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Service-learning cultivates futuwwah in muslim students
(Tulane University, 2025) Bayat, Abdullah; Jaffer, Saleemah
This article examines a cohort of 48 students enrolled in a community-based participatory action research and service-learning (CBPAR-SL) module. The purpose of the module was to enhance students’ agency and empathy by applying their scriptural knowledge to create positive change. The research question that the article addresses is, “What is the influence of service-learning on students at an Islamic private higher education institute?” We used Mezirow’s transformative learning process to examine the learning journey and experience of the students. The findings were that a service-learning module based on action research principles is a catalyst for student transformative learning, agency augmentation, the development of empathy, and the cultivation of Futuwwah in Muslim students.
Identification of novel tyrosinase inhibitors from piper sarmentosum roxb. oil through chemical profiling and a computational approach
(John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2025) Fadaka, Adewale Oluwaseun; Sibuyi, Nicole Remaliah Samantha; Dao, Tran Nhat Phong
The increasing prevalence of drug-resistant skin and other diseases poses a significant challenge to global skin management. Natural products have emerged as a promising source for managing various diseases due to their biological significance and effective reduction of postinflammatory properties, which warrant further investigation through computational research. Notably, 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid, a compound found in essential oils, has shown antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidative properties, highlighting its potential in combating hyperpigmentation. To this end, the characterized compounds from Piper sarmentosum Roxb. essential oil was further studied using a computational approach to predict its depigmenting properties. The Schrödinger platform was used to screen bioactive compounds, which were then subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulation along with reference compounds. The simulation properties and principal component analysis (PCA) values suggest that this phytochemical has strong binding ability to the active site of tyrosinase, indicating their favorable stability. This also highlights their inhibitory potential on mushroom tyrosinase and tyrosinase activity. These findings provide a solid foundation for the development of a novel tyrosinase inhibitor.
Postpartum emotional fertility intentions in Ethiopia: an insight and correlates from a national women and newborns cohort study
(Springer Nature, 2026) Damtew, Solomon Abrha; Kassa, Bezawork Ayele; Shiferaw, Solomon
Background: Women´s emotional fertility intentions to conceive are an integral part of Reproductive Health (RH) right which can also be considered as decision-making over their fertility. In this study, postpartum emotional fertility intention was measured by asking a cohort of women how they would feel if they became pregnant by their one year postpartum following the index birth. Emotional health and couples communication are key during pregnancy, childbirth and in the postpartum period coupled with the simultaneous reproductive coercion (RC) minimization. The postpartum period is a key for the newborns milestones development and in maintaining maternal emotional, psychosocial, and mental health. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the level of one-year postpartum emotional fertility intention and identifying its correlates among a cohort of one-year postpartum women. The Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health and relevant developmental partners can use this evidence as an action point to empower women to exercise their reproductive health rights and rights related to reproduction. Methods: Nationally representative Ethiopia Performance Monitoring for Action (EPMA) women and newborns cohort survey data collected from eligible women in four rounds were further analyzed in this study. This study collected real-time data on various sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborns nationwide priority indicators using customized Open Data Kit Mobile application. These data were collected using a standard pretested questionnaire prepared in English and translated in three local languages (Amharic, Afan Oromo and Tigrigna) by well-experienced resident enumerators. This study was limited to the further analysis of 1,703 non-pregnant women by their one-year postpartum. Frequencies were computed to describe the study participant’s characteristics.
Euclid preparation: LXV. determining the weak lensing mass accuracy and precision for galaxy clusters
(EDP Sciences, 2025) Karagiannis, Dionysios; Ingoglia, Lorenzo; Sereno, Mauro
The ability to measure unbiased weak-lensing (WL) masses is a key ingredient to exploit galaxy clusters as a competitive cosmological probe with the ESA Euclid survey or future missions. We investigate the level of accuracy and precision of cluster masses measured with the Euclid data processing pipeline. We use the DEMNUni-Cov N-body simulations to assess how well the WL mass probes the true halo mass, and, then, how well WL masses can be recovered in the presence of measurement uncertainties. We consider different halo mass density models, priors, and mass point estimates, that is the biweight, mean, and median of the marginalised posterior distribution and the maximum likelihood parameter. WL mass differs from true mass due to, for example, the intrinsic ellipticity of sources, correlated or uncorrelated matter and large-scale structure, halo triaxiality and orientation, and merging or irregular morphology. In an ideal scenario without observational or measurement errors, the maximum likelihood estimator is the most accurate, with WL masses biased low by {bM} =a-14.6-±-1.7% on average over the full range M200c > 5×1013 M⊙ and z < 1. Due to the stabilising effect of the prior, the biweight, mean, and median estimates are more precise, that is with smaller intrinsic scatter. The scatter decreases with increasing mass and informative priors can significantly reduce the scatter. Halo mass density profiles with a truncation provide better fits to the lensing signal, while the accuracy and precision are not significantly affected. We further investigate the impact of various additional sources of systematic uncertainty on the WL mass estimates, namely the impact of photometric redshift uncertainties and source selection, the expected performance of Euclid cluster detection algorithms, and the presence of masks. Taken in isolation, we find that the largest effect is induced by non-conservative source selection with {bM} =a-33.4-±-1.6%. This effect can be mostly removed with a robust selection. As a final Euclid-like test, we combine systematic effects in a realistic observational setting and find {bM} =a-15.5-±-2.4% under a robust selection. This is very similar to the ideal case, though with a slightly larger scatter mostly due to cluster redshift uncertainty and miscentering.
Tracing AGN–galaxy co-evolution with UV line-selected obscured AGN
(Oxford University Press, 2025) Jarvis, Matthew; Whittam, Imogen; Barchiesi, Luigi
Understanding black hole–galaxy co-evolution and the role of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback requires complete AGN samples, including heavily obscured systems. Such sources are key to constraining the black hole accretion rate density over cosmic time, yet they are challenging to identify and characterize across most wavelengths. In this work, we present the first ultraviolet (UV) line-selected ([Nev]3426 Å and Civ 1549 Å) sample of obscured AGN with full X-ray-to-radio coverage, assembled by combining data from the Chandra COSMOS Legacy survey, the COSMOS2020 UV–NIR catalogue, mid- and far-IR photometry from XID+, and radio observations from the Very Large Array and MeerKAT International GHz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration Survey (MIGHTEE) surveys. Using cigale to perform spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, we analyse 184 obscured AGNs at 0.6 < z < 1.2 and 1.5 < z < 3.1, enabling detailed measurements of AGN and host-galaxy properties, and direct comparison with simba hydrodynamical simulations. We find that X-ray and radio data are essential for accurate SED fits, with the radio band proving critical when X-ray detections are missing or in cases of poor IR coverage. Comparisons with matched non-active galaxies and simulations suggest that the [Nev]-selected sources are in a pre-quenching stage, while the Civ-selected ones are likely quenched by AGN activity. Our results indicate that [Nev] and Civ selections target galaxies in a transient phase of their co-evolution, characterized by intense, obscured accretion, and pave the way for future extensions with upcoming large area high-z spectroscopic surveys.