bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cobalt‐Doped Nickel Phosphite for High Performance of Electrochemical Energy Storage
Authors: Li Bing , Shi Yuxin , Huang Kesheng , Zhao Mingming , Qiu Jiaqing , Xue Huaiguo , Pang Huan 
Published: February 2018

AbstractCompared to single metallic Ni or Co phosphides, bimetallic Ni–Co phosphides own ameliorative properties, such as high electrical conductivity, remarkable rate capability, upper specific capacity, and excellent cycle performance. Here, a simple one‐step solvothermal process is proposed for the synthesis of bouquet‐like cobalt‐doped nickel phosphite (Ni11(HPO3)8(OH)6), and the effect of the structure on the pseudocapacitive performance is investigated via a series of electrochemical measurements. It is found that when the cobalt content is low, the glycol/deionized water ratio is 1, and the reaction is under 200 °C for 20 h, the morphology of the sample is uniform and has the highest specific surface area. The cobalt‐doped Ni11(HPO3)8(OH)6 electrode presents a maximum specific capacitance of 714.8 F g−1. More significantly, aqueous and solid‐state flexible electrochemical energy storage devices are successfully assembled. The aqueous device shows a high energy density of 15.48 mWh cm−2 at the power density of 0.6 KW cm−2. The solid‐state device shows a high energy density of 14.72 mWh cm−2 at the power density of 0.6 KW cm−2. These excellent performances confirm that the cobalt‐doped Ni11(HPO3)8(OH)6 are promising materials for applications in electrochemical energy storage devices.
Verifying OSEK/VDX automotive applications: A Spin‐based model checking approach
Authors: Zhang Haitao , Li Guoqiang , Cheng Zhuo , Xue Jinyun 
Published: February 2018

SummaryOSEK/VDX, a development standard for automobiles, has now been widely adopted by automotive manufacturers for developing a vehicle‐mounted system. The ever increasing complexity of the system has created a challenge for ensuring the reliability of the developed OSEK/VDX applications in exhaustive way. Model checking as an exhaustive verification technique has attracted much attention in the automotive industry. To check OSEK/VDX applications by using model checking verification techniques, we have proposed a method based on SMT‐based bounded model checking. However, the method performs a poor efficiency in checking the OSEK/VDX applications that hold many loops, especially it is unable to deal with interruptions. In this paper, to apply model checking verification techniques to check a practical OSEK/VDX application, we develop and investigate an alterative approach based on the well‐known model checker Spin. In our Spin‐based approach, interruptions are taken into account, and moreover, 2 optimization strategies are used to boost the scalability and efficiency of the approach by reducing state space and accelerating bug detection. We have investigated the Spin‐based approach based on a series of experiments. The experimental results show that the approach is an impactful technique to verify the developed OSEK/VDX applications that hold a number of loops and interruptions.
Investigating the Potential Barrier Function of Nanostructured Materials Formed in Engineered Barrier Systems (EBS) Designed for Nuclear Waste Isolation
Authors: Cuevas Jaime , Ruiz Ana Isabel , Fernández Raúl 
Published: February 2018

AbstractClay and cement are known nano‐colloids originating from natural processes or traditional materials technology. Currently, they are used together as part of the engineered barrier system (EBS) to isolate high‐level nuclear waste (HLW) metallic containers in deep geological repositories (DGR). The EBS should prevent radionuclide (RN) migration into the biosphere until the canisters fail, which is not expected for approximately 103 years. The interactions of cementitious materials with bentonite swelling clay have been the scope of our research team at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) with participation in several European Union (EU) projects from 1998 up to now. Here, we describe the mineral and chemical nature and microstructure of the alteration rim generated by the contact between concrete and bentonite. Its ability to buffer the surrounding chemical environment may have potential for further protection against RN migration.
Recent Progress in the Development of Conducting Polymer‐Based Nanocomposites for Electrochemical Biosensors Applications: A Mini‐Review
Authors: Naseri Maryam , Fotouhi Lida , Ehsani Ali 
Published: February 2018

