Search results for: peptide identification

Authors: Pegah Zamani

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This multidisciplinary study interrogates the reformulation of socio-ecological systems by bringing different disciplines together and incorporating ecological, social, and technological components to the sustainable design. The study seeks for a holistic sustainable system to understand the multidimensional impact of the evolving innovative technologies on responding to the variable socio-environmental conditions. Through a range of cases, from the vernacular built spaces to the sophisticated optimized systems, the research unfolds how far the environmental elements would impact the performance of a sustainable building, its micro-climatic ecological requirements, and its human inhabitation. As a product of the advancing technologies, an optimized and environmentally responsive building offers new identification, and realization of the built space through reformulating the connection to its internal and external environments (such as solar, thermal, and airflow), as well as its dwellers. The study inquires properties of optimized buildings, by bringing into the equation not only the environmental but also the socio-cultural, morphological, and phenomenal factors. Thus, the research underlines optimized built space as a product and practice which would not be meaningful without addressing and dynamically adjusting to the diversity and complexity of socio-ecological systems.

Keywords: ecology, morphology, socio-ecological systems, sustainability

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Authors: Jaber Masoud Alyami, Abdelsalam H. Alsrkhi

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Characterizing and modeling multi-phase flow is a complicated scientific and technical phenomenon represented by a variety of interrelated elements. Yet, the introduction of dimensionless numbers used to grasp gas-liquid flow is a significant step in controlling and improving the multi-phase flow area. SL (Slippage number), for instance is a strong dimensionless number defined as a the ratio of the difference in gravitational forces between slip and no-slip conditions to the inertial force of the gas. The fact that plotting SL versus Frm provides a single acceptable curve for all of the data provided proves that SL may be used to realize the behavior of gas-liquid flow. This paper creates a numerical link between SL and Froud mixing number using vertical gas-liquid flow and then utilizes that relationship to validate its reliability in practice. An improved correlation in drift flux model generated from the experimental data and its rationality has been verified. The method in this paper is to approach for predicting the void fraction in bubbly flow through SL/Frm relation and the limitations of this method, as well as areas for development, are stated.

Keywords: multiphase flow, gas-liquid flow, slippage, void farction

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Authors: Abdullah Mohammed Alshehri

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The projects in the construction industry have significantly increased, given its contribution to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the countries. Reflecting upon the complex nature and involvement of various agents, the study aims to analyze the conflicts cause within construction projects. Therefore, the study strived to come out with understanding the levels of conflict interaction across project phases. However, this conducted by investigating the association between antecedents and apparent conflicts inherent in. The study used a qualitative approach for collecting the data through a quantitative, semi-structured method. Formation of a questionnaire survey has been conducted for over 30 respondents. However, the survey came out with the identification of 25 conflict cause categories, which can take place in different construction project phases, including pre-design phase, pre-construction phase, construction phase, commissioning, and completion phase. For example, conflicts associated with inconsistencies or discrepancies within or between project documents, which took place at tendering time in the pre-construction phase were relatable with the selection of material specifications that should be supplied or used in the construction projects at the construction phase. Its analysis can provide comprehensive understanding, trace the root of the problem, which offers a roadmap to deepen the understanding of the conflict conditions and ‘course of action’ necessary for project management strategy actions toward avoiding or minimizing conflict causes at project life.

Keywords: construction, conflict causes, levels, interaction, phases

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Authors: Ghazwan Al-Haji, Adeyemi Adedokun

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Traffic safety at intersections is highly represented, given the fact that accidents occur randomly in time and space. It is necessary to judge whether the intersection is dangerous or not based on short-term observations, and not waiting for many years of assessing historical accident data. There are active and pro-active road infrastructure safety methods for assessing safety at intersections. This study aims to investigate the use of quantitative and qualitative pre-observational methods as the best practice for accident prediction, future black spot identification, and treatment. Historical accident data from STRADA (the Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition) was used within Norrkoping city in Sweden. The ADT (Average Daily Traffic), capacity and speed were used to predict accident rates. Locations with the highest accident records and predicted accident counts were identified and hence audited qualitatively by using Street Audit. The results from these quantitative and qualitative methods were analyzed, validated and compared. The paper provides recommendations on the used methods as well as on how to reduce the accident occurrence at the chosen intersections.

