Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impurity-free quantum well intermixing for large optical cavity high-power laser diode structures

We report on the correlation of atomic concentration profiles of diffusing species with the blueshift of the quantum well luminescence from both as-grown and impurity free quantum wells intermixed on actual large optical cavity high power laser diode structures. Because it is critical to suppress catastrophic optical mirror damage, sputtered SiO2 and thermally evaporated SrF2 were used both to enhance and suppress quantum well intermixing, respectively, in these (Al)GaAs large optical cavity structures. A luminescence blueshift of 55 nm (130 meV) was obtained for samples with 400 nm thick sputtered SiO2. These layers were used to generate point defects by annealing the samples at 950 °C for 3 min. The ensuing Ga diffusion observed as a shifting front towards the surface at the interface of the GaAs cap and AlGaAs cladding, as well as Al diffusion into the GaAs cap layer, correlates well with the observed luminescence blue shift, as determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Although this technique is well-known, the correlation between the photoluminescence peak blue shift and diffusion of Ga and Al during impurity free quantum well intermixing on actual large optical cavity laser diode structures was demonstrated with both x ray photoelectron and photoluminescence spectroscopy, for the first time.
Effect of non-encapsulated and encapsulated active dried yeast on blood cell count, blood metabolites, and immune response of finishing beef heifers

Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate whether encapsulated active dried yeast (EDY), compared with non-protected active dried yeast (ADY) or antibiotics (ANT), improved immune response and blood metabolites of finishing beef heifers. Blood urea nitrogen was lower (P < 0.05) with supplemented ADY and mixture of ADY and EDY (MDY) compared with control. Supplementation of MDY also resulted in lower (P < 0.05) red blood cell distribution width than control. Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein was less (P < 0.05) for EDY than control, ANT, and ADY as well as cytokine concentration of interleukin-6 was less (P < 0.05) for MDY versus control.
Single‐ended half‐select disturb‐free 11T static random access memory cell for reliable and low power applications

This paper presents an 11 transistor (SEHF11T) static random access memory (SRAM) cell with high read static noise margin (RSNM) and write static noise margin (WSNM). It eliminates the write half‐select disturb using cross‐point data‐aware write word lines, which can mitigate bit‐interleaving structure to reduce multiple‐bit upset and increase soft‐error immunity. We evaluated and analyzed the effect of process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations on various design metrics and compared it with other cells. The SEHF11T performs fast read operation due to its higher read current and slow write operation due to its single‐ended nature. It employs the read decoupling technique to enhance the RSNM. The stacked transistors in the left/right half‐cell increase the RSNM. In addition, the WSNM is improved by eliminating the feedback of cross‐coupled inverters pair during write operation by means of power‐cutoff write‐assist technique. The proposed cell shows 1.11X higher RSNM and 1.37X higher WSNM compared to fully differential 8T (FD8T) cell. The stacked transistors in the cell reduce leakage power dissipation. The SEHF11T consumes 0.47X lower leakage power compared to FD8T at VDD = 0.7 V. Furthermore, it exhibits high reliability against PVT variations in subthreshold region and shows 1.09X narrower spread in leakage power than that of FD8T at VDD = 0.3 V.
Positron-induced scattering of acetone from 0.1 eV to 5 keV

Positron impact scattering cross-sections (CS) like elastic differential, integral and momentum transfer of acetone are reported in the energy range from 0.1 eV to a few keV using a cc-pVTZ basis set within single centre expansion formalism. The optimized molecular wavefunction of the target was obtained from the multi-center expansion of the Gaussian-type orbitals within a Hartree–Fock self consistent field scheme. Two different models were used to account for the long-range effects arising due to the polar nature of the target. Both the models gave overlapping ‘correction’ CS. The Born corrected elastic CS exhibit a good agreement with existing experimental results and ab initio theoretical results. The inelastic CS like positron impact excitation and ionization are also computed. The total CSs obtained by summing elastic and inelastic CS are in excellent agreement with the ‘forward angle corrected’ experimental results over the majority of the energy range. The deviations in the energy range of 3–7 eV are due to the exclusion of the positronium formation channel from the computation. A brief observation is also made about the impact of the Born closure scheme.
A correlation of lattice distortion with the magnetic properties of calcium doped bismuth ferrite thin films

