bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Achieving Sustainable Development by Collaborating in Green Product Innovation
Authors: Melander Lisa
Published: May 2017

Collaboration in green product innovation (GPI) is becoming increasingly important, and research on such innovation has grown in recent years. This study reviews literature on external collaborations in GPI to investigate drivers, inter‐organizational factors and intra‐organizational factors for such collaborations. The review includes a total of 67 papers. Survey studies and case studies are the methodologies applied most in the reviewed papers. The most common collaborators are suppliers and customers. Drivers include economic factors, regulations, customer demand, competitiveness and firm performance. Numerous inter‐organizational collaboration factors are presented and summarized in terms of partner selection, relationship management, knowledge access and agreements. Intra‐organizational factors mainly concern cross‐functional collaboration, capabilities and internal practices. Implications for policy and practitioners are presented. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Modulation of CD11c+ lung dendritic cells in respect to TGF‐β in experimental pulmonary fibrosis
Authors: Chakraborty Kaustav , Chatterjee Soumya , Bhattacharyya Arindam
Published: May 2017

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a deadly, progressive lung disease with very few treatment options till now. Bleomycin‐induced pulmonary fibrosis (BIPF) is a commonly used mice model in IPF research. TGF‐β1 has been shown to play a key role in pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Dendritic cell (DC) acts as a bridge between innate and adaptive immune systems. The coexistence of chronic inflammation sustained by mature DCs with fibrosis suggests that inflammatory phenomenon has key importance in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. Here, we investigated the modulation of DCs phenotypic maturation, accumulation in lung tissue, and expression of other lung DC subsets in respect to TGF‐β in PF. First, we established BIPF model in mice and blocked TGF‐β expression by the use of inhibitor SB431542. Accumulation of lung CD11c+ DCs is significantly higher in both inflammatory and fibrotic phases of the disease but that percentages got reduced in the absence of TGF‐β. TGF‐β initiates up‐regulation of costimulatory molecules CD86 and CD80 in the inflammatory phases of the disease but not so at fibrotic stage. Expression of lung DC subset CD11c+CD103+ is significantly increased in inflammatory phase and also in fibrotic phase of BIPF. Blocking of TGF‐β causes decreased expression of CD11c+CD103+ DCs. Another important lung DC subset CD11c+CD11b+ expression is suppressed by the absence of TGF‐β after bleomycin administration. CD11c+CD103+ DCs might have anti‐inflammatory as well as anti‐fibrotic nature in PF. All these data demonstrate differential modulation of CD11c+ lung DCs by TGF‐β in experimental PF.
Four‐year comparative effectiveness of bare‐metal and everolimus‐eluting stents in New York
Authors: Qian Feng , Zhong Ye , Hannan Edward L.
Published: May 2017

Objectives

To study four‐year outcomes for patients receiving either bare‐metal stents (BMS) or everolimus‐eluting stents (EES) and to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of BMS versus EES in six “off‐label” and two “high‐risk” patient subgroups.

Background

BMS and EES (a second generation of drug‐eluting stent) are used in contemporary practice to treat coronary artery disease. However, little is known about long‐term comparative effectiveness between BMS and EES.

Methods

Using the New York State (NYS) cardiac registries, statewide hospital discharge data, the National Death Index, and the U.S. Census file, we assessed four‐year outcomes of BMS versus EES in patients receiving either BMS or EES from July 2008 through December 2009. The outcomes included all‐cause mortality, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), target‐lesion PCI (TLPCI), and target‐vessel coronary artery bypass graft (TVCABG) surgery for a follow‐up period of four years (median follow‐up of 3.6 years). We compared 9,290 propensity score matched pairs with further adjustment using Cox proportional hazards regression.

Results

Compared with patients receiving BMS, patients receiving EES had a lower rate of four‐year mortality (adjusted hazard ratio : 0.58, 95% confidence interval : 0.54–0.63), AMI (AHR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.61–0.76), TLPCI (AHR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.60–0.75), and TVCABG (AHR, 0.53, 95% CI: 0.43–0.65). For “off‐label” and “high‐risk” subgroups, EES was associated with decreased mortality and generally better AMI, TLPCI, and TVCABG outcomes relative to BMS.

Conclusions

Compared with BMS use, EES use was associated with better four‐year outcomes.
Practical Aerobic Oxidation of Alcohols: A Ligand‐Enhanced 2,2,6,6‐Tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐oxy/Manganese Nitrate Catalyst System
Authors: Lagerblom Kalle , Lagerspets Emi , Keskiväli Juha , Cook Chris , Ekholm Filip , Parviainen Arno , Repo Timo
Published: May 2017

A highly efficient, ligand‐enhanced 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐oxy (TEMPO)/Mn(NO3)2 catalyst system for the aerobic oxidation of alcohols is described. From the series of coordinating ligands studied herein, 2‐picolinic acid (PyCOOH) improves the catalytic activity of TEMPO/Mn(NO3)2 remarkably. Under ambient air at room temperature in acetic acid, the ligand‐enhanced catalyst converts aliphatic and benzylic primary alcohols that bear various functional groups into their respective aldehydes with near quantitative conversions. The applicability of the catalyst for convenient preparative synthesis was demonstrated by conducting oxidations on a gram scale. A change of TEMPO to the sterically less demanding 9‐azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane N‐oxyl results in a Mn catalyst that is also able to oxidize secondary alcohols to ketones. Mechanistic studies showed that alcohols are oxidized by the oxoammonium cation derived from the nitroxyl radical. The active oxidant is regenerated by Mn(NO3)2, and this process is greatly promoted by the coordination of PyCOOH to Mn.
Effect of Acetonitrile‐Based Crystallization Conditions on the Crystal Quality of Vitamin D3
Authors: Gruber-Woelfler Heidrun , Escribà-Gelonch Marc , Noël Timothy , Maier Manuel C. , Hessel Volker
Published: May 2017

