Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributed Ledger Technology: A Possible Way forward for Securities Clearing

On many securities markets around the world, there is an increasing discrepancy between the frequency at which securities are traded and the time it takes to actually process these deals: Trading positions are often only consolidated once a day, whereas the very same positions may be held by investors for only a matter of minutes or indeed seconds. Not least due to practices of ‘netting’ or ‘offsetting’, situations routinely occur in which it is not entirely clear, at a given point in time, who exactly holds a specific security and / or the rights and obligations associated with it, such as voting rights, dividend claims and tax implications. Dividend pay-out days are a particular popular time for stock deals intended solely to abuse the existing uncertainty as to who actually owns the shares at that critical point in time. That uncertainty arises not least from the fact that it is indeed legally possible in a number of major jurisdictions for a security to be owned in a certain sense by multiple parties at the same time. Perhaps the most common scheme to exploit the existing regulatory loopholes and inappropriate clearing procedures is known as ‘dividend stripping’, which has been responsible for billions of lost tax income, as showcased for example by the recent ‘cum/ex’ scandal in Germany. Distributed ledger technology (DLT), which permits a continuous and complete record of all transactions, could facilitate a timelier, more efficient and safer system of securities clearing and settlement.
(Biolarvacidal Test of Essensial Oil of Wangi Root (Vetiveria ziznoides) and Nilam Leaf (Pogostemon cablin) Against Larvae Causing Myiasis, Chrysomya bezziana)

Myiasis caused by Chrysomya bezziana larvae remains problem on livestock industry. The curative action and treatment of myiasis cases in Indonesia produces various results. The essential oil of wangi root (Vetiveria zizanoides) and nilam leaf (Pogostemon cablin) are reported possesing insecticide property on some insects, however there were no examination done against C. bezziana larvae. The aim of this study was to assess the effectivity of essential oil of wangi root (Vetiveria zizanoides) and nilam leaf (Pogostemon cablin) against C. bezziana larvae. Each essential oil was made three concentration (2, 3 and 4%) by mixing with 1% Tween 80. Another treatment was 1% Asuntol for positive control. Fifty instar larvae (L2) were used for each treatment in five replication. Number of larval mortality was observed after being feed with the essential oil for 24 hours in petri dishes. Data were analysed using ANOVA followed by Dunnett test at 95% confidential limit. Results demonstrated that both 3 and 4% of essential oil of wangi root was the most effective concentration in killing the larvae and was significantly different from 1% Asuntol. The essential oil of nilam leaf did not show biolarvacidal activity. Based on regretion formula between percentage of larval mortality and concentration of the essential oil of wangi root was obtain LD50 and LD95 for 1,752 and 3,896% respectively. Further study might be pursued to investigate in vivo assay of the extract in infested livestock.
Acid-Catalyzed Reactions on Flexible Polycyclic Aromatic Carbon in Amorphous Carbon

Carbonization of d-glucose at 573−723 K followed by sulfonation produces a functionalized amorphous carbon material with acid catalytic activity as a solid-acid replacement for sulfuric acid. The carbon material contains phenolic hydroxyl, carboxylic acid, and sulfonic acid groups and exhibits high catalytic performance for liquid-phase acid-catalyzed reactions. Carbonization at higher temperature followed by sulfonation also results in amorphous carbon, but the resultant does not exhibit catalytic activity although the amorphous carbon has sufficient amount of sulfonic acid groups. Structural and active site analyses suggest that the marked difference in catalytic activity is due to the accessibility of reactants to sulfonic acid groups in the carbon structure.
Emulation of Realistic Multi-Path Propagation Channels inside an Anechoic Chamber for Antenna Diversity Measurements

