Middle East - North Africa and the millennium development goals : implications for German development cooperation

          Closed-loop controlled combustion is a promising technique to improve the overall performance of internal combustion engines and Diesel engines in particular. In order for this technique to be implemented some form of feedback from the combustion process is required. The feedback signal is processed and from it combustionrelated parameters are computed. These parameters are then fed to a control process which drives a series of outputs (e.g. injection timing in Diesel engines) to control their values. This paper’s focus lies on the processing and computation that is needed on the feedback signal before this is ready to be fed to the control process as well as on the electronics necessary to support it. A number of feedback alternatives are briefly discussed and for one of them, the in-cylinder pressure sensor, the CA50 (crank angle in which the integrated heat release curve reaches its 50% value) and the IMEP (Indicated Mean Effective Pressure) are identified as two potential control variables. The hardware architecture of a system capable of calculating both of them on-line is proposed and necessary feasibility size and speed considerations are made by implementing critical blocks in VHDL targeting a flash-based Actel ProASIC3 automotive-grade FPGA

ROTATIONAL SPECTRA OF ISOTOPIC CH3_3CN IN THEIR v8=1v_8 = 1 EXCITED VIBRATIONAL STATES

Author Institution: I. Physikalisches Institut, Universitat zu Koln, 50937 Koln, Germany; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA; Max-Planck Institut fur Radioastronomie, 53121 Bonn, GermanyMethyl cyanide, CH$_3$CN, is an important interstellar molecule, in particular in hot and dense molecular cores, and it may play a role in the atmospheres of planets or of Titan. Therefore, we have recorded extensive rotational spectra up to $\sim 1.6$~THz. Ground state rotational transitions of a number of minor isotopologs could be identified up to 1.2~THz in natural isotopic composition, including CH$_2$DCN and $^{13}$CH$_3 ^{13}$CN. \textbf{506} (2009) 1187.} Recently, we have analyzed the rotational spectra of $^{13}$CH$_3$CN, CH$_3 ^{13}$CN, and CH$_3$C$^{15}$N in their $v_8 = 1$ excited vibrational states from spectra covering most of the frequencies between 0.44~THz and 1.20~THz. The analyses of the $^{15}$N and $^{13}$C species were facilitated by previous data up to 144~GHz and 56~GHz, respectively. Spectroscopic parameters determined in the fits will be compared with those of the main isotopolog. The importance of these results, in particular for radio-astronomical observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), will be stressed by the detection of transitions pertaining to the $^{13}$C species in Sagittarius~B2(N)

Impact of persistent ST elevation on outcome in patients with Takotsubo syndrome. Results from the GErman Italian STress Cardiomyopathy (GEIST) registry

Background: Potential predictors of clinical complications of Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) are poorly known. Persistent ST-segment elevation (PSTE) may have an impact on outcome similar as previously reported in acute coronary syndrome. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and prognostic relevance of PSTE in patients with TTS. Methods: Two-hundred-sixty-nine consecutive patients were enrolled in an international multicenter registry. PSTE was defined as the documentation of ST-elevation at least for the first 48. h of hospitalization. Long-term mortality was evaluated in median 1.9. years after the acute event. Results: PSTE was found in 52 TTS patients (19%). Patients with PSTE were characterized by higher admission levels of troponin-I (23. ±. 12 vs 8. ±. 49. ng/L, p <. 0.001), experienced a longer hospitalization (10. ±. 5 vs 8. ±. 3. days, p = 0.02) and a higher rate of in-hospital complications (31% vs 17% p = 0.03).At multivariate analysis including PSTE, age, male sex, admission ejection fraction, PSTE (odds ratio [OR] 4.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4-13; p = 0.01), age (OR 1.05; 95%CI 1.00-1.10; p = 0.03) and admission ejection fraction (OR 0.93; 95%CI 0.87-0.99; p = 0.02) were independent predictors of in-hospital complications. At long-term follow-up no significant differences in terms of mortality were observed between patients with and without PSTE (19% vs 15%; p = 0.5). However, PSTE was a predictor of major cardiac adverse events (MACE) at follow-up (HR 2.32, 95% CI 1.02-5.31, p 0.045). Conclusions: In TTS patients, PSTE is a common finding, represents an independent predictor of in-hospital complications and could be associated with MACE at follow-up