Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantitative Characterization of the Flexibility of Poly(ethylene glycol) Chains Attached to a Glassy Carbon Electrode

Electrodes bearing terminally attached PEG600−Fc and PEG3400−Fc chains exhibit remarkably similar time responses in cyclic voltammetry. Two asymmetrical NHS−PEG600−Fc and NHS−PEG3400−Fc poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains of markedly different lengths were synthesized, and their activated N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (NHS) end was used for terminal attachment to the surface of a glassy carbon electrode. A similar surface coverage was obtained with both derivatives. At this coverage, the attached NHS−PEG600−Fc, which are relatively small, were not constrained to overlap whereas the attached NHS−PEG3400−Fc were necessarily stretched. The presence of the ferrocene (Fc) redox probe gave rise to signals in cyclic voltammetry which were analyzed quantitatively. At sufficiently high potential scan rate the peak currents reflect the flexibility of the terminally attached PEG chains. Both types of derivatized electrodes gave remarkably similar peak currents in cyclic voltammetry.
Formation of columnar mesophases by rodlike molecules

Novel amphotropic liquid crystals have been synthesized and their thermotropic and lyotropic phase behavior was investigated by polarizing microscopy and x-ray scattering. These compounds are biphenyl derivatives with a terminally attached hydrophilic 1,2-diol group and 4,4''- didecyloxyterphenyl derivatives with a laterally attached diol group. The diol groups are separated from the rigid cores by means of polyether chains of different length.In dependence of the length of these polyether chains smectic and columnar mesophases have been found. The columnar mesophases may be regarded as ribbon phases resulting from the collapse of a smectic layer structure into band-like segments. Columnar phases were also found in binary mixtures consisting of conventional amphiphiles and bolaamphiphiles as intermediate phases between the smectic double layer and the smectic single layer phase. We can conclude, that the formation of columnar mesophase by rod-like molecules is a more general phenomenon which occurs if strong intermolecular interactions force the molecules to arrange in layers and simultaneously the molecular architecture is not compatible with a smectic layer structure due to steric repulsion or unfavorable dipolar interactions.
The Influence of Facial Pattern on Skeletal Class I Subjects- A Cephalometric Analysis

Objective The purpose of this study was to assess the correlations between the Wits appraisal (using maxillomandibular bisector as the occlusal plane), ANB analysis and facial pattern in skeletal Class I subjects Materials and methods A retrospective chart review was completed on 100 Class I subjects according to the ANB angle. The maxillomandibular bisector (MMB) was used as the occlusal plane to determine the sagittal maxillomandibular relationship according to the Wits appraisal. Four additional measurements (mandibular plane angle, Y­axis, lower facial height and facial axis) associated with facial pattern were measured to determine whether the Wits or ANB analysis is correlated in classifying skeletal and facial patterns Results A weak correlation was found between ANB and Wits (r=0.38) that was statistically significant (p<0.05). Correlations between ANB and all facial pattern measurements were also weak, but they were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Moreover, associations were found between Wits and facial pattern measurements ranging from low to high (­0.05 to 0.57) and were all statistically significant (p<0.05). The strongest correlations were between facial axis (r=0.57), MPA (r=­0.46) and Wits. A moderate correlation was found between lower facial height and Wits (r=­0.331). There were no substantive differences between males and females. Conclusions The Wits appraisal using the maxillomandibular bisector occlusal plane is a valid indicator of the anteroposterior discrepancy and facial pattern. Wits may be a more accurate predictor of facial pattern vs. ANB. However, caution must be exercised in trying to relate Wits appraisal to the gold standard of the ANB angle. Associate Editor Not Assigned
Numerical Solution of Stiff System by Second Order Backward Difference Formula

In this paper, we suggest a second order Backward Differentiation Formula (BDF-2) for solving stiff systems of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) using piecewise uniform mesh instead of uniform mesh. The proposed method reduces the error and average error and improve the accuracy over BDF-2 with uniform mesh. Numerical examples validate our claim.
Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistance for Individuals With Movement Disorders Based on a Kinematic Model of the Upper Limb

Design and development of robotic-assistance must consider the abilities of individuals with disabilities. In this article, a 8-DOF kinematic model of the upper limb complex is derived to evaluate the reachable workspace of the arm during interaction with a planar robot and to serve as the basis for rehabilitation strategies and assistive robotics. Through inverse differential kinematics and by taking account the physical limits of each arm joint, the model determines workspaces where the individual is able to perform tasks and those regions where robotic assistance is required. Next, a learning-from-demonstration strategy via a nonparametric potential field function is derived to teach the robot the required assistance based on demonstrations of functional tasks. This article investigates two applications. First, in the context of rehabilitation, robotic assistance is only provided if the individual is required to move her arm in regions that are not reachable via voluntary motion. Second, in the context of assistive robotics, the demonstrated trajectory is scaled down to match the individual’s voluntary range of motion through a nonlinear workspace mapping. Assistance is provided within that workspace only. Experimental results in 5 different experimental scenarios with a person with cerebral palsy confirm the suitability of the proposed framework.
Product Market Competition and Financial Structure —Evidence from a Textual Analysis of Chinese Listed Firms

