Study of Oxidation and Combustion Characteristics of Iron Nanoparticles under Idealized and Enginelike Conditions

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Energy Fuels, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher.[EN] The present work includes findings from proof-of-principle feasibility studies on iron nanopowder combustion under idealized, enginelike, and real engine conditions. The study was conducted under the scope of recent interest in metallic nanoparticles as alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. More specifically, Fe nanoparticles with different morphologies and average primary particle sizes ranging from 25 to 85 nm were studied with respect to their oxidation characteristics via thermogravimetric analysis as well as in customized shock tube, constant-volume vessel, and compression-ignition (CI) engine configurations. Combusted powder samples were in all cases examined via in situ and ex situ techniques for the identification of combustion products and their morphologies. The findings facilitated the determination of the main phenomena involved during oxidation. The results verified that combustion of Fe nanoparticles in a slightly modified CI engine is feasible, albeit with various technological challenges related to ignition and scavenging that inhibit combustion quality.The authors thank the European Commission for partial funding of this work through the Project “COMETNANO” (FP7-NMP4-SL-2009-229063).Mandilas, C.; Karagiannakis, G.; Konstandopoulos, AG.; Beatrice, C.; Lazzaro, M.; Di Blasio, G.; Molina, S.... (2016). Study of Oxidation and Combustion Characteristics of Iron Nanoparticles under Idealized and Enginelike Conditions. Energy and Fuels. 30(5):4318-4330. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b00121S4318433030

Simply longer is not better: reversal of theta burst after-effect with prolonged stimulation

From all rTMS protocols at present, the theta burst stimulation (TBS) is considered the most efficient in terms of number of impulses and intensity required during a given stimulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of inhibitory and excitatory TBS protocols on motor cortex excitability when the duration of stimulation was doubled. Fourteen healthy volunteers were tested under four conditions: intermittent theta bust stimulation (iTBS), continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), prolonged intermittent theta bust stimulation (ProiTBS) and prolonged continuous theta burst stimulation (ProcTBS). The prolonged paradigms were twice as long as the conventional TBS protocols. Conventional facilitatory iTBS converted into inhibitory when it was applied for twice as long, while the normally inhibitory cTBS became facilitatory when the stimulation duration was doubled. Our results show that TBS-induced plasticity cannot be deliberately enhanced simply by prolonging TBS protocols. Instead, when stimulating too long, after-effects will be reversed. This finding supplements findings at the short end of the stimulation duration range, where it was shown that conventional cTBS is excitatory in the first half and switches to inhibition only after the full length protocol. It is relevant for clinical applications for which an ongoing need for further protocol improvement is imminent

Psychological morbidity of celiac disease: a review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Celiac disease has been linked to decreased quality of life and certain mood disorders. The effect of the gluten free diet on these psychological aspects of the disease is still unclear. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article is to review the literature on psychological morbidity of celiac disease. METHODS: We performed a PubMed search for the time period from 1900 until June 1, 2014, to identify papers on psychological aspects of celiac disease looking specifically at quality of life, anxiety, depression and fatigue. RESULTS: Anxiety, depression and fatigue are common complaints in patients with untreated celiac disease and contribute to lower quality of life. While aspects of these conditions may improve within a few months after starting a gluten-free diet, some patients continue to suffer from significant psychological morbidity. Psychological symptoms may affect the quality of life and the dietary adherence. CONCLUSION: Health care professionals need to be aware of the ongoing psychological burden of celiac disease in order to support patients with this disease

Dissecting the Mechanisms Underlying Short-Interval Intracortical Inhibition Using Exercise

Recently, 2 physiologically distinct phases of short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) have been identified, a larger phase at interstimulus interval (ISI) 3 ms and a smaller phase at ISI 1 ms. While the former is mediated by synaptic processes, the mechanisms underlying the first phase of SICI remain a matter of debate. Separately, it is known that fatiguing hand exercise reduces SICI, a measure of cortical excitability. Consequently, the present study assessed effects of fatiguing hand exercise on the 2 SICI phases, using threshold tracking transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques, to yield further information on underlying mechanisms. Studies were undertaken on 22 subjects, with SICI assessed at baseline, after each voluntary contraction (VC) period of 120 s and 5, 10, and 20 min after last VC, with responses recorded over abductor pollicis brevis. Exercise resulted in significant reduction of SICI at ISI 1 ms (SICIbaseline 9.5 ± 2.7%; SICIMAXIMUM REDUCTION 2.5 ± 2.5%, P < 0.05) and 3 ms (SICIbaseline 16.8 ± 1.7%; SICIMAXIMUM REDUCTION 11.6 ± 2.1%, P < 0.05), with the time course of reduction being different for the 2 phases. Taken together, findings from the present study suggest that synaptic processes were the predominant mechanism underlying the different phases of SICI

