batterydata/paper-abstracts huggingface dataset:
The present study was undertaken to determine if in vitro inhibition of one or both of the two most dominant mammalian DNA topoisomerases (topos) is common among chemopreventive agents. To determine if an agent was a topo I inhibitor, we employed the DNA relaxation and nicking assays. For potential topo II inhibitors, we used the DNA unknotting and linearisation assays. 14 of 30 agents (47%) were ineffective in all four assays (IC50 >100 μg/ml), and 11 (37%) inhibited topo II catalytic activity. The sensitivity of the topo II assay was 63%, selectivity 93%, positive predictive value 91%, and total accuracy 77%. For chemopreventive efficacy, the positive predictive value of the unknotting assay was 92%, and the total accuracy was 60%. These data suggest that reduced topo II activity is a desirable property of many known chemopreventive agents. We conclude that the unknotting assay could be a valuable addition to the in vitro tests presently used to select chemopreventive agents.
Salmonids return to the river where they were born in a phenomenon known as mother-river migration. The underpinning of migration has been extensively examined, particularly regarding the behavioral correlations of external environmental cues such as the scent of the mother-river and geomagnetic compass. However, neuronal underpinning remains elusive, as there have been no biologging techniques suited to monitor neuronal activity in the brain of large free-swimming fish. In this study, we developed a wireless biologging system to record extracellular neuronal activity in the brains of free-swimming salmonids.
The interconnected LiMn2O4 fibers have been synthesized by using easily accessible cellulose filter paper as template. SEM and TEM images indicate the fibers are porous and constructed by nano grains. Without surface modification, the fibers exhibit superior high-rate capabilities and good cycling stability. The discharge capacities at 0.5C and 20C are 123 and 101mAhg−1 respectively, and about 78.9% of its initial capacity can be retained after 1000 cycles at 5C. The superior rate performance and excellent cyclability can be attributed to the porous fiber structure, single crystalline and exposed {111} facet.
In this work, we have successfully synthetized Co3O4 spheres and NiCo2O4 rosettes by a simple chemical bath. The Ni incorporation to Co to form the NiCo2O4 spinel decreased the crystallite size from 32.4 (Co3O4) to 15.3nm (for NiCo2O4). The NiCo2O4 spinel displayed a rosette-like hierarchical shape, the Co3O4 presented a semispherical shape. Additionally, NiCo2O4 material presented 1.7–fold higher BET surface area than Co3O4. These physicochemical changes had a direct impact on the electrocatalytic activity for ORR/OER in alkaline media. The NiCo2O4 displayed an onset potential of 0.91V vs. RHE during the ORR, which is 100mV more positive to that obtained by the Co3O4 (0.81V), and 110mV lower to that displayed by Pt/C as reference material (1.02V). Additionally, the NiCo2O4 material showed superior activity for OER in contrast to Co3O4 and Pt/C displaying a potential difference of 155mV@10mAcm−2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) revealed that the improved activity of NiCo2O4 was not only related to surface area differences, but also to the improvement of the electrical properties because NiCo2O4 displayed a lower charge transfer resistance than the Co3O4 material (785.1 vs. 921.5Ωcm2).
The presented study is focused on the development of LiFePO4 based cathode for thin and flexible screen printed secondary lithium based accumulators. An ink formulation was developed for the screen printing technique, which enabled mass production of accumulator's cathode for Smart Label and Smart Textile applications. The screen printed cathode was compared with an electrode prepared by the bar coating technique using an ink formulation based on the standard approach of ink composition. Obtained LiFePO4 cathode layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements at different loads. The discharge capacity, capacity retention and stability at a high C rate of the LiFePO4 cathode were improved when Super P and PVDF were replaced by conductive polymers PEDOT:PSS. The achieved capacity during cycling at various C rates was approximately the same at the beginning and at the end, and it was about 151 mAh/g for cycling under 1C. The obtained results of this novelty electrode layer exceed the parameters of several electrode layers based on LiFePO4 published in literature in terms of capacity, cycling stability and overcomes them in terms of simplicity/industrial process ability of cathode layer fabrication and electrode material preparation.
