Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Land use/cover dynamics and their effects in the Gerado catchment, northeastern Ethiopia

This paper analyses the land use/cover dynamics of land degradation through the interpretation of aerial photographs (1958 and 1980) and 2006 SPOT-5 satellite image of the Gerado catchment. Other, non-visual data were gathered from personal interview and focus group discussions conducted in 2010 and 2011 with local elders, farmers and development (agricultural extension) agents. The results identified the presence of cultivated and rural settlement land, shrubland, woodland, bare land, grassland, urban built up area and forest. Throughout the period 1958–2006, urban built-up area, forest and cultivated and rural settlement land expanded at an average rate of 6.85%, 1.85% and 0.14% per year at the expense of shrub, wood and grasslands, which declined by 0.77%, 0.21%, 0.65% per year, respectively. The land use/cover dynamics of 1958–2006 resulted in the reduction/loss of biodiversity, occurrence of high soil erosion and ramification of gullies. The triggers for these changes were population growth, land cultivation, expansion of farmland, inappropriate land management, civil war and fuel wood demand. These led to further land degradation and more food insecurity among many farming households. Land resources have to be used according to their suitability. Thus, the exposed and steep mountains of the area have to be protected from cultivation and should be re-afforested. The paper discusses other implications for management and policy formulation also.
FRACTURE CHARACTERISTICS OF SINGLE PARTICLE OF POLYMERIC MATERIALS UNDER IMPACT LOADING

The subject of this paper is the fracture characteristics of single particles of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) or polystyrene (PS) when they were impacted on a target by using an air gun. As a result of experiments a new method of measuring the specific fracture-surface energy was also obtained. From the total energy balance of the impacted particle and the target, the specific fracture energy for PMMA and PS was calculated from four kinds of measured values, namely impact velocity, rebound velocity, deformation, and impact force of a collided particle. The specific fracture energy was formulated as a function of the impact velocity of a particle. The specific fracture-surface energy was also calculated from the values of the specific fracture energy and the increase of specific surface area. The values of the specific fracture-surface energy at the optimum impact velocity were estimated to be 1.5-2.0 kJ/m2 for PMMA and 3.0-3.4 kJ/m2 for PS.
Titanium-Passivated Tinplate for Canning Foods

Chromium-based treatments are currently used for the passivation of tinplate, which produces a protective surface layer consisting of a mixture of metal chromium and chromium oxide. This passivation film is effective against the formation of tin oxides and corrosion by food media, and offers a good substrate for the adhesion of protective organic coatings. However, there is an increasing concern about environmental and health risks with this passivation treatment. The aim of this paper was to study a new environmental friendly passivation treatment based on a titanium compound, applied on tinplate and afterwards lacquered with a conventional epoxyphenolic lacquer used for food can applications. The mechanical and electrochemical characteristics of the lacquered material and the metallic dissolution in canned sardines in tomato juice and peeled tomato were similar to those obtained with conventional Cr-passivated tinplate. According to these results titanium treatment could be considered an alternative to chromium for practical applications.
Molecular dynamics simulation of lipid bilayers with GROMOS96: Application of surface tension

The GROMOS96 force fields 45A3 and 53A5, when applied to dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) membranes, have a tendency to result in a reduced area per lipid in constant pressure simulations. The application of surface tension is effective in increasing the area per lipid, a measure of the phase of the membrane, but only if the area is already close to the experimental range. Therefore the surface tension cannot compensate for strong inadequacies in the force-field parameters. The behaviour of the 45A3 force field from long NP n γT simulations of tens of nanoseconds is analysed over a range of different surface tensions. Comparisons are made with the corresponding NP n AT simulations.
Comparison of AAS, ICP-AES, PSA, and XRF in Determining Lead and Cadmium in Soil

Samples from a hazardous waste site contaminated with lead and cadmium were analyzed by four independent laboratories, each using a different technique: atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma−atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), and potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA). The four data sets were retrospectively analyzed to (1) establish the magnitudes of uncertainty in the measurements, (2) evaluate the comparability of the four instrumental methods, and (3) determine if any significant correlations existed between individual sets of data. In general, the four techniques gave comparable results for the analysis of lead and cadmium, with the best agreement between PSA and AAS. Concentrations determined by PSA were higher than those measured by ICP-AES, AAS, and XRF, while concentrations determined by XRF were lower than or equal to recoveries determined by ICP-AES and AAS. Principal component analysis determined that the two major princi.
Virtually Bare Nanocrystal Surfaces: Significantly Enhanced Electrical Transport in CuInSe2 and CuIn1−xGaxSe2 Thin Films upon Ligand Exchange with Thermally Degradable 1‐Ethyl‐5‐Thiotetrazole

