Wide Range Of Scientific Areas Research Articles

Copolymers for electronic, optical, and sensing applications with engineered physical properties

Electronic and optoelectronic devices often require multifunctional properties combined with conductivity that are not achieved from a single species of molecules. The capability to tune chain length, shape, and physicochemical characteristics of conductive copolymers provides substantial benefits for a wide range of scientific areas that require unique and engineered optical, electrical, or optoelectronic properties. Although efforts have been made to develop synthetic routes to realize such promising copolymers, an understanding of the process–structure–property relationship of the synthesis methods needs to be further enhanced. In addition, since traditional methods are often limited to achieving pinhole-free, large-area coverage, and conformal coating of copolymer films with thickness controllability, unconventional synthetic strategies to address these issues need to be established. This Perspective article intends to enhance knowledge on the process–structure–property relationship of functional copolymers by providing the definition of copolymers, polymerization mechanisms, and a comparison of traditional and emerging synthetic methods with reaction parameters and tuned physical properties. In parallel, practical applications featuring the desired copolymers in electronic, optical, and sensing devices are showcased. Last, a pathway toward further advancement of unique copolymers for next-generation device applications is discussed.

Opportunities for new science at ELI

The technology that ELI provides and is developing at a very rapid pace, so the opportunities to study new phenomena in a wide range of scientific areas are also advancing very quickly (Scientific publications at http://www.eli-np.ro/scientific_papers.php).

Behavioural Aversion and Cortisol Level Assessment When Adult Zebrafish Are Exposed to Different Anaesthetics.

Simple SummaryThe increased popularity of zebrafish as a research model calls for appropriate refinement of procedures, such as finding the best anaesthetic protocol to use in adult zebrafish in a laboratory setting. The scarce literature available regarding aversion described the most used anaesthetic (MS222) as aversive to adult zebrafish; therefore, the study of alternatives is urgent. Thus, we studied the impact of three anaesthetic alternatives (a combination of propofol with lidocaine, clove oil, and etomidate), and the standard anaesthetic (MS222) on zebrafish aversion and on cortisol levels. Contrary to what was expected, MS222 did not result in clear signs of aversion, while only etomidate generated a similar profile to the aversive substance (hydrochloric acid). Our results suggested that all the anaesthetic protocols except for etomidate were valid candidates for use in a laboratory setting, although none were innocuous.The use of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as an animal model is growing and occurs in a wide range of scientific areas. Therefore, researchers need better and more appropriate anaesthetics for stressful and/or painful procedures to prevent unpleasant experiences. Thus, we aimed to study if adult zebrafish displayed aversion-associated behaviours (conditioned place aversion) and alterations in cortisol levels when exposed to equipotent concentrations of MS222, propofol/lidocaine, clove oil, or etomidate. Adult AB zebrafish (mixed-sex, N = 177) were randomly assigned to MS222 (150 mg/L), Propofol/Lidocaine (5 mg/L propofol + 150 mg/L lidocaine), Clove Oil (45 mg/L), or Etomidate (2 mg/L) groups. The conditioned place aversion test was used to assess behavioural aversion. Only etomidate resulted in a similar aversion to the positive control group (HCl; pH = 3). Cortisol levels were measured 5 and 15 min after loss of equilibrium. Etomidate induced low levels of cortisol by impairing its synthesis, whereas all the other groups had similar cortisol levels. Based on our data, etomidate was ruled out as an alternative to MS222, as it showed an aversive profile. The remaining protocols were not innocuous, displaying a weak aversive profile when compared to the positive control. In conclusion, a combination of propofol with lidocaine, clove oil, and MS222 were valid candidates for use as anaesthetic protocols.

Language Inference Using Elman Networks with Evolutionary Training

In this paper, a novel Elman-type recurrent neural network (RNN) is presented for the binary classification of arbitrary symbol sequences, and a novel training method, including both evolutionary and local search methods, is evaluated using sequence databases from a wide range of scientific areas. An efficient, publicly available, software tool is implemented in C++, accelerating significantly (more than 40 times) the RNN weights estimation process using both simd and multi-thread technology. The experimental results, in all databases, with the hybrid training method show improvements in a range of 2% to 25% compared with the standard genetic algorithm.

Science maps for exploration, navigation, and reflection-A graphic approach to strategic thinking.

