This article compares two Islamic organisations, a non-governmental and a national one, in their methods of collecting and distributing zakat, and analyses how they addressed the COVID-19 crisis with these funds in the period 2020–2021. The study examines Islamic Relief as a Muslim non-governmental organisation involved in humanitarian response, and the National Board of the Zakat Republic of Indo

Context. TOI-732 is an M dwarf hosting two transiting planets that are located on the two opposite sides of the radius valley. Inferring a reliable demographics for this type of systems is key to understanding their formation and evolution mechanisms. Aims. By doubling the number of available space-based observations and increasing the number of radial velocity (RV) measurements, we aim at refinin

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected health care systems. Patients in need of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) are especially susceptible to treatment delays. Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global TAVR activity. Methods: This international registry reported monthly TAVR case volume in participating institutions prior to

Purpose: This article reports on jaw articulation, in connection with the segmental articulations of tongue tip and lips. The jaw is considered a syllable articulator as it opens and closes for each syllable, and the amount of jaw opening is related to syllable strength, given the same phonemic vowel. Here, we investigate the syllabic and the segmental articulations relationships to the acoustic s

Blomväxterna, eller angiospermerna som de kallas i vetenskapliga sammanhang, omfattar idag över 295 000 olika arter. Men denna siffra ändras ständigt eftersom det beskrivs ungefär 2 000 nya arter varje år. För att kunna ha överblick över en så stor mängd behöver den organiseras på ett vettigt sätt. Det har botanister försökt med alltsedan Linnés tid.

Charles Darwin (1809–1882) är främst känd för sin evolutionsteori– om arters utveckling genom naturligt urval. Hans övriga arbetenär mindre kända. Mycket handlade om växter – om mekanismer för pollinering, blombiologi, rörelser och förmågan att ta upp näring från andra organismer – sådant som intresserat honom sedan studietiden i Cambridge. Med tiden kom han att publicera ett flertal böcker och en

PurposeThis study aimed to elucidate whether gadolinium contrast in clinically relevant doses can be used with photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) as an alternative contrast agent in clinical applications.Material/methodsA CTDI phantom with 3D printed rods filled with different concentrations of gadolinium and iodine contrast was scanned in a PCCT and an energy-integrated computed tomograph

Materials with heterogeneous microstructures architected across several scales are becoming increasingly popular in structural applications due to unique strength–ductility balance. One of the most popular 3D-architected structure designs is harmonic structure (HS) where soft coarse-grain (CG) islands are embedded in a hard continuous 3D skeleton of ultrafine grains (UFGs). In this work, a series

Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The consequences of this include rising temperatures, shifts in precipitation patterns, and increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as heat waves and droughts. Elevated temperatures can accelerate microbial activity in soil, potentially resulting in an increased rate of soil or

OBJECTIVE:Recent advances in AI-based Large Language Models (LLM) can transform individuals’ descriptions of emotional health into numeric representations that predict rating scales with an accuracy approaching theoretical upper limits. This advancement enables examing various open-ended response formats. We develop and evaluate formats ranging from closed to more open: 1) selecting descriptive wo

Lipid metabolism dysregulation is a critical factor contributing to obesity. To counteract obesity-associated disorders, bariatric surgery is implemented as a very effective method. However, surgery such as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is irreversible, resulting in life-long changes to the digestive tract. The aim of the present study was to elucidate changes in the fecal microbiota before and

Background: By being highly involved in the tumor evolution and disease progression of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), Myc family members (C-Myc, L-Myc, and N-Myc) might represent promising targetable molecules. Our aim was to investigate the expression pattern and prognostic relevance of these oncogenic proteins in an international cohort of surgically resected SCLC tumors. Methods: Clinicopatholo

Axially heterostructured nanowires (NWs) constitute a promising platform for advanced electronic and optoelectronic nanodevices. The presence of different materials in these NWs introduces a mismatch resulting in complex strain distributions susceptible of changing the band gap and carrier mobility. The growth of these NWs presents challenges related to the reservoir effect in the catalysts drople