Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RADIOACTIVITY CONCENTRATION AND DOSE ASSESSMENT OF SOIL SAMPLES IN CEMENT FACTORY AND ENVIRONS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

The main natural radioactive materials that contribute externally and internally to man and his environs are radionuclides emanating from gamma series of 238U, 232Th, as well as 40K isotope, alpha and beta sources. Also, human activities such as mining and milling of uranium and phosphate, tobacco smoking, oil exploration, air transportation, coal-fired power station, and so on can trigger The technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (TENORMs). It is imperative to monitor the terrestrial background radiation of radionuclides emanating from these sources in order maintain a safe environment for humans. This study measured the activity concentration of 238U, 40K and 232Th in soil samples from cement factory and environs using the NaI(TI) detector, in three zones in Ogun State, Nigeria. The activity concentrations obtained for the three zones are in the order 238U < 232Th < 40K respectively. The radiological parameters estimated from the activity measured were all within the recommended permissive limit except for the annual gonadal doses from the cement factory and its environs, which are higher than the global standard by the factors of 1.03 and 1.07 respectively. This study therefore concludes that people living and working in these areas might be exposed to high radiation burden as a result of cumulative effect of the emission from the factory.
Evaluation of Spatial and Seasonal Variations of Dissolved Organic Matter in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia

The characteristics dissolved organic matter (DOM) and surface water quality in Maliau Basin, Sabah, Malaysia, were determined from December 2014 to September 2015. The objectives of this study were: (i). to distinguish the surface water quality of rivers which consisted of different types of land use: primary forest (PF), secondary forest (SF), main river (MR) and altered habitat (AH); (ii). to assess seasonal variations of the water quality. A total of 36 water samples were collected during the fieldwork campaign that extended over high and low rainfall periods. The water quality physico-chemical parameters such as water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), conductivity, and salinity were measured in-situ with the YSI-multiparameter instrument, while dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration was evaluated using Shimadzu TOC-V-SCH analyzer with auto-sampler TOC-ASI-V equipped. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) was determined optically in the laboratory at 254 (a254), 340 (a340) and 410 (a410). Discriminant analysis (DA) was employed to organize independent variables into mutually-exclusive groups. The outcome of DA indicated that water temperature, total suspended solid (TSS), and conductivity were dominant at AH, whilst a340 was dominant at MR in March 2015. Our results also showed seasonal variations for water quality parameters. The highest mean concentrations of pH and a340 were found during the dry period (March 2015) and dissolved oxygen (DO) during the wet season (December 2014), suggesting spatio-seasonal variations of DOM and water quality parameters were determined by environmental factors such as precipitation, water velocity and discharge amount. UV-vis absorptions a254 and a340 show significant positive correlation with dissolved organic carbon (DOC), suggesting that it could be a suitable proxy for DOC concentration for tropical flowing water.
Assessment of bacteriological quality of groundwater from boreholes in Maroua (Far North Cameroon)

Groundwater (e.g. from wells and boreholes) represents an important source for water supply for populations in Maroua, Far north Cameroon. Although its consumption is being accentuated by the limited access to potable water, the quality of water from boreholes is unknown by the consumers. This study aimed at assessing the bacteriological quality of groundwater from boreholes in Maroua, in order to determine the impact of anthropogenic pressure and to measure the sanitary risks to which people who use them as drinking water sources are exposed. A total of 18 boreholes were chosen as sampling sites for bimonthly analyses (from October 2016 to January 2017). Microbiological analyses comprised the prevalence of total coliforms (TCs), Escherichia coli and Heterotrophic Aerobic and Mesophilic Bacteria (HAMB). Some physico-chemical parameters including temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDSs), salinity, dissolved CO 2 were measured to characterize these waters and to determine their influence on the bacterial flora. The results showed that the pH of the water of the 18 boreholes varied from 6.3 to 7.5 CU; the lower value of temperature was 25.9 °C and the higher was 31.2 °C. The values of electrical conductivity, TDSs and Salinity fluctuated from 171.5 to 1910.3 μS/cm, 119.4 to 1331.3 mg/l and 79.2 to 970.3 ppm respectively in the water samples of these boreholes. The concentration of dissolved CO 2 varied from 9.5 to 27.8 mg/l of water. From these results, 72.2% of analysed water samples were contaminated by the total coliforms and E. coli. The water contamination would be the consequence of the proximity of boreholes with latrines and domestic wastes. There is a need to educate the public about the quality of their water sources and the importance of clean and healthy surroundings near water sources and to implement household water treatment to improve the water quality and reduce waterborne diseases. Keywords : Bacteria, contamination, groundwater, sanitation.
Sediment Volume and Grain-Size Partitioning Between Submarine Channel−Levee Systems and Lobes: An Experimental Study

