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Polygranular nuclear graphite, manufactured at 2800–3000 °C from a carbonized filler and binder mix, has high graphitization degree, crystalline structure close to perfect graphite, and about 20% porosity. The pore surfaces expose large regions of rough, defective prismatic edges of graphite crystallites which are the locus of graphite materials surface sites active for oxidation, chemisorption, and electron transfer. However, we show that high-resolution N2 and Kr first monolayer adsorption on polygranular graphite (P/P0

The management of motor complications in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an unmet need. This paper proposes an eHealth platform for Parkinson’s disease (PD) severity estimation using a cloud-based and deep learning (DL) approach. The system quantifies the hallmark symptoms of PD using motor signals of patients with PD (PwPD). In this study, the dataset named ”The Michael J. Fox Foundation-funded Levodopa Response Study” is used for the development and evaluation of computational methods focusing on severity estimation of motor function in response to the levodopa treatment. The data is derived from a wearable inertial device, named Shimmer 3, to collect motion data from a patient’s upper limb which is more affected by the disease during the performance of some standard activities selected by MDS-UPDRS III and at home while performing daily life activities (DLAs). Seventeen PwPD were enrolled from two clinical sites, who have varying degrees of motor impairment. An incorporated cloud-based framework is proposed where patients’ motion data is saved in MS Azure cloud where an automatic evaluation of patients’ motor activities in response to the levodopa dose is performed using continuous wavelet transform and CNN-based transfer learning approach. Experimental results show that the efficiency and the robustness of the proposed procedure are proven by 90.0% accuracy for tremor estimation and 86.4% for bradykinesia, with good performance in terms of sensitivity and specificity in each class. Index Terms—Parkinson’s disease, cloud computing, deep learning, severity estimation.

An electron microscopy investigation was performed to understand the relationship between the microstructure and properties of carbonized cellulose and lignin (softwood kraft lignin) relative to the structure of the original biomass components. Structure details at micro- and molecular levels were investigated by scanning transmission electron microscopy. Atomic-resolution images revealed the presence of random disordered carbon in carbonized cellulose (C-CNC) and of large domains of well-ordered carbon with graphite sheet structure in carbonized lignin (C-Lignin). These structural differences explain why C-CNC exhibits higher surface area and porosity than C-Lignin. The presence of certain well-ordered carbon in carbonized lignin indicates some of the carbon in lignin are graphitized with heat treatment temperature up to 950 °C. This result is encouraging for future endeavors of attaining acceptable modulus of carbon fiber from lignin given suitable modifications to the chemistry and structure of lignin. The results of this research contribute to an improved understanding of the carbonization mechanism of the key cellulose and lignin components of biomass materials.

RMS most commonly presents in children and adolescents, however a subset of tumors are diagnosed in infants under one year of age. Due to the rarity of infant RMS, utilization of different treatment approaches and goals, and small sample sizes, the published studies of infants with RMS have yielded heterogeneous results. In this review, we discuss the outcomes of infants with RMS treated in various clinical trials and the strategies that various international cooperative groups have employed to reduce the morbidity and mortality related to treatment without compromising the overall survival of this population. This review discusses the unique scenarios of diagnosing and managing congenitals or neonatal RMS, spindle cell RMS and relapsed RMS. This review concludes by exploring novel approaches to diagnosis and management of infants with RMS that are currently being studied by various international cooperative groups.

The purpose of the present study is to describe the diversity, distribution and participation of the climbing plants (woody and herbaceous climbers) in the different plant communities in natural habitats of the Danube island Aydemir which is part of NATURA 2000 and to investigate their participation in the succesional processes. The methodology includes setting up Permanent Sample Plots (PSP) in different parts of the island with natural and semi-natural vegetation. The composition, cover abundance and occurrence of all the plant species in the PSP and their affiliation to a specific habitat type of NATURA 2000 were determined, as well as some soil properties as a major part of natural conditions giving specificity of plant composition. During the study, 36 species of vascular plants were identified belonging to 33 genera and 26 families from Magnoliophyta division - 41,4% of all the species and 66,7% of the vines are diagnostic for habitat 91EO Alluvial forests with Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior (Alno-Padion, Alnion incanae, Salicion albae). The study shows that the distribution and diversity of climbers on the territory of Aydemir island, are mainly determined by vertical structure and age of forest communities and the high species richness in them. Among the climbers found on the island, the invasive alien species Sicyos angulatus has the strongest influence on the condition of natural habitats, and represents a real threat to their diversity.

Durante los últimos años en Panamá se ha venido incrementado la contaminación acústica, la cual, aunque puede parecer inofensiva, logra alcanzar niveles tan elevados, afectando progresivamente la salud de las personas. Por esta razón, tanto en espacios cerrados, como abiertos es necesario monitorizar los decibeles del ruido. Los sistemas expertos permiten representar conocimientos de expertos, lo cual facilita la toma de decisiones más precisa. Una de las técnicas para la construcción de sistemas expertos es mediante el concepto de lógica difusa. En este artículo se presenta el prototipo de un sistema experto basado en lógica difusa para la monitorización del ruido y un mecanismo de alerta en espacios educativos. El sistema desarrollado plantea la utilización de técnicas de inteligencia artificial para la toma de decisión y mecanismos de salidas que actúan como alertas, concretamente mediante semáforos de estados, indicando el nivel de ruido captado. En este trabajo se presenta la problemática, un prototipo del sistema experto funcional, y los resultados obtenidos de las pruebas realizadas.

