Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advanced metal graphene composite electrodes for a new generation of electrochemical energy storage devices

Supercapacitors are the focus of much research at the present time. They offer a potential solution for reversible energy storage in the fields of space, aircrafts or transportation (hybrid vehicles). An important research line, aiming at increasing both energy and power densities, is devoted to asymmetric transition metal oxides / activated carbon (C) systems. RuO2-based devices exhibit the highest capacitance, more than 700 F/g, but their cost limits the applications to small electronic devices. Less expensive oxides such as cobalt oxides (especially Co3O4), MnO2, V2O5, Fe3O4, NiO, Ni(OH)2, as well as electrically conducting polymers, have been extensively studied in the past decades, or used in commercial devices; they EACH exhibit each drawbacks and advantages with regard to applications. But no system has been investigated as much as the C/MnO2 one, which is particularly interesting because it can work in aqueous media at tensions up to 2 V, and high stability in ageing has been demonstrated. Nevertheless, the performances of the system, especially in terms of power density, are limited by the poor electronic conductivity of MnO2. This problem is usually solved by simply mixing conductive carbon materials (carbon black, CNTs…) with MnO2 or by developing more elaborated grafting or decoration strategies. The combination of oxide and carbonaceous species is widely reported in the literature, whereas combining oxides with different natures is less frequently encountered. We propose in this project to synthesize and develop original materials enhancing, through a synergistic effect, the interesting properties of manganese, cobalt and nickel oxide/hydroxide, the drawbacks of each component being overbalanced by the good complementary properties of the other components. We aim at gathering in one single material (or composite), the good pseudocapacitive behavior of manganese, the good electronic conductivity associated to cobalt oxides, the high capacity of nickel hydroxide, as well as the enhanced conduction properties of carbon. The present PhD project aims at designing and manufacturing new classes of hybrid composite electrodes based on assemblies of graphene (for enhanced double layer capacitance) and porous transition metals oxides (for additional faradaic capacitance due to multiple reversible redox processes) directly applied on metallic current collectors. The combined advantages of graphene with those of transition metals oxides will enable supercapacitors with high energy density, working in environmentally friendly aqueous electrolytes, which are an acknowledged need.
Diagnosing faults in embedded queries in database applications

Diagnosing faults in embedded queries in database applications is a daunting process. When test cases fail, the traditional way of diagnosing faults is to follow possible execution paths, either mentally or step-by-step in a debugger, to locate the problematic area. The diagnosis problem becomes even harder when you have embedded language with quite different semantics and properties. Our focus is on a specific problem: diagnosing failed test cases caused by embedded queries in database applications which are syntactically correct but semantically incorrect (i.e., they produce incomplete or incorrect results). Much research literature is available on database applications and databases but the diagnosis problem for embedded queries that cause failure of test cases has not been tackled. We perform an experiment to see how far existing techniques could be useful in proposing a new technique for this problem. We identify the additional components that need to be developed to take us to a full solution and describe our tentative conclusions so far.
Short-Chain Flavor Ester Synthesis in Organic Media by an E. coli Whole-Cell Biocatalyst Expressing a Newly Characterized Heterologous Lipase

