Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bio-Accessibility and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Indoor Dust From Higher Institutions in Ondo State, Nigeria

Quality of indoor air has been a major concern over time particularly in urban areas. Amidst the indoor air parameters, particulate matter/dust is of core interest owing to the fact that it acts as sediment for metals and other pollutants. Considering the ample amount of time spent indoor by students, this study has been mapped out to investigate the quality of air in tertiary institutions in Ondo State, Nigeria based on their proximity to more anthropogenic activities. Herein, pH, conductivity, and anion concentrations in the indoor dust samples were estimated employing standard analytical methods. Our findings revealed a sequence of anion concentration level as follows, Cl−>SO42−>NO3−. Also, the concentrations of some selected metals were analyzed using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS). The variation in metal concentration observed in most study sites was in the order Cu > Zn > Cr > Pb > Cd. The mean heavy metal variation followed the trend based on the sample collection sites considered in the present study with FE > OA > FU > HT and Cu (0.480mg/kg), Zn (0.409mg/kg), Cr (0.407mg/kg), Pb (0.149mg/kg) and Cd (0.029mg/kg) being the highest concentration of each of the metals. However, all the metal concentrations were below the permissible level. The result from non-carcinogenic study indicates that the average daily dose (by ingestion) was found to be the core exposure pathway such that ADDing > ADDderm > ADDinh. Nevertheless, the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) were less than 1. This implies that no potential health risk. More generally, a relative degree of safety and strict regulations is suggested to be put in place to maintain the status.
Trapped in a loss spiral: how and when work alienation relates to knowledge hiding

Abstract Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we hypothesize that work alienation promotes knowledge hiding through emotional exhaustion and that job mobility moderates the relationship between work alienation and emotional exhaustion. We conducted two time-lagged studies in China to test our research model. Studies 1 and 2 found that work alienation was positively related to knowledge hiding and that emotional exhaustion mediated this relationship. Study 2 revealed that job mobility attenuated the positive effect of work alienation on emotional exhaustion and the indirect effects of work alienation on evasive hiding, playing dumb, and rationalized hiding via emotional exhaustion. The present research sheds valuable light on the processes (how) and contingencies (when) whereby work alienation affects knowledge hiding for the first time, thus extending prior research and encouraging further explorations on the topic of work alienation and knowledge hiding.
Correlations between Process and Geometric Parameters in Additive Manufacturing of Austenitic Stainless Steel Components Using 3DPMD

The additive manufacturing of components is characterized by a layered build-up. The stability of the build-up process with regard to the component geometry and the layer thickness is essential for the success of the entire system. A prerequisite for this is the exact knowledge of the interrelationships between the process, construction parameters and the resulting component geometry, respectively. These correlations are determined within the study using the 3D Plasma Metal Deposition Process (3DPMD). For this purpose, the process is first subjected to a system analysis. Possible influencing variables were identified with regard to the question “Which system parameters influence the component geometry? ” and then prioritized. Then, the influence of control factors (welding current intensity, welding speed, and powder mass flow) was investigated according to the specifications of the Design of Experiments (DOE) method by means of a full-factorial experimental design and evaluated on the basis of metallographic cross-sections. As a result, it was determined that the system parameter powder mass flow only influences the layer thickness and not the wall thickness and is, therefore, available as a process control variable. In sum, comprehensive knowledge of complex relationships between the control parameters and the component geometry in additive manufacturing using 3DPMD was achieved and forms the basis for further scientific work.
A Mathematical Model for the Prediction of Injectivity Decline

Injectivity impairment due to invasion of solid suspensions has been studied by several investigators and some modelling approaches have also been reported. Worthy of note is the development of analytical models for internal and external filtration coupled with transition time concept for predicting the overall decline in injectivity. This study presents a new mathematical model which is based on mass balance of particles flowing through the porous media by coupling rate changes in injection pressure within the reservoir due to formation damage with rate changes in porosity within the invaded region. This model when fully validated will ensure the reliability of injectivity decline prediction from a well injectivity index history which will further pave way for an effective planning of water treatment whereby creating a new frontier in the management of produced water in oil and gas technology. Keywords: Injectivity impairment; internal filtration; External filtration; water injection; filter cake; porosity reduction; formation damage; injection decline
European hemodialysis patient satisfaction with phosphate binders is associated with serum phosphorus levels: the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study

