Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of chemical crosslinking on the biodegradation rate of kraft paper

Wood-based paper fibers are inherently biodegradable. In contact with moist soil and in compost, papermaking fibers are readily broken down by soil microbes. Resistance to biodegradation is needed, as paper is used for special applications such as mulching in agriculture and forestry, the coating of construction materials, and for packing and wrapping under conditions where packaging materials may be exposed to contact with moist soil or other type microbial active contamination. A preceding study showed that paper chemical crosslinking with glyoxal, citric acid (CA), or methylated 1,3-dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethylene urea (mDMDHEU) results in substantially improved paper wet strength and lower paper water absorbency. The present study examined the efficiency of chemical crosslinking treatments with CA and with mDMDHEU to decrease the biodegradation rate of laboratory paper sheets and a sack paper, both made of kraft fibers. The biodegradation was examined using a 48-h enzymatic degradation test and a 2-month soil burial test. The results indicate that chemical crosslinking is an effective non-biocidal method for making sulphate kraft paper more resistant to biodegradation. In some end-uses, improved resistance to biodegradation, along with improved paper wet performance, can enhance paper performance comparable to plastic films.
65.2 Is goal scoring a Poisson process?

In analysing a football match, newspaper reporters and commentators often go beyond the actual goals scored in a match to consider the number of attacks by each team. This intuitive measure of a team's performance could well be pushed a little further by considering the probability with which a team scores a given number of goals from a certain number of attacks. In fact it can easily be shown that, in theory, such a probability is a Poisson probability. To verify this claim suppose the probability of an attack resulting in a goal is p and that this probability is independent of the result of any other attack. Then the expected (average) number of goals scored by a team making n attacks will be np. Further, if X is the random variable denoting the number of goals scored from n attacks, the binomial distribution gives
A Motivational Interviewing Chatbot With Generative Reflections for Increasing Readiness to Quit Smoking: Iterative Development Study

Background The motivational interviewing (MI) approach has been shown to help move ambivalent smokers toward the decision to quit smoking. There have been several attempts to broaden access to MI through text-based chatbots. These typically use scripted responses to client statements, but such nonspecific responses have been shown to reduce effectiveness. Recent advances in natural language processing provide a new way to create responses that are specific to a client’s statements, using a generative language model. Objective This study aimed to design, evolve, and measure the effectiveness of a chatbot system that can guide ambivalent people who smoke toward the decision to quit smoking with MI-style generative reflections. Methods Over time, 4 different MI chatbot versions were evolved, and each version was tested with a separate group of ambivalent smokers. A total of 349 smokers were recruited through a web-based recruitment platform. The first chatbot version only asked questions without reflections on the answers. The second version asked the questions and provided reflections with an initial version of the reflection generator. The third version used an improved reflection generator, and the fourth version added extended interaction on some of the questions. Participants’ readiness to quit was measured before the conversation and 1 week later using an 11-point scale that measured 3 attributes related to smoking cessation: readiness, confidence, and importance. The number of quit attempts made in the week before the conversation and the week after was surveyed; in addition, participants rated the perceived empathy of the chatbot. The main body of the conversation consists of 5 scripted questions, responses from participants, and (for 3 of the 4 versions) generated reflections. A pretrained transformer-based neural network was fine-tuned on examples of high-quality reflections to generate MI reflections. Results The increase in average confidence using the nongenerative version was 1.0 (SD 2.0; P=.001), whereas for the 3 generative versions, the increases ranged from 1.2 to 1.3 (SD 2.0-2.3; P<.001). The extended conversation with improved generative reflections was the only version associated with a significant increase in average importance (0.7, SD 2.0; P<.001) and readiness (0.4, SD 1.7; P=.01). The enhanced reflection and extended conversations exhibited significantly better perceived empathy than the nongenerative conversation (P=.02 and P=.004, respectively). The number of quit attempts did not significantly change between the week before the conversation and the week after across all 4 conversations. Conclusions The results suggest that generative reflections increase the impact of a conversation on readiness to quit smoking 1 week later, although a significant portion of the impact seen so far can be achieved by only asking questions without the reflections. These results support further evolution of the chatbot conversation and can serve as a basis for comparison against more advanced versions.
Chloride and phosphorus retention and release in soils surrounding a salt-contaminated lake in West Michigan

