Samples Of Different Regions Research Articles

Microstructure and mechanical properties of low cost co-free high strength steel fabricated by plasma arc-based directed energy deposition

Arc-based directed energy deposition (DED) is characterized by high efficiency and excellent manufacturing flexibility, making it a promising choice for fabricating large structural components. High power density plasma arc-based directed energy deposition (PA-DED) was employed to fabricate high strength steel (HSS) component with a new Co-free welding wire. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the component were investigated in detail. The results showed that the matrix microstructure consisted mainly of martensite and ferrite. Austenite was observed in the bottom and middle samples, and the bottom sample exhibited the highest austenite content. All the samples in different regions exhibited a pronounced {100} 〈001〉 cube texture. The vertical samples had worse tensile properties than horizontal samples, which would be contributed to the interlayer bands and preferred orientation. The horizontal-middle samples demonstrated the highest tensile strength (UTS: 1207.8 ± 14 MPa, EL: 15.91 ± 1.03%). All deposited samples showed strong plastic deformation characteristics, illustrating that the new Co-free HSS components manufactured by PA-DED might replace conventional high-alloy HSS components for industrial applications.

Pulsed TIG wire arc additive manufactured 17-4 PH stainless steel: Effect of Cu-rich precipitates and δ-ferrite on the mechanical properties

Thin-wall samples of 17-4 PH stainless steel were prepared by pulsed TIG wire arc additive manufacturing technology (P-TIG WAAM), and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the samples in different regions (bottom, middle, top) were studied. The results show that the microstructure of the thin-wall samples are mainly consisted of martensite matrix embedded by worm-like (bottom) and strip-shaped (top) δ-ferrite, with a small amount of austenite. The δ-ferrite content gradually decreases along the building direction, resulting in a gradual increase in microhardness from the bottom to the top. Along the building direction, the precipitation density and size distribution of nano-scale CRPs (Cu-rich precipitates) in δ-ferrite and martensite, as well as at the δ-ferrite/martensite interface are significantly different: the CRPs in δ-ferrite is precipitated with lower density, larger size, and inhomogeneous distribution at the bottom region, while that in martensite is precipitated with higher density, smaller size, and homogeneous distribution. At the bottom region, a chain of large size fcc-CRPs (∼65 nm) is precipitated along the δ-ferrite/martensite interface to coordinate the strain between them and improve the strength and ductility simultaneously, thus excellent mechanical properties (tensile strength = 1356 ± 24 MPa, elongation = 15.16 ± 2.6 %) are obtained. The relationship between the evolution of CRPs and the intrinsic heat treatment (IHT) during P-TIG WAAM is also discussed.

Expansion and contraction of lake basin shape the genetic structure of Sinocyclocheilus (Osteichthyes: Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae) populations in Central Yunnan, China.

Geological events can strongly affect the genetic structures and differentiation of fish populations. Especially, as an endemic fish of the genus Sinocyclocheilus in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the effects of key geological events on the distributions and genetic structures remain poorly understood. Examining the phylogeographic patterns of Sinocyclocheilus fishes can be useful for elucidating the spatio-temporal dynamics of their population size, dispersal history and extent of geographical isolation, thereby providing a theoretical basis for their protection. Here, we used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) method to investigate the phylogeographic patterns of Sinocyclocheilus fishes. Our analysis supports the endemicity of Sinocyclocheilus, but the samples of different regions of Sinocyclocheilus contain multiple ancestral components, which displayed more admixed and diversified genetic components, this may be due to the polymorphism of the ancestors themselves, or gene infiltration caused by hybridization between adjacent species of Sinocyclocheilus. We estimate that the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of Sinocyclocheilus fish in the Central Yunnan Basin at approximately 3.75~3.11 Ma, and infer that the evolution of Sinocyclocheilus in the central Yunnan Basin is closely related to the formation of plateau lakes (around 4.0~0.02 Ma), and identifies the formation of Dianchi Lake and Fuxian Lake as key geological events shaping Sinocyclocheilus population structure. It is also the first time to prove that the altitude change has a great influence on the genetic variation among the populations of Sinocyclocheilus.

Construction of Human Periodontal Ligament Constitutive Model Based on Collagen Fiber Content.