Black carbon (BC) is an essential climate forcer in the atmosphere. Large uncertainties remain in BC’s radiative forcing estimation by models, partially due to the limited measurements of BC vertical distributions near the surface layer. We conducted time-resolved vertical profiling of BC using a 356-m meteorological tower in Shenzhen, China. Five micro-aethalometers were deployed at different heights (2, 50, 100, 200, and 350 m) to explore the temporal dynamics of BC vertical profile in the highly urbanized areas. During the observation period (December 6–15, 2017), the average equivalent BC (eBC) concentrations were 6.6 ± 3.6, 5.4 ± 3.3, 5.9 ± 2.8, 5.2 ± 1.8, and 4.9 ± 1.4 μg m−3, from 2 to 350 m, respectively. eBC temporal variations at different heights were well correlated. eBC concentrations generally decreased with height. At all five heights, eBC diurnal variations exhibited a bimodal pattern, with peaks appearing at 09:00–10:00 and 19:00–21:00. The magnitudes of these diurnal peaks decreased with height, and the decrease was more pronounced for the evening peak. eBC episodes were largely initiated by low wind speeds, implying that wind speed played a key role in the observed eBC concentrations. eBC wind-rose analysis suggested that elevated eBC events at different heights originate from different directions, which suggested contributions from local primary emission plumes. Air masses from central China exhibited much higher eBC levels than the other three backward trajectory clusters found herein. The absorption Ångström exponent (AAE375–880) showed clear diurnal variations at 350 m and increased slightly with height.
Ion migration in solids provides basis for a wide range of technique applications including alkali-metal ion batteries. Understanding the ion migration dynamics and kinetics is critical to bring benefits to the industry. Here, we directly track the Na ions insertion and extraction in van der Waals interactions dominated layered structure SnS2 at atomic-scale by in situ transmission electron microscopy technique. Insertion of sodium in SnS2 forms highly defective and expanded NaxSnS2 with volume expansion of (~5%) via a two-phase reaction while sodium extraction involves a solid solution behavior with formation of nano-sized intermediate superstructure Na0.5SnS2, of which the atomic structure has been identified to be row ordering in the (001) planes. The reaction behaviors of sodiation are also compared with lithiation in SnS2 nanostructures. Unlike the conversion and ionic bonded intercalation-type electrode materials, in this van der Waals material SnS2 the sodiation and lithiation reactions share great similarities in the dynamics (e.g. asymmetric reaction pathways). However, the high density of defects that are generated at the reaction front during sodiation, was not captured during lithiation probably due to the larger radius and heavy mass for Na ions. These findings provide valuable insights into understanding the underlying ion migration mechanism in the layered transition metal dichalcogenide. The asymmetric sodium insertion and extraction pathways may help us to elucidate the origins of voltage hysteresis and energy efficiency in alkali-metal ion batteries.
Objectives The self-report of cognitive deficits by of patients with epilepsy is often poorly correlated with objective test performances but highly related to mood and personality. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether information obtained by close relatives of the patient shows higher correlations with the patients' objective test scores and thereby can be a complementary measure for ensuring a reliable basis for diagnostic decision-making. Methods Thirty-four patients and 29 relatives were asked to fill in a questionnaire about everyday cognitive deficits of the patient. All patients completed a neuropsychological test battery comprising measures of memory, attention, and executive functioning and questionnaires on anxiety, depression, and the personality trait neuroticism. Results Correlations between relatives' reports and patients' test performances were highly significant across all examined domains. By contrast, self-reports of the patients significantly correlated with none of the neuropsychological measures of memory and with only a subset of the objective measures of attention and executive functioning. Regression analyses additionally revealed a strong dependency of the patients' self-assessment on depression, anxiety, and neuroticism (R 2 =0.42). Conclusions These results point out the risk of self-reports distorting reality and additionally recommend consulting a close relative of the patient to ensure reliable information about the patient's everyday cognitive functioning.
