Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Valeriana officinalis and melatonin: Evaluation of the effects in Drosophila melanogaster rapid iterative negative geotaxis (RING) test

The rapid iterative negative geotaxis (RING) assay is a commonly used behavioral test in Drosophila based on digital imaging of flies and requires minimal equipment and space. Larval mobility can be used to reliably determine the effect of drugs on locomotion in Drosophila larvae. The effects of Valeriana officinalis extract (VoE) and melatonin (ME) were tested in Drosophila melanogaster flies and larvae. In the RING assay, the locomotor activity of flies was reduced to 30.6, 72 and 70.4% when exposed to 10 mg/ml VoE, 8 mM ME, and a combination of 8 mM ME + 10 mg/ml VoE, respectively. The performance index (PI) was reduced to 68.9% (P = 0.0058), 33.3% (P = 0.0001), and 70% (P = 0.0013) when flies were exposed to 8 mM ME, 10 mg/ml VoE, and a combination of 8 mM ME + 10 mg/ml VoE, respectively. The number of body wall contractions of Drosophila larvae (nBWC) was reduced to 47.8, 37.7 and 38.5% when larvae were exposed to 8 mM ME, 10 mg/ml VoE, and a combination of 8 mM ME + 10 mg/ml VoE, respectively. The displacement velocity (V0) of larvae decreased significantly to 67.6, 60.1 and 55.6% when larvae were exposed to 8 mM ME, 10 mg/ml VoE, and a combination of 10 mg/ml VoE + 8 mM ME, respectively (P < 0.05). The effects of the VoE extract were not synergistic with ME as demonstrated by the RING assay, nBWC, and V0. Based on these results, valerian root extracts have demonstrated sedative effects that are better than those of melatonin in fruit flies, but did not show any increase in sedative effect when combined with melatonin. Key words: Valeriana officinalis roots, Melatonin, Drosophila melanogaster, negative geotaxis, sedative effect, antioxidant.
STUDIES ON STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS ON UTILIZATION OF WASTE MATERIALS AS COARSE AGGREGATE IN CONCRETE

Depletion of natural resources is a common phenomenon in developing countries like India due to rapid urbanization and Industrialization involving construction of Infrastructure and other amenities. In view of this, people have started searching for suitable other viable alternative materials for concrete so that the existing natural resources could be preserved to the possible extent, for the future generation. In this process, different industrial waste materials such as fly ash, blast furnace slag, quarry dust, tile waste, brick bats, broken glass waste, waste aggregate from demolition of structures, ceramic insulator waste, etc. have been tried as a viable substitute material to the conventional materials in concrete and has also been succeeded. This paper describes the studies conducted on strength characteristics of concrete made with utilizing waste materials viz: ceramic tiles, ceramic insulator waste, and broken glass pieces. A total number of 24cubes, 24 cylinders and 24 beams were cast and tested for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength using industrial wastes and the results presented. It was found that, the concrete made of waste ceramic tile aggregate produced more strength in compression, split tensile and flexure than ceramic insulator scrap and broken glass material. This paper recommends that waste ceramic tiles can be used as an alternate construction material to coarse aggregate in concrete.
Short to sub-seasonal hydrologic forecast to manage water and agricultural resources in India

Abstract. Water resources and agriculture are often affected by the weather anomalies in India resulting in disproportionate damage. While short to sub-seasonal prediction systems and forecast products are available, a skilful hydrologic forecast of runoff and root-zone soil moisture that can provide timely information has been lacking in India. Using precipitation and air temperature forecasts from the Climate Forecast System v2 (CFSv2), the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFSv2) and four products from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), here we show that the IITM ensemble mean (mean of all four products from the IITM) can be used operationally to provide a hydrologic forecast in India at a 7–45-day accumulation period. The IITM ensemble mean forecast was further improved using bias correction for precipitation and air temperature. Bias corrected precipitation forecast showed an improvement of 2.1 mm (on the all-India median mean absolute error – MAE), while all-India median bias corrected temperature forecast was improved by 2.1 °C for a 45-day accumulation period. Moreover, the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model simulated forecast of runoff and soil moisture successfully captured the observed anomalies during the severe drought years. The findings reported herein have strong implications for providing timely information that can help farmers and water managers in decision making in India.
Ion Acceleration by Flux Transfer Events in the Terrestrial Magnetosheath

