bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characteristic Mode Analysis and Design of Wide Band MIMO Antenna Consisting of Metamaterial Unit Cell
Authors: Jabire Adamu Halilu , Zheng Hong-Xing , Abdu Anas , Song Zhiwei
Published: January 2019

This paper presents a full wave simulation and characteristic mode-based design of a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antenna at 5.8 GHz for wireless local area network applications. The driven analysis comprises two antennas that are placed orthogonal to each other. A metamaterial unit structure in the form of a rectangular loop resonator is placed around the antenna element to reduce the electromagnetic interference and to increase the isolation between the two monopoles. A characteristic mode technique is employed to find out the dominant mode of the proposed antenna without a feeding port. It was revealed that mode 1 was the dominant mode among the three modes used. The MIMO antenna is constructed and measured using a vector network analyzer. A good isolation of less than 25 dB was attained with a wide impedance bandwidth of 65.5%.
A Model of an Oscillatory Neural Network with Multilevel Neurons for Pattern Recognition and Computing
Authors: Velichko Andrei , Belyaev Maksim , Boriskov Petr
Published: January 2019

The current study uses a novel method of multilevel neurons and high order synchronization effects described by a family of special metrics, for pattern recognition in an oscillatory neural network (ONN). The output oscillator (neuron) of the network has multilevel variations in its synchronization value with the reference oscillator, and allows classification of an input pattern into a set of classes. The ONN model is implemented on thermally-coupled vanadium dioxide oscillators. The ONN is trained by the simulated annealing algorithm for selection of the network parameters. The results demonstrate that ONN is capable of classifying 512 visual patterns (as a cell array 3 × 3, distributed by symmetry into 102 classes) into a set of classes with a maximum number of elements up to fourteen. The classification capability of the network depends on the interior noise level and synchronization effectiveness parameter. The model allows for designing multilevel output cascades of neural networks with high net data throughput. The presented method can be applied in ONNs with various coupling mechanisms and oscillator topology.
An Extended Approach for Validation and Optimization of Position Sensor Signal Processing in Electric Drive Trains
Authors: Datlinger Christoph , Hirz Mario
Published: January 2019

Due to the increasing electrification of automotive drive train systems, accurate position and speed sensors play an important role to achieve an optimum drive train performance and driving range. These sensor systems determine the rotor shaft position to deliver exact data for efficient drive train control. The system itself must be reliable, sufficiently accurate and cost efficient at the same time. In this way, the design process of the sensor system is influenced by a trade-off, which influences the system performance in view of different parameters, e.g., resolution and data processing accuracy. The focus of the present work is to introduce a method for benchmarking the performance of not only the rotor shaft position sensor, but the whole electric drive train sensor systems by use of a highly accurate reference system on a specifically developed test bench. To achieve a significant benchmark statement by determination of the rotor position angle error, the independent measuring systems, the automotive drive train system and the reference system are synchronized by the use of a common trigger/clock signal. The mentioned signal defines the time steps of the system under test rotor position angle capturing procedure and those of the reference system simultaneously. This enables a common time-base for two independent working measurement systems. This publication provides information about a concept for enhanced rotor position sensor evaluation that enables the merging of real-time data processing with test bench measurement. This procedure provides an important basis for the selection and optimization of position sensor systems for sophisticated electric powertrains.
LOS-Based Equal Gain Transmission and Combining in General Frequency-Selective Ricean Massive MIMO Channels
Authors: Yan Qiuna , Sun Yu , Yue Dian-Wu
Published: January 2019

In general frequency-selective Ricean fading environments with doubly-ended spatial correlation, this paper investigates the spectral efficiency of a broadband massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system. In particular, in order to reduce overhead of channel estimation effectively, it proposes a scheme of equal gain transmission and combining, which is only based on line- of-sight (LOS) component and has low hardware complexity. With the scheme, several interesting transmit power scaling properties without and with spatial correlation are derived when the number of antennas at the transmitter or the number of antennas at the receiver grows in an unlimited way. Furthermore, the asymptotical rate analysis is extended to the cooperative relaying scenarios with decode-and-forward and amplify-and-forward protocols, respectively, and then two novel power scaling laws are given.
Efficient Cumulant-Based Methods for Joint Angle and Frequency Estimation Using Spatial-Temporal Smoothing
Authors: Wang Yuexian , Wang Ling , Yang Xin , Xie Jian , Ng Brian , Zhang Peng
Published: January 2019

Most non-Gaussian signals in wireless communication array systems contain temporal correlation under a high sampling rate, which can offer more accurate direction of arrival (DOA) and frequency estimates and a larger identifiability. However, in practice, the estimation performance may severely degrade in coloured noise environments. To tackle this issue, we propose real-valued joint angle and frequency estimation (JAFE) algorithms for non-Gaussian signals using fourth-order cumulants. By exploiting the temporal correlation embedded in signals, a series of augmented cumulant matrices is constructed. For independent signals, the DOA and frequency estimates can be obtained, respectively, by leveraging a dual rotational invariance property. For coherent signals, the dual rotational invariance is constructed to estimate the generalized steering vectors, which associates the coherent signals into different groups. Then, the coherent signals in each group can be resolved by performing the forward-backward spatial smoothing. The proposed schemes not only improve the estimation accuracy, but also resolve many more signals than sensors. Besides, it is computationally efficient since it performs the estimation by the polynomial rooting in the real number field. Simulation results demonstrate the superiorities of the proposed estimator to its state-of-the-art counterparts on identifiability, estimation accuracy and robustness, especially for coherent signals.
Identifying Near-Perfect Tunneling in Discrete Metamaterial Loaded Waveguides
Authors: Eccleston Kimberley W. , Platt Ian G.
Published: January 2019

