Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The phase coexistence method to obtain surface free energies and nucleation barriers: a brief review

ABSTRACT A recently developed method where one analyses the finite size effects associated with liquid–solid phase equilibria including vapour–crystal coexistence is briefly reviewed. It is shown that the estimation of the chemical potential of the vapour surrounding the crystal as function of the crystal volume yields information on the bulk coexistence conditions, when an extrapolation to the thermodynamic limit is performed. Estimating the pressure of the fluid surrounding the crystal nucleus in the finite simulation box and the volume of this nucleus that coexists with the fluid in thermal equilibrium, an estimate for the total surface excess free energy can be obtained, which to a very good approximation is independent of the size of the simulation box. The free energy barrier against homogeneous nucleation of crystals thus can be estimated as a function of the nucleus volume. Monte Carlo simulations for the soft effective Asakura–Oosawa model of colloid-polymer mixtures which form face-centered cubic colloidal crystals are used to exemplify this method, computing the surface excess free energy of these crystals over a wide range of crystal volumes, without the need to characterise the non-spherical crystal shape. A possible extension of these concepts to heterogeneous nucleation is also briefly discussed. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Hydrogen and carbon isotope fractionation factors of aerobic methane oxidation in deep-sea water

Abstract. Isotope fractionation factors associated with various biogeochemical processes are important in ensuring the practicality of isotope tracers in biogeosciences at large. Methane is a key component of the subsurface biosphere and a notable greenhouse gas, making the accurate evaluation of methane cycles, including microbial methanotrophy, imperative. Although the isotope fractionation factors associated with methanotrophy been examined under various conditions, the dual-isotope fractionation factors of aerobic methanotrophy in oxic seawater column remain unclear. Here, we investigated hydrogen and carbon isotope ratios of methane as well as the relevant biogeochemical parameters and microbial community compositions in hydrothermal plumes in the Okinawa Trough. Methanotrophs were found to be abundant in plumes above the Hatoma Knoll vent site, and we succeeded in simultaneously determining hydrogen and carbon isotope fractionation factors associated with aerobic oxidation of methane (εH = 49.4 ± 5.0 ‰, εC = 5.2 ± 0.4 ‰) – the former being the first of its kind ever reported. This εH value is comparable with reported values from terrestrial ecosystems but clearly lower than those from aerobic and anaerobic methanotroph enrichment cultures, as well as incubations of methanotrophic isolates. The covariation factor between δ13CCH4 and δDCH4, Λ (9.4/8.8 determined using two different methods), was consistent with those from methanotrophic isolate incubations. These values determined herein are valuable for understanding dynamics of methane cycling in the marine realm, and future applications of the approach used herein to other habitats with methanotrophic activity will help reveal whether the small εH value observed herein is a ubiquitous feature across all marine systems.
Precipitation and Women’s/Children’s Domestic Work: Evidence from Ugandan Panel Time-Use for Fetching Water

In a society without infrastructure, climate conditions affect daily activities. This paper documents how one activity, fetching water, changes depending on the precipitation. Using satellitecollected, daily precipitation data, this study finds that a decrease in rainfall increases the time spent fetching water, especially for children and women. Analysis by gender revealed that, while girls spend more time fetching water, the change in time fetching water in response to rainfall is larger for boys. The impact is the largest for adult women. A decrease in daily rainfall from the 75th percentile to the 25th percentile increases the labor hours of women by 0.54 hours per week (13.3% from the average). Further analysis shows that severe weather (a dry spell lasting more than 20 days) increases the distance between the main water source and the dwellings. The effect of the severe weather on the choice of the water source was not observed in this study.
Rethinking the Design of Learning based Inter-Patient Registration using Deformable Supervoxels

Deep learning has the potential to substantially improve inter-subject alignment for shape and atlas analysis. So far most highly accurate supervised approaches require dense manual annotations and complex multi-level architectures but may still be susceptible to label bias. We present a radically di ↵ erent approach for learning to estimate large deformations without expert supervision. Instead of regressing displacements, we train a 3D DeepLab network to predict automatic supervoxel segmentations. To enable consistent supervoxel labels, we use the warping ﬁeld of a conventional approach and increase the accuracy by sampling multiple complementary over-segmentations. We experimentally demonstrate that 1) our deformable supervoxels are less sensitive to large initial misalignment and can combine linear and nonlinear registration and 2) using this self-supervised classiﬁcation loss is more robust to noisy ground truth and leads to better convergence than direct regression as supervision. Public code and dataset: github.com/multimodallearning/slic reg
Social Media Opinions on Working From Home in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Study

