bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Air‐Sea Heat and Momentum Fluxes in the Southern Ocean
Authors: Bharti Vidhi , Fairall Christopher W. , Blomquist Byron W. , Huang Yi , Protat Alain , Sullivan Peter P. , Siems Steven T. , Manton Michael J.
Published: October 2019

The Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, Radiation, and atmospherIc Composition Over the southeRn oceaN (CAPRICORN) experiment was carried out in March–April 2016 onboard R/V Investigator studying momentum (τ), sensible heat (Hs), and latent heat (Hl) fluxes over the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean including over one cyclonic cold‐core and one anticyclonic warm‐core mesoscale oceanic eddy. The turbulence‐based flux measurements obtained with the NOAA PSD flux system employing eddy covariance (EC) and inertial dissipation (ID) methods are compared with those obtained by the Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) 3.5 bulk model, and the neutral transfer coefficients are studied. The relative uncertainty between the turbulence‐based and COARE 3.5 estimates of τ, Hs, and Hl are 22%, 70%, and 26%, respectively, at 1‐hr time scale over the Southern Ocean. Further, the variability in bulk fluxes is investigated with respect to oceanic eddies, precipitation events, atmospheric stability, and extratropical cyclones encountered during the voyage. The main observed variability is an increase in significant wave height or γw (∼33%), τ (∼89%), Hs (∼187%), and Hl (∼79%) over the warm eddy as compared to average voyage values. During the passage of six extratropical cyclones, an increase in τ (∼62% average) and a decrease in Hs (∼235%) and Hl (∼79%) is noted in the warm sector, compared to prestorm conditions, but the pattern reverses behind the cold front.
Uncertainty in the Evolution of Climate Feedback Traced to the Strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
Authors: Lin Yuan‐Jen , Hwang Yen‐Ting , Ceppi Paulo , Gregory Jonathan M.
Published: October 2019

In most coupled climate models, effective climate sensitivity increases for a few decades following an abrupt CO2 increase. The change in the climate feedback parameter between the first 20 years and the subsequent 130 years is highly model dependent. In this study, we suggest that the intermodel spread of changes in climate feedback can be partially traced to the evolution of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Models with stronger Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation recovery tend to project more amplified warming in the Northern Hemisphere a few decades after a quadrupling of CO2. Tropospheric stability then decreases as the Northern Hemisphere gets warmer, which leads to an increase in both the lapse‐rate and shortwave cloud feedbacks. Our results suggest that constraining future ocean circulation changes will be necessary for accurate climate sensitivity projections.
The Effect of Turbulence on Drifting Snow Sublimation
Authors: Wang Zhengshi , Huang Ning , Pähtz Thomas
Published: October 2019

Sublimation of drifting snow, which is significant for the balances of mass and energy of the polar ice sheet, is a complex physical process with intercoupling between ice crystals, wind field, temperature, and moisture. Here a three‐dimensional drifting snow sublimation model in a turbulent boundary layer is proposed. In contrast to most previous models, it takes into account turbulent diffusion of moisture from lower to higher elevations, allowing the air humidity near the surface to be undersaturated and thus sublimation to occur. From simulations with this model, we find that snow sublimation in the saltation layer near the surface dominates overall snow sublimation, despite an only marginal departure from humidity saturation (<1%), because of a large particle concentration.
Fe Alloy Slurry and a Compacting Cumulate Pile Across Earth's Inner‐Core Boundary
Authors: Zhang Youjun , Nelson Peter , Dygert Nick , Lin Jung‐Fu
Published: October 2019

Seismic observations show a reduced compressional‐wave velocity gradient at the base of the outer core relative to the preliminary reference Earth model and seismic wave asymmetry between the east‐west hemispheres at the top of the inner core. Here we propose a model for the inner core boundary (ICB), where a slurry layer forms through fractional crystallization of an Fe alloy at the base of the outer core (F layer) above a compacting cumulate pile at the top of the inner core (F′ layer). Using recent mineral physics data, we show that fractional crystallization of an Fe alloy (e.g., Fe‐Si‐O) with a solid fraction of ~15 ± 5% and preferential light element partitioning into the liquid can explain the observed reduced velocity gradient in the F layer. The compacting cumulate pile in the F′ layer may exhibit lateral variations in thickness between the east‐west hemispheres due to lateral variations of large‐scale heat flux in the outer core, which may explain the east‐west asymmetry observed in the seismic velocity. Our model suggests that the inner core solid has a high shear viscosity >1022 Pa/s.
Progression Features of Dart Leaders in Natural Negative Cloud‐to‐Ground Lightning Flashes
Authors: Huang Haitao , Wang Daohong , Wu Ting , Takagi Nobuyuki
Published: October 2019

