Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nanoscopic Pt-bimetal colloids as precursors for PEM fuel cell catalysts

PEM fuel cell anode catalysts with an improved CO tolerance can be prepared from pre-synthesized bimetallic colloid precursors with particle sizes of 1-2 nm. The particles are supported on Vulcan XC72 and activated by thermal conditioning to remove the stabil izing organic shell. Various routes for colloid synthesis, some using also different organic stabilizers, are explored. NR 4 X-stabilized Pt/Ru- or Pt/Sn-Precursors of sizes below 2 nm and having a narrow particle size distribution are obtained via the co-reduction of platinum, ruthenium and tin salts, respectively, using alkalitriethylhydroborate. Co-reduction of organic metal salts using organoaluminum compounds without addin g any further stabilizer leads to halogen-free, organoaluminum pre-stabilized polymetallic platinum colloids (e.g. Pt 50 Ru 50 /Al-acac-alkyl, particle size 1.2 ± 0.3 nm). The ratio of platinum to second metal in the colloid can be easily adjusted by changing the stoichiometric ratio of the me tal salts. The dispersivity of these colloids can be modified by adding alcohols or suitable surfactants. The size of organoaluminum-stabilize d particles does not change during the thermal conditioning even at high metal loadings (20 wt % metal), avoiding an undesirable particle growth.
Recurrent Gradient-based Motor Inference for Speech Resynthesis with a Vocal Tract Simulator

We describe an inference principle for speech resynthesis using the vocal tract simulator VocalTractLab (VTL). Our method generates smooth and plausible motor trajectories controlling the vocal tract simulator. The method utilizes a differentiable forward model approximation of the VTL, namely, an LSTM that learned the involved temporal motor-acoustics relations. Motor trajectories are inferred through temporal gradient information minimizing the error between the forward prediction and the target acoustics, explicitly incorporating velocity and jerk con-straints. We show that our method provides good parameter recovery and generalization, and that it achieves a decent synthesis quality. While the proposed principle is a promising tool for studying the mechanics of human speech generation, it comes with the cost of a signiﬁcant computational overhead.
Enhanced Character Embedding for Chinese Short Text Entity Linking

Entity Linking (EL) is the task of identifying concepts mentioned in a text and linking them to a given knowledge base. It includes two subtasks: Entity Recognition (ER) and Entity Disambiguation (ED). While entity linking in English long text has been well studied in previous works, Chinese short text entity linking remains a big challenge due to the lack of explicit word delimiters and rich context. In this paper, we propose an enhanced character embedding based neural approach, which explicitly encodes mention dictionary and mention position information into ER model and ED model respectively, to solve the CCKS2019 Task 2. Extensive experiments show that our proposed models signiﬁcantly improve the performance of Chinese short text entity linking. Through two model ensemble strategies, our solution achieves a F1 score of 0.79266 on the ﬁnal test data of CCKS2019 Task 2.
Automated Android App Permission Recommendation

As Android is one of the most popular open source mobile platforms, ensuring security and privacy of Android applications is very important. Android provides a permission mechanism which requires developers to declare sensitive resources their applications need, and users need to agree with this request when they install these applications (Android API Level 22 or lower) or during runtime (Android API Level 23 or higher). Although Android provides very good oﬃcial documents to explain how to properly use permissions, unfortunately misuses even for the most popular permissions have been reported. Recently, Karim et al . propose an association rule mining based approach to better infer permissions that an API needs. In this work, to improve the eﬀectiveness of the prior work, we propose two approaches which are based on popular techniques used to build recommendation systems. One approach is based on collaborative ﬁltering technique, which is designed based on the intuition that apps that have similar features – inferred from the APIs that they use – usually share similar permissions. Another approach utilizes a text mining technique, which analyzes descriptions of apps and builds a model using the naive Bayes multinomial classiﬁcation algorithm, to recommend permissions. We evaluate these approaches on 936 Android apps from F-Droid, which is a repository of free and open source Android applications. The experimental results show that our proposed approaches achieve signiﬁcant improvement in terms of the precision, recall, F1-score and MAP of the top-k results over Karim et al . ’s approach.
Optimal Joint QoS Routing and Channel Assignment in Multi-Channel Multi-Radio WMNs

We study the problem of ﬁnding a performance bound on joint QoS routing and channel assignment in multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh networks, which is a fundamental issue in performance evaluation of joint QoS routing and channel assignment algorithms. To our best knowledge, this is the ﬁrst time that the problem is addressed. A simple version of the problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model, the model is relaxed to get an easier to solve model. The original problem is modeled by the relaxed model. Our simulations show that the relaxed model provides a tight upper bound while improves solution time up to 3.0e+5 times.
Intestinal morphomechanical remodeling caused by partial obstruction