To design an integrated continuous crystallization setup that is directly coupled to a photochemical synthesis in flow, the crystallization of vitamin D3 was studied in detail. Because of the high solubility of the vitamin in the reaction solvent tert‐butylmethyl ether, a solvent swap to acetonitrile was necessary. While other methods use a multistep procedure, with the proposed approach, crystalline vitamin D3 can be obtained within one crystallization step. The influence of crystallization parameters, such as the initial concentration of vitamin D3, stirring as well as cooling temperature, rate, and time, on the obtained results in terms of yield, crystal shape, polymorphism, and particle size distribution are discussed in detail.
Synthesis and Characterization of Bromoaluminate Ionic Liquids
Authors: Hog Michael , Schneider Marius , Krossing Ingo
Published: May 2017

Twelve bromoaluminate based ionic liquids (ILs) were synthesized and characterized by IR, Raman, and NMR spectroscopy, as well as single crystal X‐ray diffraction in part. Their principal physicochemical properties including melting points, conductivities, viscosities, and densities were determined and compared with related ILs. The influence of the cation and anion on the physicochemical properties are discussed. The [AlBr4]−based salts are—with one exception—solid at room temperature, while the compounds based on the anion [Al2Br7]− are liquid at room temperature. The liquid salts show low viscosities (49–139 mPa s), medium to high conductivities (0.76–3.53 mS cm−1) and high densities (1.82–2.04 g cm−3) at 28 °C. Furthermore, we showed aluminum electrodeposition from Lewis acidic ILs based on AlBr3 and 1‐hexyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bromide and investigated the stability range of various formulations.
Wigner active and passive rotation matrices applied toNMRtensor
Authors: Man Pascal P.
Published: May 2017

NMR Hamiltonians are double contraction of two spherical rank‐2 tensors, their space parts are represented by a spherical tensor and their spin parts are composed of spherical tensor operators. The comprehension of modern NMR experiments is very often based on the rotation of these tensors. We present the active and passive rotations in a progressive way from position vector to spherical tensor operator via space function, spherical harmonic, and vector operator. The passive rotation of a physical quantity is described by the rotation of coordinate system. Both the left‐ and right‐handed rotation conventions are applied whereas the right‐handed rotation convention is mainly used in the literature. Throughout the article, we explore the equivalence between the active rotation of a physical quantity in one direction and the rotation of the coordinate system in the opposite direction. The article presents redundant mathematical demonstrations between active and passive rotations, but they clarify the meanings of some important expressions not well developed in the literature.
A numerical investigation and experimental verification of size effects in loaded bovine cortical bone
Authors: Frame J. C. , Wheel M. A. , Riches P. E.
Published: May 2017

In this paper, we present 2‐ and 3‐dimensional finite element–based numerical models of loaded bovine cortical bone that explicitly incorporate the dominant microstructural feature: the vascular channel or Haversian canal system. The finite element models along with the representation of the microstructure within them are relatively simple: 2‐dimensional models, consisting of a structured mesh of linear elastic planar elements punctuated by a periodic distribution of circular voids, are used to represent beam samples of cortical bone in which the channels are orientated perpendicular to the sample major axis, while 3‐dimensional models, using a corresponding mesh of equivalent solid elements, represent those samples in which the canals are aligned with the axis. However, these models are exploited in an entirely novel approach involving the representation of material samples of different sizes and surface morphology. The numerical results obtained for the virtual material samples when loaded in bending indicate that they exhibit size effects not forecast by either classical (Cauchy) or more generalized elasticity theories. However, these effects are qualitatively consistent with those that we observed in a series of carefully conducted experiments involving the flexural testing of bone samples of different sizes. Encouraged by this qualitative agreement, we have identified appropriate model parameters, primarily void volume fraction but also void separation and matrix modulus by matching the computed size effects to those we observed experimentally. Interestingly, the parameter choices that provide the most suitable match of these effects broadly concur with those we actually observed in cortical bone.
Does Confinement Always Lead to Thermodynamically and/or Kinetically Favorable Reactions? A Case Study using Diels–Alder Reactions within ExBox+4and CB[7]
Authors: Chakraborty Debdutta , Das Ranjita , Chattaraj Pratim Kumar
Published: May 2017

The impact of geometrical confinement on the thermodynamic as well as kinetic aspects of a model cycloaddition reaction between 1,3‐butadiene and ethylene have been investigated based on density functional theory calculations. To this end, organic hosts ExBox+4and cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) were used to impose confinement effects on the reactants, transition state (TS), and product involved in the reaction. The results suggest that the shape of the host and thereby the nature of the confining regime dictates the thermodynamic outcome of the reaction. The reaction becomes thermodynamically more spontaneous inside CB[7] as compared with that in either ExBox+4or in the “unconfined” gaseous state. Furthermore, the rate constant associated with the reaction increases manifold inside CB[7]. Atoms‐in a‐molecule, noncovalent interaction, natural bond orbital, as well as energy decomposition analyses suggest that the close geometrical proximity of the reactants inside CB[7] as well as extra stabilization of the TS in the encapsulated state may dictate the outcome.
Predicting the Solvent Effect on Esterification Kinetics
Authors: Lemberg Max , Sadowski Gabriele
Published: May 2017

