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- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(författare)
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Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
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Ingår i: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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- Almeida, Rafael M., et al.
(författare)
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High Primary Production Contrasts with Intense Carbon Emission in a Eutrophic Tropical Reservoir
- 2016
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Microbiology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-302X. ; 7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent studies from temperate lakes indicate that eutrophic systems tend to emit less carbon dioxide (Co-2) and bury more organic carbon (OC) than oligotrophic ones, rendering them CO2 sinks in some cases. However, the scarcity of data from tropical systems is critical for a complete understanding of the interplay between eutrophication and aquatic carbon (C) fluxes in warm waters. We test the hypothesis that a warm eutrophic system is a source of both CO2 and CH4 to the atmosphere, and that atmospheric emissions are larger than the burial of OC in sediments. This hypothesis was based on the following assumptions: (i) OC mineralization rates are high in warm water systems, so that water column CO2 production overrides the high C uptake by primary producers, and (ii) increasing trophic status creates favorable conditions for CH4 production. We measured water-air and sediment-water CO2 fluxes, CH4 diffusion, ebullition and oxidation, net ecosystem production (NEP) and sediment OC burial during the dry season in a eutrophic reservoir in the semiarid northeastern Brazil. The reservoir was stratified during daytime and mixed during nighttime. In spite of the high rates of primary production (4858 +/- 934 mg C m(-2) d(-1)), net heterotrophy was prevalent due to high ecosystem respiration (5209 +/- 992 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). Consequently, the reservoir was a source of atmospheric CO2 (518 +/- 182 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). In addition, the reservoir was a source of ebullitive (17 +/- 10 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) and diffusive CH4 (11 +/- 6 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). OC sedimentation was high (1162 mg C m(-2) d(-1)), but our results suggest that the majority of it is mineralized to CO2 (722 +/- 182 mg C m(-2) d(-1)) rather than buried as OC (440 mg C m(-2) d(-1)). Although temporally resolved data would render our findings more conclusive, our results suggest that despite being a primary production and OC burial hotspot, the tropical eutrophic system studied here was a stronger CO2 and CH4 source than a C sink, mainly because of high rates of OC mineralization in the water column and sediments.
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- Araujo, Rafael Barros Neves de, et al.
(författare)
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Divulging the Hidden Capacity and Sodiation Kinetics of NaxC6Cl4O2 : A High Voltage Organic Cathode for Sodium Rechargeable Batteries
- 2017
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 121:26, s. 14027-14036
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the current emerging sustainable organic battery field, quinones are seen as one of the prime candidates for application in rechargeable battery electrodes. Recently, C6Cl4O2, a modified quinone, has been proposed as a high voltage organic cathode. However, the sodium insertion mechanism behind the cell reaction remained unclear due to the nescience of the right crystal structure. Here, the framework of the density functional theory (DFT) together with an evolutionary algorithm was employed to elucidate the crystal structures of the compounds NaxC6Cl4O2 (x = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2). Along with the usefulness of PBE functional to reflect the experimental potential, also the importance of the hybrid functional to divulge the hidden theoretical capacity is evaluated. We showed that the experimentally observed lower specific capacity is a result of the great stabilization of the intermediate phase Na1.5C6Cl4O2. The calculated activation barriers for the ionic hops are 0.68, 0.40, and 0.31 eV, respectively, for NaC6Cl4O2, Na1.5C6Cl4O2, and Na2C6Cl4O2. These results indicate that the kinetic process must not be a limiting factor upon Na insertion. Finally, the correct prediction of the specific capacity has confirmed that the theoretical strategy used, employing evolutionary simulations together with the hybrid functional framework, can rightly model the thermodynamic process in organic electrode compounds.
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- Araújo, Rafael Barros Neves de
(författare)
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Energy Storage Materials: Insights From ab Initio Theory : Diffusion, Structure, Thermodynamics and Design.
