Modulation of cognitive performance and mood by aromas of peppermint and ylang-ylang

This study provides further evidence for the impact of the aromas of plant essential oils on aspects of cognition and mood in healthy participants. One hundred and forty-four volunteers were randomly assigned to conditions of ylang-ylang aroma, peppermint aroma, or no aroma control. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Cognitive Drug Research computerized assessment battery, with mood scales completed before and after cognitive testing. The analysis of the data revealed significant differences between conditions on a number of the factors underpinning the tests that constitute the battery. Peppermint was found to enhance memory whereas ylang-ylang impaired it, and lengthened processing speed. In terms of subjective mood peppermint increased alertness and ylang-ylang decreased it, but significantly increased calmness. These results provide support for the contention that the aromas of essential oils can produce significant and idiosyncratic effects on both subjective and objective assessments of aspects of human behavior. They are discussed with reference to possible pharmacological and psychological modes of influence

LightProbe: A fully-digital 64-channel ultrasound probe with high-bandwidth optical interface

A typical medical ultrasound-imaging system consists of a passive probe and a backend system containing the analog frontend and the digital processing unit, to which the probe connects over a coaxial cable harness. Digital processing is increasingly performed in software on powerful GPUs or multicore CPUs. These new system architectures have not only enabled new imaging modalities (Ultrafast Imaging, Vector Flow Estimation), but also reduced system cost, as ultrasound specific hardware is only used for the acquisition of the raw signals. The next step in this evolution are fully-digital ultrasound probes, which integrate the analog frontend and are equipped with a standard digital interface. This allows connecting the probe directly to a standard device, such as a workstation, tablet or mobile phone running an ultrasound software application. So far, this concept has been demonstrated for mobile applications, but is currently limited to a small number of frontend channe ls (â¼16) due to the large digital bandwidth (>10 Gb/s) at the interface between the probe and the mobile device

Ausbildungs- und Demonstrationsanlage zur solaren Warmwasserbereitung am Beruflichen Qualifizierungszentrum des Handwerks in Neuruppin Abschlussbericht

The new training and demonstration centre at Neuruppin is an important step towards getting wider acceptance for renewable energy sources and increasing popular environmental awareness, as well as a successful attempt at making solar experts fit for the future. (orig.)Mit der Installation einer Ausbildungs- und Demonstrationsanlage zur solaren Warmwasserbereitung im Beruflichen Qualifizierungszentrum des Handwerks in Neuruppin wurde ein wichtiger Schritt zur Erhoehung des Bekanntheitsgrades regenerativer Energietechniken getan, um damit auch das Umweltbewusstsein der Menschen zu staerken. Aber auch gerade aus der heutigen Sicht auf die derzeit stattfindende Neuordnung der Ausbildungsberufe, insbesondere im SHK-Handwerk -Anlagenmechaniker fuer SHK-Technik, koennen wir einschaetzen, dass wir durch die Realisierung dieses Projektes auch in diesem Bereich auf zukuenftige Anforderungen gut vorbereitet sind. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F04B1549 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDeutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, Osnabrueck (Germany)DEGerman

Evaluation of a high-resolution real-time capable 3D sonar camera for deep sea operation

In this work we present the evaluation results of our 3D sonar camera system. The system consists of a matrix antenna array with 1024 single transducer elements and our in house developed DiPhAS sonar beamformer - a 128 channel FPGA-based beamforming system with a 1:8 multiplexing device for each channel. The system is designed to be applicable to ROV and AUV systems for real-time volumetric imaging in a deep sea environment. Defocused excitation of the transducer array is used to achieve a sound field opening angle of up to 40° in lateral and elevational direction. The antenna's sound field can be adjusted electronically in order to increase either the imaged area or the image contrast in a specific area of interest. Different filter algorithms working on a raw data basis have been implemented in order to suppress image artifacts which occur during the reconstruction process. Measurements on different phantoms have been performed in order to prove the real-time imaging as well as spatial resolution capabilities of the camera system