Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atmospheric aerosol compositions in China: Spatial/temporal variability, chemical signature, regional haze distribution and comparisons with global aerosols

Abstract. From 2006 to 2007, the daily concentrations of major inorganic water-soluble constituents, mineral aerosol, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in ambient PM10 samples were investigated from 16 urban, rural and remote sites in various regions of China, and were compared with global aerosol measurements. A large difference between urban and rural chemical species was found, normally with 1.5 to 2.5 factors higher in urban than in rural sites. Optically-scattering aerosols, such as sulfate (~16%), OC (~15%), nitrate (~7%), ammonium (~5%) and mineral aerosol (~35%) in most circumstance, are majorities of the total aerosols, indicating a dominant scattering feature of aerosols in China. Of the total OC, ~55%–60% can be attributed to the formation of the secondary organic carbon (SOC). The absorbing aerosol EC only accounts for ~3.5% of the total PM10. Seasonally, maximum concentrations of most aerosol species were found in winter while mineral aerosol peaks in spring. In addition to the regular seasonal maximum, secondary peaks were found for sulfate and ammonium in summer and for OC and EC in May and June. This can be considered as a typical seasonal pattern in various aerosol components in China. Aerosol acidity was normally neutral in most of urban areas, but becomes some acidic in rural areas. Based on the surface visibility observations from 681 meteorological stations in China between 1957 and 2005, four major haze areas are identified with similar visibility changes, namely, (1) Hua Bei Plain in N. China, and the Guanzhong Plain; (2) E. China with the main body in the Yangtze River Delta area; (3) S. China with most areas of Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta area; (4) The Si Chuan Basin in S.W. China. The degradation of visibility in these areas is linked with the emission changes and high PM concentrations. Such quantitative chemical characterization of aerosols is essential in assessing their role in atmospheric chemistry and weather-climate effects, and in validating atmospheric models.
Synproportionierung am metallischen Substrat: CsCu2Cl3 und CsCu2Br3

CsCu2Cl3 und CsCu2Br3 wurden auf trockenem Wege durch Synproportionierung von Gemengen CsX/2 CuX (X = Cl, Br) bzw. CsCuCl3 mit der Gefaswand eines Cu-Bombchens als metallischem Substrat in Form von Einkristallen erhalten. Es ist fur CsCu2Cl3 (CsCu2Br3): a = 950,75(9) (987,3(1)), b = 1189,8(2) (1235,5(2)), c = 559,92(6) (581,80(9)) pm, orthorhombisch, Cmcm, Z = 4. Einzelheiten der Polyeder CsX (X = Cl, Br, I) bzw. der Tetraeder-Doppelketten [Cu2X3]−werden fur CsCu2Cl3, CsCu2Br3 und CsCu2I3 miteinander verglichen.
Les terrains jurassiques du sondage de Couy (Cher, France). Leur analyse séquentielle détaillée à partir de la description des carottes et des courbes diagraphiques

Le forage de Couy-Sancerre (Programme Geologie profonde de la France) avait pour objectif d'atteindre l'Anomalie magnetique du Bassin Parisien. La serie sedimentaire entierement carottee, completee par un jeu complet de diagraphies modernes (micro-resistivite, sonique, gamma-ray, densite, neutron, PEF, pendagemetrie), est le plus souvent comprehensive, mais presente parfois des condensations. L'analyse sequentielle du forage de Couy a permis de mettre en evidence 17 sequences dans le Jurassique inferieur et une partie du Jurassique moyen. Dans le Jurassique inferieur, les 11 sequences caracterisees (la derniere passant dans le Jurassique moyen) sont tres semblables a celles proposees par Haq et ai. (1988) . Pour le Jurassique moyen, les 8 sequences reconnues sont assez delicates a correler avec celles proposees par Haq et al. (1988) , aussi bien que par Rioult et al. (1991) en Normandie ou par Gonnin et al. (1993) en Poitou. Le forage de Couy, par ses donnees lithostratigraphiques et biostratigraphiques, ainsi que par ses enregistrements diagraphiques bien cales, constitue un sondage de reference pour la stratigraphie du Bassin Parisien.
Preparation of conducting poly(vinyl chloride)/polyindole composites and freestanding films via chemical polymerization

