Brain lesions, pathogenic and etiologic hypotheses of Alzheimer's disease

The main lesions of Alzheimer's disease are: 1. amyloid deposits, labelled by antibodies directed against the A beta peptide (core of the senile plaques, diffuse deposits and amyloid angiopathy), 2. neurofibrillary lesions labelled by anti-tau antibodies (neurofibrillary tangles, neuropil threads, crown of the senile plaques) and 3. loss of neurons and synapses. The distribution of neurofibrillary pathology is hierarchical: they begin in the entorhinal cortex, progress along the anterograde corticocortical pathways toward the multimodal and unimodal associative cortices to reach, in the most severe cases, the primary cortices. Amyloid lesions are more diffuse, rapidly affecting all the cortical areas. The density of neurofibrillary tangles in the cerebral cortex is correlated with the severity of dementia. Neuritic plaques, synaptic and neuronal loss also contribute to the intellectual deterioration. There are various causes of Alzheimer's disease (several mutations, trisomy 21, repeated head trauma as in dementia pugilistica): it should be considered a syndrome. Its pathophysiology is complex and involves several proteins (e.g. amyloid protein precursor, tau protein, presenilins 1 and 2, and apolipoprotein E).     

Efficient Protection in MPλS Networks Using Backup Trees: Part One—Concepts and Heuristics

Multi-protocol lambda switching (MPS) has recently been applied in the optical network control plane to provide fast lightpath provisioning. As an increasing amount of traffic is carried in optical transport networks (OTNs), single network failures can affect a vast amount of traffic, making lightpath protection crucial. Therefore, shared backup tree (BT) lightpath protection is a promising paradigm in MPS networks due to its ability of fast recovery and its efficiency in consumed resources. A shared BT is used to protect a group of working lightpaths towards the same destination. From the working lightpaths in such a group, only one affected lightpath at a time can be recovered using the BT. The main problem is how to group and route the working paths (WPs) and how to route the BTs, in such a way that the capacity resources used by the WPs and the BTs are minimized. In Part One of this study (presented in this paper), we propose three approaches to cope with this problem. The first approach is a purely integer linear programming (ILP) based method. The second one is a combination of ILP and a heuristic technique. The last one is a purely heuristic approach. In this paper, these approaches are theoretically compared. In Part Two [1] of this study, several simulations are carried out in order to compare these approaches in terms of performance and computing effort. The experimental results are in line with the theoretical expectations.     

Routing Strategies to Minimize Packet Loss in an Optical Packet Switched Network with Recirculating FDL Buffers

The major goal of optical packet switching (OPS) is to match switching technology to the huge capacities provided by (D)WDM. We study optical packet switches with recirculating fiber delay line (FDL) buffers. Through simulation, we have assessed the logical performance of a single optical packet router (OPR), focusing on packet loss rate (PLR). By verifying that our scheduling algorithm does not alter the traffic profile characteristics from in- to output, we illustrate how the single node results can be used to assess network-wide performance. We use the capability of assessing end-to-end PLRs to develop network-wide routing algorithms designed to minimize the maximal PLR occurring in the network. In case studies on pan-European networks, we first compare two algorithm variants and thereafter we compare the PLR-based routing algorithm with both load balancing and shortest path routing. While load balancing achieves PLRs that are multiple orders of magnitude lower than shortest path routing, the PLR-based algorithm can reach PLRs up to two orders of magnitude better. The improvement in PLR comes at the price of only a small increase in used bandwidth (a few percent). Subsequently we show that the discussed PLR-based routing algorithm can be easily extended to multiple priorities. By introducing multiple priorities we can keep the loss rates for high priority traffic very low. However, it may lead to an increase of the obtained minimal max-PLR value for low priority traffic. But as we prove this increase to be limited, the cost of introducing multiple priorities is small.     

Thermodynamics of Refractory Nuclear Materials Studied by Mass Spectrometry of Laser-Produced Vapors

A new method of high-temperature mass spectrometry (MS) with laser-induced vaporization (LIV) has been developed. The initial problem of LIV MS, consisting of an inadequate correlation between the temperature of the surface and the MS signal, was successfully overcome.The method was developed on graphite, of which fast time-resolved MS measurements (ca. 20 ms) were performed over a large mass interval; the influence of geometrical parameters and of the laser pulse length on MS measurements was studied. Carbon sublimation relative partial pressures of C₁, C₂, C₃, and C₅ were measured up to 3810 K. This corresponds to a total pressure of about 0.8 bar estimated independently by the integral mass flux using the Hertz–Knudsen equation. The vaporization of UO₂ was studied at temperatures above ≈ 2500 K, where conventional Knudsen-cell mass spectrometry cannot be applied. The vaporization enthalpy obtained for the main species in UO₂ vapor was in good agreement with that of conventional mass spectrometry. Paper presented at the Seventh International Workshop on Subsecond Thermophysics, October 6–8, 2004, Orléans, France.     

Analysis of interference on mirror-aided non-LOS backhaul data transmission in VLC attocell networks

Photonic Network Communications - Visible light communication (VLC) is a promising technology that addresses the bandwidth bottleneck of radio-frequency based indoor wireless networks. Optical...     

