Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fate of mercury from artisanal and small-scale gold mining in tropical rivers: Hydrological and biogeochemical controls. A critical review

Abstract Despite numerous existing publications, the fate of mercury (Hg) in ASGM-affected tropical aquatic systems remains uncertain. This is driven by an incomplete understanding of the factors controlling Hg distribution and transport in tropical ecosystems. The review of existing Hg research into ASGM indicated that hydrology exerts major control on the final sink of Hg in tropical rivers. Total Hg concentrations in river water increase during high discharge events due to increased erosion and Hg export from soils. Geochemical composition and grain-size distribution strongly control Hg concentrations and distribution in sediment and soils. This review highlights the absence of standardized protocols for investigating ASGM-related Hg pollution, and that the applied research methodologies are often unsuitable for adequately assessing the processes involved. We underline the need to consider an extensive suite of biogeochemical, physical and hydrological information when investigating the final sink and risks of ASGM-related Hg. Standardized and accurate research methodologies, applicable to the challenges presented by these tropical environments, would greatly ease not only data comparability and synthesis between studies, but also help to differentiate between anthropogenic and natural Hg. Establishing background values in tropical regions is also imperative for accurate quantifications of Hg enrichment levels in ASGM-affected sites.
Phytodisponibilité du phosphore dans les sols agricoles de La Réunion fertilisés sur le long-terme avec des résidus organiques : la dose d’apport est-elle le seul déterminant à prendre en compte ?

Le recyclage des residus organiques (RO) en agriculture pourrait permettre de limiter l’utilisation des ressources minerales de phosphore (P), a condition de determiner leur efficacite pour fournir du P aux cultures. L’objectif de ce travail etait donc d’etudier les mecanismes determinant l’effet des RO apportes au sol sur la biodisponibilite du P pour la plante (phytodisponibilite). Ce travail a ete base sur cinq essais de terrain a La Reunion, fertilises sur une decennie avec des fertilisants organiques ou mineraux, et sur des experimentations d’incubations en conditions controlees et de cultures de plantes en pot. Le P inorganique (Pi) et organique (Po) disponible du sol a ete determine par des extractions (eau, Olsen), la technique des diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) et la dilution isotopique associee a des membranes echangeuses d’ions. La capacite de sorption en Pi des sols a ete evaluee avec des courbes de sorption. Le P phytodisponible a ete determine en mesurant le P preleve par la plante. Dans les differents types de sol (andosol, andique cambisol, nitisol et arenosol), l’apport de RO a augmente le Pi disponible relativement au Po, suggerant que la mineralisation du Po issu des RO n’est pas un facteur limitant la disponibilite du Pi. Les RO ont augmente le Pi disponible principalement par l’augmentation du pH du sol et par consequent la diminution de sa capacite de sorption de Pi. Le P phytodisponible a augmente avec le Pi disponible du sol, mais a diminue avec l’augmentation du pH du sol. Au-dela de la dose de P, l’effet de l’apport de RO a long-terme sur la phytodisponibilite du P semble principalement controle par l’evolution induite du pH du sol.
Automatic pollen recognition with the Rapid-E particle counter: the first-level procedure, experience and next steps