This study covers the synthesis of conducting poly- indole (PIN) homopolymer, poly(vinyl chloride)/polyindole (PVC/ PIN) composites, and preparation of their freestanding films. PIN and composites were synthesized chemically by radicalic mechanism using FeCl3 as an initiator. Films of PVC and PVC/ PIN composites were prepared by casting on glass Petri dishes. Mechanical properties of films were examined by stress-strain experiments. From FTIR spectra of polymers, it was revealed that polymerization reaction occurred by 2-3 mechanism. The conductivities of polymers at different temperatures were also measured by four-probe technique and found in the range 10 � 4 to 10 � 5 Sc m � 1 . Magnetic properties of the polymers were ana- lyzed by Gouy scale measurements and were found that their conducting mechanisms are of polaron and bipolaron natures. Thermal properties of polymers were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and found that they had shown adequate thermal stabil- ity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed the amorphous na- ture of the polymers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used for microstructural analysis. V C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1290-1298, 2010
SSHC: A Secure and Scalable Hybrid Consensus Protocol for Sharding Blockchains With a Formal Security Framework

Sharding blockchains are proposed to solve the scalability problem while maintaining security and decentralization. However, there are still many issues to be solved. First, the member selection and assignment process are not strictly analyzed, which might lead to an increase in the adversary proportion. Second, current intra-shard consensus algorithms are inefficient. Besides, cross-shard transaction processing costs expensive system overhead. Moreover, there is a lack of a formal security framework. In this article, we propose a secure and scalable hybrid consensus (SSHC). First, we propose a fair sharding selection scheme to select committee members, including mining processes and member lists confirmation by a reference committee. Second, a pipelined Byzantine fault tolerance for intra-shard consensus is designed, combining the pipelined technology with threshold signatures. Third, we propose a responsive sharding transaction batch processing mechanism to handle cross-shard transactions, which reduces the number of calls to Byzantine fault tolerance algorithms. Fourth, a secure committee reconfiguration method is designed to update shard members efficiently. Furthermore, we employ a formal security framework to design and analyze a sharding blockchain. For an adversary whose computational power fraction is less than <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1/3$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:mrow><mml:mn>1</mml:mn><mml:mo>/</mml:mo><mml:mn>3</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="liu-ieq1-3047487.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>, by reasonably setting a corruption parameter and other related parameters, SSHC is proved to achieve consistency and liveness.
Response of vegetative growth and chemical constituents of Schefflera arboricola L. plant to foliar application of inorganic fertilizer (grow-more) and ammonium nitrate at Nubaria.

A pot experiment was carried out during 2007 and 2008 seasons at Research and Production Station, Nubaria of National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt to study the response of Schefflera plants to foliar fertilizer (Grow-more at the rates of 0.0, 1.0 cm 3 /L and 2.0 cm 3 /L) and ammonium nitrate at the rate of (0, 100 and 200 kg) and their interaction on vegetative growth expressed as plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf area, fresh and dry weight of (leaves, roots and stem) and chemical composition significantly affected by application of the two factors which were used in this study.Grow-more and nitrogen fertilizer promoted all morphological characters, photosynthetic pigments, protein %, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. ,
Advances in understanding bioactivity of chitosan and chitosan oligomers against selected wood-inhabiting fungi

