First Block (first + block)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Influence of Colors on Habituation of Visual Evoked Potentials in Patients With Migraine With Aura and in Healthy Volunteers

HEADACHE, Issue 1 2000
J. Áfra MD
Objective., To investigate whether colored glasses influence the habituation of visual evoked potentials. Background., We have previously shown that during pattern-reversal stimulations lasting 2 minutes the amplitude of the visual evoked potential increases in migraine with and without aura between attacks, whereas it decreases in healthy volunteers. Red light was found to increase visually evoked EEG fast activity only in children with migraine with aura. Wearing rose-tinted glasses for 4 months decreased attack frequency in parallel with a reduction of the visually evoked EEG fast activity. Methods., We compared the change in amplitude of the visual evoked potential using five different tinted glasses in 12 patients with migraine with aura and in 10 healthy volunteers. During continuous stimulation at 3.1 Hz, five blocks of 50 responses were sequentially averaged using red, yellow, green, blue, and grey glasses and without glasses in a random order and analyzed in terms of latencies and N1-P1 amplitudes. Amplitude changes were calculated for each block by comparison with the first block in every condition and analyzed statistically using Zerbe's method. Results., In healthy volunteers, the visual evoked potential amplitude increased with red glasses compared to without glasses (P=.05) or with green glasses (P=.03). In patients with migraine with aura, no significant difference was detected using colored glasses. Our findings in healthy volunteers are in line with earlier reports of increased excitability of the human visual cortex when exposed to red light. The lack of such a pattern in patients with migraine with aura suggests that the visual cortex is interictally hypoexcitable rather than hyperexcitable, which is consistent with studies of transcranial magnetic stimulation. [source]


Obtaining positions and widths of scattering resonances from a complex multiconfigurational self-consistent field state using the M1 method

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2010
Kousik Samanta
Abstract We present a complex multiconfigurational self-consistent field (CMCSCF)-based approach to investigate electron-atom scattering resonances. It is made possible by the use of second quantization algebra adapted for biorthogonal spin orbitals, which has been applied to develop a quadratically convergent CMCSCF method. To control the convergence to the correct CMCSCF stationary point, a modified step-length control algorithm is introduced. Convergence to a tolerance of 1.0 × 10,10 a.u. for the energy gradient is found to be typically within 10 iterations or less. A method involving the first block of the M matrix defined in the multiconfigurational spin tensor electron propagator method (MCSTEP) based on the CMCSCF reference state has been implemented to investigate 2P Be, shape resonances. The position and width of these resonances have been calculated for different complete active space choices. The wide distribution of the position and width of the resonance reported in the literature is explained by the existence of two distinct resonances which are close in energy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2010 [source]


Bridging Research and Practice: The Challenge of ,Normal Operations' Studies

JOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2002
Mathile Bourrier
The article will present some possible explanations of the difficulty to bridge research and practice in the domain of risk management. A first block of reasons has to do with the very content of the analyses themselves. Of great importance is also the time chosen for them to be carried out. The second argument will bring to the foreground the difficulty for a lot of fruitful research to permeate into management spheres. One way to reconcile experts, scholars and decision makers may come from new attention devoted to organisational design and formal structures. This calls for the study of normal operations as opposed to relying too exclusively on accident cases and crisis situations. We believe that this perspective can help us improve our level of understanding of complex organisations, because it focuses on the duality of organisational life: the dark side and the bright side, always tightly coupled. [source]


Latices of poly(fluoroalkyl mathacrylate)- b -poly(butyl methacrylate) copolymers prepared via reversible addition,fragmentation chain transfer polymerization

JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 3 2007
Xiaodong Zhou
Abstract Poly(fluoroalkyl mathacrylate)- block -poly(butyl methacrylate) diblock copolymer latices were synthesized by a two-step process. In the first step, a homopolymer end-capped with a dithiobenzoyl group [poly(fluoroalkyl mathacrylate) (PFAMA) or poly(butyl methacrylate) (PBMA)] was prepared in bulk via reversible addition,fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization with 2-cyanoprop-2-yl dithiobenzoate as a RAFT agent. In the second step, the homopolymer chain-transfer agent (macro-CTA) was dissolved in the second monomer, mixed with a water phase containing a surfactant, and then ultrasonicated to form a miniemulsion. Subsequently, the RAFT-mediated miniemulsion polymerization of the second monomer (butyl methacrylate or fluoroalkyl mathacrylate) was carried out in the presence of the first block macro-CTA. The influence of the polymerization sequence of the two kinds of monomers on the colloidal stability and molecular weight distribution was investigated. Gel permeation chromatography analyses and particle size results indicated that using the PFAMA macro-CTA as the first block was better than using the PBMA RAFT agent with respect to the colloidal stability and the narrow molecular weight distribution of the F-copolymer latices. The F-copolymers were characterized with 1H NMR, 19F NMR, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Comparing the contact angle of a water droplet on a thin film formed by the fluorinated copolymer with that of PBMA, we found that for the diblock copolymers containing a fluorinated block, the surface energy decreased greatly, and the hydrophobicity increased. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 471,484, 2007 [source]


Electroactive Linear,Hyperbranched Block Copolymers Based on Linear Poly(ferrocenylsilane)s and Hyperbranched Poly(carbosilane)s

CHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Issue 36 2009
Frederik Wurm Dipl.-Chem.
Abstract A convenient two-step protocol is presented for synthesis of linear-hyperbranched diblock copolymers consisting of a linear, organometallic poly(ferrocenylsilane) (PFS) block and hyperbranched poly(carbosilane) (hbPCS) segments. Linear PFS diblock copolymers were synthesized through photolytic ring-opening polymerization of dimethyl[1]silaferrocenophane as the first block and methylvinyl[1]silaferrocenophane as the second. These block copolymers served as polyfunctional cores in a subsequent hydrosilylation polyaddition of different silane-based AB2 monomers. Three AB2 monomers (methyldiallylsilane; methyldiundecenylsilane, and ferrocenyldiallylsilane) were investigated; they introduced structural diversity to the hyperbranched block and showed variable reactivity for the hydrosilylation reaction. In the case with the additional ferrocene moiety in the ferrocenyldiallylsilane monomer, an electroactive hyperbranched block was generated. No slow monomer addition was necessary for molecular-weight control of the hyperbranching polyaddition, as the core had much higher functionality and reactivity than the carbosilane monomers. Different block ratios were targeted and hybrid block copolymers with narrow polydispersity (<1.2) were obtained. All the resulting polymers were investigated and characterized by size exclusion chromatography, NMR spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and TEM, and exhibited strongly anisotropic aggregation. [source]