Mu-negative and epsilon-negative loaded waveguides taken on their own are nominally cut-off. In ideal circumstances, and when paired in the correct proportions, tunneling will occur. However, due to losses and constraints imposed by finite-sized constituent elements, the ability to experimentally demonstrate tunneling may be hindered. A tunnel identification method has been developed and demonstrated to reveal tunneling behavior that is otherwise obscured. Using ABCD (voltage-current transmission) matrix formulation, the S-parameters of the mu-negative/epsilon-negative loaded waveguide junction is combined with S-parameters of an epsilon-negative loaded waveguide. The method yields symmetric scattering matrices, which allows the effect of losses to be removed to provide yet clearer identification of tunneling.
Effects of Fuel Type and Operation Parameters on Combustion and NOx Emission of the Iron Ore Sintering Process
Authors: Ni Wenjie , Li Haifeng , Zhang Yingyi , Zou Zongshu
Published: January 2019

A transient two-dimensional mathematical model is developed to study the influence of fuel type and operation parameters on combustion and NOx emission during the iron ore sintering process. The model was validated by comparing the model predictions with sintering pot test data. The predictions show reasonable agreement with the averaged values of the test data. In addition to the conventional sintering process, this model can also predict new processes such as flue gas recirculation, gas fuel injection, and fuel layered distribution. The simulation results show that the fuel NOx is the main part of the NOx emission during sintering, and thermal NOx forms a very little part. The produced NOx can be reduced not only by coke but also by CO around coke particles, with reduction proportions of 50% and 10%, respectively. Two types of coke A and B were compared. With Coke A as solid fuel and consumption of 3.8%, the NOx emission was 320 ppm. Increasing the replacement of Coke A with Coke B, the NOx emission was decreased, being decreased by 28.13% to 230 ppm with the replacement proportion of 50%. When only Coke B was used, the NOx emissions could be lowered by 53.13% to 150 ppm. Decreasing the particle size from 1.6 mm to 1.2 mm led the NOx emission to be increased by 10.93% from 320 ppm to 355 ppm. With Coke A as the only solid fuel, increasing the fuel ratio to 4.2% led the NOx emission to be increased by 9.38% to 350 ppm; increasing the oxygen content of inlet air from 21% to 30% led the NOx emission to be increased by 15.00% from 320 ppm to 368 ppm.
Vinasse Treatment within the Sugarcane-Ethanol Industry Using Ozone Combined with Anaerobic and Aerobic Microbial Processes
Authors: Reis Cristiano E. R. , Bento Heitor B. S. , Alves Thiago M. , Carvalho Ana K. F. , De Castro Heizir F.
Published: January 2019

The production of ethanol from sugarcane or molasses generates vinasse, a residue rich in organic matter and minerals. Vinasse is often used in fertilization and irrigation practices, which may be linked to negative environmental outcomes if excess is applied. Herein, we introduce a novel alternative to the treatment of vinasse promoting the reduction in Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) levels, phenolic compounds, and its mineral content through the coupling of ozone treatment, anaerobic digestion, and the aerobic growth of fungi. The ozone treatment is able to remove about 30% of the total COD, and deplete the concentration of phenolic compounds, while anaerobic digestion produces biogas and generates vinasse digestate, which is less biorecalcitrant than raw vinasse. The aerobic fungal growth generates oleaginous fungal biomass and promotes over 80% of Kjeldahl-Nitrogen in the vinasse. If vinasse were treated following the sequence of anaerobic digestion, aerobic fungal growth, and ozone treatment, the effluent would have about 95% of the COD decreased, complete removal of phenolic compounds, and over 80% of Kjeldahl-Nitrogen.
The Dual Method Approach (DMA) Resolves Measurement Range Limitations of Heat Pulse Velocity Sap Flow Sensors
Authors: Forster Michael A.
Published: January 2019

