Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of NaCl treatments on growth and biochemical parameters of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.)

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is widely cultivated throughout the world for use as a medicinal plant and oil consumption purposes; however its salt tolerance has not been clarified. To investigate the effect of salt stress on its growth and on activity of antioxidative enzymes in different organs, castor bean plants at the 4-leaf stage were subjected to 50, 100 and 200 mM NaCl admixed to Hoagland’s solution for 10 days under greenhouse conditions. The results showed that salt stress inhibited plant growth (root and shoot length, fresh root and shot weight) but root growth was more affected then shoot. Relative water content of leaves and the membrane stability of the leaves were decreased with increasing NaCl concentration. The activity of guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and catalase (CAT) was sharply decreased by escalation of salt stress. However activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) was enhanced under moderate salt stress (100 mM NaCl) in both root and shoot but then decreased with increased NaCl concentration. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) increased with the increase of the concentration of NaCl in shoots and root. However alternation in enzymatic antioxidant activity was noticed in shoot compared to root. Increased H2O2, total soluble protein, proline content and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration in both plant’s organs was linearly and positively correlated with increasing NaCl concentration. The results of this study suggest that the salt sensitivity of Castor bean plant under salt stress conditions is probably due to a lack of efficient activity of CAT and GPX probably lead to imperfect H2O2 scavenging.
Effects of metformin and metformin in combination with omega-3 on newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic Iraqi patients

Type 2 diabetes is defined as a syndrome characterized by insulin deficiency, insulin resistance and increased hepatic glucose output. To compare the effects of an insulin sensitizer, metformin and metformin in combination with omega-3 on blood glucose level, serum insulin and oxidative stress state in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. This is an open-label, randomized study carried out on 24 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients. Patients were randomly divided into two groups and assigned for treatment with either metformin (n=12) or metformin in combination with omega-3 (n=12) for 2 months. The level of fasting blood glucose (FBG), post-prandial blood glucose (PPG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), serum insulin and serummalondialdehyde (MDA) were calculated before and after one month and two months of treatment. FBG, post prandial blood glucose and HbA1c significantly decreased in both treated groups after one month and two months of treatment. Serum insulin level decreased non-significantly with metformin and metformin in combination with omega-3 after one and two months of treatment. The level of serum MDA decreased significantly in group treated with metformin in combination with omega-3 after one month and two months of treatment and in metformin treated group after two months, while insignificant decrease observed after one month in metformin treated group. Omega-3 has no significant effect on glycemic control and insulin secretion but has beneficial effect on oxidative stress state.
Nutrient Composition and Digestibility of Asian Swamp EeL ( Monoptrusalbus ) Meal in Broiler Nutrition

This study was conducted to determine the nutritive value and digestibility of Asian swamp EeL meal in broiler nutrition. Specifically, it aimed to: a) determine the nutrient composition of Asian swamp eel meal as compared to Peruvian fish meal b) determine and evaluate the digestion coefficients and the total digestible nutrient of the different proximate components, c) determine and evaluate the digestibility of the apparent digestible energy, apparent metabolizable energy and zero Nitrogen balance-corrected AME
A Tale of Two Cities La Vecchia-Mikkola

Based on a qualitative research with both the Iraqi Arabs and the Kurdish Iraqis who have been living for two to thirty years abroad, this paper explores the meaning of home and belonging, discusses how home is remembered and where it is located. Cities, Helsinki in Finland and Rome in Italy, provide opportunities for a structural comparison in the local and the transnational perspectives. The aim is to describe from a sociological point of view, especially the orientation to real, imagined and the new homeland, the impact of the cities on the process of inclusion in the society of settlement.
Mechanical properties of various mammalian tendons

Dynamic tensile tests have been performed, using physiologically relevant frequencies and stress ranges, on various tendons from the legs and tails of 10 species of mammal. No consistent differences were found between tendons from different species or different anatomical sites. Tangent Young's modulus increases from low values at low stresses to about 1·5 GPa at stresses exceeding 30 MPa. Percentage energy dissipations of 6 to 11% have been measured for different species, but the lower values are probably the most reliable. There is little or no dependence of modulus or energy dissipation on frequency, in the range 0·2–11 Hz. The tensile strength of tendon (at strain rates of the order of 0·05 s−1) is at least 100 MPa.
The Shape of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 Galaxy Power Spectrum

