Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mapping Cannabis Social Clubs in Europe

Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) are typically non-profit associations of adult cannabis users who collectively produce and distribute cannabis among themselves. Since the emergence of the model in Spain during the 1990s, other countries may have seen the appearance of CSCs (or CSC-like associations) but there is a dearth of knowledge about the phenomenon in Europe. The goals of this analysis are to: (1) map the presence of CSCs across the European Union; and (2) examine how CSCs are operating in such settings. The data included in our analysis derive from a 2018–19 survey. The 30-item questionnaire comprised questions about CSCs’ origins and relations with other stakeholders and organizations, the types of activities the CSCs developed and their views on cannabis regulation. The questionnaire was translated into all the official languages of the EU zone and sent via email to the participants. In total, 81 CSCs completed the questionnaire. Beyond Spain and Belgium, where the CSC presence has already been documented, we were able to identify CSCs in 11 other countries. The longest-running CSC in our sample was established in 1999, but most emerged in the past decade. The smallest CSC in our sample reported six registered members, whereas the largest counted a total of 5000 members. Most CSCs were cultivating or distributing cannabis to their members at the time of the survey, but engaged in other informative, entertainment and activist activities as well. The CSC model remains prohibited across the EU. CSC activists have thus by and large shaped the way CSCs operate, often adapting to domestic law particularities or law enforcement activities. In this article, we present and discuss the range of CSC practices from 13 different European countries, and what these represent for the consideration of the CSC model in current policy debates.
Agentive Apprenticeship of Observation and English Teacher Identity: A Pakistani Case of Learning to Teach English

An exploration of literature on second/foreign language (L2/FL) teaching suggests that the phenomenon in question has been investigated either by examining classroom processes or by exploring teachers’ lived experiences. Situated in the latter area, this paper reports a qualitative study that understands how Pakistani primary school teachers learn to teach English—the subject mandated in recent curricular reforms—and develop their English teacher identity. The findings problematize the apprenticeship of observation concept and demonstrate that the teachers agentively draw upon their favorite English learning experiences. They teach English not the way they were taught, rather, they teach the way they loved learning English. Thus, they develop the English teacher identities they adored while they were students. The paper presents pertinent implications.
Effects of non-covalent interactions on the properties of 3D printed flexible piezoresistive strain sensors of conductive polymer composites

ABSTRACT In this work, flexible piezoresistive strain sensors of carbon nanotubes (CNT)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) conductive polymer composites were prepared using fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing. The constructed porous structure and highly elastic TPU matrix allow the sensors to experience strains up to 30% with great recoverability. The printed sensors exhibited a typical negative piezoresistive effect under compressive strain. The effects of non-covalent modification and loading of CNTs on the mechanical and piezoresistive behavior of sensors were investigated. The introduction of 1-pyrenecarboxylic acid (PCA) increased the dispersibility of CNTs and nanofiller-polymer interfacial interactions, resulting in the excellent sensing performance. A sensor with higher CNT content showed greater sensitivity due to generation of more conductive paths during compression. The gauge factor ( ) of the 3 wt% CNT/PCA/TPU sensor increased by 43 and 35 times compared with the 3 wt% CNT/TPU and the 1.5 wt% CNT/PCA/TPU sensors, respectively, when strained at 26% to 30%. In addition, the printed sensor of 3 wt% CNT/PCA/TPU showed great reproducibility over 1500 loading cycles. Some applications in monitoring external loads and motion of the human body were demonstrated. This work provides important information for the property optimization and customizable fabrication of flexible piezoresistive strain sensors. Graphical Abstract
Strategy Use on Clinical Administrations of Short-Term and Working Memory Tasks

