Search

One of the main disadvantages of the traditional mean square error (MSE)-based constructive networks is their poor performance in the presence of non-Gaussian noises. In this paper, we propose a new incremental constructive network based on the correntropy objective function (correntropy-based constructive neural network (C2N2)), which is robust to non-Gaussian noises. In the proposed learning method, input and output side optimizations are separated. It is proved theoretically that the new hidden node, which is obtained from the input side optimization problem, is not orthogonal to the residual error function. Regarding this fact, it is proved that the correntropy of the residual error converges to its optimum value. During the training process, the weighted linear least square problem is iteratively applied to update the parameters of the newly added node. Experiments on both synthetic and benchmark datasets demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method in comparison with the MSE-based constructive network, the radial basis function (RBF) network. Moreover, the proposed method outperforms other robust learning methods including the cascade correntropy network (CCOEN), Multi-Layer Perceptron based on the Minimum Error Entropy objective function (MLPMEE), Multi-Layer Perceptron based on the correntropy objective function (MLPMCC) and the Robust Least Square Support Vector Machine (RLS-SVM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unmanned operations and automation in modern industry create complex everyday problems, which require algorithmic thinking and creativity. Development of risk assessment methods is critical for the future of this business segment. To provide decision support for the management of an autonomous emission control boat, we begin by proposing a k‐Nearest‐Neighbours (k‐NN)‐based trajectory prediction method. This is employed in a bi‐objective routing problem of finding a Hamiltonian circuit in a dynamic network defined by predicted locations of ships over time. The objectives are maximizing the number of measurement tasks to be done and minimizing the corresponding total travel distance of the emission control boat. To evaluate the impact of trajectory prediction uncertainty on Pareto‐optimal itineraries, we propose a risk measure in a mean‐risk framework. The risk is defined based on an expected shortfall when implementation of an efficient itinerary under the predicted trajectories needs rescheduling based on realized trajectories. The risk measure helps the decision maker to evaluate choice alternatives among efficient itineraries under predicted trajectories and to make a balanced risk‐adjusted decision. We show how historical data is employed in integer linear programming for the estimation of such risk measure. Empirical results demonstrate such estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulsed Electric Field processing is a non-thermal alternative to sucrose extraction from sugar beet. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment on the viscoelastic properties of sugar beet tissue. The electrical conductivity disintegration index was used for characterization of the PEF-induced damage of sugar beet tissue. Cell membrane disintegration increased with increasing field strength and pulse number. Stress-relaxation tests were also performed. The changes in viscoelastic properties were quantified as a result of applied field strength and pulse number and were correlated with cell disintegration index. The generalized Maxwell model was used to fit the measured stress-relaxation data. The rheological constants, elastic module (MPa), equilibrium elastic module (MPa) and relaxation time (s) were decreased significantly with increase of cell disintegration index. Scanning electron microscope images of the intact and PEF-treated samples showed increased deformation of cells and larger intercellular spaces for the PEF-treated samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many algorithms have been proposed so far for pruning and sparse approximation of feedforward neural networks with random weights in order to obtain compact networks which are fast and robust on various datasets. One drawback of the randomization process is that the resulted weight vectors might be highly correlated. It has been shown that ensemble classifiers' error depends on the amount of error correlation between them. Thus, decrease in correlation between output vectors must lead to generation of more efficient hidden nodes. In this research a new learning algorithm called New Sparse Learning Machine (NSLM) for single-hidden layer feedforward networks is proposed for regression and classification. In the first phase, the algorithm creates hidden layer with small correlation among nodes by orthogonalizing the columns of the output matrix. Then in the second phase, using $$L_1$$ -norm minimization problem, NSLM makes the components of the solution vector become zero as many as possible. The resulted network has higher degree of sparsity while the accuracy is maintained or improved. Therefore, the method leads to a new network with a better generalization performance. Numerical comparisons on several classification and regression datasets confirm the expected improvement in comparison to the basic