batterydata/paper-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Technological advances during the last years have enhanced the image quality of the microcirculation. Intravital microscopy (IM) has been considered the “gold standard” for many years, but it can be used mostly in anesthetized animals which is a disadvantage. The nailfold videocapillaroscopy, a non-invasive examination that includes a microscope with an epiillumination system, came afterward, but its major disadvantage is the restricted area available for investigation namely the nailfold capillary bed. The orthogonal polarization spectral (OPS) imaging technique, where reflected light allows the visualization of the microcirculation, was the next non-invasive exam, but it still presents some drawbacks such as suboptimal capillary visualization and image blurring due to red blood cell movements. Excessive probe pressure modifies red blood cell velocity. There is suboptimal imaging of capillaries due to motion-induced image blurring by movements of OPS device, tissue and/or flowing red blood cells. Sidestream dark field (SDF) imaging is the newest tool for microcirculatory research. Illumination is provided by concentrically placed light-emitting diodes to avoid image blurring and to enhance image contrast. It represents a simple and non-invasive imaging technique, with low cost, good portability and high sensitivity that provides fine, well-defined images. In addition, the microcirculation can be studied through laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) or reflectance-mode confocal-laser-scanning microscopy (RCLM). However, LDF cannot show microcirculatory vessels and high cost of RCLM can be an inconvenience. New applications of SDF technique could include skin microcirculatory evaluation and allow dermatological studies on psoriasis, skin tumors and leprosy.
In this paper we explore recent Australian electoral politics using both Inglehart’s ideas on postmaterialism and also a broader conception of postmodern attitudes. We begin by demonstrating that the widely-used postmaterialism measure based on Inglehart’s four-item question gives completely counterintuitive results for the most recent significant Australian party, the One Nation Party. This appears to support Warwick’s argument that this measure actually reveals pro-democracy propensity. Subsequently, we develop a much broader measure of postmodern attitudes and use this in conjunction with an index of left-right attitudes to explore the positioning of party supporters in the resulting two-dimensional space and the practical consequences of this. Among other things, this demonstrates that a single left-right dimension is inadequate to describe the positioning of minor parties in particular, but that it is overall of more significance in predicting vote than is the postmodern dimension.
Thermal runaway is normally defined as the increase in charge or float current that occurs as a result of the increase in cell temperature from the initial applied constant potential. If left unchecked, the currents can reach high values and, ultimately, lead to the destruction of the cell. This definition does not explain why all cells floated at constant potential do not suffer from thermal runaway. The aim of this paper was to investigate and explain the cause of this transition from normal stable behaviour to unstable thermal runaway. A series of 6V, 100Ah, valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) batteries were overcharged at potentials of up to 2.65V per cell and the currents, temperatures and gas-evolution rates measured during thermal runaway. From these results, it was concluded that separator dry-out was the critical parameter that controls thermal runaway behaviour. This conclusion was reinforced by other data for the effect of saturation on the resistance, the normal float behaviour and the gas transport in VRLA separators. A model of the structure of partially saturated separators was developed to explain the observed behaviour, and was used to predict possible improvements in separator structure to increase resistance to runaway.
Desalination process is an essential demand to overcome the lack of drinking water in remote areas in Egypt. Hybrid energy system drives desalination techniques to provide potable water for islands and coastal zones where there is no electrical grid. This paper analyzes the technical configuration, sizing and economic optimization of off-grid hybrid energy system powered reverse osmosis plant. The hybrid system consists of wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, converters, storage batteries, and a diesel generator. The objective of this study is to satisfy the electrical energy demand of the reverse osmosis (RO) plant with a freshwater capacity of 100 m3/day for use at Nakhl, North Sinai, Egypt. This simulation studied eleven different configurations of energy sources to select the optimal case at the proposed location. Homer package is used to select the cost-effective, sustainable and socially accepted system. The simulation is based on calculating the net present cost (NPC), excess system electricity, cost of energy (COE) and carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). Through the study, the optimal configuration consists of 160 kW photo-voltaic (PV) panels, 19 strings of lead-acid batteries and a 50 kW diesel generator system. The optimal case achieves the lowest cost of energy ($0.107/kWh) and net present cost ($502,662).
