ARO-THE SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF KOYA UNIVERSITY
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Oxidative Stress Assessment in Colorectal Cancer Patients: Erbil Population Study
Full text linkColorectal cancer (CRC), a global health challenge, exhibits rising incidence in low-income nations due to lifestyle changes. Oxidative stress, indicated by reactive oxygen species imbalance and Malondialdehyde (MDA), is linked to CRC. This study investigates oxidative stress markers, antioxidant enzymes, genetic markers, cellular regulation markers, and Vitamin E in CRC patients in Erbil. Ninety CRC patients and 30 healthy controls provided blood samples, processed and stored at –20°C. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits quantified oxidative stress, antioxidant markers, and Vitamin E. Oxidative stress markers showed significant differences, with elevated MDA and 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine levels in patients. Nitrotyrosine exhibited lower expression in patients. Antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were enhanced in patients, while glutathione (GSH), glutathione reductase and catalase levels were significantly lower in patients. The genetic marker KRAS showed a substantial decrease in patients (<0.0001) but both adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) and CRC antigen (CCA) were higher. Serum vitamin E levels were significantly lower in patients (71.78 ± 6.368) compared to controls (142.3 ± 4.828, p < 0.0001). Elevated oxidative stress, altered enzymatic activity, significantly lower expression of KRAS, and higher expression of APC and CCA in the patient group. Furthermore, reduced Vitamin E levels were observed in the patient group, highlighting potential challenges in antioxidant defense
Permeability Prediction for Carbonate Rocks using a Modified Flow Zone Indicator Method
Full text linkCarbonate reservoir rocks are usually heterogeneous, so it is not an easy task to establish a relation between porosity and permeability in these types of reservoir rocks. First, Kozney and Kozney-carmen formulas were used to establish these relations. Later, the flow zone indicator (FZI) method was introduced, which was widely used to find such a relation since it shows better results than the two former methods. In this work, the classical FZI method and a modified form of the FZI method are utilized to identify the hydraulic flow units and rock quality index to predict permeability. In this FZI method, the cementation factor (m) was introduced in calculating the value of FZI. The data collected from core analysis of the cored intervals in the Tanuma and Khasib formations were used as a database for this work. The classical and the modified FZI methods were applied using the database to predict core permeability. The value of the cementation factor was tuned to get a better match between the predicted permeability resulting from applying the modified method and the measured permeability values. Results show that the correlation coefficients resulting from applying the modified FZI method are closer to unity compared with that resulting from the classical FZI method. Cementation factor (m) of m = 3 for Tanuma formation and m = 3 for Khasib formation are the best values used with the modified FZI method. The modified FZI method shows a regression factor of 0.9986 for Tanuma and 0.9942 for Khasib formation
Synthesis of Some novel Azomethine Oxide Derived from Aromatic Oximes and their Anti-microbial Studies
Full text linkThe organic compound category known as azomethine oxides has garnered significant attention due to its potential for bioactive and pharmacological effects, as well as its role in organic syntheses. Existing literature offers various methods for producing derivatives of these compounds. This study, in particular, concentrates on the creation of several aromatic oximes through the reduction of corresponding aldehydes. Furthermore, these oximes are employed in the generation of new azomethine oxides through a condensation reaction with selected aldehydes. The molecular structure of the synthesized azomethine oxides is determined using techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR. Finally, the antimicrobial effectiveness of these compounds was assessed against Escherichia coli (gram-negative bacteria), Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive bacteria), and Candida albicans (fungus). The synthesized compounds were obtained with high purity and yielded excellent results. Furthermore, the data demonstrates that these azomethine oxides exhibit significant antimicrobial activity when compared to standard drugs
Time Series-Based Spoof Speech Detection Using Long Short-Term Memory and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory
Full text linkDetecting fake speech in voice-based authentication systems is crucial for reliability. Traditional methods often struggle because they can't handle the complex patterns over time. Our study introduces an advanced approach using deep learning, specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Bidirectional LSTM (BiLSTM) models, tailored for identifying fake speech based on its temporal characteristics. We use speech signals with cepstral features like Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), Constant Q cepstral coefficients (CQCC), and open-source Speech and Music Interpretation by Large-space Extraction (OpenSMILE) to directly learn these patterns. Testing on the ASVspoof 2019 Logical Access dataset, we focus on metrics such as min-tDCF, Equal Error Rate (EER), Recall, Precision, and F1-score. Our results show that LSTM and BiLSTM models significantly enhance the reliability of spoof speech detection systems
Computational Insights into the Electronic, Optical, and Reactivity Behavior of Halogenated Phenanthrene Derivatives
Full text linkAbstract—This study explores the complex effects of halogenation on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), specifically focusing on phenanthrene. The research aims to understand how the substitution of halogens – namely fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), and bromine (Br) – in the phenanthrene structure affects its electronic properties, reactivity, and potential applications. The results indicate that halogenation reduces the HOMO-LUMO gap by 0.0100 eV, 0.0064 eV, and 0.2438 eV for F, Cl, and Br, respectively. In addition, it increases the electronegativity (e.g., phenanthrene: 3.6371 eV; phenanthrene-Br: 3.8575 eV), enhancing electron attraction from the phenanthrene rings and lowering the chemical potential. Through detailed analyses of molecular orbitals and density of states, the study reveals significant shifts in energy levels and optical properties. It also employs NMR spectroscopy, potential energy maps, and charge distribution to provide a comprehensive understanding of the compounds. Reduced Density Gradient and Non-Covalent Interaction (NCI) analyses further elucidate the complexities of intermolecular forces in the halogenated derivatives. The research delves into drug-likeness, Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis, and Non-linear Optical properties, highlighting potential applications in medicine, environmental science, and organic electronics. Notably, the halogenated molecules exhibit more intense coloration compared to undoped phenanthrene, with absorption peaks shifting to λ = 295.1 nm for phenanthrene-Cl, 305.3 nm for phenanthrene-F, and 307.2 nm for phenanthrene-Br, compared to λ = 293.0 nm for pure phenanthrene. These findings underscore the transformative impact of halogenation, positioning this study as a significant contribution to the understanding and potential utilization of halogenated PAHs
Extraction of Sulfur Compounds from Model Petroleum Products using Fe3 O4 Nanoparticles and Acetic Acid-1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Chloride based on Deep Eutectic Solvents
Full text linkThis research demonstrates that deep eutectic solvents (DESs) can eliminate sulfur compounds, which are corrosive and carcinogenic species, from model petroleum products through liquid-liquid extraction. Several monoprotic acids, including formic acid and acetic acid, are used to make DESs, along with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) as a hydrogen bond acceptor. These DESs are used for the first time to remove sulfur compounds (thiophene and dibenzothiophene) from an alkane as a model hydrocarbon (n-octane), which is used instead of crude oil as the latter contains a variety of species, including nitrogen compounds, hydrocarbons, and oxygen. The optimal parameters for the removal of sulfur are discussed, including the extraction temperature, reaction time, and mass ratio of DES to the model hydrocarbon, whilst the regeneration of DESs is also considered. H2O2 and iron oxide (Fe3O4) are also used as nanoparticle (NP) catalysts to enhance the sulfur removal process. Several characterization methods, including scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, energy dispersive X-ray, and transmission electron microscopy, are used to determine the structural characteristics of the Fe3O4 NPs. The results show that acetic acid, as a monoprotic acid-based DES, is able to remove more than 86% of the sulfur molecules from model petroleum products when the mass ratio of DES to model petroleum products is 2:1, at 30°C and within 60 min. This research provides an important opportunity to advance our understanding of the role of DESs in removing carcinogenic and corrosive particles in industrial processes
Upright Pyramid Surface Textures for Light Trapping and MoOx Layer in Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