network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effects of ultrasound (US) with carbonated feed were studied on ultrafiltration flux enhancement and membrane hydrodynamic resistances. A cross flow ultrafiltration of cherry concentrate was performed under US at 37 and 80 kHz with carbonated feed and noncarbonated feed, within the flat-sheet membrane module. Although, the US degassed the carbonated feed within the module, but no membrane cleaning effect was observed for the US with carbonated feed. Results showed that 37 kHz of US increases the permeation flux higher than 80 kHz, The lowest fouling resistance was obtained for gas bubbling by carbonated feed under 80 kHz, although there was no significant difference between 37 kHz and gas bubbling under 80 kHz. Practical Applications The most important limitation of ultrafiltration is flux decline during processing. Flux decline caused to higher operation cost and decrease the performance of separation. Using the ultrasound (US) treatment at low frequency (37 kHz) and carbonated feed with US at high frequency (80 kHz) can improve the flux permeation significantly. This technique can be applied to ultrafiltration to postpone the fouling and flux decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fouling is one of the main obstacles to filtration process. In this study, the effects of gas bubbling by carbonated feed, gas bubbling by direct injection of CO2 (GB-DI-CO2) and N2 (GB-DI-N2) and ultrasound (US) were evaluated on flux enhancement during milk solution ultrafiltration and flux recovery during cleaning process of fouled hollow fibers membrane module. Results showed that the US and gas bubbling (GB) treatments significantly enhanced the performance of both ultrafiltration and cleaning processes, however, the effect of GB-DI-CO2 was not considerable. The best results were achieved when the GB-DI-N2 treatment was applied with US treatment in filtration and cleaning process, under this treatment, the permeation flux was remarkably enhanced up to 288.57% during ultrafiltration as well as the fouling percentage was reduced to 15.55% after cleaning the fouled membrane. Furthermore, the US was more effective than the GB during cleaning process. Practical Applications Filtration process is faced to flux decline as a result of fouling. The ultrasound at low frequency and liquid-gas two phase flow can affect the concentration polarization and cake layer significantly. The combination of these techniques can be used as an effective methods to handle the fouling and flux decline. Also artificial neural networks model is able to predict the flux permeation of hollow-fibers filtration under ultrasound and gas bubbling combination as a complex condition practically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effects of ultrasound (US) and gas bubbling (GB) on permeate flux and membrane fouling. The ultrafiltration process of 1% skimmed milk was performed under various ultrasonic frequencies (37, 80 kHz, and tandem), irradiation modes (pulsed and sweeping), two-phase flow patterns (bubble and slug), and gas flow rates. The results showed that the US treatment improves the permeate flux up to 180%. The highest cleaning effect was obtained in the pulsed mode at 37 kHz. In the tandem frequency, the results showed that the fouling percentage significantly decreased with reduction in the frequency switching time. The GB injection treatment improved the mean of permeate flux up to 72% after 30 min. The slug pattern at medium gas flow rate was more effective than the other treatments. Best result was achieved in combination of the US (pulsed mode—37 kHz) and the GB (slug pattern—medium flow rate). In this condition, the permeate flux was significantly improved up to 384% in comparison with the control. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic resistance results showed the higher ability of the US in cleaning of membrane pores during ultrafiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fouling phenomenon is well known as a main obstacle in membrane separation technology. In this study, the effects of bubbling with various hydrodynamic factors and gas–liquid solubility were evaluated on fouling control and permeation flux in ultrafiltration of skimmed milk solution. Direct gas injection and carbonated feed, as a new bubbling method, were used for bubbling. In the direct gas injection technique, various two-phase flow patterns (slug and bubble), gas flow rates, and bubbling modes (continuous and intermittent) were investigated during a cross-flow ultrafiltration. The results showed that the both of gas bubbling methods improved the permeation flux during 30-min filtration. The permeation flux was enhanced up to 72 and 40% by direct injecting of N2and CO2, respectively, while it was only enhanced up to 58% with carbonated feed. The evaluation of hydrodynamic resistance of membranes indicated that the gas bubbling by carbonated feed was more effective on the fouling resistance, while the cake resistance was affected by the gas injection during infiltration. In addition, the slug flow pattern was more effective than the bubble flow pattern on decline of membrane fouling. In the slug flow pattern, the permeate flux increased when medium flow rate was applied. Furthermore, ultrafiltration performance was improved using the intermittent gas bubbling