Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of fibre properties in mill scale high- and low consistency refining of thermomechanical pulp (Part 1)

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in fibre properties with high (HC)- and low consistency (LC) refining of TMP and determine how these contribute to tensile index. Two process configurations, one with only HC refining and another with HC refining followed by LC refining were evaluated in three TMP mainline processes in two mills using Norway spruce. An increase in tensile index for a given applied specific energy was similar for all LC refiners in the three lines, despite differences in the fibre property profiles of the feed pulps. Compared with only HC refined pulps at a given tensile index, HC+LC refined pulps had greater fibre wall thickness, similar fibre length, strain at break and freeness, but lower light scattering coefficient, fibre curl and external fibrillation. The degree of internal fibrillation, determined by Simons’ stain measurements, was similar for both configurations at a given tensile index. The results indicate that the increase in tensile index in LC refining is largely influenced by a decrease in fibre curl and in HC refining by peeling of the fibre walls. Compared at a given tensile index, the shive content (Somerville mass fraction) was similar for both HC+LC and HC refining.
Supramolecular Architectures of Meloxicam Carboxylic Acid Cocrystals, a Crystal Engineering Case Study

Meloxicam is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug with low aqueous solubility and high permeability prescribed for indications of arthritis, primary dysmenorrhea, fever, and pain. In this contribution, we apply crystal engineering and the supramolecular synthon approach to prepare novel meloxicam cocrystal forms with various pharmaceutically acceptable or toxicologically qualified carboxylic acids. As a result, 19 pharmaceutical cocrystals including one cocrystal of a salt are synthesized by solid-state and solution methods. All resulting cocrystals are characterized by X-ray diffraction, infrared, and thermal analyses. In particular, crystal structures of six meloxicam cocrystals are determined and reported, namely, meloxicam·1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid cocrystal (1), meloxicam·glutaric acid cocrystal (2), meloxicam·l-malic acid cocrystal of a salt (3), meloxicam·salicylic acid cocrystal form III (4), meloxicam·fumaric acid cocrystal (5), and meloxicam·succinic acid cocrystal (6). The supramolecular asse.
Analytical evaluation of Reebio procalcitonin latex-enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay on the HITACHI Labospect 008AS

Procalcitonin (PCT) has been widely accepted as a diagnostic serum marker for distinguishing bacterial infections from other non-bacterial infectious settings [1, 2]. Although the role of PCT in antibiotic stewardship based on different cut-off ranges remains controversial, PCT measurement has become routine in clinical laboratories and emergency departments for patients with fever or other potential infection-related syndromes [3–7]. Various commercial platforms with manual and automated or semi-automated methods are available for the measurement of PCT. With the increasing needs of patients and in the face of needing to lower costs, automated methods are replacing manual or semi-automated ones. The automated immunoluminescence PCT assay is regarded as the reference method for any novel method or platform [8–10]. The B.R. A.H. M.S Kryptor system is one of the most commonly used reference methods for PCT measurement [10], but this is so far unavailable in China. The VIDAS B.R. A.H. M.S PCT assay, another extensively used semi-automated method for PCT measurement, agrees well with the Kryptor PCTmethod andhas consequently become the reference method in several published studies [10–12]. Reebio PCT (Ningbo Ruiyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang, China) is a latex-enhanced immunoturbidimetric assay for PCT measurement, in which the analytical principle used is close to Diazyme PCT [13], and can be performed on an automatic biochemistry analyzer such as the HITACHI Labospect 008AS (Tokyo, Japan). Total assay time was nearly 10 min with a linear measuring range of 0.15–60 ng/mL. At PCT levels of 0.15–5 ng/mL, the absolute bias was ≤1 ng/mL, and at levels of 5–60 ng/mL, the relative bias was ±15% (manufacturer’s package insert). In this study, for the first time, we validated the Reebio PCT assay on the HITACHI Labospect 008AS with the objective of addressing imprecision, linearity, and the performance in comparison with the VIDAS PCT method. The data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism 5.0 or MedCalc (Version 11.4.2.0) software. A total of 103 serumsampleswere collected from leftover serum samples referred to our laboratory (Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Fifth Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital [Former 307th hospital of the PLA], Beijing) for routine PCT measurements with the VIDAS PCT method during the eight months from January to August 2019. All sampleswerestoredat−80 °Candmeasuredusing theReebio PCT method, and subsequently the results were compared with historical data obtained with the VIDAS PCT method. The materials for the study were collected after routine analysis was completed. Therefore, the institutional review board approval was waived. The study complied with the WorldMedical Association Declaration of Helsinki regarding ethical conduct of research involving human subjects. The analytical performance demonstrated that the limit of blank (LOB), limit of detection (LOD), and limit of Shunzong Yuan and Naxin Zheng: contributed equally to this work.
Experimental investigation on steam/nitrogen condensation characteristics inside horizontal enhanced condensation channels

