Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Off-Lattice Flory-Huggins Approach of the Partitioning of Bulky Solutes between Polymers and Interacting Liquids

The desorption of additives and polymer residues from materials (P) is of significant concern for a wide range of applications, including polymer ageing, off-odors, and the safety of materials in contact with food or water. With diffusion coefficients, partition coefficients between P and hydrogen-bonding liquids (L), denoted Ki,L/P for a solute i, are fundamental quantities to assess the loss of plastics constituents. For a polymer with a crystallinity c, they are defined as ln(Ki,L/P) - ln(1-c) =(uexi,P- uexi,L)/(kBT), where {uexi,k}k=L,P are the excess chemical potentials and where kB is the Boltzmann constant. Our ambition was to relate calculations of {uexi,k}k=L,P at an atomistic scale to measurable partition coefficients obtained for bulky solutes with different stiffness and shape, such as hindered phenolic antioxidants, n-alkanes and n-alcohols. For large solutes in dense and cohesive phases (P or L), promising computation techniques involve free energy perturbation and non-equilibrium methods, thermodynamic integration, and extended ensembles (Gibbs or osmotic ensembles). Because the free energy landscape of the coupled i+k system contains several minima and highly heterogeneous barriers, a low convergence is generally achieved. To overcome such complications, we calculated {uexi,,k}k=L,P at atomistic scale in the framework of the Flory-Huggins approximation. The main advantage is that the mixing energy for a wide range of conformers was derived from pairwise interactions and a continuous approximation of the packing of molecules without representing explicitly large molecular systems. The translational entropy in L was inferred from a mesoscopic representation of the liquid medium matching the radial distributions calculated by isothermal and isobaric molecular dynamics simulations. The corresponding predictions were satisfactory compared with 38 experimental Ki,L/P values between polyethylenes, polystyrene and different alcohols (isopropanol, ethanol).
Unscented Kalman Filter on Lie Groups for Visual Inertial Odometry

Fusing visual information with inertial measurements for state estimation has aroused major interests in recent years. However, combining a robust estimation with computational efficiency remains challenging, specifically for low-cost aerial vehicles in which the quality of the sensors and the processor power are constrained by size, weight and cost. In this paper, we present an innovative filter for stereo visual inertial odometry building on: i) the recently introduced stereo multistate constraint Kalman filter; ii) the invariant filtering theory; and iii) the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) on Lie groups. Our solution combines accuracy, robustness and versatility of the UKF. We then compare our approach to state-of-art solutions in terms of accuracy, robustness and computational complexity on the EuRoC dataset and a challenging MAV outdoor dataset.
Housing Vouchers and the Price of Rental Housing

We estimate the effect of increasing the supply of housing vouchers on rents using a panel of housing units in the American Housing Survey. We do not find that an increase in vouchers affected the overall price of rental housing, but do estimate differences in effects based on an individual unit's rent before the voucher expansion. Our results are consistent with voucher recipients renting more expensive units after receiving the subsidy. We also find that the largest price increases were for units near the maximum allowable voucher rent in cities with an inelastic housing supply.
A Method of Hash Join in the DAS Model

In the Database As Service(DAS) model, authenticated join processing is more difficult than authenticated range query because the previous approach of authenticated range query, signature on a single relation, can not be used to verify join results directly. In this paper, an authenticated hash join processing algorithm is described in detail, which can take full advantage of database service since most of work is pushed to database service provider. We analyze the performance with respect to cost factors, such as communication cost, server-side cost and client-side cost. Finally, results of experiments validating our approach are also presented.
Stability and Performance Investigations of Model Predictive Controlled Active-Front-End (AFE) Rectifiers for Energy Storage Systems

