Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Greenhouse Gases and Circular Economy Issues in Sustainability Reports from the Energy Sector in the European Union

The achievement of climate neutrality and eco-economic decoupling requires explicit measures to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and to implement circular economy (CE) principles in practice. The energy sector is of particular importance in meeting these challenges because it exerts a substantial environmental impact. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine how essential GHG and CE issues are for companies operating in the energy sector. This can be reflected in corporate strategies, but it can also be disclosed to the public in sustainability reports. For this reason, this article presents a comprehensive analysis of sustainability reports based on the latest GRI Standards published by companies representing the energy sector in the European Union to determine the existence, quality, and specificity of reporting GHG and CE issues. The research results demonstrate that sustainability reports from the energy sector companies tend to focus more on GHG issues. They rarely point to actions related to CE, including actions enabling a reduction in GHG emissions, as those with high priority. In addition, declarations from the analyzed companies regarding intentions related to GHG and CE issues at the strategic level find a rather poor reflection in the description of specific actions in this area or in demonstrating appropriate indicators at the operational level. Considering the indicators included in the reports, the analyzed companies insufficiently describe the methods they use to gather, compile, and analyze information on the effectiveness of actions taken to address GHG and CE issues. As for the identification of potential determinants of the quality of reporting GHG and CE issues, the research results indicate that it is mostly influenced by external assurance and the report option. Sustainability reports submitted for external assurance and reports with the comprehensive option are significantly more developed than other types of reports. However, the clarity of reports with the core option is higher compared to the comprehensive group. In addition, it was indicated that the clarity of stand-alone reports is higher compared to other types of reports.
Investigation and design of enhanced decoupled UWB MIMO antenna for wearable applications

A lightweight multi‐input multi‐output (MIMO) two‐element wearable ultra‐wideband (UWB) antenna having a port isolation of greater than 21 dB is introduced in this communication. The proposed structure includes wearable jeans cloth as a substrate, wherein two inverted u‐formed stubs are mounted in the middle position located on the backside of antenna and attached to the partially etched ground for enhancing the characteristics of port isolation. The developed UWB MIMO antenna has a size of 50 x 35 mm2 and covers the frequency range operating from 1.83 to 13.82 GHz (~153.2%). The suggested MIMO antenna is inexpensive and functions across a broad frequency range of applications including WLAN (2.4‐2.484 GHz/5.15‐5.35 GHz/5.72‐5.825 GHz), Downlink‐uplink WiMAX (3.2‐3.85 GHz), and C‐band (3.7‐4.2 GHz/5.925‐6.425 GHz). The diversity gain (DG) is found to be greater than 9.9 along with envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) to be less than 0.059 across the entire operating bandwidth. The proposed MIMO antenna's channel power loss is bestowed to be less than 0.35 bit/s/Hz. The SAR results of the proposed UWB MIMO design admits that the antenna performs satisfactorily and is suitable for wearable applications. Simulation and testing fairly proved the output of the proposed antenna as a righteous candidate applicable for UWB MIMO applications.
Evolving Natural History of Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Introduction The systemic therapies available to patients with metastatic prostate cancer (mPC) have improved dramatically over the past decade. Anecdotal experience suggests that the increased available lines of therapy have changed the profile of mPC to include a higher prevalence of visceral metastases. Materials and Methods A retrospective review of 472 patients with prostate cancer who died in 2009 and in 2016 was performed. Patients with metastatic disease who had imaging within six months of death were included. A total of 164 patients were eligible for analysis. Results Overall rates of visceral and distant metastases, including the lung, liver, adrenal, brain, renal, spleen, and thyroid, were higher in patients who died in 2016 as compared to those who died in 2009 (40.0% and 26.1%, respectively, p-value = 0.07). Forty-four percent of patients who died in 2016 used five or more lines of systemic treatments compared to 26.1% of patients in 2009. Conclusion The emergence of new systemic therapies for mPC is changing the natural history of the disease. Visceral metastases are being seen with increasing frequency than in the past. This observation is important for clinicians who are monitoring patients with prostate cancer to maintain a high suspicion for visceral disease.
GLM Observations of the Brightest Lightning in the Americas