We have analyzed the propagation process of nine dart leaders in four natural negative lightning flashes observed by a high speed optical system LAPOS 5. The propagation speeds range from 0.6 to 3.7×107 m/s with an average value of 1.5×107 m/s. The leader luminosity peaks at the front part of the leader head and decreases gradually backward within the head. The leader channel behind the leader head has a relatively low and constant luminosity. The average luminosity of the leader head is about 1.3 times brighter than that of the leader channel behind. The head lengths of seven dart leaders were estimated to range from 21 to 88 m. Our results show that as the ground is approached, the dart leader propagates faster with its leader head growing brighter and longer. For different strokes within an individual lightning flash, it was found that the larger change ratio of leader head brightness relates with the larger change ratio of propagation speed and the larger change ratio of leader head length.
Experimental Subseasonal‐to‐Seasonal (S2S) Forecasting of Atmospheric Rivers Over the Western United States
Authors: DeFlorio Michael J. , Waliser Duane E. , Ralph F. Martin , Guan Bin , Goodman Alexander , Gibson Peter B. , Asharaf Shakeel , Monache Luca Delle , Zhang Zhenhai , Subramanian Aneesh C. , Vitart Frederic , Lin Hai , Kumar Arun
Published: October 2019

A multimodel evaluation of subseasonal‐to‐seasonal (S2S) hindcast skill of atmospheric rivers (ARs) out to 4‐week lead over the western United States is presented for three operational hindcast systems: European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF; Europe), National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP; U.S.), and Environment and Canada Climate Change (ECCC; Canada). Ensemble mean biases and Brier Skill Scores are examined for no, moderate, and high levels of AR activity (0, 1–2, and 3–7 AR days/week, respectively). All hindcast systems are more skillful in predicting no and high AR activity relative to moderate activity. There are isolated regions of skill at week‐3 over 150–125°W, 25–35°N for the no and high AR activity levels, with larger magnitude and spatial extent of the skill in ECMWF and ECCC compared to NCEP. The spatial pattern of this skill suggests that for high AR activity, a southwest‐to‐northeast orientation is more predictable at subseasonal lead times than other orientations, and for no AR activity, more skill exists in the subtropical North Pacific, upstream of central and southern California. AR hindcast skill along the western U.S. is most strongly increased in hindcasts initialized during Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) Phases 1 and 8, and hindcast skill is substantially decreased over California in hindcasts initialized during MJO Phase 4. Skill modulations in the ECMWF hindcast system conditioned on El Niño‐Southern Oscillation phase are weaker than those conditioned on particular MJO phases. This work provides hindcast skill benchmarks and uncertainty quantification for experimental real‐time forecasts of AR activity during winters 2019–2021 as part of the S2S Prediction Project Real‐time Pilot Initiative in collaboration with the California Department of Water Resources.
Twenty‐First‐Century Changes in the Eastern Mediterranean Etesians and Associated Midlatitude Atmospheric Circulation
Authors: Dafka Stella , Toreti Andrea , Zanis Prodromos , Xoplaki Elena , Luterbacher Juerg
Published: October 2019

The Etesians are the dominant synoptically driven winds observed in the Eastern Mediterranean, usually from late spring to late summer. Due to the complex topography, the Etesians can be very strong and pose significant environmental hazards, especially over wildfire incidents. This study assesses the impacts of climate change on future Etesians by analyzing the response of the most recent EURO‐CORDEX regional climate simulations at the 12‐km grid resolution over the twenty‐first century. The mean model ensemble projects a significant increase of the Etesians' frequency and intensity under the two emission scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. This response is connected to an increase in the zonal wind at 200 hPa, a reinforcement of the midlatitude westerly flow, and a decrease in the wave amplitude. These circulation changes accelerate the mid‐to‐high latitude eastward propagation of the large‐scale circulation systems which can favor enhanced ridges over the Balkans. A strengthening and poleward shift of the subtropical jet stream is also projected, connected with stronger subsidence over the Eastern Mediterranean. The projected changes will have profound environmental and societal implications, including the lengthening of the wildfire season and increasing air pollution risk in the region. On the other hand, the current estimate of future wind power potential in the Aegean Sea will be significantly increased by the end of the century, which might have positive impact in the regional economy.
The Physics of Changing Tectonic Regimes: Implications for the Temporal Evolution of Mantle Convection and the Thermal History of Venus
Authors: Weller Matthew B. , Kiefer Walter S.
Published: October 2019

Given similar sizes and compositions, Venus invites comparisons with Earth. While Earth convects in the plate tectonic regime, Venus' current and past tectonic states remain uncertain. Venus' impact crater distribution has led to competing models for its tectonic state, steady (e.g., stagnant lid) or catastrophic (e.g., episodic lid). Terrestrial geochemical evidence and geodynamic models suggest that planets may transition between tectonic states over time. Transitions can be triggered by increasing yield stress due to loss of water or by increasing surface temperature. Here, we revisit the classic endmember models of Venusian tectonics by modeling the transition from stable mobile lid convection into a stable stagnant lid in 3D spherical geometry. Transitions between states are governed by both regional and global scale instabilities, resulting in oscillations in heat flux, velocity, and magma production over Gyr time scales. The thermal and tectonic evolution of a convectively transitioning planet is neither catastrophic nor steady. Volcanism and tectonic yielding may be non‐global in nature. At any given time, portions of the planetary surface may reflect apparently different styles of convection, with some regions being highly active and other regions being sluggish and inactive. For Venus, the implications are that global melt production and resurfacing are a natural consequence of lid‐state evolution, without needing ad hoc resurfacing mechanisms which rely on a single governing lid‐state. Geologic evidence suggests that the transition from mobile lid to stagnant lid is still on‐going. Venus may have lost liquid surface water in the last third of its history.
European Regulation of Process Contaminants in Food
Authors: Bonwick Graham A. , Birch Catherine S.
Published: October 2019

