bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How History Gets Things Wrong
Authors: Rosenberg Alex
Published: March 2019

Why we learn the wrong things from narrative history, and how our love for stories is hard-wired.

To understand something, you need to know its history. Right? Wrong, says Alex Rosenberg in How History Gets Things Wrong. Feeling especially well-informed after reading a book of popular history on the best-seller list? Don't. Narrative history is always, always wrong. It's not just incomplete or inaccurate but deeply wrong, as wrong as Ptolemaic astronomy. We no longer believe that the earth is the center of the universe. Why do we still believe in historical narrative? Our attachment to history as a vehicle for understanding has a long Darwinian pedigree and a genetic basis. Our love of stories is hard-wired. Neuroscience reveals that human evolution shaped a tool useful for survival into a defective theory of human nature.

Stories historians tell, Rosenberg continues, are not only wrong but harmful. Israel and Palestine, for example, have dueling narratives of dispossession that prevent one side from compromising with the other. Henry Kissinger applied lessons drawn from the Congress of Vienna to American foreign policy with disastrous results. Human evolution improved primate mind reading—the ability to anticipate the behavior of others, whether predators, prey, or cooperators—to get us to the top of the African food chain. Now, however, this hard-wired capacity makes us think we can understand history—what the Kaiser was thinking in 1914, why Hitler declared war on the United States—by uncovering the narratives of what happened and why. In fact, Rosenberg argues, we will only understand history if we don't make it into a story.
Computational Molecular Biology
Authors: Pevzner Pavel A.
Published: March 2019

In one of the first major texts in the emerging field of computational molecular biology, Pavel Pevzner covers a broad range of algorithmic and combinatorial topics and shows how they are connected to molecular biology and to biotechnology. The book has a substantial "computational biology without formulas" component that presents the biological and computational ideas in a relatively simple manner. This makes the material accessible to computer scientists without biological training, as well as to biologists with limited background in computer science.

Computational Molecular Biology series

Computer science and mathematics are transforming molecular biology from an informational to a computational science. Drawing on computational, statistical, experimental, and technological methods, the new discipline of computational molecular biology is dramatically increasing the discovery of new technologies and tools for molecular biology. The new MIT Press Computational Molecular Biology series provides a unique venue for the rapid publication of monographs, textbooks, edited collections, reference works, and lecture notes of the highest quality.

Bradford Books imprint
Elements of Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: Mehrotra Kishan , Mohan Chilukuri , Ranka Sanjay
Published: March 2019

Elements of Artificial Neural Networks provides a clearly organized general introduction, focusing on a broad range of algorithms, for students and others who want to use neural networks rather than simply study them.

The authors, who have been developing and team teaching the material in a one-semester course over the past six years, describe most of the basic neural network models (with several detailed solved examples) and discuss the rationale and advantages of the models, as well as their limitations. The approach is practical and open-minded and requires very little mathematical or technical background. Written from a computer science and statistics point of view, the text stresses links to contiguous fields and can easily serve as a first course for students in economics and management.

The opening chapter sets the stage, presenting the basic concepts in a clear and objective way and tackling important—yet rarely addressed—questions related to the use of neural networks in practical situations. Subsequent chapters on supervised learning (single layer and multilayer networks), unsupervised learning, and associative models are structured around classes of problems to which networks can be applied. Applications are discussed along with the algorithms. A separate chapter takes up optimization methods.

The most frequently used algorithms, such as backpropagation, are introduced early on, right after perceptrons, so that these can form the basis for initiating course projects. Algorithms published as late as 1995 are also included. All of the algorithms are presented using block-structured pseudo-code, and exercises are provided throughout. Software implementing many commonly used neural network algorithms is available at the book's website.

Transparency masters, including abbreviated text and figures for the entire book, are available for instructors using the text.

Bradford Books imprint
Magnetohydrodynamic Shock Waves
Authors: Anderson Edward J.
Published: March 2019

Studies based on the Rankine-Hugoniot relations have classified MHO shock waves as fast, switch-on, intermediate, switch-off, and slow. Any waves found in nature must also: (a) possess steady-state structures and (b) be stable in the presence of small-flow disturbances. In this monograph, Dr. Anderson examines these criteria in relation to plane shocks for which the collision frequency is large compared with cyclotron frequency. It contains a three-dimensional graphic representation of shock end states and presents an exact solution for the shock adiabatic curve in a convenient form. An MIT Press Research Monograph.
Robot Shaping
Authors: Dorigo Marco , Colombetti Marco
Published: March 2019

foreword by Lashon Booker

To program an autonomous robot to act reliably in a dynamic environment is a complex task. The dynamics of the environment are unpredictable, and the robots' sensors provide noisy input. A learning autonomous robot, one that can acquire knowledge through interaction with its environment and then adapt its behavior, greatly simplifies the designer's work. A learning robot need not be given all of the details of its environment, and its sensors and actuators need not be finely tuned.