Keywords: intersections, traffic conflict, traffic safety, street audit, accidents predictions

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Authors: Dwi Purnomo, Anas Bunyamin, Fajar Susilo, Akbar Anugrah

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Beekeeping became a rural economic buffer, especially for people who lived by forest side to diversify their food or sell the honey and bee colony. Aside from the high price of honey and it’s derivative products, there is another revenue stream along beekeeping value chain that could be optimized by the people. There are five of nine honey bee species in the world, exist in Indonesia, such as Apis Cerana, Apis Dorsata, Apis Andreniformis, Apis Koschevnikovi, and Apis Nigrocincta. Indonesian farmer generally developed Apis Cerana and two other honey bees species, like Apis Mellifera and Trigona. This study tried to identify, how beekeeping business practices, challenges and opportunities in four beekeeping business in West Java through the value chain along the business. Data carried out by literature review, interview and focus group discussion with key actors in beekeeping business. There are six revenue stream in beekeeping business in West Java, such as brood hunter, beehives maker, agroforestry, agro-tourism, honey and derivatives products and bee acupuncture. This assesses conclude any criteria that should grasp for developing and sustaining beekeeping business in West Java.

Keywords: beekeeping business, business developing, value chain, West Java

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Authors: Tamar Beridze, Elisa Boscari, Fleur Scheele, Tamari Edisherashvili, Cort Anderson, Leonardo Congiu

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The eastern part of the Black Sea and its tributaries are suitable habitats for several sturgeon species, among which Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, A. stellatus, A. nudiventris, A. persicus, A. sturio, and H. huso are well documented. However, different threats have led these species to a dramatic decline; all of them are currently listed as Critically Endangered and some Locally Extinct in that area. We tested 94 wild sturgeon samples from the Black Sea and Rioni River by analyzing the mitochondrial Control Region and nuclear markers for hybrid identification. The data analyses (1) assessed mitochondrial diversity among samples, (2) identified their species, as well as (3) indicated instances of hybridization. The data collected, besides confirming a sharp decrease of catches of Beluga and Stellate sturgeon in recent years, also revealed four juvenile hybrids between Russian and Stellate sturgeon, providing the first evidence of natural interspecific hybridization in the Rioni. The present communication raises concerns about the status of sturgeon species in this area and underlines the urgent need for conservation programs to restore self-sustaining populations.

Keywords: black sea, sturgeon, Rioni river, interspecific hybridization

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Authors: Babak Rezavand

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Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised and HIV-positive patients and remained one of the most important common opportunistic infections in these individuals in the world. Pneumocystis infection has been reported in many mammals. The aim of this study was to determine the Pneumocystis infection in wild rats as natural reservoirs of this organism in Tehran city, Iran. Fifty three rats (Rattus rattus) were live trapped in different areas of Tehran city, Iran. After isolation of their lung tissues and homogenization in sterile conditions, DNA was extracted. DNAs from all of the Pneumocystis species were amplified by pAZ102-H and pAZ102-E primers, and Nested PCR was performed using pAZ102-X and pAZ102-W primers from the initial PCR product for all the species of Pneumocystis. Amplification of the genome revealed the presence of Pneumocystis in the lungs of 17 rats (32%) through a PCR product with a bandwidth of 346 bp. In the Nested PCR amplification, from the PCR product of 53 rats, 64.2% of the samples were positive with a bandwidth of 261bp. Pneumocystis SPP infestation is highly prevalent among wild rats in Tehran city, indicating the existence of infection in the natural ecosystem of these rodents. As a host, rat plays an important role in the transmission of the microorganism in the world.

