Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Starch as a Sustainable Fuel for Solution Combustion Synthesis: Nanomaterials for Energy and Environmental Applications

Currently, solution combustion synthesis (SCS) is considered a reproducible, flexible, and low-cost synthesis method for the preparation of nanomaterials. A new trend in the SCS method is the use of less polluting fuels, such as starch. The use of starch as fuel in SCS is very interesting for green chemistry, as it is renewable and has several advantages, including its abundance, low-cost, and non-toxicity. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the SCS method using starch as fuel. The main advantages of using starch as fuel will be illustrated with a wide variety of examples, highlighting its impact on the preparation of nanomaterials for energy and environmental applications. In a combustion reaction using starch as fuel, several positive effects are expected, such as non-violent propagation, combustion with the production of non-toxic gases (mainly CO2 and H2O), and development of pores during the release of gases. For example, several macroporous metal oxide foams were prepared using the SCS method, through an appropriate combination of urea and starch fuels. With this approach, it is possible to control the structure, lattice defects, crystallite size, specific surface area, porosity, and other characteristics of the synthetized nanomaterial. For example, by combining starch with other fuels, it is possible to control the concentration of lattice defects in metal oxides and modify the optical properties of these materials. These properties are of fundamental importance for the performance of these materials and their subsequent application in electrodes, electrocatalysts, and photocatalysts in the areas of energy and environment.
Thermal and phase behaviour studies of hydrogen-bonded compounds (SA:nOBA) using POM, DSC and image-processing techniques

A novel series of hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals are synthesised. The hydrogen bond is formed between non-mesogenic salicylic acid and the mesogenic p-n-alkoxy benzoic acids with n = 4–8, 10–12 and 16. The formation of hydrogen bond is confirmed from infrared studies. The transition temperatures and the phase identification are made with the use of polarising microscope (POM) attached with a hot stage. Further, the heats of transition and enthalpies are obtained by employing the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Along with POM and DSC, textural image analysis is done by image-processing techniques using MATLAB software and transition temperatures are identified. The results reveal that the compounds with the chain number n = 7, 8, 10–12 show the manifestation of smectic-B phase by quenching smectic-C phase.
Data Mining Applications Used in Education Sector

The purpose of this work is to study the usage trends of Data Mining (DM) methods in education. It discusses different data mining techniques used for different types of educational data. The related papers were initially selected from the metadata containing words like Online Learning (OL) and Educational Data Mining (EDM). The papers were then filtered on the basis of DM algorithms, the purpose of study, and the types of data used. The findings suggested that EDM is the most commonly used technique for the prediction of students’ academic success, and the most used purpose is classification, followed by clustering and association. Further, this research also contains the study conducted on moodle data to find anomalies. K-means clustering was applied to find the optimal number of clusters on moodle data that consists of log and quiz dataset. The growth in the number of Internet users has increased learning through the online process. Hence, several activities are performed in OL systems, which generate a massive amount of data to be analysed to obtain useful information. Therefore, this type of research is very beneficial to academicians and instructors to identify the learner’s behaviors and develop suitable models.
Preoperative Pain Management of Patients with Hip Fractures: Blind Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block Compared to Ultrasound Guided Femoral Nerve Block—A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Blind fascia iliaca compartment block (FICB) and ultrasound guided femoral nerve block (FNB) are two types of peripheral nerve blocks, commonly used in preoperative pain management in patients with hip fractures in Danish emergency departments. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy in pain management of these two types of peripheral nerve blocks in the preoperative period in patients with hip fractures. Method: We performed a randomized controlled study. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a numeric rating scale (NRS) pain score equal to three or less at rest and after passive leg raise test three hours after block administration. Results: A total of 88 patients were included in the study and 67 patients in the statistical analysis with 33 in the FICB group and 34 in the FNB group. The results showed a significant reduction in the proportion of patients with an NRS score higher than three, three hours after administration of either FICB or FNB compared to at inclusion. There was no significant difference in pain scores between patients receiving FICB versus patients receiving FNB at rest or after passive leg raise (p = 0.25 and p = 0.86, respectively). Conclusion: Blind FICB and ultrasound guided FNB were effective in preoperative pain management in patients with hip fractures. The results showed that the two types of peripheral nerve blocks were equally efficient in providing pain management in the preoperative period.
On Board Dimethyl Ether Generation to Assist Methanol Engine Cold Starting

