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Ripening is the most crucial process step in cheese manufacturing and constitutes multiple biochemical alterations that describe the final cheese quality and its perceived sensory attributes. The assessment of the cheese-ripening process is challenging and requires the effective analysis of a multitude of biochemical changes occurring during the process. This study monitored the biochemical and sensory attribute changes of paraffin wax-covered long-ripening hard cheeses (n = 79) during ripening by collecting samples at different stages of ripening. Near-infrared hyperspectral (NIR-HS) imaging, together with free amino acid, chemical composition, and sensory attributes, was studied to monitor the biochemical changes during the ripening process. Orthogonal projection-based multivariate calibration methods were used to characterize ripening-related and orthogonal components as well as the distribution map of chemical components. The results approve the NIR-HS imaging as a rapid tool for monitoring cheese maturity during ripening. Moreover, the pixelwise evaluation of images shows the homogeneity of cheese maturation at different stages of ripening. Among the chemical compositions, fat content and moisture are the most important variables correlating to NIR-HS images during the ripening process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To assess the strength of associations between interrelated perinatal risk factors and mortality in very preterm infants. Methods: Information on all live‐born infants delivered in Sweden at 22–31 weeks of gestational age (GA) from 2011 to 2019 was gathered from the Swedish Neonatal Quality Register, excluding infants with major malformations or not resuscitated because of anticipated poor prognosis. Twenty‐seven perinatal risk factors available at birth were exposures and in‐hospital mortality outcome. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis was applied to assess proximity between individual risk factors and mortality, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to estimate discriminant ability. Results: In total, 638 of 8,396 (7.6%) infants died. Thirteen risk factors discriminated reduced mortality; the most important were higher Apgar scores at 5 and 10 min, GA and birthweight. Restricting the analysis to preterm infants <28 weeks' GA (n = 2939, 16.9% mortality) added antenatal corticosteroid therapy as significantly associated with lower mortality. The area under the ROC curve (the C‐statistic) using all risk factors was 0.86, as determined after both internal and external validation. Conclusion: Apgar scores, gestational age and birthweight show stronger associations with mortality in very preterm infants than several other perinatal risk factors available at birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is responsible for inspecting services that care for children and young people in England and Wales. This paper presents findings from an independent study of Ofsted inspections into children's social care in England, covering reports under three inspection frameworks during the period 2009 to 2016. The research aimed to identify the main themes of recommendations made in Ofsted reports and to explore similarities and differences between frameworks and between local authorities. The methodological approach was document analysis. A stratified sample of 60 reports was prepared on the basis of inspection framework and local authority characteristics such as local deprivation, Ofsted rating, and urban/rural category. A thematic analysis was conducted of the recommendations in each report, with emerging themes subjected to an iterative process of coding and categorization. The findings identified nine categories of themes, the most common of which were performance management, casework, oversight of practice, and multiagency working. Overall, the recommendations were strongly oriented towards process issues and compliance with standards. Recommendations were found to differ somewhat between inspection frameworks but remained largely consistent between local authorities with different characteristics. The paper concludes by examining the implications of findings for the current regulatory framework in children's social care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of infrastructure have demonstrated broad differences between Northern and Southern cities, and deconstructed urban theory derived from experiences of the networked urban regions of the Global North. This includes critiques of the universalisation of the historically–culturally produced normative ideal of universal, uniform infrastructure. In this commentary, we first introduce the notion of ‘heterogeneous infrastructure configurations’ (HICs) which resonates with existing scholarship on Southern urbanism. Second, we argue that thinking through HICs helps us to move beyond technological and performative accounts of actually existing infrastructures to provide an analytical lens through which to compare different configurations. Our approach enables a clearer analysis of infrastructural artefacts not as individual objects but as parts of geographically spread socio-technological configurations: configurations which might involve many different kinds of technologies, relations, capacities and operations, entailing different risks and power relationships. We use examples from ongoing research on sanitation and waste in Kampala, Uganda – a city in which service delivery is characterised by multiplicity, overlap, disruption and inequality – to demonstrate the kinds of research questions that emerge when thinking through the notion of HICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impaired neck muscle function leads to disability in individuals with chronic whiplash-associated disorder (WAD), but diagnostic tools are lacking. In this study, deformations and deformation rates were investigated in five dorsal neck muscles during 10 arm elevations by ultrasonography with speckle tracking analyses. Forty individuals with chronic WAD (28 women and 12 men, mean age = 37 y) and 40 healthy controls matched for age and sex were included. The WAD group had higher deformation rates in the multifidus muscle during the first (p < 0.04) and 10th (only women, p < 0.01) arm elevations compared with the control group. Linear relationships between the neck muscles for deformation rate (controls: R(2) = 0.24-0.82, WAD: R(2) = 0.05-0.74) and deformation of the deepest muscles (controls: R(2) = 0.61-0.32, WAD: R(2) = 0.15-0.01) were stronger for women in the control group versus women with WAD, indicating there is altered interplay between dorsal neck muscles in chronic WAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Impaired autonomic control of postural homeostasis results in orthostatic intolerance. However, the role of neurohormones in orthostatic intolerance has not been explained. Methods: Six-hundred-and-seventy-one patients (299 males; 55±22 years) with unexplained syncope underwent head-up tilt (HUT) with serial blood sampling. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR) supine, after 3min, and lowest BP/highest HR during HUT were recorded. Plasma levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine, renin, C-terminal-pro-arginine-vasopressin (CT-proAVP), C-terminal- endothelin-1 (CT-proET-1), and mid-regional-fragment of pro-atrial-natriuretic-peptide (MR-proANP) were determined at supine and 3min of HUT. Multivariate-adjusted logistic regression model was applied to compare 1st (reference) with 4th quartile of 3 min and maximal ΔSBP/ΔHR (i.e. pronounced hypotension or tachycardia) vs. changes in neuroendocrine biomarkers, respectively. Results: Higher resting CT-proET-1 predicted BP fall at 3min (Odds ratio (OR) per 1 SD: 1.62, 95%CI 1.18–2.22; p = 0.003), and max BP fall during HUT (1.82, 1.28–2.61; p = 0.001). Higher resting CT-proAVP predicted BP fall at 3min (1.33, 1.03–1.73; p = 0.03), which was also associated with increase in CT-proAVP (1.86, 1.38–2.51; p = 0.00005) and epinephrine (1.47, 1.12–1.92; p = 0.05) during HUT. Lower resting MR-proANP predicted tachycardia at 3min (0.37, 0.24–0.59; p = 0.00003), and max tachycardia during HUT (0.47, 0.29–0.77; p = 0.002). Further, tachycardia during HUT was associated with increase in epinephrine (1.60, 1.15–2.21; p = 0.005), and norepinephrine (1.87, 1.38–2.53; p = 0.005). Conclusions: Resting CT-proET-1 and CT-proAVP are increased in orthostatic hypotension, while resting MR-proANP is decreased in postural tachycardia. Moreover, early BP fall during orthostasis evokes increase in CT-proAVP and epinephrine, while postural tachycardia is associated with increase in norepinephrine and epinephrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-infrared chemical imaging (NIR-CI) is an attractive technique within the pharmaceutical industry, where tools are continuously in demand to assess the quality of the intermediate and final products. The present paper demonstrates how NIR-CI in combination with multivariate methods was utilized to spatially map physical properties and content of roll compacted ribbons and tablets. Additionally, extracted textural parameters from tablet images were correlated to the design parameters of the roll compaction process as well as to the physical properties of the granules. The results established the use of NIR-CI as a complementary nondestructive tool to determine the ribbon density and map the density distribution across the width and along the length of the ribbons. For the tablets, the compaction pressure developed during compression increased with the lateral distance from the center. Therefore, NIR-CI can be an effective tool to provide information about the spatial distribution of the compaction pressures on the surface of the tablet. Moreover, low roll compaction roll force correlated to a heterogeneous type of texture in the API chemical image. Overall, texture analysis of the tablets enabled efficient investigation of the spatial variation and could be used to advance process understanding. Finally, orthogonal projections to latent structures (O2PLS) model facilitated the understanding of the interrelationships between textural features, design parameters and physical properties data by separately joint and unique variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Survival for high-grade gliomas is poor, at least partly explained by intratumoral heterogeneity contributing to treatment resistance. Radiological evaluation of treatment response is in most cases limited to assessment of tumor size months after the initiation of therapy. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its estimate of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) has been widely investigated, as it reflects tumor cellularity and proliferation. The aim of this study was to investigate texture analysis of ADC images in conjunction with multivariate image analysis as a means for identification of pretreatment imaging biomarkers. Methods: Twenty-three consecutive high-grade glioma patients were treated with radiotherapy (2 Gy/60 Gy) with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide. ADC maps and T1-weighted anatomical images with and without contrast enhancement were collected prior to treatment, and (residual) tumor contrast enhancement was delineated. A gray-level co-occurrence matrix analysis was performed on the ADC maps in a cuboid encapsulating the tumor in coronal, sagittal, and transversal planes, giving a total of 60 textural descriptors for each tumor. In addition, similar examinations and analyses were performed at day 1, week 2, and week 6 into treatment. