Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Stabilizer on the Microstructures and Photocatalytic Performance of ZnO Nanopowder Synthesized by Sol-Gel Method

Utilizing zinc acetate as precursor, and monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA) and triethanolamine (TEA) as stabilizers, respectively, ZnO nanoparticles with uniformly distributed grains were synthesized by sol-gel method at different sintering temperatures. Analysis of the degradation of methyl orange by photocatalysis shows that utilizing MEA as the stabilizer and 550°C as the sintering temperature results in smaller grain size, greater surface-to-volume ratio, and a density of surface defects suitable for a photocatalyst. The greatest photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange was achieved under UV irradiation. Based on our microstructural analysis and photocatalysis, the microstructure of ZnO particles and, in turn, their photocatalytic effect are affected significantly by the stabilizer type and the sintering temperature.
Inattentional blindness for negative relationships in human causal learning

The present study focuses on the effect of selective attention on causal learning. Three effects of the level of attention to predictive symptoms in positive and negative contingency learning tasks are reported. First, participants accurately detected a positive relationship between an incidental cue and a contingent outcome, although judgements were slightly lower than those for the attended cue. Second, participants were unable to detect negative relationships between incidental cues and outcomes, which suggests a major role of selective attention in this type of learning. Third, participants retrieved the frequency of each trial type more accurately in the attended conditions than in the incidental conditions. These findings show how attention guides and constrains human causal learning and reveal an inattentional blindness effect for negative contingency learning.
The effects of thermochromic pigments on optical, mechanical, and heat insulation properties of plasticized PVC window film

In this study, a feasibility for developing window films for energy efficiency in building based on poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) composite was explored, using two different types of thermochromic pigments, such as vanadium dioxide (VO2) and thermoreversal-40. Using VO2, tensile properties of the PVC film improved, accompanied with an increase of percentage gelation of PVC. On the other hand, thermochromic behaviors, in the visible light region of the PVC/thermoreversal-40 film, were more obvious than those of the PVC/VO2 analog. The percentage of transmittance of the near infrared wave through the PVC/VO2 film was much lower than that transmitted through the PVC/thermoreversal-40 film. The above improvement was achieved at the expense of the thermal stability of the PVC film.
Galaxy formation in pre-processed dark haloes

Recent N-body simulations show that the formation of a present-day, galaxy-sized dark matter halo in the cold dark matter (CDM) cosmogony in general consists of an early fast-collapse phase, during which the potential associated with a halo is established, followed by a slow-accretion phase, during which mass is added gently in the outer region. In this paper, we consider the implication of such a halo assemble history for galaxy formation. We outline a scenario in which the fast-collapse phase is accompanied by the rapid formation of cold clouds and by starbursts that can eject a large amount of gas from the halo centre. The loss of orbital energy of the cold clouds to the dark matter and the ejection of gas from the halo centre by starbursts can significantly reduce the halo concentration. The outflow from the starburst can also heat the gas in the protogalaxy region. Subsequent formation of galaxies in the slow-accretion regime is therefore in haloes that have been pre-processed by these processes and may have properties different from that given by N-body simulations. This scenario can help to solve several outstanding problems in the standard ACDM model of galaxy formation without compromising its success in allowing structure formation at high redshift. The predicted rotation curves can be significantly flatter than those based on the halo profiles obtained from N-body simulations, alleviating the discrepancy of the Tully-Fisher relation predicted in the standard ACDM model with observations. The flattened galaxy haloes allow accreted minihaloes to survive in their central regions for longer, a fact that may be helpful in producing the flux anomalies observed in some gravitational lensing systems. The preheating by the early starbursts effectively reduces the amount of gas that can be accreted into galaxy haloes, which may explain why the baryon fraction in a spiral galaxy is in general much lower than the universal baryon fraction, f B ∼0.16, in the standard ACDM model.
Dioxin-like potency of HO- and MeO- analogues of PBDEs' the potential risk through consumption of fish from eastern China.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and their analogues, such as hydroxylated PBDE (HO-PBDEs) and methoxylated PBDE (MeO-PBDEs) are of interest due to their wide distribution, bioaccumulation and potential toxicity to humans and wildlife. While information on the toxicity/biological potencies of PBDEs was available, information on analogues of PBDEs was limited. Dioxin-like toxicity of 34 PBDEs analogues was evaluated by use of the H4IIE-luc, rat hepatoma transactivation bioassay in 384-well plate format at concentrations ranging from 0 to 10 000 ng/mL. Among the 34 target analogues of PBDEs studied here, 19 activated the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and induced significant dioxin-like responses in H4IIE-luc cells. Efficacies of the analogues of PBDEs ranged from 5.0% to 101.8% of the maximum response caused by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD-max) and their respective 2,3,7,8-TCDD potency factors (ReP(H4IIE-luc)) ranged from 7.35 × 10(-12) to 4.00 × 10(-4), some of which were equal to or more potent than some mono-ortho-substituted PCBs (TEF-(WHO) = 3 × 10(-5)). HO-PBDEs exhibited greater dioxin-like activity than did the corresponding MeO-PBDEs. Analogues of PBDEs were detected mostly in marine organisms. Of these 11 detected analogues of PBDEs, 6 were found to have measurable dioxin-like potency. Though some analogues of PBDEs exhibited significant dioxin-like potency as measured by responses of the H4IIE-luc transactivation assay, concentrations of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) equivalents ((PBDEs analogues)TEQ(H4IIE-luc)), calculated as the sum of the product of concentrations of individual PBDE and their ReP(H4IIE-luc), were less than the tolerance limit proposed by European Union and the oral reference dose (RfD) derived by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, respectively. (Hazard Quotients (HQ) < 0.005) Additional investigations should be conducted to evaluate the toxic potencies of these chemicals, especially for 2'-MeO-BDE-28, 4-HO-BDE-90, 6-HO-BDE-47, and 6-MeO-BDE-47, which had been detected in other environmental media, including human blood.
A Flexible Harmonic Control Approach Through Voltage-Controlled DG–Grid Interfacing Converters