Abstract Nitrous acid deaminative depolymerisation was used to prepare three chitosan oligomer (CO) mixtures from high-molecular weight chitosan. These mixtures of chitosan oligosaccharides were analysed by electrospray ionisation mass spectroscopy, potentiometric titration and gel permeation chromatography. A method based on potentiometric titration of the amino groups of the oligomers gave an average degree of polymerisation (DP) for the three preparations of 5 (CODP5), 9 (CODP9) and 14 (CODP14). Chitosan acetate and the chitosan oligomer mixtures were assayed against Leptographium procerum, Sphaeropsis sapinea and Trichoderma harzianum on nutrient media. Leptographium procerum and S. sapinea growth was prevented by chitosan acetate and chitosan oligomers at concentrations of 0.3–0.4% (w/v), whereas T. harzianum was able to overcome the fungistatic action of these compounds. The oligomer preparation CODP14 exhibited superior specific activity to both CODP5 and chitosan acetate, suggesting an optimum molecular weight for bioactivity. All oligomer preparations were more effective at pH 4 than at pH 6. This result, in combination with the inactivity of N-acetylated CODP14, indicated that amino group protonation was an important factor for fungistatic activity. The CODP14 preparation was reduced with sodium borohydride and fractionated by alkali precipitation and ion exchange chromatography. Bioassays of these fractions pointed towards DP and degree of deacetylation (DD) as key factors in chito-oligosaccharide bioactivity. Conversely, the terminal aldehyde groups generated by depolymerisation did not contribute to the activity observed.
Personal Exposure in Displacement Ventilated Rooms

Personal exposure in a displacement ventilated room is examined. The stratified flow and the considerable concentration gradients necessitate an improvement of the widely used fully mixing compartmental approach. The exposure of a seated and a standing person in proportion to the stratification height is examined by means of full-scale measurements. A breathing thermal manikin is used to simulate a person. It is found that the flow in the boundary layer around a person is able to a great extent to entrain and transport air from below the breathing zone. In the case of non-passive, heated contaminant sources, this entrainment improves the indoor air quality. Measurements of exposure due to a passive contaminant source show a significant dependence on the flow field as well as on the contaminant source location. Poor system performance is found in the case of a passive contaminant released in the lower part of the room close to the occupant. A personal exposure model for displacement ventilated rooms is proposed. The model takes the influence of gradients and the human thermal boundary layer into account. Two new quantities describing the interaction between a person and the ventilation are defined.
Attachment of Nanoparticles to Pyrolytic Graphite Electrode and Its Application for the Direct Electrochemistry and Electrocatalytic Behavior of Catalase

Abstract A highly hydrophilic, nontoxic, and conductive effect of colloidal gold nanoparticles (GNP) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) on pyrolytic graphite electrode has been demonstrated. The direct electron transfer of catalase (CAT) was achieved based on the immobilization of MWCNT/CAT-GNP on a pyrolytic graphite electrode by a Nafion film. The immobilized catalase displayed a pair of well-defined and nearly reversible redox peaks in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) (pH 6.98). The dependence of E°′on solution pH indicated that the direct electron transfer reaction of catalase was a single-electron-transfer coupled with single-proton-transfer reaction process. The immobilized catalase maintained its biological activity, showing a surface controlled electrode process with an apparent heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant (k s) of 1.387±0.1 s−1 and charge-transfer coefficient (α) of 0.49, and displayed electrocatalytic activity in the electrocatalytic reduction of hydrogen peroxide. Therefore, the resulting modified electrode can be used as a biosensor for detecting hydrogen peroxide.
Transient Liquid Phase Bonding

Transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding is a joining process that has been applied to many metallic systems throughout the ages, and yet it still holds promise as a technique for joining in aerospace and semiconductor applications. The TLP process produces a strong, interface-free joint with no remnant of the bonding agent. It differs from diffusion bonding in that the formation of a thin liquid interlayer eliminates the need for a high bonding or clamping force. The interlayer can be provided by foils, electroplate, sputter coats, or any other process that deposits a thin film on the faying surfaces. A schematic illustration of the process, shown in Figure 1, indicates that by placing a thin interlayer of an alloying metal containing a melting point depressant (MPD) between the two pieces of parent metal to be joined and heating the entire assembly, a liquid interlayer is formed. The liquid may form because the melting point of the interlayer has been exceeded, or because reaction with the parent metal results in a low melting liquid alloy. The liquid then fills voids formed by unevenness of the mating
Microwave decomposition for airborne particulate matter for the determination of trace elements by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A microwave digestion method utilizing an acid mixture of HNO3–HClO4–HF (3 + 5 + 2 v/v) in closed vessels was developed for the determination of major, minor and trace elements in very small amounts of airborne particulate matter collected on Teflon filters by a dichotomous sampler, and was tested on NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM 1648 Urban Particulate Matter). Analyses were carried out by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Sixteen elements (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sb, V and Zn) were determined. The results generally showed high reproducibility and good agreement with the certified values, except for As and Cr. The feasibility of applying the microwave digestion pre-treatment with ICP-MS to real samples was also examined. It was demonstrated that the suggested method is more suitable than conventional methods for real sample analysis.
IDENTIFICATION OF THE VOLATILE CONSTITUENTS OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL OF JUNIPERUS OXYCEDRUS (CUPRESSACEAE) FROM THE NORTH CENTRE REGION OF MOROCCO Research Article

This study was designed to examine the phytochemistry of the essential oil obtained from aerial parts of Juniperus oxycedrus collected in Atlas median region from Morocco. The essential oil was extracted by hydro-distillation and analysed by gas chromatography equipped with flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry system (GC/MS). 48 Constituents were identified in leaves oil representing 84.05% of the total oil and the yield was 1.66%. The Juniperus oxycedrus leaves oil was characterised by high contents of α-pinene (31.25%) followed by sabinene (5.21%), limonene (5.02%), β–pinene (4.58%), caryophyllene oxide (4.12%), myrcene (3.56%), ρ-cymene (3.21%), β phellandrene (3.01%), γ–terpinene (2.19%), terpinen-4-ol (2.01%), germacrene-D (1.57%), (E)-caryophyllene (1.25%) and σ-ocimene (1.09%).
Doping of Cobalt into Multilayered Manganese Oxide for Improved Pseudocapacitive Properties

Anodic electrodeposition of layered manganese oxides has been carried out in a MnSO 4 solution heated at various bath temperatures from 25 to 80°C. The crystallinity of the deposits increased with an increase in the bath temperature. Although Co 2+ ions were not involved in the deposition reaction at room temperature, at the elevated temperature the addition of Co 2+ gave rise to a catalytic current suggesting the formation of Co/Mn mixed oxide. No new X-ray diffraction peaks appeared with the insertion of Co 2+ ions in the structure, but their addition caused broadening of the peaks due to the Mn dioxide phase. This indicates that Co ions are not accommodated in the interlayer space but are well dispersed within the MnO 2 layers composed of edge-shared Mn0 6 octahedra. The Co-doped Mn oxide film thus obtained exhibited much better pseudocapacitive performance than the undoped counterpart.
Dielectric and Nonlinear Optical Properties of the Ca 9 R(PO 4 ) 7 (R = Ln) Phosphates

Whitlockite phosphates Ca 9 R(PO 4 ) 7 (R = Ln) were synthesized. Their dielectric and nonlinear opti- cal properties were studied. A polar crystal structure (space group R 3 c ) was determined for all of the phos- phates. When the temperature elevates above 840 K, the phosphates experience second-order phase transitions to centrosymmetric states, which were classified as ferroelectrics. The high-temperature conductivity of the Ca 9 R(PO 4 ) 7 obeys the Arrhenius law; its value increases with the R cation size. In accordance with the crystal- chemical models of the whitlockite structure and by analogy with the isostructural vanadates Ca 9 R(VO 4 ) 7 , the electrical conductivity of Ca 9 R(PO 4 ) 7 was ascribed to calcium ion transfer.
Ozone synthesis from oxygen in dielectric barrier discharges