Robot Shaping is about designing and building learning autonomous robots. The term "shaping" comes from experimental psychology, where it describes the incremental training of animals. The authors propose a new engineering discipline, "behavior engineering," to provide the methodologies and tools for creating autonomous robots. Their techniques are based on classifier systems, a reinforcement learning architecture originated by John Holland, to which they have added several new ideas, such as "mutespec," classifier system "energy," and dynamic population size. In the book they present Behavior Analysis and Training (BAT) as an example of a behavior engineering methodology.

Bradford Books imprint
Urban Air Pollution Modeling
Authors: Benarie Michel M.
Published: March 2019

This book brings together the methods, models and formulae used for estimating air pollution concentrations in urban areas. From the Foreword

The visible effects of pollution in most cities in the developed countries have been reduced dramatically in the past thirty years. This has been achieved to a large extent by the replacement of most of the low-level sources, which burnt raw coal, by more modern appliances using gas, electricity or low-sulphur oil. The killer smog of 1952 could not be repeated unless there were to be a massive return to old-fashioned heating methods, due, for example, to excessive environmental constraints being applied to the more modern energy sources. It is important, therefore, to judge the impact of a new source in terms of its effect on the pattern of existing sources. One should also consider the environmental consequences of rejecting the new installation and examine the alternatives—that its product may either be denied to the community at large, produced elsewhere or produced using existing facilities. These facilities are probably less efficient and may therefore produce more pollution per unit of product than the new plant would. An objective, quantitative, urban-air-pollution model is clearly an essential component in such a decision-making process. Dr. Benarie has produced a distillation of existing modelling techniques which will, I hope, become the launching pad for many future models. As each city is unique, it will need its own tailor-made model, drawing on the best and the most appropriate techniques developed previously. Agreement with observations is the only real test of validity, because the physics and chemistry are so complicated that theoretical arguments are reduced to the role of assisting in the best formulation of the problem. Numerical precision must always rely on measurement. This is the approach that Dr. Benarie has adopted.—David J. Moore, Central Electricity Research Laboratires, Leatherhead, Surrey, UK
Workflow Patterns
Authors: Russell Nick , van der Aalst Wil M.P. , ter Hofstede Arthur H. M.
Published: March 2019

A comprehensive guide to well-known workflow patterns: recurrent, generic business process constructs, described from the control-flow, data, and resource perspectives.

The study of business processes has emerged as a highly effective approach to coordinating an organization's complex service- and knowledge-based activities. The growing field of business process management (BPM) focuses on methods and tools for designing, enacting, and analyzing business processes. This volume offers a definitive guide to the use of patterns, which synthesize the wide range of approaches to modeling business processes. It provides a unique and comprehensive introduction to the well-known workflow patterns collection—recurrent, generic constructs describing common business process modeling and execution scenarios, presented in the form of problem-solution dialectics. The underlying principles of the patterns approach ensure that they are independent of any specific enabling technology, representational formalism, or modeling approach, and thus broadly applicable across the business process modeling and business process technology domains.

The authors, drawing on extensive research done by the Workflow Patterns Initiative, offer a detailed introduction to the fundamentals of business process modeling and management; describe three major pattern catalogs, presented from control-flow, data, and resource perspectives; and survey related BPM patterns. The book, a companion to the authoritative Workflow Patterns website, will be an essential resource for both academics and practitioners working in business process modeling and business process management.
Knowledge Machines
Authors: Meyer Eric T. , Schroeder Ralph
Published: March 2019

An examination of the ways that digital and networked technologies have fundamentally changed research practices in disciplines from astronomy to literary analysis.

In Knowledge Machines, Eric Meyer and Ralph Schroeder argue that digital technologies have fundamentally changed research practices in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Meyer and Schroeder show that digital tools and data, used collectively and in distributed mode—which they term e-research—have transformed not just the consumption of knowledge but also the production of knowledge. Digital technologies for research are reshaping how knowledge advances in disciplines that range from physics to literary analysis.

Meyer and Schroeder map the rise of digital research and offer case studies from many fields, including biomedicine, social science uses of the Web, astronomy, and large-scale textual analysis in the humanities. They consider such topics as the challenges of sharing research data and of big data approaches, disciplinary differences and new forms of interdisciplinary collaboration, the shifting boundaries between researchers and their publics, and the ways that digital tools promote openness in science.

This book considers the transformations of research from a number of perspectives, drawing especially on the sociology of science and technology and social informatics. It shows that the use of digital tools and data is not just a technical issue; it affects research practices, collaboration models, publishing choices, and even the kinds of research and research questions scholars choose to pursue. Knowledge Machines examines the nature and implications of these transformations for scholarly research.
Values at Play in Digital Games
Authors: Flanagan Mary , Nissenbaum Helen
Published: March 2019

A theoretical and practical guide to integrating human values into the conception and design of digital games.