A facile and safe ligand exchange method for readily synthesized CuInSe2 (CIS) and CuIn1‐xGaxSe2 (CIGS) nanocrystals (NCs) from oleylamine to 1‐ethyl‐5‐thiotetrazole, preserving the colloidal stability of the chalcopyrite structure, is presented. 1‐Ethyl‐5‐thiotetrazole as thermally degradable ligand is adapted for the first time for trigonal pyramidal CIS (18 nm), elongated CIS (9 nm) and CIGS NCs (6 nm). Exchanged NC solutions are processed onto gold electrodes yielding ordered thin films. These films are thermally annealed at 260 °C to completely remove 1‐ethyl‐5‐thiotetrazol leaving individual closely assembled NCs with virtually bare surfaces. The current–voltage characteristics of the NC solids are measured prior to ligand thermolysis in the dark and under illumination and after ligand thermolysis in the same manner. The conductivity of trigonal pyramidal CIS increases by four orders of magnitude (1.4 × 10−9 S cm−1 (dark) to 1.4 × 10−5 S cm−1 (illuminated)) for ligand‐free NC films. Elongated CIS NC films show a three orders of magnitude conductivity increase and CIGS NC films exhibit improved conductivity by two orders of magnitude. Conductivity enhancement thereby depends on the NC size accentuating the role of trap‐states and internal grain boundaries in ligand‐free NC solids for electrical transport. This approach for the first time offers the possibility to address chalcopyrite materials’ electrical properties in a virtually ligand‐free state.
Selective Determination of Fourteen Nitroimidazoles in Honey by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A selective method for the determination of fourteen nitroimidazoles and their hydroxy-metabolites in honey was developed based on improved molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The separation of analytes was performed on a C18 column using a mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water with gradient elution. The method was suitable for metronidazole, hydroxymetronidazole, dimetridazole, ronidazole, hydroxydimetridazole, ipronidazole, hydroxyipronidazole, carnidazole, menidazole, nimorazole, ornidazole, secnidazole, ternidazole, and tinidazole. The procedure was evaluated according to EU Commission Decision 2002/657/EC requirements by determining linearity, specificity, recovery, repeatability, within-laboratory reproducibility, decision limit, detection capability, matrix effects, and stability. The method determined nitroimidazoles and their hydroxy-metabolites below the recommended concentration level of 3 µg kg−1. The decision limits and detection capabilities ranged from 0.110 µg kg−1 to 0.387 µg kg−1 and from 0.179 µg kg−1 to 0.508 µg kg−1, respectively. The results from stability tests indicated that all analyzed nitroimidazoles were stable in honey stored at 4°C for at least 28 weeks and that elevated temperature and exposure to light exposure accelerated their degradation. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of a wide variety of honey samples.
DFT Study of Unstrained Ketone C-C Bond Activation via Rhodium(I)-Catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura Cross-Coupling Reactions

Unstrained cyclic ketones can participate in cooperative Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling type reaction using rhodium(I)-based catalyst via C-C bond activation. The regioselectivity indicates a trend where the most substituted side is activated and it is controlled by the beta-substituents. In this work, Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out to disclose the underlying mechanism in the reaction of a ketone series and arylboronate using ylidene as ancillary ligand and pyridine as co-catalysts. The computed energies suggest the reductive elimination step with the highest energy while the reductive elimination has the highest energy barrier. By the means of the Activation Strain Model (ASM) of chemical reactivity, it is found that the ketone strain energy released on the oxidative addition does not control the relativity of the OA reactivity, but indeed is the interaction energy between Rh(I) and C-C bond the ruling effect. The effect of the beta-substituents on regioselectivity has been additionally studied.
Synthesis, Characterization and Crystal Structures of 3,5-Bis(4-fluorophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-1-carboxamide and 3,5-Bis(4-fluorophenyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-1-carbothioamide

