In combustion processes of hydrocarbon-containing fuels, pollutants, such as unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen, collectively referred to as NOx, and particulates in the form of soot, are formed and emitted into the atmosphere. The severe environmental effects of increased ambient NOx concentrations have led to stringent emission laws and as a result. A promising tool to accomplish this goal is the design and control of these systems using computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
Over 200 scientists from Germany and abroad, more than 30 lectures, 8 plenaries and over 30 scientific posters: these are the key data concerning this year’s International Conference of the RWTH Aachen Cluster of Excellence “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass (TMFB)”, that took place from June 23rd to 25th 2015 in the Eurogress in Aachen.
The results of a meta-analysis conducted by JARA-BRAIN scientist Prof. Dr. Thomas Nickl-Jockschat and Dr. Claudia Eickhoff show: A COMT gene variant does not necessarily influence brain performance in people with schizophrenia. Past imaging studies indicated a correlation between this gene defect and brain activity patterns.
Around 800,000 people in Germany suffer from schizophrenia. Nevertheless, this mental illness is not as well researched as depression or dementia. A new, large-scale research project is set to change this. On 12 May 2015 at the specialized clinic for psychiatry and psychotherapy “LVR-Klinik” in Düren, Parliamentary State Secretary Thomas Rachel together with representatives of the brain research alliance JARA-BRAIN officially launched the research project “APIC – Antipsychotic-induced structural and functional changes in the brain”. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing APIC with funding worth € 4 million.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness which can manifest itself in many different forms. This makes accurate diagnostics even more important: it is the only way for the best possible, individually defined therapies to be selected for each patient. But according to JARA-BRAIN scientist PD Dr. Irene Neuner, there is still some room for improvement: “Around 30 % of therapies are currently ineffective.” TRIMAGE, which the psychiatrist is involved with, will help change this.
