil treated group, but significantly (p<0.001) reduced in tramadol and sildenafil+tramadol treated groups, compared with control. Serum LDL-c concentration was significantly increased in sildenafil (p<0.01) and tadalafil (p<0.001) treated groups, but significantly reduced in tramadol and sildenafil+tramadol treated groups, compared with control. Cardiac Risk Ratio (CRR) was significantly reduced in tramadol (p<0.001) and sildenafil+tramadol (p<0.01) treated groups, compared with sildenafil and tadalafil treated groups. The same trend was observed for atherogenic coefficient. Atherogenic index of plasma was significantly (p<0.05) reduced in sildenafil+tramadol treated group, compared with control and tadalafil treated groups. Following withdrawal of treatment, serum total cholesterol and LDL-c reduced significantly (p<0.001) in tadalafil recovery group, compared with its treated group, while serum lipid profile did not differ significantly between the treated and recovery group of rats administered sildenafil, tramadol and sildenafil+tramadol. Sildenafil and tadalafil exhibited hyperlipidaemic effects, while tramadol and sildenafil+tramadol exhibited hypolipidaemic effects, with poor reversibility.


Recent work in ultra-low-power sensor platforms has enabled a number of new applications in medical, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring. Due to their limited energy storage volume, these sensors operate with long idle times and ultra-low standby power ranging from 10s of nW down to 100s of pW [1–2]. Since radio transmission is relatively expensive, even at the lowest reported power of 0.2mW [3], wireless communication between sensor nodes must be performed infrequently. Accurate measurement of the time interval between communication events (i.e. the synchronization cycle) is of great importance. Inaccuracy in the synchronization cycle time results in a longer period of uncertainty where sensor nodes are required to enable their radios to establish communication (Fig. 2.7.1), quickly making radios dominate the energy budget. Quartz crystal oscillators and CMOS harmonic oscillators exhibit very small sensitivity to supply voltage and temperature [4] but cannot be used in the target application space since they operate at very high frequencies and exhibit power consumption that is several orders of magnitude larger (>300nW) than the needed idle power. A gate-leakage-based timer was proposed [5] that leveraged small gate leakage currents to achieve power consumption within the required budget (< 1nW). However, this timer incurs high RMS jitter (1400ppm) and temperature sensitivity (0.16%/ºC). A 150pW program-and-hold timer was proposed [6] to reduce temperature sensitivity but its drifting clock frequency limits its use for synchronization. The quality of a timer is not captured well by RMS jitter since it ignores the averaging of jitter over multiple timer clock periods in a single synchronization cycle. Instead, we propose the uncertainty in a single synchronization cycle of length T as new metric and use this synchronization uncertainty (SU) to evaluate different timer approaches. The timer period is a random variable X(n), with mean and sigma, μ and σ. Given a synchronization cycle time T, consisting of N timer periods, we define SU as the standard deviation of T as given by √T/μ × σ, assuming X(n) is Gaussian. Note that a smaller clock period increases N and results in more averaging and a lower SU with fixed jitter (σ/μ).


Background: Ovarian vein thrombosis (OVT) commonly occurs during the peripartum and postpartum period. However, few cases of idiopathic OVT unrelated to pregnancy have been described. Case report: We report a case of a previously healthy, 32-year-old female who presented with chronic right-sided abdominal pain. Abdominal and pelvic gadolinium-enhanced MRI showed a right OVT. The patient was not in the peripartum or postpartum period. Thrombophilia test results were negative, and no risk factors for thrombosis were noted. The patient received warfarin for 6 months, with resolution of her symptoms. Conclusion: The presented case emphasizes the significance of considering OVT as a cause of unexplained abdominal pain in a young female. We describe a rare case of idiopathic OVT with a unique presentation.


Background: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) are associated with a spectrum of necrotizing vasculitis including granulomatosis with polyangiitis, microscopic polyangiitis, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and renal-limited necrotizing and crescentic glomerulonephritis. Clinical observations and in vitro and in vivo experimental evidence strongly indicate that ANCA are pathogenic. Summary: The etiology and pathogenesis of ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) are multifactorial, with contributions from genetic factors, environmental exposures, infections, characteristics of the innate and adaptive immune system, and the intensity and duration of the injury. Acute vascular inflammation is induced when resting neutrophils that have ANCA autoantigens sequestered in cytoplasmic granules are exposed to priming factors - for example, cytokines induced by infection or phlogogenic factors released by complement activation - that cause the release of ANCA antigens on the surface of neutrophils and in the microenvironment around the neutrophils. ANCA bind to these ANCA antigens, which activates neutrophils by Fcγ receptor engagement and F(ab′)2 binding at the neutrophil cell surface. ANCA-activated neutrophils release factors that activate the alternative complement pathway, which generates C5a, a chemoattractant for neutrophils; C5a also primes the arriving neutrophils for activation by ANCA. Activated neutrophils adhere to and penetrate vessel walls, and they release toxic oxygen radicals and destructive enzymes that cause apoptosis and necrosis of the neutrophils as well as of the adjacent vessel wall cells and matrix. Key Messages: Patients with active AAV have ongoing asynchronous onsets of countless acute lesions, with each lesion evolving through stereotypical phases within 1 or 2 weeks. Induction of remission results in termination of new waves of acute lesions and allows all lesions to progress to scarring or resolution.


The research activity characterizing the present thesis was mainly centered on the design, development and validation of methodologies for the estimation of stationary and time-varying connectivity between different regions of the human brain during specific complex cognitive tasks.
Such activity involved two main aspects: i) the development of a stable, consistent and reproducible procedure for functional connectivity estimation with a high impact on neuroscience field and ii) its application to real data from healthy volunteers eliciting specific cognitive processes (attention and memory).
In particular the methodological issues addressed in the present thesis consisted in finding out an approach to be applied in neuroscience field able to: i) include all the cerebral sources in connectivity estimation process; ii) to accurately describe the temporal evolution of connectivity networks; iii) to assess the significance of connectivity patterns; iv) to consistently describe relevant properties of brain networks.
The advancement provided in this thesis allowed finding out quantifiable descriptors of cognitive processes during a high resolution EEG experiment involving subjects performing complex cognitive tasks.


