bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cost and Returns Analysis of Groundnut Production in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria
Authors: Dalla A. A. , Vihi S. K. , Jesse B. , Tor L. G. 
Published: September 2020

This study assessed cost and returns analysis of groundnut production in Qua’an Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to determine the socio economic characteristics of groundnut producers in the study area, estimate the cost and returns of groundnut production, determine the input and output relationship in groundnut production and identify the constraints faced by groundnut farmers in the study area. Multistage sampling technique was used in selecting 150 respondents for the study. Primary data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires and interview technique and were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results obtained from the study revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 38 years with males dominating (82%) the groundnut production enterprise in the study area. Greater (85%) percentages of respondents were married with majority (64%) of them having primary school education. The respondents had an average household size of nine (9) persons, a mean farming experience of 9.3 years and an average farm size of 3.0 hectares. The result also revealed that majority (72%) of the respondents did not belong to any cooperative/ farming association. The result indicates that majority (79%) of the groundnut farmers acquired their farmland by inheritance. Groundnut production in the study area is profitable. The average output obtained per hectare was 696 kg at the prevailing selling price of ₦280/kg. The total revenue (TR), gross margin (GM) and, net farm income (NFI) per hectare obtained were ₦194880, ₦139380 and ₦123730 respectively. The return on naira invested (RNI) by farmers in the study area was ₦1.70 indicating that for every one naira invested, ₦1.70 profit was gained. The result of the double log production function analysis shows that farm size, cost of fertilizer and cost of labour were statistically significant and influenced the profitability of groundnut production. Major constraints to groundnut production in the study area include; high cost of inputs (64 %), high cost of labour (49 %), lack of organized market system (47%), land tenure (42%) among others. The study recommends that groundnut stakeholders and research institutes should work more on introducing new improved groundnut varieties. Government should subsidize groundnut inputs like recommended fertilizer and herbicides so as to motivate farmers to grow groundnut. Government should establish organized marketing systems where farmers will have proper and reliable linkages with buyers thereby reducing the undue exploitative tendencies of the middlemen. Improved storage facilities should be provided so that farmers could store their produce to avoid spoilage and for sale during times of scarcity.
Brassinosteroids: A Multifunctional Phytohormone of Plant Development and Stress Responses
Authors: Praveena Jannela , Dash Satyanarayan , Behera Laxmipreeya , Rout Gyana Ranjan 
Published: September 2020

Brassinosteroids (BRs) act as immune-modulators for generating plant growth and development. It regulated either activation or suppression of various key enzymatic reactions, activation of synthesis of protein, and generation of various defense modulating compounds for the plant kingdom. BRs play a vital role in regulating cellular differentiation, pollen development, fruit ripening, and quality seed formation. BRs regulates the various physiological process including root growth during nutrient deficiency such as nitrogen, phosphorus, boron and tends to signal the nutrient distribution in the rhizosphere level for better growth and high yield in crop plants. This review highlighted the role of BRs in plant growth and development and stress response, understanding the BR pathway, the molecular mechanism of BR signaling in various tissues, crosstalk between BRs and other phytohormones, gene involves in the brassinosteroids signaling pathway, biosynthesis and role of BRs in biomass production and crop yield.
Mineral Content and Antisickling Activity of Annona senegalensis, Alchornea cordifolia and Vigna unguiculata Used in the Management of Sickle Cell Disease in the Kwilu Province (Congo, DR)
Authors: Kitadi Jules M. , Inkoto Clément L. , Lengbiye Emmanuel M. , Tshibangu Damien S. T. , Tshilanda Dorothée D. , Ngbolua Koto-te-Nyiwa , Taba K. M. , Mbala Blaise M. , Schmitz Brigitte , Mpiana Pius T. 
Published: September 2020