All games express and embody human values, providing a compelling arena in which we play out beliefs and ideas. “Big ideas” such as justice, equity, honesty, and cooperation—as well as other kinds of ideas, including violence, exploitation, and greed—may emerge in games whether designers intend them or not. In this book, Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum present Values at Play, a theoretical and practical framework for identifying socially recognized moral and political values in digital games. Values at Play can also serve as a guide to designers who seek to implement values in the conception and design of their games.

After developing a theoretical foundation for their proposal, Flanagan and Nissenbaum provide detailed examinations of selected games, demonstrating the many ways in which values are embedded in them. They introduce the Values at Play heuristic, a systematic approach for incorporating values into the game design process. Interspersed among the book's chapters are texts by designers who have put Values at Play into practice by accepting values as a design constraint like any other, offering a real-world perspective on the design challenges involved.
Children with Specific Language Impairment
Authors: Leonard Laurence B.
Published: March 2019

The landmark reference in the field, completely updated: a comprehensive treatment of a disorder that is more prevalent than autism.

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) show a significant deficit in spoken language that cannot be attributed to neurological damage, hearing impairment, or intellectual disability. More prevalent than autism and at least as prevalent as dyslexia, SLI affects approximately seven percent of all children; it is longstanding, with adverse effects on academic, social, and (eventually) economic standing. The first edition of this work established Children with Specific Language Impairment as the landmark reference on this condition, considering not only the disorder's history, possible origins, and treatment but also what SLI might tell us about language organization and development in general. This second edition offers a complete update of the earlier volume.

Much of the second edition is completely new, reflecting findings and interpretations based on the hundreds of studies that have appeared since the publication of the first edition in 1997. Topics include linguistic details (descriptive and theoretical), word and sentence processing findings, genetics, neurobiology, treatment, and comparisons to such conditions as autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and dyslexia. The book covers SLI in children who speak a wide range of languages, and, although the emphasis is on children, it also includes studies of adults who were diagnosed with SLI as children or are the parents of children with SLI.

Written by a leading scholar in the field, Children with Specific Language Impairment offers the most comprehensive, balanced, and unified treatment of SLI available.

Bradford Books imprint
Networking Peripheries
Authors: Chan Anita Say
Published: March 2019

An exploration of the diverse experiments in digital futures as they advance far from the celebrated centers of technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

In Networking Peripheries, Anita Chan shows how digital cultures flourish beyond Silicon Valley and other celebrated centers of technological innovation and entrepreneurship. The evolving digital cultures in the Global South vividly demonstrate that there are more ways than one to imagine what digital practice and global connection could look like. To explore these alternative developments, Chan investigates the diverse initiatives being undertaken to “network” the nation in contemporary Peru, from attempts to promote the intellectual property of indigenous artisans to the national distribution of digital education technologies to open technology activism in rural and urban zones.

Drawing on ethnographic accounts from government planners, regional free-software advocates, traditional artisans, rural educators, and others, Chan demonstrates how such developments unsettle dominant conceptions of information classes and innovations zones. Government efforts to turn rural artisans into a new creative class progress alongside technology activists' efforts to promote indigenous rights through information tactics; plans pressing for the state wide adoption of open source–based technologies advance while the One Laptop Per Child initiative aims to network rural classrooms by distributing laptops. As these cases show, the digital cultures and network politics emerging on the periphery do more than replicate the technological future imagined as universal from the center.
Humanity Enhanced
Authors: Blackford Russell
Published: March 2019

An argument that modern liberal democracies should tolerate human enhancement technologies, answering key objections by critics of these practices.

Emerging biotechnologies that manipulate human genetic material have drawn a chorus of objections from politicians, pundits, and scholars. In Humanity Enhanced, Russell Blackford eschews the heated rhetoric that surrounds genetic enhancement technologies to examine them in the context of liberal thought, discussing the public policy issues they raise from legal and political perspectives. Some see the possibility of genetic choice as challenging the values of liberal democracy. Blackford argues that the challenge is not, as commonly supposed, the urgent need for a strict regulatory action. Rather, the challenge is that fear of these technologies has created an atmosphere in which liberal tolerance itself is threatened.

Focusing on reproductive cloning, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos, and genetic engineering, Blackford takes on objections to enhancement technologies (raised by Jürgen Habermas and others) based on such concerns as individual autonomy and distributive justice. He argues that some enhancements would be genuinely beneficial, and that it would be justified in some circumstances even to exert pressure on parents to undertake genetic modification of embryos. Blackford argues against draconian suppression of human enhancement, although he acknowledges that some specific and limited regulation may be required in the future. More generally, he argues, liberal democracies would demonstrate liberal values by tolerating and accepting the emerging technologies of genetic choice.
Analyzing Neural Time Series Data
Authors: Cohen Mike X
Published: March 2019

A comprehensive guide to the conceptual, mathematical, and implementational aspects of analyzing electrical brain signals, including data from MEG, EEG, and LFP recordings.

