Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of Heavy Metals in Two Common Street Foods (Falafel and Chiken Shoulder & Wing) Consumed in Qom City, Iran

Background & Aims: Street foods are ready-to-eat foods and drinks prepared and sold by vendors on the streets and other public places for immediate consumption or consumption at other times without any processing steps and are welcomed by a wide range of people for reasons such as the economy and easier access. This study aimed to investigate the status of heavy metals such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), and manganese (Mn) in the most common street foods in Qom City, Iran, (Falafel, shoulders and wings) according to the particular cultural, social, pilgrimage, and tourism conditions of the city. Materials and Methods: After preparing and collecting 18 samples of Falafel and 18 samples of shoulders and wings in the summer via quota stratified sampling method from supply and distribution centers in the city, the samples were transferred to the instrumental analysis laboratory of the faculty of health. After crushing, grinding, and weighing 2g of the samples, dry ashing was performed while maintaining the temperature program. White ash was dissolved in 5% nitric acid, and finally, the concentrations of Pb, Cd, As, Al, and Mn in the samples were measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). Results: According to this study, Mn, Al, and Pb metals had the highest concentrations in falafel, shoulder, and wing samples. Mean concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Pb and As in falafel samples were 10.07±9.82, 0.0005±0.0002, 0.0007±0.0003, 2.65±1.33, 24.50±11.91 µg/g, respectively, and in the shoulder & wing samples 11.12±7.70, 0.0009±0.0006, 0.050±0.018, 1.62±1.24, 18.50±14.64 µg/g, respectively. Also, the concentrations of Al, Pb, and Mn were higher than the standard level in all samples. The results showed that the mean concentration of As and Cd in Falafel, shoulder, and wing samples were less than the standard level. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the concentration of aluminum, lead, and manganese in all samples is higher than the standard level; it seems that if the necessary hygienic measures are not taken during the various stages of production and supply of these foods, it will seriously threaten the health of consumers. The usefulness and enjoyment of street food are essential factors in encouraging consumers to purchase this type of food, so with the widespread acceptance of this type of food by society, essential strategies should be adopted by health authorities to create a proper food culture in society by emphasizing the correct understanding of food safety hazards and the quality of food consumed.
Eight-year results of precommercial thinning on growth parameters in Picea orientalis (L.) link stands

ABSTRACT The effects of different rates of precommercial thinning (PCT) intensity on the stand developmental parameters in natural Picea orientalis stands were investigated to determine the most suitable thinning rate. The present study was performed in Trabzon province located in the northeastern of Turkey. In PCT plots, four different levels of PCT intensity were applied including control (unthinned), light (1.3–1.5 m spacing), moderate (1.5–2.0 m spacing) and heavy (2.5–3.0 m spacing). The values of diameter and height were measured at the end of the 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 growing seasons. The results indicated statistically significant (p < 0.05) effects of PCT levels on the diameter, total stand volume and total basal area increments in all periods measured. On the other hand, significant differences were at 99% confidence level for 6 and 8-year height increments. Although the diameter increments increased with increasing levels of precommercial thinning, the height increments did not increase. Also, total basal area increments were higher than in the control in all precommercial thinning treatments, except for the heavy PCT. Considering the best results of measured growth parameters, the early results showed that the light and moderate PCT had the most favorable effect on stand development.
Recent Advances in Woven Spacer Fabric Sandwich Composite Panels: A Review

Because of the advantageous characteristics of strong integrity, lightweight, high performance, and various designs, woven spacer fabric (WSF) and its composite are extensively used in construction, traffic, and aerospace, among other fields. This paper first describes the WSF structure, including core yarns and cross-linking, and then discusses the influence of the processing parameters, among angle of the wall decisive the failure mode on the plate properties. Moreover, we summarize the molding and filling technology of WSF composite sandwich panels and discuss the process order, resulting in a significant effect on the stiffness of the sandwich composite plate; the current processing is mostly hand lay-up technology. In addition, we introduce the core and matrix material of the sandwich composite plate, which are mainly polyurethane (PU) foam and epoxy resin (70% of matrix material), respectively. Finally, the mechanical properties of WSF composite sandwich panels are summarized, including bending, compression, impact, shear, and peel properties. Factors influencing the mechanical properties are analyzed to provide a theoretical basis for future plate design and preparation.
Prevalence, Distribution, and Histopathological Features of Malignant Tumors Reported at Tertiary Level in Afghanistan: A 3-Year Study

