Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vegetative Growth Performance of Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) Seedlings in Response to Inorganic and organic fertilizers

In this study, the effect of agricultural waste on growth of oil palm seedlings was conducted at the NIFOR main nursery, Benin City, Nigeria using three agricultural wastes (EFB(empty fruit bunches) ash, poultry manure and cow dung). The experiment consists of four treatments namely; EFB ash, poultry manure, cow dung and NPK Mg 12-12-17-2 each applied at the rate of 3.36g N/seedling and a control without treatment. The Experiment was laid down as Randomized Complete Block Design replicated three times. The physico-chemical properties of the nursery soil was analyzed prior to the trial and the result showed mean amount of 0.20% C, 6.55 mg/kg P, 0.17% N, 2.64cmol/kg CEC. The soil was slightly acidic with pH 5.60. Palm circumference (girth) was highest in plot treated with NPK Mg while plant height was highest in plots treated with cow dung and EFB ash; leaf area, leaf number and chlorophyll contents were highest in EFB ash while nitrogen content was highest in palm treated with NPK Mg. Statistical analysis showed significant difference in height and girth of seedlings. Performance of oil palm seedlings on soil amended with agricultural wastes which is cheaper and easily available is comparable to oil palm seedlings grown on soil amended with inorganic fertilizer.
Genetic manipulation of Anopheles stephensi immunity to increase plasmodium falciparum salivary gland sporozoite infection levels

Title of Dissertation: GENETIC MANIPULATION OF ANOPHELES STEPHENSI IMMUNITY TO INCREASE PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM SALIVARY GLAND SPOROZOITE INFECTION LEVELS Kasim I. George, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Professor David A. O’Brochta, Institute for Bioscience & Biotechnology Research Department of Entomology Human malaria is responsible for over 700,000 deaths a year. To stay abreast of the threat posed by the parasite, a constant stream of new drugs and vector control methods are required. This study focuses on a vaccine that has the potential to protect against parasite infection, but has been hindered by developmental challenges. In malaria prevention, live, attenuated, aseptic, Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites (PfSPZ) can be administered as a highly protective vaccine. PfSPZ are produced using adult female Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes as bioreactors. Production volume and cost of a PfSPZ vaccine for malaria are expected to be directly correlated with Plasmodium falciparum infection intensity in the salivary glands. The sporogonic development of Plasmodium falciparum in A. stephensi to fully infected salivary gland stage sporozoites is dictated by the activities of several known components of the mosquito’s innate immune system. Here I report on the use of genetic technologies that have been rarely, if ever, used in Anopheles stephensi Sda500 to increase the yield of sporozoites per mosquito and enhance vaccine production. By combining the Gal4/UAS bipartite system with in vivo expression of shRNA gene silencing, activity of the IMD signaling pathway downstream effector LRIM1, an antagonist to Plasmodium development, was reduced in the midgut, fat body, and salivary glands of A. stephensi. In infection studies using P. berghei and P. falciparum these transgenic mosquitoes consistently produced significantly more salivary gland stage sporozoites than wildtype controls, with increases in P. falciparum ranging from 2.5 to 10 fold. Using Plasmodium infection assays and qRT-PCR, two novel findings were identified. First, it was shown that 14 days post Plasmodium infection, transcript abundance of the IMD immune effector genes LRIM1, TEP1 and APL1c are elevated, in the salivary glands of A. stephensi, suggesting the salivary glands may play a role in post midgut defense against the parasite. Second, a non-pathogenic IMD signaling pathway response was observed which could suggest an alternative pathway for IMD activation. The information gained from these studies has significantly increased our knowledge of Plasmodium defense in A. stephensi and moreover could significantly improve vaccine production. GENETIC MANIPULATION OF ANOPHELES STEPHENSI IMMUNITY TO INCREASE PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM SALIVARY GLAND SPOROZOITE INFECTION LEVELS
Advances in Tissue Culture of Cucurbits: A Review

