Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Water Quality Index and Human Health Risk Assessment of Drinking Water in Selected Urban Areas of a Mega City

The present study was conducted to evaluate the quality of drinking water and assess the potential health hazards due to water contaminants in selected urban areas of Lahore, Pakistan. Water samples were collected from ten sites and analyzed for different physico-chemical parameters including turbidity, color, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), nitrates, fluoride, residual chlorine, and total hardness. Additionally, heavy metal (arsenic) and microbial parameters (E. coli) were also determined in the water samples. Drinking water quality evaluation indices, including the water quality index (WQI) for physico-chemical and biological parameters and human health risk assessment (HHRA) for heavy metal were estimated using the analytical results of the target parameters. It was found in most of the areas that the levels of arsenic, fluoride, TDS, and residual chlorine were higher than those recommended by the National Environmental Quality Standard (NEQS) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. In addition to the physico-chemical parameters, microbial content (E. coli) was also found in the drinking water samples of the selected areas. Statistical analysis of the results indicated that levels of target parameters in drinking water samples are significantly different between sampling sites. The WQI for all physico-chemical and microbial parameters indicated that drinking water in most of the areas was unfit and unsuitable (WQI > 100) for drinking purposes except for the water of Bhatti Gate and Chota Gaon Shahdara with a WQI of 87 and 91, respectively. Drinking water in these areas had a very poor WQI rating. According to HHRA, drinking water from the selected sites was found to be of high risk to children and adults. The carcinogenic risk of arsenic indicated that all samples were of high risk to both adults and children (4.60 and 4.37 × 10−3, respectively). Regular monitoring of drinking water quality is essential, and proactive measures must be implemented to ensure the treatment and availability of safe drinking water in urban areas.
Adaptive CFAR Tests for Detection and Recognition of Target Signals in Radar Clutter

In this paper, adaptive CFAR tests are described which allow one to classify radar clutter into one of several major categories, including bird, weather, and target classes. These tests do not require the arbitrary selection of priors as in the Bayesian classifier. The decision rule of the recognition techniques is in the form of associating the p-dimensional vector of observations on the object with one of the m specific classes. When there is the possibility that the object does not belong to any of the m classes, then this object is to be classified as belonging to one of the m classes or to class m + 1 whose distribution is unspecified. The tests are invariant to intensity changes in the clutter background and achieve a fixed probability of a false alarm. The results obtained in this paper agree with the simulation results, which confirm the validity of the theoretical predictions of performance of the suggested adaptive CFAR tests.
Platelet-rich fibrin in combination with mandibular or maxillary non-vascularized bone graft: a systematic review

Introduction: Autogenous non-vascularized bone graft (NVBG) is the gold standard for treating defects smaller than 6 cm. In the maxillofacial region, NVBG is useful to treat periodontal defects, congenital defects, ridge atrophy, sinus augmentation, etc. The addition of autogenous platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) was reported to improve clinical outcomes. However, no high-quality evidence was ever made regarding this treatment combination. Objectives: To assess the evidence of adding PRF to autogenous NVBG in the mandibular and maxillary regions. Material and methods: Literature searches were conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, ProQuest, Scopus, EBSCO-host, and Science Direct to identify randomized controlled trials comparing PRF combined with autogenous NVBG and autogenous NVBG alone. The main outcomes were quantitative bone regeneration measured as height, length, volume, percentage, or other possible quantitative outcomes. Results: Five studies were included in this systematic review comparing PRF and autogenous NVBG to ANVBG alone, with a total of 130 patients with ridge resorption, periodontitis with furcation involvement, or alveolar cleft. Measurements of outcomes were displayed as gained width, vertical bone changes, and volumetric changes. Two studies presented significant differences in the tested group. Conclusions: PRF may improve bone regeneration in combination with autogenous NVBG. Future studies need to investigate with a larger population, size of defects, and better outcome measurements.
The Hydrolysis of Pigment-Protein Phycoerythrin by Bromelain Enhances the Color Stability