Process contaminants are substances that form in food or in food ingredients when they undergo chemical changes during processing. Processing methods that might generate chemical contaminants include fermentation, smoking, drying, refining and high-temperature cooking. Processing of foods may be required to make them microbiologically safe, as well as edible and digestible, or to generate new tastes to enhance consumer acceptance. However, food processing either at home or in manufacturing can have undesired consequences. Besides the loss of some nutrients such as vitamins, potentially harmful by-products can develop and so regulations have been introduced to help protect the consumer. This chapter will provide an overview of the current European Union regulations that are designed to reduce consumer exposure to process contaminants in food.
Strategies to Mitigate MCPD and Glycidyl Esters in Refined Oils and Foods
Authors: Silva Willian Cruzeiro , Ferrari Roseli Aparecida , Vicente Eduardo , Sampaio Klicia Araujo , Arisseto Adriana Pavesi
Published: October 2019

The formation of toxic compounds that are potentially carcinogenic during food processing has been considered an important food safety issue. Among them, particular attention has been given to 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol esters (3-MCPDE), 2-monochloropropane-1,3-diol esters (2-MCPDE) and glycidyl esters (GE), which can be formed during edible oil refining, especially in palm oil. These contaminants can also occur in a variety of processed foods and the highest concentrations have been found in those that use refined oils in their formulation. 3-MCPDE, 2-MCPDE and GE are formed at high temperatures mainly in the deodorization step of the edible oils refining process, and different mechanisms have been suggested. So far, several strategies have been proposed to mitigate these contaminants in edible oils, including the removal of precursors from the oil prior to deodorization, modifications of processing parameters, the addition of refining aids to prevent the formation of the contaminants during processing, and degradation or removal of the contaminants formed in the refined oil. Moreover, strategies to minimize the contamination of fried foods due to oil uptake during frying have been investigated.
3-MCPD and Glycidyl Esters in Palm Oil
Authors: Sim Biow Ing , Wong Yu Hua , Tan Chin Ping
Published: October 2019

In recent years, 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) and glycidyl esters have drawn the attention of scientists and consumers worldwide. 3-MCPD esters and glycidyl esters are carcinogens that have been found in refined vegetables fats and oils especially in palm oil products. Many studies have been carried out by various research groups to investigate the effect of refining steps and heat processing on the formation of 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters and mitigate the formation of these processed contaminants in palm oil products. This chapter presents an overview on the formation and mitigation of 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters during palm oil refining processes. A comprehensive comparison between direct and indirect methods for the determination of 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters is also included in the chapter. As 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters are thermally induced contaminants during high-temperature processes, the effects of different frying systems and antioxidants on these processed contaminants are also reviewed.
Preconcentration of tropane alkaloids by a metal organic framework (MOF)-immobilized ionic liquid with the same nucleus for their quantitation in Huashanshen tablets
Authors: Yohannes Alula , Yao Shun
Published: October 2019

The application of ionic liquids (ILs) for the separation of bioactive compounds from various sample matrices is a burgeoning area.
Extending PTR based breath analysis to real-time monitoring of reactive volatile organic compounds
Authors: Pugliese Giovanni , Trefz Phillip , Brock Beate , Schubert Jochen K. , Miekisch Wolfram
Published: October 2019

Direct time resolved mass spectrometric monitoring of reactive exhaled nitrogen- and sulfur-containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) related to metabolic processes, diseases and bacterial activity.
Sulfosalicylic acid/Fe3+ based nanoscale coordination polymers for effective cancer therapy by the Fenton reaction: an inspiration for understanding the role of aspirin in the prevention of cancer
Authors: Liu Qianqian , Du Keke , Liu Mei , Lv Rongmu , Sun Baiwang , Cao Dongwei , He Nongyue , Wang Zhifei
Published: October 2019

A new type of pH-responsive nanoscale coordination polymer for ROS-enhanced cancer therapy.
Immobilization of Mn(i) and Ru(ii) polypyridyl complexes on TiO2 nanoparticles for selective photoreduction of CO2 to formic acid
Authors: Le-Quang Long , Stanbury Matthew , Chardon-Noblat Sylvie , Mouesca Jean-Marie , Maurel Vincent , Chauvin Jérôme
Published: October 2019

Under visible irradiation in DMF/TEOA, the hybrid nanomaterial Ru(ii)/TiO2/Mn(i), lead to the selective reduction of CO2 into HCOO−.
Photoinduced charge flow inside an iron porphyrazine complex
Authors: Tang Longteng , Zhu Liangdong , Ener Maraia E. , Gao Hongxin , Wang Yanli , Groves John T. , Spiro Thomas G. , Fang Chong
Published: October 2019

Sub-picosecond electronic and structural motions and MLCT/d–d intersystem crossing in an iron-porphyrazine are revealed using transient absorption and femtosecond stimulated-Raman spectroscopy.
Using alcohols as simple H2-equivalents for copper-catalysed transfer semihydrogenations of alkynes
Authors: Kaicharla Trinadh , Zimmermann Birte M. , Oestreich Martin , Teichert Johannes F.
Published: October 2019

