bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Length of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) impacts student learning and attitudinal outcomes: A study of the Malate dehydrogenase CUREs Community (MCC)
Authors: DeChenne-Peters Sue Ellen , Rakus John F. , Parente Amy D. , Mans Tamara L. , Eddy Rebecca , Galport Nicole , Koletar Courtney , Provost Joseph J. , Bell J. Ellis , Bell Jessica K.
Published: March 2023

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are laboratory courses that integrate broadly relevant problems, discovery, use of the scientific process, collaboration, and iteration to provide more students with research experiences than is possible in individually mentored faculty laboratories. Members of the national Malate dehydrogenase CUREs Community (MCC) investigated the differences in student impacts between traditional laboratory courses (control), a short module CURE within traditional laboratory courses (mCURE), and CUREs lasting the entire course (cCURE). The sample included approximately 1,500 students taught by 22 faculty at 19 institutions. We investigated course structures for elements of a CURE and student outcomes including student knowledge, student learning, student attitudes, interest in future research, overall experience, future GPA, and retention in STEM. We also disaggregated the data to investigate whether underrepresented minority (URM) outcomes were different from White and Asian students. We found that the less time students spent in the CURE the less the course was reported to contain experiences indicative of a CURE. The cCURE imparted the largest impacts for experimental design, career interests, and plans to conduct future research, while the remaining outcomes were similar between the three conditions. The mCURE student outcomes were similar to control courses for most outcomes measured in this study. However, for experimental design, the mCURE was not significantly different than either the control or cCURE. Comparing URM and White/Asian student outcomes indicated no difference for condition, except for interest in future research. Notably, the URM students in the mCURE condition had significantly higher interest in conducting research in the future than White/Asian students.
Polygenic risk scores for asthma and allergic disease associate with COVID-19 severity in 9/11 responders
Authors: Waszczuk Monika A. , Morozova Olga , Lhuillier Elizabeth , Docherty Anna R. , Shabalin Andrey A. , Yang Xiaohua , Carr Melissa A. , Clouston Sean A. P. , Kotov Roman , Luft Benjamin J.
Published: March 2023

Background

Genetic factors contribute to individual differences in the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A portion of genetic predisposition can be captured using polygenic risk scores (PRS). Relatively little is known about the associations between PRS and COVID-19 severity or post-acute COVID-19 in community-dwelling individuals.

Methods

Participants in this study were 983 World Trade Center responders infected for the first time with SARS-CoV-2 (mean age at infection = 56.06; 93.4% male; 82.7% European ancestry). Seventy-five (7.6%) responders were in the severe COVID-19 category; 306 (31.1%) reported at least one post-acute COVID-19 symptom at 4-week follow-up. Analyses were adjusted for population stratification and demographic covariates.

Findings

The asthma PRS was associated with severe COVID-19 category (odds ratio [OR] = 1.61, 95% confidence interval: 1.17–2.21) and more severe COVID-19 symptomatology (β = .09, p = .01), independently of respiratory disease diagnosis. Severe COVID-19 category was also associated with the allergic disease PRS (OR = 1.97, [1.26–3.07]) and the PRS for COVID-19 hospitalization (OR = 1.35, [1.01–1.82]). PRS for coronary artery disease and type II diabetes were not associated with COVID-19 severity.

Conclusion

Recently developed polygenic biomarkers for asthma, allergic disease, and COVID-19 hospitalization capture some of the individual differences in severity and clinical course of COVID-19 illness in a community population.
Saussurea costus extract as bio mediator in synthesis iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and their antimicrobial ability
Authors: Al-brahim Jehan S.
Published: March 2023

Saussurea costus is from medicinal plants and have therapeutic properties that were recorded in a variety of medical functions. The usage of biomaterials in the synthesis of nanoparticles is an essential strategy in green nanotechnology. Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were composed in the stage of (2:1, FeCl2: FeCl3) solution by using the aqueous extract of Saussurea costus peel in an eco-friendly method to evaluate their antimicrobial property. The properties of the obtained IONPs were evaluated using a scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscope. The mean size of IONPs discovered by Zetasizer varies between 100 and 300 nm, with a mean particle size of 295 nm. The morphology of IONPs (γ-Fe2O3) was determined to be nearly spherical and prismatic-curved. Moreover, the antimicrobial property of IONPs was assessed with nine pathogenic microbes, revealing that the nanoparticles have antimicrobial activities with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Shigella sp., Staphylococcus sp. and Aspergillus niger, with possible applications in the therapeutic and biomedical fields.
Not getting in too deep: A practical deep learning approach to routine crystallisation image classification
Authors: Milne Jamie , Qian Chen , Hargreaves David , Wang Yinhai , Wilson Julie
Published: March 2023

