bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Magnetically separable nano-copper catalyzed unprecedented stereoselective synthesis of E-vinyl sulfones from tosylmethyl isocyanide and alkynes: TosMIC as a source of the sulfonyl group
Authors: Phanindrudu Mandalaparthi , Tiwari Dipak Kumar , Sridhar B. , Likhar Pravin R. , Tiwari Dharmendra Kumar
Published: March 2016

Cu0/Fe3O4 catalyzed stereoselective synthesis of E-vinyl sulfones from tosylmethyl isocyanide and alkynes. TosMIC act as sulfonyl source.
Synthesis, characterization, and catalytic activity of sodium ketminiate complexes toward the ring-opening polymerization of l-lactide
Authors: Chuang Wan-Jung , Huang Yen-Tzu , Chen Yu-Hsieh , Lin Yu-Shan , Lu Wei-Yi , Lai Yi-Chun , Chiang Michael Y. , Hsu Sodio C. N. , Chen Hsuan-Ying
Published: March 2016

Na complexes bearing ketiminate ligands revealed the greater catalytic activity and polymer controllability than that of Na complexes bearing Schiff base ligands.
Synthesis and characterization of novel imidazolium-functionalized polyimides for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Authors: Chen Jyh-Chien , Wu Jin-An , Chen Kuei-Hsien
Published: March 2016

PEMFCs based on novel imidazolium-functionalized polyimides (ImPI-x)s demonstrate high OCVs and high peak power density with low PA uptakes. Microphase separation of ImPI-x can also be observed by AFM.
Label-free electrochemiluminescent detection of transcription factors with hybridization chain reaction amplification
Authors: Xiong Yunfang , Lin Lin , Zhang Xiaojun , Wang Guangfeng
Published: March 2016

Label-free and efficient ECL strategy for detection of NF-κB based on the HCR signal amplification.
A single chemosensor for bimetal Cu(ii) and Zn(ii) in aqueous medium
Authors: Liao Zhuang , Wang Dan , Zheng Jian-Quan , Tan Hong-Wei , Zheng Xiang-Jun , Jin Lin-Pei
Published: March 2016

A new quinazoline-based bimetal chemosensor for Cu(ii) and Zn(ii) in aqueous medium was synthesized. It can act as a “turn-off” sensor for Cu(ii) with the excitation wavelength of 356 nm, and a “turn-on” sensor for Zn(ii) when excited at 416 nm.
Synthesis of highly functionalized [3]dendralenes and their Diels–Alder reactions displaying unexpected regioselectivity
Authors: Naidu Gonna Somu , Singh Rekha , Kumar Mukesh , Ghosh Sunil K.
Published: March 2016

Sequential olefinations were applied for the synthesis of acyclic tetrasubstituted [3]dendralenes, which did not cyclodimerize and displayed unusual regioselectivity in the Diels–Alder reaction.
Ge-alloyed CZTSe thin film solar cell using molecular precursor adopting spray pyrolysis approach
Authors: Khadka Dhruba B. , Kim SeongYeon , Kim JunHo
Published: March 2016

We report a promising fabrication approach for the synthesis of Ge-alloyed Cu2Zn(GexSn1−x)Se4 (CZGTSe) thin films using molecular precursors by spray pyrolysis to obtain band gap tuned kesterite solar cells.
Co-treatment with sulforaphane–zein microparticles enhances the chemopreventive potential of zinc in a 1,2-dimethylhydrazine induced colon carcinogenesis rat model
Authors: Sridhar Vinay , Narnaware Sharad , Kumar Prashant , Kale Sandeep B. , Majumdar Anuradha S.
Published: March 2016

Hypothesis of the study was that zinc and sulforaphane will act on common targets MT and Nrf2 in colon, increasing their intracellular levels leading to improvement in DMH induced oxidative stress thereby hindering the process of colon carcinogenesis in rat.
Cu–EDTA-modified APTMS-Fe3O4@SiO2 core–shell nanocatalyst: a novel magnetic recoverable catalyst for the Biginelli reaction
Authors: Sheykhan Mehdi , Yahyazadeh Asieh , Rahemizadeh Zahra
Published: March 2016

A novel copper–ethylenediamine tetracarboxylate modified core–shell magnetic catalyst is introduced.
Waterborne UV-curable comb-shaped (meth)acrylate graft copolymer containing long fluorinated and/or polysiloxane side chains
Authors: Tan Jianquan , Liu Weiqu , Wang Zhengfang
Published: March 2016

Waterborne UV-curable comb-shaped (meth)acrylate graft copolymers containing long fluorinated and/or siloxane side chains.
Enhanced visible-light-induced photocatalytic activity of anatase TiO2 nanocrystallite derived from CMK-3 and tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium
Authors: Zhang Xiaoyin , Zhang Ye , Liu Dawei , Feng Junpeng , Zhou Ligong , Yang Ying , Guo Xiangyun , Li Xuekuan
Published: March 2016

Anatase TiO2 nanocrystallite enriched in oxygen vacancies and traces of N-dopants has been synthesized from CMK-3 and tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium.
Citrate complexation microwave-assisted synthesis of Ce0.8Zr0.2O2nanocatalyst over Al2O3used in CO oxidation for hydrogen purification: influence of composite loading and synthesis method
Authors: Rezaee Leila , Haghighi Mohammad
Published: March 2016