Abstract In order to investigate heat transfer characteristics of steam/nitrogen condensation inside horizontal enhanced condensation channels (HECCs), experiments have been performed, respectively, inside HECC and horizontal circular channel (HCC). HECC is formed by inserting different reinforcers into HCC including horizontal multi-start straight channels (HMSSCs) and horizontal spiral channels (HSCs). Effects of nitrogen mass fractions on average condensation heat transfer coefficients (CHTCs), average outlet condensate mass flowrates (CMFRs), and average steam-side pressure drops (SSPDs) are analyzed, respectively. The results indicate that HECC has better condensation performance than HCC under the same conditions, while average SSPDs of HECC will increase slightly. Then, HMSSC is compared against HCC, and enhancement factors of average CHTCs and average outlet CMFRs are about 1.45 and 1.12, respectively, while the enlargement factor of average SSPDs is about 1.16. Similarly, HSC is compared against HCC, and enhancement factors of average CHTCs and average outlet CMFRs are about 1.25 and 1.05, respectively, while the enlargement factor of average SSPDs is about 1.12.
Quick X-ray reflectivity of spherical samples

Recently, a new experimental setup for quick X-ray reflectivity (q-XRR) measurements was proposed, which is based on simultaneous recording of an X-ray reflectivity curve over all angles of interest. This new setup for q-XRR allows measurements to be done within seconds, thus permitting studies of the time evolution of chemical, thermal, and mechanical changes at the surfaces and interfaces of different materials. Since the q-XRR measurement setup utilizes an extended X-ray source and detector, it is important to develop models and to account for the following two effects: (i) diffuse scattering associated with different points of the source and (ii) sample curvature. Models accounting for both effects are presented, and their influences on interpretation of the q-XRR measurement results are discussed.
Ferric-ferrous iron ratios of experimental majoritic garnet and clinopyroxene as a function of oxygen fugacity

Abstract The oxidation state of iron in upper mantle minerals is widely used to constrain the Earth mantle’s oxidation state. Previous studies showed high levels of ferric iron in high-pressure majoritic garnets and pyroxenes despite reducing conditions. To disentangle the effects of pressure and increasing oxygen fugacity on the Fe3+/ΣFe ratios of garnet and clinopyroxene, we performed high-pressure experiments at a pressure of 10 GPa in a 1000-ton Walker-type multi-anvil apparatus at the University of Münster. We synthesized majoritic garnets and clinopyroxenes with a total iron content close to natural mantle values at different oxygen fugacities, ranging from IW+4.7 to metal saturation at IW+0.9. We analyzed the iron oxidation state in garnets with the electron microprobe “flank method. ” Furthermore, we investigated the oxidation state of iron in garnets and clinopyroxenes with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Although the flank method measurements are systematically lower than the EELS measurements, Fe3+/ΣFe obtained with both methods agree well within 2σ errors. The “flank method” has the advantage of being much faster and more easily to set up, whereas TEM-EELS has a much higher spatial resolution and can be applied to various non-cubic minerals such as orthopyroxenes and clinopyroxenes. We used our experimental results to compare two geobarometers that contain a term for ferric iron in garnet (Beyer and Frost 2017; Tao et al. 2018) with two geobarometers that do not account for ferric iron (Collerson et al. 2010; Wijbrans et al. 2016). We found that for garnets with low total Fe and Fe3+ (like many natural garnets), the pressures can be calculated without including the ferric iron content.
NETWORK EFFECT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF JOINT R&D PROJECTS