Aims: To determine the mineral composition of some plants (Annona senegalensis Pers., Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Müll. Arg. and Vigna unguiculate (L.) Walp.) used in the management of sickle cell disease by traditional practitioners in Kwilu province and to evaluate their antisickling activity in vitro.
Study Design: Plant collection in the Kwilu province, sample preparation, antisickling tests and fluorescence spectrometric analysis.
Place and Duration of Study: This work was performed at the Faculty of Science, University of Kinshasa, Congo DR, from October 2016 to January 2018.
Methodology: These three plants were harvested in the province of Kwilu in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The mineral composition analysis was carried out using the fluorescence spectrometric method while the in vitro antisickling activity was evaluate using Emmel and hemolysis tests.
Results: Twenty three mineral elements were identified in each of these three plants: Potassium (K), Phosphorus (P), Calcium (Ca), Sodium (Na), Magnesium (Mg), Sulphur (S), Chlorine (Cl) and trace elements as: Aluminum (Al), Silicon (Si), Vanadium (V), Chromium (Cr), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Selenium (Se), Brome (Br), Molybdenum (Mo), Tin (Sn), Iodine (I), Barium (Ba) and Lead (Pb). Annona senegalensis Pers., Alchornea cordifolia (Schumach. & Thonn.) Müll.Arg. and Vigna unguiculate (L.) Walp. aqueous extracts showed the capacity to prevent the sickling and the hemolysis of red blood cells.
Conclusion: The obtained results confirm the antisickling activity thus justifying the use of these plants in Traditional Medicine for the management of sickle cell disease. The presence of some mineral elements like Fe, Zn, Mg and Se are useful for sickle cell disease patients.
Correlation between Serum Sodium and Potassium Levels in Preeclampsia
Authors: Saha Sneha , Singh Yanglem Ajitkumar , Naorem Sangeeta , Marbaniang Racheal Sweet , Kshetrimayum Victoria , Das Tina , Devi Potsangbam Jenny , Mathew Medowelie 
Published: September 2020

Aims: The aim of this study was to find the correlation between serum sodium and serum potassium with preeclampsia.
Study Design: This is a cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Conducted in Department of Biochemistry in collaboration with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, (RIMS), Imphal (Manipur) from September 2016 to August 2018.
Methodology: Blood samples of 30 diagnosed patients of preeclampsia and above 18 years of age admitted in the obstetrics antenatal ward of RIMS, Imphal was taken. Samples were analysed for serum sodium and potassium by randox rx imola autoanalyser. The data were analyzed using statistical tools like Chi-square test through SPSS 21.0.
Results: Serum sodium levels were high in 63.34%of study group, low levels were seen in 3.33% followed by normal levels in 33.3%of study group. Serum potassium levels were low in 56.6%of study group, normal in 40% and high in 3.33% of study group. There was positive correlation between serum sodium and proteinuria which was statistically significant at P-value <0.01 and negative correlation was seen between serum potassium levels with proteinuria which was statistically significant at P-value 0.04.
Conclusion: In this study hypernatremia and hypokalaemia were associated with preeclampsia, and may have important causative role in this syndrome therefore constant monitoring of serum sodium and potassium level in pregnant women may help in early detection, management and prevention of preeclampsia.
Characterization of Phytophthora infestans Isolates from Two Potato Varieties in the Highlands Agro-Ecological Zone of Cameroon
Authors: Lontsi Sylvere Landry Dida , Heu Alain , Fovo Joseph Djeugap , Tueguem William Norbert Kuate , Biamen Mbatkam , Gbaporo Fabrice Christian Gbaporo , Ambang Zachee 
Published: September 2020