Copper(i)/N-heterocyclic carbene complexes enable a catalytic transfer semihydrogenation of alkynes employing simple and readily available alcohols such as isopropanol.
Calcium-based efficient cathode-ray scintillating metal–organic frameworks constructed from π-conjugated luminescent motifs
Authors: Lu Jian , Wu Hui-Fang , Wang Wen-Fei , Xu Jian-Gang , Zheng Fa-Kun , Guo Guo-Cong
Published: October 2019

π-Conjugated luminescent motifs that suffer from aggregation-caused quenching can respond well to ionizing cathode-rays after coordination with Ca(ii) ions.
An unexpected coupling–reduction tandem reaction for the synthesis of alkenyl-substituted BODIPYs
Authors: Teng Kun-Xu , Niu Li-Ya , Li Jie , Jia Lu , Yang Qing-Zheng
Published: October 2019

We report an unexpected coupling–reduction tandem reaction as a general and efficient one-pot synthesis of alkenyl-substituted boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) from chlorinated-BODIPY and alkyne.
A K-arylacetylide complex for catalytic terminal alkyne functionalization using KOtBu as a precatalyst
Authors: Ahmed Jasimuddin , Swain Asim Kumar , Das Arpan , Govindarajan R. , Bhunia Mrinal , Mandal Swadhin K.
Published: October 2019

E-Selective alkyne–alkyne dimerization as well as terminal alkyne functionalization across the C–N triple bond under transition metal free conditions at room temperature was accomplished.
Crystal structure and physical stability of ginsenoside compound-K solvates
Authors: Chen Jinyao , Zhu Wenming , Ji Weijie , Zhu Bin , Guo Chunyang , Qi Minghui , Ren Guobin
Published: October 2019

Through systematic investigation on the structure of and thermal/hygroscopic experiments on GCK solvates, superior physical stabilities of the hemihydrate and monohydrate are demonstrated.
Structural features of selected protic ionic liquids based on a super-strong base
Authors: Triolo Alessandro , Lo Celso Fabrizio , Ottaviani Carlo , Ji Pengju , Appetecchi Giovanni Battista , Leonelli Francesca , Keeble Dean S. , Russina Olga
Published: October 2019

X-ray scattering and MD simulation studies of Protic ionic liquids formed by superstrong acid and base combination.
The role played by the molecular geometry on the electronic transport through nanometric organic films
Authors: Lima Matheus P. , Miwa R. H. , Fazzio A.
Published: October 2019

The electronic transport properties in molecular heterojunctions are intimately connected with the molecular conformation between the electrodes, and the electronic structure of the molecule/electrode interface.
Mechanism of highly enhanced hydrogen storage by two-dimensional 1T′ MoS2
Authors: Chen Junyu , Cao Jiamu , Zhou Jing , Zhang Yufeng , Li Mingxue , Wang Weiqi , Liu Junfeng , Liu Xiaowei
Published: October 2019

Hydrogen energy is a high-efficiency and clean energy, but the problem of storage still prevents its extensive use.
Facile synthesis of Fe-p-aminophenol nanoparticles for photothermal therapy
Authors: Liu Ying , Liu Sainan , Hu Chunling , Li Yanwei , Pang Maolin
Published: October 2019

Fe-p-aminophenol (Fe-PAP) nanoparticles, a newly developed photothermal agent (PTA), were successfully synthesized via a one-pot method at room temperature.
Ab initio studies of the optoelectronic structure of undoped and doped silicon nanocrystals and nanowires: the role of size, passivation, symmetry and phase
Authors: Ossicini Stefano , Marri Ivan , Amato Michele , Palummo Maurizia , Canadell Enric , Rurali Riccardo
Published: October 2019

Results from ab initio calculations for singly- and co- doped Si nanocrystals and nanowires are presented.
Formation of fibrils derived from whey protein isolate: structural characteristics and protease resistance
Authors: Hu Yu , He Chengxin , Woo Meng Wai , Xiong Hua , Hu Juwu , Zhao Qiang
Published: October 2019

Structural characteristics during whey protein isolate fibrils formation and its protease resistance were investigated.
An environment-friendly approach to produce nanostructured germanium anodes for lithium-ion batteries
Authors: Saverina Evgeniya A. , Sivasankaran Visweshwar , Kapaev Roman R. , Galushko Alexey S. , Ananikov Valentine P. , Egorov Mikhail P. , Jouikov Viatcheslav V. , Troshin Pavel A. , Syroeshkin Mikhail A.
Published: October 2019

A halogen-free process for the preparation of germanium nano-structured particles from germanium citrate, an easily accessible and environment-friendly precursor formed from germanium dioxide and citric acid in an aqueous medium, is proposed.
Ionic liquids as an enabling tool to integrate reaction and separation processes
Authors: Villa Rocio , Alvarez Elena , Porcar Raul , Garcia-Verdugo Eduardo , Luis Santiago V. , Lozano Pedro
Published: October 2019

This tutorial review highlights representative examples of ionic liquid (IL)-based (bio)catalytic systems integrating reaction and separation, as a tool for the development of sustainable chemical processes (e.g.IL/scCO2biphasic reactors, membrane reactors, nanodrop systems, microfluidic devices, supported IL phases, sponge-like ILs,etc.).
Endosome/lysosome-detained supramolecular nanogels as an efflux retarder and autophagy inhibitor for repeated photodynamic therapy of multidrug-resistant cancer
Authors: Zhang Xiaodong , Chen Xiaokai , Guo Yuxin , Jia Hao-Ran , Jiang Yao-Wen , Wu Fu-Gen
Published: October 2019