Portugal has the ideal conditions for the production of apples. The climate of the region is highly favorable for the biochemical processes of maturation. The high levels of sunshine ensure maximum photosynthetic activity and a better color of the fruits, while the warm temperature is ideal for ripening processes, facilitating the development of strong organoleptic elements. In this work, the Golden Delicious, Gala and Starking varieties, cultivated by different producers in the region of Viseu, were harvested during commercial maturation and analyzed in the postharvest phase. In the second phase of this work, the varieties were kept in normal atmosphere (NA) and analyzed weekly. The evolution parameters related to quality are based on the determination of firmness; the determination of Brix; and the determination of the presence of starch. The study suggests that the Gala variety, is the only variety where firmness is not significantly influenced throughout the storage. With regards to sugar content, the Golden Delicious strain is the only variety that is not influenced by storage. Finally, during storage, Starking develops the highest starch values.
Keywords: Apples, postharvest, varieties, storage, normal atmosphere


Background: The human bladder cancer progression is accompanied by the growth of side-populations of cancer stem cells (CSCs). The expression of ABCG2 and CD44, as the CSC markers, may be associated with different pathological grades of bladder cancer. This study was designed to identify the changes occurring in ABCG2 and CD44 in different types of bladder tumors at various grades. Methods: The sample included 67 patients with bladder cancer (63 males; 4 females) with a diagnosis of transitional cell carcinoma (urothelial cancer) using cystoscopy. Based on the tumor pathological grade, we divided the tumor biopsies into two low-grade (N=20) and high-grade (N=21) groups. The tumor samples along with 26 normallooking bladder tissues were analyzed by techniques like immunohistochemistry (IHC) and total RNA extraction for qPCR. Results: Based on the results obtained by IHC analysis of ABCG2 and CD44 protein in bladder lowand high-grade tumors, these CSC markers showed significant elevation in malignant tissues in comparison to the normal bladder tissues. The scoring of ABCG2 expression in normal, low-grade and high-grade tissues was 28, 120, and 140 respectively. The CD44 scores in the normal bladder, lowgrade and high-grade tissues were found to be 0.6, 11.5, and 29.0, respectively. The IHC data showed inconsistency with the qPCR data, suggesting an overexpression of ABCG2 (4-6.5 folds) and CD44 (15-22 folds) in the low and high-grade tumors in comparison to the normal bladder tissue. Conclusions: Finding a good relationship between ABCG2 and CD44 markers and different grades of bladder cancer demonstrated that these markers can be seen as potential and predictive indicators of bladder malignancy.


This thesis focuses on the effect of nursing staff's redundant work routines on error and quality of care in one Critical Access Hospital in rural Wisconsin, USA. Methods were based on participatory design and an ethnographic approach, and included individual interviews and observation-based interviews. Introduction of a computerized information system was scheduled for the case study site and this thesis makes pre-implementation suggestions regarding staff training, interface features desired by the future users, and removal or restructuring of certain redundancies. The contribution of this thesis to information systems research is a classification system for determining the degree of redundancy (productive, gray-zone, and unproductive) present in the task chains of specific work routines, and a second classification system for determining to what extent modifying or removing an unproductive redundancy returns value. The degree to which an unproductive redundancy may be modified or removed is weighted against the difficulty of changing the work routines associated with that redundancy as well as the expected impact on other routines.


After preliminary studies showing that sodium valproate (VPA) is effective in migraine prophylaxis1 and in the treatment of chronic daily headache,2 Hering and Kuritzky3 have recently completed a double-blind, randomized, crossover trial in 29 migraineurs which indicated that VPA 400 mg taken twice a day was more effective than placebo in reducing the number and the severity of migraine attacks. Even though further studies are essential for testing the real efficiency of VPA in migraine, the experience for many clinicians currently using the drug is very positive.


Abstract To ensure long-term survival of humans and Earth life generally, strategies need to be in place to recolonize Earth after global catastrophes and to colonize exoplanets. In one strategy of space colonization, the physical barriers erected by time and space are circumvented by sending cryopreserved human and animal embryos to exoplanets rather than adult crews. There the embryos would be developed to neonates in artificial uterus (AU) systems. A similar strategy could also be used to repopulate Earth after human extinction events. In this paper, we review the status and future prospects of these embryonic survival strategies. A critical requirement in each scenario is an AU system for complete ectogenesis, i.e. complete development of embryos to neonates outside the natural womb. While such systems do not yet exist, they may soon be developed to afford clinical assistance to infertile women and reproductive choices to prospective parents. In human survival schemes, AU systems would likely first be used to extend conventional survival missions (e.g. subterranean bunkers) by replacing some adult crew members with cryopreserved embryos. For major mass extinctions and all far future events, adult crews would be entirely replaced by embryos and androids. The most advanced missions would feature orbiting embryo spacecraft for Earth recolonization and analogous interstellar spacecraft for colonizing exoplanets. We conclude that an advanced civilization using such an integrated, embryonic approach could eventually colonize distant parts of its home galaxy and potentially the wider universe.


The relationship between democracy and economic growth is one of the widely disputed issues in the literature. The relationship between political regime and economic dynamics has been proven. But, the real problem is the direction of the relationship. There has been not any consensus on this. In the historical process, convergence observed in democracy signifies positive direction of this relationship. Main purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of democracy on economic growth in transition economies. The panel data of 1992-2010 period is used in the study in order to examine 12 transitional economies belonging to Commonwealth of Independent States. The concept of democracy is dealt with as political and economic democracy within the scope of the study. The results of the assumptions puts forth that while economic democracy effects growth positively in transition economies, there is not any significant relation between growth and political democracy. It is concluded that political democracy effects growth in transitional economies indirectly through its effects on economic democracy.


Transport media for the preservation of streptococci from oral samples have been described, but a suitable transport medium for the preservation of lactobacilli in oral samples is yet to be established. In this study MRS, ROGOSA, and modifications of these media were evaluated as transport media for the quantitative preservation of oral lactobacilli. Results indicated a survival of ca. 100 per cent oral lactobacilli for both media when stored at 4 degrees C for up to 72 h. A decrease in the survival rate was obtained upon storage at -196 degrees C and growth occurred upon storage at 20 degrees C. It was evident throughout that carbohydrate-free modifications of both media best supported the quantitative survival of oral lactobacili. Carbohydrate-free modifications of both MRS and ROGOSA are therefore recommended as preservative transport media for the quantity of oral lactobacilli in oral samples for limited time periods.