Purpose Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity, and therefore, tremendous research work is continuously being done around the world with consideration of etiopathogenesis as well as identification of therapeutic targets. Decades of continuous war in Afghanistan has left the medical infrastructure of the country in a miserable situation. There is a serious deficiency in research work in the fields of pathology and oncology at the moment with minimal data available to elaborate about the demographic characteristics of various malignant disorders in the country, which would be indispensable to pave the way for further research and development. Patients and Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to describe the prevalence, distribution, and important histopathological features of malignant tumors reported at tertiary level in Afghanistan. Results Out of 2328 consecutive cases of solid malignant tumors included in our study, 93.8% were primary and 6.2% were metastatic. Breast was the most common site of origin for primary malignancy (29.5%) in females; however, in males, esophagus was the leading site for primary malignant tumors (16.3%). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common histologic type of malignancy in females (87.9%). However, in both genders, squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus and skin, osteosarcoma of bone and soft tissue, and glioblastoma of central nervous system were the most common histologic types of malignancies diagnosed. Small intestine was a frequently involved site affected by extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Overall, the majority of the cancers were diagnosed in stage-II. Conclusion Findings in our study were somewhat similar to data presented elsewhere in the world, with some significant differences that could be related to the local factors. Our study revealed that most of the malignant tumors were diagnosed in later stages of the disease, attributable to scarcity of specialized oncology institutions and public awareness.
Designing for Conductor Lay and AC Loss Variability in Multistrand Stator Windings

Vehicle electrification places significant pressures on electric machine design due to the need for increased power densities and mass production. These two requirements couple when designing multistrand stator windings, which exhibit significant ac loss variability as a result of the random nature of the conductor lay within the stator slot caused by automated insert winding. This paper presents two prediction methods for ac loss variability to be deployed at the winding design stage. The first consists of an analytical approach, whilst the second constructs a 2D finite element analysis geometry that captures conductor lay characteristics. Comparison of predictions from both approaches to experimental ac loss measurements established that the proposed models capture the experimentally observed ac loss variability characteristics and that the analytical method is suitable for early design stages whilst the finite element approach should be adopted once the winding configuration is finalised.
Electron energization and transport in the magnetotail during substorms

It has been suggested recently that electrons are accelerated both near the reconnection site and during subsequent earthward transport. We provide global and quantitative evidence for this two‐step process by examining electron energization during a substorm event that occurred on 11 March 2008, when the Earth's magnetosphere was immersed in southward interplanetary magnetic field and high‐speed solar wind. The approach is to integrate coordinated measurements by Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS), global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling of the magnetosphere driven by upstream solar wind conditions, and large‐scale kinetics (LSK) simulation. In this event, THEMIS P2 at XGSM ~ − 15 RE detected a dipolarization pulse‐like magnetic structure coupled with energetic electron flux increase. About 1 min later, P3 and P4 at XGSM ~ − 10 RE observed dipolarized magnetic field and even larger flux increase. These multipoint data are applied to benchmark the MHD/LSK simulation. We quantify electron energization near the reconnection site and during earthward transport. We show that electrons were initially energized near the reconnection site, and subsequently further adiabatically accelerated far away from the reconnection site as the dipolarization front formed and grew. The adiabatic enhancement was rather effective given steep source electron distribution as a function of energy. In the outer magnetosphere with strong flows, E × B drift statistically dominated electron guiding center motion; thus, electrons were transported along the flow channel with small spatial diffusion. Close to the Earth, gradient and curvature drifts became appreciable; therefore, electrons circled around the region of large magnetic field.
Does the Inverse Farm Size-Productivity Hypothesis Hold Beyond Five Hectares? Evidence from Ghana

Abstract We contribute to the inverse farm size-productivity puzzle (IR) literature by examining the relationship using a unique data set from southern Ghana that covers farms between 5 and 70 ha. The study uses an instrumental variable (IV) for land size to mitigate some effects of measurement error in land size. The inverse relationship between farm size and farm productivity is upheld when ordinary least squares estimators (OLS) are applied but becomes insignificant although still negative in the IV estimation. The results show that measurement error in land size attenuates the IR. While some studies found the IR to flatten and then become positive, this study finds that in Ghana, the IR only flattens.
Control System and Speech Recognition of Exhibition Hall Digital Media Based on Computer Technology

With environmental noise in the exhibition hall, speakers tend to change their speech production to preserve intelligible communication. While great evolution has been prepared in Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), important performance deprivation occurs in a noisy environment. The assessment of the degree of speech impairment and the efficacy of computer recognition of impaired speech are distinctly and independently executed. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have been effectively employed in speech recognition and computer vision tasks. Hence, this study uses the Deep Convolutional Neural Network-based Automatic Speech Recognition Model (DCNN-ASRM) for effective speech recognition in the noisy exhibition hall. This study configures the filter sizes, poolings, and input feature map. The filter size and pooling are decreased, and the dimension of the input feature is comprehensive to permit increasing convolution layers. Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of the proposed DCNN-ASRM model discloses critical features, like fast convergence speed, compact model scales, and noise robustness in speech recognition. The simulation analysis shows that the suggested DCNN-ASRM model enhances the recognition accuracy ratio of 98.1%, performance ratio of 97.2%, and noise reduction ratio of 96.5% and reduces the word error rate by 9.2% and signal-to-noise ratio by 10.3% compared to other existing models.
A note on the largest eigenvalue of non-regular graphs