On the basis of a textual analysis of listed firms’ annual reports, we measure the extent of product market competition and study how product market competition affects firms’ financial structure. We find that as a firm’s product market competition becomes fiercer, the firm tends to rely less on debt financing, especially short-term debt financing. In addition, we find that the effect of product market competition on financial structure only works in nonstate-owned firms (non-SOEs). Overall, this study contributes to the literature that discusses product market competition’s impact on financial structure. Furthermore, our research findings provide some evidence about the channel through which product market competition affects firms’ financing choices.
Comparison of self-fixating mesh with conventional polypropylene mesh in lichtenstein’s tension free inguinal hernia repair

Background: Post-operative pain is a disabling complication of inguinal hernia repair. Sutures that are used to anchor the mesh are blamed for tissue tension and nerve entrapment leading to postoperative pain. Self-fixating mesh, a bicomponent mesh with resorbable polylactic acid gripping system can produce a tension-free repair without sutures, reducing the potential of post-operative pain. The objectives of the study were to compare postoperative pain, the operating time and the efficacy in terms of recurrence among patients undergoing Lichtenstein’s inguinal hernia repair with self-fixating mesh and conventional polypropylene mesh. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted among 120 patients. Half of them underwent Lichtenstein’s inguinal hernia repair with self-fixating mesh which did not require sutures and the other half with conventional polypropylene mesh which were anchored with polypropylene sutures. Time taken to complete surgery was noted. Postoperative pain was charted using a visual analogue scale at 15 days, 3 months, 6 months and at 1 year during the follow up.Results: Median postoperative pain score and operating time was significantly lower in patients who underwent repair with self-fixating mesh. None of the patients had recurrence at the end of 1 year follow up period. Conclusions: Self-fixating mesh can reduce the postoperative pain and the operating time in patients undergoing Lichtenstein’s inguinal hernia repair when compared with a conventional polypropylene mesh. The self-fixating mesh is as efficacious as conventional polypropylene mesh in preventing recurrences.
The Sampling, By Quadrats, of Planar Aggregates

The estimation, for planar particle aggregates, of their number or density per unit area and of their distributions (e.g. of area or perimeter), by means of randomly placed quadrats, is complicated by the question of deciding whether or not to include particles truncated by the quadrat boundaries. Previous unsatisfactory solutions to this problem have led to unnecessary bias in the estimates. A general ‘associated point’ solution is presented, and its theory is developed in some detail.
Numerical Prediction of Risk Areas for Low Oxygen Corrosion Damages in Furnace of the Retrofitted Tangentially Fired Boiler

The modern project solution, which has been implemented on the coal combustion system in Thermal Power Plant Tuzla Unit 6, has enabled the application of low emission concept of combustion and reduction of ash slugging on walls of combustion furnace, but analysis of the operation of boiler has shown significant deviations of the characteristic operating parameters obtained by the exploitation measurements compared to their design values. Previous CFD analysis that has been conducted on the aero-mixture channel and low emission burner has shown that current system of aero-mixture separation has a complex impact on combustion process inside the furnace. In order to determine the scope of the proper coal distribution in the specific boiler furnace on the combustion process, results of previous CFD analysis in combination with data obtained with classical mathematical models, have been used as inlet data for CFD simulation of combustion process. Obtained results in this paper should enable better understanding of combustion process, determination of critical process parameters that have main impact on efficiency of the boiler and its service life. From CFD results it’s clear that shape and position of flame depends on operating mills configuration and coal rate distribution per coal burner height.
Viscoelastic Layer Insertion to Reduce the Propagation of Energy by Vertical Impacts on Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) Laminates

The insertion of a viscoelastic layer is proposed to mitigate damage by vertical impact. For this purpose, unmodified GFRP panels and others modified with the viscoelastic sheet are made. With the use of an accelerometer, the force of the vertical impacts due to weight drop on the panels is measured, in order to quantify the critical points of damage. The absorbed energy is obtained through the mathematical formulation developed for this purpose. Damage is observed qualitatively by characterizing with penetrating inks to establish a comparison between viscoelastic-modified panels and non-modified panels. Impact force versus time curves are presented to assess damage mitigation in the GFRP. The benefits of the modification are evaluated, and its protection to the laminate is checked.
Investigation of organizational culture in companies in high rate polluted countries: Review of existing evidence and application of the new VOX Organizationis model