Abstract Background Hemodialysis (HD) patients are commonly prescribed phosphate binders (PBs) to manage serum phosphorus levels, as hyperphosphatemia is strongly associated with poorer survival. Nonadherence with the PB prescription is associated with elevated serum phosphorus levels. We studied associations between patient satisfaction with their PB and serum phosphorus levels and mortality rates. Methods Adult HD patients in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK in the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study were administered a survey instrument in late 2017. Patients were asked about their satisfaction with their PBs, as measured through three questions (difficulty, inconvenience and dissatisfaction) on a 5-point Likert scale, with each dichotomized into average worst versus good responses. These were used as predictors in linear regression models of continuous serum phosphorus levels and in Cox proportional hazards models of mortality, with adjustments for demographics, comorbidities and laboratory values. Results Patients having greater difficulty, inconvenience and dissatisfaction with their PB had higher serum phosphorus levels in adjusted models {+0.21 mg/dL [95% confidence interval (CI) ±0.23], +0.30 (±0.21) and 0.36 (±0.22), respectively}, and higher odds of having serum phosphorus levels ≥6.0 mg/dL. Measures of dissatisfaction were also associated with an elevated risk of mortality, with adjusted hazard ratios of 2.2 (95% CI 1.3–3.6), 1.6 (1.0–2.6) and 1.7 (1.1–2.7), respectively; this association was not strongly affected by adjustment for baseline serum phosphorous level. Conclusions Self-reported difficulty, inconvenience and dissatisfaction in taking one’s prescribed PBs were associated with elevated serum phosphorus levels and serum phosphorus levels above clinically meaningful thresholds. While the mechanism for the association with mortality is unclear, patient-reported satisfaction should be considered when attempting to manage patient serum phosphorus levels.
A new approach for estimating volatile organic compound emissions from sewers: methodology and associated errors

Previous studies have indicated the potential for emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from industrial and municipal sewers. However, existing estimation methods can significantly overestimate emissions of VOCs over a wide range of sewer operating conditions. This paper reviews three methods for estimating emissions from sewer reaches: equilibrium, open trench, and cocurrent ventilation. A new methodology is presented that combines both equilibrium and open‐trench approaches. The maximum error associated with this combined model is shown mathematically to be 58% and independent of flow and reach characteristics.
Sources and nature of ice-nucleating particles in the free troposphere at Jungfraujoch in winter 2017

Abstract. Primary ice formation in mixed-phase clouds is initiated by a minute subset of the ambient aerosol population, called ice-nucleating particles (INPs). The knowledge about their atmospheric concentration, their composition, and source in cloud-relevant environments is still limited. During the joint INUIT/CLACE (Ice Nuclei research UnIT/ CLoud–Aerosol Characterization Experiment) 2017 field campaign, observations of INPs, as well as of aerosol physical and chemical properties were performed, complemented by source region modelling. This aimed at investigating the nature and sources of INPs. The campaign took place at the High-Altitude Research Station Jungfraujoch (JFJ), a location where mixed-phase clouds frequently occur. Due to its altitude of 3580 m a.s. l. , the station is usually located in the lower free troposphere, but can also receive air masses from terrestrial and marine sources via long-range transport. INP concentrations were quasi-continuously detected with the Horizontal Ice Nucleation Chamber (HINC) under conditions representing the formation of mixed-phase clouds at −31 °C. The INP measurements were performed in parallel to aerosol measurements from two single particle mass spectrometers, the Aircraft-based Laser ABlation Aerosol MAss Spectrometer (ALABAMA) and the Laser Ablation Aerosol Particle Time-Of-Flight mass spectrometer (LAAPTOF). The chemical identity of INPs is inferred by correlating the time series of ion signals measured by the mass spectrometers with the time series of INP measurements. Moreover, our results are complemented by the direct analysis of ice particle residuals (IPRs) by using an ice-selective inlet (Ice-CVI) coupled with the ALABAMA. Mineral dust particles and aged sea spray particles showed the highest correlations with the INP time series. Their role as INP is further supported by source emission sensitivity analysis using atmospheric transport modelling, which confirmed that air masses were advected from the Saharan desert and marine environments during times of elevated INP concentrations and ice-active surface site densities. Indeed, the IPR analysis showed that by number, mineral dust particles dominated the IPR composition (~58 %), and also biological and metallic particles are found to a smaller extent (~10 %). Sea spray particles are also found as IPRs (17 %), and their fraction in the IPRs strongly varied according to the increased presence of small IPRs, which is likely due to an impact from secondary ice crystal formation. This study shows the capability of combining INP concentration measurements with chemical characterization of aerosol particles using single particle mass spectrometry, source region modelling, and analysis of ice-residuals in an environment directly relevant for mixed-phase cloud formation.
Electrochemical Na Extraction/Insertion of Na3V2O2x(PO4)2F3–2x

