Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surface Structural Model for Ferrihydrite

A structural model for the geometry of Fe(III) octahedra near the surface of finely divided ferrihydrite was elaborated based on the bond-valence theory and by considering the interaction of water molecules in the 2 nearest hydration spheres. In contrast to bulk Fe atoms, which are bonded to bridging oxo (O) and hydroxo (OH) ligands, surface Fe atoms are also octahedrally coordinated to H2O ligands forming the 1st hydration shell ((H2O)I). In the wet state, external water molecules of the 2nd hydration shell ((H2O)II) are singly H-bonded to (H2O)I, while they are doubly coordinated in the dry state. Accordingly, wet ferrihydrite contains twice as many sorbed water molecules as dry ferrihydrite, and the structural difference due to the 2nd hydration shell accounts quantatively for the 15% increase of ferrihydrite weight experimentally measured in moist atmosphere. The interaction of surface Fe atoms with their 2 nearest hydration spheres modifies the geometry of surface Fe octahedra as compared to bulk octahedra, and idealized Fe-OH and Fe-H2O bond lengths in the wet and dry state were evaluated by the bond-valence theory. Our structural model provides a sound crystal-chemical basis to describe many apparent incongruities of Fe X-ray absorption near edge structure (K-XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopic data that have led to differing interpretations of the coordination environment of Fe in ferrihydrite by various investigators.
Corporate Governance and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence from Emerging Market

Corporate governance (CG) has become a dominant theme in developed and developing countries. This study aims to investigate the impact of CG on firm performance of listed companies in Sri Lanka. Fifty listed companies were selected as a sample by using proportion random sampling method. Apart from that secondary data were collected from the annual report of listed companies in Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2015. This study considers the CG which is measured by board size, board independence, CEO duality, director? s ownership and audit committee as the independent variable while firm performance which is measured by ROA and Tobin? s Q as a dependent variable. Multiple regressions and Pearson? s correlation analyses were employed as the main tool of analyzing data. The results reveal that the board size and audit committee have significant impact on ROA and board size has significant impact on Tobin? s Q, whereas board independence, CEO duality and director? s ownership have insignificant impact on both firm performance measures such as ROA and Tobin? s Q. Furthermore the board size and audit committee have negative relationship with firm performance. This study suggests that small boards are associated with higher firm performance, possibly through closely monitored managements.
Autism, Alexithymia, and Anxious Apprehension: A Multimethod Investigation of Eye Fixation

Autism, Alexithymia, and Anxious Apprehension: A Multimethod Investigation of Eye Fixation Kevin G. Stephenson Department of Psychology, BYU Doctor of Philosophy Reduced eye fixation and deficits in emotion identification accuracy have been commonly reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (AS), but are not ubiquitous. There is growing evidence that emotion processing deficits may be better accounted for by comorbid alexithymia (i.e., difficulty understanding and describing one’s emotional state), rather than AS symptoms per se. Another possible explanation is anxiety, which is often comorbid with AS; emotion processing difficulties, including attentional biases, have also been observed in anxiety disorders, suggesting that anxiety symptoms may also influence emotion processing within AS. The purpose of the current study was to test the role of dimensional symptoms of autism, anxious apprehension (AA), and alexithymia in mediating eye fixation across two different facial processing tasks with three adult samples: adults diagnosed with autism (AS; n = 30), adults with clinically-elevated anxiety without autism (HI-ANX; n = 29), and neurotypical adults without high anxiety (NT; n = 46). Experiment 1 involved participants completing an emotion identification task involving short video clips. Experiment 2 was a luminescence change detection task with an emotional-expression photo paired with a neutral-expression photo. Joy, anger, and fear video and photo stimuli were used. Dimensional, mixed-effects models showed that symptoms of autism, but not alexithymia, predicted lower eye fixation across two separate face processing tasks. There were no group differences or significant dimensional effects for accuracy. Anxious apprehension was negatively related to response time in Experiment 1 and positively related to eye fixation in Experiment 2. An attentional avoidance of negative emotions was observed in the NT and HI-ANX group, but not the AS group. The bias was most pronounced at lower levels of AS symptoms and higher levels of AA symptoms. The results provide some evidence for a possible anxiety-related subtype in AS, with participants endorsing high autism symptoms, but low anxious apprehension, demonstrating more classic emotion processing deficits of reduced eye fixation.
Radiation magnetohydrodynamics in global simulations of protoplanetary discs