AbstractAmong various immobilizing materials, conductive polymer‐based nanocomposites have been widely applied to fabricate the biosensors, because of their outstanding properties such as excellent electrocatalytic activity, high conductivity, and strong adsorptive ability compared to conventional conductive polymers. Electrochemical biosensors have played a significant role in delivering the diagnostic information and therapy monitoring in a rapid, simple, and low cost portable device. This paper reviews the recent developments in conductive polymer‐based nanocomposites and their applications in electrochemical biosensors. The article starts with a general and concise comparison between the properties of conducting polymers and conducting polymer nanocomposites. Next, the current applications of conductive polymer‐based nanocomposites of some important conducting polymers such as PANI, PPy, and PEDOT in enzymatic and nonenzymatic electrochemical biosensors are overviewed. This review article covers an 8‐year period beginning in 2010.
Streams of data from drops of water: 21st century molecular microbial ecology
Authors: Clark Dave R. , Ferguson Robert M. W. , Harris Danielle N. , Matthews Nicholass Kirsty J. , Prentice Hannah J. , Randall Kate C. , Randell Luli , Warren Scott L. , Dumbrell Alex J. 
Published: February 2018

Microorganisms are ubiquitous and represent a taxonomically and functionally diverse component of freshwater environments of significant ecological importance. The bacteria, archaea, and microbial eukarya in freshwater systems support a range of ecosystem processes and functions, including mediating all major biogeochemical cycles, and therefore regulate the flow of multiple ecosystem services. Yet relative to conspicuous higher taxa, microbial ecology remains poorly understood. As the anthropocene progresses, the demand for freshwater–ecosystem services is both increasing with growing human population density, and by association, increasingly threatened from multiple and often interacting stressors, such as climate change, eutrophication, and chemical pollution. Thus, it is imperative to understand the ecology of microorganisms and their functional role in freshwater ecosystems if we are to manage the future of these environments effectively. To do this, researchers have developed a vast array of molecular tools that can illuminate the diversity, composition, and activity of microbial communities. Within this primer, we discuss the history of molecular approaches in microbial ecology, and highlight the scope of questions that these methods enable researchers to address. Using some recent case studies, we describe some exemplar research into the microbial ecology of freshwater systems, and emphasize how molecular methods can provide novel ecological insights. Finally, we detail some promising developments within this research field, and how these might shape the future research landscape of freshwater microbial ecology.This article is categorized under:

Water and Life > Methods
Water and Life > Nature of Freshwater Ecosystems
A Consensus‐Based Criterion Standard for the Requirement of a Trauma Team
Authors: Waydhas Christian , Baake Markus , Becker Lars , Buck Boris , Düsing Helena , Heindl Björn , Jensen Kai Oliver , Lefering Rolf , Mand Carsten , Paffrath T. , Schweigkofler Uwe , Sprengel Kai , Trentzsch Heiko , Wohlrath Bernd , Bieler Dan 
Published: February 2018

AbstractBackgroundTrauma team activation (TTA) represents a considerable expenditure of trauma centre resources. It is mainly triggered by field triage criteria. The overall quality of the criteria may be evaluated based on the rate of over‐ and undertriage. However, there is no gold standard that defines which adult patients truly require a trauma team. The objective of this study was to develop consensus‐based criteria defining the necessity for a trauma team.MethodsA consensus group was formed by trauma specialists experienced in emergency and trauma care with a specific interest in field triage and having previously participated in guideline development. A literature search was conducted to identify criteria that have already been used or suggested. The initial list of criteria was discussed in two Delphi round and two consensus conferences. The entire process of discussion and voting was highly standardized and extensively documented, resulting in a final list of criteria.ResultsInitially 95 criteria were identified. This was subsequently reduced to 20 final criteria to appropriately indicate the requirement for attendance of a trauma team. The criteria address aspects related to injury severity, admission to an intensive care unit, death within 24 h, need for specified invasive procedures, need for surgical and/or interventional radiological procedures, and abnormal vital signs within a defined time period.ConclusionsThe selected criteria may be applied as a tool for research and quality control concerning TTA. However, future studies are necessary to further evaluate for possible redundancy in criteria that may allow for further reduction in criteria.
Tensile Fracture Behavior of 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel Manufactured by Hot Isostatic Pressing
Authors: Cooper A. J. , Brayshaw W. J. , Sherry A. H. 
Published: February 2018