Keywords: pneumocystis SPP, rattus rattus, nested PCR, Tehran

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Authors: Ahmed Bolaji Alarape, Oluwatobi Damilola Aba

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The growth pattern of Oreochromis niloticus and Sarotherodon galilaeus in Epe Lagoon Lagos State was investigated. One hundred (100) samples of each species were collected from fishermen at the landing site. They were transported to the Fisheries Laboratory of National Institute of Oceanography for identification, sexing morphometric measurement. The results showed that 58.0% and 56.0 % of the O.niloticus and S.galilaeus were female respectively while 42.0% and 44.0% were male respectively. The length-weight relationship of O.niloticus showed a strong regression coefficient (r = 0.944) (p<0.05) for the combined sex, (r =0.901) (p<0.05) for female and (r=0.985) (p<.05) for male with b-value of 2.5, 3.1 and 2.8 respectively. The S.galilaeus also showed a regression coefficient of r=0.970; p<0.05 for the combined sex, r=0.953; p<0.05 for the female and r= 0.979; p<0.05 for the male with b-value of 3.4, 3.1 and 3.6 respectively. O.niloticus showed an isometric growth pattern both in male and female. The condition factor in O.niloticus are 1.93 and 1.95 for male and female respectively while that of S.galilaeus is 1.95 for both sexes. Positive allometric was observed in both species except the male O.niloticus that showed negative allometric growth pattern. From the results of this study, the growth pattern of the two species indicated a good healthy environment.

Keywords: Epe Lagoon, length-weight relationship, Oreochromis niloticus, Sarotherodon galilaeus

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Authors: M. A. N. Masrom, M. H. I. A. Rahim, G. K. Chen, S. Mohamed

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Large infrastructure project is one of significant category in the development of Malaysian construction industry. This type of project has been recognized as a high complexity project with numerous construction risks, large cost involvement, highly technical requirements and divers of resources. Besides, the development of large infrastructure such as highway, railway, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and airport are also needed a large investment of public and private sector. To accomplish the development successfully, several challenges has to be determined prior the project commencement. To date, a comprehensive assessment of key success criteria particularly for large infrastructure in developing country such as Malaysia, is still not systematically defined and therefore, it needs further investigation. This paper aims to explore the potential success criteria that would be useful in gauging overall performance of large infrastructure implementation particularly in developing country. Previous successful criteria studies were used to develop a conceptual framework that possibly suitable for measuring large infrastructure performance. The findings show that successful criteria of infrastructure projects implementation could be grouped according to several key elements as it seems significant to the participants in prioritizing project challenges more systematically.

Keywords: successful criteria, performance, large infrastructure, Malaysia

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Authors: Yousif Mohamed Y. Abdallah, Eltayeb Wagi Allah Eltayeb, Mohamed E. Gar-elnabi, Mohamed Ahmed Ali

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To characterize coronary artery obstruction and related findings in ischemic heart patients using cardiac scintigraphy for the identification of myocardial ischemia, 146 patients were studied at basal conditions and also asked for fasting after night till the intravenous injection of the radiopharmaceutical. After the injection time about 15 to 20 minutes, the patient should eat a fatty meal and chocolate for the good excretion of the gall bladder, to evaluate the performance and regional wall motion of the left ventricle (LV). The results showed that the body mass index percentage in this sample was in range of 43.05 to 61.05. The number of patients who were catheter candidates were 56 with 43% and the patients that were not candidate to cathode were 74 patients with 57% of all patients. For the group of patients where type of ischemia was assessed, 29.5% of patients had reversible posterior and inferior wall, 15.1% of patients had fixed large from apex to base, 9.6% of patients had mild basal inferior wall, 4.8 % of patients had mild anterior wall, 6.2% of patients had antro-septal and 34.9% of patients had moderate ischemia.

