bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hot off the press
Authors: Hill Robert A. , Sutherland Andrew
Published: September 2016

A personal selection of 32 recent papers is presented covering various aspects of current developments in bioorganic chemistry and novel natural products such as chrysamide A from a deep-sea fungus Penicillium chrysogenum.
A new family of thermoplastic photoluminescence polymers
Authors: Ru Yue , Zhang Xiaohong , Song Wenbo , Liu Zhenjie , Feng Huasheng , Wang Bin , Guo Mingming , Wang Xiang , Luo Chunxia , Yang Wantai , Li Yongfang , Qiao Jinliang
Published: September 2016

In order to overcome the drawback of traditional photoluminescence materials, which are usually opaque, expensive and non-thermoplastic, a new family of photoluminescence alternate copolymers made from maleic anhydride and different olefin derivatives with very low cost have been developed and are reported in this paper.
Stripping voltammetric detection of copper ions using carbon paste electrode modified with aza-crown ether capped gold nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide
Authors: Ghanei-Motlagh M. , Karami Ch. , Taher M. A. , Hosseini-Nasab S. J.
Published: September 2016

A novel electrochemical sensor based on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and kryptofix 21-capped gold nanoparticles (GNPs) has been proposed.
Role of electron heating in efficient interaction of a nanosecond laser with the cluster media: a case study on tetrahydrofuran cluster system
Authors: Sharma Pramod , Das Soumitra , Vatsa Rajesh K.
Published: September 2016

Interaction of tetrahydrofuran clusters with nanosecond laser pulses has been investigated at 532 and 1064 nm, using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer and home-built electron analyzer setup.
Sequential catalysis: exploiting a single rhodium(i) catalyst to promote an alkyne hydroacylation–aryl boronic acid conjugate addition sequence
Authors: Fernández Maitane , Castaing Matthias , Willis Michael C.
Published: September 2016

We demonstrate that a single Rh(i) complex can promote two mechanistically distinct C–C bond-forming reactions – alkyne hydroacylation and aryl boronic acid conjugate addition – to deliver substituted ketone products from the controlled assembly of three readily available fragments.
Decorating mesoporous silicon with amorphous metal–phosphorous-derived nanocatalysts towards enhanced photoelectrochemical water reduction
Authors: Zhang Hefeng , Li Ailong , Wang Zhiliang , Ma Weiguang , Li Deng , Zong Xu , Li Can
Published: September 2016

Herein, we presented a facile and universal synthetic route that can incorporate a series of amorphous metal–phosphorous-derived (denoted as M–P) HER catalysts with p-Si under ambient conditions.
Prominent electrochemical performance of a Li3VO4/C–Ni anode via hierarchically porous architecture design
Authors: Zhang Jicheng , Ni Shibing , Kang Tao , Tang Jun , Yang Xuelin , Zhang Lulu
Published: September 2016

Prominent electrochemical performance of a Li3VO4/C–Ni electrode is achieved via hierarchically porous architecture design.
Advances in collagen, chitosan and silica biomaterials for oral tissue regeneration: from basics to clinical trials
Authors: Echazú Maria Inés Alvarez , Tuttolomondo Maria Victoria , Foglia Maria Lucia , Mebert Andrea Mathilde , Alvarez Gisela Solange , Desimone Martin Federico
Published: September 2016

Different materials have distinct surface and bulk characteristics; each of them potentially useful for the treatment of a particular wound or disease.
One-pot synthesis of a mechanochromic AIE luminogen: implication for rewritable optical data storage
Authors: Han Jingqi , Sun Jingyan , Li Yaping , Duan Yuai , Han Tianyu
Published: September 2016

A new prototype of a rewritable optical data storage device with high fatigue resistance is designed based on a mechanochromic AIE luminogen.
Oncogenic p95HER2 regulates Na+–HCO3− cotransporter NBCn1 mRNA stability in breast cancer cells via 3′UTR-dependent processes
Authors: Gorbatenko Andrej , Olesen Christina W. , Loebl Nathalie , Sigurdsson Haraldur H. , Bianchi Carolina , Pedraz-Cuesta Elena , Christiansen Jan , Pedersen Stine Falsig
Published: September 2016