Lithium/sulfur batteries represent a promising class of energy storage systems. Their drawback still preventing major technical applications is the fading of capacity with the number of cycles. Here we introduce a linear four state model that is capable of describing the majority of the capacity fading curves of recently presented Li/S battery systems with different cathode materials (e.g. carbon, metal oxide and metals). Our approach models the discharge process as a Markov chain and consists of only four states that belong to three phases. The living phase comprises a stable and unstable state. The sleeping phase is converted into the living stable state and the dead phase represents the irreversible loss of living phase during the charge/discharge process. Despite its inherent simplicity this approach describes a broad variety of different systems. It gives detailed insights into the fading mechanisms of lithium sulfur cells. Moreover, it represents an easy-to-use tool for the quantitative assessment of a given system in terms of three figures of merit.
The likely health and environmental implications associated with atmospheric nanoparticles have prompted considerable recent research activity. Knowledge of the characteristics of these particles has improved considerably due to an ever growing interest in the scientific community, though not yet sufficient to enable regulatory decision making on a particle number basis. This review synthesizes the existing knowledge of nanoparticles in the urban atmosphere, highlights recent advances in our understanding and discusses research priorities and emerging aspects of the subject. The article begins by describing the characteristics of the particles and in doing so treats their formation, chemical composition and number concentrations, as well as the role of removal mechanisms of various kinds. This is followed by an overview of emerging classes of nanoparticles (i.e. manufactured and bio-fuel derived), together with a brief discussion of other sources. The subsequent section provides a comprehensive review of the working principles, capabilities and limitations of the main classes of advanced instrumentation that are currently deployed to measure number and size distributions of nanoparticles in the atmosphere. A further section focuses on the dispersion modelling of nanoparticles and associated challenges. Recent toxicological and epidemiological studies are reviewed so as to highlight both current trends and the research needs relating to exposure to particles and the associated health implications. The review then addresses regulatory concerns by providing an historical perspective of recent developments together with the associated challenges involved in the control of airborne nanoparticle concentrations. The article concludes with a critical discussion of the topic areas covered.
The main purposes of this paper are to study (1) a differential effect of inside debts on components of the firm risk, and (2) how it relates to the diversification of CEOs’ portfolios to reduce exposures to the firm risk. We find that compensating CEOs with inside debts (e.g., pensions and other deferred compensation plans) leads to reductions in firms’ systematic risk and idiosyncratic risk, but to disproportionate degrees. CEOs with larger inside debts draft and implement policies, which lead to a significantly larger reduction in the idiosyncratic firm risk and investment. We then show that the differential effect is the result of an asymmetry in CEOs’ perceived benefits of diversifying exposures to individual firm risk components. We further show that granting excessive debt-based pay may divert executives from firm specific but productive activities (e.g., R&D investments), therefore may compromise the long-run corporate success.
The most frequent manifestations of Cryptococcus neoformans (CN) disease are systemic infections in immunocompromised patients and localized pulmonary disease in immunocompetent individuals. Such pulmonary cryptococcosis can range from asymptomatic infection to frank pneumonia that can be severe. Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) is a rare severe form of pneumonitis caused by a variety of infectious and toxic agents or connective tissue diseases. BOOP due to Cryptococcus neoformans has very rarely been reported; there have been only five such case reports, mostly in immunocompromised patients. We report herein on a case of CN-associated BOOP in an immunocompetent individual and discuss the diagnosis and treatment of this entity.