Keywords: myocardial ischemia, myocardial scintigraphy, contrast ventriculography, coronary artery obstruction

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Authors: Marine Kobalava

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The article analyzes current global crises in the world, explains the causes of crises, substantiates that in the main cases the process accompanying the crisis are conflict situations. The paper argues that crises can become predictable if threats are identified and addressed by a company, organization, corporation, and others. Accordingly, mechanisms for the neutralization of conflict potential are proposed, the need to develop a communication strategy and create and redistribute information flows is justified. Conflict situations are assessed according to the types of crisis and it is considered that the conflict can become a prerequisite for the crisis. The paper substantiates the need to differentiate theories of crises and conflicts. Based on the evaluative judgment, conflict management measures are proposed taking into account institutionalization, conflict resolution norms and rules. The paper identifies the potential for conflicts created in the context of global crises and suggests local ways and mechanisms for their effective management. The involvement of the company's Public relations (PR) and relevant communication from the qualified staff is considered important. Conclusions are drawn on the problems of effective conflict management caused by global crises and recommendations for conflict resolution have been proposed.

Keywords: global crises, conflict situations, conflict identification, conflict management, conflict potential

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Authors: Gülten Sadullahoğlu, Baki Altuncevahir

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The scope of this study, to investigate the magnetic properties and microstructure of Nd₂Fe₁₄B₁ by alloying with Nd₃₃.₄Fe₆₂.₆Al₄, and heat treating it at different temperatures. The stoichiometric Nd₂Fe₁₄B hard magnetic alloy and Nd₃₃.₄Fe₆₂.₆Al₄ composition was produced by arc melting under argon atmosphere. The Nd₃₃.₄Fe₆₂.₆Al₄ alloy has added to the 2:14:1 hard magnetic alloy with 48% by weight, and melted again by arc melting. Then, it was heat treated at 600, 700 and 800˚C for 3h under vacuum. In AC magnetic susceptibility measurements, for the as-cast sample, the signals decreased sharply at 101 ˚C and 313 ˚C corresponding to the Curie temperatures of the two ferromagnetic phases in addition to Fe phase. For the sample annealed at 600 ˚C, two Curie points were observed at about 257˚C and at 313˚C. However, the phase corresponding to the Curie temperature of 101 ˚C was disappeared. According to the magnetization measurements, the saturation magnetization has the highest value of 99.8 emu/g for the sample annealed at 600 ˚C, and decreased to 57.66 and 28.6 emu/g for the samples annealed at 700˚ and 800 ˚C respectively. Heat treatment resulted in an evolution of the new phase that caused changes in magnetic properties of the alloys. In order to have a clear picture, the identification of these phases are being under the investigation by XRD and SEM–EDX analysis.

Keywords: NdFeB hard magnets, bulk magnetic materials, arc melting, Curie temperature, heat treatment

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Authors: Turgay Ozgur, Bahar Ozgur, Gurcan Yazici

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The aims of the study were to investigate the relationship between the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (YYIR1) and relatively easy to conduct anaerobic power tests such as Sergeant (SJ) and Standing Broad Jump (SBJ), the flexibility Sit&Reach test (S&R) and Hexagon Agility (HA) test in twenty youth soccer players, aged 14 years. Players completed YYIR1 and other performance tests [(SJ), (SBJ] in two consecutive days. The mean YYIR1 distances for the players was 1454 ± 420 m. Peak Anaerobic Power (PAPw) was calculated using SJ (cm) scores. The mean PAPw was 2966,83w. Spearman’s correlation test results revealed that there is a statistically significant negative correlation between HA and YYIR1 tests (r = -0.72, p=0.000) and no significant correlation was found between anaerobic power tests and YYIR1. In conclusion, as a test to measure player’s intermittent aerobic capacity YYIR1 test and anaerobic power test results have not shown significant correlation. Although the YYIR1 test has been used in talent identification, anaerobic qualifications of player’s should be assessed using designated performance tests.

