Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Electrochemical growth of ZnO nanowires inside nanoporous alumina templates. A comparison with metallic Zn nanowires growth

Molecular oxygen reduction in presence of Zn(II) allowed to get arrays of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NWs) inside thick anodic alumina membranes (AAM), previously made by anodization in oxalic acid. A Zinc (Zn) NWs array made by electrochemical deposition (ED) was employed as a metal reference in order to compare its growth behavior with respect to that of ZnO, a semiconducting material. Chronoamperometric measurements for Zn NWs showed a typical response for metallic growth inside porous templates while ZnO NWs did not show this behavior. We observed that Zn NWs grew faster than ZnO NWs as checked by the electrical charge. SEM images showed the presence of ZnO NWs only after long deposition time. X‐ray diffraction data confirmed the ZnO structure. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Molecular Complexes between Silicon Derivatives and Electron-Rich Groups

Theoretical calculations on a series of SiXY3‚‚‚ZW complexes, where X and Y are H, F, and Cl, and Z corresponds to an electron donor atom (ZW ) NH3, NCH, CNH, OH2, FH), were performed. The calculations were carried out using B3LYP/6-311++G**, MP2/6-311++G** and MP2/6-311++G(2d,2p) computational methods. The electron density was characterized by means of the atoms in molecules (AIM) methodology, and the interaction nature was studied with the NBO method. Finally, the effect of the complexation on the nuclear chemical shieldings was evaluated with the GIAO method. The results display a wide range of interaction distances that vary from 2.1 to 4.1 A. The complexes with shorter interaction distances (2.1 A) show important distortion effects and large dipole moment enhancements. The NBO analysis indicates that in those complexes an ionic interaction is formed between the Si and Z atoms. Comparison of the chemical shieldings of the complexes and the monomers indicates that these interactions could be detected experimentally using 29 Si NMR. In addition, in the case of the complexes with NH3 and OH2, the use of 15 N NMR and 17 O NMR could be adequate to check the potential formation of the corresponding complexes.
Mo(bile) Money, Mo(bile) Problems: Analysis of Branchless Banking Applications in the Developing World

Mobile money, also known as branchless banking, brings much-needed financial services to the unbanked in the developing world. Leveraging ubiquitous cellular networks, these services are now being deployed as smart phone apps, providing an electronic payment infrastructure where alternatives such as credit cards generally do not exist. Although widely marketed as a more secure option to cash, these applications are often not subject to the traditional regulations applied in the financial sector, leaving doubt as to the veracity of such claims. In this paper, we evaluate these claims and perform the first in-depth measurement analysis of branchless banking applications. We first perform an automated analysis of all 46 known Android mobile money apps across the 246 known mobile money providers and demonstrate that automated analysis fails to provide reliable insights. We subsequently perform comprehensive manual teardown of the registration, login, and transaction procedures of a diverse 15% of these apps. We uncover pervasive and systemic vulnerabilities spanning botched certification validation, do-it-yourself cryptography, and myriad other forms of information leakage that allow an attacker to impersonate legitimate users, modify transactions in flight, and steal financial records. These findings confirm that the majority of these apps fail to provide the protections needed by financial services. Finally, through inspection of providers' terms of service, we also discover that liability for these problems unfairly rests on the shoulders of the customer, threatening to erode trust in branchless banking and hinder efforts for global financial inclusion.
How Do You Feel Online

