**10. Definitive examination**

When at least 1 finding suggested the presence of glaucoma, the subjects were recruited for definitive examination (Table 1). A definitive examination was performed when a subject was suspected to have glaucoma based upon the findings of the initial non-contact ocular exami‐ nation. The definitive examination consisted of the following procedures: slit-lamp biomicro‐ scopy, Goldmann applanation tonometry, gonioscopy, and optic nerve head evaluation using a Goldmann three-mirror lens (Haag-Streit International, Koeniz, Switzerland) and a visual field test with the Humphrey Field Analyzer II 24-2 SITA Standard Program (Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc, Dublin, CA, USA). Diagnosis of glaucoma was made based on optic disc appear‐ ance, including cup-to-disc ratio, rim width, nerve fiber layer defect, the visual field test, and the clinical records that were obtained through screening and definitive examinations. When present or suspected, glaucoma was categorized based upon the criteria of previous popula‐ tion studies (Table 2). In the definitive diagnosis, anomalous discs, including tilted discs, were carefully excluded. The final diagnosis of glaucoma was determined by 4 glaucoma specialists.

1) Intraocular pressure of 21mm Hg or higher in either eye

2) Presence of abnormalities in the stereoscopic fundus photographs, including one or more of the following glaucomatous changes:

1. Vertical cup/disc ratio of the optic nerve head was more than or equal to 0.6

2. Rim width at the superior portion (11-1 h), or inferior portion (5-7 h) was less than or equal to 0.2 of disc diameter ratio was

3. Difference in the vertical cup/disc more than or equal to 0.2 between both eyes

4. Nerve fiber layer defect or splinter disc hemorrhage was found

3) Failure to take stereoscopic fundus photographs

**Table 1.** Criteria for Definitive Examination Eligibility.

#### **Category 1**

**8. Participants**

258 Glaucoma - Basic and Clinical Aspects

participants were ethnically Japanese.

**9. Screening examination**

and the mean value was adopted.

**10. Definitive examination**

disc (eg, superior segmental optic disc hypoplasia).

disc photography by stereoscopic fundus camera (30o

This was a cross-sectional study in an institutional setting [24]. Subjects older than 30 years were recruited at an annual community health checkup project held in the city of Akita (with a population of 325,537), the capital of Akita Prefecture, Japan. A total of 1,173 subjects participated in the comprehensive examinations from September 10, 2007 to October 26, 2007. Of these, 710 individuals underwent glaucoma screening. All of the

This study was performed after the approval by the Ethical Committee of Akita Prefecture Health Care Foundation. All study procedures adhered to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for research involving human subjects, and all participants gave

Exclusion criteria were (1) eyes with previous ocular surgery, trauma, or significant ocular disease; (2) eyes with any inborn aberrations, which might affect the morphology of the optic

The initial non-contact ocular examination was conducted by trained non-ophthalmologists and included measurement of refraction and keratometry (Topcon KR-8100PA, Tokyo, Japan), IOP by noncontact pneumotonometry (Topcon CT-90A, Tokyo, Japan), angle width (Scanning Peripheral Anterior Chamber Analyzer, Takagi Seiko, Nagano, Japan), non-mydriatic optic

Japan), and confocal laser scanning tomography (Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II, software version 3.0, Heidelberg Instruments, Heidelberg, Germany). IOP was measured three times,

When at least 1 finding suggested the presence of glaucoma, the subjects were recruited for definitive examination (Table 1). A definitive examination was performed when a subject was suspected to have glaucoma based upon the findings of the initial non-contact ocular exami‐ nation. The definitive examination consisted of the following procedures: slit-lamp biomicro‐ scopy, Goldmann applanation tonometry, gonioscopy, and optic nerve head evaluation using a Goldmann three-mirror lens (Haag-Streit International, Koeniz, Switzerland) and a visual field test with the Humphrey Field Analyzer II 24-2 SITA Standard Program (Carl Zeiss Meditec Inc, Dublin, CA, USA). Diagnosis of glaucoma was made based on optic disc appear‐ ance, including cup-to-disc ratio, rim width, nerve fiber layer defect, the visual field test, and the clinical records that were obtained through screening and definitive examinations. When

angle, 3-DX/NM, Nidek, Gamagori,

written informed consent for this research prior to their participation.

The vertical cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head is 0.7 or more, or the rim width at the superior portion (11-1 h) or the inferior portion (5-7 h) is 0.1 or less of the disc diameter, or the difference of the vertical cup-to-disc ratio is 0.2 or more between both eyes, or a nerve fiber layer defect is found, and the hemifield based visual field abnormality is compatible with optic disc appearance or nerve fiber layer defect.

#### **Category 2**

When the visual field test is not reliable or available, the cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head is 0.9 or more, or the rim width at the superior portion (11-1 h) or the inferior portion (5-7 h) is 0.05 or less of the disc diameter, or the difference of the vertical cup-to-disc ratio is 0.3 or more between both eyes

#### **Glaucoma suspect**

When the cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head is 0.7 or more portion (5-7 h) is 0.1 or less but more than 0.05 of the disc diameter but less than 0.9, or the rim width at the superior portion (11-1h) or the inferior, or the difference of the vertical cup-to-disc ratio is 0.2 or more but less than 0.3 between both eyes, or the nerve fiber layer defect is found, and the visual field test is not reliable or available or does not show hemi-field based compatible defect, the eye is diagnosed with suspected glaucoma

**Table 2.** Criteria for Glaucoma Diagnosis.

#### **10.1. Category 1**

The vertical cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head is 0.7 or more, or the rim width at the superior portion (11-1 h) or the inferior portion (5-7 h) is 0.1 or less of the disc diameter, or the difference of the vertical cup-to-disc ratio is 0.2 or more between both eyes, or a nerve fiber layer defect is found, and the hemifield based visual field abnormality is compatible with optic disc appearance or nerve fiber layer defect.

#### **10.2. Category 2**

When the visual field test is not reliable or available, the cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head is 0.9 or more, or the rim width at the superior portion (11-1 h) or the inferior portion (5-7 h) is 0.05 or less of the disc diameter, or the difference of the vertical cup-to-disc ratio is 0.3 or more between both eyes

**30's 40's 50's 60's 70's Total**

73 (143, 10.9%)

57 (114, 8.7%)

130 (257, 19.6%)

29 (57, 2.2%)

15 (29, 2.2%)

44 (86, 6.6%)

354 (703, 53.7%) 261

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/54556

304 (607, 46.3%)

658 (1310, 100%)

126 (252, 19.2%)

Screening for Narrow Angles in the Japanese Population Using Scanning Peripheral Anterior Chamber Depth Analyzer

114 (228, 17.4%)

240 (480, 36.6%)

**Table 3.** Number of patients and eyes and the percentage of eyes (in parenthesis) examined by SPAC in each age group.

Descriptive statistical analysis for the determination of mean±standard deviation (SD) for continuous values was performed with SPBS software (Nankodo Publisher, Statistical Package for the Biosciences version 9.51, Tokyo, Japan). Data from both eyes of each individual were used, as it was more efficient and informative than data for single eyes. Comparisons of the different SPAC parameters between males and females or among each age group were analyzed with paired and unpaired t tests. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the strength of the correlations between SPAC parameters and potential confounders.

