bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Fabrication of Unclassified Photodetctors in Iraq
Authors: Al-Ani Salwan Kamal 
Published: July 2019

In this review the results of many unclassified homemade optical detectors developed in the last two decades at the research and patents bases in Iraq is demonstrated. These detectors include: CdS doped with Cu (CdS:Cu); CdSe; CdSe:Cu; PbS; and PbSe. They cover a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum ranging from the solar spectrum to the infrared (0.4-10.6 μm). It is found that for the CdS and CdSe type of the detectors, the wavelength tuning are due to the localized energy states of copper atoms inside the valence and conduction band of the CdS and CdSe. The tuning of these photoconductive detectors is compared with the recent quantum well (QWIR) and quantum dots (QDIR) infrared detectors. The major significance of the developed detectors is their synthesis simplicity and very low cost in comparison with that of the QWIR and the QDIR detectors. The CdS:Cu which covers the spectral response range (0.4-0.7 μm) is prepared by using a chemical spray pyrolysis. The CdSe:Cu is found to cover a wider spectral response than that of the CdS:Cu (0.4-10.6 μm). This detector is prepared by vacuum evaporation of CdSe films on glass substrate followed by vacuum annealing under an argon atmosphere for doping of copper. A high gain value of 2.37-107 is measured and explained by the competition of the copper capture cross section. Such competition produces further carriers due to the photoexcitation of copper atoms in the localized states inside the band gap. For the CdSe detector, it is found that vacuum annealing improves the detector characteristics such as the gain. Moreover it is found that the gain increases from 4.3 to 12 when the annealing temperature was increased from 150 to 350°C respectively. However, the doping of CdSe with copper leads to a huge increase of the gain coefficient to about 9-103. On the other hand the PbxS1-x alloys (spectral response 1-2.8 μm) were prepared from pure lead and sulfer powders with two x contents (0.54, 0.55). They were loaded into a clean and baked quartz tube. It is found that the quantum efficiency, responsivity and detectivity of the prepared detector are improved with the little increase of the Pb content from 0.54 to 0.55. As for the PbSe film detector (response range 2-5 μm), the responsivity and quantum efficiency are found to increase by lowering the detector temperature to 180K. It is focused on a brief review of the figure of merits of the mentioned detectors. Moreover these detectors are used for the detection of various laser wavelengths in a pulsed mode of operation and can be used in military areas, particularly, for the detection of thermal targets.
Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer in Grooved Tubes for Solar Collector Applications
Authors: Alex Baby Ben , Raja Sekhar Y. 
Published: July 2019

Solar thermal energy research and utilization is progressing rapidly since it is clean energy and can achieve carbon credits in developed and developing countries. The energy conversion efficiency of most of the solar collectors is low, as much of the energy absorbed by collectors is lost due to transient atmospheric conditions. Reduction of losses and improving the performance of collectors by providing economical solutions has been the greatest challenge that scientists are facing even today. Material technology has achieved highest boundaries in all the applied fields ranging from medical to space. According to literature, the use of nanofluids in thermal devices improves the performance thereby further increasing the thermal conversion efficiency of solar collectors. The work here aims at numerically and experimentally studying the heat transfer enhancement obtained as a result of introducing grooved tube collector and using ZnO nanofluid as the working media in a solar flat plate collector. Helical grooves of different pitch are made in collector tubes that generate a spin flow which would increases the heat transfer rate at the expense of increased pressure drop. The convection heat transfer is enhanced as a result of flow through these grooved tubes which is the reason for the absorption efficiency increase. Heat transfer augmentation increase in grooved and plain tubes is compared here. Heat transfer augmentation is expected to increase when compared to a plain tube and a comparative analysis is carried out on the basis of the heat transfer coefficient, wall shear stress at constant Reynolds number and constant mass flow rate condition. The improvement in absorption efficiency at two different groove depth (e/d = .023, .0175) and varying flow velocity is also studied. The use of nanofluid has been a recent technological advancement as the metal/metal oxides dispersed in a base medium improved the absorptive solar energy by up to 95% which further increasing the thermal conversion efficiency. ZnO nanofluids are prepared by economical methods at different volume concentrations. The particle concentration is one determining parameter and on increasing the concentration the heat transfer properties show a rise up to a maximum value and beyond which it decreases. The numerical analysis here is done for ZnO nanofluid with particle concentration varying from .5%–2%. The synergic effect of the two improvements in the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristic is studied experimentally and numerically in the transition and turbulent flow regimes.Keywords: Flat plate collector, grooved tube, Heat transfer coefficient, Reynolds number, ZnO nanofluid
Evaluation of an Intervention to Decrease False Positive Blood Culture Contamination Rates in Emergency Department
Authors: Venugopal Parvathy 
Published: July 2019