Crops belongs to Cucurbitaceae are generally known as cucurbits or gourds. The family Cucurbitaceae is largest among the known vegetables comprising of 117 genera and includes 825 species in tropical parts of the world. It includes the cucumber, Squashes, Pumpkin, Luffa, Melons, Watermelon, Spine gourd, Sweet gourd, Bottle gourd, Sponge gourd, Snake gourd, Pointed gourd etc. It is widely distributed around the tropics. It is also listed in the earliest cultivated plantsof old and new world for the edible fruits and vegetables. It consists of wide range of vegetables which can be used in various purposes such as, salad (cucumber), for cooking (all type of gourds), pickling (gherkins), as a dessert food (Musk melon and watermelon) and as a candy (ash gourd). The Cucurbitaceae family consists of widely spread and genetically diverse group of plants. It occupies largest area through out the world. This genetically diversified group of plant includes traditional cultivars, landraces, edible as well as nonedible wild and cultivated forms, weedy species and related non-edible wild species.
Adjunct Mathematics Instructor Resources and Support Contributing Toward Job Satisfaction

Ongoing need for adjunct instructor support is a critical aspect for institutions to consider. Through research focused on full-time and part-time faculty job satisfaction, a number of practices for supporting faculty and improving job satisfaction have been suggested. In this article, we present an innovative model of instructor resources and supports within a mathematics department. We focus on how these various resources and supports have benefited our part-time adjunct faculty job satisfaction and describe how the supports and challenges experienced by our Precalculus adjunct faculty are related to variables impacting job satisfaction found in literature. We also present some additional factors that were missing in prior studies in literature but were found important for our adjunct instructors’ job satisfaction. Our findings can inform other institutions’ and mathematics departments’ efforts to support their own part-time faculty teaching introductory courses such as Precalculus.
Teachers’ perceptions of successful transition to school for children with and without Downs Syndrome in the UAE and England

ABSTRACT The experience of transition into school has been shown to correlate with later school outcomes, with a successful experience resulting in later positive academic and social outcomes. Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) face more challenging transitions. Teacher attitudes and expectations of children with SEN play a key role in determining the quality of the transition. Early Years Foundation Stage teachers were recruited from the UK and from the UAE. They completed a questionnaire twice, rating the importance of factors in ensuring a successful transition to school for children with no SEN and with Downs Syndrome. Significant differences in the rating of factors were found for the two groups of children. Between-country differences were significant for Knowledge and for Academic factors. The implications of differences in expectations cross-culturally and for children with SEN are discussed.
Potentialities of beebread as a food supplement and source of nutraceuticals: Botanical origin, nutritional composition and antioxidant activity

Beebread is a honey bee product resulting from the storage and lactic fermentation of pollen within the hive. The potential use of beebread as a food supplement and nutraceutical greatly depends on its chemical richness, which varies upon the flora diversity of the region and the season of pollen collection by the bees. To evaluate the potential of this bee product as a food supplement and source of nutraceuticals, we analyzed beebread produced in the northeast region of Portugal, along with a commercial sample. The analysis focused on pollen composition, nutritional parameters (moisture, ash, fats, proteins and sugars), the presence of vitamin E, the phenolic content, and its antioxidant activity. Beebread proved to be a good source of nutrients, with high protein and carbohydrate content, where fructose and glucose were the main sugars resembling the honey sugar profile. Its nutritional value, together with the richness in phenolics and its high bioactivity, makes this product an excellent choice to be consumed as nutraceutical in food supplementation.
Effect of Foliar Application of Nutrients on Biological Yield and Economics Urdbean (Vigna mungo (L.) Hepper)

