Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Template‐Free Route to Polypyrrole Nanofibers

A template-free method for the production of polypyrrole nanofibers is presented. By adding a small amount of bipyrrole into the oxidative polymerization of pyrrole, a drastic change in the morphology of the observed material is observed from large, granular particles to nanofibrils with an average diameter of 20 nm. This simple procedure allows for the production of polypyrrole nanofibers without the presence of surfactants or other structural directing agents. The polypyrrole nanofibers can form stable water dispersions which can be cast into films of sufficient quality to function as chemical sensors for analytes such as ammonia.
Responsive release of polyanions from soluble aggregates formed with a hydrolyzable cationic surfactant and a nonionic surfactant

Soluble aggregates formed in dilute aqueous mixtures of polyacrylate (PA), the cationic surfactant decyl betainate (DB), and the nonionic surfactant octaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C12E8) have been characterized. The aggregates formed can be viewed as mixed micelles of DB and C12E8 with the cationic charge of DB being largely neutralized by PA condensed on the micellar surface. DB contains an ester bond that is susceptible to base-catalyzed hydrolysis under mild alkaline conditions and degradation of DB leads to a decreased attraction of PA to the mixed micelles. It is shown that (1) an increasing extent of DB hydrolysis gives a gradual increase in the fraction of PA released from the mixed aggregates to the surrounding solution, and (2) the rate of hydrolysis, and thus the rate of polymer release, can be controlled by pH. The presented principle can potentially be used in controlled release devices.
Polylactic Acid in Medicine

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer with exceptional properties that has been studied extensively for the past 25 years. The possibility of using devices in human body with minimum inflammation and infection to allow natural healing has obliged researchers to search for biocompatible and biodegradable alternatives. Polylactic acid is one of the most promising biopolymers used in world today. Due to its organic source, it has attracted many attentions. This review presents information about the properties, monomer types, kinetics and different synthesis methods that are currently employed for production of polylactic acid as well as its biomedical and clinical applications in scaffolds, drug delivery systems, bone fixation devices such as screw and plates, surgical suture and meshes. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Preparation of Honeycomb-Patterned Polyimide Films by Self-Organization

Microporous polymer films are attractive materials with potential application in the fields of electronics, photonics, and biotechnology. Chemical and thermal stabilities of the microporous polymer films are required for their materials application. Besides preparation by conventional photolithography, we have reported that honeycomb-patterned porous polymer films are prepared by a method utilizing the condensation of small water droplets on solutions of amphiphilic copolymers. Here, we show preparation of honeycomb-patterned microporous films of a thermally and chemically stable material, polyimide. A water-template-assisted honeycomb structure was formed from a polyion complex of polyamic acids and dialkylammonium salt. The pore size of films was controlled by the casting volume of polymer solution. The patterned polyion complex film converted into polyimide by simple chemical treatment, keeping the porous structure. Self-supporting microporous polyimide films are fabricated. The honeycomb-structured fi.
Nanosized and reusable SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst for highly efficient biodiesel production by soybean transesterification

Nanosized SiO2/ZrO2 catalyst with high surface area (131.50 ± 14 m2 g-1) was prepared by the sol-gel method. The material presented highly homogeneous particles with an average diameter of 250 nm according to SEM images. It was applied in the transesterification of soybean oil for biodiesel production. The biodiesel conversion reached a yield of 96.2 ± 1.4 % after 3 h of transesterification reaction catalised by SiO2/ZrO2 (SiZr). The catalyst was recovered and reused six times, maintaining a catalytic efficiency of about 84.1 %.
Pyrazole chemistry in crop protection

An overview is given of the significance of pyrazole derivatives in crop protection chemistry. The main herbicidally, fungicidally and insecticidally active pyrazole classes are presented, together with their synthetic routes, their modes-of-action and their biological efficacies. Indazoles and other bicyclic pyrazole derivatives are also covered.
Surface complex structures modelled with quantum chemical calculations: carbonate, phosphate, sulphate, arsenate and arsenite