Nanostructured Ce0.8Zr0.2O2/Al2O3composite catalyst was synthesized by modified citrate complexation method. Utilizing microwave combustion endowed the sample with more uniform and homogenous pattern leading to better CO oxidation.
A hierarchical micro/mesoporous carbon fiber/sulfur composite for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries
Authors: Gong Zhijie , Wu Qixing , Wang Fang , Li Xu , Fan Xianping , Yang Hui , Luo Zhongkuan
Published: March 2016

A hierarchical porous carbon fiber (HPCF) was prepared via electrospinning. The HPCF cathode delivers a high reversible capacity of 1070.6 mA h g−1 at 0.5C and a stable cycle performance with a capacity retention of 88.4% after 100 cycles.
Biocompatible graphene nanosheets grafted with poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) brushes via surface-initiated ARGET ATRP
Authors: Sha Jin , Gao Yuan , Wu Tong , Chen Xin , Cordie Travis , Zhao Haili , Xie Linsheng , Ma Yulu , Turng Lih-sheng
Published: March 2016

Using robust chemistry to graft polymer brushes on graphene nanosheets would promote the development of graphene nanomaterials as a versatile platform for biomedical applications.
Enantiomers of 3-pentylbenzo[c]thiophen-1(3H)-one: preparation and evaluation of anti-ischemic stroke activities
Authors: Jian Yanlin , Ji Jing , Huang Zhangjian , Gao Yang , Sheng Xiao , Yin Wei , Zhang Dayong , Ji Hui , Zhang Yihua
Published: March 2016

(R)- and (S)-1 were as potent as racemate 1 in antiplatelet aggregation, antioxidation, reduction of infarct size and brain-water content, as well as neurological deficit.
Domain switching contribution to the ferroelectric, fatigue and piezoelectric properties of lead-free Bi0.5(Na0.85K0.15)0.5TiO3 films
Authors: Chen Jieyu , Tang Zhehong , Tian Ruonan , Bai Yulong , Zhao Shifeng , Zhang Hao
Published: March 2016

Lead-free Bi0.5(Na0.85K0.15)0.5TiO3 films have been prepared via a solution-gelation technique.
Nanohybrids of organo-modified layered double hydroxides and polyurethanes with enhanced mechanical, damping and UV absorption properties
Authors: Zhang Hao , Zhang Jun , Yun Rongping , Jiang Zhiguo , Liu Haimei , Yan Dongpeng
Published: March 2016

The construction of high-performance polymer–clay nanocomposites plays an important role in developing new types of organic–inorganic hybrids.
Nickel hydroxide coated carbon nanoparticles mediated hybrid three-dimensional graphene foam assembly for supercapacitor
Authors: Boruah Buddha Deka , Misra Abha
Published: March 2016

A binder-free novel three-dimensional assembly comprising graphene, carbon nanoparticles and nickel hydroxide is presented as a supercapacitor electrode.
Crystallized TiO2 (A)–VO2 (M/R) nanocomposite films with electrochromism–thermochromism dual-response properties
Authors: Yang Fan , Shi Xingfeng , Chen Zhang , Ma Dongyun , Wu Yupeng , Luo Hongjie , Gao Yanfeng
Published: March 2016

This work offers a method to combine the advantages of thermochromic (TC) and electrochromic (EC) smart windows by synthesizing TC–EC dual-response TiO2–VO2 nanocomposite films.
An electrochemically functional layer of hydrogenase extract on an electrode of large and tunable specific surface area
Authors: Schlicht Stefanie , Assaud Loïc , Hansen Moritz , Licklederer Markus , Bechelany Mikhael , Perner Mirjam , Bachmann Julien
Published: March 2016

Electrospinning, atomic layer deposition and then coating with enzyme extract yield an electrode, the hydrogen evolution activity of which is tunable.
Transparent conducting oxide-free and Pt-free flexible dye-sensitized solar cells employing CuS-nanosheet networks as counter electrodes
Authors: Zhang Xiaojia , Guo Wenxi , Pan Caofeng
Published: March 2016

We present completely transparent conducting oxide (TCO)-free and platinum (Pt)-free flexible dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with remarkable efficiency and superior mechanical flexibility, consisting of TiO2 nanotube arrays on Ti foil (TNARs/Ti) as the photoanode and newly designed free-standing copper sulphide nanosheet (CuS NS) networks as the counter electrode (CE).
The development of aryl-substituted 2-phenylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridines (PIP) with various colors of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) luminescence in the solid state
Authors: Mutai Toshiki , Ohkawa Tatsuya , Shono Hideaki , Araki Koji
Published: March 2016

The color of ESIPT luminescence of HPIP is tuned in a wide range by the introduction of aryl group(s), and thus a series of PIPs showing blue to red emission is realized.
Eco-friendly, solution-processed In-W-O thin films and their applications in low-voltage, high-performance transistors
Authors: Liu Ao , Liu Guoxia , Zhu Huihui , Shin Byoungchul , Fortunato Elvira , Martins Rodrigo , Shan Fukai
Published: March 2016

Eco-friendly IWO thin films are fabricated via a low-cost solution process and employed as channel layers in thin-film transistors.
Evaluating the role of energetic disorder and thermal activation in exciton transport
Authors: Matthew Menke S. , Holmes Russell J.
Published: March 2016