A mixed-valence V3+/V4+ composite material belonging to the Na3V2O2x(PO4)2F3–2x/C family is synthesized and the electrochemical Na extraction/insertion mechanism is determined using a combination of high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) data, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), 23Na and 19F solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), double titration (for the elucidation of the vanadium oxidation state), and electrochemical measurements. The vanadium oxidation state is found to be +3.8 for the as-prepared sample. Detailed analysis of the cathode structural evolution illustrated that the V4+/V5+ couple is active in this compound during electrochemical cycling between 2.8 V and 4.3 V. This study demonstrates how the sodium-ion extraction and insertion pathways in cathode materials can be followed (and verified) using several experimental techniques, especially when multiple potential oxidation states are present in the parent compound.
Chemical Composition of Summertime PM2.5 and Its Relationship to Aerosol Optical Properties in Guangzhou, China

Abstract Urban aerosols have a large effect on the deterioration of air quality and the degradation of atmospheric visibility. Characterization of the chemical composition of PM2.5 and in situ measurements of the optical properties of aerosols were conducted in July 2008 at an urban site in Guangzhou, Southern China. The mean PM2.5 concentration for the entire period was 53.7±23.2 μg m–3. The mean PM2.5 concentration (82.7±25.4 μg m–3) on hazy days was roughly two times higher than that on clear days (38.8±8.7 µg m–3). The total water-soluble ion species and the total average carbon accounted for 47.9%±4.3% and 35.2%±4.5%, respectively, of the major components of PM2.5. The increase of secondary and carbonaceous aerosols, in particular ammonium sulfate, played an important role in the formation of haze pollution. The mean absorption and scattering coefficients and the single scattering albedo over the whole period were 53±20 M m–1, 226±111 M m–1, and 0.80±0.04, respectively. PM2.5 had a high linear correlation with the aerosol extinction coefficient, elemental carbon (EC) was correlated with aerosol absorption, and organic carbon (OC) and SO42– were tightly linked to aerosol scattering.
Enhanced Mask R-CNN for herd segmentation

: Livestock image segmentation is an important task in the field of vision and image processing. Since utilizing the concentration of forage in the grazing area with shielding the surrounding farm plants and crops is necessary for making effective cattle ranch arrangements, there is a need for a segmentation method that can handle multiple objects segmentation. Moreover, the indistinct boundaries and irregular shapes of cattle bodies discourage the application of the existing Mask Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Mask R-CNN) which was primarily modeled for the segmentation of natural images. To address this, an enhanced Mask R-CNN model was proposed for multiple objects instance segmentation to support indistinct boundaries and irregular shapes of cattle bodies for precision livestock farming. The contributions of this method are in multiple folds: 1) optimal filter size smaller than a residual network for extracting smaller and composite features; 2) region proposals for utilizing multiscale semantic features; 3) Mask R-CNN’s fully connected layer integrated with sub-network for an enhanced segmentation. The experiment conducted on pre-processed datasets produced a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.93, which was higher than the results from the existing state-of-the-art models.
AIC-type Theory-Based Model Selection for Structural Equation Models

ABSTRACT Structural equation modeling (SEM) software commonly report information criteria, like the AIC, for the model under investigation and for the unconstrained/saturated model. With these criteria, (non-)nested models can be compared. This comes down to evaluating equalities (e.g., setting some paths equal or to 0). These criteria cannot evaluate inequality restrictions on the parameters, while the AIC-type criterion called GORICA can. For example, GORICA can evaluate the hypothesis stating that one predictor has more (standardized) strength than some other predictors. This paper illustrates inequality-constrained hypothesis-evaluation in SEM models using the GORICA (in R). Examples will be presented for confirmatory factor analysis, latent regression, and multigroup latent regression.
Computing Competency for Civil Engineering Graduates: Recent Updates and Developments in Saudi Arabia and the US

This paper discusses recent updates and developments of computing-based courses in the civil engineering discipline. Competency in computing is one of the most important capabilities for university graduates to obtain given the rapid development of computer technology in professional work. Civil engineering is no exception. In fact, many contemporary civil engineering projects require a high degree of computing skills, ranging from performing basic office work to programming for decision support system application in controlling flood water gates to executing construction automation via digital printing technology. However, the curriculum content for computing in civil engineering has been developmentally stagnant in the past several decades. This could be partly due to learning outcomes for civil engineering graduates, which do not explicitly mention a certain degree of achievement with respect to computing skills. Several computing-based courses offered in various civil engineering programs across Saudi Arabia and the US were examined, and their contents were compared to recent survey results administered by the American Society of Civil Engineering Technical Committee on Computing and Information Technology. The discussion is extended by examining technical courses offered in the Civil Engineering Program in Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University with respect to computing skills. The outcomes of this study are expected to give input and suggestions for future upgrades of computing-based courses offered within the civil engineering curriculum.
Assessment of Household Water Quality from Selected Storage Vessels used in a South-Western Rural Community, Nigeria