Background Since March 2020, companies nationwide have started work from home (WFH) owing to the rapid increase of confirmed COVID-19 cases in an attempt to help prevent the disease from spreading and to rescue the economy from the pandemic. Many organizations have conducted surveys to understand people’s opinions toward WFH. However, the findings are limited owing to a small sample size and the dynamic topics over time. Objective This study aims to understand public opinions regarding WFH in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted a large-scale social media study using Twitter data to portray different groups of individuals who have positive or negative opinions on WFH. We performed an ordinary least squares regression analysis to investigate the relationship between the sentiment about WFH and user characteristics including gender, age, ethnicity, median household income, and population density. To better understand the public opinion, we used latent Dirichlet allocation to extract topics and investigate how tweet contents are related to people’s attitude. Results On performing ordinary least squares regression analysis using a large-scale data set of publicly available Twitter posts (n=28,579) regarding WFH during April 10-22, 2020, we found that the sentiment on WFH varies across user characteristics. In particular, women tend to be more positive about WFH (P<.001). People in their 40s are more positive toward WFH than those in other age groups (P<.001). People from high-income areas are more likely to have positive opinions about WFH (P<.001). These nuanced differences are supported by a more fine-grained topic analysis. At a higher level, we found that the most negative sentiment about WFH roughly corresponds to the discussion on government policy. However, people express a more positive sentiment when discussing topics on “remote work or study” and “encouragement. ” Furthermore, topic distributions vary across different user groups. Women pay more attention to family activities than men (P<.05). Older people talk more about work and express a more positive sentiment regarding WFH. Conclusions This paper presents a large-scale social media–based study to understand the public opinion on WFH in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that this study can contribute to policymaking both at the national and institution or company levels to improve the overall population’s experience with WFH.
Preparation and Properties of Nano-multilayer Films by Rotating Jet Electrodeposition

In the following paper, Cu-Ni multilayer films were prepared by rotating jet electrodeposition (RJE). The Cu plating solution and the Ni plating solution were sprayed alternately during deposition to the rotating cathode surface through the corresponding nozzle. The cross-sectional morphology, microstructure, microhardness, and wear resistance of multilayer films were measured by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, microhardness tester, and depth of field microscope, respectively. The results revealed that this novel method had no limit to the technological conditions and avoided the oxidation of the films which existed within the preparation of multilayer films by conventional electrodeposition. The sublayer boundaries of the obtained multilayer films were clear. A semi-coherent interface was formed between the sublayers. The resulting special structure reinforced the properties of the films. The microhardness of the multilayer films increased as the modulation period decreased. When the modulation period was reduced to less than 100 nm, the hardness increased dramatically. In addition, the wear resistance of multilayer films was improved when the modulation period decreased.
Power Quality Phenomena, Standards, and Proposed Metrics for DC Grids

This work addresses the problem of power quality (PQ) metrics (or indexes) suitable for DC grids, encompassing low and medium voltage applications, including electric transports, all-electric ships and aircrafts, electric vehicles, distributed generation and microgrids, modern data centers, etc. The two main pillars on which such PQ indexes are discussed and built are: (i) the physical justification, so the electric phenomena affecting DC grids and components (PV panels, fuel cells, capacitors, batteries, etc.), causing, e.g., stress of materials, aging, distortion, grid instability; and (ii) the existing standardization framework, pointing out desirable coverage and extension, similarity with AC grids standards, but also inconsistencies. For the first point, each phenomenon is discussed with quantitative conclusions on relevant thresholds: in many cases some percentage of distortion (ripple) is acceptable (stress on capacitors and storage, impact on fuel cells, and PV panels), whereas in other cases, much higher levels may be tolerated (interference to protection and monitoring devices). Standards are reviewed for indications not only of low-order harmonics and voltage fluctuations typical of old DC grid schemes, but also for high-frequency noise, including thus supraharmonics and common-mode disturbance, and filling the gap with the electromagnetic compatibility domain. However, phenomena typical of EMC and electrical safety (such as various types of overvoltages and fast transients) are excluded. Suitable PQ indexes are then reviewed, suggesting integrations and modifications, to cover the relevant phenomena and technological progress, and to better follow the normative exigencies: ripple is considered in time and frequency domain, in particular with a band limited implementation; for transients and pulsed loads, more traditional indexes based on area, energy, and half duration are confronted with indexes evaluating the power trajectory and its derivative.
PABI : A U NIFIED PAC-B AYESIAN I NFORMATIVENESS M EASURE FOR I NCIDENTAL S UPERVISION S IGNALS

