Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of ‘Disorder’ During the 2019 Protests in Hong Kong: Policing, Social Identity, Intergroup Dynamics, and Radicalization

Across the latter half of 2019, Hong Kong became the focus of world attention as it was rocked by a wave of increasingly violent confrontations between police and protesters. Both inside and outside the Territory, several powerful political actors have argued that the paramilitary-style police interventions used to manage the protests were necessary because the disorder was being fermented by agitators. In contrast, this article explores the utility of the Elaborated Social Identity Model of crowd behaviour to help explore and explain some of the social psychological dynamics through which the 2019 protests became ‘radicalised’. The article explores three key phases of their evolution to draw out the patterns of collective action and variations in policing approaches. We show that early demonstrations were focused predominantly on preventing the implementation of controversial legislation but spread and changed in form as a function of the use of crowd dispersal tactics by police. Moreover, we show how police inaction at other critical moments helped amplify perceptions of police illegitimacy that further radicalized protesters. Drawing upon a body of primary interview and secondary survey data, we also provide a social psychological analysis. We argue the observed patterns of collective action were underpinned by identity change and empowerment processes brought about as a consequence of both the structural context and the intergroup dynamics created in part by coercive policing practices.
Near-field optical fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

The application of Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) to Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy on diffusing molecules in solution is presented here. The ultra small excitation volume in such a technique allows measurements with fluorophore concentrations of up to 10μM, making FCS in biological environment at nearly native conditions possible.
Fate of Dissolved Organic Carbon in Antarctic Surface Environments During Summer

While the role of supraglacial environments such as the cryoconite holes and surface snow in cycling of carbon and nutrients has gained momentum in the last decade, little has been done to assess how interactions with sunlight and microbes control the dissolved organic matter cycling in these environments. In this study, the cryoconite holes, which are subjected to different light conditions, were monitored in the coastal Antarctica during the summer in order to determine how the geochemistry of these environments varied through the melt season. Additionally, mesocosm experiments were conducted to understand the impact of photochemical and microbial activities on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and ionic constituents in the snow and cryoconite holes. In situ measurements of primary and bacterial production carried out in the surface snow and cryoconite holes showed that the primary production rates were higher than the bacterial production rates. Both photochemical and microbial processes resulted in changing the concentration of DOC, carboxylate, and nitrate ions in these environments. Sunlight‐induced production of biologically labile compounds, such as acetate and formate, and photochemical degradation of oxalate were also observed. Microbial activity had the opposite effect, resulting in an increase in oxalate and decrease in acetate and formate concentrations. Consequences of these combined processes would determine the fate of DOC and associated nutrients in the Antarctic supraglacial environments and potentially influence the local productivity within these systems.
Who wins the British lavender vote? (Mostly) Labour

ABSTRACT Does sexuality shape electoral behavior in British elections? Relying on data from 10,290 individuals, this article provides the first case study analysis of a sexuality gap between heterosexuals and self-identified lesbian, gay and bisexuals in Britain. Testing the assumption that LGB voters are electorally incentivized to vote for socially liberal parties that advocate pro-LGBT+ positions, empirically I find that Britain's lavender voters are significantly more supportive of the UK's socially liberal parties. The sexuality gap is substantive with LGBs 9.65 percentage-points more likely to vote for Labour and 13.64 percentage-points more likely to vote for any socially liberal party via-à-vis their heterosexual peers. Importantly, the sexuality gap holds across the youngest cohort of the electorate who became of political age after the introduction of same-sex marriage. Finally, whilst there is a strong amount of support for the Liberal Democrats who acted as an entrepreneurial advocate of LGBT+ rights in the UK, evidence suggests that a lack of significantly increased electoral support from LGBs at the polls may be the result of strategic concerns. The results are important as they highlight the substantive role of sexuality in shaping electoral choices which has hereto not been considered in models of British electoral behavior.
Kinetics and Mechanisms of Abiotic Degradation of Fipronil (Hydrolysis and Photolysis)

