Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthesis of hybrid nanofluid with two-step method

Nanofluid is a liquid fluid mixture with a nanometer-sized solid particle potentially applied as a heat transfer fluid because it is capable of producing a thermal conductivity better than a base fluid. However, nanofluids have a weakness that is a high level of agglomeration as the resulting conductivity increases. Therefore, in this study, the synthesis of two nanoparticles into the base fluid called hybrid nanofluids. This study aims to determine the effect of nanoparticle composition on the highest thermal conductivity value with the lowest agglomeration value. This research was conducted by dispersing Al 2 O 3 -TiO 2 nanoparticles in water with volume fraction of 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7% in the composition of Al 2 O 3 -TiO 2 ratio of 75%:25%, 50%:50%, 25%:75%. The synthesis was performed with a magnetic stirrer for 30 minutes. The tests were carried out in three types: thermal conductivity testing with KD2, visual agglomeration observation and absorbance measurements using UV-Vis, wettability testing with HSVC tools and Image applications. The test results showed that the ratio composition ratio of 75% Al 2 O 3 -25% TiO 2 with a volume fraction of 0.7% resulted in an increase in optimum thermal conductivity with the best wettability and the longest agglomeration level.
On finding minimal w-cutset problem

The complexity of a reasoning task over a graphical model is tied to the induced width of the underlying graph. It is well-known that conditioning (assigning values) on a subset of variables yields a subproblem of the reduced complexity where instantiated variables are removed. If the assigned variables constitute a cycle-cutset, the rest of the network is singly-connected and therefore can be solved by linear propagation algorithms. A w-cutset is a generalization of a cycle-cutset defined as a subset of nodes such that the subgraph with cutset nodes removed has induced-width of w or less. In this paper we address the problem of finding a minimal wcutset in a graph. We relate the problem to that of finding the minimal w-cutset of a treedecomposition. The latter can be mapped to the well-known set multi-cover problem. This relationship yields a proof of NP-completeness on one hand and a greedy algorithm for finding a wcutset of a tree decomposition on the other. Empirical evaluation of the algorithms is presented.
Effect of Chemical Treatment on Thermal, Mechanical and Degradation Behavior of Banana Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites

ABSTRACT The current research endeavor, explores the thermal, mechanical, and degradation behavior of alkaline treated banana fibers reinforced polypropylene composites. Composites incorporating BF (20% w: w) treated with NaOH (5% w: v) aqueous solution were developed using extrusion-injection molding processes. After chemical treatment, the tensile, flexural and impact strength of the composite increases by 3.8%, 5.17%, and 11.50%, respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations of tested specimens confirm the fiber pull out and fiber fracture as the main reasons for failure of developed composites under tensile and impact loading. The specimens were exposed to two different environments, water immersion and soil burial for 5 weeks for the degradation studies. The degradation behavior of composites was measured in terms of variation in weight and mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, and impact). The maximum degradation in mechanical properties was observed for the composites buried under soil. The composite lost 7.69%, 12.06%, and 3.27% of tensile, flexural, and impact strength, respectively.
Malate Synthesis and Secretion Mediated by a Manganese-Enhanced Malate Dehydrogenase Confers Superior Manganese Tolerance in Stylosanthes guianensis1