Periodontal ligament (PDL) is mainly composed of collagen fiber bundles, and the content of collagen fiber is an important factor affecting the mechanical properties of PDL. Based on this, the purpose of this study is to explore the effect of the PDL collagen fiber content on its viscoelastic mechanical behavior. Transverse and longitudinal samples of different regions of PDL were obtained from the human maxilla. The fiber content at different regions of human PDL was quantitatively measured using image processing software, and a new viscoelastic constitutive model was constructed based on the fiber content. The nano-indentation experiment was carried out with a loading rate of 0.5 mN·s-1, a peak load of 3 mN, and a holding time of 200 s, and the model parameters were obtained through the experiment data. The results showed that with the increase of fiber content, the deformation resistance of PDL also increased, and compared with the neck and middle region, the compressive strain in the apical region of PDL was the largest. The range of reduced elastic modulus of human PDL was calculated to be 0.39~5.08 MPa. The results of the experimental data and the viscoelastic constitutive model fit well, indicating that the model can well describe the viscoelastic behavior of human PDL.

Application of Machine Learning to Predict COVID-19 Spread via an Optimized BPSO Model.

During the pandemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), statistics showed that the number of affected cases differed from one country to another and also from one city to another. Therefore, in this paper, we provide an enhanced model for predicting COVID-19 samples in different regions of Saudi Arabia (high-altitude and sea-level areas). The model is developed using several stages and was successfully trained and tested using two datasets that were collected from Taif city (high-altitude area) and Jeddah city (sea-level area) in Saudi Arabia. Binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) is used in this study for making feature selections using three different machine learning models, i.e., the random forest model, gradient boosting model, and naive Bayes model. A number of predicting evaluation metrics including accuracy, training score, testing score, F-measure, recall, precision, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were calculated to verify the performance of the three machine learning models on these datasets. The experimental results demonstrated that the gradient boosting model gives better results than the random forest and naive Bayes models with an accuracy of 94.6% using the Taif city dataset. For the dataset of Jeddah city, the results demonstrated that the random forest model outperforms the gradient boosting and naive Bayes models with an accuracy of 95.5%. The dataset of Jeddah city achieved better results than the dataset of Taif city in Saudi Arabia using the enhanced model for the term of accuracy.

S 2 CL-Leaf Net : Recognizing Leaf Images Like Human Botanists

Automatically classifying plant leaves is a challenging fine-grained classification task because of the diversity in leaf morphology, including size, texture, shape, and venation. Although powerful deep learning-based methods have achieved great improvement in leaf classification, these methods still require a large number of well-labeled samples for supervised training, which is difficult to get. In contrast, relying on the specific coarse-to-fine classification strategy, human botanists only require a small number of samples for accurate leaf recognition. Inspired by the classification strategy of human botanists, we propose a novel S 2 CL-Leaf Net , which exploits multi-granularity clues with a hierarchical attention mechanism and boosts the learning ability with the supervised sampling contrastive learning with limited training samples to classify plant leaves as human botanists do. Specifically, to fully explore and exploit the subtle details of the leaves, a novel sampling transformation mechanism is combined with the supervised contrastive learning to enhance the network’s perception of details by amplifying the discriminative regions with a weighted sampling of different regions. Furthermore, we construct the hierarchical attention mechanism to produce attention maps of different granularity, which helps to discover details in leaves that are important for classification. Experiments are conducted on the open-access leaf datasets, including Flavia, Swedish, and LeafSnap, which prove the effectiveness of the proposed S 2 CL-Leaf Net .

Occurrence of nuc gene in Staphylococcus aureus from milk samples of different regions of West Bengal

Occurrence of nuc gene in Staphylococcus aureus from milk samples of different regions of West Bengal

Intratumor spatial heterogeneity in programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression in early-stage breast cancer.

Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression is required for benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). In contrast, in the neoadjuvant setting patients benefited regardless of PD-L1 expression. We hypothesized that, in stages II-III breast cancers, low levels of PD-L1 expression may be sufficient to confer sensitivity to therapy and focal expression could be missed by a biopsy. In this study, we examined intratumor spatial heterogeneity of PD-L1 protein expression in multiple biopsies from different regions of breast cancers in 57 primary breast tumors (n = 33 TNBC, n = 19 estrogen receptor-positive [ER-positive], n = 5 human epidermal receptor 2-positive [HER2 +]). E1L3N antibody was used to assess PD-L1 status and staining was scored using the combined positivity score (CPS) with PD-L1 positive defined as CPS ≥ 10. Overall, 19% (11/57) of tumors were PD-L1 positive based on positivity in at least 1 biopsy. Among TNBC, PD-L1 positivity was 27% (9/33). The discordance rate, defined as the same tumor yielding PD-L1 positive and negative samples in different regions, was 16% (n = 9) in the whole study population and 23% (n = 7) in TNBC. Cohen's kappa coefficient of agreement was 0.214 for the whole study and 0.239 for TNBC, both of which falling into a non-statistically significant fair agreement range. Among all PD-L1 positive cases, 82% (n = 9/11) had positivity in only one of the tissue assessments. These results indicate that the overall 84% concordance is driven by concordant negative results. In PD-L1 positive cancers, within-tumor heterogeneity in PD-L1 expression exists.

