Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the dust content of galactic haloes with Herschel III. NGC 891

We present deep far-infrared observations of the nearby edge-on galaxy NGC 891 obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The maps confirm the detection of thermal emission from the inner circumgalactic medium (halo) and spatially resolve a dusty superbubble and a dust spur (filament). The dust temperature of the halo component is lower than that of the disk but increases across a region of diameter ~8.0 kpc extending at least 7.7 kpc vertically from one side of the disk, a region we call a superbubble because of its association with thermal X-ray emission and a minimum in the synchrotron scaleheight. This outflow is breaking through the thick disk and developing into a galactic wind, which is of particular interest because NGC 891 is not considered a starburst galaxy; the star formation rate surface density, 0.03 Msun/year per square kiloparsec, and gas fraction, just 10% in the inner disk, indicate the threshold for wind formation is lower than previous work has suggested. We conclude that the star formation surface density is sufficient for superbubble blowout into the halo, but the cosmic ray electrons may play a critical role in determining whether this outflow develops into a fountain or escapes from the gravitational potential. The high dust-to-gas ratio in the dust spur suggests the material was pulled out of NGC 891 through the collision of a minihalo with the disk of NGC 891. We conclude that NGC 891 offers an example of both feedback and satellite interactions transporting dust into the halo of a typical galaxy.
Simulation of incompressible elastic material using zonal volume constraints

Simulation of human soft tissues in contact with their environment is essential in many fields, including visual effects and apparel design. Biological tissues are nearly incompressible. However, standard methods employ compressible elasticity models and achieve incompressibility indirectly by setting Poisson’s ratio to be close to 0.5. This approach can produce results that are plausible qualitatively but inaccurate quantatively. This approach also causes numerical instabilities and locking in coarse discretizations or otherwise pose a prohibitive restriction on the size of the time step. We propose a novel approach to alleviate these issues by replacing indirect volume preservation using Poisson’s ratios with direct enforcement of zonal volume constraints, while controlling fine-scale volumetric deformation through a cell-wise penalty. To increase realism, we propose an epidermis model to mimic the dramatically higher surface stiffness on real skinned bodies. We demonstrate that our method produces stable realistic deformations with precise volume preservation but without locking artifacts. Due to the volume preservation not being tied to mesh discretization, our method also allows a resolution consistent simulation of incompressible materials.
Nexus between Remittance and Household Consumption: Fresh Evidence from Symmetric or Asymmetric Investigation

There is no conclusive evidence available in empirical literature regarding the patter of relationship, like symmetry or asymmetry, between remittances and household consumption at the aggregate level. With this study, we empirically investigated the nexus between Remittance and Household consumption under the assumption of both symmetric and asymmetric from 1993 to 2017 of a panel of 105 countries. Symmetry investigation performed with Panel ARDL proposed by Pesaran et al. (1999) and asymmetry test executed with the idea of nonlinear ARDL proposed by Shin et al. (2014). For establishing directional causality, we also performed a Panel Granger-causality test under the error correction term. Study findings unveiled an asymmetric relationship between remittance flows and household consumption both in the long run and in the short run, however, the coefficients elasticity explained greater magnitude in the short-run than the long run. Study findings exposed unidirectional causality from remittance to household consumption in the short-run. The effect of remittance inflows on household consumption at the aggregate level is evident. Therefore, the government should persuade integrated economic policy for the effective deployment of remittance flows in productive investment for increasing aggregate production and economic welfare at large.
An Adaptive Vision Navigation Algorithm in Agricultural IoT System for Smart Agricultural Robots