The superior manganese tolerance of a tropical legume is achieved by the coordination of internal and external manganese detoxification via enhanced malate synthesis. Manganese (Mn) toxicity is a major constraint limiting plant growth on acidic soils. Superior Mn tolerance in Stylosanthes spp. has been well documented, but its molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In this study, superior Mn tolerance in Stylosanthes guianensis was confirmed, as reflected by a high Mn toxicity threshold. Furthermore, genetic variation of Mn tolerance was evaluated using two S. guianensis genotypes, which revealed that the Fine-stem genotype had higher Mn tolerance than the TPRC2001-1 genotype, as exhibited through less reduction in dry weight under excess Mn, and accompanied by lower internal Mn concentrations. Interestingly, Mn-stimulated increases in malate concentrations and exudation rates were observed only in the Fine-stem genotype. Proteomic analysis of Fine-stem roots revealed that S. guianensis Malate Dehydrogenase1 (SgMDH1) accumulated in response to Mn toxicity. Western-blot and quantitative PCR analyses showed that Mn toxicity resulted in increased SgMDH1 accumulation only in Fine-stem roots, but not in TPRC2001-1. The function of SgMDH1-mediated malate synthesis was verified through in vitro biochemical analysis of SgMDH1 activities against oxaloacetate, as well as in vivo increased malate concentrations in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), soybean (Glycine max) hairy roots, and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) with SgMDH1 overexpression. Furthermore, SgMDH1 overexpression conferred Mn tolerance in Arabidopsis, which was accompanied by increased malate exudation and reduced plant Mn concentrations, suggesting that secreted malate could alleviate Mn toxicity in plants. Taken together, we conclude that the superior Mn tolerance of S. guianensis is achieved by coordination of internal and external Mn detoxification through malate synthesis and exudation, which is regulated by SgMDH1 at both transcription and protein levels.
Curcumin half analog modulates interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in inflammatory bowel disease

Background: The present study was aimed at examining the effect of dehydrozingerone (DHZ), half analogue of curcumin which is the active constituent of turmeric (Curcuma longa) in the di-nitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) induced model for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats (200–220 g) were divided into four groups (n = 6). Chemical induction of IBD was done by sensitizing with 300 µL of 20 g/L of DNCB (in acetone) onto the nape of rats for 14 days followed by intra-colonic instillation of 250 µL of DNCB (0.1% DNCB in 50% alcohol) solution on day 15. Rats in Group 1 (normal control) and Group 2 (DNCB control) were treated with vehicle. Rats in Group 3 were treated with DHZ (100 mg/kg, p.o.; 8 days) and Group 4 animals were treated with sulfasalazine (SS) (100 mg/kg, p.o.; 8 days). On 24th day, the rats were killed, colon removed and the macroscopic, biochemical, and histopathological evaluations were performed. Results: The levels of myeloperoxidase, thiobarbituric acid reactive substrate, and nitrite increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the DNCB group whereas reduced significantly in the DHZ and SS treated groups. Serum nitrite levels were found to be insignificant between the different groups. Interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha level was significantly high in the DNCB group. Conclusion: These findings show that DHZ can be a promising molecule for the treatment of IBD.
An investigation of thermo-fluid dynamic performance of a Stirling engine regenerator by means of OpenFOAM

A good design of the regenerator of a Stirling engine is required to obtain high performance and efficiency of such an engine. The regenerator is basically a heat-exchanger placed between the hot and cold working streams. It usually consists of stacked woven wires. The fluid pressure drop and heat transfer are the main parameters of the regenerator influencing the engine performance. In this work, friction coefficient, thermal efficiency and Nusselt number are numerically evaluated in order to assess the performance of the regenerator. The open-source software OpenFOAM is used to analyse the thermo-fluid dynamic behaviour of a regenerator wire netting at different Reynolds numbers. Firstly, isothermal air flows and adiabatic wire matrices are considered, by assuming the fluid flowing through the regenerator as incompressible. Then, air flows with a fluid temperature of 500 K and wires at a temperature of 300 K are analysed. The results are compared with those obtained by means of the commercial software Ansys Fluent.
Specialized syncope evaluation.