We report ion acceleration by flux transfer events in the terrestrial magnetosheath in a global two‐dimensional hybrid‐Vlasov polar plane simulation of Earth's solar wind interaction. In the model we find that propagating flux transfer events created in magnetic reconnection at the dayside magnetopause drive fast‐mode bow waves in the magnetosheath, which accelerate ions in the shocked solar wind flow. The acceleration at the bow waves is caused by a shock drift‐like acceleration process under stationary solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field upstream conditions. Thus, the energization is not externally driven but results from plasma dynamics within the magnetosheath. Energetic proton populations reach the energy of 30 keV, and their velocity distributions resemble time‐energy dispersive ion injections observed by the Cluster spacecraft in the magnetosheath.
Facebook as a Learning Tool among Undergraduate Students of Private Higher Learning Institutions in Malaysia

The Malaysian Education Blueprint 2015-2025 stresses on the importance of harnessing the power of technology-based learning to make Malaysia a high-income nation. To achieve this aim, private higher learning education institutions are required to use blended learning modes for at least 70% of their programme starting with undergraduate programmes. Currently, millennials age between 18 and 34 years old in Malaysia are one of the highest users of social media especially Facebook (FB). Among many other e-learning tools such as BlackboardTM, Moodle, and Course Networking (CN) but FB is a powerful social media tool that has influenced many university students’ lives and has become an integral part of their learning environment. Thus, this study aims to determine the usage of Facebook as a learning support tool especially among undergraduate students in Malaysia’s private higher learning education institutions. This study is drawn from TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), which has been a widely used model for predicting user acceptance of innovations but with an inclusion of perceived interactivity. Empirical results from 225 respondents in three private learning institutions in Malaysia through questionnaire confirmed that together, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived interactivity explained nearly 60% of the variance in attitude towards Facebook as an e-learning tool. All hypothesized relationships were significantly positive with perceived interactivity as the highest contributor and subsequently confirmed that attitude led to usage intention. Based on these findings, recommendations were proposed to enhance undergraduate students’ perception towards Facebook’s effectiveness, convenience and mutual collaboration to produce more positive attitude and intention to use it as a learning tool.
Proactive Inhibitory Control and Subjective Trial Outcome Certainty Influence Response Inhibition Processes: An fMRI study

Previous research has demonstrated that prior information about the likelihood of a stop-signal is associated with similar cortical activation patterns as is evident during response inhibition itself. Therefore, it has been proposed that proactive inhibitory control, as elicited by such prior information, may influence the implementation of reactive response inhibition processes in the cortex. To investigate this, a cued stop-signal task (cues: 0%, 25% and 66%) was implemented in combination with fMRI data acquisition, using a within-subjects design. Dependent variables included relevant behavioural measures and fMRI BOLD signals such as activity from predefined regions of interest (ROIs). Data from 31 participants were included in the study. Behavioural results revealed an increase in go-trial reaction time with increasing stop-signal probability, while the effect on stop-signal reaction times did not reach significance. Imaging results revealed that while go-trial activity depended on both ROI and stop-signal probability, no such effect was found for stop-trial activity. However, stop-trial activity was overall higher in the 66% condition than in the 25% condition and demonstrated a right-lateralised trend. The decrease in goand stop-trial activity in the 25% condition compared to the other stop-signal probability conditions further indicate that while proactive inhibitory control is increased with increasing stop-signal probability, subjective trial outcome certainty may not be influenced in the same linear way. It is suggested that both of these processes influence response inhibition processes, evident in both goand stop-trial activity.
Evaluation of Genetic Diversity in Japanese and English White Quail Populations Using Microsatellite Markers