As antennas are inherently included recommended in Over-The-Air (OTA) testing, it is important to also consider realistic channel models for the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) device performance evaluation. This paper aims to emulate realistic multi-Path propagation channels in terms of angles of arrivals (AoA) and cross-polarization ratio (XPR) with Rayleigh fading, inside an anechoic chamber, for antenna diversity measurements. In this purpose, a practical multi-probe anechoic chamber measurement system (MPAC) with 24 probe antennas (SATIMO SG24) has been used. However, the actual configuration of this system is not able to reproduce realistic channels. Therefore, a new method based on the control of the SG24 probes has been developed. At first time, this method has been validated numerically through the comparison of simulated and analytical AoA probability density distributions. At the second time, the performance of an antenna diversity system inside the SG24 has been performed in terms of the correlation coefficient and diversity gain (DG) using an antenna reference system. Simulated and measurements results have shown a good agreement.
Wall thickness determination of hydrophobically functionalized MCM-41 materials

We have developed a new protocol for simple and convenient synthesis of MCM-41 porous material. Post-synthetic grafting of –Si(CH3)2R groups, where R stands for methyl, phenyl, or hexyl, respectively, yielded hydrophobic porous material by addition of an organic layer to the surface silanols. Modified materials and the hydrophilic precursor were characterized by a combination of nitrogen adsorption and small angle neutron scattering. We found that pore sizes determined by applying BET and KJS models to nitrogen adsorption data depend strongly on the chosen model as expected. Pore sizes from neutron scattering data do not demand simplifying model assumptions and were therefore used in order to calculate the thickness of the grafted organic layer. Comparison of the experimentally measured thickness with the theoretical lengths of the grafted groups allowed us to deduce the conformation of the organic moiety. A detailed analysis of the neutron scattering profile yielded a fractal surface dimensionality of 2.2 for all samples in agreement with literature data for hydrophilic MCM-41 solids and confirms that post-synthetic grafting does not impair the precursor material. This is a crucial point as the precursor is absolutely necessary to evaluate the thickness of the grafted layer.
DFT study of crystalline nitrosyl compounds

Abstract Nitrosyl linkage isomer compounds are investigated with density functional theory for realistic crystal structures. As compared to free anion models, significant differences are found for various properties. At the metastable state S1, a crystal environment contribution of 30–40 cm−1 to the red shift exists. The barrier against thermal decomposition of S1 in SNP is significantly lowered by 300 meV.
Differential Nr4a1 and Nr4a3 expression discriminates tonic from activated TCR signalling events in vivo

Nr4a receptors are activated by T cell receptor (TCR) and B cell receptor (BCR) signalling and play key roles in T cell differentiation and promoting T cell exhaustion. How TCR signalling pathways regulate Nr4a receptors and their sensitivities to different physiological types of TCR signalling (e.g. tonic versus activating) remains unknown. Here we utilise Nr4a1/Nur77-GFP and Nr4a3-Tocky mice to elucidate the signalling pathways that govern Nr4a receptor expression in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Our findings reveal that Nr4a1-3 are Src family kinase-dependent. Moreover, Nr4a2 and Nr4a3 are abolished by calcineurin inhibitors and bind NFAT1, highlighting a necessary and sufficient role for NFAT in the control of Nr4a2 and Nr4a3, but redundancy for NFAT for Nr4a1. During T cell development, Nr4a1 is activated by tonic signalling during TCR-beta selection in the thymus, whilst Nr4a3 requires cognate peptide:MHC interactions for expression. Thus, due to differential sensitivity of Nr4a1 and Nr4a3 to TCR signalling pathways, T cells undergoing tonic versus activating TCR signalling events can be distinguished in vivo.
Degree of Disaster Preparedness of Families

Background: The family has a crucial role during disaster. It is a principal conduit for disaster behaviors and critical for its individual members’ survival. Clason concluded that families have proved themselves not only essential reproductive units, but also as core social units enhancing its members’ survival. Global policies on disaster risk reduction have highlighted individual and community responsibilities and roles in reducing risk and promoting coping capacity. A predominant gap in the literature is the need for evidence-informed strategies to overcome the identified challenges to family preparedness. Purpose: This study determined the degree of disaster preparedness of families on the dimensions of resources, disaster plan, knowledge on earthquake, typhoon and flood response, disaster skills, the attitudes of families towards disaster preparedness and the association of variables. Methods: The study utilized the quantitative descriptive-correlational design. The respondents consisted of 399 household heads in the city of Baguio, chosen through systematic, cluster sampling process. Data were gathered utilizing a group made questionnaire, and were treated using counts, means, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient. Result: The findings revealed that from a scale of excellent, good, fair and poor, the degree of disaster preparedness of families is only “good” while families have “fairly positive” attitude towards disaster preparedness. There is a weak correlation between attitude and degree of preparedness. Conclusion: A. adequately several areas needed In terms of disaster, they just have to do what can be done regardless of whether they have negative perception of things. Negative beliefs can be set aside in disaster situations.
Inversion Temperature and Pinch Analysis, Ways to Thermally Optimize Drying Processes