Two years of Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) science data are used to document the brightest lighting flashes observed on the Americas continent. The most radiant optical lightning emissions—termed “superbolts”—were first identified by the Vela satellite constellation in the 1970s (Turman, 1977, https://doi.org/10.1029/JC082i018p02566) and are defined in terms of peak optical power. GLM is an integrating sensor that, instead, measures the total optical energy from a lightning pulse. While GLM might not correctly classify short‐duration superbolts, its top lightning cases certainly fall in the superbolt category, and the wealth of GLM measurements over its stationary hemispheric field of view provide an unmatched sample of extraordinarily bright lightning. While radiant bolts in excess of 100× the optical energy of typical lightning are ubiquitous across the Americas and result from many types of lightning processes, we find the most radiant cases (>1,000×) are concentrated in the central United States and in the La Plata basin in South America. Coincident Earth Networks Global Lightning Network (ENGLN) observations reveal that these extremely bright emissions usually result from + CG strokes with high peak currents in long horizontal flashes outside of the convective core. Single cases of these megaflashes might produce multiple superbolts over their durations.
A Review on the Use of Chitosan and its Derivatives as Radical Scavenger and Metal Ions Chelating Agent

Chitosan has unique properties among biopolymers, especially due to the presence of several reactive groups, such as OH and NH2, which can react with many compounds. Chitosan and its derivatives are able to chelate metal ions, eliminate free radicals and resist oxidation. The development of chitosan and its derivatives used as metal ions chelating agent and free radical scavenger was overviewed. In addition, the application of chitosan and its derivatives and their potentiality in paper industry was prospected.
Vacuum level alignment in organic guest-host systems

Using a combination of ultraviolet and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, we have studied the relative energy level alignment of two phosphorescent guest molecules, 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octaethyl-21H,23H-porphine platinum (PtOEP) and tris(2-phenylpyridine)iridium (Ir(ppy)3), doped in an electron transport host, tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminum (III) (Alq3), and in a hole transport host, 4,4′-bis(carbazol-9-yl)biphenyl. In each of the guest–host systems, we find that the vacuum levels of the guest and the host molecules align, and that the position of the highest occupied molecular orbital of the phosphorescent guest is independent of the guest molecule concentration (0.8%–56% by mass). The vacuum level alignment implies free movement of the Fermi level within the gaps of the guest and the host molecules manifesting the intrinsic nature of these organic semiconductors. These results give insights into the role that the phosphorescent molecules play in trapping and transporting charges within the emissiv.
Generation of a noise-like pulse from an erbium-doped fiber laser based on nonlinear multimode interference

A noise-like pulse (NLP) is generated in an anomalous-dispersion passively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser using graded-index multimode fiber (GIMF) as the all-fiber saturable absorber (SA) for the first time. By splicing two sections of bending GIMF at both ends of a single mode fiber and optimizing the birefringence and nonlinear parameters, stable NLP mode-locking operation can be achieved within a wide pump power range. Meanwhile, the performances of NLP mode-locking have been analyzed experimentally by changing the length of the GIMF.
Nurses' perspectives regarding the relationship between professional ethics and organizational commitment in healthcare organizations

Nurses' professional and ethical performances are influenced by the health organizations' environment, and high quality and holistic care can only be provided by observing the principles of professional ethics and organizational commitment. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the relationship between professional ethics and organizational commitment in nurses. This descriptive-analytic study was conducted in hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) in 2019 in Iran. The study participants included 210 public ward nurses selected using the stratified random sampling method. Data were collected using Petty Professional Ethics and Allen-Meyer Organizational Commitment questionnaires, and then analyzed by SPSS V.25. Both the mean score of the nurses' professional ethics (102.21 ± 10.89) and the mean score of the nurses' organizational commitment (95.30 ± 16.54) were at high levels. Moreover, a direct and significant relationship was found between professional ethics and organizational commitment (P= 0.009, r = 0.179). In other words, a positive correlation was found between professional ethics and organizational commitment. Considering the relationship between professional ethics and organizational commitment in nurses, managers should enhance nurses' level of adherence to ethical principles, organizational commitment and organizational attachment. Additionally, training courses can help improve nurses' professional capabilities, and hence enhancing the quality of providing healthcare services.
Influence of Buckwheat and Buckwheat Sprouts Flours on the Nutritional and Textural Parameters of Wheat Buns

In recent years, food products manufactured with buckwheat and sprouts flours have attracted widespread interest due to their high nutritional value with various health benefits, becoming more and more popular. The purpose of this study was to assesses the influence of buckwheat and sprouts flours on the nutritional, sensorial and textural characteristics on the final baked products. In order to achieve these goals, methods like HPLC-RID (High-Perfomance Liquid Chromatography with Refractive Index Detection), aluminum chloride colorimetric assay, Folin-Ciocalteu and 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) were used to determine fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose; total flavonoids, total phenols and antioxidant activity. Sensorial analysis was realized by using hedonic test and texture profile was performed on a CT 3 Texture Analyzer. The results proved that wheat flour could be successfully replaced by 20% buckwheat and 10% sprouts flours, respectively, improving their nutritional value, without negative influence on texture parameters and sensorial features. The obtained buns were accepted by consumers with a total hedonic score of 9.1 and 8.7, respectively. Hardness, gumminess and adhesiveness were improved by using Magimix improver, meanwhile cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess and adhesiveness were improved by using guar gum.
Applying Classic Social Psychology Principles to Improve Healthcare Teams

