Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental investigation of salinity measurement based on optical-electrical dual-differential methods

ABSTRACT Experimental setup of a reflex dual-differential sensor for salinity measurement is developed. The sensor exploits thebeam deviation due to optical refraction at the receiving end face of the measurement cell, which is caused by changesin refractive index with different concentration of salt water. With the help of a right-angle reflecting prism and in thepresence of a referenced distilled water cell with an inclined optical window, optical differential measurement ofincident beam deviations is implement, and the deviation caused by changes in salinity will be detected by a PSD withan electrical differential signal processing technique. Experimental setup and measurement principle are discussed.Salinity measurement based on this method avoids the influences by intensity fluctuation of the incident light andtemperature drift. Preliminary experimental results indicate that the estimated salinity measurement resolution can reach O.O2% depending on the performance of PSD. Keywords: Refractive index, salinity measurement, optical inspection, PSD, distilled water, reference
Measurement of the rotational temperature in a nitrogen molecular beam by REMPI

Molecular beams have been used for diagnoses of solid surfaces and gas-surface interactions. For molecular beams of polyatomic gases, it is important to clarify the distribution over the energy states of the internal degree of freedom. In this study, the rotational energy distribution in a nitrogen molecular beam was spectroscopically measured by the (2+2)N2-REMPI (Resonantly Enhanced Multiphoton Ionization) technique. REMPI is known to have very high detection sensitivity, which allows us to detect molecules under the very low number density condition like in a molecular beam. A REMPI spectrum indicates the rotational energy distribution of molecules, and is not affected by secondary electrons, which simplifies the analysis. The molecular beam was generated using a Kantrowitz-Grey type beam source. The measured REMPI spectra were well fitted by a theoretical spectrum with the Boltzmann distribution, and the rotational temperatures were obtained. Since the supersonic freejet was employed as a beam source, the rotational temperature in the molecular beam was analyzed in accordance with the frozen rotational temperature in a supersonic freejet using the parameter p0d, which is a product of the source pressure p0 and the orifice diameter d. It was found that the rotational temperature is well described as a function of the parameter p0d under the fixed source tempearture condition.
Continuous kannada speech segmentation and speech recognition based on threshold using MFCC And VQ

Continuous speech segmentation and its recognition is playing important role in natural language processing. Continuous context based Kannada speech segmentation depends on context, grammer and semantics rules present in the kannada language. The significant feature extraction of kannada speech signal for recognition system is quite exciting for researchers. In this paper proposed method is divided into two parts. First part of the method is continuous kannada speech signal segmentation with respect to the context based is carried out by computing average short term energy and its spectral centroid coefficients of the speech signal present in the specified window. The segmented outputs are completely meaningful segmentation for different scenarios with less segmentation error. The second part of the method is speech recognition by extracting less number Mel frequency cepstral coefficients with less number of codebooks using vector quantization . In this recognition is completely based on threshold value.This threshold setting is a challenging task however the simple method is used to achieve better recognition rate.The experimental results shows more efficient and effective segmentation with high recognition rate for any continuous context based kannada speech signal with different accents for male and female than the existing methods and also used minimal feature dimensions for training data.
Highly effective metal vapor absorbents based on carbon nanotubes

It was shown that, when filled with gallium, carbon nanotubes can absorb copper vapor with extraordinarily high efficiency. The copper vapor generated from the supporting copper grid upon heating to 800 °C in an electron microscope under a pressure of 1.0×10−5 Pa quickly deposited into the carbon nanotubes and formed an alloy with gallium where the vapor pressure is up to 500 times higher (5×10−3 Pa). These filled carbon nanotubes may be used as highly sensitive toxic or radioactive metal vapor absorbents since gallium also tends to form alloys with metals like mercury and uranium.
Influenza Vaccination and Hospitalizations Among COVID-19 Infected Adults.

INTRODUCTION To date, there are no effective treatments for decreasing hospitalizations in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections. It has been suggested that the influenza vaccine might attenuate the severity of COVID-19. METHODS This is a retrospective single-centered cohort review of a de-identified database of 2005 patients over the age of 18 within the University of Florida health care system who tested positive for COVID-19. Comorbidities and influenza vaccination status were examined. The primary outcome was severity of disease as reflected by hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Logistic regression was performed to examine the relationship between influenza status and hospitalization. RESULTS COVID-19-positive patients who had not received the influenza vaccination within the last year had a 2.44 (95% CI, 1.68, 3.61) greater odds of hospitalization and a 3.29 (95% CI, 1.18, 13.77) greater odds of ICU admission when compared with those who were vaccinated. These results were controlled to account for age, race, gender, hypertension, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity, coronary artery disease, and congestive heart failure. DISCUSSION Our analysis suggests that the influenza vaccination is potentially protective of moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 infection. This protective effect holds regardless of comorbidity. The literature points to a potential mechanism via natural killer cell activation. Though our data potentially is limited by its generalizability and our vaccination rate is low, it holds significant relevance given the upcoming influenza season. Not only could simply encouraging influenza vaccination decrease morbidity and mortality from the flu, but it might help flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic as well. We encourage further studies into this finding.
Transfer of vibrational coherence through incoherent energy transfer process in Forster limit