Hybrid molecular orbital/density functional theory (MO/DFT) calculations on molecular clusters were used to model infrared (IR) vibrational frequencies and interatomic distances obtained via extended X‐ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. Molecular clusters were found to provide good agreement with experimental observations for the oxyanions carbonate, phosphate, sulphate, arsenate and arsenite. The results show a consistent tendency to form bidentate bridging surface complexes at low pH, but the protonation and hydration states play a significant role in the results obtained from calculation as various protonation states of monodentate surface complexes are also predicted to be stable as pH increases (i.e. the number of H+ ions in the model are decreased). A method for estimating the Gibbs free energy of adsorption (ΔGads) is discussed to complement the comparisons of experimental and theoretical spectroscopic parameters. Calculated ΔGads values were consistent with the interpretations based on modelling observed spectra.
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Assay for Moxifloxacin in Bulk, Pharmaceutical Formulations and Serum: Application to In-Vitro Metal Interactions

acid was delivered at a flow rate of 1 mL min -1 . The eluents was monitored using UV detector at 290 nm. The proposed method is specific, accurate (99.39-102.67%), precise (intra-day variation 0.04-0.86% and inter-day variation 0.12-0.94%) and linearity (R 2 > 0.999) within the desired range 0.39-25 gm L -1 concentration. The detection and quantification limit was 0.002-0.51 gm L -1 and 0.01-0.555 gm L -1 ,r espectively. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and student’s t-test were applied to verify the results. The anticipated method is applicable to routine analysis of MOX in pharmaceutical formulations and human serum samples. It is also applied on interaction of MOX with several essential and trace metals as well as interaction with antacids.
How Environmental Signals Affect Frequency of Three-Needle Dwarf Shoots on Pinus mugo

The main aim of our study was to verify the influence of climatic factors on the formation of abnormal 3-needle dwarf shoots in the two-needle Pinus mugo. Twenty individuals of the species, which had at least one abnormal brachyblast in 2002, have been studied in the Tatra Mountains (Carpathians) and an additional 20 in the Giant Mountains (Sudetes) over a period of 11 years. The number of atypical dwarf shoots in both populations in particular years was correlated to temperatures during the period of initiation and determination of apical meristems. Three-needle dwarf shoots appeared to occur every year in most of the studied individuals. It also showed positive correlation with (1) average, (2) absolute maximum, and (3) minimum average monthly temperatures of late autumn two years, and early winter one year, before emergence from the bud.
The stretching–bending bands of 13C2HD

The infrared spectrum of 13C2HD has been investigated using high-resolution Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. A large number of ro-vibrational transitions in the spectral region 1000–6600 cm−1 have been recorded and assigned. This paper is focused only on the vibrational bands involving pure stretching, stretching–bending or stretching–stretching modes. In total, 78 bands have been identified and assigned, 29 related to υ1(CH stretch), 27 to υ2(CC stretch), and 22 to υ3(CD stretch). The data pertaining to each stretching mode have been fitted simultaneously in order to obtain accurate sets of rotational and vibrational parameters for the excited states.
Influence of fluoride concentration and pH on corrosion behavior of Ti‐6Al‐4V and Ti‐23Ta alloys in artificial saliva

