bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bilingual Turkish-Swedish children’s understanding of MAIN picture
sequences
Authors: Bohnacker Ute , Öztekin Buket , Lindgren Josefin
Published: July 2020

This study investigates story comprehension in 100
bilingual Turkish-Swedish children aged 4 to 7 years, growing up in Sweden
with Turkish as their home language and Swedish as the societal language.
Information about language development, exposure and other background
factors was obtained via parental questionnaires. In both languages,
children told two picture-based stories from the Multilingual Assessment
Instrument for Narratives (MAIN, Gagarina et al., 2012, 2019) and answered standardised comprehension questions that
probe inferencing of goals and emotions of story characters.

Overall comprehension scores and response accuracies to
individual questions were calculated. Story comprehension was compared
across ages, languages and tasks, and related to performance on Turkish and
Swedish vocabulary tasks (Cross-Linguistic Lexical Tasks, CLT, Haman et al., 2015). A qualitative
analysis explored characteristics of the MAIN picture sequences and the type
of inference required to score correct on comprehension questions. Overall
comprehension scores did not differ between Turkish and Swedish at group
level. Comprehension scores increased significantly with age in both
languages. This increase was steeper in the majority language Swedish.
Younger children (age 4–5) often performed well in Turkish, whilst more
older children (age 6–7) performed well in Swedish. In both languages, older
children reached relatively high scores, but did not yet master all aspects
of inferential story understanding as probed by MAIN. Regression models
indicate that a large part of the variance in story comprehension can be
explained by age and expressive vocabulary knowledge (CLT) in the respective
language. Individual case studies of exceptionally poor story comprehenders
vs. high performers also suggest that story comprehension and vocabulary
skills are linked, but moreover that MAIN comprehension is influenced by
language input and use in and outside the home.

An interesting task effect was found, indicating that the
comprehension measure for the MAIN Cat and Dog picture sequences is easier
than for Baby Birds/Baby Goats – even when they are administered in the very
same mode. The task influenced children’s comprehension performance more
than the language of testing did. Turkish and Swedish showed the same
overall response patterns, with very high vs. low performance on certain
individual questions. We argue that due to subtle differences in the
pictorial stimuli, parallel and seemingly identical comprehension questions
require inferences with rather different levels of difficulty. Comprehension
scores should therefore not be straightforwardly compared across MAIN
tasks.
Why do you think the boy would be unhappy if he saw what the cat was
eating?
Authors: Gagarina Natalia , Topaj Nathalie , Sürmeli Natalie
Published: July 2020

The present study traces longitudinal trajectories of
narrative comprehension in L2 German in 57 Russian- and Turkish-German
bilingual children, for two age groups with a mean starting age of 3;6 and
4;3, respectively. The children answered comprehension questions from the
Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives in
their L2 German. They were tested three times with a one-year interval in
between, so that by the last time children had a mean age of 5;6 and 6;2,
respectively. Comprehension questions targeted two types of elements of
macrostructure, goals and internal states, in two modes, telling and model
story. Results showed a significant improvement of narrative comprehension
over time in both age groups. The steepest slope of development was found
between three and five years. By age five, the children were able to answer
the majority of comprehension questions, whilst after that, a plateau in the
development was observed. Generally, goals were easier to comprehend than
internal states, at all test times, for all groups and elicitation modes.
The study enriches our knowledge of L2 bilingual trajectories of the
comprehension of goals and internal states by showing that these two
components of macrostructure require different inferencing skills and that
goals are cognitively easier to infer as compared to internal states.
Narrative comprehension and its associations with gender and nonverbal
cognitive skills in monolingual and bilingual German preschoolers
Authors: Wehmeier Carina Marie
Published: July 2020

This paper investigates the development of narrative
comprehension in monolingual and simultaneously bilingual German
preschoolers, in relation to the children’s gender and their nonverbal
cognitive skills. MAIN (Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives)
was used to assess narrative comprehension after telling (Baby Birds) and
retelling (Cat) in 199 monolinguals and 66 simultaneous bilinguals. The
groups did not differ significantly concerning their nonverbal cognitive
skills and German language proficiency. Both the monolingual and the
bilingual children were divided into three age groups (4;6–4;11, 5;0–5;5,
5;6–5;11). The narrative comprehension results pointed to significant age
effects only for the monolinguals, in both elicitation modes. No gender
effects were found for any group. For the nonverbal cognition and narrative
comprehension measures, weak correlations obtained for both monolinguals and
bilinguals. These results strengthen the idea that narrative comprehension
is related to nonverbal cognitive skills of monolingual and bilingual
preschoolers.
Rare Λb → Λl+l− decay in the Bethe-Salpeter equation approach *
Authors: Liu Liang-Liang , Kang Xian-Wei , Wang Zhen-Yang , Guo Xin-Heng
Published: July 2020

We study the rare decays

in the Bethe-Salpeter equation approach. We find that the branching ratio is

in our model. This result agrees with the experimental data well. In the same parametric region, we find that the branching ratio is