An Energy Service Company (ESCO) in the town of Nyimba, Zambia, has been operating 100 solar home systems since the year 2000. The company is part of a pilot project implemented by the Government of Zambia with the aim to apply the ESCO concept for diffusion of solar technology. The change in livelihood as a result of the access to electric services has been investigated in a survey. Clients were satisfied with the services they receive, although they are paying more than previously for energy. Light hours did not increase, but the quality of light was improved, enabling activities such as domestic work at night and studying for longer hours. Many of the clients had acquired TV and video, and become part of a more global culture. Appliances for entertainment, such as video and TV, were considered more attractive than productive appliances such as a water pump by many respondents. In some cases also people from households without solar installations benefited from the installations, for instance, children gathering in houses with solar to study at night.
Novel findings about the general properties of an aquifer were obtained by applying the pumping approach introduced by Summa (2010). The approach of keeping the pump’s rotation speed constant was chosen over the well-known and widely used constant discharge method. The present analysis was performed on a set of unpublished data acquired during the same field test that was described in Summa (2010). The values of the instantaneous discharge and instantaneous drawdown were obtained. The contribution of the water already stored in the well to the overall capacitance of the aquifer was cancelled out for the field data that were processed. It was then possible to obtain a discharge-time function depending only upon the aquifer discharge. The discharge-time curve that was obtained showed a behaviour practically indistinguishable from the discharge-time curve for a resistor-inductor-capacitor (RLC) circuit with a direct current. By fully exploiting that circuit analogy, it was possible to evaluate the resistance, capacitance and inductance (inertia) of the aquifer. These parameters were estimated from the RLC solution that best fit the discharge-time curve. The value of the hydraulic resistance that was obtained was of the same order of magnitude as the inverse value of the transmissivity, already calculated for the same aquifer in previous work. This matching suggests that this model, as a future development of the present study, can be tested against the standard models regarding the determination of the traditional hydrogeological parameters. Summa G (2010) A new approach to the step-drawdown test, Water SA, 36(3):279–286.
Manganese oxide coated with a uniform layer of N-doped carbon (Mn3O4@CN x ) is readily synthesized using a simple aqueous solution based chelating agent dicyandiamide mediated growth of MnCO3 followed by calcination at 1000°C. The Mn3O4@CN x can provide sufficient effective three-phase interface area due to the unique structures, which plays the important role in the complex three-phase interface electrocatalytic reaction in oxygen reduction reaction. The electron transfer, from the CN x layer to the Mn ions, is supposed to occur and the high positive charge be generated on the Mn3O4@CN x surface. As a result, these non-precious hybrid materials display an excellent activity for oxygen reduction reaction in terms of electrocatalytic activity, long-term stability, and excellent resistance to crossover effect.
Whereas nerve growth factor has been extensively studied in human keratinocytes, little is known on the role of other members of the neurotrophin family. We investigated the expression and function of neurotrophins and neurotrophin receptors in cultured human keratinocytes. We demonstrated by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction that keratinocytes synthesize neurotrophin-3, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-4/5. These cells also express tyrosinase kinase A and C, the nerve growth factor and neuro-trophin-3 high-affinity receptors, respectively. On the other hand, only the truncated extracellular isoform of tyrosinase kinase B, the high-affinity brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-4/5 receptor, is detected in keratinocytes. Moreover, neurotrophin-3, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-4/5 proteins are secreted by human keratinocytes at low levels. Keratinocyte stem cells synthesize the highest amounts of nerve growth factor, while they secrete higher levels of nerve growth factor as compared with transit amplifying cells. Neurotrophin-3 stimulates keratinocyte proliferation, where brain-derived neurotrophic factor or neurotrophin-4/5 does not exert any effect on keratinocyte proliferation. Addition of neurotrophin-3 slightly upregulates the secretion of nerve growth factor, whereas nerve growth factor strongly augments neurotrophin-3 release. Ultraviolet B irradiation downregulates nerve growth factor, whereas it augments neurotrophin-3 and neurotrophin-4/5 protein levels. Ultraviolet A irradiation increases the level of neurotrophin-3, whereas it does not exert any effect on the other neurotrophins. Finally, neurotrophins other than nerve growth factor fail to protect human keratinocytes from ultraviolet B-induced apoptosis. This work delineates a functional neurotrophin network, which may contribute to epidermal homeostasis.
