Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent Progress in High Refractive Index Polymers

High refractive index polymers have been widely developed in recent years for their potential applications in advanced optoelectronic fabrications, such as high performance components for advanced display devices, encapsulants for light-emitting diode devices, microlens components for complementary metal oxide semiconductor image sensors, plastic lenses for eyeglasses, and camera, pick-up, and projector lenses. This Perspective describes the recent progress in high refractive index (n) polymers over the past decade and focuses on the design concept to increase n values and Abbe’s number (ν) of polymers. After a brief introduction of the basic methodology for developing high-n polymers and important parameters, such as Abbe’s number and birefringence, applications of high-n polymers, such as antirefractive coatings, microlenses for CMOS image sensors, encapsulants for LEDs, and high-n thermoplastic lenses, are highlighted.
Solubility, length characterization, and cryo-TEM of pristine and functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes in surfactant and superacid systems, with application to spinning SWNT fibers

Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have remarkable properties: the thermal conductivity of diamond, the electrical conductivity of copper, and mechanical properties greater than steel at a sixth of the weight. If these properties can be retained at the macroscale, SWNT fibers could be used in many high performance applications. The difficulty lies with dispersing SWNTs at high concentrations. Strong van der Waals attractive forces cause bundle formation, which limits SWNT self-assembly into highly aligned macro-structures. Using additives, SWNTs can be dispersed as individuals at low concentrations. Although spinning fibers is difficult to do with these dispersions, I have exploited their ability to disperse individual SWNT to develop an easy technique to measure the SWNT length distribution through the bulk measurements of viscosity or polarized absorbance in an external magnetic field. Determining length is important for fiber spinning, since longer nanotubes offer promise of stronger, more conductive fibers at the cost of higher viscosities and difficulty in dispersing. To produce neat SWNT fibers, we use superacids, which can disperse SWNTs at high concentrations, forming liquid crystalline phases that are valuable in forming highly-aligned SWNT fibers. I found that functionalization improves SWNT stabilization and solubility at lower concentrations, but at high concentrations, most of functional groups studied prevents the formation of highly aligned phases, which translated into poorly-aligned fibers. I found that chlorosulfonic acid is the most effective solvent, yielding high isotropic solubility and liquid crystallinity at high concentrations. Moreover, cryo-TEM shows that chlorosulfonic acid dissolves as individuals 500 //m-long SWNTs and MWNTs.
Flow-Based Surface Decoration of Microparticles with Titania and Other Transition Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

AbstractWe present a rapid approach for forming monodisperse silica microcapsules decorated with metal oxide nanoparticles; the silica—metal oxide composites have a hierarchical architecture and a range of compositions. The details of the method were defined using titania precursors. Silica capsules containing low concentrations of titania (< 1 wt. %) were produced via an interfacial reaction using a simple mesofluidic T-junction droplet generator. Increasing the titania content of the capsules was achieved using two related, flow-based postsynthetic approaches. In the first approach, a precursor solution containing titanium alkoxides was flowed through a packed-bed of capsules. The second approach provided the highest concentration of titania (3.5 wt. %) and was achieved by evaporating titanium precursor solutions onto a capsule packed-bed using air flow to accelerate evaporation. Decorated capsules, regardless of the method, were annealed to improve the titania crystallinity and analyzed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic properties were then compared to a commercial nanoparticulate titania, which the microcapsule-supported titania outperformed in terms of rate of degradation of an organic dye and recyclability. Finally, the generality of the flow-based surface decoration procedures was demonstrated by synthesizing several composite transition metal oxide—silica microparticle materials.
STUDY OF HIGH NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ALMOND MILK BEVERAGE

This study found that almond milk has a high nutritive value and has a high proportion of protein and oil. It also incorporates abundant antioxidants from the diet. In both free and attached forms, almonds contain phenolic and flavonoids and are abundant in tocopherol, phytosterols, and squalene. Milk with 10% almond was the highest protein content when fresh and after 7 days during cold storage (6± 1 ̊C) 5.22 and 5.38% respectively. Milk with 10% almond was the highest fat content when fresh and after 7 days during cold storage (6± 1 ̊C) 9.4 and 9.5 % respectively. Milk with 10 % almond was the highest total score of sensory evaluation when fresh and after 7 days during cold storage (6± 1 ̊C). The apparent protective benefits of these compounds are due to their antioxidant and ant proliferative functions, which are associated with a lowered chance of developing atherosclerosis and cancer.
Acute phase segmental radial strain correlates with recovery and late gadolinium extent in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI): analysis of the abciximab intracoronary versus intravenously drug application in STEMI substudy.

