Surface nanostructuring of TiO2 thin films by high energy ion irradiation

The effects of a high ion dose irradiation on TiO2 thin films under different conditions of temperature and ion nature are discussed. We have shown that anatase TiO2 thin films irradiated with N+ ions at room temperature develop a typical microstructure with mounds and voids open to the surface whereas irradiations at 700 K generate a surface pattern of well-ordered nanorods aligned with the ion beam. The formation of these patterns is caused by the simultaneous effect of ion irradiation near the film surface and a film temperature favoring the structural mobilization of the defective network of the material. To explain these phenomena, a qualitative model has been proposed and further tested by irradiating the TiO2 thin films with F+ and S+ ions under different conditions. The obtained results demonstrate that ion irradiation techniques enable the formation of tilted nanorod surface patterns with lengths of about 100 nm on anatase TiO2 thin films. © 2010 The American Physical Society.Peer Reviewe

Minimalistic fuzzy ontology reasoning: An application to Building Information Modeling

This paper presents a minimalistic reasoning algorithm to solve imprecise instance retrieval in fuzzy ontologies with application to querying Building Information Models (BIMs)—a knowledge representation formalism used in the construction industry. Our proposal is based on a novel lossless reduction of fuzzy to crisp reasoning tasks, which can be processed by any Description Logics reasoner. We implemented the minimalistic reasoning algorithm and performed an empirical evaluation of its performance in several tasks: interoperation with classical reasoners (Hermit and TrOWL), initialization time (comparing TrOWL and a SPARQL engine), and use of different data structures (hash tables, databases, and programming interfaces). We show that our software can efficiently solve very expressive queries not available nowadays in regular or semantic BIMs tools

Surface nanostructuring of TiO2 thin films by high energy ion irradiation

The effects of a high ion dose irradiation on TiO2 thin films under different conditions of temperature and ion nature are discussed. We have shown that anatase TiO2 thin films irradiated with N+ ions at room temperature develop a typical microstructure with mounds and voids open to the surface whereas irradiations at 700 K generate a surface pattern of well-ordered nanorods aligned with the ion beam. The formation of these patterns is caused by the simultaneous effect of ion irradiation near the film surface and a film temperature favoring the structural mobilization of the defective network of the material. To explain these phenomena, a qualitative model has been proposed and further tested by irradiating the TiO2 thin films with F+ and S+ ions under different conditions. The obtained results demonstrate that ion irradiation techniques enable the formation of tilted nanorod surface patterns with lengths of about 100 nm on anatase TiO2 thin films.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MAT 2007-65764, 2010-CSD2008-00023, 200960I132Junta de Andalucía TEP2275, P07-FQM-0329

Deep learning-based parameter mapping for joint relaxation and diffusion tensor MR Fingerprinting

Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF) enables the simultaneous quantification of multiple properties of biological tissues. It relies on a pseudo-random acquisition and the matching of acquired signal evolutions to a precomputed dictionary. However, the dictionary is not scalable to higher-parametric spaces, limiting MRF to the simultaneous mapping of only a small number of parameters (proton density, T1 and T2 in general). Inspired by diffusion-weighted SSFP imaging, we present a proof-of-concept of a novel MRF sequence with embedded diffusion-encoding gradients along all three axes to efficiently encode orientational diffusion and T1 and T2 relaxation. We take advantage of a convolutional neural network (CNN) to reconstruct multiple quantitative maps from this single, highly undersampled acquisition. We bypass expensive dictionary matching by learning the implicit physical relationships between the spatiotemporal MRF data and the T1, T2 and diffusion tensor parameters. The predicted parameter maps and the derived scalar diffusion metrics agree well with state-of-the-art reference protocols. Orientational diffusion information is captured as seen from the estimated primary diffusion directions. In addition to this, the joint acquisition and reconstruction framework proves capable of preserving tissue abnormalities in multiple sclerosis lesions

CVD synthesis of carbon spheres using NiFe-LDHs as catalytic precursors: structural, electrochemical and magnetoresistive properties

The gram-scale synthesis of carbon spheres with a diameter of ca. 740 nm has been achieved by means of a chemical vapour deposition method using NiFe-layered double hydroxides as a solid catalytic precursor. The presence of the catalyst (FeNi3) allows controlling the final size distribution, resulting in a monodisperse sample. Their structural properties exhibited a high degree of graphitization according to their ID/IG ratio. In addition, their morphological features were unveiled by FIB-SEM and HRTEM, showing that they are formed by solid inner cores, and presenting labile chain-like structures due to accretion procedures. The solution and posterior sonication of the samples in toluene gave rise to the well-defined isolated spheres. The textural and electrochemical properties of the spheres have been tested showing non-mesoporous structures with a good behaviour as electrode materials for supercapacitors due to the presence of redox functionalities on their surface. Finally, magneto-transport measurements have been carried out, demonstrating semiconductor behaviour, as well as a positive magnetoresistance effect (ca. 72%) for the lowest studied temperature (2 K)

