Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Solid State Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Violuric Acid as a Novel Reducing Agent

Metal Nanoparticles (NPs) are recognized as the most attractive materials due to their distinct physical and chemical characteristics. Several physical and chemical synthesis methods have already been tested to obtain NPs of appropriate size and shape. Although the chemical-based solution methods provide NPs within a proper size and shape and can be reasonably controlled, they require a large amount of raw material including solvents, capping agents, etc., which usually lead to toxic output and waste. In this study, the author tested an easy and environmentally friendly solid-state synthesis pathway for synthesizing silver (Ag) NPs within a suitable size and shape, using a novel reducing agent. Silver carbonate (Ag2CO3) was allowed to react with Violuric acid (C4H3N3O4) as a reducing agent through a solid-state grinding method for one hour. The results confirmed that Violuric Acid can be considered a promising reducing agent that results in the formation of well-shaped spherical Ag NPs within an average particle size of about 60 nm.
Embryonic Nicotine Exposure Disrupts Adult Social Behavior and Craniofacial Development in Zebrafish

Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and morbidity worldwide. Smoking during pregnancy is associated with numerous adverse birth outcomes, including craniofacial and behavioral abnormalities. Although tobacco smoke contains more than 4000 toxic substances, nicotine is addictive and is likely the most teratogenic substance in cigarette smoke. However, much remains to be determined about the effects of embryonic nicotine exposure on behavior and craniofacial development. Therefore, this study evaluated adult social behavior in zebrafish, craniofacial defects, and nicotine metabolism in embryos after embryonic nicotine exposure. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to different doses of nicotine beginning at 6 h post fertilization. To evaluate craniofacial defects, the embryos were collected at 4 days post fertilization and stained with Alizarin Red and Alcian Blue. For behavioral testing, embryos were reared to adulthood. To evaluate nicotine metabolism, cotinine levels were analyzed at various time points. Our findings demonstrate that embryonic exposure to nicotine modifies social behavior in adulthood, causes craniofacial defects with reduced size of craniofacial cartilages, and that zebrafish metabolize nicotine to cotinine, as in humans. Together, our data suggest that zebrafish are useful as a model for studying nicotine-related diseases.
Water Desalination Using Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel: Gibbs Ensemble Modeling

Polyelectrolyte hydrogels can absorb a large amount of water across an osmotic membrane as a result of their swelling pressure. On the other hand, the insoluble cross-linked hydrogel network enables dewatering under the influence of external (thermal and/or mechanical) stimuli. Moreover, from a thermodynamic perspective, a polyelectrolyte hydrogel is already an osmotic membrane. These properties designate hydrogels as excellent candidates for use in desalination, at the same time avoiding the use of expensive membranes. In this article, we present our recent theoretical study of polyelectrolyte hydrogel usage for water desalination. Employing a coarse-grained model and the Gibbs ensemble, we modeled the thermodynamic equilibrium between the coexisting gel phase and the supernate aqueous salt solution phase. We performed a sequence of step-by-step hydrogel swellings and compressions in open and closed systems, i.e., in equilibrium with a large and with a comparably small reservoir of aqueous solution. The swelling in an open system removes ions from the large reservoir, whereas the compression in a closed system decreases the salt concentration in the small reservoir. We modeled this stepwise process of continuous decrease of water salinity from seawater up to freshwater concentrations and estimated the energy cost of the process to be comparable to that of reverse osmosis.
Designing strategy formulation in the midst of uncertainty in digital citizen engagement: A critical reflection of the application of Design Science Research augmented by Soft Systems Methodology to the design of strategy formulation