Phycoerythrin (PE) is a natural protein–pigment complex with a strong pink color, but it is sensitive to thermal and light variations. In this study, PE was extracted from Porphyra haitanensis in a yield of 0.2% (w/w). The phycoerythrin hydrolysates (PEH) (3–10 kDa) were prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis of PE with bromelain (8000 U/g) at 47 °C for 30 min, with a degree of hydrolysis (DH) of 11.57 ± 0.39% and a color degradation rate of 7.98 ± 0.39%. The physicochemical properties of PEH were evaluated. The UV and fluorescence spectra indicated that bromelain changed the microenvironment around phycoerythrobilin (PEB). The infrared spectrum revealed that the bromelain hydrolysis increased the α-helix content of PEH. The scanning electron microscope showed that bromelain destroyed the dense and smooth structure of PE, resulting in irregular porous structures. The radical scavenging activities of DPPH and ABTS of PEH were increased relative to that of PE (p < 0.05). The thermal (50–80 °C)-, UV (0.5–3 h)-, visible light irradiation (2–8 h)-, and metal ion exposing stabilities of PEH were significantly improved (p < 0.05). This study provides a potential scheme for overcoming the sensitivity of PE to thermal and light variations and facilitates PEH as a natural colorant ingredient in food and pigment applications.
The Mutual Interplay between Bone, Glucose and Lipid Metabolism: The Role of Vitamin D and PTH

Background. We sought to investigate the mutual interplay between bone, glucose and lipid metabolism in a wide cohort of community-based subjects. Methods. We studied 1240 blood donors (F/M ratio 1/3.2, mean age 41.9 ± 11.7 SD). Serum ionized (Ca++), magnesium (Mg++), 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D], PTH-1-84, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D], total cholesterol (C), HDL-C, triglycerides and glucose were measured and LDL-C levels were calculated in all subjects. Results. 25(OH)D negatively correlated with BMI (R = −0.11), PTH (R = −0.16) (p < 0.0001), total C (R = −0.06, p < 0.05) and triglycerides (R = −0.13, p < 0.0001) and positively with 1,25(OH)2D (R = 0.12) and creatinine (R = 0.17) (p < 0.0001). Serum PTH positively correlated with total C (R = 0.08, p < 0.01), LDL-C (R = 0.1, p < 0.001), triglycerides (R = 0.09, p < 0.01) and glucose (R = 0.15, p < 0.0001) and negatively with HDL-C (R = −0.09, p < 0.01). The odds of showing abnormal serum triglycerides and HDL-C increased as 25(OH)D decreased (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.03) and PTH increased (p < 0.03 and p = 0.05), while the odds of showing abnormal LDL-C levels increased in association with elevated PTH (p < 0.01). Conclusion. Vitamin D, PTH, glucose and lipid metabolism are mutually influenced. Hypovitaminosis D predisposes toward worsening lipid profiles through the actions of PTH, while serum PTH levels per se associate with higher glucose and LDL-C levels.
Effects of Urtica urens in the Feed of Broilers on Performances, Digestibility, Carcass Characteristics and Blood Parameters