This paper investigates the stability and performance of model predictive controlled active-front-end (AFE) rectifiers for energy storage systems, which has been increasingly applied in power distribution sectors and in renewable energy sources to ensure an uninterruptable power supply. The model predictive control (MPC) algorithm utilizes the discrete behavior of power converters to determine appropriate switching states by defining a cost function. The stability of the MPC algorithm is analyzed with the discrete z-domain response and the nonlinear simulation model. The results confirms that the control method of the active-front-end (AFE) rectifier is stable, and that is operates with an infinite gain margin and a very fast dynamic response. Moreover, the performance of the MPC controlled AFE rectifier is verified with a 3.0 kW experimental system. This shows that the MPC controlled AFE rectifier operates with a unity power factor, an acceptable THD (4.0 %) level for the input current and a very low DC voltage ripple. Finally, an efficiency comparison is performed between the MPC and the VOC-based PWM controllers for AFE rectifiers. This comparison demonstrates the effectiveness of the MPC controller.
Environmental factors restrict the invasion process of Limnoperna fortunei (Mytilidae) in the Neotropical region: A case study from the Andean tributaries

The golden mussel Limnoperna fortunei was introduced into Argentina in 1991 and has since been spreading through the Plata and Guaiba basins at a rate of 240 km.year x1 . To assess their ability to invade the Andean tributaries of the Plata Basin (Pilcomayo, Bermejo and Salado del Norte rivers), their current range was assessed and related to the abiotic parameters of sites where they were present and absent. These data were then compared with their known tolerances to identify possible barriers to invasion. Outputs suggested that three environmental parameters are barriers to invasion: salinity and river flow intermittence in different sectors of the rivers Pilcomayo and Salado del Norte, and concentration of suspended sediments in the Bermejo River and in the upper reaches of the Salado del Norte and Pilcomayo rivers. The importance of these findings is discussed in relation to using environmental data to infer the invasion possibilities and the utility of environmental data to better understand invasion patterns and processes.
Interactive comment on “ Better constraints on sources of carbonaceous aerosols using a combined 14 C – macro tracer analysis in a European rural background site ” by S . Gilardoni

R: This study presents a very valuable data set, and analysis in terms of source apportionment. Such data are of great value for understanding organic aerosols in the atmosphere. The data as presented are in principal very interesting, but I think the analysis neglects some important factors. I think the authors need to re-do their QMC analysis with more realistic uncertainty bounds before this work can be published. The
CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS , ANTIBACTERIAL , ANTIFUNGAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF THE AERIAL PARTS OF

Preliminary phytochemical investigation of crude n-Hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of the aerial parts of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius revealed the presence of anthraquinones, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and terpenoids. All the crude extracts gave a clear zone of inhibition against the growth of the test bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiellae pneumonae) and fungi (Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, penicillium notatum and Rhizopus stolonifer) at different concentrations, except ethyl acetate extract which showed no antifungal property on Rhizopus stolonifer. Ethyl acetate and methanol extracts exhibited significant antioxidant activities by scavenging DPPH free radicals with IC of 12.14 and 93.85 μg/ml respectively. GC-MS analysis of n-hexane and methanol extracts showed nine 50
In vitro study on the antimicrobial effect of hydroalcoholic extracts from Mentha arvensis L. (Lamiaceae) against oral pathogens - doi: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v34i4.8959

In vitro tests could be a valuable tool for the evaluation of medicinal plants' antimicrobial activity. Mentha arvensis of the Lamiaceae family is one of the most frequently traditional plants used in Brazil. Hydroalcoholic extracts of M. arvensis were analyzed for antimicrobial activity on Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sobrinus and Candida albicans. Three different assays (agar diffusion, broth macro- and micro- dilution methods) were used to evaluate antimicrobial activity. Although hydroalcoholic extracts of M. arvensis did not show any antibacterial effect, its antifungal activity against C. albicans was revealed. According to the micro-dilution broth assay, MIC of the hydroalcoholic extract from leaves of M. arvensis on Candida albicans strains ranged between 625 and 2500 μg mL -1 . Results suggest that M. arvensis hydroalcoholic extract may be considered a potentially antifungal agent against C. albicans, and a possible item for human antibiotic therapy. However, further biological tests on the plant's efficacy and side-effects are necessary before its use on humans.
REAL-TIME FACE RECOGNITION WITH ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK TRAINED BY PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION

