Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From solid-state metal alkoxides to nanostructured oxides: a precursor-directed synthetic route to functional inorganic nanomaterials

Functional nanostructured oxides are important inorganic materials for various energy- and environment-related applications, such as photocatalysis and lithium ion batteries. To optimize their properties/functions, synthetic methods that can lead to nanomaterials with unique composition, morphology and size are highly desirable. In this review, we summarize recent research efforts towards the construction of nanostructured solid-state metal alkoxides-a family of inorganic–organic hybrid compounds and their conversion into functional inorganic nanomaterials. The chemical transformation from metal alkoxides to nanostructured oxides represents a novel precursor-directed synthetic route to functional inorganic nanomaterials. The uniqueness of this method mainly lies in: (i) the crystal/molecular structure of metal alkoxides which plays a crucial role in their nanosized structures; (ii) the use of metal alkoxides as precursor materials which determines the composition and (micro)structure of the finally-obtained oxide nanomaterials; and (iii) that this method can be employed to synthesize nanomaterials that cannot be readily achieved using other approaches.
Validating a blended teaching readiness instrument for primary/secondary preservice teachers

Validating a Blended Teaching Readiness Instrument for Primary/Secondary Preservice Teachers Douglas Elijah Archibald Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology, BYU Master of Science Blended learning is the fastest-growing modality in North America and much of the world. However, research and training in blended learning is far outpaced by its usage. To remedy this gap, we developed a competency framework and self-survey instrument to help teachers and researchers evaluate teacher readiness for blended environments. The purpose of this research is to prove that the model and accompanying survey instrument are reliable for use with teacher candidates both before and after going through a blended teaching course. To accomplish this, we sent out a survey instrument to 326 teacher candidates studying in a blended teaching course at a university in the western United States. The teachers took the survey at the beginning of class, and then once again, three months later. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we determined that the pre-class survey results fell within the range of the four fit statistics cutoffs (RMSEA=.056, CFI=.906, TLI=0.900, SRMR=.04). And with slight modification, the post-class survey results did as well (RMSEA=.052, CFI=.914, TLI=.907, and SRMR .058). We also showed that the factor loadings and communalities were statistically significant. By testing the factors in this way, we make a case for the survey to be a valid and reliable instrument in assessing teacher competency, and make a case for thinking of blended teaching competencies in terms of our model. We then tested for measurement invariance, but were unsuccessful in making a case for it. The results of our findings provide teacher educators, teacher candidates, and researchers a new pedagogically-oriented framework and scientifically validated self-survey to use in order to improve and personalize teacher education and professional development for blended settings.
Finding Group Steiner Trees in Graphs with both Vertex and Edge Weights

Given an undirected graph and a number of vertex groups, the group Steiner trees problem is to find a tree such that (i) this tree contains at least one vertex in each vertex group; and (ii) the sum of vertex and edge weights in this tree is minimized. Solving this problem is useful in various scenarios, ranging from social networks to knowledge graphs. Most existing work focuses on solving this problem in vertex-unweighted graphs, and not enough work has been done to solve this problem in graphs with both vertex and edge weights. Here, we develop several algorithms to address this issue. Initially, we extend two algorithms from vertex-unweighted graphs to vertex- and edge-weighted graphs. The first one has no approximation guarantee, but often produces good solutions in practice. The second one has an approximation guarantee of |Γ| - 1, where |Γ| is the number of vertex groups. Since the extended (|Γ| - 1)-approximation algorithm is too slow when all vertex groups are large, we develop two new (|Γ| - 1)-approximation algorithms that overcome this weakness. Furthermore, by employing a dynamic programming approach, we develop another (|Γ| - h + 1)-approximation algorithm, where h is a parameter between 2 and |Γ|. Experiments show that, while no algorithm is the best in all cases, our algorithms considerably outperform the state of the art in many scenarios.
Semi-Supervised Data Cleaning with Raha and Baran

