bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Spatial separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs in BiOBr/BiOI bilayer to facilitate water splitting
Authors: Tang Zhen-Kun , Yin Wen-Jin , Le Zhang  , Wen Bo , Zhang Deng-Yu , Liu Li-Min , Lau Woon-Ming 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThe electronic structures and photocatalytic properties of bismuth oxyhalide bilayers (BiOX1/BiOX2, X1 and X2 are Cl, Br, I) are studied by density functional theory. Briefly, their compositionally tunable bandgaps range from 1.85 to 3.41 eV, suitable for sun-light absorption, and all bilayers have band-alignments good for photocatalytic water-splitting. Among them, heterogeneous BiOBr/BiOI bilayer is the best as it has the smallest bandgap. More importantly, photo-excitation of BiOBr/BiOI leads to electron supply to the conduction band minimum with localized states belonging mainly to bismuth of BiOBr where the H+/H2 half-reaction of water-splitting can be sustained. Meanwhile, holes generated by such photo-excitation are mainly derived from the iodine states of BiOI in the valence band maximum; thus, the O2/H2O half-reaction of water splitting is facilitated on BiOI. Detailed band-structure analysis also indicates that this intriguing spatial separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs and the two half-reactions of water splitting are good for a wide photo-excitation spectrum from 2–5 eV; as such, BiOBr/BiOI bilayer can be an efficient photocatalyst for water-splitting, particularly with further optimization of its optical absorptivity.
Miniaturised dual‐band rat‐race coupler with harmonic suppression using synthetic transmission line
Authors: Chen C.‐C. , Sim C.Y.D. , Wu Y.‐J. 
Published: September 2016

A dual‐band 90° unit module with harmonic suppression (HS) is proposed. This unit module consists of a pair of back‐to‐back stepped impedance sections and an open stub. The unit module is realised by synthetic transmission lines, and it is successfully implemented into a novel miniature dual‐band (2.45/5.8‐GHz) rat‐race coupler with HS (suppression level ≥16 dB, 6.8–13 GHz). Compared with traditional 1.5λ microstrip ring hybrid, the proposed dual‐band rat‐race with HS only occupies 13.84% of its area.
Day‐ahead unit commitment model for microgrids
Authors: Deckmyn Christof , Van de Vyver Jan , Vandoorn Tine L. , Meersman Bart , Desmet Jan , Vandevelde Lieven 
Published: September 2016

In this study, a heuristics‐based optimisation methodology for a day‐ahead unit commitment (UC) model in microgrids is proposed. The model aims to schedule the power among the different microgrid units while minimising the operating costs together with the CO2 emissions produced. A storage device is added where the charge and discharge schedule is calculated according to both objectives. In addition, as a part of the demand side participation strategy, a charging schedule was determined for the electric vehicles (EV) in order to increase the system security and further reduce the costs and emissions. A congestion management approach is also introduced, which eliminates congestions by effective unit scheduling according to congestion signals provided by the distribution system operators. The complete day‐ahead time horizon is divided in 96 time steps (each with a 15 min time span), which makes the UC problem more complicated. The studied system includes renewable energy resources, a storage unit, two microturbines, a fuel cell and EVs. The results demonstrate that the proposed model is robust and is able to reduce the microgrid operating costs and emissions by optimal scheduling of the microgrid units, and is able to take into account local congestion problems.
A phylogenetic transform enhances analysis of compositional microbiota data
Authors: Silverman Justin D , Washburne Alex , Mukherjee Sayan , David Lawrence A 
Published: September 2016

ABSTRACTHigh-throughput DNA sequencing technologies have revolutionized the study of microbial communities (microbiota) and have revealed their importance in both human health and disease. However, due to technical limitations, data from microbiota surveys reflect the relative abundance of bacterial taxa and not their absolute levels. It is well known that applying common statistical methods, such as correlation or hypothesis testing, to relative abundance data can lead to spurious results. Here, we introduce the PhILR transform, a data transform that utilizes microbial phylogenetic information. This transform enables off-the-shelf statistical tools to be applied to microbiota surveys free from artifacts usually associated with analysis of relative abundance data. Using environmental and human-associated microbial community datasets as benchmarks, we find that the PhILR transform significantly improves the performance of distance-based and machine learning-based statistics, boosting the accuracy of widely used algorithms on reference benchmarks by 90%. Because the PhILR transform relies on bacterial phylogenies, statistics applied in the PhILR coordinate system are also framed within an evolutionary perspective. Regression on PhILR transformed human microbiota data identified evolutionarily neighboring bacterial clades that may have differentiated to adapt to distinct body sites. Variance statistics showed that the degree of covariation of bacterial clades across human body sites tended to increase with phylogenetic relatedness between clades. These findings support the hypothesis that environmental selection, not competition between bacteria, plays a dominant role in structuring human-associated microbial communities.
The transcriptome of the avian malaria parasitePlasmodium ashfordidisplays host-specific gene expression
Authors: Videvall Elin , Cornwallis Charlie K. , Ahrén Dag , Palinauskas Vaidas , Valkiūnas Gediminas , Hellgren Olof 
Published: September 2016

