bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sensitive Approach for Voltammetric Determination of Carbendazim Based on the Use of an Anionic Surfactant
Authors: Petroni Jacqueline Marques , Lucca Bruno Gabriel , Fogliato Daniela Kárin , Ferreira Valdir Souza 
Published: January 2016

AbstractThis report describes by the first time the use of a commercial screen‐printed carbon electrode modified with multi‐walled carbon nanotubes for voltammetric determination of the fungicide carbendazim in the presence of an anionic surfactant. The oxidation of the pesticide showed two anodic and two catodic peaks over a quasi‐reversible system. The quantitative studies were performed using square‐wave voltammetry technique at anodic direction, in that an oxidation peak was observed at +0.98 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Buffer, pH and voltammetric parameters were investigated and optimized. The use of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate provided a significative improvement on analytical sensitivity and its influence also was evaluated. The best conditions for analysis were achieved using a medium of 0.04 mol L−1 Britton‐Robinson buffer at pH 4.00 containing 6.04×10−4 mol L−1 of surfactant. A calibration curve with good linearity (R=0.999) was obtained and the limit of detection achieved was 1.40×10−8 mol L−1 (2.7 ppb). Lastly, the developed method was successfully applied for determination of carbendazim in a spiked orange juice sample and a recovery of 101.7 % was obtained. The results were compared with HPLC technique with good agreement. Based on the data presented, the proposed method shows great promise to be applied in routine analysis of carbendazim in food samples and the approach based on the anionic surfactant effect can be an improvement for other applications.
Scalable and Cost‐Effective Preparation of Hierarchical Porous Silicon with a High Conversion Yield for Superior Lithium‐Ion Storage
Authors: Liu Xiaolin , Miao Rongrong , Yang Jun , Wang Jinzuan , Bie Yitian , Wang Jiulin , Nuli Yanna 
Published: January 2016

AbstractAlthough some reported porous silicon‐based anode materials manifest excellent lithium‐ion storage properties, their scalable and economical synthesis remains a large obstacle to their industrial application. This work presents a scalable and efficient preparation of hierarchical porous silicon by using cost‐effective porous SiO2 as raw material through a modified magnesiothermic reduction approach, in which a rotatable furnace was employed and the hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching treatment was avoided. Moreover, the reaction has a high conversion yield (>95 %). Subsequently, a carbon layer with a thickness of 7 nm has been conformally wrapped onto the surface of the porous silicon through a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The obtained porous Si@C composite exhibits a high reversible capacity at 0.3 A g−1, and retained ca. 40 % of its capacity even at 8 A g−1. Moreover, it has an excellent capacity retention over 300 cycles. The strategies disclosed in the present work and the novel porous Si@C composite may have great potential for the next generation of lithium‐ion batteries.
Pelletization of Immobilized Amine Carbon Dioxide Sorbents with Fly Ash and Poly(vinyl chloride)
Authors: Wilfong Walter Christopher , Gray McMahan L. , Kail Brian W. , Howard Bret H. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractA combination of coal fly ash (FA) and a polymer binder, namely, poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), was used to pelletize immobilized amine CO2 sorbents. The pelletization of mixtures of FA and 50 wt % tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) or ethylenimine oligomer mixture (Mw=423)/silica (EI423‐S) with PVC created a rigid PVC/FA/sorbent network. The strength of the network was attributed, in part, to the hydrogen bonding of PVC with the hydroxy and amine groups of the FA and sorbent (infrared spectroscopy). Increasing the PVC molecular weight or FA content enhanced the pellet strength and reduced CO2 capture. The optimum pellet, FA/EI423‐S (20/80)_PVC62 [10 wt % PVC62 (Mw=62 000), 17 wt % FA], captured 1.33 mmol
g−1 and exhibited a crush strength of 1.42 MPa. The reaction between PVC and amines produced ammonium ions (−NH3+/−NH2+), which reduced the CO2 captured by the pellet during stability testing. This issue was partially resolved by replacing PVC62 with p‐phenylenediamine‐modified PVC62, which also enhanced the pellet CO2 capture to 1.5 mmol
g−1.
Scalability study of backhaul capacity sensitive network selection scheme in LTE‐WiFi HetNet
Authors: Ting Alvin , Chieng David , Kwong Kae Hsiang , Andonovic Ivan , Wong K. D. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractWireless heterogeneous network (HetNet) with small cells presents a new backhauling challenge that differs from those of experienced by conventional macro‐cells. In practice, the choice of backhaul technology for these small cells whether fibre, xDSL, point‐to‐point and point‐to‐multipoint wireless, or multi‐hop/mesh networks, is often governed by availability and cost and not by required capacity. Therefore, the resulting backhaul capacity of the small cells in HetNet is likely to be non‐uniform because of the mixture of backhaul technologies adopted. In such an environment, a question then arises whether a network selection strategy that considers the small cells' backhaul capacity will improve the end users' usage experience. In this paper, a novel dynamic backhaul capacity sensitive (DyBaCS) network selection scheme is proposed and compared with two commonly used network selection schemes, namely, WiFi First and physical data rate in an LTE‐WiFi HetNet environment. The proposed scheme is evaluated in terms of average connection or user throughput and fairness among users. The effects of varying WiFi backhaul capacity (uniform and non‐uniform distribution), WiFi‐LTE coverage ratio, user density and WiFi access points (APs) density within the HetNet form the focus of this paper. Results show that the DyBaCS scheme generally provides superior fairness and user throughput performance across the range of backhaul capacity considered. Besides, DyBaCS is able to scale much better than WiFi First and physical data rate across different user and WiFi densities. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Contribution of writing to reading: Dissociation between cognitive and motor process in the left dorsal premotor cortex
Authors: Pattamadilok Chotiga , Ponz Aurélie , Planton Samuel , Bonnard Mireille 
Published: January 2016