Increased interest in wireless sensor networks by scientists and engineers is forcing wireless sensor networking research to focus on application requirements. Data is available as never before in many fields of study; practitioners are now burdened with the challenge of doing data-rich research rather than being data-starved. However, in situ sensors can be prone to errors, links between nodes are often unreliable, and nodes may become unresponsive in harsh environments, leaving to researchers the onerous task of deciphering often anomalous data. Presented here is the REDFLAG fault detection service for wireless sensor applications, a Run-timE, Distributed, Flexible, detector of faults, that is also Lightweight And Generic. REDFLAG addresses the two most worrisome issues in data-driven wireless sensor applications: abnormal data and missing data. REDFLAG exposes faults as they occur by using distributed algorithms in order to conserve energy. Simulation results show that REDFLAG is lightweight both in terms of footprint and required power resources while ensuring satisfactory detection and diagnosis accuracy. Being unrestrictive, REDFLAG is generically available to a myriad of applications and scenarios. As a matter of fact, REDFLAG has been applied into a subsurface contaminant transport model to improve the model performance in the presence of erroneous sensor data.
Acidic organophosphorous extractants were screened for the mutual separation of Mn(II) and Zn(II), in a leach solution of waste Zn–C cell powder. This was done using a 2mol/L H2SO4 solution containing 2g/L glucose. Extraction characteristics of both metal ions in this mixture have been examined as functions of equilibrium pH. Although tech. and anal. grade D2EHPA are not so effective for the separation, PC88A, Cyanex 272, Cyanex 302 and Cyanex 301 are all promising for this purpose. Strippings of Mn(II) and Zn(II) from the extracted organic phases have been examined, using 0.25, 0.50 and 1mol/L H2SO4; and 1mol/L HCl, HNO3 and HClO4 at different phase ratios. H2SO4 appears to be the best stripping agent. A 1mol/L H2SO4 solution strips almost 100% of target metal ions in 10min, regardless of the extractant used. As ΔpH1/2 =2.75 and as the max. separation factor (β)=1793 for Cyanex 302 at pH(eq) =4.0, a flow sheet has been developed for their mutual separations. Finally, classical precipitation methods have been adopted to obtain MnS and ZnS, which can be easily oxidized to MnO2 and ZnO, respectively.
The huge energy demand coming from the increasing diffusion of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) poses a significant challenge to electricity utilities and vehicle manufacturers in developing smart charging systems interacting in real time with distribution grids. These systems will have to implement smart charging strategies for PEV batteries on the basis of negotiation phases between the user and the electric utility regarding information about battery chemistries, tariffs, required energy and time available for completing the charging. Strategies which adapt the charging current to grid load conditions are very attractive. Indeed, they allow full exploitation of the grid capacity, with a consequent greater final state of charge and higher utility financial profits with respect to approaches based on a fixed charging rate. The paper demonstrates that the charging current should be chosen also taking into account the effect that different charging rates may have on the charging efficiency. To this aim, the performances of two smart variable-rate-based charging strategies, taken as examples, are compared by considering possible realistic relationships between the charging efficiency and the charging rate. The analysis gives useful guidelines for the development of smart charging strategies for PEVs as well as for next-generation battery charging and smart grid management systems.
Publisher Summary This chapter describes the theory of mixed lubrication and discusses experimental considerations, pitting in rolling/sliding contacts, lubricant–metal interaction effects in fatigue, wear in rolling/sliding contacts, and modeling of contact in mixed lubrication. Asperity contact through the films is of practical importance. Improved mixed lubrication is a desirable goal to be achieved in practice. Wear occurs due to relative sliding among surfaces. Pitting life is extensively studied because of its effect on failure. The wear problems in these contacts are less widely studied. Once the pitting problem is overcome, the component life will be determined on the basis of allowable wear in the system. In mixed lubrication, the wear modeling can be approached in terms of the extent of asperity contact through the films. The influence of chemical additives is variable. Most of the chemical additives tried have a significant beneficial effect on wear in normal boundary lubrication. These include conformal and concentrated contacts.