A resource guide for faculty and students in the Russian Section of the Department of German, Russian, and East Asian Languages at BGSU.


Following activation with antigen, naïve B cells undergo a robust proliferative expansion and differentiation that results in the production of numerous distinct cell types with different roles in protective immunity. While some of the transcriptional regulators and extrinsic factors directing differentiation are known, these mechanisms cannot account for the heterogeneity of the response. In this study we tracked the response of single naïve B cells and found that individual cells do not differentiate into all of the cell types found within a polyclonal response. Thus, the heterogeneity found within the polyclonal response is in part the result of different naïve B cells differentiating differently. Ongoing work is focused on determining the contributions that B cell receptor affinity and stochastic competition play in differentiation.


SUMMARY In 2006 EPCglobal and the International Organization for Standards (ISO) ratified the EPC Class-1 Generation-2 (Gen-2) [1] and the ISO 18000-6C standards [2], respectively. These efforts represented major advancements in the direction of universal standardization for low-cost RFID tags. However, a cause for concern is that security issues do not seem to be properly addressed. In this paper, we propose a new lightweight RFID tag-reader mutual authentication scheme for use under the EPCglobal framework. The scheme is based on previous work by Konidala and Kim [3]. We attempt to mitigate the weaknesses observed in the original scheme and, at the same time, consider other possible adversarial threats as well as constraints on low-cost RFID tags requirements.


This paper describes an investigation to define statistical fatigue in terms of the initial quality of fastener holes. The objective is to develop and verify equivalent initial flaw size (EIFS) concepts for fatigue durability analysis of typical production quality structures. A special test procedure was used to obtain a statistically large sample of data under spectrum loading by testing a specimen containing 24 holes. It is possible to obtain a maximum of 96 fatigue data sets in the test of two specimens up to 100 000 flights in a reasonable time. The method involved removing the early cracked holes with a circular saw cutter and continuing the testing of the remaining holes. Marker cycles, which were designed to be an integral part of the spectrum, have served the intended purpose of identifying crack origins and microcrack growth rates using scanning electron microscope (SEM) fractography. The surface mechanical and material defects responsible for the origin of microcracks were examined quite fully. Through quantitative analysis of a large amount of microcrack growth data and surface macrocrack growth data, many parameters affecting apparent fatigue scatter were resolved. A method was developed to define statistical fatigue quality of fastener holes in terms of EIFS distribution. The EIFS should be a function of initial surface quality and independent of other secondary variables that affect crack growth rate. The procedure involves the use of a master crack growth curve developed from the experimental data of microcrack growth ranging from initial physical flaws as small as 0.005 mm (0.0002 in.). The essential physical defects in 2024-T3 as origins of microfatigue cracking are the tool marks and inclusions.


In recent decades drastic changes of economic activity conditions are observed. Global transformations and rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICT) have resulted in emergence of knowledge economy where the added value is created on the basis of knowledge. Due to this reason, business organisations operating under such conditions must increasingly focus on innovations and innovative processes which would guarantee them a competitive advantage. Companies which do not create innovations or at least do not introduce innovations in their activity, is quickly pushed out of today market. In the last century the creation of innovations was an accidental process. However today it is overwhelmingly a targeted activity. In today's society innovations are understood as vital for social and economic development. Innovations do not come up by themselves. Creativity is an important condition for innovations to occur. Although the concept of creativity is often used in both the scientific and public discourse, the boundaries of this concept are often unclear. Scientists emphasize the complexity and multidimensity of this concept. For some businesses, creativity is an important factor: clients in advertising agencies require a creative advertisement; architects, designers also often have to create an exclusive and unique creation. However, in other business areas creative thinking is not such a matter of course. Although the majority of world business organizations, while declaring the values, use such words as "innovations", "creativity", "new and smart thinking", in reality they remain only the statements of declarative nature. Therefore the main problematic question arises: how the creativity can contribute to the success of business organisations. The aim of this paper is to determine the directions of use of creativity in business organisations. In order to achieve this aim, the following objectives have been set: with reference to scientific literature to present evolution of the concept of creativity; to cristalyzed out contemporary concept of creativity; to identify the factors which encourage the development of creativity in organisations. The research method used: in-depth analysis of scientific literature, synthesis. The main results and conclusions of the article are: revealed the concept of creativity and its importance in nowadays organizations; constructed the model of factors which influence the expression of creativity in business organizations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.9.12810


Spatial decision making problems are multi-facetted challenges. Not only they often involve numerous technical requirements, but may also contain economic, social, environmental and political dimensions that may have conflicting values. Solutions for these problems involve highly complex spatial data analysis processes and frequently require advanced means to address physical suitability conditions while considering the multiple socio-economic variables. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques are the most common tools employed to solve these problems, each of these tools has its own shortcoming and could not be used alone to reach an optimum solution. The need for combining the strengths of these techniques has prompted researchers to seek integration of GIS and MCDM. Most GIS software packages do not support MCDM such as ArcGIS ® which is a great tool for handling spatial analysis. However, it has limited capabilities of handling multicriteria decision problems. In the same time, decision makers need intelligent guidance for selecting a suitable MCDM technique for their decision situation because different MCDM techniques suit different kinds of decision situation. In this study, an intelligent ArcGIS extension (MCDM Analyst) is developed to enhance ArcGIS decision making capabilities and to help the GIS analysts to select and implement the suitable MCDM techniques for their problems. The component object model (COM) technology is used in designing and integrating this extension with ArcGIS to achieve software interoperability. A typical case study is presented to demonstrate the application of this extension.


Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted infections. This obligate intracellular bacterium develops within a membrane-bound vacuole called an inclusion, which sequesters the chlamydiae from the host cytoplasm. Host-pathogen interactions at this interface are mediated by chlamydial inclusion membrane proteins (Incs). ABSTRACT Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted infections. This obligate intracellular bacterium develops within a membrane-bound vacuole called an inclusion, which sequesters the chlamydiae from the host cytoplasm. Host-pathogen interactions at this interface are mediated by chlamydial inclusion membrane proteins (Incs). However, the specific functions of most Incs are poorly characterized. Previous work from our laboratories indicated that expressing an IncF fusion protein at high levels in C. trachomatis L2 negatively impacted inclusion expansion and progeny production. We hypothesize that some Incs function in the structure and organization of the inclusion membrane and that overexpression of those Incs will alter the composition of endogenous Incs within the inclusion membrane. Consequently, inclusion biogenesis and chlamydial development are negatively impacted. To investigate this, C. trachomatis L2 was transformed with inducible expression plasmids encoding IncF-, CT813-, or CT226-FLAG. Overexpression of IncF-FLAG or CT813-FLAG, but not CT226-FLAG, altered chlamydial development, as demonstrated by smaller inclusions, fewer progeny, and increased plasmid loss. The overexpression of CT813-FLAG reduced the detectable levels of endogenous IncE and IncG in the inclusion membrane. Notably, recruitment of sorting nexin-6, a eukaryotic protein binding partner of IncE, was also reduced after CT813 overexpression. Gene expression studies and ultrastructural analysis of chlamydial organisms demonstrated that chlamydial development was altered when CT813-FLAG was overexpressed. Overall, these data indicate that disrupting the expression of specific Incs changed the composition of Incs within the inclusion membrane and the recruitment of associated host cell proteins, which negatively impacted C. trachomatis development.


The fauna studied came from differen Middle Jurassic sections of Neuquen, Mendoza (Argentina) and Atacama (Chile) provinces. The taxonomic and chronologic review of the early Middle Jurassic (Aalenian to Middle Bajocian) Hildocerataceae, including type material, recently described (Westermann & Riccardi, 1972), demonstrates the existence of about 40 species, although a number of previously described species are regarded as conspecific. Several subgenera and species were formerly known only from Europe. The Aalenian is mostly rather poorly fossiliferous, yielding locally the genera Leioceras (?), Staufenia (?), Tmetoceras, Bredya, Erycites y Planammatoceras. Several diverse ammonoid assemblages occur at the approximate base of the Bajocian, with Eudmetoceras s.s, E. (Euaptetcceras ), Fontannesia (?), Zurcheria, Sonninia s.s., S. (Euhoploceras ), Tmetoceras and the endemic genus Puchenquia Westermann and Riccardi. Superjacent Sonninia (Fissilobiceras) zitteli (Gottsche) and Pseudotoite clearly indicate the Sowerby Zone, in which S. (Papilliceras) espinazitensis Tornquist appears. The Sauzei 'Zone yields this last species, early Dorsetensia, Otoitidae and early Stephanoceratidae. The Humphriesianum Zone is established by Dorsetensia romani (Oppel ), D. liostraca Buckman, with Stephanoceras ex gr. S. humphriesianum (Sowerby).


The Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum are unrivaled examples of classical Greek art that have inspired sculptors, artists, poets and writers since their creation in the fifth century BC. This book serves as a superb visual introduction to these magnificent sculptures. The book showcases a series of specially taken photographs of the different sculptural elements: the pediments, metopes and Ionic frieze. It captures the vitality of the sculptures in a group, an individual sculpture or an exquisite eye-catching detail, such as the mane of a horse, a human foot, the swish of drapery or a youthful head bowed in thought.


86 chronic alcoholics hospitalized in three psychiatric clinics, were studied through a questionnaire and the Szondi Projective Test. Dividing the sample into two groups, "social" and psychotic alcoholics brought several significant differences to light. The mean age of the psychotic patients was lower than of the "social" alcoholics, suggesting that the pathology of the former had begun sooner. Furthermore, the projective test revealed that the pathology of the psychotic patients was qualitatively different in that they use negation and selfblocking defense mechanisms at a self-destructive level. This hinders individualization and fixates the patient, without internal consistency, at a level of pre-genital regression which is manifested in their social marginality. Language: pt


ABSTRACT Aim To evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of ab-interno trabeculectomy with trabectome for the treatment of glaucoma. Materials and methods Data collected for 339 eyes which included demographics, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements using Goldmann applanation tonometry, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), visual field results, optic nerve status, gonioscopic findings, prior glaucoma procedures, number of glaucoma medications and pain level. The main data points of interest were preoperative IOP vs. postoperative IOP and BCVA, medication use, pain status, and complications. Results Of the 339 eyes that underwent trabectome, we found a statistically significant reduction in IOP (p < 0.01) at final follow-up (average = 18.35 months) of nearly 23%, with a complication rate of 5.86%. Furthermore, this reduction was maintained up to 8 years post procedure. LogMAR visual acuity was significantly improved in 69% of eyes at the final visit (p < 0.05), while only 1.77% of cases saw a significant reduction. Based on these findings, we determined a success rate of around 80% to 100 months following trabectome. Conclusion Trabectome is a safe and effective long term for most forms and severities of glaucoma. How to cite this article Bendel RE, Patterson MT. Long-term Effectiveness of Trabectome (Ab-interno Trabeculectomy) Surgery. J Curr Glaucoma Pract 2018;12(3):119-124.


By studying energy and performance behavior of six array-dominated benchmarks, we observed that each nest in these applications works best with a specific cache configuration and optimization strategy. We also observed that cache configurations and optimization strategies required by different nests are, in general, different from each other. Based on this observation, in this paper, we propose a search space-based optimization for reducing energy consumption and improving performance. Specifically, we study potential benefits of a hardware-software co-adaptation scheme where cache configuration and optimization strategy are modified in the course of execution. Note that this is one step beyond determining just a suitable combination of (optimized) code/cache configuration which is valid throughout the execution of the application. The idea in co-adaptation is to ensure that each nested loop works with a cache configuration most suitable for it from the perspective of a given objective criterion. It should be noted, however, that dynamic cache reconfiguration does not come for free; it has both energy and performance costs which also need to be accounted for.


Combining the specific advantages of high-resolution liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulators (LCoS-SLMs) and reflective or refractive micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) presents new prospects for the generation of structured light fields. In particular, adaptive self-apodization schemes can significantly reduce diffraction by low-loss spatial filtering. The concept enables one to realize low-dispersion shaping of nondiffracting femtosecond wavepackets and to temporally switch, modulate or deflect spatially structured beams. Adaptive diffraction management by structured illumination is demonstrated for piezo-based and thermally actuated axicons, spiral phase plates (SPPs) and Fresnel bi-mirrors. Improved non-collinear autocorrelation with angular-tunable Fresnel-bi-mirrors via self-apodized illumination and phase contrast of an SLM is proposed. An extension of the recently introduced nondiffractive Talbot effect to a tunable configuration by combining an SLM and a fluid lens is reported. Experimental results for hexagonal as well as orthogonal array beams are presented.