Keywords: yo-yo test, anaerobic power, soccer, sergeant jump test

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Authors: Halima Benazzouz

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It is often believed that British English and American English are the foremost varieties of the English Language serving as reference norms for other varieties;that is the reason why they have obviously been compared and contrasted.Meanwhile,the terms “British English” and “American English” are used differently by different people to refer to: 1) Two national varieties each subsuming regional and other sub-varieties standard and non-standard. 2) Two national standard varieties in which each one is only part of the range of English within its own state, but the most prestigious part. 3) Two international varieties, that is each is more than a national variety of the English Language. 4) Two international standard varieties that may or may not each subsume other standard varieties.Furthermore,each variety serves as a reference norm for users of the language elsewhere. Moreover, without a clear identification, as primarily belonging to one variety or the other, British English(Br.Eng) and American English (Am.Eng) are understood as national or international varieties. British English and American English are both “variants” and “varieties” of the English Language, more similar than different.In brief, the following may justify general categories of difference between Standard American English (S.Am.E) and Standard British English (S.Br.e) each having their own sociolectic value: A difference in pronunciation exists between the two foremost varieties, although it is the same spelling, by contrast, a divergence in spelling may be recognized, eventhough the same pronunciation. In such case, the same term is different but there is a similarity in spelling and pronunciation. Otherwise, grammar, syntax, and punctuation are distinctively used to distinguish the two varieties of the English Language. Beyond these differences, spelling is noted as one of the chief sources of variation.

Keywords: Greek, Latin, French pronunciation expert, varieties of English language

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Authors: Niharika Kaushal, Minni Singh

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Citrus fruits fall into the category of those commercially grown fruits that constitute an excellent repository of phytochemicals with health-promoting properties. Fruits belonging to the citrus family, when processed by industries, produce tons of agriculture by-products in the form of peels, pulp, and seeds, which normally have no further usage and are commonly discarded. In spite of this, such residues are of paramount importance due to their richness in valuable compounds; therefore, agro-waste is considered a valuable bioresource for various purposes in the food sector. A range of biological properties, including anti-oxidative, anti-cancerous, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergenicity, and anti-aging activity, have been reported for these bioactive compounds. Taking advantage of these inexpensive residual sources requires special attention to extract bioactive compounds. Mandarin (Citrus nobilis X Citrus deliciosa) is a potential source of bioflavonoids with antioxidant properties, and it is increasingly regarded as a functional food. Despite these benefits, flavonoids suffer from a barrier of pre-systemic metabolism in gastric fluid, which impedes their effectiveness. Therefore, colloidal delivery systems can completely overcome the barrier in question. This study involved the extraction and identification of key flavonoids from mandarin biomass. Using a green chemistry approach, supercritical fluid extraction at 330 bar, temperature 40C, and co-solvent 10% ethanol was employed for extraction, and the identification of flavonoids was made by mass spectrometry. As flavonoids are concerned with a limitation, the obtained extract was encapsulated in polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) matrix using a solvent evaporation method. Additionally, the antioxidant potential was evaluated by the 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. A release pattern of flavonoids was observed over time using simulated gastrointestinal fluids. From the results, it was observed that the total flavonoids extracted from the mandarin biomass were estimated to be 47.3 ±1.06 mg/ml rutin equivalents as total flavonoids. In the extract, significantly, polymethoxyflavones (PMFs), tangeretin and nobiletin were identified, followed by hesperetin and naringin. The designed flavonoid-PLGA nanoparticles exhibited a particle size between 200-250nm. In addition, the bioengineered nanoparticles had a high entrapment efficiency of nearly 80.0% and maintained stability for more than a year. Flavonoid nanoparticles showed excellent antioxidant activity with an IC50 of 0.55μg/ml. Morphological studies revealed the smooth and spherical shape of nanoparticles as visualized by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Simulated gastrointestinal studies of free extract and nanoencapsulation revealed the degradation of nearly half of the flavonoids under harsh acidic conditions in the case of free extract. After encapsulation, flavonoids exhibited sustained release properties, suggesting that polymeric encapsulates are efficient carriers of flavonoids. Thus, such technology-driven and biomass-derived products form the basis for their use in the development of functional foods with improved therapeutic potential and antioxidant properties. As a result, citrus processing waste can be considered a new resource that has high value and can be used for promoting its utilization.