This work studies the compatibility and suitability of a combined inversion temperature and pinch analysis with the process selection for air and superheated steam spray drying of milk solids. The inversion temperature is a good starting point for an energy analysis because it is a simplified rate-based approach to comparing the steam and air drying systems. pinch analysis enables process integration, at least on a heat recovery and heat exchanger network level. The resulting inversion temperature for the studied system was estimated as 182°C for the dryer inlet temperature. However, mass and energy balances showed that a minimum inlet temperature for spray drying of 184°C was required for the superheated steam dryer in order to ensure that the outlet solids temperature above the dew point temperature. The inversion temperature is still very relevant in the early stages of a design process because it allows a quick assessment of which drying medium should result in a smaller dryer. It was evident that the steam system is better from an energy perspective because of the recoverable latent heat of the water vapor carried out of the dryer with the recycled steam. The steam system has between 82 and 92% of thermal energy recovery potential as condensable steam, compared with 13–30% energy recovery of the air system. However, other important design and operational factors are not discussed here in detail. Combining the inversion temperature and pinch analysis suggests that superheated steam drying both gives better energy recovery and is likely to give smaller dryers for all operational conditions.
The Liquid ``Structure'' of Methyl Alcohol

Fourier integral analyses of the x‐ray diffraction patterns of liquid nonyl and methyl alcohol are made. From these the radial distribution of atoms around any one atom is obtained. On the basis of the radial distribution curves, conclusions are drawn concerning the molecular configuration in the liquid. For nonyl alcohol this analysis confirms the results of Warren. In the case of methyl alcohol the analysis gives strong indication of hydrogen binding (dipole binding) between oxygen atoms of neighboring molecules. The short ``life'' of a given intermolecular bond in the liquid is emphasized. It is pointed out that the application of the ordinary Bragg equation to the peaks in the diffraction pattern of a liquid has no justification.
Structure and electronic transport properties of the Misfit layer compound (LaSe)1.14(NbSe2)2, „LaNb2Se5”︁

The new misfit layer compound (LaSe)1.14(NbSe2)2 has been synthesized from the elements at 1050- and its structure has been determined by a composite approach. The structure has an alternating stacking sequence of [LaSe] and two [NbSe2] layers along the c direction. The misfit of the two different layers is occurring along the a direction: a1(LaSe)=6.0191 A and a2(NbSe2)=3.4372 A therefore yielding a ratio of 1.751 which is very close to 7/4. An investigation of electrical resistivity was done. The crystal shows superconducting properties at 5.3 K. Struktur und elektronische Transporteigenschaften der „Misfit”-Schichtverbindung (LaSe)1,14(NbSe2)2, „LaNb2Se5”. Die neue „Misfit”-Schichtverbindung (LaSe)1,14(NbSe2)2 wurde aus den Elementen bei 1050°C dargestellt und ihre Struktur in mehreren Teilschritten bestimmt. Die Struktur besteht aus einer alternierenden Stapelfolge von [LaSe]- und zwei [NbSe2]-Schichten in c-Richtung. Der „Misfit” zwischen den zwei verschiedenen Schichten wird entlang der a-Richtung deutlich: a1(LaSe)=6,0191 A und a2(NbSe2)=3,4372 A, woraus sich ein Verhaltnis von 1,751 ergibt, das 7/4 sehr nahe kommt. Der elektrische Widerstand wurde in Abhangigkeit von der Temperatur gemessen. Die Kristalle zeigen supraleitende Eigenschaften ab 5,3 K.
Family firms and capital structure decisions : empirical evidence from Indonesian listed firms

