bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Electrically Tunable Terahertz Plasmonic Device Based on Shape Memory Alloys and Liquid Metals
Authors: Zhou Hui , Zhang Ting , Guruswamy Sivaraman , Nahata Ajay
Published: January 2019

Adv. Optical Mater. 2018, 6, 1700684

The above article, first published online on 4 January 2018 on Wiley Online Library (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com) has been retracted in agreement with the Editor‐in‐Chief and the publisher, Wiley.

The retraction has been agreed following an internal investigation by the Research Integrity Office at the University of Utah who concluded that Figure 1d was falsified by the corresponding author, Dr. Ajay Nahata. The University of Utah confirmed that the other co‐authors were unaware of the falsification of the figure, and sole responsibility for this lies with the corresponding author.

Reference

H. Zhou, T. Zhang, S. Guruswamy, A. Nahata, Adv. Optical Mater. 2018, 6, 1700684, https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.201700684.
Near‐Infrared Upconversion Luminescence and Bioimaging In Vivo Based on Quantum Dots
Authors: Qiu Xiaochen , Zhu Xingjun , Su Xianlong , Xu Ming , Yuan Wei , Liu Qingyun , Xue Meng , Liu Yawei , Feng Wei , Li Fuyou
Published: January 2019

Recently, upconversion luminescence (UCL) has been widely applied in bioimaging due to its low autofluorescence and high contrast. However, a relatively high power density is still needed in conventional UCL bioimaging. In the present study, an ultralow power density light, as low as 0.06 mW cm−2, is applied as an excitation source for UCL bioimaging with PbS/CdS/ZnS quantum dots (UCL‐QDs) as probes. The speculated UCL mechanism is a phonon‐assisted single‐photon process, and the relative quantum yield is up to 4.6%. As determined by continuous irradiation with a 980 nm laser, the UCL‐QDs show excellent photostability. Furthermore, UCL‐QDs‐based probe is applied in tumor, blood vessel, and lymph node bioimaging excited with an eye‐safe low‐power light‐emitting diode light in a nude mouse with few heat effects.
Flexible β‐Ga2O3 Nanomembrane Schottky Barrier Diodes
Authors: Swinnich Edward , Hasan Md Nazmul , Zeng Ke , Dove Yash , Singisetti Uttam , Mazumder Baishakhi , Seo Jung‐Hun
Published: January 2019

Here, high power flexible Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) are demonstrated on a plastic substrate using single crystalline β‐Ga2O3 nanomembranes (NMs). In order to realize flexible high power β‐Ga2O3 SBDs, sub‐micron thick freestanding β‐Ga2O3 NMs are created from a bulk β‐Ga2O3 substrate and transfer‐printed onto the plastic substrate via a microtransfer printing method. It is revealed that the material property of β‐Ga2O3 NMs such as crystal structure, electron affinity, and bandgap remains unchanged compared with its bulk properties. Flexible β‐Ga2O3 SBDs exhibit the record high critical breakdown field strength (Ec) of 1.2 MV cm−1 in the flat condition and 1.07 MV cm−1 of Ec under the bending condition. Overall, flexible β‐Ga2O3 SBDs offer great promise for future flexible energy convergence systems and are expected to provide a much larger and more versatile platform to address a broader range of high‐performance flexible applications.
Quasi‐Omnidirectional Ultrathin Silicon Solar Cells Realized by Industrially Compatible Processes
Authors: Li Yan , Zhong Sihua , Zhuang Yufeng , Yang Lifei , Meng Fanying , Wang Wenjie , Li Zhengping , Shen Wenzhong
Published: January 2019

Ultrathin crystalline silicon (c‐Si) solar cells provide advantages in reducing the use of c‐Si material and being flexible, but there are several challenges that need to be conquered, such as limited optical absorption, high sensitivity to surface recombination, and complicated fabrication issues. Here, all‐solution‐processed Si nanopyramids (SiNPs) are proposed as the surface texture for ultrathin c‐Si solar cells to solve the light absorption issue, whose preparation process is simple, low‐cost, and industrially compatible. Combining the SiNPs texture with good passivation technique, an efficiency of 15.1% with an open circuit voltage approaching 700 mV is realized on a 37 µm thick c‐Si solar cell. Moreover, both experimental and simulation investigation reveal that the SiNP‐textured ultrathin solar cells have quasi‐omnidirectional light absorption characteristic, showing a potential to produce higher all‐day output power compared with the Si micropyramids textured counterpart. To further reduce the cost of ultrathin c‐Si solar cells, a direct copper metallization is also investigated in replacement of silver metallization, which can result in a comparable efficiency. The present work demonstrates the conventional industrial processes for achieving low‐cost ultrathin c‐Si solar cells.
Factors influencing health and safety practices among Vietnamese nail salon technicians and owners: A qualitative study
Authors: Huynh Tran B. , Doan Ngoc , Trinh Ngan , Verdecias Niko , Stalford Samantha , Caroll‐Scott Amy
Published: January 2019

Objective

This qualitative study explored factors that influence health and safety practices among Vietnamese nail salon technicians and owners.

Methods

We conducted semi‐structured focus group discussions and individual interviews with a sample of 17 Vietnamese nail salon technicians and owners in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, Pennsylvania.

Results

Analysis of transcripts revealed perceived health benefits/concerns, knowledge about work‐related hazards, salon's management and policies attributed to owners, client influence, external policies/regulations, and protective equipment‐specific challenges were among factors affecting workplace health promotion practices at the salons.