Two new pyrazoline derivatives, 3,5-bis(4-fluorophenyl)-4,5-dihydropyrazole-1-carboxamide (1) and 3,5-bis(4-fluorophenyl)-4,5-dihydropyrazole-1-carbothioamide (2), were synthesized by reacting 4,4'-difluoro chalcone with semicarbazide hydrochloride and thiosemicarbazide in ethanolic sodium hydroxide solution. Both the compounds were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction data and supported by IR, NMR, and mass spectral data. In 1, crystal packing is stabilized by N–H…O hydrogen bonds and weak N–H.N, N–H…F and C–H…F intermolecular interactions. In 2, only weak N–H…F and N–H…S intermolecular interactions are observed. Crystal data: C16H13F2N3O, (1), Mr = 301.29, monoclinic, C2/c, a = 17.6219(6) A, b = 10.8735(3) A, c = 15.3216(5) A, β = 102.864(3)°, V = 2862.11(16) A3, Z = 8, T = 173 K, R(F) = 0.0511, wR(F2) = 0.1333; C16H13F2N3S, (2), Mr = 317.35, monoclinic, P21/c, a = 14.339(2) A, b = 11.1478(17) A, c = 9.541(2)(5) A, β = 107.007(18)°, V = 1458.5(5) A3, Z = 4, T = 173 K, R(F) = 0.0413, wR(F2) = 0.0959.
Third-Generation Hydrogen-Bonding Corrections for Semiempirical QM Methods and Force Fields

Computational modeling of biological systems is a rapidly evolving field that calls for methods that are able to allow for extensive sampling with systems consisting of thousands of atoms. Semiempirical quantum chemical (SE) methods are a promising tool to aid with this, but the rather bad performance of standard SE methods for noncovalent interactions is clearly a limiting factor. Enhancing SE methods with empirical corrections for dispersion and hydrogen-bonding interactions was found to be a big improvement, but for the hydrogen-bonding corrections the drawback of breaking down in the case of substantial changes to the hydrogen bond, e.g., proton transfer, posed a serious limitation for its general applicability. This work presents a further improved hydrogen-bonding correction that can be generally included in parameter fitting procedures, as it does not suffer from the conceptual flaws of previous approaches: hydrogen bonds are now treated as an interaction term between electronegative acceptor and d.
Calculation of Thermal Conductivity and Heat Capacity from Physical Data for Some Representative Soils of Korea

The thermal properties including volumetric heat capacity, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and diurnal and annual damping depths of 10 representative soil series of Korea were calculated using some measurable soil parameters based on the Taxonomical Classification of Korean Soils. The heat capacity of soils demonstrated a linear function of water content and ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 cal cm -3 ℃ -1 for dry and saturated medium-textured soil, respectively. A small increase in water content of the dry soils caused a sharp increase in thermal conductivity. Upon further increases in water content, the conductivity increased ever more gradually and reached to a maximum value at saturation. The transition from low to high thermal conductivity occurred at low water content in the soils with coarse texture, and at high water content in the other textures. Thermal conductivity ranged between 0.37×10 -3 cal cm -1 s -1 ℃ -1 for dry (medium-textured) soil and 4.01×10 -3 cal cm -1 s -1 ℃ -1 for saturated (medium/coarse-textured) soil. The thermal diffusivity initially increased rapidly with small increases in water content of the soils, and then decreased upon further increases in the soil-water content. Even in an extreme soil with the highest diffusivity value (1.1×10 -2 cm 2 s -1 ), the daily temperature variation did not penetrate below 70 cm soil depth and the yearly variation not below 13.4 m as four times of damping depths.
81mKr Ventilation–Perfusion Scintigraphy: A Comparative Study in Patients with Suspected Acute Pulmonary Embolism