Background The role of regional strain evaluation in patients with acute reperfused ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is not well determined. The objective of this study was the description of regional strain characteristics in the acute and chronic phase of myocardial infarction and its correlation with symptom-to-balloon time and final extent of myocardial scar assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Methods The study cohort has been derived from the randomized controlled Abciximab Intracoronary versus Intravenously Drug Application in STEMI (AIDA STEMI) trial enrolled at the University of Ulm. All patients received comprehensive cardiac magnetic resonance imaging examinations in the acute phase and 6 months later. Results There was a significant improvement of all global deformation indices over time (global longitudinal strain: -13.1%±5.1% to -15.5%±5.8%, P=0.001; global circumferential strain: -14.4%±3.7% to -16.8%±3.6%, P<0.0001; global radial strain: 28.1%±8.7% to 31.9%±9.2%, P=0.0002). Mean radial strain of ischemic segments significantly improved (16.6%±10.8% to 23.7%±12.8%, P<0.0001), while mean radial strain of remote segments remained unchanged (40.2%±9.4% to 39.4%±9.4%, P=0.570). There was a significant correlation between acute phase radial strain of ischemic segments and either symptom-to-balloon time (P=0.013), as well as extent of late gadolinium enhancement at follow-up (P<0.0001). Using a cut-off of ≤27%, acute phase radial strain predicted infarction of the corresponding segment with high sensitivity and specificity (74.4% and 69.0% respectively, P<0.001). Conclusions Segmental radial strain in the acute phase of infarction showed a significant correlation to either symptom-to-balloon-time and the extent of late gadolinium enhancement at follow-up, thus potentially serving as early surrogate for left ventricular remodeling and outcome in STEMI.
Material optimization to enhance delamination resistance of composite structures using viscous regularization.

Summary: Advances in the computational modeling of fracture of solids have opened up new possibilities for structural design optimization to enhance fracture properties. Here, we investigate material optimization and design to improve fracture behavior of composite structures under quasi-static conditions. The rate-independent structural problem considering cohesive fracture is ill-posed in its original form due to the non-unique nature of the solution. This renders the use of gradient-based optimization algorithms problematic. To overcome this issue, we introduce viscous regularization and a local approximation of the cohesive law into the governing state equations, and study the impact with the help of interfacial fracture of composite structures consisting of two or more materials. The fracture problem is then integrated into a material optimization framework. We study the eﬀect of viscous regularization on the global landscape of the proposed objective function using a 2-dimensional delamination example with one design param-eter and discuss diﬃculties resulting from the stabilization of inherently unstable crack states. In view of these issues, we ﬁnally propose considering multiple state problems, each limited to a single crack, with diﬀerent predeﬁned crack paths. In the end, we optimize the orientations of orthotropic inclusions embedded in a double-cantilever beam for the worst case of the potential crack paths.
Visualisation for ontology sense-making: A tree-map based algorithmic approach

Received Jul 12, 2020 Revised Dec 23, 2020 Accepted Apr 19, 2021 Ontology sense-making or visual comprehension of the ontological schemata and structure are vital for cross-validation purposes of the ontology increment during the process of applied ontology construction. Also, it is important to query the ontology in order to verify the accuracy of the stored knowledge embeddings. This will boost the interactions between domain specialists and ontologists in applied ontology construction processes. Hence existing mechanisms have numerous of deficiencies (discussed in the paper), a new algorithm is proposed in this research to boost the efficiency of usage of treemaps for effective ontology sense making. Proposed algorithm and prototype are quantitatively and qualitatively assessed for their accuracy and efficacy.
Diffusion Behavior of Microbial Transglutaminase to Induce Protein Crosslinking in Oil-in-Water Emulsions

Food-grade hydrogel particles composed of sodium alginate were used to investigate the diffusion behavior of microbial transglutaminase (mTG) to induce crosslinking of interfacially adsorbed protein. For this purpose, mTG-loaded hydrogel beads were mixed with caseinate-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions, whereas Bradford assay and ammonia measurements were utilized to monitor the enzyme-induced interfacial protein crosslinking. Different alginate (0.5–1.5%) and gelling concentrations (50–500 mM CaCl2) were used to modulate the hydrogel mesh size and number of junction zones. The results indicated that mTG was able to diffuse out of alginate beads. However, a decrease in NH3 concentration with increasing alginate and CaCl2 levels was observed due to the formation of tight and dense bead structures. These results illustrate that the spatial distribution of molecules in complex matrices plays a key role on the enzyme accessibility GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Impact of an Aging Population and Shift to Chronic Illness on Emergency Department Admissions in a Tertiary Hospital Over Ten Years