In this work, Bi1−x Ca x FeO3 (for x = 0.00–0.30) single-phase thin films were developed on clean glass substrates via simple spray pyrolysis technique. The microscopic crystal structure and magnetic characteristics of the Ca modified thin films were investigated. X-ray diffraction study confirms the hexagonal structure with the space group R3c for all the prepared thin film samples. The crystallite sizes and lattice strains were computed by using the Williamson–Hall plot. The morphology of the samples was viewed by field emission scanning electron microscopy which shows that the average size of grains systematically decreases with the addition of Ca atom at Bi site. The compositions of samples were confirmed by using energy dispersive spectroscopy. The structural phase transition and the position of different Raman modes were observed by using the Raman spectroscopy technique. The elementary compositions, different oxidation states, and the effect of oxygen vacancies of the elements were observed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The magnetic field (H) dependence of magnetization (M) (i.e. M–H hysteresis loops) of the pure bismuth ferrite (BFO) and Ca doped BFO thin film samples conducted at room temperature using a vibrating sample magnetometer with an applied magnetic field of ±30 kOe and confirmed that the value of magnetization significantly increases with Ca addition at Bi-site in BFO atom. The maximum value saturation magnetization of 3.8176 emu g−1 and remanent magnetization of 0.1408 emu g−1 obtained for the 25% Ca doped BFO thin films.
Reasons for Delayed Pain Management in Patients With Chronic Migraine: A Qualitative Study

Background: Chronic migraine is often perceived as complex disease and difficult to manage. People with episodic migraine run the risk of developing chronic migraine, leading to great suffering for themselves, their families, and the larger society. The management of each attack may influence the development from episodic to chronic migraine. Aim: The aim of the present study was to explore experiences and management of migraine pain in patients with chronic migraine. Methods: Ten migraine patients participated in open interviews based on functional behavioural analysis within a cognitive behavioural framework. The interviews were analysed using systematic text condensation. Results: Participants’ experiences and management of chronic migraine pain was categorized under four concepts: Migraine pain signal, Hope of false alarm, Guiding assumption, and Delayed medical management. Conclusions: Difficulty distinguishing early migraine pain from other pain signals, neglect of migraine pain signals, and assumption of pain management can lead to delays in initiating emergency medication. Potentially early response to migraine pain signals could alleviate attacks.
Estimation of electric and magnetic fields in a 230 kV electrical substation using spatial interpolation techniques

This study presents the estimation of the electric and magnetic ﬁelds level inside a 400 MVA electrical substation. Located in the northeast region of Brazil, the power plant operates with 230 and 69 kV at 60 Hz frequency. The on-site measurements were performed at previously selected locations covering the whole courtyard and followed the international and national regulatory standards. The electrical and magnetic ﬁelds 2-D contour maps over the entire courtyard are presented, which allow better visualisation and analysis of the exposure levels around all equipment. By using the GoldenSurfer V.13 tool, eight interpolation methods were applied to predict unsampled locations. The plots were made using the method that best ﬁt the sampled dataset after the cross-validation technique is used. The measurements were taken during six days during a period of 16 h on 741 locations. For this electrical substation, the maps validate the high electric ﬁeld level close to breakers and switches at 230 kV and high magnetic ﬁeld close to equipment operating at 69 kV. The comparison between the exposure levels
Ban the (plastic) bag? Explaining variation in the implementation of plastic bag bans in Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda

The environmental damage that plastic waste is causing has catalyzed government action against plastic bags around the world. Despite anti-plastic bag policies gaining traction globally, there has been limited investigation of why the implementation of bans has varied. The variation in implementing bans is particularly stark in East Africa, a region that has been at the forefront of plastic bag legislation. Rwanda’s implementation of a ban on plastic bags in 2008 has attracted widespread praise for its environmental leadership. Kenya adopted a plastic bag ban before Rwanda but implementation was consistently delayed until a stringent ban was finally imposed in 2018. In Uganda, despite bans being announced on four separate occasions, implementation continues to be delayed. This paper explains why some governments adopt and effectively enforce plastic bag bans while others reverse course or delay implementation. Existing literature has cited the comparative strength of plastic industries as the salient factor in explaining varied adoption of plastic bag bans. This paper argues that though the comparative business power of plastic industries explains whether bans are obstructed, it does not satisfactorily explain varied implementation. Instead, countries that pursue services-based development strategies, which prioritise externally dependent sectors like tourism, are more likely to implement plastic bag bans, which can help bolster their green credentials. For the Rwandan and Kenyan governments, presenting their countries as environmental leaders contributed to their goals of becoming a regional economic hub, reliant on services like tourism. The Kenyan government’s decision to eventually implement the ban was driven by a perceived need to compete with Rwanda for regional environmental leadership while supporting Kenya’s services-based economic development strategy. In contrast, Uganda’s comparatively larger discovery of oil and limited emphasis on services-based development explained the government’s lack of commitment to implementing a plastic bag ban.
Surface potential in n- and p-GaInP2(100): temperature effect