This manuscript details a critical reflection on how Design Science Research (DSR) was applied to the guided development and implementation of a strategy formulation process for a civic tech project called MobiSAM, which was executed in a marginalized local government context. It also demonstrates how the application of DSR is augmented by Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), to ensure that the unstructured properties typically present in multi‐stakeholder deliberation (required in civic tech project strategizing) are accounted for in the strategy formulation exercise. To underpin this critical reflection on the emergence and application of the civic tech project strategy framework (the artifact), pragmatist interpretivism is employed. This qualitative paradigm underpinning the critical reflection supports better understanding of strategy related challenges primarily through participant observation and interviews with actors in the civic tech context. The findings reveal that for an unstructured problem like civic tech project strategizing, SSM is particularly instrumental to the application of four DSR guidelines, namely—problem relevance, design evaluation, research contribution and communication of DSR.
Detection of Genetic Patterns in Endangered Marine Species Is Affected by Small Sample Sizes

Simple Summary Knowledge of genetic diversity is crucial to improve conservation plans for endangered species and ensure their long-term persistence. However, it may be difficult to accurately estimate genetic diversity when it is unfeasible to obtain sufficiently large sample sizes, which is often the case for marine endangered species. Here, we use Patella ferruginea as a model to investigate how small sample sizes affect genetic diversity estimates. We show that small sample sizes do not always hamper the detection of genetic patterns in endangered marine species, even though caution is needed when genetic divergence among populations is weak. Abstract Knowledge of Genetic diversity and its spatial distribution is crucial to improve conservation plans for endangered species. Genetic tools help ensure species’ long-term persistence by unraveling connectivity patterns and evolutionary trajectories of populations. Here, microsatellite genotypes of individuals from populations of Patella ferruginea are used to assess the effect of sample size on metrics of within-and between-population genetic diversity by combining empirical and simulated data. Within-population metrics are slightly to moderately affected by small sample size, albeit the magnitude of the bias is proportional to the effective population size and gene flow. The power of detecting genetic differentiation among populations increases with sample size, albeit the gain of increasing the number of sampled individuals tends to be negligible between 30 and 50. Our results line up with those of previous studies and highlight that small sample sizes are not always a hindrance to investigating genetic patterns in endangered marine species. Caution is needed in interpreting genetic patterns based on small sample sizes when the observed genetic differentiation is weak. This study also highlights the importance of carrying out genetic monitoring in seemingly well-preserved but potentially isolated populations.
The Influence of Evangelical Religiosity on Environmentalism

US environmental policy and ecology have become increasingly popular, yet politically polarized in the last 50 years. Despite increases in popularity overall, environmentalism has become and continues to be disregarded, or even opposed, among evangelical Christian groups. Many psychological and sociological factors may explain this link. A study was conducted at a Christian university in South Carolina to determine the contribution of theological, psychological, and political factors related to evangelicalism and their relationship with environmentalism. The results indicate that doctrinal and political ideologies like evangelical doctrine, political conservatism, and eschatological attitudes about the end of the world each are independently related to negative environmental attitudes. These findings indicate that environmental appeals to young evangelicals need to address several unique factors.
Advances in Solar PV Systems; A Comprehensive Review of PV Performance, Influencing Factors, and Mitigation Techniques

PV power plants utilizing solar energy to generate electricity on a large scale has become a trend and a new option that has been adopted by many countries; however, in actuality, it is difficult to anticipate how much electricity PV plants will generate. This analysis of existing photovoltaic (PV) power plants provides guidelines for more precise designs and performance forecasting of other upcoming PV technologies. In the literature, some authors have put their efforts into reviewing studies on PV power systems; however, those reviews are too focused on specific aspects of the topic. This study will review, from a broader perspective, recent investigations on PV power systems in the literature that were published between 1990 and 2022. The present study is divided into three main parts. Firstly, a performance assessment review of PV power plants is presented by taking different performance parameters into consideration, which were developed by the “International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC 61724-1)”. These parameters include reference yield, final yield, performance ratio, capacity utilization factor, and system efficiency. Secondly, different identifying factors that were investigated in previous studies, and which affect PV performance, were considered. These factors include solar irradiance, PV technology type, ambient temperature, cell temperature, tilt angle, dust accumulation, and shading effect. Thirdly, different methods were adopted and suggested to counter the effects of these influencing factors to enhance the performance efficiency of the PV power system. A hybrid cooling and cleaning system can use active techniques to boost efficiency during high solar irradiances and ambient temperatures while depending on passive techniques for everyday operations. This comprehensive and critical review identifies the challenges and proposed solutions when using photovoltaic technologies and it will be helpful for researchers, designers, and investors dealing with PV power systems.
Numerical solution of three-dimensional free turbulent shear flows