Face recognition is one of the widely used biometric method. Verification and recognition of individuals is possible via the features obtained from desired face image and compared with the facial image by various methods. Automatic face recognition which is a fundamental research area in the scope of pattern recognition, is applied in many civil, military and commercial areas for the purpose of authentication and identification. In this study a real-time face recognition system was developed. It is aimed that identification of individuals who entering any field observed with a camera. After detecting the important facial points, they are presented as input data to feed-forward neural network. Particle swarm optimization was used as learning algorithm in the network. As a result, a novel real-time face detection method, which provide high accuracy has been developed.
Immobilization of Bacillus circulans MTCC 7906 for enhanced production of alkaline protease under batch and packed bed fermentation conditions

Alkaline protease production by immobilized cells of Bacillus circulans MTCC 7906 was studied using agar-agar and calcium alginate as entrapment materials. Under batch conditions using agar agar, 2% agar concentration, 6.25mm bead size and 200 beads/ flask inoculum size were the optimal conditions for a maximum alkaline protease production of 19.9 IU/ml and while for alginate beads, 3% alginate concentration, 5.2mm bead size and 200 beads/ flask inoculum size were the optimal conditions for a maximum alkaline protease production of 19.7 IU/ml. The alginate and agar agar beads were reusable for four and nine successive batch cycles respectively. A maximum enzyme production of 28 and 27 IU/ml was obtained with incubation time of 36 h, column length of 30cm and flow rate of 10ml/h with agar-agar and alginate entrapped cells respectively under packed bed fermentation conditions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the agar agar entrapped cells showed a random distribution of cells on the surface with pockets of high cell density.
Assessment of methods to determine soil characteristics for management and design of irrigation systems

Irrigation system design and irrigation management require appropriate match of the soil and type of crop. In Chile, agrological reports are currently being used to determine the homogeneity of soil units and land capability classes: fruit tree production vs orchard design. Agrological studies use a number of soil characteristics, but these do not include hydrophysical properties, which are essential when zoning for irrigation. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a methodology to objectively evaluate soils, based on a quantitative analysis that includes hydrophysical parameters. In this study, different methodologies are proposed for classifying homogenous soil units based on extensive field sampling. The field data was evaluated using two methodologies: 1) the SAGUSDA Manual and 2) in situ sampling of soil’s hydrophysical properties and pedotransfer models. There were differences between the methodologies regarding zoning soil properties for irrigation system design and management. The methodology based on the SAG-USDA Manual requires auxiliary data in order to provide useful maps for design and management of irrigation systems. Published pedotransfer functions should be carefully assess before their use in large-scale design, as the quality the estimations depends on the data used to derive the equations. Therefore, if field data is available, we recommend calibrating equations using well-known statistical methods such as least square. In this study, the functions obtained describe the properties of interest properly, such as the field capacity for design of micro-irrigation systems. However, predicting wilting point did not give reliable results.
Eliminating acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells from human testicular cells cultures

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Improvement in the Microstructure and Tensile Properties of Inconel 718 Superalloy by HIP Treatment

Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) is a process that uniquely combines higher pressure and temperature to produce materials and parts with substantially better properties than those by other methods. The aim of this paper is to discuss the methods and to find a suitable process of HIP for Inconel 718 superalloy. In this study, the HIP process parameters considered were; temperatures: 1423, 1448, 1453 and 1478 K, pressures: 100, 150, 175 and 200 MPa, and soaking times of 2, 3 and 4 hours. The Inconel 718 superalloy is used throughout this study. To evaluate the effects of microstructure and tensile properties of 718 alloy by HIP process, tensile test at two different strain rates at room and high temperature were evaluated. The microstructure, TEM and XRD inspections were performed. The experiment results show that at 1453 K, 175 MPa, 4 hours of HIP treatment for Inconel 718 superalloy was optimal. It can improve the microstructure and tensile properties of 718 castings. Through the optimal HIP treatment, the grain sizes are uniform and the segregated structure is improved. At fast strain rate (0.001 s� 1), it increased the tensile strength by 31% at 298 K, 27% at 813 K, and 24% at 923 K. The 0.2% yield strength increased 40% at 298 K, 31% at 813 K, and 28% at 923 K. Meanwhile the elongation increased 100% at 298 K, 130% at 813 K, and 60% at 923 K after tension tests. When the strain rate was very slowly (0.0001 s � 1 ), it also increased the tensile strength by 24% at 298 K and 20% at 813 K. The 0.2% yield strength increased 29% at 298 K and 27% at 813 K. The elongation increased 54% at 298 K and 282% at 813 K. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.47. 2877]
Eco-Friendly HPTLC Method for Simultaneous Analysis of Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in Pharmaceutical Preparations and Trying to Use Limonene as Eluent

In this study, a simple, rapid, sensitive and green High Performance Thin Layer chromatography (HPTLC) method was developed and validated for determination of Simvastatin and Ezetimibe in tablet dosage form. The method was carried out in TLC silica gel of nano particle size on glass plate 60 F 254, 10 cm ×10 cm. Two solvent systems were chosen according to the Green Analytical Chemistry (GAC) parameters. Acetone: Heptane: Isopropyl alcohol in the proportion of 10:10:5, (v/v/v) with Rf Value for Simvastatin and Ezetimibe was 0.513 and 0.312 respectively. The linear regression coefficients were 0.999 and 0.998 for Simvastatin and Ezetimibe with respect to peak area and height in the concentration range of 600 - 1500 ng/spot and 150 - 375 ng/spot respectively. To get greener solvent, heptane was replaced with limonene in the second elution system but this system could separate either Simvastatin or Ezetimibe solely in single preparations but could not separate both of them simultaneously because both of them has almost the same Rf. The linear regression coefficients were 0.998 and 0.995 for Simvastatin and Ezetimibe respectively with the same concentration range of the first system. TLC plates of nano sized particles offer sharper separations due to small particle size and narrow fractionation. Theoretical plate heights (h values) are considerably smaller than those of the standard TLC plate. In addition diffusion and – as a consequence -band broadening are much lower. Also shorter developing times and shorter migration distances: After only a few centimeters an optimal separation has been achieved. Smaller samples of 0.01-0.1 μl (10-100 nanoliters). The samples applied are considerably smaller than with standard plates, thus it is possible to apply a large number of samples to a very small surface area, without samples interfering with each other. Finally increased detection sensitivity (nanogram level, hence nano plate). With fluorescence evaluation pico-gram quantities can be detected
Integrating TTF and TAM Perspectives to Expla in Mobile Knowledge Work Adoption

It is an advanced research subject to information technology as well as a great influence to the development of mobile work that how mobile work service is adopted and how it provides effectiveness. This article refers to 1) Analyse principles of TAM & TTF models, clarify the precondition and strength & weakness of the model, and propose a new mobile work service model combined with TAM & TTF; 2) Practical study to the new model. The conclusion for this model is as follow: a) two basic characteristics of mobile work and support from up-level managers in a firm are the preconditions whether service will be adopted. b) task-technology matching is the significant factor on service acceptation. c) It could improve employees’ efficiency within the practical use of task-technology matching mobile work service.
Inversion of the exciton built-in dipole moment in In(Ga)As quantum dots via nonlinear piezoelectric effect

