Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular simulations of the tetramethylammonium vermiculite crystal structure.

Vermiculite is a trioctahedral 2:1 phyllosilicate with a structural composition of ICx-y (Si8-xAlx)(Mg6yAly)O20(OH)4. It has a high cation exchange capacity and extraordinary absorption properties. However, in aqueous media the adsorption in the interlayer space of organic molecules is limited. Tetraalkylammonium salts have been used to produce organoclays traditionally in the last decades, acting as surfactants with a polar moiety (ammonium group) and an apolar zone (alkyl groups). These apolar groups increase the lipophylia of the interlayer space and the adsorption capacity of organic molecules increases significantly.
Students' Media Preferences in Online Learning.

This study examined students’ preferred media in online learning and its relationship with learner characteristics and online technology self-efficacy. One hundred six college students in a mid-size U.S. university responded to a survey. The frequency analysis showed that students did not necessarily favor rich media over lean media in online learning. They preferred recorded online slide presentations with audio to Internet-based live video lectures in two-way video and audio interactions. Online discussion boards and chat groups were less favored than other types of media. As expected, online technology self-efficacy was correlated with a type of media requiring a relatively higher level of technology skills. The paper presents the results and discusses their implications of the study.
Histopathological Profile of Lymphadenopathy in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Goa

BackgroundThe study was conducted to evaluate the histopathological profile of lymphadenopathy and assess its etiology. MethodObservational case series study was conducted among 100 consecutive patients based on clinical examination and constructed questionnaire. Fine needle aspiration cytology and lymph node excision biopsy was performed in all patients to evaluate the causes of lymphadenopathy.Data was Statistically analyzed using SPSS software. ResultsThe results of present study showed that 70% of the study population had cervical lymphadenopathy, while 16% of the study group had inguinal lymphadenopathy and the remaining 14% developed axillary lymphadenopathy. Tuberculosis was the most common cause of lymphadenopathy observed in 47% of participants. 26% of participants were diagnosed to have malignancy in the current study which predominantly revealed lymphadenopathy secondary to metastasis. Conclusion-The present study showed a high incidence of tuberculosis and occult malignancy in histopatholgically confirmed lymph node specimens. Thus histopathological examination should be the foremost diagnostic tool to evaluate any lymphadenopathy. Keywordslymphadenopathy,FNAC, histopathology, tuberculosis, malignancy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 01-06-2018 Date Of Acceptance: 18-06-2018 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Numerical study on the mechanical behaviour of hollow-box beams subjected to static loading

Novel types of internally reinforced thin-walled beams are subjected to a feasibility analysis in terms of their effective mechanical behaviour. The novel beams are subjected to bending and torsion uncoupled loadings and are analysed in terms of their stiffness behaviour in static analysis. The models were built using the commercial Finite Element Method (FEM) software ANSYS Mechanical APDL. The feasibility of the models was determined by the comparison of the stiffness behaviour of the novel beams with simple hollow-box beams, having the same mass and dimensions, with the exception of the thickness. An efficiency parameter is used in order to determine the feasibility of the studied geometries. It is found that the novel geometries represent a great improvement under bending loading, better than under torsion loading. Nevertheless, for bending and torsion combined loadings, if bending loads are predominant, the beams can still be interesting for some applications, in particular those with mobile parts.
U-Pb and Hf isotope study of detrital zircons from the Wulashan khondalites : Constraints on the evolution of the Ordos Terrene , Western Block of the North China Craton

A major advancement of Precambrian geology in the North China Craton is its tectonic subdivision into the Eastern and Western Blocks separated by the Trans-North China Orogen. However, further understanding the history of the Western Block is hindered by the lack of data for the Ordos Terrane, which is covered by basin sediments in the southern part of the Western Block. The khondalites of the Wulashan Complex are high-grade metasedimentary rocks derived from the Ordos Terrane. Therefore, U-Pb and Hf isotope studies of detrital zircons from these khondalites will provide insights into the basement nature of the Ordos Terrane. Detrital zircons from the Wulashan khondalites give U-Pb ages between 1.84 and 2.32 Ga, indicating Paleoproterozoic provenance(s) for the metasediments. These detrital zircons have concentric growth zoning, and possess εHf values between -8 and +9, suggesting that they crystallised from magmas derived from underlying old crust and/or juvenile materials from the mantle. The lowest εHf values with different ages define an evolutionary line that extrapolates to intersect the depleted mantle line at about 2.6 Ga in a εHf vs. time diagram. This implies that the sedimentary procenance was ∗ Corresponding Author: minsun@hkucc.hku. hk Fax: 852-25176912 1 underlain by a lower crust separated from the mantle at ~2.6 Ga. One sample has detrital zircons with ~2.0 Ga ages and positive εHf from +1 to +9, clearly recording a significant crustal growth event at ~2.0 Ga in the region. The above data indicate that the Ordos Terrane of the Western Block may have a ~2.6 Ga lower crust, with significant crustal growth at ~2.0 Ga, and 1.84 to 2.32 Ga Paleoprotozoic rocks were widely exposed during the deposition of these khondalites. This is in striking contrast with the Eastern Block that has basement ranging from the early Archean (up to ~3.8 Ga), through middle Archean (3.4 – 2.9 Ga), to late Archean (2.9 – 2.5 Ga). Our data clearly demonstrate that the Eastern and Western Blocks evolved separately before they collided to form the uniform North China Craton.
IN VITRO CELL GROWTH-INHIBITING AND IMMUNE MODULATING EFFECTS OF HEAT-SENSITIVE BIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES ISOLATED FROM PARASITE AND INFECTED HOST TISSUES AFTER EXPERIMENTAL TRICHINELLOSIS