The spectral radius of connected non-regular graphs is considered. Let λ1 be the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix of a graph G on n vertices with maximum degree ∆. By studying the λ1-extremal graphs, it is proved that if G is non-regular and connected, then ∆ � λ1 > ∆+1 n(3n +∆ � 8) . This improves the recent results by B.L. Liu et al.
Context‐dependency in carnivore co‐occurrence across a multi‐use conservation landscape

Abstract Carnivore intraguild dynamics depend on a complex interplay of environmental affinities and interspecific interactions. Context‐dependency is commonly expected with varying suites of interacting species and environmental conditions but seldom empirically described. In South Africa, decentralized approaches to conservation and the resulting multi‐tenure conservation landscapes have markedly altered the environmental stage that shapes the structure of local carnivore assemblages. We explored assemblage‐wide patterns of carnivore spatial (residual occupancy probability) and temporal (diel activity overlap) co‐occurrence across three adjacent wildlife‐oriented management contexts—a provincial protected area, a private ecotourism reserve, and commercial game ranches. We found that carnivores were generally distributed independently across space, but existing spatial dependencies were context‐specific. Spatial overlap was most common in the protected area, where species occur at higher relative abundances, and in game ranches, where predator persecution presumably narrows the scope for spatial asymmetries. In the private reserve, spatial co‐occurrence patterns were more heterogeneous but did not follow a dominance hierarchy associated with higher apex predator densities. Pair‐specific variability suggests that subordinate carnivores may alternate between pre‐emptive behavioral strategies and fine‐scale co‐occurrence with dominant competitors. Consistency in species‐pairs diel activity asynchrony suggested that temporal overlap patterns in our study areas mostly depend on species' endogenous clock rather than the local context. Collectively, our research highlights the complexity and context‐dependency of guild‐level implications of current management and conservation paradigms; specifically, the unheeded potential for interventions to influence the local network of carnivore interactions with unknown population‐level and cascading effects.
Stress/Resource Complex, Sense of Coherence and Professional Identity Among Nursing Students: A Latent Profile and Mediation Analysis

Purpose Sense of coherence is significant to mental health and professional development in nursing students. However, the association among stress/resource complex, sense of coherence, and professional identity is less explored in nursing students. This study was designed to identify latent subtypes of stress/resource complex and to evaluate the mediating role of sense of coherence between stress/resource complex types and professional identity in nursing students. Participants and Methods A total of 595 nursing students were recruited from Be Resilient to Nursing Career (BRNC) between October and December 2021 and administered with 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, General Self-efficacy Scale, 10-item Chinese Perceived Stress Scale, 13-item Sense of Coherence Scale, and Professional Identity Questionnaire for Undergraduate Students. Latent profile analysis and mediation analysis were performed. Results Three latent subtypes of stress/resource complex were identified: Flexibility (14.8%), Ordinary (44.2%), and Maladjustment (41.0%). Nursing students with role model were prone to Ordinary (OR = 1.48, 95% CI 1.03–2.13, p = 0.035) and Flexibility (OR = 1.92, 95% CI 1.17–3.16, p = 0.011). The association between stress/resource complex types and professional identity was mediated by sense of coherence (P < 0.05). Conclusion There exists heterogeneity in nursing students’ stress/resource complex. The association between stress/resource complex subtypes and professional identity was mediated by sense of coherence.
Morphology and Structure of Electrodeposited Prussian Blue and Prussian White Thin Films

The compound Prussian Blue (PB), and its reduced form Prussian White (PW) are nowadays considered, in applied and fundamental research groups, as potential materials for sustainable energy storage devices. In this work, these compounds were prepared by potentiostatic electrochemical synthesis, by using different deposition voltages and thicknesses. Thick, compact and uniform layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. Results have shown a well-defined transition voltage for growing Prussian Blue phases and a strong dependence of the morphology/growing orientation of the samples as a function of applied potential and thickness. For the negative potential tested of −0.10 V vs. SCE, a mixture of cubic and rhombohedral phases was observed.
Risk Factors for and Treatment of Chronic Venous Disease in Thai Patients

