Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beyond the H2/CO2 upper bound: one-step crystallization and separation of nano-sized ZIF-11 by centrifugation and its application in mixed matrix membranes

The synthesis of nano-sized ZIF-11 with an average size of 36 ± 6 nm is reported. This material has been named nano-zeolitic imidazolate framework-11 (nZIF-11). It has the same chemical composition and thermal stability and analogous H2 and CO2 adsorption properties to the conventional microcrystalline ZIF-11 (i.e. 1.9 ± 0.9 μm). nZIF-11 has been obtained following the centrifugation route, typically used for solid separation, as a fast new technique (pioneering for MOFs) for obtaining nanomaterials where the temperature, time and rotation speed can easily be controlled. Compared to the traditional synthesis consisting of stirring + separation, the reaction time was lowered from several hours to a few minutes when using this centrifugation synthesis technique. Employing the same reaction time (2, 5 or 10 min), micro-sized ZIF-11 was obtained using the traditional synthesis while nano-scale ZIF-11 was achieved only by using centrifugation synthesis. The small particle size obtained for nZIF-11 allowed the use of the wet MOF sample as a colloidal suspension stable in chloroform. This helped to prepare mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) by direct addition of the membrane polymer (polyimide Matrimid®) to the colloidal suspension, avoiding particle agglomeration resulting from drying. The MMMs were tested for H2/CO2 separation, improving the pure polymer membrane performance, with permeation values of 95.9 Barrer of H2 and a H2/CO2 separation selectivity of 4.4 at 35 °C. When measured at 200 °C, these values increased to 535 Barrer and 9.1.
Specialty Board Leave Policies for Resident Physicians Requesting Parental Leave

Author Affiliations: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts (Magudia, Ng); Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (Bick); The Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, New York University School of Medicine, New York (Cohen); Office of Graduate Medical Education, Partners Healthcare, Boston, Massachusetts (Weinstein); Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco (Mangurian); Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Jagsi).
HOW DO 100 % SMOKE-FREE BANS IN WORKPLACES , BARS , AND RESTAURANTS AFFECT SMOKING BEHAVIOR ?

Since 2001, the pervasiveness of 100% smoke-free bans has increased dramatically, while the smoking rate among American adults has decreased modestly. This study examines the effect of these bans in workplaces, bars, and restaurants on changes in smoking behavior (initiation, prevalence, continuation, consumption, and cessation) using individual-level smoking data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. Generally, this paper finds that, relative to increases in cigarette taxes, bans are less successful in changing smokers’ behavior. Nonetheless, results indicate that of the three types of bans, those in restaurants are correlated with the largest likelihood of behavioral change. Date: 5/3/2011. Acknowledgements: I am grateful to a number of individuals who have provided guidance, assistance, and support throughout my time writing this thesis. First and foremost, I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Professor Sarah West: without her time, insightful comments, revisions, and deadlines, this thesis would not be where it is today. Second, I thank Professors Karine Moe and Paru Shah, my readers, for their contributions and feedback. Third, I would like to thank Professor Raymond Robertson both for his guidance during the honors seminar and throughout my time at Macalester. Fourth, I am grateful for the help of Brad Belbas, Xiaobo Ke, Hershel Nachlis, Alex Pazcek, Max Fram-Schwartz, and Raisa Behal in procuring the ACCRA cost of living data. Fifth, I thank my peers in the honors seminar, as well as Paul Burns, Adam Freedman, Molly Frean, Lowell Ricketts, and David Lopez for insightful comments during the editing process. Finally, I want to thank my academic advisor, Professor Patrick Schmidt; economics department coordinator, Jane Kollasch; and my friends – especially, Patrick Kemp, Kiersten Yeazel, and Deirdre Ratigan – for their emotional support during this process.
Modelling Underlying Energy Demand Trends and Stochastic Seasonality: An Econometric Analysis of Transport Oil Demand in the UK and Japan

This paper demonstrates the importance of adequately modelling the Underlying Energy Demand Trend (UEDT) and seasonality when estimating transportation oil demand for the UK and Japan. The structural time series model is therefore employed to allow for a stochastic underlying trend and stochastic seasonals using quarterly data from the early 1970s, for both the UK and Japan. It is found that the stochastic seasonals are preferred to the conventional deterministic dummies and, more importantly, the UEDT is found to be highly nonlinear for both countries, with periods where it is both upward and downward sloping.
Data Packet Processing Model based on Multi-Core Architecture