Simple Summary Urtica urens used as an additive in animal feed may have antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Some studies suggest a positive effect of Urtica urens on the immune system, digestive tract development, regulation of appetite and voluntary feed intake, stimulation of basal metabolic rate and enhancement of meat quality. In a broiler trial, an increase in growth performance and a decrease in HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol were observed. The results suggest that the use of Urtica urens can improve broiler health and performance. Abstract With the aim of improving animal health and productivity, plants or plant extracts that have antimicrobial, antifungal and antioxidant properties are often used in studies with broilers. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of Urtica urens in broilers. Ninety male Ross chicks were used, randomly placed in 30 pens (three broilers per pen). The broilers were assigned to three treatment groups: group CT (control) received a basal diet; group UU1 received a basal diet with 1% dried Urtica urens; and group UU2 received a basal diet with 2% dried Urtica urens. Each treatment consisted of two feeds, distributed from day 1 to 15 (starter) and from day 15 to 36 (grower). As a result of this study, broilers in the UU1 treatment group had higher weight on day 15 (p = 0.029) and day 36 (p = 0.014) than those in treatments CT and UU2 and a higher daily weight gain between days 1 and 15 (p = 0.028) and days 1 and 36 (p = 0.014). Broilers in the UU1 and UU2 groups had lower serum HDL cholesterol (88.8 and 88.9 mg/dL, respectively) than the CT (96.1 mg/dL). In conclusion, the use of dried Urtica urens at 1% as an additive in broiler diets may affect growth performance and blood HDL cholesterol.
On adomian based numerical schemes for euler and navier-stokes equations, and application to aeroacoustic propagation

En esta tesis se ha desarrollado un nuevo metodo de integracion en tiempo de tipo ? derivadassucesivas? (multiderivative), llamado ABS y basado en el algoritmo de Adomian. Su motivacionradica en la reduccion del coste de simulacion para problemas en aeroacustica, muy costosos por sunaturaleza transitoria y requisitos de alta precision. El metodo ha sido satisfactoriamente empleadoen ambas partes de un sistema hibrido, donde se distinguen la parte aerodinamica y la acustica.En la parte aerodinamica las ecuaciones de Navier-Stokes incompresibles son resueltas con unmetodo de proyeccion clasico. Sin embargo, la fase de prediccion de velocidad ha sido modificadapara incluir el metodo ABS en combinacion con dos metodos: una discretizacion espacial MAC devolumenes finitos, y tambien con un metodo de alto orden basado en ADER. El metodo se havalidado respecto a los problemas (en 2D) de vortices de Taylor-Green, y el desarrollo de vorticesde Karman en un cilindro cuadrado. La parte acustica resuelve la propagacion de ondas descritaspor las ecuaciones linearizadas de Euler, empleando una discretizacion de Galerkin discontinua. Elmetodo se ha validado respecto a la ecuacion de Burgers.El metodo ABS es sencillo de programar con una formulacion recursiva. Los resultados demuestranque su sencillez junto con sus altas capacidades de adaptacion lo convierten en un metodofacilmente extensible a ordenes altos, a la vez que reduce el coste comparado con otros metodosclasicos.
Validity and reliability of the Brazilian version of the Cognitive Reserve Assessment Scale in Health

Objective: As the older population increases, it is important to identify factors that may reduce the risks of dementia in the general population. One such factor is the concept of cognitive reserve (CR). The present study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Cognitive Reserve Assessment Scale in Health (CRASH) in the Brazilian population. This scale was originally developed to measure CR in individuals with severe mental illness. We also investigated the relationship between the CRASH and clinical or sociodemographic variables. Methods: This study was conducted with 398 individuals. We assessed sociodemographic variables and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale [DASS-21]) using a web-based survey. We constructed a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model in order to test the goodness of fit of the factor structure proposed in the original CRASH study. Results: The McDonald’s hierarchical ω for CRASH using CFA parameters was 0.61, and the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient indicated good internal consistency when considering all items (alpha = 0.7). Conclusions: Our results suggest that CRASH can be used to assess CR in the general population in Brazil.
Investigations on turbulence in low pressure turbines based on direct numerical simulations