It is well known that solvents influence reaction kinetics. The classical concentration‐based kinetic modeling is unable to describe these effects. In this work, the reaction kinetics was studied for the esterifications of acetic acid and propionic acid with ethanol at 303.15 K. It was found that the reactant ratio as well as the applied solvents (acetonitrile, tetrahydrofurane, dimethylformamide) significantly affect the reaction rate. The thermodynamic model PC‐SAFT was applied to account for the interactions between the reacting species and the solvents via activity coefficients. This allowed the identification of solvent‐independent kinetic constants and the prediction of the solvent effect on reaction kinetics in almost quantitative agreement with experimental data. The presented approach shows the importance of taking into account thermodynamic non‐idealities and significantly reduces experimental effort for finding the best solvent candidate for a given target reaction.
Boom–bust economics and vegetation dynamics in a desert city: How strong is the link?
Authors: Ripplinger Julie , Collins Scott L. , York Abigail M. , Franklin Janet
Published: May 2017

In cities, human activities such as supplemental watering and plantings of ornamental species are thought to decouple vegetation diversity from biophysical processes. Consequently, socioeconomics may arguably be one of the most important factors influencing the pattern and dynamics of vegetation in urban ecosystems. Socioeconomic disturbances, like The Great Recession of 2007 to post‐2010, disrupt normal social and economic activity causing changes to the ecology of cities that have yet to be examined. Using the rapidly growing metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona, USA, as a case study, we explored the dynamics of residential vegetation diversity from before to after The Great Recession. Our findings linked changing plant community composition and increasing richness with socioeconomics of the housing boom, (from 2000 to 2006) followed by the Great Recession (from 2007 to post‐2010). Specifically, we found that the housing market boom–bust episode acted as a socioeconomic driver of overall plant community composition. However, plant species with annual reproduction strategies were instead linked to the previous winter's precipitation and did not respond to socioeconomic disturbance, a behavior expected in native desert plant communities, but not from constructed and managed urban plant communities. This study demonstrates how disturbances to socioeconomic components of ecosystems can result in changes to plant community diversity and dynamics; though, biophysical drivers remain important to short‐lived annual species regardless. Undertakings that aim to maintain or increase urban biodiversity for ecosystem services and human well‐being need to systematically approach the effects of socioeconomic fluctuations on urban flora. Cross‐site comparisons will be key to developing a broader understanding of these coupled dynamics across older and newer, mesic and arid, and growing and shrinking cities.
A miniaturized sensor for detection of formaldehyde fumes
Authors: Zilberstein Gleb , Zilberstein Roman , Zilberstein Svetlana , Maor Uriel , Baskin Emmanuil , Zhang Shoumo , Righetti Pier Giorgio
Published: May 2017

A miniaturized chemical sensor is here described for the analysis of environmental pollutants (VOC: volatile organic chemicals). It is used for remote detection of formaldehyde (FA) fumes in the atmosphere, and is based on the redox reaction between FA and silver nitrate. The sensor is worn as a bracelet and the data acquired are transferred via a Bluetooth channel to a smartphone. A dedicated software transforms the signal from a grey to a color scale. The signal response has been assessed over low (20 to 120 ppb) as well as higher (1–15 ppm range) levels. The sensor has been applied to monitor potential FA fumes of some artwork in the Summer Palace in Beijing and the modifications induced by FA treatment on a precious Stradivarius violin. The performance of this novel sensor is compared with a commercial apparatus widely adopted, namely the Honeywell MultiRAE Lite wireless portable multi‐gas monitor (pumped model).
Semi‐high‐throughput isolation and N‐glycan analysis of human fibrinogen using monolithic supports bearing monoclonal anti‐human fibrinogen antibodies
Authors: Vidic Urška , Trbojević‐Akmačić Irena , Černigoj Urh , Albers Malena , Gašperšič Jernej , Pučić‐Baković Maja , Vidič Jana , Štrancar Aleš , Lauc Gordan
Published: May 2017

Fibrinogen (FIB) is a secretory glycoprotein synthesized by hepatocytes that has a key role in blood clotting. Its glycosylation has not been studied in detail and little is known about the biological variability of FIB N‐glycosylation, mainly due to the lack of fast, simple, and robust approaches to purify FIB from blood plasma samples. In recent years, customised chromatographic monoliths have been used for a variety of biological applications due to their unique characteristics. Here we describe development and optimisation of monolithic supports bearing monoclonal anti‐human fibrinogen antibodies in a single column as well as in multi‐well plate formats with high FIB specificity and binding capacity for fast immunoaffinity purification of FIB from human blood samples. The developed semi‐high‐throughput workflow has been successfully applied for FIB immunoaffinity isolation and subsequent ultra performance liquid chromatography N‐glycosylation analysis in ten healthy human individuals, demonstrating the potential of monolithic supports in glycomics studies.
A long-term copper exposure in a freshwater ecosystem using lotic mesocosms: Invertebrate community responses
Authors: Joachim Sandrine , Roussel Hélène , Bonzom Jean-Marc , Thybaud Eric , Mebane Christopher A. , Van den Brink Paul , Gauthier Laury
Published: May 2017