.
Quark-hadron phase transition in DGP including BD brane *
Authors: Golanbari Tayeb , Haddad Terife , Mohammadi Abolhassan , Rasheed M. A. , Saaidi Kh.
Published: July 2020

A Dvali–Gabadadze–Porrati (DGP) brane-world model with perfect fluid brane matter including a Brans-Dicke (BD) scalar field on brane was utilized to investigate the problem of the quark-hadron phase (QHP) transition in early evolution of the Universe. The presence of the BD scalar field arises with several modified terms in the Friedmann equation. Because the behavior of the phase transition strongly depends on the basic evolution equations, even a small change in these relations might lead to interesting results about the time of transition. The phase transition is investigated in two scenarios, namely the first-order phase transition and smooth crossover phase transition. For the first-order scenario, which is used for the intermediate temperature regime, the evolution of the physical quantities, such as temperature and scale factor, are investigated before, during, and after the phase transition. The results show that the transition occurs in about a micro-second. In the following part, the phenomenon is studied by assuming a smooth crossover transition, where the lattice QCD data is utilized to obtain a realistic equation for the state of the matter. The investigation for this part is performed in the high and low-temperature regimes. Using the trace anomaly in the high-temperature regime specifies a simple equation of state, which states that the quark-gluon behaves like radiation. However, in the low-temperature regime, the trace anomaly is affected by discretization effects, and the hadron resonance gas model is utilized instead. Using this model, a more realistic equation of state is found in the low-temperature regime. The crossover phase transition in both regimes is considered. The results determine that the transition lasts around a few micro-seconds. Further, the transition in the low-temperature regime occurs after the transition in the high-temperature regime.
Scotogenic dark symmetry as a residual subgroup of Standard Model symmetries *
Authors: Chuliá Salvador Centelles , Cepedello Ricardo , Peinado Eduardo , Srivastava Rahul
Published: July 2020

We demonstrate that a scotogenic dark symmetry can be obtained as a residual subgroup of the global

symmetry already present in the Standard Model. In addition, we propose a general framework in which the

symmetry is spontaneously broken into an even

subgroup, setting the general conditions for neutrinos to be Majorana and for dark matter stability to exist in terms of the residual

. As an example, under this general framework, we build a class of simple models where, in a scotogenic manner, the dark matter candidate is the lightest particle running inside the mass loop of a neutrino. The global

symmetry in our framework, being anomaly free, can also be gauged in a straightforward manner leading to a richer phenomenology.
Perturbation solutions of relativistic viscous hydrodynamics forlongitudinally expanding fireballs *
Authors: Jiang Ze-Fang , She Duan , Yang C. B. , Hou Defu
Published: July 2020

The solutions of the relativistic viscous hydrodynamics for longitudinally expanding fireballs are investigated with the Navier-Stokes theory and Israel-Stewart theory. The energy and the Euler conservation equations for the viscous fluid are derived in Rindler coordinates, by assuming that the longitudinal expansion effect is small. Under the perturbation assumption, an analytical perturbation solution for the Navier-Stokes approximation and numerical solutions for the Israel-Stewart approximation are presented. The temperature evolution with both shear viscous effect and longitudinal acceleration effect in the longitudinal expanding framework are presented. The specific temperature profile shows symmetric Gaussian shape in the Rindler coordinates. Further, we compare the results from the Israel-Stewart approximation with the results from the Bjorken and the Navier-Stokes approximations, in the presence of the longitudinal acceleration expansion effect. We found that the Israel-Stewart approximation gives a good description of the early stage evolutions than the Navier-Stokes theory.
Expected LHAASO sensitivity to decaying dark matter signatures from dwarf galaxies gamma-ray emission *
Authors: He Dong-Ze , Bi Xiao-Jun , Lin Su-Jie , Yin Peng-Fei , Zhang Xin
Published: July 2020

As a next-generation complex extensive air shower array with a large field of view, the large high altitude air shower observatory (LHAASO) is very sensitive to the very-high-energy gamma rays from ~300 GeV to 1 PeV and may thus serve as an important probe for the heavy dark matter (DM) particles. In this study, we make a forecast for the LHAASO sensitivities to the gamma-ray signatures resulting from DM decay in dwarf spheroidal satellite galaxies (dSphs) within the LHAASO field of view. Both individual and combined limits for 19 dSphs incorporating the uncertainties of the DM density profile are explored. Owing to the large effective area and strong capability of the photon-proton discrimination, we find that LHASSSO is sensitive to the signatures from decaying DM particles above

TeV. The LHAASO sensitivity to the DM decay lifetime reaches

s for several decay channels at the DM mass scale from 1 TeV to 100 TeV.
Experimental study of the behavior of prefabricated lightweight concrete shear walls with channel sections framing under axial compression
Authors: Li C , Zhang J , Wang E , Zheng X
Published: July 2020