According to the characteristics of pipeline structure and multi-core processor structure for packet processing in network detection applications, the horizontal-based parallel architecture model and tree-based parallel architecture model are proposed for packet processing of Snort application. The principle of a tree-based parallel architecture model is to use pipelining and flow-pinning technology to design a processor that is specifically used to capture data packets, and other processors are responsible for other stages of parallel processing of the data packets. The experimental comparison and analysis show that the tree-based parallel architecture model has higher performance on the second-level cache hit ratio, throughput, CPU utilization, and inter-core load balancing compared to the horizontalbased parallel architecture model for packet processing of Snort application.
The influence of behavior factors in setting the agricultural futures market prices

The great challenge for this research work is to show that the biases of investor behavior are predictable and may affect the coffee futures market prices. This research work uses auto-regressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) models to analyze results that cause deviations in the coffee futures market prices. The negative asymmetry coefficient of EGARCH model and the positive asymmetry coefficient of TGARCH model show the presence of the leverage effect where negative shocks have a greater impact in the volatility of returns in coffee than positive shocks. The presence of the leverage effect corroborates the Prospect Theory. Model results also show that the reactions of investors to negative information were statistically significant in the coffee futures market and suggest that Behavioral Finance might contribute to the understanding of the formation of coffee futures market prices.
Stability, ranks, and the PhyloCode

Current codes of biological nomenclature define taxon names using types and ranks: the type determines the mini− mal membership of a named taxon, and the rank is supposed to determine its limits.Homo is “the taxon including the type species Homo sapiens that is assigned to the rank of genus”. However, there is no “genus concept” (analogous to a spe− cies concept), and thus no way of empirically determining the limits of a particular genus, even in the context of a single agreed phylogeny. The same problems also apply to higher taxa at all other ranks under current codes, leading to great taxonomic instability. All proposed objective criteria for de− termining membership of taxa at a particular rank (e.g., geological age, genetic divergence) are shown to be problem− atic. In contrast, the clades named by phylogenetic defini− tions are objective and stable. Node−based and branch− based definitions are most precise; however, apomorphy− based definitions can be ambiguous due to difficulty in de− fining alternative character states, and optimisation uncer− tainty. A major benefit of ranks (information about relative nesting of taxa) can be achieved even more efficiently using standardised but rankless suffixes already widely used in phylogenetic taxonomy. Finally, in situations where the phy− logeny is poorly known, phylogenetic nomenclature appears to be superior to the Linnean system. Phylogenetic nomen− clature does not force one to officially name poorly corrobo− rated groupings, whereas Linnean codes compel users to erect and name genera even when relevant supraspecific re− lationships are poorly known.
Estimating N 2 O 5 uptake coefficients using ambient measurements ofNO 3 , N 2 O 5 , ClNO 2 and particle-phase nitrate

Abstract. We present an estimation of the uptake coefficient (γ) and yield of nitryl chloride (ClNO2) (f) for the heterogeneous processing of dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) using simultaneous measurements of particle and trace gas composition at a semi-rural, non-coastal, mountain site in the summer of 2011. The yield of ClNO2 varied between (0.035 ± 0.027) and (1.38 ± 0.60) with a campaign average of (0.49 ± 0.35). The large variability in f reflects the highly variable chloride content of particles at the site. Uptake coefficients were also highly variable with minimum, maximum and average γ values of 0.004, 0.11 and 0.028 ± 0.029, respectively, with no significant correlation with particle composition, but a weak dependence on relative humidity. The uptake coefficients obtained are compared to existing parameterizations based on laboratory datasets and with other values obtained by analysis of field data.
Issues of resistance of pathogens to antimicrobial agents

Antimicrobial resistance among pathogenic organisms is now a persistent problem and of tremendous public health care concern around the globe. These pathogens are able to develop mechanisms of resistance, the antimicrobial agents that were at one time the drug of choice. They continue to develop various mechanisms of resistance either by intrinsic or acquired, and have been able to transfer and accept different resistance genes, given rise to multi-drugs resistance bacteria called superbugs. This new phenomenon has caused an increase in the incidence of nosocomial infections making the treatment problematic for the health care providers. Resistance to antimicrobial agents is fast becoming a norm and is an enormous challenge worldwide. Key words: Antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial agent, pathogen, mechanism, superbug.
An Unusual Presentation of Parvimonas micra Infective Endocarditis

Parvimonas micra has been identified as a prominent oral pathogen. This organism has been implicated in periodontal, soft tissue and bone infections. It causes a subacute presentation with high morbidity. We present a case of severe infective endocarditis caused by Parvimonas micra requiring valvular surgery despite appropriate antibiotics. To our knowledge, this is the second case report of Parvimonas micra infective endocarditis since its reclassification in 2006.
Farm Animal Welfare, Consumer Willingness to Pay, and Trust: Results of a Cross-National Survey

