Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biculturalism, Bilingualism, & Executive Function Among U.S. Latinos: Implications for Cognitive Reserve

BICULTURALISM, BILINGUALISM, & EXECUTIVE FUNCTION AMONG U.S. LATINOS: IMPLICATIONS FOR COGNITIVE RESERVE Leticia G. Vallejo Marquette University, 2017 The current study was an exploratory investigation of the cultural constructs of biculturalism and bilingualism as predictors of executive function among a communitybased sample of 25 older adult Latinos living in the U.S. The potential moderating effects of education and bicultural identity integration were also examined. Using regression analyses, biculturalism and bilingualism were examined independently as predictors of performance on three separate tasks of executive function: trail making tests, a phonemic fluency task, and a clock drawing task. Bilingualism was not found to predict performance on any of the executive functioning tasks. In the overall sample, biculturalism also was not found to predict performance on tasks of executive function. Additional analyses; however, revealed that among women in the sample, biculturalism was predictive of better performance on a phonemic fluency task, specifically among those who were high in cultural harmony, an aspect of bicultural identity integration. Also noteworthy was the finding that biculturalism was actually related to worse phonemic fluency performance among non U.S. educated individuals, contrary to stated hypotheses. Findings are discussed within the framework of cognitive reserve theory. This is the first study to examine biculturalism as a potential predictor of executive functioning and the first to suggest that biculturalism may contribute to cognitive reserve. The study highlights the complexities of examining cultural variables in cognition research, as well as the need for future work in this area.
EFFECT OF SEX AND L-CARNITINE ADDITION ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND CARCASS QUALITY OF SUDANI DUCKLINGS

Two hundred and eighty eight of Sudani ducklings (144 from both males and females), 4-wks-old were used, weighed and divided into six experimental groups (three replicates each) for both sexes to investigate the effect of ducklings sex and dietary L-carnitine (LC) addition(0, 150, 300, 450, 600 and 750 mg/kg diet) in a factorial design (2 × 6) on growth performance, carcass traits and quality and blood constituents as well as economic efficiency under Egyptian summer conditions. Results indicated that, live body weight (LBW), body weight gain (BWG), feed consumption (FC) and production index (PI) were significantly (P≤0.01) higher for male ducklings than female, also, feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly (P≤0.05) improved during the whole experimental period (4-16 wks of age). However, dietary LC addition resulted in a significant (P≤0.01) improvement in BWG, FCR and PI during the experimental period than the control group. Abdominal fat and breast and thigh yield (%) were significantly higher for female than male ducklings. Eviscerated carcass and total edible parts (%) were significantly (P≤0.01) improved by supplementing different LC levels to the diet, while abdominal fat was significantly (P≤0.01) decreased. Breast yield (%) was significantly (P≤0.05) higher by feeding 450 mg LC/kg diet, only than the control, however, thigh yield (%) was significantly(P≤0.01) improved by feeding different LC levels except of 300 mg/kg. Furthermore, muscles ether extract (EE) content was significantly higher in both breast and thigh of female’s ducklings than males, while crude protein (CP) was significantly decreased for female thigh muscles. Addition different LC levels to the diet resulted in a significant improvement of CP content for both breast and thigh muscles, while EE content was significantly decreased for them. Serum total cholesterol was significantly increased for female than male ducklings, whereas, both serum triglycerides and total cholesterol constituents were significantly decreased by supplementing different LC levels to the diet than the control. Supplementing different LC levels to the diet resulted in a significant increase in lymphocytes (L) cells (%), while heterophils (H) cells (%) and H/L ratio were significantly (P≤0.01) decreased than the control group. Net return and economic efficiency were significantly lowered for female ducklings than male, however, they significantly improved for ducklings fed different LC diets than those fed the control diet. These results indicated that dietary L-carnitine additionwith150 or 300 mg/kg could be maximize and improve the growth performance and carcass traits and quality as well as economic efficiency of Sudani ducklings especially males during growth period (4-16 wks of age) under Egyptian
Fat reserves and moult-migration overlap in goldcrests, Regulus regulus - a trade-off?