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The development of science and technology have provided a lifestyle completely dependent on energy consumption. Devices such as computers and mobile phones are good examples of how our daily life depends on electric energy. In this scenario, energy storage technologies emerge with strategic importance providing efficient ways to transport and commercialize the produced energy. Rechargeable batteries come as the most suitable alternative to fulfill the market demand due to their higher energy- and power- density when compared with other electrochemical energy storage systems. In this context, during the production of this thesis, promising compounds for advanced batteries application were investigated from the theoretical viewpoint. The framework of the density functional theory has been employed together with others theoretical tools to study properties such as ionic diffusion, redox potential, electronic structure and crystal structure prediction.Different organic materials were theoretically characterized with quite distinct objectives. For instance, a protocol able to predict the redox potential in solution of long oligomers were developed and tested against experimental measurements. Strategies such as anchoring of small active molecules on polymers backbone have also been investigated through a screening process that determined the most promising candidates. Methods such as evolutionary simulation and basin-hopping algorithm were employed to search for global minimum crystal structures of small molecules and inorganic compounds working as a cathode of advanced sodium batteries. The crystal structure evolution of C6Cl4O2 upon Na insertion was unveiled and the main reasons behind the lower specific capacity obtained in the experiment were clarified. Ab initio molecular dynamics and the nudged elastic band method were employed to understand the underlying ionic diffusion mechanisms in the recently proposed Alluaudite and Eldfellite cathode materials. Moreover, it was demonstrated that electronic conduction in Na2O2, a byproduct of the Na-O2 battery, occurs via hole polarons hopping. Important physical and chemical insights were obtained during the production of this thesis. It finally supports the development of low production cost, environmental friendliness and efficient electrode compounds for advanced secondary batteries.
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- Banerjee, Amitava, et al.
(författare)
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Identifying the tuning key of disproportionation redox reaction in terephthalate : A Li-based anode for sustainable organic batteries
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nano Energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 2211-2855 .- 2211-3282. ; 47, s. 301-308
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ever-increasing consumption of energy storage devices has pushed the scientific community to realize strategies toward organic electrodes with superior properties. This is owed to advantages such as economic viability and eco-friendliness. In this context, the family of conjugated dicarboxylates has emerged as an interesting candidate for the application as negative electrodes in advanced Li-ion batteries due to the revealed thermal stability, rate capability, high capacity and high cyclability. This work aims to rationalize the effects of small molecular modifications on the electrochemical properties of the terephthalate anode by means of first principles calculations. The crystal structure prediction of the investigated host compounds dilithium terephthalate (Li2TP) and diethyl terephthalate (Et2Li0TP) together with their crystal modification upon battery cycling enable us to calculate the potential profile of these materials. Distinct underlying mechanisms of the redox reactions were obtained where Li2TP comes with a disproportionation reaction while Et2Li0TP displays sequential redox reactions. This effect proved to be strongly correlated to the Li coordination number evolution upon the Li insertion into the host structures. Finally, the calculations of sublimation enthalpy inferred that polymerization techniques could easily be employed in Et2Li0TP as compared to Li2TP. Similar results are observed with methyl, propyl, and vinyl capped groups. That could be a strategy to enhance the properties of this compound placing it into the gallery of the new anode materials for state of art Li-batteries.
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- Barros Neves de Araújo, Rafael, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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Towards novel calcium battery electrolytes by efficient computational screening
- 2021
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Ingår i: Energy Storage Materials. - : Elsevier BV. - 2405-8297. ; 39, s. 89-95
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The development of Ca conducting electrolytes is key to enable functional rechargeable Ca batteries. The here presented screening strategy is initially based on a combined density functional theory (DFT) and conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS) approach, which allows for a rational selection of electrolyte solvent based on a set of physico-chemical and electrochemical properties: solvation power, electrochemical stability window, viscosity, and flash and boiling points. Starting from 81 solvents, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was chosen as solvent for further studies of cation-solvent interactions and subsequent comparisons vs. cation-anion interactions possibly present in electrolytes, based on a limited set of Ca-salts. A Ca first solvation shell of [Ca(DMF) ] was found to be energetically preferred, even as compared to ion-pairs and aggregates, especially for PF and TFSI as the anions. Overall, this points to Ca(TFSI) and Ca(PF ) dissolved in DMF to be a promising base electrolyte for Ca batteries from a physico-chemical point-of-view. While electrochemical assessments certainly are needed to verify this promise, the screening strategy presented is efficient and a useful stepping-stone to reduce the overall R&D effort.
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