bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Investigation Into the Occurrence of Hydrate-Bearing Sediments Offshore the East Coast of Trinidad and Tobago
Authors: Seales Maxian B. , Silva Jill Marcelle-De , Ertekin Turgay , Wang John Yilin
Published: April 2016

It is anticipated that increasing pressure for cleaner burning fuels and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will cause a shift in global energy demand from oil to natural gas. In the near future, natural gas is expected to replace crude oil as the fuel of choice for energy production and transportation. In Trinidad and Tobago, natural-gas production has already surpassed crude-oil production. Natural gas accounts for 80% of the country's energy export, but the reserves-to-production ratio is only 7 years (year 2022). Consequently, the Ministry of Energy has taken steps to supplement the natural-gas resource base by supporting initiatives that can potentially bolster the nation's proven gas reserves. Such initiatives include invitations to tender on deepwater blocks offshore Trinidad and Tobago's gas-rich east coast.

Even though initiatives are under way to boost conventional natural-gas reserves, effort was not placed on identifying and/or characterizing unconventional gas resources such as natural-gas hydrates. Furthermore, the potential hazards of submarine gas hydrates on deepwater exploration and production (E&P) activities on Trinidad and Tobago's east coast were not assessed. The results presented in this manuscript provide oil-and-gas operators with a means of proactively managing the risk associated with natural-gas hydrates. More importantly, this study acts as a necessary precursor to future studies in characterizing and, later, harnessing the energy potential of Trinidad-and-Tobago's natural-gas-hydrate deposits.
Defluoridation of water by chemical impregnated Artocarpus hirsutus sawdust
Authors: Dhanasekaran P. , Satya Sai P. M. , Anandbabu C. , Rajan K. K.
Published: April 2016

Sawdust of Artocarpus hirsutus impregnated with ferric hydroxide and activated alumina (SFAA) has been studied for defluoridation of water. This paper presents a detailed surface characterization of the adsorbent by studying pore size distribution and surface morphology. By combining the constituents in the right proportion, an adsorbent with a well-developed pore size distribution could be synthesized. The effects of various parameters on fluoride adsorption by SFAA are investigated. The adsorption capacity of SFAA is considerably higher than that of many adsorbents including activated alumina. More importantly, the adsorption capacity remains unchanged for the pH range of 1 to 9, which also makes it attractive for wastewater treatment. Besides a higher efficiency supported by the results of column studies, this adsorbent is economic as the sawdust constitutes 40% by weight of the total adsorbent. Kinetic studies indicate that fluoride adsorption on SFAA follows pseudo second-order model. Breakthrough adsorption capacity of SFAA is 1.21 mg/g, as compared with 0.41 mg/g for activated alumina.
Enumeration of sulphate-reducing bacteria for assessing potential for hydrogen sulphide production in urban drainage systems
Authors: Karunakaran Esther , Vernon Dejan , Biggs Catherine A. , Saul Adrian , Crawford David , Jensen Henriette
Published: April 2016

Urban drainage structures have increasing demands which can lead to increasing hydrogen sulphide related problems forming in places where they have not previously been prevalent. This puts pressure on the methods currently used to monitor and diagnose these problems and more sophisticated methods may be needed for identifying the origin of the problems. Molecular microbiological techniques, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction, offer a potential alternative for identifying and quantifying bacteria likely to be causing the production of hydrogen sulphide, information that, when combined with an appropriate sampling programme, can then be used to identify the potentially most effective remediation technique. The application of these methods in urban drainage systems is, however, not always simple, but good results can be achieved. In this study bacteria producing hydrogen sulphide were quantified in three small combined sewer overflow storage tanks. Bacterial counts were compared between wastewater, biofilms and sediments. Similar numbers were found in the wastewater and biofilms, with the numbers in the sediments being lower. If remediation methods for hydrogen sulphide are deemed necessary in the tanks, methods that target both the wastewater and the biofilms should therefore be considered.
Optimization of permeate flux produced by solar energy driven membrane distillation process using central composite design approach
Authors: Bouguecha Salah T. , Boubakri Ali , Aly Samir E. , Al-Beirutty Mohammad H. , Hamdi Mohamed M.
Published: April 2016

Membrane distillation (MD) is considered as a relatively high-energy requirement. To overcome this drawback, it is recommended to couple the MD process with solar energy as the renewable energy source in order to provide heat energy required to optimize its performance to produce permeate flux. In the present work, an original solar energy driven direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) pilot plant was built and tested under actual weather conditions at Jeddah, KSA, in order to model and optimize permeate flux. The dependency of permeate flux on various operating parameters such as feed temperature (46.6–63.4°C), permeate temperature (6.6–23.4°C), feed flow rate (199–451L/h) and permeate flow rate (199–451L/h) was studied by response surface methodology based on central composite design approach. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that all independent variables had significant influence on the model (where P-value <0.05). The high coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.9644 and Radj2 = 0.9261) obtained by ANOVA demonstrated good correlation between experimental and predicted values of the response. The optimized conditions, determined using desirability function, were Tf = 63.4°C, Tp = 6.6°C, Qf = 451L/h and Qp = 451L/h. Under these conditions, the maximum permeate flux of 6.122kg/m2.h was achieved, which was close to the predicted value of 6.398kg/m2.h.
Progression of Kidney Disease in Indigenous Australians: The eGFR Follow-up Study
Authors: Maple-Brown Louise J. , Hughes Jaquelyne T. , Ritte Rebecca , Barzi Federica , Hoy Wendy E. , Lawton Paul D. , Jones Graham R.D. , Death Elizabeth , Simmonds Alison , Sinha Ashim K. , Cherian Sajiv , Thomas Mark A.B. , McDermott Robyn , Brown Alex D.H. , O’Dea Kerin , Jerums George , Cass Alan , MacIsaac Richard J.
Published: April 2016