The abiotic degradation of fipronil (compound I), a phenylpyrazole insecticide, was studied in aqueous solution and on the surface of two soils from Niger (Saguia and Banizoumbou) and one Mediterranean soil (Montpellier). The rate of hydrolysis of fipronil in solution was measured at different values of pH and temperature. The pH was an influencing factor: hydrolysis kinetics were pseudo-first-order, the half-life being 770 h at pH 9.0, 114 h at pH 10.0, 11 h at pH 11.0, and 2.4 h at pH 12.0. Fipronil was stable under acid (pH 5.5) and neutral conditions. The Arrhenius relation was verified over the temperature range 22−45 °C: the activation energy was 62 kJ mol-1 and the calculated entropy change −32 J mol-1. Compound II [5-amino-3-carbamoyl-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-4-[(trifluoromethyl)sulfinyl]pyrazole] was the only hydrolysis product detected. The hydrolysis reaction mechanism involves nucleophilic addition of OH- to the polar nitrile bond, producing a hydroxyimine which then underg.
Synthesis, characteristic, and properties of waterborne polyurethane based on natural rubber

A series of new waterborne polyurethanes (WPUs) was successfully prepared by prepolymer process from renewable source, hydroxytelechelic natural rubber (HTNR), with different amounts of DMPA (1.6–8.4 wt %), different molecular weights (1000–4000 g mol−1), and different levels of epoxide (0%–20%) of HTNR. It was found that the urethane conversions of prepolymer were over 80% as calculated by FTIR technique. The resulting HTNR2000-based WPUs exhibit a uniform particle size, which decreases from 420- to 83-nm diameters with an increase in the amount of DMPA from 2.9 to 6.6 wt %. The particle size also decreases with an increase of soft segment or with an increase of epoxide content. They are well stable more over 6 months and without a significant difference in particle size compared with starting of them. Chemical structure of WPU films was confirmed by FTIR, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR. Molecular weight and polydispersity were determined by SEC. In addition, thermal and water uptake properties were investigated. The experimental results reveal that the DMPA content, molecular weight of HTNR, and epoxide content play an important key role in water uptake and thermal properties. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012
More people, more trees: A reversal of deforestation trends in Southern Ethiopia

Despite global commitments to forest restoration, evidence of the pathways through which restoration creates social and ecological benefits remains limited. The objective of this paper is to provide empirical evidence to generate insights on the relationship between forest cover change and key provisioning ecosystem services and reforestation pathways. In Southern Ethiopia, three zones along a gradient of decreasing land cover complexity and tree cover were examined. The land cover change was assessed using satellite remote sensing and complemented ground‐based tree inventory. Perceptions of land cover and ecosystem services change and farmer responses were evaluated through three Participatory Rural Appraisals and eight Focus Group Discussions. Since the 1970s, a landscape shift from a forest‐grassland to a cropland mosaic was associated with increased food production, improved food security, and higher incomes. However, this shift also coincided with reductions in livestock, construction materials, fuelwood and water availability, prompting reforestation efforts designed to recover some of these lost ecosystem services. In particular, some households established Eucalyptus woodlots and encouraged natural regeneration. Natural trees, Eucalyptus woodlots, Ensete plantations (a type of plantain), and grasslands were positively associated with homestead proximity; thus, homestead establishment resulting from population increase in this predominately agricultural landscape appeared to foster a viable forest restoration pathway—that is, 'more people, more trees'. This is a reforestation pathway not previously described in the literature. A return to a more diverse agricultural landscape mosaic provided more secure and diversified income sources along with better provisioning of construction materials, fuelwood, and higher livestock numbers.
Electronic and magnetic properties of hexagonal rare-earth-Zn-Mg compounds and their relation to the properties of icosahedral alloys

The electronic and magnetic structure of hexagonal rare-earth-zinc-magnesium compounds closely related to the icosahedral phases has been investigated by local density approximation (LDA) and LDA + U calculations. It is shown that both non-magnetic Y-Zn-Mg and antiferromagnetic Gd-Zn-Mg are stabilized by a Hume-Rothery-like electronic mechanism, the formation of a deep structure-induced pseudogap at the Fermi level being effected by an intra-atomic s→d promotion of the rare-earth sites and a strong s, p-d hybridization. The antiferromagnetism of Gd-Zn-Mg is of a layered type; the exchange coupling is an indirect Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction between the localized 4f moments via the delocalized conduction electrons. The significance of the present results for the electronic and magnetic properties of the icosahedral alloys is discussed.
A Low-Cost Real-Time IOT Enabled Data Acquisition System for Monitoring of PV System