81mKr is widely used as a ventilation agent to diagnose pulmonary embolism (PE). However, 81mKr is expensive, which limits its continuous availability. Technegas can be an alternative ventilation agent with the advantage of being less expensive and available daily. The aim of this study was to compare the value of technegas with that of 81mKr in the detection of PE. Methods: Ninety-two consecutive patients (29 men; mean 6 SD, 53 6 17 y old) with at least one segmental perfusion defect (Hull criteria) were studied prospectively. Perfusion and ventilation (V/Q) lung scintigraphy with both technegas and 81mKr were performed within 24 h on all patients. V/Q lung scan results were classified as high probability for PE (normal ventilation study) or nondiagnostic (abnormal ventilation study). All V/Q lung scans were read by two experienced nuclear physicians in consensus. For the intraand interobserver variabilities, two experienced observers independently read the V/Q lung scans. Results: 81mKr and technegas showed a good agreement (k, 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53–0.82). However, technegas significantly increased the number of nondiagnostic V/Q lung scans (P 5 0.035). In 15 patients, a discrepancy was found between 81mKr and technegas. False-positive V/Q lung scan results occurred in 4 of 12 patients (33%) with 81mKr and in 2 of 3 patients (66%) with technegas. The intraand interobserver variabilities were 0.71–0.88 (95% CI, 0.56–1.0) for perfusion/81mKr and 0.74–0.96 (95% CI, 0.58–1.0) for perfusion/technegas. Conclusion: In comparison with 81mKr, technegas does not result in more false-positive V/Q lung scan results. The use of technegas, however, increases the number of nondiagnostic V/Q lung scan results, which would increase the demand for further additional testing to confirm or refute PE.
Heavy metal distribution in wastewater from a treatment plant

Abstract The results of a study using a multivariate statistical approach to determine the effects of a treatment process on the distribution of heavy metals in the soluble fraction of a wastewater sample are reported. Treated, partially treated, and untreated wastewater samples from a municipal treatment plant were analyzed to determine the concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn. Analyses were performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The concentration of solids in all samples of wastewater was determined too. Preliminary results show that the primary sedimentation affects the distribution of metals in the soluble fraction more than the secondary sedimentation, and the distribution is not related to the dates of sampling. The results of this study using such analysis may help to determine the optimal conditions as well as to understand the heavy metals removal process trend.
Activated sludge as a possible source of biodegradable plastic

Polyhydroxyalkanaote (PHA) is known to be temporarily stored by microorganisms in activated sludge especially in the anaerobic-aerobic processes. When PHA is extracted from activated sludge, it is a thermoplastic with the remarkable characteristics of biodegradability. We investigated the possibility of using activated sludge for the production of PHA, focusing on increasing the PHA content of activated sludge. Activated sludge from laboratory scale anaerobic-aerobic reactors accumulated PHA of around 20% under anaerobic conditions and up to 33% under aerobic conditions. In order to further increase the PHA content of activated sludge, we introduced the “microaerophilic-aerobic” process, where a limited amount of oxygen is supplied into the anaerobic zone of the anaerobic-aerobic process. Activated sludge acclimatized in the microaerophilic-aerobic process accumulated PHA of as much as 62% of sludge dry weight. The “microaerophilic-aerobic” process was demonstrated to be an effective process for the enrichment of PHA-accumulating microorganisms.
THESIS COMBINING CHEMICAL WITH BIOLOGICAL OXIDATION FOR EFFICIENT TREATMENT OF CHLORONITROBENZENE IN GROUNDWATER Submitted by

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iv LIST OF TABLES . ix LIST OF FIGURES . x CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1. Problem statement . 1 1.2. Chloronitrobenzene (CNB) . 2 1.3. Biodegradation of chloronitroaromatic compounds . 6 1.3. 1. Biodegradation under aerobic conditions . 7 1.3. 2. Biodegradation under anaerobic conditions. 8 1.4. Chemical oxidation . 9 1.4. 1. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) . 9 1.5. Combined treatment approaches for persistent organic contaminants . 14 1.6. Hypothesis and Objectives . 18 CHAPTER TWO. MATERIALS AND METHODS . 19 2.1. Chemicals . 19 2.2. Experiments . 20 2.2.1. Electrochemical oxidation treatment . 20
KUALITAS AIR TANAH BEBAS KOTA KARIMUNJAWA, PULAU KARIMUNJAWA

