Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fabrication of a solid catalyst using coal fly ash and its utilization for producing biodiesel

To recycle raw fly ash (RFA), a waste from thermal power plants, it was used to prepare solid catalysts which have many advantages compared with homogenous catalysts. When biodiesel was produced from soybean oil using RFA, only 1.2% of biodiesel conversion was obtained. A metal hydroxide, NaOH, KOH or Ca(OH)2, was mixed with the acid-treated fly ash (ATFA), and the mixture was calcined at 700°C for 3 h to prepare the solid catalyst. The solid catalyst prepared by mixing ATFA with NaOH, designated as SC-Na, showed a better performance than those prepared by mixing ATFA with KOH or Ca(OH)2, respectively. The optimal mass ratio of ATFA with NaOH was 1:3, at which the proportion of Na2O increased to 60.2% in SC-Na, and 97.8% of biodiesel conversion was achieved under optimal reaction conditions (2 w% SC-Na relative to oil and 5 mL-methanol/g-oil at 50°C for 4 h). Finally, a batch operation was repeatedly carried out to test the feasibility of reusing the solid catalyst, and more than 96% biodiesel conversion was stably achieved for the third round of operations. This study shows that RFA was successfully recycled to solid catalysts through a simple preparation method, and the solid catalyst was reused for the production of biodiesel with high conversion.
Does doing good do well? An investigation into the relationship between consumer buying behavior and CSR

Abstract Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged globally as an important field of study as corporations increasingly recognize the positive consequences of ethical behavior in their business operations. However, despite a growing body of literature, results and definitions remain somewhat contradictory and fractured. Taking a marketing business ethics perspective, this article examines the influence of CSR in firms and its impact on consumer buying behavior through a systematic examination of state of the art literature over the past two decades (2000–2020). Our review identifies a theoretical connection between CSR initiatives and positive consumer reaction yet a lack of material relevance. Most publications have assumed linear and rational decision-making, and comparative studies addressing contextual factors e.g. culture are lacking. Following from this, our paper addresses the results and implications of CSR activities concerning these elements and creates a new framework through which consumer behavior can be analyzed.
A 98.6 dB SNDR SAR ADC With a Mismatch Error Shaping Technique Implemented With Double Sampling

A novel mismatch error shaping (MES) method is proposed in noise-shaping (NS) SAR ADCs to break the SNDR limitation caused by DAC mismatch induced non-linearity. Through sampling the signal twice for one conversion, the input range of the ADC is increased to 2V<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{ref}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. After the first sampling, only the MSB is resolved and the results feed back to the opposite side of the DAC. After the second sampling, the MSB result is reversed and a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$+\text{V}_{ref}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>/2 reference is generated at the side of the DAC which has low input while a -<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{V}_{ref}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>/2 reference is generated at the other side. Through this method, the dynamic range deduction caused by the MES technique is solved. The proposed SAR ADC is implemented in TSMC 65nm CMOS technology. The simulation results show that the new MES method improves the SFDR from 54 dB to 104.5 dB. The SNDR in 20kHz bandwidth is 98.6dB while power consumption is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$513.2~ {\mu }\text{W}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> under a 1 V power supply at 20MS/s sampling rate.
Tuning the band gap, electronic polarizability and conduction mechanism of DyxZn1−xO nanostructures: the role of band tail states

We study the effect of varying band tail states on the electronic polarizability and conduction mechanism of the ZnO host matrix with varying Dy3+ concentration. The disorder caused by varying concentration of Dy3+ ions leads to change the local polarizability due to the charge redistribution and the mixing of cations in a host matrix. This results in varying coordination environment, leading to varying local density of states in the forbidden energy gap. The disorder induced intra gap localized states play a vital role in controlling the band gap, which varies between 2.7 and 2.9 eV in this study and determining the conduction mechanism. The nanoparticles were synthesized via wet chemical route. Phase identifications and local distortions were identified using x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy analysis respectively. The strong E2(high) mode corresponding to the intrinsic ZnO is depressed substantially, which shows the mixing of two different cations in a host matrix. The band gap and band tail states were determined from the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy data. The changing behaviour regarding the relaxation and conductivity of the host material has been discussed using impedance spectroscopy.
Land surface temperature algorithm calibration through meteorological stations