Sap flow, the movement of fluid in the xylem of plants, is commonly measured with the heat pulse velocity (Vh) family of methods. The observable range of Vh in plants is ~−10 to ~+270 cm/h. However, most Vh methods only measure a limited portion of this range, which restricts their utility. Previous research attempted to extend the range of Vh methods, yet these approaches were analytically intensive or impractical to implement. The Dual Method Approach (DMA), which is derived from the optimal measurement ranges of two Vh methods, the Tmax and the heat ratio method (HRM), also known as the “slow rates of flow” method (SRFM), is proposed to measure the full range of sap flow observable in plants. The DMA adopts an algorithm to dynamically choose the optimal Vh measurement via the Tmax or HRM/SRFM. The DMA was tested by measuring sap flux density (Js) on Tecoma capensis (Thunb.) Lindl., stems and comparing the results against Js measured gravimetrically. The DMA successfully measured the entire range of Vh observed in the experiment from 0.020 to 168.578 cm/h, whereas the HRM/SRFM range was between 0.020 and 45.063 cm/h, and the Tmax range was between 2.049 cm/h and 168.578 cm/h. A linear regression of DMA Js against gravimetric Js found an R2 of 0.918 and error of 1.2%, whereas the HRM had an R2 of 0.458 and an error of 49.1%, and the Tmax had an R2 of 0.826 and an error of 0.5%. Different methods to calculate sapwood thermal diffusivity (k) were also compared with the kVand method showing better accuracy. This study demonstrates that the DMA can measure the entire range of Vh in plants and improve the accuracy of sap flow measurements.
Relationships among Root–Shoot Ratio, Early Growth, and Health of Hybrid Poplar and Willow Clones Grown in Different Landfill Soils
Authors: Rogers Elizabeth R. , Zalesny Ronald S. , Hallett Richard A. , Headlee William L. , Wiese Adam H.
Published: January 2019

Root–shoot allocation of biomass is an underrepresented criterion that could be used for tree selection in phytoremediation. We evaluated how root–shoot allocations relate to biomass production and overall health of poplar and willow clones grown in landfill soil treatments. Fifteen poplar clones and nine willows were grown in a greenhouse for 65 days in soils from five Wisconsin landfills and one greenhouse control. We tested for treatment, clone, and interaction differences in root–shoot ratio (RSR), health, and growth index, along with relationships between RSR with diameter, health, height, total biomass, and growth index. Treatments, clones, and their interactions were not significantly different for poplar RSR, but willow clones differed (p = 0.0049). Health significantly varied among willow clones (p < 0.0001) and among the clone × treatment interaction for poplars (p = 0.0196). Analysis of means showed that willow clones ‘Allegany’ and ‘S365’ exhibited 28% and 21% significantly greater health scores than the overall mean, respectively. Root–shoot ratio was not significantly correlated with health in either genus but was positively correlated with growth index for poplars, which was corroborated via regression analyses. Selecting clones based on a combination of biomass allocation, health, and growth indices may be useful for using phyto-recurrent selection to satisfy site-specific ecosystem services objectives.
Drought Impact on Leaf Phenology and Spring Frost Susceptibility in a Quercus robur L. Provenance Trial
Authors: Čehulić Ivica , Sever Krunoslav , Katičić Bogdan Ida , Jazbec Anamarija , Škvorc Željko , Bogdan Saša
Published: January 2019

Research highlights: The susceptibility of oaks to late spring and early autumn frosts is directly related to their leaf phenology. Drought may alter the leaf phenology and therefore frost tolerance of oaks. However, the effects of drought on oak leaf phenology and frost resistance have not been thoroughly studied. Background and objectives: One of the consequences of climate change is an increase in the frequency of dry episodes during the vegetation period. Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) is an economically and ecologically important forest tree species that prefers humid habitats. Therefore, knowledge of the impact of drought on this species is of great importance for the adaptation of forestry strategies and practices to altered environmental conditions. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of drought on leaf phenology and spring frost susceptibility in nine provenances. Materials and methods: One-year-old saplings originating from nine European provenances were used in the trial. The saplings were exposed to experimental drought and then re-watered in two subsequent years. Spring and autumn leaf phenology were scored. The trial was impacted by a late spring frost in the third year, and the resulting leaf frost injury was scored. The effects of drought treatment on the phenology and frost susceptibility of plants from the provenances were analysed. Results: Leaf phenology of plants from most of the studied provenances was significantly influenced by the drought treatment (p < 0.001). Drought induced a carry-over effect on flushing phenology, which was observed as delayed bud burst (from 0.6 to 2.4 days) in the second year and as advanced bud burst (from 0.1 to 6.3 days) in the third year. Therefore, opposite shifts in flushing phenology may be induced as a result of differences in the time span when plants sense water deficits. In contrast to flushing, autumn leaf phenology was unambiguously delayed following the drought treatments for all studied provenances (from 2.1 to 25.8 days). Differences in late frost susceptibility were predominantly caused by among-provenance differences in flushing phenology. However, the drought treatment significantly increased frost susceptibility in the plants (the rate of frost-injured plants per provenance increased from 3% to 78%). This higher susceptibility to spring frost was most likely caused by the advanced flushing phenology that resulted from the drought treatment in the previous year.
Effects of Topography on Tree Community Structure in a Deciduous Broad-Leaved Forest in North-Central China
Authors: Shi Hang , Xie Fenglin , Zhou Quan , Shu Xiao , Zhang Kerong , Dang Chaoqi , Feng Shuiyuan , Zhang Quanfa , Dang Haishan
Published: January 2019

