bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clinical Applications of Contrast-Enhanced Thoracic Ultrasound (CETUS) Compared to Standard Reference Tests: A Systematic Review
Authors: Jacobsen Niels , Pietersen Pia Iben , Nolsoe Christian , Konge Lars , Graumann Ole , Laursen Christian Borbjerg
Published: April 2020

Introduction Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is utilized in an increasing array of medical fields, including thoracic medicine. However, the technique is still relatively new and only sporadically mentioned in current guidelines and recommendations. The aim of this systematic review is to provide a literature overview and to critically appraise the current clinical applications of contrast-enhanced thoracic ultrasound (CETUS).

Materials and Methods A systematic literature search using major electronic databases and in accordance with PRISMA guidelines was performed. Studies with a primary focus on CETUS of thoracic disorders compared to a standard reference test were included. The QUADAS-2 tool was used for quality assessment of the studies.

Results The search identified 43 articles: 1 randomized controlled study, 6 non-randomized controlled studies, 16 non-randomized non-controlled studies, 5 case series, 10 single case reports, and 5 animal studies. The overall risk of bias was judged to be high. Diagnostic accuracy measurements of noninvasive applications of CETUS were only reported in a few studies and they were too dissimilar for meta-analysis. Six studies compared CETUS-guided versus ultrasound-guided transthoracic needle biopsy of thoracic masses. They individually reported a significant increase in diagnostic accuracy in favor of CETUS guidance but were too heterogeneous for meta-analysis.

Conclusion The current literature on CETUS is overall heterogeneous with a few high evidence level studies, small study populations and a high risk of bias. CETUS-guided biopsy is the most frequent clinical application and increases diagnostic accuracy compared to ultrasound guidance by an average of 14.6 percentage points.
Providing Hearing Education and Resources for Underserved Populations (HEAR-UP) in our Local Neighborhoods
Authors: Coyan Kathleen Costigan , Mormer Elaine
Published: April 2020

Healthcare services in the United States are difficult to access for at least 10% of our population. Moreover, hearing healthcare services, including hearing aids, are largely inaccessible even for those individuals who may have health insurance and access to healthcare. Humanitarian audiology has been recognized as a means of supplying hearing services and devices to underserved populations around the globe. However, little has been publicized about humanitarian audiology projects taking place in local communities within the United States. This article describes one such project that has been in place in Pittsburgh, PA, for the past 4 years. This service results from collaboration across a collection of healthcare, community service, charitable, and educational organizations. The resources necessary to create similarly sourced services in other U.S. locations are described. Challenges and solutions for this local form of humanitarian audiology are discussed.
Sublingual Atropine Sulfate Use for Sialorrhea in Pediatric Patients
Authors: Azapağası Ebru , Kendirli Tanıl , Perk Oktay , Kutluk Gültekin , Öz Tunçer Gökçen , Teber Serap , Çobanoğlu Nazan
Published: April 2020

Sialorrhea is a frequent problem and may lead to aspiration in patients with swallowing dysfunction. We aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety of sublingual atropine sulfate treatment in pediatric patients with sialorrhea. The medical records of patients who had received sublingual atropine sulfate between January 2015 and January 2016 were reviewed retrospectively. The demographic properties, diagnosis, invasive or noninvasive mechanical ventilation need, and the presence of tracheotomy were assessed. Response rates to sublingual atropine were measured using the Teacher Drooling Scale (TDS). Pre and post-treatment drooling scores were compared. Atropine sulfate ampoule was administered at 20 µg/kg/dose. Minimum dose was 0.25 mg, while maximum dose was 0.03 mg/kg.Thirty-five pediatric patients with sialorrhea who had received sublingual atropine sulfate were identified; however, TDS scores had been recorded in only 20 of them. The median age of the patients was 25 months (3–78 months; 7 girls, 13 boys). Sixteen (80%) patients were on invasive mechanical ventilation and seven (30%) had tracheotomy. Nineteen patients had a neurodevelopmental disorder and only one patient had oral and esophageal lesions due to corrosive material intake. The median TDS score prior to sublingual atropine sulfate treatment was 5, and it decreased to 3 on the second day of treatment, a change that was statistically significant (p < 0.001). No side effects were observed. Sublingual atropine sulfate is safe and effective in the short-term treatment of sialorrhea; however, randomized placebo controlled and long-term follow-up studies are necessary.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Malignant Ventricular Tachycardia in an 8-Year-Old Pediatric Patient Who Has Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome Associated with Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli
Authors: Yesilbas Osman , Yozgat Can Yilmaz , Akinci Nurver , Talebazadeh Faraz , Jafarov Uzeyir , Guney Abdurrahman Zarif , Temur Hafize Otcu , Yozgat Yilmaz
Published: April 2020