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how network position can influence the performance of joint R&D projects and how the specific objectives of a project can mediate this relation. These aspects are examined by studying the network position and objectives of joint R&D projects developed within the European networks of excellence. Results highlight that while structural embeddedness exerts a clear influence on the performance of exploitation projects, the effect of degree centrality has a lower impact on exploration projects due to the redundant information that this location implies. Similarly, junctional embeddedness positively affects exploration project performance, while the heterogeneity of partners involved in a betweenness centrality position does not favor the performance of exploitation projects. This paper contributes to social capital theory by showing that the effect of a particular network position on performance depends on joint R&D project objectives.
FisheyeYOLO: Object Detection on Fisheye Cameras for Autonomous Driving

In this paper, we tackle Object Detection in ﬁsheye images and study different object representations. The standard bounding box fails in ﬁsheye cameras due to the strong radial distortion, particularly in the image’s periphery. We explore better representations like oriented bounding box, ellipse, and generic polygon. Moreover, we design a novel curved bounding box model that has optimal properties for ﬁsheye distortion models. Overall, the proposed polygon model improves mIoU relative accuracy by 40.3%. We present the ﬁrst detailed study on object detection on ﬁsheye cameras for autonomous driving scenarios to the best of our knowledge. The dataset 1 comprising of 10,000 images along with all the object representations ground truth will be made public to encourage further research. We summarize our work in a short video with qualitative results at https://youtu.be/
Spatial-Temporal Words Learning for Crowd Behavior Recognition

-In this paper we introduce a method to detect abnormal behavior in crowd scenes using spatial-temporal words, in which Spatial Temporal Interest Points (STIPs) are extracted as crowd behavior movement features. For this purpose, three methods for STIPs extraction are compared and analyzed, which are Harris corner, Gabor wavelet and Hessian Matrix. Then we select Hessian matrix which can get scale-invariant STIPs. Gradient histogram, optical flow histogram and spatio-temporal Haar feature are used to build descriptors for STIPs. In normal behavior modeling Bag-of-words strategy is used, the keywords of which are produced by GMM based on EM estimation. Then training samples are divided into several clips which are described in probability vectors using keywords, we combine all vectors as a normal behavior codebook. In recognition phase, we calculate the similarity distance between the coding vector of the test samples and the codebook, the abnormal behavior can be detected when the minimal distance exceeds a threshold. We verify the algorithm in UMN and UCF datasets, which shows that the proposed algorithm has effective identification for crowd abnormal behavior, and it has good robustness against scale variant and illumination changing.
WHY DO WE NEED TO RETHINK THE METHODS FOR SOCIO- ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS? A SURVEY OF THE ACADEMIC LITERATURE AND BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS

L The academic literature offers several definitions of infrastructure. Here we will consider the definition given by Prud'homme (2004) according to which infrastructure is a durable good (not directly consumed) which, combined with other factors of production, provides services. Infrastructure includes transport, water (distribution and sanitation), energy (production, transport, storage), information and communication technologies, construction and services associated with education, health, security (excluding military expenditure), culture, ecological transition and climate change. L Despite a broad consensus that infrastructure is essential for economic development, investment in infrastructure falls far short of what is needed, even in developed countries. This low level of investment leads to an infrastructure gap, the extent of which is difficult to determine, in particular due to a lack of data. L Because of their specific characteristics (large initial investment and long-term profitability), infrastructure investment projects imply a systematic deterioration in the debt/GDP ratio, even though some projects generate future income flows, both direct and indirect, which, when discounted, are greater than the initial investment. L One lever for reducing the infrastructure deficit therefore lies in redesigning the evaluation method for this type of project in order to provide decision-makers with an evaluation tool that integrates all the socio-economic costs and benefits generated by the projects and guarantees the comparability of the results. The objective of this study is to pave the way for this redesign of methods for evaluating infrastructure investment projects by reconciling operational needs with academic research. 11 General Introduction
Fabrication and Properties of Lignin Based Carbon Nanofiber