A glaucoma specialist judged that 26 eyes of 19 subjects required the definitive examination, and all 19 subjects were enrolled in the definitive examination. The definitive examination revealed that 1 subject had PACG (0.08%), 1 subject had PAC (0.08%), and 1 had ciliary cyst (0.08%). None of all these eyes showed IOP elevation of more than 21mm Hg. Laser iridotomy was performed on PACG and PAC subjects. None of these subjects presented with subjective

In male subjects of 30 to 60 years of ages, the central and the peripheral anterior chamber depths were gradually decreased with ages. There were significant differences in these depths among 30, 40, and 50 age groups (p<0.0001). However, there was no significant difference in depths between 60 years and 70 years age group (Fig. 5). In female subjects, the ACD tended to be shallower in women than in men in each generation. The central and the peripheral anterior chamber depths were gradually decreased with ages. There were significant differences among

symptoms that are thought to demonstrate a strong association with angle closure.

Association of gender and age with SPAC parameters are summarized in Table 4.

**Male**

**Female**

**Total**

**12. Data analysis**

**13. Results**

21 (42, 3.2%)

20 (40, 3.1%)

41 (82, 6.3%)

105 (209, 16.0%)

98 (196, 15.0%)

203 (495, 37.8%)

For all analyses, P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

**13.1. Results of primary screening and definitive examination**

**13.2. Association of gender and age with SPAC parameters**

#### **10.3. Glaucoma suspect**

When the cup-to-disc ratio of the optic nerve head is 0.7 or more portion (5-7 h) is 0.1 or less but more than 0.05 of the disc diameter but less than 0.9, or the rim width at the superior portion (11-1h) or the inferior, or the difference of the vertical cup-to-disc ratio is 0.2 or more but less than 0.3 between both eyes, or the nerve fiber layer defect is found, and the visual field test is not reliable or available or does not show hemi-field based compatible defect, the eye is diagnosed with suspected glaucoma


2.2.2. Predefinition of Time Constants *τ*

A logarithmically uniform distribution is defined for the time constants [*τ*1 ··· *τm*]. The minimum and the maximum time constants *τmin* and *τmax* are determined based on the maximum sampling rate *fs*,*max* = 1 Δ*tmin* and the duration of the relaxation process *tmax*. The Shannon theorem states that frequencies that are higher than half of the sampling rate cannot be evaluated without further processing of the measured signal.

$$f\_{\text{eval,max}} \le \frac{1}{2 \cdot \Delta t\_{\text{min}}} \tag{10}$$

Taking into account the transient frequency *ft* = 1 2·*π*·*τ* of a RC-element, the following relationship result for the smallest observable time constant *τeval*,*min* [29]:

$$\frac{1}{2 \cdot \pi \cdot \pi\_{\text{evul},min}} \le \frac{1}{2 \cdot \Delta t\_{\text{min}}} \tag{11}$$

$$
\omega \Rightarrow \tau\_{\rm evul,min} = \frac{\Delta t\_{\rm min}}{\pi} \tag{12}
$$

The largest evaluable time constant *τeval*,*max* is limited by the duration of the relaxation phase according to [19].

$$f\_{\text{eval},\text{min}} \ge \frac{4}{t\_{\text{max}}} \tag{13}$$

$$
\Rightarrow \tau\_{\text{real\,max}} = \frac{t\_{\text{max}}}{8\pi} \tag{14}
$$

The minimum and maximum time constants of the distribution *τmin* and *τmax* are chosen to be two decades smaller, respectively, andlarger than the evaluable time constants in order to increase the accuracy at both ends of the frequency dispersion:

$$
\tau\_{\rm min} = \frac{\tau\_{\rm cval, min}}{100} = \tau\_1 \tag{15}
$$

$$
\tau\_{\text{max}} = \tau\_{\text{eval}, \text{max}} \cdot 100 = \tau\_m \tag{16}
$$

This procedure was similarly proposed by [15] for the DRT analysis of frequency domain data. In order to obtain a smooth DRT curve within the evaluated frequency range, the number of RC elements or time constants *m* must be selected to be high enough. A number of one hundred *τ* per decade was used for the analysis of the DRT in this study.

#### 2.2.3. Pre-Processing of Measurement Data

Before calculating the DRT, the existing measurement data should be checked for usability and preprocessed. According to the Equation (12), the sampling rate must be high enough (or the timestep between two successive voltage measurements Δ*tmin* small enough) to enable a meaningful evaluation of the DRT down to the time constant *τeval*,*min*. Therefore, when selecting the the sampling rate beforehand, the minimum time constant relevant for the investigation should be taken into account. If the maximum sampling rate of the measurement device is lower, the DRT can only be evaluated for time constants that satisfy Equation (12). This consideration is particularly important for BMS, as they often have sample rates of 10 Hz or less.

The processes with low time constants only have measurable contributions at the beginning of the relaxation phase and quickly subside. Therefore, the sampling rate does not necessarily have to be constant over the entire measurement period and can be reduced in order to avoid large amounts of measurement data. With very high sampling frequencies and the evaluation of very small time constants, the speed of the current control needs to be considered. As long as the current has not dropped to zero, Equation (5) is not valid. These voltage measurements should therefore be discarded and only larger time constants evaluated. Apart from that, only the voltage values should be evaluated that were recorded at least one time step after the load drop. Since pure ohmic resistances cannot be modelled with Equation (5), the influence of internal resistance on the voltage response should not be taken into account.

The OCV *UOCV* must be subtracted from the voltage measurements *umeas*(*t*) before determining the DRT. Assuming a completely relaxed cell at the end of the relaxation phase, this can be achieved by subtracting the last measured voltage value *umeas*(*tmax*) from all measurements. A considerably long relaxation phase is therefore imperative.

$$
\mu\_{\text{processel}}(t) = \mu\_{\text{meas}}(t) - lL\_{\text{OCV}} = \mu\_{\text{meas}}(t) - \mu\_{\text{meas}}(t\_{\text{max}}) \tag{17}
$$

At the beginning of the relaxation process, all processes contribute to changes in cell voltage. As relaxation progresses, only processes with larger time constants are relevant. Following the measurement data should be interpolated on a logarithmic scale in order to weigh the single measurement points accordingly. Due to the low impedance of automotive

cells, the signal-to-noise ratio is usually rather low. As the cell becomes increasingly relaxed, the signal-to-noise ratio deteriorates further, as can be seen in Figure 2. Forming the moving average before interpolation smooths the measured values and can therefore improve the ratio.


