Geochemical fractionation, mobility of elements and environmental significance of surface sediments in a Tropical River, Borneo.

Miri River is a tropical river in Borneo that drains on flat terrain and urbanised area and debauches into the South China Sea. This paper documents the environmental status of this river, and provides an insight into the provenance using bulk chemistry of the sediments, and brings out the geochemical mobility, bioavailability, and potential toxicity of some critical elements based on BCR sequential extraction. The sediments are intense to moderately weathered and recycled products of Neogene sedimentary rocks. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the river favoured an upstream section dominated by fine sand, while the downstream sediments are medium silt. Based on the bulk geochemistry, the Miri River sediments are moderate to considerably contaminated by Cu, Mo, and As in the upstream and by Sb, As and Cu in the downstream. The potential ecological risk values are low except Cu and a significant biological impact is expected in downstream due to Cu, As, Zn and Cr. The mobility, bioavailability and Risk Assessment Code values for Zn and Mn are higher and thus may pose moderate to very high risk to aquatic organisms. Though a high bulk concentration of Cu is observed, the association of Cu with the bioavailable fraction is low.

IoT enabled smart bus for COVID-19.

The main objective of this project is to ensure the safety precautions in public transportation. This project monitors and stores the database of number of allowed users with their respective temperature. The person's identity is monitored with the help of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The sensors and RFID reader are interfaced with the Arduino. If the temperature is increased then the threshold level alert message is passed to the person personal mobile through global system of mobile communication and the bus door does not get opened. Then if any fire, breakdown and accident exist it sends intimation to the nearby hospitals and fire service via the control room. The current location of the bus is known by using global positioning system. The entire module information controlled by IoT and the data are stored in cloud server. This system also can be implemented in theaters\shopping malls to monitor the number of allowed persons with their respective temperature as per government instructions.

Seasonal variation and mobility of trace metals in the beach sediments of NW Borneo.

Miri city has a dynamic coastal environment, mainly influenced by intensive sedimentation from the Baram River and excessive trace metal loading by the Miri River, which are significant environmental concerns. As the mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity of the trace metals in the sediments are largely controlled by their particulate speciation, the modified BCR sequential extraction protocol was applied to determine the particulate speciation of trace metals in the coastal sediments of Miri, to unravel the seasonal geochemical processes responsible for known observations, and to identify possible sources of these trace metals. The granulometric analysis results showed that littoral currents aided by the monsoonal winds have influenced the grain size distribution of the sediments, enabling us to divide the study area into north-east and south-west segments where the geochemical composition are distinct. The Cu (>84%) and Zn (82%) concentrations are predominantly associated with the exchangeable fraction, which is readily bioavailable. Pb and Cd are dominant in non-residual fractions and other metals viz., Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, and Cr are dominant in the residual fraction. Using Pearson's correlation and factor analysis, the major mechanisms controlling the chemistry of the sediments are identified as association of Cu and Zn with fine fraction sediments, sulphide oxidation in the SW segment of the study area, atmospheric fallout of Pb and Cd in the river basins, precipitation of dissolved Fe and Mn supplied from the rivers and remobilization of Mn from the coastal sediments. Based on various pollution indices, it is inferred that the coastal sediments of NW Borneo are contaminated with Cu and Zn, and are largely bioavailable, which can be a threat to the local aquatic organisms, coral reefs, and coastal mangroves.

Physics-informed machine learning: case studies for weather and climate modelling.

Machine learning (ML) provides novel and powerful ways of accurately and efficiently recognizing complex patterns, emulating nonlinear dynamics, and predicting the spatio-temporal evolution of weather and climate processes. Off-the-shelf ML models, however, do not necessarily obey the fundamental governing laws of physical systems, nor do they generalize well to scenarios on which they have not been trained. We survey systematic approaches to incorporating physics and domain knowledge into ML models and distill these approaches into broad categories. Through 10 case studies, we show how these approaches have been used successfully for emulating, downscaling, and forecasting weather and climate processes. The accomplishments of these studies include greater physical consistency, reduced training time, improved data efficiency, and better generalization. Finally, we synthesize the lessons learned and identify scientific, diagnostic, computational, and resource challenges for developing truly robust and reliable physics-informed ML models for weather and climate processes. This article is part of the theme issue 'Machine learning for weather and climate modelling'.