Determination of metal contents in some green leafy vegetables in Marmara region of Turkey

This study focused on the analysis of mineral and heavy metal contents of spinach, lettuce and parsley samples in different regions to investigate the risks of chronic exposure to heavy metal contamination. After the microwave digestion process, the metal contents of the samples (Na, Mg, Al, P, K, Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, Sn, Hg, Pb) were determined with the ICP-MS. Two parallel analysis samples were prepared from each sample, analyzed three times, and the mean values of the analyzes performed were reported. From the analysis, the order of finding heavy metals in the samples is Cu > Pb > Cd > As > Sn > Hg. The results were evaluated statistically and Cu, Pb, Cd, As and Sn values were found high in spinach samples (p < 0.05). According to the results of the analysis; the samples with the highest content of Cu, Pb and Cd in spinach samples are samples taken from Tekirdağ (5.1 ± 0.3 mg/kg), Edirne (0.106 ± 0.007 mg/kg) and Tekirdağ (0.080 ± 0.004 mg/kg), respectively. One of the important reasons for this is the increase in industrial areas in those regions. The results were compared with the certified reference materials, the quantities of analytes were determined to be compatible with the certificate values and the results of the analysis were proved to be correct.

Genomic Characterization of Salmonella enterica serovar Weltevreden Associated with Human Diarrhea.

Salmonella Weltevreden is an emerging pathogen associated with human diarrhea, and knowledge of the genomics and epidemiology of this serovar is still limited. In this study, we performed whole-genome sequencing of 96 S. Weltevreden isolates recovered from diarrheal patients and 62 isolates from food animals in China between 2006 and 2017. Together, with an additional 199 genome sequences of S. Weltevreden published in NCBI, we performed an analysis on all 357 S. Weltevreden genome sequences. Our results demonstrated that the majority of S. Weltevreden from diarrheal patients from China (97.92%, 94/96) and the other regions in the world (94.97%, 189/199) identified in this study were sequence type (ST) 365. The remaining types were ST3771 (n = 3), ST22 (n = 1), ST155 (n = 1), and ST684 (n = 1). In addition, ST365 was also widely recovered from animals, food, and environmental samples in different regions of the world. Phylogenetic analysis and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) revealed that S. Weltevreden from diarrheal patients was closely related to those recovered from food and environmental specimens. We also showed that S. Weltevreden did not exhibit severe antimicrobial resistance profiles, suggesting administering antibiotics is still effective for controlling the agent. Interestingly, we found that S. Weltevreden strains carried a number of virulence factor genes, and a 100.03-kb IncFII(S) type plasmid was widely distributed in S. Weltevreden strains. Elimination of this plasmid decreased the bacterial capacity to infect both Caco-2 cells and C57BL/6 mice, suggesting the importance of this plasmid for bacterial virulence. Our results contribute to the understanding of the epidemiology and virulence of S. Weltevreden. IMPORTANCE Salmonella Weltevreden is a pathogen associated with human diarrheal diseases found across the globe. However, knowledge of the genomics and epidemiology of this pathogen is still limited. In this study, we found S. Weltevreden sequence type (ST) 365 is commonly recovered from diarrheal patients in China and many other regions of the world, and there is no major difference between the Chinese isolates and the global isolates at the phylogenetic level. We also demonstrated that ST365 was widely recovered from animal, food, and environmental samples collected in different, global regions. Importantly, we discovered an IncFII(S) type plasmid commonly carried by S. Weltevreden strains of human, animal, and food origins, and this plasmid is likely to contribute to the bacterial pathogenesis. These findings enhance our understanding of the emergence of S. Weltevreden involved in diarrheal outbreaks and the global spread of S. Weltevreden strains.