Experimental measures of working memory that minimize rehearsal and maximize attentional control best predict higher-order cognitive abilities. These tasks fundamentally differ from clinically administered span tasks, which do not control strategy use. Participants engaged in concurrent articulation (to limit rehearsal) or concurrent tapping (to limit attentional refreshing) during forward and backward serial recall with each of three distinct stimulus sets: digits, line drawings of common objects, and images of nonsense symbols. The span tasks used common clinical stopping and scoring procedures. Scores were highest for digits and lowest for novel symbols in all combinations of direction and concurrent task. Furthermore, concurrent articulation and concurrent tapping interfered with backward recall to the same degree. Together, these findings indicate that clinically administered immediate serial recall tasks depend on both rehearsal and long-term lexical knowledge making it difficult to use these tasks to separate problems in language ability from problems in attention.
A reduced‐order electrochemical model for coupled prediction of state of charge and state of health of lithium ion batteries under constant current‐constant voltage charging conditions

Accurate and fast prediction of the remaining useful life of lithium (Li) ion batteries is an important requirement for successful electrification of automobiles. Consequently, there is a growing interest in the development of reduced‐order models. The existing reduced‐order electrochemical models can be used to predict battery performance (state of charge [SoC], terminal voltage) when the current through the battery is known a priori. Therefore these models cannot be used for studying the constant voltage (CV) mode of the constant current‐CV (CC‐CV) charging protocol, which is a common battery charging mechanism. In this work, we propose a reduced‐order electrochemical model to estimate the battery SoC under CC‐CV charging conditions, along with an analytical expression to approximate the CV mode charging time. We further propose a framework that accounts for the influence of the battery state of health (SoH) on the battery SoC during an operating cycle and vice‐versa. The proposed framework for estimating the battery SoC and SoH in a coupled manner shows good comparison with a first principles electrochemical model for CC‐CV charging conditions. This model can be used to study battery ageing and it can find applications in real‐time state estimation, charge protocol optimization, and battery design.
The Effect of Graphene Oxide (GO) Loading for the Enhancement of Nylon 6,6-GO Mixed-matrix Membrane Performance

The fast development of nanotechnology has led to significant improvement in membrane technology for the development of mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs). Graphene oxide (GO) is a new revolutionary addition to the nanomaterial family. The objective of this work is to study the effect of GO loading for the enhancement of nylon 6,6-GO MMMs performance. GO was synthesized from graphite powder and incorporated in membrane matrix through wet phase inversion method. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, water contact angle, porosity, tensile strength analysis were applied for the characterization of the synthesized nylon-GO MMMs. Whereas, the performance of nylon-GO MMMs was assessed based on its pure water flux and sodium chloride rejection. The incorporation of GO nanoplates into membrane matrix had increased the membrane porosity, surface wettability, and mechanical strength of the synthesized nylon-GO MMMs where the optimum membrane characteristics were obtained by M4 with 3 wt. % of GO nanoplates. Assessment of membrane performance was also supported that M4 has the greatest performance where sodium chloride rejection was increased from 18% for M1 to 53% for M4. The results proved that GO nanoplates are excellent nano-filler material for the synthesis of MMMs. M4 with extraordinary performance has good potential for the application in water and wastewater treatment.
Evaluation of catalytic and adsorption activity of iron nanoparticles greenly prepared under different conditions: Box–Behnken design

ABSTRACT Box–Behnken design methodology was used to study the effect of iron nanoparticles (FeNP) synthesis conditions on its oxidative catalytic degradation and adsorption of methyl orange (MO). The FeNP was synthesised using Acacia nilotica pods extract under different conditions. Models were built at the 95% confidence level using Minitab-18 software based on five responses, namely: production yield (Y), adsorption capacity (q), pH of zero charge (pHzc), gap energy (E gap), and degradation percentage after 60 min (R60). Results showed 100% degradation by 14/15 samples after 3 h, while more than 90% degradation was achieved after 1 h by 10/15 samples. On the other hand, more than 50% adsorption removal of MO was achieved by 8/15 samples. The minimum yield achieved was 13.09% and the maximum was 99.20%. More than 90% yield was achieved in 4/15 samples.
Thermal and pH Sensitive Composite Membrane for On‐Demand Drug Delivery by Applying an Alternating Magnetic Field