The concept of specialized cardiovascular care is not new. Nearly 4 decades ago, Killip and Kimball1 reported the results of their study of the treatment of 250 patients with myocardial infarction in a coronary care unit. With continuous ECG monitoring at a centralized nursing station, defibrillators at each bedside, and nurses authorized to deliver precordial shocks if physicians did not respond fast enough, the mortality rate was reduced from 26% to 7%. 1 A classification scheme for heart failure severity was developed, and the authors ultimately concluded that the coronary care unit was critical to the timely recognition and treatment of potentially lethal arrhythmias. See p 3636 During the ensuing decades, expert coronary care has been extended to the emergency department, where specialized units or critical pathways are used to provide expedited, high-quality care for a variety of cardiovascular symptoms and diagnoses, including chest pain, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke. The goals of this specialized care are to provide more efficient, higher-quality health care for less money by reducing unnecessary hospital admissions, hastening diagnosis, increasing diagnostic yield, and decreasing adverse outcomes. For a specialized plan of care to be realistic, the diagnosis should be relatively common, require immediate evaluation, and have significant associated morbidity, mortality, or both if left untreated or misdiagnosed. As an example, critical pathways for the management of acute chest pain have succeeded at improving care for patients at low or intermediate risk for myocardial ischemia. A strategy of early diagnostic testing including the measurement of serum cardiac enzymes and the performance of exercise testing in selected patients within 6 hours of presentation can lead to clinically important reductions in admission rates and number of hospital days without increasing adverse outcomes.2,3 Like chest pain, syncope is a common symptom among patients presenting …
Fast and Accurate Deep Network Learning by Exponential Linear Units (ELUs)

We introduce the "exponential linear unit" (ELU) which speeds up learning in deep neural networks and leads to higher classification accuracies. Like rectified linear units (ReLUs), leaky ReLUs (LReLUs) and parametrized ReLUs (PReLUs), ELUs alleviate the vanishing gradient problem via the identity for positive values. However, ELUs have improved learning characteristics compared to the units with other activation functions. In contrast to ReLUs, ELUs have negative values which allows them to push mean unit activations closer to zero like batch normalization but with lower computational complexity. Mean shifts toward zero speed up learning by bringing the normal gradient closer to the unit natural gradient because of a reduced bias shift effect. While LReLUs and PReLUs have negative values, too, they do not ensure a noise-robust deactivation state. ELUs saturate to a negative value with smaller inputs and thereby decrease the forward propagated variation and information. Therefore, ELUs code the degree of presence of particular phenomena in the input, while they do not quantitatively model the degree of their absence. In experiments, ELUs lead not only to faster learning, but also to significantly better generalization performance than ReLUs and LReLUs on networks with more than 5 layers. On CIFAR-100 ELUs networks significantly outperform ReLU networks with batch normalization while batch normalization does not improve ELU networks. ELU networks are among the top 10 reported CIFAR-10 results and yield the best published result on CIFAR-100, without resorting to multi-view evaluation or model averaging. On ImageNet, ELU networks considerably speed up learning compared to a ReLU network with the same architecture, obtaining less than 10% classification error for a single crop, single model network.
Role of Deacetylase Activity of N-Deacetylase/N-Sulfotransferase 1 in Forming N-Sulfated Domain in Heparan Sulfate*

Background: N-Deacetylase/N-Sulfotransferase is a bifunctional enzyme in the heparan sulfate biosynthetic pathway. Results: N-Deacetylase and N-sulfotransferase domains display cooperative effects as a bifunctional enzyme; individually expressed N-deacetylase and N-sulfotransferase domains do not exhibit the same level of cooperativity. Conclusion: The bifunctionality of N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase is required to form N-S domain in heparan sulfate. Significance: This work uncovers the process by which NDST-1 constructs functional heparan sulfate. Heparan sulfate (HS) is a highly sulfated polysaccharide that plays important physiological roles. The biosynthesis of HS involves a series of enzymes, including glycosyltransferases (or HS polymerase), epimerase, and sulfotransferases. N-Deacetylase/N-Sulfotransferase isoform 1 (NDST-1) is a critical enzyme in this pathway. NDST-1, a bifunctional enzyme, displays N-deacetylase and N-sulfotransferase activities to convert an N-acetylated glucosamine residue to an N-sulfo glucosamine residue. Here, we report the cooperative effects between N-deacetylase and N-sulfotransferase activities. Using baculovirus expression in insect cells, we obtained three recombinant proteins: full-length NDST-1 and the individual N-deacetylase and N-sulfotransferase domains. Structurally defined oligosaccharide substrates were synthesized to test the substrate specificities of the enzymes. We discovered that N-deacetylation is the limiting step and that interplay between the N-sulfotransferase and N-deacetylase accelerates the reaction. Furthermore, combining the individually expressed N-deacetylase and N-sulfotransferase domains produced different sulfation patterns when compared with that made by the NDST-1 enzyme. Our data demonstrate the essential role of domain cooperation within NDST-1 in producing HS with specific domain structures.
A smoothing expectation and substitution algorithm for the semiparametric accelerated failure time frailty model