Moult and migration are both recognised as highly energy-demanding activities of birds. I studied moult-migration overlap in migrating goldcrests Regulus regulus to see whether birds might be trading these activities off against each other. I found that in both sexes the size of subcutaneous fat reserves were greater in birds in later stages of moult. This indicates that birds in active moult were either: (1) not able to store as much fat as birds which have completed moult, or (2) that birds in active moult used up their fat reserves quicker than birds that had completed their moult. This suggests that moult-migration overlap is costly, and there exists a trade-off between energy allocated to moult and migratory fat deposits.
Larval development of Euphausia pacifica in the laboratory: variability in developmental pathways

Gravid adult female Euphausia pacifica were collected off Newport, Oregon, USA and transferred to the laboratory, where females spawned eggs, eggs hatched, and larvae were reared at 10.5°C. We fed 4 cohorts of larvae to excess with a combination of phytoplankton species and moni- tored them daily until they reached the juvenile stage. The euphausiids were maintained separately (1 individual per jar) from the third furcilia (FIII) to the juvenile stage to observe developmental path- ways. Individual cohorts developed at nearly the same rate until the first furcilia stage, after which 2 cohorts began to develop significantly faster than the others. Median time to the juvenile stage ranged from 51.9 to 60.6 d, with significant differences among cohorts. The first calyptopis stage and the third furcilia stage lasted longer than any other stages and appear to be bottlenecks in the development of this species. Individual development from FIII to juvenile varied widely both within and among cohorts. We observed 4 main developmental pathways. Over half of the euphausiids skipped 1 development stage between FIII and juvenile (58%), and none skipped multiple stages. There was no tendency for individuals from the same cohort to follow the same developmental path- way. This variability in development may be even higher in the field and could impact mortality calculations and cohort analysis from field samples.
Knowledge and preventive practices related to Avian influenza among livestock farmers and poultry traders in Ikorodu, Lagos state, Nigeria

The emergence of H5N1 led to increased global attention as the virus could potentially represent the source of the next human influenza pandemic. The disease has led to the loss of millions of birds which constitute a major source of animal protein. This study was therefore aimed at determining the knowledge and preventive practices related to Avian influenza among livestock keepers and poultry traders in Ikorodu, Lagos state, Nigeria. A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted using standardized structured questionnaire administered at interview. The mean age of respondent was 34.5 ±10.5 years; only 38.1% of respondent correctly defined Avian influenza as a disease of bird caused by H5N1 virus. Majority (77.5%) of respondents were aware that the virus could be transmitted from bird to bird while 41.8% knew that transmission could be from birds to human. Only 28.7% stated correctly that wild birds are the common vectors of the virus. Preventive practices adopted include hand washing (70.5%) and wearing of overall (61.5%). However only about half (54.1%) modified their work habit by hand washing after touching birds for fear of getting avian influenza. Main source of information on Avian influenza was the mass media (57.9%). Predictors of knowledge of Avian influenza included education (P < 0.001), being a poultry trader (P < 0.001) and older respondents (P < 0.031). Predictors of preventive practice included education (P< 0.001) and being a livestock farmer (P< 0.001). This study suggests that education predicted knowledge and practice of preventive measures among the poultry workers.
Depth wise distribution of micronutrient of apple (Cv. Red Delicious) orchard soils of Jammu and Kashmir India

A Survey was carried out to study available nutrient status of apple orchard soils of south Kashmir. Twenty orchards with uniform age and vigour were selected and surveyed (simple random survey) for the purpose of collection of soil samples. The samples were processed and analyzed for different nutrients. The mean available iron, manganese, zinc, copper, content of surface soils was 56.77, 42.43, 1.12, 2.27 ppm, respectively and in sub-surface soils of 51.30, 33.34, 0.89 and 1.48 ppm, respectively. Further it was observed that majority of soils were high in available iron, manganese, low to high in available zinc and medium to high in available copper.
Problematizing Neo-Functionalism in the Search for a New Theory of African Integration: The Case of the Proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) in Africa

The proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) of the EAC-SADC-COMESA in eastern and southern Africa has been received with both optimism and pessimism in many quarters. The optimism concerning the prospects of the proposed T-FTA, though often exaggerated, is not totally unfounded as it could help African Economic Community (AEC) strengthen intra-RECs, and inter-RECs integration by reducing the incidence of multiple memberships and proliferation of regional economic groups and subgroups, among other things. With the use of qualitative method and some indices from the secondary sources, and by propounding a new theory of post-neofunctionalism, a combination or a synthesis of neo-nationalism and post-nationalism, this paper concludes that the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (T-FTA) would be confronted with some potential challenges capable of, not just overcoming, but torpedoing these prospects. The paper seeks to deconstruct and problematize neo-functionalism in Africa as well as rejects neo-functionalist, one-size-fits-all, state-centric or inter-governmental approach to integration in Africa, and rather recommends bottom-top, humanistic, people-centric or private-sector-driven approach to integration, or people-to-people integration. The study is essentially prognostic.
A complete simulation of a triple-GEM detector

Since some years the gas electron multipliers (GEM) based detectors have been proposed for many different applications, in particular in high-energy physics and astrophysics experiments and medical imaging. Many experimental measurements and tests have been performed to investigate their characteristics and performances. To achieve a better understanding of the behavior of such a detector the computer simulation is a very important tool. In this paper a complete and detailed simulation of a triple-GEM based detector is described. A method has been developed to take into account all the processes from the ionization mechanism up to the signal formation and electronic response. The results obtained are compared with experimental data and a very good agreement is achieved.
An Over-Moded TEM Cell System for in vivo Exposure at 2.45 GHz

A TEM cell designed to operate at 900 MHz for exposing small-restrained animals (e.g. mice) has been theoretically, numerically and experimentally characterized at 2.45 GHz, which is the central frequency of the WiFi protocol. This study aims at evaluating the influence of higher order modes on the field homogeneity. The results demonstrate the superimposition of a tolerable standing wave, due to reflections at the cell terminations, and a slight beat wave due to the interference between different modes. Nevertheless, the final outcome is that the system can still be efficiently used to expose small animals in specific WiFi channels, provided they are properly placed in correspondence to the maxima of the electric field along the guide length.
Phytoextraction of Heavy Metals Induced by Bioaugmentation of a Phosphate Solubilizing Bacterium

BACKGROUND: Excessive metals in the soil have become one of the most significant environmental problems. Phytoremediation has received considerable attention as a method for restoring the contaminated soils. The microbes having remarkable metal tolerance and plant growth-promoting abilities could also play a significant role in remediation of metal-contaminated soils, because bioaugmentation with such microbes could promote phytoextraction of metals. Therefore, the present study was focused on evaluating the phytoextraction of heavy metals (Co, Pb and Zn) in Helianthus annuus (sunflower) induced by bioaugmentation of a phosphate solubilizing bacterium. METHODS AND RESULTS: A phosphate solubilizing bacterium was isolated from metal-contaminated soils based on the greater halo size (>3 mm) with solid NBRIP agar medium containing 10 g glucose, 5 g Ca3(PO4)2, 5 g MgCl2⋅6H2O, 0.25 g MgSO4.7H2O, 0.2 g KCl, 0.1 g (NH4)2SO4 in 1 L distilled water. Isolated bacterial strain was assessed for their resistance to heavy metals; CoCl2.6H2O, 2PbCO3.Pb(OH)2, and ZnCl2 at various concentrations ranging from 100-400 µg/mL (Co, Pb and Zn) using the agar dilution method. A pot experiment was conducted with aqueous solutions of different heavy metals (Co, Pb and Zn) to assess the effect of bacterial strain on growth and metal uptake by Helianthus annuus (sunflower). The impact of bacterial inoculation on the mobility of metals in soil was investigated under laboratory conditions with 50 mL scaled polypropylene centrifuge tubes. The metal contents in the filtrate of plant extracts were determined using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Perkinelmer, Aanalyst 800, USA). CONCLUSION: Inoculation with Enterobacter ludwigii PSB 28 resulted in increased shoot and root biomass and enhanced accumulation of Co, Pb and Zn in Helianthus annuus plants. The strain was found to be capable of promoting metal translocation from the roots to the shoots of H. annuus. Therefore, Enterobacter ludwigii PSB 28 could be identified as an effective promoter of phytoextraction of Co, Pb and Zn from metal-contaminated soils.
Potential Approaches to Integrating Silvicultural Control of Mountain Pine Beetle with Wildlife and Sustainable Management Objectives