Gastrointestinal, neurological, pancreatic, hepatic, and cardiac dysfunction are extrarenal manifestations of hemolytic uremic syndrome associated with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC-HUS). The most frequent cause of death for STEC-HUS is related to the central nervous system and cardiovascular system. Cardiac-origin deaths are predominantly related to thrombotic microangiopathy-induced ischemia and the immediate development of circulatory collapse. STEC-HUS cardiac related deaths in children are rare with only sporadic cases reported. In our literature search, we did not come across any pediatric case report about STEC-HUS causing sudden cardiac arrest and malignant ventricular tachycardia (VT). Herein, we report the case of an 8-year-old female child with a typical clinical manifestation of STEC-HUS. On the seventh day of pediatric intensive care unit admission, the patient had a sudden cardiac arrest, requiring resuscitation for 10 minutes. The patient had return of spontaneous circulation with severe monomorphic pulsed malignant VT. Intravenous treatment with lidocaine, amiodarone and magnesium sulfate were promptly initiated, and we administered multiple synchronized cardioversions, but VT persisted. Furthermore, we were not able to ameliorate her refractory circulation insufficiency by advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Thus, inevitably, the patient lost her life. This case illustrates the need for aggressive management and the dilemma that pediatric critical care specialists, cardiologists, and nephrologists have to face when dealing with STEC-HUS that is worsened by a sudden cardiac arrest accompanied with VT.
Enhancing the understanding of the glycerol to lactic acid reaction mechanism over AuPt/TiO2 under alkaline conditions
Authors: Evans Christopher D. , Douthwaite Mark , Carter James H. , Pattisson Samuel , Kondrat Simon A. , Bethell Donald , Knight David W. , Taylor Stuart H. , Hutchings Graham J.
Published: April 2020

The oxidation of glycerol under alkaline conditions in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst can be tailored to the formation of lactic acid, an important commodity chemical. Despite recent advances in this area, the mechanism for its formation is still a subject of contention. In this study, we use a model 1 wt. % AuPt/TiO2 catalyst to probe this mechanism by conducting a series of isotopic labeling experiments with 1,3-13C glycerol. Optimization of the reaction conditions was first conducted to ensure high selectivity to lactic acid in the isotopic labeling experiments. Selectivity to lactic acid increased with temperature and concentration of NaOH, but increasing the O2 pressure appeared to influence only the rate of reaction. Using 1,3-13C glycerol, we demonstrate that conversion of pyruvaldehyde to lactic acid proceeds via a base-promoted 1,2-hydride shift. There was no evidence to suggest that this occurs via a 2,1-methide shift under the conditions used in this study.
Preliminary study: Measurement of ion beam energy spreads produced by a Penning ionization gauge-type ion source using electromagnets for a mega-electron volt compact ion microbeam system
Authors: Ishii Y. , Ohkubo T. , Kashiwagi H. , Miyake Y.
Published: April 2020

The energy spreads of ion beams generated from a penning ionization gauge-type ion source with electromagnets were measured using a parallel electrostatic analyzer. The ion source was developed to be installed in a mega-electron volt (MeV) compact ion microbeam system. A gaseous ion beam of expectedly high brightness and narrow energy spread was generated from the ion source to form a microbeam. To produce such an ion beam, a high-density plasma with a small volume was generated using a strong magnetic field in the ion source. The beam energy spread width was of particular importance because it forms an ion microbeam by reducing the chromatic aberration at a focusing lens. In this report, the energy spread was investigated by changing the parameters of the ion source, e.g., extraction voltage, excitation current of electromagnets, vacuum, and anode voltage. The investigation showed that spread widths are influenced by the extraction voltage, vacuum, and anode voltage. The minimum width of ∼5.0 ± 0.1 eV was obtained at a beam energy of 200 eV. This value is acceptable for the MeV compact ion microbeam system.
Killer impurities in vacuum chamber that affect the lifetime of organic light-emitting diodes
Authors: Fujimoto Hiroshi , Nakamura Toshimitsu , Nagayoshi Kaori , Harada Kentaro , Miyazaki Hiroshi , Kurata Takaomi , Kiyota Junya , Adachi Chihaya
Published: April 2020

We have evaluated a method to investigate killer impurities in vacuum chambers that affect the lifetimes of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) processed in these chambers. In addition to chambers for the deposition of organic and metal films, an exposure chamber was installed to expose the OLEDs to impurities and residual water in a vacuum chamber during device fabrication. We studied a method to investigate the effects of these vacuum chamber impurities after establishing the reproducibility of the device lifetimes. These device lifetimes were affected by the cleanliness of the exposure chamber. Increased exposure times led to shorter device lifetimes, even if the contact angle in the exposure chamber was reduced to less than 5° using plasma cleaning. Furthermore, the device lifetime did not degrade when the partial pressure of water within the exposure chamber was reduced using a cryotrap. We were also able to evaluate the Kapton tape and vacuum greases that were used and determined whether they affected the device lifetime. These results suggest that the influence of residual water and impurities can be separated and it would then be possible to evaluate the influence of the impurities alone on the device lifetime.
A statistically guided grid generation method and its application to intermolecular potential energy surfaces
Authors: Metz Michael P. , Szalewicz Krzysztof
Published: April 2020