Real-world applications often require making use of a range of incidental supervision signals . However, we currently lack a principled way to measure the beneﬁt an incidental training dataset can bring, and the common practice of using indirect, weak signals is through exhaustive experiments with various models and hyper-parameters. This paper studies whether we can, in a single framework, quantify the beneﬁt of various types of incidental signals for one’s target task without going through combinatorial experiments . We propose PABI , a uniﬁed informative-ness measure motivated by PAC-Bayesian theory, characterizing the reduction in uncertainty that indirect, weak signals provide. We demonstrate PABI ’s use in quantifying various types of incidental signals including partial labels, noisy labels, constraints, cross-domain signals
TkML-AP: Adversarial Attacks to Top-k Multi-Label Learning

Top-k multi-label learning, which returns the top-k predicted labels from an input, has many practical applications such as image annotation, document analysis, and web search engine. However, the vulnerabilities of such algorithms with regards to dedicated adversarial perturbation attacks have not been extensively studied previously. In this work, we develop methods to create adversarial perturbations that can be used to attack top-k multi-label learning-based image annotation systems (TkML-AP). Our methods explicitly consider the top-k ranking relation and are based on novel loss functions. Experimental evaluations on large-scale benchmark datasets including PASCAL VOC and MS COCO demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods in reducing the performance of state-of-the-art top-k multi-label learning methods, under both untargeted and targeted attacks.
THE GATEWAY TO STUDENT LIFE EXPERIENCE A PRODUCT-SERVICE DESIGN APPROACH

When thinking of attending a Higher Education Institution (HEI), a whole new experience comes to mind. Finding lodging, eating at the student restaurant, getting support during times where things get difficult, participating in fraternity life, and so much more, are all comprised in a term that we coin ‘the student life experience’ (SLX). This experience starts the moment you apply for an HEI and holds just as much value for your studies, as the actual studies themselves. At the University of Antwerp, auxiliary services provide necessary means for students and their experience inand outside of the lecture hall. This wide range of services is essential to the quality of the university. Optimizing these services, makes a university stand out amongst others. Not only is it important to understand that balance and in particular to optimize the perception and interaction regarding the Student Information Point (STIP) that acts as a gateway to these services. The paper proposes a product-service design approach rooted in broad student involvement and open communication.
Review of sexual health issues linked with cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males

There are well established links between male sexual health conditions and chronic disease, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Erectile dysfunction (ED) and low testosterone are two sexual health conditions that are relatively common among the wider male population. However, there is a lack of data specifically about these sexual problems among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males. One of the most important findings of research regarding the links between sexual health and chronic disease is that ED can be a risk marker for future CVD or undiagnosed T2DM. Understanding these links can lead to more holistic health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males, including the benefits of earlier diagnosis and treatment. Raising awareness of these issues and creating safe spaces for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males to talk about sexual health may also prevent some from suffering in silence with a sexual problem.
Survival signals induced by cholesterol oxidation by-products in atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is the most prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality developed countries. Oxysterols are a family of 27-carbon molecules originated from cholesterol oxidation and the atherogenic potential of oxysterols is linked to their ability to induce apoptosis, vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and monocyte migration. Apparently, these compounds are able to modulate not only pro-apoptotic but also antiapoptotic signals in targeted cells; however, their anti-apoptotic effect has not been investigated in depth. Hence, we aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the survival signaling elicited by 27-hydroxycholesterol (27-OH) which is the most represented oxysterol in human blood. Using human promonocytic cells (U937) challenged with a relatively low (10 uM) concentration of 27-OH, a marked while transient increase of intracellular ROS level that enhanced both MEK-ERK and PI3K-Akt phosphorylation was observed between 6 and 24 hours, paralleled by Bad phosphorylation, resulting to be a crucial event in delaying apoptotic death. In turn, the knock down of ERK and Akt by means of selective inhibitors, increased ROS production at 12 h showing that ERK/Akt axis was responsible of a sustained quenching of ROS production. Involvement of antioxidant Nrf2 and its target genes, HO-1 and NQO-1 in this early survival response were shown. It thus appears that Nrf2 is responsible for the quenching of the oxidative imbalance exerted in 27-OH challenged cells that analyzed by confocal microscopy. The data obtained highlight oxysterols' ability to promote cell survival that might contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammation-driven chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis.
Investigating Personalisation-Privacy Paradox Among Young Irish Consumers: A Case of Smart Speakers