Aims. Our aim is to study the thermal and dynamical evolution of protoplanetary discs in global simulations, including the physics of radiation transfer and magneto-hydrodynamic turbulence caused by the magneto-rotational instability.Methods. We have developed a radiative transfer method based on the flux-limited diffusion approximation that includes frequency dependent irradiation by the central star. This hybrid scheme is implemented in the PLUTO code. The focus of our implementation is on the performance of the radiative transfer method. Using an optimized Jacobi preconditioned BiCGSTAB solver, the radiative module is three times faster than the magneto-hydrodynamic step for the disc set-up we consider. We obtain weak scaling efficiencies of 70% up to 1024 cores.Results. We present the first global 3D radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of a stratified protoplanetary disc. The disc model parameters were chosen to approximate those of the system AS 209 in the star-forming region Ophiuchus. Starting the simulation from a disc in radiative and hydrostatic equilibrium, the magneto-rotational instability quickly causes magneto-hydrodynamic turbulence and heating in the disc. We find that the turbulent properties are similar to that of recent locally isothermal global simulations of protoplanetary discs. For example, the rate of angular momentum transport α is a few times 10-3. For the disc parameters we use, turbulent dissipation heats the disc midplane and raises the temperature by about 15% compared to passive disc models. The vertical temperature profile shows no temperature peak at the midplane as in classical viscous disc models. A roughly flat vertical temperature profile establishes in the optically thick region of the disc close to the midplane. We reproduce the vertical temperature profile with viscous disc models for which the stress tensor vertical profile is flat in the bulk of the disc and vanishes in the disc corona.Conclusions. The present paper demonstrates for the first time that global radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of turbulent protoplanetary discs are feasible with current computational facilities. This opens up the window to a wide range of studies of the dynamics of the inner parts of protoplanetary discs, for which there are significant observational constraints.
A Review on the Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Morphologies Studied via TEM

Silver has been recognized as a nontoxic, safe inorganic antibacterial/antifungal agent used for centuries. Silver demonstrates a very high potential in a wide range of biological applications, more particularly in the form of nanoparticles. Environmentally friendly synthesis methods are becoming more and more popular in chemistry and chemical technologies and the need for ecological methods of synthesis is increasing; the aim is to reduce polluting reaction by-products. Another important advantage of green synthesis methods lies in its cost-effectiveness and in the abundance of raw materials. During the last five years, many efforts were put into developing new greener and cheaper methods for the synthesis of nanoparticles. The cost decrease and less harmful synthesis methods have been the motivation in comparison to other synthesis techniques where harmful reductive organic species produce hazardous by-products. This environment-friendly aspect has now become a major social issue and is instrumental in combatting environmental pollution through reduction or elimination of hazardous materials. This review describes a brief overview of the research on green synthesis of silver metal nanoparticles and the influence of the method on their size and morphology.
Seasonal Change in C 3 /C 4 Mixed Vegetation Populations over Paddy Levees in South Korea

Studies of seasonal changes in mixed communities are rare, particularly in Asian summer monsoon climate zones. In our present study, seasonal changes in the profile and coverage of and plants were investigated in 2009 in Haenam, Yeongdong and Cheorwon regions of South Korea (all at different latitudes). The aim was to estimate the impacts of temperature and sunshine duration on species composition and transition timing of the and plants. From our results, the number of plants was found to increase from early spring to mid-May, and then decrease again until September in the Haenam and Yeongdong regions, but continuously increase from early spring to September in the Cheorwon region under relatively low summer temperatures. On the other hand, the number of plants increased from June or July to September in all three regions. These seasonal changes in species number and ratio have a direct impact upon species diversity which is highest when there are no dominant species. The relative coverage and relative summed dominance ratio (SDR`) of the plants decreased from spring to autumn, but increased for the plants during this time in an exponential fashion with increasing accumulated temperature and sunshine duration. The transition timing from to plants occurred when the sum of sunshine duration for the days with daily mean temperature above was 1017 hrs for the SDR`.
PRESENTATION OF A CAA FORMULATION BASED ON LIGHTHILL'S ANALOGY FOR FAN NOISE

SUMMARY The purpose of this work is to evaluate a Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) method in which computational aero acoustics (CAA) techniques are used to predict the noise level from automotive fans. In this paper the extended version of the variational formulation of Lighthill's analogy is used. This formulation is ideally suited to the finite element method (FEM). It accounts for aerodynamic sources through two source terms. The first term accounts for volume sources; the second term accounts for sources defin ed on control surfaces, i.e., surfaces where the normal flow velocity does not vanish. In the first section of this paper, the methodology is presented for applications without a fan. The second section presents the extension for rotat ing machines. In the third section, the coupling strategy with the CFD code is presented. T he fourth section presents a validation on the problem of a production HVAC blower.
SYNTHESIS AND CYTOTOXICITY OF POLYHYDROXYLATED CHOLESTEROL DERIVATIVES