Data cleaning is a tedious data preparation task, which typically needs user supervision in the form of predeﬁned con-ﬁgurations, such as rules, parameters, or patterns. We have recently developed two conﬁguration-free systems, Raha and Baran, to detect and correct data errors in a semi-supervised manner. In this paper, we demonstrate how both systems can be used within an end-to-end data cleaning pipeline. Our demonstration shows how user supervision can be reduced to a negligible amount of example corrections using effective feature representation, label propagation, and transfer learning methods. While each cleaning step, detection and correction, faces substantially diﬀerent challenges, we have designed the corresponding systems based on the same intuition. Both systems internally leverage an automatically generatable set of base detectors and correctors and learn to combine them using a few user labels. In practice, with a small number of 20 user-annotated tuples, it is possible to eﬀectively identify and ﬁx data quality problems inside a dataset. Furthermore, both systems beneﬁt from knowledge of prior cleaning tasks. Using transfer learning, both systems can optimize the data cleaning task at hand in terms of error detection runtime and error correction eﬀectiveness.
Kinetic investigations of azo dye oxidation in aqueous media

A detailed kinetic and spectroscopic investigation has been made of the oxidation of 4-(4-sulfophenylazo)-1-naphthol (Orange I, 4) and 1-(4-sulfophenylazo)-2-naphthol (Orange II, 5) and a series of specially synthesised, substituted 1-arylazo-2-naphthol dyes (6a, 6b) by hypochlorite, peracids and hydrogen peroxide in aqueous media. In all cases, observed second-order rate constants exhibit maxima in alkaline media at a pH equal to the midpoint of the pKA values of dye and oxidant. It is found that substituents upon the aryl ring ortho to the azo group suppress dye reactivity towards hypochlorite and, in addition, it is shown that peracids exhibit similar trends. In contrast, oxidation by hydrogen peroxide is enhanced by ortho substituents, suggesting that it functions via a different mechanism. Surprisingly, the dye common anion has been identified as the form of the dye most susceptible to oxidation by peracids and hypochlorite, with the undissociated oxidant molecules acting as electrophiles. In contrast, dye oxidation by hydrogen peroxide proceeds via the perhydroxyl anion and the hydrazone tautomeric form of the dye. The main function of ortho substituents is to increase the dye pKA, thereby influencing observed rates (k2obs) by changing the equilibrium concentration of reactive species. Substituents also exert an electronic effect on absolute rate constants, k2, giving good Hammett plots for both ortho and para substituents. Reactive oxygen species, e.g. singlet oxygen, superoxide or hydroxyl radicals, are not implicated in the rate-controlling step of the reaction.
Building Enclave-Native Storage Engines for Practical Encrypted Databases

Data confidentiality is one of the biggest concerns that hinders enterprise customers from moving their workloads to the cloud. Thanks to the trusted execution environment (TEE), it is now feasible to build encrypted databases in the enclave that can process customers' data while keeping it confidential to the cloud. Though some enclave-based encrypted databases emerge recently, there remains a large unexplored area in between about how confidentiality can be achieved in different ways and what influences are implied by them. In this paper, we first provide a broad exploration of possible design choices in building encrypted database storage engines, rendering trade-offs in security, performance and functionality. We observe that choices on different dimensions can be independent and their combination determines the overall trade-off of the entire storage. We then propose Enclage , an encrypted storage engine that makes practical trade-offs. It adopts many enclave-native designs, such as page-level encryption, reduced enclave interaction, and hierarchical memory buffer, which offer high-level security guarantee and high performance at the same time. To make better use of the limited enclave memory, we derive the optimal page size in enclave and adopt delta decryption to access large data pages with low cost. Our experiments show that Enclage outperforms the baseline, a common storage design in many encrypted databases, by over 13x in throughput and about 5x in storage savings.
Computational Storage: Where Are We Today?