Titanium alloys exhibit an excellent corrosion resistance in most aqueous media due to the formation of a stable oxide film and some of these alloys (particularly Ti‐6Al‐4V) were chosen for surgical and odontological implants for this resistance and their biocompatibility. Treatments with fluorides (F−) are known as the main method to prevent plaque formation and dental caries. Toothpastes, mouthwashes and prophylactic gels can contain from 200 to 20 000 ppm F− and can present neutral to acidic character, which can affect the corrosion behavior of titanium alloys devices present in the oral cavity. In this work, the behavior of Ti‐6Al‐4V and the new experimental Ti‐23Ta has been evaluated in artificial saliva of pH 2, 5 and 7 and different F− concentrations (0, 1000, 5000 and 10 000 ppm), through open‐circuit potential measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. A defined correlation between pH and F− concentration settled the active or passive character of the materials. For both alloys, an active behavior was observed for pH 2 and 1000 to 10 000 ppm F− and for pH 5 and 5000 and 10 000 ppm F−. The passive behavior was observed for the other investigated conditions. The F− concentration increase and pH decrease reduced the corrosion resistance of the alloys and decreased the stability of their passive film. The corrosion behavior of both alloys was very similar, but the Ti‐23Ta alloy generally presented slightly higher corrosion resistance.
A novel hybrid system with hierarchical semantic conceptual dependency parsing for documents text summarization

The rapid development of Internet technologies and the growing number of users who exchange a huge information in a different subject causes the emergence need to extract only the important and useful information from multiple documents. This extraction is text summarization which reduces the time in predicting the purpose of these documents and a mean to access effective and right decisions in important fields. The huge amount of information lead to the problem of memory overload. So, text summarization will minimize the effects of this problem. To overcome the problems of time consuming in extracting a proper information from multiple documents and reduce the redundant information which affect the processing overhead, a novel approach for summarizing information based on Hierarchical Conceptual Dependency of words and sentences representation presented in this paper. Moreover, concepts in text documents with score and token ranks are semantic networks representation of this text achieved for summarization. The proposed technique applied to documents d061j to d070f which are available to compare the results of any proposed approach in text summarization field with the experts output of summarization for the same documents indicated as a (reference summary). The proposed system was evaluated to check the accuracy of results and the tested dataset are Documents Understanding Conference (DUC 2002). Accuracy and efficiency of the output summarization evaluated using ROUGE–N and ROUGE-L metric. Hardware Resources used was Laptop Dell CORE "I3" with RAM 4 GB. Java software was the environment platform for this output. Comparing output results with the related algorithms depicted in this paper for the same target documents reflects that the similarity values between output summary via applying the proposed approach are more appropriate, accurate and minimum cost effective from the related metods.
An improved selective extraction method for Mn oxides and occluded metals with emphasis on applicability to Andisols

Abstract It has been showed that Chao’s method [extraction with 0.1 mol L−1 hydroxylamine hydrochloride (NH2OH-HCl) at pH 2.0 for 30 min], which is commonly used to extract manganese (Mn) oxides and occluded heavy metals from soil samples, is not suitable for Andisols because of low solubility, and thus low extractability, of Mn oxides in such soils. Therefore, a new method is evaluated here, for extracting Mn oxides and occluded heavy metals from Andisols, Entisols and Inceptisols. The method has three steps: (1) reduction of Mn oxides with 0.01 mol L−1 NH2OH-HCl (pH 5.0) for 16 h, (2) recovery of re-adsorbed metals by short-time extraction with 0.5 mol L−1 ammonium chloride in 0.02 mol L‒1 hydrochloric acid, and (3) washing with ultrapure water. This method achieves a higher rate of extraction of Mn oxides than does Chao’s method, especially from Andisol samples. Standard addition experiments showed that both the new method and Chao’s method can successfully extract released cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) from Mn oxides with little re-adsorption. The selectivity of Mn oxide extraction by the new method, indicated by the rate of extraction of iron (Fe) oxides and the aluminum (Al)/Mn and silicon (Si)/Mn extraction ratios, is comparable to that of Chao’s method. Thus, the new method should be useful for extracting Mn oxides and occluded Cd, Co, Ni, and Zn from soil samples. Moreover, because the new method achieved nearly complete extraction of NH2OH-HCl reactive Mn oxides even from Andisol samples, the method is more applicable to Andisol samples than Chao’s method.
Investigation of Gasification Chemical Looping Combustion Combined Cycle Performance