: As the agricultural internet of things (IoT) technology has evolved, smart agricultural robots needs to have both ﬂ exibility and adaptability when moving in complex ﬁ eld environments. In this paper, we propose the concept of a vision-based navigation system for the agricultural IoT and a binocular vision navigation algorithm for smart agricultural robots, which can fuse the edge contour and the height information of rows of crop in images to extract the navigation parameters. First, the speeded-up robust feature (SURF) extracting and matching algorithm is used to obtain featuring point pairs from the green crop row images observed by the binocular parallel vision system. Then the con ﬁ dence density image is constructed by integrating the enhanced elevation image and the corresponding binarized crop row image, where the edge contour and the height information of crop row are fused to extract the navigation parameters ( θ , d ) based on the model of a smart agricultural robot. Finally, the ﬁ ve navigation network instruction sets are designed based on the navigation angle θ and the lateral dis-tance d , which represent the basic movements for a certain type of smart agricultural robot working in a ﬁ eld. Simulated experimental results in the laboratory show that the algorithm proposed in this study is effective with small turning errors and low standard deviations, and can provide a valuable reference for the further practical application of binocular vision navigation systems in smart agricultural robots in the agricultural IoT system.
Functionalization of a nano-faujasite zeolite with PEG-grafted PMA tethers using atom transfer radical polymerization

We report the controlled growth of poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether grafted polymethacrylate (PEGPMA) on nanosized zeolite external surfaces using the atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) approach. As-synthesized amino-modified faujasite zeolite nanoparticles (40 nm) were reacted with 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide to covalently bond bromine onto the zeolitic surfaces. The bromine atoms then serve as initiators for ATRP, allowing growth of a variety of polymer tethers onto the nanozeolite surfaces. The PEGPMA polymer has a unique structure in which very flexible PEO oligomers are bonded to stiff polymethacrylate backbones. This structure makes it possible to synthesize nanohybrid materials with a fully amorphous polymer phase, a main requirement for conductivity of solid polymer electrolytes. Raman spectroscopy and 13 C solid-state NMR spectroscopy were used to characterize the as-synthesized samples. Furthermore, both Raman spectroscopy and polymer molecular weight determinations demonstrated the controlled growth of polymer chains in the ATRP synthesis. DSC experiments indicated that a fully amorphous polymer phase can be achieved by properly controlling the polymerization conditions. The morphology of the polymer phase in PEGPMA-nanoNaX composites is very stable. DSC cycling scans in the temperature range -150 to 100 °C did not induce crystallization of the amorphous polymer segments. TEM images demonstrate significant variation of the zeolite surface properties after modification with polymer tethers, indicating that very dense hybrid zeolite-based thin films or membranes could be achieved using simple solvent-cast spin-coating techniques.
Studies on curing kinetics and thermal behavior of phosphorylated epoxy resin in the presence of aromatic amide-amines

This article describes the synthesis of some novel aromatic amide-amine curing agents by reacting 1 mole of p-amino benzoic acid with 1 mole of each of 1,4-phenylene diamine (P), 1,5-diamino naphthalene (N), 4,4′-(9-fluorenyllidene)-dianiline (F), 3,4′-oxydianiline (O), and 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl sulphide (DS) and were designated as PA, NA, FA, OA, and SA, respectively. The aromatic amide-amines so synthesized were characterized with the help of spectroscopic techniques, viz., Fourier Transform Infrared, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance. The curing kinetics of the epoxy resins obtained by reacting amines with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A blended with tris(glycidyloxy)phosphine oxide in a ratio of 3 : 2, respectively, were investigated by DSC technique using multiple heating rate method (5, 10, 15, 20°C/min). Activation energies were determined by fitting the experimental data into Kissinger and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa Kinetic models. The activation energies obtained through Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method were slightly higher than Kissinger method but were comparable. However, both the energies were found to be dependent on the structure of amines. The thermal stability and weight loss behavior of isothermally cured thermosets were also investigated using thermogravimetric analysis in nitrogen atmosphere. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010
M1-site occupancy in 3T and 2M1 phengites by low temperature neutron powder diffraction : reality or artefact?