Inability to recognize emotional expressions of others (emotion perception) is one of the most common impairments observed among individuals with schizophrenia. Such deficits presumably contribute much to the social dysfunction characteristic of schizophrenia. This study examined the efficacy of a novel attentional-shaping intervention to improve emotion perception abilities. Sixty participants with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions: 1) attentional-shaping, 2) contingent monetary reinforcement, or 3) repeated practice. Participants completed the Face Emotion Identification Test (FEIT) at pre-test, intervention, post-test, and one week follow-up. Participants also completed the Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Test (BLERT) and the Social Behavior Scale at pre-test and follow-up to measure generalization. The results showed that the attentional-shaping condition had significantly higher scores on the FEIT at intervention, post-test, and follow-up compared to monetary reinforcement and repeated practice. Improvement was also found on the BLERT and a trend was found for improved social behaviors at one-week follow-up. Results will be discussed in terms of face scanning and attentional deficits present in schizophrenia and potential uses of this intervention in the remediation of emotion perception deficits.
Bicrystalline titanium dioxide spheres (anatase@TiO2(B) spheres) with enhanced electrochemical activity in lithium and sodium ion batteries have been successfully synthesized via a facile one-pot solvothermal method. The anatase@TiO2(B) spheres have a core–shell structure with TiO2(B) nanosheets sheathing the anatase TiO2 sphere core which consists of nanoparticles, as characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and high-resolution transmission microscopy (HRTEM). The anatase@TiO2(B) spheres show excellent lithium storage performance, which have high initial discharge capacity (114.8 mAh g−1) with almost no capacity fading after 100 cycles and still maintain at 91.7 mAh g−1 after 375 cycles at a super-high current density of 5040 mA g−1 (30 C). What's more, they also show excellent rate capability in sodium ion batteries at various current densities ranging from 85 to 850 mA g−1. The unique hierarchical structure of anatase@TiO2(B) spheres with excellent cycle performance and rate capability make a compelling case for their development as anode materials for both lithium and sodium ion batteries.
A polyaniline/tin oxide hybrid, which has a conductivity of 3–6Scm−1 at 25°C, has been prepared by the oxidative polymerization of aniline with the simultaneous hydrolysis of SnCl4 and an appropriate post-processing temperature. As an electrode material, 5–20nm pore-dominated polyaniline/tin oxide hybrid gave an improved electrochemical capacitance performance due to providing an effective electrochemical accessibility of electrolyte solution. The charge/discharge tests showed that the polyaniline/tin oxide hybrid had a higher specific capacitance than that of polyaniline with a growth of current density from 1.0Ag−1 to 30Ag−1, and the specific capacitance of polyaniline/tin oxide hybrid still reached 325Fg−1 at a constant current density of 30Ag−1, but that of polyaniline was about 180Fg−1.