mode. This study indicated that slug flow pattern with insoluble gas has a higher performance than the other ones in preventing fouling and flux enhancement during ultrafiltration processing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Membrane processing has found many applications in various industries as an advanced method of separating materials in liquid or gas. The greatest obstacle in using membrane filtration technology is fouling, particularly in porous membranes. The fouling phenomenon is the result of organic and inorganic materials depositing on the surface and pores of membrane. In this study, the effect of ultrasound frequency (37, 80 kHz, and tandem) and amplitude of sonication (30, 60, and 90%) were evaluated on flux recovery during and after microfiltration. Results showed that the 37 kHz and tandem frequencies significantly improved the permeate flux at earlier minutes, particularly when tandem frequency was applied. In addition, the permeate flux was increased as the sonication power increased. However, the interaction effects between frequency and sonication power showed that the ultrasound frequencies were more effective than sonication power on flux recovery. Furthermore, the calculation of fouling percentage showed that both low frequencies and high amplitude together significantly reduced the fouling agents during the cleaning process. However, there were no remarkable statistical effects among the same levels of sonication power during the cleaning process. The interaction effects of various frequencies and powers of ultrasound on cleaning membranes were evaluated and more cleaning efficiency was observed in comparison to sonication power when low frequency applied. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Seedless barberry is one of the most popular native fruits in Iran. Conventionally, barberry fruit is dried and consumed as ornamental additive in traditional food. Barberry fruit juice contains high anthocyanins, therefore its spray dried powder can be used as good sources of anthocyanins. Maltodextrin(MD)-Arabic gum(AG) mixture, as carrier in various ratios, were added to the extract to prepare spray dried powder. The drying inlet air temperatures were 160°C and 180°C with air flow rate set to 50 m³/h. The anthocyanins content, product recovery, color, moisture content, dissolution, water activity, and density of spray-dried barberry powder were measured. The results revealed that the product recovery was about 78% when the air temperature set to 160°C and the barberry extract was supplemented with 75:25 ratio of MD:AG. The optimum amount of anthocyanins (390.46 mg/100g) in powder was achieved when the inlet air temperature was 160°C and equal proportions of MD:AG added to the feed. Powder loose and tapped bulk density increased from 0.179 to 0.310 and 0.380 to 0.570 g/cm3 respectively, as level of MD in the ratio increased from 7.5 to 15 g/100 ml. SEM micrographs of the powder indicate an increasing trend in particle size as result of increase of concentration of MD as drying aid. The data obtained in the present work may be used to prepare spray dried barberry extract in a commercial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the response surface methodology (RSM), a statistical analysis of laminar forced convective heat transfer behavior of the multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-deionized water nanofluid was carried out using a horizontal circular tube under constant wall heat flux. Sodium dodecyl sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, and gum Arabic (GA) were used as surfactants to disperse MWCNT in the deionized water in order to synthesize MWCNT-deionized water nanofluids. MWCNT-deionized water nanofluids in the presence of different surfactants and MWCNT were prepared at various weight ratios (0.5:1, 1:1, and 2:1). The properties of stability, dispersion, and wettability were then studied. According to the results, MWCNT-deionized water nanofluid in the presence of GA at a ratio of 1:1 was selected as the best sample. Nanofluids at concentrations of 0.05 and 0.1% wt% were then prepared. According to the statistical model (RSM), a total of 15 experiments were tested under the laminar flow regime and a flow rate of 171.4–545.4 ml/min, concentration of 0–0.1 wt%, and a magnetic field 0–400 G. The maximum heat transfer coefficient (1,600.1 W/m2K) was obtained at a concentration of 0.09wt%wt, a flow rate of 301.3 ml/min, and a magnetic field of 400 G. The experimental results are in agreement with the results obtained by RSM method, confirming the validity and responsiveness of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are unstable in different polar solvents such as water, using surfactants can open a new gateway for solving the challenge by attaching non-covalent hydrophilic bonds. Here, the influence of different surfactants including gum arabic (GA), cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on stability and thermophysical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in aqueous media is experimentally investigated. To reach this purpose, aqueous suspension of surfactant-MWCNT was synthesized in the ratios 0.5-1, 1-1 and 2-1. Zeta potential was used to determine stability of above-mentioned suspensions as a common method. Dynamic light scattering