Topography strongly influences the compositional structure of tree communities and plays a fundamental role in classifying habitats. Here, data of topography and 16 dominant tree species abundance were collected in a fully mapped 25-ha forest plot in the Qinling Mountains of north-central China. Multivariate regression trees (MRT) were used to categorize the habitats, and habitat associations were examined using the torus-translation test. The relative contributions of topographic and spatial variables to the total community structure were also examined by variation partitioning. The results showed the inconsistency in association of species with habitats across life stages with a few exceptions. Topographic variables [a + b] explained 11% and 19% of total variance at adult and juvenile stage, respectively. In contrast, spatial factors alone [c] explained more variation than topographic factors, revealing strong seed dispersal limitation in species composition in the 25-ha forest plot. Thus, the inconsistent associations of species and habitats coupled with high portion of variation of species composition explained by topographic and spatial factors might suggest that niche process and dispersal limitation had potential influences on species assemblage in the deciduous broad-leaved forest in north-central China.
Characterization of Sparkling Wines According to Polyphenolic Profiles Obtained by HPLC-UV/Vis and Principal Component Analysis
Authors: Izquierdo-Llopart Anaïs , Saurina Javier
Published: January 2019

Cava is a sparkling wine obtained by a secondary fermentation in its own bottle. Grape skin contains several compounds, such as polyphenols, which act like natural protectors and provide flavor and color to the wines. In this paper, a previously optimized method based on reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet/visible (UV/Vis) detection has been applied to determine polyphenols in cava wines. Compounds have been separated in a C18 core-shell column using 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution and methanol as the components of the mobile phase. Chromatograms have been recorded at 280, 310 and 370 nm to gain information on the composition of benzoic acids, hidroxycinnamic acids and flavonoids, respectively. HPLC-UV/vis data consisting of compositional profiles of relevant analytes has been exploited to characterize cava wines produced from different base wine blends using chemometrics. Other oenological variables, such as vintage, aging or malolatic fermentation, have been fixed over all the samples to avoid their influence on the description. Principal component analysis and other statistic methods have been used to extract of the underlying information, providing an excellent discrimination of samples according to grape varieties and coupages.
MHD Accretion Disk Winds: The Key to AGN Phenomenology?
Authors: Kazanas Demosthenes
Published: January 2019

Accretion disks are the structures which mediate the conversion of the kinetic energy of plasma accreting onto a compact object (assumed here to be a black hole) into the observed radiation, in the process of removing the plasma’s angular momentum so that it can accrete onto the black hole. There has been mounting evidence that these structures are accompanied by winds whose extent spans a large number of decades in radius. Most importantly, it was found that in order to satisfy the winds’ observational constraints, their mass flux must increase with the distance from the accreting object; therefore, the mass accretion rate on the disk must decrease with the distance from the gravitating object, with most mass available for accretion expelled before reaching the gravitating object’s vicinity. This reduction in mass flux with radius leads to accretion disk properties that can account naturally for the AGN relative luminosities of their Optical-UV and X-ray components in terms of a single parameter, the dimensionless mass accretion rate. Because this critical parameter is the dimensionless mass accretion rate, it is argued that these models are applicable to accreting black holes across the mass scale, from galactic to extragalactic.
Insights into the Short-Term Tidal Variability of Multibeam Backscatter from Field Experiments on Different Seafloor Types
Authors: Montereale-Gavazzi Giacomo , Roche Marc , Degrendele Koen , Lurton Xavier , Terseleer Nathan , Baeye Matthias , Francken Frederic , Van Lancker Vera
Published: January 2019

Three experiments were conducted in the Belgian part of the North Sea to investigate short-term variation in seafloor backscatter strength (BS) obtained with multibeam echosounders (MBES). Measurements were acquired on predominantly gravelly (offshore) and sandy and muddy (nearshore) areas. Kongsberg EM3002 and EM2040 dual MBES were used to carry out repeated 300-kHz backscatter measurements over tidal cycles (~13 h). Measurements were analysed in complement to an array of ground-truth variables on sediment and current nature and dynamics. Seafloor and water-column sampling was used, as well as benthic landers equipped with different oceanographic sensors. Both angular response (AR) and mosaicked BS were derived. Results point at the high stability of the seafloor BS in the gravelly area (<0.5 dB variability at 45° incidence) and significant variability in the sandy and muddy areas with envelopes of variability >2 dB and 4 dB at 45° respectively. The high-frequency backscatter sensitivity and short-term variability are interpreted and discussed in the light of the available ground-truth data for the three experiments. The envelopes of variability differed considerably between areas and were driven either by external sources (not related to the seafloor sediment), or by intrinsic seafloor properties (typically for dynamic nearshore areas) or by a combination of both. More specifically, within the gravelly areas with a clear water mass, seafloor BS measurements where unambiguous and related directly to the water-sediment interface. Within the sandy nearshore area, the BS was shown to be strongly affected by roughness polarization processes, particularly due to along- and cross-shore current dynamics, which were responsible for the geometric reorganization of the morpho-sedimentary features. In the muddy nearshore area, the BS fluctuation was jointly driven by high-concentrated mud suspension dynamics, together with surficial substrate changes, as well as by water turbidity, increasing the transmission losses. Altogether, this shows that end-users and surveyors need to consider the complexity of the environment since its dynamics may have severe repercussions on the interpretation of BS maps and change-detection applications. Furthermore, the experimental observations revealed the sensitivity of high-frequency BS values to an array of specific configurations of the natural water-sediment interface which are of interest for monitoring applications elsewhere. This encourages the routine acquisition of different and concurrent environmental data together with MBES survey data. In view of promising advances in MBES absolute calibration allowing more straightforward data comparison, further investigations of the drivers of BS variability and sensitivity are required.
Current Status of European Oyster Decline and Restoration in Germany
Authors: Pogoda Bernadette
Published: January 2019