Conclusions

The study highlighted a complex interplay among the various stakeholders including nail technicians, owners, clients, policy makers, and enforcers. Interventions addressing barriers at the personal and organizational levels, as well as public policy change and enforcement are needed to create sustainable behavioral and organizational change in nail salons.
Carbon‐bridged Oligo(phenylenevinylene)s as Light‐harvesting Antenna for Porphyrins
Authors: Tsuji Hayato , Ichimura Anna , Kudo Mizuki , Sukegawa Junpei , Nakamura Eiichi
Published: January 2019

The efficacy of carbon‐bridged oligo(phenylenevinylenes)s (COPVs) as light‐harvesting antenna for porphyrins is demonstrated using a series of 5,15‐di‐COPVn‐substituted free‐base and zinc porphyrins, COPVn‐MP‐COPVn (n=1–3, M=H2, Zn). These molecules were synthesized by Suzuki–Miyaura cross‐coupling reactions of COPVn‐Bpin and Br‐H2P‐Br. The absorption spectra of these compounds in solution show a significant expansion of the Soret band region together with a bathochromic shift of the Q band, suggesting a significant interaction between these chromophores in the ground state. The photoluminescence quantum yield of the porphyrin‐COPV conjugates is enhanced up to four times relative to the parent porphyrins. Theoretical calculations also indicated interactions between these chromophores in the HOMO, which suggests that the light‐harvesting ability stems from the expansion of the π‐electron‐conjugation system.
Mixed Logical Dynamical Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller for Large‐Scale Solar Fields
Authors: de Araújo Elias Tiago , Costa Mendes Paulo Renato , Elias Normey‐Rico Júlio
Published: January 2019

This paper presents a control algorithm for reducing heat losses caused by clouds in large solar fields. The formulation is based on a Mixed Logical Dynamical (MLD) representation of the solar field plus the application of a Practical Nonlinear Model Predictive Controller (PNMPC) for calculating the optimal control action. The main purpose of the controller is to deactivate fields with inlet temperature greater than outlet temperature and to manipulate the oil flow rate of the activated fields for tracking the reference of the outlet temperature. A simplified lumped parameters model is used for prediction and simulation of the solar fields.
Fault‐tolerant path‐following control for in‐wheel‐motor‐driven autonomous ground vehicles with differential steering
Authors: Wang Yulei , Zong Changfu , Guo Hongyan , Chen Hong
Published: January 2019

Over the past several decades, the automobile industry has denoted significant research efforts to developing in‐wheel‐motor‐driven autonomous ground vehicles (IWM‐AGVs) with active front‐wheel steering. One of the most fundamental issues for IWM‐AGVs is path following, which is important for automated driving to ensure that the vehicle can track a target‐planned path during local navigation. However, the path‐following task may fail if the system experiences a stuck fault in the active front‐wheel steering. In this paper, a fault‐tolerant control (FTC) strategy is presented for the path following of IWM‐AGVs in the presence of a stuck fault in the active front‐wheel steering. For this purpose, differential steering is used to generate differential torque between the left and right wheels in IWM‐AGVs, and an adaptive triple‐step control approach is applied to realize coordinated lateral and longitudinal path‐following maneuvering. The parameter uncertainties for the cornering stiffness and external disturbances are considered to make the vehicles robust to different driving environments. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is evaluated with a high‐fidelity and full‐car model based on the veDYNA‐Simulink joint platform.
Necessary conditions of fractional optimal control problems with state constraints in the sense of Riemann‐Liouville
Authors: Ma Linjie , Liu Bin
Published: January 2019

This paper is devoted to the optimal control problem of a fractional dynamic system with state constraints in the sense of Riemann‐Liouville. By means of the needle variation, we establish the Pontryagin's maximum principle for the optimal control problem. Moreover, when such a necessary condition is singular in some sense, we investigate the “second‐order” necessary conditions accordingly. As an application, two examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the result.
V@R representation theorems in ambiguous frameworks
Authors: Balbás Alejandro , Charron Jean‐Philippe
Published: January 2019

The value at risk (V@R) is a very important risk measure with significant applications in finance (risk management, pricing, hedging, portfolio theory, etc), insurance (premium principles, optimal reinsurance, etc), production, marketing (newsvendor problem), etc. It also plays a critical role in regulation about risk (Basel, Solvency, etc), it is very appreciated by practitioners due to its intuitive interpretation, and it is the unique popular risk measure remaining finite for heavy tailed risks with unbounded expectation. Besides, ambiguous frameworks are becoming more and more usual in applications of risk analysis. Lack of data or committed errors may provoke discrepancies between real probabilities and estimated ones. This paper combines both V@R and ambiguous settings, and a new representation theorem for V@R is given. Consequently, inspired by previous studies dealing with coherent risk measures and their representation, we will give new methods to compute and optimize V@R under ambiguity. This seems to be a relevant finding because the analytical properties of V@R are very weak if one compares with a coherent risk measure. Indeed, V@R is neither continuous nor convex, which makes it very complicated to deal with it in mathematical approaches. Nevertheless, the results of this paper will allow us to transform computation and optimization problems involving V@R into continuous and differentiable problems.
Vierpunkt‐Biegeversuch für thermisch gebogenes Glas
Authors: Engelmann Michael , Bukieda Paulina , Weller Bernhard , Elstner Michael , Broich Markus , Teichmann Thomas , Kohn Jürgen , Gruber Reinhard , Wittwer Jost
Published: January 2019