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Modern healthcare involves teams composed of educators, learners, healthcare providers, patients, patients’ significant others and families, healthcare administrators, and information sources. Principles of social psychology are relevant to interactions among team members when learning and performing professional duties; communicating to build trust, commitment, and teamwork; and collaborating among members of the healthcare team. This paper briefly discusses several classic principles of social psychology and how they apply to healthcare teams and medical education. Understanding and applying these principles will help healthcare providers optimize performance and interactions with colleagues, learners, and patients. It is important to incorporate study and practice of these principles into medical education and professional development.
Radar Main-Lobe Jamming Suppression Based on Adaptive Opposite Fireworks Algorithm

In the presence of the main lobe jamming, the performance of the modern radar system would degrade significantly. In this study, a blind source separation (BSS) method based on an Adaptive Opposite Fireworks Algorithm (AOFWA) is proposed to address the problem of ineffective target echo detection when the radar is subjected to main lobe jamming. First, a signal model for BSS applied in the anti-main lobe jamming is provided, and the number of source signals is estimated. Then, an adaptive opposite learning operator is designed to improve the optimization capability and convergence speed of the basic Fireworks Algorithm (FWA). Finally, pulse compression is performed for separated signals to achieve peak detection. The simulation result shows that the proposed algorithm can effectively extract target echo under suppression jamming and deception jamming, and the separation precision is relatively high, and its convergence speed is superior.
DFT Investigation of the Hydrogen Adsorption on Graphene and Graphene Sheet Doped with Osmium and Tungsten

Significant interest has been focused on graphene materials for their unique properties as Hydrogen storage materials. The development of their abilities by modifying their configuration with doped or decorated transition metals was also of great interest. In this work, using the DFT/B3LYP/6-31G/LanL2DZ level of theory, graphene sheet (GS) as one of the materials of interest was doped with two transition metals, Osmium (Os) and Tungsten (W). Two active sites on the GS were tested (C4 and C16) resulted into adsorbed systems, H2@C4-GS and H2@C16-GS. C16 position showed the largest adsorption energy compared to that at C4. Therefore, C4 was replaced by the two metals and two adsorbed systems were formed: H2@Os-GS and H2@W-GS. The binding energy of H2@Os-GS was found to be greater than that of H2@W-GS.
Optimizing the performance of multiline-scanning confocal microscopy

Line-scanning (LS) confocal microscopy provides high imaging speed and moderate optical sectioning strength, which makes it a useful tool for imaging various biospecimens ranging from living cells to fixed tissues. Conventional LS systems have only used a single excitation line and slit, and thus have not fully exploited the benefits of parallelization. Here we investigate the optical performance of multi-LS confocal microscopy (mLS) by employing a digital micro-mirror device that provides programmable patterns of the illumination beam and the detection slit. Through experimental results and optical simulations, we assess the depth discrimination of mLS under different optical parameters and compare it with multi-point systems such as spinning disk confocal microscopy (SDCM). Under the same illumination duty cycle, we find that mLS has better optical sectioning than SDCM at a high degree of parallelization. The optimized mLS provides a low photobleaching rate and video-rate imaging while its optical sectioning is similar to single LS confocal microscopy.
CMOS analog and mixed-signal phase-locked loops: An overview

