Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electronic depth profiles with atomic layer resolution from resonant soft x-ray reflectivity

The analysis of x-ray reflectivity data from artificial heterostructures usually relies on the homogeneity of optical properties of the constituent materials. However, when the x-ray energy is tuned to the absorption edge of a particular resonant site, this assumption may no longer be appropriate. For samples realizing lattice planes with and without resonant sites, the corresponding regions containing the sites at resonance will have optical properties very different from regions without those sites. In this situation, models assuming homogeneous optical properties throughout the material can fail to describe the reflectivity adequately. As we show here, resonant soft x-ray reflectivity is sensitive to these variations, even though the wavelength is typically large as compared to the atomic distances over which the optical properties vary. We have therefore developed a scheme for analyzing resonant soft x-ray reflectivity data, which takes the atomic structure of a material into account by ‘slicing’ it into atomic planes with characteristic optical properties. Using LaSrMnO4 as an example, we discuss both the theoretical and experimental implications of this approach. Our analysis not only allows to determine important structural information such as interface terminations and stacking of atomic layers, but also enables to extract depth-resolved spectroscopic information with atomic resolution, thus enhancing the capability of the technique to study emergent phenomena at surfaces and interfaces.
Rapid determination of sulphate in water

The determination of sulphate is always by means of converting the sulphate into BaSO 4. The barium sulphate is more stable than barium chromate. So when we add barium chromate to the sulphate solution, the chromate can be replaced by sulphate, forming barium sulphate, which is more stable, the quantity of the chromate that is determined by spectrophotometry can be used to calculate the quantity of the sulphate.
First-principles investigation of a novel organic-inorganic strontium halide perovskites and CH3NH3Pb1-xSrxI3 solid solution

ABSTRACT In this work, we used the density functional theory to predict the stability of CH3NH3SrI3 by constructing a chemical potential diagram. We found that there are stability regions of CH3NH3SrI3 for tetragonal and orthorhombic structures. The GW approximation including spin-orbit coupling (SOC) predicted that CH3NH3SrI3 is a wide band gap semiconductor. In addition, the structural and optical properties as a function of strontium concentration (x) in CH3NH3Pb1-xSrxI3 were also investigated and it displays the linear dependence on concentration. The results indicate the tunability and its potential as an alternative for using lower concentration of lead in organic-inorganic halide perovskite.
Picosecond thin-disk laser platform PERLA for multi-beam micromachining

Multi-beam micro- and nano-machining of material surfaces has been getting more important because of its great potential to increase production speed of large size laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). Fast and cheap production of engineered surfaces structures can bring unique properties of surfaces like tailored wettability, friction, antibacterial properties, etc., to mass-production with consequence in, for example, energy and costs savings. However, tailoring of long-term stable interference patterns from ultrashort laser pulses requires an extremely stable laser system with nearly diffraction-limited output beams. HiLASE Centre developed such a thin-disk-based Yb:YAG sub-picosecond laser platform, PERLA, providing average output power up to 0.5 kW with 2nd and 4th harmonic generation extensions and demonstrated its potential for direct laser interference patterning (DLIP). In this paper, we focus on details of the thin-disk PERLA laser.
Preferential Parasitism of Ooencyrtus mirus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) on Bagrada hilaris (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) Regardless of Rearing Host

Abstract The invasive stink bug, Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is a serious pest of cole crops. Studies are underway to assess the potential of an exotic egg parasitoid from Pakistan, Ooencyrtus mirus Triapitsyn & Power (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), as a biological control agent for this pest. In the present study, the ovipositional preference of O. mirus reared for multiple generations on B. hilaris, Thyanta pallidovirens (Stal), or Nezara viridula (Linnaeus) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) for eggs of these three stink bug species was evaluated. The first host accepted for oviposition, the number of parasitoid eggs (as indicated by pedicels) laid on each host egg at different time intervals, and the number of wasps that emerged from parasitized eggs were recorded. Results show that O. mirus prefers eggs of its primary host, B. hilaris, for oviposition over the alternate hosts tested regardless of whether the parasitoids were reared on the primary or alternate hosts. The percent parasitism in the first 2 h of exposure also was higher on B. hilaris eggs although it was not significantly different from T. pallidovirens eggs for parasitoids reared on B. hilaris and N. viridula eggs. For all parasitoid populations, the mean number of emerged wasps per host egg ranged from 0.9 to 1.1 with no significant differences. Bagrada hilaris eggs were significantly smaller than T. pallidovirens and N. viridula eggs and female wasps that emerged from B. hilaris eggs had significantly shorter body length and head width than those that emerged from T. pallidovirens and N. viridula eggs. Graphical Abstract
Weak ties matter: Social network dynamics of mobile media multiplexity and their impact on the social support and psychological well-being experienced by migrant workers