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to reduce dimensionality of the data, and the five largest components (scores) were used in subsequent analyses. MRI assessment three months after completion of radiochemotherapy was used for classifying tumor progression or regression. Results: The score scatter plots revealed that the first, third, and fifth components of the pretreatment examinations exhibited a pattern that strongly correlated to survival. Two groups could be identified: one with a median survival after diagnosis of 1099 days and one with 345 days, p = 0.0001. Conclusions: By combining PCA and texture analysis, ADC texture characteristics were identified, which seems to hold pretreatment prognostic information, independent of known prognostic factors such as age, stage, and surgical procedure. These findings encourage further studies with a larger patient cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the Jisomee Mita, an innovation based on ICT-powered metering at property level aimed at increasing access to piped water and sewerage in low-income areas in Nairobi, Kenya. We present empirical findings from field investigations and actor interviews, which are analysed using a novel framework drawing on studies of business models, sustainability transition, and the history of technology. We explore the critical interface between utility infrastructure and potential customers as a locus of innovation. We find that the property owners are the main benefactors of self-read meters, while low-income end-users still depend on over-priced and unsafe water. The Jisomee Mita thus cannot be called a pro-poor innovation in its current implementation and context. • Field study of ICT-powered water metering involving low-income consumers in Kenya. • Conceptual framework combining Sustainability Transitions, LTS and Business studies. • The innovation is found to be misaligned with its local context. • The self-read meter in Nairobi favours the property owners but is not pro-poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decaying water infrastructure is a growing challenge in high-income countries while at the same time being under pressure from other socioeconomic and environmental issues. This paper analyses why addressing these challenges is so challenging, despite the critical role of water service for society. The paper is based on a study of the Swedish water sector and reveals how the utilities are influenced by several factors that constrain their agency. Most importantly, the utilities operate in a 'societal shadowland' where the public and politicians take their services for granted, lowering the sense of urgency and impeding their ability to take action. • Inquiries into why it is so difficult to manage decaying infrastructures. • The agency of the water utilities is determined by the socio-technical regime. • Case study of the Swedish water utility sector. • Identifies a complex of factors that together prevent necessary upgrading of a degrading infrastructure system. • Utilities operates in a 'societal shadowland' which prevents them from taking the necessary actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period from 1870 to 1914 plays a unique role in the history of natural resource exploration and extraction. This article analyses, from a Swedish viewpoint, the connections between two actor categories of special importance in this context: scientificgeographical explorers and industrial actors. The article examines their activities in three broadly defined regions: the Arctic, Russia, and Africa. We show that the Swedes generally had far-reaching ambitions, on par with those of the large imperial powers. In some cases, notably in Africa, Sweden was not able to compete with the larger imperial powers; but in other cases, such as the exploration of the Arctic - from Spitsbergen to Siberia - and the industrial exploitation of coal at Spitsbergen and petroleum in Russia's colonial periphery, Swedish actors played a leading role, in competition with players from the larger European nations. Our paper shows that scientific exploration and industry were closely linked, and that foreign policy also influenced the shaping of these links. We distinguish different types of knowledge produced by the Swedish actors, pointing to local, situated knowledge as the most important type for many resource-based businesses, although modern, scientific knowledge was on the increase during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adherent cells cultured in vitro must usually, at some point, be detached from the culture substrate. Presently, the most common method of achieving detachment is through enzymatic treatment which breaks the adhesion points of the cells to the surface. This comes with the drawback of deteriorating the function and viability of the cells. Other methods that have previously been proposed include detachment of the cell substrate itself, which risks contaminating the cell sample, and changing the surface energy of the substrate through thermal changes, which yields low spatial resolution and risks damaging the cells if they are sensitive to temperature changes. Here cell culture substrates, based on thin films of the ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) co-polymer, are developed for electroactive control