The Na+–HCO3– cotransporter NBCn1 (SLC4A7) is up-regulated in breast cancer, important for tumor growth, and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs4973768, in its 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) correlates with increased breast cancer risk. We previously demonstrated that NBCn1 expression and promoter activity are strongly increased in breast cancer cells expressing a constitutively active oncogenic human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) (p95HER2). Here, we address the roles of p95HER2 in regulating NBCn1 expression via post-transcriptional mechanisms. p95HER2 expression in MCF-7 cells reduced the rate of NBCn1 mRNA degradation. The NBCn1 3′UTR down-regulated luciferase reporter expression in control cells, and this was reversed by p95HER2, suggesting that p95HER2 counteracts 3′UTR-mediated suppression of NBCn1 expression. Truncation analyses identified three NBCn1 3′UTR regions of regulatory importance. Mutation of putative miRNA-binding sites (miR-374a/b, miR-200b/c, miR-29a/b/c, miR-488) in these regions did not have significant impact on 3′UTR activity. The NBCn1 3′UTR interacted directly with the RNA-binding protein human antigen R (HuR), and HuR knockdown reduced NBCn1 expression. Conversely, ablation of a distal AU-rich element increased 3′UTR-driven reporter activity, suggesting complex regulatory roles of these sites. The cancer-associated SNP variant decreased reporter expression in T-47D breast cancer cells, yet not in MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 cells, arguing against a general role in regulating NBCn1 expression. Finally, p95HER2 expression increased total and plasma membrane NBCn1 protein levels and decreased the rate of NBCn1 protein degradation. Collectively, this is the first work to demonstrate 3′UTR-mediated NBCn1 regulation, shows that p95HER2 regulates NBCn1 expression at multiple levels, and substantiates the central position of p95HER2–NBCn1 signaling in breast cancer.
Design and implementation of a new digital automatic gain control
Authors: Tisserand E. , Berviller Y.
Published: September 2016

A new design method of an all‐digital automatic gain control easy to implement is described and tested. The discretisation of the instantaneous gain provides a recursive form that merges the exponential function with the level detection. The first proposed circuit is well adapted for a software implementation. It comprises a simple control loop and two multipliers. It does neither contain digital filter nor divider and its setting only requires a loop gain parameter. Some tests were conducted on real digital audio signals with a dynamic range of 80 dB and they validate this approach. Under some conditions, the second circuit can even be simpler since it requires only one multiplier. It is well adapted to an field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation for high speed signal processing.
Availability analysis of redundancy model with generally distributed repair time, imperfect switchover, and interrupted repair
Authors: Lee Y.
Published: September 2016

A redundancy model with generally distributed repair times, imperfect switchovers, and interrupted repairs is considered. Using supplementary variable method and integro‐differential equations, the analytical expression of the availability for the redundancy model is obtained.
High β phase content in PVDF/CoFe2O4 nanocomposites induced by DC magnetic fields
Authors: Jiang Shenglin , Wan Hongyan , Liu Huan , Zeng Yike , Liu Jianguo , Wu Yunyi , Zhang Guangzu
Published: September 2016

Flexible ferroelectrics being exploited as energy harvesting and conversion materials are highly desirable for wearable and skin-mountable electronic devices. As one of the most typical ferroelectric polymers, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) has been widely used in modern electronic systems and devices, whose ferroelectric performance relies heavily on its β phase content. In this work, to achieve high-β-phase-content PVDF, we first introduced CoFe2O4 nanoparticles into PVDF. With the incorporation of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles used as an effective polymer nucleation agent, the percentage of the β phase in the PVDF has been significantly enhanced, e.g., 84% in the nanocomposite with 5 wt. % CoFe2O4 versus only 73% in the pure PVDF. In order to further increase the β phase content in PVDF, we subsequently proposed an easily realized strategy. By applying DC magnetic fields during the solution-casting process of the PVDF/CoFe2O4 nanocomposites, a further improved β phase content as high as 95% can be achieved. The further improvement of the β phase content is attributable to the tensile stress at the CoFe2O4/PVDF interfaces created by the coupling of magnetic field and CoFe2O4 by means of the magnetostriction effect. The high β-phase content makes the PVDF/CoFe2O4 nanocomposites a promising candidate for flexible and wearable electronic device applications.
Photocurrent transient variation in aligned Si nanowire field-effect transistors embedded with Au nanoparticles
Authors: Zhang Dong , Kong Tao , Wang Miao , Xiao Miao , Zhang Zhaochun , Cheng Guosheng
Published: September 2016

Photocurrent transient variation caused by hot-electron transfer was detected in gold nanoparticles embedded in silicon nanowire field-effect transistors via their electrical response under illumination. The devices showed dramatic photocurrent transient variation at various illumination wavelengths (300, 500, 700, and 900 nm). The maximum transient variation of the source–drain current was about five-fold stronger with the gold nanoparticles than without. A finite-difference time-domain method was employed to determine the response wavelength range of the photocurrent transient variation. The distribution of the local electromagnetic field at the interface of the gold nanoparticles and the silicon nanowire was calculated. The weak hot-electron transfer for incident wavelengths below 500 nm was concentrated on the three-phase boundary of air, gold, and silicon, while there was a relatively strong hot-electron transfer present at the boundary of gold and silicon in the wavelength range from 700 to 900 nm.
Promoting Breast Milk Nutrition in Infants With Cleft Lip and/or Palate
Authors: Burca Nicole Diane L. , Gephart Sheila M. , Miller Connie , Cote Catherine
Published: September 2016

Background:

The orofacial defect of cleft lip/palate (CL/P) involves an altered physiological anatomy that affects the infant's feeding ability. Infants have cleft lip (CL), cleft palate (CP), or both (CL/P). Dysfunction in the seal, as with cleft lip, or in the ability to coordinate muscle movement to generate negative pressure, as with cleft palate, leads to feeding issues that may compromise growth and affect bonding.