AbstractFunctional brain imaging studies reported activation of the left dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), that is, a main area in the writing network, in reading tasks. However, it remains unclear whether this area is causally relevant for written stimulus recognition or its activation simply results from a passive coactivation of reading and writing networks. Here, we used chronometric paired‐pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to address this issue by disrupting the activity of the PMd, the so‐called Exner's area, while participants performed a lexical decision task. Both words and pseudowords were presented in printed and handwritten characters. The latter was assumed to be closely associated with motor representations of handwriting gestures. We found that TMS over the PMd in relatively early time‐windows, i.e., between 60 and 160 ms after the stimulus onset, increased reaction times to pseudoword without affecting word recognition. Interestingly, this result pattern was found for both printed and handwritten characters, that is, regardless of whether the characters evoked motor representations of writing actions. Our result showed that under some circumstances the activation of the PMd does not simply result from passive association between reading and writing networks but has a functional role in the reading process. At least, at an early stage of written stimuli recognition, this role seems to depend on a common sublexical and serial process underlying writing and pseudoword reading rather than on an implicit evocation of writing actions during reading as typically assumed. Hum Brain Mapp 37:1531‐1543, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Efficient estimation of flood forecast prediction intervals via single‐ and multi‐objective versions of the LUBE method
Authors: Ye Lei , Zhou Jianzhong , Gupta Hoshin V. , Zhang Hairong , Zeng Xiaofan , Chen Lu 
Published: January 2016

AbstractPrediction intervals (PIs) are commonly used to quantify the accuracy and precision of a forecast. However, traditional ways to construct PIs typically require strong assumptions about data distribution and involve a large computational burden. Here, we improve upon the recent proposed Lower Upper Bound Estimation method and extend it to a multi‐objective framework. The proposed methods are demonstrated using a real‐world flood forecasting case study for the upper Yangtze River Watershed. Results indicate that the proposed methods are able to efficiently construct appropriate PIs, while outperforming other methods including the widely used Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation approach. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evaluation of kidney injury biomarkers in rat amniotic fluid after gestational exposure to cadmium
Authors: Jacobo‐Estrada Tania , Cardenas‐Gonzalez Mariana , Santoyo‐Sánchez Mitzi , Parada‐Cruz Benjamín , Uria‐Galicia Esther , Arreola‐Mendoza Laura , Barbier Olivier 
Published: January 2016

