Reducing methyl eugenol content in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rosa damascena Mill</Emphasis> rose oil by changing the traditional rose flower harvesting practices

Methyl eugenol (ME) is a naturally occurring carcinogenic compound found in a number of essential oils including rose oil distilled from Rosa damascena Mill flowers. In the current study, we evaluate the effect of flower harvesting practices on the ME content in the produced rose oil. The obtained results show nearly twice reduction in ME content in the rose oil distilled from petals of full-blown flowers. At the same time, GC/MS analysis of rose oils distilled from stages 3 and 4 rose flower buds (flower buds prior opening of petals) showed more than 5 times ME reduction and preservation of the relative content of the major rose oil compounds. Moreover, the comparative study of rose flower yield and rose oil content of rose buds and full-blown flowers showed that harvesting of rose flower buds results in above three times increase in the formed flower buds from the studied rose plants and more than twice increase in the rose flower and rose oil yields for the same rose plantation areas. The overall results from this study allow us to propose a change in the traditional full-blown rose flower harvesting to harvesting of rose flower buds at stages 3 and 4 during the entire flowering period.     

Performance of fluorene and terthiophene copolymer in bilayer photovoltaic devices: The role of the polymer conformations

We report experiments using fluorene and terthiophene copolymer as the active layer in bilayer devices with C₆₀. The highest short circuit current, open circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency upon AM1.5 illumination were 6.8 mA/cm², 0.68 V and 2.33%, respectively. Density functional theory analysis was used to identify the most stable configurations of the terthiophene moieties in the polymer: the most stable form has the thiophene rings in the alternate configuration (anti) and the second conformation has the thiophene rings pointing to the same direction (syn). Comparing theoretical results with measurements of absorbance, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray reflectometry experiments, we conclude that the annealing treatment produces conformational anti to syn transition along the backbone of poly[9,9′-n-dihexyl-2,7-fluorene-alt-2,5-terthiophene] (LaPPS45). The syn segments of the chain condensed then in a lamellar ordered structure which increases the degree of crystallinity of the annealed samples and improve the light harvest at long wavelengths. From absorption measurements of films submitted to different annealing temperatures and with the help of theoretical calculations we propose a “wave-like” aggregation pattern to the syn segments in those lamellas.     

Multiple degree elevation and constrained multiple degree reduction for DP curves and surfaces

In this paper, the problem of single and multiple degree elevation and reduction for DP curves and surfaces is considered and expressed in matrix representations. Using monomial matrix representations of the univariate DP polynomials, single and multiple degree elevation matrices can be derived by minor extension of this monomial matrix. Given this result, matrices of constrained single and multiple degree reduction can be readily obtained. Finally, important and sufficient conditions for degree reduction can also be found from these resulting matrices.     

German and Norwegian policy approach to residential buildings’ energy efficiency—a comparative assessment

Buildings in private and domestic use are responsible for about 30% of the global greenhouse gas emissions attributable mainly to their need for heating and cooling energy. This corresponds to about 40% of the global final energy consumption. Therefore, a viable implementation of building energy efficiency policies is inevitable to realize a transformation of the energy system to mitigate climate change. Within the building sector lies a huge potential for emission reduction consisting in the renovation of the existing building stock and climate-friendly building guidelines applicable to new constructions, both adapting CO₂-neutral technology solutions. However, as there are several different pathways leading to a decarbonized energy system, there is always the question which political and technological solutions are most efficient, effective, and feasible. This paper aims to analyze building efficiency policy measures and instruments and the related technological solutions in two front-runner countries of the energy transition, possessing different structural conditions: Germany and Norway. We hence apply a comparative approach which allows us to present and assess the policies in place. The paper answers three research questions: (1) Which policies prevail in Germany and Norway to foster the deployment of energy efficient and decarbonized solutions for residential buildings? (2) How do these policies respond to country-specific barriers to the energy transition in the building sector, and (3) What effects do they have on the actual implementation of technological and societal solutions? This research provides a new insight to the highly relevant topic of energy efficiency in buildings in the context of international Intended Nationally Determined Contribution benchmarking and discusses some unsolved trade-offs in the translation of the global climate governance into the national building sector.     

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Correlates of White Matter Gliosis and Injury in Preterm Fetal Sheep Exposed to Progressive Systemic Inflammation

Progressive fetal infection/inflammation is strongly associated with neural injury after preterm birth. We aimed to test the hypotheses that progressively developing fetal inflammation leads to neuroinflammation and impaired white matter development and that the histopathological changes can be detected using high-field diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Chronically instrumented preterm fetal sheep at 0.7 of gestation were randomly assigned to receive intravenous saline (control; n = 6) or a progressive infusion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 200 ng intravenous over 24 h then doubled every 24 h for 5 days to induce fetal inflammation, n = 7). Sheep were killed 10 days after starting the infusions, for histology and high-field diffusion tensor MRI. Progressive LPS infusion was associated with increased circulating interleukin (IL)-6 concentrations and moderate increases in carotid artery perfusion and the frequency of electroencephalogram (EEG) activity (p < 0.05 vs. control). In the periventricular white matter, fractional anisotropy (FA) was increased, and orientation dispersion index (ODI) was reduced (p < 0.05 vs. control for both). Histologically, in the same brain region, LPS infusion increased microglial activation and astrocyte numbers and reduced the total number of oligodendrocytes with no change in myelination or numbers of immature/mature oligodendrocytes. Numbers of astrocytes in the periventricular white matter were correlated with increased FA and reduced ODI signal intensities. Astrocyte coherence was associated with increased FA. Moderate astrogliosis, but not loss of total oligodendrocytes, after progressive fetal inflammation can be detected with high-field diffusion tensor MRI.