We study transfer of coherent nuclear oscillations between an excitation energy donor and an acceptor in a simple dimeric electronic system coupled to an unstructured thermodynamic bath and some pronounced vibrational intramolecular mode. Our focus is on the nonlinear optical response of such a system, i.e., we study both excited state energy transfer and the compensation of the so-called ground-state bleach signal. The response function formalism enables us to investigate a heterodimer with monomers coupled strongly to the bath and by a weak resonance coupling to each other (Forster rate limit). Our work is motivated by recent observation of various vibrational signatures in two-dimensional coherent spectra of energy-transferring systems including large structures with a fast energy diffusion. We find that the vibrational coherence can be transferred from donor to acceptor molecules provided the transfer rate is sufficiently fast. The ground-state bleach signal of the acceptor molecules does not show any oscillatory signatures, and oscillations in ground-state bleaching signal of the donor prevail with the amplitude, which is not decreasing with the relaxation rate. (Less)
Bioavailability and antioxidant effect of the Ilex Paraguariensis polyphenols

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vivo the bioavailability of the Ilex paraguariensis polyphenols due to total polyphenols and changes in antioxidant capacity (AOC) in human plasma after an acute intake of 300 ml of an infusion of yerba mate (YM) for 120 minutes. Also, we evaluated the variation of plasma protein or plasma uric acid after the acute intake of YM infusion. Design/methodology/approach – Seventeen healthy young volunteers participated in the determining plasma of total polyphenols concentration (TPC, Folin-Ciocalteu method), plasma AOC for ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid diammonium salt [ABTS] methods), plasmatic uric acid and plasma total protein over the 120 minutes test. Findings – It was found that the bioavailability of YM polyphenols during 120 minutes was 49.3 ± 11.9 per cent, the TPC was increased to 6.0 ± 1.5 per cent, the plasma AOC was increased by FRAP 8.3 ± 3.3 per cent and by ABTS 6.0 ± 2.0 pe.
Control of the Size and Distribution of Gold Nanoparticles by Unmodified Cyclodextrins

We report and discuss how gold nanoparticles were synthesized by the reduction of hydrogen tetrachloroaurate(III) trihydrate by sodium citrate in the presence of unmodified α-cyclodextrin (CD), β-CD, and γ-CD. Gold nanoparticles were immobilized on poly(diallyldimethylammonium) chloride (PDDA) modified glass slides to enable AFM measurements. The particle size was dependent upon the type and concentration of cyclodextrin used as well as the sodium citrate concentration. An increase in the cyclodextrin concentration effected a shift of the particle size range from 12−15 to 4−6 nm with uniform particle size distribution. The homogeneity of the synthesized gold nanoparticles was also evident from transmission electron micrographs (TEMs). Synthesis of gold nanoparticles by the reduction of hydrogen tetrachloroaurate(III) trihydrate by sodium borohydride in the presence of cyclodextrins also reduced the particle size from 6−8 to 2−4 nm. The consecutive particle growth due to the mutual coalescence between nano.
MIRES: Recovering Mobile Applications based on Backend-as-a-Service from Cyber Attacks

Many popular mobile applications rely on the Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) cloud computing model to simplify the development and management of services like data storage, user authentication and notifications. However, vulnerabilities and other issues may lead to malicious operations on the mobile application client-side and malicious requests being sent to the backend, corrupting the state of the application in the cloud. To deal with these attacks after they happen and are successful, it is necessary to remove the immediate effects created by the malicious requests and subsequent effects derived from later requests. In this paper, we present MIRES, an intrusion recovery service for mobile applications based on BaaS. MIRES uses a two-phase recovery process that restores the integrity of the mobile application and minimizes its unavailability. We implemented MIRES in Android and with the Firebase platform and made experiments with 3 mobile applications that showed results of 1000 operations reverted in less than 1 minute and with the mobile application inaccessible only for less than 15 seconds.
Adolescent Humour and Its Relationship with Psychological Adjustment

