Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
METHOD OF ANALYSIS FOR DETERMINATION OF THE CHROMIUM (Cr) SPECIES IN WATER SAMPLES BY SPECTROPHOTOMETRY WITH DIPHENYLCARBAZIDE

<p>Speciation of Chromium (Cr) is very important because of the toxicity of these metals depending on the oxidation number and its concentration is very low in the water system. Chromium occurs in the environment primarily in two valence states, trivalent Cr(III) and hexavalent Cr(VI). Chromium (III) is an essential micro-nutrients for the human body, while the Cr(VI) is highly toxic and carcino-gennic. Chromium(VI) in the water can be analyzed by spectrophotometry with diphenylcarbazide as reagent on pH=1 at maximum wavelength of 540 nm. The experimental result show that Cr(VI) can be analyzed using diphenylcarbazide in the concentration of 0.0015% and H<strong><sub>3</sub></strong>PO<strong><sub>4</sub></strong> solution as acidic in 0.03 mol/L. The absorbance was measured at minutes 5 after preparation. There is interference from ion Fe(III) at least 6.0 ppm and this interference can be overcome by using 0.3 % NaF solution. The limit of detection of this method is -samples, mix of Cr(III) and Cr(VI), can be analyzed by using this method without oxidation by KMnO<strong><sub>4</sub></strong> solution. While Cr(III) in the artificial samples, mix of Cr(III) and Cr(VI), can be analyzed by using this method via oxidation by KMnO<strong><sub>4</sub></strong> solution in the acidic media (H<strong><sub>2</sub></strong>SO<strong><sub>4</sub></strong>), the result of this analysis is the total concentration of Chromium. The concen-tration of Cr(III) can be calculate via subtract the total of Cr concentration by concentration of Cr(VI). </p><strong>Keywords:</strong> speciation, Cr(III), Cr(VI), spectropho-tometry, diphenylcarbazide, Fe(III), interference.
High-Throughput Assessment of a Novel, Thiol-Acrylate Hydrogel for Tumor Spheroid Synthesis in a Microfluidic Device

iv CHAPTER 1. THIOL-ACRYLATE HYDROGEL FORMULATION AND CHARACTERIZATION . 1 1.1. Chapter Summary . 1 1.2. Introduction . 1 1.3. Motivation/Problem . 3 1.4. Hydrogel Formulation . 4 1.5. Characterization of Thiol-Acrylate Hydrogel . 5 1.6. Conclusion . 10 CHAPTER 2. VIABILITY OF TUMOR SPHEROID WITH THIOL-ACRYLATE HYDROGEL THROUGH CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY AND MICROFLUIDICS . 11 2.1. Chapter Summary . 11 2.2. Introduction . 11 2.3. Cell Preparation . 12 2.4. What are MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells? 13 2.5. Viability with Confocal Microscopy . 14 2.6. On-Chip Microfluidic Analysis of hydrogel droplet cell encapsulation . 20 2.7. Conclusion and Future Work . 24 REFERENCES . 26 VITA . 29
Synergistic Effects of Chain Extender and Nanoclay on the Crystallization Behaviour of Polylactide

The crystallization behavior of polylactide (PLA) with various branching degrees and nanoclay contents were investigated using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The dispersion quality of nanoclay within PLA and reactivity of chain extender with PLA molecules were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy test (FT-IR), respectively. The results showed that chain branching in PLA produced higher crystallinity and fastened its slow crystallization kinetics. Also, the effects of processing (i.e., the same compounding process through a twin-screw extruder as for the PLA nanocomposites) on the crystallinity of “as received” PLAs were investigated to better compare them with the PLA nanocomposites. The results showed that the addition of nanoclay in different loadings did not have a significant effect on the melt crystallization of linear PLA. However, as the clay loading increased in half-branched and fully branched PLA’s the reduced molecular mobility started to hinder the crystallization started to be hindered due to the reduced molecular mobility. This threshold occurred at lower clay loadings in fully branched PLA as the mobility started to be limited earlier. On the other hand, clay could improve even the linear PLA’s crystallinity during isothermal treatments. On the other hand, branched PLA’s processing significantly improved crystallinity due to the completion of chain-branching reactions during the processing. The effects of chain branching and nanoclay on PLA’s isothermal melting crystallization kinetics at different temperatures were also studied using Avrami analysis.
Supplementation of Carbon-Based Conductive Materials and Trace Metals to Improve Biogas Production from Apple Pomace