Antiproliferative effects of biochemically isolated from Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae, livers and spleens from healthy and T. spiralis infected rats heat-sensitive bioactive substances (HSBSes) were studied in vitro on nonactivated and mitogen activated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) lymphocytes and bone marrow precursor cells. Stronger antiproliferative effects were established for HSBSes from parasite and infected host tissues than from healthy rats. Stronger growth inhibiting and immune modulating activities of HSBSes were determined on PHA activated lymphocytes. Also antiproliferative effects were established on bone marrow precursor cells. This probably was a result of changed liver metabolism and immunity in T. spiralis infected hosts.
Unpackin g the “ Black Box ” of Programs and Policies : A Conceptual Overview of Mediation Analysis

Dr. Antonio Morgan-Lopez is a principal scientist in the Military and Family Risk Behavior Research Program at RTI International. He develops and applies advanced quantitative methods in researching the etiology, prevention, and treatment of substance abuse, alcoholism and other health outcomes. Dr. Anupa Bir directs the Center for Advanced Methods Development at RTI International. She leads evaluations of complex health and social policy interventions, including health care innovation, financial inclusion, and family strengthening during incarceration and reentry. Antonio Morgan-Lopez and Anupa Bir, RTI International
The Law of Attraction in Human-Robot Interaction:

Following the law of attraction in human-human interaction, this paper examines the effects of a robot's personality and a human's personality in various human-robot interactions. This study was conducted using robots that were programmed to mimic both extroverted and introverted personality types, as well as humans who were classified as having introverted, extroverted or intermediate personality types. Using a 3 × 2 between-subjects experiment with 120 participants, the results indicated that participants who interacted with a similar personality robot were more comfortable than those who engaged with a different personality robot. Yet, the evaluation of social presence presented an opposing result. Both the implications and limitations of the present study, as well as guidelines for future research, are discussed.
in information systems in China ( 1999 – 2005 ) and international comparisons

The purpose of this study is to review the research activities in information systems (IS) in the mainland of China. We reviewed and analyzed a total of 859 research papers in information systems published in 18 leading academic journals in business and management in the mainland from 1999 to 2005. Applying the content analysis method, we first categorized the papers by their reference disciplines, research topics, research methods, and the units of analysis. The data were then compared with the results of similar Western studies. Results show that, among the published IS research papers in the mainland of China, IS research itself represents the primary theoretical reference discipline; organizational and system/software issues are the main topics of the focus; non-empirical studies were the dominant research method; and the majority of studies were conducted at the organizational and/or system level. Compared with the West, IS research in China demonstrates its own characteristics in theoretical foundations, research focuses, and research methods, and there are a number of areas that need to be improved. Translated from Guanli Kexue Xuebao 管理科学学报 (Journal of Management Sciences in China), 2006, 9(2): 76–85 JI Shaobo ( ) Sprott Business School, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, KIS 5B6, Canada School of Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China E-mail: sji@business.carleton. ca MIN Qingfei School of Management, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China HAN Weihe IBM Solution & Services Co. Ltd. at IBM China, Dalian 116023, China 1 The original published paper was based on the data from 1999 to 2003. The current paper is based on the data from 1999 to 2005 20 JI Shaobo, MIN Qingfei, HAN Weihe
International assessment of bioenergy stakeholders research requirements of GIS based biomass analytics