A novel combined cycle based on coal gasification and chemical looping combustion (CLC) offers a possibility of both high net power efficiency and separation of the greenhouse gas CO2. After pressurization, a coal slurry enters a pipe-type gasifier immersed in the CLC air reactor and takes in the heat released from the air reactor. After removal of particulates, the syngas is used as the fuel of the CLC fuel reactor or the supplementary firing. The technique involves the use of a metal oxide as an oxygen carrier, which transfers oxygen from the combustion air to the fuel, and the avoidance of direct contact between fuel and combustion air. The fuel gas is oxidized by an oxygen carrier, an oxygen-containing compound, in the fuel reactor. The oxygen carrier in this study is NiO. The reduced oxygen carrier, Ni, in the fuel reactor is regenerated by the air in the air reactor. In this way, fuel and air are never mixed, and the fuel oxidation products CO2 and water vapor leave the system undiluted by air. All .
Evolution of the Particle Size Distribution of Mainstream Cigarette Smoke During a Puff

A procedure for the measurement of the particle size distribution of minimally aged undiluted mainstream cigarette smoke is presented. The angular dependence of scattered light intensity was measured and a best fit log normal distribution was determined by comparison of ratios of the scattering intensities to theoretically calculated values. The problem of multiple scattering by the concentrated mainstream smoke was overcome by aerodynamically focusing the sampled smoke to a fine stream in a specially designed photometer. The photometer required no dilution of the smoke and performed the measurement on smoke aged 0.12 s, minimizing coagulation. Size distributions were determined at 100 points during a 2-s puff revealing significant changes in the average diameter of the aerosol during the puff. The changes in particle size are shown to correlate with the changing flow profiles in the cigarette during the smoking process.
Start-ups as Buyers in Technology Markets: Evidence from the Bio-pharmaceutical Industry

Start-ups as Buyers in Technology Markets: Evidence from the Bio-pharmaceutical Industry Tianyu (Brooklynn) Zhu Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Strategic Management University of Toronto 2019 My dissertation studies start-ups’ strategies in the market for technologies, with a focus on their role as technology buyers, in the context of the bio-pharmaceutical industry. The first chapter clarifies when and what start-ups are likely to buy. Building on the classic assumption that start-ups are most advantaged in developing early-stage technologies and drawing on research examining M&A-related resource reconfigurations, I argue that start-ups will have opportunities to buy from sellers that experienced recent M&A events because M&A-related resource reconfigurations release early-stage technologies that would otherwise be further developed and sold to incumbents when late-staged. To test the predictions, I exploit a novel data set involving 97,202 U.S. bio-pharmaceutical patents, and adopt a quasi-experimental approach, using M&As that unexpectedly failed to go through. The results show that sellers’ M&A events increase the probability that a patent will be bought by a start-up by around 50%, a finding that is driven primarily by an increase in start-ups’ acquisitions of early-stage technologies. The second chapter studies the possible impact of venture capital (VC) backing for start-ups’ probability of buying external technologies. An analysis of nearly 3,137 U.S. bio-pharmaceutical start-ups founded between 1996 and 2012 suggests that start-ups are about 2% more likely to acquire external technologies after they receive VC funding. To address the concern that a firm’s VC backing status might not be random, I construct an instrumental variable, capturing exogenous variation in VC funding at the MSA level. IV regression results reveal that VC backing status causes over 30% increase in start-ups’ probability of acquiring external technologies. The third chapter examines a puzzle in the literature explaining technology transaction timing: why some quality signals that reduce information asymmetries promote early licensing (e.g., licensors’ alliance experiences), whereas others do not (e.g., patents). By building a formal model and exploiting a novel data set comprising 124 U.S. exclusive licensing agreements announced between 2009 and 2015, I show that patents, in addition to reducing information asymmetry, induce licensors’ over-optimism regarding buyer competition, which delays licensing timing. Overall, my dissertation contributes to a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the market for technologies.
Shape and Size Variability of Roasted Arabica Coffee Beans