Citicoline may prevent cognitive decline in patients with cerebrovascular disease

Introduction: Neuroprotective drugs such as citicoline could improve cognitive performance and quality of life. We studied the effect of citicoline treatment and its association with Vascular Risk Factors (VRF) and APOE on cognition in patients with Subjective Cognitive Complaints (SCC) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Methods: This is an observational and prospective study with citicoline during 12 months follow-up. Eighty-one subjects who met criteria for SCC/MCI, aged 50–75 years with VRF were included and prescribed citicoline 1g/day. Subjects with previous cognitive impairment and any other central nervous system affection were excluded. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test and paired samples t-test were used to analyze the change in neuropsychological performance. Results: Mean age of the sample was 68.2 (SD 6.8) years and 26 (32.09%) were females. Fifteen subjects (24.6%) were APOE-ε4 carriers, fifty-six (76.7%) had hypertension, fifty-eight (79.5%) had dyslipidemia, twenty-one (28.8%) had diabetes mellitus and twenty-six (35.6%) had cardiopathy. Thirty-two (43.8%) subjects were diagnosed as SCC and forty-one (56.16%) as MCI. During the follow-up, Tweny-six patients (81.25%) in the group of SCC remained stable, six subjects (18.8%) converted to MCI. Twelve patients (29.9%) with MCI reverted to SCC and twenty-nine patients (70.7%) remained stable. At follow-up, SCC subjects had an improvement in the global language domain (p=0.03), naming (p<0.001), attention (p=0.01) and visuospatial abilities (p<0.01). MCI group showed an improvement in the screening test (p=0.03), delayed memory (p<0.01), global cognition (p=0.04) and in cognitive flexibility (p=0.03). Presence of APOE-ε4 had no impact on the above findings. Discussion: SCC subjects showed an improvement in language and attention domains, while those with MCI performed better after 12 months in total scores of MoCA and RBANS domains, some converting back to SCC. This supports the idea that citicoline may prevent cognitive decline in patients with cognitive deficits

Projecte científico tècnic de definició de subunitats paisatgístiques del Parc Natural de l'Alt Pirineu

La identificació i caracterització de subunitats de paisatge per al Parc Natural de l'Alt Pirineu (PNAP) s'ha fet en base a la Llei 8/2005, de 8 de juny, de Protecció, Gestió i Ordenació del Paisatge la qual estableix que "els catàlegs del paisatge són els documents de carácter descriptiu i prospectiu que determinen la tipologia dels paisatges de Catalunya, identifiquen llurs valors i llur estat de conservació i proposen els objectius de qualitat que han de complir" (Article 10). Igualment, la Llei ha previst que la responsabilitat dels catàlegs sigui de l'Observatori del Paisatge que "és una entitat de suport i col·laboració amb l'Administració de la Generalitat en totes les qüestions relacionades amb l'elaboració, l'aplicació i la gestió de les polítiques de paisatge" (Article 13). Per això, aquest treball es basarà en els criteris establerts per l'Observatori del Paisatge (document de referència pels grups de treball, Olot i Barcelona, maig de 2005) i les bases conceptuals, metodològiques i procedimentals que han elaborat per a la realització dels Catàlegs del Paisatge de Catalunya que s'han recollit en un document anomenat Prototipus de Catàleg de Paisatge (PCP). Com que en l'actualitat aquests paràmetres estan en fase de desenvolupament, aquest Projecte Científico Tècnic de Definició de Subunitats Paisatgístiques per al Parc Natural de l'Alt Pirineu s'ha inspirat en aquest document adaptant-se a les necessitats del Parc i desenvolupant les metodologies proposades. El document que es presenta recull la Primera Fase del treball, que s'ha destinat al tractament i adequació de la informació existent (cartogràfica i escrita) per a la delimitació i definició posterior de les diferents subunitats de paisatge

Augmentation treatment with amisulpride in schizophrenic patients partially responsive to olanzapine

The association of antipsychotics is a widespread therapeutic resource in clinical practice. The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the effi cacy and safety of amisulpride augmentation in patients responding at least partially to olanzapine. Methods: In this observational 3-months open-label investigation, we evaluated the eff ectiveness of the addition of amisulpride to 49 subjects, after having scored at least 25 on the brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) following olanzapine monotherapy for 6 weeks. Patients were assessed at baseline, 1 and 3 months using the BPRS, the clinical global impression severity of illness (CGI-S) scale and the Udvalg for Kliniske Undersogelser side eff ect rating scale (UKU)