Background and objectives

Indigenous Australians experience a heavy burden of CKD. To address this burden, the eGFR Follow-Up Study recruited and followed an Indigenous Australian cohort from regions of Australia with the greatest ESRD burden. We sought to better understand factors contributing to the progression of kidney disease. Specific objectives were to assess rates of progression of eGFR in Indigenous Australians with and without CKD and identify factors associated with a decline in eGFR.

Design, setting, participants, & measurements

This observational longitudinal study of Indigenous Australian adults was conducted in >20 sites. The baseline cohort was recruited from community and primary care clinic sites across five strata of health, diabetes status, and kidney function. Participants were then invited to follow up at 2–4 years; if unavailable, vital status, progression to RRT, and serum creatinine were obtained from medical records. Primary outcomes were annual eGFR change and combined renal outcome (first of ≥30% eGFR decline with follow-up eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m2, progression to RRT, or renal death).

Results

Participants (n=550) were followed for a median of 3.0 years. Baseline and follow-up eGFR (geometric mean [95% confidence interval], 83.9 (80.7 to 87.3) and 70.1 (65.9 to 74.5) ml/min per 1.73 m2, respectively. Overall mean annual eGFR change was −3.1 (−3.6 to −2.5) ml/min per 1.73 m2. Stratified by baseline eGFR (≥90, 60–89, <60 ml/min per 1.73 m2), annual eGFR changes were −3.0 (−3.6 to −2.4), −1.9 (−3.3 to −0.5), and −5.0 (−6.5 to −3.6) ml/min per 1.73 m2. Across baseline eGFR categories, annual eGFR decline was greatest among adults with baseline albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) >265 mg/g (30 mg/mmol). Baseline determinants of the combined renal outcome (experienced by 66 participants) were higher urine ACR, diabetes, lower measured GFR, and higher C-reactive protein.

Conclusions

The observed eGFR decline was three times higher than described in nonindigenous populations. ACR was confirmed as a powerful predictor for eGFR decline across diverse geographic regions.
Modelling of polyester fabric dyeing in the presence of ultrasonic waves
Authors: Kodric Marija , Stojanovic Sandra , Markovic Branka , Djordjevic Dragan
Published: April 2016

In this paper, modelling of dyeing, i.e. adsorptive behaviour of disperse dyes on polyester fibres (dyeing), under the influence of ultrasound has been considered with the aim of getting the data about mechanisms of binding the dyes and defining the conditions of dyeing process of this synthetic fibres along with additional energy source without the use of carriers, compounds that increase permeability of the fibres and help dyeing. Dyeing - adsorption is conducted under different conditions, and the concentration of dyes, mass of the substrate, recipes and time of dyeing were being varied. It has been established that ultrasound allows dyeing without carriers and the efficiency of dyeing depends on the time of contact, initial concentration of the dye and the amount of absorbent - material. There is the continuity of growth of the amount of bound dye to the mass of the absorbent. Characteristic graphs, obtained from Langmuir isotherm, have confirmed that this model ensures precise description of polyester dyeing by disperse dye. Kinetic of dyeing has been remarkably interpreted by pseudo second-order in regards to the high functionality.
Spectroscopic evidence of anthropogenic compounds extraction from polymers by fluorescent dissolved organic matter in natural water
Authors: Miranda M. , Trojzuck A. , Voss D. , Gassmann S. , Zielinski O.
Published: April 2016

FDOM is one of the most important carriers of anthropogenic compounds in natural waters. It can combine with environmental contaminants and polymers to form diverse chemical structures. To this end, here a microfluidic chip was designed for the analysis of these changes in fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) fingerprints due to thermal treatment and varying time intervals of exposure. Excitation Emission Matrix Spectroscopy (EEMS) approach was utilized to detect and identify the inherent compounds in sampled FDOM. Strong direct correlations were founded, Spearman rank correlation values (ρ = 0.85 at α = 0.1, n = 4) and linear correlation R2 = 0.8359 were noted between thermal treatment pattern 2 and fluorescence intensity of samples. Materials, acrylic based glue and cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) polymer, used to design the microfluidic sensor were determined to possess unique spectral features in the ultraviolet to green spectrum using EEMS. The study therefore provides an insight on methods to identify contaminants in natural waters. This underlines the potential of optical sensors providing measurements at fast intervals, enabling environmental monitoring.
Testing the Causal Links Between School Climate, School Violence, and School Academic Performance
Authors: Benbenishty Rami , Astor Ron Avi , Roziner Ilan , Wrabel Stephani L.
Published: April 2016