Eight polyhydroxylated cholesterol derivatives (1-8) were prepared from cholesterol, using oxidative reagents as SeO2, OsO4/NMO, HCOOH/H2O2 and BH3/ H2O2. Their structures were elucidated by using physical methods including NMR 1D and 2D. These compounds were evaluated against two cancer cell lines (Hep-G2, T98). Compounds 2, 4 and 8 inhibits human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (Hep-G2) with IC50 4.69, 4.98 and 2.89 µg/mL, respectively. In addition, compound 8 exhibited strong cytotoxicity against T98 cell line (glioblastoma) with IC50 = 2.28 μM.
Environmentally driven predator-prey overlaps determine the aggregate diet of the cod Gadus morhua in the Baltic Sea

Aquatic ecosystems are environmentally heterogeneous with features such as fronts or clines of temperature and salinity. This heterogeneity varies over time and is likely to cause changes in predator-prey overlaps, which will affect the diet composition of the predators. We investigated how inflows of oxygenated and saline deep water alternating with stagnation periods affect the con- sumption rates of the herring Clupea harengus L. and the sprat Sprattus sprattus L. by the cod Gadus morhua in the Bornholm basin of the Baltic Sea. We developed conceptual models for the effect of predator-prey overlaps on the aggregate diet of the predator population to test the hypothesis that the effects of inflows on the aggregate diet are mediated by changes in cod-clupeid overlaps. After estimating salinity and oxygen thresholds of the spatial distributions of cod and clupeids and calcu- lating cod-clupeid overlaps from March 1958 to 2004, we applied the models relating cod-clupeid overlaps to observed numbers and masses of herring and sprat in cod stomachs. Our study indicated that (1) the ratio of consumed herring to sprat increases faster than proportionally to the ratio of cod-herring to cod-sprat overlaps, and (2) the ratio of consumed herring to sprat increases slower than proportionally to the ratio of herring to sprat in the sea. The latter is most pronounced at the low ratios of overlaps that occur during stagnation periods, which destabilise the clupeid populations, and may have contributed to the drastic increase in the sprat abundance during the late 1980s.
Electronic structure of silicon-based nanostructures

We have developed a unifying tight-binding Hamiltonian that can account for the electronic properties of recently proposed Si-based nanostructures, namely, Si graphene-like sheets and Si nanotubes. We considered the $s{p}^{3}{s}^{*}$ and $s{p}^{3}$ models up to first- and second-nearest neighbors, respectively. Our results show that the Si graphene-like sheets considered here are metals or zero-gap semiconductors, and that the corresponding Si nanotubes follow the so-called Hamada's [Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 1579 (1992)] rule. Comparison to a recent ab initio calculation is made.
Role of Mediating Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies and Goal Adjustment in Relationship between Personality Characteristics and Quality of Life of Patients with Cancer

Background: The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating roles of the cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) and goal adjustment in relationship between personality characteristics and quality of life of patients with cancer. Methods: The method of this study was a descriptive-explanatory one. The population of the study consisted of patients with cancer referred to 4 health care centers. A total of 156 people (males: 49, females:107) were selected by convenience sampling and they completed the Persian scales of the cognitive emotion regulation, goals adjustment, short-form of 5 personality factors and the world health organization quality of life. Results: The general characteristics of the pattern test suggested a lack of fit of the initial model proposed by the researchers. In order to find a better fit, several corrections were made based on the theoretical and experimental principles and general indicators from testing the initial model (χ2 = 129.71, df (degree of freedom) = 98, RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation) = 0.082, GFI (goodness of fit index) = 0.87, AGFI (adjusted goodness of fit index) = 0.82). According to this model, the extroversion and neuroticism variables, respectively, have positive and negative direct effects on the quality of life of patients with cancer. Also, extroversion has a positive indirect effect due to the adaptive strategies of CERS and goal adjustment, and the neuroticism variable has indirect negative effects on the quality of life of these patients due to the adaptive strategies of CERS and goal adjustment (P > 0.00). Conclusions: Considering the results, that 2 major factors affecting the quality of life of patients with cancer are goal adjustment and CERS; this relationship should be taken into account in the training for treatment programs involving CERS and especially adaptive strategies as well as goal adjustment. © 2017, Cancer Research Center (CRC), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.
Clinical features and the factors associated with poor outcome of measles patients at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital

In the twelve month period from March 1992 to February 1993. 266 consecutive children with measles were admitted to the children's unit at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH). Blantyre. During the 12 month period the overall mortality was 10.9%; mortality was highest (22.5%) in children 12-23 months age. One-third of the children admitted were under 9 months of age. not eligible for measles vaccination. Pneumonia complicated illness of 30% of cases and was the greatest clinical predictor of mortality. Among infants under 9 months of age, who were receiving inappropriate food supplementation before 4 months of age the risk of death was 6.4 times the risk of death in children who were not receiving food supplementation. Other aspects of measles epidemiology are discussed.
Sustainability Learning in Brazilian Organizations: A Six-Dimensional Framework