We show that anisotropic biaxial stress can be used to tune the built-in dipole moment of excitons confined in In(Ga)As quantum dots up to complete erasure of its magnitude and inversion of its sign. We demonstrate that this phenomenon is due to piezoelectricity. We present a model to calculate the applied stress, taking advantage of the so-called piezotronic effect, which produces significant changes in the current-voltage characteristics of the strained diode-membranes containing the quantum dots. Finally, self-consistent k.p calculations reveal that the experimental findings can be only accounted for by the nonlinear piezoelectric effect, whose importance in quantum dot physics has been theoretically recognized although it has proven difficult to single out experimentally.
Shape Modeling Based on Convolutional Restricted Boltzmann Machines

This paper proposes a kind of shape model based on convolutional restricted Boltzmann machines(CRBM), which can be used to assist the task of image target detection and classification. The CRBM is a generative model that can model shapes through the generative capabilities of the model. This paper presents the visual representation, construction process and training method of the model construction. This paper does experiments on the Weizmann Horse dataset. The results show that, compared with RBM, although the training time of this model is slightly longer, the test time of the model is similar, and it can better shape modeling, modeling of the details of the shape can be well expressed. The samples generated from CRBM look more realistic. The difference between the shape and the original shape generated by Euclidean distance measurement shows that the model has a strong ability to model shapes.
Constraints on the optical precursor to the naked-eye burst GRB080319B from “Pi of the Sky” observations

I present the results of the search for an optical precursor to the naked-eye burst ‐ GRB080319B, which reached 5.87 m optical peak luminosity in the “Pi of the Sky” data. A burst of such a high brightness could have been preceded by an optical precursor luminous enough to be in detection range of our experiment. The “Pi of the Sky” cameras observed the coordinates of the GRB for about 20 min prior to the explosion, thus provided crucial data for the precursor search. No signal within 3σ limit was found. A limit of 12 m (V-band equivalent) was set based on the data combined from two cameras, the most robust limit to my knowledge for this precursor.
Spatial consequences of biogas production and agricultural changes in the Czech Republic after EU accession: Mutual symbiosis, coexistence or parasitism?

Ceske republice siroce diskutovaným tematem, ktere budi emoce na skale od souhlasu až po naproste odmitani. Nicmeně pravě podpora z narodnich i evropských zdrojů je faktorem, který nejvýznamněji ovlivnil dynamický rozvoj tohoto sektoru v posledni dekadě. Bioplynove stanice jsou jednou z variant zařizeni na výrobu obnovitelných zdrojů energie, ktera vedle solarnich elektraren zaznamenala v poslednich letech nejvýznamnějsi růst svých kapacit. Předkladaný přispěvek si klade za cil nejprve analyzovat samotný fenomen bioplynových stanic, jeho legislativni, strategickou podporu, podpůrne fi nancni nastroje, jednotlive typy stanic a dale analyzovat na zakladě dostupných statistických dat prostorove rozmistěni jednoho z jejich typů, a to zemědělských bioplynových stanic. Na zakladě srovnani dat o bioplynu a dat o zemědělske výrobě jsou vyvozovany zakladni konsekvence mezi propady zemědělske výroby v regionech Ceske republiky a narůsty poctů a instalovaných výkonů zemědělských bioplynových stanic. Kratce je rovněž analyzovana struktura osevnich ploch a intenzita chovů hospodařských zviřat a jejich souvislosti s rozmistěnim zemědělských bioplynových stanic.
Barriers to Teacher Motivation for Professional Practice in the Ghana Education Service

In Ghana, several education initiatives for promoting the quality of education have excluded the issue of teacher motivation. Well-motivated teachers are likely to be more committed to their profession and this could lead to desirable learning outcomes. This research attempted to identity and analyse what teachers in public pre-tertiary schools in Ghana perceived as barriers to their motivation towards professional practice. Employing mainly a qualitative approach, the research revealed that the sources of frustration and stress in participants' professional practice related to unfavourable conditions of service in the Ghana Education Service. Suggestions for improvement in the conditions of service of teachers in public pre-tertiary schools in Ghana are explored.