Abstract
Herein we investigate how the oxygen content in hot isostatically pressed (HIP’d) 316L stainless steel affects the mechanical properties and tensile fracture behavior. This work follows on from previous studies, which aimed to understand the effect of oxygen content on the Charpy impact toughness of HIP’d steel. We expand on the work by performing room-temperature tensile testing on different heats of 316L stainless steel, which contain different levels of interstitial elements (carbon and nitrogen) as well as oxygen in the bulk material. Throughout the work we repeat the experiments on conventionally forged 316L steel as a reference material. The analysis of the work indicates that oxygen does not contribute to a measureable solution strengthening mechanism, as is the case with carbon and nitrogen in austenitic stainless steels (Werner in Mater Sci Eng A 101:93–98, 1988). Neither does oxygen, in the form of oxide inclusions, contribute to precipitation hardening due to the size and spacing of particles. However, the oxide particles do influence fracture behavior; fractography of the failed tension test specimens indicates that the average ductile dimple size is related to the oxygen content in the bulk material, the results of which support an on-going hypothesis relating oxygen content in HIP’d steels to their fracture mechanisms by providing additional sites for the initiation of ductile damage in the form of voids.
Frank Stinchfield Award: Identification of the At-risk Genotype for Development of Pseudotumors Around Metal-on-metal THAs
Authors: Kilb Brett K. J. , Kurmis Andrew P. , Parry Michael , Sherwood Karen , Keown Paul , Masri Bassam A. , Duncan Clive P. , Garbuz Donald S. 
Published: February 2018

AbstractBackgroundOnce touted as the future of hip arthroplasty, metal-on-metal (MoM) bearing surfaces have fallen sharply from favor with the emergence of a strong body of evidence demonstrating unacceptably high premature implant failure rates. The previously unpredictable development of adverse local tissue reactions (ALTRs) has been a substantive contributor to this. Although the underlying pathophysiology of these so-called “pseudotumors” is now well understood, the fundamental predisposing patient risk factors have remained elusive.Questions/purposesThe aim of this research, as a clinical-genotype correlation analysis, was to identify specific alleles (genes) associated with the development of ALTRs in patients with in situ MoM THAs.MethodsA case-control study of patients who received a large-head, primary MoM THA between 2005 and 2008 was performed with a minimum followup of 5 years. Twenty-six patients who had undergone revision of a primary MoM THA secondary to symptomatic ALTRs were recruited. The mean timeframe from primary MoM THA to symptomatic revision was 5.5 years (range, 1-10 years). Twenty-eight control subjects were randomly selected asymptomatic patients with no evidence of ALTRs on protocol-specific screening. Baseline demographics and high-resolution genotype (human leukocyte antigen [HLA] Class II) were collected for all patients. Cohorts were similar with respect to age at the time of primary MoM THA (mean, 54.8 versus 54.9 years, p = 0.95) and serum cobalt (mean, 5.5 versus 8.5 μg/L, p = 0.09) and chromium concentrations (mean, 2.9 versus 4.2 μg/L, p = 0.27). The association between genotype and revision surgery secondary to ALTRs was determined with gender as a covariate.ResultsThe prevalence of the risk genotype was 30% (16 of 54) among the entire cohort. Adjusting for sex, the odds of revision were 6.1 times greater among patients with the risk genotype present than among patients without (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-25.4; p = 0.01). Among females, the specificity of the risk genotype was 1.0 (95% CIexact, 0.5-1.0; pexact= 0.03), and for males, it was 0.8 (95% CIexact, 0.6-0.9; pexact< 0.01).ConclusionsThe findings of this study suggest that, among patients with a primary MoM THA, allelic variation within the HLA Class II loci may be a strong, independent risk factor associated with the need for subsequent revision surgery secondary to pseudotumor formation.Clinical RelevanceGiven the hypothesis-generating nature of this novel undertaking, confirmatory prospective clinical studies are required to further elucidate this correlation and to explore the clinical utility of targeted genetic screening in this specific population. This research may, however, represent a key missing piece in the puzzle that is metal ion-induced pseudotumor formation.
English vowel perception by Polish advanced learners of English
Authors: Balas Anna 
Published: February 2018