Short-chain aliphatic esters are small volatile molecules that produce fruity and pleasant aromas and flavors. Most of these esters are artificially produced or extracted from natural sources at high cost. It is, however, possible to ‘naturally’ produce these molecules using biocatalysts such as lipases and esterases. A gene coding for a newly uncovered lipase was isolated from a previous metagenomic study and cloned into E. coli BL21 (DE3) for overexpression using the pET16b plasmid. Using this recombinant strain as a whole-cell biocatalyst, short chain esters were efficiently synthesized by transesterification and esterification reactions in organic media. The recombinant lipase (LipIAF5-2) showed good affinity toward glyceryl trioctanoate and the highest conversion yields were obtained for the transesterification of glyceryl triacetate with methanol. Using a simple cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide pretreatment increased the synthetic activity by a six-fold factor and the whole-cell biocatalyst showed the highest activity at 40°C with a relatively high water content of 10% (w/w). The whole-cell biocatalyst showed excellent tolerance to alcohol and short-chain fatty acid denaturation. Substrate affinity was equally effective with all primary alcohols tested as acyl acceptors, with a slight preference for methanol. The best transesterification conversion of 50 mmol glyceryl triacetate into isoamyl acetate (banana fragrance) provided near 100% yield after 24 hours using 10% biocatalyst loading (w/w) in a fluidized bed reactor, allowing recycling of the biocatalyst up to five times. These results show promising potential for an industrial approach aimed at the biosynthesis of short-chain esters, namely for natural flavor and fragrance production in micro-aqueous media.
Flexible Caching in Trie Joins

Traditional algorithms for multiway join computation are based on rewriting the order of joins and combining results of intermediate subqueries. Recently, several approaches have been proposed for algorithms that are "worst-case optimal" wherein all relations are scanned simultaneously. An example is Veldhuizen's Leapfrog Trie Join (LFTJ). An important advantage of LFTJ is its small memory footprint, due to the fact that intermediate results are full tuples that can be dumped immediately. However, since the algorithm does not store intermediate results, recurring joins must be reconstructed from the source relations, resulting in excessive memory traffic. In this paper, we address this problem by incorporating caches into LFTJ. We do so by adopting recent developments on join optimization, tying variable ordering to tree decomposition. While the traditional usage of tree decomposition computes the result for each bag in advance, our proposed approach incorporates caching directly into LFTJ and can dynamically adjust the size of the cache. Consequently, our solution balances memory usage and repeated computation, as confirmed by our experiments over SNAP datasets.
Water Quality and Climate Change: What Are Consumers Willing to Pay to Reduce Health Risks?

Abstract Water utilities in Canada are charged with the important task of ensuring that consumers are supplied with good quality water that satisfies Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality published by Health Canada. Over the last decade, this job has become increasingly more difficult as source water quality has deteriorated due to the presence of agricultural and industrial pollution. Models of climate change predict an increase in extremes in weather conditions and an increase in average rainfall. Both are predicted to erode further the quality of source water, thereby putting even more stress upon water managers. Chlorine is the prevailing form of disinfectant. While it kills most microbes, by-products, including Trihalomethanes, have been identified as potentially carcinogenic. This paper addresses an important gap in our understanding of the importance of clean and safe drinking water to Canadians. We report on results from an Internet survey conducted in July 2004 that elicits preferences for risk reductions associated with cancer and microbial illness from water quality improvements. Several values that are of importance to policy makers include the value of mortality risk reduction, as separate from morbidity risk reduction, associated with cancer, and trade-offs between cancer risks and microbial illness risks.
Cost-effectiveness of intensive exercise therapy directly following hospital discharge in patients with arthritis: results of a randomized controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the cost-utility and cost-effectiveness of a 3-week intensive exercise training (IET) program directly following hospital discharge in patients with rheumatic diseases. METHODS Patients with arthritis who were admitted to the hospital because of a disease activity flare or for elective hip or knee arthroplasty were randomly assigned to either the IET group or usual care (UC) group. Followup lasted 1 year. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were derived from Short Form 6D scores and a visual analog scale (VAS) rating personal health. Function-related outcome was measured using the Health Assessment Questionnaire, the McMaster Toronto Arthritis (MACTAR) Patient Preference Disability Questionnaire, and the Escola Paulista de Medicina Range of Motion scale (EPMROM). Costs were reported from a societal perspective. Differences in costs and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were estimated. RESULTS Data from 85 patients (50 IET and 35 UC) could be used for health-economic analysis. VAS personal health-based QALYs were in favor of IET. Function-related outcome showed statistically significant improvements in favor of IET over the first 6 months, according to the MACTAR (P < 0.05) and the EPMROM (P < 0.01). At 1-year followup, IET was euro718 less per patient. The ICER showed a reduction in mean total costs per QALY. In 70% of cases the intervention was cost-saving. CONCLUSION IET results in better quality of life at lower costs after 1 year. Thus, IET is the dominant strategy compared with UC. This highlights the need for implementation of IET after hospital discharge in patients with arthritis.
Retrieving vertical profiles of water‐cloud droplet effective radius: Algorithm modification and preliminary application