Abstract. Pollen-induced allergies are among the most prevalent non-contagious diseases, with about a quarter of the European population being sensitive to various atmospheric bioaerosols. In most European countries, pollen information is based on a weekly-cycle Hirst-type pollen trap method. This method is labour-intensive and requires narrow specialized abilities and substantial time, so that the pollen data are always delayed and subject to sampling- and counting-related uncertainties. Emerging new approaches to automatic pollen monitoring can, in principle, allow for real-time availability of the data with no human involvement. The goal of the current paper is to evaluate the capabilities of the new Plair Rapid-E pollen monitor and to construct a first-level pollen recognition algorithm. The evaluation was performed for three devices located in Lithuania, Serbia and Switzerland, with independent calibration data and classification algorithms. The Rapid-E output data include multi-angle scattering images and the fluorescence spectra recorded at several times for each particle reaching the device. Both modalities of the Rapid-E output were treated with artificial neural networks (ANNs) and the results were combined to obtain the pollen type. For the first classification experiment, the monitor was challenged with a large variety of pollen types and the quality of many-to-many classification was evaluated. It was shown that in this case, both scattering- and fluorescence-based recognition algorithms fall short of acceptable quality. The combinations of these algorithms performed better, exceeding 80 % accuracy for 5 out of 11 species. Fluorescence spectra showed similarities among different species, ending up with three well-resolved groups: (Alnus, Corylus, Betula and Quercus), (Salix and Populus) and (Festuca, Artemisia and Juniperus). Within these groups, pollen is practically indistinguishable for the first-level recognition procedure. Construction of multistep algorithms with sequential discrimination of pollen inside each group seems to be one of the possible ways forward. In order to connect the classification experiment to existing technology, a short comparison with the Hirst measurements is presented and the issue of false positive pollen detections by Rapid-E is discussed.
Fitting the Task to the Man: A Textbook of Occupational Ergonomics

Muscular work nervous control of movements improving work efficiency body size the design of work stations heavy work handling loads skilled work human-machine systems mental activity fatigue occupational stress boredom job design in monotonous tasks working hours and eating habits nightwork and shiftwork vision ergonomic principles of lighting noise and vibration indoor climate daylight, colours and music for a pleasant work environment.
Toxicity of Miana Leaf (Coleus blumei) Extract Against Houseflies (Musca domestica)

Houseflies (Musca domestica) is an disease-carrying insect that plays an important role in the spread of disease in humans and animals. One way to control houseflies is using Miana leaves (Coleus blumei) as botanical pesticide. The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical compounds contained in Miana leaf as well as determine the optimal concentration of Miana leaf extract in causing knockdown effect in houseflies. Miana leaf fine powder was soaked with methanol (maceration) for 3 days followed byphytochemical screening (chemical reagents and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrophotometry (GCMS) and anti-houseflies toxicity tests. Testing of methanolic extract of Miana leaves was made in the form of spray using the knockdown method at concentrations of 5%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% and observed in 5, 10 and 15 minutes. The results of phytochemical screening with chemical reagents showed that the extract contained alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins and terpenoids; while the results of GCMS analysis showed 8 bioactive compounds. The results of the study revealed that at a concentration of 30% and 40%, methanolic extract of Miana leaves could result in a knockdown effect that was accompanied by death with a percentage value of 100% in the first 5 minutes of observation. This research shows that methanolic extract of Miana leaves can be used as an alternative to botanical pesticides in controlling houseflies (Musca domestica).
IMPROVING GROWTH, YIELD AND NUTRIENT UPTAKE OF FABA BEAN (Viciafaba L.) BY INOCULATION WITH MYCORRHIZAY AND FOLIAR APPLICTION OF COBALT UNDER SALINE IRRIGATION WATER ON A CALCAREOUS SOIL.

A field experiment was conducted during 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 winter growing seasons to evaluate the effect of mycorrhiza inoculation and foliar application of cobalt on growth, yield and nutrient uptake and quality of faba bean ( variety Giza 643 ). The experiment was carried out under drip irrigation system on calcareous soil at the experimental farm El-Arish Agricultural Research Station, ARC, Egypt. The adopted treatments were arranged in a split plot design with four replicates, in which mycorrhiza treatments were allocated in the main plots, while five levels of cobalt e.g. 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 ppm were foliar sprayed on faba bean seedlings in the form of cobalt sulfate( CoSO4, 7H2O) were arranged in the sub plots. The results showed that mycorrhiza inoculation significantly affected chlorophyll contents, growth characters i.e. plant height and branches Nplant and yield attributes e. g, pods N plantand seed weight plant and seed yield as well as macronutrients (N, P and K) and micronutrients (Co and Fe) contents in straw and seeds. The highest figures of the abovementioned traits were attained due to inoculation the faba bean seeds with mycorrhiza fungi in 1 and 2 seasons. Spraying the plant with cobalt at 10-ppm exhibited the highest figures of the abovementioned traits in 1 and 2 seasons, comparable with the other tested concentrations. Cobalt at 10 ppm as interacted with mycorrhiza inoculation enhanced chlorophyll, growth parameters, yield, status of N, P, K and Fe in shoots and seeds except iron, which was decreased particularly without mycorrhiza inoculation. Generally, the obtained results showed that increasing cobalt concentration above 10 ppm had an adverse effect on all parameters recorded. keywords: Faba bean growth, seed yield, mycorrhiza inoculation, nutrient uptake, cobalt foliar application
Siri, Alexa, and other digital assistants: a study of customer satisfaction with artificial intelligence applications