analysis was also employed to determine particles size distribution. The results indicated relative stability of suspensions in all ratios. It was also found that the minimum particle size was obtained in the presence of the ratio 1-1 of SDS and CTAB. Thermophysical properties of above-mentioned suspensions including viscosity, shear stress, electrical conductivity, surface tension and density were also studied at the range of 20-80 °C. The results indicated an increase in the electrical conductivity, density, viscosity, shear stress and a decrease in the surface tension (except in GA) of suspensions in all concentrations relative to pure water in constant temperature. As temperature increases, the electrical conductivity increases significantly, while the viscosity, shear stress, density and surface tension decreases more or less for all concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy is scarce in mobile computing devices including wearable and implantable devices in a wireless body area network. In this paper, an adaptive routing protocol is developed and analyzed which minimizes the energy cost per bit of information by using the channel information to choose the best strategy to route data. In this approach, the source node will switch between direct and relayed communication based on the quality of the link and will use the relay only if the channel quality is below a certain threshold. The mathematical model is then validated through simulations which shows that the adaptive routing strategy can improve energy efficiency significantly compared with existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bene hull contains antioxidant components. Optimum conditions for bioactive compound extraction processes from Bene hull using subcritical water with response surface methodology (RSM) were obtained. Temperature (110-200°C), processing time (30-60 min), and the water to Bene hull ratio (10:1-50:1) were the investigated factors. The optimal conditions for maximizing the antioxidant activity were 196.8°C for 52.6 min and a ratio of 43.6:1 for water to Bene hull. Under these conditions, the amount of polyphenolic compounds, the reduction power (RP) (EC), and the DPPH free radical scavenging activity (RSA) (EC) were predicted to be 2,284 mg of gallic acid/100 g of Bene hull, 0.2002 mg/mL, and 0.6284 mg/mL, respectively. HPLC analysis was used to identify the main phenolic compounds. The subcritical water extraction technique could be used as a beneficial method to obtain bioactive compounds from Bene hull. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine a new nanocatalyst of SrO/S-ZrO2 in esterification reaction and the optimum value of strontia loading over the sulfated zirconia. The sulfated zirconia was supported with different molar ratios of strontia in the range of 0.0-0.30, using the solvent-free method. The samples were characterized using XRD, FT-IR, BET and TEM analysis and their activity were investigated in esterification reaction of oleic acid. The findings of this study revealed that 25 mol % SrO/S-ZrO2 had the highest yield in the esterification reaction. It was also concluded that strontia-supported sulfated zirconia could improve the low reusability of the catalyst. Furthermore, 95 % conversion was also obtained at optimized conditions (i.e., 100 °C, 2 wt. % of catalyst, 6:1 molar ratio of methanol/oleic acid and for a period of 30 minutes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antioxidants have a wide range of application in food industry. Beside by attention to rising in universal attitude to use from natural antioxidants, at this study antioxidant extracts of barberry fruits extracted by subcritical water at 120 - 180 °C and 10 - 50 Bar and radical scavenging power, reduction power, stability power of edible oil matrix and amount of Total Phenolic Compounds (TPC) of extracts investigated in Folin method. Results showed that amount of Total Phenolic Compounds changed from 2073.81 until 2553.79 mg Gallic acid per 100 grams of Dry Material (mg G.A/100 g D.M) that maximum of Total Phenolic Compounds, observed at 160 °C and decreased with rising temperature, whereas radical scavenging power and stability power in edible oil of extracts increase with temperature. Optimization of extraction process did at different temperatures and pressures condition for receive to maximum amount of Total Phenolic Compounds, stability power, reduction and radical scavenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new method for measuring and monitoring human body joint angles, which uses wearable ultrawideband (UWB) transceivers mounted on body segments, is proposed and investigated. The model is based on providing a high ranging accuracy (intersensor distance) between a pair of transceivers placed on the adjacent segments of the joint center of rotation. The measured distance is then used to compute the joint angles based on the law of cosines. The performance of the method was compared with a flexible goniometer by simultaneously measuring joint flexion-extension angles at different angular velocities, ranging between \8 and \90^\circ \/s. The measurement errors were evaluated by the average differences between two sets of data (ranging from \0.8^\circ for slow movement to \2.8^\circ for fast movement), by standard deviation (ranging from \1.2^\circ to \4.2^\circ for various movement speeds) and by the Pearson correlation coefficient (greater than 0.99) which demonstrates the very good performance of the UWB-based approach. The experimental results have shown that the system has sufficient accuracy for clinical applications, such as rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodegradable starch/poly (vinyl alcohol)/nano-titanium dioxide (ST/PVA/nano-TiO) nanocomposite films were prepared via a solution casting method. Their biodegradability, mechanical properties, and thermal properties were also studied in this paper. A general full factorial experimental approach was used to determine effective parameters on the mechanical properties of the prepared films. ST/PVA/TiO nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results of mechanical analysis show that ST/PVA films with higher contents of PVA have much better mechanical properties. In thermal analysis, it is found that the addition of TiO nanoparticles improves the thermal stability of the films. SEM micrographs, taken from the fracture surface of samples, illustrate that the addition of PVA makes the film softer and more flexible. The results of soil burial biodegradation indicate that the biodegradability of ST/PVA/TiO films strongly depends on the starch proportion in the film matrix. The degradation rate is increased by the addition of starch in the films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the major concern in production of biodiesel fuel is to exploit new cata-lysts with the optimal conditions. In this study, the effect of calcination temperature on the synthesis of 20 mol % SrO/S-ZrO, was examined by solvent-free method. Moreover, the ability of the catalyst for esterification reaction of oleic acid with methanol was also assessed. To obtain this objective, X-ray diffraction and infra-red spectroscopy method was employed to characterize the structure of the catalysts. The results of this study re-veal that the calcined strontium oxide promoted sulfated zirconia at 500 °C has the high-est percentage of tetragonal phases of zirconia. It has also been demonstrated that owing to the high percentage of the tetragonal phases of zirconia and the acidity of the catalyst, conversion of oleic acid to fatty acids methyl esters (i.e., FAME) could be enhanced from 88.36 % to 91.13 %. Moreover, it has also been shown that 20 mol % SrO/S-ZrO2 exhib-its higher activity in comparison with S-ZrO2, at 500 °C in esterification reaction due to the presence more sulfate ions and higher activity of strontium ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable on-body wireless network design needs to incorporate the natural body movements. However, existing models are static or pseudo-dynamic models. In this work, the lack of a comprehensive channel model for a moving body is addressed. A dynamic radio channel around the human body is statistically analyzed and modeled. Important parameters of the channel are estimated from measured data and compared with the model prediction. Simulations show that the model can predict the parameters of a system working in a dynamic body area network with 92% accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The main objective of this research was to use Box-Behnken experimental design (BBD) and response surface methodology (RSM) for optimization of micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) to remove lead ions from synthetic wastewater using spiral-wound ultrafiltration membrane. The critical factors selected for the examination were surfactant concentration, molar ratio of surfactant to metal (S/M) and solution pH. A total of 17 experiments were accomplished towards the construction of a quadratic model for both target variables. The experimental results were fitted with a second-order polynomial equation by a multiple regression analysis, and more than 95%, 93% of the variation could be predicted by the models for lead rejection and permeation flux, respectively. The optimum condition was found by using the obtained mathematical models. Optimization indicated that in C=2mM, pH=6.57 and S/M= 9.82 maximum flux and rejection efficiency can be achieved, simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solvent-free technique was employed in this work in order to assess the influence of the calcination temperature on the activity of Al-promoted sulfated zirconia. The cata-lyst was analyzed by XRD and IR-spectrum method, and catalytic activity was examined by esterification reaction of oleic acid. XRD analysis revealed that a decline in the per-centage of tetragonal phases of zirconia was observed by increasing the calcination tem-perature from 500 to 900 °C. In addition, a reduction of sulfate groups as SO42- on zirco-nia surface was observed. As a consequence, a decline in Bransted sites with calcination temperature enhancement also prevailed. Therefore, the size of Al-promoted sulfated zir-conia particles was increased accordingly. On the other hand, with the aluminum sulfate loading, the amount of sulfate ions on Al-promoted sulfated zirconia surface was en-hanced and a reduction in particle size of Al2O3/S-ZrO2 was also observed, as compared to non-promoted. The result of this study revealed that an increase of sulfate and alumina groups causes a raise in the acidity of