Frequent recurrences of drought in India have had major societal, economical, and environmental impacts. While region-specific assessments are abundant, exhaustive appraisal over large spatial scales ...has been insubstantial. Here a new drought index called Water Storage Deficit Index (WSDI) is devised and analyzed for holistic representation of drought. The crux of the method is the employment of terrestrial water storage (TWS) variations from Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) for quantification of drought intensity and severity. Drought events in recent times are well identified and quantified using the approach over four homogenous rainfall regions of India over the period from April 2002 to April 2015. Among the four regions, the highest peak deficit of –158.00mm is observed in January 2015 over central India. While the drought of 2002–04 is prominent in peninsular and west-central India, the drought of 2009–10 and 2012–13 is conspicuous in almost all four regions of India. The longest deficit period of 23 months (from February 2009 to December 2010) and the highest severity value of –26.31 are observed in central and northwestern India, respectively. WSDI values show an increasing trend in west-central India (0.07 yr–1), indicating recovery from previously existing drought conditions. On the contrary, a decreasing trend in WSDI is observed in northwestern (–0.07 yr–1) and central (–0.18 yr–1) India. Results demonstrate considerable confidence in the potential of WSDI for robust characterization of drought over large spatial scales.
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system and is mainly characterized by the loss of dopaminergic neurons and pro‐oxidant mechanisms. Eugenol has ...been widely studied due to its anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant activities, making it a promising neuroprotective agent. This study aimed to investigate the effects of eugenol and its combined action with levodopa in the 6‐hydroxydopamine‐induced Parkinson's disease model. Wistar rats were subjected to intrastriatal injection of 6‐hydroxydopamine (21 μg) and then treated with eugenol (0.1, 1, or 10 mg/kg), levodopa (25 mg/kg) or their combination (eugenol 10 mg/kg + levodopa 12.5 mg/kg) orally for 14 days. On the 14th day, the animals were subjected to behavioural tests, and after euthanization and dissection of the brain areas, neurochemical analyses were performed. The results showed that eugenol reduced the oxidative stress and behavioural disturbances induced by 6‐hydroxydopamine. The eugenol and levodopa combination was more effective in some behavioural parameters and body‐weight gain in addition to promoting an increase in reduced glutathione levels compared to levodopa alone. Thus, the neuroprotective activity of eugenol was observed against motor and neurochemical disorders. Additionally, the eugenol and levodopa combination was promising when compared to conventional treatment.
The European Union-funded Advanced Superconducting Motor Experimental Demonstrator (ASuMED) project started in May 2017 with the purpose of demonstrating the benefits of a new, fully superconducting ...motor for reaching the targets established by the Flightpath 2050 plan. The project aims at a motor power density of 20kW kg−1 using a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) stator. The rotor will use HTS stacks operating like permanent magnets. A highly efficient cryostat for the motor combined with an integrated cryogenic cooling system and associated power converter will be used. This article provides a general overview of the prototype that is currently being assembled and that will be tested soon.
Abstract
The higher LHC luminosities foreseen in Run 3 (2022+) and during the Phase 2 of the LHC (2029+), and the consequently larger number of simultaneous proton-proton collisions per event, pose ...significant challenges for the CMS event reconstruction. In particular maintaining the strict time budget for reconstruction algorithms at the CMS software high level trigger will not be possible considering only the expected increase of processing power from conventional CPUs. Therefore, CMS is investigating the use of heterogeneous architectures, including GPU accelerators, to satisfy the needs of the Phase 2 reconstruction. The local reconstruction algorithm of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) is among the first to be implemented on heterogeneous platforms for LHC Run 3. This article discusses the necessary changes to the CMS software framework that support the execution of code on accelerators. The current development status of the ECAL local reconstruction algorithm is described and first performance results of GPU enabled code are presented.
Oxidative stress is related to health problems including neurological and neurodegenerativedisturbs, such as Parkinson's disease. Natural compounds are reported as source of antioxidant molecules. ...Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the antioxidant and neuroprotective potential of a new diterpene isolated from C. argyrophylloides (MP-1). Male Wistar rats (250-300 g) were used to evaluate MP-1 antiparkinsonian potential through neurodegenerative model induced by the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (21 μg). On the 14th day, animals were submitted to behavioral tests and on the 15th day, brain areas were dissected to neurochemical analyzes. MP-1 demonstrated a high antioxidant capacity in vitro and decreased the parkinsonian effects, such as behavioral changes, motor alterations, and body weight loss. MP-1 was also able to control the upregulated levels of nitrosative stress and lipid peroxidation. These findings suggest MP-1 as a diterpene with high antioxidant capacity which might be used to development of new approach against Parkinson's disease.
The unprecedented instantaneous luminosity provided by the High Luminosity upgrade of the LHC (HL-LHC) at CERN requires an upgrade of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) electromagnetic calorimeter ...(ECAL). The barrel region of the CMS ECAL will be preserved but will be operated at a lower temperature and with a completely new readout and trigger electronics. A dual gain trans-impedance amplifier and an integrated circuit providing two 160 MHz analog to digital converter channels, gain selection, and data compression will be used in the new readout electronics. The trigger decision will be moved off-detector and performed by powerful and flexible field programmable gate array processors, allowing for sophisticated trigger algorithms to be applied. The upgraded ECAL will be capable of high-precision energy measurements throughout HL-LHC data taking and will greatly improve the time resolution for photons and electrons above 10 GeV.