Nachdem aus dem ersten Teil des Beitrags ein validiertes, numerisches Modell für das Tragverhalten zylindrisch gebogener Gläser im Vierpunkt‐Biegeversuch hervorging, zeigt dieser zweite Teil die Entwicklung eines Prüfverfahrens. Dabei wird die bestehende Methode zur Flachglasprüfung um die Möglichkeit erweitert, auch gebogene Prüfkörper mit konstantem Biegeradius in drei Spannweiten und zwei Prüfkörperbreiten zu prüfen. Die Bruchspannung im Versuch wird in der Anwendung einzig aus der Bruchlast ermittelt, wobei das geometrisch nichtlineare Verhalten der Prüfkörper, die inhomogene Hauptspannungsverteilung auf der Glasoberfläche sowie das probabilistische, spröde Materialverhalten berücksichtigt werden. Dieser Beitrag ist bereits in Anlehnung an eine Prüfnorm strukturiert und zeigt umfängliche Ergebnisse auf. Wesentlich ist die Einführung in das Effektivspannungskonzept, um die resultierenden Spannungsverläufe entlang der Glaskante und auf der Glasfläche zu analysieren und daraus Korrekturfaktoren für die Auswertung zu generieren. Ein Beispiel erläutert anschließend die Anwendung des Verfahrens auf Basis der linearen Balkentheorie und die Nutzung neu bestimmter Korrekturfaktoren für gebogenes Glas. Die Ergebnisse werden derzeit in einem Entwurf innerhalb der Normreihe EN 1288 diskutiert und sollen in absehbarer Zukunft bestehende Anwendungshindernisse thermisch gebogener Gläser zugunsten einer organischen und transparenten Architektur abbauen.
Quantitative Querschnittsstudie zur BIM‐Anwendung in Planungsbüros
Authors: Bialas Frank , Wapelhorst Vincent , Brokbals Stefanie , Čadež Ivan
Published: January 2019

Building Information Modeling (BIM) ist einer der Treiber für die Digitalisierung der Bauwirtschaft. Dennoch bestehen vor allem bei Planungsbüros noch Vorbehalte gegenüber der BIM‐Methodik.

Zur Untersuchung des Status quo der BIM‐Anwendung in Planungsbüros wurde eine deutschlandweite Querschnittsstudie durchgeführt. Die Studienteilnehmer sind zunächst den drei Anwendergruppen „BIM‐Anwender“, „BIM‐Umsteiger“ und „BIM‐Nicht‐Anwender“ zugeordnet worden, um diese anschließend hinsichtlich ihrer Erfahrungen und Erwartungen bezüglich der BIM‐Methodik zu befragen. Dabei werden u. a. die Vorteile der BIM‐Methodik gegenüber der klassischen Planung und die Hemmnisse der BIM‐Implementierung untersucht. Daraus lässt sich Handlungs‐ und Informationsbedarf für die erfolgreiche Verbreitung der BIM‐Methodik herleiten.

Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen bspw. auf, dass die Verbreitung der BIM‐Anwendung vom jeweiligen Leistungsbild der HOAI und der Bürogröße abhängt. Informationsbedarf seitens der BIM‐Nicht‐Anwender besteht in der Darstellung der Vorteile „Effizientere Kommunikation mit anderen Planern“ und „Effizientere Ausführungsplanung“. Außerdem besteht auch Informations‐ und Handlungsbedarf bei der öffentlichen Hand zur Einführung eines „Effizienteren (digitalen) Baugenehmigungsprozesses“. Beispiele für Hemmnisse sind „Unzureichende BIM‐Kompetenzen“, die „Fehlende BIM‐Anwendung bei Projektbeteiligten“ sowie der „Kosten‐ und Zeitaufwand zur BIM‐Implementierung“.
Identification of Antibacterial Phenolics in Selected Plant Species from Mexican Cloud Forest by Mass Spectrometry Dereplication
Authors: Ramírez‐Reyes Thalía I. , Aguilar‐Colorado Ángel S. , Murrieta‐León Diana L. , Licona‐Velázquez Laura S. , Bonilla‐Landa Israel , Durán‐Espinosa Carlos , Avendaño‐Reyes Sergio , Monribot‐Villanueva Juan L. , Guerrero‐Analco José A.
Published: January 2019

Fifteen plant species from a protected cloud forest (CF) in Veracruz, Mexico, were screened for their in vitro capacity to inhibit the growth of the phytopathogenic bacteria Chryseobacterium sp., Pseudomonas cichorii, Pectobacterium carotovorum and Pantoea stewartii, causal agents of damage to crops like ‘chayote’, lettuce, potato and corn. As a result, the bioactivity of Turpinia insignis and Leandra cornoides is reported for the first time against Chryseobacterium sp. and P. cichorii. In addition, 24 and 18 compounds not described for these species were dereplicated by an UPLC/MS‐MS method, respectively. The identified compounds included simple phenols, hydroxycinnamic acids, flavonoids and coumarins. The antibacterial assay of 12 of them demonstrated the bacteriostatic effect of vanillin, trans‐cinnamic acid, scopoletin and umbelliferone against Chryseobacterium sp. These findings confirm for the first time the value of the CF plants from Veracruz as sources of bioactive natural products with antimicrobial properties against phytopathogenic bacteria.
Economic Evaluation and Environmental Assessment of the Shale Gas Sweetening Process
Authors: Li Weida , Zhuang Yu , Liu Linlin , Zhang Lei , Du Jian
Published: January 2019

