Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deposition of tungsten oxide and silver decorated tungsten oxide for use in oxygen gas sensing

Tungsten oxide and silver-decorated tungsten oxide were investigated for the detection of oxygen in a humid environment. The sensor materials were deposited onto alumina sensor substrates via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition. Results indicated that our sensors showed good sensitivity to oxygen, following an almost a linear relationship over a 0 to 20% concentration range. In comparison to WO3, the Ag-decorated sensors showed a much higher sensitivity and better response (sensitivity of 0.22 per %O2 vs 0.80 per %O2 for Ag decorated), making Ag-WO3 based sensors an interseting alternative to existing Pb-based sensors for quantitative oxygen sensing.
TREE RING RECONSTRUCTIONS OF STREAMFLOW FOR THREE CANADIAN PRAIRIE RIVERS 1

ABSTRACT: Information regarding long term hydrological variability is critical for the effective management of surface water resources. In the Canadian Prairie region, growing dependence on major river systems for irrigation and other consumptive uses has resulted in an increasing vulnerability to hydrological drought and growing interprovincial tension. This study presents the first dendrochronological records of streamflow for Canadian Prairie rivers. We present 1,113‐year, 522‐year, and 325‐year reconstructions of total water year (October to September) streamflow for the North Saskatchewan, South Saskatchewan, and Saskatchewan Rivers, respectively. The reconstructions indicate relatively high flows during the 20th Century and provide evidence of past prolonged droughts. Low flows during the 1840s correspond with aridity that extended over much of the western United States. Similarly, an exceptional period of prolonged low flow conditions, approximately 900 A.D. to 1300 A.D., is coincident with evidence of sustained drought across central and western North America. The 16th Century megadrought of the western United States and Mexico, however, does not appear to have had a major impact on the Canadian rivers. The dendrohydrological records illustrate the risks involved if future water policy and infrastructure development in the Canadian Prairies are based solely on records of streamflow variability over the historical record.
Asymmetric correlations on the Croatian equity market

This paper compares the equity market in Croatia in bad (bear or turbulent) and good (bull, calm) market conditions. The two market regimes are formally identified under the Markov Regime Switching (MRS) framework. The analysis conducted suggests that correlations between equity prices are more than twice as high during bear than in bull markets. This result holds both for the shares included in the CROBEX and for the relationship among various European equity indices. In the context of international diversifi cation the result suggests only a limited benefi t that foreign investors can count on when diversifying their portfolios by expanding to developing European markets. In addition, by evaluating a portfolio optimization model that takes asymmetric correlations into account in an out-of-sample exercise, this paper also illustrates the losses that may occur if the asymmetry is ignored in practice.
A randomized trial of teaching clinical skills using virtual and live standardized patients

AbstractBACKGROUND: We developed computer-based virtual patient (VP) cases to complement an interactive continuing medical education (CME) course that emphasizes skills practice using standardized patients (SP). Virtual patient simulations have the significant advantages of requiring fewer personnel and resources, being accessible at any time, and being highly standardized. Little is known about the educational effectiveness of these new resources. We conducted a randomized trial to assess the educational effectiveness of VPs and SPs in teaching clinical skills. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of VP cases when compared with live SP cases in improving clinical skills and knowledge. DESIGN: Randomized trial. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-five health care providers (registered nurses 45%, physicians 15%, other provider types 40%) who attended a CME program. INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive either 4 live cases (n=32) or 2 live and 2 virtual cases (n=23). Other aspects of the course were identical for both groups. RESULTS: Participants in both groups were equivalent with respect to pre-post workshop improvement in comfort level (P=.66) and preparedness to respond (P=.61), to screen (P=.79), and to care (P=.055) for patients using the skills taught. There was no difference in subjective ratings of effectiveness of the VPs and SPs by participants who experienced both (P=.79). Improvement in diagnostic abilities were equivalent in groups who experienced cases either live or virtually. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements in performance and diagnostic ability were equivalent between the groups and participants rated VP and SP cases equally. Including well-designed VPs has a potentially powerful and efficient place in clinical skills training for practicing health care workers.
Occurrence and characterisation of enterohaemorrhagic isolates Escherichia coli from diarrhoeic calves.