Purpose:

The purpose of this article is to present (1) scientific evidence that supports clinical feeding practices for the infant with CL/P and (2) teaching strategies for staff and parents.

Methods:

Evidence was synthesized using a narrative review of randomized controlled trials, qualitative studies, systematic reviews, professional guidelines, and position statements. Findings were used to present specialized equipment and feeding techniques to support human milk feeding.

Findings:

Special considerations for feeding infants with CL/P include assessing the infant's sucking ability, demonstrating proper breastfeeding positioning, supporting mothers to establish and maintain their milk supply, considering adaptive feeding equipment (ie, specialized bottles and nipples), and education about the benefits of human milk.

Implications for Practice and Research:

Support from healthcare professionals, particularly lactation specialists and nursing staff, is critical. Breastfeeding and the use of human milk should be prioritized and supported. Research is needed to explore environmental, genetic, and nutritional causes (eg, folic acid deficiency) of orofacial defects.
Leptospermum Honey for Wound Care in an Extremely Premature Infant
Authors: Esser Media
Published: September 2016

Background/Introduction to Case:

Neonatal wound care is challenging due to the fragility and vulnerable skin structure. Neonates are often left susceptible to the forces of their environment, leaving them open to infection when skin injury occurs. Leptospermum honey has been used successfully in adult patients, with evidence lacking in the neonatal population. This case demonstrates the management of a difficult-to-heal wound in a 23-week gestation infant.

Purpose:

Selecting the proper treatment and products for wound healing is challenging, with little evidence-based research available for the treatment of neonatal wounds. Leptospermum honey and other adult-driven dressings have been used for neonatal wound care as well as other adult-driven dressings. This case demonstrates the benefits of Leptospermum honey as an option for neonatal wounds.

Case Findings/Results:

This case presents the treatment and healing of an extensive wound of a 23-week gestation neonate using a hydrogel product initially and then transitioning to a Leptospermum honey dressing due to suboptimal healing. Results of this treatment included quick healing time, little to no scarring, and no loss of movement or function to the affected extremities.

Implications for Practice:

The incorporation of Leptospermum honey for wound care has the potential to promote faster wound healing, with less scarring in the neonatal population.

Implications for Research:

Adult wound care principles have been applied in the face of a weak evidence base relating to neonatal-specific cases. There is a need for continued research related to moist wound healing in the neonatal population, with resulting product and practice recommendations.
Higher Charlson Comorbidity Index Scores Are Associated With Increased Hospital Length of Stay After Lower Extremity Orthopaedic Trauma
Authors: Lakomkin Nikita , Kothari Parth , Dodd Ashley C. , VanHouten Jacob P. , Yarlagadda Mahesh , Collinge Cory A. , Obremskey William T. , Sethi Manish K.
Published: September 2016

Objectives:

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between preoperative Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and postoperative length of stay (LOS) for lower extremity and hip/pelvis orthopaedic trauma patients.

Design:

Retrospective.

Setting:

Urban level 1 trauma center.

Patients/Participants:

A total of 1561 patients treated for isolated lower extremity and pelvis fractures between 2000 and 2012.

Interventions:

Surgical intervention for fractures

Main Outcome Measurements:

The main outcome metric was LOS. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to examine the association between CCI and LOS while controlling for significant confounders.

Results:

One thousand five hundred sixty-one patients met the inclusion criteria, 1302 (83.4%) of which had lower extremity injuries and 259 (16.6%) experienced hip/pelvis trauma. A total of 1001 (64.1%) patients presented with a CCI score of 1 and stayed an average of 7.9 days. Patients with a CCI of 3 experienced a mean LOS of 1.2 days longer than patients presenting with a CCI of 1, whereas patients presenting with a CCI score of 5 stayed an average of 4.6 days longer. After controlling for age, race, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, sex, anesthesia type, and anesthesia time, a higher preoperative CCI was found to be associated with longer LOS for patients with lower extremity fractures (Incidence Rate Ratio: 1.04, P = 0.01). No significant association was found between CCI and LOS for patients with hip/pelvic fractures.

Conclusions:

This study demonstrated the potential utility of the CCI as a predictor of hospital LOS for lower extremity patients; however, the association may be small given the smaller Incidence Rate Ratio value. Further studies are needed to clarify the predictive value of the CCI for different types of orthopaedic injuries.

Level of Evidence:

Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete.
Strategies for Providing Spiritual Care & Support to Nursing Students
Authors: Milner Kerry A. , Foito Kim , Watson Sherylyn
Published: September 2016

Nurse educators need to equip nursing students with suitable resources and education so they can develop their own spiritual care, as well as recognize spiritual care needs in patients. There is a paucity of literature on teaching strategies for spiritual care and prayer in undergraduate nursing programs. This article describes how one faith-based school implemented strategies to facilitate spiritual development in students, which are integrated throughout the curriculum and utilized in the U.S. and a study-abroad program in Ireland.
Trauma-Informed Care
Authors: Koetting Cathy
Published: September 2016