We present a method for the generation of points in space needed to create training data for fitting of nonlinear parametric models. This method uses statistical information extracted from an initial fit on a sparse grid to select optimal grid points in an iterative manner and is, therefore, called the iterative variance minimizing grid approach. We demonstrate the method in the case of six-dimensional intermolecular potential energy surfaces (PESs) fitted to ab initio computed interaction energies. The number of required grid points is reduced by roughly a factor of two in comparison to alternative systematic sampling methods. The method is not limited to fitting PESs and can be applied to any cases of fitting parametric models where data points may be chosen freely but are expensive to obtain.
Bonding GaN on high thermal conductivity graphite composite with adequate interfacial thermal conductance for high power electronics applications
Authors: Li Lei , Fukui Aozora , Wakejima Akio
Published: April 2020

We demonstrate an efficient heat transport hybrid structure by means of bonding GaN on a high thermal conductivity graphite composite (GC). The heterogeneous GaN/GC of the fine bonding interface, without air voids and cracks, is confirmed. More interestingly, GaN bonded on GC is stress-free and quite beneficial for device performance, the degradation of which is partially subject to the stress induced by the fabrication and packaging processes. Moreover, the thermal boundary conductance (TBC) across the GaN/GC interface is accurately estimated to be approximately 67 MW/m2K, based on the measured TBC between Ti and GC, in excellent agreement with the prediction using the corrected diffuse mismatch model. According to the finite element modeling results, the GaN-on-GC power transistor shows superiority and possesses greatly improved thermal performance due to the high thermal conductivity of GC and adequate TBC across the GaN/GC interface, compared to the commercially available GaN-on-SiC and GaN-on-Si transistors. Our findings highlight the potential of GC as a promising alternative heat spreading substrate candidate for thermal management applications in GaN-based next-generation high power electronics, including radio frequency amplifiers, high voltage power switches, and high breakdown voltage diodes.
Nano-cobalt oxide/viologen hybrid solid state device: Electrochromism beyond chemical cell
Authors: Pathak Devesh K. , Chaudhary Anjali , Tanwar Manushree , Goutam Uttam K , Kumar Rajesh
Published: April 2020

An improved nanofilm of Co3O4 has been synthesized using controlled current electrodeposition on a conducting transparent electrode for fabricating a hybrid solid state electrochromic device by combining it with Viologen. The nanoelectrochromic electrode also acts as a counterion to support redox induced color switching of Viologen in a solid state without any liquid electrolyte. A good color contrast between its yellow and blue states under different bias conditions has been observed, which leads to overall performance enhancement as quantified using device parameters such as coloration efficiency, color contrast, stability, and cycle life. The solid state device shows an improved efficiency of as high as 360 cm2/C and a switching time of as low as 500 ms. In situ spectroelectrochemical studies reveal that the bias induced redox activity of Viologen and metal oxide leads to the color change. The two constituents are not only electrochromically active materials but also simultaneous counterions for each other, thus leading to improvement in the electrochromic performance.
Temporally stable rotational coherent states for molecular simulations. I. Spherical and linear rotor cases
Authors: Stopera Christopher , Morales Jorge A.
Published: April 2020

We reformulate a previous rotational coherent state (CS) to obtain temporally stable (TS) CSs for the spherical rotor (SR) and linear rotor (LR): TSSR and TSLR CSs, respectively. Being TS, the new CSs remain within their own classes during dynamics by evolving exclusively through their CS parameters. The new TS CSs are now appropriate to reconstruct quantum rotational properties from classical-mechanics simulations of chemical reactions. Following literature precedents, we enforce temporal stability by incorporating action-angle-related phase factors into the parameters of the original CS. In addition, to elucidate CS quantum reconstruction procedures, we derive one more rotational CS from a quantum electron nuclear dynamics description of a diatomic rotor (DR). The DR CS and the TSLR CS are not identical but display similar structures and properties. We rigorously demonstrate and examine the key properties of the three CSs: continuity, resolution of unity, temporal stability, action identity, minimum uncertainty relationships, and quasi-classical behavior. Finally, we present computer simulations of the CSs dynamics and an application of them to predict CO rotational excitation probabilities in the Li+ + CO reaction. CS results agree satisfactorily with experimental ones and encourage future applications in chemical dynamics, statistical mechanics, spectroscopy, nuclear physics, quantum coherence, and quantum computing.
Tuning magnetism and transport property of planar and wrinkled FePP@GNR hybrid materials
Authors: Wang Yuxiu , Jiang Yingjie , Gao Shengnan , Yu Hong , Zhang Guiling , Zhang Fengming
Published: April 2020