We develop pH-responsive and size-changeable nanogels that target and aggregate in acidic endosomes/lysosomes for repeated photodynamic therapy of multidrug-resistant cancer.
Hydrogenation of levulinic acid to valeric acid over platinum–tungsten catalysts supported on γ-Al2O3
Authors: Bhanuchander Ponnala , Samudrala Shanthi Priya , Putrakumar Balla , Vijayanand Perupogu , Kumar Beepala Sateesh , Chary Komandur V. R.
Published: October 2019

Highly efficient conversion of levulinic acid to valeric acid over 2Pt–10WO3/γ-Al2O3 catalysts.
Influence of molecular width on the thermal expansion in solids
Authors: Rather Sumair A. , Saraswatula Viswanadha G. , Sharada Durgam , Saha Binoy K.
Published: October 2019

It has been shown that the thermal expansion would be higher in a direction along which the molecular width is shorter and it would be smaller if the molecular width is longer along that direction.
A thiourea additive-based quadruple cation lead halide perovskite with an ultra-large grain size for efficient perovskite solar cells
Authors: Patil Jyoti V. , Mali Sawanta S. , Hong Chang Kook
Published: October 2019

Controlling the grain size of the organic–inorganic perovskite thin films using thiourea additives now crossing 2 μm size with >20% power conversion efficiency.
A reverse slipping strategy for bulk-reduced TiO2−x preparation from Magnéli phase Ti4O7
Authors: Huang Jiantao , Che Xiangli , Xu Jijian , Zhao Wei , Xu Fangfang , Huang Fuqiang
Published: October 2019

Bulk-reduced TiO2−x samples were obtained by a reverse slipping strategy forming black TiO2−x from Ti4O7.
Solvent assisted size effect on AuNPs and significant inhibition on K562 cells
Authors: Amgoth Chander , Singh Avinash , Santhosh Rompivalasa , Yumnam Sujata , Mangla Priyanka , Karthik Rajendra , Guping Tang , Banavoth Murali
Published: October 2019

Herein, the synthesis and characterization of ideal size (∼10 and 40 nm, in diameter) AuNPs (gold nanoparticles) were reported.
Effects of polyethylene glycol content on the properties of a silk fibroin/nano-hydroxyapatite/polyethylene glycol electrospun scaffold
Authors: Qi Qi , Yao Yitong , Jia Xiaoshi , Meng Yuezhong , Zhao Ke , Jian Yutao
Published: October 2019

The modification of the mechanical and degradation properties of a SF scaffold combined with PEG and nHAP is demonstrated.
Ni-catalyzed 1,2-benzylboration of 1,2-disubstituted unactivated alkenes
Authors: Joung Seewon , Bergmann Allison M. , Brown M. Kevin
Published: October 2019

A method for the 1,2-benzylboration of unactivated alkenes is presented. The reaction combines readily available alkenes, diboron reagents and benzylchlorides to generate synthetically versatile products with control of stereochemistry.
Efficient cosensitization of new organic dyes containing bipyridine anchors with porphyrins for dye-sensitized solar cells
Authors: Jia Hai-Lang , Li Shan-Shan , Gong Bing-Quan , Gu Lei , Bao Zheng-Lv , Guan Ming-Yun
Published: October 2019

After co-sensitization, the performance of the device has been significantly improved, and the DSSC based on JA3 + S3 shows a high PCE of 8.20%.
Uncovering the dynamic precursors to motor-driven contraction of active gels
Authors: Alvarado José , Cipelletti Luca , Koenderink Gijsje H.
Published: October 2019

Actin–myosin networks exhibit macroscopic contraction due to the activity of myosin motors. Contraction is preceded by thousands of seconds by changes of the microscopic dynamics, in analogy to dynamic precursors in passive gels under external loads.
Wettability patterning in microfluidic devices using thermally-enhanced hydrophobic recovery of PDMS
Authors: Pascual Marc , Kerdraon Margaux , Rezard Quentin , Jullien Marie-Caroline , Champougny Lorène
Published: October 2019

In situ wettability patterning of PDMS microchannels is achieved through localized hydrophobic recovery enhancement using heating microresistors.
Gold nanorod-enhanced two-photon excitation fluorescence of conjugated oligomers for two-photon imaging guided photodynamic therapy
Authors: Zhao Tingting , Li Lin , Li Shuang , Jiang Xiao-Fang , Jiang Cuifeng , Zhou Na , Gao Nengyue , Xu Qing-Hua
Published: October 2019

Plasmon enhanced two-photon fluorescence nanomaterials were developed to manipulate their optical properties for two-photon imaging guided photodynamic therapy.
Non-concentration quenching, good thermal stability and high quantum efficiency of K5Y(P2O7)2:Eu3+/Tb3+ phosphors with a novel two-dimensional layer structure
Authors: Zhao Dan , Xue Ya-Li , Zhang Shi-Rui , Shi Lin-Ying , Liu Bao-Zhong , Fan Yan-Ping , Yao Qing-Xia , Dai Shao-Jie
Published: October 2019