Background: Late blight caused by Oomycete Phytophthora infestans remains a huge problem in potato production and one of the most severe crop diseases worldwide. In Cameroon, the populations characterization of this pathogen remain very little known.
Aims: This study aims to characterize isolates of P. infestans collected in twelve localities of Highlands zone of Cameroon.
Study Design: Twelve localities in three main potato production areas of the Highlands agro-ecological zone (HAZ) in Cameroon were selected for sample collection. The phenotypic parameters of sporangia were measured. The presence of mating types and pathogenicity tests on detached leaflets of two potato varieties (MANATE and CIPIRA) were assessed.
Results: A total of 36 isolates were collected. Height (08) Sporangia shape of P. infestans were obtain and 02 new different shape were pip form and oval to ellipsoid. Sporangia length/width ratio ranged from 1.62 to 2.18. Mating types A1 and A2 were present in the studied areas. Pathogenicity test on detached potato leaflets was positive with all the 36 isolates. The isolate HPBT02 from Tsela locality was more aggressive (P<0.05). MANATE variety was more susceptible.
Conclusion: The study shows that mating types A1 and A2 of P. infestans exit in Cameroon and the morphology of sporangia varies according to the localities. Molecular characterization is needed.
Evaluation of Toxicity and Bioremediation of Contaminated Drinking Water Sources in Delta State, Nigeria
Authors: Olorunfemi Daniel , Uzakah Richard , Ofomata Romeo , Okoruwa Charles 
Published: September 2020

Drinking water samples were collected from boreholes in six locations in Ughelli and environs in Delta State of Nigeria and were treated by filtration through a substrate colonized with mycelium of Pleurotus tuber-regium. Water samples were analysed for pH, heavy metal concentration and microbiological content before and after filtration. Results obtained showed that the pH of unfiltered water samples were acidic (5.0 – 5.8) and below the WHO and SON permissible limits for drinking water. The same trend was followed by the concentrations of heavy metals such as lead, iron, zinc and chromium. Water samples from all six locations also had high total bacterial and coliform counts. Filtration through the mycelium colonized substrate showed adjustment of pH to a range within the WHO permissible limits. Reduction in heavy metal concentration ranged from 45.0 – 100%. Total bacterial count of mycofiltered water samples was impressively reduced by 77.3 – 100% and coliform count was not detected. The results obtained in this study makes mycofiltration a potential cost-effective and efficient technique for the treatment of potable water for domestic use.
Package Substrate Die Pad Roughening Innovative Solution to Strengthened Die Attach Adhesion
Authors: Capili Michael D. 
Published: September 2020

Poor die adhesion to substrate resulting to stray dice issue for the MEMS package was encountered. This die bond failure mechanism has a downstream effect specifically on the mold process. The presence of the stray die resulted to mold compound leakage outside the tool cavity due to planarity not achieved. The mold compound that leaks affected the overall package thickness, thus exposing the wires.
Using the Design of Experiment methodology, the team generated different simulations and validations to resolve the stray die problem. Based on the simulation and experiments, it was established that an optimum substrate roughness is necessary to achieve a better adhesion between the Die adhesive and the substrate.
This paper presents a systematic study on how the substrate roughness can improve the adhesion of Die Attach film (DAF) to the substrate thereby resolving the Stray Die problem. Results showed that the die adhesion strength on the substrate increases as the substrate surface roughness increased from Ra 0.05 um to Ra 1.5 ~ 2.0 mm. Consequently, the rejection rate of stray dice was eliminated. This new learning will be used to establish a standard on surface roughness for substrate-based material that can be applied to new packages.
Battle with COVID-19: Role of Vitamin D and Zinc as a Preventive Strategy
Authors: Ramaiah Pushpamala , Elfaki Badria Abd Alla Mohamed , Mustafa Hassanat Elbashir Mohammed 
Published: September 2020