Marine ecosystems of temperate regions are highly modified by human activity and far from their original natural status. The North Sea, known as an intensively used area, has lost its offshore oyster grounds due to overexploitation in a relatively short time. Native oyster beds as a once abundant and ecologically highly important biogenic reef-type have vanished from the North Sea ecosystem in most areas of both their former distribution and magnitude. Worldwide, oyster stocks have been severely exploited over the past centuries. According to estimates, about 85% of the worldwide oyster reef habitats have been destroyed over the course of the last century. This loss of oyster populations has meant far more than just the loss of a valuable food resource. Oyster reefs represent a characteristic benthic community which offers a variety of valuable ecosystem services: better water quality, local decrease of toxic algal blooms, increase in nutrient uptake, increase of bentho-pelagic coupling, increase in species richness, increase of multidimensional biogenic structures which provide habitat, food, and protection for numerous invertebrate and fish species. The aim of oyster restoration is to promote redevelopment of this valuable missing habitat. The development of strategies, methods, and procedures for a sustainable restoration of the European oyster Ostrea edulis in the German North Sea is currently a focus of marine nature conservation. Main drivers for restoring this ecological key species are the enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the marine environment. Results of these investigations will support the future development and implementation of a large-scale and long-term German native oyster restoration programme to re-establish a healthy population of this once-abundant species now absent from the region.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of High-Throughput in 2018
Authors:   High-Throughput Editorial Office
Published: January 2019

Rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing [...]
Crude Oil Degrading Fingerprint and the Overexpression of Oxidase and Invasive Genes for n-hexadecane and Crude Oil Degradation in the Acinetobacter pittii H9-3 Strain
Authors: Wang Yang , Wang Qiuyu , Liu Limei
Published: January 2019

A crude oil-degrading bacterium named strain H9-3 was isolated from crude oil contaminated soil in the Northeastern area of China. Based on its morphological characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence analysis, strain H9-3 is affiliated to Acinetobacter pittii in the group of Gammaproteobacteria. The strain was efficient in removing 36.8% of the initial 10 g·L − 1 of crude oil within 21 days. GC-MS was performed and a preference was shown for n-C10, n-C11, i-C14, i-C17, i-C34, n-C12, n-C13, n-C14, n-C27, n-C32 and i-C13, over n-C16, n-C18–C22, n-C24–n-C31, and n-C36. This can be regarded as the specific fingerprint for crude oil degradation by strain H9-3 of Acinetobacter pittii. In addition to crude oil, it was shown that soybean oil and phenols can be utilized as carbon sources by strain H9-3. It was also shown that aniline and α -naphthol cannot be utilized for growth, but they can be tolerated by strain H9-3. Methylbenzene was neither utilized nor tolerated by strain H9-3. Although n-hexadecane was not preferentially consumed by strain H9-3, during culture with crude oil, it could be utilized for growth when it is the sole carbon source. The degradation of some branched alkanes (i-C14, i-C17 and i-C34) and the preferential degradation of crude oil over phenols could be used as a reference for distinguishing A. pittii from A. calcoaceticus. The difference in gene expression was very significant and was induced by diverse carbon sources, as shown in the qRT-PCR results. The oxidation and adhesion events occurred at high frequency during alkane degration by Acinetobacter pittii strain H9-3 cells.
Photocatalytic Mechanisms for Peroxymonosulfate Activation through the Removal of Methylene Blue: A Case Study
Authors: Rodríguez-Chueca Jorge , Alonso Esther , Singh Devendra Narain
Published: January 2019

Industrial activity is one of the most important sources of water pollution. Yearly, tons of non-biodegradable organic pollutants are discharged, at the least, to wastewater treatment plants. However, biological conventional treatments are unable to degrade them. This research assesses the efficiency of photocatalytic activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) by two different iron species (FeSO4 and Fe3+-citrate) and TiO2. These substances accelerate methylene blue removal by the generation of hydroxyl and sulfate radicals. The required pH and molar ratios PMS:Fe are crucial variables in treatment optimization. The kinetic removal is reduced by the appearance of scavenger reactions in acidic and basic conditions, as well as by the excess of PMS or iron. The best performance is achieved using an Fe3+-citrate as an iron catalyst, reaching the total removal of methylene blue after 15 min of reaction, with a molar ratio of 3.25:1 (1.62 mM of PMS and 0.5 mM Fe3+-citrate). Fe3+-citrate reached higher methylene blue removal than Fe2+ as a consequence of the photolysis of Fe3+-citrate. This photolysis generates H2O2 and a superoxide radical, which together with hydroxyl and sulfate radicals from PMS activation attack methylene blue, degrading it twice as fast as Fe2+ (0.092 min−1 with Fe2+ and 0.188 min−1 with Fe3+-citrate). On the other hand, a synergistic effect between PMS and titanium dioxide (TiO2) was observed (SPMS/TiO2/UV-A = 1.79). This synergistic effect is a consequence of PMS activation by reaction with the free electron on the surface of TiO2. No differences were observed by changing the molar ratio (1.04:1; 0.26:1 and 0.064:1 PMS:TiO2), reaching total removal of methylene blue after 80 min of reaction.
The g-Good-Neighbor Diagnosability of Bubble-Sort Graphs under Preparata, Metze, and Chien’s (PMC) Model and Maeng and Malek’s (MM)* Model
Authors: Wang Shiying , Wang Zhenhua
Published: January 2019