This book offers a comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of analyzing electrical brain signals. It explains the conceptual, mathematical, and implementational (via Matlab programming) aspects of time-, time-frequency- and synchronization-based analyses of magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG), and local field potential (LFP) recordings from humans and nonhuman animals. It is the only book on the topic that covers both the theoretical background and the implementation in language that can be understood by readers without extensive formal training in mathematics, including cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists.

Readers who go through the book chapter by chapter and implement the examples in Matlab will develop an understanding of why and how analyses are performed, how to interpret results, what the methodological issues are, and how to perform single-subject-level and group-level analyses. Researchers who are familiar with using automated programs to perform advanced analyses will learn what happens when they click the “analyze now” button.

The book provides sample data and downloadable Matlab code. Each of the 38 chapters covers one analysis topic, and these topics progress from simple to advanced. Most chapters conclude with exercises that further develop the material covered in the chapter. Many of the methods presented (including convolution, the Fourier transform, and Euler's formula) are fundamental and form the groundwork for other advanced data analysis methods. Readers who master the methods in the book will be well prepared to learn other approaches.
The Geometry of Meaning
Authors: Gärdenfors Peter
Published: March 2019

A novel cognitive theory of semantics that proposes that the meanings of words can be described in terms of geometric structures.

In The Geometry of Meaning, Peter Gärdenfors proposes a theory of semantics that bridges cognitive science and linguistics and shows how theories of cognitive processes, in particular concept formation, can be exploited in a general semantic model. He argues that our minds organize the information involved in communicative acts in a format that can be modeled in geometric or topological terms—in what he terms conceptual spaces, extending the theory he presented in an earlier book by that name.

Many semantic theories consider the meanings of words as relatively stable and independent of the communicative context. Gärdenfors focuses instead on how various forms of communication establish a system of meanings that becomes shared between interlocutors. He argues that these “meetings of mind” depend on the underlying geometric structures, and that these structures facilitate language learning. Turning to lexical semantics, Gärdenfors argues that a unified theory of word meaning can be developed by using conceptual spaces. He shows that the meaning of different word classes can be given a cognitive grounding, and offers semantic analyses of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and prepositions. He also presents models of how the meanings of words are composed to form new meanings and of the basic semantic role of sentences. Finally, he considers the future implications of his theory for robot semantics and the Semantic Web.
OHSAS AND INTEGRATION OF MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Authors: Rajković Dragan , Stojilković Petar , Sofranac Rajko
Published: March 2019

Integrated Management Systems (IMS) are complex, dynamic systems, whose design and implementation (establishment) follows risk, costs and problems in implementation. IMS needs to integrate all current formalized systems focusing on quality, environmental protection, health and safety, personnel, finance, etc. This means that the processes and documents that describe them need to be integrated. Over the past years, one of the most important standardized systems is the system of occupational health and safety management - OHSAS. Basics of OHSAS are mentioned in this paper. The methods and approaches to system integration are presented here. The benefits of system integration and applying OHSAS are also shown in this paper.
Key words:OHSAS, IMS, integration
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY IN HAZARDOUS CONFINED SPACE
Authors: STOJKOVIĆ ANA
Published: March 2019

The paper presents the concept of hazardous confined space by identifying hazards in closed areas, with special emphasis on dangerous gases commonly found there, and occupational safetymeasures that involve: testing the air, cleaning and ventilation, separating enclosed spaces, personal protections, entry control, blocking mobile device and rescuing casualties. For only 8 years in America, there has been an average of 89 work-related deaths in confined spaces per year, and approximately 23 (25.5%) of those who died were persons attempting rescue. Asphyxiation by gases was the primary cause of death. The persons who were participating in rescue were in most cases co-workers, not or emergency medical service personnel. Since rescue operations in confined spaces are unique hazards, proper training of personnel and the availability of specialized equipment are required to protect persons attempting rescue from injury and death. Emergency medical service personnel should be familiar with all potential threats and rescue techniques in confined space. Analogously, the paper describes all the potential dangers and hazards of indoor space.
Key words: hazardous confined spaces, occupational safety.
Digital Health and the Embodying of Professionalism: Avatars as Health Professionals in Sweden
Authors: Hallqvist Johan
Published: March 2019

This paper explores virtual health professionals (VHPs), digital health technology software, in Swedish health care. The aim is to analyze how health professionalism is (re)negotiated through avatar embodiments of VHPs and to explore the informants’ notions of what a health professional is, behaves and looks like. The paper builds on ethnographic fieldwork with informants working directly or indirectly with questions of digital health technology and professionalism. Discourse theory is used to analyze the material. Subjectification, authenticity, and diversity were found to be crucial for informants to articulate health professionalism when discussing human avatars, professional attire, gendered and ethnified embodiments. The informants attempted to make the VHPs credibly professional but inauthentcally human. A discursive struggle over health professionalism between patient choice and diversity within health care was identified where the patient’s choice of avatars—if based on prejudices—might threaten healthcare professionalism and healthcare professionals by (re)producing racism and sexism.
Dynamics of Soil Microbial Population and Enzymes Activities under Distillery Spentwash Irrigation
Authors: Vadivel Karthika , Rajannan G. , Avudainayagam S.
Published: March 2019