The immune system protects us by producing antibodies against viruses and diseases. Currently, there is no cure in treating patients infected with COVID-19. Even though many nations declared extrapolate findings on the COVID-19 vaccine trial, this will require months to develop an effective vaccine successfully. Meanwhile, an immune-enhancing preventive approach can be considered in order to strengthen the immune system that would enhance the host's resistance to infection. Although the leading health authorities of national and international health institutions, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), and the World Health Organization (WHO) consistently providing standard guidelines focusing on treatment, prevention, and promotion perspectives, this article discussed the promising alternative prophylactic solutions in enhancing host immunity with a highly valuable supplements Zinc, Vitamin D to protect human beings from COVID-19 pandemic disease.
A functional equation of tail-balance for continuous signals in the Condorcet Jury Theorem
Authors: Alpern Steve , Chen Bo , Ostaszewski Adam J. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractConsider an odd-sized jury, which determines a majority verdict between two equiprobable states of Nature. If each juror independently receives a binary signal identifying the correct state with identical probability p, then the probability of a correct verdict tends to one as the jury size tends to infinity (Marquis de Condorcet in Essai sur l’application de l’analyse à la probabilité des décisions rendues à la pluralité des voix, Imprim. Royale, Paris, 1785). Recently, Alpern and Chen (Eur J Oper Res 258:1072–1081, 2017, Theory Decis 83:259–282, 2017) developed a model where jurors sequentially receive independent signals from an interval according to a distribution which depends on the state of Nature and on the juror’s “ability”, and vote sequentially. This paper shows that, to mimic Condorcet’s binary signal, such a distribution must satisfy a functional equation related to tail-balance, that is, to the ratio $$\alpha (t)$$

α
(
t
)

of the probability that a mean-zero random variable satisfies X$$>t$$

>
t

given that $$|X|>t$$

|
X
|
>
t

. In particular, we show that under natural symmetry assumptions the tail-balances $$\alpha (t)$$

α
(
t
)

uniquely determine the signal distribution and so the distributions assumed in Alpern and Chen (Eur J Oper Res 258:1072–1081, 2017, Theory Decis 83:259–282, 2017) are uniquely determined for $$\alpha (t)$$

α
(
t
)

linear.
Matching Numbers and the Regularity of the Rees Algebra of an Edge Ideal
Authors: Herzog Jürgen , Hibi Takayuki 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe regularity $${\text {reg}}R(I(G))$$

reg
R
(
I
(
G
)
)

of the Rees ring R(I(G)) of the edge ideal I(G) of a finite simple graph G is studied. It is shown that, if R(I(G)) is normal, one has $${\text {mat}}(G) \le {\text {reg}}R(I(G)) \le {\text {mat}}(G) + 1$$

mat
(
G
)
≤
reg
R
(
I
(
G
)
)
≤
mat
(
G
)
+
1

, where $${\text {mat}}(G)$$

mat
(
G
)

is the matching number of G. In general, the induced matching number is a lower bound for the regularity, which can be shown by applying the squarefree divisor complex.
Transcription factors that shape the mammalian pancreas
Authors: Jennings Rachel E. , Scharfmann Raphael , Staels Willem 
Published: September 2020

AbstractImproving our understanding of mammalian pancreas development is crucial for the development of more effective cellular therapies for diabetes. Most of what we know about mammalian pancreas development stems from mouse genetics. We have learnt that a unique set of transcription factors controls endocrine and exocrine cell differentiation. Transgenic mouse models have been instrumental in studying the function of these transcription factors. Mouse and human pancreas development are very similar in many respects, but the devil is in the detail. To unravel human pancreas development in greater detail, in vitro cellular models (including directed differentiation of stem cells, human beta cell lines and human pancreatic organoids) are used; however, in vivo validation of these results is still needed. The current best ‘model’ for studying human pancreas development are individuals with monogenic forms of diabetes. In this review, we discuss mammalian pancreas development, highlight some discrepancies between mouse and human, and discuss selected transcription factors that, when mutated, cause permanent neonatal diabetes.
The making of insulin in health and disease
Authors: Vasiljević Jovana , Torkko Juha M. , Knoch Klaus-Peter , Solimena Michele 
Published: September 2020