A lotic mesocosm study was carried out in 20-m-long channels, under continuous, environmentally realistic concentrations of copper (Cu) in low, medium, and high exposures (nominally 0, 5, 25, and 75 μg L−1; average effective concentrations <0.5, 4, 20, and 57 μg L−1 respectively) for 18 mo. Total abundance, taxa richness, and community structure of zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, and emerging insects were severely affected at Cu treatment levels of 25 and 75 μg L−1. Some taxa were sensitive to Cu, including gastropods such as Lymnaea spp. and Physa sp., crustaceans such as Chydorus sphaericus, Gammarus pulex, and Asellus aquaticus, rotifers such as Mytilina sp. and Trichocerca sp., leeches such as Erpobdella sp., and the emergence of dipteran insects such as Chironomini. Other taxa appeared to be tolerant or favored by indirect effects, as in Chironimidae larvae, the emergence of Orthocladiinae, and the zooplankter Vorticella sp., which increased in the 25 and 75 μg L−1 treatments. After approximately 8 mo of Cu exposure, the macroinvertebrate community in the high treatment was decimated to the point that few organisms could be detected, with moderate effects in the medium treatment, and very slight effects in the low-Cu treatment. Subsequently, most taxa in the high-Cu exposure began a gradual and partial recovery. By the end of the study at 18 mo, macroinvertebrate taxa richness was similar to control richness, although overall abundances remained lower than controls. After 18 mo of copper exposure, a no-observed-effect concentration at the community level for consumers was set at 5 μg L−1 (4 μg L−1 as average effective concentration), and a lowest-observed-effect concentration at 25 μg L−1(20 μg L−1 as average effective concentration). Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:2698–2714. © 2017 SETAC
Emergence of MPLW515 mutation in a patient with CALR deletion: Evidence of secondary acquisition of MPL mutation in the CALR clone
Authors: Partouche Nicolas , Conejero Carole , Barathon Quentin , Moroch Julien , Tulliez Michel , Cordonnier Catherine , Giraudier Stephane
Published: May 2017

Myeloproliferative neoplasms are characterized by transduction pathway recognized as mutually exclusive molecular abnormalities such as BCR‐ABL translocation, JAK2V617F or JAK2 exon 12 mutations, MPL w515, and CALR mutations. However, in some rare cases, associations of such mutations are found in 1 patient. This can be related to 2 pathologies (at least 2 different clones harboring 2 mutations) or associated mutations in 1 clone. We describe here such an association of CALR and MPL mutations in a patient harboring the second mutation in a subclone during the phenotypic evolution of the myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Recreational stimulants, herbal, and spice cannabis: The core psychobiological processes that underlie their damaging effects
Authors: Parrott Andrew C. , Hayley Amie C. , Downey Luke A.
Published: May 2017

Aims

Recreational drugs are taken for their positive mood effects, yet their regular usage damages well‐being. The psychobiological mechanisms underlying these damaging effects will be debated.

Methods

The empirical literature on recreational cannabinoids and stimulant drugs is reviewed. A theoretical explanation for how they cause similar types of damage is outlined.

Results

All psychoactive drugs cause moods and psychological states to fluctuate. The acute mood gains underlie their recreational usage, while the mood deficits on withdrawal explain their addictiveness. Cyclical mood changes are found with every central nervous system stimulant and also occur with cannabis. These mood state changes provide a surface index for more profound psychobiological fluctuations. Homeostatic balance is altered, with repetitive disturbances of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, and disrupted cortisol‐neurohormonal secretions. Hence, these drugs cause increased stress, disturbed sleep, neurocognitive impairments, altered brain activity, and psychiatric vulnerability. Equivalent deficits occur with novel psychoactive stimulants such as mephedrone and artificial “spice” cannabinoids. These psychobiological fluctuations underlie drug dependency and make cessation difficult. Psychobiological stability and homeostatic balance are optimally restored by quitting psychoactive drugs.

Conclusions

Recreational stimulants such as cocaine or MDMA (3.4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine) and sedative drugs such as cannabis damage human homeostasis and well‐being through similar core psychobiological mechanisms.
But What Does It Look Like? Illustrations of Disciplinary Literacy Teaching in Two Content Areas
Authors: Rainey Emily C. , Maher Bridget L. , Coupland David , Franchi Rod , Moje Elizabeth Birr
Published: May 2017

In this piece, the authors offer two illustrations of central features of disciplinary literacy teaching. One illustration describes an episode of history literacy teaching, and the other describes an episode of physics literacy teaching. Both examples show how teachers may support students’ development of disciplinary inquiry, disciplinary concepts, and extended use of texts in secondary classrooms. Illustrations were drawn from a long‐term study of the teaching practice of attending teachers and preservice teaching interns affiliated with Clinical Rounds, the secondary undergraduate teacher education program at the University of Michigan. Conclusions are relevant for teachers seeking to design and enact disciplinary literacy teaching in their classrooms and for all literacy practitioners seeking a common language for recognizing and naming aspects of disciplinary literacy teaching across disciplinary domains.
On the applicability of density functional theory to manganese‐based complexes with catalytic activity toward water oxidation
Authors: Gámez José A. , Hölscher Markus , Leitner Walter
Published: May 2017