Pulses are commonly known as food legumes which are secondary to cereals in production and consumption in India. Pulses are an important source of dietary protein, energy, minerals and vitamins for the mankind. d. Pulses provide 25 per cent of protein requirements of predominantly vegetarian population. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a per capita consumption of pulses at 80 g per day and the Indian Council of Medical Research has recommended a minimum consumption of 47 g. Pulses play an important role in Indian Agriculture as they restore soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen through their nodules. Urdbean is the fourth most important pulse crop after chickpea, pigeonpea and green gram in India. It contains 48.0% carbohydrates, 22.3% protein, 154 mg calcium, 9.1 mg iron, 1.4 g fat, 0.37 g riboflavin and 0.42 mg thiamin in per 100 g of urdbean (Asaduzzaman et al., 2010). All India area, production and productivity of urdbean was 3.11 m ha, 1.90 m tones and 611 kg/ha, respectively, during 2012-13 (Anonymous, 2014). The yield potential of blackgram is very low because of the fact that, the crop is mainly grown in rainfed International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 5 (2017) pp. 2658-2662 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Relative influence of antecedent topography and sea‐level rise on barrier‐island migration

The response of barrier islands to sea‐level rise is modulated by combinations of coastal processes, eco‐geomorphic feedbacks and structural controls, such as antecedent topography. Interactions among these drivers can lead to complex and non‐linear changes in island morphology and transitions between migrational, erosional or progradational states. This study seeks to constrain the morphological consequences of barrier islands migrating across complex antecedent topography in response to rising sea level. The stratigraphy of four barrier–backbarrier systems along the United States Mid‐Atlantic coast informs idealized geometries of diverse antecedent substrate. These outcomes are integrated into a cross‐shore morphodynamic model of barrier‐island migration to quantify the influence of this antecedent geology on barrier‐retreat behaviour. Additionally, this study explores the future response of specific barrier islands to various rates of sea‐level rise over multi‐decadal to millennial timescales. The results show that antecedent substrate slope plays a central role in barrier morphodynamic behaviour. In particular, migration across a subaqueous backbarrier ridge (for example, coastal barrier or dune deposits from earlier sea‐level highstands) can cause a succession of phase changes in a modern island. For example, the case studies illustrate that the steep slopes and decreased backbarrier accommodation associated with antecedent highs greater than 3 m in profile can greatly reduce island migration rates, effectively ‘pinning’ the island in place, even with sea‐level rise rates up to 6 mm yr−1. However, once the island migrates over the high, backbarrier accommodation increases, leading to enhanced overwash fluxes, more rapid landward migration, and possible drowning. Additionally, the results indicate that antecedent substrate may slow barrier‐island migration by providing sediment through both shoreface and inlet processes. The field and modelling insights from this study are presented as a conceptual model of the relative influence of various antecedent features on barrier‐island dynamics along sandy, siliciclastic coasts.
Prediction and precursors of Idai and 38 other tropical cyclones and storms in the Mozambique Channel

On average, about two tropical storms or cyclones enter or form in the Mozambique Channel between the African mainland and Madagascar each year. Their impact can be devastating. The tropical cyclone Idai, which hit land in Mozambique in 2019, was one of the deadliest storms on record in the Southern Hemisphere. Previous studies have found that the tracks and strengths of tropical storms and cyclones are difficult to predict more than a few days ahead. An extension of this forecast horizon would be crucial for enabling authorities to take precautionary actions. Here, the ability of the European Centre for Medium‐range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) state‐of‐the‐art ensemble prediction model to predict Idai and 38 other tropical systems is assessed. Local wind speed maxima and sea‐level pressure (SLP) minima were predicted by about 25% of the ensemble members at lead times of 1–3 days but only about 5% of the members at 7–9 days' lead times. However, several variables showed potential as precursors of tropical storms and cyclones, and some of these could be predicted at long lead times. In particular, SLP anomalies, which were significantly lower than normal multiple days before the peaks of the storms, were skilfully predicted by the ensemble mean at lead times of at least 3 weeks. Specific humidity at 500 hPa and divergence at 200 hPa were higher than normal several days before the peaks, and these potential precursors were also forecasted with skill up to about 2 weeks in advance. The inclusion of forecasts of these variables as predictors in hybrid statistical–dynamical forecasting systems could potentially extend the time horizon for prediction and early detection of possible tropical storms and cyclones in the region.
Access to healthcare services for the Roma and undocumented migrants in the EU in light of the Covid-19 pandemic