In order to rapidly and efficiently screen potential biofuel feedstock candidates for quintessential traits, robust high-throughput analytical techniques must be developed and honed. The traditional methods of measuring lignin syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) ratio can be laborious, involve hazardous reagents, and/or be destructive. Vibrational spectroscopy can furnish high-throughput instrumentation without the limitations of the traditional techniques. Spectral data from mid-infrared, near-infrared, and Raman spectroscopies was combined with S/G ratios, obtained using pyrolysis molecular beam mass spectrometry, from 245 different eucalypt and Acacia trees across 17 species. Iterations of spectral processing allowed the assembly of robust predictive models using partial least squares (PLS).
Using psychosocial acceleration theory, this multimethod, multi-reporter study examines how early adversity adaptively shapes the development of a self-regulation construct: effortful control. Investigation of links between early life harshness and unpredictability and the development of effortful control could facilitate a nuanced understanding of early environmental effects on cognitive and social development. Using the Building Strong Families national longitudinal data set, aspects of early environmental harshness and early environmental unpredictability were tested as unique predictors of effortful control at age 3 using multiple regression. Early harshness variables were financial harshness, mothers’ and fathers’ observed parenting, mothers’ and fathers’ reported use of harsh discipline, and harsh neighborhood conditions. Early unpredictability was measured by number of paternal transitions. Cues of harshness, specifically observed unresponsive parenting, observed harsh parenting, and neighborhood harshness, did significantly negatively predict effortful control. Paternal transitions also significantly predicted effortful control, but in the opposite (i.e., positive) direction. The results corroborate previous research linking quality of parenting to the development of children’s effortful control and place it within an evolutionary-developmental theoretical framework. Further, the results suggest that neighborhood harshness may also direct developmental trajectories of effortful control in young children, though the mechanisms through which this occurs are still unclear. This is the first study to explicitly investigate effortful control development in early childhood within the harshness and unpredictability framework.
Schwann cells (SCs) promote axonal integrity independently of myelination by poorly understood mechanisms. Current models suggest that SC metabolism is critical for this support function and that SC metabolic deficits may lead to axonal demise. The LKB1–AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) kinase pathway targets several downstream effectors, including mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and is a key metabolic regulator implicated in metabolic diseases. We found through molecular, structural and behavioral characterization of SC-specific mutant mice that LKB1 activity is central to axon stability, whereas AMPK and mTOR in SCs are largely dispensable. The degeneration of axons in LKB1 mutants was most dramatic in unmyelinated small sensory fibers, whereas motor axons were comparatively spared. LKB1 deletion in SCs led to abnormalities in nerve energy and lipid homeostasis and to increased lactate release. The latter acts in a compensatory manner to support distressed axons. LKB1 signaling is essential for SC-mediated axon support, a function that may be dysregulated in diabetic neuropathy.
Sulfinated PEEK was synthesized via reduction of sulfochlorinated PEEK. The degree of sulfination was determined by redox titration. By partial reduction of sulfochlorinated PEEK, PEEK carrying both SO2Cl and sulfinate groups could be obtained. From these polymers, covalently cross-linked ionomer membranes were prepared by reaction with the cross-linker diiodobutane and subsequent hydrolysis of the sulfochloride groups by aqueous post-treatment. The membranes show strongly reduced swelling connected with good H+-conductivity. Moreover, due to the fact that in these membranes all macromolecules are integrated into the covalent network, no leaching out of soluble substance took place during immersion in 90°C hot DMAc for 5 days. One of the membranes was tested in a DMFC and exhibited stable performance up to T =130°C.
This research is directed towards the development of safe, and thermally stable polymeric electrolytes. Advanced electrolytes are described, including thermal test data, which are ionically highly conductive, and non-flammable. These novel multi-heteropolymer electrolytes represent a significant advance in the design of high-performance rechargeable lithium systems that possess superior safety and handling characteristics. Representative results are shown by the figures contained in this text. These DSC/TGA results compare a typical liquid carbonate-based electrolyte system, ethylene carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate, with novel polyphosphonates as synthesized in this program. These tests were performed with the electrolytes in combination with lithium metal, and the impressive relative thermal stability of the phosphonates is apparent.