Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TLC of Ecdysteroids with Four Mobile Phases and Three Stationary Phases

Eleven mobile phases and three stationary phases have been investigated for TLC separation of a large number of ecdysteroids. Optimization of the chromatography was based on trial and error. Use of four mobile phases on three stationary phases enabled separation of all the ecdysteroids from each other in at least one system. The TLC behavior of ecdysteroids containing different numbers of hydroxyl groups, side-chain variations, and extra double bonds, and of positional isomers and stereoisomers, is reported and interpreted. Our method is suggested for screening plant extracts for ecdysteroids.
Faceted nanoparticles in a nematic liquid crystal: defect structures and potentials of mean force

We investigate the defect structures and the potentials of mean force (PMF) that arise when faceted nanoparticles, namely cubes and triangular prisms, are immersed in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC). Using a mesoscale theory for the tensor order parameter Q of the nematic, we have determined the thermodynamic stability of different orientations of one nanoparticle with respect to the far-field director n(r). A nanocube with perpendicular anchoring of the nematic at its surfaces tends to align in such a way that none of its faces is parallel or perpendicular to n(r); the most stable defect structure consists of a distorted Saturn ring with sharp bends, which covers six of the edges of the cubic particle. In contrast, a triangular nanoprism with homeotropic anchoring of the nematic at its surfaces tends to align with its long axis perpendicular to the far-field director n(r), and with one of its rectangular faces perpendicular to n(r). For such a configuration, the defect structure consists of two large disclination regions covering the two triangular faces of the prism, and two narrow disclination regions surrounding two of the rounded edges of the prism. We also studied the thermodynamic stability of different arrays of two particles, finding that for two nanocubes that approach each other keeping their orientations fixed, the nematic forms a distorted ‘entangled hyperbolic’ defect structure around the particles, in analogy to what was observed for pairs of spherical and spherocylindrical nanoparticles in close proximity. The NLC-mediated interactions between the nanocubes in this case are of the order of − 85k B T, which are weaker than those observed for spherical nanoparticles of comparable diameter (∼ − 110k B T). For systems of two nanoprisms having their long axes perpendicular to the far-field director, we considered three particle arrays: linear (the long axes of the particles are collinear and the particles have the same orientation), parallel (the long axes of the particles are parallel and the particles have the same orientation) and inverted parallel (the long axes of the particles are parallel, and one of the prisms is inverted with respect to the other one). Our results suggest that inverted parallel arrays are thermodynamically more stable than linear arrays, which in turn are more stable than parallel arrays. The minima observed in the PMF curves for the inverted parallel (∼ − 1050k B T) and linear arrays (∼ − 525k B T) are significantly deeper than that observed for the parallel array (∼ − 150k B T). In comparison, a pair of nanospheres with a diameter comparable to the size of the triangular faces of our nanoprisms has a PMF minimum of ∼73k B T when the spheres are in close proximity. These NLC-mediated, anisotropic interparticle interactions can make the particles bind together at specific locations, and thus could be used to assemble the particles into ordered structures with different morphologies.
Energy Levels of Tb3+ in LaCl3 and Other Chlorides

The absorption and fluorescence spectra of Tb3+ in LaCl3 have been used to find the levels of Tb3+. All Stark components of 7F and 5D4 were unambiguously established. The classification of the higher levels is still doubtful.The analysis was helped by Zeeman effects and particularly crystal field calculations. The latter gave as crystal field parameters: B20=92,B40=−40,B60=−30,B66=290 cm−1.Tb3+ in YCl3 has a similar spectrum but, because of different crystal symmetry, with different fine structure. A third type of spectrum is obtained from pure TbCl3.
Microstructure and interdiffusion behaviour of β-FeSi2 flat islands grown on Si(111) surfaces

β-FeSi2 flat islands have been fabricated on ultra-thin oxidized Si(111) surfaces by Fe deposition on Si nanodots. The microstructure and interdiffusion behaviour of the β-FeSi2/Si(111) system at the atomic level were studied by using spherical aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The formed β-FeSi2 flat islands had a disc shape with an average size of 30–150 nm width and 10–20 nm height, and were epitaxically grown on high-quality single-phase Si with a crystallographic relationship (110)β-FeSi2/(111)Si and [001]β-FeSi2/[1\bar 10]Si. Moreover, the heterojunction between the β-FeSi2(110) flat islands and the Si(111) substrate was an atomically and chemically abrupt interface without any irregularities. It is believed that these results are caused by the use of ultra-thin SiO2 films in our fabrication method, which is likely to be beneficial particularly for fabricating practical nanoscaled devices.
Growth and characterization of piezoelectric benzil single crystals and its application in microstrip patch antenna