ABSTRACT Digital assistants (e.g., Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Google Assistant) are highly complex and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) based technologies. Individuals can use digital assistants to perform basic personal tasks as well as for more advanced capabilities. Yet, the functional and topical use of a digital assistant tends to vary by individual. This study reflects the contextual experiences of the respondents. At present, there is little empirical evidence of customer satisfaction with digital assistants. PLS-SEM was used to analyse 244 survey responses to examine this research gap. The results confirmed that expectations and confirmation of expectations have a positive and significant relationship on customer satisfaction with digital assistants. This study provides evidence that customer expectations are being satisfied through the digital assistant interaction experience. As firms integrate digital assistants into their operations, they must help customers properly define what to expect from the firm’s interactive experience.
Decolorization of Textile Dying Mill Effluent by using a Bacterial Strain Lysinibacillus boronitolerans CMGS-2

Industrialization is considered to be the key to development in economic terms. However, it is also recognized to be the root problems from environmental perspective. The recognition that environmental pollution is a worldwide threat to public health has given rise to new initiatives for environmental restoration for both economic and ecological reasons. The industrial effluents contain toxic and hazardous pollutants. Earlier for coloring natural colours were using, best example for the natural color is turmeric, a naturally occurring yellow color dye, it is powerful antiseptic and indigo another natural dye gives cooling effect (Siva, 2007). When these natural dyes were replaced by the synthetic dyes, the actual problem of water pollution was started. The discovery of synthetic dye Mauveine by Perkins in 1856 has provided a tool for the production of wide range of dyes that are color fast and come in a wider color range and brighter shades (Zollinger, 1987). It is estimated that approximately dye discharged by textile processing, primarily belongs around class of Reactive Azo dyes (36%), Acid (25%), Direct (15%) dyes and International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 06 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Hammer Mill Sieve Design Impacts Olive Oil Minor Component Composition

Crushing of the olive fruit is the first operation for olive oil extraction. The hammer mill is one of the most popular devices used in modern facilities due to its easy maintenance and high product output. The effect of hammer mill rotor speed and sieve design, including screen size and screen open area on extraction yield, overall quality and minor component composition, is evaluated at the laboratory scale. Quality parameters such as free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV), and UV absorbances (K232, K270, and ΔK) are unaltered by crushing parameters. Extraction efficiency, chlorophylls content, total phenol content, 3,4‐DHPEA‐EDA, and p‐HPEA‐EDA increase with faster hammer mill rotor speed and smaller screen size. Volatiles (E)‐2‐hexenal, hexanal, 1,5‐hexadiene‐(3,4)‐diethyl, 3‐ethyl‐1,5‐octadiene, and (E)‐2‐hexenol are only affected by screen size. Screen open area is found to be a relevant factor regarding extraction efficiency, chlorophylls, total, and individual phenols as well as the volatile compounds 1,5‐hexadiene (3,4)‐diethyl, 3‐ethyl‐1,5‐octadiene, hexanal, and (E)‐2‐hexenal. Practical Application: It is found that screen open area is a relevant factor regarding extraction efficiency, chlorophylls, total and individual phenols and volatile compounds, in addition to the screen size and rotor speed. This is useful information for millers who are interested in optimizing extraction efficiency as well as the minor compounds of extra virgin olive oil. Hammer mill sieve design impacts extraction efficiency, chlorophylls, total and individual phenols, and the volatile compounds during laboratory‐scale extraction of olive oil.
Plastic ingestion by marine fish in the wild