Intestinal obstruction is a rather common surgical emergency, accounting for up to 20% of admissions with acute abdominal pain. Mechanical small bowel obstruction remains a common clinical problem. The cardinal features of obstruction are abdominal pain, vomiting, distension, and constipation. In order to study pathophysiological characteristics of intestinal obstruction, researchers use animal models to learn more about mechanisms in obstruction of the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Several models to create intestinal obstruction exist. The most common method is to place a silk thread or plastic loop around the intestine. Partial intestinal obstruction changes (remodels) morphohistology and neuromechanosensory properties. Histologic examination reveals that the thickness of the muscle layer, especially the circular smooth muscle layer, massively increases. Furthermore, the collagen content proximal to the obstruction site is significantly larger. The opening angle and residual strain mainly depend on the thickness of the muscle layer whereas the wall stiffness mainly depends on the thickness of the submucosa layer. The partial obstruction of the small intestine also leads to severe hypertrophy of smooth muscle cells, dilatation, and functional denervation, and the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) phenotype are lost. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the scientific literature related to GI obstruction with focus on data morphologic, biomechanical remodeling, and changes of neuromechanosensory function. This article also proposes how the data obtained in animal experiments can be used to improve the clinical condition.
A novel single-phase multi-level inverter topology based on bridge-type connected sources with enhanced number of levels per number of devices

This paper proposes a developed basic Multi-Level Inverter (MLI) topology that is commercially suited for higher number of levels. The suggested topology can produce larger ratios of steps per DC sources, switches, gate-driver circuits and total devices than recently presented similar structures. The increased levels of suggested topology has led to low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and better power quality. Accordingly, the output-side filter can be removed or its size can be reduced. Also, the proposed topology doesn’t employ an H-bridge to produce negative levels. So, the total voltage stress on switches is reduced in great extent. All the aforementioned properties make the suggested topology a compact, light and cheaper structure. Also, the suitability for supplying resistive-inductive (R-L) loads is another merit of suggested topology. Since the magnitude of DC sources influences the number of levels, three different scenarios have been considered for selecting magnitude of DC sources in basic topology. Then, the switching states, key parameters and blocking voltage on switches of suggested basic topology have been presented for each scenario. In the following, the generalized topology have been proposed that is consisted of cascaded basic units. Then, a generalized methodology has been suggested for selecting magnitude of DC sources in generalized topology to minimize redundant switching states and maximize number of voltage levels. To verify properties of suggested topology, it has been compared with similar novel structures. Also, to check correct performance of suggested topology, its basic version has been simulated in PSCAD/EMTDC software. The comparison and simulation outcomes certify advantages and correct operation of proposed topology. © 2020 Journal of Energy Management and Technology
Determination of the charge trap energy distribution in conjugated polymer MDMO-PPV

The trap distribution depending on the exciting light spectral range and applied electrical field in the MDMO-PPV ([poly-(2-methoxyl),5-(3,77dimethyloctyloxy)] paraphenylenevinylene) was investigated by the thermally stimulated current (TSC) technique. To ensure selective excitation of the defect states we have used the long-pass colour filters with cut-on energies from 1.77 up to 3.10 eV. In order to evaluate the trap parameters of MDMO-PPV, curve fitting was done. The analysis revealed the Gaussian distribution of the defect states; the estimated effective activation energies were about 0.22 and 0.40 eV.
Enabling Robots to Draw and Tell: Towards Visually Grounded Multimodal Description Generation

Socially competent robots should be equipped with the ability to perceive the world that surrounds them and communicate about it in a human-like manner. Representative skills that exhibit such ability include generating image descriptions and visually grounded referring expressions. In the NLG community, these generation tasks are largely investigated in non-interactive and language-only settings. However, in face-to-face interaction, humans often deploy multiple modalities to communicate, forming seamless integration of natural language, hand gestures and other modalities like sketches. To enable robots to describe what they perceive with speech and sketches/gestures, we propose to model the task of generating natural language together with free-hand sketches/hand gestures to describe visual scenes and real life objects, namely, visually-grounded multimodal description generation. In this paper, we discuss the challenges and evaluation metrics of the task, and how the task can benefit from progress recently made in the natural language processing and computer vision realms, where related topics such as visually grounded NLG, distributional semantics, and photo-based sketch generation have been extensively studied.
Transcriptional Expression of Acidic-stress Responsive Genes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis การแสดงออกของยนีตอบสนองสภาวะความเป็นกรดในเช้ือไมโคแบคทเีรียมทูเบอร์คูโลซิส