[1] Chang and Li [2002] proposed a new cloud microphysics retrieval technique that can estimate the vertical profile of droplet effective radius (DER) for water clouds using multispectral near-infrared (NIR) measurements. The underlying principle of the retrieval technique is that radiance measurements at distinct multi-NIR wavelengths possess different penetration depths inside the cloud and this conveys certain information on the DER vertical profile (DVP). However, this information is insufficient to retrieve any shape of DVP and thus a linear DVP was assumed. In this study, three DVPs are examined: (1) as in Chang and Li [2002], a linear DVP proportional to the in-cloud optical depth, (2) a linear DVP proportional to the height within the cloud, and (3) a DVP where the liquid water content (LWC) within the cloud varies linearly with height. The latter two assumptions are in closer conformity with in-situ observations. Algorithms that can retrieve both the DVP and cloud liquid water path (LWP) are presented. The cloud LWPs derived based on the retrieved DVPs are more sound than those obtained from assuming a vertical-constant DER profile. To enhance the DVP retrievals, a split-window technique is presented to better estimate the amount of above-cloud precipitable water (PW). The retrieval algorithms are applied to the MODIS Level-1B 1-km data and presently tested for two stratiform cloud cases observed over the north-central Oklahoma where independent cloud microphysics data are available from the United States Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. Good agreements in the retrieved DER profile, LWP, and above-cloud PW are found in a preliminary demonstration of the new approach. Sensitivity of the retrieved DER profile to uncertainties in the above-cloud PW and surface albedos is also discussed.
Mode selection rules for device-to-device communication: Design criteria and performance metrics

Device to device (D2D) communications enable mobile devices to directly communicate with each other when they are relatively close to each other. We consider the selection of direct or indirect communication path via the base station for D2D communications. Referring to this as the mode selection problem, in this paper we define mode selection rules based on channel capacity, SNR and distance. We also define associated performance metrics by modeling the mode selection problem as a hypothesis test with Gaussian distribution. Furthermore we provide the analytical expressions for correct detection, false alarm, and missed detection probabilities. Our results of the proposed framework can provide sufficient insight about the expected performances through the used mode selection rule for D2D communications.
The Intracellular Fate of a Recombinant Protein Is Tissue Dependent1

Recombinant proteins directed to the secretory pathway in plants require a signal peptide for entry into the endoplasmic reticulum. In the absence of further targeting information, such proteins are generally secreted via the default pathway to the apoplast. This has been well documented in protoplasts and leaf tissue, but the trafficking of recombinant proteins in seeds and other storage tissues has rarely been investigated. We used Aspergillus niger phytase as a model glycoprotein to compare the intracellular fate of a recombinant protein in the leaves and seeds of rice (Oryza sativa). Using fluorescence and electron microscopy we showed that the recombinant protein was efficiently secreted from leaf cells as expected. In contrast, within endosperm cells it was retained in endoplasmic reticulum-derived prolamin bodies and protein storage vacuoles. Consistent with our immunolocalization data, the phytase produced in endosperm cells possessed oligomannose and vacuolar-type N-glycans [Man3(Xyl)(Fuc)GlcNAc2], whereas the phytase produced in leaves contained predominantly secretion-type N-glycans [GlcNAc2Man3(Xyl)(Fuc)GlcNAc2]. The latter could not be detected in preparations of the endosperm-derived phytase. Our results show that the intracellular deposition and modification of a recombinant protein is tissue dependent.
Structural and magnetic properties of YIG thin films and interfacial origin of magnetisation suppression