Computational Storage Devices (CSDs), which are storage devices including general-purpose, special-purpose, and/or re-configurable processing units, are now becoming commercially available from different vendors. CSDs are capable of running software that usually runs on the host CPU – but on the storage device, where the data reside. Thus, a server with one or more CSDs may improve the overall performance and energy consumption of software dealing with a large amount of data. With the aim of fostering CSD’s research and adoption, this position paper argues that commercially available CSDs are still missing a wealth of functionalities that should be carefully considered for their widespread deployment in production data centers. De facto, existing CSDs ignore (heterogeneous) resource management issues, do not fully consider security nor multi-user, nor data consistency, nor usability. Herein, we discuss some of the open research questions, and to what degree several well-known programming models may help solving them – considering also the design of the hardware and software interfaces.
Thermo‐Responsive Gating Characteristics of Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide)‐Grafted Membranes

Both hydrophilic Nylon-6 membranes and hydrophobic poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes, with a wide range of grafting yields of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), were prepared using the plasma-graft pore-filling polymerization method. The effect of the physical and chemical properties of the substrates on the thermo-responsive gating characteristics of the PNIPAM-grafted membranes was investigated experimentally. For both the PVDF and Nylon-6 membranes, the grafted PNIPAM polymers were found not only on the membranes outer surface, but also on the inner surfaces of the pores throughout the entire thickness of the membrane. The thermo-responsive gating characteristics of the PNIPAM-grafted membranes were heavily affected by the physical and chemical properties of the porous membrane substrates. The PNIPAM-g-Nylon-6 membranes exhibited a much larger thermo-responsive gating coefficient than the PNIPAM-g-PVDF membranes. Furthermore, to achieve the largest thermo-responsive gating coefficient, the corresponding optimum grafting yield of PNIPAM for the PNIPAM-g-Nylon-6 membranes was also larger than that for the PNIPAM-g-PVDF membranes.
Surgical outcomes in oral cancer involving the central arch of the mandible in elderly patients: An institutional experience

Backgrounds: Oral squamous cell cancer (SCC) is one of the most common cancers. The most common age of presentation is fifth to sixth decade. Management of this disease is dictated by stage, age, and related comorbidities. Elderly patients have their own set of limitations as far as their management is concerned. Carcinoma involving central mandibular arch is a challenging disease for surgeons, especially in the elderly. This article describes our experience with the surgical treatment of oral cancer involving the central arch of the mandible in elderly patients. Methods: Forty elderly (≥60 years) patients with histologically proven SCC of the oral cavity in which disease was involving the central arch of the mandible, were included in our study. Demographic, clinical, and treatment-related factors were recorded. The outcome was assessed in terms of postoperative complications, recurrence, and patient survival. Results: The median age of the patients was 63 years. The male:female ratio was 7:3. A history of oral tobacco use was present in 95% of patients. The most common site of disease was lower alveolus (80%) followed by carcinoma of the lower lip (20%). Majority of our patients (77.3% [30]) were having Stage IV disease. Mandibulectomy was either segmental (62.5%) or marginal (37.5%). Bilateral neck dissection (37/40, 92.5%) was done in most patients. Among all patients, 62.5% (25) received adjuvant radiotherapy. The local recurrence rate after a median follow-up of 30 months was 15% (6). Two-year disease-free survival and overall survival were 89% and 90%, respectively. Conclusion: Central arch of the mandible is a difficult disease to treat. It needs a complex and lengthy reconstructive procedure. Comorbidities such as extreme age, diabetes, and pulmonary and cardiac illnesses make it more challenging to manage. With the proper evaluation of comorbidities and avoiding long, cumbersome procedures, we can provide patients a fairly good chance of survival.
Role of various lifestyle and behavioral strategies in positive mental health across a preventive to therapeutic continuum

There is growing interest in lifestyle and behavioral strategies not only in prevention but also in the management of psychiatric morbidity. Available literature in this direction was accessed, and the role of various lifestyle and behavioral factors was explored. There is strong evidence of the role of good sleep, nutritious diet, exercise, social connectedness, enhanced self-esteem, sense of purpose in life, resilience, mindfulness, and environmental mastery in the promotion of mental well-being and prevention and management of psychiatric disorders. There is a significant scope of lifestyle and behavioral intervention in ensuring positive mental health spanning from preventive to therapeutic dimension.
Awake intubation with C-MAC videolaryngoscope in a patient with difficult airway