As the demand and production for renewable energies increases there is a growing need to research new technologies to increase the efficiency, productivity and profitability of production. This study aimed to investigate the priorities of bioenergy stakeholders on Geographic Information Systems based research in a variety of countries including a number throughout Europe, the United States and Australia. A voluntary questionnaire was distributed internationally to bioenergy stakeholders to discern perceived usefulness ratings for various analytics. Participants rated Economic analytics as the most useful followed by Environmental, Product quality and Social assessments. Therefore, future research within the bioenergy sector should be aimed at increasing the economic viability of bioenergy and decreasing its environmental impact. There was a difference between analytic preference and the thirteen countries surveyed and the stakeholder type however, this relationship was not significant.
Income shocks and poverty traps: Asset smoothing in rural Ethiopia

Evidence is found of two distinct patterns of response to the onset of the recent drought in rural Ethiopia. Agricultural Households with pre-shock cattle holdings of three or more animals effectively used these assets as a buffer against the fall in agricultural income. In contrast, households with smaller herds preserved their current herd size, at the expense of reduced consumption. These results are consistent with the existence of a poverty trap in household cattle holdings, and highlight the stark choices faced by some groups during this period, to either reduce consumption today or potentially undermine productivity in the future. JEL Classification: O12, D31, D15, O55
Simpli fi ed theoretical solution of circular toroidal shell with ribs under uniform external pressure $

The toroidal shell with stiffened ribs is a new-style structure in ocean engineering especially in underwater engineering. This paper attempts to provide a simple theoretical method to obtain the stress solution of toroidal shell with ribs for its strength assessment. Firstly according to the structural property of toroidal shell with ribs and theory of curve-beam, a simple model for toroidal shell with ribs has been developed; then coupled with theory of thin-shell and elastic beam, its stress and deformation have been solved and can be expressed into analytic formulas; lastly by finite element method (FEM) and model experiment method, this simple theoretical solution has been verified to be reasonable and quite accurate. Thus this simple theoretical solution could be applied for analysis and design of pressure equipment in such toroidal structure type. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Programming the finite element method

From the Publisher: In the third edition of this highly-successful book, readers are shown how to develop computer programs which use the finite element method to solve specific problems which they may encounter. This third edition is completely revised, and has all programs and subroutine libraries written in FORTRAN 90. The programs and most subroutines are listed in full in the text, and are all available on the Internet via anonymous ftp. A wide variety of new problem solving analyses are presented, including classical structural analysis, elasticity and plasticity, steady state and transient fluid flow, linear and non-linear solid dynamics and construction processes in geomechanics.
Expression of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β in rats with fungal keratitis

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate expression of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β in rats with fungal keratitis. Methods: Rat models of fungal keratitis were established in vitro and divided into the blank control group, the injury control group and the fungal experimental group. The modeling results were detected via hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The expression levels of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β in corneal epithelial tissues were detected via immunohistochemistry at 24 hours after modeling, and the optical density of staining was analyzed. Moreover, relative expression levels of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) in corneal epithelial tissues were detected via reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at 4, 8, 16 and 24 hours after modeling. Results: At 24 hours after fungal infection, edema occurred in the corneal epithelium and stroma, and there was infiltration of a large number of inflammatory cells in the corneal limbus and stroma. IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β were hardly expressed in the control group, little expressed in the injury control group and highly expressed in the fungal experimental group. Optical density analyses showed that there were statistically significant differences among the three groups (P<0.05). At 4, 8, 16 and 24 hours after modeling, relative expression levels of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β mRNA in corneal epithelial tissues were gradually increased. There were statistically significant differences in relative expression levels of mRNA at each time point between the fungal experimental group and the injury control group (P<0.05), and relative expression levels of mRNA at the same time point also had statistically significant differences between the two groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, the expression of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β began to increase gradually after modeling, and they were increased remarkably at 24 hours, suggesting that changes in expression of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, and IL-1β may be involved in the occurrence and development of fungal keratitis in rats.
ENDOTHELIUM AND BUBBLE INJURY : THE ROLE OF ENDOTHELIUM lN DECOMPRESSION ILLNESS

The Norwegian Parliament established a commission to look into the claims made by these divers and concluded that decompression sickness may have been one of the factors responsible for their problems. The divers have been investigated at Haukeland Hospital in Bergen, Norway, showing that about 90% of them have had decompression sickness, and about half of the cases were never reported (preliminary internal report). This is in line with a study we performed 10 years ago, where about 10% of the professional divers and 25% of the sports divers had had symptoms of decompression sickness that never were reported (9). Data from both Norway and from other countries show that even if the incidence of decompression sickness is quite low, about 0,01 to 0.05 % (23), the prevalence is considerably higher. In Norway about 10 divers pro year are treated for decompression sickness, the majority of them with symptoms from the central nervous system. About 30% of them have sequelae from these accidents. Clinical symptoms have traditionally been used for evaluating decompression procedures. This is based on the assumption that if symptoms from muscles and joints (Type 1 symptoms) can be avoided, then these procedures can be considered safe. However, this may not necessary be true. Ten years ago, an international conference on the long term effects of diving was held in Norway, they concluded the following:
DEVELOPMENT OF MEASUREMENT MODELS FOR GLOBALIZATION , CONSUMPTION PATTERNS AND CULTURE A Case Study of Three Big Cities of Punjab , Pakistan