The present study explores the causal link between school climate, school violence, and a school’s general academic performance over time using a school-level, cross-lagged panel autoregressive modeling design. We hypothesized that reductions in school violence and climate improvement would lead to schools’ overall improved academic performance. School-level secondary analysis of the California Healthy Kids Survey was conducted at three points in time. Findings offer credible evidence that a school’s overall improvement in academic performance is a central causal factor in reducing violence and enhancing a school’s climate. In the discussion, we suggest that when strong efforts to improve academics are taken, schools may tend to include issues of climate and victimization as part of those academic reform efforts.
Does Size Matter? The Implications of Firm Size on Enterprise Systems Success
Authors: Sedera Darshana
Published: April 2016

With the increasing emphasis on globalization and consumer demands in highly competitive markets, organizations have attempted to integrate and standardize across their corporate subsidiaries by implementing Enterprise Systems (ES). In such corporate-wide ES implementations, system requirements are dictated by headquarters, favouring large subsidiaries, and thus potentially compromising the unique business requirements of smaller units. This research reports findings from an ES initiative within a group of large, medium, and small organizations, where the impact of organization size is assessed in relation to the level of system success and knowledge-management competence. The results of this analysis suggest that (i) large organizations, in contrast to their smaller counterparts, receive greater benefits in terms of both Individual and Organizational Impacts, (ii) while no such differences were observed in relation to System and Information Quality. Similarly, (iii) no differences were observed in relation to knowledge-creation competencies amongst large, medium, and small organizations. However, (iv) differences were observed between the large and smaller firms on their Knowledge-Retention and Knowledge-Transfer competencies. 
“Communists” on the shop floor
Authors: Kofti Dimitra
Published: April 2016

This article discusses perceptions of continuity and change as viewed from the shop floor of a privatized postsocialist factory. Neoliberal templates have reshaped the organization of production and resulted in a fragmentation of the workforce and new inequalities. These shifts, which have become main topic of everyday workplace conversation, have not generated critical commentary on wider encompassing neoliberal inequalities. Instead, critique has centered on the inequalities of “communism”. Workers talk about radical upheavals and successive crises but also emphasize significant continuities of power that have bridged socialism and neoliberal capitalism. Thus, even pro-market, neoliberal practices and forms of power are often described as “communist”, situated within an entrenched establishment that originated in the socialist era. Therefore, criticisms of neoliberal transformations are often framed in terms of an anticommunist rhetoric.
Memory Practices and History Education
Authors: Macgilchrist Felicitas , Christophe Barbara , Binnenkade Alexandra
Published: April 2016

This special issue of the Journal of Educational Media, Memory and Society
explores memory practices and history education. The first point of
departure for the texts collated here is that memory (whichever concept
we use from the current range including collective memory, cultural
memory, social memory, connected memory, prosthetic memory, multidirectional
memory, travelling memory and entangled memory) is a site
of political contestation, subject formation, power struggle, knowledge
production, and community-building. Our second point of departure is
that history education is a site where teachers and pupils as members of
distinct generations engage with textbooks and other materials as specific
forms of memory texts that guide what should be passed on to the
younger generation. As editors, we solicited papers that investigate how
what counts as “worth remembering” in a given context is reproduced,
negotiated and/or interrupted in classrooms and other educational practices.
This introduction aims to sketch the overarching understanding of
memory practices which guide the contributions, to point to the purchase
of attending explicitly to the “doing” of memory, to highlight the difference
between our approach to history education and approaches focusing
on historical thinking, and to introduce the six articles.
History Classroom Interactions and the Transmission of the Recent Memory of Human Rights Violations in Chile
Authors: Oteíza Teresa , Henríquez Rodrigo , Pinuer Claudio
Published: April 2016

The purpose of this article is to examine history classroom interactions in
Chilean secondary schools in relation to the transmission of historical memories of
human rights violations committed by Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship from 1973
to 1990. Corpora of this research are comprised of history lessons filmed in the two
types of public schools that coexist in the Chilean educational system, namely government
subsidized and partially subsidized schools. This research draws on linguistics
resources framed by the sociosemiotic perspective of systemic functional
linguistics. We incorporate into this theoretical framework the notions of semantic
gravity and semantic density from legitimation code theory in order to understand
the variations of levels of specialization and abstraction that build cumulative
knowledge and ideological cosmologies when one is dealing with a sensitive and
complex aspect of Chilean society.
Neuroendocrinological and Epigenetic Mechanisms Subserving Autonomic Imbalance and HPA Dysfunction in the Metabolic Syndrome
Authors: Lemche Erwin , Chaban Oleg S. , Lemche Alexandra V.
Published: April 2016