An appraisal on economic and environmental performance of shale gas processing is significant for energy utilization. A framework on economic evaluation and environmental assessment of the shale gas sweetening process is proposed. The sweetening process is simulated by Aspen Plus, coupled with Claus sulfur recovery by energy integration. The economic evaluation is conducted by purchased cost curves. In environmental assessment, a hybrid life cycle inventory model is established to investigate the emissions from upstream manufacture and process operation. The results demonstrate that exhaust gas is the dominant source in carbon emission while utility consumption produces more SO2 and NOx. The study provides guidance in energy management and pollution control for shale gas plants.
Thermal Stability of Oleate‐Stabilized Gd2O2S Nanoplates in Inert and Oxidizing Atmospheres
Authors: Larquet Clément , Hourlier Djamila , Nguyen Anh‐Minh , Torres‐Pardo Almudena , Gauzzi Andrea , Sanchez Clément , Carenco Sophie
Published: January 2019

Capping ligands play an important role in the chemistry of nanoparticles synthesized with organic surfactants. This is relevant to a number of device applications where heating may cause major modifications of crystalline nanoparticles including amorphization, surface rearrangements or sintering. Ultrathin monodisperse Ln2O2Sx oxysulfide nanoparticles (Ln=lanthanide) obtained in a mixture of oleylamine, oleic acid and 1‐octadecene show promising luminescence and light absorption properties. In view of applications, one open question concerns the thermal behavior and the role of the ligands on the thermal reactivity of the nanoparticles. In this report, we show that the thermal stability of Gd2O2Sx nanocrystals is limited because of their non‐stoichiometric composition and strongly depends on the annealing atmosphere. The sintering temperature of the nanoparticles is lower in air than in inert atmosphere because of a rapid degradation of the ligands. Annealing the nanoparticles in air enables removing the ligands without altering the nanocrystals structure. The decomposition of the Gd2O2Sx nanocrystals in inert atmosphere exhibits a complex multi‐step behavior that was precisely modeled. This work gives a comprehensive description of the stability conditions of lanthanide oxysulfide nanoparticles. It establishes the conditions for their practical use and opens the way to major improvements of the surface activity of Ln2O2S nanoparticles and related nanocrystals.
Adaptive cache policy scheduling for big data applications on distributed tiered storage system
Authors: Gu Rong , Li Chongjie , Shu Peng , Yuan Chunfeng , Huang Yihua
Published: January 2019

Multitiered storage systems, which are made up of heterogeneous devices, are widely used in distributed environments to accelerate the I/O performance of upper big data applications. It raises new challenges in efficient data migration through smart caching mechanisms among heterogeneous storage levels, such as MEM‐SSD‐HDD. To optimize the cache policy scheduling mechanism on the distributed tiered storage architecture, we proposed a general framework with five layers, including a tiered storage system layer, a cache migration policy layer, a cache policy adaptive scheduling layer, a data access pattern layer, and a big data application layer. The framework prototype has been designed and implemented on the widely used distributed hybrid storage system named Alluxio. To meet the demands of the big data application layer, on the one hand, we designed a couple of cache eviction policies and promotion policies covering various access patterns on the cache migration policy layer (several proposed eviction policies have been adopted by the Alluxio open‐source community). On the other hand, two adaptive cache policy scheduling algorithms for selecting appropriate policies in various scenarios are designed and implemented on the cache policy adaptive scheduling layer. The scheduling algorithms are designed based on the hit ratio statistics and data access pattern model prediction, respectively. Experimental results show that the proposed cache policies are very effective for various big data applications, such as Spark SQL. The proposed cache policy scheduling algorithms with various eviction policies can improve around 20% hit ratio than that with a single eviction policy.
Synthesis and Characterization of Site‐Specific O6‐Alkylguanine DNA‐Alkyl Transferase‐Oligonucleotide Crosslinks
Authors: Ghodke Pratibha P. , Albertolle Matthew E. , Johnson Kevin M. , Guengerich F. Peter
Published: January 2019

O6‐Alkylguanine DNA‐alkyltransferase (AGT), a DNA repair protein, can form crosslinks with DNA. The AGT‐DNA crosslinks are known to be mutagenic when AGT is heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, as well as in mammalian cells. To understand the biological consequences, reliable access to AGT‐oligonucleotide crosslinks is needed. This article describes the synthesis and characterization of site‐specific AGT‐oligonucleotide crosslinks at the N2‐position of deoxyguanosine and N6‐position of deoxyadenosine. We developed a post‐oligomerization strategy for the synthesis of propargyl‐modified oligonucleotides. Copper‐catalyzed azide‐alkyne cycloaddition was used as a key step to obtain the iodoacetamide‐linked oligonucleotides, which serve as good electrophiles for the crosslinking reaction with cysteine‐145 of the active site of AGT. Trypsinization of AGT and hydrolysis of oligonucleotides, combined with analysis by liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry, was utilized to confirm the nucleobase‐adducted peptides. This method provides a useful strategy for the synthesis and characterization of site‐specific DNA‐protein crosslinks, which can be further used to understand proteolytic degradation–coupled DNA repair mechanisms. © 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Long‐term outcome of autogenously transplanted maxillary canines
Authors: Grisar Koenraad , Nys Margaux , The Vincent , Vrielinck Luc , Schepers Serge , Jacobs Reinhilde , Politis Constantinus
Published: January 2019

The aim of this study was to determine the long‐term outcome of autotransplanted maxillary canines and to investigate the influencing parameters.