The increased penetration of nonlinear loads and power-electronics-based distributed generation (DG) systems may introduce power quality issues to the distribution power system. However, if controlled and regulated properly, the DG-grid interfacing converters are able to improve the distribution system efficiency and power quality. This paper focuses on the distribution system harmonic control through the DG-grid interfacing converters. Two alternative DG systems, namely, current-controlled DG and voltage-controlled DG, are considered. While most of the previous works on harmonic compensation are based on the current-controlled method, a novel harmonic control scheme using a voltage-controlled method is developed in this paper. The voltage-controlled method is more flexible and has similar compensation performance compared to the conventional current-controlled method. In addition, by avoiding the implementation of a harmonic current tracking loop, the proposed voltage-based method can be seamlessly incorporated into a voltage-controlled DG unit, which is important to provide direct voltage and frequency support in a microgrid. Moreover, the possible harmonic circulating current among multiple DG systems is also investigated in this paper. Simulations and experimental results from a three-phase 5-kVA laboratory DG prototype are provided to validate the discussion.
UFR-HEP 01 / 01 D-branes on Noncommutative Orbifolds

We study tachyon condensation on noncommutative toric orbifolds with a Z2 discrete group and explore the various kinds of brane bound states arising in the case of irrational values of the B-field. We show that Z2 symmetry of the orbifolds incorporates naturally anti-branes in the spectrum and leads to equivalent results as those obtained by starting from an original pair of D-D system on quantum torii. A specific analysis is deserved to the irrational representation of NC orbifolds and to the unstable bound states generated by the condensation.
A Serotype V Clone Is Predominant among Erythromycin-Resistant Streptococcus agalactiae Isolates in a Southwestern Region of Germany

ABSTRACT One hundred ninety-three Streptococcus agalactiae isolates of neonatal origin and 146 isolates from adult women were analyzed for macrolide resistance and investigated for clonality. Among erythromycin-resistant isolates, serotype V turned out to be the most frequent. Comparative pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis revealed genetic clustering of resistant strains and predominance of a single clone family within an otherwise heterogeneous serotype V population.
Secondary absorbed doses from light ion irradiation in anthropomorphic phantoms representing an adult male and a 10 year old child

Secondary organ absorbed doses were calculated by Monte Carlo simulations with the SHIELD-HIT07 code coupled with the mathematical anthropomorphic phantoms CHILD-HIT and ADAM-HIT. The simulated irradiations were performed with primary 1H, 4He, 7Li, 12C and 16O ion beams in the energy range 100–400 MeV/u which were directly impinging on the phantoms, i.e. approximating scanned beams, and with a simplified beamline for 12C irradiation. The evaluated absorbed doses to the out-of-field organs were in the range 10−6 to 10−1 mGy per target Gy and with standard deviations 0.5–20%. While the contribution to the organ absorbed doses from secondary neutrons dominated in the ion beams of low atomic number Z, the produced charged fragments and their subsequent charged secondaries of higher generations became increasingly important for the secondary dose delivery as Z of the primary ions increased. As compared to the simulated scanned 12C ion beam, the implementation of a simplified beamline for prostate irradiation with 12C ions resulted in an increase of 2–50 times in the organ absorbed doses depending on the distance from the target volume. Comparison of secondary organ absorbed doses delivered by 1H and 12C beams showed smaller differences when the RBE for local tumor control of the ions was considered and normalization to the RBE-weighted dose to the target was performed.
Assessment of systolic aortic pressure and its association to all cause mortality critically depends on waveform calibration