Keywords: citrus, agrowaste, flavonoids, nanoparticles

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Authors: G. C. Tikkiwal, Mukesh Upadhyay

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During the surveillance operations at war or peace time, the Radar operator gets a scatter of targets over the screen. This may be a tracked vehicle like tank vis-à-vis T72, BMP etc, or it may be a wheeled vehicle like ALS, TATRA, 2.5Tonne, Shaktiman or moving the army, moving convoys etc. The radar operator selects one of the promising targets into single target tracking (STT) mode. Once the target is locked, the operator gets a typical audible signal into his headphones. With reference to the gained experience and training over the time, the operator then identifies the random target. But this process is cumbersome and is solely dependent on the skills of the operator, thus may lead to misclassification of the object. In this paper, we present a technique using mathematical and statistical methods like fast fourier transformation (FFT) and principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the random objects. The process of classification is based on transforming the audible signature of target into music octave-notes. The whole methodology is then automated by developing suitable software. This automation increases the efficiency of identification of the random target by reducing the chances of misclassification. This whole study is based on live data.

Keywords: radar target, FFT, principal component analysis, eigenvector, octave-notes, DSP

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Authors: Mudawamah Mudawamah, Muhammad Z. Fadli, Gatot Ciptadi, Aulanni’am

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Canary breeders have spread throughout Indonesian regions for the low-middle society and become an income source for them. The interesting phenomenon of the canary market is the feather colours become one of determining factor for the price. The advantages of this research were contributed to the molecular database as a base of selection and mating for the Indonesia canary breeder. The research method was experiment with the genome obtained from canary blood isolation. The genome did the PCR amplification with PMEL marker followed by sequencing. Canaries were used 24 heads of light and dark colour feathers. Research data analyses used BioEdit and Network 4.6.0.0 software. The results showed that all samples were amplification with PMEL gene with 500 bp fragment length. In base sequence of 40 was found Cytosine(C) in the light colour canaries, while the dark colour canaries was obtained Thymine (T) in same base sequence. Sequence results had 286-415 bp fragment and 10 haplotypes. The conclusions were the PMEL gene (gene of white pigment) was likely to be used PMEL gene to detect molecular genetic variation of dark and light colour feather.

Keywords: canary, haplotype, PMEL, sequence

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Authors: Ali Hajiesmaeili, Mehdi Rahimi, Ehsan Jaberi, Amir Abbas Hosseini

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The purpose of this study is investigating the influences of logistics performance on organizational performance including both marketing & financial aspects, and showing the financial impacts of selecting the right marketing and logistics priorities in line with their supply chain type, and also giving the practitioners an advance identification of their priorities and participation types of supply chain, and the best combination of their strategies and resources in this regard. We made use of the original model’s questionnaire to gather all expert’s data and also SPSS and AMOS Ver.22 to analyze the gathered data. CFA method was also used to test whether a relationship between observed variables and their underlying latent constructs exists. Supply chain strategy implementation leads to logistics performance improvement, and marketing performance will be affected as well. Logistics service providers should focus on enhancement of supply chain performance, since logistics performance has been considered as a basis of evaluation of supply chain management strategy. Consequently, performance of the organization will be enhanced. This case is the first research made in Iran that analyzes the relationship between Logistics & Organizational performance in Home Appliances and Home Entertainment companies.