IntroductionBlood cultures are commonly performed in hospitals daily as it is employed to detect infections that are spreading through the bloodstream (eg; bacteremia, septicemia). This is possible because the bloodstream is usually a sterile environment. Positive blood cultures indicate either bacteremia, or false positive blood cultures from contamination with bacterial skin flora through improper technique. False positive blood cultures are associated with unnecessary hospitalization and/or extended length of stay with consequent financial burden. False positive blood culture rates in Emergency Departments (ED) are often twice as high as on the medical wards. We present the results of an intervention – ANTT (Aseptic Non-touch technique) to decrease false Positive blood culture rates at Hamad General Hospital during the period from Nov 2014 through Nov 2015.AimThe HGH Microbiology lab indicator showed that our blood culture contamination rate has been consistently higher than the international benchmark, thereby we aim to reduce it in the critical area of ED BY 50% by the end of July 2015 and at least 90% by end of February 2016.MethodsA pilot area was chosen in the Emergency Dept. to do a study for 44 weeks after which blood culture kits (previously trolleys & trays were used) containing sterile gloves, masks, and blood culture supplies were introduced into the Critical area of ED-HGH in August 2015. Training included- new instructions to have two staff members present when drawing blood cultures (Preceptor-preceptee methodology) there by prohibiting drawing blood cultures from pre-existing lines and proper follow-up of every step. False positive blood culture rates were measured in the weeks preceding and the weeks following, this intervention.ResultsIn the 8 weeks following the intervention, the average false positive blood culture contamination rate in HGH ED reached 1.9%–(which was the benchmark) out of 318 blood culture samples. In the 6 months preceding, the blood culture contamination rates ranged from 4% to 1.5% each month.Conclusion:Blood culture kits and educational training on proper technique resulted in significant reduction (> 60%) in the false positive blood culture rate in the Critical areas of ED-HGH. Studies at other institutions have suggested that reducing the false positive blood culture rate could decrease costs by preventing unnecessary hospitalizations and administration of unnecessary antibiotics, as well as helping to prevent the development of multi-drug resistant organisms.
Differential Responsiveness to Braf Inhibitors of Melanoma Cell Lines Braf V600e-Mutated
Authors: Al Hashmi Muna , Sastry Konduru , Silcock Lee , Chouchane Lotfi , Mattei Valentina , Seliger Barbara , Wang Ena , Marincola Francesco , Tomei Sara 
Published: July 2019