ABSTRACT The performance degradation due to environmental factors represents a major shortcoming to the solar PV system making them untrustworthy for dessert or remote plants. Real-Time monitoring systems are extensively required in the remote PV system for gathering all parameters for estimating system performance and optimization purposes. Many existing studies present wired data acquisition systems, using LABVIEW license software, which are costly and not easily accessible. The wired data acquisition systems are accessible only near the PV systems. There are some wireless data acquisition systems, but they depend on license-based software and cloud services. There are very few wireless data acquisition systems using open-access software, which are monitored and recorded fewer parameters at a very high cost. The existing data acquisition systems are either continuously connected to supply or manually controlled, require the manpower to operate the system near the remote PV plant. These issues can be eliminated by using the proposed internet of things (IoT) based data acquisition system (DAQ). The proposed data acquisition system is based on open-access software and cloud service. In this paper, we presented all the design steps of the proposed low-cost data acquisition system systematically, also tested the performance of the proposed IoT enabled data acquisition system (DAQ) under harsh environment conditions over 28 days. Real-time test results revealed that the suggested data acquisition system is appropriate, reliable, cost-effective, and suitable for harsh outdoor conditions for monitoring and gathering operational information of the PV system to assess its performance. The information updated by the proposed DAQ system can be seen from anyplace. The proposed data acquisition system can be controlled (ON/OFF) by using the Wi-Fi-enabled switch according to the requirement. In this way, we can not only save energy by 58% but also save the life of sensors. It has been observed that the output power of the PV module is reduced by 13% within 28 days without adopting any cleaning technique. In this paper, we also discussed the comparison between the proposed and some exiting methodology of the data acquisition systems.
Examining Caregiver Coping and Clinic Attendance in Pediatric Sickle Cell Disease

Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), the most common genetic disorder in the U.S., primarily affects youth of African or Latino backgrounds. Regular clinic attendance promotes positive health outcomes in pediatric SCD. Caregivers of youth with SCD endorse high levels of stress that may disrupt clinic attendance. Improved caregiver coping may help address barriers to clinic attendance in SCD families. Sixty-three caregivers and youth (Mage = 13.2, 60.3% male) completed the Responses to Stress Questionnaire- Sickle Cell Disease (RSQ-SC). The RSQ-SC assesses primary control engagement (PCE), secondary control engagement (SCE), and disengagement coping. The researchers tabulated percent of pediatric hematology appointments attended, canceled by patient/provider/due to hospitalization, and no-showed over the past year via medical chart review. Results indicated a significant positive association between caregiver education and percentage of appointments attended (r = .295, p = 0.19). A hierarchical regression revealed that caregiver coping did not predict clinic attendance [F (4, 58) = 2.114, p = 0.091, R2 Δ = 0.040] when controlling for caregiver education. In isolation, caregiver coping may not be an effective target for interventions focused on improving adherence to pediatric hematology appointments.
A study of surface dynamics of polymers. II. Investigation by plasma surface implantation of fluorine–containing moieties

Macromolecules at the surface of a polymeric solid have considerable mobility, and the specific arrangement of functional groups of macromolecules at the surface is dictated by the environmental conditions in which the surface is placed. Consequently, the change of environmental conditions, such as immersion in water or placement in a biological surrounding, could cause a cosiderable degree of change in the surface characteristics of a polymer from those evaluated in the laboratory against ambient air. The mobile nature of a polymer surface can be investigated by surface-implanting fluorine-containing moieties, mainly—CF3, by the plasma implantation technique and following the disappearance and reappearance of fluorine atoms on the surface. The disappearance rates (based on the immersion time in water at room temperature) of ESCA F1s signals, the decay rates of (advancing) contact angle of water, and the recovery of these values on heat treatment of water-immersed samples were measured as a function of crystallinity of polymer samples (at three levels of crystallinity) for poly(ethylene terephthalate) and nylon 6.
The Impact of forest and non‐forest cover on drinking water treatment costs: panel evidence from Ethiopia

Empirical assessment of relationships between land use and land cover and drinking water chemical treatment cost is lacking in developing countries. This study is conducted to assess the impact of forest and non‐forest cover on water purification chemical costs in Ethiopia. A panel fixed effects regression model was applied and analysed at the watershed, upstream parts of the watershed, and different buffer distances ranging from 2.5 to 30 kilometers. Findings indicated that forest cover both at watershed and upstream level has a significant effect on water treatment chemical cost. Result showed that watershed forest cover contributes significantly to reduction of treatment chemical costs as compared to non‐forest cover, but the contribution to the reduction of treatment cost declines as the buffer distance increases. Thus, the findings highlighted that protecting forest enhances water quality and reduces the chemical costs incurred to treat potable water.
Antibiotic resistance pattern and phylogenetic groups of the uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolates from urinary tract infections in Hamedan, west of Iran