The ABET standards definition process is discussed, and brief descriptions of how each ABET layer provides services, based on the set of external component standards which are combined into a complete test system definition, are presented. The authors discuss how the ABET package specifications can be supplemented by using the Anna formal specification language. Using Anna formal specifications in ABET implementations will provide the capability to generate self-checking applications that can be debugged or validated for correctness (to ensure reliability) by the Anna tools (e.g., the Anna transformer).<<ETX>>


A 2 × 3 factorial study (protease: 0 or 1,5000 PROT/kg and raw full-fat soya bean meal [RSBM] replacing the commercial SBM at 0, 45 and 75 g/kg of diet) was conducted to examine the performance of broilers. Phytase (2000 FYT/kg) was uniformly added to each diet, each also replicated six times, with eight birds per replicate. Birds were raised in climate-controlled rooms using sawdust as the bedding material and offered starter, grower and finisher diets. Feed intake (FI) and body weight gain (BWG) were reduced (p < .05) due to increasing levels of RSBM, but feed conversion ratio (FCR; 0-35 days) was unaffected. Over the first 24 days, neither RSBM nor protease supplementation affected (p > .05) mortality, footpad dermatitis or intestinal lesions in birds. At day 24, the weight, length, width and strength of tibia bone were reduced in chickens that received an elevated level of RSBM (75 g/kg of diet), but this was not significant at day 35. At day 24 (p < .05) and 35 (p < .01), Ca concentration in the litter was reduced when the RSBM level was increased in the diet, but P content was not affected. On days 24 (p < .05) and 35 (p < .01), the N content in litter was also increased with increase in dietary RSBM. Protease supplementation increased (p < .05) the uric acid concentration in the litter (at day 35), but the reverse was the case for ammonia concentration. Overall, the results of this study indicate that there are no major health-related risks, associated with the replacement of commercial SBM with RSBM (≤25%) in broiler diets.


This paper presents an analysis of the behavioural and temperamental changes of children in non-formal education lessons within the Logic Games discipline.

The experimental setup was made using 2 video cameras that alternatively recorded and monitored groups of 2 children during the lessons from the Logic Games discipline for the entire scholar year.

Emotion plays an important role in the lesson of non-formal education. Chess as part of the Logic Games involves the training of qualities such as will, ambition, perseverance, attention to detail, distributive attention, patience, evaluation and anticipation of many alternatives and possibilities to move both your own and your opponent's and to choose the moves. optimal.

It is very important to be mentally trained to deal with the negative emotions generated by losing or losing the match. Therefore, before learning how to win you must learn how to lose.

The sentiment analysis in this paper refers only to the automatic recognition and identification of facial expressions.

The images extracted from the video recordings were processed, and then classified into the categories: happy, sad, angry, disappointed, pleasantly surprised, proud, panicked / worried or stressed

Deep Learning techniques such as Convolutional Neuronal Network, RCNN, Faster RCNN and Mask RCNN and Transfer Learning technique were used to classify the images.

The contribution of the paper is given by the application of these image classification algorithms in the non-formal education process.

There was a correlation between the feelings detected, frequency of occurrence and the end result of the game in order to improve the educational process to optimize the automatic feedback needed by the teacher to adjust the instructional-educational process, benefiting from the support of an automatic assistant.

The results were illustrated in graphs regarding the evolution of the behavioural states/the flow of feelings of the children during lessons throughout the experiment.


We read with interest the article by Felten et al which assessed the efficacy of interleukin 6 receptor inhibition (tocilizumab) in Sjögren's syndrome (SjS). SjS is a chronic rheumatic disease characterised by immune infiltrates into exocrine glands such as salivary and lacrimal glands, which can impair glandular function and result in profound dryness. Despite the substantially expanded knowledge on its pathogenesis, the management of SjS has not been improved substantially in recent decades, and there are still some unmet needs in both the diagnosis and management of SjS. 4 Currently available therapies for SjS are limited, and most clinical trials of targeted therapies in SjS including another recent trial of cytotoxic T lymphocyteassociated antigen-4Ig (abatacept) have reported disappointing findings. 5 6 There are some possible explanations for those negative findings, and the inefficacy of those evaluated biological drugs is undoubtedly a major possible reason. 6 Apart from the inefficacy of those drugs, the adopted clinical trial design such as the outcome measures has been regarded as a possible contributor to those negative findings. 6 For instance, some of those clinical trials may have been hampered by lack of adequate outcome measures reflecting the changes of disease activity in SjS. European League Against Rheumatism Sjögren's Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI) is developed to mainly evaluate systemic disease activity but not exocrine glandspecific changes in SjS, and has been widely used in those clinical trials. 8 Despite the advantage of ESSDAI in evaluating the systemic disease activity with 12 organspecific domains in SjS, it certainly has limited performance in evaluating the exocrine glandspecific changes during treatment. Patients with SjS have obviously heterogeneous clinical phenotypes, and systemic extraglandular involvement is present in about 60% of patients with SjS. ESSDAI may have a good performance in assessing changes in systemic disease activity among SjS patients with obvious systemic involvement, but it undoubtedly has limited efficacy in evaluating changes in disease activity among those patients without obvious systemic organ involvement. For those patients without obvious systemic organ involvement but mainly presenting with glandular involvement features, treatment outcomes cannot be adequately assessed by systemic involvementcentred outcome measures such as ESSDAI, and exocrine glandcentred outcome measures may be more adequate for those patients with SjS. Therefore, apart from ESSDAI, exocrine glandcentred outcome measures are also necessary for a more adequate evaluation of treatment outcomes in SjS especially for those without systemic organ involvement. Some clinical trials have provided encouraging findings on the roles of exocrine glandcentred outcome measures such as salivary gland ultrasound and salivary gland biopsies in measuring treatment outcomes in patients with SjS. 11 More reliable and sensitive exocrine glandcentred outcome measures for monitoring the effects of therapeutic interventions need to be developed in further studies. Additionally, to improve the reproducibility and performance of those exocrine glandcentred outcome measures in SjS, further standardisation is also required. The negative findings of those trials may be partly attributed to poor treatment response of patients with SjS at the advanced disease stages when irreversible glandular failure has occurred and can not be reversed by those evaluated biological drugs. Autoimmune attacks are usually considered to occur several years before the onset of clinical SjS, while SjSrelated dryness symptoms generally occur at the later stages of SjS when glandular function has been seriously impaired and become insufficient. It is clear that a large part of patients with SjS have had prominent glandular dysfunction at diagnosis, and long diagnostic delay is common is patients with SjS. Therefore, many patients with SjS are indeed diagnosed at the advanced stages of SjS when irreversible glandular damages and glandular failure have occurred. To improve the treatment outcomes, timely and effective treatment interventions to prevent glandular loss need to be initiated at the earlier disease stages of SjS when the glandular function has not been seriously damaged. Besides, patients with SjS at the early stages may have little systemic extraglandular involvement, and systemic involvementcentred outcome measures thus have limited performance in identifying treatment effects because of the modest changes in systemic disease activity after therapy. Compared with those patients with SjS at the advanced stages, those diagnosed at the earlier stages may gain more benefits from treatments and show more changes in exocrine gland, which may be more likely to be detected by those exocrine glandcentred outcome measures. However, current knowledge regarding the earlier stages of SjS is far from being well established, and it is a main obstacle to improving the treatment strategy for SjS. Further studies focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of SjS at the earlier stages are needed, which may eventually help to improve the management of SjS.