Life trauma is highly correlated with an increased risk of mortality from chronic disease. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is an evidence-based approach to deliver healthcare in a way that recognizes and responds to the long-term health effects of the experience of trauma in patients' lives. Four essential features and six defining concepts delineate a TIC approach to healthcare. Nurses can realize the benefits and learn the tenets of TIC to deliver superior care to patients with chronic illness.
Secondary-structure prediction revisited: Pβ and Pc represent structures of amyloids and aid elucidating phenomena in interspecies transmissions of prion
Authors: Taguchi Yuzuru , Nishida Noriyuki
Published: September 2016

Prion is a unique infectious agent which consists solely of abnormally-folded prion protein (PrPSc) but possesses virus-like features, e.g. existence of strain diversity, adaptation to new hosts and evolutionary changes. These biological phenomena were attributed to the structural properties of PrPScdue to lack of genetic material of prion. Therefore, regardless of incompatibility with high-resolution structural analysis, many structural models of PrPSchave been hypothesized based on limited structural information and, recently, models consisting solely of β-sheets and intervening loops/kinks have been suggested, i.e. parallel in-register β-sheet models and β-solenoid model. Given the relatively simple structural models of PrPSc, we utilized values of theoretical β-sheet or random-coil propensity (Pβ or Pc, respectively) calculated by secondary structure prediction with a neural network to analyze interspecies transmissions of prion, because numerical conversion of the primary structures would enable quantitative comparison between PrP with distinct primary structures. Reviewing experiments in the literature, we ascertained biological relevance of Pβ and Pc and demonstrated how those parameters could aid interpretation and explain phenomena in interspecies transmissions. Our approach can lead to development of a versatile tool for investigation of not only prion but also other amyloids.
Power Analysis of Single Cell RNA-Sequencing Experiments
Authors: Svensson Valentine , Natarajan Kedar Nath , Ly Lam-Ha , Miragaia Ricardo J , Labalette Charlotte , Macaulay Iain C , Cvejic Ana , Teichmann Sarah A
Published: September 2016

High-throughput single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has become an established and powerful method to investigate transcriptomic cell-to-cell variation, and has revealed new cell types, and new insights into developmental process and stochasticity in gene expression. There are now several published scRNA-seq protocols, which all sequence transcriptomes from a minute amount of starting material. Therefore, a key question is how these methods compare in terms of sensitivity of detection of mRNA molecules, and accuracy of quantification of gene expression. Here, we assessed the sensitivity and accuracy of many published data sets based on standardized spike-ins with a uniform raw data processing pipeline. We developed a flexible and fast UMI counting tool (https://github.com/vals/umis) which is compatible with all UMI based protocols. This allowed us to relate these parameters to sequencing depth, and discuss the trade offs between the different methods. To confirm our results, we performed experiments on cells from the same population using three different protocols. We also investigated the effect of RNA degradation on spike-in molecules, and the average efficiency of scRNA-seq on spike-in moleculesversusendogenous RNAs.
Assessing the public health impact of tolerance-based therapies with mathematical models
Authors: Hozé Nathanaël , Bonhoeffer Sebastian , Regoes Roland
Published: September 2016

Disease tolerance is a defense strategy against infections that aims at maintaining host health even at high pathogen replication or load. Tolerance mechanisms are currently intensively studied with the long-term goal of exploiting them therapeutically. Because tolerance-based treatment imposes less selective pressure on the pathogen it has been hypothesised to be “evolution-proof”. However, the primary public health goal is to reduce the incidence and mortality associated with a disease. From this perspective, tolerance-based treatment bears the risk of increasing the prevalence of the disease, which may lead to increased mortality. We assessed the promise of tolerance-based treatment strategies using mathematical models. Conventional treatment was implemented as an increased recovery rate, while tolerance-based treatment was assumed to reduce the disease-related mortality of infected hosts without affecting recovery. We investigated the endemic phase of two types of infections: acute and chronic. Additionally, we considered the effect of pathogen resistance against conventional treatment. We show that, for low coverage of tolerance-based treatment, chronic infections can cause even more deaths than without treatment. Overall, we found that conventional treatment always outperforms tolerance-based treatment, even when we allow the emergence of pathogen resistance. Our results cast doubt on the potential benefit of tolerance-based over conventional treatment. Any clinical application of tolerance-based treatment of infectious diseases has to consider the associated detrimental epidemiological feedback.

Author summary

Conventional therapies improve patient health by eliminating the pathogen, or, at least, reducing its burden. Recently, alternative therapies that exploit host tolerance mechanisms have received attention from the medical community as a promising strategy. These treatments aim at reducing the level of illness due to the infection, rather than eliminating the pathogen directly. Using a mathematical model, we show that although these treatments are beneficial at the individual level, they can have undesired public health consequences. In particular we show that tolerance-based treatment gives more time for the disease to spread in the population, which in turn increase its prevalence. Moreover, in the case of a low coverage of the treatment of a chronic infection, the overall mortality can increase.
The impact of the newly licensed dengue vaccine in endemic countries
Authors: Aguiar M. , Stollenwerk Nico , Halstead Scott B.
Published: September 2016

Background:

With approximately 3 billion people at risk of acquiring the infection, dengue fever is now considered the most important mosquito-borne viral disease in the world, with 390 million dengue infections occurring every year, of which 96 million manifest symptoms with any level of disease severity. Treatment of uncomplicated dengue cases is only supportive and severe dengue cases require hospital intensive care. A vaccine now licensed in several countries and developed by Sanofi Pasteur (CYD-TDV, named Dengvaxia), is able to protect, in the first 25 months of the two Phase III, 66% of a subset of 9 − 16 year old participants. However, a significantly lower efficacy (including negative vaccine efficacy) was noted for children younger than 9 years of age.

