Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of nicardipine in pure, pharmaceutical preparations and plasma and its application to pharmacokinetics in humans

A simple, sensitive and reproducible reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method has been developed and validated for the determination of nicardipine hydrochloride (NC) in pure, pharmaceutical preparations, human plasma and the study of the pharmacokinetics of the drug in human body. Nicardipine in plasma were extracted with hexane-butanol (12:1,v/v) after addition of borate buffer (0.5 M, pH=9.0), and then measured by HPLC-UV using a Waters Symmetry C18 column as stationary phase and methanol– triethylamine buffer (0.01M) pH 4 with acetic acid (70:30) as mobile phase. Nicardipine was quantified by ultraviolet absorbance at 353 nm. The method proved to be linear in the pure drug in the ranges of 15-200 ng/mL (r=0.9989) and 5-40 µg/mL (r=0.9995), and for the pharmaceutical preparations and plasma for drug concentrations in the range of 5-40 µg/mL (r =0.9992) and 25-150 ng/mL (r=0.9991), respectively. The lower limit of detection and the lower quantitation limit of NC in plasma were 11.74 and 35.57 ng/mL, respectively. The method is sensitive and reliable for pharmacokinetic studies of nicardipine in humans after the oral administration of immediate-release capsules to healthy subjects.
Parametric Study of Photosynthetic CO2 Conversion for Thermophilic Cyanobacterial Growth in a Novel Membrane-based Photo Bioreactor

A novel, laboratory-scale, membrane-based photo bioreactor was used to investigate the feasibility of CO2 removal from flue gas of coal-fired power plants using the photosynthetic conversion of CO2 in terms of algal biomass productivity (g m -2 day -1 ). The experiments employed atmospheric CO2 and CO2-enriched air concentrations of 0.5% and 10% under light intensities of 75±10 μmol m -2 s -1 , with gas and water temperatures of 50±3 ̊C. An initial mass of thermophilic cyanobacterial was grown on a 2’x1’ vertical growth surface for a 16-day period. The culture media flowed vertically down the growth surfaces while a CO2-enriched air stream was circulated horizontally across and parallel to the surfaces. The productivities of algal biomass growth in atmospheric CO2, 0.5% and 10% CO2 were approximately 1.20, 1.82, and 1.86 g m -2 day -1 , respectively. The result showed insignificant difference in gained algal biomass between 0.5% and 10% CO2.
Composing an Evaluation Framework for Personal Information Management Tools

Many of the employees of today’s corporations are knowledge workers, people who create, read, analyze and act upon information. Information that is stored in different places, in different file formats and accessed by different software. PIM (Personal Information Management) literature expresses a lot of challenges for our tools to overcome. We have compiled these into an evaluation framework that could be used to evaluate future PIM solutions. We have also created a software prototype with the purpose of addressing the challenges in the evaluation framework, which we conduct a theoretical evaluation of.
Wave drift damping of floating bodies in slow yaw motion

Wave diffraction, wave forces and wave drift damping due to a floating body performing a slow rotation about the vertical axis (yaw) is considered. The rotation angle of the body may be arbitrary. The angular velocity is assumed small compared to the wave frequency, however. The problem is formulated in the frame of reference following the slow rotation of the body, accounting for non-Newtonian forces. By applying the method of multiple timescales, the fluid flow is determined consistently to leading order in the slow angular velocity and to second order in the wave amplitude. Mathematical solution of the problem is obtained by means of integral equations that are applicable to geometries of arbitrary shape. The wave loads are found by applying conservation of linear and angular momentum. The wave drift damping is expressed by the far-field amplitudes of the wave field and the dipole moments of the time-averaged second-order potential. Numerical results are presented for a ship and a vertical cylinder describing a circular path in the horizontal plane. The results show that the wave drift damping due to a slow yaw motion of a floating body is one order of magnitude larger than the time-averaged forces and moment when there is no rotation. Wave drift damping due to slow rotation and slow translation are found to be of equal importance.
The resonating spaces of First-Person Shooter games

In previous work I have provided a conceptual framework for the design and analysis of sound in First-Person Shooter games and have suggested that the relationship between player and soundscape in such games may be modeled as an acoustic ecology. This paper develops these ideas further and uses them to describe and define a variety of sonic spaces within the First- Person Shooter and their relevance for player immersion in both the acoustic ecology and the wider gameworld.
Effect of Zinc Supplementation on Urea Hydrolysis in an In Vitro Fermentation Using Rumen