This study investigates the contextual and relational characteristics that underlie people’s information and communication technology (ICT) use and the implications for their well-being. We contextualize this investigation according to migrants, because they are faced with disruptions to their personal networks in the migration process that may attenuate the availability of social support and negatively affect their mental health. Migrants tend to be proficient in using mobile ICT to connect with different social ties to fulfill their needs, which potentially makes a difference to their psychological well-being. Through a survey of 504 internal migrant workers in China, we examined the social network factors that underlie multiple mobile ICT use and the attendant influences on social support and psychological well-being. Redressing the overemphasis on the importance of strong ties in extant literature, this study highlights the salience of mobile media multiplexity (i.e., the use of multiple mobile communication channels for social interactions) in weak tie communication and the greater contribution of weak ties toward social support and psychological well-being than strong ties. Our findings suggest that mobile-mediated communicative relationships with newer and more distanced social connections outside their immediate circles enhance the well-being of migrants. We contend that media multiplexity vis-à-vis weak ties underscores the reconfiguration of migrants’ communicative relationships following the separation from original ties and facilitates rewarding interactions with new ties.
Effect of Bacterial Manure on the Properties of Complex Soil and Growth of Ryegrass

To cope with the growing population, there is a growing demand for more land to be rendered cultivable. A complex soil created by applying soft rocks into sandy soil can be cultivated. However, the strong water-retaining ability and extreme poverty in nutrients of this complex soil has a negative effect on plant growth. To solve this problem, a complex of microbes and bacterial manure (BM) was added to the complex soil. The soil column culture test was used to detect the influence of BM application on soil bulk-density and infiltration parameters, and a pot experiment was conducted to evaluate its effect on the physical and chemical properties of soil, and ryegrass growth. The addition of 0.15% of BM to the complex soil decreased soil bulk-density, and increased the wetting front migration distance and soil hydraulic conductivity. The BM application also increased soil enzyme activities, which increased the available nitrogen and phosphorus content. As a result, BM increased the ryegrass root and shoot biomass. Overall, this study indicates that BM could be used as an eco-friendly sandy soil conditioner for improving the quality of complex soils, thereby, sustaining agricultural production in arid and semi-arid regions.
Stiffness Evaluation of an Adsorption Robot for Large-Scale Structural Parts Processing

Efficient and economical processing of large-scale structural parts is in increasing need and is also a challenging issue. In this paper, an adsorption machining robot for processing of large-scale structural parts is presented. It has potential advantages in flexible, efficient, and economical processing of large-scale structural parts because of the adsorption ability. Stiffness is one of the most important performance for machining robots. In order to investigate the stiffness of the robot in the workspace, the kinematics of the adsorption manipulator, the five-axis machining manipulator, and the adsorption machining robot is derived step by step. Then with the help of finite element analysis (FEA), a stiffness modeling method considering the compliance of the base is proposed. A stiffness isotropy index is put forward to evaluate the robot’s overall stiffness performance by taking all possible working conditions into consideration. Based on the index, stiffness evaluation in the reachable workspace is carried out and an optimized workspace is identified considering the overall stiffness magnitude, stiffness isotropy, and workspace volume, which will be used in the machining process. The stiffness modeling method and stiffness isotropy index proposed in the paper are universal and can be applied to other parallel robots.
A novel adaptive support vector machine method for reliability analysis

For the structural reliability analysis, although many methods have been proposed, they still suffer from substantial computational cost or slow convergence rate for complex structures, the limit state function of which are highly non-linear, high dimensional, or implicit. A novel adaptive surrogate model method is proposed by combining support vector machine (SVM) and Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) to improve the computational efficiency of estimating structural failure probability in this paper. In the proposed method, a new adaptive learning method is established based on the kernel function of the SVM, and a new stop criterion is constructed by measuring the relative position between sample points and the margin of SVM. Then, MCS is employed to estimate failure probability based on the convergent SVM model instead of the actual limit state function. Due to the introduction of adaptive learning function, the effectiveness of the proposed method is significantly higher than those that employed random training set to construct the SVM model only once. Compared with the existing adaptive SVM combined with MCS, the proposed method avoids information loss caused by inconsistent distance scales and the normalization of the learning function, and the proposed convergence criterion is also more concise than that employed in the existing method. The examples in the paper show that the proposed method is more efficient and has broader applicability than other similar surrogate methods.
Subjective Well-Being and Self-Esteem in Preterm Born Adolescents: An Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis

This article has supplementary material on the web site: www.jdbp. org. ABSTRACT: Objective: To study self-reported well-being and self-esteem among adolescents born very preterm (VPT; <32 wk of gestation) and moderate to late preterm (MLPT; 32–36 wk of gestation) compared with those born full-term (FT) in an individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis. Methods: We obtained IPD from the following 4 data sources: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (United Kingdom), the Millennium Cohort Study (United Kingdom), the Basel Study of Preterm Children (Switzerland), and the Bavarian Longitudinal Study (Germany) and conducted two-step random-effects IPD meta-analysis. A total of 986 MLPT, 412 VPT, and 12,719 FT born adolescents reported on subjective well-being and 927 MLPT, 175 VPT, and 13,312 FT born adolescents reported on global self-esteem. Results: Adolescents born VPT or MLPT were not different from those born FT regarding general subjective well-being; family, school, and physical appearance–related well-being; and global self-esteem. However, adolescents born VPT reported lower well-being in peer relationships than those born FT (β = −0.209, 95% confidence interval = −0.336 to −0.082). There was no main effect of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and no moderation by FGR, sex, parental education, and ethnicity. No significant heterogeneity between cohorts was found, although some heterogeneity estimates were moderate. Conclusion: Adolescents born preterm mostly report no lower well-being and self-esteem than adolescents born FT. However, they perceive their peer relationships as poorer than those born FT.
Socio-Contextual Factors as Determinants of Psychological Wellbeing of Selected Aged in South Africa: A Moderating Approach

The psychological wellbeing of the elderly has become an important global health issue. This study investigated the socio-contextual factors moderating some dimensions of psychological well-being (self-acceptance, purpose in life, environmental mastery and autonomy) among 301 selected aged in South Africa. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were deployed to select the respondents (93 males and 208 females) in Buffalo city, South Africa. A questionnaire pack which included the Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale (RPWBS) and the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) were utilised. The study found a significant relationship between physical activity and psychological wellbeing of the elderly. However, ethnicity could moderate the relationship between physical activity and the dimensions of psychological wellbeing. Recreational activities, particularly in Black communities, must be improved to encourage participation in physical exercise.
Tropospheric NO2 Pollution Monitoring with the GF-5 Satellite Environmental Trace Gases Monitoring Instrument over the North China Plain during Winter 2018–2019

The Environmental Trace Gases Monitoring Instrument (EMI) is a high-spectral-resolution payload onboard the latest pathfinder mission GaoFen-5, designed specifically for the monitoring of global atmospheric trace gas compositions and trends. This study describes a comparative analysis of the tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns over the North China Plain (NCP) from November 2018 to April 2019 based on EMI products. Validation of satellite products based on a cross-correlation analysis with data from four ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy sites provided good correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.78 to 0.88. The distribution and monthly averaged tropospheric NO2 columns revealed high pollution exposure levels during winter (November–January) and a decrease from February onward in the NCP. Moreover, a typical pollution event was analyzed in detail in combination with wind field statistics. The results indicated that variations of NO2 concentrations in Beijing and Tianjin were highly correlated with the wind direction from 22.5–45.0 degrees west of south, especially during times of high NO2 amounts. These findings highlight that the EMI payload on the GaoFen-5 (GF-5) satellite is useful for remote sensing of regional and global NO2 detection.
No Evidence for an Association Between Variability in Sulcal Pattern and Academic Achievement

Investigating how the brain may constrain academic achievement is not only relevant to understanding brain structure but also to providing insight into the origins of individual differences in these academic abilities. In this pre-registered study, we investigated whether the variability of sulcal patterns, a qualitative feature of the brain determined in-utero and not affected by brain maturation and learning, accounted for individual differences in reading and mathematics. Participants were 97 typically developing 10-year-olds. We examined (a) the association between the sulcal pattern of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and mathematical ability; (b) the association between the sulcal pattern of the occipitotemporal sulcus (OTS) and reading ability; and (c) the overlap and specificity of sulcal morphology of IPS and OTS and their associations with mathematics and reading. Despite its large sample, the present study was unable to replicate a previously observed relationship between the IPS sulcal pattern and mathematical ability and a previously observed association between the Left posterior OTS sulcal pattern and reading. We found no evidence for a possible overlap or specificity in the effect of sulcal morphology on mathematics and reading. Possible explanations for this absence of an association between sulcal morphology and academic achievement and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Zinc Seed Priming Improves Spinach Germination at Low Temperature