Methodology/Principal Findings:

Analysis of year 3 results of phase III trials of Dengvaxia suggest high rates of protection of vaccinated partial dengue immunes but high rates of hospitalizations during breakthrough dengue infections of persons who were vaccinated when seronegative, with vaccine appearing to induce enhancing antibodies (ADE). An age structured model was developed based on Sanofi’s recommendation to vaccinate persons age 945 years in dengue endemic countries. The model was used to explore the clinical burden of two vaccination strategies: 1) Vaccinate 4 or 20% of individuals, ages 9 − 45 years, seropositives and seronegatives, and 2) vaccinate 4 or 20% of individuals, ages 9 − 45 years, who are dengue immune only.

Conclusions/Significance:

Our results show that vaccinating dengue monotypic immune individuals prevents dengue hospitalizations, but at the same time dengue infections of vaccine-sensitized persons increases hospitalizations. When the vaccine is given only to partial immune individuals, after immuno-logical screening of the population, disease burden decreases considerably.

Author Summary

Caused by four antigenically related but distinct serotypes a tetravalent vaccine is needed to protect against the huge burden of dengue disease. Dengvaxia is a vaccine candidate now licensed in several countries for individuals 9 − 45 years of age living in endemic countries with least 70% of seroprevalence. Modelers from Sanofi Pasteur have predicted that this vaccine has the potential to reduce by about 50% the disease burden within 5 years when 20% of an endemic country population is vaccinated, thus achieving a World Health Organization dengue prevention goal.

In this paper, mathematical modeling is used to investigate the impact of the newly licensed dengue vaccine using different scenarios. Our results show that to achieve significant reduction in disease bur-den, the vaccination program is most effective if it includes only individuals that have been already exposed to at least one dengue virus. Immunological screening of the population prior to vaccination is advised and vaccination strategies must be planned based on epidemiological disease dynamics for each specific endemic region.
Learning to cooperate: The evolution of social rewards in repeated interactions
Authors: Dridi Slimane , Akcay Erol
Published: September 2016

Understanding the behavioral and psychological mechanisms underlying social behaviors is one of the major goals of social evolutionary theory. In particular, a persistent question about animal cooperation is to what extent it is supported by other-regarding preferences. In many situations, animals adjust their behaviors through learning by responding to the rewards they experience as a consequence of their actions. Therefore, we may ask whether learning in social situations can be driven by evolved prosocial rewards. Here we develop a mathematical model in order to ask whether the mere act of cooperating with a social partner will evolve to be inherently rewarding. Individuals interact repeatedly in pairs and adjust their behaviors through reinforcement learning. We assume that individuals associate to each game outcome an internal reward value. These perceived rewards are genetically evolving traits. We find that conditionally cooperative rewards that value mutual cooperation positively but the sucker's outcome negatively tend to be evolutionarily stable. Purely other-regarding rewards can evolve only under special parameter combinations. On the other hand, selfish rewards that always learn pure defection are also evolutionarily successful. These findings are consistent with empirical observations showing that humans tend to show conditionally cooperative behavior, and also exhibit diversity of preferences. Our model also demonstrates the need to further integrate multiple levels of biological causation of behavior.
Thermal expansion anisotropy as source for microstrain broadening of polycrystalline cementite, Fe3C
Authors: Leineweber Andreas
Published: September 2016

Cementite (Fe3C) powder consisting of polycrystalline particles was investigated by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction at temperatures between 10 and 973 K. The data reveal a pronouncedly anisotropic thermal expansion of the orthorhombic unit cell as well as microstrain broadening varying considerably with temperature. Using a theory for predicting thermal-microstress-induced microstrain already applied in previous work to ambient-temperature sealed-tube X-ray powder diffraction data from the same material [Leineweber (2012). J. Appl. Cryst.
45, 944–949], the temperature-dependent extent of the measured microstrain broadening could be quantitatively related to the measured temperature-dependent anisotropy of the thermal expansion. Thereby, the fact that the extent of the measured microstrain broadening is somewhat smaller than the predicted amount can be explained by the presence of the free surfaces of the powder particles reducing the level of microstress-induced microstrain.
Crystal structure of poly[{μ3-(E)-3-[3-(carboxylatomethoxy)phenyl]acrylato-κ3
O,O′:O′′:O′′′}[μ2-3-(pyridin-4-yl)-1H-pyrazole-κ2
N:N′]cobalt(II)]
Authors: Zhao Can , Li Xiao-Zong , Kang Hong-Lan , Wen Yi-Hang
Published: September 2016