**9. Conclusions**

Pediatric MS is a rare disorder, but the long-term clinical implications in those who are diagnosed lead to significant cognitive and physical disability in adulthood, even with current first-line treatments. The ultimate aim of the treatment of pediatric MS is to reach a state of NEDA. More recently, the goals have been aimed towards NEDA-4, which is a state of no clinical relapse, no disease progression, no new MRI activity, no cognitive decline, and no evidence of brain atrophy present [107,108]. Given the elevated annualized relapse rate, increased rate of cognitive disability, and younger age at reaching disability milestones in pediatric MS, to achieve NEDA-4, the treatment paradigm may need to shift towards that of treatment with higher e fficacy medications.

**Author Contributions:** K.S.F. designed and wrote the manuscript. F.X.C. reviewed the manuscript. V.M.R. reviewed the manuscript. G.J.H. reviewed the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.


*2.6.2 Pelvic splanchnic nerves*

The pelvic splanchnic nerves are considered to be parasympathetic nerves that arise from the second to fourth sacral spinal nerves. These nerves enter the pelvis through the sacral foramen, posterior to the parietal fascia that covers the piriformis

#### **Figure 13.**

*Hypogastric nerves. The hypogastric nerves run from the superior hypogastric plexus and descend to the pelvic cavity and meet the pelvic splanchnic nerves.*

*Pelvic Anatomy for Distal Rectal Cancer Surgery DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99120*

#### **Figure 14.**

*Pelvic splanchnic nerves. The pelvic splanchnic nerves arise from the S2 to S4 spinal nerves. Small branches of the pelvic splanchnic nerves run medially and enter the mesorectum.*

muscle and crosses the retrorectal space, to enter the visceral compartment through the visceral fascia about 4 cm from the midline. Small branches of the pelvic splanchnic nerves run medially and enter the mesorectum (**Figure 14**). These nerves regulate the emptying of the urinary bladder and influence erectile functions and motility of the rectum. Therefore, damage to these nerves causes erectile dysfunction and decreased blood flow to the vagina and vulva, which can reduce vaginal lubrication.

### *2.6.3 Inferior hypogastric (pelvic) plexus*

The pelvic splanchnic nerves meet the hypogastric nerves and form the inferior hypogastric plexus at the lateral pelvic wall. It lies outside the fascia propria in the superficial layer of the parietal fascia. The inferior hypogastric plexus can be observed as a mesh-like structure at the posterolateral pelvic wall close to the prostate and seminal vesicles. Because the inferior hypogastric plexus consists of both sympathetic and parasympathetic efferent fibers, any damage to this plexus may cause severe disturbances in urogenital and sexual function including erection and ejaculation. It extends forward to form neurovascular bundles running down the seminal vesicle at 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock direction (**Figure 15**).

#### **Figure 15.**

*Inferior hypogastric (pelvic) plexus. The inferior hypogastric (pelvic) plexus is a network of sympathetic and parasympathetic fibers arising from the hypogastric nerves and the pelvic splanchnic nerves. It can be observed as a mesh-like structure at the posterolateral pelvic wall. It extends forward to form neurovascular bundles running down the seminal vesicle on both sides.*

These neurovascular bundles run through the posterolateral border of the prostate and continue to the periprostatic plexus, which supplies to the prostate, seminal vesicles, corpi cavernosi, and the vas deferens [15, 36]. Injury to the neurovascular bundles during anterior dissection may cause urinary and sexual dysfunction. Meticulous dissection is required because nerve damage may occur when surgery is performed along the wrong plane or excessive traction is performed.


Lifestyle and Cardiovascular Diseases

**151**

**Chapter 10**

**Abstract**

**1. Introduction**

Lifestyle and Epidemiology:

Poverty and Cardiovascular

Diseases a Double Burden in

*Franck Ngowa Nzali, Mazou Ngou Temgoua,*

*Joel Noutakdie Tochie and Simeon Pierre Ckoukem*

**Keywords:** epidemiology, poverty, cardiovascular, disease, Africa

CVDs and healthcare systems related to CVDs in Africa.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), ranked top non-communicable diseases (NCDs), are the second leading cause of mortality in Africa, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where they account for 73·4% global deaths and 80% of all premature deaths yearly. The ill-health due to CVDs in SSA is equivalent to the combined burden due to communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases. Un-addressed, it is extrapolated that the Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 which targets NCDs will not be achieved. The preponderance of CVDs in SSA is due to determinants such as the epidemiological transition of diseases, aging, stress, illiteracy, poor health systems and poverty. This is quite worrisome for SSA dubbed "one of the most poverty stricken region on the globe". As such, poverty in Africa may adversely affect CVDs, but this has been less examined. This chapter explores the impact of poverty on CVDs and healthcare systems related to CVDs in Africa.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as heart failure, cerebrovascular diseases, and ischemic heart diseases are major plaques in Africa. The burden of CVDs is high in Africa and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where the magnitude of CVDs is equivalent to the combined magnitude due to communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases. In Africa the burden of CVDs, is partly flued by poverty which is often overlooked. This chapter discusses the impact of poverty on

**2. Epidemiological transition and cardiovascular diseases in Africa**

Epidemiological transition can be defined as the transition, under the influence of socio-economic development and aging, from predominantly infectious diseases to mainly chronic non-communicable diseases [1]. This concept was first introduced in the 1971's by Omrad and Olshansky, and Ault later on refined

African Populations


**Jeffrey G. Lundin, Spencer L. Giles, Robert F. Cozzens and James H. Wynne**

**Abstract:** Surfaces are often coated with paint for improved aesthetics and protection; however, additional functionalities that impart continuous self-decontaminating and self-cleaning properties would be extremely advantageous. In this report, photochemical additives based on C60 fullerene were incorporated into polyurethane coatings to investigate their coating compatibility and ability to impart chemical decontaminating capability to the coating surface. C60 exhibits unique photophysical properties, including the capability to generate singlet oxygen upon exposure to visible light; however, C60 fullerene exhibits poor solubility in solvents commonly employed in coating applications. A modified C60 containing a hydrophilic moiety was synthesized to improve polyurethane compatibility and facilitate segregation to the polymer–air interface. Bulk properties of the polyurethane films were analyzed to investigate additive–coating compatibility. Coatings containing photoactive additives were subjected to self-decontamination challenges against representative chemical contaminants and the effects of additive loading concentration, light exposure, and time on chemical decontamination are reported. Covalent attachment of an ethylene glycol tail to C60 improved its solubility and dispersion in a hydrophobic polyurethane matrix. Decomposition products resulting from oxidation were observed in addition to a direct correlation between additive loading concentration and decomposition of surface-residing contaminants. The degradation pathways deduced from contaminant challenge byproduct analyses are detailed.

Reprinted from *Coatings*. Cite as: Lundin, J.G.; Giles, S.L.; Cozzens, R.F.; Wynne, J.H. Self-Cleaning Photocatalytic Polyurethane Coatings Containing Modified C60 Fullerene Additives. *Coatings* **2014**, *4*, 614-629.