Seventy‐one patients (84 transplanted canines) volunteered to participate in this study. The mean follow‐up time was 21 years. In case of tooth survival and when patients were found willing for recall, teeth were investigated clinically and radiographically. Transplanted teeth were compared to the contralateral canine and scored with an aesthetic and radiographic index.

The survival rate was 67.9%, considering that 27 transplanted teeth were lost before examination. The mean survival time was 15.8 years.

Maxillary canine autotransplantation may have a successful outcome up to 21 years after transplantation requiring minimal patient compliance and low financial costs. The survival rate can be considered favorable realizing that autotransplantation is a treatment option in a selected group of cases.
Corporate responsibility and the social risk of new mining technologies
Authors: Keenan Julia , Kemp Deanna , Owen John
Published: January 2019

Advances in computing, robotics, artificial intelligence, communications, materials, and interactive technologies are disrupting the business–society interface in almost all sectors. The mining industry is projecting an overwhelmingly positive narrative about the new technologies it is investing in and is eager to promote their economic benefits. What is lacking, however, is discussion about how these technologies will be experienced by those most immediately impacted by mining: local communities. Mine–community relations are notoriously complex, and it is likely that incorporating new technologies into operations will further complicate this interface. At a minimum, responsible companies must understand the social impacts of new technologies and provide assurance that the use of these technologies will not put host communities at risk. We argue that due diligence is central to ensuring that downside social risks of new technologies are identified, understood, and managed.
Iridium‐Based Catalysts for Solid Polymer Electrolyte Electrocatalytic Water Splitting
Authors: Wang Chao , Lan Feifei , He Zhenfeng , Xie Xiaofeng , Zhao Yuhong , Hou Hua , Guo Li , Murugadoss Vignesh , Liu Hu , Shao Qian , Gao Qiang , Ding Tao , Wei Renbo , Guo Zhanhu
Published: January 2019

Chemical energy conversion/storage through water splitting for hydrogen production has been recognized as the ideal solution to the transient nature of renewable energy sources. Solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) water electrolysis is one of the most practical ways to produce pure H2. Electrocatalysts are key materials in the SPE water electrolysis. At the anode side, electrode materials catalyzing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) require specific properties. Among the reported materials, only iridium presents high activity and is more stable. In this Minireview, an application overview of single iridium metal and its oxide catalysts—binary, ternary, and multicomponent catalysts of iridium oxides and supported composite catalysts—for the OER in SPE water electrolysis is presented. Two main strategies to improve the activity of an electrocatalyst system, namely, increasing the number of active sites and the intrinsic activity of each active site, are reviewed with detailed examples. The challenges and perspectives in this field are also discussed.
Making inference with messy (citizen science) data: when are data accurate enough and how can they be improved?
Authors: Clare John D. J. , Townsend Philip A. , Anhalt‐Depies Christine , Locke Christina , Stenglein Jennifer L. , Frett Susan , Martin Karl J. , Singh Aditya , Van Deelen Timothy R. , Zuckerberg Benjamin
Published: January 2019

Measurement or observation error is common in ecological data: as citizen scientists and automated algorithms play larger roles processing growing volumes of data to address problems at large scales, concerns about data quality and strategies for improving it have received greater focus. However, practical guidance pertaining to fundamental data quality questions for data users or managers—how accurate do data need to be and what is the best or most efficient way to improve it?—remains limited. We present a generalizable framework for evaluating data quality and identifying remediation practices, and demonstrate the framework using trail camera images classified using crowdsourcing to determine acceptable rates of misclassification and identify optimal remediation strategies for analysis using occupancy models. We used expert validation to estimate baseline classification accuracy and simulation to determine the sensitivity of two occupancy estimators (standard and false‐positive extensions) to different empirical misclassification rates. We used regression techniques to identify important predictors of misclassification and prioritize remediation strategies. More than 93% of images were accurately classified, but simulation results suggested that most species were not identified accurately enough to permit distribution estimation at our predefined threshold for accuracy (<5% absolute bias). A model developed to screen incorrect classifications predicted misclassified images with >97% accuracy: enough to meet our accuracy threshold. Occupancy models that accounted for false‐positive error provided even more accurate inference even at high rates of misclassification (30%). As simulation suggested occupancy models were less sensitive to additional false‐negative error, screening models or fitting occupancy models accounting for false‐positive error emerged as efficient data remediation solutions. Combining simulation‐based sensitivity analysis with empirical estimation of baseline error and its variability allows users and managers of potentially error‐prone data to identify and fix problematic data more efficiently. It may be particularly helpful for “big data” efforts dependent upon citizen scientists or automated classification algorithms with many downstream users, but given the ubiquity of observation or measurement error, even conventional studies may benefit from focusing more attention upon data quality.
Characterization and evaluation of reactive dye adsorption onto Biochar Derived from Turbinaria conoides Biomass
Authors: Vijayaraghavan Kuppusamy , Ashokkumar T.
Published: January 2019