A series of one-dimensional (1D) nano-structures FePP@GNR, formed by embedding Fe-porphyrins (FePPs) into graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) in which planar FePP@GNR nanostructures as well as their wrinkled counterparts, has been designed and investigated based on the combination of density functional theory (DFT) and non-equilibrium Green’s function methods. It is found that the magnetic, electronic, and transport properties of FePP@GNR materials can be tuned by the FePP position, the FePP concentration, and the compressive strain. A polarization/non-polarization switch and a metal/semiconductor transition are found in these systems. In addition, evident negative differential resistance behavior is observed for some species. All these results reveal potential applications of FePP@GNR hybrid materials in electromagnetic devices.
Ground state energy of hydrogen-like ions in quantum plasmas
Authors: Akbari-Moghanjoughi M. , Abdikian Alireza , Phirouznia Arash
Published: April 2020

Using the asymptotic iteration method (AIM), we investigate the variation in the 1s energy levels of hydrogen and helium-like static ions in fully degenerate electron gas. The semiclassical Thomas–Fermi (TF), Shukla–Eliasson (SE), and corrected Shukla–Eliasson (cSE) models are compared. It is noted that these models merge into the vacuum level for hydrogen and helium-like ions in the dilute classical electron gas regime. While in the TF model, the hydrogen ground state level lifts monotonically toward the continuum limit with an increase in the electron concentration; in the SE and cSE models, a universal bound stabilization valley through the energy minimization occurs at a particular electron concentration range for the hydrogen-like ion which for the cSE model closely matches the electron concentrations in typical metals. The latter stabilizing mechanism appears to be due to the interaction between plasmon excitations and the Fermi length scales in the metallic density regime. In the case of helium-like ions, however, no such stability mechanism is found. The application of the cSE model with electron exchange and correlation effects reveals that the cSE model qualitatively accounts for the number density and lattice parameters of elemental metals within the framework of free electron assumption. According to the cSE model of static charge, screening a simple metal–insulator transition criterion is defined. The effect of the relativistic degeneracy effect on the ground state energy of the hydrogen atom is studied. It is shown that the ground state energy level of the hydrogen atom also undergoes a collapse at the well-known Chandrasekhar mass limit for white dwarf stars.
Universal access to oral health care for Australian children: comparison of travel times to public dental services at consecutive census dates as an indicator of progressive realisation
Authors: Jean Gillian , Kruger Estie , Tennant Marc
Published: April 2020

Progressive realisation of equitable access to health services is a fundamental measure of a state’s resolve to achieve universal health coverage. The World Health Organization has reprioritised the importance of oral health services as an integral element of the roadmap towards health equity. This study sought to determine whether there is an indication of progressive realisation of equitable spatial access to public dental services for Australians <18 years of age through a comparison of travel times to the nearest public dental clinic at successive census dates. The distribution of children classified by rural remoteness and level of socioeconomic disadvantage, as well as the location of public dental clinics at the 2011 and 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics censuses, was mapped using geographic imaging software. OpenRouteService software was used to calculate the travel time by car between each statistical census district and the nearest public dental clinic. There has been an improvement in the percentage of the population <18 years of age living within a reasonable travel time of a public dental clinic. The most socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in more densely populated areas have better spatial access to publicly funded dental services than less disadvantaged groups. Children living in very remote areas continue to experience lengthy travel times to access fixed oral health services.
Hog1 activation delays mitotic exit via phosphorylation of Net1
Authors: Tognetti Silvia , Jiménez Javier , Viganò Matteo , Duch Alba , Queralt Ethel , de Nadal Eulàlia , Posas Francesc
Published: April 2020

Significance

Proper chromosome segregation is critical for the maintenance of genomic information in every cell division, which is required for cell survival. Cells have orchestrated a myriad of control mechanisms to guarantee proper chromosome segregation. Upon stress, cells induce a number of adaptive responses to maximize survival that range from regulation of gene expression to control of cell-cycle progression. We have found here that in response to osmostress, cells also regulate mitosis to ensure proper telomeric and rDNA segregation during adaptation. Osmostress induces a Hog1-dependent delay of cell-cycle progression in early mitosis by phosphorylating Net1, thereby impairing timely nucleolar release and activation of Cdc14, core elements of mitosis regulation. Thus, Hog1 activation prevents segregation defects to maximize survival.
Scale-free, programmable design of morphable chain loops of kilobots and colloidal motors
Authors: Agrawal Mayank , Glotzer Sharon C.
Published: April 2020