Impact of environmental stress upon pathophysiology of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been substantiated by epidemiological, psychophysiological, and endocrinological studies. This review discusses recent advances in the understanding of causative roles of nutritional factors, sympathomedullo-adrenal (SMA) and hypothalamic-pituitary adrenocortical (HPA) axes, and adipose tissue chronic low-grade inflammation processes in MetS. Disturbances in the neuroendocrine systems for leptin, melanocortin, and neuropeptide Y (NPY)/agouti-related protein systems have been found resulting directly in MetS-like conditions. The review identifies candidate risk genes from factors shown critical for the functioning of each of these neuroendocrine signaling cascades. In its meta-analytic part, recent studies in epigenetic modification (histone methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination) and posttranscriptional gene regulation by microRNAs are evaluated. Several studies suggest modification mechanisms of early life stress (ELS) and diet-induced obesity (DIO) programming in the hypothalamic regions with populations of POMC-expressing neurons. Epigenetic modifications were found in cortisol (here HSD11B1 expression), melanocortin, leptin, NPY, and adiponectin genes. With respect to adiposity genes, epigenetic modifications were documented for fat mass gene cluster APOA1/C3/A4/A5, and the lipolysis gene LIPE. With regard to inflammatory, immune and subcellular metabolism, PPARG, NKBF1, TNFA, TCF7C2, and those genes expressing cytochrome P450 family enzymes involved in steroidogenesis and in hepatic lipoproteins were documented for epigenetic modifications.
Studies on Incorporation of Mg in Zr-Based AB2 Metal Hydride Alloys
Authors: Chang Shiuan , Young Kwo-hsiung , Ouchi Taiehi , Meng Tiejun , Nei Jean , Wu Xin
Published: April 2016

Mg, the A-site atom in C14 (MgZn2), C15 (MgCu2), and C36 (MgNi2) Laves phase alloys, was added to the Zr-based AB2 metal hydride (MH) alloy during induction melting. Due to the high melting temperature of the host alloy (>1500 °C) and high volatility of Mg in the melt, the Mg content of the final ingot is limited to 0.8 at%. A new Mg-rich cubic phase was found in the Mg-containing alloys with a small phase abundance, which contributes to a significant increase in hydrogen storage capacities, the degree of disorder (DOD) in the hydride, the high-rate dischargeability (HRD), and the charge-transfer resistances at both room temperature (RT) and −40 °C. This phase also facilitates the activation process in measurement of electrochemical discharge capacity. Moreover, through a correlation study, the Ni content was found to be detrimental to the storage capacities, while Ti content was found to be more influential in HRD and charge-transfer resistance in this group of AB2 metal hydride (MH) alloys.
Modeling Autonomous Decision-Making on Energy and Environmental Management Using Petri-Net: The Case Study of a Community in Bandung, Indonesia
Authors: Prilandita Niken , McLellan Benjamin , Tezuka Tetsuo
Published: April 2016

Autonomous decision-making in this study is defined as the process where decision-makers have the freedom and ability to find problems, select goals, and make decisions for achieving the selected problems/goals by themselves. Autonomous behavior is considered significant for achieving decision implementation, especially in the context of energy and environmental management, where multiple stakeholders are involved and each stakeholder holds valuable local information for making decisions. This paper aims to build a structured process in modeling the autonomous decision-making. A practical decision-making process in waste-to-energy conversion activities in a community in Bandung, Indonesia, is selected as a case study. The decision-making process here is considered as a discrete event system, which is then represented as a Petri-net model. First, the decision-making process in the case study is decomposed into discrete events or decision-making stages, and the stakeholders’ properties in each stage are extracted from the case study. Second, several stakeholder properties that indicate autonomous behavior are identified as autonomous properties. Third, presented is a method to develop the decision-making process as a Petri-net model. The model is utilized for identifying the critical points for verifying the performance of the derived Petri-net.
Flaws and Drawbacks in Present Regulation and the Need to Take Action and Support the Renewable Energies Policies in Italy
Authors: Mezzolla Valeria
Published: April 2016

Renewable energies is an important sector that needs to be sustained and increased by the action of policies and economic support.[...]
Open Access Article Processing Charges (OA APC) Longitudinal Study 2015 Preliminary Dataset
Authors: Morrison Heather , Mondésir Guinsly , Salhab Jihane , Villamizar César , Calvé-Genest Alexis , Desautels Lisa
Published: April 2016

This article documents Open access article processing charges (OA APC) longitudinal study 2015 preliminary dataset available for download from the OA APC dataverse [1]. This dataset was gathered as part of Sustaining the Knowledge Commons (SKC), a research program funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The overall goal of SKC is to advance our collective knowledge about how to transition scholarly publishing from a system dependent on subscriptions and purchase to one that is fully open access. The OA APC preliminary data 2015 Version 12 dataset was developed as one of the lines of research of SKC, a longitudinal study of the minority (about a third) of the fully open access journals that use this business model. The original idea was to gather data during an annual two-week census period. The volume of data and growth in this area makes this an impractical goal. For this reason, we are posting this preliminary dataset in case it might be helpful to others working in this area. Future data gathering and analyses will be conducted on an ongoing basis. We encourage others to share their data as well. In order to merge datasets, note that the two most critical elements for matching data and merging datasets are the journal title and ISSN.
Splash Dynamics of Paint on Dry, Wet, and Cooled Surfaces
Authors: Baron David , Su Haiyan , Vaidya Ashwin
Published: April 2016