**4. Conclusions**

The paper presents a framework to apply the multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) for the categorization of the condition of railway embankments using multiple sources of data available to the infrastructure managers. The overall methodology proposes the use of five attributes. These include frequency of tamping activities, extent of external irregularities obtained from visual inspections, frequency of internal irregularities obtained from GPR lower frequency data, ballast quality (fouling), and ballast depth (pockets). Ballast quality and depth data were obtained from higher frequency GPR antennas. The selection of these attributes is made because of their relevance to the problem and that they are readily available. By weighting the importance of each of the attributes and by evaluating them on the investigated railway lines, the MAUT-based methodology provides calculation of the overall utility function values used to form a ranking list of the condition for the investigated railway embankments. To verify the usefulness of the methodology, the paper presents its application on 181 km of railway embankments in Croatia. The calculated overall utility function for each section provided the categorization of embankments in five categories, ranging from very poor to very good. The developed MAUT model provides a transparent and comprehensive procedure that can support decision-makers to plan maintenance works and further detailed investigation works and monitor programs and remediation measures. The framework is flexible and methodology could be expanded to consider additional attributes.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, M.S.K. and M.B.; Data curation, M.S.K.; Formal analysis, M.S.K. and M.B.; Investigation, M.S.K. and M.B.; Methodology, M.S.K. and I.S.; Project administration, M.S.K.; Validation, M.B., I.S. and K.G.; Visualization, M.B. and K.G.; Writing—original draft, M.B. and I.S.; Writing—review & editing, M.S.K. and K.G.

**Funding:** The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the H2020 Programme for DESTination RAIL project, funded under MG-2.1-2014 I2I Intelligent Infrastructure call, grant agreement No 636285.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflicts of interest.


*3.2. UHPLC-HRMS Analysis*

A total of 31 organic compounds (13 phenolic acids, 14 flavonoids, 2 vitamins, 2 plant hormones) were successfully quantified in polyfloral honey and various monoflorals. The biochanin A, biotin, and procyanidin A2 were found only in a few samples near the LOQ, and these compounds were omitted for future assessments.

In Figure 1, concentrations for the 27 most common found compounds in polyfloral honey of origins of Latvia are shown. The highest concentrations of phenolic acids were obtained for p-hydroxybenzoic acid (3923 ± 3522 μg/kg), abscisic acid (4174 ± 2238 μg/kg), p-coumaric acid (2685 ± 1271 μg/kg), and ferulic acid (1638 ± 572 μg/kg) while kaempferol (1432 ± 728 μg/kg) was the flavonoid and pantothenic acid B5 (986 ± 412 μg/kg) was vitamin with the highest average concentrations.

**Figure 1.** Boxplots of organic compound concentration (μg/kg) in polyfloral honey determined by UHPLC-HRMS; results converted in decimal logarithm scale.

Formononetin, chrysin, and folic acid were not shown by boxplot because these compounds were found over LOQ only 6 to 21 polyflorals, suggesting these compounds are characteristic of a specific floral origin. Apigenin was also omitted, although it was found in 43 polyfloral honey samples but slightly over LOQ, and the mean value was 2± 3 μg/kg.

The results come in good agreement with another study showing similar concentration levels of the same compounds, except apigenin, which was found in larger concentrations by Lo Dico et al. [7]. The one-way ANOVA tests of Tukey comparison were performed to honey groups of different floral origins. The six compounds showed statistically significant differences that could be used for monofloral honey samples or speciation of honey floral origins. Rutin interval plot and graphical summary of differences of mean are shown in Figure 2.

Rutin showed a statistically significant difference in buckwheat honey and in the other types of honey. In buckwheat honey, rutin showed a concentration of 572 ± 167 μg/kg, while polyfloral honey contained from <5 (LOQ) to 696 μg/kg with a mean of 53 μg/kg. Two polyfloral samples (P5 and P42) had notably higher concentrations of rutin, corresponding to 649 and 696 μg/kg, respectively, equivalent to high buckwheat pollen presence for polyflorals (17 and 24%, respectively). It was less found in linden and rapeseed honey and not found at all in heather honey. This comes in good agreement with melissopalynology results, as buckwheat (*Fagopyrum esculentum*) pollen was found in clover and willow monofloral honeys in a range of 0–6%. Other statistically significant differences within honey floral origins were found using vanillic acid, quercetin, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, p-coumaric acid, and pantothenic acid B5 (see Table 2). The monofloral clover and willow honey interfered to discriminate buckwheat honey from other types of floral origins using p-hydroxybenzoic acid and p-coumaric acid concentrations. Interference could be explained by buckwheat pollen presence in clover and willow monofloral honey. The quercetin concentrations showed a statistical difference between buckwheat and heather honey. While quercetin has no potential as a specific floral marker, it would be very helpful,

 properties honeys [29,30]. Similarly, pantothenic acid and vanillic acid can be used for specific floral origin request determination, or could be a helpful indicator with a combination of other variables.

as

dark-colored

(**a**) (**b**)

since

both

share

similar

visual

**Figure 2.** One-way ANOVA test of statistically significant difference between monofloral buckwheat, clover, heather, linden, rapeseed, willow, and polyfloral honey (**a**) using interval plot (μg/kg) as graphical summary with 95% confidence interval bars, and (**b**) using Tukey comparison of 95% confidenceintervals.

**Table 2.** Comparison of chemical compound mass concentrations (μg/kg) quantified by UHPLC-HRMS that share statistically significant differences between groups of floral origins.

AB—results marked with a different superscript letter are significantly different using ANOVA one-way Tukey test (*p* < 0.05). Letter "A" indicates affiliation to a group with higher means and letter "B" indicates affiliation to a group with lower means, while "AB" shows affiliation for both groups.

Comparing honey of Polish origins, the authors of [31] found similar levels of p-coumaric acid and quercetin in heather honey. However, Latvian honey showed lower concentrations of chrysin, galangin, and apigenin but higher concentrations of luteolin than Polish honey. Rapeseed honey of Romanian origins share similar levels of chlorogenic acid and p-coumaric acid but increased of gallic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, and myricetin [32]. In another study, p-hydroxybenzoic acid is mentioned as a commonly found compound in clover and heather honey. Moreover, p-coumaric and vanillic acid are reported as commonly found in heather honey, while our study shows that concentration levels were not different from Latvian polyfloral honey. Quercetin is usually found in clover honey [33]. Regardless of other studies, recent preliminary UHPLC-HRMS results of Latvian honey showed rutin as a suggestable indicator for buckwheat honey. However, increased rutin concentration levels for a few polyflorals containing notable buckwheat pollen percentage were also observed. This suggests a need for further investigation to determine a threshold level of rutin in order to distinguish buckwheat honey from polyfloral honeys.