G-DNA, a polymorphic family of four-stranded DNA structures, has been proposed to play roles in a variety of biological processes including telomere function, meiotic recombination and gene regulation. Here we report the purification and cloning of TGP1, a G-DNA specific binding protein from Tetrahymena thermophila. TGP1 was purified by three-column chromatographies, including a G-DNA affinity column. Two major proteins (approximately 80 and approximately 40 kDa) were present in the most highly purified column fraction. Renaturation experiments showed that the approximately 80 kDa protein contains TGP1 activity. Biochemical characterization showed that TGP1 is a G-DNA specific binding protein with a preference for parallel G-DNAs. The TGP1/DNA complex has a dissociation constant (Kd) of approximately 2.2 x 10(-8) M and TGP1 can form supershift in gel mobility shift assays. The cDNA coding TGP1 was cloned and sequenced based upon an internal peptide sequence obtained from the approximately 80 kDa protein. Sequence analyses showed that TGP1 is a basic protein with a pI of 10.58, and contains two extensively hydrophilic and basic domains. Homology searches revealed that TGP1 is a novel protein sharing weak similarities with a number of proteins.


A database of curated genomes is needed to better assess soil microbial communities and their processes associated with differing land management and environmental impacts. Interpreting soil metagenomic datasets with existing sequence databases is challenging because these datasets are biased towards medical and biotechnology research and can result in misleading annotations. We have curated a database of 922 genomes of soil-associated organisms (888 bacteria and 34 archaea). Using this database, we evaluated phyla and functions that are enriched in soils as well as those that may be underrepresented in RefSoil. Our comparison of RefSoil to soil amplicon datasets allowed us to identify targets that if cultured or sequenced would significantly increase the biodiversity represented within RefSoil. To demonstrate the opportunities to access these underrepresented targets, we employed single cell genomics in a pilot experiment to sequence 14 genomes. This effort demonstrates the value of RefSoil in the guidance of future research efforts and the capability of single cell genomics as a practical means to fill the existing genomic data gaps.


In this paper, we aim to improve the robustness of dynamic quadrupedal locomotion through three aspects: 1) fast model predictive foothold planning, 2) LQR control for robust motion tracking and 3) adaptive feet for terrain adaptation. In our proposed planning and control framework, foothold plans are updated at 400 Hz considering the current robot state and an LQR controller generates optimal feedback gains for motion tracking. The LQR optimal gain matrix with non-zero off-diagonal elements leverages the coupling of dynamics to compensate for system underactuation, such as a quadruped robot with passive ankles. The specially designed foot with adaptive sole aims at improving the traversability of rough terrains with rocks, loose gravel and rubble by enlarging the contact surfaces with ground. Experiments on the quadruped ANYmal demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for robust dynamic locomotion given external disturbances and environmental uncertainties.


Wide-area drainage structure (DS) mapping is of great concern, as many DSs are reaching the end of their design life and information on their location is usually absent. Recently, airborne laser scanning (ALS) has been proven useful for DS mapping through manual methods using ALS-derived digital elevation models (DEMs) and hillshade images. However, manual methods are slow and labor-intensive. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes an automated DS mapping algorithm (DSMA) using classified ALS point clouds and road centerline information. The DSMA begins with removing ALS ground points within the buffer of the road centerlines; the size of the buffer varies according to different road classes. An ALS-modified DEM (ALS-mDEM) is then generated from the remaining ground points. A drainage network (DN) is derived from the ALS-mDEM. Candidate DSs are then obtained by intersecting the DN with the road centerlines. Finally, a refinement buffer of 15 m is placed around each candidate DS to prevent duplicate DS from being generated in close proximity. A total area of 50 km2, including an urban site and a rural site, in Vermont, USA, was used to assess the DSMA. Based on the road functional classification scheme of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the centerline information regarding FHWA roads was obtained from a public data portal. The centerline information on non-FHWA roads, i.e., private roads and streets, was derived from the impervious surface data of a land cover dataset. A benchmark DS dataset was gathered from the transport agency of Vermont and was further augmented using Google Earth Street View images by the authors. The one-to-one correspondence between the benchmark DS and mapped DS for these two sites was then established. The positional accuracy was assessed by computing the Euclidian distance between the benchmark DS and mapped DS. The mean positional accuracy for the urban site and rural site were 13.5 m and 15.8 m, respectively. F1-scores were calculated to assess the prediction accuracy. For FHWA roads, the F1-scores were 0.87 and 0.94 for the urban site and rural site, respectively. For non-FHWA roads, the F1-scores were 0.72 and 0.74 for the urban site and rural site, respectively.