BackgroundMelanoma is an aggressive neoplasm characterized by a complex etiology. Several molecular alterations occur during melanoma progression. The most commonly mutated pathway is the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)/ERK cascade. The activation of the MAPK/ERK signaling occurs either through gain-of-function mutations in BRAF and NRAS gene or through autocrine growth factor stimulation. Documented mutations have been found in the kinase domain of BRAF gene encoded by exon 11 and 15 with a frequency of 50–70%. The majority of these mutations affect one critical amino acid, resulting in the V600E substitution which account for more than 90% of all BRAF mutations. Given the high incidence of BRAF V600E mutation in melanoma, patient management is based on the use of specific inhibitors when patients carry BRAF V600E mutation.By comparing RNA-seq and DNA Sanger sequencing data, we found that among 15 melanoma cell lines 3 were discordant in the mutation detection (BRAF V600E at DNA level/Sanger sequencing and BRAF WT on RNA-seq). We initially postulated that those cell lines may express only the WT allele at the RNA level although mutated at the DNA level. A more careful analysis showed that these cell lines express very low level of BRAF RNA and the expression may be in favor of the WT allele.Given the low BRAF V600E RNA expression, we tested in this study whether the three discordant cell lines may respond differently to BRAF-specific inhibitors compared to the concordant BRAF WT and BRAF V600E control cell lines.MethodsThe three discordant cell lines, one BRAF V600E and one BRAF WT control cell lines were treated with three BRAF inhibitors, including two BRAF V600E specific (vemurafenib and PLX4720) and one aspecific (sorafenib).Measurement of cell proliferation was performed by MTT assay. Quantitative real time PCR and Western Blot were also performed to detect BRAF V600E RNA and protein expression and to assess MAPK pathway activation.ResultsThe three discordant cell lines showed BRAF V600E expression both at the RNA and protein level and MAPK pathway activation although at a lower level as compared to the BRAF V600E control cell line. The proliferation rate of the discordant cell lines decreased after treatment with vemurafenib and PLX4720 but was not affected by treatment with sorafenib, suggesting a BRAF V600E biological behavior. Yet, responsiveness to the BRAF specific inhibitors was lower as compared to the BRAF V600E control.All together these data suggest that the cell lines carrying BRAF V600E mutations at the DNA level may respond differently to BRAF targeted treatment and the differential responsiveness may be related to a lower BRAF V600E RNA and protein expression.
On the way to the Optimal Design of an Aortic Heart Valve -or- Discovering the Obvious?
Authors: Liberski Albert Ryszard , Kot Radoslaw 
Published: July 2019

The first task of tissue engineer trying to make a scaffold of a heart valve, is to adapt some model of a heart valve to establish target geometries and properties that should be recreated in artificial scaffold. The natural way to do so is to conduct literature research and find the current scientific consensus on the topic. Here the problems start, each researcher seems to have an individual opinion about optimal geometry of valve. What makes situation more complex is that each researcher has carefully chosen arguments to explain why that particular design is better than others. Hence, the consensus is not there yet, we chosen to contribute to this discussion. The analysis of available reports enable to “cook out” 2 distinguishable and to some extent contrary hypothesis.1st –the optimal architecture of artificial valve is an architecture of native one.2nd-there is not such a thing as optimal architecture of a heart valve, and never will beThe first option is very tempting due to its simplicity. Of course, in most of human beings the valves work fine for entire life so let's make the same structure for the sick patient. But which one? – Literally mine or yours? Maybe we should make an average from 1000 or million healthily examples? Hypothetically, if you would need new face, would you like to have the “median” appearance or you rather would go for the most beautiful one? Let's take it further – what is an optimal design of human face, perhaps one would wish to obtain the most beautiful face possible, while others would opt for younger variant of their old one. When it comes to faces, it is easy to distinguish beautiful from average and ugly. Using our internal standards, we are doing this every day hundreds times. But valves are usually not visible, so do we need to work out the standard of “beauty” for HV. Frequently, clinicians and researchers seem to use the same face-related-internal standards to propose geometries of scaffold. “I like this more than that, because its follows better my internal visual standards of HV beauty”. But this is not the way to go. We need hard core evidence to distinguish structure that is better than the other.The second option is more radical – each patient needs individually chosen design of the heart valve that will reflect its specific needs and conditions. This is obviously very elegant but horribly expensive solution, since an individualized scaffold not only needs to be designed but also produced only in few copies.The consensus of both strategies is in our opinion the establishing the most “beautiful HV” but according to objective physical parameters. What additionally supports this logic is that under physiological condition the scaffold will adjust to patient by changing the geometries.To confirm our observation and conclusion we contacted 30 prominent clinicians (n = 11) and tissue engineers (n = 19) with question: What is an optimal design of aortic heart valve? In this report we are presenting their responses and comments.
Narrowband Powerline Channel Emulation Platform for Smart Grid Applications
Authors: Rebai Chiheb , Souissi Souha , Benrhouma Ons 
Published: July 2019

