Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vehicle-To-Grid for Peak Shaving to Unlock the Integration of Distributed Heat Pumps in a Swedish Neighborhood

The city of Stockholm is close to hitting the capacity limits of its power grid. As an additional challenge, electricity has been identified as a key resource to help the city to meet its environmental targets. This has pushed citizens to prefer power-based technologies, like heat pumps and electric vehicles, thus endangering the stability of the grid. The focus of this paper is on the district of Hammarby Sjöstad. Here, plans are set to switch from district heating to heat pumps. A previous study verified that this choice will cause overloadings on the electricity distribution grid. The present paper tackles this problem by proposing a new energy storage option. By considering the increasing share of electric vehicles, the potential of using the electricity stored in their batteries to support the grid is explored through technical performance simulations. The objective was to enable a bi-directional flow and use the electric vehicles’ (EVs)’ discharging to shave the peak demand caused by the heat pumps. It was found that this solution can eliminate overloadings up to 50%, with a 100% EV penetration. To overcome the mismatch between the availability of EVs and the overloadings’ occurrence, the minimum state of charge for discharging should be lower than 70%.
Protest and Regime Change: Different Experiences of the Arab Uprisings and the 2009 Iranian Presidential Election Protests

Abstract Political developments, such as the ‘Arab Spring’, have led the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) towards instability, unrest and severe sectarian confrontations. Nearly 2 years before the ‘Arab Spring’, ‘the Iranian Green Movement’ swept over the country and led to the expectations that Iran would undergo a fundamental political change. The article addresses an important question as to why the 2009 Iranian unrest known as the ‘Green Movement’ did not lead to regime change, while on the other hand, the ‘Arab Spring’ ultimately led to the change of political systems in Tunisia and Egypt. Further, some significant factors are highlighted anticipating the degree of stability and instability for the future of political regimes in the MENA region.
Effects of Pyrolysis Temperature on ZnCl2 Impregnated Corn Straw-derived Biochar Properties and Vanadium (III, IV, V) Adsorption in Aqueous Solution

In this study, corn straw derived biochars were prepared at different temperatures of 300, 500, 700C, respectively, and the characteristics of corn straw biochars were investigated. Additionally, the adsorption behaviors of vanadium (III, IV, V) on biochars were systematically studied by batch experiments. The absorbents were characterized by ion-exchange capacity (IEC), X-ray Diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption, and FTIR. The yield of biochar decreases with the increase of pyrolysis temperature. The more ash content is retained, the more alkaline biochar is. The specific area of biochars increased with the rising pyrolysis temperature. With the increase of temperature, the structure became porous and the content of surface functional group elements remained low. Although the content of zinc in biochar is relatively high, the leaching toxicity of biochar does not exceed the Chinese standard. The adsorption capacity of biochars for vanadium (V) decreased under high temperature (700C). In the contrast, The adsorption capacities of biochars for vanadium (IV) and vanadium (III) improved under high temperature. The adsorption mechanisms for vanadium (V), vanadium (IV) and vanadium (III) were surface complexation, which can be proved by FTIR analysis.
Maternal trauma and fear history predict BDNF methylation and gene expression in newborns

Trauma and related fear exert significant influence on mental and physical health throughout the lifespan and are associated with intergenerational patterns of development, health, and behavior. DNA methylation and gene expression are involved in our developmental adaptations to our experiences and can be influenced by social interventions. Patterns of DNA methylation and expression of a gene involved in neurodevelopment and psychiatric risk (BDNF) have been linked with childhood trauma. Given the intergenerational patterns of health and behavior, and previous links between childhood trauma and BDNF methylation and expression, this study investigated the potential for maternal history of traumatic experiences to influence development in her newborn, via changes in her newborn’s BDNF methylation and expression. We found that mothers’ trauma history was associated with epigenetic regulation of BDNF in their newborns. Moreover, the association between maternal trauma and BDNF methylation and expression patterns were moderated by newborn sex. Male newborns showed increased BDNF expression with maternal exposure to child abuse (p = .001), and increased BDNF methylation with greater maternal fear (p = .001). Female newborns showed reduced BDNF expression with greater maternal fear (p = .004). Practitioners strive to identify prevention and intervention avenues that will reduce the harmful effects of trauma. Future research should consider the potential for maternal historical trauma experiences to influence offspring DNA methylation and gene expression in a manner that could alter development and inform novel prevention strategies.
Research on Calibration Technology of Five-Degrees-of-Freedom Tandem Robots