Micron-scale robots require systems that can morph into arbitrary target configurations controlled by external agents such as heat, light, electricity, and chemical environment. Achieving this behavior using conventional approaches is challenging because the available materials at these scales are not programmable like their macroscopic counterparts. To overcome this challenge, we propose a design strategy to make a robotic machine that is both programmable and compatible with colloidal-scale physics. Our strategy uses motors in the form of active colloidal particles that constantly propel forward. We sequence these motors end-to-end in a closed chain forming a two-dimensional loop that folds under its mechanical constraints. We encode the target loop shape and its motion by regulating six design parameters, each scale-invariant and achievable at the colloidal scale. We demonstrate the plausibility of our design strategy using centimeter-scale robots called
kilobots
. We use Brownian dynamics simulation to explore the large design space beyond that possible with kilobots, and present an analytical theory to aid the design process. Multiple loops can also be fused together to achieve several complex shapes and robotic behaviors, demonstrated by folding a letter shape “M,” a dynamic
gripper
, and a dynamic
pacman
. The material-agnostic, scale-free, and programmable nature of our design enables building a variety of reconfigurable and autonomous robots at both colloidal scales and macroscales.
World Englishes on the Web
Authors: Honkanen Mirka
Published: April 2020

World Englishes on the Web focuses on linguistic practices at the intersection of international migration and social media, examining the language repertoires of Nigerians living in the United States, and their negotiations of identity and authenticity on a Nigerian web forum. Based on a large corpus of informal, multilingual, interactive, online writing, this book describes how diasporic Nigerians employ African-American Vernacular English, Nigerian English, Nigerian Pidgin, and ethnic Nigerian languages in an online community of practice. The project combines corpus linguistic methods—relying on a corpus management tool custom-made for web forum data—with ethnographically-informed qualitative analyses of morphosyntactic, lexical, and orthographic features, and immigrants’ language attitudes and ideologies. It is relevant particularly for linguists and other social scientists interested in World Englishes, the sociolinguistics of globalization and computer-mediated communication, corpus linguistics, and pidgin and creole languages
The 1975 type Japanese diet improves the gut microbial flora and inhibits visceral fat accumulation in mice
Authors: Asano Masaki , Nakano Fumika , Nakatsukasa Eriko , Tsuduki Tsuyoshi
Published: April 2020

In this study, the 1975 type Japanese diet was prepared and its effects and related mechanism were examined in mice. Mice were assigned to three experimental groups, the CD group fed a control diet, the MD group fed a modern Japanese diet (MD), and the JD group fed the 1975 type Japanese diet (JD) for 4 weeks. MD and JD were low protein, high fat, and high carbohydrate diets compared to the CD. Total white adipose tissue weights were significantly increased in the MD group compared to those in the CD group and were decreased in the JD group compared to those in the MD group. In the JD group, adipocyte hypertrophy was inhibited and Hsl mRNA expression was enhanced in epididymal adipose tissue and the number of bacteria associated with the production of short chain fatty acids was increased. Therefore, the JD inhibits lipid accumulation in white adipose tissue.

Abbreviations

Actb: β-actin; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; ANOVA: analyses of variance; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; Fas: fatty acid synthase; G6pdx: glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase; HE: hematoxylin and eosin; HOMA-IR: Homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance; Hsl: hormone-sensitive lipase; JD: 1975 type Japanese diet; Leptin: leptin; MD: modern Japanese diet; Me: malic enzyme; NEFA: non-esterified fatty acids; PL: phospholipids; Pparδ: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta; Pparγ: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma; qRT-PCR: quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; SAMP8: senescence-accelerated prone 8; SEM: standard error of the mean; Srebp1c: Sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c; TBARS: thiobarbituric acid reactive substance; TC: total cholesterol; TG: Triacylglycerol; V3: variable regions 3
Inference on disk-jet connection of MAXI J1836–194 from spectral analysis with the TCAF solution
Authors: Jana Arghajit , Debnath Dipak , Chakrabarti Sandip K. , Chatterjee Debjit
Published: April 2020

Galactic transient black hole candidate (BHC) MAXI J1836–194 was discovered on 2011 Aug 30, by MAXI/GSC and Swift/BAT. The source activity during this outburst continued for ∼ 3 months before entering into the quiescent state. It again became active in March 2012 and continued for another ∼ 2 months. In this paper, 3 – 25 keV RXTE/PCA spectra from the 2011 outburst and 0.5 – 10.0 keV Swift/XRT data during its 2012 outburst are analyzed with the two-component advective flow (TCAF) model based fits files in XSPEC. We calculate the X-ray contributions coming from jets/outflow using a newly developed method based on the deviation of the TCAF model normalization. We also study the correlation between observed radio and estimated jet X-ray fluxes. The correlation indices (b) are found to be 1.79 and 0.61, when the 7.45GHz Very Large Array (VLA) radio flux is correlated with the total X-ray and jet X-ray fluxes in 3 – 25 keV range respectively. It has been found that the jet contributes in X-rays up to a maximum of 86% during its 2011 outburst. This makes the BHC MAXI J1836–194 strongly jet dominated during the initial rising phase.
Effect of magnetic flux advection on the dynamics of shock in accretion flow around a rotating black hole
Authors: Sarkar Biplob , Rao Anjali
Published: April 2020