Two low temperature (15 K) neutron powder diffraction data sets from 2 M 1 and 3 T phengite samples were collected on the D2B beamline at ILL (Grenoble, France), to investigate the cation ordering and the occurrence of fractional occupants at the M 1-site. Low temperature has been used in order to reduce the thermal motion. The complexity of this study poses problems to property quantify our results, but on the basis of the issues from several refinement schemes we obtained indications in favour of occupancy factors other than zero for the formally empty in dioctahedral micas M 1-sites (roughly ≈ 0.12 and ≈ 0.18 atom per M 1-site, in case of 2M 1 and 3 T polytype, respectively). The atomic displacement parameters, and the large uncertainties upon the M 1-O bond lengths, suggest the large M 1 site to be positionally disordered in both polytypes. These results are to be taken up with due care as stacking faults resulting in staggering of the TOT layers might mimic a fictitious M 1-O site occupancy.
Second Version of Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL-2)

Compilation of the second version of Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL-2) has been completed. The aim of JENDL-2 is the applications to fast, thermal and fusion reactors, and shielding problems. The evaluated data for 181 nuclides were stored in the ENDF/B-IV format. Various benchmark tests have been performed, and applicability of JENDL-2 was confirmed for the fast and thermal reactor calculations and for the shielding problems. In this review, evaluation work for JENDL-2 is briefly described, and the results of the benchmark tests are summarized.
Will This School Year Be Another Casualty of the Pandemic? Key Findings from the American Educator Panels Fall 2020 COVID-19 Surveys

School districts across the United States have had to make many difficult decisions to prepare for the 2020–2021 school year amid the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In this Data Note, researchers summarize selected findings on teaching and learning in the face of a pandemic by drawing on surveys administered via the RAND American Educator Panels to nationally representative samples of teachers and principals in early October 2020.
Characteristics of MERRA-2 Black Carbon in Eight Key Climatic Regions across China from 2007 to 2018

The spatial distribution, temporal variations and trend changes of surface black carbon concentrations in eight key climatic regions across China were analyzed from 2007 to 2018, based on the Modern-era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications Version 2 (MERRA-2) black carbon dataset. The mass concentration of BC in China shows an “East-High and West-Low” pattern, with multi-year averaged BC ranging from 154 ng/m3 to 3857 ng/m3. Pronounced seasonal variations were found, with the highest value in winter and the lowest in summer. Most of regions in central and eastern China share similar diurnal pattern with a single-peak at early morning and a valley at noon. Obvious downward trend in most regions of China were identified from 2007 to 2018, especially in southern central China and southwestern part of eastern China, with the highest decline rate of -8.349 ng/m3 per month, which confirming that the great endeavors and effective enforcement of environmental protection measures implemented in China for the last decade.
Anomaly Detection and Mode Identification in Multimode Processes Using the Field Kalman Filter

A process plant can have multiple modes of operation due to varying demand, availability of resources, or the fundamental design of a process. Each of these modes is considered as normal operation. Anomalies in the process are characterized as deviations away from normal operation. Such anomalies can be indicative of developing faults which, if left unresolved, can lead to failures and unplanned downtime. The field Kalman filter (FKF) is a model-based approach, which is adopted in this article for monitoring a multimode process. Previously, the FKF has been applied in process monitoring to differentiate normal operation from known faulty modes of operation. This article extends the FKF so that it may detect occurrences of anomalies and differentiate them from the various normal modes of operation. A method is proposed for off-line training an FKF monitoring model and online monitoring. The off-line part comprises training an FKF model based on multivariate autoregressive state-space (MARSS) models fitted to historical process data. A monitoring indicator is also introduced. Online monitoring, based on the FKF for anomaly detection and mode identification, is demonstrated using a simulated multimode process. The performance of the proposed method is also demonstrated using data obtained from a pilot-scale multiphase flow facility. The results show that the method can be applied successfully for anomaly detection and mode identification.
Emotion Analysis of Arabic Tweets during COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