Implantable drug delivery systems that can realize a scheduled drug release according to the needs of patients would be highly beneficial for the treatment of chronic diseases and cancer. Here, micrometer‐sized hydrogel particles with both thermal and pH sensitivities are fabricated for the first time and embedded with magnetic nanoparticles in silk fibroin to generate a composite membrane. The permeability of the membrane is adjustable reversibly by temperature and pH. Promptly responded drug release within 1 min by applying an alternating magnetic field is demonstrated with the membrane. The on/off switching of an alternating magnetic field (16 mT, 111 kHz) induces heat generation by the magnetic nanoparticles resulting in a reversible change of the membrane permeability due to the shrinking/swelling of the microgels. A control over two orders of magnitude of the release rate (0.01–5.0 µg min−1) of Rhodamine B (Rh.B) model drug is achieved by tuning the content of microgels and magnetic nanoparticles, as well as the thickness of the membrane. Additionally, an increase in the release rate of Rh.B in acidic condition with respect to the physiological pH value is demonstrated. This represents an additional functionality of the implantable membrane with relevant features for spatially selective cancer treatment.
Analysis on Wave-Velocity Inverse Imaging for the Supporting Layer in Ballastless Track

The concrete quality of supporting layer in ballastless track is important for the safe operation of a high-speed railway (HSR). However, the supporting layer is covered by the upper track slab and the functional layer, and it is difficult to detect concealed defects inside the supporting layer. To solve this problem, a method of elastic wave velocity imaging is proposed to analyze the concrete quality. First, the propagation path of the elastic wave in the supporting layer is analyzed, and a head-wave arrival-time (HWAT) extraction method based on the wavelet spectrum correlation analysis (WSCA) is proposed. Then, a grid model is established to analyze the relationships among the grid wave velocity, travel route, and travel time. A loss function based on the total variation is constructed, and an inverse method is applied to evaluate the elastic wave velocity in the supporting layer. Finally, simulation and field experiments are conducted to verify the suppression of noise signals and the accuracy of an inverse imaging for the elastic wave velocity estimation. The results show that the WSCA analysis could extract the HWAT efficiently, and the inverse imaging method could accurately estimate wave velocity in the supporting layer. key words: supporting layer, WSCA, wave velocity estimation, inverse imaging, total variation
Prognostic Utility of the Gleason Grading System Revisions and Histopathological Factors Beyond Gleason Grade

Background The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) revised the Gleason system in 2005 and 2014. The impact of these changes on prostate cancer (PCa) prognostication remains unclear. Objective To evaluate if the ISUP 2014 Gleason score (GS) predicts PCa death better than the pre-2005 GS, and if additional histopathological information can further improve PCa death prediction. Patients and Methods We conducted a case–control study nested among men in the National Prostate Cancer Register of Sweden diagnosed with non-metastatic PCa 1998–2015. We included 369 men who died from PCa (cases) and 369 men who did not (controls). Two uro-pathologists centrally re-reviewed biopsy ISUP 2014 Gleason grading, poorly formed glands, cribriform pattern, comedonecrosis, perineural invasion, intraductal, ductal and mucinous carcinoma, percentage Gleason 4, inflammation, high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN) and post-atrophic hyperplasia. Pre-2005 GS was back-transformed using i) information on cribriform pattern and/or poorly formed glands and ii) the diagnostic GS from the registry. Models were developed using Firth logistic regression and compared in terms of discrimination (AUC). Results The ISUP 2014 GS (AUC = 0.808) performed better than the pre-2005 GS when back-transformed using only cribriform pattern (AUC = 0.785) or both cribriform and poorly formed glands (AUC = 0.792), but not when back-transformed using only poorly formed glands (AUC = 0.800). Similarly, the ISUP 2014 GS performed better than the diagnostic GS (AUC = 0.808 vs 0.781). Comedonecrosis (AUC = 0.811), HGPIN (AUC = 0.810) and number of cores with ≥50% cancer (AUC = 0.810) predicted PCa death independently of the ISUP 2014 GS. Conclusion The Gleason Grading revisions have improved PCa death prediction, likely due to classifying cribriform patterns, rather than poorly formed glands, as Gleason 4. Comedonecrosis, HGPIN and number of cores with ≥50% cancer further improve PCa death discrimination slightly.
Feature selection in deterministic policy gradient