### *3.3. Principal Component Analysis*

All data for PC scores and loadings are available in the Supplementary Information in the form of excel spreadsheets. The carbon and nitrogen isotope ratio and total element percentage were used for PCA to determine the Latvian honey floral origins using a single IRMS method. The variables were standardized, and a correlation matrix was used since variables were expressed in different units of measurement. Eigenvalues were expressed in the scree plot (see Figure S4). PC1-PC3 described variability by 94.6%, and these components were used for evaluation. A total of 15 samples were considered as outliners using a Mahalanobis distance criteria and were withdrawn from PCA. The outliner samples were coded as follows: monofloral buckwheat (B1), clover (C1), rapeseed (R2), willow (W1), and polyfloral (P2, P5, P8, P18, P20, P23, P24, P26, P33, P42, P47) honey. In Figure 3a, the heather honey formed a cluster away from other honey samples because of PC1. After the investigation of loading coefficients (see Figure 3b), it appears that PC1 had a high positive correlation (r = 0.50) of nitrogen isotope ratio and total carbon in proteins (r = 0.53) but negative correlation of total nitrogen in proteins (r = −0.67). The monoflorals of heather honey were significantly different (*p* = 0.001) of depleted δ15N values, while total carbon and total nitrogen showed no significant differences. Nevertheless, in comparing the means of the heather honey and other types of origins, we found that the mean of total carbon was the lowest, and total nitrogen was highest for heather honey. Polyflorals (P3, P6, P14, P55) that formed cluster with monofloral heather honey also contained heather pollen (31%, 10%, 38%, 4%). The honey sample P46 had 6% of heather pollen content and it was the only honey sample that had heather pollen more than 4%; moreover, it was not located in the cluster. Other polyfloral honey samples with heather pollen >4% (P2—24%; P8—35%; P18—22%) were classified as outliners and had similar δ15N values but increased means of total carbon and decreased means of total nitrogen. This highlights the need to monitor the total carbon and nitrogen content in honey protein IRMS analysis when monofloral heather honey purity must be assessed.

**Figure 3.** PCA of monofloral buckwheat, clover, heather, linden, rapeseed, willow, and polyfloral honey samples: (**a**) score plot between PC1 and PC2, and (**b**) loading plot of variables obtained by IRMS (δ13C, δ15N, total C and N in honey proteins).

The concentrations of phenolic acids, flavonoids, vitamins, and plant hormones in honey were used for PCA of UHPLC-HRMS assessment. The catechin, chrysin, folic acid, and formononetin were omitted for evaluation, and 27 compound concentrations (μg/kg) were standardized and a correlation matrix was constructed. After evaluation of the scree plot (see Figure S5), we used the PC1-PC3 for further analysis, since they cover the most variability of data (45.7%). A total of 11 samples were considered as outliners using a Mahalanobis distance criteria and were withdrawn from PCA. The outliner samples were

coded as follows: monofloral clover (C2, C5) and polyfloral (P7, P8, P20, P26, P29, P37, P43, P46, P53) honey. The formation of an exceptional cluster such as with IRMS results were not observed. The PC2 has strong positive correlation of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (r = 0.39), rutin (r = 0.38), and p-coumaric acid (r = 0.34), and these compounds were previously discussed as potential buckwheat honey floral markers. The location of buckwheat honey in score plot (see Figure 4a) was outside of the majority of samples, but buckwheat honey was found to have higher PC2 scores than other honey. The polyflorals (P5, P42, P51, P54) with similar PC2 scores also had buckwheat pollen (17%, 24%, 16%, 4%). The PC3 was not selective for certain floral group but depended on the ratio of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (r = 0.43) and abscisic acid (r = −0.35) concentrations.

**Figure 4.** PCA of monofloral buckwheat, clover, heather, linden, rapeseed, willow, and polyfloral honey samples: (**a**) score plot between PC2 and PC3, and (**b**) loading plot of 27 organic compound concentrations obtained by UHPLC-HRMS.

Due to the presence of a wide range of chemical compounds found in honey, NMR is considered to be one of the most prominent methods for food analysis [34]. The complete identification of chemical compounds from 1H-NMR spectra is a difficult task because of compound low concentrations and signal overlays. Nevertheless, the honey of similar floral origins share a similar 1H-NMR spectra image, and therefore principal component analysis (PCA) was used to conduct an assessment of honey without full quality analysis. The 1H-NMR spectra of honey samples were transformed into the spectral bins from 0.5 to 3 ppm (aliphatic region) and 6 to 9 ppm (aromatic region), with a bin width of 0.01 ppm before the principal component analysis. Carbohydrate region (3–6 ppm) was excluded for the PCA due to the presence of high intensity peaks that are sensitive to scaling method prior to PCA and strongly affect cluster forming in a PCA plot [35]. Furthermore, minor and specific carbohydrate 1H NMR signals were not resolved using 300 MHz NMR spectrometer, which could improve PCA discrimination [21,36,37]. The obtained scree plot and PCA plots of Latvian honey samples are shown in Figure S6. The PC1-PC3 had exceptionally high contribution of data variability, explaining 29.2% of the variance from 552 variables. PCA plot with PC1 and PC3 of studied Latvian honeys of monofloral honeys (Figure 5a) could be described in several groups as follows: (1) buckwheat, clover, and willow honeys with mostly negative PC1; (2) linden honeys with positive PC1 and mostly positive PC3; and (3) heather honeys with positive PC1 and negative PC3. Rapeseed honeys showed cluster near PC1 and PC3 cross-point that indicated absence of specific compounds. Honey grouping could be explained by using PC1 and PC3 loading plots (see Figure 5b,c). In the case of buckwheat, clover, and willow honeys, 1H-NMR spectral bins with δ = 6.87–6.82, 7.16–7.21, 1.67–1.74, and 0.90–1.02 ppm contributed to negative PC1 score. This can be explained with the presence of tyrosine (δ = 6.87–6.82 and 7.16–7.21 ppm), leucine (δ = 1.67–1.74 ppm), and isoleucine and valine (δ = 0.90–1.02 ppm).

These amino acids have been previously found in a higher level for buckwheat honey [38]. Surprisingly, in Latvian monofloral clover and willow honeys, these amino acids were found as well. For the linden monofloral honey, 1H-NMR spectral bins with δ = 2.40–2.47 and 7.15–7.23 ppm contributed to positive PC1 score, and bins with δ = 6.14–6.18 and 7.15–7.23 ppm for positive PC3 score. Linden honey 1H-NMR spectra-specific bins can be attributed to the cyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylic acid (CDCA) derivatives (δ = 6.14–6.18 and 7.15–7.23 ppm) that are specific markers of monofloral linden honey [38]. Lastly, the heather honey showed resolved cluster position in PCA plot that was mostly affected by 1H-NMR spectral bins with δ = 7.28–7.32 and 2.37 ppm. These bins can be assigned to the previously found carboxylic acids, such as phenylacetic acid, 3-phenyllactic acid and benzoic acid (δ = 7.28–7.32 ppm), and pyruvic acid (δ = 2.37 ppm) [38,39]. Typical binned 1H-NMR spectra of analyzed monofloral honeys with the assigned compounds are shown in Figure S7. It was shown that PCA in combination with 1H-NMR showed clear separation of monofloral heather honey from other studied honeys. Unfortunately, monofloral honeys with negative PC1 could not be resolved in separate clusters, and other statistical methods should thus be used (e.g., OPLS-DA) [38,40].