Higher animal welfare standards increase costs along the supply chain of certified animal-friendly products (AFP). Since the market outcome of certified AFP depends on consumer confidence toward supply chain operators complying with these standards, the role of trust in consumer willingness-to-pay (WTP) for AFP is paramount. Results from a contingent valuation survey administered in five European Union countries show that WTP estimates were sensitive to robust measures of consumer trust for certified AFP. Deriving the WTP effect of a single food category on total food expenditure is difficult for survey respondents; hence, a budget approach was employed to facilitate this process.
Robust Lane-Detection Method for Low-Speed Environments

Vision-based lane-detection methods provide low-cost density information about roads for autonomous vehicles. In this paper, we propose a robust and efficient method to expand the application of these methods to cover low-speed environments. First, the reliable region near the vehicle is initialized and a series of rectangular detection regions are dynamically constructed along the road. Then, an improved symmetrical local threshold edge extraction is introduced to extract the edge points of the lane markings based on accurate marking width limitations. In order to meet real-time requirements, a novel Bresenham line voting space is proposed to improve the process of line segment detection. Combined with straight lines, polylines, and curves, the proposed geometric fitting method has the ability to adapt to various road shapes. Finally, different status vectors and Kalman filter transfer matrices are used to track the key points of the linear and nonlinear parts of the lane. The proposed method was tested on a public database and our autonomous platform. The experimental results show that the method is robust and efficient and can meet the real-time requirements of autonomous vehicles.
The use of a high-fidelity simulation manikin in teaching clinical skills to fourth year undergraduate pharmacy students

Background: A relatively new development in simulation-based teaching in healthcare education is the use of simulationmanikins. While these have been used to teach clinical skills in various health disciplines, little has been reported on their use inUK undergraduate pharmacy programmes.Aims: To investigate the use of a simulation manikin to teach clinical skills to undergraduate pharmacy students.Method: A fourth year unit was developed to teach clinical skills to undergraduate pharmacists, including communication,consultation skills, clinical decision making and physical examination. A pre- and post-unit questionnaire was used to gatherdata relating to student confidence, self rated competence and student experience.Results: Student confidence and self-rated competence in key clinical skills increased significantly. High levels of acceptabilityfor this teaching method were reported.Conclusion: This method of teaching clinical skills is effective and highly acceptable to undergraduate pharmacy students.Further research is necessary to compare this to other methods.
Ultrafast mapping of optical polarization states onto spin coherence of localized electrons in a semiconductor

We experimentally demonstrate an ultrafast method for preparing spin states of donor-bound electrons in GaAs with single laser pulses. Each polarization state of a preparation pulse has a direct mapping onto a spin state, with bijective correspondence between the Poincar\'{e}-sphere (for photon polarization) and Bloch-sphere (for spin) state representations. The preparation is governed by a stimulated Raman process and occurs orders of magnitude faster than the spontaneous emission and spin dephasing. Similar dynamics governs our ultrafast optical Kerr detection of the spin coherence, thus getting access to spin state tomography. Experiments with double preparation pulses show an additive character for the preparation method. Utilization of these phenomena is of value for quantum information schemes.
The effect of government capital on labor productivity in Japan’s prefectures

This paper uses Japanese prefecture level data to investigate the role of government capital in explaining the cross-sectional pattern in output per worker. We document some facts that suggest the overall role of government capital on output per worker might be negative. We then develop a model with private and public production that relates variations in the share of prefecture government capital in total capital to prefecture labor productivity. An empirical assessment of the model shows that the model predicts seven out of ten of the prefectures with the highest labor productivity and seven out of ten of the prefectures with the lowest labor productivity. We are grateful for comments received from seminar participants at Tokyo University, Southampton University and the Korean 1999 Local Summer Meetings of the Econometric Society comments. The first author received financial support for this project from the Foundation for International Education and the second author received financial support from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, Japan
Progression of invasive lionfish in seagrass, mangrove and reef habitats.