There are 195 vertebrate species occurring in mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) infested areas in interior British Columbia that will likely be impacted by beetle control measures. The effects of these measures on wildlife will depend on whether they increase or decrease the availability of critical habitat attributes such as large trees, dead and dying trees, down wood, shrubby undergrowth, continuous canopy cover, and deciduous trees. Shifting the forest age class distribution to early seral stages to reduce landscape susceptibility to mountain pine beetle attack will harm many wildlife species that are dependent on mature forest conditions, but will benefi t the few species that thrive in more open habitats. In contrast, the conversion of lodgepole pine forests to non-pine tree species, and fall and burn treatments, should have relatively minor impacts. The effects of many beetle control measures on wildlife will devolve to the effects of tree retention level on wildlife. Manipulating the tree retention level, and the size, location and dispersion pattern of residual trees and tree patches can signifi cantly advance wildlife management goals. We conclude this paper by suggesting potential approaches to integrating mountain pine beetle control with wildlife and sustainable management objectives.
Partisan Protesters and Nonpartisan Protests in Brazil

In young democracies with weak parties, there is some evidence that partisan identification may shift in response to short-term government performance. The massive protests that erupted in Brazil in June 2013 sharply increased the salience of, and public attention to, poor government performance and took most observers by surprise. They were also widely depicted as nonpartisan or even antipartisan. We use two well-timed surveys to examine the effects of the protests on mass partisanship. We find that the protests led to increased nonpartisanship and decreased attachment to the governing Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party, PT) among the public as a whole. We also show that small leftist parties were more broadly represented among protesters than has been previously recognized.
THE INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL LABOUR ON PERCEIVED WORKPLACE BULLYING OF BANK EMPLOYEES IN NIGERIA

Despite literature findings on the importance of emotions in employees’ subjective experience of work, wellbeing and performance, few studies have explored this in the Nigerian work environment. This study focused on examining the influence of emotional labour on perceived workplace bullying among bank employees within the Ibadan and Lagos Metropolis areas of Nigeria. A sample size of 1032 (55.4% male and 44.6% female) employees was conveniently sampled from selected banks. The results showed that emotional labour significantly predicted organizational bullying among bank employees (β=.235, p<.01). The findings, recommendations and implications were discussed accordingly.
Synthesis and evaluation of polyethylene glycol-and folic acid-conjugated polyamidoamine G 4 dendrimer as nanocarrier

Synthesis of folic-acid mediated targeting nanocarrier is one of the most important and effective approaches in drug delivery. In this study, firstly, the surface of polyamidoamine G4 (PAMAM G4) dendrimers was modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to reduce dendrimer toxicity and was engineered with folic acid (FA) to increase nanocomplex targeting of the mice myoblast C2C12 cell lines. Both these synthetic phases were characterized via fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR), ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry (UV–Vis), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. Secondly, 5fluorouracil (5-FU), as a chemotherapeutic agent, was loaded in the nanocarrier to therapeutic goals and was characterized. In vitro drug release was also assessed and an excellent controlled release with good release efficiency was reported. The size, diameter, surface morphology, and surface charge of these synthesized nanocomplexes were ascertained with the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential analyser, respectively, and PAMAM G4 positive charges eliminated. Finally, our nanocomplex was tested on the HT-29 human colorectal cancer and mice myoblast C2C12 normal cell lines and cell viability was evaluated with an 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Good cancer cell inhibition and cell growth promotion effects of the nanocomplexes have been indicated in this research study.
Application of Non-Linear Functions at Distribution of Output SINR Gaussian Interference Channels