AbstractThe discovery of insulin in 1921 has been one of greatest scientific achievements of the 20th century. Since then, the availability of insulin has shifted the focus of diabetes treatment from trying to keep patients alive to saving and improving the life of millions. Throughout this time, basic and clinical research has advanced our understanding of insulin synthesis and action, both in healthy and pathological conditions. Yet, multiple aspects of insulin production remain unknown. In this review, we focus on the most recent findings on insulin synthesis, highlighting their relevance in diabetes.
Are lizards capable of inhibitory control? Performance on a semi-transparent version of the cylinder task in five species of Australian skinks
Authors: Szabo Birgit , Hoefer Sebastian , Whiting Martin J. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractInhibitory control, the inhibition of prepotent actions, is essential for higher-order cognitive processes such as planning, reasoning, and self-regulation. Individuals and species differ in inhibitory control. Identifying what influences inhibitory control ability within and between species is key to understanding how it evolved. We compared performance in the cylinder task across five lizard species: tree skinks (Egernia striolata), gidgee skinks (Egernia stokesii), eastern blue-tongue skinks (Tiliqua s. scincoides), sleepy lizards (Tiliqua r. asper), and eastern water skinks (Eulamprus quoyii). In our task, animals had to inhibit the prepotent motor response of directly approaching a reward placed within a semi-transparent mesh cylinder and instead reach in through the side openings. Additionally, in three lizard species, we compared performance in the cylinder task to reversal learning to determine the task specificity of inhibitory ability. Within species, neither sex, origin, body condition, neophobia, nor pre-experience with other cognitive tests affected individual performance. Species differed in motor response inhibition: Blue-tongue skinks made fewer contacts with the semi-transparent cylinder wall than all other species. Blue-tongue skinks also had lower body condition than the other species which suggest motivation as the underlying cause for species differences in task performance. Moreover, we found no correlation between inhibitory ability across different experiments. This is the first study comparing cylinder task performance among lizard species. Given that inhibitory control is probably widespread in lizards, motor response inhibition as exercised in the cylinder task appears to have a long evolutionary history and is likely fundamental to survival and fitness.SignificanceThe study of lizard cognition is receiving increasing attention. Lizards are a diverse group with a wide range of ecological attributes and represent a model system through which we can test a wide range of hypotheses relating to cognitive evolution. Furthermore, considering their evolutionary history, studying non-avian reptile cognition can help understand the evolution of different cognitive abilities including inhibitory control. Here, we provide a comparison of inhibitory control ability in five lizard species. Consequently, we are able to, firstly, validate a method (the cylinder task) initially developed for the use in mammals and birds, for use in lizards, and secondly, collect valuable data on inhibitory control in a poorly studied group with respect to cognitive ability. Our study suggests non-cognitive factors as a major influence on cylinder task performance, which is in agreement with previous studies of other vertebrates.
Resident-invader dynamics of similar strategies in fluctuating environments
Authors: Cai Yuhua , Geritz Stefan A. H. 
Published: September 2020

AbstractWe study resident-invader dynamics in fluctuating environments when the invader and the resident have close but distinct strategies. First we focus on a class of continuous-time models of unstructured populations of multi-dimensional strategies, which incorporates environmental feedback and environmental stochasticity. Then we generalize our results to a class of structured population models. We classify the generic population dynamical outcomes of an invasion event when the resident population in a given environment is non-growing on the long-run and stochastically persistent. Our approach is based on the series expansion of a model with respect to the small strategy difference, and on the analysis of a stochastic fast-slow system induced by time-scale separation. Theoretical and numerical analyses show that the total size of the resident and invader population varies stochastically and dramatically in time, while the relative size of the invader population changes slowly and asymptotically in time. Thereby the classification is based on the asymptotic behavior of the relative population size, and which is shown to be fully determined by invasion criteria (i.e., without having to study the full generic dynamical system). Our results extend and generalize previous results for a stable resident equilibrium (particularly, Geritz in J Math Biol 50(1):67–82, 2005; Dercole and Geritz in J Theor Biol 394:231-254, 2016) to non-equilibrium resident population dynamics as well as resident dynamics with stochastic (or deterministic) drivers.