Over the course of human history, people all over the world have developed progressively closer contacts. However, in the past few decades, some remarkable developments in the fields of information technology, transportation and communication have provided the process of globalization a new impetus. As a result of this increased global integration, the world has started experiencing its micro level (in addition to macro level effects) effects as well. This has greatly affected the choice of goods and services that people consume in their routine life. In this regard, globalization is considered to have both direct as well as indirect impacts on culture and consumption patterns. The present study is designed to construct measurement variables for globalization, consumption patterns and culture, which can then be used to investigate the nexus between these three variables. For this, primary data has been collected from the three cities (Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multan) of Punjab, Pakistan. Latent variables has been developed for each three main variables. Statistical techniques such as EFA and CFA were used to endorse that the constructs do actually support the past theories and measure the underlying concepts. The study is an important contribution towards investigating the micro level effects of globalization on consumption patterns and culture.
Prevalence of Gambling Disorder Among Prisoners: A Systematic Review

This article presents the first systematic review of studies on the prevalence of gambling disorder among prisoners across international jurisdictions. Only original studies that were published in English and employed reliable and valid screening tools are included in this analysis. The review finds that rates of problem or pathological gambling in prison populations are highly variable, ranging from 5.9% to 73% of male and female inmates surveyed. Nevertheless, recorded rates of problem and pathological gambling among inmates are consistently and significantly higher than rates of problem and pathological gambling recorded among the general population. The review indicates that the institution of problem gambling treatment programmes in carceral settings is necessary, to aid community re-entry and reduce the likelihood of re-offending. Moreover, it is suggested that the screening of inmates should become standard practice across penal institutions and other criminal justice organisations, with a view to better addressing the needs of offenders.
Useful Quantum Advantage with an Ising Born Machine

In this work, we propose a generative quantum machine learning algorithm, which we conjecture is not possible to simulate efficiently by any classical means. We call the algorithm the Ising Born Machine as it generates statistics according to the Born rule of Quantum Mechanics and involves several possible quantum circuit classes which all derive from an Ising Hamiltonian. We recall the currently known proofs of the classical hardness to simulate these circuit classes up to multiplicative error, and make some slight modification such that they are compatible and more useful for the Ising Born Machine construction. Further, we invoke the use of kernel methods as part of the algorithm, and incorporate a kernel function which also claims to demonstrate a quantum classical result, thereby strengthening our claim. Finally, we also present numerical simulations using Rigetti’s Forest quantum simulation platform to investigate and test the ability of the model to learn a simple toy data distribution, with two cost functions, the KullbackLeibler Divergence and the Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD).
Measurement Properties of the NeuroFlexor Device for Quantifying Neural and Non-neural Components of Wrist Hyper-Resistance in Chronic Stroke

Introduction: Differentiating between the components of wrist hyper-resistance post stroke, i.e., pathological neuromuscular activation (“spasticity”) and non-neural biomechanical changes, is important for treatment decisions. This study aimed to assess the reliability and construct validity of an innovative measurement device that quantifies these neural and non-neural components by biomechanical modeling. Methods: Forty-six patients with chronic stroke and 30 healthy age-matched subjects were assessed with the NeuroFlexor, a motor-driven device that imposes isokinetic wrist extensions at two controlled velocities (5 and 236°/s). Test-retest reliability was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and smallest detectable changes (SDC), and construct validity by testing the difference between patients and healthy subjects and between subgroups of patients stratified by modified Ashworth scale (MAS), and the association with clinical scales. Results: Test-retest reliability was excellent for the neural (NC) and non-neural elastic (EC) components (ICC 0.93 and 0.95, respectively), and good for the viscous component (VC) (ICC 0.84), with SDCs of 10.3, 3.1, and 0.5 N, respectively. NC and EC were significantly higher in patients compared to healthy subjects (p < 0.001). Components gradually increased with MAS category. NC and EC were positively associated with the MAS (rs 0.60 and 0.52, respectively; p < 0.01), and NC with the Tardieu scale (rs 0.36, p < 0.05). NC and EC were negatively associated with the Fugl-Meyer Assessment of the upper extremity and action research arm test (rs ≤ −0.38, p < 0.05). Conclusions: The NeuroFlexor reliably quantifies neural and non-neural components of wrist hyper-resistance in chronic stroke, but is less suitable for clinical evaluation at individual level due to high SDC values. Although construct validity has been demonstrated, further investigation at component level is needed.