Hydoxylated β- and δ-Hexacholorocyclohexane metabolites infer influential intrinsic atomic pathways interaction to elicit oxidative stress-induced apoptosis for bio-toxicity

Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) has been recognized as an effective insecticide to protect crops against grasshoppers, cohort insects, rice insects, wireworms, and other agricultural pests and; for the control of vector-borne diseases such as malaria. It is a cyclic, saturated hydrocarbon, which primarily exists as five different stable isomers in the environment. Though the use of HCH is banned in most countries owing to its adverse effects on the environment, its metabolites still exist in soil and groundwater, because of its indiscriminate applications. In this study, a dose-dependent toxicity assay of the HCH isomers isolated from soil and water samples of different regions of Odisha, India was performed to assess the in vivo developmental effects and oxidative stress in zebrafish embryos. Toxicity analysis revealed a significant reduction in hatching and survivability rate along with morphological deformities (edema, tail malformations, spinal curvature) upon an increase in the concentration of HCH isomers; beta isomer exhibiting maximum toxicity (p < 0.05). Oxidative stress assay showed that ROS and apoptosis were highest in the fish exposed to β-2 and δ-2 isomers of HCH in comparison to the untreated one. Zebrafish proved to be a useful biological model to assess the biological effects of HCH isomers. In addition, the results suggest the implementation of precautionary measures to control the use of organochlorine compounds that can lead to a decrease in the HCH isomers in the field for a healthier environment.

Grave Monuments in South–Eastern End of the South Caucasus: Late Bronze – Early Iron Age Kurgans

The article deals with the results of the Late Bronze – Early Iron Age kurgans built in the foothills of the Talysh Mountains at the south-eastern end of the South Caucasus. Saribulag kurgans are located in Alar village of Yardimly district, on the pasture of the same name at an altitude of 2000 m above sea level. These grave monuments are very important in terms of studying the burial customs of the Late Bronze – Early Iron Age communities. Comparative analysis shows that such archaeological patterns are well known from the monuments of contemporary archaeological culture sites of the South Caucasus. When comparing the findings revealed during the excavations and the typology of graves with parallel samples in different regions of Azerbaijan and outside the Caucasus, the Saribulag kurgans can be attributed to the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age.

Correction to: Estimation of the area-specific suspended sediment yield from discrete samples in different regions of Belgium

Correction to: Estimation of the area-specific suspended sediment yield from discrete samples in different regions of Belgium

Copper nanoclusters-based fluorescent sensor array to identify metal ions and dissolved organic matter

In recent years, the prevention and control of water pollution has received extensive attention. There is a need to develop simple and effective strategies for the rapid detection of metal ions and dissolved organic matter (DOM) in order to improve water quality. To this end, the first copper nanoclusters (CuNCs)-based fluorescent sensor array was done to identify 12 metal ions (Pb2+, Fe3+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Ag+, Fe2+, Hg2+, and Al3+) and DOM (humic substances, lipids, fatty acids, amino acids, and lignans). The results revealed that CuNCs that were synthesized with polyethyleneimine (PEI), histidine (His), and glutathione (GSH) exhibited different binding abilities to metal ions and DOM. These unique fluorescence responses were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to identify metal ions and DOM in the buffer. The aforementioned 12 metal ions were classified at a limit concentration of 1.5 μM. Moreover, quantification of metal ions was achieved even at a low concentration of 0.83 μM (Zn2+). This array also worked well in the recognition of metal ions in tap water as well as distinguishing riverine and seawater samples of different regions, which was of great significance in environmental monitoring.

An Empirical Study of Socio-economic Dimensions of Working Women and its Significant Impact on Sustainable Women Empowerment of Organised Retail Sector

In this Descriptive and explorative research paper, we focused on the significant research issues on the socio-economic dimensions of working women and their significant impact on sustainable women empowerment. The researchers formulated the research objectives and hypothesis based on current research issues of working women’s problem and their empowerment in retail sectors. The researchers collected primary data through the structured questionnaire and collected 400 data samples in different regions of Mumbai retail sectors. For data analysis and interpretation, the researchers used the SPSS software to test and generate the inferences at a 0.05 significant level. During the research study, the research found that 68.2% are in favour of socio-economic dimensions of working women having a significant impact on sustainable women empowerment of the organised retail sector in Mumbai whereas 15.7% are not in favour. The factors socioeconomic dimensions of working women such as Income of Head, Total Family Member, Education of women, Education of Husband, Total Assets and Livestock, Marital status and Responsibilities, Loan, Health and Beauty and Physical Appearance have a significant impact on economic issues and challenges towards sustainable women empowerment of organised retail sector in Mumbai.

