Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrospinning of ultrafine cellulose acetate fibers: Studies of a new solvent system and deacetylation of ultrafine cellulose acetate fibers

Electrospinning of cellulose acetate (CA) in a new solvent system and the deacetylation of the resulting ultrafine CA fibers were investigated. Ultrafine CA fibers (∼2.3 μm) were successfully prepared via electrospinning of CA in a mixed solvent of acetone/water at water contents of 10–15 wt %, and more ultrafine CA fibers (0.46 μm) were produced under basic pH conditions. Ultrafine cellulose fibers were regenerated from the homogeneous deacetylation of ultrafine CA fibers in KOH/ethanol. It was very rapid and completed within 20 min. The crystal structure, thermal properties, and morphology of ultrafine CA fibers were changed according to the degree of deacetylation, finally to those of pure cellulose, but the nonwoven fibrous mat structure was maintained. The activation energy for the deacetylation of ultrafine CA fibers was 10.3 kcal/mol. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 5–11, 2004
Control of Epitaxial Graphene Thickness on 4H-SiC(0001) and Buffer Layer Removal through Hydrogen Intercalation

We report graphene thickness, uniformity and surface morphology dependence on the growth temperature and local variations in the off-cut of Si-face 4H-SiC on-axis substrates. The transformation of the buffer layer through hydrogen intercalation and the subsequent influence on the charge carrier mobility are also studied. A hot-wall CVD reactor was used for in-situ etching, graphene growth in vacuum and the hydrogen intercalation process. The number of graphene layers is found to be dependent on the growth temperature while the surface morphology also depends on the local off-cut in the substrate and results in a non-homogeneous surface. Additionally, the influence of dislocations on surface morphology and graphene thickness uniformity is also presented.
A broadband ADEQUATE pulse sequence using chirp pulses

Recently, we have introduced the ADEQUATE pulse sequence as a sensitive method to observe 13C,13C correlations in natural products. This kind of experiment suffers from offset‐dependent effects of the 180°(13C) pulses. Here we describe an application of smoothed chirp pulses in the ADEQUATE pulse sequence which allows 13C,13C correlations to be run without any offset dependences. This experiment is called chirp ADEQUATE and was applied to δ‐valerolactone and cholesteryl acetate. This modification will allow a general application of the ADEQUATE pulse sequence. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Research on RCS Simulation Characteristics of Fixed Low-Grazing-Angle FOD Radar

Fixed low-grazing-angel foreign object debris (FOD) radar, which is erected at a designated height beside the airport and scans the runway at a low-grazing angle, is used to detect foreign object debris on airport runways. In operation, it is found that the power of reflected electromagnetic wave decreases significantly when the radar is erected at some height, as a result of which the radar detection rate reduces. In this paper, the electromagnetic reflection and polarization modes of fixed low-grazing-angle radar are analyzed based on some concepts of refraction characteristics of electromagnetic wave, such as Fresnel’s Law and Brewster’s Angle. Then the paper explains the theoretical reasons for this problem. Meanwhile, the GO & MLFMM algorithm is used to simulate the relationship between radar height and radar reflected power, and finally the theoretical results are verified.
HEART RATE RECOVERY TIME AFTER EXCERCISE STRESS TEST IN DIABETIC PATIENTS WITH SUSPECTED CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE

Background: Improving recovery after exercise is vital for decreasing cardiac mortality by dominance of parasympathetic nervous system control in recovery time. Objective: To determine the influence of coronary artery disease on heart rate recovery after exercise in patients with diabetes mellitus. Patients and Methods: The ethical approval was obtained from the hospital ethical research committee, in cardiology department in Al-Hussein university hospital from March 2019 to November 2019 and each patient signed an informed consent. Fifty patients were included in this study divided in 4 groups, all with no evident history of ischemic heart disease. Detailed history, physical examination, resting ECG, trans thoracic echocardiography, and finally treadmill exercise stress test was done. In this study we assessed heart rate recovery in 1st, 2nd& 3rd minute and also basal heart rate included. Results: Significant delay in heart rate recovery time was detected in diabetic patients with positive stress ECG test for myocardial included ischemia. Conclusion: Delayed recovery and reduced heart rate recovery after treadmill exercise stress test is an available and important index for detecting and revealing the extent of ischemic burden.
Perception of University Graduates about the Project Management Education in Pakistan “Professional Perspective”

ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT History: Accepted 22 Sep 2020 Available Online 30 Sep 2020 This study examines the views of project management professionals (university graduates) about the Project Management education in Pakistan. It investigates current situation, problems, its causes, and suggestions for future improvements in the project management curriculum of Pakistan. The analysis is done through thematic analysis based on semi-structured interviews with 50 project management professionals in various sectors of Pakistan’s labour market. Interview method is employed to have detailed and in-depth discussion with practitioners about the subject matter. The research identified three major problems of project management education in Pakistan i.e., deficiency of skills, gap between theory and practice, and students’ interest during their study. Furthermore, the respondents provided suggestions to fix these problems through different means such as the revision of curriculum, provision of internships for students in national and international NGO’s, arrangement of training workshops for teachers as well as students, and a robust supervision from Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan.
Comparison of total scattering data from various sources: the case of a nanometric spinel

Total scattering data of nanocrystalline gahnite (ZnAl2O4, 2–3 nm) have been collected with three of the most commonly used instruments: (i) ID31 high-resolution diffractometer at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) (Q max = 22 Å−1); (ii) ID11 high-energy beamline at the ESRF (Q max = 26.6 Å−1); and (iii) Empyrean laboratory diffractometer by PANalytical with molybdenum anode X-ray tube (Q max = 17.1 Å−1). Pair distribution functions (PDFs) for each instrument data-set have been obtained, changing some of the parameters, by PDFgetX3 software, with the aim of testing the software in the treatment of different total scattering data. The material under analysis has been chosen for its nanometric (and possibly disordered) nature, to give rise to a challenge for all the diffractometers involved. None of the latter should have a clear advantage. The PDF and F(Q) functions have been visually compared, and then the three PDF sets have been used for refinements by means of PDFgui suite. All the refinements have been made exactly in the same way for the sake of a fair comparison. Small differences could be observed in the experimental PDFs and the derived results, but none of them seemed to be significant.
Authenticated time for detecting GNSS attacks

Information cross-validation can be a powerful tool to detect manipulated, dubious GNSS data. A promising approach is to leverage time obtained over networks a mobile device can connect to, and detect discrepancies between the GNSS-provided time and the network time. The challenge lies in having reliably both accurate and trustworthy network time as the basis for the GNSS attack detection. Here, we provide a concrete proposal that leverages, together with the network time servers, the nearly ubiquitous IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) infrastructure. Our framework supports application-layer, secure and robust real time broadcasting by Wi-Fi Access Points (APs), based on hash chains and infrequent digital signatures verification to minimize computational and communication overhead, allowing mobile nodes to efficiently obtain authenticated and rich time information as they roam. We pair this method with Network Time Security (NTS), for enhanced resilience through multiple sources, available, ideally, simultaneously. We analyze the performance of our scheme in a dedicated setup, gauging the overhead for authenticated time data (Wi-Fi timestamped beacons and NTS). The results show that it is possible to provide security for the external to GNSS time sources, with minimal overhead for authentication and integrity, even when the GNSS-equipped nodes are mobile, and thus have short interactions with the WiFi infrastructure and possibly intermittent Internet connectivity, as well as limited resources.
A DEUTERIUM ISOTOPE EFFECT ON THE EXCESS ENTHALPY OF METHANOL—WATER SOLUTIONS1

Heats of mixing of methanol and water and of methanol-d and and heavy water were determined at 25 deg in an adiabatic calorimeter. Deviations between the two systems are most pronounced for solutions dilute in alcohol and a Tian-Calvet microcalorimeter was used for additional measurements in this region. The results are consistent with the concept of the strengihening of hydrogen bonding by deuterium substitution. data. Further correlations of k5 and the homogeneous exchange rate are possible via recent theoretical interpretations of Marcus.
Simple method for reversible bonding of a polydimethylsiloxane microchannel to a variety of substrates

The low-cost prototyping of complex lab-on-chip systems requires the development of simple techniques for the reversible bonding of microfluidic channels onto different substrates. The authors report on the use of dimethyl methylphenylmethoxy siloxane (DMPMS) spin-coated layers for the bonding of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels onto a substrate, using the common oxygen plasma method. The DMPMS layer adheres to various surfaces such as glass, silicon, gold, cyclo-olefin copolymer and tantalum and its thickness can be varied by diluting it with heptane. The authors show that the flexible polymer device constituted of the DMPMS layer and the PDMS microfluidic channel can be easily removed from the substrate, allowing the reuse of the latter. The proposed method was used to bond a PDMS microchannel onto an array of Ta-capped micromagnets and an application of this recyclable microfluidic device is presented.
Flexible Customization of a Single Neural Machine Translation System with Multi-dimensional Metadata Inputs