Using a relatively small training set of ~16 thousand images from macromolecular crystallisation experiments, we compare classification results obtained with four of the most widely-used convolutional deep-learning network architectures that can be implemented without the need for extensive computational resources. We show that the classifiers have different strengths that can be combined to provide an ensemble classifier achieving a classification accuracy comparable to that obtained by a large consortium initiative. We use eight classes to effectively rank the experimental outcomes, thereby providing detailed information that can be used with routine crystallography experiments to automatically identify crystal formation for drug discovery and pave the way for further exploration of the relationship between crystal formation and crystallisation conditions.
Psychometric evaluation of Korean version of COVID-19 fear scale (K-FS-8): A population based cross-sectional study
Authors: Lee Jung Jae , Choi Hye Ri , Choi Edmond Pui-Hang , Ho Mu-Hsing , Fong Daniel Y. T. , Lok Kris Yuet Wan , Ho Mandy , Lin Chia-Chin
Published: March 2023

COVID-19-related fear negatively affects the public’s psychological well-being and health behaviours. Although psychological distress including depression and anxiety under COVID-19 is well-established in literature, research scarcely evaluated the fear of COVID-19 with a large sample using validated scale. This study aimed to validate a Korean version of fear scale(K-FS-8) using an existing fear scale(Breast Cancer Fear Scale; 8 items) and to measure the fear of COVID-19 in South Korea. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 2235 Korean adults from August to September 2020. The Breast Cancer Fear Scale was translated from English into Korean using forward-backward translation, and then face validity was assessed. Patient Health Questionnaire-4 and Primary Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Screen for DSM-5 were used for assessing convergent validity of K-FS-8, and item response theory analysis was also conducted to further validate the K-FS-8. This study confirmed the validity and reliability of the K-FS-8. The validity of the scale was confirmed by convergent validity, known-group validity and item response theory analysis, and internal consistency was also examined(Cronbach’s α coefficient = 0.92). This study also identified that 84.6% participants had high COVID-19 fear; whilst 26.3%, 23.2% and 13.4% participants had high risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. The K-FS-8 showed the acceptability measuring the fear of COVID-19 in the Korean population. The K-FS-8 can be applied to screen for fear of COVID-19 and related major public health crises identifying individuals with high levels of fear in primary care settings who will benefit from psychological support.
A hybrid CNN and ensemble model for COVID-19 lung infection detection on chest CT scans
Authors: Akl Ahmed A. , Hosny Khalid M. , Fouda Mostafa M. , Salah Ahmad
Published: March 2023

COVID-19 is highly infectious and causes acute respiratory disease. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models are vital in detecting disease from computerized chest tomography (CT) scans. The DL models outperformed the ML models. For COVID-19 detection from CT scan images, DL models are used as end-to-end models. Thus, the performance of the model is evaluated for the quality of the extracted feature and classification accuracy. There are four contributions included in this work. First, this research is motivated by studying the quality of the extracted feature from the DL by feeding these extracted to an ML model. In other words, we proposed comparing the end-to-end DL model performance against the approach of using DL for feature extraction and ML for the classification of COVID-19 CT scan images. Second, we proposed studying the effect of fusing extracted features from image descriptors, e.g., Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), with extracted features from DL models. Third, we proposed a new Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to be trained from scratch and then compared to the deep transfer learning on the same classification problem. Finally, we studied the performance gap between classic ML models against ensemble learning models. The proposed framework is evaluated using a CT dataset, where the obtained results are evaluated using five different metrics The obtained results revealed that using the proposed CNN model is better than using the well-known DL model for the purpose of feature extraction. Moreover, using a DL model for feature extraction and an ML model for the classification task achieved better results in comparison to using an end-to-end DL model for detecting COVID-19 CT scan images. Of note, the accuracy rate of the former method improved by using ensemble learning models instead of the classic ML models. The proposed method achieved the best accuracy rate of 99.39%.
Factors associated with undernutrition among pregnant women in Haramaya district, Eastern Ethiopia: A community-based study
Authors: Fite Meseret Belete , Tura Abera Kenay , Yadeta Tesfaye Assebe , Oljira Lemessa , Roba Kedir Teji
Published: March 2023

Introduction

Although undernutrition in pregnancy has continued to get global attention as pregnancy is considered a critical period in the life cycle owed to increase the metabolic and physiological demands, evidence is scarce on undernutrition and associated factors among pregnant women in eastern Ethiopia. Therefore, this study assessed the undernutrition and associated factors among pregnant women in Haramaya district, Eastern Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected pregnant women in Haramaya district, eastern Ethiopia. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, anthropometric measurement, and hemoglobin analysis by trained research assistants. An adjusted Prevalence ratio (aPR), and a 95% confidence interval (CI), were used to report associations. Poisson regression analysis model with a robust variance estimate identified variables associated with undernutrition. Data were double entered using Epi-data 3.1 and cleaned, coded, checked for missing and outliers, and analyzed using Stata 14 (College Station, Texas 77845 USA. Finally, the p-value <0.05 was the cut-off point for the significant association.

Results

A total of 448 pregnant women with a mean age of 25.68 (± 5.16) were included in the study. The prevalence of undernutrition among pregnant women was 47.9% (95% CI: 43%-53%). From the analysis, the undernutrition was more likely higher among respondents who had five or more family members (APR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.02–1.40), lower dietary diversity (APR = 1.58; 95% CI = 1.13–2.21) and those who were anemic (APR = 4.27; 95% CI = 3.17–5.76).