Background: Adolescence is a transition phase towards adulthood. There is a correlation between humour and psychosocial adjustment. Aim: To assess the level of humour among adolescents and to see its relationships with their general psychological adjustment. Methods and Materials: The present study is a cross-sectional study. Convenience sampling was used to select the school and total enumeration method was used for the selection of the respondents (school-going adolescent). School going adolescents between the ages of 13-17 years were included. They were assessed with their consent using a Socio-demographic Datasheet, Richmond Humour Assessment Instrument, Beck Depression Inventory, Interaction Anxiousness Scale, Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire, Academic Expectation Stress Inventory and Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Results: Humour has a significant negative correlation with the emotional problems and significant positive correlation with pro-social behaviour and total difficulty score. Moreover, it was found that humour has a significant positive correlation with self-efficacy. In regression analysis, it was found that conduct problems and pro-social behaviour contribute significantly to the prediction of humour among adolescents; though, accounting only for 1.08% variance. Remaining 98.9% was attributed to a variable not included in the study. Conclusion: Humour can lead to an improvement in psychological adjustment among adolescent.
Determination of Aluminum and Indium by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography after Precolumn Complexation with 1-Phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolone

Aluminum and indium chelates with l-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolone (PMBP) were separated using a Shim-pack ODS column and pure acetonitrile or acetonitrile saturated with sodium chloride as the mobile phase. The In-PMBP chelate was not retained on the stationary phase with the acetonitrile mobile phase containing sodium chloride, indicating that this chelate decomposed to the charged species in the column. Using acetonitrile saturated with sodium chloride as the mobile phase, the concentration range 0- 1.8×10^-4 M for Al- and ln-PMBP complexes resulted in linear calibration graphs. Precisions of better than 2.6% for Al and 3.6% for In were achieved. The method provided detection limits of ca. 5×10^-7 M for Al and In in a 5 μl injection, using detection at 290 nm.
Support vector regression in statistical downscaling for rainfall forecasting

Abstract—In recent atmospheric global climate change, rainfall forecasting has an important role especially in the archipelagic-agricultural country like Indonesia. We use statistical downscaling to get rainfall forecasting in order to support plantation crops in Kabupaten Jember. Therefore, long-term forecasting in this case is really needed. Statistical downscaling methods seek to draw empirical relationships that transform large-scale feature of global atmospheric condition called General Circulation Model (GCM) to a local scale rainfall variable. In this study we use Support Vector Regression (SVR) to construct the empirical relationship in Statistical Downscaling approach. The three grid size of GCM (8x8,10x10,12x2) were used to develop models and the best identified model was used for simulations of future rainfall forecasting. The result show that all the models in each grid sizes are able to simulate rainfall, however, SVR model in 8x8 grid size slightly better than other grid sizes and we get the SVR-SD’s cross-validation accuracy of 61.77 of Root Means Square Error (RMSE) and 78% R-square. Then we obtain forecasting value or rainfall for 2019-2020 period.
Nanoindentation tests titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V after interference laser treatment

The study aimed was to assess selected mechanical properties of surface layers obtained after interference laser treatment – DLIL of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V used for implants. The samples were melted in still air at room temperature, for this purpose Nd:YAG laser was used, the number of laser shots was variable. Next, nanoindentation tests were performed, based on which Young’s modulus and nanohardness in the obtained surface layers were determined. An increase in nanohardness is observed in the surface layers after laser melting. An increase in the modulus of elasticity and higher hardness was observed for both the first and second areas on the sample surface. In the case of a sample for which three laser beam shots were used, hardness and Young’s modulus almost doubled. On the basis of the obtained results, it was found that the modified Ti-6Al-4V alloy can be used as an implant material, and the proposed method of modifying its surface may extend the life of such implants and improve their frictional properties.
Simple and Efficient Epinephrine Sensor Based on Carbon Nanotube Modified Carbon Film Electrodes

A simple electrochemical sensor for epinephrine (EP) has been developed by modification of a carbon film electrode (CFE) with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a chitosan matrix. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was employed for the evaluation of the electrochemical oxidation of EP at modified electrodes MWCNT/CFE in different pH electrolytes. Under the optimum conditions (pH 7.0), the MWCNT/CFE electrode showed significant electrocatalytic oxidation of EP: a decrease of about 200 mV in the overpotential and an 11-fold increase in the peak current, compared with the unmodified CFE. Detection of EP was carried out by CV, fixed potential amperometry, and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV); the most sensitive response with the lowest detection limit of 0.9 µM obtained by DPV with preconcentration. At MWCNT/CFE, a separation of 175 mV between EP and ascorbic acid peaks was found. The sensor exhibited excellent stability over a period of 6 months and was successfully applied to the analysis of injectable adrenaline solutions.
Physical Properties and Enzymic Degradability of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) Stereoisomers with Different Stereoregularities