AbstractThis article examines English vowel perception by advanced Polish learners of English in a formal classroom setting (i.e., they learnt English as a foreign language in school while living in Poland). The stimuli included 11 English noncewords in bilabial (/bVb/), alveolar (/dVd/) and velar (/gVg/) contexts. The participants, 35 first-year English majors, were examined during the performance of three tasks with English vowels: a categorial discrimination oddity task, an L1 assimilation task (categorization and goodness rating) and a task involving rating the (dis-)similarities between pairs of English vowels. The results showed a variety of assimilation types according to the Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) and the expected performance in a discrimination task. The more difficult it was to discriminate between two given vowels, the more similar these vowels were judged to be. Vowel contrasts involving height distinctions were easier to discriminate than vowel contrasts with tongue advancement distinctions. The results also revealed that the place of articulation of neighboring consonants had little effect on the perceptibility of the tested English vowels, unlike in the case of lower-proficiency learners. Unlike previous results for naïve listeners, the present results for advanced learners showed no adherence to the principles of the Natural Referent Vowel framework. Generally, the perception of English vowels by these Polish advanced learners of English conformed with PAM's predictions, but differed from vowel perception by naïve listeners and lower-proficiency learners.
Swift and Low-Cost Surge in Chemical Threat Response: Is It Possible? The Experience of a French Hospital
Authors: Brizio Albert , Hubert Jean-Christophe , Hennequin Brigitte , Bouchez Jeremy , Kouka Marie-Clément 
Published: February 2018

AbstractIn 2016 France hosted the European football championship. In a context of an increased terrorist threat, Chemical, Bacteriological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) attacks were considered possible. Three days prior to the beginning of the event, the Health Authorities required that a medium sized hospital close to a major potential target, prepare a chemical decontamination centre. Despite a low level of preparedness, little external help, and very few extra resources, an efficient decontamination chain (all premises necessary for the management of contaminated victims: from the entrance gate to the post-decontamination dressing cabins) was set up in 15 days (12 days after the unrealistic deadline). Numerous practical measures allowed three persons in CBRN personal protective equipment (PPE) to manage the whole chain, providing a maximum flow of 24 persons/hour. Volunteers were trained in PPE dressing, undressing and in decontamination procedures. This experience, offers a novel paradigm in managing chemical decontamination, in terms of attitude, and with adaptations to overcome practical constraints. It demonstrates that it is possible to set up a decontamination chain rapidly at very low cost. This provides an attractive option for less advanced countries and in humanitarian contexts. Some additional refinements, enhancements may be considered to further improve results. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:649–656)
“The War, like the Wicked Wand of a Wizard, Strikes Me and Carry Away All that I Have Loved:” Soldiers’ Family Lives and Petition Writing in Ijebu, Southwestern Nigeria, 1943–1945
Authors: Coates Oliver 
Published: February 2018