Organic non-linear optical single crystals of benzil have been grown by Czochralski (Cz) and slow-evaporation techniques. The crystal morphology was characterized by computing the growth rates of the planes, which were found to be affected by solvent modification. Intermolecular interactions of the benzil crystal were explored by Hirshfeld surface and 2D fingerplot in a novel visual manner. A linear optical study was carried out by UV-vis transmission spectroscopy, in which the Cz grown crystal was found to be more transparent with a cut-off wavelength at 406 nm. Photoluminescence emission was observed in the green region with higher intensity in Cz grown crystal. The piezoelectric charge coefficients were found to be 4, 1, 6 and 3 pC N−1 along (100), (010), (001) and (10) planes of the solution grown crystal. The study of Vicker's microhardness and volume of voids in the grown crystals confirmed that the Cz grown crystal has better mechanical strength. Patch antenna based on the substrate of Cz grown benzil crystal was simulated for resonant frequency at 12.6 GHz and fabricated, and is suitable for piezoelectric, sensor and telecommunication applications.
Coatings Based on Gelatin and Chitosan in the Conservation of Papaya (Carica papaya L.) Minimally Processed

Minimally processed fruits undergo changes that require careful monitoring. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of edible coatings based on chitosan and gelatin using various application techniques for minimally processed papayas. The treatments included: control (distilled water), 1% chitosan, 4% gelatin, 1% chitosan + 4% gelatin (blend), and 1% chitosan with a 4% gelatin undercoat (layer-by-layer). The coatings’ infrared spectroscopies (FTIR) were analyzed, and the fruits’ fresh mass, firmness, pulp color (L*, a*, b*, and hue angle), pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids, ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, lycopene, β-carotene, total sugars, and catalase activity were measured. The results revealed that gelatin and the layer-by-layer treatment positively influenced the preservation of minimally processed papaya. These coatings effectively reduced fresh mass loss while maintaining firmness and the characteristic orange color of the mesocarp. Furthermore, the treated samples consistently exhibited low soluble solids content during the storage period, with minimal variations in acidity, thereby influencing the maturation process. Gelatin coatings demonstrated low polyphenol content, while the layer-by-layer treatment showed no significant changes in vitamin C levels. Lycopene and β-carotene levels remained stable throughout the storage period, with a slight increase observed in total sugars. Consequently, the application of gelatin polymers and the undercoat treatment (LBL) represents a viable alternative for extending the shelf life of minimally processed papayas for at least eight days.
Synthesis and practicability of novel additives for copper electroplating with semiconductor packaging

Connection reliability between Large Scale Integrated circuit (LSI) and electronic devices is increasingly important with the miniaturization of electronic devices. For the formation of fine conductors on wiring in electronic devices, copper electroplating is generally applied and is controlled with various organic additives. In this study, for the purpose of developing additives capable of working on a finer conductive copper circuit, we focused our attention on the synthesis of organic additives with inhibition action for the plating. Generally, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was used as an inhibitor. We synthesized the PEG derivatives, which were α-(2-chloroethyl)-ω-chloropoly(oxyethylene) (PEG-Cl) and α-(2-sulfoethyl)-ω-sulfopoly(oxyethylene)disodium, and evaluated them for their Via-filling properties. Good filling properties were achieved by the addition of these synthesized materials to a normal copper-plating bath. Furthermore, with PEG-Cl, good filling properties were achieved without chlorine ions, which were usually added to the bath. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 837–840, 2005
Preparation of Activated Carbons from Chinese Coal and Hydrolysis Lignin

Activated carbons from Chinese coal and Chinese hydrolysis lignin have been prepared by chemical activation with potassium hydroxide. The following aspects of these activated materials have been analyzed: raw material; pre-treatment of raw material; activation agent, activation temperature and time, and the activation agent/raw material ratio. Activated carbons with BET specific surface areas of the order of 2400–2600 m2/g which exhibited substantial microporosity, a total pore volume of over 1.30 cm3/g and a Methylene Blue adsorption capacity of over 440 mg/g were obtained.
Nanometer-thick poly(pyrrole) films formed by admicellar polymerization under conditions of depleting adsolubilization

Admicellar polymerizations were conducted in aqueous solutions to form electrically conducting poly(pyrrole) (PPy) ultrathin films on mica and graphite. Separate solutions were used for monomer adsolubilization and polymerization, so that at the start of the reaction step, the only monomer in solution was localized at the solid−liquid interface. Film morphology and thickness were examined using contact mode and noncontact mode atomic force microscopy and compared to previous results where oxidant was added to the adsorbing solution. PPy films formed on graphite from water or surfactant solutions were mainly composed of interlinked islands and disks (small and thin islands) at high density. On the other hand, PPy deposited on mica in water alone formed randomly scattered islands without any continuous film formation, while PPy from surfactant solutions formed the same type of films with islands and disks. The thickness of the well-connected films could be made less than 5 nm depending on reaction condition.
Thermal expansion of zirconium in the solid phase