This work covers the complete study of the properties of high quality nm-thick sputtered Yttrium iron garnet (Y3Fe5O12) films, with the discovery of interfacial diffusion and its effect on the magnetisation suppression. Here we report the structural and magnetic properties of YIG nano films deposited on Gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. The structural characterisation and morphology of the films were analysed using X-ray reflectivity (XRR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The magnetic properties were investigated using VSM and SQUID magnetometer. The films in the 10 - 60 nm thickness range have surface roughness of 1-3 A, and (111) crystalline orientation. The saturation magnetisation, coercive field and the Curie temperature observed in our YIG films are 144 ± 6 emu/cc, 0.30 ± 0.05 Oe and 559 K, respectively. The thickness dependence of the saturation magnetic moment shows the existence of a 6 nm dead layer. The temperature dependence of the magnetization M(T) in YIG reveals a reduction in magnetization at low temperature, below ~ 100 K. Through an extensive analysis using STEM, we discovered an interdiffusion zone of 4 - 6 nm at the YIG/GGG interface where Gd from the GGG and Y from the YIG diffuse. Analysis of XRR data also confirms the presence of Gd-rich diffused layer of 5 - 6 nm thick at the interface. This Gd-rich YIG layer having compensation temperature at 100 K corresponds to 40% Gd diffusion, that aligns antiparallel to the net moment of YIG, resulting in the magnetisation suppression in YIG at low temperature. Our polarised neutron reflectivity results also revealed the magnetization downturn in 80 nm YIG film. FMR results showed narrow FMR linewidth and a small Gilbert damping, for e.g. (2.6 ± 0.3) x 10−4 in 38 nm thick YIG. The temperature dependence of the Gilbert damping factor in YIG and YIG/Pt showed a linewidth broadening and increased damping below 50 K. Our current induced FMR results demonstrate the dominating role of Oersted field torque in driving the magnetization dynamics in YIG/Pt bilayer films. Our investigation on the effect of C60 molecules on the damping of YIG in YIG/C60 hybrid structures shows an increase in damping in thin YIG films, but it decreases between 80 - 160 nm. Our findings widen the applications of sputtered nm-thick epitaxial YIG films and YIG-based multilayers in magnonics, spin caloritronics and insulator-based spintronics devices.
Impact of a single nucleotide polymorphism upstream of the IL28B gene in patients positive for anti‐HCV antibody in an HCV hyperendemic area in Japan

The influence of genetic variation at the interleukin‐28B (IL28B) locus on the natural course of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has not been fully investigated. The goal of this study was to examine whether an IL28B polymorphism (rs8099917) is associated with natural clearance of HCV and with disease parameters of HCV infection in an HCV hyperendemic area of Japan. The patients were 502 anti‐HCV antibody‐positive residents who participated in liver disease screening program from 2002 to 2004. Patients who underwent interferon‐based therapy or had hepatocellular carcinoma were excluded. Of these patients, 149 were negative for HCV RNA (prior infection) and 353 were positive for HCV RNA or HCV core antigen (HCV carriers). In multivariate analysis, the IL28B TT genotype was a predictor for prior HCV infection. In addition, nine of the patients with prior HCV infection were positive for anti‐HCV antibody with positive for HCV core antigen or HCV RNA before 2001, and these nine patients all had the IL28B TT genotype. Furthermore, the IL28B TT genotype was associated independently with higher HCV core antigen levels in HCV carriers. In contrast, the IL28B genotype did not affect the biochemical markers, such as alanine aminotransferase, hepatic fibrosis markers, and α‐fetoprotein, and the degree of hepatic fibrosis assessed by transient elastography in HCV carriers. We concluded that IL28B polymorphism (TT genotype) is associated with spontaneous clearance of HCV and conversely with high viral loads in HCV carriers. In contrast, the IL28B genotype does not affect disease progression such as hepatic fibrosis. J. Med. Virol. 86:1877–1885, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak

King and emperor penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus and Aptenodytes forsteri) are the only species of marine birds so far known to reflect ultraviolet (UV) light from their beaks. Unlike humans, most birds perceive UV light and several species communicate using the near UV spectrum. Indeed, UV reflectance in addition to the colour of songbird feathers has been recognized as an important signal when choosing a mate. The king penguin is endowed with several highly coloured ornaments, notably its beak horn and breast and auricular plumage, but only its beak reflects UV, a property considered to influence its sexual attraction. Because no avian UV-reflecting pigments have yet been identified, the origin of such reflections is probably structural. In an attempt to identify the structures that give rise to UV reflectance, we combined reflectance spectrophotometry and morphological analysis by both light and electron microscopy, after experimental removal of surface layers of the beak horn. Here, we characterize for the first time a multilayer reflector photonic microstructure that produces the UV reflections in the king penguin beak.
Why randomized controlled trials fail but needn't: 1. Failure to gain "coal-face" commitment and to use the uncertainty principle.

From the undersideMy pager went off as I was half-dozing, half-reading the newspaper. Yuri Gagarin, born the same year as me, had just become the first man to orbit the earth; Nelson Mandela, not yet imprisoned, had gone underground; and John F. Kennedy had just signed the bill creating the Peace Corps. An hour later, back on the charity ward and feeling the effects of too much acrid coffee and too little sleep, achalasia hit me when I found the lancet-shaped diplococci in her sputum. It was 3 am and the research protocol, appearing unannounced on our workroom wall, declared that, as the front-line clinician (the British call this "working at the coal face"), I had to enter her into the trial. From the undersideShe was single, poor, the sole supporter of 3 children and now so sick after 10 days of cough, fever and sputum that she9d risked losing her menial job by leaving it early to struggle through Chicago9s filthy March slush to our emergency room. My boss was testing one of the first synthetic penicillins against the then standard penicillin G in patients with pneumococcal pneumonia, and she fit the entry criteria. But she had classic signs of hepatization and already had suffered an episode of the euphoria and cyanosis we9d been taught was characteristic of bacteremia and interlobar spread. The last patient I9d seen this sick from pneumococcal pneumonia, a strapping 18-year-old basketball player, was also the first patient on whom I9d conducted fruitless open-chest cardiac massage. From the undersideWith the fear, hopelessness and trust I9d come to expect from my patients, she consented at once to take part in the trial. But by the time I completed her entry form I knew what I had to do. Blocking the view of the ward nurse, I took the syringe containing the study drug from the refrigerator, loaded a second syringe with penicillin G and injected her with both. From the undersideI have never discussed this decision with anyone, nor admitted it until now. I don9t know how many of my fellow house officers did the same thing for their sickest patients. I believe that my action was right in particular, wrong in general (I9ve never cheated since), and doubly preventable.
On the Role of Interpretability in Fuzzy Data Mining

Data Mining, a central step in the broader overall process of Knowledge Discovery from Databases, concerns with discovering useful properties, called patterns, from data. Understandability is an essential — yet rarely tackled — feature that makes resulting patterns accessible by end users. In this paper we argue that the adoption of Fuzzy Logic for Data Mining can improve understandability of derived patterns. Indeed, Fuzzy Logic is able to represent concepts in a “human-centric” way. Hence, Data Mining methods based on Fuzzy Logic may potentially meet the so-called “Comprehensibility Postulate”, which characterizes the blurry notion of understandability. However, the mere adoption of Fuzzy Logic for Data Mining is not enough to achieve understandability. This paper describes and comments a number of issues that need to be addressed to provide for understandable patterns. A careful consideration of all such issues may end up in a systematic methodology to discover comprehensible knowledge from data.