We present a Fourier analysis of the clustering of galaxies in the combined main galaxy and LRG SDSS DR5 sample. The aim of our analysis is to consider how well we can measure the cosmological matter density using the signature of the horizon at matter-radiation equality embedded in the large-scale power spectrum. The new data constrain the power spectrum on scales 100-600 h-1 Mpc with significantly higher precision than previous analyses of just the SDSS main galaxies, due to our larger sample and the inclusion of the LRGs. This improvement means that we can now reveal a discrepancy between the shape of the measured power and linear CDM models on scales 0.01 h Mpc-1 < k < 0.15 h Mpc-1, with linear model fits favoring a lower matter density (ΩM = 0.22 ± 0.04) on scales 0.01 h Mpc-1 < k < 0.06 h Mpc-1 and a higher matter density (ΩM = 0.32 ± 0.01) when smaller scales are included, assuming a flat ΛCDM model with h = 0.73 and ns = 0.96. This discrepancy could be explained by scale-dependent bias, and by analyzing subsamples of galaxies, we find that the ratio of small-scale to large-scale power increases with galaxy luminosity, so all of the SDSS galaxies cannot trace the same power spectrum shape over 0.01 h Mpc-1 < k < 0.2 h Mpc-1. However, the data are insufficient to clearly show a luminosity-dependent change in the largest scale at which a significant increase in clustering is observed, although they do not rule out such an effect. Significant scale-dependent galaxy bias on large scales, which changes with the r-band luminosity of the galaxies, could potentially explain differences in our ΩM estimates and differences previously observed between 2dFGRS and SDSS power spectra and the resulting parameter constraints.
Synthetic [C ii] emission maps of a simulated molecular cloud in formation

The C+ ion is an important coolant of interstellar gas, and so the [C ii] fine structure line is frequently observed in the interstellar medium. However, the physical and chemical properties of the [C ii]-emitting gas are still unclear. We carry out non-LTE radiative transfer simulations with radmc–3d to study the [C ii] line emission from a young, turbulent molecular cloud before the onset of star formation, using data from the SILCC-Zoom project. The [C ii] emission is optically thick over 40% of the observable area with I[CII] > 0.5 K km s−1. To determine the physical properties of the [C ii] emitting gas, we treat the [C ii] emission as optically thin. We find that the [C ii] emission originates primarily from cold, moderate density gas (40 ≲ T ≲ 65 K and 50 ≲ n ≲ 440 cm−3), composed mainly of atomic hydrogen and with an effective visual extinction between ∼0.50 and ∼0.91. Gas dominated by molecular hydrogen contributes only ≲20% of the total [C ii] line emission. Thus, [C ii] is not a good tracer for CO-dark H2 at this early phase in the cloud’s lifetime. We also find that the total gas, H and C+ column densities are all correlated with the integrated [C ii] line emission, with power law slopes ranging from 0.5 to 0.7. Further, the median ratio between the total column density and the [C ii] line emission is YCII ≈ 1.1 × 1021 cm−2 (K km s−1)−1, and YCII scales with I −0.3 [CII] I[CII]−0.3 . We expect YCII to change in environments with a lower or higher radiation field than simulated here.
Stress Perceptions and Leadership Orientation of Malaysians: Exploring their Similarities and Differences with Americans

To explore the management orientation of employees in Malaysia and the United States, this paper focuses on comparing the leadership and stress perception of respondents in these two different countries. It appears that Malaysians and Americans have a significantly higher score on the relationship-orientation than task-orientation. Similarly, the female respondents in Malaysia had a significantly higher score on the relationship orientation. Finally, the responses of these 216 Malaysian respondents were compared with the 87 Americans, demonstrating significantly higher scores for respondents from the U.S. on both orientations. For management and practical application, suggestions and implications for future studies are presented.
Consistency and specificity in burglars who commit prolific residential burglary: Testing the core assumptions underpinning behavioural crime linkage

PURPOSE: Behavioural crime linkage is underpinned by two assumptions: (a) that offenders exhibit some degree of consistency in the way they commit offences (their modus operandi [MO]); and, (b) that offenders can be differentiated on the basis of their offence behaviour. The majority of existing studies sample at most three crimes from an offender's series of detected crimes and do not examine whether patterns differ across offenders. Here, we examine patterns observed across the entire detected series of each sampled offender, and assess how homogeneous patterns are across offenders. METHODS: Using a non-parametric resampling approach, we analyse the entire crime series of 153 prolific burglars to determine if they exhibit consistency and specificity in the way they commit offences. RESULTS: Findings suggest that offenders exhibit consistency in the way they commit offences. With respect to specificity, our results suggest that patterns are not homogeneous across offenders or the type of MO considered - some offenders exhibit more specificity than do others, and offenders are more distinctive for some aspects of their MO (particularly spatial choices) than they are for others. CONCLUSIONS: The findings provide support for the underlying principles of crime linkage, but suggest that some aspects of an offender's MO either conform to a common preference, or are perhaps more influenced by situational factors than stable scripted preferences. That some offenders fail to demonstrate sufficient specificity for accurate linkage suggests that identifying which crimes are likely to be the work of offenders who display more specificity a priori constitutes one challenge for future research of this kind.
Aqueous Phase Reductive Detoxification of Cr (VI) By Sodium Dithionite: Kinetics, Thermodynamics and Stoichiometric Studies