Thermal expansion of zirconium was investigated in the temperature ranges 350-1220 K and from 1035-1830 K in two dilatometers. The reasons for the change in the size of the sample in the phase transformation region are analysed. The obtained results are coprocessed with the available reference data. The recommended values of the thermal expansion of zirconium are given for temperatures from 350 to 1830 K.
Cloud/shadow segmentation based on global attention feature fusion residual network for remote sensing imagery

ABSTRACT Cloud and cloud shadow segmentation of satellite imageries is a prerequisite for many remote sensing applications. Due to the limited number of available spectral bands and the complexity of background information, the traditional detection methods have some problems such as false detection, missing detection and inaccurate boundary information in segmentation. To solve these problems, a global attention fusion residual network method is proposed to segment cloud and cloud shadow of satellite imageries. The proposed model adopts Residual Network (ResNet) as backbone to extract semantic information at different feature levels. In order to improve the ability of the network to deal with the boundary information, an improved atrous spatial pyramid pooling method is introduced to extract the multi-scale deep semantic information. Then, the deep semantic information is fused with the shallow spatial information through the Global Attention up-sample mechanism in different scales, which improves the network’s ability to utilize the global and local features. Finally, a boundary refinement module is utilized to predict the boundary of cloud and shadow, consequently the boundary information is refined. The experimental results on Sentinel-2 satellite and Land Remote-Sensing Satellite (Landsat) imageries show that the segmentation accuracy and speed of proposed method are superior to the existing methods, it is of great significance for realizing practical cloud and shadow segmentation.
Spatiotemporal Fusion of Remote Sensing Images using a Convolutional Neural Network with Attention and Multiscale Mechanisms

ABSTRACT In this paper, we propose a new spatiotemporal fusion method based on a convolutional neural network to which we added attention and multiscale mechanisms (AMNet). Different from the previous spatiotemporal fusion methods, the residual image obtained by subtracting moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) images at two times is directly used to train the network, and two special structures of multiscale mechanism and attention mechanism are used to increase the accuracy of fusion. Our proposed method uses one pair of images to achieve spatiotemporal fusion. The work is mainly divided into three steps. The first step is to extract feature maps of two types of images at different scales and fuse them separately. The second step is to use the attention mechanism to focus on the important information in the feature maps. And the third step is to reconstruct the image. We used two classical datasets for the experiment, and compared our experimental results with the other three state-of-the-art spatiotemporal fusion methods. The results of our proposed method have richer spatial details and more accurate prediction of temporal changes.
Gasification: Part I. Isothermal, kinetic control model for a solid with a pore size distribution

A model describing the development of specific surface area, volume, porosity, and mean pore radius of a porous solid with extent of gasification is developed based on consideration of pore size growth, initiation of new pores, and coalescence of adjacent pores. Use of population balances and formulation of the properties as moments of the pore size distribution leads to a mathematically simple, closed set of equations for kinetically controlled gasification. The model successfully predicts maximums in specific surface area and number of pores observed by Kawahata and Walker (1962) in the activation of devolatilized anthracite by CO2 in a fluidized bed.
Bulk polymerization of styrene in the presence of polybutadiene: Effect of initiator type and prepolymerization conditions on particle morphology

In this study, we investigated the synthesis of high-impact polystyrene through a series of (batch and bulk) polymerizations of styrene in the presence of 6 wt % polybutadiene. The reactions with rubber involved three stages: dissolution, prepolymerization, and finishing. The prepolymerizations were isothermal (at 70°C) and nonisothermal (with an initial heating period from 70 to 120°C). Purely thermal reactions were compared with chemically initiated polymerizations involving tert-butyl peroctoate (TBPO), 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN), and their mixtures. Most prepolymerizations involved a stirring rate of 125 rpm. The particle morphology was mainly determined by the evolution of the grafting efficiency, stirring rate, and system viscosity during prepolymerization. In the nonisothermal prepolymerizations with pure AIBN, the grafting efficiency was lower than in equivalent prepolymerizations without an initiator, yielding unstable emulsions and a poor final morphology. In the nonisothermal prepolymerizations with pure TBPO, a large amount of graft copolymer was produced early in the prepolymerization, yielding a submicrometer core–shell morphology. The particle size and morphology could be controlled by the appropriate adjustment of the recipe and the prepolymerization conditions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 1397–1412, 2004
Success in Community-Based Forestry: Is the Community Missing?