Diagnosability of a multiprocessor system is an important topic of study. A measure for fault diagnosis of the system restrains that every fault-free node has at least g fault-free neighbor vertices, which is called the g-good-neighbor diagnosability of the system. As a famous topology structure of interconnection networks, the n-dimensional bubble-sort graph B n has many good properties. In this paper, we prove that (1) the 1-good-neighbor diagnosability of B n is 2 n − 3 under Preparata, Metze, and Chien’s (PMC) model for n ≥ 4 and Maeng and Malek’s (MM) ∗ model for n ≥ 5 ; (2) the 2-good-neighbor diagnosability of B n is 4 n − 9 under the PMC model and the MM ∗ model for n ≥ 4 ; (3) the 3-good-neighbor diagnosability of B n is 8 n − 25 under the PMC model and the MM ∗ model for n ≥ 7 .
Unstructured Text in EMR Improves Prediction of Death after Surgery in Children
Authors: Akbilgic Oguz , Homayouni Ramin , Heinrich Kevin , Langham Max , Davis Robert
Published: January 2019

Text fields in electronic medical records (EMR) contain information on important factors that influence health outcomes, however, they are underutilized in clinical decision making due to their unstructured nature. We analyzed 6497 inpatient surgical cases with 719,308 free text notes from Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital EMR. We used a text mining approach on preoperative notes to obtain a text-based risk score to predict death within 30 days of surgery. In addition, we evaluated the performance of a hybrid model that included the text-based risk score along with structured data pertaining to clinical risk factors. The C-statistic of a logistic regression model with five-fold cross-validation significantly improved from 0.76 to 0.92 when text-based risk scores were included in addition to structured data. We conclude that preoperative free text notes in EMR include significant information that can predict adverse surgery outcomes.
Different Oviposition Strategies of Closely Related Damselfly Species as an Effective Defense against Parasitoids
Authors: Harabiš Filip , Rusková Tereza , Dolný Aleš
Published: January 2019

Parasitoidism is one of the main causes of insect egg mortality. Parasitoids are often able to detect eggs using semiochemicals released from eggs and disturbed plants. In response, female insects adopt a wide variety of oviposition strategies to reduce the detectability of eggs and subsequent mortality. We evaluated the proportion of parasitized and undeveloped eggs of three common damselfly species from the family Lestidae, the most diverse group of European damselflies, in terms of oviposition strategies, notably clutch patterning and the ability to utilize oviposition substrates with different mechanical properties. We assumed that higher costs associated with some oviposition strategies will be balanced by lower egg mortality. We found that the ability of Chalcolestes viridis to oviposit into very stiff substrates brings benefit in the form of a significantly lower rate of parasitoidism and lower proportion of undeveloped eggs. The fundamentally different phenology of Sympecma fusca and/or their ability to utilize dead plants as oviposition substrate resulted in eggs that were completely free of parasitoids. Our results indicated that ovipositing into substrates that are unsuitable for most damselfly species significantly reduces egg mortality. Notably, none of these oviposition strategies would work unless combined with other adaptations, such as prolonging the duration of the prolarval life stage or the ability to oviposit into stiff tissue.
Larvicidal Activity of Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles from Curcuma zedoaria Essential Oil against Culex quinquefasciatus
Authors: Sutthanont Nataya , Attrapadung Siriluck , Nuchprayoon Surang
Published: January 2019

Culex quinquefasciatus is the major vector of the bancroftian filarial parasite which causes human lymphatic filariasis and St. Louis encephalitis. The simple way to stop the transmission is to control the vector by using synthetic chemicals. However, herbal essential oils have biological properties, such as a larvicidal effect and are ecofriendly to use. In this study, we investigated the larvicidal activity of Curcuma zedoaria essential oil (ZEO) and biosynthesized silver nanoparticles using this essential oil (ZEO-AgNPs). The larvicidal activity against both insecticide-susceptible and -resistant strains of Cx. quinquefasciatus larvae of ZEO were investigated and compared with ZEO-AgNPs. The ZEO-AgNPs showed the utmost toxicity against both strains of Cx. quinquefasciatus. After 24 h of exposure, LC50 and LC99 of ZEO against susceptible strain were 36.32 and 85.11 ppm, respectively. While LC50 and LC99 of ZEO against the resistant strain were 37.29 and 76.79 ppm, respectively. Whereas ZEO-AgNPs offered complete larval mortality within 24 h of exposure, LC50 and LC99 of ZEO-AgNPs against the susceptible strain, were 0.57 and 8.54 ppm, respectively. For the resistant strain, LC50 and LC99 values were 0.64 and 8.88 ppm, respectively. The potency in killing Cx. quinquefasciatus and stability of ZEO-AgNPs have made this product a good candidate for the development of novel natural larvicides.
Cardiovascular Comorbidities in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)—Current Considerations for Clinical Practice
Authors: Trinkmann Frederik , Saur Joachim , Borggrefe Martin , Akin Ibrahim
Published: January 2019