Background: The aim of this study is the prospective investigation of the association of brachial SBP (bSBP) and aortic SBP (aSBP) to all-cause mortality, with special emphasis on different calibration methods for central pressure estimates, in particular, brachial systolic and diastolic, as well as brachial mean and diastolic pressures. Method: One hundred and fifty-nine patients were enrolled in a longitudinal, prospective study of arterial stiffness and cardiovascular risk in a chronic kidney disease stages 2–4 cohort. Office measurements of bSBP and aSBP were assessed by a validated oscillometric device. Prognostic factors of survival were identified by use of Cox proportional-hazards regression models. Results: After a mean follow-up duration of 42 months (range 30–50 months), 13 patients died. In univariate Cox analysis, bSBP and aSBP calibrated using bSBP and bDBP did not significantly predict mortality, only aSBP assessed using measured mean and diastolic pressure calibration was significantly associated with mortality (hazard ratio 1.027, P = 0.008). This remained significant in multivariate analysis after adjustment for age, sex, and anthropometric measures. More important, adding bSBP to the multivariate model (hazard ratio 0.91, P = 0.003) lead to a significantly increased prognostic power of aortic systolic pressure (hazard ratio 1.097, P < 0.001) and indicated that differences between bSBP and aSBP are of potential interest. Conclusion: Within our cohort, only aSBP assessed with measured mean and diastolic pressure independently predicted mortality and provided additional prognostic value on top of bSBP readings. Therefore, the method of calibration plays an important role for predictive power of aSBP.
Development of an in vivo mouse model of discogenic low back pain

Discogenic low back pain (DLBP) is extremely common and costly. Effective treatments are lacking due to DLBP's unknown pathogenesis. Currently, there are no in vivo mouse models of DLBP, which restricts research in this field. The aim of this study was to establish a reliable DLBP model in mouse that captures the pathological changes in the disc and allows longitudinal pain testing. The model was generated by puncturing the mouse lumbar discs (L4/5, L5/6, and L6/S1) and removing the nucleus pulposus using a microscalpel under the microscope. Histology, molecular pathways, and pain‐related behaviors were examined. Over 12 weeks post‐surgery, animals displayed the mechanical, heat, and cold hyperalgesia along with decreased burrowing and rearing. Histology showed progressive disc degeneration with loss of disc height, nucleus pulposus reduction, proteoglycan depletion, and annular fibrotic disorganization. Immunohistochemistry revealed a substantial increase in inflammatory mediators at 2 and 4 weeks. Nerve growth factor was upregulated from 2 weeks to the end of the experiment. Nerve fiber ingrowth was induced in the injured discs after 4 weeks. Disc‐puncture also produced an upregulation of neuropeptides in dorsal root ganglia neurons and an activation of glial cells in the spinal cord dorsal horn. These findings indicate that the cellular and structural changes in discs, as well as peripheral and central nervous system plasticity, paralleled persistent, and robust behavioral pain responses. Therefore, this mouse DLBP model could be used to investigate mechanisms underlying discogenic pain, thereby facilitating effective drug screening and development of treatments for DLBP.
Thermomechanical characterization of rapid thermal denaturation in load-bearing collagenous cardiac tissues under isometric constraints.