Background. The rising number of the EU Roma citizens from the CEE countries, non-EU Roma citizens from the Western-Balkans, and of undocumented migrants in the European Union makes it interesting to see that most of them face barriers when accessing health services [with a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)] or have no health coverage at all [no legal entitlement]. European migrant health policies are seemingly well structured and responsive to the needs of migrants, however, results of recent studies raise the question whether the legislations are responsive enough to the needs of the Roma and undocumented migrants when accessing health services. Given the circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic these groups are now at an increased risk and they might not be able to understand how the virus transmits and how they can protect themselves from it. Methods. Literature review focusing on the access to health services and migrant health policies in the EU and the UK was carried out. The target groups of this research were Roma citizens and third-country national undocumented migrants residing in the European Union. Results. In theory the legal entitlement for accessing healthcare for migrants in general is satisfactory, while in practice these groups face difficulties, such as prejudice, discrimination and other barriers (language, logistical) when approaching health services. Migrants lack trust in the health system and the healthcare professionals, and are not aware of their fundamental rights to healthcare either. Conclusions. Legal entitlements for EU migrant citizens do not differ within EU countries but they significantly vary for undocumented migrants Europe-wide and there seems to be a mismatch between the legal entitlements for undocumented migrants in theory and their implementation in practice. Given the circumstances of the pandemic these groups are at an increased risk and therefore their health inclusion through health literacy programs should take place, as well as health workers should be trained on diversity in order to establish diversity adapted EU health systems. Seeking adaptive practices to establish cultural diversity within the healthcare settings, and introducing the universal health coverage scheme Europe-wide in order for undocumented migrants and EU citizens without employment to benefit from proper healthcare services is encouraged and necessary.
Regulation of microRNAs by stress and gonadal hormones in the male and female mouse hippocampus

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iv DECLARATION OF WORK PERFORMED . v TABLE OF CONTENTS . vi LIST OF TABLES . ix LIST OF FIGURES . x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . xiI CHAPTER 1: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . 1 General Introduction . 1 Hormonal Effects in the Central Nervous System . 2 Gonadal Hormone Regulation and Mechanism of Action . 3 Estrogen synthesis and metabolism . 3 Estrogens and the HPG axis . 5 Estrogen receptors . 6 Mechanisms of estrogen action . 9 Stress Hormone Regulation and Mechanisms of Action . 15 Stress and the HPA axis . 15 Cellular mechanisms of stress . 17 Structural and Functions Responses to Hormones . 19 Estradiol actions within the central nervous system . 19 Responses to stress within the central nervous system . 23 Neurobehavioural disorders connected to estrogens and stress . 30 Interactions between gonadal and stress hormones . 30 Gonadal regulation of the HPA axis . 30 Stress regulation of the HPG axis . 34 The Hippocampus . 35 Hippocampal structure, connectivity and function . 35 Hippocampal plasticity . 38 MicroRNAs . 40 MicroRNA biogenesis and degradation . 40 MicroRNA targeting and functions . 43 MicroRNA involvement in the central nervous system . 45 Hormonal Regulation of MicroRNAs . 48 Estrogen-microRNA connections . 48 Stress-microRNA connections . 53 Hypothesis and Objectives . 55
The importance of absorptive capacity towards innovation in small-medium enterprises: is human capital a moderating factor?