The Japanese and English White quails are widespread strains and belongs to the Galliformes order, Phasianidae family, Coturnix genus and Japonica species. These birds are likely to be well-adapted to the hard conditions and resistance to diseases as it has attained economic importance as an agricultural species. In the current study, the genetic variation of Japanese and English White quail populations were studied. Frequency of polymorphic loci, polymorphic information content, heterozygosity, Shannon's information index, number of observed and effective alleles were assessed using 4 microsatellite markers with high polymorphic information content value (GUJ0034, GUJ0049, GUJ0080 and GUJ0097). The Blood samples were collected randomly from 50 Japanese quails and 50 English White quails rearing in the research center of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. The genomic DNA was extracted using DIAtom DNA Prep 100 kit, and its quality and quantity were determined using electrophoresis gel and spectrophotometery methods. The PCR reactions were successfully performed with four microsatellite markers. The results based on the chi-square and likelihood ratio tests showed a significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The means of genetic diversity parameters such as number of effective alleles, the number of observed alleles, the expected and observed heterozygosity, Shannon's information index and PIC in quail populations were 4.78±0.37, 7.50±0.57, 0.79±0.02, 0.60±0.16, 1.73±0.05 and 0.76±0.02 respectively. The results of the current study showed that the investigated quail populations have a relatively high genetic diversity with respect to the applied microsatellite markers and confirmed prior study’s findings on the ability of microsatellite markers in investigating genetic diversity.
Corporate Governance and Voluntary Disclosure of Interim Financial Reporting in Jordan

In today’s economy, companies try to publicize their good value by revealing related information in their financial reports as a way of convincing their stakeholders that investment in them is a good move. This paper delves into the relationship that exists between characteristics of corporate governance and structure of ownership on voluntary disclosure in interim financial reports (half yearly) published, focusing on variables that affect voluntary disclosure of the ASE Jordanian listed companies. The dynamic panel system GMM estimation was employed on the data from 72 selected ASE listed companies for the period of 2009-2013, and the results show that a substantial degree of voluntary disclosure is demonstrated in high level corporate governance awareness and implementation in Jordan. Specifically, the factors of board compensation, audit firm size, and government ownership significantly impact voluntary disclosure. Aside from that, voluntary disclosure in the half-yearly reports has potential impact on market capitalization.
UseofthegyrB gene todiscriminateamongspeciesofthe Burkholderia cepacia complex

UseofthegyrB gene todiscriminateamongspeciesofthe Burkholderia cepacia complex Silvia Tabacchioni, Lorenzo Ferri, Graziana Manno, Massimo Mentasti, Priscilla Cocchi, Silvia Campana, Novella Ravenni, Giovanni Taccetti, Claudia Dalmastri, Luigi Chiarini, Annamaria Bevivino & Renato Fani Department of Animal Biology and Genetics, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy; Infectious Diseases Research and Diagnosis Laboratory, Department of Paediatrics, Cystic Fibrosis Center, University of Genoa, G.Gaslini Children’s Hospital, Largo G.Gaslini, Genova, Italy; Department of Paediatrics, Division of Paediatrics, Infectious Diseases, Cystic Fibrosis, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children’s Hospital, Florence, Italy; ENEA – CRE – CASACCIA – Department of Biotechnologies, Agroindustry, Protection of Health – Plant genetics and Genomics Section, S. Maria di Galeria, Rome, Italy; and Central Analysis Laboratory, Department of Clinical Pathology, G. Gaslini Children’s Hospital, Largo G. Gaslini, Genova, Italy
Horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes from transgenic plants to bacteria - are there new data to fuel the debate?