Spentwash is a rich source of organic matter and nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and sulphur. The effect of different levels and methods of spentwash application on soil enzymatic activity was examined through a field experiment. The field experiment was conducted using Sesame VRI (Sv) 2 as a test crop at Research and Development Farm, The Sakthi Sugars Pvt. Ltd., Appakkudal, Erode District. The experiment was formulated with six treatments with four replications, laid out in Randomised Block design. As per the treatment schedule the calculated quantity of biomethanated distillery spentwash for pre-sown application was uniformly applied to the plots before sowing viz., 25, 50, 75,100% along with recommended dose of NP for four treatments viz., 100%, 75%, 50%, 25% and Recommended dose NPK was treated as one treatment (control).The soil samples were collected at 30 days intervals and analysed for the changes in soil microbial population and enzyme activities. The results of the study showed that the microbial population and enzymatic activities of the soil were substantially increased throughout the crop growth period due to biomethanated distillery spentwash application.
Evaluation of the Impact of the External Audit in the Functioning of Health Public Institutions "Cases of the General Hospitals of Reference of Kabondo and Makiso/Kisangani of 2011 and 2014"
Authors: Raymond Assani Ramazani , Désiré Isetcha Tawiti
Published: March 2019

Objectives: This study aims at evaluating the effects of the external audit on the countable and financial management of the General Hospitals of Reference of Makiso/Kisangani and Kabondo.

Methods: We worked with a sample with reasoned choice. It is about a descriptive study of the retrospective type which we associate the analytical method. The data collected in this study after the examination, were transformed into frequency, and then, expressed as a percentage.

Results: For the HGR of Makiso/Kisangani, the receipts carried out for the audited period account for 55.56% against 45.44% for the not-audited period, that is to say a variation of 10.12%. While for the HGR of Kabondo, the receipts carried out for the audited period account for 63.81% against 36.19% for the not-audited period, that is to say a variation of 27.62%.

Conclusion: We noticed that for the audited period the medical structures under study presented a performance by profitability, the permanent follow-up of its accountancy which reduces the risks of the frauds and errors as well as the financial hemorrhages, the reliability of financial information due to the self-checking and the credibility of the institution near the external contractors, since it presents a good image.
Tilapia – An Excellent Candidate Species for World Aquaculture: A Review
Authors: Prabu E. , Rajagopalsamy C. B. T. , Ahilan B. , Jeevagan I. Jegan Michael Andro , Renuhadevi M.
Published: March 2019

Aquaculture is currently playing, and will continue to play, a big part in boosting global fish production and in meeting the rising demand of fishery products. Capture fisheries production has levelled off and is no longer considered capable of sustaining the supply of fisheries products needed to meet the growing global demand. Tilapia is the common name for several species of cichlid fish inhabiting freshwater streams, ponds, rivers and lakes and less commonly in brackish water. Considered as an invasive species, tilapias are now of increasing importance in Aquaculture. Tilapia is the second most farmed fish world-wide and its production has quadrupled over the past decade because of its suitability for aquaculture, marketability and stable market prices. Native to Africa and Middle East, tilapias were introduced into over 90 countries for aquaculture and fisheries. Tilapia continued its rapid increase in global production. Recent production figures reported by various sources, our global production estimate for 2015 is 5,576,800 mt.  Tilapias are now one of the most widely introduced fish globally that has clearly emerged as a very promising group in aquaculture.
Altering Growth Characters and Seed Cotton Yield under Foliar Application of Boron
Authors: Rahman Md. Tasdiqur , Haque M. Moynul , Mortuza Md. Gazi Golum , Hossain Md. Sadek , Chowdhury Md. Shah Newaz
Published: March 2019

The experiment was conducted at Central Cotton Research Farm, Sreepur, Gazipur during cotton growing season of 2009-2011. Cotton variety cv. CB-10 was used under experiment. Eight levels of boron (0.0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.50 and 1.75, g L-1 water) were sprayed at reproductive stage of cotton as treatment. The design of the experiment was randomized completely block design (RCBD) with three replications. Result revealed that, foliar application of boron has significant influence on different traits of cotton. Foliar application of boron may improve the performance of cotton plant by reducing the percentage of boll shattering and increasing the growth of square for better quality fiber.
Conformal Vector Fields on Finsler Space with Special (α , β )- Metric
Authors: Natesh N. , Narasimhamurthy S. K. , Roopa M. K.
Published: March 2019

In this paper, we study the conformal vector elds on a class of Finsler metrics. In particular Finsler space with special (α, β)- metric `F =\alpha +\frac{\beta^2}{\alpha} ` is dened in Riemannian metric α and 1-form β and its norm. Then we characterize the PDE's of conformal vector elds on Finsler space with special (α, β)- metric.
Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Banana ‘Prata-Anã’ Subjected to Hydrothermal Treatment
Authors: Silva Pinheiro Juceliandy Mendes da , Mizobutsi Gisele Polete , Aguiar Flávia Soares , Rodrigues Maria Luisa Mendes , De Jesus Mariana Oliveira , De Queiroz Lorena Gabriela Coelho , Mizobutsi Edson Hiydu , Fonseca Sarah Nadja Araújo , Santos Alves Pablo Fernando
Published: March 2019

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of hydrothermal treatment applied to banana ‘Prata-Anã’ before refrigerated storage.

