bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Synergistic effect of thermoplastic polyester elastomer and polytetrafluoroethylene in situ fibrillation on the resilience and compression strength of long‐chain branched polypropylene foam
Authors: Wang Xiaoli , Wang Yaqiao , Wang Xiangdong 
Published: September 2023

AbstractExcellent resilience and compression resistance are the key characteristics of cushioning and water–oil separation materials. Although polypropylene (PP) offers excellent performance and affordability of PP, it exhibits poor resilience. To address this shortcoming, polymer blends with long‐chain branched PP (LCBPP), thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE), and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were prepared via melt blending, and their mechanical properties were tested. The LCBPP/TPEE/PTFE composites were subjected to physical foaming using supercritical CO2 (scCO2) as the blowing agent. The synergistic toughening mechanism of the elastomer/nanofiber and the effect of the structure and crystallization of the dispersed phase on the foam resilience and foam compression strength were investigated. The results revealed that fibrous PTFE and spherical TPEE formed a composite dispersed phase in LCBPP. The impact and tensile strengths of the unfoamed LCBPP were found to have been simultaneously optimized owing to the synergistic effect of the elastomeric toughening of TPEE and the reinforcement of the PTFE fiber–induced fibrous crystal structure. Compared with pure LCBPP, the impact strength of the LCBPP/TPEE/PTFE composite increased by 216%, whereas its tensile strength decreased by only 6%. In particular, the synergistic effect of TPEE/PTFE improved the resilience and compression strength of the LCBPP foam. Compared with the pure LCBPP foam, the permanent strain of the LCBPP/TPEE/PTFE foam was reduced by 13.8% after five cycles of compression and its compression strength increased by 27.3%. The experimental results of our study could be used to prepare LCBPP foams with exceptional resilience, high compression strength, and good application prospects.
The fossil record of appendicular muscle evolution in Synapsida on the line to mammals: Part I—Forelimb
Authors: Bishop Peter J. , Pierce Stephanie E. 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThis paper is the first in a two‐part series that charts the evolution of appendicular musculature along the mammalian stem lineage, drawing upon the exceptional fossil record of extinct synapsids. Here, attention is focused on muscles of the forelimb. Understanding forelimb muscular anatomy in extinct synapsids, and how this changed on the line to mammals, can provide important perspective for interpreting skeletal and functional evolution in this lineage, and how the diversity of forelimb functions in extant mammals arose. This study surveyed the osteological evidence for muscular attachments in extinct mammalian and nonmammalian synapsids, two extinct amniote outgroups, and a large selection of extant mammals, saurians, and salamanders. Observations were integrated into an explicit phylogenetic framework, comprising 73 character–state complexes covering all muscles crossing the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints. These were coded for 33 operational taxonomic units spanning >330 Ma of tetrapod evolution, and ancestral state reconstruction was used to evaluate the sequence of muscular evolution along the stem lineage from Amniota to Theria. In addition to producing a comprehensive documentation of osteological evidence for muscle attachments in extinct synapsids, this work has clarified homology hypotheses across disparate taxa and helped resolve competing hypotheses of muscular anatomy in extinct species. The evolutionary history of mammalian forelimb musculature was a complex and nonlinear narrative, punctuated by multiple instances of convergence and concentrated phases of anatomical transformation. More broadly, this study highlights the great insight that a fossil‐based perspective can provide for understanding the assembly of novel body plans.
Mantelverordnung – Überblick, Bewertung und vorläufige Anmerkungen
Authors: Hörtkorn Florian , Rungas Patrick , v. Maubeuge Kent , Lüking Jan 
Published: September 2023

AbstractIn der Mantelverordnung werden teilweise bekannte, aber auch neue Verordnungen – etwa aus dem Bereich der Bodenverwertung – als gesamtheitliches Werk veröffentlicht. Zum 1. August 2023 wurden die einzelnen Verordnungen eingeführt. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die einzelnen Verordnungen der Mantelverordnung, geht hierbei aber im Speziellen auf die Ersatzbaustoffverordnung (EBV) ein. Diese wird besonders aus baupraktischer Sicht relevant, da sie die Verwertung oder weitere Verwendbarkeit von Bodenmaterial und Baggergut regelt. Bisherige gesetzliche Regelungen der Bundesländer werden mit der Einführung der Mantelverordnung ungültig. Gleiches gilt für bisherige Testverfahren und Grenzwerte, die durch neue Verfahren und Grenzwerte abgelöst werden.