A 28-year-old male patient was posted for surgical debridement of cervico-facial necrotising fasciitis with multi-organ dysfunction. He was a known case of type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). On examination, the patient was irritable and disoriented due to sepsis-induced encephalopathy (GCS-E3V3M5). He had a swollen and blackened right cheek due to necrosis with extension to the neck [Figure 1]. The mouth opening of the patient was around 1.6cm with restricted neck mobility, eliminating the possibility of neck extension. Our primary airway management plan was awake intubation via C-MAC VL (Karl Storz) blade D. A fibre-optic bronchoscope with an endoscopic mask was readily available as an alternative airway management plan. A skilled ear-nose-throat (ENT) surgeon was also requested to be standby for the emergency tracheostomy.
The increasing trend of observational studies in clinical research: Have we forgotten and started defying the hierarchy?

© 2021 Indian Journal of Anaesthesia | Published by Wolters Kluwer Medknow In the contemporary era of evidence-based medicine (EBM), the question arises as to what would constitute the best research evidence. Editors of high-quality journals have a variety of manuscripts flung at them, and for them, selecting a good manuscript is like identifying ‘a cygnet from a paddling of ducklings’. Study design, which is often not correctly formulated, plays a dominant role not only in interpretation but also in the acceptance and publication of research. It has been mentioned time and again, that faulty study design can be a cause for manuscript rejection. [1] There exists a general hierarchy that ranks the type of research based on the validity of the findings and effectiveness of the intervention. There are several types of study designs, and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were initially ranked as the highest level of evidence which has been currently replaced by meta-analysis and systematic reviews. [2] [Figure 1] In another recent modification, Murad et al. removed them from the pyramid and suggested them to be a lens through which evidence is reviewed. [3]
Delusion of pregnancy for 21 years in an elderly woman: A case report and review of literature

Delusion of pregnancy (DOP) is a rare phenomenon especially in the elderly, with only 22 cases being reported. In this report, we present a case of a 74-year-old female with DOP and depressive disorder. In this case, a diagnosis of persistent delusional disorder was considered as the DOP persisted even after resolution of depressive symptoms with the use of antidepressants, antipsychotics, and electroconvulsive therapy.
Focused ion beam induced optical emission spectroscopy

We describe a focused ion beam system and a spectroscopic technique that utilize photons emitted from electronically excited sputtered neutrals for surface element identification and end‐point detection. When a target is bombarded by a focused ion beam, some of the sputtered atoms (as much as 0.2%) leave the surface in electronically excited states and then quickly decay (10−6–10−8 s) by emitting photons of characteristic energies. A sputter‐induced optical emission spectrometer and elemental imaging system were constructed using a focused ion beam in conjunction with a wavelength‐selectable photon detector. Count rates as high as 104/s have been achieved for Al and Si with a 25‐keV, 1.5‐nA Ga+ beam. For these materials, an unambiguous elemental identification and/or end point can be determined by spectral analysis of the emitted photons. Details of the system and its performance will be discussed. In addition, the increase in yield of electronically excited neutrals from oxides or oxidized surfaces is di.
High-Rate Moving-Bed Biofilm Anaerobic Digestion for Waste Activated Sludge Treatment

In a mesophilic anaerobic digestion process, decayed waste activated sludge biomass fed to a digester formed soluble COD substrates, which were eventually converted to methane by anaerobic microorganisms. To improve the decomposition of the soluble materials, performance of a high-rate anaerobic digester was experimentally evaluated. A lab-scale moving-bed biofilm digester having 83.33 m-carrier surface/m-reactor was operated for 200 days with decreasing HRT from 20 days to 1 day, while comparing its response to a conventional chemostat digester. Although both reactors gave a comparable methane production until a 15-day HRT, the soluble TOC in the chemostat digester elevated to 3,000 mg/L at 4-day HRT suggesting washout of the anaerobic microorganisms. On the other hand, the moving-bed biofilm digester kept a reasonable methane production rate without accumulation of the soluble materials until 3-day HRT. When the HRT was reduced to 2 days, the soluble fraction decreased due to limited production of the decayed materials. To simulate the responses, an extended IWA-Activated Sludge Model was applied and individual kinetics were estimated. The simulation demonstrated that the relevant active anaerobic biomass (acidogens and methanogens) accumulated in the moving-bed biofilm digester showing high TVS digestion efficiency (25%) at even very short HRT.
Radical‐cationic photoinitiated copolymerization of isobutylene with isoprene in the presence of vanadium (IV) chloride