Dimethyl ether has high vapor pressure and wide flammability limits, which make it an excellent fuel for cold starting methanol engines. We have investigated the catalytic dehydration of methanol to produce dimethyl ether on board methanol-fueled vehicles. We tested four methanol dehydration catalysts in a microcatalytic plug flow reactor and found that a fluorinated γ-alumina was very active and selective for methanol dehydration in the 250-350 o C temperature range
UV and UV/H2O2 treatment of methylisoborneol (MIB) and geosmin in water

The presence of taste and odour-causing compounds in water can lead consumers to perceive the water as unsafe and thus is a great concern for water utilities. This study examined the effectiveness of direct ultraviolet (UV) photolysis and the UV/hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) advanced oxidation process (AOP) for removing methylisoborneol (MIB) and geosmin from raw source water and treated water. Low Pressure (LP) and Medium Pressure (MP) direct UV photolysis removed 10% and 25–50% of the compounds by 1000 mJ cm −2 UV fluence, respectively. The addition of H 2 O 2 created advanced oxidation conditions, and oxidized greater than 70% of these compounds at a UV fluence of 1000 mJ cm −2 . MP UV + H 2 O 2 was consistently faster than LP UV + H 2 O 2 for MIB oxidation, but water quality affected both of the UV + H 2 O 2 AOPs. The UV + H 2 O 2 AOP oxidation of these taste and odour contaminants in natural waters was effectively modelled using the steady state OH radical concentration model. Finally, electrical energy per order (E EO ) values for oxidation of MIB and geosmin were determined for a model UV reactor, and indicated that the UV + H 2 O 2 AOP requires less than 5 kWh of UV energy to oxidize 90% of MIB or geosmin in 1,000 gallons (3,785 liters) of clearwell or raw blend water, corresponding to a cost of less than US$0.35 per 1000 US gallons (3,785 liters).
Characterization of Multi-Drug Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria Present in Fresh Leafy & Salad Vegetables in Dhaka, Bangladesh

This study was conducted to determine the microbiological quality of fresh raw and unwashed leafy and salad vegetables in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Six different types of samples (red amaranth, spinach, carrot, radish, tomato, and cucumber) were collected in pre-sterilized zip-lock bags from various local markets in Dhaka. All samples were transported to the Centre of Excellence for Global Health Research Laboratory of Primeasia University at earliest convenience. Samples were enriched in Nutrient Broth media and were then cultured on selective media for isolation purpose. Serial dilution was performed for the total viable count. Biochemical and carbohydrate profiling was conducted for the presumptive identification of the isolates. Commercial antibiotic discs were used for antibiogram by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar medium. The total microbial load ranged from 8x107 to 1.70x108. Total 36 isolates were identified, having 7 differentorganisms. The most predominant organism was Vibrio sp. (23%) followed by Klebsiella sp. (20%), Acinetobacter sp. (19%), Pseudomonas sp. (19%), Salmonella sp. (8%), Moraxella sp. (8%) and Escherichia coli (3%). 11% of the Vibrio sp. isolates were V. cholerae, found from 4 samples. No presence of V. cholerae was observed in the tomatosamples. E. coli was observed only in Carrot sample. Antibiotics from 7 different groups were tested against the organisms among which Imipenem showed the highest sensitivity (86%). Following Ceftriaxone (100%), Nitrofurantoin (94%), Erythromycin (89%) and Amoxicillin (83%) had the highest resistance against the isolated organisms. Moreover, most of the isolates showed a multi-drug resistance pattern where they were resistant to at least four drugs. Prevalence of pathogenic bacteria in raw unwashed vegetables can cause potential adverse health effects and therefore the consumers need to be conscious about the matter.
What Price Equality? The Academic Cost of Government Supervised Gender Mainstreaming at Swedish Universities