In his classic study in 1908, A.M. Worthington gave a thorough account of splashes and their formation through visualization experiments. In more recent times, there has been renewed interest in this subject, and much of the underlying physics behind Worthington’s experiments has now been clarified. One specific set of such recent studies, which motivates this paper, concerns the fluid dynamics behind Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings. The physical processes and the mathematical structures hidden in his works have received serious attention and made the scientific pursuit of art a compelling area of exploration. Our current work explores the interaction of watercolors with watercolor paper. Specifically, we conduct experiments to analyze the settling patterns of droplets of watercolor paint on wet and frozen paper. Variations in paint viscosity, paper roughness, paper temperature, and the height of a released droplet are examined from time of impact, through its transient stages, until its final, dry state. Observable phenomena such as paint splashing, spreading, fingering, branching, rheological deposition, and fractal patterns are studied in detail and classified in terms of the control parameters.
Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms and Related Factors in Korean Employees: The Third Korean Working Conditions Survey (2011)
Authors: Park Ji , Han Mi , Park Jong , Ryu So
Published: April 2016

The aim of this study was to analyze the association between general working conditions and depressive symptoms among Korean employees. The target population of the study was native employees nationwide who were at least 15 years old, and 50,032 such individuals were enrolled in the study. Depressive symptoms was assessed using the WHO-5 wellbeing index. Associations between general characteristics, job-related characteristics, work environment, and depressive symptoms were tested using chi-square tests, t-tests, and multiple logistic regression analysis. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 39% (40.7% in males and 36.5% in females). Multiple regression analysis revealed that male subjects, older subjects, subjects with higher education status, subjects with lower monthly income, current smokers, and frequent drinkers were more likely to have depressive symptoms. In addition, longer weekly work hours, occupation type (skilled, unskilled, operative, or economic sector), shift work, working to tight deadlines, exposure to stress at work, and hazard exposure were associated with depressive symptoms. This representative study will be a guide to help manage depression among Korean employees. We expect that further research will identify additional causal relationships between general or specific working conditions and depression.
Genome Sequence of the Fish Pathogen Yersinia ruckeri SC09 Provides Insights into Niche Adaptation and Pathogenic Mechanism
Authors: Liu Tao , Wang Kai-Yu , Wang Jun , Chen De-Fang , Huang Xiao-Li , Ouyang Ping , Geng Yi , He Yang , Zhou Yi , Min Jie
Published: April 2016

Yersinia ruckeri is the etiologic agent of enteric red mouth disease (ERM), a severe fish disease prevailing in worldwide aquaculture industries. Here we report for the first time the complete genome of Y. ruckeri (Yersinia ruckeri) SC09, a highly virulent strain isolated from Ictalurus punctatus with severe septicemia. SC09 possesses a single chromosome of 3,923,491 base pairs, which contains 3651 predicted protein coding sequences (CDS), 19 rRNA genes, and 79 tRNA genes. Among the CDS, we have identified a Ysa locus containing genes encoding all the components of a type III secretion system (T3SS). Comparative analysis suggest that SC09-Ysa share extensive similarity in sequence, gene content, and gene arrangement with Salmonella enterica pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) and chromosome-encoded T3SS from Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 1B. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis shown that SC09-Ysa and SPI1-T3SS belong on the same branch of the phylogenetic tree. These results suggest that SC09-Ysa and SPI1-T3SS appear to mediate biological function to adapt to specific hosts with a similar niche, and both of them are likely to facilitate the development of an intracellular niche. In addition, our analysis also indicated that a substantial part of the SC09 genome might contribute to adaption in the intestinal microenvironment, including a number of proteins associated with aerobic or anaerobic respiration, signal transduction, and various stress reactions. Genomic analysis of the bacterium offered insights into the pathogenic mechanism associated with intracellular infection and intestinal survivability, which constitutes an important first step in understanding the pathogenesis of Y. ruckeri.
Characterization of miR-206 Promoter and Its Association with Birthweight in Chicken
Authors: Jia Xinzheng , Lin Huiran , Abdalla Bahareldin , Nie Qinghua
Published: April 2016

miRNAs have been widely investigated in terms of cell proliferation and differentiation. However, little is known about their effects on bird growth. Here we characterized the promoter of miR-206 in chicken and found that the preferable promoter was located in 1200 bp upstream of pri-miR-206. In this region, many key transcription factors, including MyoD, c-Myb, CEBPα/β, AP-4, RAP1, Brn2, GATA-1/2/3, E47, Sn, upstream stimulatory factor (USF) and CdxA, were predicted to bind and interact with miR-206 promoter. Overexpression of MyoD sharply increased miR-206 expression in both fibroblast and myoblast cells, and also the regulation in the myoblast cells was much stronger, indicating that miR-206 was regulated by MyoD combined with other muscle specific transcriptional factors. Aiming to further investigate the relationship between miR-206 mutation and transcriptional expression, total of 23 SNPs were identified in the two distinct bird lines by sequencing. Interestingly, the motif bound by MyoD was individually destroyed by G-to-C mutation located at 419 bp upstream of miR-206 precursor. Co-transfecting MyoD and miR-206 promoter in DF-1 cells, the luciferase activity of promoter containing homozygous GG types was significantly higher than CC ones (p < 0.05). Thus, this mutation caused low expression of miR-206. Consistently, eight variants including G-419C mutation exhibited a great effect on birthweight through maker-trait association analysis in F2 population (p < 0.05). Additionally, the regulation of miR-206 on embryo muscle mass mainly by increasing MyoG and muscle creatine kinase (MCK) expression (p < 0.05) with little change in MyoD, TMEM8C and myosin heavy chain (MHC). In conclusion, our findings provide a novel mutation destroying the promoter activity of miR-206 in birds and shed new light to understand the regulation mechanism of miR-206 on the embryonic muscle growth.
Evaluating the Surface Topography of Pyrolytic Carbon Finger Prostheses through Measurement of Various Roughness Parameters
Authors: Naylor Andrew , Talwalkar Sumedh , Trail Ian , Joyce Thomas
Published: April 2016