To date no generally accepted prediction method is available for a low pressure turbine designer. Detailed information about the flow field that can be used to improve turbulence models is difficult to obtain from experiments. Direct numerical simulations (DNS), capable of delivering that information, have been published and showed the ability of this method to accurately predict the flow field. However, in these previous studies detailed turbulence information was not published and to date detailed information about turbulence in LPT flows is missing. In this work compressible DNS were conducted and turbulence was investigated in detail. First a method was developed that enables large scale numerical simulations of low pressure turbines on state of the art high performance computers. Particular emphasis was put on boundary conditions with respect to reflections and an efficient way of generating inlet turbulence. To allow for efficient computation the computational performance was examined and optimized and showed good scaling up to large numbers of cores and GPUs, allowing the exploitation of large parallel computing systems. A grid convergence study is presented showing that while large scales are grid converged at similar resolutions to previously published work, convergence of quantities related to ne scales required a substantially higher resolution than published work. Budgets of the transport equations of Favre averaged momentum, total energy and TKE are presented in the vortex shedding region, the developed wake and the blade boundary layer. These are useful for turbulence modellers to understand the accuracy of a particular turbulence model. Energy transport mechanisms were discussed to provide an understanding of the important mechanisms and their variation with Reynolds number. Finally a local assessment of linear eddy-viscosity models was presented where a turbulence model based on an optimized turbulence viscosity was compared to the standard k- model. It was found that in the vortex shedding region there was scope for improvement of the k- model. However, the remaining modelling error of the optimized model was large highlighting the limitation of linear eddy viscosity models. Further, regions with large errors in the turbulence model were identified close to leading and trailing edge.
Air Quality Index Forecasting via Genetic Algorithm-Based Improved Extreme Learning Machine

Air quality has always been one of the most important environmental concerns for the general public and society. Using machine learning algorithms for Air Quality Index (AQI) prediction is helpful for the analysis of future air quality trends from a macro perspective. When conventionally using a single machine learning model to predict air quality, it is challenging to achieve a good prediction outcome under various AQI fluctuation trends. In order to effectively address this problem, a genetic algorithm-based improved extreme learning machine (GA-KELM) prediction method is enhanced. First, a kernel method is introduced to produce the kernel matrix which replaces the output matrix of the hidden layer. To address the issue of the conventional limit learning machine where the number of hidden nodes and the random generation of thresholds and weights lead to the degradation of the network learning ability, a genetic algorithm is then used to optimize the number of hidden nodes and layers of the kernel limit learning machine. The thresholds, the weights, and the root mean square error are used to define the fitness function. Finally, the least squares method is applied to compute the output weights of the model. Genetic algorithms are able to find the optimal solution in the search space and gradually improve the performance of the model through an iterative optimization process. In order to verify the predictive ability of GA-KELM, based on the collected basic data of long-term air quality forecast at a monitoring point in a city in China, the optimized kernel extreme learning machine is applied to predict air quality (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$SO_{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$NO_{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$PM_{10}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$CO$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O_{3}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$PM_{2.5}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> concentration and AQI), with comparative experiments based CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality), SVM (Support Vector Machines) and DBN-BP (Deep Belief Networks with Back-Propagation). The results show that the proposed model trains faster and makes more accurate predictions.
PLB’s Teachers Pedagogical Competence Analysis Based on Participation Intensity in Education Training

This study aims to map the competencies of teachers in inclusive schools based on the participation of teachers in attending inclusive education training. The subjects of this study were classroom teachers in inclusive schools. Around 38 teachers were selected as samples through purposive random sampling technique. Data were collected using a competency measurement instrument with a reliability value of 0.91. The results obtained were then analyzed using ANOVA one way. Descriptive statistical results show that from the respondents, the mean value of 61.50 was obtained where the lowest value (minimum) was 40 and the highest value (maximum) was 88. Based on One Way ANOVA results, teacher competency scores indicated P (P-value) = 0,000 where P-Value 0,000 <0.05 and F-Value> FTable 24.993> 3.27. This means that there is significant difference in teachers' pedagogical competence based on the involvement in the inclusion training. The findings also showed that 61% of 38 respondents felt it was very necessary to hold training on inclusive education, while 37% said it was necessary enough and 3% said it was not necessary. The materials needed for inclusive education teachers, are in the themes of the understanding of children with special needs, types of children with special needs, the characteristics of children with special needs, how to do identification of special needs, curriculum adaptation for special needs, Individual Learning Program (ILP), learning strategies for special needs, evaluation of learning, the Regulation on education, understanding of full inclusion and segregation, and the inclusive teachers’ role on supervising the students’ assignments.
Intermittent crack growth in fatigue