**Figure 5.** PCA of monofloral buckwheat, clover, heather, linden, rapeseed, willow, and polyfloral honey samples: (**a**) score plot between PC1 and PC3; loading plots of PC1 and PC3 for 1H-NMR spectra with bin width 0.01 ppm for intervals (**b**) 9.0–6.0 ppm and (**c**) 3.0–0.5 ppm.


New Advances in Neglected Tropical Diseases

*Edited by Márcia Aparecida Sperança*

Published in London, United Kingdom

New Advances in Neglected Tropical Diseases http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98019 Edited by Márcia Aparecida Sperança


**5.2. Rating approach**

278 Wireless Sensor Networks – Technology and Protocols

**5.1. Routing approach**

security and energy.

**5. Comparison with previous work and main contributions**

We provided a simulation based performance analysis for the efficiency of our proposed GETAR routing protocol. Simulation results proved the following points : GETAR improves the delivery ratio, decreases the drop and retransmission ratio and saves the retransmission power when compared with the previous work. The improvement in a performance metric can be achieved at different values of β parameter starting at a minimum value of β at a knee point in the curve. This value can be an optimum choice that guarantees best delivery ratio and better energy balancing. Energy balancing is negatively impacted by an increase in trust awareness. Thus, trade off considerations should be taken carefully in order to design an appropriate value of β. This will be subjected to the application preference between

In SAR[70], The routing operation needs to encounter a trusted route setup phase, which contributes some initial delay, especially with the crypto-based authentication required at the route setup. The trust metric used in SAR does not reflect nodes' behavior; rather, they represent a "rank" that a node exhibits based on its identity and various security service provision. Thus, a trusted node in SAR is a node that has the appropriate rank that meets the routing requirements. To rank a node is a problem by itself and requires crypto mechanisms. Our protocol, GETAR, is much simpler in that it assigns trust values to nodes based on nodes behavior. The routing decision rules in SAR are governed by the source, which makes the protocol less flexible. The routing decision is not to select the next hop but to decide to participate in the trusted route. As a result, selfish behavior is not addressed well in SAR. WSN constraints of power consumption are not treated. In fact, SAR targets ad

hoc networks with an assumption of more relaxed conditions as compared to WSN.

the routing operation itself since it relies on GPSR.

In TRANS[72], the trust, in fact, is associated with locations rather than nodes. The problem is that a location can be infected by a single node. The detour, then, will be around a larger area rather than a single node. "Innocent" nodes located in proximity of an infected location might be also isolated. If not, they are also exposed to heavy routing duties that may induce selfish behavior. TRANS is limited by single or multiple sink communication models. This assumption is necessary for the efficient operation of the protocol. Our proposed protocol, however, is more generic and can be applied to TRANS model or even for peer-to-peer model. TRANS discusses approaches to decrease energy consumption due to the security provision overhead. However, the protocol does not provide energy efficient techniques in

The RGR[73] protocol has no provision for energy efficiency as it relies on GPSR. The protocol totally relies on trust-based forwarding. If a node is completely surrounded by misbehaving nodes, there is no other mechanism proposed to select a next hop since all nodes will be eliminated from the node's forwarding list. RGR is a multi-path trust-based routing. Although multi-path is important for reliable services, we believe that it can be

energy consuming which we try to conserve in our work using GETAR.

The rating component of a reputation system deals with combining the first-hand and second-hand information meaningfully into a representative value. Moreover, it is responsible for updating such values as the behavior of nodes are evolving.

In literature, some rating approaches use a single value, called reputation, like CORE [5] and DRBTS [74]. This is similar to our approach in CRATER where we use a single value called the risk value, ri,j. Other rating systems like RFSN[2] and CONFIDANT[3] use two separate values, to represent the node reputation.

Some rating approaches updates the node reputation using both first-hand and secondhand information. In CRATER, we use this approach and we also introduce the neutral behavior period as another rating factor. Some other approaches like OCEAN (Observation-based Cooperation Enforcement in Ad Hoc Networks) [75] use just FHI.

In CRATER, SHI is accepted based on the cautious assumptions and the collected SHI by a node i about a node j is averaged to calculate a single ri,j,SHI. No validation check or honesty consideration is performed. However, some rating methods use validity and credibility tests for the gathered SHI. One method is to use a deviation test proposed in [64, 74].

Rating functions and mathematical modeling vary depending on the target applications. However, Beta distribution has been the most popular among researchers in reputation and

trust-based systems. It was first introduced in the field by Josang and Ismail [65]. Since then, many researchers have used the beta distribution including Ganeriwal and Srivastava [2] and Buchegger and Boudec [64]. In CRATER, however, we are using a simpler approach similar to the exponential average weighting. This is similar to the approach proposed in DRBTS [74].

When the weighing approach is used, an important issue in maintaining and updating reputation is how past and current information is weighted. For example, CORE tends to give more weight to the past observations assuming that a current observation should have a lower impact on a "greatly built history". On the other hand, RFSN tends to give more weight to recent observations based on the issue of aging. Aging means that we give higher weights to recent observations such that if you behave well you will survive more. As a result, malicious node will be enforced to reduce their attack to survive. In CRATER, we adopt the aging approach with some detailed modifications.

Up to our knowledge, there is no simple and global technique that can independently and efficiently evaluate reputation systems or rating components in the context of WSN and ad hoc networks as compared to our proposed technique, RESISTOR. However, the work in [61] proposes an attempt on comparing reputation systems quantitatively based on game theory. The authors, thus, identify different notions of reputation systems like, contextualization, personalization, individual and group reputation, and, direct and indirect reputation. But, it is more complicated than RESISTOR. Moreover, RESISTOR can be used as an indicator to understand the flaws or plus points in the rating system.


**Hysterectomy Pre-Operative Considerations**

222 Hysterectomy

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**15**

*Denmark*

Kenneth Jensen and Jens Børglum *Copenhagen University Hospital: Bispebjerg,*

**Hysterectomy: Advances in Perioperative Care**

Perioperative medicine is an ever growing field of interest that encompasses the care of the patient preparing for, undergoing and recuperating from surgery. Medical professionals, interest groups and societies each year convene at congresses dedicated to the field of evidence-based perioperative medicine (e.g., www.ebpom.org). Since many interventions during the hospital stay have ramifications extending into the first six months after discharge, many choose to define "perioperative" broadly to include this extended period as well. Our topics of interest are equally broadly defined and include psychological, physiological, anaesthesiological and surgical issues. We have chosen this overview to increase our understanding of the interplay of factors that in all make up the experience of the hysterectomy patients, hopefully to explain and justify the value of treatment regimens.