Conclusion

Nearly half of the pregnant women in study area were undernourished. High prevalence was found among women who had large family sizes, low dietary diversity and anemia during pregnancy. Improving dietary diversity, strengthening family planning services and giving special attention to pregnant women, supplementation of iron and folic acid, and early detection and treatment of anemia is essential to improve the high burden of undernutrition and the adverse effect on pregnant women and the fetus.
In-hospital stress and patient outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Ford Daniel M. , Budworth Luke , Lawton Rebecca , Teale Elizabeth A. , O’Connor Daryl B.
Published: March 2023

Background

Hospital inpatients are exposed to high levels of stress during hospitalisation that may increase susceptibility to major adverse health events post-hospitalisation (known as post-hospital syndrome). However, the existing evidence base has not been reviewed and the magnitude of this relationship remains unknown. Therefore, the aim of the current systematic review and meta-analysis was to: 1) synthesise existing evidence and to determine the strength of the relationship between in-hospital stress and patient outcomes, and 2) determine if this relationship differs between (i) in-hospital vs post-hospital outcomes, and (ii) subjective vs objective outcome measures.

Methods

A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science from inception to February 2023 was conducted. Included studies reported a measure of perceived and appraised stress while in hospital, and at least one patient outcome. A random-effects model was generated to pool correlations (Pearson’s r), followed by sub-group and sensitivity analyses. The study protocol was preregistered on PROSPERO (CRD42021237017).

Results

A total of 10 studies, comprising 16 effects and 1,832 patients, satisfied the eligibility criteria and were included. A small-to-medium association was found: as in-hospital stress increased, patient outcomes deteriorated (r = 0.19; 95% CI: 0.12–0.26; I2 = 63.6; p < 0.001). This association was significantly stronger for (i) in-hospital versus post-hospital outcomes, and (ii) subjective versus objective outcome measures. Sensitivity analyses indicated that our findings were robust.

Conclusions

Higher levels of psychological stress experienced by hospital inpatients are associated with poorer patient outcomes. However, more high-quality, larger scale studies are required to better understand the association between in-hospital stressors and adverse outcomes.
Phenomics and transcriptomics analyses reveal deposition of suberin and lignin in the short fiber cell walls produced from a wild cotton species and two mutants
Authors: Kim Hee Jin , Liu Yongliang , Thyssen Gregory N. , Naoumkina Marina , Frelichowski James
Published: March 2023

Fiber length is one of the major properties determining the quality and commercial value of cotton. To understand the mechanisms regulating fiber length, genetic variations of cotton species and mutants producing short fibers have been compared with cultivated cottons generating long and normal fibers. However, their phenomic variation other than fiber length has not been well characterized. Therefore, we compared physical and chemical properties of the short fibers with the long fibers. Fiber characteristics were compared in two sets: 1) wild diploid Gossypium raimondii Ulbrich (short fibers) with cultivated diploid G. arboreum L and tetraploid G. hirsutum L. (long fibers); 2) G. hirsutum short fiber mutants, Ligon-lintless 1 (Li1) and 2 (Li2) with their near isogenic line (NIL), DP-5690 (long fibers). Chemical analyses showed that the short fibers commonly consisted of greater non-cellulosic components, including lignin and suberin, than the long fibers. Transcriptomic analyses also identified up-regulation of the genes related to suberin and lignin biosynthesis in the short fibers. Our results may provide insight on how high levels of suberin and lignin in cell walls can affect cotton fiber length. The approaches combining phenomic and transcriptomic analyses of multiple sets of cotton fibers sharing a common phenotype would facilitate identifying genes and common pathways that significantly influence cotton fiber properties.
Leveraging COVID-era innovation for cervical cancer screening: Clinician awareness and attitudes toward self-sampling and rapid testing for HPV detection
Authors: Rodriguez Natalia M. , Brennan Luke P. , Claure Layla , Balian Lara N. , Champion Victoria L. , Forman Michele R.
Published: March 2023

Cervical cancer screening rates are declining in the US, with persistent disparities among vulnerable populations. Strategies to better reach under-screened communities are needed. The COVID pandemic sparked major shifts in healthcare delivery, including the accelerated development and adoption of rapid diagnostic testing, broadened access to remote care, and growing consumer demand for self-testing, which could be leveraged for cervical cancer. Rapid tests for the detection of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) have the potential to improve cervical cancer screening coverage, and if coupled with patient-collected cervicovaginal samples, create an opportunity for self-testing. The objectives of this study were: 1) to examine whether COVID influenced clinician perspectives of rapid testing as a screening modality; and 2) to assess clinician awareness, perceived benefits and limitations, and willingness to adopt point-of-care HPV testing, patient self-sampling, and rapid HPV self-testing with self-collected samples. The methodology adopted consisted of an online cross-sectional survey (n = 224) and in-depth interviews (n = 20) were conducted with clinicians who perform cervical cancer screening in Indiana, ranked in the top ten states for cervical cancer mortality and with marked disparities across socio-demographic groups. The main findings show that about half the clinicians reported that the COVID pandemic had influenced their views on rapid testing as a screening modality both positively (greater public acceptability of rapid testing and impact on patient care) and negatively (concerns regarding accuracy of rapid tests). The majority of clinicians (82%) were willing to adopt rapid HPV testing at the point-of-care, while only 48% were willing to adopt rapid HPV self-testing with self-collected samples. In-depth interviews revealed provider concerns around patients’ ability to collect their own sample, report results correctly, and return to the clinic for follow-up and other preventive care. Addressing clinician concerns about self-sampling and rapid HPV testing, such as ensuring that rapid tests include sample adequacy controls, is necessary to mitigate barriers to adoption for cervical cancer screening.
Visualization of porosity and pore size gradients in electrospun scaffolds using laser metrology
Authors: Liu Yi-xiao , Chaparro Francisco J. , Tian Ziting , Jia Yizhen , Gosser John , Gaumer Jeremy , Ross Liam , Tafreshi Hooman , Lannutti John J.
Published: March 2023