Study Design: The employed experimental design was the completely randomized type (CRD) and composed of 4 repeats with 4 fruits, in a 5 x 4 +1 factorial scheme, with five storage days (days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) at 25°C after removal from the refrigerated chamber, four immersion temperatures and one control (fruits without hydrothermal treatment).

Study Location and Duration: The experiment was conducted in the Post-Harvest Physiology Laboratory of the State University of Montes Claros between March and June 2017.

Methodology: The bananas were harvested and separated into 4-fruit bouquets, which were immersed in water at 50, 52, 54 and 56°C for 2 minutes; fruits without hydrothermal treatment were used as control. Each bouquet was placed in polyolefin membrane packs that were then contained in boxes and stored in chambers at 10oC and RH of 80% for 25 days. After the 25 days, the fruits were taken out of the chamber and stored at 25oC. During the 25oC storage, physical and chemical analyses were performed.

Results: On the day of removal from the refrigerated chamber, all bananas, regardless of treatment, presented a yellowish color. The temperature of 56oC resulted in greater fresh mass loss and higher solute extravasation values. Lower chilling index values and higher vitamin C values were found as the immersion temperature increased.

Conclusion: The full ripening process of banana ‘Prata-Anã’ occurred after removal from the refrigerated chamber in all hydrothermal treatments and with lower chilling index values.
Urinary trimethyl tin reflects blood trimethyl tin in workers recycling organotins
Authors: Ichihara Gaku , Iida Mayu , Watanabe Eri , Fujie Tomoya , Kaji Toshiyuki , Lee Eunmi , Kim Yangho
Published: March 2019

Aim

Our recent case report of organotin intoxication showed higher ratio of urinary trimethyl tin (TMT) to dimethyl tin (DMT) than those of the previous cases exposed to only DMT, suggesting co-exposure to DMT and TMT occurred. The present study investigated how urinary TMT and DMT reflect blood TMT and DMT, respectively, to evaluate them as biomarkers for TMT/DMT exposure.

Methods

DMT and TMT from blood collected at different time points from three patients intoxicated with organotins were measured with HPLC-ICP/MS. Previously published data of urinary DMT and TMT were used for comparison. Regression analyses were conducted with dependent variable of blood DMT and TMT and independent variable of urinary DMT and TMT, respectively. Multiple regression analysis with dummy variables of individual was also conducted.

Results

Regression analysis did not show significant relation of urinary TMT to blood TMT or relation of urinary DMT to blood DMT, although the former was marginal. Multiple regression analysis showed significantly positive relation of urinary TMT to blood TMT.

Conclusions

The study shows that urinary TMT reflects blood TMT. In co-exposure to TMT and DMT, urinary TMT can be an internal exposure marker of TMT, which might be not only derived from external exposure to TMT but also converted from DMT in human body.
Regulating the Photophysical Property of Organic/Polymer Optical Agents for Promoted Cancer Phototheranostics
Authors: Chen Chao , Ou Hanlin , Liu Ruihua , Ding Dan
Published: March 2019

On the basis of the Jablonski diagram, the photophysical properties of optical agents are highly associated with biomedical function and efficacy. Herein, the focus is on organic/polymer optical agents and the recent progress in the main strategies for regulating their photophysical properties to achieve superior cancer diagnosis/phototheranostics applications are highlighted. Both the approaches of nanoengineering and molecular design, which can lead to optimized effectiveness of required biomedical function, are discussed.
Thermoresponsive Complex Coacervate‐Based Underwater Adhesive
Authors: Dompé Marco , Cedano‐Serrano Francisco J. , Heckert Olaf , van den Heuvel Nicoline , van der Gucht Jasper , Tran Yvette , Hourdet Dominique , Creton Costantino , Kamperman Marleen
Published: March 2019

Sandcastle worms have developed protein‐based adhesives, which they use to construct protective tubes from sand grains and shell bits. A key element in the adhesive delivery is the formation of a fluidic complex coacervate phase. After delivery, the adhesive transforms into a solid upon an external trigger. In this work, a fully synthetic in situ setting adhesive based on complex coacervation is reported by mimicking the main features of the sandcastle worm's glue. The adhesive consists of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes grafted with thermoresponsive poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) chains and starts out as a fluid complex coacervate that can be injected at room temperature. Upon increasing the temperature above the lower critical solution temperature of PNIPAM, the complex coacervate transitions into a nonflowing hydrogel while preserving its volume—the water content in the material stays constant. The adhesive functions in the presence of water and bonds to different surfaces regardless of their charge. This type of adhesive avoids many of the problems of current underwater adhesives and may be useful to bond biological tissues.
High Efficiency Ultrathin Transmissive Metasurfaces
Authors: Akram Muhammad Rizwan , Mehmood Muhammad Qasim , Bai Xudong , Jin Ronghong , Premaratne Malin , Zhu Weiren
Published: March 2019