Much has happened within the past 10 years. In spite of an ever-growing and unwieldy amount of scientific information appearing every month, unmet needs may still be readily identified in many fields of endeavor. To highlight the current evidence, we have performed a Medline search on "hysterectomy" limited to randomized studies published in the past decade. This should expand the evidence-based website www.postoppain.org, which provides an analysis of all randomized studies on abdominal hysterectomy since 1966 (and until 2004). Our aim is to provide the anaesthesia-unqualified reader with an extensive and easily accessible presentation of the psychology, physiology, pharmacology and operative logistics that we find relevant to the subject of hysterectomy; characteristics of the patients, the importance of anaesthetic and surgical techniques, the prevention and treatment of postoperative complaints, and why established treatments may not work. While not striving to be completely exhaustive, our review nevertheless includes a thorough reference list that

Understandably, undergoing surgery is often the cause of great concern for patients. We know that as many as 60% of patients are anxious (Hashimato, 1993), with females, depressed and

**1. Introduction**

**1.1 Perioperative medicine**

**1.2 Purpose and methods**

**2. Psychology**

may inspire the reader to further in-depth study.

**2.1 Preoperative psychology and coping skills**


*Article* **Active Carbon-Based Electrode Materials from Petroleum Waste for Supercapacitors**

**Abdualilah Albaiz, Muhammad Alsaidan, Abdullah Alzahrani, Hassan Almoalim, Ali Rinaldi \*,† and Almaz S. Jalilov \***

> Department of Chemistry and Interdisciplinary Research Center for Advanced Materials, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

**\*** Correspondence<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(A.R<EMAIL_ADDRESS>(A.S.J.)

† Current Address: Faculty of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany.

**Abstract:** A supercapacitor is an energy-storage device able to store and release energy at fast rates with an extended cycle life; thus, it is used in various electrical appliances. Carbon materials prepared above 800 ◦C of activation temperatures are generally employed as an electrode material for supercapacitors. Herein, we report carbon materials prepared from a low-cost petroleum waste carbon precursor that was activated using KOH, MgO, and Ca(OH)2 only at 400 ◦C. Electrode materials using low-temperature activated carbons were prepared with commercial ink as a binder. The cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge were employed for the electrochemical performance of the electrodes, and studied in a 3-electrode system in 1 M solutions of potassium nitrate (KNO3 ) as electrolyte; in addition, the supercapacitive performance was identified in a potential window range of 0.0–1.0 V. The best-performance activated carbon derived from vacuum residue with a specific surface area of 1250.6 m2/g exhibited a specific capacitance of 91.91 F/g.

**Keywords:** activated carbon; vacuum residue; supercapacitor; carbon nanotechnology


**6. Concluding Remarks**

In this review, we attempted at summarizing the historical development of the current ideas on the processes that shape the structure of relativistic jets in gamma-ray bursts and the main observational consequences of that structure. We put some emphasis on the qualitative physical description of the structure formation and on the imprint of the structure on the main observables that characterize the prompt and afterglow emission of gamma-ray bursts, with the aim of providing first guidance (with minimal use of technicalities and a pedagogical approach) to those who encounter these topics for the first time. Inevitably, the review only covers a fraction of the relevant literature, only scratches the surface of most arguments, and represents only a partial account of the huge scientific effort performed by the community in the last few decades on this topic. For example, we entirely neglected the important topic of the polarization of the emission from a structured jet: fortunately, this is brilliantly covered by another review article [45] in this same Special Issue.

Most of the topics presented here are fields of active research and are evolving at a fast pace, especially in the latest years after GW170817. The upcoming science runs of the ground-based gravitational wave detector network, currently comprising the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO, [295]), Advanced Virgo [296] and KAGRA [297], will likely soon yield at least one new binary neutron star and/or black hole-neutron star merger event (e.g., [298–307]), hopefully with an associated jet: this will provide new unique insights on the structure of short GRB jets, on the properties of off-axis

jet emission in general, and on the incidence of jets, which can be used to constrain the progenitor population (e.g., [308]). With new 'golden' events such as GW170817, direct information on the jet structure can be extracted, e.g., through the methodologies discussed at the end of Section 4.2, provided that a detailed, high-cadence, multi-wavelength dataset will be collected. The availability of VLBI observations will greatly enhance the chances to break the inherent degeneracies in the afterglow modeling and hence in the jet structure. Moreover, new events observed at differing viewing angles will be the perfect route to test the quasi-universal structured jet hypothesis. We look forward to learning much more about the structure of gamma-ray burst jets from these and other observations, and from theoretical advances, in the close future.

**Funding:** This research was funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research through the PRIN grant 20179ZF5KS and by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) through the PRIN grant "Towards the SKA and CTA era: discovery, localisation, and physics of transient sources" (<IP_ADDRESS>.06).

**Acknowledgments:** We thank G. Ghisellini for years of fruitful discussions. We thank Yuri Sato for useful comments. We thank the anonymous referees for their comments, which helped in improving the quality and completeness of this review.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.


*2.1. Study Area and Ground Measurements*

The study area was located in the southern United States, covering 26 states with a geographical range of 75◦~122◦W and 30◦~38◦N (Figure 1). The region covers a vast area, with subtropical, temperate continental and tropical climates in the southeast, central and southwest. The southeast is warm and humid, the middle is cold in winter and hot in summer and the southwest has a large annual temperature difference of up to 25 ◦C. The topography of the entire region is high in the west and low in the east, and there is a clear topographic divide (100◦W) in the middle of the region. The western part of this topographic divide is dominated by plateaus and mountains, while the eastern part is plains (Figure 1a). Based on the LC\_Type1 (Scheme of global vegetation classification for IGBP) band of the MCD12Q1 product of MODIS, a map of vegetation cover types in the study area was obtained, as shown in Figure 1b.

**Figure 1.** Location and measured points of the study area. (**a**) Topographic map, (**b**) soil type map.

The measured soil moisture data used in the study area were freely available to the public in terms of volumetric water content (m3/m3) and were derived from the International Soil Moisture Observation Network (ISMN; http://ismn.geo.tuwien.ac.at/ networks, accessed on 6 November 2021). In this study, four monitoring networks, ARM, SCAN, SNOTEL and USCRN in ISMN, with a total of 160 measured monitoring points, were used from July 2019 to December 2021, with a soil moisture depth of 5 cm. Among these measurement stations of soil moisture, meaningless stations with values less than 0 cm3/cm3 or greater than 1 cm3/cm3 were excluded.


*2.2. Bioinformatics Analysis of the CsHCT Gene and Amino Acid Sequence*

This study analyzed the highly conserved domains of the HCT protein sequence in *A. thaliana*, *N. tabacum*, *H. cannabinus*, *T. cacao*, and *F. vesca*, designed a degenerate primer, and used the cDNA of the Chin-Shin Oolong tea plant as the template to perform PCR for obtaining the gene fragment sequence of *CsHCT*. The SMARTerTM RACE cDNA amplification kit (Clontech Laboratories, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) was used to expand 50 -end and 30 -end cDNA sequences. The full-length cDNA sequence of *CsHCT* was obtained after sequencing.