The articulating surfaces of four different sizes of unused pyrolytic carbon proximal interphalangeal prostheses (PIP) were evaluated though measuring several topographical parameters using a white light interferometer: average roughness (Sa); root mean-square roughness (Sq); skewness (Ssk); and kurtosis (Sku). The radii of the articulating surfaces were measured using a coordinate measuring machine, and were found to be: 2.5, 3.3, 4.2 and 4.7 mm for proximal, and 4.0, 5.1, 5.6 and 6.3 mm for medial components. ANOVA was used to assess the relationship between the component radii and each roughness parameter. Sa, Sq and Ssk correlated negatively with radius (p = 0.001, 0.001, 0.023), whilst Sku correlated positively with radius (p = 0.03). Ergo, the surfaces with the largest radii possessed the better topographical characteristics: low roughness, negative skewness, high kurtosis. Conversely, the surfaces with the smallest radii had poorer topographical characteristics.
A Hydrogel Model Incorporating 3D-Plotted Hydroxyapatite for Osteochondral Tissue Engineering
Authors: Bartnikowski Michal , Akkineni Ashwini , Gelinsky Michael , Woodruff Maria , Klein Travis
Published: April 2016

The concept of biphasic or multi-layered compound scaffolds has been explored within numerous studies in the context of cartilage and osteochondral regeneration. To date, no system has been identified that stands out in terms of superior chondrogenesis, osteogenesis or the formation of a zone of calcified cartilage (ZCC). Herein we present a 3D plotted scaffold, comprising an alginate and hydroxyapatite paste, cast within a photocrosslinkable hydrogel made of gelatin methacrylamide (GelMA), or GelMA with hyaluronic acid methacrylate (HAMA). We hypothesized that this combination of 3D plotting and hydrogel crosslinking would form a high fidelity, cell supporting structure that would allow localization of hydroxyapatite to the deepest regions of the structure whilst taking advantage of hydrogel photocrosslinking. We assessed this preliminary design in terms of chondrogenesis in culture with human articular chondrocytes, and verified whether the inclusion of hydroxyapatite in the form presented had any influence on the formation of the ZCC. Whilst the inclusion of HAMA resulted in a better chondrogenic outcome, the effect of HAP was limited. We overall demonstrated that formation of such compound structures is possible, providing a foundation for future work. The development of cohesive biphasic systems is highly relevant for current and future cartilage tissue engineering.
Photocatalytic Properties of g-C3N4–TiO2 Heterojunctions under UV and Visible Light Conditions
Authors: Fagan Rachel , McCormack Declan , Hinder Steven , Pillai Suresh
Published: April 2016

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were chosen as a model system to investigate photocatalytic abilities of heterojunction system under UV and visible light conditions. The use of g-C3N4 has been shown to be effective in the reduction in recombination through the interaction between the two interfaces of TiO2 and g-C3N4. A simple method of preparing g-C3N4 through the pyrolysis of melamine was employed, which was then added to undoped TiO2 material to form the g-C3N4–TiO2 system. These materials were then fully characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET), and various spectroscopic techniques including Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), diffuse absorbance, and photoluminescence analysis. Photocatalysis studies were conducted using the model dye, rhodamine 6G utilizing visible and UV light irradiation. Raman spectroscopy confirmed that a composite of the materials was formed as opposed to a mixture of the two. Using XPS analysis, a shift in the nitrogen peak to that indicative of substitutional nitrogen was detected for all doped samples. This is then mirrored in the diffuse absorbance results, which show a clear decrease in band gap values for these samples, showing the effective band gap alteration achieved through this preparation process. When g-C3N4–TiO2 samples were analyzed under visible light irradiation, no significant improvement was observed compared that of pure TiO2. However, under UV light irradiation conditions, the photocatalytic ability of the doped samples exhibited an increased reactivity when compared to the undoped TiO2 (0.130 min−1), with 4% g-C3N4–TiO2 (0.187 min−1), showing a 43.9% increase in reactivity. Further doping to 8% g-C3N4–TiO2 lead to a decrease in reactivity against rhodamine 6G. BET analysis determined that the surface area of the 4% and 8% g-C3N4–TiO2 samples were very similar, with values of 29.4 and 28.5 m2/g, respectively, suggesting that the actual surface area is not a contributing factor. This could be due to an overloading of the system with covering of the active sites resulting in a lower reaction rate. XPS analysis showed that surface hydroxyl radicals and oxygen vacancies are not being formed throughout this preparation. Therefore, it can be suggested that the increased photocatalytic reaction rates are due to successful interfacial interactions with the g-C3N4-doped TiO2 systems.
A Novel MgO-CaO-SiO2 System for Fabricating Bone Scaffolds with Improved Overall Performance
Authors: Sun Hang , He Shiwei , Wu Ping , Gao Chengde , Feng Pei , Xiao Tao , Deng Youwen , Shuai Cijun
Published: April 2016