In order to satisfy requirements of fireproof and thermal insulation property of lightweight steel and lightweight concrete structures, an innovative prefabricated lightweight concrete shear wall with channel sections framing is developed. This paper focuses on axial compressive behavior of the wall. Two full-scale specimens are tested under axial compressive loads. The compressive strength of ceramsite-foamed concrete is varied to investigate their impacts on axial bearing capacity and axial compressive stiffness of the specimens. The failure modes, load-displacement curves, and deformability of the specimens are also investigated. Test results show that the failure modes of shear wall are mainly local bucking failure of channel sections framing and local crushing of ceramsite-foamed concrete plate. Compared with the specimen infilled C7-grade ceramsite-foamed concrete, the axial bearing capacity and the axial compressive stiffness of infilled C10-grade ceramsite-foamed concrete specimen are increased by 15.6% and 16.3%, respectively. Therefore, this study can provide a reference for further research on the axial compression performance of the prefabricated lightweight concrete shear walls with channel sections framing.
Research on the integration of rail transit and conventional public transport—Taking Chongqing as an example
Authors: Lang Guoling , lei Li
Published: July 2020

In order to achieve the urban development pattern led by rail transit and give full play to the role of rail transit, it must rely on the connection of conventional public transport. In this paper, the integration of urban rail transit in Chongqing is discussed from six aspects: bus stop, bus terminal, bus line network, transfer passenger flow, stop and go point and convenient service facilities. Based on the in-depth analysis of the current problems, combined with the requirements of existing integration standards and actual conditions, the improvement plan, implementation plan and construction mechanism are proposed Face.
Build up circular city planning index with EAM
Authors: Chang A P , Chang S L
Published: July 2020

This study is aimed to build up a structure of circular city planning index with Essential Analysis Model (EAM). As countries around the world are engaged in finding solutions against increasingly exhausting resources and energies, the circular city is trending the metro development in future. This mandates a structure for index in circular city planning in future. To ensure the practice of the structure, it is to be based on circular economy and derived by “target oriented” essence logic. This study employs semi-structured exert interview to get professional inputs from more comprehensive population. A hierarchical structure of 18 major and 53 minor indexes is set up with the help of mind map software which may be referenced by government agencies, metro governance, urban and rural planning, and relevant competent authority in their circular city planning endeavor.
The foundation and path of Panzhihua to build a tourism destination of sunshine and health care
Authors: Xiao Chenchen , Hu Die , Li Qian , Xie Zhenqiang
Published: July 2020

Panzhihua, named after the city flower, is the first city of Yangtze River. Centering on the positioning of “international sunshine health tourism destination” put forward by the Third Plenary Session of the 11th provincial Congress, the urban development is facing transformation. The research finds that through the development of tourism resources, attracting migrant type elderly care groups and Cultivating City brands, it will be more suitable for the construction of sunshine health tourism destination in Panzhihua.
The new core of the city: the community in the context of decentralization and ideal future community space model design
Authors: Ren Junyu , Xu Jian , Huang Hu
Published: July 2020

In the process of the previous industrial revolution, the emerging technology of the era has significantly reconstructed the urban structure. As the fourth industrial revolution is underway, a phenomenon called “decentralization” will appear in the coming days. This means that the core of cities will dissolve gradually, while the urban structure will become flat, and the community will be the basic unit of the new spot. During this process, a new type of urban cluster will emerge, promoting the revolution of the urban structure. In the future, flat urban areas will be composed of communities and relevant clusters will be the basic unit. Moreover, this research will propose spatial design guidelines for the “ideal future community” from the perspective of urbanism and multi-objective development systems.
The Design and Research of Ocean Observation Buoy Operation Status Monitoring System
Authors: Zhang Yimeng , Liu Lingfeng , Guan Yi , Song Kun , Xu Jinxing
Published: July 2020

At present, there is no unified monitoring system for ocean observation buoys in China. Some of the existing monitoring systems are only decentralized management and control of observation buoys, and their accuracy and management scope cannot meet the needs. This article describes the design and development process and technical details of the three main modules of the system’s real-time monitoring, operation and maintenance management and intelligent decision-making. This system can obtain the real-time status of the entire network of buoys in time, so it can find faults in time, and eliminate and isolate the faults in time to reduce the losses caused by the buoy faults to the entire marine environmental protection system.
Research on Environmental Impact Assessment Application in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
Authors: Wei Xie
Published: July 2020

As a decisive management tool to coordinate economic development and environmental protection, the Environmental Impacts Assessment (EIA) of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area should be coordinated. The reality of “one country, two systems” led to conflicts in the EIA application between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Within the framework of “one country, two systems”, an EIA coordination agency should be set up in the Greater Bay Area to coordinate the technical specification and standards, substantive and procedural assessment and legal liability application.
Research on Mortise Nodes of Flat Steel, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Repair Method of Huizhou Ancient Residential Renovation
Authors: Yucheng LI , Wang Wei , Wu Mingming
Published: July 2020