This methodologic paper arises from the necessity to gather Land Surface Temperature (LST) data over a relatively large period and territory: 2000-2018, Portugal. The computational power required to complete this task was found to be a major barrier. However, platforms such as Google Earth Engine (GEE) offer a vast data archive freely accessible through a web interactive development environment or an application programming interface, namely, Python’s API. Additionally, the computation using GEE is hosted in Google’s servers, drastically reducing the processing times. However, computing LST through Landsat-7 satellite imagery resulted on a difference of -8ºC±6ºC compared to the values from meteorological ground stations. As such, this paper aims to further calibrate computed LST through meteorological stations and make the methodology and corresponding code available, thus encouraging cooperation on the development and integration of local calibration methods. A sensitivity analysis of the representativeness of each station was performed using three methods of temperature extraction: station coordinate’s pixel, buffers around the station, and surrounding soil occupation (identifying the area with the same soil occupation as the station’s location). Pearson’s correlation coefficient was on average significant at 0.81 in the raw data and increased to 0.89 after clearing data from outliers . The best representativeness method for meteorologic stations was the one based on soil occupation, which resulted on a Pearson’s r of 0.91. As a result, we advise researchers to complement their remote sensing work with ground data whenever possible through the usage of a method like the one here described.
Rational design of C2N-based type-II heterojunctions for overall photocatalytic water splitting

Photocatalytic water splitting is a promising method for the production of clean energy and searching for efficient photocatalysts has received extensive attention. Fabricating type-II heterojunctions is an effective approach to improve the photocatalytic efficiency. Based on the band edge positions and lattice parameters, we found that several kinds of monochalcogenide monolayers can be used to fabricate type-II heterojunctions with C2N monolayers. C2N/GaTe and C2N/InTe van der Waals (vdW) heterojunctions were investigated as potential photocatalysts for water splitting by means of first-principles computations. Both are type-II heterojunctions, and could promote the efficient spatial separation of electron–hole pairs. Their band edges straddle water redox potentials, satisfying the requirements for photocatalytic water splitting. Besides, the high carrier mobility of C2N/GaTe and C2N/InTe heterojunctions implies that the transfer of carriers to reactive sites is easy, and the recombination probability of photo-generated carriers is reduced. The Gibbs free energy calculations indicate that C2N/GaTe and C2N/InTe heterojunctions, especially C2N/InTe, exhibit high catalytic performance towards hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions. Particularly, C2N/InTe exhibits a direct band gap with strong absorption in both visible and near ultraviolet regions, indicating that it is a very promising candidate for photocatalytic water splitting. This work would provide a new idea for the development of type-II heterojunctions for photocatalytic water splitting.
Dielectrophoretic and Electrical Impedance Differentiation of Cancerous Cells Based on Biophysical Phenotype

Here, we reported a study on the detection and electrical characterization of both cancer cell line and primary tumor cells. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were jointly employed to enable the rapid and label-free differentiation of various cancer cells from normal ones. The primary tumor cells that were collected from two colorectal cancer patients, cancer cell lines (SW-403, Jurkat, and THP-1), and healthy peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were trapped first at the level of interdigitated microelectrodes with the help of dielectrophoresis. Correlation of the cells dielectric characteristics that was obtained via electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) allowed evident differentiation of the various types of cell. The differentiations were assigned to a “dielectric phenotype” based on their crossover frequencies. Finally, Randles equivalent circuit model was employed for highlighting the differences with regard to a series group of charge transport resistance and constant phase element for cancerous and normal cells.
Pressure characteristics and safety performance of TKX-50 decomposition in confined space

ABSTRACT The pressure characteristics and safety performance of dihydroxylammonium 5,5ʹ-bistetrazole-1,1ʹ-diolate (TKX-50) decomposition were studied in confined space by using the accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC). The effects of the heating rate and the sample amount on the safety performance were investigated. The experiment results revealed that high heating rate was harmful to the safety performance of TKX-50. The decomposition mechanism did not change when using different amounts of sample in the range between 47.5 and 72.5 mg. After ignition, TKX-50 exhibited better safe performance than RDX and HMX.
Beyond the melting pot

Some people may be laughing when looking at you reading in your spare time. Some may be admired of you. And some may want be like you who have reading hobby. What about your own feel? Have you felt right? Reading is a need and a hobby at once. This condition is the on that will make you feel that you must read. If you know are looking for the book enPDFd beyond the melting pot as the choice of reading, you can find here.
Spatially selective reversible charge carrier density tuning in WS2 monolayers via photochlorination

Chlorine-doped tungsten disulfide monolayer (1L-WS2) with tunable charge carrier concentration has been realized by pulsed laser irradiation of the atomically thin lattice in a precursor gas atmosphere. This process gives rise to a systematic shift of the neutral exciton peak towards lower energies, indicating reduction of the crystal’s electron density. The capability to progressively tune the carrier density upon variation of the exposure time is demonstrated; this indicates that the Fermi level shift is directly correlated to the respective electron density modulation due to the chlorine species. Notably, this electron withdrawing process enabled the determination of the trion binding energy of the intrinsic crystal, found to be as low as 20 meV, in accordance to theoretical predictions. At the same time, it is found that the effect can be reversed upon continuous wave laser scanning of the monolayer in air. Scanning auger microscopy (SAM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to link the actual charge carrier doping to the different chlorine configurations in the monolayer lattice. The spectroscopic analyses, complemented by density functional theory calculations, reveal that chlorine physisorption is responsible for the carrier density modulation induced by the pulsed laser photochemical reaction process. Such bidirectional control of the Fermi level, coupled with the capability offered by lasers to process at pre-selected locations, can be advantageously used for spatially resolved doping modulation in 1L-WS2 with micrometric resolution. This method can also be extended for the controllable doping of other TMD monolayers.
Thymus vulgaris Essential Oil and Hydro-Alcoholic Solutions to Counteract Wooden Artwork Microbial Colonization