The world of science is growing at an unprecedented speed with more and more scholarly papers produced each year. The scientific landscape is constantly changing as research specialties evolve, merge or become obsolete. It is difficult for researchers, research managers and the public alike to keep abreast with these changes and maintain a true and fair overview of the world of science. Such an overview is necessary to stimulate scientific progress, to maintain flexible and responsive research organizations, and to secure collaboration and knowledge exchange between different research specialties and the wider community. Although science mapping is applied to a wide range of scientific areas, examples of their practical use are sparse. This paper demonstrates how to use a topical, scientific reference maps to understand and navigate in dynamic research landscapes and how to utilize science maps to facilitate strategic thinking. In this study, the research domain of biology at Aarhus University serves as an example. All scientific papers authored by the current, permanent staff were extracted (6,830 in total). These papers were used to create a semantic cognitive map of the research field using a co-word analysis based on keywords and keyword phrases. A workflow was written in Python for easy and fast retrieval of information for topic maps (including tokens from keywords section and title) to generate intelligible research maps, and to visualize the distribution of topics (keywords), papers, journal categories, individual researchers and research groups on any scale. The resulting projections revealed new insights into the structure of the research community and made it possible to compare researchers or research groups to describe differences and similarities, to find scientific overlaps or gaps, and to understand how they relate and connect. Science mapping can be used for intended (top-down) as well as emergent (bottom-up) strategy development. The paper concludes that science maps provide alternative views of the intricate structures of science to supplement traditional bibliometric information. These insights may help strengthen strategic thinking and boost creativity and thus contribute to the progress of science.

Information-Communication Platform of Library as a Tool for Formation of the Knowledge Space

The article discusses the issues of popularization of scientific knowledge on the basis of public libraries. The author substantiates the importance of library and information institutions in the process of spreading scientific knowledge among wider population. The article considers the problematic aspects and tasks of libraries in the direction of improving the scientific literacy of users.The author characterizes the project “Information-Communication Platform for the popularization of Science”, developed by specialists of the Mikhail Lermontov Interdistrict Centralized Library System (St. Petersburg), which covers a wide range of scientific areas providing a general overview of topics and more specific information for those who wish to obtain in-depth sight into a particular subject area. Special attention is paid to the organizational issues of the implementation of platform: the purpose of creation, the target audience, the basic principles, the main objectives of the project. The article considers the forms of mutually beneficial cooperation in the popularization of scientific knowledge within the framework of the project with partner organizations. The author describes the requirements for the operation of interface. The platform contains three major types of information resources: documentary full-text data bases, bibliographic resources and media resources. The platform anticipates interactive communication of library users — students and representatives of pedagogical community — with well-known scientists for discussing technical developments and achievements of humankind with particular attention to subjects of current interest: pandemic, coronavirus, vaccination. The information-communication platform allows monitoring the interest of young people in various scientific areas. Participation in the project motivates young people to scientific activity, which is one of the basic factors of reproduction of scientific personnel potential.

Blockchain Based Smart Contracts for Internet of Medical Things in e-Healthcare

The concept of Blockchain has penetrated a wide range of scientific areas, and its use is considered to rise exponentially in the near future. Executing short scripts of predefined code called smart contracts on Blockchain can eliminate the need of intermediaries and can also raise the multitude of execution of contracts. In this paper, we discuss the concept of Blockchain along with smart contracts and discuss their applicability in the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) in the e-healthcare domain. The paper analyses the dimensions that decentralization and the use of smart contracts will take the IoMT in e-healthcare, proposes a novel architecture, and also outlines the advantages, challenges, and future trends related to the integration of all three. The proposed architecture shows its effectiveness with average packet delivery ratio, average latency, and average energy efficiency performance parameters when compared with traditional approaches.

Metabolomics: current application and prospects in crop production

Necessary steps need to be taken in order to cushion the effects of hunger, famine, and drought in the world. To ameliorate these challenges, biotechnological innovations like meta-omics techniques have been employed in crop improvement programs. Metabolomics is a viable technology to fully detect the functional network of metabolites with far-reaching biological uses in agriculture, medicine, and pharmaceutical disciplines. This review is grouped into four sections discussing 1) plant and microbial metabolomics, 2) metabolomics and its application in crop production, 3) metabolomics workflow and techniques explaining the analytical techniques and instrumentation with merits and demerits, and 4) metabolomic analysis of metabolites in a metabolic network. This technology has been applied in plant-microbe interaction, biological control measures, and abiotic stress tolerance, where various crops like maize, sunflower, soybean, and wheat have been used. In view of all these, further, development is needed to increase our understanding of microbial metabolites in order to develop bioproducts that will increase growth and eventual yield, protecting plants from pathogens and in the process providing nutritious food for the teeming populace. Although metabolomics can be applied to a wide range of scientific areas, we focus this review on plant improvement, which is a driver for improved food security.

The Impact of Reaction on the Effective Properties of Multiscale Catalytic Porous Media: A Case of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Reaction–diffusion processes in multiscale catalytic porous media are found in a wide range of scientific areas as, for example, electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices, geological systems and bioengineering. The dependency of effective transport properties on reaction rate has been long debated in the literature, and traditionally ignored in emerging fields, such as polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). In this work, a 1D upscaling method is presented to evaluate the effective properties (effective diffusivity and catalyst utilization) of PEFC catalyst layers featuring first-order kinetics. Unlike Whitaker’s closure method, the present algorithm is easy to implement and well suited for porous media with arbitrarily complex 3D geometries. The numerical results show that the normalized effective diffusivity and catalyst utilization are not passive geometrical properties but are influenced by the reaction–diffusion coupling when the Thiele modulus is higher than 1. This effect can be important at high current densities in the cathode catalyst layer of state-of-the-art PEFCs.