Huizhou ancient residential flat carbon fiber cloth mortice and tenon joints, repair and reinforcement design method is one of the hot spots in the present study of ancient architecture. According to the data collection and field research and then combined with the research on reinforcement repair method of ancient houses of Huizhou state mortice and tenon joints procedures, analysis of Huizhou ancient dwellings mortice and tenon joints forms of damage, summarizes the Huizhou ancient dwellings mortise and tenon joints the ability to check formula, and the Huizhou ancient residential flat mortice and tenon joints using the finite element method, the carbon fiber cloth reinforcement method is analyzed by numerical simulation. The study shows that by node force performance before and after the reinforcement of mortise and tenon mortise and tenon contrast, mechanical properties of the reinforced joints is improved obviously; damaged ancient dwellings mortise and tenon nodes through flat steel, carbon fiber cloth etc. a method for stabilizing after the renovation is meet the requirements of the standard. Based on the comparison of theoretical calculation and numerical analysis of the mortise and tenon joints of Huizhou ancient residential buildings, the calculation results are consistent, which verifies the feasibility of the flat steel and carbon fiber cloth reinforcement and repair design method, To provide reference for the restoration and protection of Liang Fang in Huizhou traditional architecture.
Local Wisdom of Passive Design in Feng Xian Folk Houses
Authors: Mo Hongzhi , Rui Ruyi , Liu Xiaozhe , Wang Haisong , Song Yiming , Rong Xiao , Yili Zhou
Published: July 2020

No sunshine in winter and extremely hot & humid in summer is the typical Shanghai Climate condition, all make it especially difficult for passive design. According to a recent field survey, there are more than 11,000 villages separates in Great Shanghai region, some of them still keep their original building form for around 100 years. These local dwelling still provide a relatively good internal environment for the local habitat. According to our recent detailed survey and draw of these heritage dwellings (more than 100 housing, located in Feng Xian, Pudong), we focused on what we can learn from the traditional wisdom in passive design and aesthetics to adopt Shanghai Climate condition. Also, Shanghai climate data is analysed to support these findings.
Effects of wearing masks on human health and comfort during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Liu Cong , Li Guojian , He Yuhang , Zhang Zixuan , Ding Yujian
Published: July 2020

To explore the influence of wearing different types of masks on people’s health and comfort, an experimental study was conducted through a subjective questionnaire survey, physiological response test, and thermal imaging test. The results showed that, in a warm environment, wearing masks for a long time significantly affected the subjective feelings and physiological reactions of people. After wearing the mask, the personnel feels more hot and humid, the discomfort is significantly increased. At the same time, the mean skin temperature increases, the heart rate increases, and the blood oxygen saturation level decreases, which ultimately leads to a decline in health and comfort levels. Different types of masks have different effects on people. The effects of wearing KN95 masks, gauze masks, medical surgical masks, disposable civilian masks, disposable medical masks, and sponge masks on people’s health and comfort levels are sequentially reduced.
Research on the Current Situation and Improvement Strategy of Light Environment in College Classroom
Authors: Wenjing Dong , Qiuping Liu , Runzhao QI , Huang Ke
Published: July 2020

College classroom is an important place for teachers and student to teaching and learning. The quality of light environment directly affects the work and learning efficiency of teachers and students, as well as students’ physical and psychological health. This article mainly studies the light environment of college classrooms through in-depth investigations, analyzes whether the relevant parameters meet the norms and actual needs, discuss the main problems and influencing factors of the current classroom light environment, and proposes the optimization strategy of classroom light environment.
Construction of green housing design methods for ancient villages in southwest minority areas
Authors: Liu Zhihong
Published: July 2020

In order to actively cope with the upgrading of global climate change, through the analysis and research on the key technologies of low energy consumption of green residential buildings in ancient villages of ethnic minorities in Southwest China, this paper expounds the key technology of low energy consumption housing design in traditional villages. From five aspects of “safety and durability, health and comfort, life convenience, resource conservation, environment livability”, the new edition of “green building evaluation system” is interpreted in detail. Based on the overall analysis of the ecological technology strategy of Chinese traditional villages, this paper puts forward some feasible design optimization strategies and measures with low energy consumption green technology for the short board of traditional houses. Finally, combined with the characteristics of traditional village residential buildings, the paper puts forward a green evaluation method combining qualitative and quantitative design elements of low-energy residential buildings. Combined with the current situation of ecological environment in China, a new design method of low energy consumption housing in traditional Chinese villages is developed by combining the characteristics of traditional wisdom and key technologies of green building. This paper introduces the feasibility of the method system, and provides reference for other ancient villages in the construction of new houses in the future.
Decomposition of China’s Pollutant Emissions of Transport Sector Based on LMDI Method
Authors: Zhou Yalin , Wang Xuecheng
Published: July 2020

The transport sector, as one of the principal source of air pollution, has attracted a growing attention in academia in recent years. By employing the LMDI method, this paper focuses on the driving factors of pollution in transport sector based on the pollutant emission data of motor vehicles from 2010-2018. The results show that the production effect is the main driver for the changes of NOx and PM emissions in the transport sector, while for HC, pollution intensity effect is the largest contributor. The pollution intensity effect reduced NOx and PM emission by 307% and 381%, respectively, which plays the dominant role in reducing their emissions. Compared to other effects, the structure effect and the vehicle effect make minor contributions to the changes of pollutant emissions.
Numerical simulation of excavation and support in shallow underground subway tunnel
Authors: Zhang C , Jiang J S
Published: July 2020