The invasion of the Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans into the western Atlantic, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico is the fastest ever documented for a marine fish. Few studies have addressed the establishment of lionfish populations within a location, and habitats other than reefs have been largely overlooked. The present study reconstructed the invasion around South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), from multiple sources of data. Densities and size frequen- cies of lionfish were compared in deep reefs (10 to 30 m) and shallow habitats (seagrass, man- grove, sheltered reef, and exposed reef <5 m deep) over a 4 yr period (2007 to 2010). By the end of 2010, lionfish had been observed in all 5 habitats. There was a lag of almost 7 mo between the first sightings in shallow habitats (December 2007) and in deep reefs. After 2 to 3 yr, the density of lionfish in deep reefs surpassed those in shallow habitats. In November 2010, mean density was over 10× higher on deep reefs (9.51 lionfish seen observer �1 h �1 ± 5.37 SD) than in seagrass (0.87 ± 0.41; p < 0.05), which was significantly higher than in other shallow habitats (sheltered reef: 0.52 ± 0.47; exposed reef: 0.12 ± 0.13; and mangrove: 0.06 ± 0.10; p < 0.05). Lionfish on deep reefs (TL = 22.7 ± 7.5 cm) had significantly larger total lengths (TL; mean ± SD) than those in seagrass (TL = 15.0 ± 4.3 cm; p < 0.05) or sheltered reefs (TL = 14.6 ± 6.8 cm; p < 0.05). Assuming one population with ontogenetic movement between habitats, density and age estimates suggest that lionfish may have moved to deep reefs from other habitats. The results suggest that lionfish may settle preferentially, but not exclusively, in shallow habitats before moving to deep reefs.
Revisiting Extra Acupoints: Past, Present, and Future

Extra acupoints distinguish themselves from the acupoints on the traditional fourteen meridians with the unique indications, actions, and the great effectiveness in acupuncture theory and treatment. Pattern identification, one of the Traditional Chinese Medicine theories and should be taken into account in the treatment, cannot be applied to extra acupoints with the lack of Yin and Yang. However, this cannot depreciate the value of extra acupoints in the acupuncture. The extra acupoints selected in combination with traditional acupoints for cosmetic acupuncture can benefit women like natural botox, marking the beginning of a new chapter. This promising development with the convincing efficacy and timeeffectiveness deserve clinical and academic attention in the future.
An investigation of two ways of presenting vocabulary

The use of semantic links or networks in L2 vocabulary acquisition has been a popular subject for numerous studies. On one hand, there is a strong theoretical background stating that presenting words in related fashion facilitates the learning of L2 vocabulary. On the other hand, research evidence indicates that semantically related vocabulary seems to hinder rather than ease the learning of L2 vocabulary. The aim of the present study is to examine which manner of L2 vocabulary presentation is more helpful for L2 learners. It was conducted in EFL classrooms with Greek EFL students. The subjects were 31 intermediate EFL children and 32 beginner EFL adults. The two different ways of organizing new vocabulary for presentation were tested. The article will focus on the main conclusion that semantically related clustering impedes L2 vocabulary learning at beginners’ level.
Predictors of mucosal healing during induction therapy in patients with acute moderate‐to‐severe ulcerative colitis

The treat‐to‐target strategy has emerged in ulcerative colitis management. Mucosal healing is the best target, albeit not in induction therapy of acute diseases as clinical conditions vary over a short duration. To determine the targets during induction therapy for acute ulcerative colitis, we identified markers to predict mucosal healing at 3 and 12 months of initiating the induction therapy.
Some Food and Environmental Safety Issues with GE Products: A Scientific Perspective

Author(s): Lemaux, Peggy G | Abstract: For some farmers and consumers, planting and consuming these crops is controversial based on questions concerning food and environmental safety. Consumers, farmers, producers, and scientists need to have accurate information about genetic engineering, its products, and their impact. A number of scientific issues related to GE crops and foods are discussed
A Computational Assay that Explores the Hemagglutinin/Neuraminidase Functional Balance Reveals the Neuraminidase Secondary Site as a Novel Anti-Influenza Target

Studies of pathogen–host specificity, virulence, and transmissibility are critical for basic research as well as for assessing the pandemic potential of emerging infectious diseases. This is especially true for viruses such as influenza, which continue to affect millions of people annually through both seasonal and occasional pandemic events. Although the influenza virus has been fairly well studied for decades, our understanding of host-cell binding and its relation to viral transmissibility and infection is still incomplete. Assessing the binding mechanisms of complex biological systems with atomic-scale detail is challenging given current experimental limitations. Much remains to be learned, for example, about how the terminal residue of influenza-binding host-cell receptors (sialic acid) interacts with the viral surface. Here, we present an integrative structural-modeling and physics-based computational assay that reveals the sialic acid association rate constants (kon) to three influenza sites: the hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA) active, and NA secondary binding sites. We developed a series of highly detailed (atomic-resolution) structural models of fully intact influenza viral envelopes. Brownian dynamics simulations of these systems showed how structural properties, such as stalk height and secondary-site binding, affect sialic acid kon values. Comparing the kon values of the three sialic acid binding sites across different viral strains suggests a detailed model of encounter-complex formation and indicates that the secondary NA binding site may play a compensatory role in host-cell receptor binding. Our method elucidates the competition among these sites, all present on the same virion, and provides a new technology for directly studying the functional balance between HA and NA.