Our work provides a new host lattice K5Y(P2O7)2 for both Eu3+ and Tb3+ luminescence, with non-concentration quenching, a high IQE and good thermal stability.
Remarkable surface-enhanced Raman scattering on self-assembled {201} anatase
Authors: Yu Yaqin , Du Jingjing , Jing Chuanyong
Published: October 2019

The self-assembled sea urchin-like {201} TiO2 exhibits Raman enhancement factors at 1.6 × 106, ascribed to shape-dependent electromagnetic enhancement with high-density hotspots in the vicinity of sharp tips and at narrow gaps between spines.
Synergistic antioxidant capacity of CsNPs and CurNPs against cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and pro-inflammatory mediators induced by hydroxyapatite nanoparticles in male rats
Authors: Mosa Israa F. , Youssef Mokhtar , Kamel Maher , Mosa Osama F. , Helmy Yasser
Published: October 2019

Due to their dynamic characteristics, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAP-NPs) have been employed numerous times in nanomedicine and in tissue engineering, particularly as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. However, there are outstanding findings from various studies that question whether these NPs are safe when they are used in the human body. Therefore, a more in-depth toxicity assessment should be carried out to give a clear answer regarding the fate of these particles. Here we aim to investigate the possible cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and inflammation induced by HAP-NPs, as well as predict the synergistic antioxidative effect of chitosan nanoparticles (CsNPs) and curcumin nanoparticles (CurNPs) in mitigating this pronounced toxicity. The present study was conducted on eighty Wistar male rats, divided into eight equal groups. The results showed that, at the molecular level, HAP-NPs significantly induced gene expression of tumor suppressor protein p53, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and also Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1) and Lipocalin-2 (LCN2). In addition, kidney biochemical parameters (total bilirubin, urea, uric acid and creatinine) increased, but albumin levels decreased in the group treated with HAP-NPs alone. Meanwhile, co-treatment with CsNPs and/or CurNPs with HAP-NPs showed an improvement in the activities of the kidney parameters and reduced inflammation. This study shows that the nephrotoxicity mechanism of HAP-NPs may involve various signaling pathways including alterations in biochemical parameters, gene expression of KIM-1 and LCN2 and disturbing the production of cytokines and p53. Furthermore, these insights showed that the combined effect of both CsNPs and CurNPs was more pronounced than the effect of each one on its own.
Understanding biochemistry: structure and function of nucleic acids
Authors: Minchin Steve , Lodge Julia
Published: October 2019

Nucleic acids, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), carry genetic information which is read in cells to make the RNA and proteins by which living things function. The well-known structure of the DNA double helix allows this information to be copied and passed on to the next generation. In this article we summarise the structure and function of nucleic acids. The article includes a historical perspective and summarises some of the early work which led to our understanding of this important molecule and how it functions; many of these pioneering scientists were awarded Nobel Prizes for their work. We explain the structure of the DNA molecule, how it is packaged into chromosomes and how it is replicated prior to cell division. We look at how the concept of the gene has developed since the term was first coined and how DNA is copied into RNA (transcription) and translated into protein (translation).
Design of protograph codes for additive white symmetric alpha‐stable noise channels
Authors: Zhong Xingwei , Cai Kui , Chen Pingping , Mei Zhen
Published: October 2019

The protograph low‐density parity‐check (LDPC) codes possess many attractive properties, such as the low encoding/decoding complexity and better error floor performance, and hence have been successfully applied to different types of communication and data storage channels. In this study, the authors design protograph LDPC codes for communication systems corrupted by the impulsive noise, which are modelled as additive white symmetric alpha‐stable noise (AWSSN) channels. They start by presenting a novel simulation‐based protograph extrinsic information transfer analysis to derive the iterative decoding threshold of the protograph codes. By further applying the asymptotic weight distribution analysis, the authors design new protograph codes for the AWSSN channel. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed protograph codes can provide better error rate performance than the prior art AR4JA code, the irregular codes optimised for the AWGN channel, as well as the irregular codes optimised for the AWSSN channel.
Optimisation of indoor hybrid PLC/VLC/RF communication systems
Authors: Sreenivasa Reddy Yeduri , Panda Meenakshi , Dubey Ankit , Kumar Abhinav , Panigrahi Trilochan , Rabie Khaled M.
Published: October 2019

In this study, the authors propose a hybrid power line communication (PLC)/visible light communication (VLC)/radio frequency (RF) fronthaul with a fibre‐based wired backhaul system to support massive number of smart devices (SDs). Since a signal‐to‐noise ratio‐based access point (AP) association and bandwidth (BW) allocation for each SD do not necessarily improve the system capacity, they propose novel and efficient AP association and BW allocation strategies to maximise the sum rate capacity (SRC) of the hybrid system under consideration. An optimisation problem is formulated for the SRC with the AP association and BW allocation as the optimisation parameters and a hierarchical decomposition method is used to convert the non‐linear optimisation problem into a set of convex optimisation problems. Then, the proposed strategies are used to solve the optimisation problem in an iterative manner until the SRC converges to an optimal value. Further, an analytical approximation for the BW allocated to each SD for a given AP association is derived using the Lagrangian multiplier method. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated through extensive numerical results. Moreover, the effect of the increased number of SDs on the optimal SRC is analysed.
Distributed control plane for safe cooperative vehicular cyber physical systems
Authors: Foukalas Fotis , Pop Paul
Published: October 2019