Metasurfaces offer unprecedented freedom to manipulate electromagnetic waves at deeply subwavelength scales. However, realizing a highly efficient metasurface, yet simple enough to conceptualize, design, and fabricate, is a challenging task. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed for designing meta‐atoms which can achieve full phase control in the range 0–2 π with high efficiency in the transmission mode. In particular, a bilayer meta‐atom is designed, exploiting nearly perfect polarization conversion of the two orthogonal transmissions, whose transmission efficiency reaches as high as 85%. The transmission phase control in the circular polarization basis is achieved with the axial rotation of the proposed meta‐atom based on Pancharatnam–Berry phase principle. These meta‐atoms are then wielded to construct metasurfaces for generating vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum. The conversion efficiency as high as 75% and a transmission efficiency of 55% are achieved for the realized metasurfaces.
2D Atomic Crystals: A Promising Solution for Next‐Generation Data Storage
Authors: Hou Xiang , Chen Huawei , Zhang Zhenhan , Wang Shuiyuan , Zhou Peng
Published: March 2019

With the rapid development of the information age, more and more new technologies such as big data and cloud computing are beginning to emerge. As a result, the demand for high data‐storage density is becoming more and more urgent. In the past 10 years, data‐storage density has been greatly improved by reducing the size of memory cells. However, as semiconductor technology nodes have shrunk, a number of problems have appeared in metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistor (MOSFET)‐based memory cells, such as gate‐induced drain leakage, drain‐induced barrier lowering, and reliability issues. Fortunately, due to their atomic thickness, high mobility, and sustainable miniaturization properties, 2D atomic crystals (2D materials) are considered the most promising substitute for silicon to solve those issues. This review investigates the use of 2D materials in nonvolatile and volatile memories, including MOSFET‐based memory, magnetic random‐access memory, resistive random‐access memory, dynamic random‐access memory, semi‐floating‐gate memory, and other novel memories.
Thermoelectric Performance of n‐Type Poly(Ni‐tetrathiooxalate) as a Counterpart to Poly(Ni‐ethenetetrathiolate): NiTTO versus NiETT
Authors: Wolfe Rylan M. W. , Menon Akanksha K. , Marder Seth R. , Reynolds John R. , Yee Shannon K.
Published: March 2019

The synthesis of the metal‐coordination polymer poly(nickel tetrathiooxalate) (NiTTO) is presented, which represents an alternative route to n‐type thermoelectric materials similar in nature to nickel ethenetetrathiolate (NiETT) polymers. The TTO monomer is synthesized through an electrochemical reduction of carbon disulfide, followed by coordination polymerization with a nickel(II) salt to yield a coordination complex polymer with a neutral repeat unit. An alkali metal counterion exchange and polymerization optimization are performed, and a thermoelectric power factor of 6 µW m−1 K−2 (electrical conductivity of over 10 S cm−1) is achieved for NiTTO composite films in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix. This is significantly higher than other reported n‐type polymers (and to within a factor of two of NiETT) and demonstrates the potential of NiTTO as a new thermoelectric material. Elemental analysis indicates a nearly neutral backbone structure in NiTTO with minimal charge balancing alkali ions, indicating that these polymers are more oxidized than NiETTs. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals a different coordination environment for NiTTO compared to NiETTs with the same alkali counterion, indicating that—despite their structural similarity in theory—these two materials are indeed different.
How to set‐up and perform contrast‐enhanced ultrasound
Authors: Necas Martin , Keating Jane , Abbott Grant , Curtis Nicole , de Ryke Rex , Hill Gerry
Published: March 2019

Contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an important part of current ultrasound imaging practice. Sonographers, radiologists and other sonologists should consider CEUS as a standard tool in the diagnostic toolbox of ultrasound and utilise it liberally to solve a wide range of imaging problems whilst reducing the need to resort to CT or MRI. Setting up a CEUS service is within easy reach of all motivated practitioners. The initial process requires assessment of the demand for CEUS, ensuring staff readiness, preparing administrative processes and obtaining CEUS supplies. The CEUS examination includes gaining informed consent, ensuring authorisation to administer contrast agent (preferably by means of a standing order), conventional pre‐scan of the area of interest, insertion of a peripheral IV cannula, preparation of the contrast agent, initiation of the contrast imaging mode, administration of the contrast agent, performance of the examination and aftercare. A number of other important considerations are discussed including cannulation and IV certification, scopes of practice for sonographers performing CEUS, contrast dosing, scheduling, training, interpretation, reporting and quality control.
The advanced telescope for high energy astrophysics
Authors: Matt Giorgio ,   on behalf of the Athena Science Study Team and its Working Groups
Published: March 2019

