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.

On the Way to Rechargeable Mg Batteries: The Challenge of New Cathode Materials†

Abstract: To initiate wider discussion about promising research directions, this paper highlights a number of challenges in the development of rechargeable Mg batteries, especially those related to the slow solid-state Mg diffusion in common hosts. With a focus on the intercalation mechanism, we compare for the first time different strategies proposed in the literature for developing Mg battery cathodes, like the use of (i) nanoscale cathode materials; (ii) hybrid intercalation compounds containing bound water or other additional anion groups that can presumably screen the charge of the inserted cations, (iii) cluster-containing compounds with efficient attainment of local electroneutrality. This comparative analysis shows that cathodes whose function is based on a combination of the two first strategies, e.g., V2O5 gels and their hybrids, can exhibit relatively high voltage and capacity upon Mg insertion, but their kinetics is insufficiently fast. A proper intercalation mechanism for such materials is still unknow...

The facilitation of social-emotional understanding and social interaction in high-functioning children with autism: intervention outcomes.

Abstract: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 7-month cognitive behavioral intervention for the facilitation of the social-emotional understanding and social interaction of 15 high-functioning children (8 to 17 years old) with autism. Intervention focused on teaching interpersonal problem solving, affective knowledge, and social interaction. Preintervention and postintervention measures included observations of social interaction, measures of problem solving and of emotion understanding, and teacher-rated social skills. Results demonstrated progress in three areas of intervention. Children were more likely to initiate positive social interaction with peers after treatment; in particular, they improved eye contact and their ability to share experiences with peers and to show interest in peers. In problem solving after treatment, children provided more relevant solutions and fewer nonsocial solutions to different social situations. In emotional knowledge, after treatment, children provided more examples of complex emotions, supplied more specific rather then general examples, and included an audience more often in the different emotions. Children also obtained higher teacher-rated social skills scores in assertion and cooperation after treatment. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the current model of intervention for high-functioning children with autism.

Origins of fractality in the growth of complex networks

Abstract: Complex networks from such different fields as biology, technology or sociology share similar organization principles. The possibility of a unique growth mechanism promises to uncover universal origins of collective behaviour. In particular, the emergence of self-similarity in complex networks raises the fundamental question of the growth process according to which these structures evolve. Here we investigate the concept of renormalization as a mechanism for the growth of fractal and non-fractal modular networks. We show that the key principle that gives rise to the fractal architecture of networks is a strong effective ‘repulsion’ (or, disassortativity) between the most connected nodes (that is, the hubs) on all length scales, rendering them very dispersed. More importantly, we show that a robust network comprising functional modules, such as a cellular network, necessitates a fractal topology, suggestive of an evolutionary drive for their existence.

Fate of Photosynthetic Fixed Carbon in Light- and Shade-Adapted Colonies of the Symbiotic Coral Stylophora pistillata

Abstract: The total daily flux of photosynthetically fixed carbon in light- and shade-adapted phenotypes of the symbiotic coral, Stylophora pistillata, was quantified. Light adapted corals fixed four times as much carbon and respired twice as much as shade corals. Specific growth rates of zooxanthellae in situ were estimated from average daily mitotic indices and from ammonium uptake rates (nitrate uptake or nitrate reductase activity could not be demonstrated). Specific growth rates were very low, demonstrating that of the total net carbon fixed daily, only a small fraction (less than 5%) goes into zooxanthellae cell growth. The balance of the net fixed carbon (more than 95%) is translocated to the host. New and conventional methods of measuring total daily translocation were compared. The `growth rate' method, which does not employ $^{14}$C, emerged as superior to the conventional in vitro and in vivo methods. The contribution of translocated carbon to animal maintenance respiration (CZAR) was 143% in light corals and 58% in shade corals. Thus, translocation in the former could supply not only the total daily carbon needed for respiration but also a fraction of the carbon needed for growth. Whereas light-adapted corals released only 6%, shade-adapted corals released almost half of their total fixed carbon as dissolved or particulate organic material. This much higher throughput of organic carbon may possibly benefit the heterotrophic microbial community in shade environments.