Temperature dependent measurements of the exciton diffusion length (LD) are performed for three archetypical small-molecule, organic semiconductors: aluminum tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq3), dicyanovinyl-terthiophene (DCV3T), and boron subphthalocyanine chloride (SubPc).
Functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes/TiO2 composites as efficient photoanodes for dye sensitized solar cells
Authors: Benetti Daniele , Dembele Kadiatou Therese , Benavides Jaime , Zhao Haiguang , Cloutier Sylvain , Concina Isabella , Vomiero Alberto , Rosei Federico
Published: March 2016

The incorporation of functionalized multi-wall carbon nanotubes into TiO2 mesoporous photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells leads to 30% enhancement in photoconversion efficiency of the optimized system.
Bit error rate and outage analysis of an interference cancellation technique for cooperative spectrum sharing cognitive radio systems
Authors: Jain Neha , Vashistha Ankush , Bohara Vivek Ashok
Published: March 2016

In this study, an overlay spectrum sharing scheme has been proposed for a cognitive radio system. To achieve the desired quality of service for the licenced (i.e. primary) system and spectrum access for unlicenced (i.e. secondary) system, a three‐phase cooperative decode and forward relaying is used. Furthermore, space–time block coding is used in order to cancel the interference at primary as well as secondary receiver. It has been shown that the proposed scheme helps in achieving diversity gain of three and two for primary and secondary systems, respectively. The performance of both primary and cognitive (secondary) system is appraised by deriving closed‐form expression for bit error rate and outage probability. The theoretical and simulation results validate that the proposed scheme improves the performance of both systems as compared with the earlier proposed schemes.
Self‐organised dynamic resource allocation scheme using enhanced fractional frequency reuse in long term evolution‐advanced relay‐based networks
Authors: Mohamed Ahmed S. , Abd‐Elnaby Mohammed , El‐Dolil Sami A.
Published: March 2016

Inter‐cell interference (ICI) from neighbouring cells is a major challenge that severely degrade the performance of cellular mobile communication systems, particularly for cell‐edge users. An efficient technique to mitigate ICI is interference coordination. The most common ICI coordination technique is fractional frequency reuse (FFR). Furthermore in order to effectively improve cell‐edge performance in terms of coverage extension and throughput, the third generation partnership project introduced the use of relays in long term evolution‐advanced (LTE‐A) networks. This paper presents a self‐organized dynamic resource allocation scheme using enhanced FFR (SODRA‐EFFR) which dynamically allocates resources to cell inner and outer regions in LTE‐A relay‐based networks. In this scheme, the downlink power and frequency resources allocation for cell inner and outer regions and the outer regions frequency resources allocation between evolved nodeBs (eNBs) and relay stations in each cell are dynamically allocated based on coordination between neighbouring eNBs and relay stations through LTE‐X2 interfaces. The performance of the proposed scheme without and with relays is evaluated using MATLAB simulations and compared with different reference resource allocation schemes. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme improves cell‐edge performance and achieves high degree of fairness among users’ equipment (UEs) compared with reference resource allocation schemes.
Partial state bounding with a pre‐specified time of non‐linear discrete systems with time‐varying delays
Authors: Thanh Nam Phan , Nishantha Pathirana Pubudu , Trinh Hieu
Published: March 2016

In this study, the authors address a new problem of finding, with a pre‐specified time, bounds of partial states of non‐linear discrete systems with a time‐varying delay. A novel computational method for deriving the smallest bounds is presented. The method is based on a new comparison principle, a new algorithm for finding the infimum of a fractal function, and linear programming. The effectiveness of our obtained results is illustrated through a numerical example.
Three‐bridge buck inverter
Authors: Hong Feng , Liu Jun , Ji Baojian , Zhou Yufei , Wang Jianhua , Wang Chenghua
Published: March 2016

On the basis of dual‐buck half‐bridge inverter, a three‐bridge buck inverter is proposed, which not only remains the advantages of dual‐buck half‐bridge inverter, but also improves the inverter's performance such as avoids shoot‐through problem, removes the reverse recovery losses of body diodes and so on. By adding a new bridge, the three‐level modulation and the single power supply are realised, which increase the DC voltage utilisation rate. In addition, smaller volume and weight of the system and higher system integration can be achieved using only one filter inductor compared with other dual‐buck‐type inverters. The unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation scheme is adopted in the inverter system, so the switching frequency is fixed, which is beneficial to the design of filter. The operating principle and characteristics of the proposed inverter are analysed in detail. A 1 kW prototype is established and tested, and the results of simulation and experiment verify the good performance of the proposed inverter.
Extended high step‐up structure for multilevel converter
Authors: Shalchi Alishah Rasoul , Hosseini Seyed Hossein , Babaei Ebrahim , Sabahi Mehran , Zare Asghar
Published: March 2016

This study presents a new high step‐up multilevel converter topology. The proposed multilevel converter comprises of two dc voltage sources, several capacitors, unidirectional switches, and power diodes. The proposed topology can increase the values of input dc voltage sources substantially. The voltage gain of the proposed topology depends on the number of used capacitors. The proposed topology is simple and can be extended to produce higher‐output voltage levels. The values of two used dc voltage sources can be selected as symmetric and asymmetric. In symmetric type, the values of two dc sources are similar. However, the dc sources magnitudes in asymmetric type are unequal and their values are obtained based on mathematical method. Inherent voltage balancing of used capacitors is an important feature of the proposed topology. The proposed topology is compared with other recently proposed high step‐up multilevel converters and conventional topologies in terms of the number of used switches, capacitors, dc sources, and voltage on switches. It is indicated that the proposed structure requires the least number of devices and the voltage rating on power switches is low. The performance of the proposed topology and theoretical analysis are confirmed using experimental works.
Excited-state dynamics of size-dependent colloidal TiO2-Au nanocomposites
Authors: Karam Tony E. , Khoury Rami A. , Haber Louis H.
Published: March 2016