The Advanced Telescope for High‐energy Astrophysics (Athena) is the second largest mission selected by European Space Agency (ESA) in the “Cosmic Vision” program, with a launch foreseen in 2030. The mission has been designed to answer two of the most outstanding astrophysical questions: How did ordinary matter assemble into the large scale structures we see today? and How do black holes grow and shape the universe? Thanks to its angular resolution, effective area, spectral resolution, and grasp, Athena will be the most powerful X‐ray observatory ever flown and, besides addressing the above mentioned questions, will provide important results for virtually all classes of astrophysical objects, from high‐z gamma ray bursts to the closest planets in our solar neighborhood.
Neutrino structure functions predictions for high‐energy and high‐precision neutrino experiments
Authors: Machado M. M. , Machado M. V. T.
Published: March 2019

A quantum chromodynamics (QCD)‐based analysis of the neutrino structure functions xF2, xF3, and ΔxF3 for charged current and neutral neutrino deep inelastic scattering (DIS) is performed focusing on high‐energy and high‐precision neutrino experiments. The investigation is done taking into account the color dipole formalism, considering a wide region of the kinematic variables Bjorken‐x, and boson virtuality Q2. We consider the state of the art on the dipole cross‐section, which describes successfully the deep inelastic inclusive and exclusive production. The theoretical predictions will be compared with the prospects for future experimental projects in the small‐x region, for instance, the neutrino scattering experiments Neutrino Scattering On Glass and Minerva.
Cosmological mass transport on galactic nuclei and the growth of high‐z quasars
Authors: Prieto J. , Escala A.
Published: March 2019

By using cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, we have studied how supernovae (SNe) and active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback affect the mass transport (MT) process in high‐redshift (z ∼ 6) galaxies and what the consequence of these processes is on black hole (BH) growth. Intergalactic gas falls through cooling flows onto the outer galactic edge. There, the pressure gradient torque associated with turbulent motions is the main factor responsible for MT in the galactic disk beyond the central ∼100 pc. At the central galactic region, gravitational torque tends to be more important at high redshift due the higher mass concentration. These two phenomena, i.e., gravitational and hydrodynamic torques, working together are able to produce accretion rates of order ∼1 M⊙ year−1 at few parsecs from the galactic center, allowing an efficient BH fueling in high‐redshift galaxies. Our results show that, whereas SNe or AGN feedback alone is not able to quench the BH growth, SNe and AGN feedback working together in tandem are able to efficiently quench the BH growth.
Gravitational wave bounds on dirty black holes
Authors: Nielsen A. B. , Birnholz O.
Published: March 2019

Detection of gravitational waves has provided a new way to test black hole (BH) models. We show how simple constraints can be obtained for models that go beyond vacuum Einstein gravity solutions of binary BH mergers. Generic stationary metrics, termed dirty BHs in the literature, are not vacuum solutions of the Einstein equations. These models are, however, general enough to describe BHs surrounded by matter fields. Gravitational wave constraints already rule out certain parts of parameter space for these solutions, including certain parameters describing objects without horizons that have recently been studied in the context of pseudo‐complex general relativity.
Infinite nuclear matter characteristics of the finite nuclei within relativistic mean‐field formalism
Authors: Bhuyan M. , Patra S. K. , Carlson B. V.
Published: March 2019

We investigate the mass dependence of the nuclear structure and the effective symmetry energy for the Kr and Ba nuclei. The axially deformed self‐consistent relativistic mean field with the nonlinear NL3* parameter set is used in the analysis. The coherent density fluctuation model is adopted to formulate the nuclear matter observables such as symmetry energy, neutron pressure, and symmetry energy curvature of finite nuclei as a function of the radius. We found a notable signature of the shell/subshell closure at N = 50 and 82 for the isotopic chains of Kr and Ba nuclei, respectively.
The effective relativistic quantum field theory for nuclear matter with many‐body forces revisited
Authors: Zen Vasconcellos C. A. , Razeira M. , Bodmann B.
Published: March 2019

The quantum hydrodynamics (QHD) model with derivative parametric couplings represents, in this contribution, the starting point of our formulation. The striking aspect of this model is that it allows the theoretical simulation, through effective couplings, of the presence of many‐body forces in nuclear matter involving nonlinear meson self‐interaction and meson cross‐interaction terms in the scalar–isoscalar and scalar–isovector meson sectors. In this study, on the basis of the fundamental concept of naturalness in relativistic field theory, we extend the descriptive domain of the dynamics of the model to the vector–isoscalar and vector–isovector meson sectors. Among other topics, we discuss the connection of this theory with other known effective QHD models of the literature and its potentiality in describing a new physics for dense nuclear matter and neutron star matter.