During excavation of shallow tunnels, it is very important to construct primary support and secondary lining structures to guarantee the stability of tunnel surrounding rock and construction safety. Based on a subway tunnel project, in this study, the typical support and lining model is established by using the finite difference program. Stress characteristics and deformation patterns of the primary support and secondary lining structures are analysed and discussed, and the influencing mechanisms of different tunneling modes on the stress characteristics of the support and lining structures are revealed. The numerical results show that the benching excavation and support can effectively relieve the stress concentration in the primary surrounding rock support of typical subway tunnel project. The secondary lining, which is constructed after the deformations of the tunnel surrounding rock and the primary support tend to be stabilized, can strengthen and protect the tunnel surrounding rock and the primary support structure, bear part of the surrounding rock load, and serve as a safe reserve for the safety of subway tunnel projects.
Numerical Investigation of key design parameter impact on building loads for public space organization of courtyard hotel in South China*
Authors: Jia Pang , Qi Li , Ying Wang , Zhengyu Fan
Published: July 2020

The courtyard type hotels are commonly seen in hot summer and cold winter region as well as hot summer and warm winter region of China. With its grown size and more complex functions, its energy consumption gets dramatically increased accordingly. Up to now, research of the design parameter impact on energy consumption for space organization in courtyard hotel is quite limited. Through numerical simulation, this study validated the influence on building loads of key design parameters including the orientation, relative position, window-to-wall ratio of the public space, and the position of the traffic core space in courtyard hotels. According to the results, for both the hot summer cold winter region and hot summer winter warm region, the lower total building load was seen when the large space is on the northern side in parallel or on northwest and southeast in diagonal layout. With the traffic space splitted and placed at the corners of the building, the lighting load increases, and leads to unsatisfactory total energy performance. For the comparative suitable plan layout, higher window-to-wall ratio of public spaces (larger than 0.3) can significantly raise the total load per unit area. The findings in this research can provide valuable references for the energy-saving design of space organization in urban courtyard-type hotel buildings.
List Group Price Analysis of the Grid Engineering Quantity in Grid International EPC Bidding
Authors: Hao Zhang , Yusi Xing , Shiyuan Zhang , Yulong Wang
Published: July 2020

In the international EPC bidding, company’s own business objectives are used to determine the expected profit level of the power grid project. Therefore, the composition and calculation on the bidding price and sub-items of the power grid engineering fees, measure project fees, other project fees and regulations fees as well as taxes are introduced in the paper under the grid project quantity list pricing model. Moreover, in terms of the problem on the cost allocation in the bidding price of the grid project quantity list, a nonlinear cost allocation model is established to obtain the optimal solution with the help of Kuhn-Tucker condition. Then the nature of the optimal solution is analyzed, which proves that the optimal solution can be used as the cost sharing standard or reference basis in the grid project quantity list.
Calculation of Carbon Emissions in Public Construction Phase Based on BIM Technology
Authors: Wang Hua , Zhao Yuqing
Published: July 2020

In order to optimize the calculation method of carbon emissions in the operation stage of public buildings, a model for calculating carbon emissions in the operation stage of public buildings was established based on BIM technology. Through selecting a primary school in Guangzhou city as an example to study carbon emissions, the analysis results show that the total annual carbon emissions during the operation phase of the building are 139.6 tco2. The results provide a reference for further optimizing the calculation of carbon emissions in public buildings.
Study on Optimization of extraction process of Lycium barbarum L. polyphenols by Response Surface Methodology
Authors: Zhao Danqing , Kai Jianrong , Zhao Ting Bin , Qiao Changsheng
Published: July 2020

Extracting the polyphenol from the fruit of the Lycium barbarum L. by using a solvent method. On the basis of single factor test, the content of chlorogenic acid in polyphenol was the main factor, and the content of chlorogenic acid in polyphenol was the response value. The extraction conditions were optimized by three factors and three levels Box-Behnken test. The results showed that the relative effects of each factor on the extraction rate of Lycium barbarum L. polyphenols were as follows: extraction solvent, solid-liquid ratio and extraction times. Through the regression model analysis predicted by response surface method, the optimum extraction conditions of Lycium barbarum L. polyphenols can be predicted as follows: 72% methanol, the ratio of material to liquid is 1:19, the extraction times is 2.15 times, and the content of chlorogenic acid in Lycium barbarum is 0.0842 g/100g. In order to investigate the consistency between the test results and the real situation, the verification test was carried out. The extraction process was set to 2 times, and the content of chlorogenic acid was 0.0837 g / 100g. The predicted process conditions by regression equation are in good agreement with the actual situation, which proves that the model is effective and the process is stable and feasible.
Electrical Performance Comparison between Conventional Pi Shaped and Linear Shaped Thermoelectric Generators
Authors: Garud Kunal Sandip , Patil Mahesh Suresh , Seo Jae-Hyeong , Bang You-Ma , Cho Chong-Pyo , Lee Moo-Yeon
Published: July 2020