Performance enhancement and emissions reduction of ethanol‐fueled spark ignition engine with hydrogen
Authors: Marwaha Akshey , Subramanian K. A. 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThis study deals with the effect of hydrogen on the performance, combustion and regulated [carbon monoxide (CO), non‐methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2)] and unregulated [nitrous oxide (N2O), ethanol, ethene, acetaldehyde, methanol] emissions of a spark ignition engine fueled with ethanol (E100). The engine was operated at a constant torque of 5.5 Nm and various speeds of 3500, 3800 and 4000 rpm, and both fuels (ethanol and hydrogen) were independently injected into the intake manifold of the engine during the suction stroke. The optimum hydrogen energy share at all speeds was 15% based on the combustion stability compared with base ethanol. The brake thermal efficiency with E100 at an engine speed of 4000 rpm increased from 14.4 to 15%, with a 15% hydrogen energy share (15% HES)‐E100. The emissions such as CO, NMHC, unburned ethanol, ethene and acetaldehyde decreased significantly with the optimum HES‐E100 compared with E100. However, the NO, NO2 and N2O emissions increased with hydrogen. Hydrogen addition to an ethanol‐fueled spark ignition engine could significantly reduce carbonaceous emissions along with improving energy efficiency.
Impacts of antioxidants on stability of biodiesel derived from waste frying oil
Authors: Fu Jinxia , Le Phung K. , Turn Scott Q. 
Published: September 2023

AbstractMeasurement of the composition and properties of biodiesel derived from waste frying oil (B100 WFO) demonstrated the impacts of antioxidant (AO) concentration on oxidative stability. The B100 WFO was found to have similar physicochemical properties to B100 derived from waste cooking oil and catfish oil but it possessed better oxidation stability owing to AO added to the waste frying oil (WFO) and because of the lower content of polyunsaturated fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). A modified American Society for Testing and Materials D525 method was employed to study the impacts of oxidation on B100 WFO containing 0–0.24% v/v commercial BioExtend 30 AO and its fuel properties. BioExtend 30 protected B100 WFO from both degradation and polymerization reactions and a higher concentration of AO was found to prolong the shelf life of biodiesel linearly.
Trial arm outcome variance difference after dropout as an indicator of missing‐not‐at‐random bias in randomized controlled trials
Authors: Hazewinkel Audinga‐Dea , Tilling Kate , Wade Kaitlin H. , Palmer Tom 
Published: September 2023

AbstractRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) are vulnerable to bias from missing data. When outcomes are missing not at random (MNAR), estimates from complete case analysis (CCA) and multiple imputation (MI) may be biased. There is no statistical test for distinguishing between outcomes missing at random (MAR) and MNAR. Current strategies rely on comparing dropout proportions and covariate distributions, and using auxiliary information to assess the likelihood of dropout being associated with the outcome. We propose using the observed variance difference across trial arms as a tool for assessing the risk of dropout being MNAR in RCTs with continuous outcomes. In an RCT, at randomization, the distributions of all covariates should be equal in the populations randomized to the intervention and control arms. Under the assumption of homogeneous treatment effects and homoskedastic outcome errors, the variance of the outcome will also be equal in the two populations over the course of follow‐up. We show that under MAR dropout, the observed outcome variances, conditional on the variables included in the model, are equal across trial arms, whereas MNAR dropout may result in unequal variances. Consequently, unequal observed conditional trial arm variances are an indicator of MNAR dropout and possible bias of the estimated treatment effect. Heterogeneous treatment effects or heteroskedastic outcome errors are another potential cause of observing different outcome variances. We show that for longitudinal data, we can isolate the effect of MNAR outcome‐dependent dropout by considering the variance difference at baseline in the same set of patients who are observed at final follow‐up. We illustrate our method in simulation for CCA and MI, and in applications using individual‐level data and summary data.
