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A multiscale approach to the description of geometrically complex 3D image data is proposed which distinguishes between morphological features on a 'macro-scale' and a 'micro-scale'. Since our method is mainly tailored to nanostructures observed in composite materials consisting of two different phases, an appropriate binarization of grayscale images is required first. Then, a morphological smoothing is applied to extract the structural information from binarized image data on the 'macro-scale'. A stochastic algorithm is developed for the morphologically smoothed images whose goal is to find a suitable representation of the macro-scale structure by unions of overlapping spheres. Such representations can be interpreted as marked point patterns. They lead to an enormous reduction of data and allow the application of well-known tools from point-process theory for their analysis and structural modeling. All those voxels which have been 'misspecified' by the morphological smoothing and subsequent representation by unions of overlapping spheres are interpreted as 'micro-scale' structure. The exemplary data sets considered in this paper are 3D grayscale images of photoactive layers in hybrid solar cells gained by electron tomography. These composite materials consist of two phases: a polymer phase and a zinc oxide phase. The macro-scale structure of the latter is represented by unions of overlapping spheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the bioequivalence (BE), safety, tolerability, and adhesion of Oppanol® polyisobutylene (PIB)-containing transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) formulation (test treatment, T) with VistanexTM PIB-containing TTS formulation (reference treatment, R) of clonidine., Methods: This randomized, double-blind, 2-way crossover study comprised a 7-day treatment with 0.3 mg clonidine/24 h (T1/R1), a 7-day washout, and another 7-day treatment (R1/T1) period. After a 3-day washout period, subjects used T2 and R2 (each 0.1 mg clonidine/24 h) simultaneously in the 7-day adhesion phase. Primary endpoints were AUC0-168 and Cavg. Secondary endpoints were AUC0-∞ and Cmax. Additional endpoints included adhesion properties for all phases. For the primary endpoint, the geometric mean (gMean) ratios for test/reference treatment were calculated with BE defined as 90% confidence interval (CI) between 80 and 125%., Results: 58 subjects (mean age, 41.3 years) received treatment (T1/R1, n = 29; R1/T1, n = 29); 55 completed the adhesion phase. BE criteria were met for the primary and secondary endpoints. Adjusted gMean ratios for T1/R1 were 102.3% (90% CI: 95.7%, 109.4%) for AUC0-168; 104.3% (90% CI: 98.4%, 110.5%) for Cavg; 102.8% (90% CI: 97.3%, 108.6%) for AUC0-∞; and 104.0% (90% CI: 98.2%, 110.3%) for Cmax. Mean adhesion was greater than 90% for all four patch types when data from all assessment times were included. Most frequently reported adverse events were general disorders and local irritation., Conclusions: Clonidine Oppanol® PIB-containing TTS formulation was bioequivalent to VistanexTM PIB-containing TTS formulation and had similar adhesive properties. Both doses and formulations of clonidine-TTS were well tolerated.