Due to its high water and organic contents, management of apple pomace (AP) poses several waste management challenges on the apple juice and cider producing industries. Bioconversion of AP into biogas provides an excellent possibility to reduce the environmental challenge faced in the management of AP waste along with producing renewable energy in the form of methane. This study investigated the effect of carbon-based conductive materials (biochar and graphene) and trace metals supplementation to improve biogas production from AP. The results indicate that supplementation of biochar, trace metals, and graphene significantly improves the biogas production from AP. Trace metal and biochar supplementation at a COD concentration of 6000 mg/L resulted in 7.2% and 13.3% increases in the biogas production, respectively. When trace metals and biochar were supplemented together, the biogas production increased by 22.7%. This synergistic effect was also observed at the COD concentration of 12,000 mg/L. The improvement in the biogas formation was significantly higher for graphene supplemented reactors (27.8%). Moreover, biochar and trace metals supplementation also led to 19.6% and 23.0% increases in the methane yield relative to the reactor fed only with AP, respectively. These results suggest anaerobic digestion supplemented with carbon-based conductive materials and trace metals is a viable option for valorizing apple pomace.
Attachment of bacteria to glass surfaces in pure culture and in mixed suspensions and the effect of growth conditions on that attachment

The attachment of selected freshwater bacteria, Aeromonas Chromobacterium, a coryneform and Staphylococcus In pure culture and in mixed suspensions with one other bacterium to glass surfaces was investigated in the laboratory. Changes in the nutrient conditions of the growth medium during growth and attachment and the temperature, pH and electrolyte type and concentration present in the attachment solution during attachment experiments all influenced bacterial attachment. The pure culture attachment results obtained depended on the bacterial species being investigated. When bacterial species were attached in the presence of one other species the growth conditions still had a profound effect on attachment. The results obtained depended on the bacterial species present in the mixed suspension, with some bacterial species having a more profound effect on the attachment of other species than others. The bacterial species used to study bacterial attachment in the laboratory were used along with Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas to investigate bacterial attachment in vivo using a model system. The attachment of these bacteria were investigated in two- to six-membered suspensions. The biofilms obtained in the model system consisted of smaller bacterial cells in a more densely packed biofilm. These biofilms could still be influenced by growth conditions as temperature was seen to influence the bacterial biofilm obtained. During these attachment experiments the Acinetobacter which did not attach itself had a profound effect on the attachment of other bacterial species when present in the liquid phase. The mechanism by which Acinetobacter inhibited the attachment of other bacteria was investigated and it appeared Acinetobacter did not excreate a chemical to influence the attachment of other species, but the Acinetobacter cells themselves had to be present in the liquid phase to influence the attachment of other species. The effects of different molecular weight fractions of Tocil Lake water were investigated for their effect on bacterial attachment. The fraction containing the > 30,000 MV component was found to influence bacterial attachment. The results obtained, depended on the bacterial species being investigated.
Comparing the Differences in Children’s Perceptions of Parental Conflict, Self-Differentiation and Being Triangulated in Individuals with and without Functional Constipation Due to Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

Abstract Conflicting family relationships in childhood lead to poor health in adulthood and can be a risk factor for diseases. Pelvic Floor Dysfunction (PFD) is one of the functional diseases that can originate from psychological conditions. This study compared children’s perceptions of parental conflict, self-differentiation and triangulation in patients with PFD type of functional constipation and non-infected counterparts. Results indicated the rate of parental conflict and triangulation is high in PFD patients and they have low self-differentiation. These results could help design therapeutic protocols to accelerate the treatment of PFD, and the use of psychological therapies in addition to drug therapies.
Unveiling the competitive role of etching in graphene growth during chemical vapor deposition

During the growth of graphene via chemical vapor deposition, its recessive process, that is, etching, is often neglected. However, recent experimental studies showed that etching is not only able to give rise to complex morphologies that cannot be achieved by pure growth, but it also can be used to create designed patterns. In this work, we develop a kinetic Monte Carlo model based on the underlying mechanisms and growth kinetics of graphene to predict the formation of various morphologies during growth and etching. The simulation results reproduce a variety of experimentally observed morphologies of graphene domains with six-fold, four-fold and three-fold symmetries. In addition, we propose analytical relations between the gas flow rate in the experiments and the growth and etching parameters used in our simulations. We also present a phase diagram for the domain morphology from the attachment-limited regime to the diffusion-limited regime to guide the control of domain morphology. The present study not only presents a viable model to simulate the morphological evolution of graphene domain, but also provides essential guidance to control graphene pattern formation for specific applications.
Solvent-assisted excited state proton transfer and photoacidity of 2-hydroxypyridine. A nonadiabatic dynamics study