The ultrafast excited-state dynamics of size-dependent TiO2-Au nanocomposites synthesized by reducing gold nanoclusters to the surface of colloidal TiO2 nanoparticles are studied using pump-probe transient absorption spectroscopy with 400 nm excitation pulses. The results show that the relaxation processes of the plasmon depletion band, which are described by electron-phonon and phonon-phonon scattering lifetimes, are independent of the gold nanocluster shell size surrounding the TiO2 nanoparticle core. The dynamics corresponding to interfacial electron transfer between the gold nanoclusters and the TiO2 bandgap are observed to spectrally overlap with the gold interband transition signal, and the electron transfer lifetimes are shown to significantly decrease as the nanocluster shell size increases. Additionally, size-dependent periodic oscillations are observed and are attributed to acoustic phonons of a porous shell composed of aggregated gold nanoclusters around the TiO2 core, with frequencies that decrease and damping times that remain constant as the nanocluster shell size increases. These results are important for the development of improved catalytic nanomaterial applications.
On the irreversible dynamics emerging from quantum resonances
Authors: Könenberg M. , Merkli M.
Published: March 2016

We consider the dynamics of quantum systems which possess stationary states as well as slowly decaying, metastable states arising from the perturbation of bound states. We give a decomposition of the propagator into a sum of a stationary part, one exponentially decaying in time and a polynomially decaying remainder. The exponential decay rates and the directions of decay in Hilbert space are determined, respectively, by complex resonance energies and by projections onto resonance states. Our approach is based on an elementary application of the Feshbach map. It is applicable to open quantum systems and to situations where spectral deformation theory fails. We derive a detailed description of the dynamics of the spin-boson model at arbitrary coupling strength.
Perspective: Interactive material property databases through aggregation of literature data
Authors: Seshadri Ram , Sparks Taylor D.
Published: March 2016

Searchable, interactive, databases of material properties, particularly those relating to functional materials (magnetics, thermoelectrics, photovoltaics, etc.) are curiously missing from discussions of machine-learning and other data-driven methods for advancing new materials discovery. Here we discuss the manual aggregation of experimental data from the published literature for the creation of interactive databases that allow the original experimental data as well additional metadata to be visualized in an interactive manner. The databases described involve materials for thermoelectric energy conversion, and for the electrodes of Li-ion batteries. The data can be subject to machine-learning, accelerating the discovery of new materials.
Note: Consecutive capture of images of ions and electrons using high-voltage vacuum relay
Authors: Yamada S. , Himura H.
Published: March 2016

For the first time, images of both ions and electrons appearing on a fluorescent screen attached to a micro-channel plate (MCP) [S. Nakata et al., “Applicability of micro-channel plate followed by phosphor screen to charged particles,” Rev. Sci. Instrum. (submitted)] were captured in one attempt. The profile of electrostatic potential applied externally to the MCP with the fluorescent screen was quickly changed using a high-voltage vacuum relay. This method allows consecutive images of ions and electrons to be successfully captured.
A novel methodology for simulating maximum power point trackers using mine blast optimization and teaching learning based optimization algorithms for partially shaded photovoltaic system
Authors: Fathy Ahmed , Rezk Hegazy
Published: March 2016

When the photovoltaic (PV) system is fully illuminated, the voltage-power characteristic of the array has one maximum power point (MPP). This point can be tracked by conventional maximum power point tracker algorithms. On the other hand, in partially shaded PV, the voltage--power characteristic has only one global MPP (GMPP) and multiple local MPPs. It is important to operate the PV system at GMPP for achieving optimal operation. This paper presents the application of two novel meta-heuristic optimization algorithms to extract GMPP from the PV system under partial shading conditions: The mine blast algorithm (MBA) and the teaching learning based optimization algorithm (TLBO). A proposed constrained objective function representing the PV array output power is also presented. Different patterns of shadows that strike the PV array surface are studied. The studied patterns are uniform ones, changing from 0% to 375% with steps of 25%, and non-uniform patterns with different locations of GMPP. The obtained results from each algorithm are compared, and the results show that the MBA based tracker is more reliable, more efficient, and superior to TLBO. A comparison with fuzzy logic control and adaptive neuro-fuzzy and particle swarm optimization based trackers has been done. The results ensure that the reliability of the MBA in solving the problem is addressed.
Magnetoelectric domain wall dynamics and its implications for magnetoelectric memory
Authors: Belashchenko K. D. , Tchernyshyov O. , Kovalev Alexey A. , Tretiakov O. A.
Published: March 2016