ABSTRACT: As one of the aspects of modern behavioral and economic sciences during the past few years, organizational culture has become one of the critical points in business practice. The studies has shown that organizational culture is considered to be an “asset” that can be connected to progress execution, hence being remarkable to the life of the organization. However, since the market competition rules has become more radical and demand for companies a complex “collection” of measures and changes, modern companies should focus not only on a solid organizational culture, but rather on the alignment within. Alignment along with innovativeness and integration can assist the companies in outperforming their main rivals and competitors. Therefore, numerous organizations endeavor to measure their organizational cultures through already reputable models by perceived authors or to receive inside strategies to supply understandable parameters in order to appraise their organizational culture. The process of checking alignment isn’t a onetime exertion anymore, but rather it is a portion of persistent endeavors for change of the companies’ required proficiency and long-term sustainability. The aim of this research is to investigate and identify the organizational culture and organizational alignment in a companies in a countries that are facing high pollution rate and check some theoretical approaches to this phenomenon. As these type of analyses, were rarely conducted in these countries, one of the objectives of this research is the practical implementation of VOX Organizationis, an instrument for measuring alignment, culture and leadership values and review of evidence and recommendation on its implementations within the companies. This study will provide the reader with a greater understanding of how and with which instrument to measure organizational culture and its alignment, through introducing up-to-date scientific research in the same field.
THE EFFECT OF A MEAT STRETCHING DEVICE ON THE TENDERNESS OF HOT- BONED BEEF TOPSIDES AND ROSTBIFFS

Methods to improve tenderness in meat include mechanical approaches, such as stretching. An experiment was undertaken to assess the impact of SmartStretchTM technology on the tenderness of hot boned beef topsides (m. semimembranosus) and rostbiffs (mainly m. gluteus medius). Control and stretched primals from the same animals were compared and both shear force and sensory assessment undertaken. There was no effect of stretching on rostbiff or topside shear force (P > 0.05), but the variation for shear force of stretched rostbiff samples was significantly (P > 0.05) reduced compared to unstretched samples. There was no significant (P > 0.05) sensory benefit for either primal from stretching. There was substantial unexplained variation for sensory data and also significant variation between samples contributing to the lack of difference between treatments.
Cation complexation by chemically modified calixarenes. Part 7. Transport of alkali cations by p-tert-butylcalix[n]arene esters and amides

The co-transport of alkali thiocyanates, at 20 °C, from an aqueous source solution into an aqueous receiving solution through a bulk liquid dichloromethane solution, is facilitated by p-tert-butylcalix[n]arene esters of lower rim calixarene acetic acids, named ethyl esters (n= 4, 5, 6, 8), by p-dealkylated calix[6]arene ethyl ester and the diethyl and pyrrolidine amides of a p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene. The transport rates show that all derivatives, except the octamer, are efficient and selective neutral ionophores for alkaline cations. The amides are better carriers than the esters and the pyrrolidinyl amide is more efficient for Li+, Na+ and K+ than the diethyl amide. Among the esters, the most efficient, by far, is the pentamer. The tetra- and penta-esters are selective for Na+, the hexaester for Cs+ and the tetraamides for K+. The Cs+/Na+ selectivity of the hexaester is increased by dealkylation in the para position. The same is shown to be displayed in extraction. The data are compared with existing stability constant values in methanol and extraction equilibrium constants for alkali picrates, from water to dichloromethane. New extraction data are provided for alkali thiocyanates.
Realizing Cascading Stream Reasoning with Streaming MASSIF

To perform meaningful analysis over multiple streams of heterogeneous data, stream processing needs to support expressive reasoning capabilities to infer implicit facts and temporal reasoning to capture temporal dependencies. However, current stream reasoning approaches cannot perform the required reasoning expressivity while detecting time dependencies over high frequency data streams. Cascading Reasoning was meant to solve the problem of expressive reasoning over high frequency streams by introducing a hierarchical approach consisting of multiple layers. Each layer minimizes the processed data and increases the complexity of the data processing. However, the original Cascading Reasoning vision was never fully realized. Therefore, we propose a renewed and more generalized vision on Cascading Reasoning, serving as a blueprint for existing and future hierarchical approaches. Furthermore, we introduce Streaming MASSIF, a new Cascading Reasoning approach, performing expressive reasoning and complex event processing over high velocity streams. We show that our approach is able to handle high velocity streams up to hundreds of events per second, in combination with expressive reasoning and complex event processing.
Fusion de modèles bayésiens et de convolution pour la reconnaissance d’actions