Rational design and experimental evaluation of peptide ligands for the purification of adeno‐associated viruses via affinity chromatography
Authors: Shastry Shriarjun , Chu Wenning , Barbieri Eduardo , Greback‐Clarke Paul , Smith William K. , Cummings Christopher , Minzoni Arianna , Pancorbo Jennifer , Gilleskie Gary , Ritola Kimberly , Daniele Michael A. , Johnson Thomas F. , Menegatti Stefano 
Published: September 2023

AbstractAdeno‐associated viruses (AAVs) have acquired a central role in modern medicine as delivery agents for gene therapies targeting rare diseases. While new AAVs with improved tissue targeting, potency, and safety are being introduced, their biomanufacturing technology is lagging. In particular, the AAV purification pipeline hinges on protein ligands for the affinity‐based capture step. While featuring excellent AAV binding capacity and selectivity, these ligands require strong acid (pH <3) elution conditions, which can compromise the product's activity and stability. Additionally, their high cost and limited lifetime has a significant impact on the price tag of AAV‐based therapies. Seeking to introduce a more robust and affordable affinity technology, this study introduces a cohort of peptide ligands that (i) mimic the biorecognition activity of the AAV receptor (AAVR) and anti‐AAV antibody A20, (ii) enable product elution under near‐physiological conditions (pH 6.0), and (iii) grant extended reusability by withstanding multiple regenerations. A20‐mimetic CYIHFSGYTNYNPSLKSC and AAVR‐mimetic CVIDGSQSTDDDKIC demonstrated excellent capture of serotypes belonging to distinct clones/clades – namely, AAV1, AAV2, AAV5, AAV6, AAV8, and AAV9. This corroborates the in silico models documenting their ability to target regions of the viral capsid that are conserved across all serotypes. CVIDGSQSTDDDKIC‐Toyopearl resin features binding capacity (≈1014 vp mL−1) and product yields (≈60%–80%) on par with commercial adsorbents, and purifies AAV2 from HEK293 and Sf9 cell lysates with high recovery (up to 78%), reduction of host cell proteins (up to 700‐fold), and high transduction activity (up to 65%).
Internationalization and corporate sustainability expenditure: The role of institutional support and foreign knowledge acquisition
Authors: Frimpong Kwabena 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThis study extends the literature on international business and sustainability by examining the impact of internationalization on corporate sustainability expenditures, and the conditions under which this relationship is enhanced or attenuated. Based on insights from institutional and firm resource theories, we examine the moderating effects of institutional support and foreign knowledge acquisition capability on the hypothesized relationship. Survey data were collected from 260 small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, a developing sub‐Saharan African country, and analyzed using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The results indicate that increased internationalization levels are positively and significantly linked to corporate sustainability expenditure. In addition, the results of the moderation analyses reveal that the positive effect of internationalization on sustainability expenditure is stronger at high levels of institutional support for firms with high foreign knowledge acquisition capability. This study offers new perspectives and directions for improving SMEs' internationalization and sustainability practices through an integrated strategy that enhances the quality of domestic institutional environments by policymakers, augmented by managers' proactive efforts to develop their firms' foreign market learning capabilities. The limitations of this study and their implications for further research are discussed.
Short‐term solutions to biodiversity conservation in portfolio construction: Forward‐looking disclosure and classification‐based metrics
Authors: Layman Hannah , Akçakaya H. Resit , Irwin Amanda , zu Ermgassen Sophus , Addison Prue , Burgman Mark 
Published: September 2023

AbstractDemand is increasing among investors to create portfolios that encourage positive outcomes for biological diversity. The evolution of investment strategies for transitions to zero carbon over the last two decades provides insights that will assist in shaping strategies for biodiversity‐positive investments. Many emerging approaches to capture company impact and dependence on biodiversity focus on nature‐related threats to an organisation by assessing ecosystem integrity. Other approaches focus on minimising an organisation's contribution to risks of species extinction by using data sets such as the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. However, while these approaches are useful for assessing threats to and from biodiversity for individual companies, to be effective for investment portfolio construction, metrics need to be comparable across companies in an investment universe. Many of the threat assessments that could link corporate activities to impacts are incomplete and omit critical information. If the investment community focuses on biodiversity without sufficient forethought, there is a risk of entrenching metrics with significant flaws. In this paper, we suggest that interim approaches are needed to support investors in understanding the approaches being taken by potential investee companies. To that end, we present and discuss a disclosure‐based Biodiversity Management Quality and a classification‐based Biodiversity Revenues metric for biodiversity‐related investing.