In the robot feedback control system of visual feedback, the calibration of the hand-eye system is very important, because it directly affects the accuracy of the robot. Aiming at the small operating space and compact structure of the micro-assembly robot system, a fixed-vision hand-eye calibration method is proposed. The method first obtains the coordinates of 15 spatial points in the robot base coordinate system, and then uses the camera pose measurement principle to obtain the coordinates of the corresponding spatial points in the camera coordinate system, and then establishes the calibration equations. Based on the least squares method, the coordinate transformation matrix between the hand-eye systems is calibrated. The experimental results show that the constructed hand-eye system coordinate transformation matrix is effective and reliable. The calibration accuracy and effectiveness of the method are verified by relevant grabbing experiments.
Directed seed dispersal and metapopulation response to habitat loss and disturbance: application to Eichhornia paniculata

1 Seed dispersal is often directed towards locations with particular characteristics, particularly where seeds are dispersed by animals. The potential importance of directed seed dispersal for the response of plant metapopulations to habitat loss and changes in disturbance rate is assessed, and illustrated with a case study of a metapopulation of an aquatic plant. 2 The Levins model is extended to include preferential dispersal towards suitable habitat and towards unoccupied patches. Both increase patch occupancy, decrease the minimum habitat cover required for persistence and increase the maximum allowable disturbance rate, while preferential dispersal towards unoccupied patches also makes reductions in abundance due to increased disturbance rates more threshold‐like. 3 Applying classical metapopulation approaches, which assume random dispersal, to a species that features directed dispersal, is expected to give systematic errors in prediction. For example, where dispersal is directed towards suitable habitat regardless of occupancy, the Levins model will tend to overestimate the response to habitat loss, and where dispersal is directed towards unoccupied patches, the Levins model will tend to underestimate the response to changes in disturbance rate. 4 Eichhornia paniculata is an aquatic plant restricted to ephemeral pools. Seed dispersal is by waterfowl, and so is directed towards suitable habitat. Data on habitat cover and patch occupancy from Husband and Barrett in 1998 fit well with our model but deviate significantly from the predictions of the Levins model. The parameter estimates imply dispersal very strongly directed towards suitable habitat, and that without this the minimum density of pools required for persistence would be at least 10 times greater than the highest densities observed, implying that the species would go locally extinct. 5 To our knowledge, this is the first quantitative demonstration that the nature and strength of directed dispersal affects the robustness of fragmented plant populations to anthropogenic disturbance. This calls for increased attention to be paid to the behaviour of seed‐dispersing animals, and how this behaviour varies between different plant communities.
Effects of urbanization on extreme rainfall in an arid/semiarid region

In this study, an extreme rainfall event that occurred mainly on October 2, 2018, in the Phoenix metropolitan area, southwestern United States, is simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, version 4.0, with multiple microphysics and boundary layer schemes. Paired simulations are conducted by running the model first using a realistic land cover and land‐use dataset (URB run), and second, by replacing the urban land cover with open shrubland cover (called NOURB run). The model simulations are first evaluated against radar Stage IV (hereafter Stage IV) data and multiple radar and multiple sensors (MRMS) rainfall to validate the structure, amplitude, and location (SAL) of the rainfall field for both URB runs and NOURB runs. These evaluation results indicate that the model performance varies considerably depending on the physics schemes employed. Based on SAL values, the average of model simulations captures the main features (values of S, A, and L are less than 0.1) both for URB runs and for NOURB runs. Comparisons of hourly rainfall rates show that modeled rainfall maximums occurred about 1 hr earlier than both Stage IV and MRMS data over the Phoenix metro area, while the maximum rainfall amounts from the model are close to MRMS data but lower than Stage IV data. The differences of rainfall and other meteorological variables between URB runs and NOURB runs are analyzed. The differences of rainfall between URB and NOURB vary depending on the physics scheme employed. Our study also indicates that urbanization‐induced rainfall changes are small within the urban area but are significant at some locations outside of it; an explanation for this pattern needs further investigation. This result implies that using a single physics scheme to address the effects of urbanization on extreme rainfall events may result in inappropriate conclusions.
The Impact of Terrorist Attack News on Moral Intuitions

ABSTRACT Previous research demonstrated that exposure to news of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, France increased the salience of moral intuitions associated with respect for authority and purity in a sample of U.S. participants. The present study attempted to replicate this finding with news of domestic terrorism by examining the effect of exposure to news of the 2017 Las Vegas, Nevada music festival shooting. Approximately three weeks before the Las Vegas shooting occurred, participants (N = 195) drawn from a population similar to the original study completed a survey measuring their moral intuition salience. Four days after the event, participants (N = 162) read either news coverage of the shooting or a control story and once again completed a survey measuring their moral intuition salience. Our results replicated previous findings from research on the Paris terrorist attacks. Exposure to news of the Las Vegas terrorist attack increased the salience of respect for authority and purity. We discuss how our findings are in line with logic suggesting that news of a terrorist attacks can threaten audiences’ perceptions of societal safety, strengthen the need for societal cohesion, and increase the salience of binding moral intuitions.
Psychological factors involved in adherence to sport injury rehabilitation: a systematic review