AbstractCadmium is a well‐characterized nephrotoxic agent that is also capable of accumulating and diffusing across the placenta; however, only a few studies have addressed its effects over fetal kidneys and none of them has used a panel of sensitive and specific biomarkers for the detection of kidney injury. The goal of this study was to determine cadmium renal effects in rat fetuses by the quantification of early kidney injury biomarkers. Pregnant Wistar rats were exposed by inhalation to an isotonic saline solution or to CdCl2 solution (DDel=1.48 mg Cd kg−1 day−1) during gestational days (GD) 8–20. On GD 21, dams were euthanized and samples obtained. Kidney injury biomarkers were quantified in amniotic fluid samples and fetal kidneys were microscopically evaluated to search for histological alterations. Our results showed that cadmium exposure significantly raised albumin, osteopontin, vascular endothelial growth factor and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases‐1 levels in amniotic fluid, whereas it decreased creatinine. Clusterin, calbindin and IFN‐inducible protein 10 did not show any change. Accordingly, histological findings showed tubular damage and precipitations in the renal pelvis. In conclusion, gestational exposure to cadmium induces structural alterations in fetal renal tissue that can be detected by some kidney injury biomarkers in amniotic fluid samples. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Computational Protein Phenotype Prediction Approach to Analyze the Deleterious Mutations of Human MED12 Gene
Authors: Banaganapalli Babajan , Mohammed Kaleemuddin , Khan Imran Ali , Al‐Aama Jumana Y. , Elango Ramu , Shaik Noor Ahmad 
Published: January 2016

ABSTRACTGenetic mutations in MED12, a subunit of Mediator complex are seen in a broad spectrum of human diseases. However, the underlying basis of how these pathogenic mutations elicit protein phenotype changes in terms of 3D structure, stability and protein binding sites remains unknown. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the structural and functional impacts of MED12 mutations, using computational methods as an alternate to traditional in vivo and in vitro approaches. The MED12 gene mutations details and their corresponding clinical associations were collected from different databases and by text‐mining. Initially, diverse computational approaches were applied to categorize the different classes of mutations based on their deleterious impact to MED12. Then, protein structures for wild and mutant types built by integrative modeling were analyzed for structural divergence, solvent accessibility, stability, and functional interaction deformities. Finally, this study was able to identify that genetic mutations mapped to exon‐2 region, highly conserved LCEWAV and Catenin domains induce biochemically severe amino acid changes which alters the protein phenotype as well as the stability of MED12‐CYCC interactions. To better understand the deleterious nature of FS‐IDs and Indels, this study asserts the utility of computational screening based on their propensity towards non‐sense mediated decay. Current study findings may help to narrow down the number of MED12 mutations to be screened for mediator complex dysfunction associated genetic diseases. This study supports computational methods as a primary filter to verify the plausible impact of pathogenic mutations based on the perspective of evolution, expression and phenotype of proteins. J. Cell. Biochem. 117: 2023–2035, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Human Umbilical Cord Wharton's Jelly Stem Cell Conditioned Medium Induces Tumoricidal Effects on Lymphoma Cells Through Hydrogen Peroxide Mediation
Authors: Lin Hao Daniel , Fong Chui‐Yee , Biswas Arijit , Choolani Mahesh , Bongso Ariff 
Published: January 2016