In this study Na2S2O4, was assessed as an inorganic reductant of Cr (VI) in aqueous phase. The absorbance of Cr(VI) was monitored at 349 nm using a Milton Roy Spectronic 20D UV/Visible spectrophotometer at different temperatures (298 – 323 K) to study the effect of temperature on reduction while, the effect of pH was studied at pH 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12. The effect of concentration was also considered by varying the concentrations of Na2S2O4 (i.e. 0.02, 0.04, 0.05, 0.06 and 0.07 mM) over a pH of 5 and 9 at 298 K and 5 minutes with concentration of Cr(VI) set at 0.19 mM. The temperature effect showed that the reaction rate increased slightly with increase in temperature. It was found that there was a logarithmic increase in time required to reach a certain percentage reduction of the [Cr(VI)]initial, as the pH was increased. The kinetic results showed that the reaction was first – order with respect to Cr(VI) with the rate equation of . The activation entropy obtained from plots of ln(kobs/T) vs. 1/T was -197.53 J.K-1.mol-1 agreeing with the formation of a condensed compound. The activation enthalpy varied from (-5.82x10-5 – 1.66x10-4 kJmol-1) and most cases it was negative showing that the reaction was rather exothermic. The activation energies obtained were 58.87, 60.84, 62.82, 63.80 and 65.78 kJmol-1 for the respective Kelvin temperatures of 298, 308, 318,323 and 333. This increase in activation energy with increasing temperature implied that bond breakage and product formation was more favourable at lower temperature. The stoichiometry therefore suggested that the Cr(VI) : Reductant millimolar ratio was 1 Cr(VI) : 0.45 Na2S2O4, this value was found to be in agreement with the theoretically obtained result. This implies that the stoichiometry does not depend on pH. The findings from the research show that Na2S2O4 could be used for the reductive detoxification of Cr(VI) in polluted areas.
Structural properties of GaAsN/GaAs quantum wells studied at the atomic scale by cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy

The nitrogen distribution in GaAsN∕GaAs quantum wells (QWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy is studied on the atomic scale by cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy. No nitrogen clustering is observed in the range of N contents studied (between 1.0% and 2.5%, as measured by counting the individual N atoms inside the QW). Nevertheless, the upper interface roughness increases with the amount of N. A residual N concentration in the GaAs barriers is found, which strongly increases with the amount of N in the QW.
The Contributions of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Reading Motivation to the Development of Reading Competence over Summer Vacation

This study addressed the role of reading motivation as a potential determinant of losses or gains in reading competence over six weeks of summer vacation (SV). Based on a sample of 223 third-grade elementary students, structural equation analyses showed that intrinsic reading motivation before SV contributed positively to both word and sentence comprehension after SV when controlling for comprehension performance before SV. These effects were mediated by reading amount. Extrinsic reading motivation did not show significant associations with end-of-summer comprehension scores. Taken together, the findings suggest that intrinsic reading motivation facilitates students’ development of reading comprehension over SV.
Effects of dietary lipid source on egg and larval quality of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.).

This study investigated the effects of dietary lipid sources on reproductive performance of Nile tilapia for three consecutive spawnings with the goal of replacing dietary fish oil with palm oil. In this study tilapia were fed solely with the selected experimental diet during their entire life, from onset of exogenous feeding until termination of spawning. Three isonitrogenous (40% crude protein), isoenergitic (20 KJg) experimental diets were made containing either 10% cod liver oil (CO), palm oil (PO) or mixed palm and cod liver oil (9:1 ratio; PO&CO) using soybean protein concentrate as the protein source. In addition a commercial trout diet was used as a control. The influence of dietary lipid on spawning intervals, fecundity, relative fecundity (egg number per unit weight), egg size, fertilisation and hatching rate and larval quality was investigated. Dietary lipid sources had no significant effect on egg diameter, egg volume and egg dry weight. However, relative fecundity was significantly (P 0.05). Similar results were observed for egg weight to body weight ration (EW: BW) and inter spawning interval (ISI) for fish fed diet 4. Moreover, total fecundity (number of eggs produced per fish) obtained from fish fed the mixed oil diet (PO & CO) was significantly (P<0.05) higher than for those fed the palm oil and control diets. This study suggests that palm oil can replace fish oil with no negative effect on egg and larval quality in O. niloticus.
Dozens of compact and high velocity-dispersion early-type galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Aims. We aim at finding candidates of potential survivors of high-redshift compact galaxies in SDSS, as targets for more detailed follow-up observations. Methods. From the virial theorem it is expected that for a given mass, compact galaxies have stellar velocity dispersion higher than the mean due to their smaller sizes. Therefore velocity dispersion coupled with size (or mass) is an appropriate method to select relics, independent of the stellar population properties. Based on these consideration we design a set of criteria using distribution of early-type galaxies from SDSS on the log$_{10}$(R$_{0}$)-log$_{10}$($\sigma_{0}$) plane to find the most extreme objects on it. Results. We find 76 galaxies at 0.05 < z < 0.2, which have properties similar to the typical quiescent galaxies at high redshift. We study how well these galaxies fit on well-known local universe relations of early-type galaxies such as the fundamental plane, the red sequence or mass-size relations. As expected from the selection criteria, the candidates are located in an extreme corner of mass-size plane. However, they do not extend as deeply into the so-called zone of exclusion as some of the high-redshift compact galaxies ('red nuggets') found at high redshift, being a factor 2-3 less massive at a given intrinsic scale size. Our candidates are systematically offset from scaling relations of average early-type galaxies, while being in the mass-size range expected for passive evolution of the red nuggets from their high redshift to the present. Conclusions. The 76 selected candidates form a well suited set of objects for further follow-up observations. We argue that selecting a high velocity dispersion is the best way to find analogues of compact high redshift galaxies in the local universe.
Integration of Non-Invasive Imaging in Characterizing Consequences of Coronary Artery Microembolization