Abstract Marine plastic pollution has become a prominent environmental issue in the recent years. Plastic ingestion is of special concern, as its magnitude and consequences for marine organisms and potentially humans are still largely unknown. We reviewed 93 papers on plastic ingestion by wild marine fish published since 1972. Plastic ingestion was detected in 323 (65%) of 494 examined fish species, and in 262 (67%) of 391 examined commercial fish species. These proportions are likely greater, as a detailed analysis of the sampling effort and analytical methods used in the reviewed studies suggests an underestimation of plastic ingestion in some assessments. A significant positive relationship (R = + 0.845, p = 0.004) was found between the sample size up to N = 10 and the detection of plastic ingestion. We also found significant differences in detection and frequency of occurrence (FO, %) of plastic ingestion among the three main types of analytical methods: naked-eye, microscopic analysis and chemical digestion. The chemical digestion method, which is also the most robust laboratory method, had the greatest detection (86%) and the highest FO (37.6 ± 0.6%). To avoid the underestimation of plastic ingestion in future work, we provided recommendations for sample sizes and laboratory analysis.
Rectal temperature and behaviour of layer hens administered with vitamins C and E and transported during the hot-dry season

A 6 hours experiment involving 90 apparently healthy Shika Brown layer hens of twenty-two weeks age and an average live weight of 1.1 ± 0.2 kg was carried out in a completely randomized design to evaluate the effects of vitamins C and E on rectal temperature (RT) and behaviour of the birds transported by road during the hot-dry season. Two experimental groups consisting of thirty layers each were separately administered orally with vitamins C and E just before transportation, while another 30 layers given sterile water only served as control. At journey time the RT was higher (p 0.05) difference in the vitamin E group. When pre- and post-transportation values were compared, the behavioural activities of tonic immobility (TI), regrouping and awareness tests were non-significant (p>0.05) in treatment groups, but control showed significant (p<0.01) difference for TI, and (p<0.05) for regrouping and awareness tests, respectively. In conclusion, vitamins C and E ameliorated the negative psycho-physiological effect of heat stress in transported birds.
Arctic cloud annual cycle biases in climate models

Abstract. Arctic clouds exhibit a robust annual cycle with maximum cloudiness in fall and minimum cloudiness in winter. These variations affect energy flows in the Arctic with a large influence on the surface radiative fluxes. Contemporary climate models struggle to reproduce the observed Arctic cloud amount annual cycle and significantly disagree with each other. The goal of this analysis is to quantify the cloud-influencing factors that contribute to winter–summer cloud amount differences, as these seasons are primarily responsible for the model discrepancies with observations. We find that differences in the total cloud amount annual cycle are primarily caused by differences in low, rather than high, clouds; the largest differences occur between the surface and 950 hPa. Grouping models based on their seasonal cycles of cloud amount and stratifying cloud amount by cloud-influencing factors, we find that model groups disagree most under strong lower tropospheric stability, weak to moderate mid-tropospheric subsidence, and cold lower tropospheric air temperatures. Intergroup differences in low cloud amount are found to be a function of lower tropospheric thermodynamic characteristics. Further, we find that models with a larger low cloud amount in winter have a larger ice condensate fraction, whereas models with a larger low cloud amount in summer have a smaller ice condensate fraction. Stratifying model output by the specifics of the cloud microphysical scheme reveals that models treating cloud ice and liquid condensate as separate prognostic variables simulate a larger ice condensate fraction than those that treat total cloud condensate as a prognostic variable and use a temperature-dependent phase partitioning. Thus, the cloud microphysical parameterization is the primary cause of inter-model differences in the Arctic cloud annual cycle, providing further evidence of the important role that cloud ice microphysical processes play in the evolution and modeling of the Arctic climate system.
Study on biofilm formation by Extended Spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing Klebsiella isolates