ABSTRACTSeveral groups have reported that human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly stem cells (hWJSCs) possess unique tumoricidal properties against many cancers. However, the exact mechanisms as to how hWJSCs inhibit tumor growth are not known. Recent evidence suggests that exposure of cancer cells to high hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels from H2O2‐releasing drugs causes their death. We therefore explored whether the tumoricidal effect of hWJSCs on lymphoma cells was mediated via H2O2. We first exposed lymphoma cells to six different molecular weight cut‐off (MWCO) concentrates of hWJSC‐conditioned medium (hWJSC‐CM) (3, 5, 10, 30, 50, 100 kDa) for 48 h. Since, the 3 kDa‐MWCO concentrate showed the greatest cell inhibition we then investigated whether the tumoricidal effect of the specific 3 kDa‐MWCO concentrate on two different lymphoma cell lines (Ramos and Toledo) was mediated via accumulation of H2O2. We used a battery of assays (MTT, propidium iodide, mitochondria membrane potential, apoptosis, cell cycle, oxidative stress enzymes, hydrogen peroxide, mitochondrial superoxide, hydroxyl radical, peroxynitrile anion, and lipid peroxidation) to test this mechanism. The hWJSC‐CM‐3 kDa MWCO concentrate significantly decreased cell viability and mitochondrial membrane potential and increased cell death and apoptosis in both lymphoma cell lines. There were significant increases in superoxide dismutase with concomitant decreases in glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and thioredoxin peroxidase activities. H2O2 levels, mitochondrial superoxide, hydroxyl radical, peroxynitrile anion, and lipid peroxidation were also significantly increased in both lymphoma cell lines. The results suggested that the hWJSC‐CM‐3 kDa MWCO concentrate regulates cellular H2O2 leading to a tumoricidal effect and may thus be a promising anti‐lymphoma agent. J. Cell. Biochem. 117: 2045–2055, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
On 5‐Cycles and 6‐Cycles in Regular n‐Tournaments
Authors: Savchenko S. V. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractLet T be a tournament of order n and be the number of cycles of length m in T. For and odd n, the maximum of is achieved for any regular tournament of order n (M. G. Kendall and B. Babington Smith, 1940), and in the case it is attained only for the unique regular locally transitive tournament RLTn of order n (U. Colombo, 1964). A lower bound was also obtained for in the class of regular tournaments of order n (A. Kotzig, 1968). This bound is attained if and only if T is doubly regular (when ) or nearly doubly regular (when ) (B. Alspach and C. Tabib, 1982). In the present article, we show that for any regular tournament T of order n, the equality holds. This allows us to reduce the case to the case In turn, the pure spectral expression for obtained in the class implies that for a regular tournament T of order the inequality holds, with equality if and only if T is doubly regular or T is the unique regular tournament of order 7 that is neither doubly regular nor locally transitive. We also determine the value of c6(RLTn) and conjecture that this value coincides with the minimum number of 6‐cycles in the class for each odd
Land Reform and Welfare in Vietnam: Why Gender of the Land‐Rights Holder Matters
Authors: Menon Nidhiya , van der meulen Rodgers Yana , Kennedy Alexis R. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractVietnam's 1993 Land Law created a land market by granting households tradable land‐use rights. This study uses mixed methods to analyze whether increased land titling led to improvements in household economic security and whether land titles in women's and men's names had different effects. Using a matched sample of households from Vietnam's 2004 and 2008 Household Living Standards Survey, we find that land‐use rights held exclusively by women or jointly by couples result in beneficial effects that include increased household expenditures, greater women's self‐employment, and lower household vulnerability to poverty. Results from interviews conducted in Vietnam support these conclusions by indicating that women with sole or joint ownership of land enjoyed greater well‐being and higher status. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Assessment of parallel precipitation measurements networks in Piedmont, Italy
Authors: Acquaotta F. , Fratianni S. , Venema V. 
Published: January 2016

ABSTRACTLong historical climate records usually contain non‐climatic changes that can influence the observed behaviour of meteorological variables. The availability of parallel measurements offers an ideal occasion to study these discontinuities as they record the same climate. The transition from manual to automatic measurements has been analysed in this study. The dataset has been obtained from two independent climate networks in the Piedmont region, in Northwest Italy. From this dataset, 17 pairs of stations with up to 17 years of overlapping have been identified. On average the overlapping period is 12 years with 8760 daily data matched for a pair of stations. This dataset has proven valuable because it has made it possible to study a set of independently managed pairs of standard‐quality stations, while most previous studies in this field analysed data from well‐maintained instruments with the same operator, often at meteorological offices. The transition between two networks has highlighted important differences in the amount of precipitation and in the number of rainy days. On average, the automatic network has measured 12% less precipitation and has recorded 9% more rainy days (8 days) per year than the manual network. Both of these differences produce a spurious change in the precipitation of the analysed area, thus showing the importance of having a homogeneous dataset to identify real climate variations.
Linking zooplankton richness with energy input and insularity along altitudinal and latitudinal gradients
Authors: Lyons Devin A. , Vinebrooke Rolf D. 
Published: January 2016