Numerical results are presented for three-dimensional compressible turbulent jet and wake flows. An alternating direction implicit numerical procedure is used to solve the finite-difference form of the parabolic elliptic Navier-Stokes equations. A coordinate transformation maps the boundaries at infinity into a finite computational domain in order to properly specify infinity boundary conditions as well as contain the downstream growth of the viscous flow field in a fixed computational grid. Turbulence closure is achieved through an algebraic mixing length eddy viscosity model. Numerical results for supersonic flow are presented for an axisymmetric jet, an elliptical jet, an elliptical wake, and two interacting rectangular jets. Experimental data were not available for comparison with the numerical results. However, the results compare well with empirical results for free shear flows.
Multiband hybrid MIMO DRA for Sub‐6 GHz 5G and WiFi‐6 applications

This paper inspects a parasitic element‐based inverted meandered U‐shaped printed line fed hybrid MIMO DRA. The feed of a single element of the 2‐elements hybrid MIMO DRA consists of a meandered shaped line coupled to the inverted L‐shaped parasitic element printed on the top side of FR‐4 substrate with a partial ground on the back. The rectangular‐shaped alumina dielectric is placed over the feed to form the single element hybrid DRA. The individual element resonating at 3.40–4.32 GHz (23.83%) and 4.96–5.05 GHz (1.80%) achieves the dual‐band characteristics by exciting multiple modes within the rectangular dielectric resonator. The low‐profile Multiple Input–Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna configuration having an overall size of 0.57 λ × 0.23 λ × 0.14 λ mm3consists of two orthogonally placed hybrid rectangular DRAs. The inter‐element isolation for a connected ground MIMO structure is better than 22 dB in the desired bands of operation without using any isolation improvement techniques. The MIMO diversity parameters are simulated and measured to validate the MIMO performance. The diversity metrics envelope correlation coefficient is below . 175, and . 15, the mean effective gain ratio is 0 dB, the total active reflection coefficient values are below 15 dB, and channel capacity loss values are below 0.5 bits/sec/Hz in the lower, and upper bands of operation which are within the recommended practical limits. The presented MIMO design achieved the peak gain of 12.87dBi, and minimum radiation efficiency of 83%, with stable radiation characteristics that make the antenna suitable for Sub‐6 GHz 5G and WiFi‐6 applications.
Wetland mapping based on feature optimization and Google Earth Engine in Zhalong Nature Reserve

Abstract. Wetlands have very important and irreplaceable ecological service functions in protecting biodiversity and maintaining ecological balance. Due to the unique hydrological characteristics of wetlands, large-scale wetland mapping methods are usually time-consuming, labor intensive, and expensive. With the rise of big data and cloud computing platforms, there are opportunities for long time series and large-scale spatial data processing that improve large-scale wetland mapping. In this study, the Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, and digital elevation model derived from the Google Earth Engine were used to extract the wetland extent in the Zhalong Nature Reserve based on the Jeffries–Matusita (JM) distance for feature optimization and random forest. Research shows the following: (1) The JM distance for each feature showed that the optical features had the highest separation in all five features and (2) the classification after feature optimization performed best. User accuracy (UA) and producer accuracy (PA) for wetland reached 89.64% and 83.00%, respectively, and overall accuracy reached 90.76%. After feature optimization, PA and UA of wetland were each increased 4.26% and 1.07%, respectively, and the number of features was reduced from 46 to 28. The method used in this study is highly accurate in wetland mapping and can effectively avoid the problem of data redundancy.
Comprehensive Biological Potential, Phytochemical Profiling Using GC-MS and LC-ESI-MS, and In-Silico Assessment of Strobilanthes glutinosus Nees: An Important Medicinal Plant