Surface potentials in chemically etched n- and p-GaInP2(100) are investigated by synchrotron-radiation photoemission spectroscopy at room and liquid-nitrogen temperatures. It is found that at low temperature the surface band bending in both n- and p-GaInP2(100) is reduced so that the surface bands become nearly flat. This effect is explained in the framework of semiconductor surface electrostatics. The proposed model enables quantitative characterization of the surface state spectrum based on the experimentally determined values of the surface potential at different temperatures. In particular, the surface states density values obtained are 2 × 1012 and 7 × 1012 cm–2 for n- and p-GaInP2(100) surfaces, respectively.
FACTORS AFFECTING NURSES’ PERFORMANCE TOWARDS HEALTHCARE IMPROVEMENT: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Purpose: The study, therefore, seeks to establish the factors that influence the performance of nurses towards the overall healthcare improvement. Methodology: This study adopted a desk survey design. This involved an in-depth review of studies in relation to nurses’ performance and healthcare improvement. An in-depth search of the top keywords related to nurses’ performance and healthcare improvement was done in various databases. Thus, the seminar paper was purely qualitative, drawing its findings from secondary sources of information. Findings: The study finds that workload, payment and salaries, working conditions and leadership affect the performance of nurses towards the overall healthcare improvement. Unique contribution to theory, policy, and practice: Mismatch of human resources with workload and lack of clarity with regard to duties have maximum correlation with poor quality of care. Organizational structure and communication program categories gained the highest and lowest importance respectively. This information could be used by nursing managers and policy makers to plan programs in order to improve the quality of clinical nursing services. Clinical governance is considered as a framework for improving the quality of clinical services in nursing. Professional nursing practice standards are valid expression tasks that are expected of all nurses regardless of their roles and expertise in communities to be done with merit.
Can Frequency Account for the Grammatical Choices of Children and Adults in Nominal Modification Contexts? Evidence from Elicited Production and Child-Directed Speech

There is consensus that languages possess several grammatical variants satisfying the same conversational function. Nevertheless, it is a matter of debate which principles guide the adult speaker’s choice and the child’s acquisition order of these variants. Various proposals have suggested that frequency shapes adult language use and language acquisition. Taking the domain of nominal modification as its testing ground, this paper explores in two studies the role that frequency of structures plays for adults’ and children’s structural choices in German. In Study 1, 133 three- to six-year-old children and 21 adults were tested with an elicited production task prompting participants to identify an agent or a patient referent among a set of alternatives. Study 2 analyzed a corpus of child-directed speech to examine the frequency of passive relative clauses, which children, similar to adults, produced very often in Study 1. Importantly, passive relatives were found to be infrequent in the child input. These two results show that the high production rate of rare structures, such as passive relatives, is difficult to account for with frequency. We claim that the relation between frequency in natural speech and use of a given variant in a specific context is indirect: speakers may opt for the less grammatically complex computation rather than for the variant most frequently used in spontaneous speech.
A novel nonlocal higher-order strain gradient shell theory for static analysis of CNTRC doubly-curved nanoshells subjected to thermo-mechanical loading

Abstract Up to now, no researches have been yet presented to investigate the static analysis of the carbon nanotube reinforced composite (CNTRC) doubly-curved nanoshells with considering the effect of thickness stretching in thermal environment. In this paper, deflection analysis of the CNTRC doubly-curved nanoshells subjected to thermo-mechanical loading based on nonlocal strain gradient theory is investigated. The temperature variation vary through the thickness linearly. Five different types of distributions of CNTRC including UD, FGX, FGV, FGO and FGA are considered to investigate their effects on the mechanical behavior of the doubly-curved nanoshells. All of the mechanical properties of the nanoshell are considered as temperature dependent. Hamilton’s principle is applied to derive the governing equations of motion, where Navier method is used to obtain the deflection of the nanoshells with simply-supported boundary conditions. The obtained results demonstrate that the effect of thickness stretching has vital role on the deflection of the CNTRC doubly-curved nanoshells.
Structural Equation Model Averaging: Methodology and Application