The presence of major virulence factors of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC; stx1, stx2, eae, Ehly) were determined among isolates from 158 diarrhoeic calves by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Strains positive for virulence factors were subjected to serotype specific PCR assays for O157:H7 and O111 antigens. Additionally, serogroups were determined by three monovalent antisera for O26, O111 and O157 somatic antigens and enterohaemolysin production were also shown phenotypically. Thirteen (8.2%) calves carried strains positive for one or more of the virulence factors tested, and eleven (6.9%) calves harboured the shiga toxin producing strains (stx1 or stx2). stx1 was detected in eight (5%) and stx2 in three (1.9%) calves. eae and Ehly were observed in the same frequency (6.3%) and were detected in parallel. Of the 13 virulence-positive strains, the predominant genotype was (stx1/eae/Ehly) at 53.8%. None of the EHEC in this study belonged to O157:H7 or O111 serotypes, but four strains (30.7%) belonged to the O26 serogroup. The results show the possible role of stx1/eae in calf diarrhoea and the particular importance of O26 EHEC. Calves can also act as a reservoir for EHEC and in the transmission of the disease to humans.
Breeding Brassica napus for Shatter Resistance

This paper deals with the application of a laboratory test for shatter resistance in rapeseed to genetic and breeding studies of this character. This test is based on measuring the strength of the siliquae. Siliqua strength is positively correlated with shatter resistance. All the Brassica napus lines studied were shatter susceptible while some lines of B. juncea had intermediate shatter resistance. Certain lines of B. campestris vars Yellow Sarson and Brown Sarson were highly shatter resistant. In the Sarsons shatter resistance was recessive and controlled by two to three loci which showed dominant epistasis. There was considerable variation for siliqua strength in segregating populations of crosses between the Sarsons and B. napus and in progenies derived from irradiation of the B. napus cv. Midas. These materials provide good potential for incorporating shatter resistance in rapeseed.
Analytical Study of Interfacial Layer Doping Effect on Contact Resistivity in Metal-Interfacial Layer-Ge Structure

We present a new model to demonstrate the effect of heavily doped interfacial layer (IL) insertion on contact resistivity reduction in metal-germanium (Ge) structure. It is found that the doping of IL results in lowering Schottky barrier of Ge significantly, and based on this lowering effect, a metal-IL-semiconductor model is newly proposed. From this model, the abrupt reduction of contact resistivity is observed in heavily doped condition as IL thickness is increased, and the minimum contact resistivity for 1 × 1020 cm-3 doping concentration is reduced by ×25 compared with that of undoped one. These results are promising toward enhancing the device performance of Ge MOSFET, which is for sub-22-nm CMOS technology.
Who are the active investors? Evidence from venture capital

This paper examines the determinants and consequences of investor activism in venture capital. Using a hand-collected sample of European venture capital deals, it shows the importance of human capital. Venture capital firms with partners that have prior business experience are more active recruiting managers and directors, helping with fundraising, and interacting more frequently with their portfolio companies. Independent venture capital firms are also more active than ‘captive’ (bank-, corporate-, or government-owned) firms. After controlling for endogeneity, investor activism is shown to be positively related to the success of portfolio companies.
How Important Is U.S. Location for Research in Science?

Abstract This paper asks whether being located outside the United States lowers research productivity in a data set of foreign-born, U.S.-educated scientists. Instrumenting location with visa status that requires return to home countries, we find a large negative relationship between non-U.S. location and research output for countries with low income per capita but none for countries with high income per capita. This suggests that a scientist exogenously located in a country at the top of the income distribution can expect to be as productive in research as he or she would be in the United States.
Rate predictions for single-event effects - critique II

The concept of charge efficacy is introduced as a measure of the effectiveness of incident charge for producing single-event upsets. Efficacy is a measure of the single-event upset (SEU) sensitivity within a cell. It is illustrated how the efficacy curve can be determined from standard heavy-ion or pulsed laser SEU cross-section data, and discussed how it can be calculated from combined charge collection and circuit analysis. Upset rates can be determined using the figure of merit approach, and values determined from the laser cross-sections or from the mixed-mode simulations. The standard integral rectangular parallel-piped (IRPP) method for upset rate calculation is re-examined assuming that the probability of upset depends on the location of the hit on the surface. It is concluded that it is unnecessary to reformulate the IRPP approach.
Targeted drugs for systemic therapy of lung cancer with brain metastases

Brain metastases are very common in lung cancer patients. The condition of these patients is complicated and difficult to treat, and adverse reactions following treatment can affect the nervous system, which severely reduces quality of life. Lung cancers are categorized as small cell lung cancers and non-small cell lung cancers. Patients with brain metastasis of small cell lung cancers are generally treated with brain radiotherapy and systemic chemotherapy, but stage III/IV patients with brain metastasis of non-small cell lung cancers are generally not responsive to radiotherapy or chemotherapy. With the recent development of targeted drugs, tumor molecular profile detection allows the selection of appropriate targeted drugs for adjuvant pharmacological treatment of brain metastasis in lung cancer patients. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors have emerged and have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of certain cancers, but their efficacy in lung cancer patients with brain metastases still needs to be confirmed. This paper focuses on highlighting drugs for targeted therapy of brain metastasis in lung cancer patients and their molecular targets and mechanisms of drug resistance.
HAL equipped with passive mechanism