The width and depth of submarine channels change progressively as the channels evolve. This is inferred to act as an important control on the rate of sediment loss due overbank and in-channel deposition. Understanding the downstream extraction of sediment from turbidity currents is important for the prediction of grain-size trends and volume distribution in the stratigraphy. However, the partitioning of sediment by individual turbidity currents as a function of channel dimensions has not been investigated previously. We present a series of physical experiments studying the link between channel dimensions and the resulting partitioning of sediment volume and grain size between sub-environments. The experimental set-up consists of a slope (11°) with a straight pre-formed channel and a horizontal basin floor. An identical flow was released repeatedly into channels with different dimensions, resulting in various styles of overspill, erosion, and deposition under varying degrees of channel confinement. The fraction of sediment that was bypassed through the channel to the basin floor varied between 67% and 89%, depending on the amount of levee and in-channel deposition. The volume of levee deposition correlates well with channel depth. A large channel depth relative to flow thickness limits the amount of overspill. The amount of in-channel deposition correlates well with channel width/depth (W/D) ratio, where low-W/D-ratio channels have less deposition. We compare the experiments to natural system to show that the same patterns of volume and grain-size partitioning are present at different scales. The experiments provide snapshots of different phases of evolution of natural submarine channels. Natural submarine channels in an early evolution phase are inferred to be shallow and the experiments demonstrate that this results in significant sediment loss to levee deposition along the channel. The process of levee deposition preferentially extracts the fine-grained sediment fraction, which overspills from the channel. Therefore, we predict that the initial sediment pulse that reaches the basin floor is coarse grained and volumetrically small. As the channel matures and deepens, it will bypass more sediment with a mix of grain sizes to the basin floor.
Development of Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) in Selected Organic Market Waste Fractions in Accra, Ghana

Aims: To assess the effect of organic waste and their formulations on the development of the black soldier fly larvae. Study Design: The experiment used one time feeding (lump feeding) of feedstocks obtained from organic market waste fractions and their combinations. The arrangement of composting containers followed a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), replicated three times. Place and Duration of Study: The study took 3 months and was conducted at the BSF laboratory of the Soil and Environmental Science Research Centre, Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. Methodology: Two hundred and forty (240) hand counted 5 day old BSF larvae were inoculated onto 2 kg each of organic market waste fractions and their combinations in 60 L plastic containers covered with a mesh. Equal quantities of the above feedstock without larvae served as control. The arrangement of the containers followed a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), replicated three times. Moisture content, larval growth parameters, temperature, relative humidity, prepupal development were recorded. Results: Whiles moisture contents of most of the feedstock decreased gradually over the trial period, that of fruit waste only, fruit waste + corn husk and fruit waste + vegetable waste increased with time and was higher at the end of the trial than at the beginning. Composting temperature in all the feed stocks never reached the thermophilic stage and was between 29 – 38°C. The lowest temperature of 28.88°C was recorded in the mixture of vegetable waste and fruit waste whiles the highest, 37.55°C was recorded in the mixture of corn husk and uncooked food waste compost. Composting humidity ranged between 59 and 87% with significant differences being observed across treatments on days 0, 10, 15, 20 and 25. Larvae reared on a mixture of all the feedstock was significantly the heaviest (176.66 mg). Significant differences were observed in larval length and those fed with a mixture of fruit waste and uncooked food waste were the longest (17.66 mm). A highly significant number of eclosed adults, number of females and the number of egg clutches were observed among treatments. Conclusions: Vegetable waste only, fruit waste only and a combination of vegetable waste + uncooked food waste; fruit waste +uncooked food waste; and a combination of all the wastes were the most preferred organic waste as they produced the optimum larval characteristics. The composting bins should be fitted with an outlet for leachates from the compost to drain out to avoid increase in compost moisture which will create anaerobic conditions that might delay compost maturity.
The Influence of an Extreme Warm Spell on Public Support for Government Involvement in Climate Change Adaptation

An emerging literature discusses the effects of short-term temperature fluctuations on public opinion toward climate change. Yet, prior literature has not explored potential opinion-influencing effects of temporal patterns of temperature fluctuations or the interdependence between temperature anomalies and the direction and magnitude of short-term trends. This study uses an extreme warm spell that occurred during a survey of Michigan residents to evaluate the influence of complex temperature effects on public support for government involvement in the agricultural sector's adaptation to climate change. Comparison of several alternatives for capturing the influence of temperature fluctuations on survey responses (some drawn from the literature, some newly constructed) shows a temporary increase in support for government assistance for adaptation after the onset of a warm spell, but a longer exposure to extreme temperatures does not necessarily lead to more support for adaptation policies. Conditional on other attributes of temperature abnormalities (e.g., direction of trend), abnormal heat might even lead to reduced support for adaptation policies.
Comparative analysis of wild and cultivated rosehip from Bulgaria