Domain wall dynamics in a magnetoelectric antiferromagnet is analyzed, and its implications for magnetoelectric memory applications are discussed. Cr2O3 is used in the estimates of the materials parameters. It is found that the domain wall mobility has a maximum as a function of the electric field due to the gyrotropic coupling induced by it. In Cr2O3, the maximal mobility of 0.1 m/(s Oe) is reached at E≈0.06 V/nm. Fields of this order may be too weak to overcome the intrinsic depinning field, which is estimated for B-doped Cr2O3. These major drawbacks for device implementation can be overcome by applying a small in-plane shear strain, which blocks the domain wall precession. Domain wall mobility of about 0.7 m/(s Oe) can then be achieved at E = 0.2 V/nm. A split-gate scheme is proposed for the domain-wall controlled bit element; its extension to multiple-gate linear arrays can offer advantages in memory density, programmability, and logic functionality.
Microscopic analysis of polymer honeycomb thin film studied by PeakForce TUNA for organic solar cell application
Authors: Pai Ranjith Krishna , Pillai Saju , Ahipa T. N.
Published: March 2016

New methodologies connecting molecular structure, self-organization, and nanoelectronics are important for the construction of better bulk heterojunction solar cells. In the present work, large area conjugated polymer honeycomb thin films were prepared from poly {2, 5-bis [3-N, N-diethylamino)-1-oxapropyl]-1, 4-phenylenevinylene} (P1) and EG-C60 (1:1 wt/wt). Further, surface morphology and conductivity of honeycomb thin films were studied using conductive-atomic force microscopy. The morphological studies clearly confirm that the EG-C60 molecules are uniformly present only at the nodes and frames of honeycomb structured blend film (which avoids the formation of exciton pair recombination of polymer), whereas the TUNA current map collected at positive and negative biases reveal holes and electrons collection networks corresponding to donor and acceptor phases at honeycomb thin films. This discovery could find applications in fully exploiting the potential of various material systems, and may open up new opportunities to improve the efficiency of organic solar cells.
Coercivity and random interfacial exchange coupling in CoPt/Co films
Authors: Alexandrakis V. , Kechrakos D. , Moutis N. , Niarchos D. , Hadjipanayis G. , Panagiotopoulos I.
Published: March 2016

Hard-soft bilayers are analogous to prototype exchange-biased ferromagnetic–antiferromagnetic systems as the minor loop of the soft layer is biased by the hard, and furthermore they offer bias layer tunability. In sputtered CoPt/Co hard-soft bilayers, we demonstrate that the exchange bias field shows a linear dependence on the hard layer magnetization, while the coercivity shows a quadratic dependence. Analysis of the minor hysteresis loop features supported by Monte-Carlo simulations provides clear evidence that the coercivity of the soft layer is mainly determined by the tunable randomness of the domain state of the hard layer.
Perforated hollow-core optical waveguides for on-chip atomic spectroscopy and gas sensing
Authors: Giraud-Carrier M. , Hill C. , Decker T. , Black J. A. , Schmidt H. , Hawkins A.
Published: March 2016

A hollow-core waveguide structure for on-chip atomic spectroscopy is presented. The devices are based on Anti-Resonant Reflecting Optical Waveguides and may be used for a wide variety of applications which rely on the interaction of light with gases and vapors. The designs presented here feature short delivery paths of the atomic vapor into the hollow waveguide. They also have excellent environmental stability by incorporating buried solid-core waveguides to deliver light to the hollow cores. Completed chips were packaged with an Rb source and the F = 3 ≥ F′ = 2, 3, 4 transitions of the D2 line in 85Rb were monitored for optical absorption. Maximum absorption peak depths of 9% were measured.
Electrical characteristics of MoS2 field-effect transistor with ferroelectric vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene copolymer gate structure
Authors: Kobayashi Takuhei , Hori Naoki , Nakajima Takashi , Kawae Takeshi
Published: March 2016

Ferroelectric field-effect transistors (FeFET) based on MoS2 have recently been shown to exhibit considerable potential for use in nano sized non-volatile memory devices. Here, we demonstrated fabrication and characterization of FeFET based on MoS2 channel with vinylidene fluoride (VDF)-trifluoroethylene (TrFE) copolymer as back-gate insulator. In this device, counterclockwise hysteresis behavior was observed in the drain current–gate voltage curve, which is indicative of interaction between MoS2 carrier modulation and ferroelectric polarization switching. Furthermore, our VDF-TrFE/MoS2 FeFET exhibited only n-type behavior, a maximum linear mobility of 625 cm2/V s, a large memory window width of 16 V, and a high on/off current ratio of 8 × 105.
Study on the optical and electrical properties of tetracyanoethylene doped bilayer graphene stack for transparent conducting electrodes
Authors: Limbu Tej B. , Mendoza Frank , Barrionuevo Danilo , Carpena Jennifer , Maruyama Benji , Katiyar Ram S. , Weiner Brad R. , Morell Gerardo
Published: March 2016

We report the optical and electrical properties of chemically-doped bilayer graphene stack by tetracyanoethylene, a strong electron acceptor. The Tetracyanoethylene doping on the bilayer graphene via charge transfer was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and Infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. Doped graphene shows a significant increase in the sheet carrier concentration of up to 1.520 × 1013 cm−2 with a concomitant reduction of the sheet resistance down to 414.1 Ω/sq. The high optical transmittance (ca. 84%) in the visible region in combination with the low sheet resistance of the Tetracyanoethylene-doped bilayer graphene stack opens up the possibility of making transparent conducting electrodes for practical applications.
Tailoring graphene magnetism by zigzag triangular holes: A first-principles thermodynamics study
Authors: Khan Muhammad Ejaz , Zhang P. , Sun Yi-Yang , Zhang S. B. , Kim Yong-Hyun
Published: March 2016