We have examined the convergence behavior of the LSCMA in some simple environments. Algorithms such as Multi¬ Target CMA, Multistage CMA, and Iterative Least Squares with Projection can be used for this purpose. The results presented here can form a basis for analysis of these multi-signal extraction techniques. Clearly, the variance and distribution of output SINR obtained with the LSCMA is also an important area for investigation. We finally comment on the hard-limit non-linearity. For high SIR, the hard-limiter is the optimal non-linearity when the desired signal has a constant envelope. However, at low SIR other non-linearities can yield greater SIR gain. Thus, it is possible that non-linear functions other than the hard-limit can be used to develop blind adaptive algorithms, which converge faster for low initial SINR.
Face recognition using 3D structural geometry of rigid features extracted from 2D images

The problem of face recognition by computers has been the subject of over 40 years of research in computer vision, and a plethora of increasingly sophisticated techniques have been proposed throughout the years, with varying degrees of success. However, a definitive solution for uncontrolled, high-performance and/or high-precision environments has been elusive, mainly because most of these methods work on 2D images, which are mere projections of the the three-dimensional human face, thus being heavily variable in shape and appearance depending on pose, illumination and expressions of the face. More recently, 3D approaches have emerged, but despite good results, they present technical hurdles that 2D methods can avoid. This thesis aims to evaluate the hypothesis that rigid facial shape contributes significantly to the recognition problem. While many 2D approaches use shape-free patches for comparison, no approach has attempted partial shape normalization, cancelling facial expressionbased deformations, but preserving intrinsic proportions of the facial shape. We propose a hybrid 2D+3D recognition method on which we attempt to achieve this selective shape normalization by fitting the Candide 3D morphable face model into a 2D mesh generated through Active Shape Models, thus obtaining explicit estimates for pose, facial shape and facial expression. Our results show that normalizing pose and expression, with shape unmodified, increases performance in distinguishing faces.
MEASURING HISTORY: DOES HISTORICAL CAR PERFORMANCE FOLLOW THE TRIZ PERFORMANCE S CURVE?

After an outline of the four curves proposed for measuring historical product behavior by the TRIZ system and a brief summary of previous work to determine the development of car history, the paper investigates the assessment and measurement of performance throughout the history of the car. This is done by taking a historical investigation of performance criteria such as engine power, maximum speed and acceleration. A factor analysis is also carried out on performance parameters and the first two factors are presented as a two-dimensional performance map that could be used as a design tool. The paper then questions whether this is what is really meant by car performance and discusses the difficulties of measuring this. Car developments in the late 1930s are taken as an example to illustrate some of the nuances that need to be captured. The work has indicated that the TRIZ process is a somewhat simplistic curve that doesn’t take into account the historical data in this case.
INACTIVATION OF VERO CELL CULTURE ADAPTED CHICKEN ANEMIA VIRUS VACCINE

CAV is usually propagated on MDCC cell-culture and because this type of cells are not available in Egypt. We have used Vero cell line instead. CAV was propagated fourteen serial passages in Vero cell culture. The cytopathic effect in cell culture (CPE) was characterized vacuolation of the infected monolayers and subsequent detachment. Vacuolation of the infected monolayers started by the 7th day post infection (DPI) then began to appear more early by the successive passage to reach the 2nd DPI cell. The highest virus titer was 7.6 log10TCID50 /ml in Vero cell culture obtained by the 10th passage. Studying the growth kinetics of CAV in Vero cell culture indicated that the highest total virus yield was 7.6log10TCID50/ml by 72 hours post cell infection. Complete inactivation of CAV was obtained after 72 hours at 37oC using 0.2% formalin. Complete virus inactivation was confirmed by 3 successive passages in Vero cell culture showing absence of CPE and FAT showing negative reaction.