Quantification and evaluation of selected Arabica (Coffea arabica L.) coffee beans' shape and size was performed. Twenty different coffee types originating from 13 different countries were analyzed. The main dimensions for individual coffee types were quantified. Sphericity, as a useful parameter for the calculation of processing and handling operations, was also quantified and ranged from 0.006536 to 0.009452. Calculation of shape variability using elliptic Fourier descriptors showed relevant differences among individual coffee samples. A dominant importance and the relevance of length-to-width ratio were quantitatively confirmed. A simple mathematical formula describing coffee grain contour was used with a satisfying correlation coefficient. Applicability of the approach was shown on the calculation of curvature radius.
X-ray magnetic circular dichroism study on ferromagnetic Pd nanoparticles

An x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) experiment was performed for freestanding Pd nanoparticles which were prepared in a high purity atmosphere and showed ferromagnetism. We observed the XMCD signal at Pd M2,3 absorption edges of nanoparticles. This is clear experimental evidence of ferromagnetic moment in pure Pd. Using the sum rules, the ratio of orbital to spin magnetic moments mL/mS of ∼0.1 was obtained. In the x-ray absorption spectrum, the intensities of white lines increased in Pd nanoparticles relative to the bulk. This shows the increase in the number of unoccupied 4d states nh which can contribute to the appearance of ferromagnetism in Pd.
Multi-step degradation method for β-O-4 linkages in lignins: γ-TTSA method. Part 3. Degradation of milled wood lignin (MWL) from Eucalyptus globulus

Abstract Milled wood lignin (MWL) of Eucalyptus globulus has been treated by a selective degradation method for β-O-4 linkages, which lets the lignin carbohydrate complexes (LCC) intact. The method consists of four reaction steps: (1) γ-tosylation, (2) thioetherification, (3) sulfonylation and (4) mild alkali treatment (γ-TTSA method). Each step was followed by spectroscopies for chemical structural analysis; especially, the HSQC-NMR analysis was in focus. It was demonstrated that β-O-4 linkages were selectively and quantitatively cleaved by the γ-TTSA method while the β-β linkages in the MWL remained intact. The method leads to an enrichment of LCCs.
The preparation of poly(N-acetyl-α-amino acrylic acid) [poly(N-acetyl dehydroalanine)] and poly(α-amino acrylic acid) (polydehydroalanine)

Poly(N-acetyl-α-amino acrylic acid) was prepared by a free radical polymerization reaction. Mild alkaline hydrolysis of the polymer product yielded a second polymer poly(α-amino acrylic acid) (polydehydroalanine). Both polymers exhibited certain polyelectrolyte behavior, although the latter did not behave as expected for an amphoteric polyelectrolyte.
Stretched Adiabatic Pulses for Broadband Spin Inversion

Abstract The various modes of adiabatic fast passage are analyzed with regard to their effectiveness for spin inversion. For all the existing schemes, the critical point is the central part of the sweep where the adiabatic condition is most stringent. In this region, the sweep is approximately linear and the minimum radiofrequency intensity is determined by the adiabatic requirement. It is demonstrated that the effective bandwidth for spin inversion may be considerably improved by greatly extending this region of linear frequency sweep so as to encompass the entire range of chemical shifts, subject to the constraint imposed on the pulse duration. Then the experimental conditions (radiofrequency level, sweep rate, and adiabaticity) are essentially the same for all spins within the effective bandwidth. These new “stretched” adiabatic pulses approach the optimum achievable bandwidth for spin inversion for a given radiofrequency level and offer substantial improvements when used for broadband heteronuclear decoupling. Residual imperfections can be compensated by suitable phase cycles and supercycles. When these pulses are adjusted for very wide effective bandwidths, cycling sidebands can be appreciable, but the method is sufficiently flexible that it can be tailored to suit almost any practical application, trading off a reduced bandwidth for lower sideband intensities.