Poole JL, Sadek J, Haaland KY. Ipsilateral deficits in 1-handed shoe tying after left or right hemisphere stroke. Objective To examine 1-handed shoe tying performance and whether cognitive deficits more associated with left or right hemisphere damage differentially affect it after unilateral stroke. Design Observational cohort comparing ipsilesional shoe tying, spatial and language skills, and limb praxis. Setting Primary care Veterans Affairs and private medical center. Interventions Not applicable. Participants Volunteer right-handed sample of adults with left or right hemisphere damage and healthy demographically matched adults. Main Outcome Measure The number of correct trials and the total time to complete 10 trials tying a shoe using the 1-handed method. Results Both stroke groups had fewer correct trials and were significantly slower tying the shoe than the control group. Spatial skills predicted accuracy and speed after right hemisphere damage. After left hemisphere damage, accuracy was predicted by spatial skills and limb praxis, while speed was predicted by limb praxis only. Conclusions Ipsilesional shoe tying is similarly impaired after left or right hemisphere damage, but for different reasons. Spatial deficits had a greater influence after right hemisphere damage, and limb apraxia had a greater influence after left hemisphere damage. Language deficits did not affect performance, indicating that aphasia does not preclude using this therapy approach. These results suggest that rehabilitation professionals should consider assessment of limb apraxia and ipsilesional skill training in the performance of everyday tasks.
An ultracapacitor model with automatic order selection of complexity and automatic scaling of capacity is created in Virtual Test Bed platform for complex system simulation and prototyping. The order selection is based upon the variable simulation time step for appropriate level of details of the model, and automatically executed by the model itself, therefore it applies to simulation for both high and low frequencies, or for both fast and slow transients, or even for multi-time scale resolutions. A simple trapezoidal algorithm, rather than the general stiff algorithm, which is complicated in implementation, is used for numerical integration. For a given time step, the truncation error is controlled to be negligible, so that numerical stability and accuracy are ensured for the given order of model complexity. The model is validated by comparing the simulation results to the experimental ones. The application example of the ultracapacitor model in complex system simulation is also presented.
For practical nanoscale development, multiscale architectures composed of uniformly patterned nanomaterials are attractive for various applications in electrochemical devices owing to the benefits derived from their unique structures: relatively large surface area, low tortuousness and interconnected pores. However, although various morphological modifications exist, there are no reports about one-dimensional (1-D) nanomaterial based multiscale architectures because of difficulties in the fabrication of uniform 1-D nanostructures. Here we report the demonstration of one-dimensional metal oxide nanostructure-based multiscale architectures that are micronodules composed of ca. 30 nm-diameter MnO2 nanofibers on carbon cloth to produce energy storage devices. In addition, partially carbonized polypyrrole (CPPy) was coated on the MnO2 surface through vapour deposition polymerization (VDP) and subsequent heat annealing to give the multiscale micronodules a low resistance and high rate performance. Then, the PPy-coated MnO2-based multiscale micronodules were assembled within a PVA–KOH polymer electrolyte as the positive-electrodes of solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs). This multiscale architecture based device displays ultrahigh performance (59.5 F cm−3 of capacitance and 27.0 mW h cm−3 of energy density). Furthermore, the as prepared ASCs show high cycle stability and an enhanced charge transfer rate owing to the coating layers.
The main goal of the doctoral thesis from which this article arises, is the search, analysis, investigation and obtaining conclusions about the particular vision and proposals in the Science Fiction graphic novel of the 20th Century, related with the Civil Engineering and specially with one of its disciplines, the Transportation Engineering. In this paper we anticipate and summarize a brief sample of the doctoral thesis, including some of the most important aspects of the research and the conclusions obtained in the Railway chapter exclusively. After the work done we will conclude that there are countless references to the Transports and also to the Railway world in the Science Fiction comic. The vision of the graphic novels’ authors about the role of the communication infrastructures in the structuring of the city, its space, its function, the physical placement of the viaducts, the morphology, use and source of energy of the vehicles: (ground, marine, air ones and others) … are constantly reflected in their stories, and they deserve a deep technical, social and even philosophical analysis, that we will try to accomplish in the mentioned doctoral thesis and, partially, in this paper.