The main objective of the present work is to show the superiority in performance of linear thermoelectric generator (TEG) over the conventional Pi shaped thermoelectric generator. Linear thermoelectric generator with various leg lengths as well as different lengths of p-type and n-type semiconductors are modeled. Power and efficiency of the linear thermoelectric generator with various leg lengths and different lengths of p and n legs are compared at the various hot side temperatures numerically using ANSYS 19.1 commercial software. Numerically predicted power of the linear thermoelectric generator is found within 5% error with corresponding theoretical power values. Results presented that, linear thermoelectric generator with a ratio of p leg length to total leg length equal to 0.56 showed higher power output and higher efficiency for all leg lengths as well as all hot side temperatures. Maximum power and maximum efficiency for linear thermoelectric generator with 0.56 length ratio are found 6% higher than maximum power and maximum efficiency of conventional Pi shaped thermoelectric generator with 0.5 length ratio.
Fabrication and Characterization of Polycaprolactone / Nanozeolite Membrane Films via Phase Inversion Technique
Authors: Aquino Ruth R , Tolentino Marvin S , Foronda MariaJenina S , Mata Deseree A , Susbilla Keille Peter B
Published: July 2020

This research focused on the fabrication and characterization of polycaprolactone (PCL)/nanozeolite(NZ) membrane films. PCL/NZ membrane blends were produced at varying amounts of NZ (0 wt. %, 0.5 wt. % and 1.0 wt. %).The membranes produced were characterized using a.) Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in determining the surface morphologies, b.) UTM to evaluate the effect of NZ addition on the tensile strength of PCL, and c.)contact angle goniometer to investigate the effect of NZ on the wettability of PCL/NZ membrane blends. Upon characterization, the SEM result showed that increasing NZ concentration increased the presence of pores and pore-like structures on the PCL/NZ system. Also, the tensile strength of the PCL/NZ blend improved with the addition of NZ. Lastly, the contact angle measurements obtained showed enhanced membrane hydrophilicity because of the hydrophilic NZ present on the matrix. The incorporation of NZ on PCL generally improved its properties based the different characterizations conducted.
Failure of Standard Duplex Stainless Steel X2CrNiMoN22-5-3 under Corrosion Fatigue in Geothermal Environment
Authors: Wolf Marcus , Pfennig Anja
Published: July 2020

Corrosion fatigue is well known to lower the lifetime expectancy of high alloyed steels. Duplex stainless steel X2CrNiMoN22-5-3 is a promising candidate to withstand both, corrosion and mechanical stress. Therefore, the corrosion fatigue (CF) was investigated in the Northern German Basin electrolyte at 369 K using a specifically designed corrosion chamber. CF damage was clearly related to lateral grain attack within corrosion pit cavities located perpendicular to the load applied. Additionally, multiple fatigue cracks and preferable deterioration of austenitic phase and intact ferritic phase. A delta-like micro crack structure and a curved path characterizes crack termination with little to no base metal deterioration. Crack initiation may be due to early pit formation resulting in depassivation but also due to local depassivation then resulting in pit formation–both initiation mechanisms lead to crack propagation and early failure.
Experimental study on characteristics of Ti-6Al-4V after plasma spraying
Authors: Chunhui Dai , Xingsheng Lao , Yong Liu , Wei Wang
Published: July 2020

The surface modification of Ti-6Al-4V substrate was carried out by plasma spraying method (WC-17%Co). The surface morphology and composition of the coating were analyzed. Then, under the air environment, the surface of the plasma sprayed WC was carried out. Friction test of three pairs of friction materials filled with 15% glass fiber + 5% graphite, PTFE filled with 25% glass fiber, and PTFE filled with 60% tin bronze. The treated material improves the friction characteristics of the substrate. However, due to the large thickness and hardness of plasma spraying, it is difficult to use sandpaper to reduce the surface roughness, which will affect the dimensional accuracy of the parts.
Two novel SiC phases: structure, mechanical, and transport properties
Authors: Kong Linchun , Chai Changchun , Song Yanxing , Zhang Wei , Zhang Zheren , Yang Yintang
Published: July 2020

Two novel phases of SiC are put forward in this paper, in which the crystal structural, mechanical, and electronic properties, as well as effective mass and carrier mobility of SiC in the Pnnm phase (Pnnm-SiC) and Pm phase (Pm-SiC) are researched utilizing first principles calculations. Both of the novel SiC phases are certificated to have good mechanical and dynamic stability. Through analysis of the three-dimensional perspective of Young’s modulus, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio, visible anisotropies of mechanical properties are found. The band structure calculations predict two wide bandgap semiconductors, that the Pnnm-SiC is an indirect with a bandgap value of 3.12 eV, While the Pm-SiC is a quasi-direct with a bandgap value of 2.64 eV, which indicates the Pm-SiC has a higher application potential in the optoelectronic device area. An extremely large electronic mobility (7200 cm2 V−1s−1) is found in the Pnnm-SiC. Based on the wide band gap, large carrier mobility, good mechanical and dynamic stability, the Pnnm-SiC is a promising material in the field of high performance electronic device in harsh environment.
Block polypropylene/styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene tri-block copolymer blends for recyclable HVDC cable insulation
Authors: Liang Yue , Weng Ling , Zhang Wenlong , Li Chunyu
Published: July 2020