of cell adhesion and enzyme-free detachment of cells. Fibroblasts cultured on the substrates are detached through changing the direction of polarization of the ferroelectric substrate. The method does not affect subsequent adhesion and viability of reseeded cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low weight, small footprint, and high performances are essential requisites for the implementation of energy storage devices within consumer electronics. One way to achieve these goals is to increase the thickness of the active material layer. In this work, carbonized and graphitized rayon felt, a cellulose‐derived material, is used as a three‐dimensional current collector scaffold to enable the incorporation of large amount of active energy storage materials and ionic liquid‐based gel electrolyte in the supercapacitor devices. PEDOT:PSS, alone or in combination with active carbon, has been used as the active material. Three‐dimensional supercapacitors with high per unit area capacitance (more than 1.1 F/cm2) have been achieved owing to the loading of large amount of active material in the felt matrix. Areal energy density of more than 101 μWh/cm2 and areal power density of more than 5.9 mW/cm2 have been achieved for 0.8 V operating voltage at a current density of 1 mA/cm2. A nanographite material was found to be beneficial in reducing the internal serial resistance of the supercapacitor to lower than 1.7 Ω. Furthermore, it was shown that even after 2000 times cycling test, the devices could still retain its performance with at least 88% coulombic efficiency for all the devices. All the materials are readily available commercially, environmentally sustainable and the process can potentially be upscaled with industrial process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current therapies for neurological disorders are based on traditional medication and electric stimulation. Here, we present an organic electronic biomimetic neuron, with the capacity to precisely intervene with the underlying malfunctioning signalling pathway using endogenous substances. The fundamental function of neurons, defined as chemical-to-electrical-to-chemical signal transduction, is achieved by connecting enzyme-based amperometric biosensors and organic electronic ion pumps. Selective biosensors transduce chemical signals into an electric current, which regulates electrophoretic delivery of chemical substances without necessitating liquid flow. Biosensors detected neurotransmitters in physiologically relevant ranges of 5–80 µM, showing linear response above 20 µm with approx. 0.1 nA/µM slope. When exceeding defined threshold concentrations, biosensor output signals, connected via custom hardware/software, activated local or distant neurotransmitter delivery from the organic electronic ion pump. Changes of 20 µM glutamate or acetylcholine triggered diffusive delivery of acetylcholine, which activated cells via receptor-mediated signalling. This was observed in real-time by single-cell ratiometric Ca 2+ imaging. The results demonstrate the potential of the organic electronic biomimetic neuron in therapies involving long-range neuronal signalling by mimicking the function of projection neurons. Alternatively, conversion of glutamate-induced descending neuromuscular signals into acetylcholine-mediated muscular activation signals may be obtained, applicable for bridging injured sites and active prosthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetoelectric (magnetic/piezoelectric) heterostructures bring new functionalities to develop novel transducer devices such as (wireless) sensors or energy harvesters and thus have been attracting research interest in the last years. We have studied the magnetoelectric coupling between Metglas films (2826 MB) and poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) in a laminate structure. The metallic Metglas film itself served as bottom electrode and as top electrode we used an electrically conductive polymer, poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). Besides a direct electrical wiring via a graphite ink, a novel contactless readout method is presented using a capacitive coupling between the PEDOT:PSS layer and an electrode not in contact with the PEDOT:PSS layer. From the experimental result we determined a magnetoelectric coupling of 1445 V/(cm·Oe) at the magnetoelastic resonance of the structure, which is among the highest reported values for laminate structures of a magnetostrictive and a piezoelectric polymer layer. With the noncontact readout method, a magnetoelectric coupling of about 950 V/(cm·Oe) could be achieved, which surpasses previously reported values for the case of direct sample contacting. 2D laser Doppler vibrometer measurements in combination with FE simulations were applied to reveal the complex vibration pattern resulting in the strong resonant response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the variation in the microbial community present in bulk tank milk samples and the potential effect of different farm management factors. Bulk tank milk samples were collected repeatedly over one year from 42 farms located in northern Sweden. Total and thermoresistant bacteria counts and 16S rRNA gene-based amplicon sequencing were used to characterize microbial community composition. The microbial community was in general heterogeneous both within and between different farms and the community composition in the bulk tank milk was commonly dominated by Pseudomonas , Acinetobacter , Streptococcus , unclassified Peptostreptococcaceae , and Staphylococcus. Principal component analysis including farm factor variables and microbial taxa data revealed