In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular comorbidities are highly prevalent and associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. This coincidence is increasingly seen in context of a “cardiopulmonary continuum” rather than being simply attributed to shared risk factors such as cigarette smoking. Overlapping symptoms such as dyspnea or chest pain lead to a worse prognosis due to missed concomitant diagnoses. Moreover, medication is often withheld as a result of unfounded concerns about side effects. Despite the frequent coincidence, current guidelines are still mostly restricted to the management of the individual disease. Future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies should therefore be guided by an integrative perspective as well as a refined phenotyping of disease entities.
CTLA-4 Genetic Variants Predict Survival in Patients with Sepsis
Authors: Mewes Caspar , Büttner Benedikt , Hinz José , Alpert Ayelet , Popov Aron-Frederik , Ghadimi Michael , Beissbarth Tim , Tzvetkov Mladen , Jensen Ole , Runzheimer Julius , Quintel Michael , Shen-Orr Shai , Bergmann Ingo , Mansur Ashham
Published: January 2019

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) is a coinhibitory checkpoint protein expressed on the surface of T cells. A recent study by our working group revealed that the rs231775 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the CTLA-4 gene was associated with the survival of patients with sepsis and served as an independent prognostic variable. To further investigate the impact of CTLA-4 genetic variants on sepsis survival, we examined the effect of two functional SNPs, CTLA-4 rs733618 and CTLA-4 rs3087243, and inferred haplotypes, on the survival of 644 prospectively enrolled septic patients. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis revealed significantly lower 90-day mortality for rs3087243 G allele carriers (n = 502) than for AA-homozygous (n = 142) patients (27.3% vs. 40.8%, p = 0.0024). Likewise, lower 90-day mortality was observed for TAA haplotype-negative patients (n = 197; compound rs733618 T/rs231775 A/rs3087243 A) than for patients carrying the TAA haplotype (n = 447; 24.4% vs. 32.9%, p = 0.0265). Carrying the rs3087243 G allele hazard ratio (HR): 0.667; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.489–0.909; p = 0.0103) or not carrying the TAA haplotype (HR: 0.685; 95% CI: 0.491–0.956; p = 0.0262) remained significant covariates for 90-day survival in the multivariate Cox regression analysis and thus served as independent prognostic variables. In conclusion, our findings underscore the significance of CTLA-4 genetic variants as predictors of survival of patients with sepsis.
Meta-Analysis: Urinary Calprotectin for Discrimination of Intrinsic and Prerenal Acute Kidney Injury
Authors: Chen Jia-Jin , Fan Pei-Chun , Kou George , Chang Su-Wei , Chen Yi-Ting , Lee Cheng-Chia , Chang Chih-Hsiang
Published: January 2019

Background: Urinary calprotectin is a novel biomarker that distinguishes between intrinsic or prerenal acute kidney injury (AKI) in different studies. However, these studies were based on different populations and different AKI criteria. We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of urinary calprotectin and compared its diagnostic performance in different AKI criteria and study populations. Method: In accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane database up to September 2018. The diagnostic performance of urinary calprotectin (sensitivity, specificity, predictive ratio, and cutoff point) was extracted and evaluated. Result: This study included six studies with a total of 502 patients. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.90 and 0.93, respectively. The pooled positive likelihood ratio (LR) was 15.15, and the negative LR was 0.11. The symmetric summary receiver operating characteristic (symmetric SROC) with pooled diagnostic accuracy was 0.9667. The relative diagnostic odds ratio (RDOC) of the adult to pediatric population and RDOCs of different acute kidney injury criteria showed no significant difference in their diagnostic accuracy. Conclusion: Urinary calprotectin is a good diagnostic tool for the discrimination of intrinsic and prerenal AKI under careful inspection after exclusion of urinary tract infection and urogenital malignancies. Its performance is not affected by different AKI criteria and adult or pediatric populations.
Involvement of HPV Infection in the Release of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Authors: Kindt Nadège , Descamps Géraldine , Lechien Jérôme R. , Remmelink Myriam , Colet Jean-Marie , Wattiez Ruddy , Berchem Guy , Journe Fabrice , Saussez Sven
Published: January 2019

Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection has been well-established as a risk factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The carcinogenic effect of HPV is mainly due to the E6 and E7 oncoproteins, which inhibit the functions of p53 and pRB, respectively. These oncoproteins could also play a role in the Warburg effect, thus favoring tumor immune escape. Here, we demonstrated that the pro-inflammatory cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is expressed at higher levels in HPV-negative patients than in HPV-positive patients. However, the secretion of MIF is higher in HPV-positive human HNSCC cell lines, than in HPV-negative cell lines. In-HPV positive cells, the half inhibitory concentration (IC50) of MIF inhibitor (4-iodo-6-phenylpyrimidine (4-IPP)) is higher than that in HPV-negative cells. This result was confirmed in vitro and in vivo by the use of murine SCCVII cell lines expressing either E6 or E7, or both E6 and E7. Finally, to examine the mechanism of MIF secretion, we conducted proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) experiments, and observed that lactate production is increased in both the intracellular and conditioned media of HPV-positive cells. In conclusion, our data suggest that the stimulation of enzymes participating in the Warburg effect by E6 and E7 oncoproteins increases lactate production and hypoxia inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) expression, and finally induces MIF secretion.
Assessment of Dental Implants with Modified Calcium-Phosphate Surface in a Multicenter, Prospective, Non-Interventional Study: Results up to 50 Months of Follow-Up
Authors: Subirà-Pifarré Carles , Masuet-Aumatell Cristina , Rodado Alonso Carlos , Medina Madrid Ricardo , Galletti Cosimo
Published: January 2019