Fatigue occurs under cyclic loading at stresses below a material’s static strength limit. We consider fatigue crack growth as a stochastic process and perform crack growth experiments in a metal (copper). We follow optically cracks propagating from initial edge notches. The main interest is in the dynamics of the crack growth—the Paris’ law and the initiation phase prior to that—and especially the intermittency this is discovered to display. How the sampling of the crack advancement, performed at regular intervals, influences such measurement results is analysed by the analogy of planar crack dynamics in slow, driven growth.
Tissue Extract from Brittle Star Undergoing Arm Regeneration Promotes Wound Healing in Rat

This study set out to evaluate the wound healing properties of brittle star extracts in vitro and in vivo. Due to the great arm regeneration potential of the brittle star, Ophiocoma cynthiae, the present study aimed to evaluate the wound healing effect of hydroalcoholic extracts of brittle star undergoing arm regeneration in wound healing models. The brittle star samples were collected from Nayband Bay, Bushehr, Iran. After wound induction in the arm of brittle stars, hydroalcoholic extracts relating to different times of arm regeneration were prepared. The GC-MS analysis, in vitro MTT cell viability and cell migration, Western blot, and computational analysis tests were performed. Based on the in vitro findings, two BSEs were chosen for in vivo testing. Macroscopic, histopathological and biochemical evaluations were performed after treatments. The results showed positive proliferative effects of BSEs. Specifically, forty-two compounds were detected in all groups of BSEs using GC-MS analysis, and their biological activities were assessed. The MTT assay showed that the 14 d BSE had a higher proliferative effect on HFF cells than 7 d BSE. The cell migration assay showed that the wound area in 7 d and 14 d BSEs was significantly lower than in the control group. Western blot analysis demonstrated an increase in the expression of proliferation-related proteins. Upon the computational analysis, a strong affinity of some compounds with proteins was observed. The in vivo analysis showed that the evaluation of wound changes and the percentage of wound healing in cell migration assay in the 7 d BSE group was better than in the other groups. Histopathological scores of the 7 d BSE and 14 d BSE groups were significantly higher than in the other groups. In conclusion, the hydroalcoholic extract of O. cynthiae undergoing arm regeneration after 7 and 14 days promoted the wound healing process in the cell and rat skin wound healing model due to their proliferative and migratory biological activity.
Clinical assessment of various imaging systems for dental plaque scoring after the use of 3 different toothpastes

Purpose This study was conducted to compare dental plaque scores obtained through clinical examinations and various imaging techniques, as well as to assess the effectiveness of herbal and conventional toothpastes for plaque removal. Material and Methods Thirty volunteers were divided into 3 groups. Each group was given a different toothpaste (from 2 herbal toothpastes and a conventional toothpaste) with which to brush their teeth for 21 days. Both initially and after brushing, dental plaque samples were collected, and plaque on the buccal surfaces of anterior teeth was scored using several imaging systems after staining with a disclosing agent. Specifically, digital dental photography, intraoral digital scanning, and FluoreCam imaging were employed to capture intraoral images. The Turesky Modified Quigley-Hein Plaque Index was used for clinical examination and image analysis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses and correlational assessments between clinical examination and imaging scores were conducted before and after toothpaste use. The Shapiro-Wilk test and Pearson correlations were utilized. Results The lowest mean value was observed in the clinical examination without staining, while the highest was obtained using the FluoreCam method. No significant change was found in the level of any microorganism assessed following toothpaste use (P<0.05), with the exception of a decrease in S. mutans levels after using conventional toothpaste (P<0.05). Conclusion Herbal toothpaste demonstrated plaque-removal effectiveness comparable to that of conventional toothpaste. The use of imaging methods for measuring plaque index has been suggested as a means to educate patients about plaque control and promote ongoing oral care.