: The authors consider the task of learning control problem in reinforcement learning (RL) with continuous action space. Policy gradient, and in particular the determinist policy gradient (DPG) algorithm, provides a method for solving learning control problem with continuous action space. However, when the RL task is complex enough so that tuning of the function approximation is necessary, hand-tuning for the features is infeasible. In order to solve this problem, the authors extend DPG algorithm by adding an approximate-linear-dependency-based sparsification procedure, which makes DPG algorithm to automatically select the useful and sparse features. As far as the authors know, this is the first time to consider the feature selection problem in DPG. Simulation results illustrate that (i) the proposed algorithm can find the optimal solution of the continuous version of mountain car problem; (ii) the proposed algorithm achieves good performance over a large range of the approximate linear dependency threshold parameter settings.
Etude des instabilites electrocapillaires - application aux sources d'ions et d'electrons

Quand une surface de metal liquide est soumise a un champ electrique, au-dela d'un champ critique des pointes apparaissent: c'est l'instabilite electrocapillaire. Dans cette these les proprietes de la deformation (valeur du champ critique, forme de la surface) en fonction de la geometrie du recipient sont plus specialement etudiees. A ce sujet l'importance des conditions aux limites (volume du liquide constant, ligne de contact fixee) est indiquee. Les pointes, pour des recipients assez grands, produisent de veritables reseaux dont la maille et le motif (carre, hexagonal) peuvent varier. Des calculs en theorie lineaire, qui fournissent la taille de la maille du reseau en fonction du champ applique, font apparaitre divers regimes selon la viscosite et la profondeur de la couche liquide. Un calcul complet a ete ainsi mene pour un metal liquide sous vide. Les apports de la prise en compte des non-linearites, seules susceptibles de preciser le motif, sont aussi presentes. Tout au long de ce travail, en parallele avec les calculs theoriques, une verification experimentale de certains resultats a eu lieu, ainsi que des observations sur des phenomenes non pris en compte dans le developpement theorique. A ce propos les problemes concernant l'obtention d'une source liquide multi-pointes emettant des ions ou des electrons sont soulignes
Speech Enhancement Based on Fusion of Both Magnitude/Phase-Aware Features and Targets

Recently, supervised learning methods have shown promising performance, especially deep neural network-based (DNN) methods, in the application of single-channel speech enhancement. Generally, those approaches extract the acoustic features directly from the noisy speech to train a magnitude-aware target. In this paper, we propose to extract the acoustic features not only from the noisy speech but also from the pre-estimated speech, noise and phase separately, then fuse them into a new complementary feature for the purpose of obtaining more discriminative acoustic representation. In addition, on the basis of learning a magnitude-aware target, we also utilize the fusion feature to learn a phase-aware target, thereby further improving the accuracy of the recovered speech. We conduct extensive experiments, including performance comparison with some typical existing methods, generalization ability evaluation on unseen noise, ablation study, and subjective test by human listener, to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. Experimental results prove that the proposed method has the ability to improve the quality and intelligibility of the reconstructed speech.
“The ball is round, the game lasts 90 minutes, everything else is pure theory”

We model a soccer match between two heterogeneous teams as a two-stage contest where each team chooses its attacking and defending effort for each half of the match. We characterize the optimal teams’ efforts as well as the optimal effort allocation between offense and defense. In contrast to the theoretical literature on soccer we show, for example, that the leading team may preempt its competitor in the first half. Our analysis also sheds new light on empirical studies that investigate the change in winning points on the number of ties by showing that this effect depends crucially on teams’ heterogeneity.
EVALUATION THE EFFECT OF WASTE LOW-DENSITY POLYTHLENE AND CRUMBRUBBER ON PHSICAL PROPERTIES OF ASPHALT