Oxidative stress is involved in many pathological disturbs, such as neurodegenerative disorders. Eugenol (Eug) is a phenolic compound with antioxidant and neuroprotective activities. Then, this study ...was conducted to investigate the potential neuroprotective effects of Eug on oxidative stress model induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in rats. First, the in vivo oxidative stress model was performed by intrastriatal injection (int.) of 6-OHDA (21 µg), followed by the treatment of Eug (0.1, 1, and 10 mg/kg/7 d) per os (p.o.). On the 7 d, behavioral tests were performed. On the 8 d, all the animals were euthanasied and their cerebral areas were excised for neurochemical and transcriptional analyses. The results showed that the treatment with Eug promoted neuroprotective effects on in vivo through reducing of oxidative stress and modulation of genes related to antioxidant activity. Furthermore, animals treated with Eug demonstrated returning of behavioral performance and body weight gain to normal conditions. Thus, this study reports the neuroprotective effects of Eug against oxidative stress induced by 6-OHDA in rats.
Upgrade of the CMS muon trigger system in the barrel region Rabady, Dinyar; Ero, Janos; Flouris, Giannis ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
02/2017, Letnik:
845
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
To maintain the excellent performance shown during the LHC's Run-1 the Level-1 Trigger of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment underwent a significant upgrade. One part of this upgrade is the ...re-organization of the muon trigger path from a subsystem-centric view in which hits in the drift tubes (DT), the cathode strip chambers (CSC), and the resistive plate chambers (RPC) were treated separately in dedicated track-finding systems to one in which complementary detector systems for a given region (barrel, overlap, and endcap) are merged at the track-finding level. This fundamental restructuring of the muon trigger system required the development of a system to receive track candidates from the track-finding layer, remove potential duplicate tracks, and forward the best candidates to the global decision layer.
An overview will be given of the new track-finder system for the barrel region, the Barrel Muon Track Finder (BMTF), as well as the cancel-out and sorting layer: the upgraded Global Muon Trigger (μGMT). Both the BMTF and μGMT have been implemented in a Xilinx Virtex-7 card utilizing the microTCA architecture. While the BMTF improves on the proven and well-tested algorithms used in the Drift Tube Track Finder during Run-1, the μGMT is an almost complete re-development due to the re-organization of the underlying systems from track-finders for a specific detector to regional track finders covering a given area of the whole detector. Additionally the μGMT calculates a muon's isolation using energy information received from the calorimeter trigger. This information is added to the muon objects forwarded to the global decision layer, the so-called Global Trigger.
•Presented upgraded Global Muon Trigger and Barrel Muon Track Finder systems.•Upgraded system moves from sub-detector centric view to geometric-view.•To improve trigger performance.•Common hardware improves maintainability and increases development speed.•Use of isolation in Level-1 system provides opportunity for improved background rejection.
Gastrointestinal disorders are frequently reported in patients with Parkinson's disease whose disorders reduce the absorption of nutrients and drugs, worsening the clinical condition of patients. ...However, the mechanisms involved in modifying gastrointestinal pathophysiology have not yet been fully explained.
To evaluate its effects on gastrointestinal motility and the involvement of the vagal and splanchnic pathways.
Male Wistar rats (250-300 g, n = 84) were used and divided into two groups. Group I (6-OHDA) received an intrastriatal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (21 µg/animal). Group II (control) received a saline solution (NaCl, 0.9%) under the same conditions. The study of gastric emptying, intestinal transit, gastric compliance and operations (vagotomy and splanchnotomy) were performed 14 days after inducing neurodegeneration. Test meal (phenol red 5% glucose) was used to assess the rate of gastric emptying and intestinal transit.
Parkinson's disease delayed gastric emptying and intestinal transit at all time periods studied; however, changes in gastric compliance were not observed. The delay in gastric emptying was reversed by pretreatment with vagotomy and splanchnotomy+celiac gangliectomy, thus suggesting the involvement of such pathways in the observed motor disorders.
Parkinson's disease compromises gastric emptying, as well as intestinal transit, but does not alter gastric compliance. The delay in gastric emptying was reversed by truncal vagotomy, splanchnotomy and celiac ganglionectomy, suggesting the involvement of such pathways in delaying gastric emptying.
The CMS DAQ Pinball Machine Cornu, Cynthia; Deldicque, Christian; Gladki, Maciej ...
EPJ Web of Conferences,
01/2020, Letnik:
245
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We present an interactive game for up to seven players that demonstrates the challenges of on-line event selection at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment to the public. The game - in the shape ...of a popular classic pinball machine - was conceived and prototyped by an interdisciplinary team of graphic designers, physicists and engineers at the CMS Create hackathon in 2016. Having won the competition, the prototype was turned into a fully working machine that is now exhibited on the CMS visitors’ path. Teams of 2-7 visitors can compete with one another to collect as many interesting events as possible within a simulated LHC fill. In a fun and engaging way, the game conveys concepts such as multi-level triggering, pipelined processing, event building, the importance of purity in event selection and more subtle details such as dead time. The multi-player character of the game corresponds to the distributed nature of the actual trigger and data acquisition system of the experiment. We present the concept of the game, its design and its technical implementation centered around an Arduino micro-controller controlling 700 RGB LEDs and a sound subsystem running on a Mac mini.
PDF