The present contribution assesses the performance of several popular and accurate density functionals, namely B3LYP, BP86, M06, MN12L, mPWPW91, PBE0, and TPSSh toward manganese‐based coordination complexes. These compounds show promising properties toward application to catalytic water oxidation. Although manganese with N‐ and O‐biding ligands tends to give rise to high spin complexes, the results show that BP86, mPWPW91, and specially MN12L, tend to yield low‐spin complexes. The usage of these functionals for such compounds is, thus, discouraged. All the functionals considered deliver accurate geometries. The present results show, however, that B3LYP delivers geometries deviating from experimental values when compared to the other functionals of the set. M06, PBE0, and TPSSh deliver geometries of similar accuracy, PBE0 outstanding slightly with respect to the other two. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Performance of thermophilic anaerobic digesters using inoculum mixes with enhanced methanogenic diversity
Authors: Ghanimeh Sophia , El‐Fadel Mutasem , Saikaly Pascal E
Published: May 2017

BACKGROUND

Various mixes of seeds have been quasi‐randomly selected to startup anaerobic digesters. In contrast, this study examines the impact of inoculating thermophilic anaerobic digesters with a designed mix of non‐acclimated seeds based on their methanogen composition, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) of 16S rRNA gene, to achieve high abundance and diversity of methanogens.

RESULTS

Based on QPCR results, two seed mixes were selected to inoculate two anaerobic digesters: digester (A) was inoculated with a control seed consisting of digestate, manure, and activated sludge; and digester (B) was inoculated with a further methanogen‐enriched seed consisting of the control seed with added compost and leachate. Both seed combinations yielded a balanced microflora that is able to achieve a successful startup. However, upon reaching steady state, digester B exhibited lower propionate levels, resulting in lower volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentration and increased buffering capacity, indicating greater stability. Acetotrophs and hydrogenotrophs were dominated by Methanosarcinaceae and Methanobacteriales, respectively, in both digesters, exhibiting an average ratio of 66‐to‐34% in A and 76‐to‐24% in B during steady‐state.

CONCLUSION

The inoculation strategy in digester B resulted in improved stability, lower propionate concentration and 10% higher relative abundance of acetotrophs. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry
Modified cuckoo search algorithm in microscopic image segmentation of hippocampus
Authors: Chakraborty Shouvik , Chatterjee Sankhadeep , Dey Nilanjan , Ashour Amira S. , Ashour Ahmed S. , Shi Fuqian , Mali Kalyani
Published: May 2017

Microscopic image analysis is one of the challenging tasks due to the presence of weak correlation and different segments of interest that may lead to ambiguity. It is also valuable in foremost meadows of technology and medicine. Identification and counting of cells play a vital role in features extraction to diagnose particular diseases precisely. Different segments should be identified accurately in order to identify and to count cells in a microscope image. Consequently, in the current work, a novel method for cell segmentation and identification has been proposed that incorporated marking cells. Thus, a novel method based on cuckoo search after pre‐processing step is employed. The method is developed and evaluated on light microscope images of rats’ hippocampus which used as a sample for the brain cells. The proposed method can be applied on the color images directly. The proposed approach incorporates the McCulloch's method for lévy flight production in cuckoo search (CS) algorithm. Several objective functions, namely Otsu's method, Kapur entropy and Tsallis entropy are used for segmentation. In the cuckoo search process, the Otsu's between class variance, Kapur's entropy and Tsallis entropy are employed as the objective functions to be optimized. Experimental results are validated by different metrics, namely the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), mean square error, feature similarity index and CPU running time for all the test cases. The experimental results established that the Kapur's entropy segmentation method based on the modified CS required the least computational time compared to Otsu's between‐class variance segmentation method and the Tsallis entropy segmentation method. Nevertheless, Tsallis entropy method with optimized multi‐threshold levels achieved superior performance compared to the other two segmentation methods in terms of the PSNR.
Edge‐colorings avoiding rainbow stars
Authors: Hoppen Carlos , Lefmann Hanno , Odermann Knut , Sanches Juliana
Published: May 2017

We consider an extremal problem motivated by a article of Balogh [J. Balogh, A remark on the number of edge colorings of graphs, European Journal of Combinatorics 27, 2006, 565–573], who considered edge‐colorings of graphs avoiding fixed subgraphs with a prescribed coloring. More precisely, given , we look for n‐vertex graphs that admit the maximum number of r‐edge‐colorings such that at most colors appear in edges incident with each vertex, that is, r‐edge‐colorings avoiding rainbow‐colored stars with t edges. For large n, we show that, with the exception of the case , the complete graph is always the unique extremal graph. We also consider generalizations of this problem.
Withdrawn: The radiosynthesis of novel PI3K inhibitor, 8‐ethoxy‐2‐(4‐[18F] fluorophenyl)‐3‐nitro‐2H‐chromene (18F‐EFPNC)
Authors: Liu Jianfeng , Sun Jinrui , Li Yuekai , Su Peng , Hou Guihua , Han Jiankui
Published: May 2017