Biochar, produced from brown seaweed Turbinaria conoides through microwave assisted pyrolysis, was employed as a sorbent for the remediation of Remazol brilliant blue R (RBB). Pyrolysis experiments were conducted at different processing conditions and the resulting products of microwave pyrolysis (biochar, bio‐oil, and gas) at each condition were quantified. The optimum yield of 27.3 wt% for the biochar was achieved by applying pyrolysis conditions including power of 280 W and feedstock ratio of 10:4 as seaweed: activated carbon. The biochar was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive X‐ray analysis and scanning electron microscope. The results indicated that pyrolysis increased roughness and number of pores on the biochar surface thereby enhanced the sorption potential of seaweed. Adsorption experiments revealed that optimum RBB biosorption occurred at pH 2 for seaweed‐derived biochar with maximum RBB sorption capacity of 85.3 mg/g. Application of different isotherm models (Freundlich, Langmuir, and Toth) indicated that the three‐parameter Toth model resulted in improved prediction of isotherm data with less % error, high correlation coefficient, less chi‐square and root mean square error values. The experimental kinetics data analyzed using different models highlighted that the pseudo‐second order kinetic model produced superior description of the experimental data. The elution experiments carried out using various elutants (0.1 M HNO3, HCl, H2SO4, NaOH, Na2CO3, and EDTA) indicated that NaOH performed better in releasing RBB from dye‐bounded biochar with elution efficiency of 99.5%. The regenerated biochar sample was restored and successfully employed for three sorption‐elution cycles. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13143, 2019
Sensitivity Analysis of Optimum Insulation Thickness for Pipe Diameters in Pipe Insulation with Air Gap for City Pipelines
Authors: Ural Tolga , Daşdemir Ali , Keçebaş Ali
Published: January 2019

The use of effective insulation methods to reduce heat loss and minimize its economic and environmental effects in city piping systems is an important topic globally. This study uses a new method for insulation of city piping systems of an air gap around pipelines and optimizes the thickness of insulation for the pipe. With this aim, a mathematical model based on heat degree days and life cycle cost analysis is used. Thus, according to the insulation thickness, air gap and pipe diameter values, the objective functions of optimum insulation thickness, energy cost savings, and payback period are comparatively assessed. The results indicate that using an air gap causes an 89% and 57% fall in optimum insulation thickness values for small and large diameter pipes, respectively. Additionally, sensitivity analysis was completed for the objective functions in terms of parameters such as interest rate, discount rate, life span, unit cost of fuel, cost of insulation material per unit volume, heat degree day, and air gap values. Based on the study methodology, life span, air gap, and unit fuel cost parameters were shown to have a significant effect on the objective functions. When insulation with air gap is applied, together with reducing the optimum insulation thickness at least 72% (from 0.009 to 0.031 m), it increases energy cost savings at 74% (from 5.47 to 21 $/m‐yr) for large diameter pipes and reduces the payback period at 78% (from 0.1 to 0.04 yr‐m) for small diameter pipes. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13146, 2019
Biodesulfurization of coal using Rhodococcus erythropolis SX‐12 and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans GF: A two‐step approach
Authors: Hu Tingting , Yang Yu , Zhang Mengjun , Gao Yu , Cheng Qian , Ji Hongjie
Published: January 2019

The sulfur of coal limits its clean utilization, while the biodesulfurization technology shows great development potential and application prospects for coal desulfurization. With a view to studying the different sulfur metabolism preferences of bacteria, two‐step bioleaching desulfurization of coal was proposed in this paper in which the organic sulfur desulfurizing bacteria and inorganic sulfur oxidizing bacteria were, respectively, used to remove sulfur from coal. An organic sulfur desulfurizing strain, Rhodococcus erythropolis SX‐12, was isolated from petroleum‐polluted soil collected from the Daqing Oilfield, which has been discovered to be capable of degrading dibenzothiophene (DBT) with an optimum temperature of 30°C and an initial pH of 7.0. Rhodococcus erythropolis SX‐12, as organic sulfur desulfurizing bacteria, were employed for the first step bioleaching desulfurization. Laboratory‐preserved Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans GF, an inorganic sulfur oxidizing strain, was applied to second step bioleaching desulfurization. After conducting two‐step bioleaching, the sulfur content of the raw coal decreased from 4.973% to 1.729% and the total desulfurization rate of 65.23% was obtained after 30‐day incubation. Therefore, the “two‐step” leaching biodesulfurization test is more likely to provide a new strategy for the process design of biodesulfurization of coal.
Autoignition of light naphtha and its surrogates in a rapid compression machine
Authors: Wang Buyu
Published: January 2019