ABSTRACT Reactions involving proton transfer, especially those taking place in excited states (ESPT), received considerable attention. These reactions underlie many biological and biochemical processes that are vital to life. DNA mutations excited state funnelling and transport phenomena are just examples. Among many molecules undergoing this type of photoreactions, phenols show a unique property, the so-called photoacidity. In the present communication, solvent (methanol and ammonia) assisted excited state proton transfer and photo acidity of 2-hydroxypyridine (2HP) are investigated at the DFT M06-2X / def2pvv level of theory. Excited states of 2HP and its complexes with methanol and ammonia were examined at two levels. First, sampling a Wigner distribution of 300 points, the photoabsorption spectra were simulated within the nuclear ensemble approximation. Second, simulation of the dynamics of the excited states with the surface hopping method. Several separate spectral windows with three hundred trajectories each, were considered. Lifetime of excited states and photochemical channels observed were discussed.
Structural characteristics and functional properties of walnut glutelin as hydrolyzed: effect of enzymatic modification

ABSTRACT Currently, edible walnuts are either eaten fresh or being processed as walnut oil. However, the walnut dregs produced after the oil is pressed from the walnuts cannot be used for comprehensive utilization. Instead, they are often used as animal feed after simple treatment or directly used as waste landfill. The walnut dregs contain >20% of high-quality plant protein. Walnut protein consists of gluten, prolamin, albumin, and globulin. Poor function of walnut protein has been reported. Therefore, the gluten in walnut cake protein was modified by enzymatic method and the microstructure of walnut protein was changed, thereby improving the functional properties of walnut protein. It is generally believed that walnut protein modified by enzymatic method might be more suitable for industrial production. Our study showed that the modified walnut glutelin (WG) increased the solubility by ~1.33 times, the water holding capacity by ~0.23 times, the emulsifiability by ~0.32 times, and the emulsion stability by ~0.75 times. The oiliness was slightly lowered and the foaming characteristics were not greatly changed. Therefore, our study concluded that the microscopic structure of the protein had undergone certain changes based on the spectrum and electron microscopy. The modification of the microstructure also provides a theoretical basis for the comprehensive utilization of walnut protein, which could broaden the application of walnut protein in the industrial food production.
Digging Deeper into the Reasons for Self-Control Failure: Both Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations to Use Mobile Communication Shape Self-Control Processes

ABSTRACT Individuals often fail to exercise self-control over their mobile communication use. For instance, they use mobile messengers although they are working on an important task. The reasons for this behavior are not entirely clear. Based on the assumptions made in self-determination theory and self-control theory, this research distinguishes for the first time systematically between intrinsic and extrinsic influences on the automatic and conscious processes that can lead to self-control failure. Results of a preregistered diary study support this distinction by showing that the frustration of the need for relatedness (i.e., intrinsic motivation) and availability pressure (i.e., extrinsic motivation) were associated with automatic messenger use and influenced anticipated guilt, which in turn predicted self-control failure. This research takes into account that users not only anticipate feelings of guilt when they give in to temptation but also when they resist the temptation to use mobile communication. Results revealed that availability pressure was strongly related to the latter. The findings are discussed in light of the importance of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for intervention strategies and our theoretical understanding of the self-regulation of mobile media use and its consequences for the well-being of users.
NUMA-Aware DGEMM Based on 64-Bit ARMv8 Multicore Processors Architecture

Double-precision general matrix multiplication (DGEMM) is an essential kernel for measuring the potential performance of an HPC platform. ARMv8-based system-on-chips (SoCs) have become the candidates for the next-generation HPC systems with their highly competitive performance and energy efficiency. Therefore, it is meaningful to design high-performance DGEMM for ARMv8-based SoCs. However, as ARMv8-based SoCs integrate increasing cores, modern CPU uses non-uniform memory access (NUMA). NUMA restricts the performance and scalability of DGEMM when many threads access remote NUMA domains. This poses a challenge to develop high-performance DGEMM on multi-NUMA architecture. We present a NUMA-aware method to reduce the number of cross-die and cross-chip memory access events. The critical enabler for NUMA-aware DGEMM is to leverage two levels of parallelism between and within nodes in a purely threaded implementation, which allows the task independence and data localization of NUMA nodes. We have implemented NUMA-aware DGEMM in the OpenBLAS and evaluated it on a dual-socket server with 48-core processors based on the Kunpeng920 architecture. The results show that NUMA-aware DGEMM has effectively reduced the number of cross-die and cross-chip memory access, resulting in enhancing the scalability of DGEMM significantly and increasing the performance of DGEMM by 17.1% on average, with the most remarkable improvement being 21.9%.
Building Change Detection Method to Support Register of Identified Changes on Buildings

