Heavy metal pollution is a global concern with significant ecological and health implications. However, limited studies have focused on assessing heavy metal pollution in soil resulting from heavy ...mineral sand (HMS) mining and processing activities, as well as its effects on ecology and human health. In this study, we assessed heavy metal concentrations in soil samples collected near an HMS mine on the south coast of Kenya using Agilent 7700s ICP-MS. Geo-accumulation index (
I
geo
), enrichment factor (EF), and pollution index (PI) were used to evaluate the extent of soil pollution. The non-carcinogenic (NCR) and carcinogenic (CR) health risk from metal exposure was also evaluated. The results showed moderate pollution by Ti, Mn, Zn, and Nb and high pollution by Cr and As. Mean Cr concentration exceeded the maximum allowable concentration (MAC) and trigger value (TV) by 135 and 61 times, respectively, in topsoil, while As exceeded MAC and TV by 8 and 2 times. Cr and As enrichment factors (EF) were ~ 200 and ~ 25 times higher than the EF threshold value of 1.5. The NCR assessment showed that the population was more susceptible to the effects of As, while the CR assessment indicated a higher risk from Cr and As. Notably, the CR values for both As and Cr exceeded the threshold value of 10
−4
. The findings of this study are essential for developing regulations to monitor, control, and mitigate soil pollution from HMS mining activities and its impact on soil and human health.
Abstract
An increasing number of elderly prostate cancer patients with high-density material hip prostheses are referred for external beam Radiotherapy (EBRT). Radiation treatment of pelvis cancer ...patients with high-density hip prostheses needs special attention due to the artifacts created in the computed tomography (CT) field of view and the radiotherapy dosimetry challenges. This study investigated the pelvic prostate point dose with and without titanium hip prosthesis using a 0.6 cc PTW Farmer ionization chamber, EBT3 Gafchromic films, compared with the EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) simulation dose distribution. The doses were measured and simulated in a locally made pelvic phantom. MC and measured doses were compared with the Treatment Planning System (TPS) calculated prostate point dose. The ionization chamber, EBT3 Gafchromic films, and MC doses have a maximum deviation of 6.3 %, 5.7 %, and 7.4 % for 6 MV and 4.2 %, 4.7 %, and 5.5 % for 15 MV photon beam, respectively, when compared with TPS calculated dose. There is a significant difference between the prostate point dose measured with ionization chamber, EBT3 Gafchromic film in comparison MC simulated doses. The MC simulation dose shows the highest deviation especially on the lateral field passing through the prosthesis.
This paper presents an efficient depth estimation technique for depth image-based rendering process in the 3-D television system. It uses three depth cues, namely linear perspective, motion ...information, and texture characteristics, to estimate the depth of an image. In addition, suitable weights are assigned to different components of the image based on their relative perspective position of either the foreground or the background in the scene. Experimental results on publicly available datasets validate the usefulness of the proposed technique for efficient estimation of depth maps.
Heavy metal contamination in drinking water is a global health concern. Anthropogenic and geogenic activities exacerbate the concentrations of these metals in surface and groundwater. In this study, ...we sampled drinking water sourced from surface and groundwater resources at the environs of Mrima Hill and the Kwale heavy minerals sand deposit, Kwale County, Kenya. The concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, Pb, and U were measured using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer. The water quality indices were evaluated using the weighted arithmetic index method, while the human health risks due to exposure to these heavy metals through the ingestion pathway were assessed using deterministic and probabilistic techniques. The concentrations of Cr and Cd in samples from both study areas exceeded the national and international maximum contaminant levels in drinking water. The concentration levels of Ni, Cu, As, and U in all samples from both study areas were within the recommended values in drinking water. Therefore, the quality of water from both study areas was unsuitable for human consumption due to Cd and Cr contamination. The non-carcinogenic risk assessment also showed that the hazard indices (HI) evaluated for both children and adults at the study areas were higher than unity. In addition, the estimated carcinogenic risks of both population groups were more than the recommended value of 10
–4
. This study shows that the residents near Mrima Hill and the Kwale heavy minerals sand deposit remain susceptible to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks emanating from exposure to these heavy metals in drinking water.
Abstract
Planktonic organisms are the main biotic components of the food chain of aquatic ecosystems. Little is known about the impact of multiple stressors on plankton community response in mining ...areas. This study aimed to elucidate the alpha diversity of zooplankton and phytoplankton in different stream networks associated with mining activities in the Molore watershed, Southeast Sulawesi. The research was carried out by taking samples for water quality and plankton analyses in four streams in November 2021 and November 2022. A rarefaction curve approach was used to assess the species richness and diversity trends of the region. Streams were clustered using the Bray-Curtis similarity index of alpha diversity indices, such as the Shannon-Wiener, Simpson, Margalef, Pielou, and Berger-Parker indices. We found six species of zooplankton only in three sites and 21 species of Phytoplankton in the class of Bacillariophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Dinophyceae, and Euglenophyceae across the landscape gradient. The present study showed that the lowest value of the Shannon-Wiener diversity of the plankton community was 0.48, while the maximum expected value based on individuals’ rarefaction curve was 2.24. Species richness is in line with cluster analysis, which shows the similarity of stream groups according to the level of environmental pressure, indicating a valuable ecological indicator for stream management.