Multilayer traffic engineering for energy efficiency

Automatically switched multilayer IP-over-optical networks offer extensive flexibility in adapting the network to offered IP/MPLS traffic. Multilayer traffic engineering (MLTE) takes advantage of this through online IP logical topology reconfiguration in addition to the more traditional rerouting. The main goal of MLTE is to optimize toward resource usage, bandwidth throughput and QoS performance. However, energy efficiency of ICT infrastructure and the network in particular more recently have become an important aspect as well. In this article, we will look how MLTE helps in improving network energy efficiency. For this we will explain how optimization toward power requirement relates to the traditional resource usage minimization objective, and how power requirement in the network can be modeled for the MLTE algorithm. We will discuss two cases where the merit of MLTE for energy efficiency is discussed. Firstly, we will examine the interaction of MLTE with hardware-based energy efficiency optimization techniques; for this we look at scaling back power requirements through the use of better chip technology, but also decreasing idle-power requirement only, using improved chip architecture. Secondly, as MLTE allows for fast responses to changing traffic, we will see how link switch-off during off-peak hours offers a straightforward option to reduce energy needs.     

Simulation and economic optimization of a solar assisted combined ejector–vapor compression cycle for cooling applications

This paper describes the hourly simulation and optimization of a thermally driven cooling cycle assisted by solar energy. The double stage solar ejector cooling cycle is modelled using the TRNSYS-EES simulation tool and the typical meteorological year file containing the weather data of Florianópolis, Brazil. The first stage is performed by a mechanical compression system with R134a as the working fluid, while the second stage is performed by a thermally driven ejector cycle with R141b. Flat plate collectors and an auxiliary energy burner provide heat to the ejector cycle. The thermo-economical optimization is carried out with respect to the intercooler temperature and the flat plate solar collector area, for given specific costs of the auxiliary energy and electric energy, the capital cost of the collectors, ejector cooler, and the capital cost of equivalent mechanical compression cooler.     

Effect of thermal processing on the degradation, isomerization, and bioaccessibility of lycopene in tomato pulp

Thermal processing affects the nutritional value of food products. The nutritional value is not only determined by the content but also by the bioaccessibility of nutrients. The present study was performed to gain detailed insight into the influence of thermal processing on the degradation, isomerization, and bioaccessibility of lycopene isomers in tomato pulp, without adding any other ingredient. The bioaccessibility, which is defined as the fraction of the nutrient that can be released from the food matrix, was measured using an in vitro method. The results demonstrated the rather high thermal stability of lycopene. Although a treatment at 140 °C induced isomerization, the contribution of cis-lycopene to the total lycopene content remained small. Results also confirmed that thermal processing as such can improve the in vitro bioaccessibility of lycopene in tomato pulp, but the improvement was only significant upon treatments at temperatures of 130 and 140 °C. At such intense process conditions, one should be aware of the negative effect on other quality and nutrient parameters. Possibilities of thermal processing as such to improve the nutritional value of tomato pulp (without the addition of other ingredients) thus looks rather limited.     

Modeling Lycopene Degradation and Isomerization in the Presence of Lipids

The kinetics of thermally induced degradation and isomerization of lycopene in olive oil, fish oil, and an olive oil/tomato emulsion were studied in detail. Special attention was paid to the isomerization reactions using a multi-response modeling approach. The type of oil had a significant impact on lycopene degradation kinetics, being faster in fish oil compared with olive oil. The estimated kinetic parameters to describe lycopene degradation in olive oil were not significantly different from those in an olive oil/tomato emulsion. The overall Z-isomer formation and elimination in olive oil, fish oil, and olive oil/tomato emulsion was similar. Only the kinetic parameters for 13-Z-lycopene formation differed significantly in the two oils. Although the isomerization rate constants for the emulsion were lower than for olive oil, the isomerization reactions showed similar temperature dependency. This study shows that the kinetics of thermally induced degradation and isomerization of lycopene in oil and in an olive oil/tomato emulsion can be described using the same model. The food system, however, has an influence on the model parameters, especially on the rate constants.     

Lycopene degradation, isomerization and in vitro bioaccessibility in high pressure homogenized tomato puree containing oil: Effect of additional thermal and high pressure processing

In the present study, the effect of equivalent thermal and high pressure processes at pasteurization and sterilization intensities on some health related properties of high pressure homogenized tomato puree containing oil were investigated. Total lycopene concentration, cis-lycopene content and in vitro lycopene bioaccessibility were examined as health related properties. Results showed that pasteurization hardly affected the health related properties of tomato puree. Only the formation of cis-lycopene during intense thermal pasteurization was observed. Sterilization processes on the other hand had a significant effect on the health related properties. A significant decrease in total lycopene concentration was found after the sterilization processes. Next to degradation, significant isomerization was also observed: all-trans-lycopene was mainly converted to 9-cis- and 13-cis-lycopene. High pressure sterilization limited the overall lycopene isomerization, when compared to the equivalent thermal sterilization processes. The formation of 5-cis-lycopene on the other hand seemed to be favoured by high pressure. The in vitro lycopene bioaccessibility of high pressure homogenized tomato puree containing oil was decreased during subsequent thermal or high pressure processing, whereby significant changes were observed for all the sterilization processes.