AbstractMalaria parasites (Plasmodiumspp.) include some of the world’s most widespread and virulent pathogens. Our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms these parasites use to invade and exploit hosts other than mice and primates is, however, extremely limited. It is therefore imperative to characterize transcriptome-wide gene expression from non-model malaria parasites and how this varies across host individuals. Here, we used high-throughput Illumina RNA-sequencing on blood from wild-caught Eurasian siskins experimentally infected with a clonal strain of the avian malaria parasitePlasmodium ashfordi(lineage GRW2). By using a multi-step approach to filter out host transcripts, we successfully assembled the blood-stage transcriptome ofP. ashfordi.A total of 11 954 expressed transcripts were identified, and 7 860 were annotated with protein information. We quantified gene expression levels of all parasite transcripts across three hosts during two infection stages – peak and decreasing parasitemia. Interestingly, parasites from the same host displayed remarkably similar expression profiles during different infection stages, but showed large differences across hosts, indicating thatP. ashfordimay adjust its gene expression to specific host individuals. We further show that the majority of transcripts are most similar to the human parasitePlasmodium falciparum,and a large number of red blood cell invasion genes were discovered, suggesting evolutionary conserved invasion strategies between mammalian and avianPlasmodium.The transcriptome ofP. ashfordiand its host-specific gene expression advances our understanding ofPlasmodiumplasticity and is a valuable resource as it allows for further studies analysing gene evolution and comparisons of parasite gene expression.
Epigenetic MemoryviaConcordant DNA Methylation is Inversely Correlated to Developmental Potential of Mammalian Cells
Authors: Choi Minseung , Genereux Diane P. , Goodson Jamie , Al-Azzawi Haneen , Allain Shannon Q. , Simon Noah , Palasek Stan , Ware Carol B. , Cavanaugh Chris , Miller Daniel G. , Johnson Winslow C. , Sinclair Kevin D. , Stöger Reinhard , Laird Charles D. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractIn storing and transmitting epigenetic information, organisms must balance the need to maintain information about past conditions with the capacity to respond to information in their current and future environments. Some of this information is encoded by DNA methylation, which can be transmitted with variable fidelity from parent to daughter strand. High fidelity confers strong pattern matching between the strands of individual DNA molecules and thus pattern stability over rounds of DNA replication; lower fidelity confers reduced pattern matching, and thus greater flexibility. • Here, we present a new conceptual framework, Ratio of Concordance Preference (RCP), that uses double-stranded methylation data to quantify the flexibility and stability of the system that gave rise to a given set of patterns. • We find that differentiated mammalian cells operate with high DNA methylation stability, consistent with earlier reports. Stem cells in culture and in embryos, in contrast, operate with reduced, albeit significant, methylation stability. We conclude that preference for concordant DNA methylation is a consistent mode of information transfer, and thus provides epigenetic stability across cell divisions, even in stem cells and those undergoing developmental transitions. Broader application of our RCP framework will permit comparison of epigenetic-information systems across cells, developmental stages, and organisms whose methylation machineries differ substantially or are not yet well understood.
Integrating gene expression with summary association statistics to identify susceptibility genes for 30 complex traits
Authors: Mancuso Nicholas , Shi Huwenbo , Goddard Pagé , Kichaev Gleb , Gusev Alexander , Pasaniuc Bogdan 
Published: September 2016

AbstractAlthough genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified thousands of risk loci for many complex traits and diseases, the causal variants and genes at these loci remain largely unknown. We leverage recently introduced methods to integrate gene expression measurements from 45 expression panels with summary GWAS data to perform 30 transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs). We identify 1,196 susceptibility genes whose expression is associated with these traits; of these, 168 reside more than 0.5Mb away from any previously reported GWAS significant variant, thus providing new risk loci. Second, we find 43 pairs of traits with significant genetic correlation at the level of predicted expression; of these, 8 are not found through genetic correlation at the SNP level. Third, we use bi-directional regression to find evidence for BMI causally influencing triglyceride levels, and triglyceride levels causally influencing LDL. Taken together, our results provide insights into the role of expression to susceptibility of complex traits and diseases.
The House Fly Y Chromosome is Young and Minimally Differentiated from its Ancient X Chromosome Partner
Authors: Meisel Richard P. , Gonzales Christopher A. , Luu Hoang 
Published: September 2016