Plants of the genus Strobilanthes have notable use in folklore medicines as well as being used for pharmacological purposes. The present work explored the biological predispositions of Strobilanthes glutinosus and attempted to accomplish a comprehensive chemical profile through GC-MS of different fractions concerning polarity (chloroform and n-butanol) and LC-ESI-MS of methanolic extract by both positive and negative ionization modes. The biological characteristics such as antioxidant potential were assessed by applying six different methods. The potential for clinically relevant enzyme (α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and tyrosinase) inhibition was examined. The DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC, and FRAP results revealed that the methanol fraction presented efficient results. The phosphomolybdenum assay revealed that the n-hexane fraction showed the most efficient results, while maximum metal chelation potential was observed for the chloroform fraction. The GC-MS profiling of n-butanol and chloroform fractions revealed the existence of several (110) important compounds presenting different classes (fatty acids, phenols, alkanes, monoterpenes, diterpenes, sesquiterpenoids, and sterols), while LC-ESI-MS tentatively identified the presence of 44 clinically important secondary metabolites. The n-hexane fraction exhibited the highest potential against α-amylase (497.98 mm ACAE/g extract) and α-glucosidase (605.85 mm ACAE/g extract). Significant inhibitory activity against tyrosinase enzyme was displayed by fraction. Six of the prevailing compounds from the GC-MS study (lupeol, beta-amyrin, stigmasterol, gamma sitosterol, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, and n-hexadecanoic acid) were modelled against α-glucosidase and α-amylase enzymes along with a comparison of binding affinity to standard acarbose, while three compounds identified through LC-ESI-MS were docked to the mushroom tyrosinase enzyme and presented with significant biding affinities. Thus, it is assumed that S. glutinosus demonstrated effective antioxidant and enzyme inhibition prospects with effective bioactive molecules, potentially opening the door to a new application in the field of medicine.
Characterization of Anthocyanins and Their Antioxidant Activities in Indian Rose Varieties (Rosa × hybrida) Using HPLC

The present study was designed to explore the anthocyanin profile and antioxidant activities in Indian rose varieties (Rosa × hybrida). Among fifty varieties, Ashwini recorded the highest total phenolic content (427.59 ± 3.47 mg GAE/100 g) along with the highest FRAP (397.15 ± 0.82 µmol trolox/g) and DPPH free radical scavenging activity (93.47 ± 0.19%) on a fresh weight basis. A significant positive correlation was observed between total anthocyanin content, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activities. Four distinct clusters were formed according to total anthocyanins, total phenols, and antioxidant activities; white- and yellow-colored varieties were most distant from red ones. Principal component analysis revealed that variable total anthocyanin content contributed to the maximum variation among the fifty rose varieties studied. Highly anthocyanin-rich rose varieties were characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a photodiode array detector (HPLC-PAD), which identified two major components of anthocyanins, i.e., cyanidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside and pelargonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside. Cyanidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside was the predominant anthocyanin in red- and pink-colored varieties, whereas pelargonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside was the major one in the orange variety. The maximum cyanidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside content was recorded in variety Ashwini (497.79 mg/100 g), whereas the maximum pelargonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside content was recorded in Suryakiran (185.43 mg/100 g). It is suggested that the rose varieties with high anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity can be exploited as a potential source of nutraceuticals in the food industry.
Complete chloroplast genomes of two mint species (Lamiaceae) from Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia: phylogenetic and genomic comparative analyses

