Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reliable seawater battery anode: controlled sodium nucleation via deactivation of the current collector surface

Seawater battery, which consists of a Na metal anode and a seawater cathode, has highly attractive features because of its eco-friendliness in use of seawater and cost-effectiveness in the use of Na, the 6th most abundant element of the Earth's crust. Herein, we demonstrate a reliable Na metal anode for the seawater battery by covering the Cu current collector with a graphene monolayer. The surface of the chemically uniform graphene-coated current collector facilitates control of the nucleation rate of surficial Na metal at the initial stage and enhances the coulombic efficiency in current collector|separator|Na metal cells by lowering the nucleation and plating potentials. Further deliberate modification of the graphene surface by using O2 plasma and thermal treatments supports the significance of the homogeneity of the interface of the current collector. Problematically, heterogeneous Cu surfaces covered with islands of oxide layers significantly altered the surface morphology of plated Na metal and consequently resulted in the decrease in electrochemical performance due to the impeding effect on Na ion diffusion near the current collector surface. Through successful implantation of the graphene-coated Cu current collector as an anode in the seawater battery, the battery performance drastically improved, which was confirmed by monitoring the discharge/charge performance and durability of LED lighting.
Persistent growth of anthropogenic NMVOC emissions in China during 1990-2017: drivers, speciation, and ozone formation potential

Abstract. Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) are important ozone and secondary organic aerosol precursors and play important roles in tropospheric chemistry. In this work, we estimated the total and speciated NMVOC emissions from China’s anthropogenic sources during 1990–2017 by using a bottom-up emission inventory framework, and investigated the main drivers behind the trends. We found that, anthropogenic NMVOC emissions in China have been increased continuously since 1990 due to the dramatic growth in activity rates and absence of effective control measures. We estimated that, anthropogenic NMVOC emissions in China increased from 9.76 Tg in 1990 to 28.5 Tg in 2017, mainly driven by persistent growth from the industry sector and solvent use. In the meanwhile, emissions from the residential and transportation sectors declined after 2005, partly offset the total emission increase. During 1990–2017, mass-based emissions of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatics, oxygenated VOCs (OVOC) and other species increased by 274 %, 88 %, 4 %, 387 %, 91 %, and 231 % respectively. Following the growth in total NMVOC emissions, the corresponding ozone formation potential (OFP) increased form 38.2 Tg-O 3 in 1990 to 99.7 Tg-O 3 in 2017. We estimated that aromatics accounted for the largest share (43 %) of total OFP, followed by alkenes (37 %) and OVOC (10 %). Growth in China's NMVOC emissions were mainly driven by the transportation sector before 2000, while industrial sector and solvent use dominated the emission growth during 2000–2010. After 2010, although emissions from the industry sector and solvent use kept growing, strict control measures on transportation and fuel transition in residential stoves have successfully slowed down the increase trend, especially after the implementation of China's clean air action since 2013. However, compared to large emission decreases of other criteria air pollutants in China (e.g., SO 2 , NO x , and primary PM) during 2013–2017, the relatively flat trend in NMVOC emissions and OFP revealed the absence of effective control measures, which might have contributed to the increase of ozone during the same period. Given their high contributions to emissions and OFP, tailored control measures for solvent use and industrial sources should be developed, and collaborative control strategies should be designed to mitigate both PM 2.5 and ozone pollution simultaneously.
Driver assistance system for lane departure avoidance by steering and differential braking

Lane departure avoidance systems assist actively the driver during inattention or drowsiness and increase driving safety. Most of the lane departure avoidance systems use for the lateral control of the vehicle in closed loop a DC motor similar to the electrical powered steering (EPS) assistance. Important difficulties and limits of this approach are the shared control with the driver on the steering wheel and the vehicle handling at limits. In this paper a combined lateral control using a DC motor on the steering wheel and the differential braking control is investigated to keep the vehicle on the lane. The main objective is to develop lateral control laws which allow a repartition of the control effort in real time between the steering by the steering angle and the steering by the differential braking. This could facilitate a better interaction with the driver and avoid for instance tires saturation, steering angle saturation or excessive lateral accelerations. A joint design of the steering angle control and of the lateral control by differential braking is ensured by minimizing the vehicle reachability set. This is achieved by means of a quadratic Lyapunov function and LMI methods. Preliminary simulation results illustrate the approach and show a very good performance to avoid the lane departure even during curve negotiation.
Effects of rubber alley flooring on cow locomotion and welfare