This article is focused on gender mainstreaming at Swedish universities in the period from 2016–2019. Our research questions are: (a) In what form was gender mainstreaming introduced and did the form itself affect scholar’s academic rights? (b) Was the process in question compatible with international standards of institutional autonomy? (c) What effect did gender mainstreaming have on scholars’ ability to exercise their academic rights in accordance with international standards? Using the UNESCO Recommendations Concerning the Status of Higher-education Teaching Personnel (1997) as our international standard, we conclude that gender mainstreaming was introduced as a form of identity politics though government action and de facto supervision; that the latter was problematic from the perspective of institutional autonomy; that the choice of gender studies as a preferred scientific framework for university policy had a chilling effect on inquiry and free speech in other areas of research; and, finally, that gender mainstreaming led to violations of some scholars’ individual rights. The findings may be taken into account in evaluations of the outcome of gender mainstreaming at Swedish universities, all things considered.
Analytical Chemistry of PCBs

Introduction Overview of PCB Properties, Uses, and Occurrence Regulatory History Analytical Chemistry of PCBs Physical, Chemical, Commercial, Environmental, and Biological Properties Introduction PCB Nomenclature Physical Properties Synthesis and Standards Production and Use Environmental Occurrence Environmental Transport and Fate Destruction, Degradation, and Metabolism Toxicology Occupational Exposure and Its Effects Analytical Procedures U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Procedures ANSI and ASTM Procedures Procedures for Food and Fish Procedures for Byproduct Analysis Future Needs Sample Collection and Storage Sampling Design Water Air Natural Gas in Pipelines Soils and Sediments Other Solids Surfaces Oil, Dielectric Fluids, Etc. Biological Samples Extraction General Considerations Water Sewage and Sludge Sediment and Soil Air Blood Animal and Plant Tissues Paper Products Oils Wipes and Other Bulk Samples Ancillary Considerations Cleanup Adsorbent Column Chromatography High Performance Liquid Chromatography Thin-Layer Chromatography Adsorbent Slurry Techniques Gel Permeation Chromatography Liquid-Liquid Partitioning Chemical Degradation Cleanup and Oil Samples Sulfur Removal Comparison of Cleanup Techniques Criteria for Choice of a Cleanup Technique Validation of Cleanup Techniques Future Needs Determination Criteria for Choice of Techniques Gas Chromatography Thin-Layer Chromatography High Performance Liquid Chromatography Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Nonchromatographic Methods Confirmation Field Analyses Screening Summary Data Reduction Qualitative Quantitative Data Reporting Potential Improvements in Data Reduction Quality Assurance General Considerations Special Considerations in PCB Analyses Previous QC Measures Recommended QA/QC Measures Potential Improvements in QA Collaborative Studies Wildlife Chicken Fat and Fish Paperboard Marine Sediments Quantitation Techniques and Milk Paper Mill Effluent Ambient Air Wet Lake Sediment Naturally Contaminated Dry Sediments Dry Pigments Insulating Oils Byproducts from Industrial Processes Bovine Serum Byproducts in a Chlorinated Aromatic Waste Herring Lubricating Oils Municipal and Industrial Wastewater PCBs in Oil PCBs in Mineral Oil by ASTM D 4059 Eel Fat Extracts Transformer Oils Homologs in Water, Soil, and Sediment by GC/MS Oil Soxtec Extraction of Soils Congeners in Solution Aroclor 1260 in Soil Preparation of Calibration Solutions Pipeline Condensates Specific Congeners in Milk Non- and Mono-Ortho-Substituted Congeners in Herring Oil GC/Ion Trap MS Evaluation Procurement and Execution of PCB Analyses Responsibilities of the Requester Responsibilities of the Analyst Procurement of PCB Analyses Bibliography Appendices Nomenclature of PCBs Composition of Some Commercial PCB Mixtures Mass Spectral Characteristics of PCBs GC/ECD Chromatograms of Aroclor Mixtures PCB Information Package from EPA TSCA Assistance Information Service Materials Safety Data Sheet for PCBs, Monsanto Company Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Database Terms and Abbreviations Index
On Issue of Strip’s Break during Cold Rolling