Abstract:The social isolation of the African soldiery is a recurrent assumption in the historiography of the Second World War in Anglophone Africa; such factors as the experience of Hausa soldiers within a cohesive barracks community, a strong sense of warrior identity, and few ties to civilian life are too often generalized into an account of the soldiery as necessarily isolated. Focusing on Ijebu in southwestern Nigeria, an area with little history of colonial military service prior to the Second World War, this paper will argue that far from being deeply isolated, Ijebu soldiers and their families strove desperately to maintain customary obligations during the men’s military service in South Asia and the Middle East in 1944 and 1945. By examining soldiers’ petitions to the Ijebu District Officer, as well as petitions from their wives, brothers, and parents, we will see that soldiers were bound by a powerful sense of obligation to their extended family not only in terms of financial support, but also in relation to labor, security, administration, and redistribution. Contextualizing these sources in terms of the ethnography of customary obligations in southwestern Nigeria, this paper will argue that neither soldiers nor their families primarily regarded these men as martial professionals, but instead perceived soldiering as a subordinate and secondary concern to family and economic commitments, as expressed through customary obligations. Although it likely differs from the experience of soldiers from supposedly “martial” groups, the experience of the Ijebu sheds light on the military service of the newer groups recruited during the war.
Cost-Effectiveness of Competing Treatment Strategies for Clostridium difficile Infection: A Systematic Review
Authors: Le Phuc , Nghiem Van T. , Mullen Patricia Dolan , Deshpande Abhishek 
Published: February 2018

BACKGROUNDClostridium difficile infection (CDI) presents a substantial economic burden and is associated with significant morbidity. While multiple treatment strategies have been evaluated, a cost-effective management strategy remains unclear.OBJECTIVEWe conducted a systematic review to assess cost-effectiveness analyses of CDI treatment and to summarize key issues for clinicians and policy makers to consider.METHODSWe searched PubMed and 5 other databases from inception to August 2016. These searches were not limited by study design or language of publication. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, abstracted data, and assessed methodological quality using the Drummond and Jefferson checklist. We extracted data on study characteristics, type of CDI, treatment characteristics, and model structure and inputs.RESULTSWe included 14 studies, and 13 of these were from high-income countries. More than 90% of these studies were deemed moderate-to-high or high quality. Overall, 6 studies used a decision-tree model and 7 studies used a Markov model. Cost of therapy, time horizon, treatment cure rates, and recurrence rates were common influential factors in the study results. For initial CDI, fidaxomicin was a more cost-effective therapy than metronidazole or vancomycin in 2 of 3 studies. For severe initial CDI, 2 of 3 studies found fidaxomicin to be the most cost-effective therapy. For recurrent CDI, fidaxomicin was cost-effective in 3 of 5 studies, while fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) by colonoscopy was consistently cost-effective in 4 of 4 studies.CONCLUSIONSThe cost-effectiveness of fidaxomicin compared with other pharmacologic therapies was not definitive for either initial or recurrent CDI. Despite its high cost, FMT by colonoscopy may be a cost-effective therapy for recurrent CDI. A consensus on model design and assumptions are necessary for future comparison of CDI treatment.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:412–424
Early–middle Holocene ecological change and its influence on human subsistence strategies in the Luoyang Basin, north-central China
Authors: Zhang Junna , Xia Zhengkai , Zhang Xiaohu , Storozum Michael J. , Huang Xiaozhong , Han Jianye , Xu Hong , Zhao Haitao , Cui Yifu , Dodson John , Dong Guanghui 
Published: February 2018

AbstractIn north-central China, subsistence practices transitioned from hunting and gathering to millet-based agriculture between the early and middle Holocene. To better understand how ancient environmental changes influenced this shift in subsistence strategies and human activities at regional to local levels, we conducted palynological and lithologic analyses on radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from the Luoyang Basin, western Henan Province. Our palynological results suggest that vegetation shifted from broad-leaved deciduous forest (9230–8850 cal yr BP) to steppe-meadow vegetation (8850–7550 cal yr BP), and then to steppe with sparse trees (7550–6920 cal yr BP). Lithologic analyses also indicate that the stabilization of the Luoyang Basin’s floodplain after ~8370 cal yr BP might have attracted people to move into the basin, promoting the emergence of millet-based agriculture during the Peiligang culture period (8500–7000 cal yr BP). Once agricultural practices emerged, the climatic optimum after ~7550 cal yr BP likely facilitated the expansion of the Yangshao culture (7000–5000 cal yr BP) in north-central China. As agriculture intensified, pollen taxa related to human disturbance, such asUrtica, increased in abundance.