We investigate the dynamical behavior of a magnetized, dissipative accretion flow around a rapidly rotating black hole. We solve the magnetohydrodynamic equations and calculate the transonic accretion solutions which may contain discontinuous shock transitions. We investigate the effect of ζ–parameter (parametrizing the radial variation of the toroidal magnetic flux advection rate) on the dynamical behavior of shocks. For a rapidly rotating black hole and for fixed injection parameters at the outer edge, we show that stationary shocks are sustained in the global magnetized accretion solutions for a wide range of ζ and accretion rate (ṁ). To investigate the observational implications, we consider dissipative shocks and estimate the maximum accessible energy from the post-shock corona (PSC) for nine stellar mass black hole candidates. We compare this with the observed radio jet kinetic power reported in the literature, whenever available. We find close agreement between the estimated values from our model and those reported in the literature.
Defocus spot detection of astronomical optical system
Authors: Hu Tian-Zhu , Zhang Yong , Cui Xiang-Qun , Li Ye-Ping , Bai Hua , Pan Xiu-Shan
Published: April 2020

Defocusing spot size detection is especially essential for aberration analysis and correction of optical systems. In the case of far defocusing, the celestial forms a pupil image on the detector, and the size of the image is linearly changed with the defocusing distance, and can be used to correct the optical system and analyze the image quality. Based on the focal plane attitude detection of Large Sky Area Multi- Object Fiber Spectroscopy Telescope (LAMOST), this paper uses a variety of methods to detect the size of the defocusing spot of LAMOST telescope. For the particularity of the spot, the average value spacing algorithm, the peak value spacing algorithm, the ellipse fitting algorithm, and the multi-peak Gaussian fitting algorithm are used to detect the spot size. This paper will introduce these four methods, in which the average value spacing algorithm is proposed by the author of this paper. The advantages and disadvantages of the four methods are compared. The experimental results show that the average value spacing algorithm can achieve better accuracy of spot size detection in the four algorithms.
Contributions of scale: what we stand to gain from Indigenous and local inclusion in climate and health monitoring and surveillance systems
Authors: van Bavel Bianca , Ford Lea Berrang , Harper Sherilee L , Ford James , Elsey Helen , Lwasa Shuaib , King Rebecca
Published: April 2020

Understanding how climate change will affect global health is a defining challenge of this century. This is predicated, however, on our ability to combine climate and health data to investigate the ways in which variations in climate, weather, and health outcomes interact. There is growing evidence to support the value of place- and community-based monitoring and surveillance efforts, which can contribute to improving both the quality and equity of data collection needed to investigate and understand the impacts of climate change on health. The inclusion of multiple and diverse knowledge systems in climate-health surveillance presents many benefits, as well as challenges. We conducted a systematic review, synthesis, and confidence assessment of the published literature on integrated monitoring and surveillance systems for climate change and public health. We examined the inclusion of diverse knowledge systems in climate-health literature, focusing on: (1) analytical framing of integrated monitoring and surveillance system processes; (2) key contributions of Indigenous knowledge and local knowledge systems to integrated monitoring and surveillance systems processes; and (3) patterns of inclusion within these processes. In total, 24 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included for data extraction, appraisal, and analysis. Our findings indicate that the inclusion of diverse knowledge systems contributes to integrated climate-health monitoring and surveillance systems across multiple processes of detection, attribution, and action. These contributions include: the definition of meaningful problems; the collection of more responsive data; the reduction of selection and source biases; the processing and interpretation of more comprehensive datasets; the reduction of scale dependent biases; the development of multi-scale policy; long-term future planning; immediate decision making and prioritization of key issues; as well as creating effective knowledge-information-action pathways. The value of our findings and this review is to demonstrate how neither scientific, Indigenous, nor local knowledge systems alone will be able to contribute the breadth and depth of information necessary to detect, attribute, and inform action along pathways of climate-health impact. Rather, it is the divergence or discordance between the methodologies and evidences of different knowledge systems that can contribute uniquely to this understanding. We critically discuss the possibility of what we, mainly local communities and experts, stand to lose if these processes of inclusion are not equitable. We explore how to shift the existing patterns of inclusion into balance by ensuring the equity of contributions and justice of inclusion in these integrated monitoring and surveillance system processes.
Toward a more effective hurricane hazard communication
Authors: Song Jae Yeol , Alipour Atieh , Moftakhari Hamed R , Moradkhani Hamid
Published: April 2020

Tropical cyclones are among the most devastating natural disasters that pose risk to people and assets all around the globe. The Saffir-Simpson scale is commonly used to inform threatened communities about the severity of hazard, but lacks consideration of other potential drivers of a hazardous situation (e.g. terrestrial and coastal flooding). Here, we propose an alternative approach that accounts for multiple components and their likelihood of coincidence for appropriate characterization of hurricane hazard. We assess the marginal and joint probability of wind-speed and rainfall from landfalling Atlantic tropical cyclones in the United States between 1979 ∼ 2017 to characterize the hazard associated with these events. We then integrate the vulnerability of affected communities to have a better depiction of risk that is comparable to the actual cost of these hurricanes. Our results show that the multihazard indexing approach significantly better characterizes the hurricane hazard, and is more appropriate for risk-informed decision-making.
Effects of organosolv pretreatment using ethylene glycol on degraded empty fruit bunch for delignification and fractionation
Authors: Chin DWK , Lim S , Pang YL , Lim CH , Shuit SH
Published: April 2020