Gasoline Compression Ignition (GCI) is a promising combustion mode to improve engine efficiency and reduce emissions. Naphtha has higher ignitability than gasoline and could be a better fuel for GCI. Understanding the autoignition behavior of naphtha is essential for the development of GCI engines. In this study, the ignition delay of light naphtha and its three surrogates, including PRF59 (59% iso‐octane and 41% n‐heptane in volume) and two three‐component surrogates composed of methyl‐cyclohexane, n‐heptane, and iso‐octane with blending ratios of 33.8%/43.2%/23% (MRF1) and 31.4%/33.3%/35.3% (MRF2) in volume were studied using a rapid compression machine. PRF59 was selected by matching the RON of light naphtha. MRF1 was composited by matching the RON and MON of light naphtha, while MRF2 was composed by matching RON and H/C. The experiments were conducted at equivalence ratio Φ = 0.5 and 1, P = 10, 20, and 30 bar, and temperature range of 665‐965 K. It was found that MRF2 best matched the first‐stage and total ignition delays of light naphtha, while PRF59 exhibited shorter first‐stage ignition delay. Although the ignition delay times of MRF1 and MRF2 were very close to each other, uncertainty analysis showed that matching RON and H/C ratio was a better method in determining the blending ratio. In addition, the MRF experiments were compared with predictions using the detailed mechanism. The mechanism showed good performance in reproducing the total ignition delay at high‐pressure conditions, but it underpredicted the ignition delay at low pressure. Also, the mechanism predicted less pronounced NTC behavior.
Understanding factors influencing home delivery in the context of user‐fee abolition in Northern Ghana: Evidence from 2014 DHS
Authors: Ganle John Kuumuori , Mahama Musah Salifu , Maya Ernest , Manu Abubakar , Torpey Kwasi , Adanu Richard
Published: January 2019

User‐fee exemption for skilled delivery services has been implemented in Ghana since 2003 as a way to address financial barriers to access. However, many women still deliver at home. Based on data from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, we estimated the prevalence of home delivery and determined the factors contributing to homebirths among a total of 622 women in the Northern region in the context of the user‐fee exemption policy in Ghana. Binary and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed. Results suggest home delivery prevalence of 59% (365/622). Traditional birth attendants attended majority of home deliveries (93.4%). After adjusting for potential confounders, making less than four antenatal care visits (aOR = 2.42; CI = 1.91‐6.45; p = 0.001), being a practitioner of traditional African religion (aOR = 16.40; CI = 3.10‐25.40; p = 0.000), being a Muslim (aOR 2.10; CI = 1.46‐5.30; p = 0.042), not having a health insurance (aOR = 1.85; CI = 1.773‐4.72; p = 0.016), living in a male‐headed household (aOR = 2.07; CI = 1.02‐4.53; p < 0.01), and being unexposed to media (aOR = 3.10; CI = 1.12‐5.38; p = 0.021) significantly predicted home delivery. Our results suggest that unless interventions are implemented to address other health system factors like insurance coverage, and socio‐cultural and religious beliefs that hinder uptake of skilled care, the full benefits of user‐fee exemption may not be realized in Ghana.
Patient safety walkrounds; 5 years of experience in a developing country
Authors: Saadati Mohammad , Nouri Mahdi , Rezapour Ramin
Published: January 2019

Objective

Patient safety walkround (PSWR) is an appropriate technique for senior managers' participation and collaboration with frontline staff to promote safety culture in hospitals. This study was conducted to assess the 5‐year PSWR experience in Shahid Mahallati Hospital in Tabriz, Iran.

Methods

This was a triangulated cross‐sectional study. All documents, instructions, reports, action plans, protocols, and verbal feedbacks on PSWRs were reviewed from 2013 to 2017. Data were extracted using goal‐driven extraction form and analyzed using Excel 2016 software.

Results

A total of 174 90‐minute PSWRs were conducted during the study period, and 1372 safety issues were identified. Work environment factors (32.5%), organization and management (18.14%), and tasks (18.07%) were the most frequent identified issues, respectively. About 75.5% of the issues were resolved through corrective interventions implementation.

Conclusions

PSWRs provide a great opportunity to identify and resolve the safety issues in the hospitals. Senior managers' participation and their support of staffs opinions and innovations were reinforced through PSWRs. Moreover, it creates mutual trust and safety responsiveness at all organizational levels in the hospital.
Women's right to health in Iran: Domestic implementation of international human rights law
Authors: Kokabisaghi Fatemeh
Published: January 2019

In Iran, discrimination based on gender in enjoyment of the right to health is prohibited. Making health services physically and financially accessible to the entire population and removing social and cultural barriers of women's access to health services are main considerations of the health laws and policies of Iran. The health of Iranian women has improved considerably in recent years. But there are disparities in health status and access of women to health services around the country. Some groups of women, including the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the illegal immigrant, and those without an appropriate male guardian, and rural women have limited access to health services in Iran. To realize women's right to health, this country should immediately remove the disparities and use all the necessary means including legislative, administrative, budgetary, promotional, and judicial measures. National plans on women's empowerment and support should be interpreted in provincial programs and action plans. Moreover, a monitoring system and certain benchmarks for tracing the progress of the plans should be established. Realizing other economic, social, and cultural rights including the rights to food, shelter, education, work, social security, and participation in society will improve the Iranian women's enjoyment of their right.
Identification of gene coexpression modules, hub genes, and pathways related to spinal cord injury using integrated bioinformatics methods
Authors: Wang Tienan , Wu Baolin , Zhang Xiuzhi , Zhang Meng , Zhang Shuo , Huang Wei , Liu Tao , Yu Weiting , Li Junlei , Yu Xiaobing
Published: January 2019