Background: This study aimed to determine to what extent an aging population and shift to chronic illness has contributed to emergency admissions at a tertiary care hospital over ten years.Methods: This was a retrospective observational study performed using a database of all emergency admissions from the Emergency Department (ED) at a single tertiary hospital in Singapore during a ten-year period (January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2017). Emergency admissions were defined as ED visits with inpatient admission as the disposition. This study analyzed the trends of demographics, pre-existing comorbidities, chronic conditions or ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) of all patients who underwent emergency admissions in SGH. Results: A total of 446,484 emergency records were included. While the annual number of emergency admissions increased by 22% from 2008 to 2017, the rate of emergency admissions for the Singapore elderly population (aged >65 years) had a relative decrease of 15% during the same period. For elderly patients, lower proportions of them had pre-existing multimorbidity at the time of undergoing emergency admissions. The proportions of emergency admissions whose ED primary diagnoses were categorized as chronic conditions and certain chronic ACSC including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes complications, and epilepsy also decreased for elderly patients. Conclusions: In Singapore, despite a rapidly ageing population, there have been surprisingly fewer chronic conditions, pre-existing comorbidities, and chronic ACSC among the elderly emergency admissions. This is possibly consistent with an overall improved management of the chronic conditions among the elderly population and will be interesting to compare with other healthcare settings in different countries in future studies.
Volatile compounds of grosella (Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels) fruit

Phyllanthus acidus (L.) Skeels is a small tropical tree that grows up to 12 m tall, which bears pale-yellow waxy fruits in abundance on the branches, which are edible and tastes sour; it is one of the few members of the Euphorbiaceae family that has edible fruit. The tart flesh is used as a flavoring or made into jelly. Volatile constituents from the ripe fruit were isolated by simultaneous distillation-solvent extraction with diethyl ether and analyzed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seventy-seven volatiles were identified: 45 terpenes, 18 esters, seven acids, four aldehydes, two phenols, and one alcohol, of which 66 were found for the first time in grosella. The total concentration of volatiles was ca 109 mg per kg of fresh fruit. According to the class of compounds, terpenes (100.1 mg/kg) and acids (6.7 mg/kg) dominated the quantitative profile in the fruits, whereas qualitatively terpenes and esters were the most representative. In the terpene group, many monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes were identified, with the major representatives being epi-α-muurolol (32.9 mg/kg) and α-cadinol (22.1 mg/kg). Hexadecanoic acid (3.8 mg/kg) was the major compound among the acids.
Training non-native aspirated plosives with hand gestures: learners’ gesture performance matters

ABSTRACT This study investigates the impact of embodied training of pronunciation with visuospatial hand gestures cueing Mandarin aspirated plosives. Sixty-seven Catalan participants learned to pronounce and memorised novel Mandarin words containing non-native aspirated plosives with or without performing hand gestures. They were tested on perception, production, and word-meaning recognition in a pretest, an immediate, and a delayed posttest. Results show that participants who appropriately performed hand gestures gained enhanced voice onset time (VOT) values of the aspirated plosives and yielded a continuous improvement in the overall pronunciation of the target words. Furthermore, gestural training helped maintain word recognition accuracy after three days, while non-gestural training did not. These results suggest that appropriate gesture performance during training is crucial in maintaining the effects of L2 pronunciation training. Overall, the results highlight the relevance of embodied training for L2 pronunciation and the need to assess the learners’ gesture performance during the training.
The Impact of ICT on Technical Efficiency of Vietnam’s Enterprises

This research evaluates the impact of ICT on the technical efficiency of firms in 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam. We apply to use the DEA method in which we use the variable return to scale to evaluate because firm sizes in 63 provinces are different. At the same time, this method aims to minimize input factors without reducing output factors to measure technical efficiency. This result that is used a binary variable in the logit regression model to identify factors that have an impact on technical efficiency, especially the ICT factor. The research results show that only nearly 10% of the provinces could be technically efficient in business activities. Provinces with sustainable performance and efficiency all depend on influencing factors such as equity ratio, labor productivity, market size, investment, and especially the ICT factor keep increasing over the years and fluctuate around a pretty high level. On the other hand, for the group of unsustainable and ineffective provinces, these variables tend to decrease and fluctuate around at a low level. The research shows that factors in labor productivity, equity ratio, market size, investment, and ICT all have a positive impact on a firm’s performance in 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam. Therefore, firms that want to enhance their efficiency need to have strategies to improve the factors mentioned above. Moreover, the local government needs to improve the ICT index to help to increase their local Enterprises’ efficiency.
Role of Hydrogen Bonds in Ionic-Liquid-Mediated Extraction of Natural Bioactive Homologues