AbstractCanonical ancient sex chromosome pairs consist of a gene rich X (or Z) chromosome and a male- (or female-) limited Y (or W) chromosome that is gene poor. In contrast to highly differentiated sex chromosomes, nascent sex chromosome pairs are homomorphic or very similar in sequence content. Nascent sex chromosomes arise frequently over the course of evolution, as evidenced by differences in sex chromosomes between closely related species and sex chromosome polymorphisms within species. Sex chromosome turnover typically occurs when an existing sex chromosome becomes fused to an autosome or an autosome acquires a new sex-determining locus/allele. Previously documented sex chromosome transitions involve changes to both members of the sex chromosome pair (X and Y, or Z and W). The House fly has sex chromosomes that resemble the ancestral fly karyotype that originated 100 million years ago, and therefore house fly is expected to have X and Y chromosomes with different gene content. We tested this hypothesis using whole genome sequencing and transcriptomic data, and we discovered little evidence for genetic differentiation between the X and Y in house fly. We propose that house fly has retained the ancient X chromosome, but the ancestral Y was replaced by an X chromosome carrying a male determining gene. Our proposed hypothesis provides a mechanisms for how one member of a sex chromosome pair can experience evolutionary turnover while the other member remains unaffected.
Investigation of cold water pitting corrosion failure of deoxidized high phosphorus (DHP) copper tube
Authors: Pantazopoulos George , Vazdirvanidis Athanasios , Rikos Andreas , Skarmoutsos Dionysios 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the corrosion failure mechanism of a Cu tube in a hydraulic installation and recommend corrective actions to improve the reliability of the entire unit.

Design/methodology/approach
Failure investigation process includes mainly stereo-, light optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy as the main analytical tools for material characterization and root-cause analysis.

Findings
The investigation findings, obtained by corroded surface analysis and metallographic evaluation in transverse sections, suggest strongly that the failure was caused by the operation of Type I pitting corrosion mechanism initiated from the inner side and propagated towards the outer tube surface, assisted by the flowing medium composition.

Originality/value
This paper deals with an applied failure analysis/case history, summarizes the stages involved in the mechanism of pitting corrosion Type I, taken place in cold water systems together with the main parameters and corrosive species that enhance corrosion rates, shortening pipeline operation life.
Effect of particles size on mechanical properties of polypropylene particulate composites
Authors: Nezbedova Eva , Krcma Frantisek , Majer Zdenek , Hutar Pavel 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
Polymeric particulate composites with thermoplastics, especially polypropylene (PP) matrix with mineral fillers, are of great practical importance due to their simple possibility of modifying mechanical properties and reducing the price/volume ratio of the resulting material. Both filler properties and interface properties have a great effect on the mechanical properties, primarily on stiffness and toughness, of the resulting composite material. Good final dispersion of the filler particles also plays a very important role. To reach the best adhesion and distribution of the particles, various procedures are carried out for activation of the particles. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate and discuss the effect of using plasma as a tool for treating commercially available CaCO3 nanoparticles in PP matrix.

Design/methodology/approach
The effect of the composite structure on its mechanical properties was studied from an experimental as well as a theoretical point of view. For an experimental study, four PP matrix were chosen. For use as filler, the commercially available precipitated surface-treated calcium carbonate was chosen. The composites were prepared with 5, 10, and 15 wt% of fillers. The sequence of expositions of plasma was chosen to verify the optimal treatment duration. The filler particles were characterized by several structure analytical methods. The composite mechanical properties were characterized by tensile, bending, impact, and creep tests. The deformation behavior of the three-phase composite with homogeneously distributed coated particles was numerically simulated on a microscopic scale.

Findings
The main conclusions of this work can be summarized as follows: with the use of plasma to the precipitated calcium carbonate, composites with well-dispersed particles can be prepared; the surface modification using plasma is done mainly by grafting –OH groups onto the particles’ surface; a synergetic effect of modifier enhancing the performance was observed; performance modifier increases the resistance against viscoelastic strain; and the size of the particles and their volume content generally lead to increase in the macro modulus of the composite.

Originality/value
Plasma, as a tool for treating the inorganic fillers, enables to destroy the agglomerates in composite, which is the basic way on how to optimally utilize the synergetic effect of composite with PP matrix.
Self-repairing CFRPs targeted towards structural aerospace applications
Authors: Raimondo Marialuigia , De Nicola Felice , Volponi Ruggero , Binder Wolfgang , Michael Philipp , Russo Salvatore , Guadagno Liberata 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the first experiments to manufacture self-healing carbon fiber reinforced panels (CFRPs) for the realization of structural aeronautic components in order to address their vulnerability to impact damage in the real service conditions.