Abstract
Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV (DPP4) enzyme is a dissolved plasma enzyme found in the intestinal, kidney and liver capillaries that degrade the Glucagon Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is crucial in ...regulating blood glucose levels. Thus, DPP4 inhibition was considered as an important strategy to combat diabetes. In this research, a pharmacophore modeling and molecular docking was conducted to identify the potential hits of DPP4 inhibitors. The pharmacophore features consisted of three hydrogen bonds acceptors and one positive ion with Area Under Curve of Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUC-ROC) were 0.72 and GH score of 0.592. Screening on the ZINC database resulted in 1151 hit molecules, in which all molecules were subjected to molecular docking to explore their binding interactions. The binding energies of all ligand were between -5.08 and -10.56 kcal/mol, in which four hit molecules, i.e. The four best hit molecules in term of binding orientation and binding energy were Lig_1418/zinc215387739, Lig_37/zinc7983247, Lig_1432/zinc100998449, and Lig_1037/zinc104157322, exhibited better affinities than that of cognate ligand (ABT341, E=-9.98 kcal/mol), which indicated their potentials as novel DPP4 inhibitors.
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In search of new ways to improve catalyst design, the current research focused on using quantum mechanical descriptors to investigate the effect of proline as a catalyst for mechanism ...and rate of asymmetric aldol reaction. A plausible mechanism of reaction between acetone and 4-nitrobenzaldehyde in acetone medium was developed using highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energies calculated via density functional theory (DFT) at the 6-31G∗/B3LYP level of theory. New mechanistic steps were proposed and found to follow, with expansion, the previously reported iminium-enamine route of typical class 1 aldolase enzymes. From the elementary steps, the first step which involves a bimolecular collision of acetone and proline was considered as the rate-determining step, having the highest activation energy of 59.07 kJ mol−1. The mechanism was used to develop the rate law from which the overall rate constant was calculated and found to be 4.04×10-8dm3mol-1s-1. The new mechanistic insights and the explicit computation of the rate constant further improve the kinetic knowledge of the reaction.
Abstract
One alternative energy source that can be renewed is the conversion of biomass into bio-fuel. This study aims to produce bio-fuel from corn cobs and determine effect of catalyst ...concentration on physical and chemical properties. The pyro-catalytic process was carried out at 400? with 5%, 6% and 7% catalyst variations. Bio-fuel physical ssscharacterization tests include density, viscosity, and calorific value, while the analysis of hydrocarbon compound content uses GC-MS instrumentation. The results showed optimum biofuel volume was obtained at 7% catalyst variation that is 232 ml, while for physical and chemical characteristics the best results were obtained at 6% catalyst percentage with a density of 0.9636 gr/ml, viscosity 28.59 cP, and the calorific value is 10,350 kcal/kg. GC-MS analysis showed the content of
Phenol, Furfural, acetic acid, Benzene
, and
Toluene
compounds with a fuel percentage of 56.13% on a 6% catalyst. Based on the overall analysis that has been done shows that bio-fuel can be used as a substitute material for diesel or alternative energy substitute for conventional fuel.
Abstract
Kendari is the capital city of Southeast Sulawesi province with significant population growth. Population growth has resulted in higher demand for electricity, while Kendari city electricity ...source is only obtained from diesel power plants, of course, the amount of electricity available is limited compared to other power plants. For this reason, it is necessary to model the consumption of electricity in the city of Kendari, as well as forecasting peak loads at certain times of the day. In fact, the assumption of the data cannot be fully fulfilled, even though the assumption has been handled. For this reason, forecasting using the backpropagation method in artificial neural networks provides a solution when the assumptions of statistical data are not fulfilled. The purpose of this article is to model electricity consumption in Kendari city using the back propagation method on artificial neural networks. The best modelling results use a network structure with 10 input layer units and 4 hidden layer units with the smallest mean square error of 0.000145. The highest average peak load on a daily basis occurs at 8.00 PM is 75,593 MWh, while the lowest electricity load that occurs at 05.00 AM is 64,203 MWh. Forecasting of the mean of electricity consumption the next week will produce 69,079 MWh on Monday, 69,381 MWh on Tuesday, 68,550 MWh on Wednesday, 69,124 MWh on Thursday, 68,110 MWh on Friday, 67,927 MWh on Saturday, and 68,833 MWh on Sunday.
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