Low back pain (LBP) is the serious problem in the field of nursing care. We have developed the HAL for lumbar support in order to reduce the lumbar load. For practical use, it is important to save energy of HAL. The purpose of this study is to develop HAL equipped with passive mechanism in order to reduce the power consumption of the HAL, and to verify the effectiveness of saving energy of HAL equipped with passive mechanism. The assist torque consists the actuators torque and the passive torque at the HAL equipped with passive mechanism. To verify the effectiveness of the HAL equipped with passive mechanism on lumbar load reduction, we simulated the motion assist evaluation by using the 3D skeletal model. In the HAL equipped with passive mechanism support, the stress onto lumbar was lower than without the HAL support. The experiment at task carrying a heavy load was performed in order to verify the effectiveness of saving energy of the HAL equipped with passive mechanism. The average power consumption of the HAL equipped with passive mechanism was reduced by 44%, and the maximum power consumption of the HAL equipped with passive mechanism was reduced by 45%. We developed the HAL equipped with passive mechanism in order to reduce the power consumption of the HAL, and verified the effectiveness of saving energy of the HAL equipped with passive mechanism. It is expected that caregivers can help an elderly person without the lumbar load during the care of bathing, and transferring from a bed to a wheel chair.
Experimental Validation of CBRAM Performance Enhancement Using FNW Soft-Technique

Solid electrolyte based, resistive switching driven CBRAM (conductive-bridge RAM) technology is a promising NVM candidate when it comes to seeking alternatives for charge based Flash memory. In particular, CBRAM is among one of the few emerging RRAM devices already commercially available in the market targeting low-power IoT and EEPROM applications. While significant literature exists on characterization and analysis of commercial Flash memory chips, barely any study exists in the case of CBRAM. In this work, we study in detail a commercial 256 Kb CBRAM chip for low level device characteristics such as: page/byte write-latency, programming current, total error count, raw BER, and endurance. We experimentally show, that by introducing a soft technique such as the Flip-N-Write (FNW) algorithm, mean page programming current reduced by &#8764; 13 %, and mean page write-latency decreased by &#8764; 42 %, compared to the case of no- FNW. Total error count drastically decreased by &#8764; 180 X, and raw-BER improved by 2 orders of magnitude when FNW was used. Maximum endurance improvement of &#8764; 2X beyond the data-sheet specified value was achieved.
I See, I Think I Wonder: An Evaluation of Journaling as a Critical Reflective Practice Tool for Aiding Teachers in Challenging or Confronting Contexts.

In October 2011, five selected Western Australian teachers took part in a teacher mentoring project in Tanzania. The teachers spent a month embedded in local primary and secondary schools, working collaboratively with their Tanzanian counterparts. As a strategy for making sense of their experiences, each teacher was asked to maintain a reflective journal, using the Harvard Visible Thinking Routine of ‘see, think, wonder’ as a critical structure for guiding their journal writing. The purpose of this article is to discuss the effectiveness of journaling for teachers in challenging teaching situations, and the usefulness of the Harvard approach in structuring the reflective process as part of an action-based reflective model. As such, the article examines not just the role of critical journaling in helping the participating teachers make sense of their African experience, but the potential of this approach in general in helping teachers faced with challenging or confronting teaching contexts.
Time course for cellulase enzyme production by Aspergillus Flavus using different organic nitrogen sources

The time course for the production of cellulase enzyme of Aspergillus flavus was carried out at 35οC in a shaken incubator using modified Mandel and Weber’s medium containing in ( g/l) (NH4)2S0­4 1.4, KH2P04 2.0, Urea 0.3, MgS047H20 0.3, CaCl3 0.3 FeS047H20 0.005, ZnS047H200.0014, MnS04H20 0.0016, CoCl3 0.002, Tween 80 2.0 ml, Carboxymethylcellulose 10.0 and pH 6.8. It indicated a period of 120 h (5days) as the optimum incubation period under the experimental condition using CMC as substrate. The mycelia growth pattern (biomass) indicated highest growth on the fifth day also corresponding to the time of maximum enzyme activity. The results from the studies also showed that Mandel and Weber’s Medium was better than other substitutions with alternative nitrogen sources in all the assays, followed by yeast extract and the least being soya bean meal. The study therefore maintained that Mandel and Weber’s Medium is the best at 5 days incubation for cellulase production by Aspergillus flavus.
The Psychological Well-Being-Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire (PWB-PTCQ): Reliability and Validity

The Psychological Well-Being Post-Traumatic Changes Questionnaire (PWB-PTCQ) is an 18 item self-report measure to assess perceived changes in psychological well-being following traumatic events. The aim was to test its psychometric properties. Across three samples, evidence is provided for a single factor structure (invariant across clinical and general populations), high internal consistency (α > .87), six month stability, incremental validity over and above existing measures of posttraumatic growth as a predictor of subjective well-being, convergent validity with existing measures of posttraumatic growth (r = .50−.56. p < .001), concurrent validity with personality and coping measures, predictive validity of change in well-being over time, discriminant validity with social desirability, and prediction of clinical caseness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Laser Optimization Guidelines for Dispersion Supported Transmission Systems Operating at Arbitrary Bit Rates