Abstract: Nowadays, Polymer Modified Binder (PMB) is necessary due to its valuable characteristics on asphalt pavement layers with increase in traffic volume and loads. However, current trend in asphalt modification is prefer the waste and by product materials for ensuring the sustainability and cost effectiveness. Therefore, to analyze the effect of waste Crumb Rubber Modifier (CRM) and waste LowDensity Polyethylene (LDPE) on the asphalt binders’ physical properties, CRM/LDPE modified asphalts with different contents were prepared and investigated in this study. Measured physical characteristics were softening point, penetration, ductility and viscosity tests. Conversions of CRM and waste LDPE to functional materials have been introduced in this research study as a practical approach to improve the asphalt binder’s physical properties. CRM and LDPE in the form of fine having a particle size under 250 um were used as additives to liquid asphalt, individually and collectively by weight of virgin asphalt, i.e., (5.0%, 15.0% and 25.0% of CRM) and (2.5. %, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0% of LDPE), after mixed with CRM and LDPE, the asphalts showed decrease in penetration, increase in softening point and rotational viscosity. This referring that both intermediate and high temperature rheological characteristics of the asphalts have been improved by the modification of waste CRM and LDPE, because that mean the stiffness of asphalt binder increases when changing these characteristics and Thus, the asphalt mixture will become more stiff and resistant to possible failures, the Physical properties of the CRM or LDPE modified asphalts are largely dependent on the waste CRM or LDPE content, and many other enhanced characteristics of the mechanical aspect can be targeted using the composite of both CRM and LDPE. However, such result confirms the validity of waste polymer in modifying the asphalt binder.
Crystal Structure of the Apo and the ADP-Bound Form of Choline Kinase from Plasmodium falciparum

Among the malaria-causing parasites, the deadliest is Plasmodium falciparum, which accounts for the majority of the fatalities. As the infection progresses inside erythrocytes, major cellular and metabolic changes take place. For its own growth, the parasite relies on the accumulation of phospholipids, which are essential for membrane synthesis. Within the Kennedy pathway, the P. falciparum choline kinase (PfChoK) has a central role in the biosynthesis of phosphatidylcholine and its selective inhibition leads to the parasite arrest and eradication. Here, we report the crystal structure of the apo and the ADP-bound form of choline kinase from Plasmodium falciparum at 2.0 and 2.2 Å resolution, respectively. These new structural data will facilitate the implementation of effective structure-based drug development strategies against PfChoK in the fight against malaria.
Analysis of Typhoon-Induced Waves along Typhoon Tracks in the Western North Pacific Ocean, 1998–2017

In this study, Version 5.16 of the WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) model is used to simulate parameters of typhoon-generated wave fields in the Western North Pacific Ocean during the period 1998–2017. From a database of more than 300 typhoons, typhoon tracks are partitioned into six groups by their direction of motion and longitude of recurvature track. For typhoons that recurve east of 140° E, or track toward mainland Asia, regions of high significant wave height (SWH) values are separated by a minimum in SWH near 30° N. Partitioning SWH into wind sea and swell components demonstrates that variations in typhoon tracks produce a much stronger signal in the wind sea component of the wave system. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is used to compute the four leading modes of variation in average SWH simulated by the WW3 model. The first EOF mode contributes to 17.3% of the total variance; all other modes contribute less than 10%. The first EOF mode also oscillates on an approximately 1-year cycle during the period 1998–2017. Overall, typhoon-induced wave energy dominates north of 30° N. Temporal analysis of the leading principal component of SWH indicates that (a) the intensity of the wave pattern produced by westward-tracking typhoons decreased during the last 20 years, and (b) typhoons that recurve east of 140° E and those that track westward toward southeast Asia are largely responsible for the decadal variability of typhoon-induced wave distribution.