We applied a recently developed method, laser metrology, to characterize the influence of collector rotation on porosity gradients of electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) widely investigated for use in tissue engineering. The prior- and post-sintering dimensions of PCL scaffolds were compared to derive quantitative, spatially-resolved porosity ‘maps’ from net shrinkage. Deposited on a rotating mandrel (200 RPM), the central region of deposition reaches the highest porosity, ~92%, surrounded by approximately symmetrical decreases to ~89% at the edges. At 1100 RPM, a uniform porosity of ~88–89% is observed. At 2000 RPM, the lowest porosity, ~87%, is found in the middle of the deposition, rebounding to ~89% at the edges. Using a statistical model of random fiber network, we demonstrated that these relatively small changes in porosity values produce disproportionately large variations in pore size. The model predicts an exponential dependence of pore size on porosity when the scaffold is highly porous (e.g., >80%) and, accordingly, the observed porosity variation is associated with dramatic changes in pore size and ability to accommodate cell infiltration. Within the thickest regions most likely to ‘bottleneck’ cell infiltration, pore size decreases from ~37 to 23 μm (38%) when rotational speeds increased from 200 to 2000 RPM. This trend is corroborated by electron microscopy. While faster rotational speeds ultimately overcome axial alignment induced by cylindrical electric fields associated with the collector geometry, it does so at the cost of eliminating larger pores favoring cell infiltration. This puts the bio-mechanical advantages associated with collector rotation-induced alignment at odds with biological goals. A more significant decrease in pore size from ~54 to ~19 μm (65%), well below the minimum associated with cellular infiltration, is observed from enhanced collector biases. Finally, similar predictions show that sacrificial fiber approaches are inefficient in achieving cell-permissive pore sizes.
Hidden Symmetry in Turbulence and Analytic Study of Shell Models
Authors: Caggio M.
Published: March 2023

This short communication concerns symmetries in developed turbulence and analytic study of shell models. However scale-invariance is broken due to the intermittency phenomenon, is possible to established a hidden self-similarity in turbulent flows. Using a shell model, the author in [18] (see also [19]) addressed the problem deriving a scaling symmetry for the inviscid equations. Here, first we discuss the analysis presented in [18], then, from the mathematical perspective, we propose an analytic study for the shell model with the presence of the viscous terms. This brief paper should be understood as an introductory note to this new scaling symmetry with implications for mathematical analysis [5].
Summary of the Liquid-Gas Ejector Hydraulic Behavior - Theory and Practice
Authors: Gebouský O. , Haidl J.
Published: March 2023

Liquid-gas ejectors (LGEs) are fascinating devices that use the kinetic energy of the liquid jet to entrain and eventually compress the gas. LGEs find applications in both industry and everyday life, e.g., as sprayers. However, a complex and reliable method for LGE design was not available in the open literature until recently. This contribution follows up on our recent works about the hydraulic behavior of LGE with undisturbed and destabilized liquid jets. This paper aims to summarize the device’s complicated hydraulics and characterize its optimal design for three industrially relevant applications - (a) LGE as the vacuum pump, (b) LGE as the gas purification equipment, and (c) LGE as the gas distributor for bioreactors.
New Mathematical Model of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator in Air
Authors: Redchyts D. , Polevoy O. , Moiseienko S. , Starun N. , Zaika V. , Akimenko O.
Published: March 2023

The goal of this study is to provide a thorough numerical and analytical physics-based model that can qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the processes of dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator functioning. The drift-diffusion approach to describe the spatial-temporal structure of the dielectric barrier discharge in air at atmospheric pressure, including kinetic phenomena and plasma-chemical reactions, was chosen as the basic one. Electronically excited and metastable states of nitrogen molecules and oxygen, oxygen atoms, electrons, as well as positive and negative ions, a total of 14 particles and 97 plasma-chemical reactions, including surface processes were considered at this paper. Chemical reactions include processes of dissociation, ionization of molecules by electron impact from the ground state, stepwise, associative and photoionization, excitation of molecules, ionization of excited (metastable) molecules, attachment and reattachment of electrons, recombination of electrons and positive ions, chemical transformations of neutral atoms, molecules and ions, and also processes of secondary emission of electrons from an open electrode and a dielectric surface. The temperature, mobility and diffusion of electrons, as well as the coefficients of some chemical reactions (ionization, excitation, attachment) depend on the electric field strength and are calculated using the BOLSIG+ solver, which is based on solving the Boltzmann equation using the electron velocity and energy distribution function. Test calculations of the plasma flow generation and development near the flat plate are carried out.
An Approximation Method for Non-Stationary Stokes Flow
Authors: Varnhorn W.
Published: March 2023