Withdrawal: Jianfeng Liu et al. ‘The radiosynthesis of novel PI3K inhibitor, 8‐ethoxy‐2‐(4‐[18F]fluorophenyl)‐3‐nitro‐2H‐chromene (18F‐EFPNC)’, Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals (https://doi.org/10.1002/jlcr.3524). The above article, published online on 30 May 2017 on Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been withdrawn by agreement between the journal's Editor‐in‐Chief Committee, and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The withdrawal has been agreed as it was not possible to complete corrections and finalise the article.
Automated high throughput analysis of antiretroviral drugs in dried blood spots
Authors: Duthaler U. , Berger B. , Erb S. , Battegay M. , Letang E. , Gaugler S. , Krähenbühl S. , Haschke M.
Published: May 2017

For therapeutic drug monitoring in remote settings, dried blood spots (DBS) are particularly advantageous, as blood sample collection and handling is uncomplicated. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an automated extraction method for the analysis of nevirapine, efavirenz and lopinavir in DBS samples. Automated extraction was performed with methanol : water (70 : 30 v/v), using a DBS‐MS 500 autosampler coupled to a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry system. The autosampler used digital images of each DBS to position the extraction head, sprayed 10 μl of internal standard onto each DBS and extracted a 4‐mm disc (Ø) from the centre of each spot by unilateral flow using 25‐μl extraction solvent. The analytes were baseline separated on a pentafluorophenyl column and analysed by using electrospray ionization with multiple reaction monitoring in positive polarity mode for nevirapine and lopinavir and in negative mode for efavirenz. The method was linear between 10 and 10 000 ng/ml for all analytes. Automated sample extraction resulted in consistent recoveries (nevirapine: 70 ± 6%, efavirenz: 63 ± 11% and lopinavir: 60 ± 10%) and matrix effects between different donors and concentration levels. Intra‐day and inter‐day accuracy and precision deviations were ≤15%. Manual and automated extractions of DBS samples collected within the framework of an adherence assessment study in rural Tanzania showed good agreements with deviations of less than 10%. Our study highlights that therapeutic drug monitoring samples obtained in the resource‐constrained setting of rural Africa can be reliably determined by automated extraction of DBS. Overall, automatization improved method sensitivity and facilitates analysis of large sample numbers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The microbial habitat in soil: Scale, heterogeneity and functional consequences
Authors: Nunan Naoise
Published: May 2017

The microbial habitat is rarely studied in soil microbial ecology even though microbial cells are exposed and adapt to their local environmental conditions. The physical environment also constrains interactions among organisms. The nature of microbial communities and their functioning can only be fully understood if their habitat is accounted for. Here, I describe the soil microbial habitat and show how our understanding of microbial functioning has been shaped by this line of investigation.
Comparison of the prognostic values of selected inflammation based scores in patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma: A pilot study
Authors: Jiang Ke , Lei Jianyong , Li Canjun , Shu Kunpeng , Li Wenbin , Zhang Yuwei , Li Zhihui , Gong Rixiang , Zhu Jingqiang
Published: May 2017

Background

The significance of inflammation based scores including the neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (dNLR), platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte‐to‐monocyte ratio (LMR), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and plasma fibrinogen remains unclear in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). We aimed to compare the prognostic value of these scores.

Methods

Seventy‐eight patients newly diagnosed as MTC with operation in our institution from May 2009 to September 2016 were retrospectively evaluated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and Kaplan‐Meier analyses were calculated to compare the prognostic value of these scores.

Results

Increased PLR was predictive of lymph node metastasis (AUC = 0.644, P = 0.022), capsule invasion (AUC = 0.666, P = 0.007), advanced tumor stages (AUC = 0.657, P = 0.011), and recurrence (AUC = 0.655, P = 0.049). Increased fibrinogen was predictive of lymph node metastasis (AUC = 0.669, P = 0.006) and capsule invasion (AUC = 0.631, P = 0.038). Reduced PNI was predictive of recurrence (AUC = 0.655, P = 0.049). Kaplan‐Meier analyses and Cox regression analysis revealed that PLR was a significant predictor for recurrence.

Conclusions

PLR, fibrinogen, and PNI are all predictive. Specially, PLR is superior to other inflammation based scores in terms of prognostic ability.
High efficiency broadband GaN HEMT power amplifier based on three‐frequency point matching method
Authors: Cheng Zhiqun , Zhao Ziming , Ke Huajie , Liu Guohua , Dong Zhihua , Gao Steven
Published: May 2017

To cover the working frequency bands of the three mobile carriers of China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, power amplifiers (PAs) are required to own broadband. A PA with bandwidth 1.3–2.7 GHz is designed (fully covers the operating bands of the three mobile carriers). Measured results show that greater than 68% efficiency is attained over a 75% bandwidth from 1.3 to 2.7 GHz. The output power is larger than 40.2 dBm with gain varying from 10 to 13 dB across the band. In this article, three‐frequency point matching method is applied in order for broadband matching. High‐efficiency is achieved by a specially designed impedance matching topology which realizes short‐circuits of the second harmonics and open‐circuits of the third harmonics at different frequencies. The designed broadband high‐efficiency GaN PA provides a new approach and method for the development of PAs in 4G base stations.
A tri‐band monopole filtering antenna using multimode resonators
Authors: Yao Yue , Tu Zhi‐Hong , Gan Zheng
Published: May 2017

A simple tri‐band monopole filtering antenna using multimode resonators is proposed. Two novel microstrip open‐loop multimode resonators and a monopole ring antenna with an open stub are integrated together on the same layer of the substrate. Compared with the traditional monopole antenna, the integration makes the proposed antenna operate at 2.4/5.2/6.5 GHz and realize two radiation zeroes at 2 and 3.3 GHz. It leads to the high selectivity for 2.4 GHz. The measured results, including the reflection coefficient, peak realized gain and radiation pattern agree well with the simulated results.
A ultrawideband antenna with dual‐band band‐notch filters
Authors: Tsai Lin‐Chuan
Published: May 2017