The study’s aim is to provide new evidence on the role of a family firm’s specific characteristics, enshrined in the concept of socio-emotional wealth (SEW), in firms’ capital structure decisions with reference to agency and stewardship theories. Family firms in Indonesia rely mostly on banks and short-term debt as a source of funding to meet long-term financing requirements. This situation collectively calls for an investigation into the factors affecting capital structure decision. The study provides new empirical evidence on the determinants of capital structure during the period 2011-2015, covering 160 family firms listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The general results indicate that SEW dimensions can explain capital structure decisions of family firms in Indonesia. A family’s influence on a firm’s decisions represents the members’ long-term commitment to maintain the sustainability of the company across generations through control and influence. The desire to pass the business to the next generation encourages the families to apply risk reduction strategies to financing decisions by avoiding exposing the business to risk in order to preserve SEW. However, once the control over the firm passes from the founder to the next generation of family members, the desire to maintain the firm within the family has no significant effect on capital structure decisions. This study contributes to knowledge by examining the determinants of the capital structure specific to family firms in South-East Asia. The financing decisions taken in situations when different generations of the controlling family are in charge as a new approach that distinguishes this study from previous studies. It reveals that financing decisions, apart from being the product of a firm’s general characteristics such as age, size, etc., also reflect family goals focused on preserving the firm’s SEW, resulting in relatively low long-term debt levels sustained protracted period of time and across generations.
Hydrogenation of Acetylene: Kinetic Studies and Reactor Modeling

The kinetics of acetylene hydrogenation has been studied in a fixed bed reactor of a commercial Pd/Al2O3 catalyst. The experiments were carried out at 30, 50 and 70 ºC with various feed compositions at atmospheric pressure. The experiments were repeated at 70 ºC in the presence of the used catalyst to determine the effect of the catalyst deactivation where the corresponding deactivation rate constant was determined in order to predict the activity of the catalyst during each run. Two well known kinetic models were used for a nearly similar catalyst to predict the experimental data of this work and none of them were found satisfactory. A new model was then proposed to fit the experimental data. The hydrogenation reactor was also simulated at industrial operating conditions with the proposed kinetics for both plug and dispersion flows. The results of these simulations were almost close to each other in most cases.
Leveraging diversity to find bugs in JavaScript engines

JavaScript is a very popular programming language today with several implementations competing for market dominance. Although a specification document and a conformance test suite exist to guide engine development, bugs occur and have important practical consequences. This work evaluates the importance of different techniques to find functional bugs in JavaScript engines. For that, we explored two existing techniques—test transplantation and cross-engine differential testing. The first technique runs test suites of a given engine in another engine. The second technique fuzzes existing inputs and then compares the output produced by different engines with a differential oracle. We considered engines from four major players in our experiments–V8, SpiderMonkey, ChakraCore, and JavaScriptCore. We present a tool capable of running tests on any javascript engine and obtaining reports based on the test output. It was possible to run the four engines in a test suite extracted from open-source projects, using the two techniques mentioned and we analyzed the behavior of each engine, classifying the output as a bug or not. The results indicate that both techniques revealed several bugs, many of which confirmed by developers. Overall, we reported 50 bugs in this study. Of which, 36 were confirmed by developers and 29 were fixed. To sum, our results show that the techniques are easy to apply and very effective in finding bugs in complex software, such as JavaScript engines.
Ultrafast Studies of Photoexcited Electron Dynamics in γ- and α-Fe2O3 Semiconductor Nanoparticles

The ultrafast dynamics of photoexcited electrons in the semiconductor iron oxides, γ-Fe2O3 and α-Fe2O3, have been measured using femtosecond laser spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy shows the γ-Fe2O3 particles are spherical, with 1−2 nm average diameter, and the α-Fe2O3 are spindle-shaped, with average dimensions of 1 × 5 nm. Static electronic absorption measurements of the colloids suggest that they may be in the quantum confined regime. Steady-state emission measurements show that the <400 nm direct transitions are moderately emissive, but the indirect transitions in the visible do not produce measurable emission. The ultrafast transient absorption decay profiles measured for the γ-Fe2O3 and α-Fe2O3 samples synthesized in our lab as well as a commercial sample of γ-Fe2O3 are the same and are fit best with three exponentials with 0.36, 4.2, and 67 ps time constants. The decay profiles are independent of pump power, probe wavelength, and pH and were not affected by lattice doping with other me.
Fixed Point Optimization Method for Image Restoration