We consider a rst order implicit time stepping procedure (Euler scheme) for the non-stationary Stokes equations in smoothly bounded domains of R³. Using energy estimates we can prove optimal convergence properties in the Sobolev spaces Hᵐ(G) (m = 0, 1, 2) uniformly in time, provided that the solution of the Stokes equations has a certain degree of regularity.
Validation of Island 3D-mapping Based on UAV Spatial Point Cloud Optimization: a Case Study in Dongluo Island of China
Authors: Wu Jian , Fu Shifeng , Chen Peng , Chen Qinghui , Pan Xiang
Published: March 2023

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing is of small volume, low cost, fine timeliness, and high spatial resolution, and has the special advantage on island surveying. Focus on the inaccurate elevation of non-ground point cloud without lidar device, this study explored a methodology
for island three-dimensional (3D) mapping and modelling based on spatial point clouds optimization with a K-Nearest Neighbors Adaptive Inverse Distance Weighted (K-AIDW) interpolation algorithm. By classifying the UAV point clouds into ground, vegatetation, and structure, the K-AIDW algorithm
was applied to optimize the elevations of non-ground point clouds (vegetation and structure) to recalculate Z values. The aerophotogrammetry result was generated based on the optimized spatial point clouds. Finally, the 3D model of Dongluo Island was reconstructed and rendered in Metashape.
The accuracy evaluation result shows that the max-errors of ground control points (–0.0154 in X, 0.0305 in Y, and 0.0133 in Z) and the checkpoints (–0.091 in X, –0.176 in Y, and 0.338 in Z) can meet the error-tolerance requirements of the corresponding terrain on the 1:500
scale set by the national standard of GB/T 23236-2009 in China. It is found that the K-AIDW algorithm displayed the best Z accuracy (root-mean-square error of 0.2538) compared with IDW (0.3668) and no-optimized (1.6012), proving it is an effective methodology for improving 3D-modelling accuracy
of island.
Use of Artificial Intelligence Toward Climate-neutral Cultural Heritage
Authors: Bakirman Tolga , Kulavuz Bahadir , Bayram Bulent
Published: March 2023

Cultural heritage (CH) aims to create new strategies and policies for adapting to climate change. Additionally, the goals of sustainable development aim to protect, monitor, and preserve the world's CH and to take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects. Therefore, developing
efficient and accurate techniques toward making CH climate neutral and more resilient is of vital importance. This study aims to provide a holistic solution to monitor and protect CHfrom climate change, natural hazards, and anthropogenic effects in a sustainable way. In our study, the efficiency
of deep learning using low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles and camera images for the documentation and monitoring of CHis investigated. The dense extreme inception network for edge detection and richer convolu- tional feature architectures have been used for the first time in the literature
to extract contours and cracks from CHstructures. As a result of the study, F1 scores of 61.38% and 61.50% for both architectures, respectively, were obtained. The results show that the proposed solution can aid in monitoring the protection of CHfrom climate change, natural disasters, and
anthropogenic effects.
Constraints on the dark matter from the relative motion of the galaxies
Authors: L. Khokhlov Dr.
Published: March 2023

The method is considered of deriving the dynamical masses of the neighbouring galaxies from their relative motion. The method allows to constrain the dark matter in galaxies, independently of the model of dark matter. The following pairs of galaxies were studied, the Milky Way and M31, Cen A and M83 as well as the brightest galaxies in the Virgo cluster, M87 and M60, M87 and M89, M87 and M49. The dynamical masses of the galaxies obtained from the relative motion of the galaxies are smaller than the total masses of the galaxies obtained in the Î›CDM model.Â Â Â
Light deflection angle in General Relativity via Daftardar-Jafari method
Authors: K. Shchigolev V.
Published: March 2023

In this paper, the iterative method suggested by Daftardar and Jafari hereafter called Daftardar-Jafari method (DJM) is applied for studying the deflection of light in General Relativity. For this purpose, a brief review of the nonlinear geodesic equations in the spherical symmetry spacetime and the main ideas of DJM are given. As an illustrative example, the simple case of the Schwarzschild metric is considered for which the approximate solution to the null-geodesic equation and the deflection angle of light are obtained. We also compare the obtained result with some similar results presented earlier in the literature.Â Â
The Mysterious Asteroid Apophis: Hazardous Asteroid, or Just a Passing Giant Space Rock?
Authors: Salem Mohamed , Said Mohamed , Osman Hesham , El-Sedfy Shahd , Abdellah Nada , Ibrahim Ahmed
Published: March 2023