Probing surface water at submolecular level with scanning probe microscopy

Water-solid interfaces play important roles in a wide range of scientific areas and technique processes such as the dissolution, lubrication, erosion, electrochemistry and heterogeneous catalysis. Many remarkable physical and chemical properties of water are related to the hydrogen-bonding interaction. Thus it is a key issue to understand the hydrogen-bonding network and relevant dynamics of interfacial water at single molecule or even submolecular level. Scanning probe microscope has become a powerful tool to study the water-solid interfaces due to its capability of imaging with atomic resolution. In this feature article we will introduce the recent progress of our group on the development of submolecular-resolution imaging and spectroscopic techniques, and their applications to address the microscopic structure of the hydrogen-bonded network of water, the dynamics of proton transfer, nuclear quantum effect on the strength of hydrogen bond and water-ion interaction. Finally, future directions and challenges about the study of water-solid interface are remarked.

A forensic visual aid: Traces versus knowledge

In this paper, I introduce the Forensic Field Map (FFM) that provides a two-dimensional view on the forensic field. This field is by definition very broad, encompassing a wide range of scientific areas and activities. The forensic work that supports solving criminal cases ranges from recognizing and preserving traces at crime scenes to explaining forensic results as expert witness in court. This goes hand in hand with the development of scientifically based methods and tooling as well as legal, forensic and laboratory procedures. Although the FFM came into being while developing a (visual) framework for digital forensic investigations, the framework turned out to be generically applicable to other forensic disciplines.

In continuation of a long tradition. A brief history of the journals of the Hamburg Natural History Museum

Not only the natural history collections in Hamburg, but also the museum’s journals look back at a long tradition. The journal was established as annual report given by its first full-time director Alexander Pagenstecher on the activities of the Naturhistorisches Museum in Hamburg, starting with its first volume in the year 1884. Being at that time part of the “Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten”, i.e. the annual report of all research institutes of the city state of Hamburg, it was in 1894 re-named “Mitteilungen aus dem Naturhistorischen Museum in Hamburg”, only settling in gradually during the second decade of its existence on this long used title. An overview is given for the changing titles of the total of 106 volumes published in 126 years, correlated to and mirroring in some way the fate of the museum collections, until this long tradition terminated in the year 2010. Five years later also a second journal founded at the Zoological Museum in 1952, viz. the „Entomologische Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum Hamburg“, terminated its publication. Fusing these two former “Mitteilungen”, the journal “Evolutionary Systematics” is launched now at the Center of Natural History, itself founded in October 2014 at the Universität Hamburg, as a renewed and modern scientific online journal with open access, aiming for the next generation of publications on collection-based research also from other museum and university collections, as well as from a wide range of scientific areas devoted to whole-organism biology.

Computational Complexity

Complex systems (CS) involve many elements that interact at different scales in time and space. The challenges in modeling CS led to the development of novel computational tools with applications in a wide range of scientific areas. The computational problems posed by CS exhibit intrinsic difficulties that are a major concern in Computational Complexity Theory. [...]

Qualitative Research in Travel Behavior Studies

Qualitative methodology is extensively used in a wide range of scientific areas, such as Sociology and Psychology, and it is been used to study individual and household decision making processes. However, in the Transportation Planning and Engineering domain it is still infrequent to find in the travel behavior literature studies using qualitative techniques to explore activity-travel decisions.The aim of this paper is first, to provide an overview of the types of qualitative techniques available and to explore how to correctly implement them. Secondly, to highlight the special characteristics of qualitative methods that makes them appropriate to study activity-travel decision processes. Far from been an unempirical or intuitive methodology, using qualitative methods properly implies a strong foundation on theoretical frameworks, a careful design of data collection and a deep data analysis. For such a purpose, a review of the scarce activity-travel behavior literature using qualitative methods, or a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches, is presented.The use of qualitative techniques can play a role of being a supplementary way of obtaining information related to activity-travel decisions that otherwise it would be extremely difficult to find. This work ends with some conclusions about how qualitative research could help in making progress on activity-travel behavior studies.