The aim of this study was to compare the composition of wild Rosa canina (Kiustendil region, 2022) and cultivated rosehips Plovdiv-1 (Gotse Delchev region, 2022). The results demonstrated that the cultivated rosehips possessed more fibers and minerals, and were more abundant in polyunsaturated fatty acids. The Plovdiv-1 rosehips were characterized by lower fat content and more pronounced antioxidant properties. The wild type had higher vitamin C content. The morphological characterization indicated that the fruits of cultivated rosehips were longer, with less seeds and hairs. The results of the antimicrobial activity tests demonstrated that both methanol extracts possessed significant inhibitory activity against Micrococcus luteus 2YC-YT, moderate inhibitory effect on Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Listeria monocytogenes NBIMCC 8632, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Proteus vulgaris ATCC 6380, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027, and low inhibitory activity against Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 4BCL-YT, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 19433, Salmonella enteritidis ATCC 13076, Salmonella typhimurium NBIMCC 1672 and Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 13883. The extracts did not show antifungal activity, except against Rhizopus sp. and Fusarium moniliforme ATCC 38932, in which the inhibitory activity was low. The obtained results showed that cultivated rosehips are promising for supplementing various types of food products.
Convectively driven decadal zonal accelerations in Earth's fluid core

Azimuthal accelerations of cylindrical surfaces co-axial with the rotation axis have been inferred to exist in Earth's fluid core on the basis of magnetic field observations and changes in the length-of-day. These accelerations have a typical timescale of decades. However, the physical mechanism causing the accelerations is not well understood. Scaling arguments suggest that the leading order torque averaged over cylindrical surfaces should arise from the Lorentz force. Decadal fluctuations in the magnetic field inside the core, driven by convective flows, could then force decadal changes in the Lorentz torque and generate zonal accelerations. We test this hypothesis by constructing a quasi-geostrophic model of magnetoconvection, with thermally-driven flows perturbing a steady, imposed background magnetic field. We show that when the Alfv\'{e}n number in our model is similar to that in Earth's fluid core, temporal fluctuations in the torque balance are dominated by the Lorentz torque, with the latter generating mean zonal accelerations. Our model reproduces both fast, free Alfv\'{e}n waves and slow, forced accelerations, with ratios of relative strength and relative timescale similar to those inferred for the Earth's core. The temporal changes in the magnetic field which drive the time-varying Lorentz torque are produced by the underlying convective flows, shearing and advecting the magnetic field on a timescale associated with convective eddies. Our results support the hypothesis that temporal changes in the magnetic field deep inside Earth's fluid core drive the observed decadal zonal accelerations of cylindrical surfaces through the Lorentz torque.
Powdered Cross-Linked Gelatin Methacryloyl as an Injectable Hydrogel for Adipose Tissue Engineering

The tissue engineering field is currently advancing towards minimally invasive procedures to reconstruct soft tissue defects. In this regard, injectable hydrogels are viewed as excellent scaffold candidates to support and promote the growth of encapsulated cells. Cross-linked gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) gels have received substantial attention due to their extracellular matrix-mimicking properties. In particular, GelMA microgels were recently identified as interesting scaffold materials since the pores in between the microgel particles allow good cell movement and nutrient diffusion. The current work reports on a novel microgel preparation procedure in which a bulk GelMA hydrogel is ground into powder particles. These particles can be easily transformed into a microgel by swelling them in a suitable solvent. The rheological properties of the microgel are independent of the particle size and remain stable at body temperature, with only a minor reversible reduction in elastic modulus correlated to the unfolding of physical cross-links at elevated temperatures. Salts reduce the elastic modulus of the microgel network due to a deswelling of the particles, in addition to triple helix denaturation. The microgels are suited for clinical use, as proven by their excellent cytocompatibility. The latter is confirmed by the superior proliferation of encapsulated adipose tissue-derived stem cells in the microgel compared to the bulk hydrogel. Moreover, microgels made from the smallest particles are easily injected through a 20G needle, allowing a minimally invasive delivery. Hence, the current work reveals that powdered cross-linked GelMA is an excellent candidate to serve as an injectable hydrogel for adipose tissue engineering.
CNN-CatBoost ensemble deep learning model for enhanced disease detection and classification of kidney disease

An efficient deep-learning prediction model for identifying chronic kidney disease (CKD) from exhaled breath is presented in this paper. The concentration of urea will be higher in CKD patients. Salivary urease breaks down the stored urea into ammonia, which is then excreted through breath. Thus, by monitoring the breath ammonia content, it is possible to identify the presence of high urea levels in the body. In this work, a novel sensing module is developed and applied to measure and assess the amount of ammonia in exhaled breath. Moreover, an effective deep learning prediction model that combines the CatBoost algorithm and convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to automate the prediction of disease. The proposed model, which combines the benefits of gradient-boosting and CNN, attained an exceptional accuracy of 98.37%. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the proposed model using real-time data and to assess how well it performs in comparison with existing deep learning methods. Our study's findings demonstrate that kidney disease can be accurately and noninvasively diagnosed using the proposed approach.
Secondary Level Students’ Experiences in English as a Medium of Instruction: A Nepalese Context

