Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A new technique for growing large surface area SnO2 thin film (RGTO technique)

A new technique for growing SnO2 thin films with high surface area is described, based on tin rheotaxial growth and its thermal oxidation (RGTO). Tin thin films, when grown, present a surface characterized by spheroidal agglomerates due essentially to the surface tension of the liquid metal; these agglomerates do not seem to have any electrical continuity. By means of a thermal oxidation, both the transformation of the metal into a semiconductor and the thin film continuity are obtained, owing to the volume increase during the above-mentioned phase transformation. After this annealing cycle, SnO2 thin films are slightly oriented in the (101) direction and present an electrical resistivity equal to about 102 Omega cm. So, the surfaces of SnO2 films appear to be formed by spongeous agglomerates, which are in electrical contact with the nearest agglomerates. SnO2 thin films grown by this method show a high sensitivity (defined as the relative per cent conductance variation) to H2; in fact, sensitivity to 200 PPM H2 in synthetic air at ambient pressure is equal to 400%. It seems to be possible to prepare other metal oxide semiconducting thin films with a high surface area using this technique.
Effects of rotational tillage practices on soil structure, organic carbon concentration and crop yields in semi‐arid areas of northwest China

Continuous conventional tillage can cause serious soil degradation in rain‐fed agriculture, which reduces crop productivity. Adopting suitable tillage practices is very important for improving the soil and increasing crop productivity. Between 2007 and 2010, a 3‐year field study was conducted in semi‐arid areas of southern Ningxia, China, to determine the effects of rotational tillage practices on bulk density, soil aggregate, organic carbon concentration and crop yields. Three tillage treatments were tested: no‐tillage the first and third year and subsoiling the second year (NT/ST/NT); subsoiling the first and third year and no‐tillage the second year (ST/NT/ST); and conventional tillage each year (CT). A conventional tillage treatment was used as the control. Under the rotational tillage treatments, the mean soil bulk density at a depth of 0–60 cm was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased by 4.9% compared with CT, and with the best effect under ST/NT/ST. The soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration and aggregate size fractions and stability at 0–40 cm depth were significantly (P < 0.05) increased in rotational tillage treatments when compared with the conventional tillage, and the ST/NT/ST treatment produced the highest increases. Significant differences were detected in the SOC concentration in 2 to 0.25–mm size fractions at 0–30 cm depth between rotational tillage treatments and conventional tillage. Biomass and grain yield with the rotational tillage practices were significantly positively influenced over 3 years, and ST/NT/ST produced the highest average crop yields among the three treatments. Therefore, it was concluded that the application of rotational tillage with subsoiling every 2 years and no‐tillage every other year (ST/NT/ST) should be of benefit in promoting the development of dryland farming in semi‐arid areas of northwest China.
Performance of Croatina under Short-Cane Mechanical Hedging: A Successful Case of Adaptation

The hypothesis that short mechanical hedging can be successfully applied even on cultivars with low fruitfulness of basal buds was tested over four years (2000 to 2003) on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Croatina. Yield per vine increased from 23 to 49% on hedged vines as compared to short-cane hand-pruned vines; up to a 30% increase (equivalent to ∼60 nodes per vine) there was no detriment to grape quality, and labor demand was cut by 55 to 60%. Yield compensation in the hedged vines mostly occurred as reduced budbreak; weak or no compensation effects were seen for cluster weight and bud fruitfulness, respectively. A tendency for impaired quality was seen only at the highest node number per vine (∼75), while the linear relationship found between yield and node number per vine suggests that short-cane hand-pruning can also be feasible provided that at least 30 nodes per meter of row are retained. These findings indicate that mechanical pruning can be an excellent tool for converting traditionally long-cane pruned cultivars into short-cane pruned with related advantages in terms of more balanced growth and ripening and adaptability to full mechanization.
Selective growth of gold nanoparticles onto tellurium nanowires via a green chemical route