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to review the extant literature on the psychological factors related to adherence to sport injury rehabilitation among athletes. Published English language articles were identified using electronic databases. The quality of the identified articles was assessed using a hybrid quality assessment tool based on the Effective Public Health Practice Project tool and the Health Technology Assessment Programme for evaluating non-randomised intervention studies. Seventeen papers – one using a treatment intervention, two qualitative articles and 14 descriptive studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were systematically reviewed. The results suggested that there were two categories of factors that determine adherence to rehabilitation in this population: person and situational. Person-specific factors included the impact of the injury, justification for adherence, motivation, confidence/self-efficacy, coping, social support, locus of control, cognitive appraisal, coping and psychological skills. Situational factors included the characteristics, strategies and effectiveness of the physical therapist and treatment efficacy. Due to the scant nature and quality of the studies included in this review, we conclude that research of strong design is required to provide a greater evidence-base and to help inform the role that sport psychologists could play in designing interventions to improve adherence to rehabilitation.
Immunoregulation by hepatocyte growth factor in malignant mesothelioma

This thesis is an investigation into effect of elevated levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) on immune responses. High levels of HGF are found in cancer such as in MPM patient serum and pleural fluid. However, little is known about the consequence of high HGF levels on the development and function of dendritic cells and contribution of these effects to tumour immune evasion. A pre-treatment in vitro model system was applied to study the effects of high HGF concentrations on the development of dendritic cells (DC) from monocytes. The effects of HGF on the phenotype of dendritic cell, functional characteristics, including migration, phagocytosis and T cell stimulation were analysed. Using this model system I discovered a previously un-reported immature DC-like phenotype, caused by the pre-treatment of monocytes for 24 h prior to induction of iDC development by GM-CSF/IL-4: Delayed differentiation of DC alone generates a Th2 bias, which is further enhanced by the presence of HGF. HGF pre-treated DCs express both monocyte marker CD 14 and DC marker CD209 (DC-SIGN). They are able to take up antigen by phagocytosis. However, they produce increased levels of IL-10 and express elevated levels Programmed Death 1 (PD-1) ligand, PD-L1. HGF-pre-treated DC also display impaired ability to stimulate allo-T cell proliferation and antigen-specific IFN-y production. HGF pre-treated DC induces increased IL-10 production by T cells. Blocking IL-10 with a neutralizing antibody restores normal DC differentiation, partially reduced PD-L1 levels and restored T cell stimulatory capacity of DC. The physiological relevance of these findings was demonstrated by similar effects on DC developed in the presence of mesothelioma pleural fluid, in a HGF dependent manner. This thesis demonstrates that HGF is an immunosuppressive factor that can contribute to tumour-induced regulation of DC function and T cell responses.
Drought resistance does not explain epiphytic abundance of accidental epiphytes

ABSTRACT Background Accidental epiphytism is common among vascular plants in forest ecosystems around the globe. A frequent observation in surveys of accidental epiphytes is the occurrence of few species with high epiphytic abundance, while most co-occurring terrestrial species are rarely found as epiphytes. Aims Based on the general assumption that water is the major limiting factor for epiphytic plants, we hypothesised that differences in drought resistance of accidental epiphytes explain the difference in epiphytic abundances. Methods We exposed 16 species with different epiphytic abundance in central Europe to experimentally induced drought during germination and growth of juvenile plants. Results Drought resistance differed substantially among species but did not correlate with their epiphytic abundance, neither during germination nor during juvenile growth. Conclusions In central Europe, accidental epiphytes are usually found on moss cushions or in accumulated arboreal soil on their host tree. In such water-storing substrates, water availability might be less limiting than it is for obligate epiphytes that typically grow on bare bark, which would explain the lack of a correlation between drought resistance and epiphytic abundance of the studied species. Hence, other factors must explain the consistent differences in epiphytic abundance, e.g. dispersal traits and mass effect.
Why corporate groups care about company standards

The role of company standards as a strategic tool for the optimisation of internal processes and governance of inter-firm relationships has only recently received researchers’ attention. This paper adds to the very limited body of literature by providing empirical evidence of the motives to implement company standards in general and their importance in corporate groups in particular. Using data on German companies active in standardisation, the empirical analysis confirms that companies that are part of a corporate group utilise a higher number of company standards than single firms. By codifying and transferring company-specific information, internal standardisation enhances legal security, productivity, and quality. In particular for corporate groups, internal standards additionally play a crucial role in the realisation of technical interoperability, which facilitates the development and management of internal platforms. The data, therefore, provides empirical evidence that standardisation can be used as a tool to improve efficiency and communication, and thereby facilitate global governance of multinational firms.
Nanofluidic behavior of diatomic molecules in bicontinuous concentric lamellar (bcl) silica formed by polysiloxane sol-gel phase segregation as a reference in the mass transport through the open channel system