Driving businesses towards a better climate: Macro and micro mechanisms to protect the planet
Authors: Al‐Shaer Habiba , Liu Yang Stephanie , Albitar Khaldoon 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThis study examines whether corporate commitment to climate change is driven by country‐level factors related to cultural values and the legal system (LS) of a country. We also investigate the impact of corporate governance strength on climate change commitment and the extent to which there are moderating effects between corporate governance and cultural and LS influences. We use a large dataset of 21,564 firm‐year observations of companies operating in the United States, UK, and China for the period 2013 to 2020 and develop a unique measure for climate change commitment using different proxies for measuring climate change practices. We find variations in climate change commitment among the three countries and that cultural values and LSs affect corporate commitment to climate change. Companies located in a socially oriented society, which are transparent and characterized by long‐term orientation, are more strongly involved in climate change actions. The strength of corporate governance increases corporate commitment to climate change. Corporate governance also moderates some of the detrimental cultural influences on climate change commitment. These findings have implications for managers as they reveal that macro‐level factors affect behavior and that corporate governance can help to moderate these factors.
Comparative Studies of Essential Oil Composition and Biological Activities of Callistemon citrinus from Western Himalaya
Authors: Vashisath Sachin , Kapoor Smita , Kumari Vandana , Butt Shabana , Kumar Dinesh 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThis work described a comprehensive study to estimate chemical constituents of essential oils (EOs) extracted from different parts of the Callistemon citrinus viz: fruits, leaves and aerial part. The EOs were characterized using physicochemical parameters, and GC‐FID/MS. It was observed that among different parts, aerial part has the highest oil yield (0.90 %) followed by leaves and fruits. Further, seventeen compounds were characterized, and represented total amount (97.2–99.5 %) with domination of monoterpenes (12.5–34.6 %) and oxygenated monoterpenes hydrocarbon (61.8–86.8 %). α‐pinene (11.8–24.7 %), α‐phellandrene (1.2–3.0 %), p‐cymene (3.3–3.9 %) and 1,8‐cineole (58.3–85.1 %) were found as major compounds in C. citrinus samples. These major compounds are the quality chemical markers of C. citrinus oil. The findings revealed significant quantitative variations in EO composition of samples and were also clearly supported by multivariate statistical analysis. Moreover, EOs were evaluated for glucosidase and colon cancer cell lines inhibitory activities, which were found promising.
Selective photosynthesis of Z‐olefins through crystalline metal–organic cage‐initiated expeditious cascade reactions
Authors: Lu Jia‐Ni , Huang Yunze , Xia Yuan‐Sheng , Dong Long‐Zhang , Zhang Lei , Liu Jing‐Jing , Xie Lan‐Gui , Liu Jiang , Lan Ya‐Qian 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe semi‐hydrogenation of alkyne to form Z‐olefins with high conversion and high selectivity is still a huge challenge in the chemical industry. Moreover, flammable and explosive hydrogen as the common hydrogen source of this reaction increases the cost and danger of industrial production. Herein, we connect the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction and the semi‐hydrogenation reaction of alkynes in series and successfully realize the high selective production of Z‐alkenes using low‐cost, safe, and green water as the proton source. Before the cascade reaction, a series of isomorphic metal–organic cage catalysts (CoxZn8−xL6, x = 0, 3, 4, 5, and 8) are designed and synthesized to improve the yield of the photocatalytic hydrogen production. Among them, Co5Zn3L6 shows the highest photocatalytic activity, with a H2 generation rate of 8.81 mmol g−1 h−1. Then, Co5Zn3L6 is further applied in the above tandem reaction to efficiently reduce alkynes to Z‐alkenes under ambient conditions, which can reach high conversion of >98% and high selectivity of >99%, and maintain original catalytic activity after multiple cycles. This “one‐pot” tandem reaction can achieve a highly selective and safe stepwise conversion from water into hydrogen into Z‐olefins under mild reaction conditions.