Prescription of implant treatments is very widespread at present, mainly due to the low rate of annual loss and, to date, few studies have assessed their survival in the routine clinical practice of dentistry. The purpose of this observational study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dental implants with a calcium-phosphate surface in the daily practice of dental clinics. A multicenter, prospective, non-interventional, observational study was performed, in which three experienced practitioners (one maxillofacial and two oral surgeons) inserted implants using standard external and internal hexagon connections in adult patients requiring ≥1 osseointegrated implants to replace missing teeth. Follow-up was performed for 24 months after implant loading. Two hundred and twelve subjects were included (51.5% men), with a mean age of 51.2 ± 11.90 years, in whom 544 implants were inserted. 87.2% of the patients received 1–4 implants. The preferred connection system was internal hexagon (73.5%). There were nine failures, with an interval survival rate (ISR) at 24 months of 100% and a cumulative survival rate (CSR) of 98.3%. In conclusion, implants with a modified calcium-phosphate surface are associated with a high rate of survival and may be considered a method of choice in clinical practice.
Resolution Limits in Photoacoustic Imaging Caused by Acoustic Attenuation
Authors: Burgholzer Peter , Bauer-Marschallinger Johannes , Reitinger Bernhard , Berer Thomas
Published: January 2019

In conventional photoacoustic tomography, several effects contribute to the loss of resolution, such as the limited bandwidth and the finite size of the transducer, or the space-dependent speed of sound. They can all be compensated (in principle) technically or numerically. Frequency-dependent acoustic attenuation also limits spatial resolution by reducing the bandwidth of the photoacoustic signal, which can be numerically compensated only up to a theoretical limit given by thermodynamics. The entropy production, which is the dissipated energy of the acoustic wave divided by the temperature, turns out to be equal to the information loss, which cannot be compensated for by any reconstruction method. This is demonstrated for the propagation of planar acoustic waves in water, which are induced by short laser pulses and measured by piezoelectric acoustical transducers. It turns out that for water, where the acoustic attenuation is proportional to the squared frequency, the resolution limit is proportional to the square root of the distance and inversely proportional to the square root of the logarithm of the signal-to-noise ratio. The proposed method could be used in future work for media other than water, such as biological tissue, where acoustic attenuation has a different power-law frequency dependence.
Enhancement and Segmentation Workflow for the Developing Zebrafish Vasculature
Authors: Kugler Elisabeth , Plant Karen , Chico Timothy , Armitage Paul
Published: January 2019

Zebrafish have become an established in vivo vertebrate model to study cardiovascular development and disease. However, most published studies of the zebrafish vascular architecture rely on subjective visual assessment, rather than objective quantification. In this paper, we used state-of-the-art light sheet fluorescence microscopy to visualize the vasculature in transgenic fluorescent reporter zebrafish. Analysis of image quality, vascular enhancement methods, and segmentation approaches were performed in the framework of the open-source software Fiji to allow dissemination and reproducibility. Here, we build on a previously developed image processing pipeline; evaluate its applicability to a wider range of data; apply and evaluate an alternative vascular enhancement method; and, finally, suggest a work-flow for successful segmentation of the embryonic zebrafish vasculature.
Comparison of Piezoelectric and Optical Projection Imaging for Three-Dimensional In Vivo Photoacoustic Tomography
Authors: Nuster Robert , Paltauf Günther
Published: January 2019

Ultrasound sensor arrays for photoacoustic tomography (PAT) are investigated that create line projections of the pressure generated in an object by pulsed light illumination. Projections over a range of viewing angles enable the reconstruction of a three-dimensional image. Two line-integrating arrays are compared in this study for the in vivo imaging of vasculature, a piezoelectric array, and a camera-based setup that captures snapshots of the acoustic field emanating from the sample. An array consisting of 64 line-shaped sensors made of piezoelectric polymer film, which was arranged on a half-cylindrical area, was used to acquire spatiotemporal data from a human finger. The optical setup used phase contrast to visualize the acoustic field generated in the leg of a mouse after a selected delay time. Time-domain back projection and frequency-domain back propagation were used for image reconstruction from the piezoelectric and optical data, respectively. The comparison yielded an about threefold higher resolution for the optical setup and an about 13-fold higher sensitivity of the piezoelectric array. Due to the high density of data in the camera images, the optical technique gave images without streak artifacts, which were visible in the piezo array images due to the discrete detector positions. Overall, both detection concepts are suited for almost real-time projection imaging and three-dimensional imaging with a data acquisition time of less than a minute without averaging, which was limited by the repetition rate of the laser.