Oxaliplatin, a diaminocyclohexane-containing platinum, has a spectrum of activity and mechanisms of action and resistance that appear to be different from those of other platinum-containing compounds, notably cisplatin. The first part of this review describes the differences between oxaliplatin and cisplatin in terms of their spectrum of activity and adduct formation and then goes on to discuss molecular and cellular experimental data that potentially explain them. Particular emphasis is placed on the differential role of DNA repair mechanisms. In addition, the anticancer effects of oxaliplatin are optimized when it is administered in combination with other anticancer agents, such as 5-fluorouracil, gemcitabine, cisplatin, or carboplatin; topoisomerase I inhibitors; and taxanes. In vitro and preclinical combination data that could optimize oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy are also reviewed.


Abstract The synthesis of two marine natural products containing a 3-alkylidene-6-arylidene-2,5-diketopiperazine scaffold by employing two consecutive aldol condensations starting with 1,4-diacetyl-2,5-diketopiperazine is reported. The target compounds contain a phenol or an imidazole group as aryl substituents, respectively, and suitable conditions for the aldol condensation of 1-acyl-3-alkylidene-2,5-diketopiperazine with the required functionalised aromatic aldehydes were developed. Provided the optimal base was used, introduction of the phenol group did not require use of a protecting group. Boc-protection was beneficial for introduction of the imidazole group, and conditions for carrying out the aldol condensation and Boc-deprotection in one step were identified. The stereochemistry of the target compounds was confirmed by NMR analysis.


A significant share of firms in developing countries is not registered for income taxation. Expanding the tax net is a priority for many governments, but most formalization policies proved relatively ineffective in bringing firms into the tax net. We show that snapshot-synchronizations of the business tax and the commercial registry in South Africa led to a large-scale expansion of the South African business taxpayer net. While the targeted non-compliers are one of the fiscally most valuable segments of unregistered firms, we document that the interventions resulted in relatively little additional tax revenues, owing to entities' weak post registration tax compliance and small firm size. Additional analyses suggest that the snapshot-synchronizations significantly reduced firms' tendency to late register for business tax purposes, but did not trigger genuinely new voluntary business tax registrations. Our results highlight that the per-entity gains of formalization measures are small and must be carefully balanced against costs.


The coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) algorithm in the NWChem software package has been optimized to alleviate the communication bottleneck. This optimization provided a 2-fold to 5-fold speedup in the CCSD iteration time depending on the problem size and available memory, and improved the CCSD scaling to 20 000 nodes of the NCSA Blue Waters supercomputer. On 20 000 XE6 nodes of Blue Waters, a complete conventional CCSD(T) calculation of a system encountering 1042 basis functions and 103 occupied correlated orbitals obtained a performance of 0.32 petaflop/s and took 5 h and 24 min to complete. The reported time and performance included all stages of the calculation from initialization to termination for iterative single and double excitations as well as perturbative triples correction. In perturbative triples alone, the computation sustained a rate of 1.18 petaflop/s. The CCSD and (T) phases took approximately (3)/4 and (1)/4 of the total time to solution, respectively, showing that CCSD is the most time-consuming part at the large scale. The MP2, CCSD, and CCSD(T) computations in 6-311++G** basis set performed on guanine-cytosine deoxydinucleotide monophosphate probed the conformational energy difference between the A- and B-conformations of single stranded DNA. Good agreement between MP2 and coupled cluster methods has been obtained, suggesting the utility of MP2 for conformational analysis in these systems. The study revealed a significant discrepancy between the quantum mechanical and classical force field predictions, suggesting a need to improve the dihedral parameters.


Families provide care in ever-increasing numbers for chronically and terminally ill family members. Previous empirical measurement of caregiver strain was generally limited to one type of care recipient population (e.g., elderly), with samples drawn primarily from metropolitan centers (and often support groups), and confined to individual assessment (i.e., primary caregiver), with outcomes of depression and anxiety. This study sought to address some of the research gaps in previous research. In-depth caregiver and family-member interviews using both quantitative and qualitative research methods were conducted during a 10-month period throughout an entire state, composed mostly of rural and smalltown populations. Examination was directed at (1) how family caregiving affects caregiver and family member feelings about self and social integration; (2) how social support and coping moderate caregiver feelings of self and social integration; and (3) the impact of family caregiving on the social interaction within the family unit. Caregivers represented all age groups, and cared for relatives with a wide variety of Illnesses. Factor analysis, multiple regression, hierarchical regressions, and conditional effect plots were used to test relationships. Findings confirmed that while caregiving is primarily provided by females, males provided about 15% of family care. Families provide much more extensive care than was previously reported: a mean of seven years and 12 hours of care per day. Family opposition was the most detrimental stressor; it negatively affected caregivers' self-concept and increased their feelings of alienation. In the presence of identified stressors, social support from other family members operated primarily through a main effect on caregiver self-concept and alienation, while support from friends operated primarily through a buffering effect. Coping resources had stronger buffering than main effects, and were most influential in lowering the level of caregiver alienation. Alienation was shown to have a significant negative effect on perception of family cohesion and a positive effect on family conflict; self-concept showed no effect on perception of family interaction. Family members of primary caregivers who experienced alienation had, themselves, more alienation, but their perception of family cohesion and conflict was not significantly affected. Being a spouse, or living in the same household as the caregiver, increased the sense of family conflict and decreased the sense of family cohesion.