Cooperative vehicular cyber physical systems build a group of entities that can accomplish a cooperative task using the distributed control approaches. To this end, such a cooperative task can be coordinated and managed by a distributed control plane that will be able to encapsulate all the required functionality in a layered architecture providing the required interoperability. Here, the authors propose such a distributed control plane that consists of the cooperative awareness layer, the communication layer and the distributed control layer. Wireless communications play an important role for the mobility provision, taking into account different constraints in order to provide high reliability and low latency. A simulation environment is considered with a leader–follower control format, where the reliability is evaluated. Further, a distributed safety monitoring approach is devised, given a control diagram and mapping of the events to the different components. The event monitoring relies on the self‐triggered approach, where a use case is evaluated to highlight the impact of the input and output delays to the model predictive control component of the overall distributed control diagram including the calculation of the number of triggered events.
Optimal energy management strategy in microgrids with mixed energy resources and energy storage system
Authors: Semero Yordanos Kassa , Zhang Jianhua , Zheng Dehua
Published: October 2019

The continued growth of distributed generation (DG) in the electrical grid has led to the expansion of microgrids. Microgrids contain distributed power generation units, energy storage devices, and controllable loads with the capability to operate in both grid‐connected and island modes. The economic operation of a microgrid is achieved through an energy management system that optimally schedules DGs and storage devices and continuously balances supply and demand. In this study, a formulation of optimal unit commitment (UC) and dispatch scheduling of DGs in a grid‐connected microgrid system is presented. Mixed‐integer linear programming is used to implement the optimal UC and dispatch scheduling model. The objective is to minimise the overall operating cost of the system by optimally utilising an energy storage device and a combined heat and power (CHP) generation unit using load and renewable energy generation prediction. Operational constraints such as generation limits of DGs, battery charging/discharging limits and state‐of‐charge limits are to be satisfied during all intervals of operation. Simulation results indicate that the operational cost of the system is significantly reduced through optimal scheduling of an energy storage system and a CHP unit using the proposed strategy.
Highly efficient neoteric histogram–entropy‐based rapid and automatic thresholding method for moving vehicles and pedestrians detection
Authors: Chandrasekar Karnam Silpaja , Geetha Planisamy
Published: October 2019

Thresholding for segmentation is an important key step and necessary process in various applications. Estimating an accurate threshold value for a complex and coarse image is computationally expensive and lacks accuracy and stability. This study is aimed at developing a general histogram–entropy‐based thresholding method, referred as our HEBT method, for fast and efficient automatic threshold value evaluation. In the proposed method, the probability density function and Shannon entropy derived from 1D bimodal histogram have been used to find the optimal threshold values automatically. The proposed method implemented with a three‐frame differencing segmentation technique has been tested on real‐time datasets – change detection 2012, change detection 2014, and Wallflower – to identify pedestrians and vehicles. The performance of our HEBT method has been compared with six state‐of‐the‐art automatic thresholding methods. The experimental segmented image results confirmed that our HEBT method is more adaptable and better suited for real‐time systems with severe challenging conditions of great variations. Further, the new HEBT method achieved the best segmentation results with highest values of several performance parameters, i.e. recall, precision, similarity, and f‐measure. Interestingly, the computation time is the lowest for the proposed method than the state‐of‐the‐art methods, promising its application for a fast and effective image segmentation.
SDCA: a novel stack deep convolutional autoencoder – an application on retinal image denoising
Authors: Ghosh Swarup Kr , Biswas Biswajit , Ghosh Anupam
Published: October 2019

Retinal fundus images are used for the diagnosis and treatment of various eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, exudates and so on. The retinal vasculature is difficult to investigate retinal conditions due to the presence of various noises in the retinal image during the capture of the image. Removal of noise is an important aspect for better visibility and diagnosis of the noisy fundus in ophthalmology. This study represents a deep learning based approach to denoising images and restoring features using stack denoising convolutional autoencoder. The proposed scheme is implemented to restore the structural details of fundus as well as to decrease the noise level. Furthermore, the proposed model utilises shared layers with the optimal manner to reduce the noise level of the target image with minimal computational cost. To restore an image, the proposed model brings a patched base training on samples to suppress with one to one manner without any loss of information. To access the denoising effect of the proposed scheme, several standard fundus databases such as DRIVE, STARE and DIARETDB1 have been tested in this study. Comparing the efficiency of the suggested model with state‐of‐art methods, the proposed scheme gives better result in terms of qualitative and quantitative analysis.
Gradient‐based kernel selection technique for tumour detection and extraction of medical images using graph cut
Authors: Dogra Jyotsna , Jain Shruti , Sood Meenakshi
Published: October 2019

Magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful, ubiquitous imaging technique that provides detailed high‐contrast images differentiating soft tissues. The low radio‐frequency bias field creates intensity inhomogeneity generating low contrast that often creates difficulty for quantitative and qualitative analyses. Segmentation aids in analysis of changes occurring in brain, where bias effect severely affects performance. The graph‐cut (GC) segmentation provides supervised computer‐assisted diagnosis and treatment. GC's interactive nature requires manual selection of kernels for initialisation. The shrinkage behaviour of GC creates inaccurate and fallacious extraction. On the basis of these problems, this study proposes gradient‐based kernel selection GC method that simultaneously removes shrinkage problem and locates tumour in image, eliminating human interaction with accurate segmentation for even bias field images. The proposed method addresses these problems by emphasising on directive inclination of intensity scales of symmetrical halves of images. The proposed method is evaluated for high‐grade glioma and low‐grade glioma images with and without bias field. The average performance metrics evaluated for these images depict remarkable improvement in comparison with existing techniques. The proposed technique is validated by applying on real‐time dataset of tumour images obtained from State Government Hospital, Shimla, India.
Level set based shape prior and deep learning for image segmentation
Authors: Han Yongming , Zhang Shuheng , Geng Zhiqing , Wei Qin , Ouyang Zhi
Published: October 2019

Deep convolutional neural network can effectively extract hidden patterns in images and learn realistic image priors from the training set. And fully convolutional networks (FCNs) have achieved state‐of‐the‐art performance in the image segmentation. However, these methods have the disadvantages of noise, boundary roughness and no prior shape. Therefore, this study proposes a level set with the deep prior method for the image segmentation based on the priors learned by FCNs. The FCNs can learn high‐level semantic patterns from the training set. Also, the output of the FCNs represents the high‐level semantic information as a probability map and the global affine transformation can obtain the optimal affine transformation of the intrinsic prior shape. Moreover, the improved level set method integrates the information of the original image, the probability map and the corrected prior shape to achieve the image segmentation. Compared with the traditional level set method of simple scenes, the proposed method solves the disadvantage of FCNs by using the high‐level semantic information to segment images of complex scenes. Finally, Portrait data set are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain more accurate segmentation results than the traditional FCNs.
Soft biometrics‐based face image retrieval using improved grey wolf optimisation
Authors: Sikkandar Haseena , Thiyagarajan Revathi
Published: October 2019

Humans often use faces to recognise and identify individuals. Face recognition is one of the important tasks carried out by forensic examiners manually during their investigation, when there is an evidence image/video available from a crime scene. There is a growing demand for face recognition from unconstrained images, which is valuable for criminal investigators in identifying the victims. When an input face image is given to the proposed system, it filters from large scale face dataset to find the top‐k similar faces. Deep convolutional neural network approach is employed to extract important features present in the input face image and improved grey wolf optimisation approach is proposed to select optimal features from the extracted features. It is then preceded by a soft biometric‐based face matcher that helps in retrieving exact face image from the top‐k similar faces matched using approximate nearest neighbour. The performance of the proposed system is evaluated using LFW, CASIA, Multi‐pie and Color‐Feret datasets. The proposed system addresses the challenge of searching face images from a large collection of unconstrained images by incorporating feature retrieval using DCNN and IGWO with soft biometric face matcher in cascaded framework which improves accuracy and reduces computation and retrieval time.
Deep convolution network for dense crowd counting
Authors: Zhang Wei , Wang Yongjie , Liu Yanyan , Zhu Jianghua
Published: October 2019

Estimating the total number of people in a crowded situation is a challenging task due to numerous occlusions and perspective changes existing in crowd images. To address this issue, the authors have proposed a new deep learning framework for accurate and efficient crowd counting here. Inspired by multi‐column convolutional neural network (MCNN) and contextual pyramid convolutional neural network (CP‐CNN), the authors use a combination of a two branches, convolutional neutral network (CNN) and transposed convolutional layers, to generate a high‐quality density map. The two‐branch CNN for feature extraction generates a density map that is only a quarter of size of the original image Then a set of transposed convolutional layers and convolutional layers are combined with the network to make up for the detail loss of the density map conducted by stacked pooling. Compared with MCNN and CP‐CNN, the authors’ approach employs fewer branches and simpler architecture. Experimental result shows that their approach achieves MAE 80.7 and MSE 131.2 in ShanghaiTech PartA dataset, MAE 15.6 and MSE 26.8 in ShanghaiTech PartB dataset, and MAE Average 7.1 in WorldExpo'10 dataset.
Power factor corrected level‐1 DC public green‐charging infrastructure to promote e‐mobility in India
Authors: Raveendran Visal , Nair Manjula G.
Published: October 2019

With the growing popularity of electrified transportation across the world, there have been extensive reports of research involving plug‐in electric vehicles (PEVs), electric vehicle charging facilities (EVCFs) and their integration to the main electric grid, besides sustainable energy resources for powering these vehicles. This study proffers a power factor corrected level‐1 DC public green‐charging infrastructure accompanied by an integrated control, for electric light motor vehicles, compliant with recently formulated Indian charging standards. Power factor correction of plug‐in electric vehicle charging current, solar photo‐voltaic grid integration and charging of energy storage system is achieved using control of bidirectional AC/DC converters. A firmware and user interface for multimode off‐board DC charging, with green, fast and semi‐fast charging modes are investigated. Intelligent control for fast charging is also presented to reduce its pernicious impact on the grid. The simulation and hardware results verify the prime performance objectives of improving the local power quality and renewable energy utilisation with multimode charging, in the Indian context. The effectiveness of the proposed infrastructure is further demonstrated by a simulated use case, where 30 PEVs are randomly charged, in various modes, at this EVCF during busy commute hours.