Malaysia and Indonesia are the largest palm oil producers worldwide. In palm oil production, approximately one tonne of empty fruit bunch (EFB) will be generated as waste for every one tonne of palm oil produced. Currently, these fresh EFB are still underutilised and generally disposed under open environment. The fresh EFB are more susceptible to microbial attack under natural environment when exposed even for short period and become degraded empty fruit bunch (DEFB) which have lower quality. Consequently, disposal of DEFB becomes an enormous challenge as well as its following environmental problems including soil pollution and emission of greenhouse gases such as methane. However, DEFB remain as a promising lignocellulosic biomass feedstock with huge potential for production of high value added products entailing biofuels, bio-polymer and membrane with appropriate pretreatment. Therefore, DEFB was subjected to organosolv pretreatment in this research to recover its cellulose content. DEFB was discovered to possess higher cellulose content, lignin content and lower hemicellulose content as compared to fresh EFB. Organosolv pretreatment successfully fractionated DEFB to recover the cellulose portion by removing the lignin and hemicellulose content. Pretreatment with 50 v/v% ethylene glycol in the presence of 3 v/v% NaOH removed 75.1 wt.% lignin and 81.5 wt.% hemicellulose with 90.4 wt.% cellulose recovery. Furthermore, the cellulose purity of treated DEFB was improved drastically from 55.9% to 84.5%. For pretreatment liquor, the recoverable lignin was amounted to 74.6 % at pH 2.0. This study proved that organosolv pretreated DEFB exhibited the desirable properties for subsequent processes such as hydrolysis to synthesise the biomass waste into other high value added bio-products.
The potential of integrating blockchain technology into smart sustainable city development
Authors: Wong P F , Chia F C , Kiu M S , Lou E C W
Published: April 2020

The rise of global urbanisation has led to massive pressures on resources such as food, water, infrastructure, and energy demand to support growing populations. It brings adverse impacts on the liveable condition and economic growth of a country if this problem remains unsolved. Smart city is a potential solution to address the challenges of urbanisation by leveraging the technological breakthrough such as internet of things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, big data, and cloud computing to facilitate scarce resources planning and management. With numerous connected devices and vast communication networks, it poses a challenges of security threat which cannot be addressed by the conventional cybersecurity solutions. Blockchain offers a solution in securing the huge numbers of connected devices in smart city network. The application of blockchain technology is leading in the banking and financial industry. However, the uses and implementations in smart city have emerged in recent years. The combination of blockchain technology and smart city has offered a great potential for sustainable development. Thus, it is imperative to discuss the potential of these two elements in making the city safer and sustainable. This paper explores how the blockchain technology application can help in managing smart city and achieve sustainability. The findings revealed that there are five key areas of blockchain application in smart city which are smart governance, smart mobility, smart asset, smart utility and smart logistic. A framework for smart sustainable city with blockchain technology is presented as an outcome of this study. It gives a clear overview for the policy makers and regulators of how blockchain supports within smart city framework. It facilitates the transition towards smart and sustainable cities through the use of blockchain.
Effect of biomass ratio on co-firing of biomass with coal on pozzolanic properties
Authors: Taweetamnusin Darin , Narasingha Monpilai , Panasupamassadu Karn , Kittipoomwong Prakorn
Published: April 2020

Recently, fly ash from the coal combustion process in power generation has been used in the cement industry as an additive to cement or as partial replacing binder in cement-based structural mortars. The use of fly ash can reduce costs in cement production, including a reduction in the environmental impact. Co-firing biomass with coal is one of the existing technologies for utilizing biomass energy in the power generation system. However, this technology also influences the quantity and quality of the ash produced. The present work, therefore, aims to investigate the pozzolanic properties of ashes obtained from the co-firing ofcoal with corncob. Pozzolanic and physical properties of such ashes were investigated by varying the percentages of corncob at 20, 30 and 40 during combustion. The Pozzolanic compounds (SiO2+ Al2O3+ Fe2O3) according to ASTM C618 were determined by using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the structure of ash samples. The results show that content of pozzolanic compounds in ashes produced from cofiring corncob with coal decreased when increasing ratio of corncob and became stable when ratio of corncob was higher than 30%. It is observed that the morphology of such ashes illustrated in the form of small spherically shaped particles which can improve rheological behavior, viscosity and flow performance. Considering the requirements for pozzolanic-cementitious material, it is found that the ashes produced in this study has lower content of pozzoolanic compounds than the standard specification for pozzolan class C.
Design and reliability analysis on internet-based real-time fuel consumption reporting system
Authors: Boonjun Jirawat , Kammuang-Lue Niti
Published: April 2020