This study investigated the effects of rubber alley flooring on cow locomotion, claw and leg health, production, cleanliness, grooming behaviour and cow exclusion rate in a free stall herd. The study was conducted in a new dairy house with a rotary milking system, with a matched group of cows on traditional scraped concrete alleys used for comparison. All claws were trimmed and lesions recorded at the beginning and end of the 4-month study. Locomotion, claw and leg health, behaviour and hygiene were observed and scored at regular intervals during the study. The results showed that cows on rubber alley floors displayed significantly (p<0.001) less lameness than cows housed on concrete. By the end of the study, the risk of disturbed locomotion was at least threefold higher in cows kept on concrete than in those on rubber floors. The results also revealed a negative effect of claw trimming on cow locomotion, with cows in both groups having a higher locomotion score (indicating more severe lameness) after trimming than before. Two out of five cows improved their locomotion after being moved to the rubber floor group due to sore feet. Cows on rubber floors had more heel horn erosion, but the majority was of a mild form. Only sole ulcers had a slight tendency to affect locomotion. Hair loss on the hocks was the most common hock injury in both groups and, together with hock ulcers, was more common in the cows on concrete. All cows became cleaner during the study period, but cleanliness did not differ between the two treatments. Social grooming behaviour was significantly more common in the cows on rubber, but milk production was not affected by flooring, possibly owing to differences in feeding systems. The number of excluded cows was greater in the concrete group, mainly owing to thin soles.
A New Generalized Multilevel Converter Topology With Reduced Voltage on Switches, Power losses, and Components

In this paper, a new submultilevel converter (SMC) is introduced first. Then, the cascaded structure based on the series connection of proposed SMCs is presented. The proposed cascade topology can generate all possible levels at output voltage waveform. In order to show the advantages of the presented topology, the comparison results with recently proposed multilevel converters are provided. According to the comparison results, it is indicated that the proposed structure requires the least number of power switches and dc sources. Also, the total blocked voltage by the switches and power losses of the proposed cascade topology is less than other topologies. The presented topology can be used in high-voltage applications. In order to verify the performance of the presented topology, the experimental and simulation works are provided.
A critical review of research and practice in data-driven learning (DDL) in the academic writing
 classroom

Since the late 1980s, there has been a growing interest in the direct application of corpora, or data-driven learning (DDL), in language education. This relatively novel teaching approach has been particularly applied in the teaching and learning of English for Academic Purposes (EAP)/academic writing, especially since the turn of the century. This paper synthesizes and evaluates the research progress in the field of EAP/academic writing since the year 2000 by critically reviewing 37 empirical studies focussing on applications of DDL in this context. Based on the critical review and a discussion of some contentious issues, a set of five recommendations for the way forward in DDL research and practice for EAP/academic writing is presented.
Facilitating organisational learning activities: Types of organisational culture and their influence on organisational learning and performance

ABSTRACT This study aimed to identify the relationship between organisational culture (OC) and organisational learning (OL), and explore the mediation role of OL on OC and performance in a Korean context. This study applied four cultural types, namely, clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy, to assess OC and used a 4I framework (intuiting, interpreting, integrating, and institutionalising) to measure OL. Data were collected on management groups working in listed private sector Korean companies, and 527 responses were analysed. To test nine hypotheses, model measurement and structural equation model analysis were conducted. The research found that clan and adhocracy cultures had strong positive relationships with OL, while market and hierarchy cultures showed no significant relationships with OL. OL activities were fully mediated between clan and adhocracy cultures and organisational performance. OL enhances organisational performance, and management needs to develop workplace learning tools accordingly, particularly in fostering clan and adhocracy cultures.
Cultivation of Haematococcus pluvialis for astaxanthin production on angled bench-scale and large-scale biofilm-based photobioreactors

The green microalga, Haematococcus pluvialis, is currently cultivated for natural astaxanthin in suspended systems. Immobilised cultivation in a twin-layer (TL) porous substrate bioreactor is a potential revolution in microalgal biotechnology worldwide. For the first time in Vietnam, small-scale (0.05 m2) and large-scale (2 m2) biofilm-based photobioreactor systems arranged at an angle of 150 were successfully designed, assembled, and operated; the temperature, humidity, air, and light conditions for H. pluvialiscultivation were successfully controlled. Studies were conducted of both systems to determine theoptimal storage time of algae after harvest from suspension before inoculation into the TL system, carbon dioxide supply method, light intensity, and initial cell density. In the 0.05 m2 and 2 m2 systems, dry biomass productivity reached 12 g m-2 d-1 (3% astaxanthin content in the dry biomass) and 11.25 g m-2 d-1 (2.8% astaxanthin) after 10 days of cultivation. The 2 m2biofilm-based photobioreactor system provides many advantages in scaling up astaxanthin production from H. pluvialis.
Influence of leakage of air hole on flow and heat transfer in recuperator