CMOS analog and mixed-signal phase-locked loops (PLL) are widely used in varies of the system-on-chips (SoC) as the clock generator or frequency synthesizer. This paper presents an overview of the AMS-PLL, including: 1) a brief introduction of the basics of the charge-pump based PLL, which is the most widely used AMS-PLL architecture due to its simplicity and robustness; 2) a summary of the design issues of the basic CPPLL architecture; 3) a systematic introduction of the techniques for the performance enhancement of the CPPLL; 4) a brief overview of ultra-low-jitter AMS-PLL architectures which can achieve lower jitter (< 100 fs) with lower power consumption compared with the CPPLL, including the injection-locked PLL (ILPLL), sub-sampling (SSPLL) and sampling PLL (SPLL); 5) a discussion about the consideration of the AMS-PLL architecture selection, which could help designers meet their performance requirements.
Microbiological Modification Therapy For Acute Medical Presentations Of Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) displays a variety of psychological and physical symptoms. These are difficult to rapidly control with currently available pharmacological options. This review summarises the evidence for an acute use of microbiological modification drugs targeting vagal nerve stimulation. A systematic search was conducted in Medline, Pubmed, and PschInfo for all pre-clinical and human studies concerning the use of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in the treatment of GAD. Twenty-five studies were eligible for inclusion. In mice, modification therapy resulted in improved behav-iour that was at least non-inferior to standard therapy (antidepressants). Brain histopathology revealed further anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective benefits. Vagotomy abolished the anti-GAD properties of the treatment. In humans, several species demonstrated significant reductions in palpitations, shortness of breath, head-aches, flu-like symptoms, and abdominal pains vs. placebo within 4 to 12 weeks. B. bifidum, B. lactis, L. acidophilus and S. thermophiles showed alleviation of physical symptoms to population baseline when added to an antidepressant. No significant side effects were reported in the studies. As physical symptoms are typically the presenting medical complaint of GAD, there is potential to control the disease with the administration of bacteria-containing pharmaceutical agents as an adjunct to current antidepressant options.
Historical and contemporary habitat use of sperm whales around the Galápagos Archipelago: Implications for conservation

Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Constance, Germany Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Pondal do Paraná, Brazil Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behavoiur, University of Konstanz, Constance, Germany Sea Shepherd, Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador
Population genetics of the common opossum, Didelphis marsupialis (Marsupialia: Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae), in southeastern Mexico

ABSTRACT In this study, we examined whether the genetic diversity of Didelphis marsupialis is structured or their populations maintain high gene flow as expected in common species. Forty-eight Tomahawk traps were set for four consecutive nights in The Highlands and the Central Depression, State of Chiapas, Mexico. Eight microsatellites were amplified to examine genetic diversity. Genetic structure was evaluated in terms of the null allele-corrected pairwise global F st estimates, according to the ENA and INA methods. An Analysis of Molecular Variance and a Bayesian analysis were carried out classifying the opossums by region and population. We found a moderate genetic diversity (He = 0.57–0.62) and an intermediate genetic differentiation between population (Fst = 0.11, P = 0.009). Genetic distances showed a closer relationship between individuals from populations that had a similar disturbance level. The Bayesian analysis showed a marked structure both between regions and between populations. Our results show in the common opossum moderate levels of gene flow, limited possibly by the habitat fragmentation due to anthropogenic disturbance. Further genetics studies and conservation efforts on this marsupial are recommended. Our findings are relevant for the conservation of common marsupial species in Mexico.
Investigation of Sulfate Attack by Experimental and Thermodynamic Means

This work investigates sulfate attack in complex sulfate environments by exposing different binder types to various sulfate solutions and comparing predicted phase and volume changes with experimental data. The most important aspects of this work can be grouped in three topics: The comparison of the predicted volume increase with the experimentally observed length changes. This part of the work shows that volume increase cannot be linked directly to the observed expansions. Additionally, the volume increase model does not provide an explanation for the driving force for the space filling to overcome mechanical constraints. A more plausible explanation of expansion lies in the theory of crystallization pressure, in which crystals forming from a supersaturated solution seem to be a more applicable explanation for the deterioration differences. However, this is difficult to verify directly as it is impossible to measure the solution concentration or individual crystals exert pressure on their surroundings. It is observed that expansion occurs in systems where thermodynamic modelling predicts the co-existence of ettringite with gypsum. In such a case, if monosulfate and gypsum are both present locally, the solution can be highly supersaturated with respect to ettringite within the exposed materials. An increase of sulfate contents in the C-S-H phase has been observed for these cases, indicating increased sulfate concentrations in the pore solution while providing the necessary confinement for the crystals in intimate phase mixtures to exceed pressure. The presence of bicarbonate ions in the sulfate solution reduces the expansion significantly for the CEM I and CEM III/B binders, and reduced the sulfate uptake in the phase assemblage. The CEM III/B mortars showed a highly leached zone at the surface in which also calcite was observed, this is attributed to the destabilisation of ettringite in the presence of high concentrations of bicarbonate ions. The microstructural characterization combined with the information from thermodynamic modelling suggests that conditions of high supersaturation with respect to ettringite are unlikely to occur in samples exposed to solutions containing bicarbonate ions. Degradation of mortars exposed to complex magnesium containing sulfate solutions showed that the presence of sodium, potassium and calcium in a magnesium solution reduce the deterioration symptoms significantly for the CEM I and CEM III/B mortars. The experimental observations suggest that sulfate attack in natural environments is not only less severe, due to reduced sulfate concentrations in the field, but are likely to be affected by the presence of bicarbonate anions and the common occurrence of different cations. Both of these aspects reduce the deterioration significantly and can be assumed to occur in most natural waters.