Although forsterite (Mg2SiO4) possesses good biocompatibility and suitable mechanical properties, the insufficient bioactivity and degradability hinders its further application. In this study, a novel MgO-CaO-SiO2 system was developed by adding wollastonite (CaSiO3) into Mg2SiO4 to fabricate bone scaffolds via selective laser sintering (SLS). The apatite-forming ability and degradability of the scaffolds were enhanced because the degradation of CaSiO3 could form silanol groups, which could offer nucleation sites for apatite. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of the scaffolds grew with increasing CaSiO3 to 20 wt %. It was explained that the liquid phase of CaSiO3 promoted the densification during sintering due to its low melting point. With the further increase in CaSiO3, the mechanical properties decreased due to the formation of the continuous filling phase. Furthermore, the scaffolds possessed a well-interconnected porous structure and exhibited an ability to support cell adhesion and proliferation.
Ferromagnetic Multilayers: Magnetoresistance, Magnetic Anisotropy, and Beyond
Authors: Rizal Conrad , Moa Belaid , Niraula Boris
Published: April 2016

Obtaining highly sensitive ferromagnetic, FM, and nonmagnetic, NM, multilayers with a large room-temperature magnetoresistance, MR, and strong magnetic anisotropy, MA, under a small externally applied magnetic field, H, remains a subject of scientific and technical interest. Recent advances in nanofabrication and characterization techniques have further opened up several new ways through which MR, sensitivity to H, and MA of the FM/NM multilayers could be dramatically improved in miniature devices such as smart spin-valves based biosensors, non-volatile magnetic random access memory, and spin transfer torque nano-oscillators. This review presents in detail the fabrication and characterization of a few representative FM/NM multilayered films—including the nature and origin of MR, mechanism associated with spin-dependent conductivity and artificial generation of MA. In particular, a special attention is given to the Pulsed-current deposition technique and on the potential industrial applications and future prospects. FM multilayers presented in this review are already used in real-life applications such as magnetic sensors in automobile and computer industries. These material are extremely important as they have the capability to efficiently replace presently used magnetic sensors in automobile, electronics, biophysics, and medicine, among many others.
POD-Based Constrained Sensor Placement and Field Reconstruction from Noisy Wind Measurements: A Perturbation Study
Authors: Zhang Zhongqiang , Yang Xiu , Lin Guang
Published: April 2016

It is shown in literature that sensor placement at the extrema of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) modes is efficient and leads to accurate reconstruction of the field of quantity of interest (velocity, pressure, salinity, etc.) from a limited number of measurements in the oceanography study. In this paper, we extend this approach of sensor placement and take into account measurement errors and detect possible malfunctioning sensors. We use the 24 hourly spatial wind field simulation data sets simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model applied to the Maine Bay to evaluate the performances of our methods. Specifically, we use an exclusion disk strategy to distribute sensors when the extrema of POD modes are close. We demonstrate that this strategy can improve the accuracy of the reconstruction of the velocity field. It is also capable of reducing the standard deviation of the reconstruction from noisy measurements. Moreover, by a cross-validation technique, we successfully locate the malfunctioning sensors.
Improving Beneficiation of Copper and Iron from Copper Slag by Modifying the Molten Copper Slag
Authors: Guo Zhengqi , Zhu Deqing , Pan Jian , Wu Tengjiao , Zhang Feng
Published: April 2016

In the paper, a new technology was developed to improve the beneficiation of copper and iron components from copper slag, by modifying the molten slag to promote the mineralization of valuable minerals and to induce the growth of mineral grains. Various parameters, including binary basicity, dosage of compound additive, modification temperature, cooling rate and the end point temperature of slow cooling were investigated. Meanwhile, optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS) was employed to determine the mineralogy of the modified and unmodified slag, as well as to reveal the mechanisms of enhancing beneficiation. The results show that under the proper conditions, the copper grade of rougher copper concentrate was increased from 6.43% to 11.04%, iron recovery of magnetic separation was increased significantly from 32.40% to 63.26%, and other evaluation indexes were changed slightly, in comparison with unmodified copper slag. Moreover, matte and magnetite grains in the modified slag aggregated together and grew obviously to the mean size of over 50 μm, resulting in an improvement of beneficiation of copper and iron.
Gold Nanoparticles: An Efficient Antimicrobial Agent against Enteric Bacterial Human Pathogen
Authors: Shamaila Shahzadi , Zafar Noshin , Riaz Saira , Sharif Rehana , Nazir Jawad , Naseem Shahzad
Published: April 2016