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is currently major problem in public health worldwide. It is thought to infect one third of the world’s population. Most of them are asymptomatic and latent infection. In order to obtain the information about the mechanism of the bacteria used for survival and adaptation during latent infection, gene expression during the growth of the bacteria in various stress conditions that mimic the growth in macrophage was studied. Acidic stress conditions of pH 4.5 and 5.0were usedin this study. RT-PCR and Real-time PCR analysis showed the expression of genes includingicl1, espD, espC andespA was significantly up-regulated in acidic stress condition. This result demonstrated that these genes likely to be involved in adaptation and survival in the stress condition. Study of adaptive mechanism response to stress condition could lead to discovery of new drug-target or strategy to prevent and control tuberculosis. บทคดัย่อ Mycobacterium tuberculosisในปัจจุบันยงัเป็นปัญหาท่ีสําคญัดา้นสาธารณสุขทั่วโลกและมีประชากรโลก จาํนวนถึง1 ใน 3 มีการติดเช้ือน้ีโดยไม่แสดงอาการและเป็นการติดเช้ือแฝง เพ่ือให้เขา้ใจกลไกการดาํรงชีพและปรับตวั ในระหวา่งการเจริญของเช้ือในระยะการติดเช้ือแฝงจึงมีการศึกษาการแสดงออกของยีนต่างๆ ในสภาวะกดดนัท่ีคลา้ย การเจริญเติบโตของเช้ือในเซลลม์าโครฟาจ ในการศึกษาน้ีไดเ้ลือกสภาวะความเป็นกรดท่ี pH 4.5 และ 5. 0เพ่ือศึกษาการ แสดงออกของยนีต่างๆ จากการศึกษาโดยวิธี RT-PCR และ Real-time PCR พบวา่ การแสดงออกของยนี icl1 espDespC และ espA มีการแสดงออกมากกว่าสภาวะปกติอย่างมีนัยสําคญั ผลการทดลองน้ีแสดงให้เห็นว่ากลุ่มยีนเหล่าน้ีน่าจะ เก่ียวขอ้งกบัการปรับตวัและการดาํรงชีวิตในสภาวะกดดนั และการศึกษากลไกการตอบสนองต่อสภาวะกดดนัของเช้ือ วณัโรคสามารถนาํไปสู่การคน้พบเป้าหมายของยาใหม่ หรือกลยทุธการควบคุมป้องกนัวณัโรค
ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN FLOW AND POWER POSE DURING UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCES IN A COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

Colleges of agriculture throughout the United States place an emphasis on leadership courses where undergraduates develop professional skills. Students entering colleges of agriculture experience varied training in terms of leadership and associated skills. However, it is not understood how this leadership training relates to having more power and control while being happy, intrinsically motivated, and engaged in learning. SocioPsychological measures of flow and power pose during an undergraduate leadership course were used to determine associations of undergraduates within different domains of learning. This study determined associations between: 1) flow and power pose during leadership course activities; 2) happiness, intrinsic motivation, and engagement in learning; and 3) learning experiences where flow and power pose associations existed. There were positive associations between flow and power pose experiences among students in an undergraduate leadership course. Additionally, there were positive associations between power pose and Flow Theory related to constructs of happiness, intrinsic motivation, and engagement of undergraduate leadership students. Power pose and the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) were used determine flow associations of undergraduate students in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains of learning. This research provides a framework for future socio-psychological studies.
Retina-215-1964 509..514

Early CRT monitoring using time-domain optical coherence tomography does not add to visual acuity for predicting visual loss in patients with central retinal vein occlusion treated with intravitreal ranibizumab A secondary analysis of trial data Bell, Katy J L; Hayen, Andrew; Glasziou, Paul; Mitchell, Andrew S. ; Farris, Maria; Wright, Jonathan; Duerr, Hans Peter; Mitchell, Paul; Irwig, Les Published in: Retina
Effect of inclusion of assisted reproductive technologies in the state health insurance programme in Russia

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are an infertility treatment tool. In Russia, more than 250 centers implementing infertility treatment with the help of ART have been opened in 67 regions. In 2014, in vitro fertilization (IVF) was included in the programme of state guarantees, and since 2016 the service can be obtained within the Mandatory Health Insurance (MHI) system. Author of this study analyzes how the impact of economic factors on fertility with the use of ART has changed in relation to the inclusion of IVF in the MHI system, and what social factors affect the usage of this technology. The analysis bases on the panel data for the regions of Russia covering the period from 2011 to 2017. The fixed effects method was used to assess the impact of various factors. The study shows that the population income level has a significant positive impact on the proportion of births with the use of ART even after the inclusion of IVF into the MHI programme. At the same time, the inclusion of IVF in the MHI programme has led to an increase in the proportion of births using ART. The positive effect of this inclusion is higher in wealthier regions. Among social factors, a significant impact has the accessibility of information about the procedure, which is measured by the share of population having access to the Internet.
Task-Based Technology: Portuguese Language Teaching Practices