Coronary microembolization occurs in spontaneous atherosclerosis plaque rupture, valvular disease, endocarditis, arrhythmias, heart-lung bypass surgery, congenital heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus and sickle cell disease. Coronary microembolization can also be induced by therapeutic coronary interventions. High intensity transient signals (HITS) derived from Doppler guide wire has the potential to count coronary microemboli in real-time during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Both non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) have the potential for assessing regional perfusion and left ventricular (LV) function after PCI. The visibility of micro infarct on MRI and CT after administration of contrast media, however, is limited and depends on technical and biological factors. Both MRI and CT modalities underestimate total micro infarct size compared with microscopy. MR images revealed that the presence of coronary microemboli in pre-existing large infarct delays the healing process and magnifies LV remodeling. Chronological preclinical studies revealed that coronary microemboli migrate into the extravascular space leading to natural revascularization. Despite current standard of care, existing methods and therapies do not prevent coronary embolization and completely reverse their deleterious effects.
Gender and Corruption in Business

Abstract Are firms with female owners or managers less corrupt than other firms? We test this question using firm-level data on corruption, ownership, and management. We find that women in positions of influence are associated with less corruption: female owners are associated with a lower incidence of bribery and report smaller levels of bribery. Moreover, corruption is seen as less of an obstacle in companies where women are represented in top management. By providing evidence that women are associated with lower levels of corruption in business our research contributes to the literature on development, gender equality, and corruption.
Designing Mobile Communication Tools: A Framework to Enhance Motivation in Online Learning Environments

Resulting from the widespread deployment of wireless technologies and the high rates of mobile device use and ownership, online learning is evolving from desktop computers to mobile devices. Mobile communication technology is considered to be effective in promoting learner motivation and encouraging interaction between learners and instructors as well as among peers in online learning environments. This paper explores the design and development of an extension to a Learning Management System (LMS) onto mobile devices guided by a mobile communication tools framework to enhance learner motivation. This underpinning framework was based on a combination of Keller’s ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction) motivation model and a collaboration factor. Related studies, the system design, and accompanying architectural issues are discussed in this paper, along with the results of a pilot investigation into learners’ responses to its use. The results provide a better understanding of the role of mobile technology in higher education, encourage the further development of mobile communication tools, and shed light on mobile learners’ motivation as compared to traditional modes of online learning.
The paternal‐sex‐ratio (PSR) chromosome in natural populations of Nasonia (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea)

Selfish genetic elements may be important in promoting evolutionary change. Paternal sex ratio (PSR) is a selfish B chromosome that causes all‐male families in the haplodiploid parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis, by inducing paternal genome loss in fertilized eggs. The natural distribution and frequency of this chromosome in North American populations of N. vitripennis was investigated using a combination of phenotypic and molecular assays. Sampling throughout North America failed to recover PSR except from populations in the Great Basin area of western North America. Extensive sampling of Great Basin populations revealed PSR in frequencies ranging from 0 to 6% at different collection sites, and extended its distribution to Idaho and Wyoming. Intensive sampling in upstate New York did not detect the chromosome. Frequencies of the maternal‐sex ratio distorter (MSR), son killer (SK) and virgin females ranged from 0 to 12%. Paternal sex ratio may be restricted to the Great Basin because its spread is hampered by geographical barriers, or because populations in other areas are not conducive to PSR maintenance. However, it cannot be ruled out that PSR occurs in other regions at very low frequencies. The apparent limited distribution and low frequency of PSR suggest that it will have relatively little impact on genome evolution in Nasonia.