Aromatic plants represent a source of natural products with medicinal properties, and are also utilized in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Recently, the need for eco-compatible and non-toxic products, safe for both the environment and human health, have been proposed for the sustainable conservation of historic–artistic artifacts. In this study, in order to counteract microbial colonization (Aspergillus sp., Streptomyces sp., Micrococcus sp.) on wooden artwork surfaces, Thymus vulgaris L. (Lamiaceae) essential oil (EO) and hydro-alcoholic (HA) solutions were applied in a polyphasic approach. The antimicrobial activities of EO and HA solutions were preliminarily assessed by agar disc diffusion (ADD) and well plate diffusion (WPD) in vitro methods, defining the specific concentration useful for bacterial and fungal genera, identified by optical microscopies, in vitro cultures (nutrient or Sabouraud agar), and DNA base molecular biology investigations. Specifically, the microbial patina was directly removed by a hydro-alcoholic solution (while evaluating the potential colorimetric change of the artwork’s surface) combined with exposure to EO volatile compounds, performed in a dedicated “clean chamber”. This study proposes, for the first time, the combined use of two plant extracts to counteract microbial development on wooden artworks, providing supplementary information on these products as bio-agents.
Commutation Error Closed-Loop Correction Method for Sensorless BLDC Motor Using Hardware-Based Floating Phase Back-EMF Integration

Accurate commutation is a key factor to ensure the ideal electrical torque performance and high motor efficiency for position sensorless brushless dc motor. In order to eliminate the commutation error, this article presents a closed-loop correction method using the hardware-based floating phase back electromotive force (EMF) integration. First, the relationship between the floating phase back-EMF integral and commutation error is analyzed. Then, based on the relationship, a closed-loop controller fed by the integral is introduced to generate the angle to correct the commutation point. But the inaccurate integral calculation resulted from insufficient sampled point at high motor speed will seriously reduce the correction accuracy. For this reason, a novel hardware configuration is designed to transform the back-EMF integral into a filtered analog voltage. In this way, the integral can be obtained precisely from sampling the analog voltage with low sampling rate. Thus, a precise commutation is achieved by the closed-loop control, especially in the high speed range. Finally, experimental results on a magnetically suspended turbo molecular pump show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
The Perceptions of Tertiary Level Learners on the Use of Mobile App ‘Balloon Vocabulary’ in Improving Vocabulary for Reading Comprehension

The challenges that the English as a Second Language (ESL) learners encounter during the reading process impede their reading comprehension. During the reading process, they need to pick up the information and stimulation around the text to comprehend it. Learners with a low vocabulary repertoire usually face difficulties to understand the lengthy text. Therefore, in this study, a mobile application labelled ‘Balloon Vocabulary’ was developed to help Ibanese tertiary learners to enjoy their reading and develop their vocabulary repertoire. This study employed a mixed-method approach that aimed to seek the perceptions of 125 tertiary level Iban learners on the usage of ‘Balloon Vocabulary’ towards improving their vocabulary repertoire. This study was also embarked to discover the learners’ performance after they completed both pre-test and post-test by using the application. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used to analyze the data. The qualitative data were analyzed and transcribed into themes. From the findings, the process of experiencing gamification and language games has led the learners to discover their skill related to vocabulary. Furthermore, their passion for learning was increased due to the involvement of technology in learning. This application is hoped to serve as a potential platform for learners to gain new experience dealing with new technological ways of learning English. Then, it will tread a new path for teachers as they will be able to attract learners’ attention and realign their focus to achieve desired content in learning.
Facile synthesis of La-doped CdS nanoparticles by microwave assisted co-precipitation technique for optoelectronic application