Keywords: logistics, organizational, performance, supply chain, strategy

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Authors: Manal Rauf

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Trained medical practitioners are produced from medical colleges serving in public and private sectors. Prime responsibility of teaching faculty is to inculcate required work ethic among the students by serving as role models for them. It is an observed fact that classroom incivility behaviours are providing a friction in achieving these targets. Present study aimed at identification of classroom incivility behaviours observed by teachers and students of public and private medical colleges as per Glasser’s Choice Theory, making a comparison and investigating the strategies being adopted by teachers of both sectors to control undesired class room behaviours. Findings revealed that a significant difference occurs between teacher and student incivility behaviours. Public sector teacher focussed on survival as a strong factor behind in civil behaviours whereas private sector teachers considered power as the precedent for incivility. Teachers of both sectors are required to use verbal as well as non-verbal immediacy to reach a healthy leaning environment.

Keywords: classroom incivility behaviour, glasser choice theory, Mehrabian immediacy theory

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Authors: Ahmed Amrani, Oussama Allali, Amira Ben Hamida, Felix Defrance, Stephanie Morland, Eva Pineau, Thomas Lacroix

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The energy planning process is a very complex task that involves several stakeholders and requires the consideration of several local and global factors and constraints. In order to optimize and simplify this process, we propose a tool-based iterative approach applied to district heating planning. We build our tool with the collaboration of a French territory using actual district data and implementing the European incentives. We set up an iterative process including data visualization and analysis, identification and extraction of information related to the area concerned by the operation, design of sustainable planning scenarios leveraging local renewable and recoverable energy sources, and finally, the evaluation of scenarios. The last step is performed by a dynamic digital twin replica of the city. Territory’s energy experts confirm that the tool provides them with valuable support towards sustainable energy planning.

Keywords: climate change, data management, decision support, digital twin, district heating, energy planning, renewables, smart city

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Authors: Alexander A. Stakheev, Larisa V. Samokhvalova, Sergey K. Zavriev

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Fusarium fungi are among the most devastating plant pathogens distributed all over the world. Significant reduction of grain yield and quality caused by Fusarium leads to multi-billion dollar annual losses to the world agricultural production. These organisms can also cause infections in immunocompromised persons and produce the wide range of mycotoxins, such as trichothecenes, fumonisins, and zearalenone, which are hazardous to human and animal health. Identification of Fusarium fungi based on the morphology of spores and spore-forming structures, colony color and appearance on specific culture media is often very complicated due to the high similarity of these features for closely related species. Modern Fusarium taxonomy increasingly uses data of crossing experiments (biological species concept) and genetic polymorphism analysis (phylogenetic species concept). A number of novel Fusarium sibling species has been established using DNA barcoding techniques. Species recognition is best made with the combined phylogeny of intron-rich protein coding genes and ribosomal DNA sequences. However, the internal transcribed spacer of (ITS), which is considered to be universal DNA barcode for Fungi, is not suitable for genus Fusarium, because of its insufficient variability between closely related species and the presence of non-orthologous copies in the genome. Nowadays, the translation elongation factor 1 alpha (TEF1α) gene is the “gold standard” of Fusarium taxonomy, but the search for novel informative markers is still needed. In this study, we used two novel DNA markers, frataxin (FXN) and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) to discover phylogenetic relationships between Fusarium species. Multilocus phylogenetic analysis based on partial sequences of TEF1α, FXN, HSP90, as well as intergenic spacer of ribosomal DNA (IGS), beta-tubulin (β-TUB) and phosphate permease (PHO) genes has been conducted for 120 isolates of 19 Fusarium species from different climatic zones of Russia and neighboring countries using maximum likelihood (ML) and maximum parsimony (MP) algorithms. Our analyses revealed that FXN and HSP90 genes could be considered as informative phylogenetic markers, suitable for evolutionary and taxonomic studies of Fusarium genus. It has been shown that PHO gene possesses more variable (22 %) and parsimony informative (19 %) characters than other markers, including TEF1α (12 % and 9 %, correspondingly) when used for elucidating phylogenetic relationships between F. avenaceum and its closest relatives – F. tricinctum, F. acuminatum, F. torulosum. Application of novel DNA barcodes confirmed the fact that F. arthrosporioides do not represent a separate species but only a subspecies of F. avenaceum. Phylogeny based on partial PHO and FXN sequences revealed the presence of separate cluster of four F. avenaceum strains which were closer to F. torulosum than to major F. avenaceum clade. The strain F-846 from Moldova, morphologically identified as F. poae, formed a separate lineage in all the constructed dendrograms, and could potentially be considered as a separate species, but more information is needed to confirm this conclusion. Variable sites in PHO sequences were used for the first-time development of specific qPCR-based diagnostic assays for F. acuminatum and F. torulosum. This work was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant № 15-29-02527).