In this paper, we describe a green chemical route for highly selective growth of Au tips onto Te nanowires (NWs). We carefully selected the pH values to vary the redox reaction potential between Au3+ and Te NWs, allowing control of nucleation and growth rates of Au nanoparticles (NPs). In the presence of 10 mM CTAB, we obtained Au-Te and Au-Te-Au NWs at pH 4.0 and 5.0, respectively. Photovoltaic data revealed that the resistance of the Te NW-based thin films is controlled by the degree of deposition of Au NPs. We suspect that Au-Te and/or Au-Te-Au NWs hold great potential for use in the fabrication of electronic devices.
Development of vegetable‐oil‐based polymers

The utilization of renewable resources for the preparation of new materials is an alternative option for reducing the high demand of fossil feedstocks. Vegetable oils are potential bioresources that are renewable and abundantly available. Triglyceride-based vegetable oils, such as soybean, jatropha, linseed, sunflower, palm, castor, nahar seed, and canola oil, are being considered as precur- sors in the production of polymers. In this article, we attempt to summarize advancements in processes and technologies for the syn- thesis of polymers from various kinds of vegetable oils. The advantages and disadvantages of these biobased polymers with respect to traditional monomer-based ones are also highlighted. V C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40787.
Effects of long-term organic and chemical fertilization on N and P in wheat plants and in soil during crop growth

A 34-year long-term fertilizer experimental (LTFE) site on a Typic Haplustept at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (New Delhi) was used for the present study. The objective was to investigate the effect of six fertilizer and farmyard manure (FYM) treatments (Control, N, NP, NPK, NPK + S, NPK + FYM) and three physiological stages (tillering, flowering and dough) of wheat crop on the pattern of mineral N (NH 4 + and NO 3 - ), mineralizable N and Olsen-P dynamics in soil, and concentration of N and P in wheat crop during November 2004 to April 2005. A balanced application of NPK (i.e. 100% NPK) + farmyard manure (FYM) showed highest values of the above observations and control (0 NPK) showed the lowest. Growth stages of wheat crop affected the studied parameters significantly (p < 0.05), being highest at tillering followed by flowering and dough stages. A significant positive interactive effect of fertiliser treatments and stages of wheat growth was also recorded for N and P availability in soil and their uptake by wheat crop. Stepwise regressions have revealed that grain yield of wheat was significantly associated with mineralizable N at tillering (R 2 = 0,80), NO 3 -N at flowering (R 2 = 0.73), and Olsen-P and Plant-P (R 2 = 0.87) at dough stage of wheat growth. The results indicate that in the background of long-term fertility management regimes, crop growth (rhizospheric feed back) stages have signigicant impact on the nutrient dynamics in soil and nutrient concentration in growing plants.
Gas mass transfer for stratified flows

We analyzed gas absorption and release in water bodies using existing surface renewal theory. We show a new relation between turbulent momentum and mass transfer from gas to water, including the effects of waves and wave roughness, by evaluating the equilibrum integral turbulent dissipation due to energy transfer to the water from the wind. Using Kolmogoroff turbulence arguments the gas transfer velocity, or mass transfer coefficient, is then naturally and straightforwardly obtained as a non-linear function of the wind speed drag coefficient and the square root of the molecular diffusion coefficient. In dimensionless form, the theory predicts the turbulent Sherwood number to be Sh{sub t} = (2/{radical}{pi}) Sc{sup 1/2}, where Sh{sub t} is based on an integral dissipation length scale in the air. The theory confirms the observed nonlinear variation of the mass transfer coefficient as a function of the wind speed; gives the correct transition with turbulence-centered models for smooth surfaces at low speeds; and predicts experimental data from both laboratory and environmental measurements within the data scatter. The differences between the available laboratory and field data measurements are due to the large differences in the drag coefficient between wind tunnels and oceans. The results also imply that the effect of direct aeration due to bubble entrainment at wave breaking is no more than a 20% increase in the mass transfer for the highest speeds. The theory has importance to mass transfer in both the geophysical and chemical engineering literature.
Ponto de murcha permanente fisiológico e potencial osmótico de feijão caupi cultivado em solos salinizados