Social media has emerged as an effective platform to investigate people’s opinion and feeling towards crisis situations. Along with Coronavirus crisis, range of different emotions reveal, including anger, sadness, fear, trust, and anticipation. In this paper, we investigate public’s emotional responses associated with this pandemic using Twitter as platform to perform our analysis. We investigate how emotional perspective vary regarding lockdown ending in Saudi Arabia. We develop an emotion detection method to classify tweets into standard eight emotions. Furthermore, we present insights into the changes in the intensity of the emotions over time. Our finding shows that joy and anticipation are the most dominant among all emotions. While people express positive emotions, there are tones of fear, anger, and sadness revealed. Moreover, this research might help to better understand public behaviors to gain insight and make the proper decisions.
Investigation of the 3D pore structure of a natural shale - implications for mass transport

The multiscale pore structure of a natural shale is obtained by three distinct imaging means. First, micro-tomography image data are extended to provide the spatial arrangement of the minerals and pores observable with a voxel size of 700 nm (denoted here as the macroscopic scale). Second, FIB/SEM provides a 3D representation of the porous clay matrix on the so-called mesoscopic scale (10-20 nm); a connected pore network, devoid of cracks, is obtained for two samples out of five, while the pore network is connected through cracks for two other samples out of five. Third, the nanometric pore network is characterized with tomographic STEM. Using these experimental pore structure data, permeability calculations are performed by the Lattice Boltzmann Method on the nanoscale, on the mesoscale, and on the combination of the two. Upscaling is finally done (by a finite volume approach) on the larger macroscopic scale. Calculations show that, in the absence of cracks, the contribution of the pore structure at the nanoscale, on the overall permeability, is similar to that of the mesoscale. The impact of the most recent tomographic STEM measurements on the overall transport properties is discussed.
Water‐dispersible nanocolloids and higher temperatures promote the release of carbon from riparian soil

Increasing temperatures in alpine regions accompanied by glacial retreat is occurring rapidly due to climate change. This may affect riparian soils by increasing weathering rates, resulting in greater organic carbon (OC) release to rivers via movement of iron‐containing colloids and nanominerals. Increased concentrations of iron‐ or silcate‐nanominerals would result in higher surface area for OC adsorption. To test the influence of temperature on OC leaching, we examined mineral weathering and nanocolloid facilitated release of OC through a series of controlled laboratory batch and column experiments using sediment from the banks of the Nisqually River, Mount Rainier in Washington State (USA). Additional experiments were conducted using the same sediments, but with an illite amendment added to test the influence of additional surface area and nanominerals that many sediments along the Nisqually River contain. These higher‐ and lower‐surface‐area sediments (i.e., sediments with and without the illite amendment) were incubated for 90 d at 4 or 20 °C, followed by batch and column OC leaching tests. Results show that OC leaching rates for 20 °C were two to three times greater than for 4 °C. Further, our results suggest that nanocolloids are responsible for moving this increased OC load from these sediments. When hydrologically connected, OC is released from bank sediments to rivers faster than presently anticipated in fluvial environments experiencing climate change‐induced glacial retreat. Further, a one‐dimensional, finite‐element computational model developed for this study estimates that a 1 °C increase in temperature over a 90‐d summer runoff period increases the OC release rate from sediments by 79%.
Lateralization of cochlear dysfunction as a specific biomarker of Parkinson’s disease