In the bioinformatics analysis conducted on the amino acid sequence of CsHCT, the ExPASy Translate tool (https://web.expasy.org/translate/) (access on July, 2016) was used for estimating the amino acid sequence translated by a nucleotide. The ExPASy Compute pI/Mw tool (https://web.expasy.org/compute\_pi/) (access on July, 2016) was used to estimate the protein molecular weight and isoelectric point. Multiple sequence alignments were performed using the EMMA function of the EMBOSS explorer (http://www.bioinformatics.nl/ emboss-explorer/) (access on July, 2016) and the BLOSUM50 scoring matrix, and GeneDoc

software was used to compare the results. Subsequently, Motif Scan (https://myhits. isb-sib.ch/cgi-bin/motif\_scan) (access on July, 2016) was used to predict the structural and functional protein regions. This study used the National Center for Biotechnology Information (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) (access on July, 2016) and Phytozome v10.3 (https: //phytozome.jgi.doe.gov/pz/portal.html) (access on July, 2016) websites to obtain the protein sequences of clade Vb of BAHD (BEAT, benzylalcohol-O-acetyltransferase; AHCT, anthocyanin O-hydroxycinnamoyltransferase; HCBT, anthranilate N-hydroxycinnamoyl-benzoyltransferase; and DAT, deacetylvindoline 4-O-acetyltransferase) acyltransferase from *A. thaliana*, *Oryza sativa*, *Populus trichocarpa*, *Coffea canephora*, and *H. cannabinus*. Sequence alignment was performed using the ClustalW model. A phylogenetic tree was constructed using the MEGA6 software, after which statistical analysis was conducted through the neighbor joining method. The 1000 iterations of the tree algorithm were performed using the bootstrap method. SignalP (http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/ services/SignalP/) (access on July, 2016) was used to predict whether a protein signal peptide existed. The Hphob./Kyte and Doolittle method of the ExPASy ProtScale (https://web.expasy.org/protscale/) (access on July, 2016) was adopted for predicting whether the proteins were hydrophilic or hydrophobic. The subcellular localization of proteins was predicted using WoLF PSORT (https://www.genscript. com/wolf-psort.html) (access on July, 2016).


**Ubiquitin and Autophagy**

Editor

**Taras Y. Nazarko**

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This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal *Cells* (ISSN 2073-4409) (available at: www.mdpi.com/journal/cells/special issues/ubiquitin autophagy).

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**1. Introduction**

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multicarrier transmission technique, which divides the available spectrum into many carriers, each one being modulated by a low rate data stream. OFDM is a combination of modulation and multiplexing OFDM is a special case of Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), multiple user access is achieved by subdividing the available bandwidth into multiple channels that are then allocated to users.

However, OFDM uses the spectrum much more efficiently by spacing the channels much closer together. This is achieved by making all the carriers orthogonal to one another, preventing interference between the closely spaced carriers. Each carrier in an OFDM signal has a very narrow bandwidth (i.e. 1 kHz), thus the resulting symbol rate is low. This results in the signal having a high tolerance to multipath delay spread. One of the main reasons to use OFDM is to increase the robustness against frequency selective fading or narrowband interference. In a single carrier system, a single fade or interferer can cause the entire link to fail, but in a multicarrier system, only a small percentage of the subcarriers will be affected. Coded Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (COFDM) is the same as OFDM except that forward error correction is applied to the signal before transmission. This is to overcome errors in the transmission due to lost carriers from frequency selective fading, channel noise and other propagation effects.

OFDM overcomes most of the problems with both FDMA and TOMA. In FDMA many carriers are spaced apart in such a way that the signals can be received using conventional filters and demodulators . In such receivers, guard bands are introduced between carriers which results in lowering of spectrum efficiency. In OFDM sub carriers are mathematically orthogonal so that it is possible to receive signal without intercarrier interference. OFDM makes efficient use of spectrum by allowing overlap. OFDM is more resistant to frequency selective fading than single carrier systems due to dividing the channel into narrowband flat fading subchannels. OFDM eliminates ISi and IFI through use of a cyclic prefix . OFDM provides good protection against cochannel interference and impulsive parasitic noise. OFDM is less sensitive to sample timing offsets than single carrier systems (Seshadri Sastry et al., 2010 a) and (Seshadri Sastry et al., 2010 b) proposed a OFDM system with adaptive

modulation using fuzzy logic interface to improve system capacity with maintaining good error performance. Adaptive modulation systems using ordinary hardware decision making circuits are inefficient to decide or change modulation scheme according to given conditions. Using fuzzy logic in decision making interface makes the system more efficient. The results of computer simulation show the improvement of system capacity in Rayleigh fading channel.

(Kwang et al. 2009) proposed a multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system with adaptive modulation and coding to improve system capacity with maintaining good error performance. The results of computer simulation show the improvement of system capacity in Rayleigh fading channel.

(Li Yanxin et al.2007) presented a novel method for demodulating the QAM signals basing on adaptive filtering. The commonly used least mean square (LMS) error adaptive filtering algorithm is employed for studying the demodulating procedure and the performance of the novel adaptive QAM demodulation. The novel adaptive QAM demodulation does not need the adaptive filter completing convergence. Therefore, the sampling rate and processing speed are decelerated. The performance of the method in theory is compared with computer simulating results. It shows that the error rates in simulation agree well with that in theory. Also, it is indicated that the demodulation method has many advantages over conventional ones, such as the powerful anti-noise ability, the small transfer delay, and the convenient implementation with DSP technology.

(Kiyoshi Hamaguchi et al.) proposed an adaptive modulation system for land mobile communications that can select one of quadrature amplitude modulation levels as a suitable modulation for propagation conditions is described. The main characteristics of the system are a mode in which information cannot be transmitted under adverse propagation conditions and a buffer memory for maintaining the data transmission rate. In the paper they confirmed that the basic performances of the adaptive modulation system using the equipment they developed and they found the measured performance was consistent with computer simulation results. Further in paper it was also confirmed that the adaptive modulation system provided a noticeable improvement in spectral efficiency and transmission quality.

Sorour Falahati, Arne Svensson, Torbjom Ekman and Mikael Stemad proposed that when adaptive modulation is used to counter short - term fading in mobile radio channels, signaling delays create problems with outdated channel state information. The use of channel power prediction will improve the performance of the link adaptation. It is then of interest to take the quality of these predictions into account explicitly when designing an adaptive modulation scheme. They studied the optimum design of an adaptive modulation scheme based on uncoded M-QAM modulation assisted by channel prediction for the flat Rayleigh fading channel. The data rate, and in some variants the transmit power, are adapted to maximize spectral efficiency subject to average power and bit error rate constraints. The key issues studied here are how a known prediction error variance will affect the optimized transmission properties such as the SNR boundaries that determine when to apply different modulation rates, and to what extent it affects the spectral efficiency. The investigation is performed by analytical optimization of the link adaptation, using the statistical properties of a particular but efficient channel power predictor.

Optimum solutions for the rate and transmit power are derived based on the predicted SNR and the prediction error variance.

M.K.Wasantha and W.A.C.Fernando discussed an OFDM-CDMA system with adaptive modulation schemes for future generation wireless networks. Results presented in this paper show that adaptive systems can perform better than fixed modulation based systems both in terms of BER and spectral efficiency.