Geochemical behaviour and risk assessment of trace elements in a tropical river, Northwest Borneo.

By convention, dissolved trace elements in the river water are considered to be the fraction that passes through a 0.45 µm filter. However, several researchers have considered filtration cut-off other than 0.45 µm for the separation of dissolved trace elements from particulate fraction. Recent research indicated that trace elements could exist in particulate form as colloids and natural nanoparticles. Moreover, the trace elements in the continental dust (aerosols) constitute a significant component in their geochemical cycling. Due to their high mobility, the trace elements in the micron and sub-micron scale have biogeochemical significance in the coastal zone. In this context, this study focuses on the highly mobile fraction of trace elements in particulates (<11 µm) and dissolved form in the Lower Baram River. A factor model utilizing trace elements in the dissolved and mobile phase in the particulates (<11 µm) along with water column characteristics and the partition coefficient (Kd) of the trace elements indicated a more significant role for manganese oxyhydroxides in trace element transport. Perhaps, iron oxyhydroxides play a secondary role. The factor model further illustrated the dissolution of aluminium and authigenic clay formation. Except for Fe and Al, the contamination risk of mobile trace elements in particulates (<11 µm) together with dissolved form are within the permissible limits of the Malaysian water quality standards during monsoon (MON) and postmonsoon (POM) seasons.

Health risk assessment and potentiality of green seaweeds on bioaccumulation of trace elements along the Palk Bay coast, Southeastern India.

Bioaccumulation of metals in ten species of green seaweeds collected along the Palk Bay was assessed in the present study. The accumulation of metals in all the ten species were in the order of Pb > Cu > Zn > Cd. Cd was recorded above the permissible level, and Pb, Cu and Zn were below the permissible level of CEQG. The metal concentration in seaweeds was above the WHO standards. The permissible levels of metals were compared with the standards of human health risk assessment, which shows that the exposure of metals from seaweeds has moderate hazard risk to humans. The result of trace element accumulation in four seasons was in the order of summer >monsoon>pre-monsoon>post monsoon. One-way ANOVA revealed that Cd and Pb show significant differences (p˂0.01) in all the species. Cu showed significant variation (p˂0.01) in all the four seasons. Zn also showed significant difference (p˂0.01) during pre-monsoon season.

Bioaccumulation of trace metals in the coastal Borneo (Malaysia) and health risk assessment.

The concentration of nine trace elements were analyzed in the different tissue organs of commonly available crabs (Portunus sanguinolentus, Portunus pelagicus and Scylla serrate) and bivalve (Polymesoda erosa) species collected from the Miri coast, Borneo in order to evaluate the potential health risk by consumption of these aquatic organisms. Among the analyzed organs, metal accumulation was higher in the gill tissues. The essential (Cu and Zn) and non-essential (Pb and Cd) elements showed the highest (i.e. Zn) and lowest concentrations (i.e. Cd) in their tissue organs, respectively. The estimated daily intake and hazard indices of all metals in the muscle indicate that the measured values were below the provisional tolerable daily intake suggested by the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Compared to Malaysian and international seafood guideline values the results obtained from the present study are lower than the permissible limits and safe for consumption.

Environmental significance and geochemical speciation of trace elements in Lower Baram River sediments.

The geochemistry and distribution of major, trace and rare earth elements (REE's) was studied in the surface sediments of the Lower Baram River during two seasons: the Monsoon (MON) and Post - monsoon (POM). The major geochemical processes controlling the distribution and mobility of major, trace and REE's in the Lower Baram River surface sediments was revealed through factor analysis. The risk assessment of major and trace element levels was studied at three specific levels; i.e. the enrichment level [Contamination Factor (Cf), with the geo-accumulation index (Igeo)], the availability level [metals bound to different fractions, risk assessment code (RAC)], and the biological toxicity level [effect range low (ERL) and effect range medium (ERM)]. The results of all the indices indicate that Cu is the element of concern in the Lower Baram River sediments. The geochemical fractionation of major and trace elements were studied through sequential extraction and the results indicated a higher concentration of Mn in the exchangeable fraction. The element of concern, Cu, was found to be highly associated in the organic bound (F4) fraction during both seasons and a change in the redox, possibly due to storms or dredging activities may stimulate the release of Cu into the overlying waters of the Lower Baram River.