The heptagonal‐shaped monopole antenna design for ultrawideband (UWB) applications is proposed. This antenna is designed on PCB FR4 substrate with relative permittivity ɛr = 4.4, loss tangent tan δ = 0.0245, and thickness h = 1.6 mm. The antenna consists of a radiated patch, a feed line, and a ground plane. With the different geometrical parameters, simulated and experimental results of the antenna are suitable for UWB operations. The bandwidth VSWR < 2 of the UWB antennas from measurement is ∼122.02% (2.63–10.86 GHz). To decrease the interference with the wireless local area networks (WLANs) at 5.2/5.8 GHz and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) at 3.5/5.5 GHz, two band‐notched filters covering from 3.4 to 3.69 and 5.15 to 5.85 GHz was design. Two L‐shaped slots on the patch and two slot‐type split ring resonators (SRRs) on the ground plane were used to produce two band‐notched frequency bands. The results for VSWR, far‐field H‐ and E‐plane radiation patterns and gain of the proposed antennas are presented and discussed. The radiation area of the design antenna is 26 × 16.38 mm2. The measured results show a good agreement with the simulated results.
Flexible microstrip grid array polymer‐conductive rubber antenna for 5G mobile communication applications
Authors: Ramli M. R. , Rahim S. K. A. , Rahman H. A. , Sabran M. I. , Samingan M. L.
Published: May 2017

A flexible microstrip grid array antenna (MGAA) fabricated by printing the patch and the ground plane using a 0.25‐mm‐thick conductive rubber layer onto a 1.9 mm thick Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate layer is presented in this article. The proposed antenna was designed to operate at 14 GHz frequency band. It is composed of 24 radiating elements to achieve a high gain and compact size characteristics. The measurement results shows that the antenna exhibits wideband characteristics in return loss (S11) covered from 12 to 18 GHz and it can works at bending state without sacrificing the performance. The measured radiation pattern results also present good agreement with the simulated results. All the criteria of this proposed antenna make it as a suitable candidate to be applied for future flexible and conformal‐5G mobile communication applications.
Improved chipless tag based on multifilters
Authors: Ni Yi‐Zhan , Huang Xiao‐Dong , Cheng Chong‐Hu
Published: May 2017

In this study, a novel compact chipless RFID transponder is presented. The coding information is based on spectral signature using three types of multiresonator: spiral, slot, and U‐shaped defected ground structure (DGS). Each resonator can be seen as a band‐stop filter which contributes to a particular resonance frequency. The previous spiral resonator based barcodes have only 1 bit information on each resonator which result in a large quantity of resonators relatively and a long microstrip line. In our design, the slot is cutting on the spiral resonator so more bits can be stored. The combination of slot and spiral resonators together provides an efficient decrease in resonator numbers. The DGS structure takes use of ground plane of the tag which further increases the capacity without expanding the size. The method of using these three types of resonators presents a clear improvement in miniaturizing the transponder which leads to a compact size of the tag. By applying frequency shift coding (FSC) coding technique, a coding density of 0.946 bit/cm2 is achieved. Improvement in two cross‐polarized transmitting and receiving antennas is also considered in the design. Corresponding experiments on realized prototypes are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed design.
Three‐dimensional‐folded annular slot antenna‐package
Authors: Shamsinejad Souren , Monavar Fatemeh M. , De Flaviis Franco , Moradi Gholamreza , Mousavi Pedram
Published: May 2017

In this letter, a novel 3D conformal annular slot antenna is proposed and patterned over a 3D printed cubic package with conductive surface in order to achieve a horizontally polarized omnidirectional radiation pattern in the azimuth plane. To verify the concept, a cubic antenna‐package at 2.4 GHz has been designed and fabricated for wireless sensor network applications application. The cube is printed by Objet 3D printer from Verogray material with thickness of 1.55 mm and covered with copper tape with slots being cut out of its surface at appropriate locations. The measurements are in good agreement with simulations. A maximum measured gain of 2.53 dBi at the azimuth plane and a bandwidth of 11% are achieved.
A compact dual‐band hook‐shaped antenna for wireless applications
Authors: Yeo Wei Long , Lai Koon Chun , Yeap Kim Ho , Teh Peh Chiong , Nisar Humaira
Published: May 2017

In this article, a dual‐band coplanar waveguide‐fed antenna is proposed for wireless local network. The dimensions of the antenna are 18 × 17 × 1.6mm3 fabricated on FR‐4 substrate. It comprises narrow hook shaped slits on left‐hand side and two separated ground planes. The measured results show that the proposed antenna has impedance bandwidth from 2.0 to 2.56 GHz and 4.59 to 6.0 GHz for 10 dB return loss. It can cover several wireless communication bands like UMTS 2100 MHz, Bluetooth 2400 MHz, WLAN 2400/5200/5800 MHz, and LTE 2300–2400 MHz bands. To validate the results of simulation, an inexpensive FR‐4 substrate is used for the fabrication of the prototypes of the proposed antenna and tested. Experimental and simulated results obtained indicate that the proposed antenna has good radiation efficiencies and near omnidirectional radiation patterns.
Wideband dual circularly polarized beam‐scanning array for Ka‐band satellite communications
Authors: Zhang Long , Gao Steven , Luo Qi , Li Wenting , Li Qingxia
Published: May 2017