that the microbial community in milk was affected by type of milking system. Milk from farms using an automatic (robot) milking system (AMS) and loose housing showed different microbial community composition compared with milk from tiestall farms. A discriminant analysis model revealed that this difference was dependent on several microbial taxa. Among farms using an automatic milking system, there were further differences in the microbial community composition depending on the brand of the milking robot used. On tiestall farms, routines for teat preparation and cleaning of the milking equipment affected the microbial community composition in milk. Total bacteria count (TBC) in milk differed between the farm types, and TBC were higher on AMS than tiestall farms (log 4.05 vs. log 3.79 TBC/mL for AMS and tiestalls, respectively). Among tiestall farms, milk from farms using a chemical agent in connection to teat preparation and a more frequent use of acid to clean the milking equipment had lower TBC in milk, than milk from farms using water for teat preparation and a less frequent use of acid to clean the milking equipment (log 3.68 vs. 4.02 TBC/mL). There were no significant differences in the number of thermoresistant bacteria between farm types. The evaluated factors explained only a small proportion of total variation in the microbiota data, however, despite this, the study highlights the effect of routines associated with teat preparation and cleaning of the milking equipment on raw milk microbiota, irrespective of type of milking system used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was part of a larger project that aimed to understand the causes for increasing variation in cheese ripening in a cheese-producing region in northern Sweden. The influence of different on-farm factors on raw milk composition and properties was investigated and is described in this paper, whereas the monthly variation in the milk quality traits during 1 yr is described in our companion paper. The dairy farming systems on a total of 42 dairy farms were characterized through a questionnaire and farm visits. Milk from farm tanks was sampled monthly over 1 yr and analyzed for quality attributes important for cheese making. On applying principal component analyses to evaluate the variation in on-farm factors, different types of farms were distinguished. Farms with loose housing and automatic milking system (AMS) or milking parlor had a higher number of lactating cows, and predominantly Swedish Holstein (SH) breed. Farms associated with tiestalls had a lower number of lactating cows and breeds other than SH. Applying principal component analyses to study the variation in composition and properties of tank milk samples from farms revealed a tendency for the formation of 2 clusters: milk from farms with AMS or a milking parlor, and milk from farms with tiestall milking. The interaction between the milking system, housing system, and breed probably contributed to this grouping. Other factors that were used in the characterization of the farming systems only showed a minor influence on raw milk quality. Despite the interaction, milk from tiestall farms with various cow breeds had higher concentrations (g/100 g of milk) of fat (4.74) and protein (3.63), and lower lactose concentrations (4.67) than milk from farms with predominantly SH cows and AMS (4.32, 3.47, and 4.74 g/100 g of milk, respectively) or a milking parlor (4.47, 3.54, and 4.79 g/100 g of milk, respectively). Higher somatic cell count (195 × 103/mL) and lower free fatty acid concentration (0.75 mmol/100 g of fat) were observed in milk from farms with AMS than in milk from tiestall systems (150 × 103/mL and 0.83 mmol/100 g of fat, respectively). Type of farm influenced milk gel strength, with milk from farms with predominantly SH cows showing the lowest gel strength (65.0 Pa), but not a longer rennet coagulation time. Effects of dairy farming system (e.g., dominant breed, milking system, housing, and herd size) on milk quality attributes indicate a need for further studies to evaluate the in-depth effects of farm-related factors on milk quality attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the influence of monthly variation on the composition and properties of raw farm milk collected as part of a full-scale cheese-making trial in a region in northern Sweden. In our companion paper, the contribution of on-farm factors to the variation in milk quality attributes is described. In total, 42 dairy farms were recruited for the study, and farm milk samples were collected monthly over 1 yr and characterized for quality attributes of importance for cheese making. Principal component analysis suggested that milk samples collected during the outdoor period (June–September) were different from milk samples collected during the indoor period. Despite the interaction with the milking system, the results showed that fat and protein concentrations were lower in milk collected during May through August, and lactose concentration was higher in milk collected during April through July than for the other months. Concentrations of free fatty acids were generally low, with the highest value (0.86 mmol/100 g of fat) observed in February and the lowest (0.70 mmol/100 g of fat) observed in June. Plasmin and plasminogen-derived activities varied with sampling month without a clear seasonal pattern. The pH of farm tank milk ranged from 6.60 to 6.82, with the lowest and highest values in September and February, respectively. The highest somatic cell count was observed in August (201 × 103 cells/mL) and the lowest in April (143 × 103 cells/mL). The highest value of gel strength, was recorded