Abstract The instrumental variable (IV) methods are attractive since they can lead to a consistent answer to the main question in causal modeling, that is, the estimation of average causal effect of an exposure on the outcome in the presence of unmeasured confounding. However, it is now acknowledged in the literature that using weak IVs might not suit the inference goal satisfactorily. We consider the problem of estimating causal effects in an observational study in this article, allowing some IVs to be weak. In many modern learning jobs, we may face a large number of instruments and their quality could range from poor to strong. To incorporate them in a 2-stage least squares estimation procedure, we consider a model averaging technique. The proposed methods only involve a few layers of least squares estimation with closed-form solutions and thus is easy to implement in practice. Theoretical properties are carefully established, including the consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimated causal parameter. Numerical studies are carried out to assess the performance in low- and high-dimensional settings and comparisons are made between our proposed method and a wide range of existing alternative methods. A real data example on home price is analyzed to illustrate our methodology.
Job Seekers’ Self-Directed Learning Activities Explained Through the Lens of Regulatory Focus

This study aimed to understand the role of regulatory focus for influencing self-directed learning activities during a job search. The authors surveyed 185 job-searching university students at two time points to explore the conditions under which regulatory focus (promotion and prevention foci) impacts self-directed learning activities and the number of employment interviews secured. Both promotion and prevention foci showed significant relationships with self-directed learning activities and number of interviews, and positive and negative affect partially mediated these relationships. The relationships between both regulatory focus strategies and self-directed learning were also contingent on self-efficacy. More specifically, prevention focus and self-directed learning showed a positive relationship for job seekers with high levels of self-efficacy but a negative one for job seekers with low levels of self-efficacy. This research extends the understanding of the role of regulatory focus in the context of self-directed learning during a job search. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Exploring Grade 8 Khelobedu-speaking learners’ writing challenges in Sepedi Home Language in Mopani District, South Africa

In South Africa, Khelobedu-speaking leaners learn Sepedi as their ‘home language’ at school because Khelobedu (sometimes referred to as ‘Selobedu’) is classified as a dialect of Sotho. This article draws on the challenges that Grade 8 Khelobedu-speaking learners experience when writing in Sepedi Home Language. This article will encourage teachers to reflect on their teaching and support the learners to write better. The study aimed to investigate the Selobedu-speaking leaners’ writing experiences in Sepedi Home Language with reference to dialectical variations, exploring the strategies learners use to adapt and making recommendations to support them. A qualitative research study was conducted at two public high schools in Mopani District. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with four Sepedi teachers, learner group interviews with 30 learners from two high schools (15 per school) and 60 learner essays (30 per school). The data were analysed through content analysis and error analysis. Both the teacher interviews and learner focus group interviews revealed that the teachers used Khelobedu in the Sepedi classrooms. Moreover, teacher interviews also suggested that the learners also used Khelobedu words and pronunciation in their writing and spelt Sepedi words the way they pronounced them in Khelobedu. Further, the essays indicated that the learners struggled to write in Sepedi; they made spelling mistakes, had limited Sepedi vocabulary and struggled with conjunctive and disjunctive writing. Finally, the findings revealed that the dialectal variations between Khelobedu and Sepedi interfered with the learners’ writing instead of being additive. The learners used Khelobedu words in their writing and spelt Sepedi words the way they pronounced them in Khelobedu.
On the (a)symmetric effects of real exchange rate on trade flows: new evidence from US–Vietnam trade balance at the industry level

Abstract In this paper, we examined the asymmetric and symmetric effects of real exchange rate on bilateral trade balance between the United States and Vietnam at the industry level by employing both ARDL and NARDL models. We found that (i) only symmetric real exchange rate is statistically significant in explaining the total trade balance between the US and Vietnam in the long-run at the 10% statistical significant level; (ii) the effect at the industry level is mixed and dependent on product category; and (iii) the asymmetric effects are found in both short-run and long-run in 29 industries which account for 69% of the total industry. These findings suggest that Vietnam could import more commodities with a high import weight such as agricultural products, cork and wood, textile fiber, chemicals, and machinery products to reduce the US’s trade deficit.
Still second-order? European elections in the era of populism, extremism, and Euroscepticism

The continued relevance of the second-order elections (SOE) theory is one of the most widely debated issues in the study of European Parliament (EP) elections. While the theory has been criticised from many angles, the recent success of populist, extremist, and Eurosceptic parties raises additional questions about the applicability of a model that depicts EP elections as a low-stakes affair revolving around national issues. This article tests the SOE model with party-level data from all 175 EP elections held between 1979 and 2019. While turnout in EP elections remains well below participation rates in national elections, the 2019 EP elections were marked by a significant reduction in the average turnout gap. Across all election years, party size is the most potent predictor of electoral gains and losses in EP elections. Incumbency is associated with electoral losses in most EP election years. These effects are moderated by the electoral cycle and the electoral system in some but not all years. The expectation that the SOE model performs worse in countries with fragmented party systems was not confirmed. All in all, the SOE model continues to wield significant explanatory power in both the West and the East.