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Record W4415127143 · doi:10.1080/15320383.2025.2574273

Source Apportionment of Potentially Toxic Elements in Topsoils Across Some Mining-Impacted Communities in Ghana Using the Positive Matrix Factorization Model

2025· article· en· W4415127143 on OpenAlexaff
Benjamin Darko Asamoah, Barnabas Awortwe, Lawrence Sheringham Borquaye, Matt Dodd, Godfred Darko

Bibliographic record

VenueSoil and Sediment Contamination An International Journal · 2025
Typearticle
Languageen
FieldEnvironmental Science
TopicHeavy metals in environment
Canadian institutionsRoyal Roads University
Fundersnot available
KeywordsApportionmentMatrix (chemical analysis)FactorizationTopsoilMatrix decompositionPollution

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

In this study, we employed the positive matrix factorization receptor model to ascertain whether the prevalence of potentially toxic elements in surface soils of two mining communities in Ghana is exclusive to mining. At the two mining communities (Kenyasi and Obuasi), 49 samples were taken at each location, whereas 90 soil samples were collected from Sunyani, the non-mining community. All the soil samples were screened for elemental concentrations using the Niton XL3t GOLDD+ field portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The positive matrix factorization model was set to three factors in the base model for the analyses, and the receptor model revealed three major contributing factors to the metal pollution in the study areas. Although mining activities contributed to As, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb in Kenyasi, a typical mining community, farming activities also contributed significantly to the presence of Zn and Cd in the surface soils. At Obuasi, construction works and geogenic factors were responsible for the enrichment of Cr and Cu in the surface soils, farming activities accounted for the Mn, Pb, and Zn contamination, and As, Cd, and Ni contamination by mining activities. In Sunyani, the non-mining community, the model revealed that the contamination of the soil by Cd, Mn, Ni, and Pb was primarily from multiple sources, such as the mass burning of wastes, farming, and construction works within the municipality. The prevalence of Zn in the municipality was attributed to natural origin since the pollution indices showed low contamination of the metal. This study will serve as a scientific reference for the holistic mitigation of soil heavy metal contamination in the study areas.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.001
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.003
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Observational · Consensus signal: Observational
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: Empirical
Teacher disagreement score0.027
Threshold uncertainty score0.054

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0010.003
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0010.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0000.001
Bibliometrics0.0010.001
Science and technology studies0.0000.001
Scholarly communication0.0010.001
Open science0.0010.000
Research integrity0.0000.000
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0020.000

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.018
GPT teacher head0.310
Teacher spread0.291 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designObservational
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations0
Published2025
Admission routes1
Has abstractyes

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