The characterization powerline networks and investigation of communicarion performances has been the interest of several research works. Despite of its complex noise scenario and variable attenuation, narrowband powerline communication (NB-PLC) systems are key element in smart grids which provide different applications such as remote meter reading, home automation and energy management. Mainly located at the last mile communication, NB-PLC systems participate in monitoring and controlling power consumption at different level from local utilities to final customers in conjunction with wireless technology. To provide a proper communication flow over powerlines, it is primordial to get efficient designed and proven PLC systems responding to smart grids requirements. After PLC system design and development, a major task is the infield test which is a heavy task, time consuming and does not give enough information about system performance and robustness. In one hand, test and verification result are as variable as channel conditions. So, it is not obvious to get relevant information from classical infield test. In the other hand, the behavior of existing industrial PLC systems behavior cannot be accurately reproduced in simulation environment. Therefore, getting a flexible standalone platform emulating NB-PLC channel phenomena allows overcoming verification process difficulty. In literature, few research works are interested in emulating narrowband powerline.First, the idea of emulating PLC channels using a stand-alone device has started in a broadband PLC by presenting a hardware platform based on a digital signal processor (DSP) and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Then, algorithms have been developed and optimized to reduce complexity and improve real-time performance. Regarding NB-PLC, an emulator has been proposed for indoor channels in the frequency range between 95 and 148.5 kHz using analog to digital circuit for channel transfer function and noise scenario. More flexibility and accuracy in generating the NB-PLC channel behavior has been studied and extended to support frequencies up to 500 kHz. The main challenge was the definition of time varying reference channels and tunable sophisticated noise scenarios for emulation. Both proposed NB-PLC channel emulator only takes into consideration the attenuation as predefined function and noise phenomena. The ZC detection is supposed to be ideal that it does not affect the communication performance.The objective of this research work consists in proposing a flexible DSP based NB-PLC channel emulator encompassing the channel bottlenecks interfering during communication. The channel attenuation is deduced using bottom up approach and appropriate noise scenarios are defined to meet as much as possible realistic phenomena. The effect of zero crossing variation is also taken into account. The overall parameters are optimized to be embedded on a DSP platform.
Constraints on the Formation of Granite-Related Indium Deposits
Authors: Gion Austin M. , Piccoli Philip M. , Candela Philip A. 
Published: July 2019

Abstract
The use of indium in modern technologies has grown in recent decades, creating a growth in indium demand; thus, there is a need to constrain the spatial and temporal distribution of indium-bearing, granite-related deposits. Toward this end, a conceptual model and exploration vectors for the formation of granite-related indium deposits have been developed. The magmatic-hydrothermal system is modeled by consideration of crystal-melt and vapor-melt equilibria. The model calculates the efficiency of removal of indium from a melt into a volatile phase, which may serve as a component of an ore-forming fluid. The results of the model suggest that as the proportion of ferromagnesian minerals increases in the associated granites, the probability of indium ore formation decreases. Further, for a given modal proportion of ferromagnesian minerals, as the modal proportion of amphibole increases, the probability of indium ore formation decreases. Lastly, for a given modal proportion of biotite, as the magnesium content of the biotite increases (as would result from increasing oxidation of the magmatic system), the probability of indium ore formation decreases. Granites with the highest probability of being associated with indium ore formation will typically be part of A- or S-type igneous systems and will likely be highly fractionated (e.g., A-type topaz granites). I-type granites will generally have a lower potential of being associated with indium-bearing deposits. However, some I-type granites may be associated with indium-bearing deposits if the deposits contain granites (sensu stricto) or other related rocks (e.g., alaskites) that lack amphibole or other ferromagnesian phases.
Exenciones de almojarifazgo y de otros derechos sobre el tráfico comercial en el reino de Murcia (siglos XIII-XV)
Authors: González Arce José Damián 
Published: July 2019