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (P(3HB)) stereoisomers of high molecular weights (M n >10 5 ) were synthesized by the ring-opening stereocopolymerization of (R)-β-butyrolactone with (S)-β-butyrolactone at various feed ratios (R/S= 96/4 to 50/50) in the presence of 1-ethoxy-3-chlorotetrabutyldistannoxane as a catalyst. The isotactic diad fractions [i] of P(3HB) stereoisomer samples were varied from 0.92 to 0.30. A syndiotactic P(3HB) sample ([i]= 0.30) was obtained by polymerizing a racemic mixture of β-butyrolactone. The T g 's of P(3HB) samples were 5±2°C, independent of the stereoregularity
The ratio of radial diffusion coefficient to mobility for electrons in helium, argon, air, methane and nitric oxide

The ratio of the radial diffusion coefficient to mobility Dr/ mu exp has been measured for the first time in five gases at high E/N (ratio of electric field to gas number density). The range of E/N was as follows: helium 3<or=E/N<or=847 Td; argon 8<or=E/N<or=1271 Td; air 14<or=E/N<or=1412 Td; methane 14<or=E/N<or=5650 Td; nitric oxide 56<or=E/N<or=1412 Td. The Townsend ionization coefficient alpha T/N has also been measured in each gas for the same E/N range.
University of Groningen Is green the new sexy? Romantic benefits of conspicuous conservation

Conspicuous conservation refers to pro-environmental activities that are intended as signals of some attractive quality of the actor. As some of these qualities are desirable in romantic partners, people may purchase green products or services to impress potential romantic partners. We propose that conspicuous conservation communicates generosity – a trait that is especially valued in long-term romantic partners. Two studies tested whether people’s sustainable product preferences influence how they are perceived as romantic partners (Study 1), and whether actual product preferences are aligned with these perceptions (Study 2). Results from Study 1 suggest that people presented as having purchased green products are perceived as more generous and more attractive as long-term – but also short-term – romantic partners. Results from Study 2 suggest that individuals primed to think about a romantic context are no more likely to prefer sustainable products, suggesting an actorobserver discrepancy that potentially adds to the honesty of the conspicuous conservation signal. The potential communicative value of conspicuous conservation is discussed in relation to the literature on costly signaling, sexual selection, and green marketing.
Properties and Preparation of Chitosan/Silanol Quaternary Ammonium Modified Silica Hybrids Using Sol–Gel Process

Chitosan/modified silica nanocomposites, with a sol–gel process being used to prepare a silanol quaternary ammonium modified silica possessing antimicrobial activity, were investigated, as well as the thermal properties, morphology, optical, mechanical, antimicrobial, and adsorption properties of this type of nanocomposite. Grafting of the modifier onto nanosilica was confirmed through the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the chitosan structure was not disrupted from the incorporation of the modified silica. Fracture surfaces with no clear micro-phase separation were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which indicated the good interaction of chitosan and the modified silica. The organic modifier tended to cause the aggregation of the modified silica at higher content on a submicron scale based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis, which might be due to a decrease of the stability factor originating from the negative charges on silica. With the introduction of modified silica, the optical transmittance decreased at higher organic modifier content in agreement with TEM analysis. The elongation at break remained largely unchanged, but tensile strength and Young's moduli deteriorated in modified silica filled systems in comparison with pure silica filled systems. The introduction of the organic modified silica gave a higher antibacterial activity. All nanocomposites were capable of chelating Cu (II) as well as Fe (III) at a different degree. Thus, the prepared chitosan/modified silica nanocomposites exhibited both antimicrobial and chelating properties.
Challenges in designing a brain-machine search interface

While search engines have reshaped how human beings learn and think, the interaction paradigm of search has remained relatively stable for decades. With the development of neural science and biomedical engineering, it is possible to build a direct communication pathway between a computing device and the human brain via Brain-machine Interfaces (BMIs), which may revolutionize the search paradigm in a predictable future. Therefore, in this paper, we extensively discuss the possibility, benefits, and potential challenges in using BMI as a new interface for search, and call for more research efforts in this promising direction.
THE INSECTICIDAL ACTIVITY OF THE FUSED PROTEIN HA-ASTL/ GNA AGAINST SPODOPTERA LITTORALIS AND SITOPHILUS ORYZAE

The fusion technology was exploited in the field of insect control as a trial to enhance the insecticidal activity of certain toxic proteins against different pests. The astacin like metalloprotease toxin was fused to the GNA snowdrop lectin in the same frame and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The synergistic effect of astl and GNA was examined on the S. littoralis larvae and S. oryzae adults. The mortality percentages of the fused protein (Ha-astl/GNA) "1000 μg/ml " after 4 days, were 78.6%± 4.16 and 71.66% ±3.51 for first and second spodoptera larval instars, respectively. At the same concentration "1000 μg/ml ", the mortality of the fused protein on S. oryzae adults was 49.3±2.08%.