Rapid hydrolysis of urea in the rumen is the principle cause for urea (ammonia) toxicity. Efforts were directed to retard urea hydrolysis by supplementing zinc at gradual levels viz, 0, 5.0,10.0, 15.0 and 20.0 pprn in one ml solution to 35 mg of urea in one ml solution, and in one ml distilled water with 40 ml buffered rumen liquor in 100 ml syringe fitted with butyl rubber cap and incubated at 39OC. The 35 mg of urea per 43ml of liquor in the in vitro batch culture is equivalent to toxic dose of 100 mg per 100ml of rumen liquor in adult cattle. The incubation was carried out in an anaerobic environment at pH of 6.8. Five replications were conducted twice, resulting in ten replications in each treatment. The residual urea retained in each tube at 0, 1, 2 and 3 hour intervals from the respective aliquot (1 ml) was measured at wavelength of 520 nm. Highest residual urea (P<0.01) was observed in 10 pprn zinc supplementation over the rest of the treatments imposed across incubating hours. The residual urea (mg/dL) at the end of 1,2 and 3 hours of incubation were 28.99f 1.04, 18.33f 0.04 and 15.45+ 0.18 respectively at 10 pprn of zinc compared to 18.95+ 0.38,10.00+ 0.16 and 7.48 + 0.12 in control (0 pprn). The result divulged that 10 pprn zinc was able to effectively retard the urea hydrolysis up to 3 hours, reflecting its effect on the extent of duration. Though the results demonstrated the superiority of 10 pprn zinc treatment over the rest of the treatments in retarding urea hydrolysis, yet another experiment was conducted to further improve the precision at a pH of 7.4 that is considered to be favorable environment for ammonia toxicity. The second trial was conducted following the same procedure except that of the level of zinc supplemented. In this experiment, zinc was supplemented at 0, 7.5, 10.0 and 12.5 pprn to 35 mg of urea with 40 ml of buffered rumen liquor incubated for 0,1,2 and 3 hours. The intial pH was brought to 7.4 by addition of a suitable quantity of soda bicarbonate to simulate a conducive environment for free ammonia production. The results of this experiment further strengthened the previous experiment's results with a significantly (P<0.01) higher residual urea in 10 pprn against the rest of the treatments. Thus it can be concluded that supplementation of 10 pprn zinc delayed the hydrolysis of urea. Correspondence author: Dr V Balakrishnan, email address: drbalakrishnanphd@yahoo.co.in 94 Kathirvelan C & Balakrishnan V
Thematic Development of Declarations on Sustainability in Higher Education

Declarations on Sustainability in Higher Education (SHE) have grown in number and significance over the last decade. SHE declarations can be viewed as a piece of non binding international regulation that shapes universities’ pioneering role in ensuring sustainable development. Examination of the international SHE literature reveals no study that deals specifically with the interaction between declarations developed by the university sector and declarations developed by governmental and intergovernmental institutions. An analysis of this type can give us important insights in what themes these parties think should be given top priority in order to develop a sustainable society. Hence, the article addresses the following issues: (1) a thematic analysis of the relation between declarations developed by the university sector and those developed by governmental and intergovernmental institutions; (2) an analysis of themes the two types of declarations might have in common; and if so (3) an analysis of how they have developed during the past decade. The article finds four new themes that previous research has not identified, and shows how the valuation of nature is under reconfiguration in higher education policy.
Does an Exogenous or an Endogenous Growth Model Fare Better? Evidence from the GDP growth rates of 24 OECD countries

This paper evaluates typical exogenous and endogenous growth models in light of their transitional dynamics implications. Rather than selecting a very special stochastic process of technology shock so as to match a specific output process, we assume only a simple AR transitory shock in both growth models. After deriving the growth rate of output under the two models, this paper tests the cross-equation restrictions for 24 OECD countries' output growth rates. We find all but one of the growth series pass the endogenous growth hypothesis. However, even with the transitional dynamics implications in both models, in 75% of the OECD countries the output dynamics are observationally equivalent between the endogenous and the exogenous growth models.
Isolation and Identification of Very Virulent Strains of Marek’s Disease Virus from MDVVaccinated Flocks in Egypt

Marek’s disease is still a major problem among Egyptian poultry flocks, despite the intensive vaccination programs against the disease. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of MDV infection among forty-four flocks of breeders and layers with ages ranged from 4-20 months. Feather follicle specimens were collected during 2012-2015 from 44 vaccinated chicken flocks showing emaciation and visceral tumors. The samples were tested by PCR using three pairs of primers. Nineteen flocks were positive for MDV using primers targeting the UL 19 gene with a percentage of 43.2%. Three flocks were shown to be positive by primers targeting the meq and 132 bp tandem repeat genes with a percentage of 6.8%. Inoculation of duck embryo fibroblast (DEF) and chick embryo fibroblast (CEF) showed CPE in the form of plaques formation within 5-14 days post inoculation. Sequencing of meq and 132 tandem repeat genes of the 3 samples revealed that the isolated strains exhibited 99% homology with the very virulent European, Chinese, American, Indian and Egyptian MDV isolates. In conclusion, although the availability of MDV vaccines especially HVT vaccine which is used in the examined flocks in the present study, the disease was recorded. Thus, indicating that HVT vaccines are unable to protect completely against more virulent strains. Therefore, there is a need to develop a new strategy and types of vaccination to be able to protect against new strains of virus.
Molecular characterization of olive cultivars grown in Iraq using amplified fragment length polymorphism and simple sequence repeat markers