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is characterized by dramatic neurons loss and axonal regeneration suppression. The underlying mechanism associated with SCI‐induced immune suppression is still unclear. Weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) is now widely applied for the identification of the coexpressed modules, hub genes, and pathways associated with clinic traits of diseases. We performed this study to identify hub genes associated with SCI development. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data sets GSE45006 and GSE20907 were downloaded and the significant correlativity and connectivity between them were detected using WGCNA. Three significant consensus modules, including 567 eigengenes, were identified from the master GSE45006 data following the preconditions of approximate scale‐free topology for WGCNA. Further bioinformatics analysis showed these eigengenes were involved in inflammatory and immune responses in SCI. Three hub genes Rac2,
Itgb2, and
Tyrobp and one pathway “natural killer cell‐mediated cytotoxicity” were identified following short time‐series expression miner, protein‐protein interaction network, and functional enrichment analysis. Gradually upregulated expression patterns of
Rac2,
Itgb2, and
Tyrobp genes at 0, 3, 7, and 14 days after SCI were confirmed based on GSE45006 and GSE20907 data set. Finally, we found that
Rac2,
Itgb2, and
Tyrobp genes might take crucial roles in SCI development through the “natural killer cell–mediated cytotoxicity” pathway.
Understanding the ecological context of mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems: A person‐centered approach
Authors: Logan‐Greene Patricia , Linn Brad , Hartinger‐Saunders Robin , Nochajski Thomas , Wieczorek William F. , Rittner Barbara
Published: January 2019

Aims:

The social/environmental context of youth is important for mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) health. This study used person‐oriented methods to examine the influences of family, neighborhood, and poverty on late adolescent MEB outcomes.

Methods:

Latent class analysis was used to discern significant clusters of at‐risk, diverse young men (N = 625) based on contextual factors; differences in MEB outcomes were examined.

Results:

Four classes emerged. Resourced and Protected youth had low risk across all indicators. Non‐resourced and Protected youth lived in poverty, poor neighborhoods, but had good parenting; despite low delinquency, substance use was elevated. Resourced but High Risk youth had negative parenting but good neighborhoods. Outcomes included elevated delinquency and mental health problems. Non‐resourced and High Risk youth were poor, lived in bad neighborhoods, and experienced abusive parenting; MEB outcomes were poor.

Conclusion:

Findings confirm the unique effects that negative parenting, neighborhoods, and poverty have on adolescent development. Implications are discussed.
Retracted: Impaired Th17 cell proliferation and decreased pro‐inflammatory cytokine production in CXCR3/CXCR4 double‐deficient mice of vulvovaginal candidiasis
Authors: Jin Yue‐Mei , Liu Shan‐Shan , Xu Tian‐Min , Guo Feng‐Jun , Chen Jun
Published: January 2019

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common observed infection, affecting approximately 75% of women of reproductive age. Drug resistance represents a troublesome stumbling block associated with VVC therapy. Thus the aim of the present study was to provide information regarding the selection of potential drug targets for VVC. CXCR3‐, CXCR4‐, or CXCR/CXCR4 double‐deficient mouse models of VVC were subsequently established, with changes to the load of Candida Albicans evaluated accordingly. The biological behaviors of the vaginal epithelial cells were characterized in response to the CXCR3‐, CXCR4‐, or CXCR3/CXCR4 double‐knockout in vivo. Our initial observations revealed that in mice with VVC, CXCR3‐, CXCR4‐, or CXCR3 ‐ CXCR4 double‐knockout resulted in a decreased load of C. Albicans as well as reduced levels and proportion of Th17 cells. Proinflammatory cytokine production was found to be inhibited by CXCR3‐, CXCR4‐, or CXCR3/CXCR4 double‐knockout whereby the mRNA and protein expressions CXCR3, CXCR4, IL‐17, IL‐6, and TNF‐α exhibited decreased levels. CXCR3‐, CXCR4‐, or CXCR3/CXCR4 double‐knockout appeared to function as positive proliferation factors, while playing a negative role in the processes of apoptosis and the cell cycle of vaginal epithelial cells. Taken together, the key findings of the study suggested that CXCR3/CXCR4 double‐knockout could act to hinder the progression of VVC, highlighting its promise as a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of VVC. CXCR3 and CXCR4 genes may regulate Th17/IL‐17 immune inflammatory pathways to participate in antifungal immunity.
Regulation of ROS–NF‐κB axis by tuna backbone derived peptide ameliorates inflammation in necrotizing enterocolitis
Authors: Zhang Le , Fan Jianfeng , He Jingya , Chen Wenjuan , Jin Weilai , Zhu Yuting , Sun Haibing , Li Yawen , Shi Yingzuo , Jing Yulei , Wang Xiaolei , Han Shuping , Li Zhengying
Published: January 2019

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the most common life‐threatening gastrointestinal disease encountered in the premature infant. It has been shown that the intercellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation activated by lipopolysaccharide involved in the nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) activation and pathogenesis of NEC. Here, we report that an antioxidant peptide from tuna backbone protein (APTBP) reduces the inflammatory cytokines transcription and release. APTBP directly scavenges the free radical through 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2‐phenyl‐4,4,5,5‐tetramethylimidazoline‐1‐oxyl 3‐oxide (PTIO) assay. In addition, APTBP reduces the intracellular ROS level, exhibiting an antioxidant activity within cells. Remarkably, gavage with APTBP attenuates the phenotype of NEC in the mice model. Mechanically, the NF‐κB activation, together with the expression of inflammatory cytokines are decreased significantly when intracellular ROS are eliminated by APTBP. Therefore, our findings demonstrated that an antioxidant peptide, APTBP, ameliorates inflammation in NEC through attenuating ROS–NF‐κB axis.