Introduction The prevalence of chronic venous disease (CVD), a common health care problem, is still underestimated. A few previous epidemiologic studies have report Asian patients with this condition in western countries, but not in Asian countries. The aim of this study was to determine risk factors for CVD and its treatment in Thai individuals. Methods In this cross-sectional study, we collected data of patients with CVD visiting Chulabhorn Hospital Vascular Clinic from 1 December 2018–1 October 2021. We reviewed medical records for patient characteristics, comorbidities, Clinical, Etiology, Anatomy, Pathophysiology (CEAP) categories, Venous Clinical Severity Score (VCSS), ultrasound findings and treatment. Results The study cohort comprised 260 CVD patients with CVD of mean age 61.92 ± 12.82 years. Almost 80% of participants were female. A history of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) was the strongest risk factor for severe CVD. Other identified risk factors comprised body–mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m2, and older age. The most common CEAP categories were C2 (39%) and C1 (33.8%). Superficial venous reflux was the most common location of venous reflux in this study, 67.32% of participants having great saphenous vein reflux and 16.99% small saphenous vein reflux. Only 4.76% of our cohort had both reflux and obstruction. Most of the participants had undergone compression therapy, approximately half of them complying well with wearing of stockings. Nineteen percent of our cohort had undergone sclerotherapy and 14% surgery, which comprised radiofrequency ablation in 97% of them. Conclusion The major risk factors for severe CVD identified in this study were deep vein thrombosis, body mass index>30 kg/m2 and older age. The most common CEAP category was C2 (39%). GSV was the most commonly involved venous system. Involvement of numerous venous systems was a risk factor for severe CVD.
Assimilation procedures for updating ionospheric profiles below the F2 peak

This paper describes and compares two real‐time assimilative ionospheric models, with an emphasis on their ability to provide accurate profiles of the electron density below the peak of the F2 layer at a midlatitude location, given automatically processed vertical incidence ionograms at a single location. The two models are specifically oriented toward several important practical applications of high‐frequency (HF) radio propagation: HF communications, single station location of HF transmitters, and coordinate registration for OTHR. Both models start with the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) as a background ionosphere and assimilate digisonde observations (either the ionogram or the profile) and available GPS total electron content observations. The digisonde data from one site in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) provide the ionosonde assimilation data, while the other three digisondes in the RSA provide the ground‐truth observations of foF2, hmF2, and the plasma frequency profile. Since the four RSA digisondes receive each other's transmissions, maximum observed frequencies have also been used as ground truth. The models tested have both been found to provide significant improvements over the IRI and to have similar accuracies for the study interval (September 2011). The errors of the models are very close to the minimum achievable errors for all the validation parameters, which seem to be set by the ubiquitous traveling ionospheric disturbances being different at the different locations. For the optimum ground‐truth location ~685 km from the digisonde providing the assimilation data, the RMS errors in foF2 were found to be 0.2 MHz (night) and 0.5 MHz (day).
Nematicidal Potential of Green Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Aqueous Root Extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra

Meloidogyne incognita (root-knot nematode) is a devastating soil-borne pathogen which can infect almost all cultivated plants around the globe, expediting huge pecuniary losses. The purpose of current study was to use the aqueous root extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra for synthesizing silver nanoparticles (GRAgNPs) and assess their nematicidal potential against M. incognita by in vitro methods, including hatching inhibition and mortality assays. The active uptake of FITC labeled GRAgNPs by the nematode and their effect on the expression of selected genes involved in oxidative stress and DNA damage repair were also studied. An HRTEM micrograph confirmed their spherical morphology with sizes ranging from 9.61 nm to 34.735 nm. Complete inhibition of egg-hatching was observed after 48 h of treatment with as low as 10.0 ppm of GRAgNPs. In addition, 100% mortality was recorded at the lowest dose of 6.0 ppm, after 12 h of treatment. The LC-50 for GRAgNPs was found to be 0.805 ± 0.177 ppm at p < 0.0001, R2 = 0.9930, and α = 0.05. The expression of targeted genes (skn-1, mev-1, sod-3, dhs-23, cyp-450, xpa, cpr-1, gst-n, and ugt) was significantly enhanced (1.09–2.79 folds), at 1.0 ppm (α = 0.05, 95% CI) GRAgNPs treatment. In conclusion, GRAgNPs performed efficaciously and considerably in contrast to chemical nematicide and commercial silver nanoparticles (CAgNPs) and might be used as a promising alternative as relatively lower concentration and short exposure time were enough to cause higher mortality and nanotoxicity in nematodes.
A Review of Ensemble Learning Algorithms Used in Remote Sensing Applications

Machine learning algorithms are increasingly used in various remote sensing applications due to their ability to identify nonlinear correlations. Ensemble algorithms have been included in many practical applications to improve prediction accuracy. We provide an overview of three widely used ensemble techniques: bagging, boosting, and stacking. We first identify the underlying principles of the algorithms and present an analysis of current literature. We summarize some typical applications of ensemble algorithms, which include predicting crop yield, estimating forest structure parameters, mapping natural hazards, and spatial downscaling of climate parameters and land surface temperature. Finally, we suggest future directions for using ensemble algorithms in practical applications.