Emotions are an intrinsic part of the social media user experience that can evoke negative behaviors such as cyberbullying and trolling. Detecting the emotions of social media users may enable responding to and mitigating these problems. Prior work suggests this may be achievable on smartphones: emotions can be detected via built-in sensors during prolonged input tasks. We extend these ideas to a social media context featuring sparse input interleaved with more passive browsing and media consumption activities. To achieve this, we present two studies. In the first, we elicit participant's emotions using images and videos and capture sensor data from a mobile device, including data from a novel passive sensor: its built-in eye-tracker. Using this data, we construct machine learning models that predict self-reported binary affect, achieving 93.20% peak accuracy. A follow-up study extends these results to a more ecologically valid scenario in which participants browse their social media feeds. The study yields high accuracies for both self-reported binary valence (94.16%) and arousal (92.28%). We present a discussion of the sensors, features and study design choices that contribute to this high performance and that future designers and researchers can use to create effective and accurate smartphone-based affect detection systems.
Neutrophil Count, Intracranial Atherosclerotic Stenosis, and Prognosis of Ischemic Stroke After Endovascular Treatment: A Mediation Analysis

Background and Purpose: Data on the relationship among neutrophil count, intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS), and functional outcomes after endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for ischemic stroke patients remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the association between neutrophil count and prognosis of EVT patients and to determine whether the association was mediated by ICAS. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients who underwent EVT at two comprehensive stroke centers between June 2016 and December 2019. A remaining stenosis >70%, or a lesser degree of stenosis with a tendency toward re-occlusion or flow impairment during the procedure, was classified as ICAS. A poor outcome was defined as a 90-day modified Rankin Scale score of 3–6. Results: Of the 221 patients (mean age, 65.9 years; males, 61.1%) included in this study, 81 (36.3%) had ICAS, and 120 (54.3%) experienced a poor outcome at 90 days, respectively. In the multivariate adjustment for potential confounders, neutrophil count (odds ratio [OR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–1.36; P = 0.012) and presence of ICAS (OR, 2.65; 95CI%, 1.28–5.45; P = 0.008) were risk factors of poor outcomes. Furthermore, mediation analysis indicated that total ICAS mediated the association between increased neutrophil count and worse functional outcome after EVT (the regression coefficient was changed by 11.7% for poor outcome, and 17.1% for modified Rankin Scale score, respectively). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that a higher neutrophil count might increase the risk of a poor outcome among ischemic stroke patients who underwent EVT, which was partially mediated by ICAS.
PAS Kinase: A Nutrient and Energy Sensor “Master Key” in the Response to Fasting/Feeding Conditions

The protein kinase with PAS domains (PASK) is a nutrient and energy sensor located in the cells of multiple organs. Many of the recent findings for understanding PASK functions in mammals have been reported in studies involving PASK-deficient mice. This minireview summarizes the PASK role in the control of fasting and feeding responses, focusing especially on the hypothalamus and liver. In 2013, PASK was identified in the hypothalamic areas involved in feeding behavior, and its expression was regulated under fasting/refeeding conditions. Furthermore, it plays a role in coordinating the activation/inactivation of the hypothalamic energy sensors AMPK and mTOR/S6K1 pathways in response to fasting. On the other hand, PASK deficiency prevents the development of obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver in mice fed with a high-fat diet. This protection is explained by the re-establishment of several high-fat diet metabolic alterations produced in the expression of hepatic transcription factors and key enzymes that control the main metabolic pathways involved in maintaining metabolic homeostasis in fasting/feeding responses. This minireview covers the effects of PASK inactivation in the expression of certain transcription factors and target enzymes in several metabolic pathways under situations such as fasting and feeding with either a standard or a high-fat diet.
Reproductive Biology of Geodia Species (Porifera, Tetractinellida) From Boreo-Arctic North-Atlantic Deep-Sea Sponge Grounds