Igatools: An Isogeometric Analysis Library

We present the design of an object oriented general purpose library for isogeometric analysis, where the mathematical concepts of the isogeometric method and their relationships are directly mapped into classes and their interactions. The encapsulation of mathematical concepts into interacting building blocks gives flexibility to use the library in a wide range of scientific areas and applications. We provide a precise framework for a lot of loose, available information regarding the implementation of the isogeometric method, and also discuss the similarities and differences between this and the finite element method. We also describe how to implement this proposed design in a C++11 open source library, \textttigatools (http://www.igatools.org). The library uses advanced object oriented and generic programming techniques to ensure reusability, reliability, and maintainability of the source code. It includes isogeometric elements of the h-div and h-curl type, and supports the development of dimension independent code (including manifolds and tensor-valued spaces). We finally present a number of code examples to illustrate the flexibility and power of the library, including surface domains, nonlinear elasticity, and Navier--Stokes computations on nontrivial geometries.

Evolutionary Theories in Manufacturing: Inspiration from Biology, Society, and Evolutionary Computing

Darwin's evolutionary theory of natural selection has had a strong impact on both science and culture, and has over the last decades become a popular inspiration in engineering sciences. Both the wide range of scientific areas where evolutionary theory is applied, and the simplistic metaphors used to explain evolution in schools and non-scientific situations have caused confusion of how key evolutionary concepts should be understood. In this paper, the cornerstones in biological and social evolutionary theory are identified and addressed from an engineering point of view. Previous efforts to apply evolutionary theories within engineering are then addressed and related to the needs and opportunities within manufacturing and assembly.

High resolution hard x-ray microscope on a second generation synchrotron source

A full-field, transmission x-ray microscope (TXM) operating in the energy range of 7-11 keV has been installed at the U7A beamline at the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, a second generation synchrotron source operating at 0.8 GeV. Although the photon flux at sample position in the operating energy range is significantly low due to its relatively large emittance, the TXM can get high quality x-ray images with a spatial resolution down to 50 nm with acceptable exposure time. This TXM operates in either absorption or Zernike phase contrast mode with similar resolution. This TXM is a powerful analytical tool for a wide range of scientific areas, especially studies on nanoscale phenomena and structural imaging in biology, materials science, and environmental science. We present here the property of the x-ray source, beamline design, and the operation and key optical components of the x-ray TXM. Plans to improve the throughput of the TXM will be discussed.

THE IDENTIFICATION OF COMPLEX SPATIOTEMPORAL PATTERNS USING COUPLED MAP LATTICE MODELS

Many complex and interesting spatiotemporal patterns have been observed in a wide range of scientific areas. In this paper, two kinds of spatiotemporal patterns including spot replication and Turing systems are investigated and new identification methods are proposed to obtain Coupled Map Lattice (CML) models for this class of systems. Initially, a new correlation analysis method is introduced to determine an appropriate temporal and spatial data sampling procedure for the identification of spatiotemporal systems. A new combined Orthogonal Forward Regression and Bayesian Learning algorithm with Laplace priors is introduced to identify sparse and robust CML models for complex spatiotemporal patterns. The final identified CML models are validated using correlation-based model validation tests for spatiotemporal systems. Numerical results illustrate the identification procedure and demonstrate the validity of the identified models.

In situ punch wear measurement in a blanking tool, by means of thin layer activation

The improvement in the productivity of the leadframe blanking industry of is a key for its competitiveness. Consequently the challenge for researchers covers a wide range of scientific areas (materials, lubrication, process, etc.). Among others the improvement of the punch wear resistance is one of the most important parameters in the blanking process. Consequently punch wear understanding is the topic of this paper. Because of the strong influence of the centering of the punch-die clearance upon the burr amount, it is crucial to directly measure punch wear in the blanking press without disassembling the tool. In this paper a new method for a direct measurement of the punch wear, selective activation technique, which has never been applied in the field of blanking is described. With the help of this technique, a precise relation between the loss of activity and the worn volume on the punch has been established. In addition this method allows the influence of the blanking process parameters, like lubrication or nature of the blanked material, to be quantified in real time. The measured wear volumes by this method have been confirmed by means of measurements of the profile of the worn punch carried out after completion of a large amount of blanked parts. These geometrical results exhibit a good agreement with the selective activation technique.

Deal.II—A general-purpose object-oriented finite element library

An overview of the software design and data abstraction decisions chosen for deal.II, a general purpose finite element library written in C++, is given. The library uses advanced object-oriented and data encapsulation techniques to break finite element implementations into smaller blocks that can be arranged to fit users requirements. Through this approach, deal.II supports a large number of different applications covering a wide range of scientific areas, programming methodologies, and application-specific algorithms, without imposing a rigid framework into which they have to fit. A judicious use of programming techniques allows us to avoid the computational costs frequently associated with abstract object-oriented class libraries. The paper presents a detailed description of the abstractions chosen for defining geometric information of meshes and the handling of degrees of freedom associated with finite element spaces, as well as of linear algebra, input/output capabilities and of interfaces to other software, such as visualization tools. Finally, some results obtained with applications built atop deal.II are shown to demonstrate the powerful capabilities of this toolbox.