We discuss the thermodynamic stability and magnetic property of zigzag triangular holes (ZTHs) in graphene based on the results of first-principles density functional theory calculations. We find that ZTHs with hydrogen-passivated edges in mixed sp2/sp3 configurations (z211) could be readily available at experimental thermodynamic conditions, but ZTHs with 100% sp2 hydrogen-passivation (z1) could be limitedly available at high temperature and ultra-high vacuum conditions. Graphene magnetization near the ZTHs strongly depends on the type and the size of the triangles. While metallic z1 ZTHs exhibit characteristic edge magnetism due to the same-sublattice engineering, semiconducting z211 ZTHs do show characteristic corner magnetism when the size is small <2 nm. Our findings could be useful for experimentally tailoring metal-free carbon magnetism by simply fabricating triangular holes in graphene.
Mixed convection Jeffrey fluid flow over an exponentially stretching sheet with magnetohydrodynamic effect
Authors: Ahmad Kartini , Hanouf Zahir , Ishak Anuar
Published: March 2016

The steady two-dimensional MHD mixed convection boundary layer flow and heat transfer of a Jeffrey fluid over an exponentially stretched plate is investigated. The governing partial differential equations are first reduced to nonlinear ordinary differential equations, before being solved numerically using an implicit finite difference scheme. Local similarity solutions are obtained for some embedded parameters, such as Deborah number β, mixed convection parameter λ, Prandtl number Pr and Hartmann number H, are analyzed and discussed.
The design and research of anti-color-noise chaos M-ary communication system
Authors: Fu Yongqing , Li Xingyuan , Li Yanan , Zhang Lin
Published: March 2016

Previously a novel chaos M-ary digital communication method based on spatiotemporal chaos Hamilton oscillator has been proposed. Without chaos synchronization circumstance, it has performance improvement in bandwidth efficiency, transmission efficiency and anti-white-noise performance compared with traditional communication method. In this paper, the channel noise influence on chaotic modulation signals and the construction problem of anti-color-noise chaotic M-ary communication system are studied. The formula of zone partition demodulator’s boundary in additive white Gaussian noise is derived, besides, the problem about how to determine the boundary of zone partition demodulator in additive color noise is deeply studied; Then an approach on constructing anti-color-noise chaos M-ary communication system is proposed, in which a pre-distortion filter is added after the chaos baseband modulator in the transmitter and whitening filter is added before zone partition demodulator in the receiver. Finally, the chaos M-ary communication system based on Hamilton oscillator is constructed and simulated in different channel noise. The result shows that the proposed method in this paper can improve the anti-color-noise performance of the whole communication system compared with the former system, and it has better anti-fading and resisting disturbance performance than Quadrature Phase Shift Keying system.
Primary caregivers of young children are unaware of food neophobia and food preference development
Authors: Norton Julie , Raciti Maria M.
Published: March 2016

Issues addressed

This research explored primary caregivers' awareness of food neophobia and how food preferences develop in young children aged between 1 and 2.5 years.

Methods

This qualitative study used case study methodology and comprised interviews with 24 primary caregivers of young children aged between 1 and 2.5 years. Results and conclusions: Primary caregivers of young children are unaware of food neophobia and food preference development in young children.

So what?

Raising primary caregivers' awareness of food neophobia and how food preferences develop in young children may encourage caregivers to decrease their children's exposure to non‐core foods.
Horizontally acquired genes in early-diverging pathogenic fungi enable the use of host nucleosides and nucleotides
Authors: Alexander William G. , Wisecaver Jennifer H. , Rokas Antonis , Hittinger Chris Todd
Published: March 2016

Significance

Early-diverging fungi from the phylum Microsporidia are opportunistic pathogens of humans and other animals. A genome-wide search was conducted in four species of Microsporidia and one species of Cryptomycota for genes acquired by horizontal transfer from other organisms. Up to 2% of their genes had strong evidence for horizontal transfer. We showed that many transferred nucleic acid metabolism genes lie on the boundary of the host and pathogen metabolic networks. Finally, we functionally characterized the gene encoding thymidine kinase, whose multiple parallel transfers from three different sources strongly suggest an integral adaptive role in the lifestyles of these intracellular parasites. Microsporidian thymidine kinases activate a prodrug, suggesting a treatment route for microsporidian infections.
Modeling and analysis of collective cell migration in an in vivo three-dimensional environment
Authors: Cai Danfeng , Dai Wei , Prasad Mohit , Luo Junjie , Gov Nir S. , Montell Denise J.
Published: March 2016

Significance

Many cells travel within an organism to perform important duties in development, homeostasis, and disease. Questions remain as to why cells migrate in diverse forms: some travel as single cells, whereas others move collectively in groups of different sizes. What is also unclear is how extracellular conditions influence migration. In our study, which combines live imaging with theoretical modeling, we address these questions and reveal how both physical and chemical features of the microenvironment influence the optimum size of a migrating cell group.
Turbulent dynamo in a collisionless plasma
Authors: Rincon François , Califano Francesco , Schekochihin Alexander A. , Valentini Francesco
Published: March 2016