The strip breaks during the cold rolling lead to significant losses in a continuous mill: downtime, associated with the elimination of consequences, and additional consumption of metal. Strip break occurs at a specific strip location, which further complicates the identification and analysis of its root causes, since a critical deviation of the parameters in only one small section of the strip may already be the cause of the subsequent break during cold rolling. In this work, the methods for checking hypotheses and regression modeling are used to identify the key parameters of hot-rolled strips that affect the strip break. Then, on the basis of the developed mathematical models, threshold values for key parameters are determined, exceeding which increases the probability of strip break.
Driving Business Models Toward Sustainability in Arctic Nature Tourism

ABSTRACT Context: research into sustainability as a highly debated concept has become widespread and given rise to a diverse and interesting arena in the management literature in which the relevance of business models is extensively acknowledged. Objective: by integrating sustainability into the business model concept, this study attempts to determine how business models are driven toward sustainability. Methods: a qualitative multiple-case approach is applied to scrutinize five small/micro companies offering nature-based activities in Arctic Norway. Results: four internal and six external drivers are found crucial to incorporating sustainability in business models. Conclusion: the findings contribute to the field of sustainable business models by deepening the understanding of how specific internal and external drivers operate across different business models. Moreover, business models are driven toward sustainability differently, depending on the extent to which sustainability is embedded into them.
Tetra(μ3-hydroxo) bridged copper(II) tetranuclear cubane complexes: synthesis, crystal structure, and DNA binding studies

The tridentate Schiff base H2L was synthesized by the condensation of equimolar amount of 1-amino-2-propanol and salicylaldehyde. The reaction of H2L with an equimolar amount of Cu(CH3COO)2·H2O in methanol leads to the formation of the tetranuclear Cu4L4, 1. However, reaction of equimolar amount of H2L, copper(II) acetate, and 2,4,6-trimethylaniline in methanol forms a mixture of products which includes a discrete mononuclear complex Cu(L′)2, 2m (where HL′ is a bidentate ligand), in addition to the tetranuclear Cu4L4 species, 2c. In both tetranuclear cubane species, the tridentate H2L is both a chelating and a bridging ligand, after deprotonation of the enolic and the phenolic OH. The copper(II) centers are five-coordinate with a [N, O4] donor set from the ligands. The coordination geometry about each copper is distorted square pyramidal with one nitrogen and two oxygen from one ligand and two oxygen from adjacent ligands in the next unit of the cubane. In mononuclear 2m, the ligand is bidentate and the coordination geometry around copper(II) is square planar. The absorption spectra strongly suggest that tetranuclear 1 interacts with CT-DNA. Graphical abstract
Modulation of seasonal precipitation in Argentina by the South Pacific high

The aim of this work is to quantify the influence of the position and intensity of the South Pacific High (SPH) over seasonal rainfall in Argentina. Some indices were defined to measure the position and intensity of the SPH, and they were correlated with seasonal precipitation to study the relationship between them. Results indicate that the intensity of the SPH affects precipitation mainly in northern Argentina during spring and in the southern region in autumn and winter. The latitudinal shift of the SPH has proved to have a relevant impact on precipitation in the northeast in summer and winter, and in some regions of southern and central Argentina during winter and spring. When studying the possibility to foresee precipitation behaviour with a one‐month lag, these metrics were not able to predict precipitation effectively in the northwest. On the contrary, the SPH intensity showed significant lagged correlations with rainfall mainly in the northeast, central‐east and south during spring and summer while the position of the SPH is mostly significantly correlated with summer and winter precipitation in the northeast and central Argentina. Results suggest that the situation of SPH can provide some rainfall predictability.
Variation of the Fluorescence Decay Time of a Molecule in Front of a Mirror