ABSTRACT A new family of mesoporous silica, KCC-1 or bcl silica, demonstrates the open channel pore due to its bicontinuous concentric lamellar (bcl) morphology. KCC-1 can enhance mass transport by its unique and hierarchical pore structures. A study on the diatomic molecule nanofluidic behavior can be a reference to understanding the transport kinetics in KCC-1. In this study, we report a comparison with MCM-41 and Silica Gel 60. At the earliest time, the adsorption process on KCC-1 provides effective mass transport kinetics among others. Thus, KCC-1 offers better performance for applications as host or support in the catalysis process. Graphical abstract
Parameter Estimation of In-City Frontal Rainfall Propagation

Modern infrastructures support smart-city operations, which are based on short millimeter-waves wireless links connected by a dense network. These links are sensitive to hydrometeors, and their signals attenuated by rain. In this study, we demonstrate that standard signal-level measurements being collected by the network can be used to estimate the movement of an ongoing storm. Parameters characterizing the movements of the frontal rain cell, as its velocity and direction, can be accurately estimated. We first estimate the differential time of arrival of the attenuated signals between pairs of links, from which we extract the parameters of interest. We demonstrate our results using actual measurements from an operating system in the city of Rehovot, Israel.
Inter-firm coordination in the Mexican avocado (Persea americana) industry: the packer-buyer relationship

Vertical coordination is an effective response to uncertainties in marketing environments. This article presents evidence relating the influence of transaction characteristics on interfirm coordination to respond what conditions determine the level of inter-firm coordination between packers and buyers. Based on transaction cost analysis, we measured inter-firm coordination using two variables, information exchange and duration of the arrangement with the buyer. Data were gathered from 44 non-forwardly integrated packers participating in the Mexican avocado (Persea americana) industry. We showed that higher levels of interfirm coordination not only require coordinated response, but also cooperative response. Although information exchange is contingent on the magnitude of asset specificity and presence of environmental uncertainty, duration of the arrangement between packer and buyers has been a main factor to explain reduction of opportunism associated to the fulfillment of the arrangement, as well as the presence of higher levels of information exchange when asset specificity is significant. As a result, packers with higher levels of inter-firm coordination have increased sales and reduced stock outs. Key words: environmental uncertainty, inter-firm coordination, information exchange, duration.
Rapid clonal multiplication through in vitro axillary shoot proliferation of Centella asiatica L.

Single nodal explants isolated from field grown plants of Centella asiatica, an important medicinal plant, when cultured for 4 wks on Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium containing different concentrations and combinations of BAP and Kn produced multiple shoots. A maximum of 15.24 shoots/node were produced after 30 d of culture in the presence of 2.0 mg/L BAP. Individual shoots (2-5 cm), when transferred onto full strength MS medium containing 1.5 mg/L IBA induced maximum number of roots (12.6). The rooted plants were successfully established in greenhouse condition after hardening.
Generation of an Oxygen Gradient in a Microfluidic Device and Cellular Analysis in Hypoxia (Special Editorials : Five Selected Articles in ABE)

Hypoxia-related mechanisms are important in tumor biology and immune responses. Oxygen is delivered to tumor tissue by blood flowing through abnormal and dysfunctional microvessels, resulting in heterogeneity of tissue oxygenation within the tumor. Hypoxic conditions play a role in directing angiogenesis, guiding immune cells, and inducing tumor metastasis. Mimicking such oxygen gradient in in vitro cellular experiments is important to clarify the mechanisms involved in tumor biology. Previous research has led to the development of cell culture devices that generate an oxygen gradient, but it was impossible to monitor the oxygen gradient during cell culture. In this study, we designed an open-well polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device integrated with an oxygen-sensitive film, which permits oxygen measurement around cells and molecular analysis after cell culture experiments. Mathematical simulation and phosphorescence-based partial oxygen measurements show that the gradient can be controlled by changing the oxygen gas concentration inside the microchannels, according to the requirements of various biological models. A monoculture of endothelial cells exposed to an oxygen gradient in the device showed increased expression of oxygen-responsive genes in the hypoxic area. These results suggest that our microfluidic device can be used for in vitro experiments such as gene expression and migration assays. We believe that this new device is a powerful tool for studies of tumor biology and immunology.