In this study, genetic relationships among olive cultivars grown in Iraq were investigated by means of two DNA molecular marker classes: amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR). Total genomic DNA was isolated from young leaves of the selected olive cultivars. Namely ‘Arbqween’, ‘Baashiqi’, ‘Dahkan’, ‘Labeeb’, ‘Khdhier’, ‘Manzenllo’, ‘Nepali’, ‘Qaysi’, ‘Shami’ and ‘Sorani’. AFLP-PCR technology was performed using nine selective primer combinations, yielding 250 bands, 145 (58%) of which were polymorphic while 10 SSR primer pairs generated 85 polymorphic bands on a total of 283 fragments (30%). According to AFLP markers, the unweighted pairgroup method with an arithmetic average (UPGMA) ordered olive cultivars into two main clusters irrespective of their origin at similarity level of 0.48. Similarly, UPGMA based on 85 polymorphic SSR loci ordered the olive cultivars into two main clusters at similarity level of 0.54. The combination of AFLP and SSR markers was then performed, thus generating two groups with 50% similarity. Genetic similarity index estimated by both DNA markers used in this study proved three cultivars to be very close to each other (‘Qaysi’, ‘Baashiqi’ and ‘Dahkan’) as they always clustered together in the resulting dendrograma. The scatter diagrams of the first two (PC1 and PC2) of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) confirmed the results obtained by the two marker classes. The results of this research confirmed AFLP and SSR to be useful tools in genetic relationships among olive cultivars, in creating a molecular database for Iraqi olive cultivars, in breeding strategies and in correct cultivar identification. Keywords : Olea europaea , genetic diversity, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), sequence repeat (SSR) markers. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(25), pp. 3914-3921
Simulation of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) using a HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM)

El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an atmosphere-ocean coupled phenomenon that exhibits interannual variability in tropical Pacific Ocean and plays an important role in modulating the interannual variability of regional climate globally. El Niño is defined by the appearance and persistence, for 6-18 month, of anomalously warm water in the coastal and equatorial ocean off Peru and Ecuador (Trenberth, 1997) and is a perturbation of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. It is dynamically linked to the Southern Oscillation, a see-saw in surface atmospheric pressure between the Australian–East Asian region and the eastern tropical Pacific. Bjerkness (1969) first hypothesized that a positive ocean-atmosphere feedback involved the Walker circulation is responsible for the SST warming observed in the equatorial eastern and central Pacific. An initial positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly in the equatorial eastern Pacific reduces the east-west SST gradient and hence the strength of the Walker circulation (Gill, 1980; Lindzen and Nigam, 1987), resulting in weaker trade winds around the equator. A decrease of the equatorial easterlies weakens the equatorial upwelling, thereby the eastern equatorial Pacific becomes warmer and supplies heat also to the atmosphere above it. The weaker trade winds in turn drive the ocean circulation changes that further reinforce SST anomaly. This positive ocean-atmosphere feedback leads to the occurrence of El Niño.
Can large long-term investors capture illiquidity premiums

In this paper we perform a literature study to assess whether large long-term investors can benefit from liquidity premiums in different asset classes. We both describe the theoretical predictions on liquidity premiums and portfolio choice with illiquidity, as well as empirical evidence on liquidity premiums. We document that expected liquidity premiums in stocks have diminished in recent years and are hard to capture for large investors. In corporate and government bond markets there are more opportunities to exploit liquidity premiums. The evidence on liquidity premiums in alternative investment classes is scarce.
Anatomy of option features in convertible bonds

Several earlier theoretical studies on the optimal issuer's calling policy of a convertible bond suggest that the issuer should call the bond as soon as the conversion value exceeds the call price. However, empirical studies on actual cases of calling by convertible bond issuers reveal that firms “delayed” calling their convertible bonds until the conversion value well exceeded the call price. In this paper, we construct valuation algorithms that price risky convertible bonds with embedded option features. In particular, we examine the impact of the soft call and hard call constraints, notice period requirement and other factors on the optimal issuer's calling policy. Our results show that the critical stock price at which the issuer should optimally call the convertible bond depends quite sensibly on these constraints and requirements. The so‐called “delayed call phenomena” may be largely attributed to the underestimation of the critical call price due to inaccurate modeling of the contractual provisions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 24:513–532, 2004
Biochemical Effects of Sewage Pollution on The Benthic Organism Nerita Polita