Résumé Les différentes actions qui ont lieu au cours d’une sé-quence vidéo suivent généralement un ordre logique. Dans cet article nous proposons une approche hybride qui ré-sulte de la fusion d’un réseau de convolution avec une ap-proche bayésienne qui repose sur des modèles d’interac-tions homme-objets et des transitions entre les différentes actions. L’idée est de combiner dans la prédiction ﬁnale ces deux approches. Nous validons notre stratégie de fusion sur deux jeux de données publics : CAD-120 [7] et Watch-n-Patch [27]. Par rapport aux deux méthodes in-dividuelles la fusion permet un gain en justesse de +4% et +6% respectivement sur les deux jeux de données. Les performances de reconnaissance d’actions sont clairement améliorées grâce à la fusion, notamment lors de déséqui-libre entre les classes.
Evaluation of Serological SARS-CoV-2 Lateral Flow Assays for Rapid Point of Care of SARS-CoV-2 POCT 3

Background. Rapid point-of-care tests (POCTs) for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies vary in 36 performance. A critical need exists to perform head-to-head comparison of these assays. 37 Methods. Performance of fifteen different lateral flow POCTs for the detection of SARS-CoV- 38 2-specific antibodies was performed on a well characterized set of 100 samples. Of these, 40 39 samples from known SARS-CoV-2-infected, convalescent individuals (average of 45 days post 40 symptom onset) were used to assess sensitivity. Sixty samples from the pre-pandemic era 41 (negative control), that were known to have been infected with other respiratory viruses 42 (rhinoviruses A, B, C and/or coronavirus 229E, HKU1, NL63 OC43) were used to assess 43 specificity. The timing of seroconversion was assessed on five POCTs on a panel of 272 44 longitudinal samples from 47 patients of known time since symptom onset. 45 Results. For the assays that were evaluated, the sensitivity and specificity for any reactive band 46 ranged from 55%-97% and 78%-100%, respectively. When assessing the performance of the 47 IgM and the IgG bands alone, sensitivity and specificity ranged from 0%-88% and 80%-100% 48 for IgM and 25%-95% and 90%-100% for IgG. Longitudinal testing revealed that median time 49 post symptom onset to a positive result was 7 days (IQR 5.4, 9.8) for IgM and 8.2 days (IQR 6.3 50 to 11.3). 51 Conclusion. The testing performance widely among with most sensitivity the assays.
Determination of the Fe-n-o Angle In (feno)(7) Complexes Using Multiple-scattering Exafs Analysis By Gnxas

The Fe-N-O bond angle in a series of [FeNO][sup 7] complexes has been probed by EXAFS, utilizing a new theoretical data analysis package, GNXAS. This package provides an integrated approach to the analysis of EXAFS data based on a full curved-wave, multiple-scattering theoretical treatment incorporating least-squares refinement. Since GNXAS is able to calculate all the signals relating to two-, three-, and four-atom correlation functions with the proper treatment of correlated distances and Debye-Waller factors, it is particularly well-suited for analysis of multiple-scattering effects and bond angle determination. EXAFS data were obtained on a series of crystallographically-characterized [FeNO][sup 7] inorganic complexes with varying Fe-N-O angles to examine the sensitivity of the GNXAS fit to this angle. The compounds studied were Fe(TMC)NO (where TMC = 1,4,8,11-tetramethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane) which has an Fe-N-O bond angle of 177.5(5)[degree], Fe(TACN)(N[sub 3])[sub 2]NO (where TACN = N,N[prime],N[double prime]-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane) which has an angle of 156(1)[degree], and Fe(salen)NO (where salen = N,N[prime]-ethylenebis(salicylideneiminato)) which has a bond angle of 127(6)[degrees] at 175[degrees]C and 147(5)[degrees] at 23[degree]C. 28 refs., 15 figs., 3 tabs.
Web-LEGO: Trading Content Strictness for Faster Webpages

The current Internet content delivery model assumes strict mapping between a resource and its descriptor, e.g., a JPEG file and its URL. Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) extend it by replicating the same resources across multiple locations, and introducing multiple descriptors. The goal of this work is to build Web-LEGO, an opt-in service, to speedup webpages at client side. Our rationale is to replace the slow original content with fast similar or equal content. Further, we perform a reality check of this idea both in term of the prevalence of CDN-less websites, availability of similar content, and user perception of similar webpages via millions of scale automated tests and thousands of real users. Then, we devise Web-LEGO, and address natural concerns on content inconsistency and copyright infringements. The final evaluation shows that Web-LEGO brings significant improvements both in term of reduced Page Load Time (PLT) and user-perceived PLT. Specifically, CDN-less websites provide more room for speedup than CDN-hosted ones, i.e., 7x more in the median case. Besides, Web-LEGO achieves high visual accuracy (94.2%) and high scores from a paid survey: 92% of the feedback collected from 1,000 people confirm Web-LEGO’s accuracy as well as positive interest in the service.