Studi pendahuluan mengenai sifat kerentanan sumberdaya air pada pulau kecil,telah dilakukan dengan mengambil contoh kasus Kota Kecamatan Karimunjawa yang terletak di Pulau Karimunjawa-Kemujan, Kabupaten Jepara, Jawa Tengah. Hasil pemetaan detail menunjukkan bahwa litologi daerah ini terdiri dari sedimen pasir lepas, endapan rawa dan Formasi Karimunjawa yang didominasi oleh batupasir masif dan keras serta pelapukannya. Berdasarkan nilai tahanan jenis hasil geolistrik, dengan mengaitkan kondisi geologi permukaan, dapat dilakukan pengelompokan lapisan batuan yang terletak d bawah permukaan dapat dikelompokkan menjadi satuan endapan kuarter yang diwakili oleh nilai 0,8 – 27,3 Ohm-m dan Satuan batuan Pra-Tersier yang dinyatakan oleh nilai 44 – 1997,5 Ohm-m. Informasi hidrokimia menunjukkan adanya kelompok airtanah yang berbeda berdasarkan besaran pH dan DHL. Kelompok dengan pH bersifat asam (4,5 – 5,5) umumnya memiliki nilai DHL yang rendah (53,8 µS/cm – 509 µS/cm), sedang kelompok airtanah dengan pH netral-cenderung basa (7,0 – 8,0) umumnya memiliki nilai DHL : 606 µS/cm – 21300 µS/cm. Selain itu hasil analisa kimia air menunjukkan bahwa terdapat besaran amonium yang melebihi batas ambang yang diijinkan Pola penyebaran DHL dan hasil penafsiran geolistrik dapat diperkirakan bahwa proses penyusupan air laut, selain terjadi arah tegak lurus pantai, juga terjadi pada arah barat daya. Hal ini diperkuat oleh data hidrokimia yang menunjukkan bahwa air tanah bebas di daerah kota sudah terpengaruh oleh air laut yang mempunyai nilai DHL dan pH yang tinggi. Proses penyusupan air laut dalam hal ini ini tampaknya lebih banyak dipengaruhi oleh kondisi genesa dari endapan pantai daerah studi. Hasil studi sementara menunjukkan bahwa telah terjadi proses degradasi kualitas air tanah di daerah studi. Walaupun terjadi peristiwa penyusupan air laut, proses degradasi tersebut lebih banyak dipengaruhi oleh limbah domestik.
Transition states and folding dynamics of proteins and heteropolymers

We study the folding dynamics of short two‐dimensional self‐avoiding lattice model proteins and copolymers with specific HP sequences (H, hydrophobic, P, polar) that fold to unique native structures. HH contacts are favorable. The conformational landscape is found by exhaustive enumeration using two different move sets, and time evolution is modeled by a transition matrix with the Metropolis criterion. The kinetic sequence of folding events depends strongly on both the monomer sequence and on the move set. But certain features are common to all sequences with both move sets. Beginning with open conformations, chains fold through multiple paths, are slowed by kinetic traps, and accumulate in compact nonnative conformations. Most chains must surmount energy barriers, which we identify as the transition state. Strikingly, the transition state involves a chain expansion, due to the breaking of HH contacts of compact denatured conformations. Mutations can significantly affect the energy landscape and folding d.
Ab initio modeling of boron clustering in silicon

We present results of ab initio calculations for the structure and energetics of boron-interstitial clusters in Si and a respective continuum model for the nucleation, growth, and dissolution of such clusters. The structure of the clusters and their possible relationship to boron precipitates and interstitial-cluster formation are discussed. We find that neither the local-density approximation nor the generalized-gradient approximation to the density-functional theory result in energetics that predict annealing and activation experiments perfectly well. However, gentle refitting of the numbers results in a model with good predictive qualities.
Board of Directors and CEO’s Compensation: The Case of Listed European Firms

The aim of this research is to assess the role of the board of directors in determining CEO’s compensation in the context of listed European companies for 3 fiscal years (2016-2017-2018). Based on a sample extracted from 11 European countries (France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom and Netherlands), the results reveal the importance of board of directors characteristics in determining of CEO’s compensation. The board size, CEO duality, the presence of independents directors and the existence of compensation committee have been shown as determinants of CEO’s compensation.
Automating Entity Matching Model Development

This paper seeks to answer one important but unexplored question for Entity Matching (EM): can we develop a good machine learning pipeline automatically for the EM task? If yes, to what extent the process can be automated? To answer this question, we find that a general-purpose AutoML tool cannot be directly applied to solve an EM problem, thus propose AutoML-EM, an automated model pipeline development solution tailored for EM. In reality, however, another bottleneck of EM problem is the insufficient labeled data. To mitigate this issue, active learning based solutions are widely adopted. Under this setting, we propose AutoML-EM-Active, investigating how to maximize the benefit of AutoML-EM with automatic data labeling. We provide fundamental insights into our solutions and conduct extensive experiments to examine their performance on benchmark datasets. The results suggest that AutoML-EM not only avoids human involvement in model development process but also reaches or exceeds the state-of-the-art EM performance, and AutoML-EM-Active improves the model performance under the active learning setting effectively.