The out-going wave-front of a radiating oscillator (e. g. a Hertzian dipole) is disturbed by a reflecting surface. The resulting interference phenomenon affects the radiated power, which thus depends on the distance between oscillator and mirror. If this concept is applied to the emission of light by molecules, a dependence of the fluorescence decay time on the distance between excited molecule and mirror is to be expected. This effect has been investigated for the case of monomolecular layers of an europium dibenzoylmethane complex, which are kept in a definite distance from an evaporated metal surface (gold, silver or aluminum) by cadmiumarachidate layers. Exciting with a flash of 366 nm light the intense red fluorescence (λ = 612 nm) of the europium ion is observed. The fluorescence follows an exponential decay law over at least two decades with a decay time of roughly 1 msec. The expected variation of the decay time with distance from the mirror is verified by the experiment. The decay time is lengthened or shortened in close agreement with the above theory, except for small distances, where energy transfer processes occur. The mirror affects only the radiating process, while the probabilities for non-radiating desactivation processes remain unaltered. Thus the quantum yield of fluorescence of the emitting state can be determined, which is an otherwise hardly accessible quantity.
Generation and propagation of energetic particles in relativistic laser-matter interactions

In dieser Dissertation werden theoretisch die physikalischen Prozesse untersucht, die bei der Wechselwirkung von Laser und Materie bei Laser Intensitaten im Bereich 10^16-10^23 W/cm^2 stattfinden. Bei diesen Intensitaten wird die Materie sofort ionisiert, so dass wir, vom Anfang an, Laser-Plasma Wechselwirkungen betrachten. Die Elektronendynamik ist relativistisch und nicht linear fur Intensitaten uber 10^18 W/cm^2. Wir konzentrieren uns auf die analytische Betrachtung des Problems und verwenden particle-in-cell Simulationen um unsere Nahrungen zu untersuchen und die analytischen Ergebnisse zu uberprufen. Wir untersuchen die Mechanismen fur Ionenbeschleunigung in Plasmen. Diese sind von besonderem Interesse fur viele Anwendungen, wie z.B. inertial confinement fusion, Imaging in dichten Plasmen und Medizin (z.B. fur Krebs Therapie). Ein theoretisches Model fur Protonenbeschleunigung in elektronen Plasmawellen wird konstruiert. Die Anwendung von Targets aus Ionenmischungen wird vorgeschlagen. Wir zeigen, dass Protonen bis zu relativistischen Energien mittels Laser mit der relativistischen Amplitude a0~(mp/me)^(1/2) beschleunigt werden konnen. Wir schlagen einen Mechanismus fur Selbstkomprimierung von Laser Pulse in unterdichten Plasmen vor. Eine Selbstkonsistente analytische Theorie der Selbstwirkung wird entwickelt. Die Theorie sagt vorher, dass in Abhangigkeit von den Anfangsparametern, der Laserpuls entweder ins Unendliche divergieren kann, oder seine ursprungliche Form erhalten kann (der Soliton Regime), oder um die Gleichgewichtssolitonlosung oszillieren kann. Diese Oszillazionen konnen dazu verwendet werden, den Laserpuls bis zu einer Dauer von sub-10 fs zu komprimieren. Ein weiteres Kompressionsmechanismus nutzt die Wechselwirkung zwischen Laser und Plasma am Rande eines uberdichten Plasmas aus. Bei dieser Wechselwirkung, erzwingt der Laserpuls grose longitudinale Oszillationen an der Plasma Grenze. Dies fuhrt dazu, dass der Laserpuls von einem relativistish oszillierenden Plasmaspiegel reflektiert wird. Aufgrund Retartadionseffekte, enthalt die reflektierte Strahlung hohe Harmonische der einfallenden Welle. Es wird entdeckt, dass das Spektrum universell ist und die Form ω^(-5/2) hat. Mit Hilfe der Eigenschaften dieses Spektrums, konnen extrem kurze Pulse (mit einer Dauer der Ordnung des Bohr'schen Radius) produziert werden. Die hohen Harmonischen konnen koharent auf einen sehr kleinen Bereich fokussiert werden, wo ihre Felder konstruktiv interferieren und enorme Intensitaten produzieren - coherent harmonics focusing (CHF). CHF kann z.B. dazu verwendet werden die Schwinger Grenze der Brechung des Vakuums zu erreichen.