Near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are significant threat to Earth that have to be taken seriously. 99942 Apophis is a potentially hazardous NEA. The probability that Apophis would hit the Earth on April 13, 2029 is 2.7%. In this paper, a brief overview of the NEA Apophis is presented in order to highlight the risk of Apophis. In addition, this paper sounds the alarm to protect our planet from that threat or any other NEA.
The gigantic comet bernardinelli-bernstein: a review
Authors: Salem Mohamed Khalil , Said Mohamed , Osman Hesham , Khaled Mohamed , Khaled Nada , El-sedafy Shahd , Ibrahim Ahmed
Published: March 2023

Huge comets are considered as serious threat to Earth. Bernardinelli-Bernstein (BB) comet is one of such huge comets. Based on the gath-ered data using space telescopes, scientists and astronomers have confirmed the fact that, the BB comet (C/2014 UN271) is the biggest comet ever seen. In this paper, we give a short review about the BB comet and we are trying to answer the question, does the comet BB pose a real threat to Earth?
Effect of process variables on green synthesis of copper nanoparticles from solanum lycopersicum and Psidium guajava and its antibacterial activities
Authors: Muhammad A. , Umar Ashiru , U Birnin-Yauri A. , Abubakar Sanni H. , A.R Ige , M Elinge C.
Published: March 2023

In this study copper nanoparticles were synthesized using extracts from Solanum lycopersicum (Tomato) and Psidium guajava (Guava) fruits. The synthesis process optimized experimental conditions such as temperature, concentration of precursor and amount of fruit extract. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using Uv-vis, FTIR, XRD, SEM and EDX techniques. Copper nanoparticles synthesized with tomato and guava extracts had diameters of 52nm and 25nm, respectively. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized nanoparticles was tested using pathogenic bacteria; Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and their results revealed that copper nanoparticles are promising antibacterial agents. The optimum conditions for the synthesis were 0.05 M, 80 oC and 10cm3 for concentration, temperature and volume of fruit extract, respectively.Â Â Â
Mechanical and thermal properties versus effective cubic lattice constant in Cu2-II-IV-VI4 quaternary compounds
Authors: Djellal Marouane , Mebarki Aymen , Benmakhlouf Abdelfateh , Daoud Salah
Published: March 2023

The present work aims to study the dependence of the bulk modulus B and the Debye temperature Î¸D with the effective cubic lattice constant aeff of some Cu2-II-IV-VI4 compounds. We are also studied the correlation between the bulk modulus B, the Debye temperature Î¸D, the microhardness H and the melting point Tm.The fits of the data of the bulk modulus B and the Debye temperature Î¸D versus the effective cubic lattice constant aeff show that B of Cu2-II-IV-VI4 semiconducting materials decreases almost linearly with increase of the effective cubic lattice constant aeff, while that of Debye Temperature Î¸D decreases exponentially with a rising of the effective cubic lattice constant aeff. The coefficients of the correlation were found at around -0.78 for the bulk modulus B, and at around -0.94 for the Debye temperature, respectively.For the bulk modulus B, the best fit was obtained using the following expression: B = - 596.52 aeff + 393.4, where B is expressed in GPa, and aeff in nm, while that of Î¸D is: Î¸D = 165.46 + 3.8 exp (-57.2 aeff), respectively. The average error on the estimation of B was found at around 10%, while that on the estimation of Î¸D is only around 4.5%, respectively. Our expressions perhaps used with high accurate to predict the bulk modulus B and the Debye temperature Î¸D of other quaternary Cu2-II-IV-VI4 semiconducting materials.
Proximate, minerals and anti-nutritional composition of daniellia oliveri (maje) tender leaves
Authors: Muhammad Aliyu , Umar Birnin-Yauri Abubakar , Moki Elinge Cosmos , Rapheal Ige Ayodeji
Published: March 2023

The Nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of tender leaves of Daniellia oliveri were analyzed in this study. The results of the proximate analysis were as follows, moisture content (78.67Â±2.31%), ash (4.67Â±0.29%), crude lipid (2.67Â±0.29%), crude protein (7.23Â±0.13%), crude fibre (2.33Â±0.29%), available carbohydrate (4.43Â±2.59%) and the energy value (70.67Â±12.45 kJ/kg). In elemental analysis, potassium has the highest concentration (3766.67Â±57.74 mg/100g), zinc (0.1502Â±0.00020 mg/100 g) is the lowest and lead (0.2352Â±0.00015 mg/100g). The anti-nutritional parameters analyzed includes; phytate (6.7592 mg/100g), oxalate (0.0023mg/100g), saponin (1.20mg/100g), tannin (430.80mg/100 g), hydrocyanic acid (122.73 mg/100g). The anti-nutrients to nutrients ratio show the bioavailability of some essential minerals, with the exception of [cyanides] and [tannin] in the tender leaves. These reach significant levels and are expected to reduce bioavailability of iron, magnesium and zinc in tender leaves.Â Â
Crystal density of CaS under pressure up to 40 GPa
Authors: Bioud Nadhira , Mezouar Rabie
Published: March 2023