EPR spectra of isoprene and isobutylene-isoprene mixture has been studied in the presence of VCl4 in dark and under irradiation, respectively. Analogously, as with isobutylene, a radical-cation of isoprene is formed under irradiation, and in a mixture of both monomers radical-cations of isobutylene and isoprene are formed side by side. Formation of the isoprene radical-cation prevails even in an excess of isobutylene, that is, in an isobutylene-isoprene ratio of 8:1. Peroxy radicals which inhibit the photochemical copolymerization of isobutylene with isoprene were recorded in the presence of oxygen in isoprene and in the isobutylene-isoprene mixture. The copolymers of isobutylene with isoprene prepared photochemically (unsaturation 1.5–2 mole %) at −30 to −78°C had a considerably higher viscometric molecular weight than copolymer samples prepared under the same conditions with AlCl3 or BF3 catalysts. According to NMR measurements of butyl rubber samples prepared by photochemical copolymerization, all isoprene is incorporated in the polymer chain as 1,4-structural units.
Separation‐shifted scaling, a new scaling method for Lennard‐Jones interactions in thermodynamic integration

A new method of simultaneously scaling and shifting the Lennard‐Jones (LJ) potential in molecular dynamics (MD) and thermodynamic integration (TI) simulations is presented. The approach allows the smooth creation or annihilation of atoms or molecules in an ensemble of solvent molecules during a molecular simulation. By scaling and shifting the LJ potential in the direction of the interatomic distance between particles, the method eliminates the problem of the creation or annihilation of a large repulsive LJ potential at the initial or final state of a TI. The optimal degree of shifting and scaling the LJ potential as a function of a control variable λ was studied for the annihilation and creation of neon in aqueous solution. The method was further tested on the calculation of the free energy of aqueous solvation of a small molecule, ethanol. In contrast to linear scaling of the LJ potential during TI, the calculated free energies using the new separation‐shifted scaling approach are reasonably well conver.
Design, modeling, and demonstration of a new dual-mode back-assist exosuit with extension mechanism

Abstract Occupational exoskeletons and exosuits have been shown to reduce muscle demands and fatigue for physical tasks relevant to a variety of industries (e.g., logistics, construction, manufacturing, military, healthcare). However, adoption of these devices into the workforce has been slowed by practical factors related to comfort, form-factor, weight, and not interfering with movement or posture. We previously introduced a low-profile, dual-mode exosuit comprised of textile and elastic materials to address these adoption barriers. Here we build upon this prior work by introducing an extension mechanism that increases the moment arm of the exosuit while in engaged mode, then collapses in disengaged mode to retain key benefits related to being lightweight, low-profile, and unobstructive. Here we demonstrate both analytically and empirically how this extensible exosuit concept can (a) reduce device-to-body forces (which can improve comfort for some users and situations), or (b) increase the magnitude of torque assistance about the low back (which may be valuable for heavy-lifting jobs) without increasing shoulder or leg forces relative to the prior form-fitting exosuit. We also introduce a novel mode-switching mechanism, as well as a human-exosuit biomechanical model to elucidate how individual design parameters affect exosuit assistance torque and device-to-body forces. The proof-of-concept prototype, case study, and modeling work provide a foundation for understanding and implementing extensible exosuits for a broad range of applications. We envision promising opportunities to apply this new dual-mode extensible exosuit concept to assist heavy-lifting, to further enhance user comfort, and to address the unique needs of last-mile and other delivery workers.