Halide‐Coupled Double Electron Transfer with Electron‐Rich Diboranes
Authors: Filbeck Erik , Cremer Sebastian , Jansen Moritz C. F. , Kaifer Elisabeth , Himmel Hans‐Jörg 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe ditriflato‐diborane B2(μ‐hpp)2(OTf)2 (hpp=1,3,4,6,7,8‐hexahydro‐2H‐pyrimido[1,2‐a]pyrimidinate) acts as a stable surrogate of the elusive dication [B2(hpp)2]2+, being both electrophilic (vacant boron p orbitals) and nucleophilic (filled B−B bond orbital). This combination of seemingly contrasting behaviors could be used to develop a metallomimetic diborane chemistry, with Lewis σ‐basic and π‐acidic substrates being bound and reduced at the diborane. Here, we report on a novel reaction type within this general theme, in which double electron transfer from the diboron unit to the boron–bound organic substrate is coupled with halide transfer in the other direction. Novel diborylated dienamines are synthesized in this way. The scope of this unprecedented reaction motif and the reaction pathways are elucidated.
K‐DDoS‐SDN: A distributed DDoS attacks detection approach for protecting SDN environment
Authors: Kaur Amandeep , Krishna C. Rama , Patil Nilesh Vishwasrao 
Published: September 2023

SummarySoftware‐defined networking (SDN) is an advanced networking paradigm that decouples forwarding control logic from the data plane. Therefore, it provides a loosely‐coupled architecture between the control and data plane. This separation provides flexibility in the SDN environment for addressing any transformations. Further, it delivers a centralized way of managing networks due to control logic embedded in the SDN controller. However, this advanced networking paradigm has been facing several security issues, such as topology spoofing, exhausting bandwidth, flow table updating, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. A DDoS attack is one of the most powerful menaces to the SDN environment. Further, the central data controller of SDN becomes the primary target of DDoS attacks. In this article, we propose a Kafka‐based distributed DDoS attacks detection approach for protecting the SDN environment named K‐DDoS‐SDN. The K‐DDoS‐SDN consists of two modules: (i) Network traffic classification (NTClassification) module and (ii) Network traffic storage (NTStorage) module. The NTClassification module is the detection approach designed using scalable H2O ML techniques in a distributed manner and deployed an efficient model on the two‐nodes Kafka Streams cluster to classify incoming network traces in real‐time. The NTStorage module collects raw packets, network flows, and 21 essential attributes and then systematically stores them in the HDFS to re‐train existing models. The proposed K‐DDoS‐SDN designed and evaluated using the recent and publically available CICDDoS2019 dataset. The average classification accuracy of the proposed distributed K‐DDoS‐SDN for classifying network traces into legitimate and one of the most popular attacks, such as DDoS_UDP is 99.22%. Further, the outcomes demonstrate that proposed distributed K‐DDoS‐SDN classifies traffic traces into five categories with at least 81% classification accuracy.
5‐Nitrofuryl‐Containing Thiosemicarbazone Gold(I) Compounds: Synthesis, Stability Studies, and Anticancer Activity
Authors: Rodríguez‐Arce Esteban , Gavrilov Eric , Alvite Ximena , Nayeem Nazia , León Ignacio E. , Neary Michelle C. , Otero Lucía , Gambino Dinorah , Olea Azar Claudio , Contel María 
Published: September 2023

AbstractInvited for this month's cover are the collaborating groups of Esteban Rodríguez‐Arce from the University of Chile and María Contel from The City University of New York Brooklyn College. The cover picture shows “Supergold“ a very powerful gender neutral warrior with superpowers who fights against cancer! The warrior's golden armor and sword represent the pharmacological power of the gold atom. Engraved on the shield, the gold‐thiosemicarbazone molecules are the warrior's coat of arms. Supergold selectively destroys different cancer cells. More information can be found in the Research Article by Esteban Rodríguez‐Arce, María Contel, and co‐workers.
Photoinduced Reactions of Styrylpyridine Derivatives for the In Situ Formation of Selective Ligands for Apyrimidinic DNA
Authors: Schlosser Julika , Stötzel Nils , Fedorov Yuri , Ihmels Heiko 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe photocyclization reaction of sterically demanding styrylpyridine derivatives was investigated and shown to depend on the type of substituent. With this method, a 2,2‐diphenyl‐1,3‐benzodioxolo‐annelated benzo[c]quinolizinium was synthesized, and its association with regular and abasic site‐containing DNA (AP‐DNA) was investigated by absorption, fluorescence, circular and linear dichroism spectroscopy. Specifically, this ligand binds preferentially to AP‐DNA relative to regular duplex DNA, and the AP‐DNA/ligand complex is formed in situ upon irradiation of the styrylpyridine substrate in the presence of the DNA.