In this paper, we introduce the modified MM-algorithm (MMMA) and forward-backward modified MM-algorithm (FBMMMA). Furthermore, we prove that any sequence generated by the proposed algorithms converge to a set of solution. As applications, we apply the FBMMMA algorithm to solving image restoration problems. We found that our algorithm has a higher efficiency than the others in the literature.
Effect of PH on PCP Remediation by Smectite Supported Pd0/Fe0

Due to its influence on iron corrosion and involvement in dechlorination reaction, the concentration of H+ (i.e. reaction pH) is crucial to the reactivity and efficiency of nanosized Pd0/Fe0. In this study, PCP dechlorination by smectite-templated Pd0/Fe0 was studied and the effect of pH on PCP dechlorination was investigated in detail. The reaction rate constant is critically dependant on the reaction pH over the range 6.0~10.0. When the pH is 6.0~8.0, the dechlorination rate constant () increases rapidly with decreasing the reaction pH value; the rate change is up to 3.346 folds with decreasing of per pH unit; while it decreases down to 0.3338 when pH is in the range 8.0~10.0. The reductive efficiency of zero-valent iron (ZVI) was further investigated by spiking excess PCP in the reaction system. The maximal reaction efficiency of ZVI for PCP dechlorination attains to 78% when pH is 9.0. The difference between the dechlorination rate and reductive efficiency with respect to reaction pH suggest that ZVI could not be effectively utilized to reduce PCP under acidic condition.
Preparation and characterisation of hydrotalcite/carboxyadamantane intercalation compounds as fillers of polymeric nanocomposites

Mono- and di-carboxyadamantane derivatives were intercalated via ion-exchange procedure onto hydrotalcites with formula [Zn0.65Al0.35(OH)2](A)0.35·nH2O where A is Cl– or ClO4–. Furthermore, an intercalation compound of [Mg0.65Al0.35(OH)2](CO3)0.175·0.5H2O containing the mono-carboxyadamantane has been obtained by using the “memory effect” of the hydrotalcite. The obtained materials were characterised for their composition, thermal behaviour, X-ray diffraction patterns, FT-IR absorption spectra and BET specific surface areas. Structural and chemical considerations indicated that mono-carboxylic guests are accommodated in the interlayer region as an ordered bifilm of anions while the di-carboxylic guests give rise to a bifilm of partially interdigitated anions. The presence of hydrophobic anions makes the interlayer region of the hydrotalcites compatible with hydrophobic polymers, such as medium density polyethylene. As an example, the preparation and characterisation of a nanocomposite of polyethylene filled with MgAl hydrotalcite/carboxyadamantane are reported. The nanocomposite, containing 5% w/w of inorganic residue, was prepared by melt compounding and was characterised with X-ray powder diffraction and thermogravimetric techniques. The obtained results showed that the presence of the organically modified hydrotalcite lamellae shields in part the polymer from thermal oxidation, increasing the degradation temperature by about 160 °C and producing a char residue greater than pure polyethylene.
Emergence of Undulations and Determination of Materials Properties in Large-Scale Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Layered Double Hydroxides

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have generated a large amount of interest in recent years because of their ability to intercalate a multitude of anionic species. Atomistic simulation techniques such as molecular dynamics have provided considerable insight into the behavior of these materials. The advent of supercomputing grids allows us to explore larger-scale models with considerable ease. Here, we present our findings from large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of Mg2Al-LDHs intercalated with chloride ions. The largest studied system size consists of one million atoms with lateral dimensions of 588 A × 678 A. The system exhibits emergent properties, which are suppressed in smaller-scale simulations. Undulatory modes are caused by the collective thermal motion of atoms in the LDH layers. At length scales larger than 20.7 A, these thermal undulations cause the LDH sheets to interact and the oscillations are damped. The thermal undulations provide information about the materials properties of the syst.