Degradation of coastal ecosystems is an issue of growing concern. Discharges of sewage effluents to sea water is a major contributor to marine pollution. This study examines the biogeochemical effects of sewage pollution on the condition factor and energy reserves of Nerita polita. A total of 135 molluscs were exposed to varying sewage concentrations of between 5%-50%. Physicochemical parameters of the exposure media were characterized using standard techniques. Condition factor of Nerita polita was determined weekly using the Fulton’s index. After the exposure period, the molluscs were sacrificed and energy reserves determined. Increase in sewage pollution resulted in elevation of ammonia (0.01-0.08 mg/L), phosphate (0.05-156 mg/L), nitrates (0.02-1.99 mg/L) and temperature (24.34-25.12oC), while pH (7.75 to 7.29) and dissolved oxygen (5.62-2.38 mg/L) were lowered. There was no correlation between the condition factor of Nerita polita and the sewage pollution. Glucose, lipid and protein concentrations in the mollusc tissues ranged from 29.6-71.3 mg/L, 171-677 mg/L and 338-445 mg/L, respectively, and they decreased along the increasing sewage gradient. Energy reserves in Nerita polita were highest in lipids, followed by proteins and glucose the least and they were affected by the pollution gradient. Findings of this work suggest that energy reserves are sensitive bio indicators but that conditional factor is an unreliable marker to assess acute sewage toxicity. In addition, increase in sewage pollution also leads to a decrease in the water quality and that sewage concentrations above 30% can have profound effects on Nerita polita.
International Conference on Psychology and Education EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS AND THEORY OF MIND IN SENIOR PRESCHOOL

The goal of our study is to specify the role of executive functions in cognitive and social development in preschool age. This research examined the relation between individual differences in all three components of executive functioning (working memory, cognitive flexibility and inhibition) and theory of mind performance in senior preschool-age children. The study involved 267 children aged 5-6 years (143 boys and 124 girls), pupils of the older kindergarten groups in Moscow. The study used NEPSY-II diagnostic complex subtests aimed at diagnosing the level of executive functions and social development («Theory of mind» is one of them). We also used the Raven’s progressive matrix test, the DCCS method and the Test of Emotion Comprehension. The obtained result’s analysis showed the significant connection between all three components of executive functions and theory of mind. Three types of development of regulatory functions in preschool children were identified. Children belonging to different types shown differences in the successfulness of the theory of mind’s tasks performing. Our results provide important details about understanding the relation between executive functioning and theory of mind development in the senior preschool age and practical implications for child’s future academic success, which requires high level of regulation and socio-emotional competence. © 2017 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy. org.UK
Effect of Osmotic Dehydration on Mechanical and Rheological Properties of Pumpkin Dried with Microwave Method in Reduced Pressure Conditions

Abstract The objective of the research was to indicate the impact of sirup type used for osmotic dehydration and the microwaves power for microwave and vacuum drying on the selected mechanical and rheological properties of dried pumpkin. Pumpkin cultivar Rugosa was osmotically dehydrated in three concentrates: apple, aronia and cherry. Initially prepared material was dried with microwave method in the reduced pressure conditions which was within 6-4 kPa at the microwave power which was 240 and 480 W. Dried material was subjected to compression tests and stresses relaxation tests. Compression work values (Pś), cutting work (Pp) and indicators describing material elasticity (a and b) were computed. An initial treatment in the form of osmotic dehydration carried out before microwave drying in the reduced pressure conditions allows obtaining dried pumpkin with a raised resistance to compression and cutting and the decreased elasticity in comparison to dried material obtained from a pumpkin which was not subjected to the initial treatment. Microwaves power influences the values of compression and cutting of dried pumpkin.
Isolation and Characterization of a Vibrio alginolyticus Mutant That Overproduces Extracellular Proteases

Summary: The Vibrio alginolyticus prot-T1 mutant was able to produce haloes of clearing on skim milk/peptone agar plates at 42°C whereas proteolysis by the wild-type strain was inhibited at 37°C. The prot-T1 mutant overproduced the three major alkaline proteases with apparent molecular masses of approximately 28000, 22500 and 19500 (proteases 1a, 2 and 3, respectively). Their synthesis was not markedly repressed by incubation at 37°C or by non-aeration. Both treatments inhibited protease synthesis in the wild-type strain, which only produced proteases during the stationary growth phase. The prot-T1 mutant synthesized proteases throughout the exponential and stationary growth phases in peptone medium. High protease activities were induced by glucose or glutamine in stationary phase prot-T1 that were pre-grown in peptone medium. Glucose or glutamine had the opposite effect on protease activities in stationary phase prot-T1 cultures that were pre-grown in minimal medium. Collagenase synthesis was not altered in the prot-T1 mutant and was repressed by growth at 37° or without aeration. The independent control of collagenase synthesis supports the conclusion that there are no regulatory proteins responsible for the overall control of extracellular protease synthesis by temperature, aeration and growth phase in V. alginolyticus.