Polypropylene (PP) is regarded as the most promising candidate for eco-friendly high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable insulation material due to its excellent thermal and electrical properties. In this paper, a block polypropylene (BPP) was selected as the matrix and blended with styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene tri-block copolymer (SEBS) by melt blending. The thermal behavior, dynamic mechanical behavior, crystallization behavior, and mechanical and electrical properties of the BPP/SEBS blends were investigated. It was found that SEBS could efficiently improve the flexibility while maintaining the excellent heat resistance of PPB. Furthermore, adding an appropriate amount of SEBS had a positive effect on suppressing the space charge and increasing the breakdown field strength. For the BPP/SEBS blend containing 20 wt% SEBS, a desirable combination of thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties was achieved. This work may help pave the way for developing eco-friendly PP insulating material in HVDC cable applications.
Road Injuries Associated With Cellular Phone Use While Walking or Riding a Bicycle or an Electric Bicycle: A Case-Crossover Study
Authors: Ren Jun , Chen Yue , Li Fenfen , Xue Cheng , Yin Xiaoya , Peng Juanjuan , Liang Ji , Feng Qiming , Wang Shumei
Published: July 2020

Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists) account for an increasing proportion of traffic injuries. We used a case-crossover study design to examine the association between cell-phone usage and traffic injuries among pedestrians, bicyclists, and electric bicycle riders during the course of their travel. We studied 643 pedestrians, bike riders, and electric bike riders aged 10–35 years who were involved in a road injury, visited the emergency department in one of the 3 hospitals in Shanghai, China, in 2019, and owned a cell phone. Half of the participants (n = 323; 50.2%) had used a cell phone within 1 minute before the injury happened. A pedestrian’s or rider’s use of a mobile phone up to 1 minute before a road injury was associated with a 3-fold increase in the likelihood of injury (odds ratio = 3.00, 95% confidence interval: 2.04, 4.42; P < 0.001). The finding was consistent across subgroups by sex, occupation, reason for travel, mode of transportation, and location of injury. Use of a cell phone when walking or riding was associated with an increased risk of road injury. Measures should be taken to make people aware of this detrimental impact on the risk of road injury.
UEP: an open-source and fast classifier for predicting the impact of mutations in protein–protein complexes
Authors: Amengual-Rigo Pep , Fernández-Recio Juan , Guallar Victor
Published: July 2020

Motivation

Single protein residue mutations may reshape the binding affinity of protein–protein interactions. Therefore, predicting its effects is of great interest in biotechnology and biomedicine. Unfortunately, the availability of experimental data on binding affinity changes upon mutation is limited, which hampers the development of new and more precise algorithms. Here, we propose UEP, a classifier for predicting beneficial and detrimental mutations in protein–protein complexes trained on interactome data.

Results

Regardless of the simplicity of the UEP algorithm, which is based on a simple three-body contact potential derived from interactome data, we report competitive results with the gold standard methods in this field with the advantage of being faster in terms of computational time. Moreover, we propose a consensus selection procedure by involving the combination of three predictors that showed higher classification accuracy in our benchmark: UEP, pyDock and EvoEF1/FoldX. Overall, we demonstrate that the analysis of interactome data allows predicting the impact of protein–protein mutations using UEP, a fast and reliable open-source code.

Availability and implementation

UEP algorithm can be found at: https://github.com/pepamengual/UEP.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
A database resource and online analysis tools for coronaviruses on a historical and global scale
Authors: Zhu Zhenglin , Meng Kaiwen , Liu Gexin , Meng Geng
Published: July 2020

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 caused by a new zoonotic origin coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) has sound the alarm for the potential spread of epidemic coronavirus crossing species. With the urgent needs to assist disease control and to provide invaluable scientific information, we developed the coronavirus database (CoVdb), an online genomic, proteomic and evolutionary analysis platform. CoVdb has brought together genomes of more than 5000 coronavirus strains, which were collected from 1941 to 2020, in more than 60 countries and in hosts belonging to more than 30 species, ranging from fish to human. CoVdb presents comprehensive genomic information, such as gene function, subcellular localization, topology and protein structure. To facilitate coronavirus research, CoVdb also provides flexible search approaches and online tools to view and analyze protein structure, to perform multiple alignments, to automatically build phylogenetic trees and to carry on evolutionary analyses. CoVdb can be accessed freely at http://covdb.popgenetics.net. Hopefully, it will accelerate the progress to develop medicines or vaccines to control the pandemic of COVID-19.
Fifty-one years with an aortic valve prosthesis despite suboptimal anticoagulation: half a century with the Smeloff-Cutter valve
Authors: Tripodi Vincenzo F , Covino Angelo , Fratto Pasquale , Benedetto Frank A
Published: July 2020