Based on the experimental ground state parameters reported in the literature (Luo et al., Phys. Rev. B 50 (1994)16232-16237); in the present work we reproduce the variation in the volume with the pressure up to 40 GPa for calcium sulfide (CaS) compound, which criticized in cubic rock-salt structure. We used two different models of equation of state (EOS); the fist is the model of Vinet, while the second one is the EOS Murnaghanâ€™s model. We studied also the effect of the pressure on the crystal density. We established some analytical models relating the volume with the pressure, as well as the crystal density with the pressure.Finally, we predicted the melting point, the Debye temperature and the sound velocity of CaS material, which are 1202.2 K, 423.7 K, and 4049.5 m/s, respectively.Â Â Â
The utilization of moringa (moringa oleifera) seed powder as a biocoagulant and flocculant in waste water treatment coal mining industry
Authors: . Marhaini , . Legiso , . Mutiara
Published: March 2023

Mineralogically, acid mine drainage consists of minerals such as silica, iron silicate, magnesium, sodium, potassium and sulfide. These minerals can undergo oxidation (especially pyrite oxidation) to form acidic salts with a pH of 2.8-3.4. Moringa seed powder activity test were performed by adding 30% H2O2 to coal waste water treatment; Moringa seed powder was added to 2 L of coal waste water and stirred for 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 minutes. Observations were analyzed using the AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectofotometry) to measure the quality of degraded waste water and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the pH value reached 7.6 in the addition of H2O2 at the mixing time of 250 minutes, the TSS level reached 0 at the stirring period of 250 minutes without the addition of Moringa oleifera powder, while the addition of H2O2 and Moringa oleifera seed powder decreased heavy metals with an average of 69.06%at the stirring period of 100 minutes.Â Â
A simple water treatment procedure using a moringa activated two-tier filtration and Nano-silver impregnated ceramic pot system
Authors: M. Akpomie Timothy , P. I Ogah S. , Ngunan Patience Wombo , Pheobe Sorphy Samuel , Lawrencia Labaran , E. Jonathan Okewu , Amos Edekioyaihegbo Ohiobo
Published: March 2023

This study was aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a customized ceramic pot treated with moringa oleifera and coated with silver sulphate solution for domestic water treatment. The customized pots were made by combining clay with sawdust at different ratios of 10:90, 20:80, 30:70, 40:60 and 50:50 respectively then coated with colloidal silver. The results obtained from all filtration pots indicated a 100% removal of coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli and were thus suitable for deployment in drinking water treatment. All ratios of the filtration pots were found to be effective, however, the 60:40 was found to be more practicable because of its higher filtration rate. Additionally, it was noted that the various filtration pots were very effective in lowering the higher values of the physicochemical parameters of pH, TS, TDS, TSS and turbidity as compared to the values of the world health organization (WHO) standard. This filtration method was however, not very effective in the reduction of the elemental concentration of the respective raw water samples. Overall, the results obtained encouraged the use of the two-tier filtration system especially in rural and developing areas where sophisticated dosing equipment or appropriate dose of the moringa oleifera is not required as different dosages were all effective and did not pose any undesirable effect on the physicochemical and elemental composition of the treated water samples.Â Â
Bioactive composition and TLC profile data on PAX herbal health tea and PAX herbal diatea
Authors: Ayobami Owolabi Tunde , Amodu Emmanuel
Published: March 2023

Background: The phytoconstituents of herbal drugs are largely influenced by the quality control system used during and post-production processes including the handling of such products. Thin Layer Chromatography is one of such quality control parameters that demonstrate uniqueness and uniformity between various substances, serving as an identity for such substances.Â  Pax Herbal Health tea (PHT) and Pax Herbal Diatea (PDT) are polyherbal drugs, PHT is used as a tonic for general wellness, while, PDT is used in the management and treatment of diabetes. This study evaluated the different phytoconstituents present and developed Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) fingerprint profiles for PHT and PDT to serve as quality control checks during the production for consistency and market uniqueness after production.Material and Methods: Qualitative phytochemical and chromatographic analyses were carried out using standard methods.Results: The phyto-screening revealed the presence of Alkaloid, Flavonoid, Tanin, Terpenoids, Reducing sugar, Steroid, and Cardiac glycoside in PHT while, Saponin, Tanin, Steroids, Reducing sugar, Flavonoid, and Terpenoids were observed in PDT. The TLC finger-print chromatograms of PHT after development with n-Hexane:Ethyl acetate (3:2) showed four distinct components under ultraviolet light at 365 nm, and three spots when sprayed with 20% methanolic sulphuric under visible light, while, PDT developed in n-Hexane:ethyl acetate:methanol (2.5:2:0.5) revealed three fluorescent components at 365 nm and four components after sulphuric acid treatment.Conclusion: From this present study, identity cards have been designed for PHT and PDT through bioactive composition and TLC profiles which can be used in accessing the quality and consistency of the herbal drugs.Â Â
Synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial activity of nanochitosan and chitosan encapsulated zinc oxide nanoparticles against bacteria and fungus
Authors: . Sivanthaperumal , Ansari Thaminum
Published: March 2023