Com o objetivo de avaliar o ponto de murcha permanente fisiologico, a umidade foliar e o potencial osmotico no feijoeiro caupi, sob duas condicoes de estresses (salino e salino + hidrico), foram conduzidos dois experimentos em casa de vegetacao na Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (Recife, PE, Brasil). O delineamento experimental adotado foi o inteiramente casualizado, em arranjo fatorial 2 x 4, sendo duas classes texturais de solos (franco-arenoso e franco-argiloso) e quatro niveis de salinidade do solo, equivalentes as condutividades eletricas do extrato de saturacao do solo 4, 8 e 12 dS m
Analytical Methods for Food Additives

Sunset Yellow Azorubine (Carmoisine) Copper complexes of chlorophylls and chlorophyllins Caramel class III Annatto extracts Sorbic acid and its salts Benzoic acid Sulphites Nitrites Fumaric acid and its salts Gallates BHA L-tartaric acid and its salts Adipic acid and its salts Propylene glycol (propan-1,2-diol) Karaya gum Polysorbates Ammonium phosphatides Sucrose acetate isobutyrate Mono/diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono/diglycerides of fatty acids Polyglycerol esters of polycondensed fatty acids of caster oil Stearoyl lactylates Stearyl tartrate Sorbitan esters Aluminium Saccharin.
Storage ring measurements of the dissociative recombination and excitation of the cyanogen ion CN+(X 1Σ+ and a 3Π, ν=0)

Absolute cross sections and rate coefficients were measured for the dissociative recombination of CN+(X 1Σ+ and a 3Π, ν=0) with electrons using the heavy ion storage-ring CRYRING at Stockholm University. The a 3Π state that lies only 0.08 eV above the X 1Σ+ ion ground state is most certainly populated in the ion beam injected into CRYRING, as this is a long-lived excited state. Over the 1 meV–3 eV energy range that was investigated, two energy dependencies were found for the cross sections, namely E−1.05 below 0.1 eV and E−1.41 above 0.4 eV. The energy domain 0.1–0.3 eV exhibits a resonant structure. Branching fractions over the final atomic product states were determined using a position sensitive imaging detector. Thermal rate coefficients are deduced from the measurements and the efficiency displayed by the dissociative recombination mechanism is typical of that of a diatomic ion (3.4×10−7 cm3 s−1 at room temperature). Cross sections for the dissociative excitation process are also reported and their m.
Charging and flashover induced by surface polarization relaxation process

Electric charges trapping into a dielectric medium are described from polarons trapped into sites which are characteristic of the material structure (polaron trap). In terms of susceptibility, that means charges are trapped into sites whose susceptibility is lower than their surrounding environment. The charge trapping produces polarization of the medium. The energy of polarization per embedded charge is estimated to be equal to 5χ (χ being the susceptibility). The surface breakdown of the dielectric is attributed both to charge detrapping and to relaxation of energy of polarization, using the collective many‐body process. The consequences of this interpretation are consistent with experiments on surface breakdown performed with a scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, considerations about the improvement of breakdown voltage for dielectric materials are introduced.
Interfacial adhesion properties of graphene sheet on nanoscale corrugated surface: a molecular dynamics simulation study

Adhesive contacts between graphene sheet (GS) and corrugated substrates made of an ordered array of atomic pillars with variable geometries were investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. Depending on the height and interval distance of the pillars, GS can conformably coat the surface, partially adhere, or remain flat on top of the pillars. The relationship between the geometries of the pillar and the final adhesion configurations of GS was partially established. A critical adsorption energy was determined to achieve stable adsorption configuration of GS on corrugated substrates made of ordered pillar arrays. Besides the geometries of pillars, the effects of initial coating angle of GS were also considered as an important factor that affects the final adsorption configuration. We observed two interesting morphologies of GS, ‘I shape’ and ‘L shape’, which were determined by the initial coating angles.
Lithium pellet injection into high pressure magnetically confined plasmas