Full text linkIn this work, ray tracing is used to investigate the optical characteristics of various surface structures in ultrathin crystalline silicon (c-Si) for solar cells. Ultrathin c-Si with a thickness of 20 μm is used as the substrate. The light trapping includes front upright pyramids with a molybdenum oxides (MoOx) anti-reflection (AR) layer. Planar ultrathin c-Si (without a MoOx AR layer and upright pyramids) is used as a reference. The wafer ray tracer was developed by a photovoltaic (PV) lighthouse to model the MoOx AR layer to reduce the front surface reflectance and impacts of the AR layer on ultrathin Si solar cells. The optical properties are calculated on the AM1.5 global solar energy spectrum across the 200–1200 nm wavelength region. From the absorbance profile, the photogenerated current density (Jph) in the substrate is also calculated with various surface structures. The front upright pyramids with the MoOx layer result in the largest absorbance enhancement due to the enhanced light scattering by the pyramids and MoOx AR layer. The Jph of 37.41 mA/cm2 is improved when compared to the planar ultrathin c-Si reference. This study is significant as it illustrates the potential of ultrathin c-Si as a promising PV module technology in the future
Encryption of Color Images with a New Framework: Implementation Using the Elzaki Transformation
Full text linkThe significance of image encryption has risen due to the widespread use of images as a key means of sharing data across different applications. Encryption methods are crucial in defending the confidentiality and integrity of valuable image data. This work proposes a novel method of image encryption technique based on the Elzaki transformation and substitution process, which is made possible by the extension of the Maclaurin series coefficients. The image is encrypted using an infinite series of hyperbolic functions and the Elzaki transform; the inverse Elzaki transform is then used to decrypt the image. Using modular arithmetic, the coefficients that result from the transformation are keyed
Deep Learning-Based Optical Music Recognition for Semantic Representation of Non-overlap and Overlap Music Notes
Full text linkIn the technology era, the process of teaching a computer to interpret musical notation is termed optical music recognition (OMR). It aims to convert musical note sheets presented in an image into a computer-readable format. Recently, the sequence-to-sequence model along with the attention mechanism (which is used in text and handwritten recognition) has been used in music notes recognition. However, due to the gradual disappearance of excessively long sequences of musical sheets, the mentioned OMR models which consist of long short-term memory are facing difficulties in learning the relationships among the musical notations. Consequently, a new framework has been proposed, leveraging the image segmentation technique to break up the procedure into several steps. In addition, an overlap problem in OMR has been addressed in this study. Overlapping can result in misinterpretation of music notations, producing inaccurate findings. Thus, a novel algorithm is being suggested to detect and segment the notations that are extremely close to each other. Our experiments are based on the usage of the Convolutional Neural Network block as a feature extractor from the image of the musical sheet and the sequence-to-sequence model to retrieve the corresponding semantic representation. The proposed approach is evaluated on The Printed Images of Music Staves dataset. The achieved results confirm that our suggested framework successfully solves the problem of long sequence music sheets, obtaining SER 0% for the non-overlap symbols in the best scenario. Furthermore, our approach has shown promising results in addressing the overlapping problem: 23.12 % SER for overlapping symbols
Assessment of Radioactivity in Building Materials: Implications for Health in Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Full text linkThis research investigates the radioactivity levels of various rock types used in construction within the Kurdistan region and assesses their potential impact on human health, the measurements were performed using an HPGe gamma-ray spectrometer. The measured activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K radionuclides varied from ND (Chromitite) to 78.68 ± 4.54 Bq/kg (Marly Limestone), ND (Chromitite) to 109.52 ± 10.23 Bq/kg (Mudstone), and ND (Chromitite) to 2973.6 ± 152.1 Bq/kg (Claystone), respectively. The obtained Raeq values for all rock samples are well below the UNSCEAR, 2008 recommended value of 370 Bq/kg. 71.43% of DR, 66.66% of Eout, 71.43% of Ein, 100% of Hinand Hout, 71.43% of ELCRout, 71.43% of ELCRin, and 100% of activity utilization index of the rock samples are well below the recommended values declared by UNSCEAR, 2008. The radioactivity level of rock types that are prepared as building materials should be assessed by the producers and considered by the users to reduce the overall cancer risk. The outcomes of the RESRAD-BUILD computer code indicate that the maximum external and inhalation doses were calculated to be 19.7 and 0.105 μSv for R7 and R1 samples, respectively, over a period of 70 years