Advances in neural machine translation (NMT) technology not only signiﬁcantly raised machine translation quality for general-purpose, out-of-the-box systems, but also provided a way for additional input signals to an NMT model to effectively inﬂuence its output for a given translation unit, so that a single NMT system can serve different customer needs. At the same time, language service providers, media companies, and other businesses started to systematically store metadata associated with their translatable content. In this work, we show how these metadata can be used both for training and at inference time to ﬂexibly customize a given NMT system to produce somewhat different translations of the same translation unit. The metadata as an extra input to NMT can enable such customization across multiple dimensions and at different levels of input granularity: for individual documents or their collections, for a given post-editing session of a professional translator, or even for individual sentences.
Improving mathematics learning of geometry through the concrete-pictorial-abstract (CPA) approach: collaborative action research

The purpose of this research is: 1) describe the steps in the application of the CPA approach, 2) improve mathematics learning through of geometry the CPA approach, and 3) analyze the constraints and solutions of applying the CPA approach. This research is a collaborative classroom action research conducted in two cycles. The subjects were teachers, and students of class IV amounted to 21 students. Data collection techniques using observation, interviews, and tests. The validity of the data uses the triangulation of methods and sources. Data analysis techniques include data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions. The results showed that: 1) the application of the CPA approach to improve mathematics learning about the circumference and width of the flat structure was carried out with the steps of a) concrete, b) pictorial, c) abstract; 2) the application of the CPA approach can improve mathematics learning based on observations and test cycles I and II; and 3) constraints in applying the CPA approach is that the teacher directly demonstrates abstract situation measurement and has not shown modeling of abstract situation measurement to all students, while the solution is to explain examples of abstract situations to students first then explain how to measure abstractly.
In Situ Observation of Taurine Crystallization via Single Droplet Drying

Taurine, an amino acid that provides physiological benefits for the human body, naturally crystallizes as needles. To be able to manipulate the size and shape of spray-dried taurine particles is desirable to improve fluidity. In this study, a single droplet drying technique was used to obtain an in situ observation of crystallization behavior by elucidating nucleation time, perimeter-based fractal dimension, and onset of oversaturation within the taurine droplet. The range of drying temperature observed (70–110°C) had little impact on their crystallinity, indicating that crystalline particles can potentially be produced via spray drying even at a lower temperature. [Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Drying Technology for the following free supplemental resource: Supplementary figures. ]
Bodily Expression of Social Initiation Behaviors in ASC and non-ASC children: Mixed Reality vs. LEGO Game Play

This study is part of a larger project that showed the potential of our mixed reality (MR) system in fostering social initiation behaviors in children with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). We compared it to a typical social intervention strategy based on construction tools, where both mediated a face-to-face dyadic play session between an ASC child and a non-ASC child. In this study, our first goal is to show that an MR platform can be utilized to alter the nonverbal body behavior between ASC and non-ASC during social interaction as much as a traditional therapy setting (LEGO). A second goal is to show how these body cues differ between ASC and non-ASC children during social initiation in these two platforms. We present our first analysis of the body cues generated under two conditions in a repeated-measures design. Body cue measurements were obtained through skeleton information and characterized in the form of spatio-temporal features from both subjects individually (e.g. distances between joints and velocities of joints), and interpersonally (e.g. proximity and visual focus of attention). We used machine learning techniques to analyze the visual data of eighteen trials of ASC and non-ASC dyads. Our experiments showed that: (i) there were differences between ASC and non-ASC bodily expressions, both at individual and interpersonal level, in LEGO and in the MR system during social initiation; (ii) the number of features indicating differences between ASC and non-ASC in terms of nonverbal behavior during initiation were higher in the MR system as compared to LEGO; and (iii) computational models evaluated with combination of these different features enabled the recognition of social initiation type (ASC or non-ASC) from body features in LEGO and in MR settings. We did not observe significant differences between the evaluated models in terms of performance for LEGO and MR environments. This might be interpreted as the MR system encouraging similar nonverbal behaviors in children, perhaps more similar than the LEGO environment, as the performance scores in the MR setting are lower as compared to the LEGO setting. These results demonstrate the potential benefits of full body interaction and MR settings for children with ASC.
Cognitive impairment is related to a reduced count of T-lymphocytes in older patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Background Aging is a risk factor for cancer and cognitive impairment, and both have been related to changes in the immune system (immunosenescence) and chronic inflammation (inflammaging) of elderly individuals. Therefore, it would be interesting to know if there is a connection between immunological variations and cognitive function in oncologic patients, especially in lung cancer, in which, inflammation plays a crucial role in tumor development and progression. Our objective is to assess, in older patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), differences in parameters of the immune system depending on their cognitive status. Methods We retrospectively analyzed patients ≥70 years diagnosed with NSCLC with evaluated cognitive function, from January 2017 to April 2019. Lymphocyte count was gathered at baseline and checked for differences in lymphocyte counts between patients with a Pfeiffer result of 0–2 vs. 3–10 mistakes. Multiple regression models were used to assess the impact of clinical parameters on lymphocyte count. Results Seventy patients were analyzed. Sixty had a normal cognitive function, while ten had an impaired cognitive status; these were significantly older. Multivariate analysis showed that patients with cognitive impairment had lower levels of total, T and CD8+ T-lymphocytes (P=0.011, 0.011 and 0.019, respectively). Older age was only correlated to higher level of CD8+ T-lymphocytes (P=0.0390). Odds ratio for the risk of cognitive impairment depending on the level of T-lymphocytes was 0.996 (95% CI: 0.995–0.998), P=0.037. Conclusions T-lymphocyte count is lower in patients diagnosed with lung cancer and cognitive impairment. These findings suggest that clinical features are closely related to immunological status in older patients with NSCLC. Therefore, age cannot always explain immunosenescence, and geriatric assessment could help.
Soft Sensor Simulation of Minimum Energy Consumption of Joint Manipulator Drive System Based on Improved BP Neural Network