AbstractAltitudinal and latitudinal gradients are excellent venues for investigating the direct and indirect effects of air temperature, solar irradiance, and insularity on spatial patterns of aquatic biodiversity. The findings can be used to predict how lake communities will respond to increasingly extreme climate events. We explored hypotheses of energy/climate, geography, and glacial history explaining patterns in species richness in a historical dataset of crustacean zooplankton communities from 436 lakes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. GIS‐based estimates of solar and thermal energy inputs combined with habitat area and insularity provided the best prediction of local species richness. Energetic and geographic factors explained a moderate proportion of the total variation in species richness (Generalized R2 = 0.50), and were sufficient to account for both altitudinal and latitudinal gradients in zooplankton diversity. History of deglaciation was not supported as a predictor of patterns in species richness. A post hoc analysis with a smaller dataset also found strong support for lake pH, and some support for fish presence as predictors of species richness, but these only increased the proportion of the total variation explained very slightly relative to the model including only energetic and geographic factors (Generalized R2 = 0.55 vs. 0.53). Our findings highlight the multiplicity of local and regional factors of zooplankton species richness in mountain lakes, forecasting that it will increase under a scenario of warmer and drier (i.e., less cloud cover) conditions, especially in high connectivity lakes that cease to be fed by rapidly disappearing glaciers.
Toward disease modification in multiple system atrophy: Pitfalls, bottlenecks, and possible remedies
Authors: Krismer Florian , Seppi Klaus , Stefanova Nadia , Wenning Gregor K. 
Published: January 2016

ABSTRACTMultiple system atrophy has recently attracted increased attention in basic and clinical research. Understanding of key pathophysiological mechanismshas improved; and, in the past decade, the first clinical trials aiming at diseasemodification were conducted. However, there is still no established interventional therapy available. In this review, the authors summarize recent advances, discuss bottlenecks and possible pitfalls of previous interventional studies, and suggest future research avenues. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Frequency sweep computation of half‐space scattering using asymptotic waveform evaluation
Authors: Wu Bi‐Yi , Zhang Xiao‐Jie , Sheng Xin‐Qing 
Published: January 2016

ABSTRACTThe asymptotic waveform evaluation (AWE) technique is applied to mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) for fast frequency sweep in half‐space scattering analysis. The AWE procedure requires the evaluation of high order derivative of impedance matrices that consist of complicated Green's function of layered media. Pseudo‐spectral method, a numerical differentiation approach, is employed to calculate these derivatives. Numerical experiments show that AWE technique improves the efficiency of scattering computation in half‐space structure. Furthermore, the presented approach can handle dispersive media. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:495–498, 2016
A novel design of multiband printed anchor‐shaped slot antenna
Authors: Ren Wang , Jiang Chen 
Published: January 2016

ABSTRACTIn this article, two novel printed anchor‐shaped slot antennas for multiband wireless applications are proposed. The first proposed anchor‐shaped slot antenna (ASA1) can generate two wide bands centered at about 2.5‐GHz and 5.5‐GHz, covering the 2.4/5.2/5.8‐GHz WLAN bands (2.4–2.484, 5.15–5.35, and 5.725–5.825 GHz) and 2.5/5.5‐GHz WiMAX bands (2.50–2.69 and 5.25–5.85 GHz). The second proposed design is established on the basis of ASA1. By introducing a pair of F‐shaped slits, an extra resonant mode will be excited at 3.5‐GHz. Therefore, it can be converted to a triple‐band anchor‐shaped slot antenna (ASA2) supporting 2.4/5.2/5.8‐GHz WLAN and 2.5/3.5/5.5‐GHz WiMAX (2.50–2.69, 3.30–3.70, and 5.25–5.85 GHz) applications without changing other original design parameters of ASA1. From the aspect of system design, a platform using the proposed antennas would exhibit more flexibility and expansibility. Having overall dimensions of 35 × 30 mm2, the proposed antennas can be easily integrated into portable devices. Monopole‐like radiation patterns almost remain unchanged in the E‐ and H‐planes over the operating bands and sufficient gains are also obtained. Good agreement can be observed between the simulated and measured results. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:521–526, 2016