Abstract Over the past few years there has been a growing interface between the fields of sustainability studies and organizational learning, resulting in a new field of inquiry underpinned by the assumption that the learning experiences of organizations in relation to sustainability have cumulatively generated new knowledge and skills to enhance social and environmental responsibility. This paper contributes to the emerging field of sustainability learning by reporting the findings of an exploratory study carried out in Brazil in 2012. Highlighting the critical role of organizational culture in sustainability learning, this study found that the participating organizations did not have formal strategies to promote learning about sustainability. Another contribution is a six-dimensional framework, used in the research, which can foster a better understanding of organizational learning on environmental and social issues.
A dialogue of the deaf, or communities of debate? The use of facebook in the 2013 Czech parliamentary elections campaign

This article presents an analysis of the citizens' engagement with the 2013 Czech parliamentary elections campaign on Facebook. While many studies primarily focus on the intensity and forms of adoption of social networks by political actors in campaign communication, we attempt to explore both political parties' use of Facebook as well as the extent and ways of citizen participation on the online election campaign. The empirical base for this study consists of all communication archived over the course of three weeks (before and after the elections) on the Facebook profiles of ten most important Czech political parties. Using quantitative content analysis, we first present an overview of the dynamics and intensity of users' engagement with the campaign, illustrating that some of the small as well as populist parties have managed to mobilize significantly larger part of Facebook population than more established parties. following that descriptive part, we first turn to the analysis of the actual content of communication, examining primarily the tone of users' comments, and than we move on to a more in-depth, qualitative examination of communication on the profiles of two selected political parties which were very successful in their online mobilization. The results indicate that most party profiles have displayed a rather surprising level of heterogeneity, allowing for dissenting voices to be displayed in what is generally seen as a heavily managed communication environment.
Burning Characteristics of N-Heptane Pool Fire in a Controlled Dynamic Pressure Environment

Cabin fires during in-flight and fires in high altitude airport have attracted a lot of attention. The previous fire tests at high altitudes were all conducted under very limited number of static pressure levels. It is important to design a controlled oxygen and pressure environment and conduct experiments to study the fire behaviors at different depressurization rates. A low-pressure chamber with oxygen and pressure control of 2×3×4.65m 3 in volume is developed and built to simulate high-altitude environment. Pool fire experiments using 20-cm and 30-cm-diameter pans are performed at three different depressurization rates, e.g. 5.46kPa/min, 10.92kPa/min, and 19.68kPa/min. The parameters measured include burning rate, flame temperature, radiative heat flux, and heat release rate, et al. The results from fire experiments under different depressurization rates demonstrate the difference and impacts of dynamic pressure environment on liquid fire behaviors and helpful for fire prevention during the flight of the aircraft.
Uncertainty, Imitation, and Plant Location: Japanese Multinational Corporations, 1990‐1996

In a study of a sample of 2,705 international plant location decisions by listed Japanese multinational corporations across a possible set of 155 countries in the 1990-1996 period, we use neoinstitutional theory and research on political institutions to explain organizational entry into new geographic markets. We extend neoinstitutional theory's proposition that prior decisions and actions by other organizations provide legitimization and information to a decision marked by uncertainty, showing that this effect holds when the uncertainty comes from a firm's lack of experience in a market but not when the uncertainty derives from the structure of a market's policymaking apparatus.
Modelling individual tree diameter growth for Norway spruce in the Czech Republic using a generalized algebraic difference approach

sharma r.P., vacek Z. , vacek s. , Jansa v. , Kučera M. (2017): Modelling individual tree diameter growth for norway spruce in the czech republic using a generalized algebraic difference approach. J. for. sci., 63: 227–238. individual tree-based growth models precisely describe the growth of individual trees irrespective of stand complexity. These models are more useful than the stand-based growth models for effective management of forests. We developed an individual tree diameter growth model for norway spruce (Picea abies /linnaeus/ H. Karsten) using permanent research plot data collected from Krkonoše national Park in the czech republic. The model was tested against a part of the czech national forest inventory (nfi) data that originated from the western region of the country. Among various models derived by a generalized algebraic difference approach (GADA), the GADA model derived from the chapman-richards function best suited to our data. tree-specific parameters unique to each growth series, which describe tree-specific growth conditions, were estimated simultaneously with global parameters common to all growth series using the iterative nested regressions. The model described most of the variations in diameter growth for model calibration data (Radj = 0.9901, rMse = 0.5962), leaving no significant trends in the residuals. A test against nfi data also confirms that the model is precise enough for predictions of diameter growth for ranges of site quality, tree size, age, and growth condition. The model also possesses biologically desirable properties because it produces the curves with growth rates and asymptotes that increase with increasing site quality. The GADA model is path-invariant and therefore applicable for both forward and backward predictions, meaning that the model can precisely predict diameter growth at any past ages of the trees.