Boreo-arctic sponge grounds are essential deep-sea structural habitats that provide important services for the ecosystem. These large sponge aggregations are dominated by demosponges of the genus Geodia (order Tetractinellida, family Geodiidae). However, little is known about the basic biological features of these species, such as their life cycle and dispersal capabilities. Here, we surveyed five deep-sea species of Geodia from the North-Atlantic Ocean and studied their reproductive cycle and strategy using light and electron microscopy. The five species were oviparous and gonochoristic. Synchronous development was observed at individual and population level in most of the species. Oocytes had diameters ranging from 8 μm in previtellogenic stage to 103 μm in vitellogenic stage. At vitellogenic stages, oocytes had high content of lipid yolk entirely acquired by autosynthesis, with no participation of nurse cells. Intense vertical transmission of bacterial symbionts to the oocytes by phagocytosis through pseudopodia was observed, especially in late stages of oogenesis. The density of oocytes within the sponge tissue was on average 10 oocytes/mm2 across all species, higher than that of most temperate and tropical oviparous species studied elsewhere. Spermatic cysts were widespread over the tissue during early stages, or fused in larger cysts, around the canals in later stages, and occupying between 1.5 and 12% of the tissue in males. The reproductive season spanned similar periods for all Geodia spp. : from late spring to early autumn. During the reproductive peak of each species, between 60 and 90% of the population was engaged in reproduction for most species. Given the present hazards that threaten the boreo-arctic tetractinellid sponge grounds, it becomes crucial to understand the processes behind the maintenance and regeneration of populations of keystone deep-sea species in order to predict the magnitude of human impacts and estimate their ability to recover. The information provided in this study will be useful for developing adequate conservation strategies for these vulnerable deep-sea habitats.
Structure, Organoleptic Properties, Quantification Methods, and Stability of Phenolic Compounds in Beer—A Review

Beer composition changes through storage, altering the quality of the product. In the past decade, many papers have been devoted to the compounds responsible for aged-beer off-flavors, mainly trans-2-nonenal, methional, and dimethyltrisulfide. Due to their huge antioxidant activity, polyphenols have often been described as key compounds for limiting beer staling. Yet phenolic structures also evolve through storage. Low-molecular-weight phenols like 4-vinylsyringol can impart off-flavors in aged beer, whilst flavonoids strongly influence astringency, haze, and color. The instability of stilbenes, prenylchalcones, and derived flavanones could also modify their health potential through storage. After reviewing the structures and properties of all phenolic compounds found in beer, this paper will try to assess the impact of their degradation through aging. Extraction procedures for their quantification and treatments for their removal are also described.
Deleveraging China

ABSTRACT China’s debt issue has attracted extensive attention from investors and China watchers around the world. Previous studies generally concluded that China’s credit crisis is looming. Responding to these concerns, the Chinese authorities started to systematically deal with its debt issue from 2016. This study examines the factors that have contributed to the accumulations of debts, and reviews the deleveraging strategies adopted in different sectors such as non-financial corporate, financial corporate, household and public sectors. This study concludes that some positive progress has been achieved, and at the same time challenges remain.
REVIEW: Biomedical applications of Schiff base metal complexes

Abstract Metal complexes of Schiff bases synthesized from condensation of an amine with carbonyl compounds are widely used for industrial purposes such as catalysts, pigments and dyes, intermediates in organic synthesis, polymer stabilizers, and corrosion inhibitors. For design and development of various bioactive compounds, Schiff bases carrying imine or azomethine (−C = N–) functional group, are versatile pharmacophores. Medicinal chemists give attention toward new chemotherapeutic Schiff bases and their metal complexes owing to numerous applications in pharmacology as antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antimalarial, antituberculosis, anticancer, anti-HIV, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic agents. This review highlights recently synthesized Schiff bases as well as their metal complexes as potential bioactive core. Graphical Abstract
PCB Busbar Design and Verification for a Multiphase 250 kW SiC based All-electric Aircraft Powertrain Converter

The development and implementation of silicon carbide (SiC) devices is steadily increasing facilitating the electrification of air carriers. In this paper, a print circuit board (PCB) based heavy copper busbar design and verification are introduced for a SiC based 250 kW multiphase drive system operated at 40,000 ft. Finite-element analysis (FEA) simulation studies of the PCB busbar are conducted to optimize the electric field intensity. Busbar modeling technic is also discussed to derive the current distribution and extract the loss. The measured partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV), switching transients and converter-level validations are provided for insulation, thermal and commutation loop verifications.
Real-time tissue characterization on the basis of in vivo Raman spectra