Abstract Salinization in freshwater ecosystems has become an increasingly prevalent issue. Past studies indicate that increased salinity levels in lakes can impact biota, stimulate internal nutrient loading, and prevent seasonal turnover, potentially resulting in impairment to the lake ecosystem. Salt retention in soils and groundwater causes elevated salt concentrations in fresh water long after road salt was applied. We examined salt retention and release in soils collected near the tributaries flowing into and out of a salt-impacted urban lake. We distributed each soil sample into plastic trays and exposed them to three treatments, conducted in series: (1) non salt-contaminated water as a conditioning rinse; (2) salt-contaminated water to mimic salt de-icer runoff; and (3) non salt-contaminated water to determine salt release. We measured retention of chloride from each soil sample based on how much chloride was measured in water draining the soil (effluent). We observed considerable variability among sites presumably because of soil heterogeneity, although overall the soils in our study area retained a modest amount of chloride (mean of ∼29 mg/L) from simulated salt runoff events, even at short exposure times (<30 min). In addition, some soils released chloride following a relatively salt-free rinsing event. There was an overall positive relationship between percent soil organic matter and Cl- retention. We also measured the impact of chloride on bioavailable phosphorus concentration in the effluent, which was relatively modest and variable. Soil total phosphorus had a strong positive correlation with %SOM. Our results suggest that in addition to direct runoff of salt de-icers from roads to lakes, soil retention can also serve as a chloride source that can be released over time, resulting in a delayed impact to aquatic ecosystems.
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MOLTEN CHLORIDE FAST REACTOR FUEL CYCLE OPTIONS

Molten Salt Reactors, as a whole reactor category, belong to the GenIV reactors. They can be designed as thermal, epithermal or fast systems for variety of applications. Especially the Molten Chloride Fast Reactors (MCFRs) provide very hard neutron spectrum and good neutron economy. Hence, MCFRs can be operated as a breeder in the closed U-Pu and Th-U cycle or as a breed-and-burn reactor in open U-Pu fuel cycle. This high fuel cycle performance is, nonetheless, accompanied by unfavorable fuel salt transparency for neutrons and may result in bulky cores. In this paper, several operating modes of homogeneous MCFR are simulated, analyzed, characterized and compared with fluoride fast reactors. The EQL0D routine, developed for this purpose at Paul Scherrer Institut, is applied to obtain the respective equilibrium states for these fuel cycle scenarios. The major evaluated parameters are the core size and achievable burnup. The results show that breeding in MCFRs is possible in both Th-U and U-Pu closed cycles. However, the Th-U cycle provides much lower k inf and results thus in bulkier core. The MCFR core size in closed U-Pu cycle is comparable to the fluoride fast reactor operated in the Th-U cycle. The MCFR can be also operated in an open breed-and-burn cycle. Nevertheless, the tight neutron economy requires minimization of neutron leakage and the core can be thus extremely large. Furthermore, the standard definition of fuel burnup is not suitable for this cycle and needs new definition.
FUNDAÇÃO DOM CABRAL Professional Master Program in Business Administration

Adaptive spaces have been increasingly used as a way to foster organizational innovation and adaptability. These spaces provide the opportunities for continuous and contagious interactions within and over the borders of an organization. Due to the exponential development of technology, interactions mediated by information and communication technology (ICT) tools have become usual within working environments, such as adaptive spaces. These tools have created a new space for communication and interaction: virtual space or virtuality. Research has shown that virtuality has both, positive and negative impacts on people’s interactions. This study aims to identify how virtuality impacts on adaptive spaces. Based on a review of the literature on complexity leadership theory, adaptive spaces and virtuality, a qualitative research was conducted in three adaptive organizations, settled in Brazil. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 employees. Analysis of the responses indicate that virtuality impacts positively on adaptive spaces, although interviewees state a preference for in-person interactions. On this basis, it is recommended a complementary approach with virtual and faceto-face interactions. Moreover, it is presented a model of the three pillars (technology, script and people) that give support to the implementation of effective virtual interactions within adaptive spaces, as well as, a framework of leaders’ roles to enable these spaces. Further research is needed to investigate the impacts of virtuality in different kinds of adaptive spaces and the impacts of the kind of technology tool used for the interactions.
Characterization of the planar differential mobility analyzer (DMA P5) ： 5) ： resolving power, transmission efficiency and its application to atmospheric relevant cluster measurements