Lignin, the second most abundant biopolymer on earth, has the potential as a low cost and renewable precursor for carbon fibers. By creating lignin carbon nanofibers for lightweight structural composites for automobiles and functional applications as electromagnetic shields, the value of lignin will be enhanced. Under the Lignoworks Biomaterials and Chemicals Network program, we demonstrated the feasibility of producing carbon nanofibers from softwood Kraft lignin by electrospinning and heat treatment. The morphological, mechanical, and electromagnetic properties of the lignin carbon nanofiber were characterized. Results showed 10 times increase in strength for the lignin random nanofiber mats after carbonization. Alignment of fibers further improved the mechanical strength. By doping the lignin polymer with carbon nanotubes and functional nanoparticles such as magnetite, we demonstrated the feasibility of translating the strength and electromagnetic function respectively to the lignin nanofiber assemblies. The encouraging results demonstrated the potential of lignin as an engineering material thus establishing a pathway for adding values to the abundantly available lignin.
Real Time Surface Angle Measurement of Dental Implants

Dis implantlari ve ilgili urun ailesi cene sagligi icin cok onemlidir. Dental implantlar genellikle titanyum malzemelerden uretilir. Titanyum esasli alasimlar yuksek mekanik mukavemete sahip olduklarindan, bu urunlerin kalite kontrolu, CNC bazli biyomateryal uretim sureclerinde ortaya cikabilecek olasi kusurlu urunleri onlemek icin onemlidir. Ek olarak, bu parcalar gorsel olarak kontrol edilmesi neredeyse imkansiz olan yuksek sayida uretilir. Yapay gorme, otomatik uretimdeki insan kaynakli hatalari onler. Sunulan sistem, goruntu isleme yontemlerini kullanarak dental urunler icin uzunluk ve aci kusurlarini tespit etmektedir. Bu calismanin ozgun yonu, makine gormesine dayali gercek zamanli dental implant hatali urun tespiti sistemi tasarimi gelistirilmesidir. Gri olcekli goruntulerde titanyum dental urunun saptanmasi icin Gauss bulaniklastirma filtresi ve Otsu esigi kullanilmistir. Urun hattini tespit etmek icin onceden islenmis goruntulere ortalama hatalarin karesini iceren dogrusal regresyon modeli uygulanmistir. Iki cizgi arasindaki aci ise, trigonometrik yontemlerle hesaplanir. Sunulan algoritmanin sonucu olarak uzunluk ve aci olcumleri icin sirasiyla maksimum 0.0015 mm ve 0.013° mutlak sapmalar gozlenmistir. Dental implantlar icin sunulan olcum algoritmalari, bu hizli algoritmalarin seri uretim hatlari icin uygun sonuclar verdigini gostermektedir.
Evaluation of the Heavy Metals Level in Selected Industrially Packaged Food Spices

he heavy metals content of common food spices were determined using the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric method in comparison with acceptable standards. The results obtained showed differences in metal concentration according to the plant parts (seed, leaf and rhizome). The concentration (mg/kg) on dry basis were: (0.025 – 0.138), (0.337 – 2.323), (0.050 – 0.401), (1.175 – 16.04), (0.055 – 1.374), (0.055 – 0.956), (0.488 – 7.294) for the metals; Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn respectively. Most of the metal levels in the spices were acceptable because they were below the standard limit approved by World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, it could be said that consumers of these spices would not be exposed to any risk associated with the daily intake of spices containing the aforementioned metals with regards to those that complied with the WHO acceptable limit.
Some characteristics of southwest monsoon rainfall over urban entres in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