in December (88 Pa) and the lowest in July (64 Pa). Rennet coagulation time and gel strength were inversely correlated, with the lowest rennet coagulation time value observed in December. Orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS) and discriminant analysis adaptation of OPLS identified casein micelle size and total proteolysis as the milk quality attributes with major responses to sampling month, with smaller casein micelle size and higher total proteolysis associated with the outdoor months. Using discriminant analysis adaptation of OPLS to further investigate causes behind the variation in milk traits revealed that there were factors in addition to feeding on pasture that differed between outdoor and indoor months. Because fresh grass was seldom the primary feed in the region during the outdoor period, grazing was not considered the sole reason for the observed difference between outdoor and indoor periods in raw milk quality attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of methods of non-invasive measurement of neck muscle function remains a priority in the clinical sciences. In this study, dorsal neck muscle deformation vs time curves (deformation area) were evaluated against incremental force, recorded from non-invasive real-time ultrasound measurement. The results revealed subject-specific moderate to strong linear or non-linear relationships between deformation and force. Test-retest variability showed strong reliability for all five neck muscles summed together and fair to good reliability for the five muscles evaluated separately. Multivariate statistics were used to analyse the interactions between the dorsal neck muscles during different percentages of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). Low force (10–20% MVC) was related to muscle shortening; higher force (40–80% MVC) showed combination of shortening and elongation deformation in the muscle interactions. The muscle interactions during isometric MVC test were subject-specific, with different combinations and deformations of the five neck muscles. Force ≥40% MVC were associated with a forward movement of the cervical spine that affected the ultrasound measurement of the dorsal neck muscles. Ultrasound with speckle-tracking analyses may be best used to detect low levels (<40% MVC) of neck muscle activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cape Verde oceanic plateau hosts 10 islands and 11 seamounts and provides an extensive suite of alkaline lavas and pyroclastic rocks. The volcanic rocks host a range of crustal and mantle xenoliths. These xenoliths provide a spectrum of lithologies available to interact with magma during transport through the lithospheric mantle and crust. We explore the origin and depth of formation of crustal xenoliths to develop a framework of magma-crust interaction and a model for the crustal architecture beneath the Cape Verde oceanic plateau. The host lavas are phononephelinites to phonolites and the crustal xenoliths are mostly mafic plutonic assemblages with one sedimentary xenolith. REE profiles of clinopyroxene in the host lavas are light rare-earth element (LREE) enriched whereas clinopyoxene from the plutonic xenoliths are LREE depleted. Modelling of REE melt compositions indicates the plutonic xenoliths are derived from mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-type ocean crust. Thermobarometry indicates that clinopyroxene in the host lavas formed at depths of 17 to 46 km, whereas those in the xenoliths formed at 5 to 20 km. This places the depth of origin of the plutonic xenoliths in the oceanic crust. Therefore, the xenoliths trace magma-crust interaction to the MORB oceanic crust and overlying sediments located beneath the Cape Verde oceanic plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiphene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is widely used in organic electronics and printed electronics due to its excellent electronic and ionic conductivity. PEDOT:PSS films exhibit anisotropic conductivities originating from the interplay of film deposition processes and chemical structure. The previous studies found that high boiling point solvent treated PEDOT:PSS exhibits an anisotropy of 3–4 orders magnitude. Even though both the in-plane and out-of-plane conductivities are important for the device performance, the out-of-plane conductivity is rarely studied due to the complexity with the experiment procedure. Cellulose-based paper or films can also exhibit anisotropic behavior due to the combination of their intrinsic fibric structure and film formation process. We have previously developed a conductive paper based on PEDOT:PSS and cellulose which could be used as the electrodes in energy storage devices. In this work we developed a novel measurement set-up for studying the anisotropy of the charge transport in such composite materials. A tool with two parallel plates mounted with spring loaded probes was constructed enabling probing both lateral and vertical directions and resistances from in-plane and out-of-plane directions to be obtained. The measurement results were then input and analyzed with a model based on a transformation method developed by Montgomery, and thus the in-plane and out-of-plane conductivities could be detangled and derived. We also investigated how the conductivity anisotropy depends on the microstructure of the cellulose template onto which the conductive polymer self-organizes. We show that there is a relatively small difference between the in-plane and out-of-plane conductivities which is attributed to the unique 3D-structure of the composites. This new knowledge gives a better understanding of the possibilities and limitations for using the material in electronic and electrochemical devices. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Developed a simple to use generic tool for measuring 3-D resistances of thick conducting self-standing films. • The in-plane and out-of-plane conductivities were deduced by a method developed by Montgomery. • Both CNF-PEDOT:PSS and pulp-PEDOT:PSS films exhibit anisotropic conductivity. • CNF-PEDOT:PSS films show thickness independent anisotropic conductivity. • Pulp-PEDOT:PSS became less anisotropic with increasing thicknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial control of cell detachment is potentially of great interest when selecting cells for clonal expansion and in order to obtain a homogeneous starting population of cells aimed for tissue engineering purposes. Here, selective detachment and cell sorting of human primary keratinocytes and fibroblasts is achieved using thin films of a conjugated polymer. Upon electrochemical oxidation, the polymer film swells, cracks, and finally detaches taking cells cultured on top along with it. The polymer can be patterned using standard photolithography to fabricate a cross-point matrix with polymer pixels that can be individually addressed and thus detached. Detachment occurs above a well-defined threshold of +0.7 V versus Ag/AgCl, allowing the use of a relatively simple and easily manufactured passive matrix-addressing configuration, based on a resistor network, to control the cell-sorting device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Printed electronics are considered for wireless electronic tags and sensors within the future Internet-of-things (loT) concept. As a consequence of the low charge carrier mobility of present printable organic and inorganic semiconductors, the operational frequency of printed rectifiers is not high enough to enable direct communication and powering between mobile phones and printed e-tags. Here, we report an all-printed diode operating up to 1.6 GHz. The device, based on two stacked layers of Si and NbSi2 particles, is manufactured on a flexible substrate at low temperature and in ambient atmosphere. The high charge carrier mobility of the Si microparticles allows device operation to occur in the charge injection-limited regime. The asymmetry of the oxide layers in the resulting device stack leads to rectification of tunneling current. Printed diodes were combined with antennas and electrochromic displays to form an all-printed e-tag. The harvested signal from a Global System for Mobile Communications mobile phone was used to update the display. Our findings demonstrate a new communication pathway for printed electronics within loT applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and making the most of complex data collected from multiple sources is a challenging task. Data integration is the procedure of describing the main features in multiple data blocks, and several methods for multiblock analysis have been previously developed, including OnPLS and JIVE. One of the main challenges is how to visualize and interpret the results of multiblock analyses because of the increased model complexity and sheer size of data. In this paper, we present novel visualization tools that simplify interpretation and overview of multiblock analysis. We introduce a correlation matrix plot that provides an overview of the relationships between blocks found by multiblock models. We also present a multiblock scatter plot, a metadata correlation plot, and a variation distribution plot, that simplify the interpretation of multiblock models. We demonstrate our visualizations on an industrial case study in vibration spectroscopy (NIR, UV, and Raman datasets) as well as a multiomics integration study (transcript, metabolite, and protein datasets). We conclude that our visualizations provide useful tools to harness the complexity of multiblock analysis and enable better understanding of the investigated system. In this paper, we present novel visualization tools that simplify interpretation and overview of multiblock analysis. We demonstrate our visualizations on an industrial case study in vibration spectroscopy as well as a multiomics integration study. We conclude that our visualizations provide useful tools to harness the complexity of multiblock analysis and enable better understanding of the investigated system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interconnection between hard electronics and soft textiles remains a noteworthy challenge in regard to the mass production of textile–electronic integrated products such as sensorized garments. The current solutions for this challenge usually have problems with size, flexibility, cost, or complexity of assembly. In this paper, we present a solution with a stretchable and conductive carbon nanotube (CNT)-based paste for screen printing on a textile substrate to produce interconnectors between electronic instrumentation and a sensorized garment. The prototype connectors were evaluated via electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings using a sensorized textile with integrated textile electrodes. The ECG recordings obtained using the connectors were evaluated for signal quality and heart rate detection performance in comparison to ECG recordings obtained with standard pre-gelled Ag/AgCl electrodes and direct cable connection to the ECG amplifier. The results suggest that the ECG recordings obtained with the CNT paste connector are of equivalent quality to those recorded using a silver paste connector or a direct cable and are suitable for the purpose of heart rate detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]