For the first time a novel thermomechanical approach has been used to study the dynamics of the rapid thermal denaturation of two different collagenous tissues (bovine pericardium and mitral chordae tendineae) and the various factors influencing this important event. Specifically, a custom-made, computer-controlled, dynamic hydrothermal isometric tension (DHIT) system allowed for the rapid change of tissue temperature, from 25°C to 90°C in less than 1 s, while the samples are held under isometric constraint. The data for all the experiments were well-fitted using the Levenberg-Marquardt nonlinear least-squares method and a 3-exponential function each having unique time constant taui; and corresponding coefficients (Ci). The data for all tissues revealed that rapid thermal denaturation of the collagenous tissues was a dynamic, 3-step process, and that the first step, as characterized by (tau1) was both the fastest, and the most significant (as indicated by C1) during the entire denaturation process. The reversibility experiments indicated that the rapid step-change in temperature in both collagenous tissues, under isometric and isothermal conditions led to the observation that the first heating cycle resulted in the transformation of ordered, native collagenous tissues into less ordered and rubber elastic materials. The molecular events occurring during the first heating cycle represented the only irreversible transitions; the thermoelastic contraction and relaxation of the rubbery, denatured collagen during the subsequent thermal and cooling cycles occurred in a repeatable manner. The effects of increased loads and various concentrations of NaCl on the dynamics of rapid thermal denaturation indicated that both factors delayed the dynamics of thermal denaturation and, more importantly that the denaturation remained a dynamic 3-staged event. Finally, the DHIT system was used to comparatively investigate the structure-function relations in various load-bearing components of bovine heart including: mitral and tricuspid chordae tendineae, aortic and mitral valves, and pericardium. It was shown that tissues sustaining higher mechanical loads were less thermally stable, perhaps due to a higher level of immature crosslinks than those under lower stress. This new thermomechanical approach demonstrated that rapid thermal denaturation of different collagenous tissues, under isometric constraints and isothermal heating conditions, is a dynamic, largely irreversible, 3-step mechanism.
STUDY ON CAUSE-EFFECT RELATIONS AND OPTIMIZATION OF TABLETS CONTAINING AQUILARIA CRASSNA SPRAY-DRIED EXTRACT

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and optimize the formulation of tablets containing Aquilaria crassna extract using the direct compression method. Methods: D-optimal design based on three independent variables was applied to evaluate the cause-effect relations and optimize the A. crassna tablet formulation. The weight variation (Y 1 ), disintegration time (Y 2 ), hardness (Y 3 ) and friability (Y 4 ) were investigated with respect to three independent variables including % dicalcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA) in filler (X 1 ), % filler (X 2 ) and % croscarmellose sodium (CCNa) (X 3 ). The dissolution study of the optimized A. crassna tablets were investigated in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) (pH 1.2) using a validated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for mangiferin analysis. Results: All investigation factors were found to have significant effects on the physical properties of A. crassna tablet. The tablet hardness and the disintegration time increased in positive relations with the ratios of DCPA. The results exhibited the negative relations between disintegration time and the percentages of CCNa. The optimized A. crassna tablet formulation which included 35 % (w/w) DCPA in filler, 60 % (w/w) filler and 7% (w/w) CCNa possessed the weight variation of 1.38 % (w/w), the disintegration time of 6.29 min, the hardness of 85.63 N and the friability of 0.41 % (w/w). The optimized A. crassna tablet formulation was experimentally examined which demonstrated a good agreement between the experimental and predicted values. Mangiferin was found to release completely from the optimized A. crassna tablets within 30 min. Conclusion: The cause-effect relations and optimization of A. crassna tablet formulation were investigated and reported for the first time. The A. crassna spray-dried extract could be formulated into tablet by direct compression method with good mechanical properties and acceptable release profile.
Comparison of Thoracoscopic Anterior Release Combined With Posterior Spinal Fusion Versus Posterior-only Approach With an All-pedicle Screw Construct in the Treatment of Rigid Thoracic Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Objective: To compare the effect of thoracoscopic anterior release combined with posterior spinal fusion and posterior-only approach with an all-pedicle screw construct in the treatment of rigid thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Methods: From June 2001 to June 2010, 63 patients who were admitted to our hospital with thoracic Cobb angle ≥80 degrees and the flexibility ⩽40% were enrolled in our study. They were treated with either a combined anterior/posterior spinal fusion with hooks and screws (group A, n=25) or a posterior spinal fusion alone with an all-pedicle screw construct (group B, n=38). The thoracic Cobb angle in the standing whole-spine anteroposterior x-ray, thoracic kyphosis (T5–T12) Cobb angle, imaging examination parameters, fixation segments, implant density, and complications between the 2 groups were compared. Results: There were no significant differences in operation time, bleeding volume, length of hospital stay, preoperative coronal, sagittal Cobb, coronal curve flexibility, or postoperative coronal Cobb correction ratio between the 2 groups. Moreover, no significant difference in the Scoliosis Research Society-22 score at the last follow-up was present in the 2 groups, although it had been improved compared with that presented during the preoperative period. The implant density of group A (44±4%) was significantly lower than that of group B (55±5%) (P<0.001). In group A, the main complication was chylothorax (n=2) and hemopneumothorax (n=2). In group B, acute intestinal obstruction was observed in 2 patients and pleural effusion was observed in 1 patient. In addition, 12 screws were misplaced (12/403, 3.0%) in group B. Conclusions: In patients with rigid thoracic adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, posterior-only approach with an all-pedicle screw construct could achieve the same curve correction as a combined anterior/posterior spinal fusion by increasing the implant density. However, for scoliosis patients with a high risk of implant complications, anterior release combined with posterior spinal fusion is still recommended.