In recent years, Nanochitosan and chitosan encapsulated Zinc oxide nanoparticles have gained tremendous attention related to their unique properties such as exhibit antimicrobial properties. On that account, synthesis of nanochitosan and chitosan encapsulated zinc oxide nanoparticles by ionotropic gelation method have fascinating properties such as eco-friendly, biodegradability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, nontoxicity and polycationic nature. Impact of nanochitosan and chitosan encapsulated zinc oxide nanoparticles on biological functions depends on its morphology, particle size, exposure time, concentration, pH, and biocompatibility. They are more effective against microorganisms such as, namely Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. In this paper, synthesis of nanochitosan, chitosan encapsulated zinc oxide and compare their potential applications as an antimicrobial agents were discussed. The nanochitosan and chitosan encapsulated zinc oxide nanoparticles have been characterized by Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy (UV), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were also examined.Â Â
Studies on ion selectivity of parchment impregnated Ba(II) molybdate artificial membrane
Authors: Ansari Afren , K. Shukla A. , Ayub Ansari Mohd.
Published: March 2023

Parchment impregnated Ba(II) molybdate artificial membrane was prepared by the ion-interaction method using BaCl2 and Na2MoO4 solutions. The prepared membrane was characterized by sophisticated instrumental techniques such as Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)/Differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The artificial membrane was tested for its antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) microorganism. The effective fixed charge density of the prepared membrane has been used individually to calculate theoretical bi-ionic potentials (BIP) and compared with experimentally determined values of bi-ionic potential. The selectivity of ions for the membrane has been found as K+>Na+>Li+ which on the basis of the Eisenman-Sherry model of membrane selectivity, points towards the low field strength of the charge groups joined to the membrane matrix. Membrane conductance values has also been experimentally determined.Â Â
Optimization of furfural production from hemicellulose of citrullus colocynthis (melon) seed husk using response surface methodology (RSM)
Authors: Abba Aji Umar , Muhammad Chika , Muhammad Sokoto Abdullahi , Umar Shamsu , Lawan Kar Mustapha , Nurudee Almustapha Muhammad
Published: March 2023

Global population explosion has led to an increase in demand for chemicals and fuels. Consequently this is accompanied by energy security and environmental challenges such as GHGs emissions. Hence, the need for alternative sources of chemicals from greener sources cannot be overemphasized. Furfural was produced from hemicellulose of citrullus colocynthis (Melon) seed husk (MSH) which involves the simultaneous steps of acid catalyzed hydrolysis/dehydration of the (MSH). A response surface methodology (RSM) was used for furfural production and optimization using MINITAB 17statistical software. Results obtained from RSM for furfural production were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). A furfural with optimum yield of 75.03% was achieved via degradation of hemicellulose fraction of the MSH at optimized variable conditions of Temperature (220 °C), Acid Concentration (10% H2SO4), and Reaction Time (55 minutes). FT-IR spectrum of the produced furfural showed absorption at 1670cm-1 and 2800cm-1 indicating a conjugated carbonyl functional group and aldehydic hydrogen. The result revealed that the utilization of MSH in furfural production may serve as a viable solution of disposing this agricultural wastes and may address environmental problems associated with fossil fuels when the produced furfural used as a feedstock in industries for biofuels and fine chemicals production.
Recent advances in combinatorial cancer prevention, prognosis, diagnosis, imaging, screening, treatment and management via multi–functionalized ruthenium (IV) oxide (RuO2) and ruthenium (VIII) oxide (RuO4) nanoparticles under synchrotron and synchrocyc
Authors: Heidari Alireza , Hotz Margaret , MacDonald Nancy , Peterson Victoria , Caissutti Angela , Besana Elizabeth , Esposito Jennifer , Schmitt Katrina , Chan Ling-Yu , Sherwood Francesca , Henderson Maria , Kimmel Jimmy
Published: March 2023

In the current research, recent advances in combinatorial cancer prevention, prognosis, diagnosis, imaging, screening, treatment and management via multi–functionalized Ruthenium (IV) Oxide (RuO₂) and Ruthenium (VIII) Oxide (RuO4) nanoparticles under synchrotron and synchrocyclotron radiations is investigated. The calculation of thickness and optical constants of Ruthenium (IV) Oxide (RuO₂) and Ruthenium (VIII) Oxide (RuO4) recent advances in combinatorial cancer prevention, prognosis, diagnosis, imaging, screening, treatment and management via multi–functionalized Ruthenium (IV) Oxide (RuO₂) and Ruthenium (VIII) Oxide (RuO4) nanoparticles under synchrotron and synchrocyclotron radiations produced using sol–gel method over glassy medium through a single reflection spectrum is presented. To obtain an appropriate fit for reflection spectrum, the classic Drude–Lorentz model for parametric di–electric function is used. The best fitting parameters are determined to simulate the reflection spectrum using Lovenberg–Marquardt optimization method. The simulated reflectivity from the derived optical constants and thickness are in good agreement with experimental results.

Recent advances in combinatorial cancer prevention, prognosis, diagnosis, imaging, screening, treatment and management via multi–functionalized Ruthenium (IV) Oxide (RuO₂) and Ruthenium (VIII) Oxide (RuO4) nanoparticles under synchrotron and synchrocyclotron radiations