This paper proposes an estimation procedure for the semiparametric accelerated failure time frailty model that combines smoothing with an Expectation and Maximization‐like algorithm for estimating equations. The resulting algorithm permits simultaneous estimation of the regression parameter, the baseline cumulative hazard, and the parameter indexing a general frailty distribution. We develop novel moment‐based estimators for the frailty parameter, including a generalized method of moments estimator. Standard error estimates for all parameters are easily obtained using a randomly weighted bootstrap procedure. For the commonly used gamma frailty distribution, the proposed algorithm is very easy to implement using widely available numerical methods. Simulation results demonstrate that the algorithm performs very well in this setting. We re‐analyz several previously analyzed data sets for illustrative purposes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Electronic Interactions: How Students and Teachers Organize Schooling Over the Wires

Abstract This article examines features of electronic mail discourse among sixth‐grade students and their teachers. Face‐to‐face and electronic interactions were observed at a school over a 2‐year period before and after the implementation of a local area network system that supported both local and long‐distance communication. Face‐to‐face and electronic conversations were often interwoven. Electronic mail shared many characteristics with other communication media such as the use of metacommunication, print genres, and the recognition of social status. Electronic mail discourse differed from face‐to‐face discourse in terms of who initiated turns and topics, the time frame for responses, privacy, and access to others. Taken together, these similarities and differences resulted in hybrid discourse features that hold promise for creating alternative classroom structures.
Single‐Junction Binary‐Blend Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells with 12.1% Efficiency

A new fluorinated nonfullerene acceptor, ITIC‐Th1, has been designed and synthesized by introducing fluorine (F) atoms onto the end‐capping group 1,1‐dicyanomethylene‐3‐indanone (IC). On the one hand, incorporation of F would improve intramolecular interaction, enhance the push–pull effect between the donor unit indacenodithieno[3,2‐b]thiophene and the acceptor unit IC due to electron‐withdrawing effect of F, and finally adjust energy levels and reduce bandgap, which is beneficial to light harvesting and enhancing short‐circuit current density (JSC). On the other hand, incorporation of F would improve intermolecular interactions through CF···S, CF···H, and CF···π noncovalent interactions and enhance electron mobility, which is beneficial to enhancing JSC and fill factor. Indeed, the results show that fluorinated ITIC‐Th1 exhibits redshifted absorption, smaller optical bandgap, and higher electron mobility than the nonfluorinated ITIC‐Th. Furthermore, nonfullerene organic solar cells (OSCs) based on fluorinated ITIC‐Th1 electron acceptor and a wide‐bandgap polymer donor FTAZ based on benzodithiophene and benzotriazole exhibit power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 12.1%, significantly higher than that of nonfluorinated ITIC‐Th (8.88%). The PCE of 12.1% is the highest in fullerene and nonfullerene‐based single‐junction binary‐blend OSCs. Moreover, the OSCs based on FTAZ:ITIC‐Th1 show much better efficiency and better stability than the control devices based on FTAZ:PC71BM (PCE = 5.22%).
Preparation and Gas Sensing Properties of SnO2 Hollow Nanostructures