Low-cost microwave assisted technique has been applied to produce La-doped CdS nanoparticles and their structural, morphological, optical, Raman, dielectric and electrical studies were carried out. Broad XRD peaks revealed the growth of low-dimension La-doped CdS nanoparticles with wurtzite structure. Spherical shape morphology of synthesized nanostructures was confirmed by SEM analysis. SEM mapping and EDAX analysis showed the elemental composition and successful incorporation of La in CdS matrix. Diffused reflectance spectroscopy was used to determine the energy gaps and it was observed to be reduced from 2.47 to 2.3 eV upon La doping. Vibrational studies on La:CdS nanoparticles displayed longitudinal optical modes. PL studies exhibited improved luminescence for the band to band transition of the CdS nanoparticles. The ε′ values are enhanced in general; though it displayed reduced ε′ values at some concentration owing to reduction of polarization. Enhancement in AC conductivity was observed with increasing La concentration and the studies on the involved conduction mechanism revealed that the hopping motion in prepared nanostructures is translation motion with a quick hopping and the behavior is that of ionic conduction.
In Situ Fabrication of Electro-Fenton Catalyst from Fe2+ in Acid Mine Drainage: Influence of Coexisting Metal Cations

The air-cathode fuel cell (AC-FC) technology provides a facile approach to in situ utilize Fe2+ in acid mine drainage (AMD) for the fabrication of iron oxide/carbon composite with electro-Fenton (EF) catalytic activity. Herein, the impacts of coexisting metal cations other than the Fe2+ in AMD on such an EF catalyst fabrication process are investigated. The results show that coexisting metal cations are able to be introduced into the Fe3O4/GF composite and influence iron content in it. The Ni2+, Zn2+, Al3+, and Cu2+ in AMD lower iron content in the prepared composite and thus present a detrimental effect on its EF catalytic activity. In comparison, the Co2+ and Mn2+ hardly affect iron content in the composite. Instead, they are doped into the Fe3O4 structure to give mixed-metal oxides with enhanced EF catalytic activities. Practice on the treatment of real AMDs suggests the practical effectiveness of AC-FC technology for the simultaneous removal of heavy metal cations and fabrication of heterogeneous EF c.
The Akt signaling pathway in skin cancer cell lines treated with RRM-MV, a short peptide analogue of the MT5 protein of myxoma virus

In silico methods can help in identifying drug targets via bioinformatics tools. In our previous studies, a 2.34 kDa short linear peptide analogue to myxoma virus M-T5 protein was computationally designed using the resonant recognition model (RRM). Quantitative and qualitative cell cytotoxicity assays showed that the peptide analogue can induce a dose and time dependent tumoricidal effect on skin cancer cells but not on normal cells. It has been reported that the viral protein (M-T5) binds with p-Akt to regulate Akt signaling in some human cancer types. Hence in this study we investigated the effects induced by the peptide analogue RRM- MV on the Akt pathway in skin cancer and normal cells. Akt expression levels in cells treated with RRM-MV, in the presence or absence of PI3K/Akt inhibitor, were detected in mammalian skin cancer and normal cells using immunoblotting. The results revealed that different endogenous levels of p-Akt were expressed in the human melanoma and carcinoma cells following treatment with RRM-MV. Yet, it did not appear to affect the p-Akt expression in the mouse melanoma cells. Furthermore, RRM-MV treatment did not seem to affect the level of total Akt in any type of cancer cells under the same experimental conditions. Hence, the bioactive peptide RRM-MV appears to be targeting the Akt pathway in some types of skin cancer cells. Elucidating the mechanism of RRM-MV effects on other cellular apoptosis pathways requires further investigation.
Aberration and coherence effects with a micromirror array

Micro mirror arrays, such as the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) from Texas Instruments, are amplitude modulating spatial light modulators. Binary holograms write spatial amplitude modulations to the device and with coherent sources can be used to control reflected beams through controlled diffraction. In this paper the inherent aberrations within the DMD device have been identified and corrected through the use of Zernike modes written to the array allowing a device profile to be used as a foundation characteristic upon which other applications can be improved. The approach used coopts a technique used for wavelength measurement using a DMD which focusses onto a camera. The tilting action of the mirrors means the device acts as a mixture of a lens and 2D blazed grating. In this case it also allows assessments of coherence length to be made based on a dual dispersion capability. A model for producing the Fresnel diffraction pattern from a specific DMD pattern is produced using Fresnel diffraction theory and shows good agreement with measured results.
Length-constrained Neural Machine Translation using Length Prediction and Perturbation into Length-aware Positional Encoding

Neural Machine Translation often suﬀers from an under-translation problem due to its limited modeling of output sequence lengths. In this work, we propose a novel approach to training a Transformer model using length constraints based on length-aware positional encoding (PE). Since length constraints with exact target sentence lengths degrade translation performance, we add random perturbation with the uniform distribution within a certain range to the length constraints in the PE during the training. In the inference step, we predict the output lengths from input sequences using a length prediction model based on a large-scale pre-trained language model. In Japanese-to-English and English-to-Japanese translation, experimental results show that the proposed perturbation injection improved robustness for length prediction errors, especially within a certain range.