The title compound, [Co(C11H8O5)(C8H7N3)]
n
, which is based on (E)-3-[3-(carboxymethoxy)phenyl]acrylic acid (H2
L) and 3-(pyridin-4-yl)pyrazole (pp) ligands, has been synthesized under solvothermal conditions. The dihedral angle between pyrazole and pyridine rings in the pp ligands is 23.1 (2)°. In the crystal, helical chains formed by pp and L ligands connected to the CoII atom propagate parallel to the c axis. CoII atoms of adjacent chains are bridged by the acrylic acid groups of L ligands into corrugated polymeric sheets in the ac plane.
Crystal structure of cis-dichlorido(1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-κ4
N)chromium(III) (oxalato-κ2
O
1,O
2)(1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-κ4
N)chromium(III) bis(perchlorate) from synchrotron data
Authors: Moon Dohyun , Choi Jong-Ha
Published: September 2016

In the asymmetric unit of the title compound, [CrCl2(C10H24N4)][Cr(C2O4)(C10H24N4)](ClO4)2 (C10H24N4 = 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane, cyclam; C2O4 = oxalate, ox), there are two independent halves of the [CrCl2(cyclam)]+ and [Cr(ox)(cyclam)]+ cations, and one perchlorate anion. In the complex cations, which are completed by application of twofold rotation symmetry, the CrIII ions are coordinated by the four N atoms of a cyclam ligand, and by two chloride ions or one oxalate bidentate ligand in a cis arrangement, displaying an overall distorted octahedral coordination environment. The Cr—N(cyclam) bond lengths are in the range of 2.075 (5) to 2.096 (4) Å while the Cr—Cl and Cr—O(ox) bond lengths are 2.3358 (14) and 1.956 (4) Å, respectively. Both cyclam moieties adopt the cis-V conformation. The slightly distorted tetrahedral ClO4
− anion remains outside the coordination sphere. The supramolecular architecture includes N—H...O and N—H...Cl hydrogen bonding between cyclam NH donor groups, O atoms of the oxalate ligand or ClO4
− anions and one Cl ligand as acceptors, leading to a three-dimensional network structure.
3-(2,4-Difluorophenyl)-1-(pyridin-4-yl)benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-d][1,2,4]triazin-4(3H)-one
Authors: Abu Thaher Bassam , Schollmeyer Dieter , Qeshta Basem , Deigner Hans-Peter
Published: September 2016

In the title compound, C20H11F2N5O, the central 13-membered ring system (r.m.s. deviation = 0.028 Å) makes a dihedral angle of 53.13 (7)° with the difluorophenyl ring and 79.98 (7)° with the pyridine ring. The crystal packing features aromatic π–π interactions between the 13-membered rings [shortest distance between ring centroids = 3.5682 (8) Å].
Dichlorido[(1,2,3,3a,8b-η)-2,4-dimethylcyclopenta[b]indolyl)(η5-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)zirconium(IV)
Authors: Medvedev Michael G. , Ryabov Alexey N. , Uborsky Dmitry V. , Kononovich Dmitry S. , Izmer Vyatcheslav V. , Voskoboynikov Alexander Z.
Published: September 2016

In the structure of the title compound, [Zn(C13H12N)(C10H15)Cl2], the dihedral angle between the planes of rings coordinating to Zr is 51.6 (2)°. The Cl—Zr—Cl angle is 97.52 (4)°. The crystal structure is stabilized by H...Cl and C—H...π interactions.
2-Amino-4-methylpyridinium 4-methylbenzoate
Authors: Sivakumar P. , Anzline C. , Israel S. , Chakkaravarthi G.
Published: September 2016

In the title molecular salt, C6H9N2+·C8H7O2−, the cation is protonated at its pyridine N atom and the dihedral angle between the carboxylate group and its attached benzene ring in the anion is 8.54 (17)°. In the crystal, N—H...O hydrogen bonds link the components into [001] chains. Weak C—H...O and aromatic π–π stacking [centroid–centroid separation = 3.8503 (18) Å] link the chains into a three-dimensional network.
Strategic planning and foresight: the case of Smart Specialisation Strategy in Tuscany
Authors: Fabbri Emanuele
Published: September 2016

Purpose

Within the theoretical framework of Regional Innovation Systems, the purpose of the paper is to introduce an innovative methodological scheme for strategic planning decisions in public administrations, based on foresight, roadmapping and large participation processes.

Design/methodology/approach

Starting from the main literature contribution on Regional Innovation Systems, foresight and decision-making processes, an innovative methodology has been elaborated for strategic planning, based on innovation and large participation processes. A practical application is also described with regards to strategic planning in Tuscany (IT) for Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3).

Findings

On a practitioner perspective, the methodology elaborated addresses strategic planning uncertainties, both when problem setting and in solution finding; a detailed application is provided, easily to be adapted to other regions, and main findings are related to regional innovation governance enforcement.

Research limitations/implications

Being the Tuscany S3 in the implementation phase, it is not possible to verify the adequacy of alternatives selected. Only mid-term evaluations will allow a deeper insight on the effectiveness of the methodology adopted.