The objectives of this study are (i) to design and fabricate the internet-based real-time fuel consumption reporting system and (ii) to evaluate reliability of the reporting system. Real-time fuel consumption rate of the testing vehicle which was measured from fuel injector control signal by the real-time fuel consumption meter proposed in the previously research was used to be the data for reporting by the internet-based real-time fuel consumption reporting system fabricated in this study. A universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (UART) protocol which is a computer hardware device for synchronous serial communication was used to communicate and transmit data between devices and operation of the system was controlled by the Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller. Then, the Quectel BC95-B8 module was used to transmit data for recording on virtual database through narrow band internet of thing (NB-IoT) technology which operates in the 900-MHz frequency band. The results could be concluded that (i) the average fuel consumption rate shown on the ThingsBoard application was less than the calculated fuel consumption for about 11.6% due to number and duration of disconnection of the NB-IoT module. (ii) When data is remotely observed via internet connection, it was found that the data displayed in the database has a lag time for less than 9 seconds due to latency of data transmission system. From these points, the system proposed in this study was acceptably to be installed onto truck fleet in private or small-scale carriers for real-time monitoring and internal data collecting applications. However, reliability in data communication and additional feature to reduce data losing were strongly recommended to be applied on the system before it could be extended to be used in larger scale carriers.
Simultaneous heavy metal reduction and voltage generation with synergy membrane-less microbial fuel cell
Authors: Chan Kam-Khong , Thung Wei-Eng , Ong Soon-An , Ho Li-Ngee , Wong Yee-Shian , Ru Yin Eunice Chong
Published: April 2020

Metal contaminated wastewater effluent from industries has caused several environmental problems and public health due to its toxicity. Conventional heavy metal reduction processes are neither economical nor environmentally friendly. A synergy economical single chamber up-flow membrane-less microbial fuel cell (UFML-MFC) was fabricated to study the feasibility of heavy metal reduction and voltage generation. Cu (II) was used as electron acceptor to explore the mechanism of metal treatment in UFML-MFC. The performances of the UFML-MFC were investigated with 0 mg/L, 5 mg/L and 10 mg/L concentration of Cu (II) in terms of voltage output, chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction and Cu (II) reduction efficiency and electrode spacing distance. UFML-MFC used carbon felt as anode and cathode material where anode region was filled with 0.2 cm of gravels at anode region. Overall performance deteriorated with increased initial concentration of Cu (II). Voltage generation decreased from 71 mV to 11.1 mV. COD reduction decreased from 56% to 36%. Moreover, the Cu (II) reduction efficiency was reduced from 87.56% to 36.98%. These results showed that the increased concentration of the Cu (II) could potentially reduce the microbial activities. However, UFML-MFC showed that the shorter distance of electrode spacing (anode and cathode) could enhanced the voltage output. These results showed the great ability of integrating UFML-MFC for heavy metal reduction.
Laboratory investigation on warm mix asphalt incorporating organo-silane additive
Authors: Omranian S R , Hamzah M O , Mounik G S , Reddy K P , Kapadia Y M , Teh S Y
Published: April 2020

Warm mix asphalt (WMA) was developed to reduce asphalt production temperatures and energy consumption. Production of toxic gas emissions can be reduced considerably. However, lowered production temperature results in the presence of trapped moisture in the aggregates that could lead to stripping and subsequently moisture susceptibility problems, and which can be mitigated by using additives. Asphalt mixtures incorporating such additive must exhibit at least similar performance to conventional hot mix asphalts (HMA) which produce at higher temperatures. This paper evaluates the engineering properties and moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixtures incorporating Organo-Silane additive for use as WMA and anti-stripping agent. WMA samples were compacted at 125 °C and 115 °C and their performance were compared with control HMA specimens. The asphalt mixtures were prepared using similar aggregate gradation and binder types. Mixture workability was quantified in terms of the Compaction Energy Index (CEI) that was measured by integrating the area under the densification curve between gyration 8 and 92% theoretical maximum density. Lower CEI implies a more workable mixture. The CEI of WMA was 76.4, which was much less than the corresponding value for HMA. Samples were also tested for Marshal stability, resilient modulus and wheel tracking (WTT) tests according to ASTM D6927, ASTM D4123 and BS EN12697-22 procedures, respectively. The control samples perform better in the stability test. The resilient modulus of WMA was only about 10% lower compared to HMA. Resistance to permanent deformation was measured from the dynamic stability (DS) or the number of wheel passes per 1 mm rut depth over the last 15 minutes in a 60-minute tracking test. The DS of HMA, WMA compacted at 125 °C and 115 °C were 3138, 3044 and 2837, respectively. From the rutting resistance standpoint, the results are not significantly different. Hence, incorporation of the additive does not adversely affect mixture rutting resistance despite the lowered production temperature.