Enteric bacterial human pathogens, i.e., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, are the major cause of diarrheal infections in children and adults. Their structure badly affects the human immune system. It is important to explore new antibacterial agents instead of antibiotics for treatment. This project is an attempt to explain how gold nanoparticles affect these bacteria. We investigated the important role of the mean particle size, and the inhibition of a bacterium is dose-dependent. Ultra Violet (UV)-visible spectroscopy revealed the size of chemically synthesized gold nanoparticle as 6–40 nm. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis confirmed the size and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) analysis determined the polycrystalline nature of gold nanoparticles. The present findings explained how gold nanoparticles lyse Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.
Overexpression of Arabidopsis AnnAt8 Alleviates Abiotic Stress in Transgenic Arabidopsis and Tobacco
Authors: Yadav Deepanker , Ahmed Israr , Shukla Pawan , Boyidi Prasanna , Kirti Pulugurtha
Published: April 2016

Abiotic stress results in massive loss of crop productivity throughout the world. Because of our limited knowledge of the plant defense mechanisms, it is very difficult to exploit the plant genetic resources for manipulation of traits that could benefit multiple stress tolerance in plants. To achieve this, we need a deeper understanding of the plant gene regulatory mechanisms involved in stress responses. Understanding the roles of different members of plant gene families involved in different stress responses, would be a step in this direction. Arabidopsis, which served as a model system for the plant research, is also the most suitable system for the functional characterization of plant gene families. Annexin family in Arabidopsis also is one gene family which has not been fully explored. Eight annexin genes have been reported in the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. Expression studies of different Arabidopsis annexins revealed their differential regulation under various abiotic stress conditions. AnnAt8 (At5g12380), a member of this family has been shown to exhibit ~433 and ~175 fold increase in transcript levels under NaCl and dehydration stress respectively. To characterize Annexin8 (AnnAt8) further, we have generated transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco plants constitutively expressing AnnAt8, which were evaluated under different abiotic stress conditions. AnnAt8 overexpressing transgenic plants exhibited higher seed germination rates, better plant growth, and higher chlorophyll retention when compared to wild type plants under abiotic stress treatments. Under stress conditions transgenic plants showed comparatively higher levels of proline and lower levels of malondialdehyde compared to the wild-type plants. Real-Time PCR analyses revealed that the expression of several stress-regulated genes was altered in AnnAt8 over-expressing transgenic tobacco plants, and the enhanced tolerance exhibited by the transgenic plants can be correlated with altered expressions of these stress-regulated genes. Our findings suggest a role for AnnAt8 in enhancing abiotic stress tolerance at different stages of plant growth and development.
Transparent Blend of Poly(Methylmethacrylate)/Cellulose Acetate Butyrate for the Protection from Ultraviolet
Authors: Mahmood Raouf Raouf , Abdul Wahab Zaidan , Azowa Ibrahim Nor , Abidin Talib Zainal , Chieng Buong
Published: April 2016

The use of transparent polymers as an alternative to glass has become widespread. However, the direct exposure of these materials to climatic conditions of sunlight and heat decrease the lifetime cost of these products. The aim of this study was to minimize the harm caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure to transparent poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA), which usually leads to changes in the physical and chemical properties of these materials and reduced performance. This was achieved using environmentally friendly cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB). The optical, morphological, and thermal properties of CAB blended with transparent PMMA was studied using UV-VIS spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, dynamic mechanical analysis, and thermal gravimetric analysis. The results show that CAB was able to reduce the effects of UV radiation by making PMMA more transparent to UV light, thereby preventing the negative effects of trapped radiation within the compositional structure, while maintaining the amorphous structure of the blend. The results also show that CAB blended with PMMA led to some properties commensurate with the requirements of research in terms of a slight increase in the value of the modulus and the glass transition temperature for the PMMA/CAB blend.
Correction: Sarah Jasper and Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi A Techno-Economic Comparison between Two Methanol-to-Propylene Processes Processes 2015, 3, 684–698
Authors: Jasper Sarah , El-Halwagi Mahmoud
Published: April 2016

The authors wish to correct Table A1 of the published paper in Processes [1].[...]
Validation of MODIS 3 km Resolution Aerosol Optical Depth Retrievals Over Asia
Authors: Nichol Janet , Bilal Muhammad
Published: April 2016

This study evaluates the new Aqua MODIS Dark Target (DT) Collection 6 (C6) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) (MYD04_3K) retrieval algorithm at 3 km resolution over Asian countries that have recently experienced severe and increasing air pollution. Retrievals showed generally low accuracy compared with the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET), with only 55% of retrievals within the expected error (EE). The uncertainty appears mainly due to systematic overestimation at both low and high AOD levels. This is attributed to under-prediction of surface reflectance, similar to, but more severe than, the C6 DT product at 10-km resolution. This is because MYD04_3K observes more noise in the surface reflectance computations, due to retention of some bright pixels in the retrieval window which would be discarded at 10 km. Greatest uncertainty was observed at urban sites, especially those dominated by coarse aerosols. Results suggest that the DT at 3 km is less reliable than MODIS C6 AOD products at 10 km.