This study explores the secondary-level students’ experiences in English as a medium of instruction in education. It aimed at identifying the challenges in English as a medium of instruction for the students in the Nepalese educational settings. It used narrative inquiry as a research method in order to explore the living experiences of the students regarding the practice of using the English language as a language of classroom instruction in the context where English is used as a non-native language. Semi-structured interview has been used as a research process for data collection and the interview guidelines have been used as research tools while collecting data from purposely selected seven student participants studying in the secondary level. This study has revealed that the students experience English as a medium of instruction as a practice to boost up their confidence personally as well as academically despite their EMI hardships in and outside their educational settings.
Brain MRI Volumetric Assessment of Patients With Multiple Sclerosis: The Volume of Basal Ganglia, Thalamus, and Posterior Fossa

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating and neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system, which is associated with brain atrophy and volume changes in some brain structures. This study aimed to compare the volume of the basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, and brainstem in patients with relapsing-remitting MS with that of the control group using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: In this cross-sectional study, MRI brain scans were obtained from 25 patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 25 healthy control subjects. Volumetric analyses were performed using Brain Suite software. Results: The mean age of the MS and the control groups was 33.96±8.75 and 40.40±8.72, respectively. No statistically significant difference was found in gender (P=0.747). The bilateral putamen and caudate nuclei volumes were significantly higher in the case group than in the control group (P<0.001). Moreover, lower the volume of the brainstem, cerebellum, bilateral thalamus, and globus pallidus were identified in the MS patients compared to the control group (P<0.001). There was an inverse correlation between the disease and treatment duration with the thalamus and cerebellum volume in MS patients (P=0.001). Treatment duration also had an inverse correlation with brainstem volume (P=0.047). Conclusion: The volume of some structures of the brain, including globus pallidus, thalamus, cerebellum, and brainstem is lower in MS and can be one of the markers of disease progression and disability among MS patients.
Axial and radial thermal responses of energy pile under six storey residential building

The axial and radial thermal responses of a cast-in-place energy pile, 10 m long and 0.6 m in diameter, installed in unsaturated sand under a six storey building are examined during a heating–cooling cycle. The instrumentation in the pile was configured to compare radial and axial thermal responses at the same elevations and to evaluate the temperature and axial thermal stress distribution across the cross-sectional area of the pile. The magnitudes of the axial thermal strains were more constrained than the radial thermal strains at all depths, leading to the development of axial and radial thermal stresses of up to –4.5 and –0.015 MPa, respectively, for a change in average pile temperature of 24.1 °C. The magnitudes of the radial thermal stresses with changes in pile temperature were significantly lower than the axial thermal stresses at all depths of the pile, indicating that the radial thermal expansion had negligible effects on the development of axial thermal strains and stresses. The temperature distribution over the cross section of the pile showed low variations at all depths, indicating that it would be justified to consider a uniform temperature distribution at least in piles of similar dimensions and with even heat exchanger layouts.
Analysis of Clinical and Genetic Factors of Obesity and Psoriasis Concomitance—The Influence of Body Mass Composition, Prevalence of Mood Disorders, Environmental Factors and FTO Gene Polymorphisms (rs9939609, rs1558902)

This study aimed to comprehensively analyze the problem of overweight and obesity among psoriatic patients by investigating the influence of body mass composition, anhedonia and depression, environmental factors and FTO gene polymorphisms. Methods: The study enrolled 30 overweight or obese adult patients with chronic plaque psoriasis and 30 overweight or obese volunteers (northern Poland region, Caucasian population). Mood disorders, body mass composition by using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and FTO gene polymorphisms (rs9939609, rs1558902) by tetra-primer amplification refractory mutation system PCR (T-ARMS-PCR) were assessed. Results: Results revealed significantly higher visceral adipose tissue levels in psoriatic patients (5.23 ± 2.29 [L] vs. 3.41 ± 1.86 [L]), p = 0.001), especially among men, along with elevated rates of moderate and severe depression (26.67% vs. 6.67% and 13.33% vs. 3.33%, p = 0.048 respectively). Additionally, FTO gene polymorphisms correlated with waist–hip ratio differences in both groups. Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of evaluating body composition beyond body mass index, recognizing its influence on psoriasis and associated conditions like depression. The FTO gene may serve as a potential genetic link between psoriasis and obesity, warranting further research for validation. Adiposity emerges as a key and modifiable risk factor, underscoring the clinical implications of body composition complexities in psoriasis management.