Significance

Although magnetic field amplification by a dynamo effect converting kinetic flow energy into magnetic energy has long been shown in conventional magnetohydrodynamic fluids, whether a similar effect is possible in more dynamically complex weakly collisional plasmas, such as those encountered in astrophysical objects on extragalactic scales, is not known. We present the first, to our knowledge, conclusive numerical evidence and dynamical picture of magnetic field amplification by chaotic motions in a collisionless plasma. The results suggest that such a plasma dynamo may be a realizable physical effect in “laboratory astrophysics” experiments and support the idea that turbulent dynamos may significantly contribute to the magnetization of weakly collisional high-energy density astrophysical plasmas, such as the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters.
Food Store Choices of Poor Households: A Discrete Choice Analysis of the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS)
Authors: Taylor Rebecca , Villas-Boas Sofia B.
Published: March 2016

Policymakers are pursing initiatives to increase food access for low‐income households. However, due in part to previous data deficiencies, there is still little evidence supporting the assumption that improved food store access will alter dietary habits, especially for the poorest of U.S. households. This article uses the new National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS) to estimate consumer food outlet choices as a function of outlet type and household attributes in a multinomial mixed logit model. In particular, we allow for the composition of the local retail food environment to play a role in explaining household store choice decisions and food acquisition patterns. We find that households are willing to pay more per week in distance traveled to shop at superstores, supermarkets, and fast food outlets than at farmers markets and smaller grocery stores, and that willingness to pay is heterogeneous across income group, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation, and other household and food environment characteristics. Our results imply that policymakers should consider incentivizing the building of certain outlet types over others, and that Healthy Food Financing Initiatives should be designed to fit the sociodemographic composition of each identified low‐income, low‐access area in question.
PheKB: a catalog and workflow for creating electronic phenotype algorithms for transportability
Authors: Kirby Jacqueline C , Speltz Peter , Rasmussen Luke V , Basford Melissa , Gottesman Omri , Peissig Peggy L , Pacheco Jennifer A , Tromp Gerard , Pathak Jyotishman , Carrell David S , Ellis Stephen B , Lingren Todd , Thompson Will K , Savova Guergana , Haines Jonathan , Roden Dan M , Harris Paul A , Denny Joshua C
Published: March 2016

Objective Health care generated data have become an important source for clinical and genomic research. Often, investigators create and iteratively refine phenotype algorithms to achieve high positive predictive values (PPVs) or sensitivity, thereby identifying valid cases and controls. These algorithms achieve the greatest utility when validated and shared by multiple health care systems.

Materials and Methods We report the current status and impact of the Phenotype KnowledgeBase (PheKB, http://phekb.org ), an online environment supporting the workflow of building, sharing, and validating electronic phenotype algorithms. We analyze the most frequent components used in algorithms and their performance at authoring institutions and secondary implementation sites.

Results As of June 2015, PheKB contained 30 finalized phenotype algorithms and 62 algorithms in development spanning a range of traits and diseases. Phenotypes have had over 3500 unique views in a 6-month period and have been reused by other institutions. International Classification of Disease codes were the most frequently used component, followed by medications and natural language processing. Among algorithms with published performance data, the median PPV was nearly identical when evaluated at the authoring institutions (n = 44; case 96.0%, control 100%) compared to implementation sites (n = 40; case 97.5%, control 100%).

Discussion These results demonstrate that a broad range of algorithms to mine electronic health record data from different health systems can be developed with high PPV, and algorithms developed at one site are generally transportable to others.

Conclusion By providing a central repository, PheKB enables improved development, transportability, and validity of algorithms for research-grade phenotypes using health care generated data.
Efficient identification of nationally mandated reportable cancer cases using natural language processing and machine learning
Authors: Osborne John D , Wyatt Matthew , Westfall Andrew O , Willig James , Bethard Steven , Gordon Geoff
Published: March 2016

Objective To help cancer registrars efficiently and accurately identify reportable cancer cases.

Material and Methods The Cancer Registry Control Panel (CRCP) was developed to detect mentions of reportable cancer cases using a pipeline built on the Unstructured Information Management Architecture – Asynchronous Scaleout (UIMA-AS) architecture containing the National Library of Medicine’s UIMA MetaMap annotator as well as a variety of rule-based UIMA annotators that primarily act to filter out concepts referring to nonreportable cancers. CRCP inspects pathology reports nightly to identify pathology records containing relevant cancer concepts and combines this with diagnosis codes from the Clinical Electronic Data Warehouse to identify candidate cancer patients using supervised machine learning. Cancer mentions are highlighted in all candidate clinical notes and then sorted in CRCP’s web interface for faster validation by cancer registrars.

Results CRCP achieved an accuracy of 0.872 and detected reportable cancer cases with a precision of 0.843 and a recall of 0.848. CRCP increases throughput by 22.6% over a baseline (manual review) pathology report inspection system while achieving a higher precision and recall. Depending on registrar time constraints, CRCP can increase recall to 0.939 at the expense of precision by incorporating a data source information feature.

Conclusion CRCP demonstrates accurate results when applying natural language processing features to the problem of detecting patients with cases of reportable cancer from clinical notes. We show that implementing only a portion of cancer reporting rules in the form of regular expressions is sufficient to increase the precision, recall, and speed of the detection of reportable cancer cases when combined with off-the-shelf information extraction software and machine learning.
Toward a better understanding of task demands, workload, and performance during physician-computer interactions
Authors: Mazur Lukasz M , Mosaly Prithima R , Moore Carlton , Comitz Elizabeth , Yu Fei , Falchook Aaron D , Eblan Michael J , Hoyle Lesley M , Tracton Gregg , Chera Bhishamjit S , Marks Lawrence B
Published: March 2016

Objective To assess the relationship between (1) task demands and workload, (2) task demands and performance, and (3) workload and performance, all during physician-computer interactions in a simulated environment.