This case report describes an unusual case of a 69-year-old man who had an aortic valve replacement with the Smeloff-Cutter aortic mechanical prosthesis for aortic valve regurgitation at the age of 18 years. Echocardiography revealed a well-suited and well-functioning mechanical prosthesis. Even though the patient did not take any anticoagulant therapy or anti-platelets agent for 12 years, he was in surprisingly good health. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a mechanical ‘ball-in-cage’ valve prosthesis has lasted for such a long time without complications, although the patient has not been compliant with the anticoagulant therapy for 12 consecutive years.
Assessment tool validation and technical skill improvement in the simulation of the Norwood operation using three-dimensional-printed heart models
Authors: Hussein Nabil , Honjo Osami , Barron David J , Haller Christoph , Coles John G , Van Arsdell Glen , Lim Andrew , Yoo Shi-Joon
Published: July 2020

OBJECTIVES

The hands-on surgical training course utilizes 3-dimensional (3D)-printed heart models to simulate complex congenital heart operations. This study aimed to validate a model and assessment tool in the simulation of 2 techniques of the Norwood operation and investigate whether technical performance improves following rehearsal with or without proctor presence.

METHODS

Five ‘experienced’ and 5 ‘junior’ surgeons performed 2 techniques of the Norwood operation on 3D-printed models of hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Performances were retrospectively assessed by 10 raters with varying experience in congenital heart surgery (CHS) (Medical Doctorate versus non-Medical Doctorate). Assessments were made with the procedure-specific Hands-On Surgical Training-CHS tool. Results were analysed for technical performance and rater consistency. Following validation, 30 surgeons (24 with proctor guidance and 6 with training videos and objective feedback only) simulated the Norwood operation twice.

RESULTS

Performance scores were consistently higher for experienced surgeons and raters discriminated clearly between the experienced and junior surgeons (P ≤ 0.001). The hands-on surgical training-CHS tool showed high inter-rater (0.86) and intra-rater (0.80) reliability among all raters. Scores for both experienced and junior surgeons were highly consistent across all raters, with no statistically significant difference (P = 0.50). All surgeons successfully performed the Norwood operation. Sixty attempts were scored in total. Eighty-seven percentage (26/30) of surgeons’ scores (mean: attempt 1 = 92, attempt 2 = 104) and times [mean: attempt 1 = 1:22:00, attempt 2 = 1:08:00 (h:mm:ss)] improved between the 2 attempts by 9% and 15% respectively (P ≤ 0.001). Total scores of all surgeons in the non-proctored subgroup (6) improved by 15% on average (mean: attempt 1 = 86, attempt 2 = 105, P = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

Procedure-specific assessment tools can be developed to evaluate technical performance for complex CHS simulation and be performed reliably by non-expert raters. Rehearsal both under supervision and independently leads to technical skill improvement further supporting its value in CHS training.
Diagonal Export Controls to Counter Diagonal Transnational Attacks on Civil Society
Authors: Lin Herbert , Trachtman Joel
Published: July 2020

Modern geopolitics includes measures short of armed conflict designed to control decision-making in, and action by, target states. One increasingly significant category of these measures involves attacks by foreign states against civil society institutions in target states. Liberal states that seek to protect their civil societies from this interference seek to bolster civil society defences, to determine the origin of and respond to attacks and to deny relevant tools to potential attackers. With the rise of cyberspace, target states using purely territorial measures are increasingly impotent to protect their civil societies from foreign governmental hacking. Denying access to advanced hacking software by antagonist foreign states may assist in protecting target state civil societies. This article explores the possibility of denying hacking tools to potential attackers, identifies some of the problems and proposes a refinement of export controls that will permit greater protection with less disruption of desirable software development.
Should we still offer elective freezing of all embryos in all IVF cycles?
Authors: Ben Rafael Zion
Published: July 2020

Elective ‘freeze all’, also called ‘freeze only’, refers to an IVF cycle where all embryos are frozen for later embryo transfer in a non-stimulated cycle, with the promise of increased success rates and prevention of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in most patients. However, ‘freeze all’ is associated with significantly higher perinatal complications including eclampsia, preeclampsia, chronic hypertension and large-for-gestational-age infants, without the demonstrated advantages of providing better results, except for a decrease in the incidence of OHSS, which should matter to women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and high responders to ovarian stimulation but not to all patients. ‘Freeze all’ is also suggested for all simulated IVF cycles, due to the alleged ‘faulty endometrium’ caused by ovarian stimulation. However, there is no direct evidence that asynchronous endometrium exists, and only if preovulatory progesterone level increase, can ‘freeze all’ confer an advantage. We conclude that an alleged diagnosis of ‘faulty endometrium’ should not be used as an indication for ‘freeze all’. To offset the risk of OHSS more simply, less costly and less risky solutions such as mild ovarian stimulation, to dampen the number of oocytes and to aim for transfer of a single blastocyst, should be the preferred solution to treat women with PCOS and high responders for oocyte retrieval.