Gas sensor can be used to detect, monitor, monitor, analyze and alarm. It has very important application value in industry, national defense, food safety and medical examination. Among the gas sensors, the semiconductor resistance type gas sensor has many advantages, such as high sensitivity, fast response, small size, light weight, easy to carry, and so on. As one of the widely used gas sensing materials, SnO2 has been a hot spot in the research and application in 60s, and it has been developing rapidly. SnO2 is one of the most common gas sensitive materials, with physical and chemical properties of gas detection and stability; reversible adsorption and desorption time is short; low cost, energy saving and other advantages, is widely used in the detection of various gas sensitive devices. However, the disadvantages of high working temperature and poor selectivity of SnO2 make it need to be further improved as gas sensitive material. The gas sensing mechanism of semiconductor gas sensitive material is mostly controlled by the surface, which is embodied in: increasing the specific surface area of the material and enhancing the gas sensing performance. At present, the main method of increasing the specific surface area of the material is nano scale. In this paper, the preparation and gas sensing properties of porous and hollow structure SnO2 are mainly discussed on the basis of particle size. Porous structure facilitates the increase of the specific surface area of the material, providing a larger surface area and volume ratio for the material, which is of great benefit to the diffusion and transportation of the gas being measured. Nano hollow structure has a thin shell; the inner and outer surface provides a high surface area and volume ratio, so that the sensor has a faster response and recovery speed, and higher sensitivity. Using carbon micro spheres as hard templates, the structure of SnO2 was successfully prepared by using different raw materials ratio and hydrothermal conditions. The composition and morphology of SnO2 were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and so on. The study of gas sensitivity shows that the SnO2 of the hollow classification structure can show good gas sensitivity, which has the advantages of high sensitivity, good selectivity and strong stability.
Trade Dynamics in the Market for Federal Funds

We develop a model of the market for federal funds that explicitly accounts for its two distinctive features: banks have to search for a suitable counterparty, and once they meet, both parties negotiate the size of the loan and the repayment. The theory is used to answer a number of positive and normative questions: What are the determinants of the fed funds rate? How does the market reallocate funds? Is the market able to achieve an efficient reallocation of funds? We also use the model for theoretical and quantitative analyses of policy issues facing modern central banks.
Control and Estimation Algorithms for the Stabilization of VTOL UAVs from Mono-Camera Measurements T

This paper concerns the control of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based on exteroceptive measurements obtained from a mono-camera vision system. By assuming the existence of a locally planar structure in the field of view of the UAV’s videocamera, the so-called homography matrix can be used to represent the vehicle’s motion between two views of the structure. In this paper we report recent results on both the problem of homography estimation from the fusion of visual and inertial data and the problem of VTOL UAV feedback stabilization from homography measurements
Automatic Text-to-Scene Conversion in the Traffic Accident Domain

In this paper, we describe a system that automatically converts narratives into 3D scenes. The texts, written in Swedish, describe road accidents. One of the program's key features is that it animates the generated scene using temporal relations between the events. We believe that this system is the first text-to-scene converter that is not restricted to invented narratives. The system consists of three modules: natural language interpretation based on information extraction (IE) methods, a planning module that produces a geometric description of the accident, and finally a visualization module that renders the geometric description as animated graphics. An evaluation of the system was carried out in two steps: First, we used standard IE scoring methods to evaluate the language interpretation. The results are on the same level as for similar systems tested previously. Secondly, we performed a small user study to evaluate the quality of the visualization. The results validate our choice of methods, and since this is the first evaluation of a text-to-scene conversion system, they also provide a baseline for further studies.
HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Assessment of Chinese Students: A Questionnaire Study

The objective of this study was to assess students’ knowledge, attitudes and practices on HIV and AIDS. A questionnaire was administered to a cross section of 259 Chinese undergraduates. Respondents were asked to provide information about knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS. Study results indicated that the majority of undergraduates had a moderate level of HIV and AIDS knowledge, acceptance and attitudes towards people with HIV and AIDS. Boys had more acceptance and positive attitudes towards people with HIV and AIDS than girls. Students majoring in medicine performed better (more knowledgeable and accepting) than non-medical students. Differences between students with various monthly expenditures were found-- 6.2% of students had 3–5 sexual partners which has rarely been found in Chinese students; most students did not know HIV VCT centers and most students did not show their confidence for controlling of HIV and AIDS in China. In conclusion, students’ knowledge about HIV/AIDS was uneven. A peer educational program to talk about self esteem, healthy sexual attitudes, being human-accepting and loving should be developed in the near future.