The technologies of ionic-liquid-mediated extraction have shown the good prospects for replacing traditional methods for separating natural bioactive homologues. However, so far, the roles and interactions of the anions and cations in the extraction process are not clear, which seriously hinders the further exploration of this new extraction technology. In this work, we report a detailed computational study, combined with experiment, on the interactions and hydrogen bonds between 1-butyl-3-methylimidazlium hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim][PF6]) ionic liquid (IL) and natural bioactive homologues, namely, three soybean isoflavone aglycones as model compounds. The distribution coefficients, D, of the three aglycones were experimentally determined in the [Bmim][PF6]-water biphasic system, and the order was found to be genistein (182.6) > daidzein (51.4) > glycitein (41.9). In DFT calculations, the lowest-energy complexes were obtained, and it was found that H-bonds are explicit intermolecular interactions in these complexes and that the IL can recognize these similar homologues by forming different H-bonds with the phenolic hydroxyls of aglycones. Furthermore, we found that the anions play a more important role in recognition than the cations. Subsequently, results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations exhibited a good match with the structures of the isolated complexes calculated by DFT and also discovered that H-bonds were the main interactions between the anions and the phenolic hydroxyls in the first solvation shell.
Charge and Discharge Performance of Over-Discharged Lithium-ion Secondary Battery—Lessons Learned from the Operation of the Interplanetary Spacecraft HAYABUSA

The Japanese spacecraft, HAYABUSA, was launched on May 9, 2003 and spent more than 2.5 years approaching the asteroid ITOKAWA. This spacecraft used 13.2 Ah lithium-ion secondary cells. After HAYABUSA touched down on ITOKAWA in December 2005, it could not communicate for seven weeks due to a malfunction of the attitude control. During this period, four of 11 lithium-ion secondary cells were over-discharged, and solar power was unavailable due to the spacecraft’s tumbling motion. However, the battery power was still indispensable for sealing the container with the asteroid sample. The seven remaining healthy cells were slowly recharged using minimum current. During this time, ground simulation tests using similarly-built and intentionally short-circuited cells were carried out to evaluate the battery’s operational safety. After its safety was confirmed, the lithium-ion secondary battery was used to transfer, latch, and successfully seal the sample container into the reentry capsule. The necessary power for these actions was supplied by the battery.
TECHNICAL PROPERTIES AND RESEARCH CAPABILITIES OF THE TRUCK SIMULATOR OWNED BY THE MILITARY INSTITUTE OF AVIATION MEDICINE – A NEW PERSPECTIVE IN RESEARCH ON TRUCK DRIVERS

Abstract: This paper is aimed at presenting basic technical properties and possibilities of using the truck simulator owned by the Military Institute of Aviation Medicine (MIAM). The truck driving simulator is a stationary device, equipped with a six degrees of freedom (6 DoF|) motion system and reproducing the functionality of a truck on the basis of the Mercedes Benz Actros cabin. It is intended for conducting research as well as training truck drivers in simulated traffic conditions.
Miniaturized Beam Reconfigurable Reflectarray Antenna With Wide 3-D Beam Coverage

A miniaturized electrical beam-scanning reflectarray antenna providing a directional beam and wide steering ranges with fixed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\theta $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-polarization is proposed. To accomplish these properties, we devise a new active reflectarray cell that can control both the phase and polarization of incident waves. Accordingly, we can enforce all reflected waves to constructively interfere with each other in all target directions. To feed the proposed reflectarray cells, an omnidirectional monopole antenna is installed at the center of the reflectarray, which illuminates the reflectarray evenly. In addition, because the monopole feeder is directly connected to the reflectarray, we can significantly reduce the overall volume of the antenna down to about <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.5~\lambda ^{3}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> with a small F/D ratio of 0.147. Consequently, the proposed antenna attains a wide scan coverage and directional beam patterns. Moreover, the antenna can also maintain polarization direction stably, which is strongly required for dynamically moving platforms such as drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The experimental results agree well with the predictions, proving the validity of our approach.
Residual chlorine modeling in water distribution system: A case study of defence housing scheme (DHS), Lahore

A water distribution system in defence housing scheme (DHS), Lahore was selected for the research work. Water samples were collected both from the source (elevated tank) and five terminal points in the service area. The samples were analyzed for temperature, pH and residual chlorine. EPANET software was used for residual chlorine modeling in the water distribution system. The minimum residual chlorine concentration required for an effective disinfection at the farthest point in the distribution system is 0.1 mg/l. Three data set recorded at the site showed that the residual chlorine concentration at the farthest sampling point was much more than that required, that is, 0.2 to 0.6 mg/l. It reflects that the initial chlorine concentration at source is more than that required to maintain a minimum residual chlorine level in the distribution system. The model simulation depicts that the initial chlorine concentration at the elevated tank should be maintained at 0.3 mg/l.