As part of a PhD investigation, this presentation aims to reveal the findings on Portuguese as a Non-Native Language (PNNL) teaching practice when using technology to implement other language approaches such as TaskBased Language Teaching (TBLT). A mixed research was developed to explain if there was a relation between technology use and the implementation of different language methods and teaching strategies, and also holistic task development. Data was gathered from 101 PNNL teachers, with working experience in and out of Portugal. The results provided evidence that technology was not being used to engage students in active learning and holistic tasks, as TBLT sustains, nor was it being used to develop different language methods and teaching strategies. It has been concluded that PNNL teachers were not using technology in their teaching practice to better implement other language methods, such as TBLT. 
Effect of Starch Oxidation Degree on the Properties of Hydrogels from Dialdehyde Starch and Polyvinyl Alcohol

Article history: Received: 30 September, 2020 Accepted: 28 November, 2020 Online: 16 December, 2020 Starches have been applied as biomaterials due to their wide availability and biocompatibility. These have also been modified by oxidation, resulting in dialdehyde starch (DAS), to improve their stability in water and mechanical properties. Cassava starch with a low oxidation degree has been introduced into hydrogels based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to improve their properties. However, the behavior of these materials with starch at different oxidation levels has not been previously explored. In the present work, the effect of the oxidation degree of cassava starch on the physical and chemical properties of DASPVA hydrogels was evaluated. To modify the degree of oxidation, different concentrations of H2O2 were used, and a high degree of oxidation was achieved by incorporating copper sulfate II as a catalyst. Oxidation was confirmed by quantification of carbonyl groups and Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy. Hydrogels with low and medium oxidation DAS displayed greater swelling, but also lower stability over time. Similarly, scanning electron microscopy confirmed greater porosity in them. On the other hand, hydrogels with high oxidation DAS had lower water absorption capacity, but greater stability over time. Regarding the controlled release of ibuprofen, as a model drug, hydrogels formulated with low and medium oxidation DAS presented a greater and faster release, compared to the formulations with high oxidation DAS. These results showed that the degree of starch oxidation, for the PVA-DAS hydrogel synthesis has a significant effect on the behavior of the polymeric network.
Wettability of organic-rich source rocks: case study on Bazhenov Formation (Abalak-Bazhenov group)

Abstract. In this work, we have investigated the wettability of Bazhenov Formation rock samples using a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the methods of vapor adsorption, and wetting contact angle. We have conducted the petrographic description of rocks using ultra-thin sections and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, we used data on the organic content (TOC) obtained by the Rock-Eval method and the results of lithological typing on thin sections for detailed analysis of NMR and contact angle methods results. Thus, for target rock, the groups with a similar rock wettability were highlighted by the lithological description of thin sections. The calculation of the wetting angle provided an initial assessment of the surface wettability of the rock and made it possible to establish the relationship between the wetting angle and the TOC, which is relevant for rocks of the Abalak-Bazhenov group. The NMR method described the core plug wettability proved to be less sensitive to the rock lithotype and organic matter (OM) texture in the rock and, therefore, used for the integral characterization of core plugs. Correlations of calculated wetting angle and adsorption wettability index vs. TOC and OM texture illustrated the dependence of rock wettability behavior on both the lithological specifics and the OM properties.
A Systematic Mapping Study of Artificial Intelligence in Software Requirements

Artificial Intelligence techniques are used in a wide variety of domains. The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Software Engineering has assisted activities that are time-consuming and resource-intensive such as those related to software requirements. This paper focuses on the use of AI techniques in Requirements Engineering (RE). The RE activities are critical in the life cycle of the software since they are the foundation of further phases. This paper presents the results of a Systematic Mapping Study that reports the extensive use of AI techniques in different RE activities, including recent trends, results, and future work.
Electrochemical sensors based on multi-walled nanotubes for investigating the damage and action of 6-mercaptopurine on double-stranded DNA

Biosensors based on nanomaterials provide a means for sensitive and rapid detection of DNA damage. To investigate the electrochemical behavior of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP), including the damage to double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (dsDNA) by 6-MP and the damage mechanisms, a dsDNA/MWNT/CTS/GCE biosensor was constructed using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and chitosan (CTS) as the modifying materials. The experimental results showed that after being modified, the active area of the MWNT/CTS/GCE significantly increased and the oxidation peak current of the MWNT/CTS/GCE in response to K3[Fe(CN)6] exhibited a remarkable increase. The characteristic peak of 6-MP on the biosensor was determined to be approximately 0.55 V using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Clear damage to dsDNA caused by 6-MP was observed. The damage to adenine was more severe than to guanine. The interaction between 6-MP and dsDNA could be explained as an intercalation during the electrochemical oxidation process on the modified electrode, which was an irreversible process controlled by adsorption and was accompanied by the transfer of a single electron coupled with a single proton.