Previous literatures have reviewed that innovation ability relies on the capacity to absorp new knowledge (absorptive capacity). This study aims to examine the effect of absorptive capacity on innovation in the scope of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the province of West Java, Indonesia. To see whether human resource factors play a role in the ability of absorptive capacity, this study uses human capital as a mediator. The results of the study concluded that the scope of SMEs is different from multinational industries, where human capital apparently does not act as a mediator in the relationship between absorptive capacity and innovation.
Remote buprenorphine-naloxone initiation as an essential service for people with chronic pain and opioid dependence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Case reports, clinical pathways, and implications for the future

ABSTRACT Many health care professions have reacted swiftly to the COVID-19 pandemic. In-person care has been ramped down and telemedicine/telehealth has been thrust to the forefront of clinical care. For people living with chronic pain and often concomitantly dealing with opioid-related issues, this is a time of great stress. With population-wide movements to shelter in place, people living with pain are more isolated, more stressed, and more vulnerable to mental health concerns like depression and anxiety that can increase pain-related suffering. This article presents two case reports of patients struggling with chronic pain and opioid dependence in which a telemedicine-based buprenorphine-naloxone conversion was chosen as a treatment option by two Canadian programs: The Transitional Pain Service at the Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, and The Opioid Deprescribing Program in Calgary, Alberta. Both cases presented highlight the use of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest that there will be substantial need for these services well beyond the apex of the crisis. A buprenorphine-naloxone home induction protocol is presented and we provide insight into important lessons learned regarding the appropriate selection of patients with chronic pain struggling with opioid use disorder for buprenorphine-naloxone conversion. The provision of health care during the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly forced practitioners to evolve novel health care practices, and these changes will have long-term implications.
Epidemiological Investigation, Serotypes and Distribution of Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) in Raw Milk and Milk Products in Uyo, Nigeria

Food borne diseases are of great concern globally especially in the developing countries where poor sanitation is applied during collection and processing of milk from animals. The epidemiological investigation, serotypes and distribution of verocytotoxin (VTI and VT2)producing Escherichia coli in raw milk and milk products were determined using structured questionnaire, Cefixime tellurite-sorbitol MacConkey agar, agglutination kits and VTECRPLA Toxin detection Kit. Out of 27 milkers, 7.4 % had primary education, 22.2 % washed the milk utensils with cold water and soap, 11.1 % washed their hands before milking, while 7.4 % milkers washed the udder of the animals before milking. All the yoghurts had the product names; 85.7 % had NAFDAC numbers; 80.0% had Batch Numbers, while 71.4 % had Manufacturer s’ Addresses. The unpasteurized milk samples had E. coli 0157 and non 0157 E. coli counts (CFU.ml) ranging from 4.0 x 10 to 1.7 x 10 and 6.0 x 10 to 2.0 x 10 , respectively, while E. coli 0157 and non 0157 E. coli counts of milk products were between 1.0 x 10 and 1.0 x 10 CFU.ml. E. coli 0157 had the highest percentage occurrence (38.3%), while E. coli 0145 had the lowest percentage occurrence (2.1%). More than 38.3% of the E. coli serotypes produced VT2, while ≥ 12.8% were VT1 producers. The occurrence of VTEC in the unpasteurized milk shows that the milkers should be enlightened on the necessary sanitary practices to adopt during milking and also post-pasteurization contamination of milk products should be avoided.
Iheringia Seasonal variation of the crustacean fauna in the belowground and aboveground strata in a Halodule wrightii meadow of northeastern Brazil

The diff erent microhabitats provided by seagrasses and the habit of the species determinate the vertical distribution of crustaceans. This study verifi ed the infl uence of the seasonality on the spatial distribution of the crustacean community associated with a Halodule wrightii meadow. From April 2006 to July 2007, we performed fi fteen samplings in Goiabeiras Beach, Ceará State, each with fi ve sectioned replicates in belowground and aboveground. Cumaceans and the amphipod Hyale media (Dana, 1853) had a higher frequency, density, and dominance than the other taxa, in both strata. The community exhibited gradual changes along the study, in both the belowground and aboveground strata, but the seagrass structure was not suffi cient to explain the vertical distribution of the crustacean fauna along the time.