Design/methodology/approach
The developed self-healing system is based on ring-opening metathesis polymerizations reaction of microencapsulated 5-ethylidene-2-norbornene/dicyclopentadiene cyclic olefins using Hoveyda-Grubbs’ first generation catalyst as initiator. In this work, the self-healing resin is infused into a carbon fiber dry preform using an unconventional bulk film infusion technique that has allowed to minimize the filtration effects via a better compaction and reduced resin flow paths. Infrared spectroscopy provides a useful way to identify metathesis products and therefore catalyst activity in the self-healing panel after damage. The damage resistance of the manufactured CFRPs is evaluated through hail and drop tests.

Findings
The self-healing manufactured panels show, after damage, catalyst activity with metathesis product formation, as evidenced by an infrared peak at 966 cm−1. The damage response of CFRPs, detected in accord to the requirements of hail impact for the design of a fuselage in composite material, is very good. The results are very encouraging and can constitute a solid basis for bringing this new technology to the self-healable fiber reinforced resins for aerospace applications.

Originality/value
In this paper, autonomically healing CFRPs with damage resistance and self-healing function are proposed. In the development of self-healing aeronautic materials it is critical that self-healing activity functions in adverse weather conditions and at low working temperatures which can reach values as low as −50°C.
Spontaneity and international marketing performance
Authors: Souchon Anne L. , Hughes Paul , Farrell Andrew M. , Nemkova Ekaterina , Oliveira João S. 
Published: September 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to ascertain how today’s international marketers can perform better on the global scene by harnessing spontaneity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on contingency theory to develop a model of the spontaneity – international marketing performance relationship, and identify three potential moderators, namely, strategic planning, centralization, and market dynamism. The authors test the model via structural equation modeling with survey data from 197 UK exporters.FindingsThe results indicate that spontaneity is beneficial to exporters in terms of enhancing profit performance. In addition, greater centralization and strategic planning strengthen the positive effects of spontaneity. However, market dynamism mitigates the positive effect of spontaneity on export performance (when customer needs are volatile, spontaneous decisions do not function as well in terms of ensuring success).Practical implicationsLearning to be spontaneous when making export decisions appears to result in favorable outcomes for the export function. To harness spontaneity, export managers should look to develop company heuristics (increase centralization and strategic planning). Finally, if operating in dynamic export market environments, the role of spontaneity is weaker, so more conventional decision-making approaches should be adopted.Originality/valueThe international marketing environment typically requires decisions to be flexible and fast. In this context, spontaneity could enable accelerated and responsive decision-making, allowing international marketers to realize superior performance. Yet, there is a lack of research on decision-making spontaneity and its potential for international marketing performance enhancement.
Experiencing smart working: a case study on workplace change management in Italy
Authors: Tagliaro Chiara , Ciaramella Andrea 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the insights gained by a recent research and consultancy work performed by the authors accompanying an organization in workplace change management. The inception of the new ways of working may lead a company to rethink the office space toward downsizing, with the main objectives to shrink occupancy costs and enhance workers’ productivity. The shift to a new office building and a smart working model needs to be well managed and verified ex-post. The application of a post-occupancy study can help fine-tune real and perceived quality with the enhancement of both space and people’s performance.

Design/methodology/approach
The experience is presented as a case study. Data have been collected through the triangulation of different methodologies, both quantitative and qualitative. Walk-throughs, observations, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups have been conducted. Interpolation and interpretation of all the information obtained led to a critical synthesis that this paper aims at disclosing.

Findings
Inter-disciplinary collaboration between corporate real estate, facilities management and human resources departments, with employees’ involvement, has been fundamental for gaining useful insights.

Research limitations/implications
It is necessary to extend the sample to obtain information at an epidemiological level.

Originality/value
The research can be considered one of the few Italian contributions to the field of post-occupancy studies. Moreover, it can give new indications about the evolution of workplace features in an Italian context.
Trade openness and economic development in the UAE: an asymmetric approach
Authors: Al-Shayeb Abdulrahman , Hatemi-J Abdulnasser 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a review of the trade policy in the UAE. It also investigates the dynamic interaction between trade openness and GDP per capita in this emerging economy.

Design/methodology/approach
The asymmetric generalized impulse response functions and the asymmetric causality tests developed by Hatemi-J are used.

Findings
The results from asymmetric generalized impulse response functions indicate that a positive permanent shock in the trade openness results in a significant positive response in the cumulative sum of the positive component of the GDP per capita. Such a response is not found for the negative shocks in the trade openness. Furthermore, neither a positive nor a negative shock in the GPD per capita results in any significant response in the trade openness. These empirical findings are also supported by the implemented asymmetric causality tests.

Originality/value
This is the first attempt that investigates the impact of trade openness on economic performance in the UAE. Unlike previous literature on the topic, this paper allows for asymmetric impacts in the empirical model.