Analysis and probabilistic health risk assessment of some trace elements contamination and sulphur dioxide residual in raisins

ABSTRACT In this study, the trace elements lead (Pb), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) quantity have been investigated using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) residual by iodometric titration method in raisin samples in different regions of Iran. The results showed that the concentration of Cu, Zn and Fe were in the range of 0.053–0.212 mg/kg, 0.048–0.170 mg/kg and 0.541–0.843 mg/kg, respectively, whereas Cd, Ni, As and Pb concentrations in the samples were less than detection limit (LOD). The SO2 residual in raisin samples was between 30 and 843.33 mg/kg. The LOD of Cu, Fe, Zn, Cd, Pb, Ni, and As were 0.022 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg, 0.047 mg/kg, 0.04 mg/kg, 0.019 mg/kg, 0.024 mg/kg and 0.05 mg/kg, respectively. The Monte Carlo simulation results showed that the indexes of target hazard quotient (THQ) due to ingestion of SO2 residues estimated lower than the safe level (THQ < 1) in all samples, except in the Raisin-B and Raisin-D samples. Accordingly, to ensure consumer health and improve international trade, continuous control and adaptive regulation of sulphur dioxide residues and trace elements in dried fruit are recommended.

Estimation of the area-specific suspended sediment yield from discrete samples in different regions of Belgium

Estimation of the area-specific suspended sediment yield from discrete samples in different regions of Belgium

Screening of Potential Plant Growth Promoting Properties of Bacillus Species Isolated from Different Regions of Nepal

The deleterious effects of intensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture has led to the substantial research efforts on finding the alternatives to these agrochemicals. This study was aimed to isolate Bacillus species from soil of different regions of Nepal and screen for their ability to promote plant growth directly or indirectly by testing their ability to produce plant growth hormone indole acetic acid, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and protease as well as phosphate solubilization. Thirty nine Bacillus strains were isolated from 25 soil samples of different regions of Kathmandu and Chitwan districts of Nepal. These isolates were tested for plant growth promoting traits in vitro. Among the total isolates, about 48.7% were indole acetic acid producers, 38.4% of the isolates showed the ability to solubilize the phosphate, 71.8% were able to produce ammonia and all the isolates had the ability to produce hydrogen cyanide and protease. The isolated strains showed positive results to maximum PGPR traits and exhibited a potential to be used as alternatives to chemical fertilizers and pesticides and could be used as low-cost bio-based technology to promote plant growth in the agricultural sector.

Validation and Adjustment of the Patient Experience Questionnaire (PEQ): A Regional Hospital Study in Norway.

This paper assesses the psychometric qualities of the Patient Experience Questionnaire (PEQ), thereby validating a patient-oriented measurement model in a hospital environment, and modifies the model based on empirical results. This study employed survey data gathered by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health from adult inpatients at somatic hospitals in the Health South-East RHF in Norway. The survey engaged 4603 patients out of 8381 from five main hospitals in the region. The study found that an eight-factor model of the PEQ generally showed good fitness to the data, but assessment of discriminant validity showed that this was not the optimal factor solution among four of the eight dimensions. After comparing models, the study proposed a model with a second-order factor for four of the factors: “nurse services”, “doctor services”, “information”, and “organization”, collectively named “treatment services”. The proposed model demonstrated good validity and reliability results. The results present theoretical and practical implications. The study recommends that inferential analyses on the PEQ should be done with the second-order factor. Furthermore, a revision of the PEQ is recommended subject to more confirmatory studies with larger samples in different regions. The study indicates a second-order factor structure for assessing and understanding patient experiences—a finding which has both theoretical and managerial implications.

Estimation of 222Rn, 220Rn exhalation rate and 226Ra, 232Th, 40K radionuclides in the soil samples of different regions of Gurdaspur district, Punjab

Soil is the main source of concentration of radon and thoron gases in the indoor environment. The level of radon and thoron concentration mainly depends upon the radium, thorium contents and radon exhalation, thoron exhalation from the soil. The exhalation rate is the primary index to estimate the natural radioactivity potential of soil. The radium, thorium and potassium activity concentration were analyzed by NaI (Tl) gamma ray spectrometer. Radon and thoron surface exhalation rates were determined by scintillation-based detector SMART RnDuo Portable Radon Monitor. The geometric mean value of radon mass exhalation rate is 1.3 mBqkg-1h−1 and thoron surface exhalation rate is and 951.5 mBqm-2s−1. The geometric mean values of activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were 30.3 Bqkg−1, 45.8 Bqkg−1 and 339.9 Bqkg−1 respectively. The Radium equivalent activity concentration for all the soil samples was below the level of 370 Bqkg−1, recommended for building materials, by OECD 1979 (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).