The present work reports on the morphological influence of catalyst on oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). As a catalyst, Prussian blue analog structured nickel hexacyanoferrate (Ni-HCF) with two distinct morphologically controlled frameworks, viz. granular crystalline bulk film and rose-petal like structured thin film having smooth surface, are synthesized via controlled anodization route, and their morphological influence on the ORR is investigated. In addition, the influence of addition of carbon black, which is commonly used as catalytic dispersing support, is also studied on the catalytic mechanism for the ORR. Based on the hydrodynamic voltammetry of the electrocatalytic films on rotating disk electrode, the number of electrons involved in the reduction of an O2 molecule, and the kinetic current density of the reaction are estimated. While the pristine Ni-HCF frameworks based catalyst, regardless of their morphology, demonstrates the direct reduction of O2 with participation of 4 electrons, the frameworks when mixed with carbon black as support diverts the reduction via two steps with participation of 2 electrons at each step. A larger kinetic current density is, however, obtained in the case of granular crystalline bulk film of the Ni-HCF frameworks.
LiFePO4/C composite was synthesized at 600°C in an Ar atmosphere by a soluble starch sol assisted rheological phase method using home-made amorphous nano-FePO4 as the iron source. XRD, SEM and TEM observations show that the LiFePO4/C composite has good crystallinity, ultrafine sphere-like particles of 100–200nm size and in situ carbon. The synthesized LiFePO4 could inherit the morphology of FePO4 precursor. The electrochemical performance of the LiFePO4 by galvanostatic cycling studies demonstrates excellent high-rate cycle stability. The Li/LiFePO4 cell displays a high initial discharge capacity of more than 157mAhg−1 at 0.2C and a little discharge capacity decreases from the first to the 80th cycle (>98.3%). Remarkably, even at a high current density of 30C, the cell still presents good cycle retention.
Surface modification of petroleum coke (PC) and those heat-treated at 1860, 2300 and 2800°C (PC1860, PC2300 and PC2800) has been performed by F2, ClF3 and NF3 to improve their charge/discharge characteristics in propylene carbonate containing solvents. Surface fluorination by F2 increased surface disorder of PC1860, PC2300 and PC2800, leading to increase in their first coulombic efficiencies in 1moldm−3 LiClO4–ethylene carbonate (EC)/diethyl carbonate (DEC)/propylene carbonate (PPC) (1:1:1 in volume) solution. First coulombic efficiencies were the largest in fluorinated PC1860 with the highest surface disorder. However, surface modification by ClF3 and NF3 did not increase surface disorder of petroleum cokes, being not as effective as the fluorination with F2 to increase first coulombic efficiencies of petroleum cokes. The reactions of ClF3 and NF3 with carbon materials are radical reactions while the reaction with F2 is an electrophilic reaction yielding fluorinated layers with high disorder. Surface modification using F2, ClF3 and NF3 also increased first charge capacities of PC and PC1860.
Procyclidine and ethopropazine, widely used as anti-parkinsonian agents because of their anti-cholinergic action, are also known to have NMDA antagonist properties. Unlike other NMDA antagonists, these agents—because of their anti-cholinergic action—are devoid of neurotoxic side effects. In the present study, we used a sciatic nerve ligation model that produces a hyperalgesic (neuropathic pain) state in adult rats to evaluate the ability of procyclidine or ethopropazine, either alone or in combination with an α2 adrenergic agonist, to ameliorate neuropathic pain. We found that both procyclidine and ethopropazine alleviated thermal hyperalgesia in a dose dependent manner; when a marginally effective dose of these agents was combined with an ineffective dose of an α2 adrenergic agonist (clonidine or guanabenz), the combination therapy provided effective and long-lasting relief from neuropathic pain. In addition, the combination therapy was free from neurotoxic or behavioral side effects, and hyperactivity, a side effect associated with procyclidine monotherapy, was counteracted by clonidine.