Abstract The genus Mentha encompasses mint species cultivated for their essential oils, which are formulated into a vast array of consumer products. However, the systematics of the genus Mentha is very complicated and still uncertain. This is largely because of the presence of frequent interspecific hybridization, variation in chromosome number, cytomixis, polymorphism in morphology and essential oil composition under different environmental conditions, colonial mutant propagation, as well as the occurrence of polyploidy, aneuploidy, and nothomorphs. Here, we present the plastome assemblies for a wilt-resistant Saudi Arabian accession of Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds and an alien hybrid Mentha × verticillata L. which are 152,078 bp and 152,026 bp in length, respectively, and exhibited large single-copy (LSC) and small single-copy (SSC) regions separated by a pair of inverted repeat regions. The chloroplast genome of M. longifolia has 133 annotated genes, including 88 protein-coding genes and 37 tRNAs while M. × verticillata has 133 annotated genes, including 87 protein-coding genes and 38 tRNAs. Both cp genomes have eight rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis using a total chloroplast genome DNA sequence of 17 species revealed that M. longifolia sequenced in this study did not form a sister relationship with M. longifolia from another study. This opens a window for further investigations.
Plate Augmentation in Aseptic Femoral Shaft Nonunion after Intramedullary Nailing: A Literature Review

Background: Femoral shaft fractures (FSFs) are a frequent injury in traumatology for which intramedullary nailing (IMN) is considered the gold standard treatment. Nonunion (NU) is one of the most frequent complications in FSF treated with IMN, with a percentage from 1.1% to 14%. Plate augmentation (PA), the addition of a compression plate and screws, with or without bone graft has been described as an effective option for the treatment of NU, improving the biomechanical conditions at the fracture site. The aim of this review was to analyze the literature relating to the use of PA in NU after IMN in FSFs to assess the efficacy of the technique. Methods: An electronic search on PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science was conducted to search for all studies concerning PA of femoral shaft NUs after IMN. Results: Twenty-four studies were included in the review comprising a total of 502 patients with a mean age of 39.5 years. Of these, 200 hundred patients had atrophic pseudoarthrosis and 123 had hypertrophic pseudoarthrosis, while in 179, the type of pseudoarthrosis was not reported. The most frequently used plate for PA was the dynamic compression plate (DCP); in 87.1% of the cases, the authors added a bone graft to the plate fixation. In 98.0% of the patients, a complete bone union was achieved in a mean time of 5.8 ± 2.12 months. Conclusion: The patients treated with PA included in this review showed a good rate of consolidation in the femoral shaft NUs, with good functional recovery and a low incidence of complications.
Identification of the NAC Transcription Factors and Their Function in ABA and Salinity Response in Nelumbo nucifera

Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. is an important perennial aquatic herb that has high ornamental, edible, medicinal, and economic value, being widely distributed and used in China. The NAC superfamily (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) plays critical roles in plant growth, development, and response to abiotic and biotic stresses. Though there have been a few reports about NAC genes in lotus, systematic analysis is still relatively lacking. The present study aimed to characterize all the NAC genes in the lotus and obtain better insights on the NnNACs in response to salt stress by depending on ABA signaling. Here, 97 NAC genes were identified by searching the whole lotus genome based on the raw HMM models of the conserved NAM domain and NAC domain. They were characterized by bioinformatics analysis and divided into 18 subgroups based on the phylogenetic tree. Cis-element analysis demonstrated that NAC genes are responsive to biotic and abiotic stresses, light, low temperature, and plant hormones. Meanwhile, NAC genes had tissue expression specificity. qRT-PCR analysis indicated that NAC genes could be upregulated or downregulated by NaCl treatment, ABA, and fluoridone. In addition, NAC016, NAC025, and NAC070, whose encoding genes were significantly induced by NaCl and ABA, were located in the nucleus. Further analysis showed the three NAC proteins had transcriptional activation capabilities. The co-expression network analysis reflected that NAC proteins may form complexes with other proteins to play a role together. Our study provides a theoretical basis for further research to be conducted on the regulatory mechanisms of salinity resistance in the lotus.