Personalisation refers to the catering of online services to match consumer’s interests. In order to provide personalised service, companies gather data on the consumer. In this situation, consumers must navigate a trade-off when they want the benefits of personalised information and services while simultaneously wish to protect themselves from privacy risks. However, despite many individuals claiming that privacy is an essential right to them, they behave contradictorily in online environments by not engaging in privacy-preserving behaviours. This paradox is known as the personalisation-privacy Paradox. The personalisation-privacy paradox has been studied in many different scenarios, ranging from location-based advertising to online shopping. The objective of this study is to investigate the personalisation-privacy paradox in the context of smart speakers. Based on an exploratory study with young Irish consumers, this study suggests a difference between the users and non-users of smart speakers in terms of their perception of privacy risks and corresponding privacy-preserving behaviours. In so doing, it also explains the existence of the personalisation-privacy paradox and offers insights for further research.
Effects of pore size on in vitro and in vivo anticancer efficacies of mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) have been widely applied for drug delivery systems. To investigate the effects of pore size on anticancer efficacies, MSN with different pore sizes but similar particle sizes and surface charges were synthesized via a microemulsion method. The pore structures of MSN were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms. Doxorubicin loaded MSN (DOX/MSN) were prepared and the minimum drug loading capacity was detected in DOX/MSN with a pore size of 2.3 nm (DOX/MSN2). DOX/MSN with a pore size of 8.2 nm (DOX/MSN8) showed a comparable drug loading amount in comparison with ones with a pore size of 5.4 nm (DOX/MSN5). In vitro drug release profiles showed that DOX/MSN5 could release DOX quickly and completely. Compared with DOX/MSN2 and DOX/MSN8, DOX/MSN5 showed the higher cellular uptake and nucleic concentration of DOX in QGY-7703 cells, which led to efficient cell-apoptosis induction and anti-proliferation effect, and thus the optimal in vivo anticancer activities. Taken together, these results highlighted the importance of pore size in anticancer efficacies, which would serve as a guideline in the rational design of MSN for cancer therapy.
Browsing Issues in Large Displays

The internet access is increasingly shifting from the traditional desktop displays to high-resolution giant screen displays. While websites are not optimized for such giant screens, it often delivers a distorted, disconnected and annoying user experience. The challenge in a large display is related to content scaling and placing them on the predictable places to gain visibility. There is a limited research done in this area and we attempted a series of studies in establishing the challenges a user faces while browsing on a large display. We conducted 3 independent pilot studies to understand the problem and discussed the need to create web design guidelines for large displays.
Quality control of whole-slide images through multi-class semantic segmentation of artifacts

Quality control is an integral part of the digitization process of whole-slide histopathology images due to artifacts that arise during various stages of slide preparation. Manual control and supervision of these gigapixel images are labor-intensive. Therefore, we report the ﬁrst multi-class deep learning model trained on whole-slide images covering multiple tissue and stain types for semantic segmentation of artifacts. Our approach reaches a Dice score of 0.91, on average, across six artifact types, and outperforms the competition on an external test set. Finally, we extend the artifact segmentation network to a multi-decision quality control system that can be deployed in routine clinical practice.
A Practicum Track Using Librarian Robot in Support Program for Contemporary Educational Needs

The target of our proposed educational program “Practicum Program for Content Creating” is to provide a training ground for creating new types of contents for the Internet age, where students of several specialized ﬁelds come together. The practicum program consists of lectures, seminars, and practicum tracks for undergraduate and graduate students. The students is able to expand basic knowledge from the lectures, acquire latest information about contents industry from the seminars, and learn skills for creating several types of contents. Students choose a topic from several kinds of the practicum tracks, for example, creating interactive digital photo frames, creating digital archives of historical videos, and so on. This paper presents one of the practicum tracks. The intelligent robot equipped with basic functions as a librarian was used in the track. The robot is able to talk with a library user by a natural language and search a collection of books through the Internet. However, this robot system still has a lot of functions to be added and problems to be solved. In this eight-day track a month, the students investigated the functions and problems, and chose one of them or found a new theme as his/her own theme to tackle. Despite a short period, every student was able to develop a unique function for the robot, and satisﬁed our unique program.
Research Article: Niphargus hegmatanensis sp. nov. (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Niphargidae), a new species from subterranean freshwaters of western Iran

A new subterranean amphipod (N. hegmatanensis sp. nov.) belonging to the genus Niphargus Schiödte, 1849 is described and illustrated. It was collected from Boghati spring in Hamedan Province, Iran. Materials are examined based on the morphological and molecular analyses. Molecular data derived from the nuclear gene 28S rDNA recovered relationships new species. N. hegmatanensis sp. nov. is placed within Iranian clade and phylogenetically has most similarity to N. alisadri. A relatively equal length of distal to proximal article in uropod III, equal size of rami in uropod I, trapezoid shape of propodi in both gnathopods and the short palpus that does not reach the tip of the outer lobe in maxilla I, are the major characteristics which serve to distinguish the new species from its congeners.