The energy dissipation level of articulated mechanical arms directly affects the control stability of industrial robot systems. For a six-degree-of-freedom articulated robot driven by a DC servo motor and reduction gear, based on the Hamiltonian and Minimum theories, a model of the articulated manipulator drive system under load torque is established, and the expressions of optimal angular velocity and control current are obtained considering the viscous friction and coulomb factors. According to the analysis of actual parameter simulation experiments, it can be seen that the energy consumption of the joint manipulator drive system increases with the decrease of efficiency, the increase of the coulomb friction torque of the servo motor, and the increase of the load torque. Within the transit time, the total energy consumption of the drive system is smaller, so it is very important to obtain the transit time within the optimal area for the minimum energy consumption of the joint robotic arm drive system. At the same time, a soft neural network model based on the improved BP neural network built on the neural network toolbox for the energy consumption of the articulated mechanical arm is established. Finally, the experimental platform of servo motor drive system is built and used for the experiment of servo motor drive, and the purpose of closed-loop control is also achieved. Through experimental analysis, it can be seen that the proposed soft sensor model of joint minimum energy consumption based on improved BP neural network can more accurately realize the energy consumption prediction under unknown angular displacement and unknown load, and provide a theoretical basis for joint energy monitoring.
Identification and prioritization of low performing wind turbines using a power curve health value approach

Since operational managers often monitor large numbers of wind turbines (WTs), they depend on a toolset to provide them with highly condensed information to identify and prioritize low performing WTs or schedule preventive maintenance measures. Power curves are a frequently used tool to assess the performance of WTs. The power curve health value (HV) used in this work is supposed to detect power curve anomalies since small deviations in the power curve are not easy to identify. It evaluates deviations in the linear region of power curves by performing a principal component analysis. To calculate the HV, the standard deviation in direction of the second principal component of a reference data set is compared to the standard deviation of a combined data set consisting of the reference data and data of the evaluated period. This article examines the applicability of this HV for different purposes as well as its sensitivities and provides a modified HV approach to make it more robust and suitable for heterogeneous data sets. The modified HV was tested based on ENGIE’s open data wind farm and data of on- and offshore WTs from the WInD-Pool. It proved to detect anomalies in the linear region of the power curve in a reliable and sensitive manner and was also eligible to detect long term power curve degradation. Also, about 7 % of all corrective maintenance measures were preceded by high HVs with a median alarm horizon of three days. Overall, the HV proved to be a promising tool for various applications.
Preparation of polymers with controlled molecular architecture. A new convergent approach to dendritic macromolecules

The novel convergent growth approach to topological macromolecules based on dendritic fragments is described. The polyether dendritic fragments are prepared by starting from what will become the periphery of the molecule and progressing inward. In the first step, 2 mol of a benzylic bromide is condensed with the two phenolic groups of the monomer, 3,5-di-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, under phase-transfer conditions. After transformation of the benzylic alcohol functionality of the growing molecule into the corresponding bromide, the procedure is repeated with stepwise addition of the monomer followed again by activation of the benzylic site. After several generations of growth, the resulting dendritic wedges, in their benzylic bromide form, can be coupled to a polyfunctional core such as 1,1,1-tris(4{prime}-hydroxyphenyl)ethane to form the final hyperbranched macromolecule. Unique features of the convergent approach include the control over the nature and placement of the groups that are placed at the periphery of the molecule and the fact that each growth step only involves reaction at a single site of the growing macromolecule.