The application of in vivo Raman spectroscopy for clinical diagnosis demands dedicated software that can perform the necessary signal processing and subsequent (multivariate) data analysis, enabling clinically relevant parameters to be extracted and made available in real time. Here we describe the design and implementation of a software package that allows for real-time signal processing and data analysis of Raman spectra. The design is based on automatic data exchange between Grams, a spectroscopic data acquisition and analysis program, and Matlab, a program designed for array-based calculations. The data analysis software has a modular design providing great flexibility in developing custom data analysis routines for different applications. The implementation is illustrated by a computationally demanding application for the classification of skin spectra using principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
D2Park

To address the increasingly serious parking pain, numerous mobile Apps have emerged to help drivers to find a convenient parking spot with various auxiliary information. However, the phenomenon of "multiple cars chasing the same spot" still exists, especially for on-street parking. Existing reservation-based resource allocation solutions could address the parking competition issue to some extent, but it is impractical to treat all spots as reservable resources. This paper first conducts a qualitative investigation based on the online survey data, which identifies diversified parking requirements involving i) reserved users, who request guaranteed spots with a reservation fee, ii) normal users, who request non-guaranteed spots with a "best-effort" service, and iii) external users, who do not use any guidance service. To this end, we design the D2Park system for diversified demand-aware parking guidance services. We formulate the problem as a novel Heterogeneous-Agent Dynamic Resource Allocation (HADRA) problem, which considers both current and future parking demands, and different constraints for diversified requirements. Two main modules are used in the system: 1) multi-step parking prediction, which makes multi-step parking inflow and occupancy rate predictions given the current parking events data and external factors; and 2) diversified parking guidance, which integrates the cooperation-based and competition-based resource allocation mechanisms based on a model predictive control framework to achieve a better performance balance among different user groups. Extensive experiments with a four-month real-world on-street parking dataset from the Chinese city Shenzhen demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of D2Park.
Nonlinear Hairy Layer Theory of Electrophoretic Fingerprinting Applied to Consecutive Layer by Layer Polyelectrolyte Adsorption onto Charged Polystyrene Latex Particles

The consecutive layer-by-layer adsorption of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS) on colloidal charged latex particles is investigated by measuring the electrophoretic mobility as a function of pH and ionic strength over a broad range (electrophoretic fingerprinting). Meaningful interpretation of the data required the development of a nonlinear approach to hairy particle electrophoresis including dissociation, adsorption, and association. Steric and electrostatic exclusion of mobile ions from the hairy layer has been considered. Also, the surface conductivity correction is extended to the case of charged hairy layer particles. We deposited up to three polyelectrolyte layers. The following were found: (i) Each layer deposition is accompanied by charge overcompensation and (ii) Not only the top layer but also the underneath layers and the naked latex particle surface contribute to the particle mobility. This can be interpreted as an incomplete coverage or a polyelectrolyte .
MorphingCircuit

Manufacturing nonplanar electronics often requires the integration of functions and forms through embedding circuit boards into three-dimensional (3D) shapes. While most popular solutions rely on cavities where electronics reside in forms of rigid circuit boards, other alternative approaches leverage 3D printing or layer lamination to create 3D electronics that often require expensive manufacturing processes and materials. Furthermore, many conventional methods are incompatible with complex geometries (e.g., surfaces that twist or have local minima). In response, we introduce MorphingCircuit, an integrated design, simulation, and fabrication workflow that combines electronic functions with forms through four-dimensional (4D) printing, which effectively reduces cost, production time, and e-waste. Specifically, we start by printing a flat substrate and assembling functional electronics on top of it. The flat structure will then self-morph into a preprogrammed 3D shape when triggered by external heating. Overall, our comprehensive 3D electronics fabrication pipeline encompasses the design, simulation, fabrication, and transformation, with which we hope to inspire designers, researchers, and makers to create conformal electronics on complex substrate geometries that were previously difficult or impossible to design or manufacture.
MIFF