Based on a newly adopted “Rulebook on the records of identified changes on buildings in Serbia” (2020) that regulates the content, establishment, maintenance and use of records on identified changes on buildings, it is expected that the geodetic-cadastral information system will be extended with these records. The records contain data on determined changes of buildings in relation to the reference epoch of aerial or satellite imagery, namely data on buildings: (1) that are not registered in the real estate cadastre; (2) which are registered in the real estate cadastre, and have been changed in terms of the dimensions in relation to the data registered in the real estate cadastre; (3) which are registered in the real estate cadastre, but are removed on the ground. For this purpose, the LADM-based cadastral data model for Serbia is extended to include records on identified changes on buildings. In the year 2020, Republic Geodetic Authority commenced a new satellite acquisition for the purpose of restoration of official buildings registry, as part of a World Bank project for improving land administration in Serbia. Using this satellite imagery and existing cadastral data, we propose a method based on comparison of object-based and pixel-based image analysis approaches to automatically detect newly built, changed or demolished buildings and import these data into extended cadastral records. Our results, using only VHR images containing only RGB and NIR bands, showed object identification accuracy ranging from 84% to 88%, with kappa statistic from 89% to 96%. The accuracy of obtained results is satisfactory for the purpose of developing a register of changes on buildings to keep cadastral records up to date and to support activities related to legalization of illegal buildings, etc.
Do Non-State Actors Influence Climate Change Policy? Evidence from the Brazilian Nationally Determined Contributions for COP21

Participation in democratic regimes has been a central issue in foreign policy (FP) studies. This article seeks to contribute to the empirical discussion about FP participation through the analysis of the public consultation process conducted by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with non-state actors in the context of the preparations for the Paris Climate Agreement (2015). We employed automated text analysis using Python and R qualifying open responses submitted to the questionnaire launched at the first round of the consultations process and comparing them to the official document presented by Brazil establishing its own carbon emission targets. We found that the Brazilian academia members had a relevant influence on the content of the final document presented by Brazil, strengthening the literature on the importance of the epistemic community to environmental politics and raising new questions on the paths of foreign policy influence.
Application of gum Arabic in the production of spray-dried chokeberry polyphenols, microparticles characterisation and in vitro digestion method

Due to its high content of phenolics, black chokeberry has been proposed as a health-promoting material, especially use of chokeberry extract as a food or pharmaceuticals. Chokeberry extract was spray-dried using gum Arabic as a carrier. The optimal conditions for the efficient microencapsulation of chokeberry extract using spray-drying technique have been investigated. The aim of our study was to obtain microparticles with the best potential to improve functionality and stability of extracted chokeberry polyphenols, and to investigate the possibility of microbeads to protect active compounds during simulated digestion process. Morphological characteristics of microbeads were analyzed using FTIR and SEM techniques. Zeta potential, particle size and moisture content were determined. Released total phenolics and total anthocyanins content as well as concentration of individual anthocyanins were quantified before and after digestion process. Microparticles exhibited high encapsulation efficiency up to 87%, and high content of released polyphenols was achieved. After in vitro simulated digestion phenolic compounds decreased by 11-24%, exhibited higher protective effect of gum Arabic. Our results showed that chokeberry microparticles obtained by spray drying method could be useful supplements or functional food.
Fluid-model analysis on discharge structuring in the RF-driven prototype ion-source for ITER NBI

A 2D self-consistent fluid plasma model is employed for studying the plasma in the radio-frequency (RF)-driven negative hydrogen ion source prototype developed to equip the neutral beam injector systems for ITER. The source is considered in its usual configuration with a cylindrical driver and magnetic filter field (MF) produced by permanent magnets arranged in a magnet frame movable along the expansion chamber. The model accounts for the RF injection, the bias potential applied at the plasma grid (PG) and the losses of particles and electron energy in the third dimension, i.e. along the magnetic field lines, are evaluated. The study is focused on the role of the processes which govern the spatial structuring of the plasma parameters caused by the topology of the MF, the PG bias and the losses along the MF. The obtained numerical results are analyzed based on the contribution of the local and nonlocal processes in the electron- and negative hydrogen ion-balance and electron energy balance equations. It is shown how the fluxes associated with the diamagnetic drift caused by the gradient of the electron temperature, and the E × B-drift as well as the electron heating and the negative ion drift in the dc electric field are involved in the formation of the pattern of the plasma parameters. Effects due to the partial penetration of the MF in the driver are also investigated. A comparison with the experimental data shows that, accounting for the losses along the MF, the present model is a reliable tool for study and optimization the ITER relevant sources.
An Ecolinguistic Discourse Approach to Teaching Environmental Sustainability: Analyzing Chief Executive Officer Letters to Shareholders

This article argues for using discourse analysis in business and management curricula to increase language awareness. To that end, an ecolinguistic discourse analysis approach (Stibbe, 2015a) for teaching sustainability is proposed. The article first explores sustainability discourse in two chief executive officer letters to shareholders followed by a classroom implementation enabling students to practise discourse analytical skills. Students examined vocabulary, hedging, modals, abstract and concrete representation, and social actors. Linguistic features were interpreted to reveal communicators’ underlying ideologies. This systematic analytical approach allows students to reflect on communication processes and how these processes can be used strategically when communicating in organizational contexts.