La práctica totalidad de las localidades del reino de Murcia recibieron a lo largo de la baja Edad Media generosos privilegios reales que suprimían o rebajaban las cargas fiscales aduaneras, sobre todo el almojarifazgo, el portazgo y el diezmo. Tales mercedes les fueron concedidas por ser un territorio fronterizo y escaso en recursos, que siempre se mantuvo poco poblado, de modo que los monarcas, mediante dichas ventajas, pretendieron atraer a un mayor número de pobladores y potenciar el desarrollo económico, gracias al intercambio mercantil con las regiones vecinas o por vía marítima.
Almost all the towns of the kingdom of Murcia received generous royal privileges throughout the late Middle Ages that suppressed or lowered the customs tax burden, especially the almojarifazgo, the toll and the tithe. Such grants were granted to them as a borders territorys and scarce in resources, which always remained sparsely populated, so that the monarchs, through these advantages, sought to attract a greater number of settlers and enhance economic development through trade with the neighboring regions or by the sea. This paper reviews such tax exemptions and how those who obtained them fought for your accomplishment.
Les mutations du débat public en ligne
Authors: Badouard Romain 
Published: July 2019

Si depuis le milieu des années 1990, Internet a principalement été perçu comme un outil au service de la démocratie, c’est davantage son impact négatif sur le débat public qui a été mis en avant dans les médias durant ces dernières années. Cette évolution des imaginaires collectifs d’Internet nous invite à dépasser une analyse binaire « apports/limites » de ses enjeux sociopolitiques pour réfléchir à la manière dont il reconfigure les pratiques et les formes du débat public en fonction de normes qui lui sont propres. Dans cet article, sept éléments constitutifs de la culture de débat en ligne sont passés au crible : le remplacement des gatekeepers traditionnels par les algorithmes des moteurs de recherche et des réseaux sociaux, la disparition des arguments d’autorité au profit d’indicateurs de popularité, l’ancrage des pratiques politiques dans les discussions du quotidien, la dimension identitaire du partage d’information, les formes push button d’expression citoyenne, les mécanismes d’autoconviction et la privatisation des instances de régulation des contenus. Ces mutations posent de nouveaux défis à l’éducation aux médias et à l’information, que les professionnels des systèmes d’information seront certainement appelés à relever dans un futur proche.
Distribution of Some Macro Nutrients and Chemical Properties in Some Semi-arid Soils of Borno State
Authors: Sandabe M. K. , Zubairu A. M. , Yusuf M. I. 
Published: July 2019

The research was carried out to study the distribution of some macro nutrients and chemical Properties in some semi–arid soils of Borno state. Three composite soil samples were collected at different locations at depth of 0-20 cm which were analysed for some macro nutrients and chemical properties. University of Maiduguri (Unimaid) soil is slightly acidic to neutral in reaction, low in electrical conductivity (EC), high base saturation, low in percent organic carbon, moderate in calcium, high in magnesium, low in potassium, high in sodium, low in available phosphorus. Dalori soils were neutral in reaction, low in EC, high base saturation low in percent organic carbon, low in calcium, high in magnesium, low in potassium, high in sodium, low in available phosphorus. Gongulong soil was moderately acidic in reaction, moderate in EC, high base saturation, moderate in percent organic carbon, high in calcium, very high in magnesium, moderate in potassium, high in sodium, low in available phosphorus.