Human Mobility Extraction with cellular Signaling Data (SD) is essential for human mobility understanding, epidemic control, and wireless network planning. SD log the detailed interactions between cellphones and cellular towers, but suffer from a spatio-temporal uncertainty problem due to cellular network tower-level load rebalancing (switching users between towers) and cellphone usage activities. To date, most models focus on utilizing better data like RSSI or GPS, do not directly address uncertainty. To address the SD uncertainty issue, we utilize two insights based on (i) individuals' regular mobility patterns and (ii) common co-movement mobility patterns between cellphone users as suggested by fundamental human mobility nature. Accordingly, we design a Multi-Information Fusion Framework (MIFF) to assist in extracting road-level human mobility based on cell-tower level traces. To evaluate the effectiveness of MIFF, we conduct experiments on one-month SD obtained from a cellular service operator, and SD manually collected by handheld mobile devices in two cities in China. Four transportation modes, namely railways, cars, buses, and bikes are evaluated. Experimental results show that with MIFF, our road-level trajectory extraction accuracy can be improved by 5.0% on Point correct matching index and 68.5% on Geographic Error on average.
VibroMap

In spite of the great potential of on-body vibrotactile displays for a variety of applications, research lacks an understanding of the spacing between vibrotactile actuators. Through two experiments, we systematically investigate vibrotactile perception on the wrist, forearm, upper arm, back, torso, thigh, and leg, each in transverse and longitudinal body orientation. In the first experiment, we address the maximum distance between vibration motors that still preserves the ability to generate phantom sensations. In the second experiment, we investigate the perceptual accuracy of localizing vibrations in order to establish the minimum distance between vibration motors. Based on the results, we derive VibroMap, a spatial map of the functional range of inter-motor distances across the body. VibroMap supports hardware and interaction designers with design guidelines for constructing body-worn vibrotactile displays.
Site- and Structure-Dependent Cohesive Energy in Several Ag Clusters

The cohesive energy of Ag clusters at any site x with the magic number N [Ecx(N)] is determined through calculating the vacancy formation energy Evx(N) using density functional theory and theoretical modeling. It is found that Ecx(N) is quite distinct at different surface and interior atomic sites within the same cluster. Ecx(N) is also structure dependent. Ecx(N) values of the core atoms with an icosahedron structure are much larger than the corresponding bulk value Ec(∞) due to the pressure-induced d−d shells repulsion and the sp−d hybridization weakening.
Combined Lateral Calcaneal Lengthening Osteotomy and Dynamic Soft Tissue Reconstruction of Medial Foot in Adolescent Flexible Flatfoot

Flatfoot is a complex multiplanar deformity both in children and adolescent. A clear definition of flatfoot is lacking and the limit between a physiological flatfoot (looked as normal) and a pathological flatfoot (required to be treated) is still uncertain. At present, foot kinematics in symptomatic and pathological flatfeet do not differ significantly, so pain may depend on tissue wear and subjective pain thresholds. The current trend is towards treatment of the deformity if it is painful and limiting activity, to relief from symptoms by restoring foot balance and alignment. (1) Flatfoot is a common deformity manifested by medial rotation and plantar flexion of the talus, eversion of the calcaneus, collapsed medial arch and abduction of the forefoot. The bones of the foot are attached by fibrous structures, intrinsic muscles and extrinsic muscles. The important multiple joints of the foot are the ankle-joint, subtalar joint, transverse tarsal and tars metatarsal (1).
A Summary of Research on Deep Learning in Time Series Learning Methods

In recent years, deep learning has developed rapidly, and end-to-end applications in the field of time series analysis are becoming more and more mature. Therefore, this article discusses the time series learning method based on deep learning, and summarizes the latest deep learning methods for task representation, prediction, classification, and anomaly detection of time series from the aspects of application, architecture, and ideas. The in-depth study of learning solutions and future development trends provide a reference.