Laser guidelines for the performance optimization of dispersion supported transmission (DST) systems operating at arbitrary bit rates, not exceeding 40 Gbit-s-1, are presented. These laser guidelines are derived by numerical simulation for 40 Gbit-s-1 and analytically validated for other bit rates. The laser guidelines are settled in order to accomplish two DST system goals: maximizing the back-to-back sensitivity and the total dispersion tolerance, with fixed laser bias and modulation currents, thus avoiding the usual DST laser current tailoring to the fiber length. The laser optimization guidelines are expressed in terms of the intrinsic laser response parameters as in the following. The -3 dB intensity modulation (IM) bandwidth normalized by bit rate must be about 0.7; the zero of frequency modulation response normalized by bit rate must be about 0.75; the damping ratio of IM response must be about 0.7; the steady-state frequency deviation normalized by bit rate must be about 0.55; and the extinction ratio must be about 5.5. Numerical results show that these rules hold for lasers with parasitics with a cutoff frequency as low as 30% of bit rate, as well as for different current pulse shapes, laser gain, and compression models, and receiver electrical filters.
Complex modes of nonlinear plasmonic waveguides

We analyze guided modes of a metal-dielectric-metal waveguide in the presence of losses when the dielectric core possesses the Kerr nonlinear response. After the analysis of effects of dispersion and losses on the linear complex modes, we calculate and discuss the nonlinear modes presented through the dependence of the modal power on the propagation constant. We show that nonlinearities bring many novel features to the mode properties, including novel bifurcation points and novel types of guided modes, the existence of limiting values for the propagation constant, and the possibility of a power growth for some of the modes.
The profile of leucocytes, CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T cells, and cytokine concentrations in peripheral blood of children with acute asthma exacerbation

Objective To determine the leucocyte profile and cytokine concentrations in the peripheral blood of children with an acute asthma exacerbation (AAE). Methods This descriptive, cross-sectional study enrolled paediatric patients admitted to hospital for AAE. The severity of AAE was assessed using the paediatric asthma score (PAS). Peripheral blood samples were collected for automatic quantification of white blood cell counts, CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T cells populations by flow cytometry and cytokine concentrations by flow cytometry-assisted immunoassay. Results A total of 127 children with AAE and 30 healthy control subjects were included in the study. The proportion of paediatric patients with decreased CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells was significantly higher in those with severe AAE compared with those with mild-to-moderate AAE. The concentrations of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-8, IL-12, and IL-4 in paediatric patients with rhinovirus infection were significantly higher than in those without rhinovirus infection. IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, TNF-α and GM-CSF concentrations during AAE were significantly lower than control. IL-5 and IL-13 concentrations during AAE were significantly higher than control. Conclusions The decrease of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T cells and IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, TNF-α, and GM-CSF combined with the increase of IL-5 and IL-13, were associated with AAE in children with asthma.
Emotional response to sound. Influence of spatial determinants.

The emotional content of sound is greatly utilized in our everyday life, whether it is music or speech. Sounds which does not carry information by linguistic or musical harmonic patterns such as sounds that we hear in our everyday life, so called ecological sounds, conveys also information but in a more subtle way. Our emotions serve us by relating to these sounds and their inherent meaning, but also involve the acoustic surrounding in order to facilitate for us to take appropriate actions. The room acoustic is of most importance when enhancing the impression of music and speech intelligibility but the room acoustic influence of ecological sounds are yet a rather unexplored area. This thesis strives to further this research area by analyzing the effect of room acoustic on emotional responses to ecological sounds. Part 1 and Part 2 of this thesis evaluated the effect of an increased amount of early lateral reflections which in musical acoustics is correlated to an increased auditory source width. The effect was in part 1 evaluated on continuously moving sources in an approaching and receding scenario while part 2 handles the same room acoustic features but for discrete positions. The results of part 1 and 2 showed an influence of the lateral reflections for static sources but not for continuously moving sources. Further results in part 1 showed that while, for the main effect of looming, approaching sounds were perceived as more frightening and threatening than when receding. Part 3 explores the effect of room size on emotional reactions to sound where three rooms with different room size were auralized with two positions in each. The results showed that the room size affects the emotional response to the sound such that an increase of room size increases the emotional response. A difference between negative and neutral sounds were found for self reported arousal in many parts of the work which implies that neutral sounds in general are more affected by changes in the acoustic environment. This could indicate that the emotional content of the sound is the main determinant to whether acoustical cues are influencing the emotional response.