Low temperature during germination hinders germination speed and early seedling development. Zn seed priming is a useful and cost-effective tool to improve germination rate and resistance to low temperature stress during germination and early seedling development. Spinach was tested to improve germination and seedling development with Zn seed priming under low temperature stress conditions. Zn priming increased seed Zn concentration up to 48 times. The multispectral imaging technique with VideometerLab was used as a non-destructive method to differentiate unprimed, water- and Zn-primed spinach seeds successfully. Localization of Zn in the seeds was studied using the 1,5-diphenyl thiocarbazone (DTZ) dying technique. Active translocation of primed Zn in the roots of young seedlings was detected with laser confocal microscopy. Zn priming of spinach seeds at 6 mM Zn showed a significant increase in germination rate and total germination under low temperature at 8 °C.
41 Year Long-Term Durability of High Volume Blast-Furnace Slag Cement Concrete

In this study, we investigated the durability of high-volume ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) blended cement concrete containing over 70% of GGBS for possible general structural applications. The concrete specimens used were exposed to natural outdoor conditions for 41 years on a building rooftop. The following is found. The exposed top surface of concrete with 88.5% GGBS 4000 replacement, the exposed top surface and the corners of sulfated slag cement showed peel failure of the paste, but the specimens of concrete with 68.5% GGBS 4000 and GGBS 2000 replacement were in sound condition. The compressive strength of all mix proportions did not decrease significantly over 41 years. The carbonation depth of concrete specimens containing 70% GGBS was about 7 to 9 mm, and about 15 mm for specimens containing 90% GGBS. Despite the high volume of GGBS content (70%) in the concrete specimens, traces of Ca(OH) 2 , which is involved in the chemical reaction of GGBS, were found in parts that remained uncarbonated. Ca(OH) 2 increases the alkalinity of the specimen and is thus considered to have a rebar corrosion-inhibiting effect. This paper is the English translation from the authors’ previous work [Hashimoto, M. , et al . , (2019). “A study on the long-term durability of high-volume bast-furnace slag cement concrete for 41 years. ” Concrete Research and Technology, Vol.30, pp.77-84. (in Japanese)].
“I Hate It Here”: Mental Health Changes of College Students Living With Parents During the COVID-19 Quarantine

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and college campus closure in early 2020, students returned to live at home in unprecedented circumstances. A sample of 336 college students reported about their experiences living at home and the extent to which they perceived their mental health declining during the stay-at-home order (quarantine). Multiple regression analysis indicated that being a freshman (compared to a senior), having more negative interaction with a parent, fearing for one’s own and one’s family’s health, perceiving less parental acceptance about being home, having low autonomy, and displaying less positive coping (not working to improve one’s self and strengthen family relationships, more idleness) associated with self-reported decreases in mental health during quarantine. Thematic analysis of open-ended responses suggested that students viewed the quarantine as relevant to their mental health, especially because of positive or negative family experiences, and to a lesser degree disruption of education and work norms.
Prevalence and intensity of intestinal schistosomiasis among the adult population, and water and sanitation conditions: a community-based cross-section study at Muleba District

Background Intestinal schistosomiasis is one of the serious public health problems in all age groups and can lead to considerable morbidity and mortality especially to communities with an inadequate supply of safe water and sanitation services. Objective This study was conducted to establish the current burden of intestinal schistosomiasis among adults in the Muleba District and assessment of water and sanitation conditions that might influence the transmission of intestinal schistosomiasis. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted between July and August 2020. A total of 328 stool samples were collected and processed using formal-ether concentration and Kato-Katz methods. Water and sanitation data were collected using a questionnaire interview conducted among participants. Participants were randomly selected from four villages. Data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 23. Results Thirty six participants (11%) were infected with Schistosoma mansoni. The prevalence was higher among the residents of households using water from improved sources, houses without sanitation facilities, and participants who do not use sanitation facilities. We found a significantly increased risk of S. mansoni infection among participants in households without toilet facilities compared with those in households with VIP (OR = 4.10, p = 0.001). Conclusion The prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis infection among the adult population in Muleba indicates a moderate risk of transmission. Type of toilet facility is a significant factor in the perpetuation of Schistosoma mansoni transmission.
Challenging Heteronormativity: An Analysis of the Effect of Sexual Orientation on Earnings in Spain

Using data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey between 2006 and 2018, we explore whether sexual orientation causes wage differences for partnered women and men in Spain. The study confirms that men in same-sex couples significantly earn less than men in opposite-sex couples, confirming our hypothesis for the “hegemonic masculinity premium. ” Women in same-sex couples also outearn women in opposite-sex couples, but this effect disappears after controlling for differences in human capital characteristics. Despite the high degree of social acceptance of homosexuality in Spain, partnered gay men are not able to avoid the negative earnings effects of discrimination in the labor market.