Structural and mechanical characterization of lithium-ion battery electrodes via DEM simulations

Electrode structural stability and mechanical integrity is of major importance regarding not only lithium-ion battery performance but also safety aspects. The goal of this study is to design a simulation procedure to reproduce the microstructural and mechanical properties of such lithium-ion battery electrodes. Taking into consideration the particulate state of these electrodes, a discrete element method (DEM) approach is proposed, which comprises a procedure to reproduce real electrode structures and the application of a proper contact model to capture the bulk mechanics. This is accomplished by considering particle interactions as well as the performance of the binder. Three different electrodes are manufactured with the aim of calibrating and validating the Hertzian-bond contact model. Experimental nanoindentation measurements prove to be in good agreement with the simulation outcome, concluding that the method constitutes a valuable physical and mechanical basis for further applications.     

A Genomic Information Management System for Maintaining Healthy Genomic States and Application of Genomic Big Data in Clinical Research

Improvements in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology and computer systems have enabled personalized therapies based on genomic information. Recently, health management strategies using genomics and big data have been developed for application in medicine and public health science. In this review, I first discuss the development of a genomic information management system (GIMS) to maintain a highly detailed health record and detect diseases by collecting the genomic information of one individual over time. Maintaining a health record and detecting abnormal genomic states are important; thus, the development of a GIMS is necessary. Based on the current research status, open public data, and databases, I discuss the possibility of a GIMS for clinical use. I also discuss how the analysis of genomic information as big data can be applied for clinical and research purposes. Tremendous volumes of genomic information are being generated, and the development of methods for the collection, cleansing, storing, indexing, and serving must progress under legal regulation. Genetic information is a type of personal information and is covered under privacy protection; here, I examine the regulations on the use of genetic information in different countries. This review provides useful insights for scientists and clinicians who wish to use genomic information for healthy aging and personalized medicine.     

Relationships between landforms,soils and vegetation in the River Plate coastal plain,Argentina

The River Plate coastal plain is a 160‐km‐long, 3–10‐km‐wide strip, located to <5 m a.s.l. on the right bank of the estuary. It is formed by sediments and landforms generated by the littoral transport and marine ingressions and regressions during the Holocene. The coastal plain faces heavy pressures from Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, with about 13 million inhabitants, industrial, mining and rural activities. Here, we analyse the relations existing between landforms, soils and vegetation. Despite the anthropogenic influence, the natural landscape is more or less preserved in some areas, such as patches of the southernmost gallery forest in the world in natural levees, the xerophytic forests located in well‐drained soils of beach ridges and other units such as Inland and Coastal Mudflats with wetland soils and vegetation, Tidal Flats with contrasting soils and plant communities among others.     

Impact of control measures on the course of an outbreak of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

BACKGROUND: Outbreaks of nosocomial infection by methicillin resistent Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are a problem in many hospitals with the control measures to be adopted being controversial. An outbreak of MRSA in a 550-bed university hospital is herein described and the impact of the adopted control measures on the evolution of the epidemic in the general hospitalization area (GHA) was analyzed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The adopted control measures in the GHA were: microbiologic surveillance, cutaneous isolation measures, treatment of nasal carrier, and the early discharge of the cases. Hand washing was reinforced and a study of carriers was carried out on detection of sporadic cases (not related to the ICU). A molecular study of 70 strains of MRSA was performed with analysis of total plasmids, plasmid restriction pattern and chromosomic DNA analysis by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). RESULTS: From December 1990 to December 1993, 273 cases of MRSA were reported. One hundred seventy-two cases originated in the ICU and 101 cases in the GHA (sporadic cases). The incidence of MRSA in 1991-1993 was 13.6, 14.3, and 6.6% in the ICU and 0.17, 0.36, and 0.15% in the GHA, respectively. Molecular study of MRSA isolates (1991 and 1992) demonstrated two plasmid and two chromosomic patterns. The latter had a similarity coefficient > 0.90, probably belonging to the same "clone". CONCLUSIONS: Despite the control measures adopted in the GHA the outbreak of MRSA originated in the ICU thereafter extending to the GHA. The rates of colonization detected, however, remained stable during the 3 years studied. On the other hand, the observation of a single "clone", responsible for the epidemic, suggest that most of the sporadic cases were autoctonous and due to failure in fulfillment of the established norms.     

Exploiting multilevel parallelism on a many-core system for the application of hyperheuristics to a molecular docking problem

The solution of Protein–Ligand Docking Problems can be approached through metaheuristics, and satisfactory metaheuristics can be obtained with hyperheuristics searching in the space of metaheuristics implemented inside a parameterized schema. These hyperheuristics apply several metaheuristics, resulting in high computational costs. To reduce execution times, a shared-memory schema of hyperheuristics is used with four levels of parallelism, two for the hyperheuristic and two for the metaheuristics. The parallel schema is executed in a many-core system in “native mode,” and the four-level parallelism allows us to take full advantage of the massive parallelism offered by this architecture and obtain satisfactory fitness and an important reduction in the execution time.