The treatment of venous air embolism by aspiration from central venous catheters is well established. However, some anesthesiologists prefer to use a pulmonary artery catheter to monitor patients undergoing a neurosurgical procedure in the sitting position. While offering certain advantages, pulmonary artery catheters may be of limited use in the treatment of venous air embolism because the small diameter of the proximal port is poorly suited for efficient air aspiration. The authors have designed a special pulmonary artery catheter introducer sheath which can be positioned by intravascular electrocardiography to provide an efficient and effective means of air aspiration, while permitting the simultaneous use of a pulmonary artery catheter for pressure monitoring. The flow characteristics of this sheath, with and without side holes, were tested in vitro by measuring the time required to aspirate 50 ml of blood. The introducer sheath was compared to a Sorenson CVP catheter, a Bunegin-Albin Air Aspiration CVP Catheter, and the proximal port of a pulmonary artery catheter. The rank order of flow rate was: Bunegin-Albin CVP greater than introducer sheath without side holes = introducer sheath with side holes greater than Sorenson CVP greater than pulmonary artery catheter (P = 0.0001). The introducer sheath was then compared to a pulmonary artery catheter for the treatment of a 4 ml/kg venous air embolism in sitting, anesthetized dogs. The mean proportion of air retrieved by the sheath with or without side holes, 57% and 80%, respectively, was significantly greater than that retrieved by simultaneous aspiration of atrial and distal ports of the pulmonary artery catheter, 16% (P = 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Climate change is expected to modify intra- seasonal rainfall variability, arising from shifts in rainfall frequency, intensity and seasonality. These intra-seasonal changes are likely to have important ecological impacts on terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, quantifying these impacts across biomes and large climate gradients is largely missing. This gap hinders our ability to better predict ecosystem services and their responses to climate change, especially for arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Here we use a synthetic weather gen- erator and an independently validated vegetation dynamic model (SEIB-Dynamic Global Vegetation Model, DGVM) to virtually conduct a series of "rainfall manipulation ex- periments" to study how changes in the intra-seasonal rain- fall variability affect continent-scale ecosystem responses across Africa. We generate different rainfall scenarios with fixed total annual rainfall but shifts in (i) frequency vs. in- tensity, (ii) rainy season length vs. frequency, (iii) intensity vs. rainy season length. These scenarios are fed into SEIB- DGVM to investigate changes in biome distributions and ecosystem productivity. We find a loss of ecosystem pro- ductivity with increased rainfall frequency and decreased intensity at very low rainfall regimes ( 1800 mm year 1 ) where radiation limitation prevents fur- ther productivity gains. This result reconciles seemingly con- tradictory findings in previous field studies on the impact of rainfall frequency/intensity on ecosystem productivity. We also find that changes in rainy season length can yield more dramatic ecosystem responses compared with similar per- centage changes in rainfall frequency or intensity, with the largest impacts in semi-arid woodlands. This study demon- strates that intra-seasonal rainfall characteristics play a sig- nificant role in influencing ecosystem function and structure through controls on ecohydrological processes. Our results suggest that shifts in rainfall seasonality have potentially large impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, and these understud- ied impacts should be explicitly examined in future studies of climate impacts.


: A randomized complete block design experiment was conducted using 408 crossbred pigs to evaluate the effects of six dietary Ca/P levels for growing swine (18 to 57 kg). Total dietary P levels ranged from .40 to .90% in .1% intervals with Ca concurrently increased at a 1.3:1 ratio in a 16% protein corn-soybean meal diet. Dicalcium phosphate and limestone were the source of inorganic Ca and P. For the overall trial, daily gain and feed intake improved as dietary Ca/P increased to an approximate level of .65/.50%. An inverse relationship occurred between serum Ca and P, with serum Ca declining and P increasing at the lower mineral levels. Femur, humerus, rib, metatarsal and metacarpal ash content increased quadratically (P less than .01) as dietary Ca/P increased with suggested dietary breakpoint inflections of .90% Ca and .70% P at 40 kg, and at .72/.55% levels at 57 kg body weight. Percentage ash of the head portion of the bone was lower than the shaft section. Bone shaft thickness and bending moments for metatarsals and metacarpals increased as dietary Ca/P levels increased, with higher values and higher dietary inflection points at 57 than at 40 kg body weight. Bone length was not influenced by dietary Ca/P level, but fat-free dried bone weight was, resulting in higher total bone ash and organic weight as Ca/P level increased.


A series of heteroleptic copper(I) complexes with bidentate PP and NN chelate ligands was prepared and successfully applied as photosensitizers in the light-driven production of hydrogen, by using [Fe3(CO)12] as a water-reduction catalyst (WRC). These systems efficiently reduces protons from water/THF/triethylamine mixtures, in which the amine serves as a sacrificial electron donor (SR). Turnover numbers (for H) up to 1330 were obtained with these fully noble-metal-free systems. The new complexes were electrochemically and photophysically characterized. They exhibited a correlation between the lifetimes of the MLCT excited state and their efficiency as photosensitizers in proton-reduction systems. Within these experiments, considerably long excited-state lifetimes of up to 54 μs were observed. Quenching studies with the SR, in the presence and absence of the WRC, showed that intramolecular deactivation was more efficient in the former case, thus suggesting the predominance of an oxidative quenching pathway.


Reliable and quantitative application of tracer-based laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) for im-aging measurements of fuel concentration, equivalence ratio, and temperature in combustion processes requires knowledge about photophysical properties and thermal stability of the re-spective tracers at high temperature. In this work, ultraviolet absorption and LIF emission spectra of toluene, anisole, p-xylene (p-XL), 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene (1,2,4-TMB), and acety-lene were studied at high temperatures and different reaction times behind reflected shock waves. Relative fluorescence quantum yields of these tracers were determined to extend existing data to higher temperatures. After the onset of pyrolysis of these tracers, effective absorp-tion cross-sections and the corresponding absorption and LIF spectra are reported. Pyrolysis products were found to be the major contributors to the absorption and LIF signals at higher temperatures. The temporal behavior of the absorption at 266 nm during the pyrolysis of trac-ers was compared to simulations based on literature kinetics models and available high-temperature absorption cross-sections. To aid the interpretation of absorption and LIF experi-ments of anisole at high temperatures, the products of anisole pyrolysis were investigated us-ing a shock tube coupled to a high-repetition-rate time-of-flight mass spectrometer (HRR-TOF-MS) for time-resolved multispecies measurements. Concentration-time profiles for ani-sole and products such as benzene, C2H4, and CO were measured and compared to simula-tions using two kinetics models from literature.
Moreover, a novel experimental concept is presented that allows reaction-time-resolved LIF (RTR-LIF) measurements with one single laser pulse using a new shock-tube test section that has several optical ports. After the passage of the shock wave, the reactive mixture is excited along the center of the tube with a 266-nm laser beam directed through a window in the end-wall of the shock tube. The emitted LIF signal is collected through elongated sidewall win-dows and focused onto the entrance slit of an imaging spectrometer coupled to an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera. The one-dimensional spatial resolution of the meas-urement translates into a reaction-time-resolved measurement according to the characteristics of the shock wave, while species information can be gained from the spectral axis of the de-tected two-dimensional image.