Methods Two experiments were performed in 2 different electronic medical record (EMR) environments: WebCIS ( n = 12) and Epic ( n = 17). Each participant was instructed to complete a set of prespecified tasks on 3 routine clinical EMR-based scenarios: urinary tract infection (UTI), pneumonia (PN), and heart failure (HF). Task demands were quantified using behavioral responses (click and time analysis). At the end of each scenario, subjective workload was measured using the NASA-Task-Load Index (NASA-TLX). Physiological workload was measured using pupillary dilation and electroencephalography (EEG) data collected throughout the scenarios. Performance was quantified based on the maximum severity of omission errors.

Results Data analysis indicated that the PN and HF scenarios were significantly more demanding than the UTI scenario for participants using WebCIS ( P < .01), and that the PN scenario was significantly more demanding than the UTI and HF scenarios for participants using Epic ( P < .01). In both experiments, the regression analysis indicated a significant relationship only between task demands and performance ( P < .01).

Discussion Results suggest that task demands as experienced by participants are related to participants' performance. Future work may support the notion that task demands could be used as a quality metric that is likely representative of performance, and perhaps patient outcomes.

Conclusion The present study is a reasonable next step in a systematic assessment of how task demands and workload are related to performance in EMR-evolving environments.
Model-based reconstruction of an epidemic using multiple datasets: understanding influenza A/H1N1 pandemic dynamics in Israel
Authors: Yaari R. , Katriel G. , Stone L. , Mendelson E. , Mandelboim M. , Huppert A.
Published: March 2016

Intensified surveillance during the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic in Israel resulted in large virological and serological datasets, presenting a unique opportunity for investigating the pandemic dynamics. We employ a conditional likelihood approach for fitting a disease transmission model to virological and serological data, conditional on clinical data. The model is used to reconstruct the temporal pattern of the pandemic in Israel in five age-groups and evaluate the factors that shaped it. We estimate the reproductive number at the beginning of the pandemic to beR= 1.4. We find that the combined effect of varying absolute humidity conditions and school vacations (SVs) is responsible for the infection pattern, characterized by three epidemic waves. Overall attack rate is estimated at 32% (28–35%) with a large variation among the age-groups: the highest attack rates within school children and the lowest within the elderly. This pattern of infection is explained by a combination of the age-group contact structure and increasing immunity with age. We assess that SVs increased the overall attack rates by prolonging the pandemic into the winter. Vaccinating school children would have been the optimal strategy for minimizing infection rates in all age-groups.
Modelling the seasonality of Lyme disease risk and the potential impacts of a warming climate within the heterogeneous landscapes of Scotland
Authors: Li Sen , Gilbert Lucy , Harrison Paula A. , Rounsevell Mark D. A.
Published: March 2016

Lyme disease is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The abundance of infected nymphal ticks is commonly used as a Lyme disease risk indicator. Temperature can influence the dynamics of disease by shaping the activity and development of ticks and, hence, altering the contact pattern and pathogen transmission between ticks and their host animals. A mechanistic, agent-based model was developed to study the temperature-driven seasonality ofIxodes ricinusticks and transmission ofBorrelia burgdorferi sensu latoacross mainland Scotland. Based on 12-year averaged temperature surfaces, our model predicted that Lyme disease risk currently peaks in autumn, approximately six weeks after the temperature peak. The risk was predicted to decrease with increasing altitude. Increases in temperature were predicted to prolong the duration of the tick questing season and expand the risk area to higher altitudinal and latitudinal regions. These predicted impacts on tick population ecology may be expected to lead to greater tick–host contacts under climate warming and, hence, greater risks of pathogen transmission. The model is useful in improving understanding of the spatial determinants and system mechanisms of Lyme disease pathogen transmission and its sensitivity to temperature changes.
Acute stress is detrimental to heart regeneration in zebrafish
Authors: Sallin Pauline , Jaźwińska Anna
Published: March 2016

Psychological stress is one of the factors associated with human cardiovascular disease. Here, we demonstrate that acute perceived stress impairs the natural capacity of heart regeneration in zebrafish. Beside physical and chemical disturbances, intermittent crowding triggered an increase in cortisol secretion and blocked the replacement of fibrotic tissue with new myocardium. Pharmacological simulation of stress by pulse treatment with dexamethasone/adrenaline reproduced the regeneration failure, while inhibition of the stress response with anxiolytic drugs partially rescued the regenerative process. Impaired heart regeneration in stressed animals was associated with a reduced cardiomyocyte proliferation and with the downregulation of several genes, includingigfbp1b, a modulator of IGF signalling. Notably, daily stress induced a decrease in Igf1r phosphorylation. As cardiomyocyte proliferation was decreased in response to IGF-1 receptor inhibition, we propose that the stress-induced cardiac regenerative failure is partially caused by the attenuation of IGF signalling. These findings indicate that the natural regenerative ability of the zebrafish heart is vulnerable to the systemic paracrine stress response.