Water is an important requirement for life but its contamination via natural and anthropogenic activities is of great concern. This study determined some physicochemical parameters of drinking water from the main source (borehole), and selected storage vessels in Abimbola, Ayedaade Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria. About 10 household water samples were collected randomly from the 70 households in the village. The major water storage vessels used by the villagers were clay pots. Only about one-fifth of the households used plastic containers. All the physico-chemical parameters assessed were within permissible limits of the World Health Organization and Standards Organization of Nigeria’s drinking water guidelines except for Lead and nitrite. Furthermore, water stored in clay pots had significantly higher levels of Nitrate (p=0.04), Nitrite (p=0.04), Sulphate (p=0.04), Lead (p=0.03), Iron (p=0.04), and Manganese (p=0.04) than Original Research Article Olawade et al.; AJEE, 15(2): 31-44, 2021; Article no.AJEE. 69054 32 those stored in plastic containers. Results suggest that the type of storage vessels used could influence the physicochemical quality of the water stored in them. Also, basic water quality monitoring needs to be conducted routinely to ascertain and maintain high quality water supply per time.
Mega-environment analysis of maize breeding data from Brazil

ABSTRACT: The development and recommendation of single cross maize hybrids (SH) to be used in extensive land areas (mega-environments), and in different crop seasons requires many experiments under numerous environmental conditions. The question we asked is if the data from these multi-environment experiments are sufficient to identify the best hybrid combinations. The aim of this study was to critically analyze the phenotype data of experiments of yield, established by a large seed producing company, under a high level of imbalance. Data from evaluation of 2770 SH were used from experiments conducted over four years, involving the first and second crop seasons, in 50 locations of different years and regions of Brazil. Different types of analysis were carried out and genetic and non-genetic components were estimated, with emphasis on the different interactions of the SH with the environments. Results showed that the coincidence of common hybrids in these experiments is normally small. The estimates of the correlations between of the hybrids coinciding in the environments two by two is of low magnitude. The hybrid × crop season interaction was always expressive; however, the interactions of hybrids and other environmental variables were also important. Under these conditions, alternatives were discussed for making with the information obtained from the experiments, can be more efficient on the process to obtain new hybrids by companies.
Potential link between microRNA-208 and cardiovascular diseases

Background: The application of microRNAs (miRNAs) in disease diagnosis and therapy has been the center of tremendous attention over the past few years. Regarding the molecular markers involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, miR-208 is closely related to myocardial hypertrophy, arrythmias, myocardial infarction, myocardial fibrosis, coronary atherosclerosis and heart failure. In this review, we focus on the regulatory mechanisms of miR-208 and its correlation with cardiovascular diseases based on available literature. Methods: We performed online search of medical literature published in an English Language Format through PubMed database over the past two decades, using a combination of text words and MeSH terms: “ microRNA-208 ”, “ miR-208 ”, “microRNA”, “mechanism”, “function” and “cardiovascular diseases”. The most relevant articles were selected based on a subjective appraisal of their quality and mechanistic insight that could be relevant to the regulatory molecular pathway of miR-208 . Full texts of the retrieved articles were accessed. Results: In cardiac hypertrophy, overexpression of miR-208 inhibits THAP1 and myostatin. Overload exercise may decrease miR-208 expression, resulting in increased expression of SOX6 , MED13 , SP3 , Pur β and HP1 β . The miR-208-Mef2 axis induces decompensated right ventricle hypertrophy in the pulmonary hypertension rat model. Nevertheless, miR-208 inhibits p21 and NLK in myocardial infarction. Moreover, miR-208 regulates Cx40 and Cx43 in arrhythmias. Additionally, abnormal levels of miR-208 suppress L-type Ca2+ channel subunits and SERCA2, affecting the handling function of Ca2+ during atrial remodeling. A strong correlation has been established between miR-208 and cardiac fibrosis via endoglin regulation and collagen I expression. Overexpression of miR-208b inhibits the expression of COL1 and ACTA2 by inhibiting GATA4 , hence hindering the progression of post-infarction myocardial fibrosis. With respect to vascular diseases, miR-208 exerts its various functions by acting on proteins associated with inflammation, endothelial apoptosis, VSMC proliferation and migration, including the PPAR , ACTA2 , ROR2 and PI3K/AKT pathways. Conclusions: MiR-208 plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial hypertrophy, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, myocardial fibrosis and dysfunction of blood vessels. Further exploration of the potential link between miR-208 and cardiovascular diseases would provide more valuable diagnostic and therapeutic insights.