Bar-Ilan University

About: Bar-Ilan University is a education organization based out in Ramat Gan, Israel. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 12835 authors who have published 34964 publications receiving 995648 citations. The organization is also known as: Bar Ilan University & BIU.

Measuring multidimensional poverty: an empirical comparison of various approaches

Abstract: This paper makes a systematic comparison of four approaches to multidimensional poverty analysis based respectively on the theory of fuzzy sets, information theory, efficiency analysis and axiomatic derivations of poverty indices. The database was the 1995 Israeli Census that provided information on the ownership of various durable goods. There appears to be a fair degree of agreement between the various multidimensional poverty indices concerning the identification of the poor households. The four approaches have also shown that poverty decreases with the schooling level of the head of the household, first decreases and then increases with his/her age and with the size of the household. Poverty is higher when the head of the household is single and lower when he/she is married, lowest when the head of the household is Jewish and highest when he/she is Muslim. Poverty is also higher among households whose head immigrated in recent years, does not work or lives in Jerusalem. These observations were made on the basis of logit regressions. This impact on poverty of many of the variables is not very different from the one that is observed when poverty measurement is based only on the income or the total expenditures of the households.

Stabilizing nickel-rich layered cathode materials by a high-charge cation doping strategy: zirconium-doped LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2

Abstract: Ni-rich layered lithiated transition metal oxides Li[NixCoyMnz]O2 (x + y + z = 1) are the most promising materials for positive electrodes for advanced Li-ion batteries. However, one of the drawbacks of these materials is their low intrinsic stability during prolonged cycling. In this work, we present lattice doping as a strategy to improve the structural stability and voltage fade on prolonged cycling of LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 (NCM-622) doped with zirconium (+4). It was found that LiNi0.56Zr0.04Co0.2Mn0.2O2 is stable upon galvanostatic cycling, in contrast to the undoped material, which undergoes partial structural layered-to-spinel transformation during cycling. The current study provides sub-nanoscale insight into the role of Zr4+ doping on such a transformation in Ni-rich Li[NixCoyMnz]O2 materials by adopting a combined experimental and first-principles theory approach. A possible mechanism for a Ni-mediated layered-to-spinel transformation in Ni-rich NCMs is also proposed.

X-Ray Determination of the Static Structure Factor of Liquid Na and K

Abstract: Highly accurate x-ray diffraction measurements are presented for the static structure factor $a(q)$ for liquid Na (at 100 and 200 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C) and liquid K (at 65 and 135 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C). A detailed error analysis is presented showing that the over-all root-mean-square error in $a(q)$ never exceeds 2.5% for any value of the momentum transfer $q$ and the relative root-mean-square error in $a(q)$ between different temperatures is always less than 1.5%. We discuss and demonstrate the reliability of the tabulated values for the atomic form factor and the Compton-scattering correction. A brief discussion is included of the relative merits of x-ray vs neutron diffraction for obtaining the static structure factor.

Selective cytotoxic effect of ZnO nanoparticles on glioma cells

Abstract: In this study we examined the cytotoxic effect of ZnO nanoparticles on various human cancer and normal cells. We found that the ZnO nanoparticles exerted a cytotoxic effect on the human glioma cell lines A172, U87, LNZ308, LN18, and LN229, whereas no cytotoxic effect was observed on normal human astrocytes. Similarly, the ZnO nanoparticles induced cell death in breast and prostate cancer cell lines while no major effect was observed in the respective normal breast and prostate cell lines. Using the fluorescent dye 2,7-dichlorofluorescein diacetate, we found that treatment of the glioma cells with ZnO nanoparticles induced a large increase in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and treatment of the cells with N-acetyl cysteine decreased the cytotoxic effect of the ZnO nanoparticles. In contrast, a smaller effect on ROS generation was observed in the normal astrocytes. These results suggest that ZnO nanoparticles may be employed as a selective cytotoxic agent for the eradication of cancer cells.