Search results for "26"

Effect of Design Features and Operating Conditions on the Performance of a Bipolar Membrane-Based Acid/Base Flow Battery

2021

In the context of renewable energy sources, storage systems have been proposed as a solution to the issues related to fluctuations in the production and consumption of electric power. The EU funded BAoBaB project is aimed at developing the Acid/Base Flow battery (AB-FB), an environment-friendly, cost-competitive, grid-scale battery storage system based on the cyclic coupling of Bipolar Membrane ElectroDialysis (BMED) and its reverse, the Bipolar Membrane Reverse ElectroDialysis (BMRED) (Pärnamäe et al., 2020). Bipolar membranes promote catalytically water dissociation, thus allowing the storage of electric power in the form of acidic and alkaline solutions (pH gradient), obtained from their…

D-TMS IN COCAINE ADDICTION: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

2013

Drug addiction is a brain disease which leads to profound disturbances in an individual’s behaviour. In spite of the progress made in the understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying addiction, expectations from a therapeutic point of view have not been satisfying. Given the modest efficacy of therapeutic tools available, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) seems to be a promising “non-pharmacologic” aid in various neuropathologies(1) including addiction(2) which is characterized by a decrease of dopaminergic activity (DA)(3-4). Thus, ‘restoring’ pre-pathology DA activity may yield clinical benefits in addicts(5). In particular, it has been reported(6) that TMS reduces the…

D-TMS IN COCAINE ADDICTION: preliminary findings

2015

Cocaine-related disorders are currently among the most devastating mental disease as they leads to profound disturbances in an individual’s behaviour resulting in tremendous economic, social, and moral costs. Imaging studies in human have shown a reduction of dopamine (DA) receptors accompanied by a lesser release of endogenous DA in the ventral striatum (AVT) of cocaine subjects thereby resulting in a ‘dopamine-impoverished’ brain[1-2]. This perturbations lead to neuroadpatations in several other circuits which are related to motivation, inhibitory control, and memory which finally determ compulsive-impulsive self drug administration[3]. The lasting reduction in physiological activity of t…

Neuromodulation of chronic headaches: position statement from the European Headache Federation

2013

The medical treatment of patients with chronic primary headache syndromes (chronic migraine, chronic tension-type headache, chronic cluster headache, hemicrania continua) is challenging as serious side effects frequently complicate the course of medical treatment and some patients may be even medically intractable. When a definitive lack of responsiveness to conservative treatments is ascertained and medication overuse headache is excluded, neuromodulation options can be considered in selected cases.Here, the various invasive and non-invasive approaches, such as hypothalamic deep brain stimulation, occipital nerve stimulation, stimulation of sphenopalatine ganglion, cervical spinal cord sti…

Mitochondrial DNA TRNACYS mutation in a family with frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson’s disease

2010

Use of drugs for attrv amyloidosis in the real world: How therapy is changing survival in a non-endemic area

2021

Background: Over the past decade, three new drugs have been approved for the treatment of hereditary amyloid transthyretin (ATTRv) polyneuropathy. The aim of this work was to analyze whether current therapies prolong survival for patients affected by ATTRv amyloidosis. Methods: The study was conducted retrospectively, analyzing the medical records of 105 patients with genetic diagnoses of familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy followed at the two referral centers for the disease in Sicily, Italy. Of these, 71 received disease-modifying therapy, while 34 received only symptomatic treatment or no therapy. Results: The most used treatment in our patient cohort was tafamidis, followed by liver tra…

Polythiophenes as markers of asphalt and archaeological tar pitch aging. Characterization using solid-state electrochemistry

2018

The voltammetry of immobilized microparticles (VIMP) was used to characterize organosulfur components from ovens found at the Spanish archaeological sites of Cueva de Nerja (ca. 35,000cal BC), la Illeta dels Banyets (4th century BCE) and Gestalgar (12th–13th CE), and asphalt probes subjected to PAV and SUNTEST aging protocols. The voltammetric responses of the archaeological samples and the asphalt probes after photodegradation were quite similar, indicating the presence of polythiophene components which could act as age/degradation markers. Keywords: Voltammetry, Archaeology, Asphalt, Tar pitch, Organosulfur compounds

Factors mediating social media-induced fear of missing out (FoMO) and social media fatigue: A comparative study among Instagram and Snapchat users

2022

The proliferation of social media platforms has provided researchers with ample opportunities to explore the implications of these platforms' positive and negative use. Focusing on the latter, the literature has highlighted the severe implications of the fear of missing out (FoMO) and its associations with negative aspects of social media use, such as the problematic use of social media, phubbing, and reduced well-being. Our study investigates the association between FoMO and social media fatigue, which is mediated by information and communication overload, online subjective well-being (OSWB), and compulsive social media use (compulsive use). The proposed model is grounded strongly in self-…

How Can Authorities Support Distributed Improvisation During Major Crises? A Study of Decision Bottlenecks Arising During Local COVID-19 Vaccine Roll…

2022

Despite the increased importance attributed to distributed improvisation in major crises, few studies investigate how central authorities can promote a harmonic, coordinated national response while allowing for distributed autonomy and improvisation. One idea implicit in the literature is that central authorities could help track and tackle common decision bottlenecks as they emerge across “improvising” local authorities as a result of shared, dynamic external constraints. To explore this idea we map central functions needed to roll-out vaccines to local populations and identify and classify bottlenecks to decision-making by local authorities managing COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Norway. W…

A Simple Fusion Method for Image Time Series Based on the Estimation of Image Temporal Validity

2015

High-spatial-resolution satellites usually have the constraint of a low temporal frequency, which leads to long periods without information in cloudy areas. Furthermore, low-spatial-resolution satellites have higher revisit cycles. Combining information from high- and low- spatial-resolution satellites is thought a key factor for studies that require dense time series of high-resolution images, e.g., crop monitoring. There are several fusion methods in the bibliography, but they are time-consuming and complicated to implement. Moreover, the local evaluation of the fused images is rarely analyzed. In this paper, we present a simple and fast fusion method based on a weighted average of two in…