ABSTRACT In this article, three-dimensional periodic numerical model for fully developed flow in a cross wavy primary surface recuperator for a micro-gas turbine system is built. Influence of leakage of air hole on flow and heat transfer of high temperature gas core and compressed air core was analyzed. The results of analysis show that with leakage of air hole considered, flow velocity of compressed air from air hole flowing into gas core is far greater than that of high temperature gas. In addition, the flow is opposite to each other. As a result, the flow resistance in gas channel increases. With leakage of air hole considered, heat convection between gas core and air core weakens. When the diameter of air hole increases by 50 μm, maximum temperature in gas core increases by 1 K in a period. The performance of heat recovery for regenerator is degraded. Thermal ratio decreases with the improvement the diameter of air hole. When the diameter of air hole increases by 50 μm, thermal ratio decreases by about 0.3%. The flow in the gas and air channel is anti-symmetry along the center of channel. The flow of fluid is fluctuant. The flow velocity of gas is much larger than that of air. The research results can be used to guide checking the performance of a recuperator.
Effect of Tryptophan , Ascorbic Acids and Super Max Different Rates on Vegetative Growth and Flowering Spathiphyllum Wallsi l.

A pot experiment was conducted at greenhouse in Ornamental Horticulture, Res, Inst, Agric. Res Center, Giza Egypt, during two successive seasons of 2014 and 2015. The aim of this investigation was to study the effect of amino acids (tryptophan, ascorbic acids and super max) at different rates 250, 500 and 750 ppm on Spathiphyllum productivity and quality. Seedlings cultivated in pot with 30 cm diameter filled with 10 (kg) mixture of compost: clay: sand, 1:1:1). The statically analysis of experiment were a complete randomized design with three replicates for each treatment and each replicate had six plants. The results indicated that the different foliar treatments increased growth measured parameters, i.e. plant height (cm), number of leaves/ plant, number of branches/plant, leaf area (cm), fresh and dry weight of leaves (g/plant), length of root (cm), number of root /plant, fresh and dry weight of root, Spathe length (cm) and fresh and dry weight of Spathe (g/plant), in Spathiphyllum plants with increasing super max , tryptophan and ascorbic acid foliar spray rates during two seasons. Flowering stalk (cm) and flowering date of Spathiphyllum significantly affect by super max, treptophan and ascorbic acids than control. On the other hand, the concentrations of N, P and K (%) and carbohydrates in Spathiphyllum plants increased with increasing different rates of super max than other amino acids and control. Finely, from these results could use super max with 750 ppm foliar spray gave best growth and flowering parameters and quality of Spathiphyllum plants.
Soybean seeds treated with single walled carbon nanotubes (SwCNTs) showed enhanced drought tolerance during germination

Drought cause yield loss of soybean production is the major reason to yield losing of soybean. To improve the germination and growth of soybean seeds under drought stress; We studied the effect of the single walled carbon nanotubes (SwCNTs) material in seed germination and the physiological changes occurred under drought condition, performed SwCNTs treatments in soybean (Zhonghuang 35) seeds at PEG drought stress, evaluated the germination, root and shoot length, fresh weight, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and the contents of maleic dialdehyde (MDA), ascorbic acid (AsA) and H2O2. The results showed that under osmotic potentials of 0, -0.3, -0.6 with PEG 6000, the germination percentage of SwCNTs-treated seeds was higher than the control treatment (SwCNTs-untreated seeds). The fresh weight of SwCNTs-treated seeds were evidently higher than that of the controls under the osmotic potentials of 0, -0.3, -0.6 MPa. The root and shoot length were also longer than control in SwCNTs-treated seeds at 0,-0.3, -0.6 MPa (P
Comparison of Chemical Cross-Linkers with Branched and Linear Molecular Structures for Stabilization of Graphene Oxide Membranes and Their Performance in Ethanol Dehydration

We report the fabrication of cross-linked graphene oxide (GO) membranes and their use for dehydration of ethanol by vapor permeation. Two compounds with branched structures, namely, a humic acid-like substance derived from urban waste and a synthetic hyperbranched polyol, were used as cross-linkers. Relatively small amounts of branched cross-linkers are able to stabilize GO membranes as compared with previously reported poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Supported cross-linked GO films were prepared by rod coating on polyethersulphone ultrafiltration membranes. The membranes showed a significantly higher permeance for water than for ethanol, and the water selectivity factor was found to increase with temperature in the range 30–60 °C, with the branched cross-linkers showing a higher water flux than that of PEG and similar to that of pristine GO, indicating lesser hindrance to water transport. The membranes were also able to dehydrate ethanol–water mixtures, producing retentates that had an ethanol fraction grea.
Structure of Hyla rabbit skin gelatin as affected by microwave-assisted extraction

ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the effect of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) on the yield, structure, and properties of rabbit skin gelatin. Compared to water bath extraction gelatin, short-term (5–30 min) MAE gelatin had better gel properties, which formed gels at a slower rate due to destruction of more hydrogen bonds, but had more powerful triple helix-like structures after a sufficiently long maturity (16–18 h) since more high-molecular-weight subunits were retained. Scanning electron microscope showed that MAE could form numerous holes on the surface of gelatin. This study will be of great significance for high efficiency of gelatin extraction.
Exploratory Metamorphic Testing for Scientific Software

Scientific model developers are able to verify and validate their software via metamorphic testing (MT), even when the expected output of a given test case is not readily available. The tenet is to check whether certain relations hold among the expected outputs of multiple-related inputs. Contemporary approaches require the relations to be defined before tests. Our experience shows that it is often straightforward to first define the multiple iterations of tests for performing continuous simulations, and then keep multiple and even competing metamorphic relations open for investigating the testing-result patterns. We call this new approach exploratory MT, and report our experience of applying it to detect bugs, mismatches, and constraints in automatically calibrating parameters for the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Storm Water Management Model.
Job creation and destruction within Washington and Baltimore

It is well known that there exists a large disparity in the growth rates of central cities and suburbs. In a host of metropolitan areas, central city employment has declined, while suburban employment has flourished. Understanding the nature and causes of these growth patterns are critical to those seeking to stimulate the economy of a central city or deal with suburban expansion. One previously unexplored aspect of metropolitan growth patterns is their gross job flow components—employment changes due to establishment startups, shutdowns, expansions, and contractions. At its core, employment growth is simply the net result of these four components. An examination of those components reveals much more about the employment patterns within a metropolitan area than does an analysis of employment growth alone. Consequently, this article analyzes just how much gross job flows relate to the observed differences in growth between central cities and suburbs. Gross job flows have recently become the primary focus of several economic studies. Previously, economists relied almost entirely on aggregated data for their research purposes, particularly in studies involving employers and labor demand. This practice, however, allowed researchers to observe only the net Job creation and destruction within Washington and Baltimore
Modulation of JNK-1/ β-catenin signaling by Lactobacillus casei, inulin and their combination in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colon cancer in mice

Colon cancer is a complex disease that involves numerous genetic alterations that change the normal colonic mucosa into invasive adenocarcinoma. In the current study, the protective effects of inulin (prebiotic), Lactobacillus casei (L. casei, probiotic) and their combination (synbiotic) on 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon cancer in male Swiss mice were evaluated. Animals were divided into: Control group, DMH-treated group, DMH plus inulin, DMH plus L. casei and DMH plus inulin plus L. casei-treated groups. Fecal microbiome analysis, biochemical measurements, histopathological examination of the colon tissues, immunostaining and Western blotting analysis of β-catenin, GSK3β and JNK-1 were performed. The prebiotic-, probiotic- and synbiotic-treated groups showed decreased levels of carcinoembryonic antigen and a lower number of aberrant crypt foci compared to the DMH-treated group with the synbiotic group exhibiting a superior effect. Furthermore, all treatments showed a body weight-reducing effect. Administration of inulin, L. casei or their combination increased the expression level of phospho-JNK-1 while they decreased the expression level of β-catenin and phospho-GSK3β. Remarkably, L. casei treatment resulted in enrichment of certain beneficial bacterial genera i.e. Akkermansia and Turicibacter. Therefore, administration of L. casei and inulin as a synbiotic combination protects against colon cancer in mice.
Radioprotective Effect of Arbutin in Megavoltage Therapeutic X-irradiated Mice using Liver Enzymes Assessment

Background: Medical use of ionizing radiation has direct/indirect undesirable effects on normal tissues. In this study, the radioprotective effect of arbutin in megavoltage therapeutic x-irradiated mice was investigated using serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and asparate amniotransferase (AST) activity measurements. Material and Methods: In this analytical and experimental lab study, sixty mice (12 identical groups) were irradiated with 6 MV x-ray beam (2 and 4 Gy in one fraction). Arbutin concentrations were chosen 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg and injected intraperitoneal 2 hours before irradiation. Samples of peripheral blood cells were collected and serum was separated on the 1, 3, and 7 days post-x-radiation; in addition, the level of ALP, ALT, and AST were measured. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, and Tukey HSD test. Results: X-radiation (2 and 4 Gy) increased the ALT and AST activity levels on the 1, 3, and 7 days post- irradiation, but the ALP level significantly increased on the 1 and 7 days and decreased on the third day compared to the control group (P< 0.001). ALP, ALT and AST activity levels in “2 and 4 Gy x irradiation + distilled water” groups were significantly higher than “2 and 4 Gy irradiation + 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg arbutin” groups on the first and seventh day post-irradiation (P< 0.001). Conclusion: Arbutin is a strong radioprotector for reducing the radiation effect on the whole-body tissues by measuring ALP, ALT and AST enzyme activity levels. Furthermore, the concentration of 50 mg/kg arbutin showed higher radioprotective effect.