Several thousand field releases of genetically modified plants (GMP) have been performed during the last decade. Presently, the majority of the GMP tested in the field or already commercialized contain bacterial antibiotic resistance genes. The antibiotic resistance genes are often of importance to select for transformants. However, in some transgenic plants the antibiotic resistance genes under the control of bacterial promotors were not used for the selection of transformants but are remains of the vector construct used for transformation. In any case, the antibiotic resistance genes do not encode desirable traits in commercial plants. Nevertheless the presence of antibiotic resistance genes such as the nptII gene in transgenic plants seemed to be accepted by competent authorities and by the public, this largely based on the fact that antibiotic resistance genes used as markers in transgenic plants were already abundant in environmental bacteria (Smalla et al., 1993), and that bacteria possess highly efficient means such as transferable plasmids or conjugative transposons to exchange genes between bacteria belonging to the same species, or between a wide range of bacterial hosts (Tschape, 1994; Davies, 1994, 1997). Furthermore, so far there was no experimental evidence that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of genetic material from plants to bacteria can occur at all (Becker et al., 1994; Broer et al., 1996; Schluter et al., 1995; Nielsen et al., 1997c). During the last few years the present crisis of antibiotics became more and more evident due to the emergence of bacteria which are resistant to multiple, and sometimes even to all antibiotics (Levy, 1997; Amtsblatt der Europaischen Gemeinschaft, 1998). This has led to a new discussion about the hypothetic acquisition of plant-harbored antibiotic resistance genes from transgenic plants by bacterial communities and the potential impact of such a transfer event. Is it the public health perception that changed, or are there new data on HGT from plants to bacteria that fuel the debate among scientists and in the public? Here we briefly summarize recent research results on the persistence of transgenic plant DNA in soil and horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes from plants to bacteria. These findings mostly obtained under optimized laboratory conditions must be seen in context with the prevalence of the respective antibiotic resistance genes in environmental bacteria, the clinical importance of the respective antibiotics, and, most importantly, the selective pressure by the medical and agricultural use of respective antibiotics.
Carbon Supported CuPd Nanoparticles for Sensitive Detection and Electrocatalytic Reduction of m-Nitrophenol

Nitrophenols are important chemicals widely used and caused toxic effects on living beings. Here we developed a facile method to prepare CuPd/C catalyst for both m-nitrophenol sensitive detection (1 μM) and electrocatalytic reduction in a wide range from 100 to 10000 μM. The CuPd nanoparticles was synthesized by controlled coreduction of Cu and Pd salts in oleylamine and dispersed on carbon black to produce CuPd/C catalysts. The CuPd/C catalyst was subsequently modified on glassy carbon electrode both as the detection sensor and to investigate electrocatalytic reduction of m-nitrophenol. The sensitivity on the CuPd/C modified electrode (CuPd/C/GCE) was much higher than that on the GCE or commercial Pd/C modified electrode (Pd/C/GCE). The CuPd/C nanomaterial shows excellent m-nitrophenol sensing capability, including low detection limit, wide linear range, high reproducibility and stability. That makes it a unique electrochemical sensor for the detection of m-nitrophenol. The influence of m-nitrophenol concentration on the electrocatalytic ability of the CuPd/C/GCE was studied, and the reduction mechanism of m-nitrophenol is also presented.
Fabrication of planar InP/InGaAs avalanche photodiode without guard rings

An avalanche photodiode (APD) without guard rings is described. Single growth InP-InGaAs separate absorption grading charge sheet multiplication (SAGCM) APDs has been fabricated to suppress the edge breakdown. A very low dark current of 0.77 nA at 0.98 of the breakdown voltage (V/sub B/) and M=90 at 1.5 /spl mu/A of primary photocurrent was measured for a 50 /spl mu/m-diameter device. The gain-bandwidth product was estimated 64 GHz.
A large scale flexible real-time communications topology for the LHC accelerator

The LHC design parameters impose very stringent beam control requirements in order to reach the nominal performance. Prompted by the lack of accurate models to predict field behaviour in superconducting magnet systems the control system of the accelerator will provide flexible feedback channels between monitors and magnets around the 27 Km circumference machine. The implementation of feedback systems composed of a large number of sparsely located elements presents some interesting challenges. Our goal was to find a topology where the control loop requirements: number and distribution of nodes, latency and throughput could be guaranteed without compromising the flexibility. Our proposal is to federate a number of well known technologies and concepts, namely ATM, WorldFIP and RTOS, into a general framework.
Original article: REACTIONS OF N-ACETYLCYSTEINE ADDUCTS OF AROMATIC (DI)ISOCYANATES WITH FUNCTIONAL GROUPS OF ORGANIC MOLECULES: TRANSCARBAMOYLATION REACTIONS IN AQUEOUS BUFFER AND IN AN ORGANIC SOLVENT