Practical implications

The methodology represents a useful tool for public administrations in charge of strategic planning and in particular for S3, as an ex ante requirement for European Structural and Investment Funds. The description of the case of Tuscany provides practical hints for the methodology application.

Social implications

The methodology presents interesting social implications related to the large involvement of stakeholders and quadruple helix within regional strategic planning.

Originality/value

Within the framework of Regional Innovation Systems, strategic planning decisions are addressed with a scheme based on foresight and large participation processes. European Commission requirements are fully taken into consideration by the methodology. The methodology is easy to be adopted and customised to specific needs of other regions.
Quality of service and customer satisfaction: a conjoint analysis for the Nigerian bank customers
Authors: Dauda Samson Yusuf , Lee Jongsu
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the perceptions of Nigerian banking customers regarding customers’ evaluation of their banks service quality based on their banks actual performance on current banking service delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey has been used to collect primary data and 1,245 usable questionnaires were used in the analysis. A conjoint analysis with stated preference data were used to construct the consumers’ behavior, while discrete choice method was employed to evaluate the preferences. More information was obtained by in cooperating heterogeneity into the model by the random coefficient and the test variance with the primary attributes and social demographics and individual characteristics.

Findings

Discrete choice analysis shows that bank management should focus on: reduction of transaction errors, transaction cost, waiting time and initial online learning time. This four attributes have strong impact on customer’s satisfaction depending on quality performance. Relative to other services the reduction in waiting time and transaction cost are the most important services to the Nigerian banking customers. Other findings of willingness to pay and consumer preference for other attributes reveal more information for improved banking policies.

Research limitations/implications

The sample only focussed on the urban areas and did not consider rural dwellers. Future research should aim to improve on these by including a variable in the utility set up that captures the distance of the respondent to the main city.

Practical implications

Nigerian banking customers do not care about a friendly smile as customer care. Rather, they value more on the waiting time and transaction cost showing that convenience and cost dimensions have strong and direct effect on service quality. Other dimensions identified includes, reliability, product portfolio, security and privacy, ease of use, accessibility, and competence and credibility.

Originality/value

This study has drawn on a sample of 1,245 Nigerian banking customers and evaluating how the survey respondents perceive their respective banks’ performance by their evaluation of the current banking service delivery.
The roles of employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the internal marketing-employee bank identification relationship
Authors: Bailey Ainsworth Anthony , Albassami Faisal , Al-Meshal Soad
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a global measure of internal marketing on bank employee job satisfaction and employee commitment to the bank. In addition, the authors assessed the subsequent impact of job satisfaction and employee commitment on employee-bank identification. The dual mediating role of job satisfaction and employee commitment in the internal marketing-employee bank identification relationship was also explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Using self-administered questionnaires, the authors collected data from a convenience sample of Saudi Arabian bank employees attending training at the Institute of Banking, Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the predicted structural relationships.

Findings

Internal marketing has highly significant positive effects on job satisfaction and employee commitment to the bank. These in turn influence employee bank identification. Internal marketing also impacts employee bank identification indirectly through its impact on both job satisfaction and employee commitment.

Practical implications

Bank management needs to take a holistic approach to internal marketing and ensure that they create an environment where employers will be satisfied and committed to the point that they will feel proud to be associated with the organization.

Originality/value

The study uses a global measure and provides evidence of the dual mediating effects of job satisfaction and employee commitment to the bank in the internal marketing-employee bank identification relationship. This evidence is unearthed in the Saudi Arabian banking sector, characterized by conventional and Islamic banks.
The integrated assessment of RES cooperation between the EU and its neighbours
Authors: Welisch Marijke , Resch Gustav , Ortner André
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to provide estimation results for feasibility of renewable energy source (RES) deployment in Turkey, the Western Balkans and North Africa. From these results, the potential for cooperation in renewables production between the countries and the European Union (EU) is assessed and evaluated, in a mid- (2030) and long-term (up to 2040) perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors focus on the quantitative assessments undertaken on the extent to which RES cooperation can create mutual benefits, identifying costs and benefits for both sides, but in particular with respect to RES target achievement (2020 and 2030) at EU level. The potentials for RES generation in Turkey, North Africa and the Western Balkans are calculated under different policy pathways, taking into account different levels of economic and non-economic barriers that could occur.

Findings

Overall, the authors found that increasing RES deployment in the three analysed regions and initiating or intensifying cooperation with EU28 Member States leads to mutual benefits. Concretely, these benefits become apparent in terms of the EU Member States importing renewable energy sources for electricity with a good resource quality and adding on to their targets for RES deployment. At the same time, substantial savings occur for the EU, in turn leading to income and investments in the cooperating regions.