Non-invasive electrical and magnetic stimulation of the brain, spinal cord, roots and peripheral nerves: Basic principles and procedures for routine clinical and research application. An updated report from an I.F.C.N. Committee

These guidelines provide an up-date of previous IFCN report on "Non-invasive electrical and magnetic stimulation of the brain, spinal cord and roots: basic principles and procedures for routine clinical application" (Rossini et al., 1994). A new Committee, composed of international experts, some of whom were in the panel of the 1994 "Report", was selected to produce a current state-of-the-art review of non-invasive stimulation both for clinical application and research in neuroscience. Since 1994, the international scientific community has seen a rapid increase in non-invasive brain stimulation in studying cognition, brain-behavior relationship and pathophysiology of various neurologic and psychiatric disorders. New paradigms of stimulation and new techniques have been developed. Furthermore, a large number of studies and clinical trials have demonstrated potential therapeutic applications of non-invasive brain stimulation, especially for TMS. Recent guidelines can be found in the literature covering specific aspects of non-invasive brain stimulation, such as safety (Rossi et al., 2009), methodology (Groppa et al., 2012) and therapeutic applications (Lefaucheur et al., 2014). This up-dated review covers theoretical, physiological and practical aspects of non-invasive stimulation of brain, spinal cord, nerve roots and peripheral nerves in the light of more updated knowledge, and include some recent extensions and developments

ACCURATE WAVELENGTH MEASUREMENTS AND MODELING OF Fe XV TO Fe XIX SPECTRA RECORDED IN HIGH-DENSITY PLASMAS BETWEEN 13.5 AND 17 A

Iron spectra have been recorded from plasmas created at three different laser plasma facilities: the Tor Vergata University laser in Rome (Italy), the Hercules laser at ENEA in Frascati (Italy), and the Compact Multipulse Terawatt (COMET) laser at LLNL in California (USA). The measurements provide a means of identifying dielectronic satellite lines from Fe XVI and Fe XV in the vicinity of the strong 2p → 3d transitions of Fe XVII. About 80 Δn ≥ 1 lines of Fe XV (Mg-like) to Fe XIX (O-like) were recorded between 13.8 and 17.1 A with a high spectral resolution (λ/Δλ ≈ 4000); about 30 of these lines are from Fe XVI and Fe XV. The laser-produced plasmas had electron temperatures between 100 and 500 eV and electron densities between 1020 and 1022 cm-3. The Hebrew University Lawrence Livermore Atomic Code (HULLAC) was used to calculate the atomic structure and atomic rates for Fe XV-XIX. HULLAC was used to calculate synthetic line intensities at Te = 200 eV and ne = 1021 cm-3 for three different conditions to illustrate the role of opacity: optically thin plasmas with no excitation-autoionization/dielectronic recombination (EA/DR) contributions to the line intensities, optically thin plasmas that included EA/DR contributions to the line intensities, and optically thick plasmas (optical depth ≈200 μm) that included EA/DR contributions to the line intensities. The optically thick simulation best reproduced the recorded spectrum from the Hercules laser. However, some discrepancies between the modeling and the recorded spectra remain

Apraxia and motor dysfunction in corticobasal syndrome

Background: Corticobasal syndrome (CBS) is characterized by multifaceted motor system dysfunction and cognitive disturbance; distinctive clinical features include limb apraxia and visuospatial dysfunction. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to study motor system dysfunction in CBS, but the relationship of TMS parameters to clinical features has not been studied. The present study explored several hypotheses; firstly, that limb apraxia may be partly due to visuospatial impairment in CBS. Secondly, that motor system dysfunction can be demonstrated in CBS, using threshold-tracking TMS, and is linked to limb apraxia. Finally, that atrophy of the primary motor cortex, studied using voxel-based morphometry analysis (VBM), is associated with motor system dysfunction and limb apraxia in CBS.   Methods: Imitation of meaningful and meaningless hand gestures was graded to assess limb apraxia, while cognitive performance was assessed using the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination - Revised (ACE-R), with particular emphasis placed on the visuospatial subtask. Patients underwent TMS, to assess cortical function, and VBM.   Results: In total, 17 patients with CBS (7 male, 10 female; mean age 64.4+/2 6.6 years) were studied and compared to 17 matched control subjects. Of the CBS patients, 23.5% had a relatively inexcitable motor cortex, with evidence of cortical dysfunction in the remaining 76.5% patients. Reduced resting motor threshold, and visuospatial performance, correlated with limb apraxia. Patients with a resting motor threshold <50% performed significantly worse on the visuospatial sub-task of the ACE-R than other CBS patients. Cortical function correlated with atrophy of the primary and pre-motor cortices, and the thalamus, while apraxia correlated with atrophy of the pre-motor and parietal cortices.   Conclusions: Cortical dysfunction appears to underlie the core clinical features of CBS, and is associated with atrophy of the primary motor and pre-motor cortices, as well as the thalamus, while apraxia correlates with pre-motor and parietal atrophy