HIGHLIGHTS Community perspectives are crucial in the evaluation of outcomes in community-based forestry. Interpretive approaches should be used in the evaluation of outcomes and, theoretically, an expanded conceptualization of livelihoods in community-based forestry. The conceptualizations of three key stakeholders are evaluated regarding the outcomes of Van Panchayats (Forest Councils) of Uttarakhand. Three critical issues emphasized by the community, and crucial to the success of Van Panchayats are: human-wildlife conflicts, women's participation, and subsistence livelihoods. There is a disconnect between forest policy, scholarly assessments of outcomes of Van Panchayats, and the community perspectives on success. SUMMARY Evaluation of successful outcomes in community-based natural resource management has long been debated in academic and policy literature. Scholarly assessments of success in Van Panchayats (VPs) of Uttarakhand, representing the oldest thriving institution of community-based forestry in India, are also under contestation. Predominantly, success has been identified with forest conditions (ecological) and the workings of VPs (institutional). Although these assessments have been useful, the perspectives of the community of users in defining successful outcomes have been less emphasized. Drawing upon two phases of field-work in Almora, Uttarakhand we first use an interpretive approach in exploring the success of VPs through the narrative framings of its three primary stakeholders. Through qualitative analysis, we show the prominence of three contextual issues: human-wildlife conflicts, constraints to women's participation, and subsistence livelihood needs, deemed crucial to the success of VPs by the user's community. Using the analysis of household survey data and secondary sources in the second phase of field work, we then show the validity of the community's concerns raised in the first phase. As a result, we argue that evaluations of successful outcomes should consider interpretive approaches, involving the community of users, to uncover the local contextual conditions crucial to the success of community-based forestry.
Population Structure of the Blue Crab Callinectes sapidus in the Maryland Coastal Bays

ABSTRACT The population structure of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus was examined in the Maryland Coastal Bays (MCB) from 2014 to 2016. Crabs were sampled from April to December of each year. Size–frequency distributions showed a strong seasonal cycle, with small crabs being abundant in April, increasing in size through September, with adult crabs observed in the highest proportions from August through October of each year. A subsample of crabs was assayed for hemolymph ecdysone concentrations to examine molting patterns in field-collected blue crabs. Molting was observed throughout the sampling season, peaking in April for immature crabs, with lows in all size classes occurring in October. The mean size at maturity (L50) for females collected in this study was 116 mm carapace width (CW), which is comparable to that reported for the lower Chesapeake Bay (CB) and suggests crabs in the MCB are not significantly smaller as previously thought; however, large crabs (>127 mm CW) appear to make up a smaller proportion of the total population in the MCB than in CB. Ovigerous females were observed at two distinct locations depending on the season, with 13/15 (86.7%) in southern Chincoteague Bay in April and May and 24/41 (58.5%) nearest to the Ocean City Inlet in July and August, indicating two potentially distinct spawning grounds and periods. This work suggests that blue crab reproductive success and general population trends are similar across both systems, with fishing pressure or disease in the MCB potentially explaining the low abundance of adult male crabs.
Developing Indicators for Participatory Forest Biodiversity Monitoring Systems in South Sumatra

HIGHLIGHTS The study used a hierarchical characterization approach to create a global pool of biodiversity indicators. Stakeholders participated in a workshop to select high-performance and rewarding biodiversity indicators using a framework consisting of multi-tiered filters from the pool. Becasue the selected indicators represent landscape, habitat, and species levels as well as structural, functional, and compositional ecosystem attributes they therefore collectively reflect changes in biodiversity. The integrated approach ensures a global-local connection and maintains the essence of a participatory approach. Selected high-performance and rewarding indicators have the potential to contribute to multiple national reporting requirements. SUMMARY There is often a striking disconnect between communities that create biodiversity frameworks, set targets, and design monitoring system and those that actually implement them. This study aims to (i) develop an integrated (participatory) approach to contextualize available sets of biodiversity indicators to meet specific stakeholders' needs, and (ii) select high-performance and rewarding indicators for participatory forest biodiversity monitoring systems (PFBMS). We used a hierarchical characterization approach to biodiversity to create a global pool of indicators. Specialists then used a framework consisting of multi-tiered filters to select high performance and rewarding indicators from the pool applicable to PFBMS at province and forest management unit levels in Indonesia. Selected indicators are able to reflect changes taking place at various levels in the ecological hierarchy from landscape, habitat, to species level including complete ecosystem attributes, i.e., structural, functional, and compositional. The integrated approach combines the expert guidance and experience of professionals at province and local levels; ensures global-local connection; and follows the participatory approach.