In the present study daily rainfall data for 46 years (1969-2014) was selected for the urban stations and surrounding stations for coastal areas of Coastal Andhra Pradesh (CAP) and inland areas of Telanagana (TEL) and Rayalaseema (RSM). The statistics such as regression, standard deviation and coefficient of variance, significance test using t-test, Mann-Kandell test were worked out for the entire period for the stations. The stations were selected on the basis where the period of data is same. The t-test thus performed for all stations showed significance (p < 0.001) in seasonal rainfall (JJAS) for all the stations. Further z-statistics using Mann-Kandell test was performed that showed significant increase at 95% confidence level for Gannavaram, Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam along the coast of Andhra Pradesh state. Over Telengana, Hyderabad (Urban centre) an inland station, showed significant increase at 90% level of confidence for extreme heavy rainfall events. Henceforth, seperate studies for each urban centre (Visakhapatnam, Gannavaram, Machilipatnam and Hyderabad) were done and results showed significant increase in rainfall over urban centres compared to other surrounding stations and the significant increase in rainfall was observed for the coastal stations along Andhra Pradesh coast when compared to inland stations of Telanagana and Rayalaseema.
Spatial analysis of small.cdr

This paper uses estimates of total factor productivity of small and cottage enterprises located in Punjab province of Pakistan, to identify the reasons behind idiosyncratic variations. As the firm level productivity distribution indicate considerable differences, even within the same industry defined at 3-digit ISIC level, empirical analysis is required to identify the external and internal determinants as detailed in Syverson (2011) framework. The firm level data used for the study comes from a novel dataset developed through a census of cottage and small industries of Punjab Province. The universe of the census comprises of entire rural and urban areas of Punjab. As the robustness of empirical analysis hinges on reliable estimation of productivity, we correct the baseline OLS estimates for the simultaneity bias using instrumental variables and selectivity bias through Heckman correction as suggested in Wooldridge (2002). The productivity distributions for the cottage industry, small industry and the entire small manufacturing sector were separately estimated using residuals approach. The empirical findings are helpful in identifying significance of factors operating within the firms such as educational qualifications and professional training of employees for attaining higher levels of productivity. Results also signify the external drivers of productivity differences such as energy sources, marketing channels, access to finance and agglomeration economies. The results suggest direction of policy interventions towards provision of energy, appropriate marketing channels and selective professional training for improved efficiency and competitiveness.
Folia Linguistica

This paper proposes that Tangut should be classified as a West Gyalrongic language in the Sino-Tibetan/Trans-Himalayan family. We examine lexical commonalities, case marking, partial reduplication, and verbal morphology in Tangut and in modern West Gyalrongic languages, and point out nontrivial shared innovations between Tangut and modern West Gyalrongic languages. The analysis suggests a closer genetic relationship between Tangut and Modern West Gyalrongic than between Tangut and Modern East Gyalrongic. This paper is the first study that tackles the exact linguistic affiliation of the Tangut language based on the comparative method.
A threshold for validity of the bootstrap in a critical branching process

In applications of branching processes, usually it is hard to obtain samples of a large size. Therefore, a bootstrap procedure allowing inference based on a small sample size is very useful. Unfortunately, in the critical branching process with a stationary immigration the standard parametric bootstrap is invalid. In this paper we consider the process with non-stationary immigration, whose mean and variance vary regularly with nonnegative exponents α and β, respectively. We prove that 1 + 2α is the threshold for the validity of the bootstrap in this model. If β < 1 + 2α, the standard bootstrap is valid and if β > 1 + 2α it is invalid. In the case β = 1 + 2α the validity of the bootstrap depends on the slowly varying parts of the immigration mean and variance. These results allow us to develop statistical inferences about the parameters of the process in its early stages. MSC: primary 60J80; cecondary 62F12; 60G99.