Background and Objectives: Escherichia coli is the most common causative agent of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in 90-80% of patients in all age groups. Phylogenetic groups of these bacteria are variable and the most known groups are A, B1, B2 and D. The present study aimed to evaluate the phylogenetic groups of E. coli samples obtained from UTIs and their relation with antibiotic resistance patterns of isolates. Materials and Methods: In this study 113 E. coli isolates were isolated from distinct patients with UTIs referred to Hamadan hospitals. After biochemical and molecular identification of the isolates, typing and phylogenetic grouping of E. coli strains were performed using multiplex PCR targeting chu, yjaA and TSPE4.C2 genes. The anti-microbial susceptibility of the isolates to amikacin, ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ciprofloxacin, cefotaxime, imipenem, aztreonam, gentamicin, meropenem, nitrofurantoin, nalidixic acid and cefazolin was determined using disk diffusion method. Results: Of 113 isolates, 50 (44.2%), 35 (31%), 23 (20.4%) and 5 (4.4%) of samples belonged to group B2, group D, group A and group B1 phylogenetic groups respectively. All isolates were susceptible to meropenem, imipenem (100%), followed by amikacin (99.1%). The highest resistance rates were observed against ampicillin (74.3%) and nalidixic acid (70.8%). Correlation between phylogenetic groups and antibiotic susceptibilities was significant only with co-amoxiclav (P = 0.006), which had the highest resistance in phylogenetic group A. Conclusion: Prevalence of different phylogroup and resistance associated with them in E. coli samples could be variable in each region. Therefore, investigating of these items in E. coli infections, could be more helpful in selecting the appropriate antibiotic treatment and epidemiological studies.
The investigation of ancient metal artefacts by portable X-ray fluorescence devices

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis by portable spectrometers has long been applied to the study of ancient metal artefacts. On one hand, its effectiveness depends on its ability to provide answers to archaeological, historical and technological questions. On the other hand, the artistic and monetary value of artefacts requires mandatorily respecting the physical integrity of the objects in most cases. These two conditions – i.e. being non-destructive and, at the same time, capable of significant results – affect the designing of spectrometer, with special attention given to the balance between portability and analytical performance, as well as measurement strategy. This paper presents a critical discussion concerning the use of portable XRF devices in the investigation of ancient metal artefacts, including the advantages and limitations of different technical solutions and measurement strategies. Measuring the absolute composition of the objects often requires the removal of the patina, which is seldom permitted for ancient artefacts. Hence, emphasis is given to alternative methods that are more respectful of artefact integrity and are able to make the most of the non-destructivity and measurement speed, which are the real mainstays of portable XRF. Other uses of this technique such as the analysis of multilayered materials and the study of surface compositional changes are also discussed.
How discretionary behaviors promote customer engagement: the role of psychosocial safety climate and psychological capital

Abstract The study examines the effect of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and psychological capital (PsyCap) on customer engagement through discretionary service behaviors including adaptive and proactive service behaviors (ASB and PSB). A field study of 56 managers, 513 service employees, and 560 customers in 56 branches of insurance companies was carried out to test a theoretical model using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM7). The results demonstrated that PsyCap and PSC were both positively associated with ASB and PSB at the individual level. The results also showed that an interaction between PsyCap and PSC was related to ASB but not PSB. This suggested that PsyCap and PSC interact in a synergic manner to affect service employees' engagement in ASB, beyond their direct effects. At the branch level, ASB was not associated with customer engagement behavior, but PSB was. Furthermore, PSB mediated the relationship between PSC and customer engagement behavior, although ASB did not.
The Behavior of Partially Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide Solutions in Porous Media

Laboratory studies using silica powder, calcium carbonate powder, and crushed Berea sandstone examine the effects on partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide by such parameters as solution salinity, flow rate, rock pore size, polymer molecular weight, mobility reduction, permeability by polymer solution, adsorption, and temperature. Three different polyacrylamides with varying molecular weights and degrees of hydrolysis were used in the study. The following conclusions were obtained: (1) calcium carbonate appears to have a greater affinity for polymer than does silica; (2) polymer adsorption increases with salt concentration; (3) polymer effectiveness in reducing mobility is greatest at lowest salinity and with highest average molecular weight; (4) as pores become smaller, polymer solutions are more effective in reducing mobility and permeability; (5) polymer solution mobility decreases markedly as the flow rate increases; (6) mechanical degradation begins to occur at very high fluid velocities and is especially pronounced in calcium containing solutions; and (7) increasing temperature seems to have little effect on mobility reduction by polymer within its range of thermal stability.