Abstract In the last decade, animal studies highlighted the sensitivity of hearing function to lack of specific cochlear dopamine receptors, while several studies on humans reported association between hearing loss and Parkinson’s disease, partially recovered after levodopa administration in de novo patients. Taken together, these observations suggest investigating the possible use of cochlear function outcome variables, particularly, otoacoustic emissions, as sensitive biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease. Any lateralization of hearing dysfunction correlated with Parkinson’s disease lateralization would (i) further confirm their association and (ii) provide a disease-specific differential outcome variable. Differential indicators are particularly useful for diagnostic purposes, because their effectiveness is not limited by physiological inter-subject fluctuations of the outcome variable. Recent advances in the acquisition and analysis techniques of otoacoustic emissions suggest using them for evaluating differential cochlear damage in the two ears. In this study, we quantitatively evaluated hearing function in a population of subjects with Parkinson’s disease, to investigate the occurrence of hearing loss, and, particularly, whether hearing dysfunction shows lateralization correlated with motor symptoms. Pure tone audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions were used as outcome variables in 80 patients (mean age 65 ± 9 years) and 41 controls (mean age 64 ± 10 years). An advanced customized acquisition and analysis system was developed and used for otoacoustic testing, which guarantees response stability independent of probe insertion depth, and has the sensitivity necessary to accurately assess the low levels of otoacoustic response typical of elderly subjects. To our knowledge, this is the first study introducing the distinction between ipsilateral and contralateral ear, with respect to the body side more affected by Parkinson’s disease motor symptoms. Significant asymmetry was found in the auditory function, as both otoacoustic responses and audiometric hearing levels were worse in the ipsilateral ear. Significantly worse hearing function was also observed in patients with Parkinson’s disease compared to controls, confirming previous studies. Several pathophysiological mechanisms may be hypothesized to explain asymmetric cochlear damage in Parkinson's disease, including the impairment of dopamine release and the involvement of extra-dopaminergic circuits, with the cholinergic pathway as a likely candidate. The observed asymmetry in the audiological response of patients with Parkinson’s disease suggests that lateralization of hearing dysfunction could represent a specific non-motor signature of the disease. The possible diagnostic use of cochlear dysfunction asymmetry as a specific biomarker of Parkinson’s disease deserves further investigation, needing a more precise quantitative assessment, which would require a larger sample size.
The thermodynamics of seawater at one atmosphere

The solution thermodynamic properties of seawater at 1 atm have been examined over the range of 0/sup 0/ to 40/sup 0/C and 0 to 40% salinity. By combining the osmotic coefficients (phi = -(55.51/2m) ln a/sub 1/, where m is the molality and a/sub 1/ is the activity of water) determined from the freezing point measurements of Doherty and Kester (1974), with the heat capacity data of Millero, Perron, and Desnoyers (1973), and the enthalpy data of Millero, Hansen, and Hoff (1973), the osmotic coefficients were determined over the range of 0/sup 0/ to 40/sup 0/C at 1 atm using the extended Debye-Heuckel equation. The results at 25/sup 0/C were found to be in excellent agreement with the results of Robinson (1954). From the osmotic coefficient data, the vapor pressure and osmotic pressure have been determined. The osmotic coefficient data at 0/sup 0/C has been used to calculate the mean activity coefficient and activity of ''sea salt. '' By using the thermodynamic equation delta lna/sub 2//delta T + - anti L/sub 2//RT, activities have been determined at other temperatures (0/sup 0/ to 40/sup 0/C). The relative free energies of seawater, G - G/sup 0/ + 55.51 RT ln a/sub 1/ =more » m RT ln a/sub 2/, have been calculated from the osmotic and activity data.The relative entropy of seawater (S - S/sup 0/) was determined from the relative free energies by using the thermodynamic relationship, S - S/sup 0/ + ((G - G/sup 0/) - (H - H/sup 0/))/T, where H - H/sup 0/ is the relative enthalpy. All the specific thermochemical properties (P) of seawater have been fitted to equations. « less
Empathic Chatbot: Emotional Intelligence for Empathic Chatbot: Emotional Intelligence for Mental Health Well-being

Conversational chatbots are Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered applications that assist users with various tasks by responding in natural language and are prevalent across different industries. Most of the chatbots that we encounter on websites and digital assistants such as Alexa, Siri does not express empathy towards the user, and their ability to empathise remains immature. Lack of empathy towards the user is not critical for a transactional or interactive chatbot, but the bots designed to support mental healthcare patients need to understand the emotional state of the user and tailor the conversations. This research explains the different types of emotional intelligence methodologies adopted in the development of an empathic chatbot and how far they have been adopted and succeeded.