The ablation of solid pellets injected into high temperature magnetically confined plasmas is characterized by rapid oscillations in the ablation rate, and the formation of field aligned filaments in the ablatant. High speed imaging of the ablation (> 250, 000 frames/second) during the 2003-2004 campaign revealed that these filament move away from the pellet primarily in the poloidal direction with a characteristic speeds of ∼ 5km/s. Significant differences appeared in the filament drifts in RF heated H-mode plasmas compared to ohmic L-mode plasmas. Filaments in ohmic L-mode plasmas moved in both the electron and ion diamagnetic directions while filaments in H-mode move only in the electron diamagnetic direction. Furthermore, the motion of the filaments in L-mode plasmas appeared to be semi-random, with the direction changing randomly from shot to shot, but with a distinct preferred direction during each shot. The susceptibility of the filament’s motion to variations in the background plasma conditions indicate that the drift is a result of interactions with the background plasma, and not a result of the internal dynamics of the ablation cloud. Furthermore, the chaotic, or semi-random, nature of the filament drift suggests that the drift could be due to ExB flows resulting from plasma turbulence. A stereoscopic imaging system was installed on Alcator C-Mod to make a detailed study of three dimensional evolution of the filaments. By examining a large number of pellet injections into ohmically heated L-mode plasmas, we were able to demonstrate that filaments do indeed move primarily along flux surfaces, and that the filament flow direction is correlated for sequential filaments. Additionally, a statistical examination of the trajectory data revealed that filaments have a wider distribution of speeds at lower values of the local safety factor, q. The measurements of the stereo-imaging system were compared with the implied turbulent ExB drifts determined by the gyrokinetic solver GYRO. Simulations conducted using profiles consistent with both pre-pellet and post-pellet conditions demonstrate that the filament drifts are more consistent with the turbulent conditions prevalent after the injection, indicating the filament drifts are most likely the result of turbulence generated by the modified plasma profiles from injection process
Silica-immobilized Aquivion PFSA superacid: application to heterogeneous direct etherification of glycerol with n-butanol

We report the effective heterogenization of polymeric perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) Aquivion® resin in a silica network for the direct etherification of glycerol with aliphatic n-butanol. The Aquivion-silica composites, prepared by a template-free sol–gel method, presented a large specific surface area, affording highly accessible acid sulfonic groups. The textural and bulk/surface properties of the hybrid composites were characterized in-depth using TGA, acid–base titration, N2 adsorption–desorption, XRD, TEM, FTIR, Raman, CP-MAS NMR and XPS. The Aquivion-silica composites exhibited a high catalytic activity (91% n-butanol conversion) and selectivity (45% butyl glyceryl monoether yield) while they lowered the formation of by-product (6% dibutyl ether yield) as compared to benchmark homogeneous and heterogeneous acid catalysts. The catalyst was reusable and maintained a stable performance after six consecutive cycles.
Limed sewage sludge effects on nutrient status and metal fractions in acidic soils

The potential impacts of limed sludge on nutrient and heavy metal bioavailability must be studied for their safe use on acidic soils. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of limed sludges on six acidic soils from eastern Canada. CaCO3 and raw sewage sludges (RSS) stabilized with either CaO (CaO + S) or cement kiln dust (CKD + S) were added to soils in amount necessary to reach pH 6.5 and the mixtures were then incubated for 64 d. CaO + S treatments were the most efficient to neutralize soil acidity. After 10 d of incubation, the Sr-citrate extractable P was significantly increased by the CaO + S treatment in low P sorption soils. The extractable K, Zn and Cu contents were also slightly increased by CaO + S compared to CaCO3 whereas CKD + S resulted in an excessive soil exchangeable K content. After 64 d, labile Al content was decreased by all liming amendments. RSS and CaO + S tended to increase labile Cu and Mn contents. The RSS increased NaOH-extractable Cu but the treatments had no sign.
Establishment of Chlorophyll Meter Measurements to Manage Crop Nitrogen Status in Potato Crop