Tumour immunomodulation: mucins in resistance to initiation and maturation of immune response against tumours.

Mucins are high molecular weight glycoproteins designed for cellular protection and sensing the external environment. Aberrant glycosylation and altered mucin expression seen in cancers are implicated in mucin-dependent refraction to immunosurveilance and immunosuppressive induction around the tumour. Although mucins provide molecular targets for immune system's tumour recognition, their characteristics dictate that the nature of immune response required for recognition and lyses of mucin-expressing tumours needs to follow predominantly a MHC-unrestricted αß TCR-mediated effector cell response. Frequent loss of dendritic cells maturation and elimination of reactive lymphocytes altered adhesive and anti-adhesive properties of the mucins, promote tumour survival and escape from the immune response.

Changes in intellectual and academic performance of children following computer-based training: Preliminary results.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this pilot study was to assess the effectiveness of a computer-based intervention on children who were average in academic performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-one children aged between 8 and 11 years, in classes 3(rd), 4(th) or 5(th) formed the sample with 12 in the experimental (who underwent the computer-based training) and 9 in the control group (who did not undergo the training). Pre- and post-assessment was done for all children using a battery of intelligence tests, and the marks obtained by the child at school. The difference in performance of the two groups was compared using the t test. RESULT: There was significant improvement within the performance of the experimental group in cognitive functioning (P<0.05) and school marks (P<0.05), as compared with the children in the control group. The limitations of the study include the small sample size, non-random allocation to groups and the (pre and post) assessments being carried out by the researcher. However, the trend of results is promising. CONCLUSION: Thus, a brief computer-aided intervention for improving neuropsychological functions such as attention and working memory has had a positive impact on the cognitive and academic skills of children who were average in scholastic performance.

Lower urinary tract symptoms following neurological illness may be influenced by multiple factors: observations from a neurorehabilitation service in a developing country.

AIMS: To evaluate the pattern of lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) in patients with neurological disease in the setting of a rehabilitation service in a developing country, and analyze causes for unexpected lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). METHODS: Patients with neurological disorders and having significant LUTS were prospectively evaluated. Level of neurological lesion was localized by neurological examination and investigations. LUTD was evaluated by symptom analysis, bladder diaries and ultrasonography. Storage symptoms were managed using antimuscarinic medications and voiding dysfunction, when significant, was managed by catheterization and patients were regularly followed up. Patients with symptoms that had not been expected based upon their level of neurological lesion were further evaluated. RESULTS: Fifty patients (mean age 43.5 +/- 18.3 years) were included and according to neurological localization, were categorized into suprapontine (n = 9; 18%), infrapontine/suprasacral (n = 25; 50%) or infrasacral (n = 16; 32%) groups. Incontinence was more common in patients with suprapontine and infrapontine/suprasacral lesions (n = 20) (P < 0.03), hesitancy more common with infrapontine/suprasacral lesions (n = 20) (P = 0.004) and retention more with infrasacral lesions (n = 13) (P < 0.001). Patients belonging to suprapontine and infrapontine/suprasacral groups more likely showed improvement at follow up (P = 0.008). Fourteen patients (28%) had unexpected LUTS and this was due to urological causes (n = 6) or multiaxial neurological involvement (n = 8). Potentially treatable factors were managed, resulting in symptom relief. CONCLUSION: LUTS in neurological disease may be at variance with the pattern expected based upon level of neurological lesion. Such patients may require further evaluation and consideration should be given to concomitant urological conditions and multiaxial neurological involvement.

Effect of dimecron on the blood parameters of Heteropneustes fossilis.

The effects of an organophosphate insecticide. dimecron. has been studied on certain haematological parameters, viz., haemoglobin concentration, RBC number, haematocrit, O2 carrying capacity of blood, etc. of Heteropneustes fossilis following exposures to the LC50 for 24 h and 96 h and 1/10 and 1/50 parts of 96 h LC50 for 90 days. There was a significant decrease in the Hb%, RBC number, HCt% and O2 carrying capcity of blood. But, there was significant increase in the MCH and MCV values following both acute and chronic exposures. The results indicate possible induction of anaemia in the exposed fish.