Glutathione thiocarbamate conjugates of isocyanates play a key role in transport and final reactions of isocyanates in the human body by transcarbamoylation. N-acetylcysteine is the simplest model for thiocarbamate reactions. Therefore, transcarbamoylation of Nacetylcysteine adducts of p-tolylisocyanate (pTI-AcCys) and 4,4’-diisocyanatodiphenyl– methane (MDI(AcCys)2) with N-acetylcysteine methyl ester (thiolysis), morpholine (aminolysis), methoxyethanol (alcoholysis), and water (hydrolysis) has been studied in aqueous phosphate buffer solution and in dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Expected reaction products have been synthesised as reference compounds for HPLC-analysis. Concentrations of adducts and of reaction products were monitored by HPLC. Reaction rates and activation energies were determined for pTI in both media, reactions of MDI(AcCys)2 were run at one temperature only. Formation of insoluble reaction products and side reactions due to hydrolysis prevented in depth kinetic analysis of the reactions. Two regimes of reaction rate were observed in aqueous buffer, clear second order kinetics resulted in DMAc. In aqueous buffer (pH 7.4) a reactivity thiolysis > aminolysis > hydrolysis was found, while in DMAc aminolysis was faster than thiolysis. This can be explained by formation of thiolate at pH 7.4, which is not possible in anhydrous DMAc. Reactions of (MDI(AcCys)2) are by a factor of 2 to 4 faster than those of pTI-AcCys. p-Toluidine (pTA) was found in the aqueous system due to hydrolysis, while no 4,4’-methylene dianiline (MDA) could be detected. Under physiological conditions hydrolysis should compete with thiolysis under homogeneous conditions while ureas and carbamates should be much more stable against hydrolysis. No free isocyanate groups could be detected in any of the reactions. In conclusion the isocyanate moiety in thiocarbamates is readily transferred to sulfhydryl- and amino groups but not to aliphatic hydroxy groups. Under physiological conditions hydrolysis competes with these transcarbamoylation reactions. Formation of free isocyanate groups in analytical quantities was shown to be highly unlikely.
Aging and Retirement among Ethiopian Elderly: Adjustment, Challenges and Policy Implications

This study was conducted on 326 retired persons aged 60 and above to examine retirement adjustment of the elderly and the extent to which adjustment was influenced by social, psychological and contextual factors. The study also intended to identify challenges facing the elderly after retirement and to assess how supportive national social policies were to the elderly in meeting their developmental needs. Three hundred and sixteen elders in the ages between 62 and 79 (M = 68.22, SD = 6.29) completed a self-administered questionnaire and 10 elders age ranged from 64 to 72 participated in an interview. A general survey questionnaire was constructed to collect data on demographic characteristics of participants, organizational conditions for retirement and postretirement activities. Four independent Likert-type scales were adapted from different sources to measure participants’ adjustment to retirement, preretirement planning and preparation, perceived social support and personal mastery. Preliminary pilot study was conducted to test validity and reliability of the scales. The pilot study revealed valid and reliable instruments with considerable modifications on the original scales. Findings of the main study showed that majority of the elderly were in difficulty adjusting to postretirement situations. They were facing economic, social and psychological problems. Inadequate preretirement planning and preparation, lack of access to supportive organizational programs and lower level of personal mastery were reported from the vast majority of the participants, contributing to the poorer adjustment to retirement. Government social policies also have not been considerate of the retired elderly and hardly been meeting their psychological, social and financial needs. Establishing an institution, recognizing the retired elderly and introducing retirement savings were the prevalent opinions of the participants to lessen the postretirement plights. Several factors were found to influence retirement adjustment either psychosocially, financially or both.