Management of nitrogen (N) use is necessary to promote maximum development and production of tubers. For this reason, chlorophyll meters have been used to make N-fertilizer recommendations in potato. An assay was carried out with increasing doses of N. To define the thresholds IV for potato crops, correlations among IV, ISN, RR, and N content had been established. IV is the green index of the leaf measured by the chlorophyll meter. This index estimates the chlorophyll content in the leaf and through this the N concentration in vegetal tissue, based on the assumption that N and chlorophyll content have a strong correlation. ISN is the sufficiency nitrogen index. It was determined as the relation between the green index reading of each experimental unit and the highest average green index reading of the assay. RR is the relative yield. It was calculated as the ratio between the yield of each treatment and the highest average yield of the assay. The results had shown that varieties did not present N deficiencies during the vegetative growth phase, with IV and ISN values respectively equal to 41 SPAD units and 93 percent. During the tuber bulking phase, the necessary IV and ISN thresholds to reach maximum yields, for N content equal to 3 percent, were, respectively, between 38.5 and 40.5 SPAD units and between 84 and 94.8 at 70 and 89 days after planting. We concluded that the chlorophyll meter is an appropriate tool to determine the nutritional status in potato crops.
Tensor Dropout for Robust Learning

CNNs achieve high levels of performance by leveraging deep, over-parametrized neural architectures, trained on large datasets. However, they exhibit limited generalization abilities outside their training domain and lack robustness to corruptions such as noise and adversarial attacks. To improve robustness and obtain more computationally and memory efficient models, better inductive biases are needed. To provide such inductive biases, tensor layers have been successfully proposed to leverage multi-linear structure through higher-order computations. In this paper, we propose tensor dropout, a randomization technique that can be applied to tensor factorizations, such as those parametrizing tensor layers. In particular, we study tensor regression layers, parametrized by low-rank weight tensors and augmented with our proposed tensor dropout. We empirically show that our approach improves generalization for image classification on ImageNet and CIFAR-100. We also establish state-of-the-art accuracy for phenotypic trait prediction on the largest available dataset of brain MRI (U.K. Biobank), where multi-linear structure is paramount. In all cases, we demonstrate superior performance and significantly improved robustness, both to noisy inputs and to adversarial attacks. We establish the theoretical validity of our approach and the regularizing effect of tensor dropout by demonstrating the link between randomized tensor regression with tensor dropout and deterministic regularized tensor regression.
Simple photometric determination of free cyanide ion in aqueous solution with 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol

In this work, a simple photometric method with high accuracy and precision for measuring trace amounts of free cyanide ion in aqueous solution is demonstrated. Under the evaluated conditions, we could determine CN− concentration in the range of 5–70 ppm easily. The work is based upon the photometric titration of CN− with Co(II) in the presence of 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP) at λmax = 602 nm in aqueous solution. The optimal conditions, such as pH, ionic strength, and concentration of chromopher were evaluated. The interence effect of many other cations and anions studied and the results are given here. The optimized titration was successfully used to determine the concentration of free cyanide ion in aqueous solutions.
Comparison of simple potential functions for simulating liquid water

Classical Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out for liquid water in the NPT ensemble at 25 °C and 1 atm using six of the simpler intermolecular potential functions for the water dimer: Bernal–Fowler (BF), SPC, ST2, TIPS2, TIP3P, and TIP4P. Comparisons are made with experimental thermodynamic and structural data including the recent neutron diffraction results of Thiessen and Narten. The computed densities and potential energies are in reasonable accord with experiment except for the original BF model, which yields an 18% overestimate of the density and poor structural results. The TIPS2 and TIP4P potentials yield oxygen–oxygen partial structure functions in good agreement with the neutron diffraction results. The accord with the experimental OH and HH partial structure functions is poorer; however, the computed results for these functions are similar for all the potential functions. Consequently, the discrepancy may be due to the correction terms needed in processing the neutron data or to an effect uniformly neglected in the computations. Comparisons are also made for self‐diffusion coefficients obtained from molecular dynamics simulations. Overall, the SPC, ST2, TIPS2, and TIP4P models give reasonable structural and thermodynamic descriptions of liquid water and they should be useful in simulations of aqueous solutions. The simplicity of the SPC, TIPS2, and TIP4P functions is also attractive from a computational standpoint.