The newly developed planar differential mobility analyzer (DMA) serving as particle sizer can achieve higher transmission and selection precision at ambient pressure compared with conventional cylindrical DMA, and show potentials on coupling with atmospheric pressure interface mass spectrometer (API-MS) for cluster detection with an additional ion 15 mobility dimension. In this study, we assessed the performance of a commercial planar DMA (DMA P5) integrated with the home-build recirculation system. The sizing range of the system in this work is 0-sub-3.9 nm, although larger sizes can be measured with a sheath gas flow restrictor. The resolving power under different recirculation setups (suction mode and counterflow mode) and different sheath flow rates was evaluated using electrosprayed tetra-alkyl ammonium salts (TMAI, TBAI, THAB and TDAB). The maximum resolving power of THA + under suction and counterflow mode are 61.6 and 84.6, 20 respectively. The sizing resolution of DMA P5 is 75-16 times higher than conventional cylindrical DMAs. The resolving power showed approximately linear correlation with √𝑉 𝐷𝑀𝐴 under counterflow mode, while the resolving power of THA + under suction mode stopped linearly increasinge with √𝑉 𝐷𝑀𝐴 when the V DMA was above 3554.3V and entered a plateau due to the interference of sample flow on the laminarity of sheath flow. The transmission efficiency of DMA P5 can reach 54.3%, about one factor order of magnitude higher than the commercial DMAs. The mobility spectrum of different electrosprayed tetra-25 alkyl ammonium salts and the mass to charge ratio-mobility 2D spectrum of sulfuric acid clusters was also characterized with the DMA P5 (-MS) system.
High harmonic generation for coherent diffractive imaging

This dissertation presents experimental work on a high-harmonic generation source and coherent diffractive imaging. A novel and successful approach of employing harmonic emission that consists of multiple harmonic orders and its utilization for coherent diffractive imaging is presented, and associated results are discussed. This work may prove valuable particularly for time-resolved spectroscopy, sources of soft x-ray and extreme-ultraviolet radiation, and imaging based on harmonic emission. A high-harmonic generation apparatus has been built featuring a highly flexible high-harmonic interaction geometry, optical elements for tailoring of the harmonic emission and a flexible stage that serves experimental purposes, in particular for coherent diffractive imaging. Based on a semi-infinite argon or helium gas cell design, the harmonic emission can be phase-matched and tailored according to the experimental requirements for high flux and so that the spectral width of the harmonic beam is confined to only a few intense harmonic orders. This beam can be directly used for experimental purposes without any narrow-bandwidth optics in the beam path that might affect the harmonic emission in its spatial, spectral or temporal domain. Also any loss in harmonic flux due to intrinsic inefficiencies can be avoided. A technique for in-situ spectral characterization has been developed, which is based on an application of the maximum entropy method to the interference pattern from a Young double-slit pair illuminated by the harmonic emission. This approach is more flexible than and avoids serious problems associated with a different approach based on the use of a fast
Magnetogenesis in Natural Inflation Model

We study the process of inflationary magnetogenesis in the natural single-field inflation model, whose parameters are chosen in accordance with the recent observations by the Planck collaboration [1]. The conformal invariance of the Maxwell action is broken by a kinetic coupling with the inflaton field by means of the coupling function as a power of the scale factor, I(ф) ∝ aa, and a < 0 is used in order to avoid the strong coupling problem. For such a, the electric component of the energy density dominates over the magnetic one and, for a <- −2.2, it causes a strong back-reaction, which can spoil inflation and terminate the enhancement of the magnetic field. It is found that the magnetic fields generated without back-reaction problem cannot exceed ∼10−20G at the present epoch, and their spectrum has a blue tilt.
A Multicentre Study of Nursing Leadership in Andalusian Hospitals from a Gender-based Perspective

Introduction: Leadership is the ability to guide subordinates in a direction or decision so that they can perform a task or achieve a goal that leaves them feeling empowered and accomplished. Leaders are capable of producing changes and at the same time, they inspire others to do the same. This research analysed gender-based differences and dimensions of nursing leadership styles in 18 hospitals in Andalusia, a region of southern Spain. Methods: The sample population of the study comprised 335 subjects, who were middle managers in 18 public regional hospitals in Andalusia. The instrument used to measure different leadership styles was the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X-Short form), which is composed of 45 items. Results: The study showed that the most predominant leadership style was transactional leadership with a mean value of M = 4.22 (standard deviation [SD] = 0.42) followed by transfor-mational leadership with a mean value of M = 3.97 (SD 0.45). Of the three styles analysed, transactional leadership had the highest statistical median for both male and female subjects. From a gender-based perspective, transformational leadership showed statistically significant differences ( p < 0.01) between men and women. This was true for leadership styles as well as for the dimensions that define each style. Conclusion: The most frequent leadership style in middle nursing management in Andalusian hospitals was transactional leadership. In regard to the three leadership styles as well as their dimensions, the female subjects obtained the highest scores. This means that from a gender-based perspective, female nursing managers had better performance levels than their male counterparts in the regional hospital system in Andalusia.
DEMENTIA IN A BRITISH RISK FACTORS AMONG INCIDENT CASES OF REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE

SUMMARY In a 4-year follow up of 1042 elderly people (aged 65 +) randomly sampled from the community, levels of dementia were assessed using a two-phase case-finding procedure (screening followed by clinical interview) among survivors, with additional information provided by death certificates, hospital case notes or postal questionnaires. Overall, 42 cases were clinically identified. In a case-control analysis matching for age, sex and premorbid cognitive status, risk estimates were obtained for nine self-reported factors: heart trouble; headaches; giddiness; falls; current smoking; past smoking; left-handedness; insomnia; and the use of sedative-hypnotic drugs to promote sleep. While none of these factors was associated with a significantly increased risk, the power of these case-control comparisons was limited by sample size.
Implications Of Capital Structure On The Performance Of Deposit Money Banks In Nigeria

: The main objective of the study was to examine the implications of capital structure on the performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Ex-Post Facto Research Design was adopted and the analysis was performed using Ordinary Least Square regression analysis. The study employed different measures of capital structure such as short-term debt, long-term debt, total debt and equity financing in order to investigate the varying effects of these debt structures on financial performance of banks. The study’s data was statistically described, presented, analysed and interpreted using E-View software. Diagnostic tests that include multicollinearity, normality test, Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier (LM) tests among others were conducted to determine the fitness of the usage of regression technique. The findings reveals that Short-term debt/total capital (STDTC) has significant and negative implication on return on equity of Nigerian Deposit Money Banks, that Long-term debt/total capital (LTDTC) has significant effect on return on equity of Nigerian Deposit Money Banks, that Total debt/total capital (TDTC) is not significant in explaining return on equity of Nigerian Deposit Money Banks, that Equity capital /total capital (ECTC) is not significant in explaining return on equity of Nigerian Deposit Money Banks. The study further recommended that deposit money banks in Nigeria should rely less on short-term debt which formed the major part of their leverage and focus more on developing internal strategies that can help improve more on their financial performance indicators. That management and board of directors of deposit money banks should from time to time plough back their net profits in to the banking business in form of retained earnings rather than depending on long-term debt financing. That Deposit Money Banks should develop a good strategy targeted at using more of equity to maximise their market performance in such a way that it yields growth opportunities.
LOCAL TOURIST FOOD CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOUR IN KOTA

: Tourism is now one of the rapidly growing industries in the world, as well as a potential sector to generate economic development. While travelling to a locality, tourists will definitely opt for local authentic food choices to fulfil their taste buds, which provides good experience for them and adds value to their choices of destination. Food tourism has grown rapidly in recent years, especially due to the fact that local food playing an important role in differentiating a destination from another. Therefore, a tourist’s experience of tasting local food is capable of developing their perceptions and values of the place. In particular, food tourism is one of the important aspects in promoting Kota Bharu and its cultural tourism, especially for local tourists, as local food is a manifestation of the national, regional, and cultural values of a tourism destination. This study attempted to determine the explanatory factors influencing tourist food consumption in Kota Bharu, which was achieved by collecting a sample size of 236 local tourists using the convenient sampling method. The resulting findings revealed that price was a major point of concern for domestic tourists in the context of food consumption, considering the factors of gender, age, or education level accordingly. Bootstrapped multiple regression was analysed and found out that motivational and physiological factors were affecting food consumption behaviour among local tourists in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Therefore, local food operators should take into consideration of their food prices when developing effective marketing strategies.
The Challenge to Measure Single-phase Convective Heat Transfer Coefficients in Microchannels

ABSTRACT The determination of local convective heat transfer coefficients in microfluidics is a very hard task. Due to the small dimensions of channels and walls, the use of conventional measurement techniques is only partially suitable in microfluidics. For this reason, a strong effort has been made during the last decades in order to propose innovative techniques which use internal (to microdevices) sensors of reduced dimensions and/or external conventional sensors. In this paper a review of the main experimental techniques proposed for the determination of the local near-wall fluid temperature, the local wall temperature, and the local fluid bulk temperature will be given by putting in evidence for each technique's positive and negative aspects as well as their actual limitations with the aim to stimulate and address the research on this topic in the near future. The problems and the limitations existing nowadays for the accurate measurements of the local thermal properties of a convective microflow demonstrate that for the analysis of microconvection experimental data have to be always integrated by a numerical modeling of the observed system.