The results obtained from a drying experiment using infrared heating are compared to those obtained from an analytical model based on correlations for the mass transfer coefficients, which are commonly used to obtain evaporation rates for drying applications. It was shown that the mass transfer coefficients calculated by natural convection correlations are approximately ten times lower than those measured under infrared (IR) exposure. In an attempt to explain this discrepancy, which has been also observed in other studies and explained on the basis of thermal radiation effects, optical properties of the solvent are presented and the implications of the IR and near infrared (NIR) spectrum on the thermal radiation effects and ensuing evaporation rates are discussed. The results show that the correlation for mass transfer coefficient has to take into account the IR radiation temperature and the surface emissivity. This study provides important evaporation data on mass flux and mass transfer coefficients, which cannot be predicted using traditional correlations, for the design of IR assisted drying systems.

Contrasting conditions of different habitats lead to geographic variation among populations of the same species. In widespread species, trait divergence represents a response to spatial variation i...

Background and Objective Based on previous experience of sorbent-mediated ticagrelor, dabigatran, and radiocontrast agent removal, we set out in this study to test the effect of two sorbents on the removal of edoxaban, a factor Xa antagonist direct oral anticoagulant. Methods We circulated 100 mL of edoxaban solution during six first-pass cycles through 40-mL sorbent columns (containing either CytoSorb in three passes or Porapak Q 50–80 mesh in the remaining three passes) during experiments using human plasma and 4% bovine serum albumin solution as drug vehicles. Drug concentration was measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results Edoxaban concentration in two experiments performed with human plasma dropped from 276.8 to 2.7 ng/mL and undetectable concentrations, respectively, with CytoSorb or Porapak Q 50–80 mesh (p = 0.0031). The average edoxaban concentration decreased from 407 ng/mL ± 216 ng/mL to 3.3 ng/mL ± 7 ng/mL (p = 0.017), for a removal rate of 99% across all six samples of human plasma (two samples) and bovine serum albumin solution (four samples). In four out of the six adsorbed samples, the drug concentrations were undetectable. Conclusion Sorbent-mediated technology may represent a viable pathway for edoxaban removal from human plasma or albumin solution. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s40268-020-00308-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

High confidence methods are needed for determining the glycosylation profiles of complex biological samples as well as recombinant therapeutic proteins. A common glycan analysis workflow involves liberation of N-glycans from glycoproteins with PNGase F or O-glycans by hydrazinolysis prior to their analysis. This method is limited in that it does not permit determination of glycan attachment sites. Alternative proteomics-based workflows are emerging that utilize site-specific proteolysis to generate peptide mixtures followed by selective enrichment strategies to isolate glycopeptides. Methods designed for the analysis of complex samples can yield a comprehensive snapshot of individual glycans species, the site of attachment of each individual glycan and the identity of the respective protein in many cases. This chapter will highlight advancements in enzymes that digest glycoproteins into distinct fragments and new strategies to enrich specific glycopeptides.

La apicultura del Nordeste Argentino posee un desarrollo promisorio, debido a las condiciones favorables de la región. Las colonias de Apis mellifera L. son afectadas por diferentes estresores bióticos entre los cuales se encuentra el ácaro Varroa destructor y el microsporidio Nosema sp., que pueden afectar gravemente la salud de las abejas y disminuir la producción de la colmena. El estado nutricional de las abejas puede estar influenciado por el polen pecoreado y el contenido proteico de las especies visitadas por las abejas. El estudio se llevó a cabo en el apiario de la Escuela de la Familia Agrícola “Tupá Rembiapo”. Seis colmenas fueron asignadas al grupo “tratamiento”, se aplicó por única vez un acaricida orgánico a base de ácido oxálico, y cinco al grupo “control”. Se realizaron muestreos mensuales (octubre/2020 - abril/2021). Se utilizó el método del frasco para evaluar prevalencia de varroa en estado forético. Al mismo tiempo, se tomaron muestras de abejas retornantes para evaluar nosema. Se obtuvieron muestras de cargas corbiculares con trampas caza polen, se realizó el análisis cualitativo con técnicas de microscopía y se determinó nitrógeno total (método Kjeldahl). En las colmenas tratadas, la población de Varroa disminuyó en los muestreos inmediatos post tratamiento y en el grupo control la dinámica de la parasitosis fue variable, con rangos de infestación de 0,74% a 6,71%. El registro de esporas de Nosema sp. estuvo bien marcado en primavera y otoño. A pesar de esto no se observa sintomatología asociada a la Nosemosis que indique riesgos y desarrollo de la enfermedad en la zona. En cuanto al polen acopiado, predominaron las especies nativas (81%) sobre las exóticas (19%). Los mayores volúmenes fueron recolectados en primavera (octubre) y las especies dominantes fueron Senecio grisebachi y Enterolobium contortisiliquum. En verano (enero) predominó Schinopsis balansae y en otoño (abril) aumentó la diversidad específica, pero disminuyó el volumen total. En cuanto al contenido de proteína bruta se determinó un rango de 11% a 21,5%.