A comprehensive model of ozone generation in dielectric barrier discharges is presented. The model combines the physical processes in the micro-discharges with the chemistry of ozone formation. It is based on an extensive reaction scheme including the major electronic and ionic processes. The importance of excited atomic and molecular states is demonstrated. Theoretical limits are given for the ozone production efficiency and the attainable ozone concentration. The most important parameters influencing the performance of ozonisers are identified. All theoretical predictions are compared to measured data.
PERCEIVED NUTRITIONAL AND MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF COCOYAM AMONG RURAL DWELLERS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated rural dwellers perception of the nutritional and medicinal benefits of cocoyam in Kwara State Nigeria. Three stage sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for this study. Objectives of the study were to determine the level of cocoyam consumption among rural dwellers and to evaluate rural dwellers perception on the nutritional and medicinal benefits of cocoyam. Descriptive statistics such as mean, frequency counts, percentages and tables were used to analyze the results of the study. Results revealed that 43.3% of respondents are farmers and 34.2% of them belong to one farmers’ group or the other. Majority (91.7%) of respondents consume cocoyam which they usually obtained through growing (55%), buying (35.8%) and gift (9.2%). The result also showed high percentage (83.3%) of the respondents were aware of the nutritional and medicinal benefits of the consumption of cocoyam. Result showed that respondents perceived the following benefits can be derived from cocoyam: good for people with diabetes (Mean score ( ) =2.55), reduce blood sugar ( ̅=2.52), prevent heart problems ( ̅=2.56) and reduce blood pressure ( ̅=2.71). The study concluded that though the respondents are aware of the nutritional and medicinal benefits of consumption of cocoyam, there is need for more enlightenment on the level of consumption for various categories of health and nutritional status within households. It was therefore recommended that enlightenment programmes on the consumption of cocoyam should be carried out to ensure that the benefits are efficiently derived.
Sulfonated cross-linked polyethylenimine for selective removal of mercury from aqueous solutions

Polymeric materials are among the most promising, effective, and increasingly important adsorbents for the removal of toxic metals from wastewater. This study was dedicated to the development of an insoluble, modified chelating polymer for use as an adsorbent for abstraction of Hg from aqueous solutions. Cross-linked polyethylenimine (CPEI) was sulfonated by 3-chloropropanesulfonyl chloride for selective removal of Hg. The binding affinity of the sulfonated CPEI (SCPEI) to Hg was assessed as well as its ability to be regenerated for reuse. It exhibited high removal percentage for Hg up to 87% in synthetic solutions, with high selectivity even in the presence of competing ions: “Mn, Ni, Fe, Pb, Zn, and Cr. ” The removal mechanism followed was observed to be adsorption and precipitation at pH 3 and 8, respectively. High adsorption capacities were also observed for wastewater to which the polymer was applied. The Freundlich isotherm was found to be the best fit describing the adsorption process of Hg onto the SCPEI. The pseudo second-order equation was found to better explain the adsorption kinetics, implying chemisorption. The thermodynamic study of the adsorption revealed high activation energies which confirmed the chemisorption as the mechanism of adsorption. The polymer exhibited up to 72% removal efficiency after regeneration, thus showing potential for re-use.
High-performance poly-Si TFT with ultra-thin channel film and gate oxide for low-power application

In this paper, an ultra-thin-body thin-film transistor (UTB-TFT) with a raised source/drain structure is demonstrated and compared with a conventional thin-film transistor. A significant suppression of leakage current and an improvement in subthreshold swing (SS) resulting from the reduced body thickness is observed. The minimum current can be decreased from 245 pA to 42 pA as the channel film thickness is scaled down from 60 nm to 10 nm. However, an ultra-thin-channel film constrains the average grain size and severely impacts the saturation current. Fortunately, by decreasing the gate oxide thickness from 20 nm to 10 nm, the saturation current of a UTB-TFT can be significantly increased from 13 μA to 25 μA. Experimental results suggest that UTB-TFTs with a sub-10 nm gate oxide display great promise for future low-power, high-performance three-dimensional integrated circuits.