This article presents a wideband dual circularly polarized (CP) array which has two independent beams in orthogonal circular polarizations and the two beams can scan to ±23° individually. The proposed array consists of stacked patches fed by 90° hybrid couplers. To achieve two independent beams, the beam‐forming networks (BFNs) for the left‐hand circular polarization (LHCP) beam and right‐hand circular polarization (RHCP) beam are printed on two separate layers with ground plane between them. This arrangement facilitates the integration of the BFNs and reduces the fabrication complexity. Two prototypes with different beam‐scanning angles are fabricated and measured. The measured results confirm that the array achieves good impedance matching, larger than 20 dB isolation and smaller than 3 dB axial ratio (AR) from 27 to 30 GHz when the array scans to ±23°. Due to the independent beam‐scanning ability, high isolation between the LHCP and RHCP beams and the wide bandwidth, the proposed array is promising for high data‐rate Ka‐band satellite communications which utilize polarization diversity.
Closed‐form expression to optimize the fiber Bragg grating sensor apodization performance
Authors: Chaoui Fahd , Aghzout Otman , Alejos Ana Vazquez , Falcone Francisco , Naghar Azzeddin , El Yakhloufi Mounir
Published: May 2017

In this article, a new closed‐form apodization expression, which describes the light propagation in fiber Bragg grating sensor (FBGS) according to the design setting of the sensor application, is developed and presented. The main goal of the proposed approach is to optimize the FBGS apodization to enhance the reflected power as long as side lobes are kept in a low level. For this purpose, the coupled mode equations (CME) method has been used with the new apodization formula to customize the light propagation in the FBGS. The new apodization algorithm is processed based on side lobe level (SLL) and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the FBGS grating spectrum. Further, the developed method has been compared with other apodization profiles presented by other authors. All results show very satisfactory performance of the proposed method.
Non‐Foster immittance observed in the full‐range frequency response
Authors: Zhu Anjie , Wang Chun , Xu Kuiwen , Wang Zhiyu , Ye Dexin , Sun Yongzhi , Qiao Shan , Li Changzhi , Ran Lixin
Published: May 2017

We investigate a non‐Foster element implemented with a radio‐frequency operational amplifier theoretically and experimentally, showing that its full‐range frequency response exhibits an inverted Lorentzian resonance, and thus a high‐frequency non‐Foster response can be observed on the right side of the resonance region. This can be used to overcome the technical difficulty in achieving high‐frequency non‐Foster elements.
Experimental research on vehicle‐borne SAR imaging with THz radar
Authors: Yang Qi , Qin Yuliang , Zhang Ke , Deng Bin , Wang Xinyun , Wang Hongqiang
Published: May 2017

Vehicle‐borne SAR is one of the most important applications of radar systems, playing a more and more major role in civilian and military fields. Vehicle‐borne SAR imaging experiments with a 0.22‐THz radar system are introduced in this letter and the imaging processing based on practical problems is presented. High quality imaging results are obtained after a series of processing such as optimum parameters estimation, harmonic interference correction and vibration compensation. Finally, analyses of the imaging results verify the validity of the imaging processing, which provide support to the practical application of terahertz vehicle‐borne SAR imaging systems.
A novel design of ultra‐high impedance transforming ratio quad‐band matching network
Authors: Barik Rusan Kumar , Karthikeyan S. S.
Published: May 2017

In this article, a novel design of quad‐band matching network (QBMN) with ultra‐high impedance transforming ratios (UHTRs) is proposed and designed based on ABCD matrix method. The QBMN is capable of matching a very large real load impedance at four different frequencies simultaneously. The quad‐band structure is composed of π‐section with series connected coupled lines at each port. The design formulas of QBMN are derived analytically to obtain the quad‐band operation. In order to validate the proposed idea, three examples of QBMN for different load impedances (500, 1000, and 1500 Ω) are considered. Finally, two QBMNs with transforming ratios of 10 and 20 are fabricated and demonstrated. For both the prototypes, the measured S11 is better than 15 dB at all working frequencies. The experimental performances are consistent with the simulated results.
Multi‐optical carrier generation using a microring resonator to enhance the number of serviceable channels in radio over free space optic
Authors: Amiri I. S. , Alavi S. E. , Punthawanunt S. , Yupapin P. , Youplao P.
Published: May 2017

A system of radio over free space optic (RoFSO) system using the multi‐optical carriers has been generated by the microring resonators integrating an add/drop filter. These obtained carriers have shown sufficiently stable for propagating in free space channels while experiencing very low dispersion. Moreover, this technique is appropriated for higher capacity that can be serviced in a system of wavelength‐division multiplexing (WDM) RoFSO, where there are 16 carriers created, where each carrier has 12.5 GHz free spectral range (FSR) and 220 MHz full‐width at half‐maximum (FWHM) and 8 orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) signals, then they separately modulated with 8 out of these 16 carriers. After the modulation, by utilizing an free space optic (FSO) antenna, all carriers have the optical multiplexing and transmission to a FSO channel. On the receiver side, the demultiplexing is performed and finally the performance of the system subsequently is analyzed by calculation of the constellation diagram and error vector magnitude (EVM).