Infections caused by multidrug-resistant Klebsiella species that produce Extended-Spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) enzymes have been reported with increasing frequency in intensive-care units and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Because of the high resistance to numerous antimicrobial agents, treatment can be problematic. Moreover formation of microbial biofilms has imposed a serious problem in treatment of microbial infections using conventional antibiotics. This has prompted researchers to identify alternatives such as plant products as antimicrobial agents. Researches on plant derived natural antimicrobials agents, has exclusively focused more on their effects against planktonic micro-organisms, however, the biofilm forms are more resistant to antimicrobial agents and therefore more difficult to control. In this study we investigated the prevalence of (ESBLs) among Klebsiella isolates, the prevalence of biofilm formation among these isolates and the effect of five natural essential oils on inhibition of biofilm formation. Out of the 102 Klebsiella isolates, 52 isolates were (ESBL), and 44 isolates were strong and moderate biofilm producer. ESBL production was more common among strong and moderate biofilm producers; this probably is due to high rate of conjugation inside the biofilm, which facilitates transfer of drug resistant genes. Out of the five commercial essential oils investigated for their effect on inhibition of biofilm formation the Eucalyptus oil showed the maximum inhibition of biofilm formation followed by garlic oil, clove oil, ginger oil and black seed oil.
Effect of Monetary Policy on the Performance of the Nigerian Capital Market (1986 – 2016): Stylized Facts from ARDL Approach

In this study, the empirical effect of monetary policy tools on performance of the Nigerian capital market was re-examined. The real effect of monetary policy tools on capital market performance is still not clear both from theoretical and empirical background, especially in emerging economies like Nigeria. Explicitly, this study evaluated the effect of monetary policy rate (the rate at the Central Bank of Nigeria extend credit facility to other financial institutions operating in the country), cash reserve ratio, liquidity ratio and loan to deposit ratio on the performance of the Nigerian capital market. Nigerian Stock Exchange and Central Bank of Nigeria annual reports of various edition supplied the relevant data for analysis. The Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) was the technique applied in estimating the model and for co-integration assessment, while granger causality analysis aided in ascertaining the effect of monetary policy tools on capital market performance. The result of the analysis illustrated that monetary policy tools and capital market performance in Nigeria are not co-integrated. The study also found that Nigerian capital market performance is not significantly affected by monetary policy announcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria rather, it is monetary policy rate that is significantly influenced by performance of the capital market. Based on the application of a superior methodology by way of ARDL in data analysis, the Central Bank of Nigeria should be cautious and properly consider the prevailing macroeconomic condition in monetary policy decision, especially with regard to liquidity ratio because of its potential in fueling or deterring inflation which affects prices of stocks in the capital market.
Extraction, Purification and Spectroscopic Characterization of Phycobiliproteins Extracted from some Nostoc Spp.

Phycocyanin and phycoerythrin are considered the major phycobiliprotein in many cyanobacteria as well as being a secondary phycobiliprotein in some red algae. In this article, the biomass of Nostoc linckia was harvested at the 16 day, which approximately equalled 361 mg/L dry biomass for attaining the maximum content of phycocyanin, and the biomass of Nostoc carneum was collected at the 17 day that approximately equalled 326 mg/L dry biomass for attaining the maximum content of phycoerythrin. Phycocyanin and phycoerythrin were extracted from both Nostoc linckia and Nostoc carneum respectively. They were extracted by successive cycles of freezing and thawing using 50 mM phosphate buffer solution (pH 7) then purified by single step of precipitation in 65 % of ammonium sulphate. Phycocyanin and phycoerythrin achieved 2.29 and 3.02 of purity ratio; respectively. The purified phycocyanin and phycoerythrin exhibited maximum absorbance at 614 and 560 nm respectively.