Originality/value

The assessment underlying this paper is the first of its kind to the authors’ knowledge that opens up the geographical spread in comparison to merely assessing cooperation between Europe and the Middle East and North Africa. Furthermore, the multitude of policy parameters analysed provides detailed and robust insights concerning a broad variety of different possible scenarios.
Rescuing the concept of solar electricity transfer from North Africa to Europe
Authors: Trieb Franz , Kern Juergen , Caldés Natàlia , de la Rua Cristina , Frieden Dorian , Tuerk Andreas
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to shed light to the concept of solar electricity transfer from North Africa to Europe in the frame of Article 9 of the European Renewable Energy Sources (EU-RES) Directive 28/2009/EC, to explain why efforts have not been successful up to now and to provide recommendations on how to proceed.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have compared the “Supergrid” concept that was pursued by some institutions in the past years with the original “TRANS-CSP” concept developed by the German Aerospace Centre in 2006. From this analysis, the authors could identify not only major barriers but also possible ways towards successful implementation.

Findings

The authors found that in contrast to the Supergrid approach, the original concept of exporting dispatchable solar power from concentrating solar thermal power stations with thermal energy storage (CSP-TES) via point-to-point high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission directly to European centres of demand could be a resilient business case for Europe–North Africa cooperation, as it provides added value in both regions.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis has been made in the frame of the BETTER project commissioned by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness & Innovation in the frame of the program Intelligent Energy Europe.

Practical implications

One of the major implications found is that due to the time lost in the past years by following a distracted concept, the option of flexible solar power imports from North Africa to Europe is not any more feasible to become part of the 2020 supply scheme.

Social implications

To make them a viable option for post-2020 renewable energy systems for electricity development in Europe, a key recommendation of the project is to elaborate a detailed feasibility study about concrete CSP-HVDC links urgently.

Originality/value

The analysis presented here is the first to give concrete recommendations for the implementation of such infrastructure.
Assessment of RES cooperation framework between the EU and North Africa
Authors: Papapostolou Aikaterini , Karakosta Charikleia , Marinakis Vangelis , Flamos Alexandros
Published: September 2016

Purpose

The Renewable Energy Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Union provides another element to cross-border cooperation by allowing Member States to fulfill their 2020 renewable energy sources (RES) targets by implementing joint projects in third countries through the cooperation mechanisms. The purpose of this paper is to assess the country risk, to support bilateral cooperation for RES electricity generation projects.

Design/methodology/approach

A multicriteria decision support methodology has been developed taking into account three evaluation parameters, namely, the investment framework, the social conditions and the energy and technological status. An additive value model has been constructed, and the UTilitès Additives (UTA) – UTA* (UTASTAR) disaggregation method has been implemented to infer the criteria weights. The obtained ranking of alternatives has been subjected to robustness analysis, and finally the proposed methodology has been applied to five North Africa countries, so as to draw key results.

Findings

The pilot application of the methodological approach proposed and the model developed was fully compatible with the decision maker’s ranking on a set of fictitious countries and facilitated the assessment of a country’s current situation with regards to its investment, social conditions and energy and technological status. The results regarding the five North African countries examined, indicated the country’s investment framework as the most important factor, from foreign investors’ perspective, affecting a country’s suitability for the implementation of RES projects through a cooperation mechanism and Morocco, as well as Tunisia as the countries with the most suitable conditions for a successful implementation of such projects.

Originality/value

To the best of authors’ knowledge, there are only very few studies trying to assess opportunities and risks emerging from the implementation of joint projects between European and third countries in the field of electricity generation from RES. There are even less studies using (UTASTAR) method on real-world decision-making problems, and almost none are dedicated to energy sector-related problems.
Expanding RES cooperation with West Balkans: from importing electricity to exporting RES
Authors: Karakosta Charikleia , Marinakis Vangelis , Flamos Alexandros , Tuerk Andreas , Frieden Dorian
Published: September 2016

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the current energy status in the West Balkan countries and the related perspectives for renewable energy sources (RES) cooperation mechanisms, within the framework of RES Directive 2009/28/European Commission (EC), through the elaboration of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. Particular emphasis is laid on the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. The SWOT analysis provides a clearer view of expanding RES in the West Balkans, as well as the level of utilization and potential of cooperation mechanisms and renewable energy in each country.

Design/methodology/approach

The adopted approach is mainly based on the context of a project co-financed by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, titled “Bringing Europe and Third countries closer together through renewable Energies (BETTER)” (project number: IEE/11/845/SI2.616378). The adopted approach incorporates the steps of desktop analysis, stakeholders’ mapping and engagement, key factors’ identification and analysis of results.

Findings

The barriers to expand RES in the region are significant. Currently, the region is electricity importer and by far not in the position to efficiently exploit the large RES potentials. It remains to be seen whether and to what extent cooperation mechanisms may be used in the Western Balkans and the EU by 2020. The unification of the fragmented electricity system and market-oriented reforms aim to join regional power markets and then to integrate with the European Union power market. There is a multitude of market barriers for RES, resulting in a high risk perception n by investors. Cooperation mechanisms could strengthen the regions’ policy frameworks and be a starting point to integrate the region’s energy systems and to overcome the fragmentation of the past two decades.

Originality/value

The potential of West Balkan countries to make use of the cooperation mechanisms provides opportunities for RES exporting between West Balkan and other European countries. An analysis of these opportunities for cooperation will allow drawing clearer conclusions on cooperation potentials and business cases for the region.