catalyst. Furthermore, the calcined Al-promoted and non-promoted sulfated zirconia would convert 96.10 % and 89.36 % of oleic acid to biodiesel, respectively. Therefore, Al2O3/S-ZrO2 as a catalyst exhibits a higher activity than S-ZrO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrete event computer simulation is one of the most widely used modeling tools for production systems. The major objective of this study is to develop a fuzzy rule-based model for the evaluation of micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) performance. In the current work, the foldover fractional factorial designs were applied as a screening experiment to determine all the influential factors affect Zn2+ rejection and permeate flux response. According to analysis of the variance (ANOVA) a three-screened significant factors, three-level full factorial designs (3k) was applied. Finally, a fuzzy model has been developed to predict and calculate the output variables. These mathematical models are found to be reliable predictive tools with an excellent accuracy with AARE ±1.08%, ±3.75%, in comparison with experimental values for permeate flux and rejection, respectively. It was observed that there is acceptable agreement between and fuzzy model results with experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simultaneous tracking of the chest respiratory rate and amplitude of human beings using a low-power ultrawideband (UWB) impulse radio signal is investigated for the application of sleep apnea monitoring. The measurement of respiratory amplitude, in addition to the breathing rate, is crucial for sleep apnea assessment which requires, among other things, the accurate estimation of tidal volume per minute. Backscattered UWB impulse radio signals from a human subject are detected in the time domain to calculate the chest displacements in this paper. Since the pulse disposition in time is linearly related to the chest movement, the amplitude of the chest movement can be extracted accurately without calculation approximations normally used in many of the existing methods. The multipeak detection of the pulse disposition method, instead of using only the single pulse peak detection, is also proposed to improve the accuracy of the calculation further. The experiments are carried out on four human subjects with different sizes and genders. The correlation of the chest movements' amplitude and breathing rate between the simultaneously measured results obtained by our method and by the respiratory chest band is very good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a growing tendency to establish closer ties among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates) in economies and financial institutions. As a result, there is an increasing need for the harmonization of accounting regulations in order to improve cooperation and enhance the efficiency of the financial institutions among GCC countries. This study is an investigation of the accounting standards followed by the financial institutions in five GCC countries with some policy prescriptions for harmonization of the accounting regulations in GCC countries. This paper deals with accounting policies and practices, including loans and provisions, assets, investments, taxation, liabilities, foreign exchange, revenue recognization, and consolidation of GCC countries' banking and other financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study that reports on the weights assigned to specific activities identified by the AACSB task force that are necessary to close the gap between the academe and business practice. Method used; Results; Summary and conclusions.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for secondary (acquired, combined) dystonia does not reach the high degree of efficacy achieved in primary (genetic, isolated) dystonia. We hypothesize that this may be due to variability in the underlying injury, so that different children may require placement of electrodes in different regions of basal ganglia and thalamus. We describe a new targeting procedure in which temporary depth electrodes are placed at multiple possible targets in basal ganglia and thalamus, and probing for efficacy is performed using test stimulation and recording while children remain for one week in an inpatient Neuromodulation Monitoring Unit (NMU). Nine Children with severe secondary dystonia underwent the NMU targeting procedure. In all cases, 4 electrodes were implanted. We compared the results to 6 children who had previously had 4 electrodes implanted using standard intraoperative microelectrode targeting techniques. Results showed a significant benefit, with 80% of children with NMU targeting achieving greater than 5-point improvement on the Burke–Fahn–Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale (BFMDRS), compared with 50% of children using intraoperative targeting. NMU targeting improved BFMDRS by an average of 17.1 whereas intraoperative targeting improved by an average of 10.3. These preliminary results support the use of test stimulation and recording in a Neuromodulation Monitoring Unit (NMU) as a new technique with the potential to improve outcomes following DBS in children with secondary (acquired) dystonia. A larger sample size will be needed to confirm these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]