Keywords: DNA barcode, fusarium, identification, phylogenetics, taxonomy

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Authors: Moneesh Thakur, Hridayesh Prasad, Nikitasha Bora, Parimal Roy Choudhary, A. K. Samanta, Sanjeev Kumar

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Canine demodicosis is a common parasitic condition which involves dog skin. Demodicosis in dogs is due the prominent growth of Demodex. Out of various canine Demodex spp., Demodex canis is the most often involved species. Canine demodicosis can occur as either a localized or generalized form of demodicosis severely affect the dogs and in non-treated dogs may cause death. This study was planned with the aim to screen and characterize the 18S rRNA gene of isolated Demodex canis. A total of 1200 dogs were screened during this study period. The skin scrapings of all the suspected dogs were examined under a microscope at 100X magnification for the presence of Demodex canis. The skin scrapings positive for Demodex canis were examined using PCR for confirmation. A total of 35 dogs were confirmed a positive result for D. canis based on 18S rRNA gene amplification by PCR. Further, the 18S rRNA gene of isolated Demodex canis was cloned and sequenced for genome analysis. On the sequence analysis, it was found that isolated sequence (GenBank Accession No. MK177513) had close similarity (99.7%) to that of D. canis genotype of China (Accession No. MG372254).

Keywords: PCR, phylogenetic analysis, cloning and sequening, Demodex canis

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Authors: Sakti Mandal

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Varying distribution of land surface temperature in an urbanized environment is a globally addressed phenomenon. Usually has been noticed that criticality of surface temperature increases from the periphery to the urban centre. As the centre experiences maximum severity of heat throughout the year, it also represents most critical zone in terms of thermal condition. In this present study, an attempt has been taken to propose a quantitative approach of thermal critical zonation (TCZ) on the basis of seasonal temperature variation. Here the zonation is done by calculating thermal critical value (TCV). From the Landsat 8 thermal digital data of summer and winter seasons for the year 2014, the land surface temperature maps and thermally critical zonation has been prepared, and corresponding dataset has been computed to conduct the overall study of that particular study area. It is shown that TCZ can be clearly identified and analyzed by the help of inter-seasonal temperature range. The results of this study can be utilized effectively in future urban development and planning projects as well as a framework for implementing rules and regulations by the authorities for a sustainable urban development through an environmentally affable approach.

Keywords: thermal critical values (TCV), thermally critical zonation (TCZ), land surface temperature (LST), Landsat 8, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)

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Authors: Meghana Shankara, Priyadarshini Natarajan

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Infrared (IR) spectroscopy has revolutionized the way we look at materials around us. Unraveling the pattern in the molecular spectra of materials to analyze the composition and properties of it has been one of the most interesting challenges in modern science. Applications of the IR spectrometry are numerous in the field’s pharmaceuticals, health, food and nutrition, oils, agriculture, construction, polymers, beverage, fabrics and much more limited only by the curiosity of the people. Near Infrared (NIR) spectrometry is applied robustly in analyzing the solids and liquid substances because of its non-destructive analysis method. In this paper, we have reviewed the application of NIR spectrometry in milk quality analysis and have presented the modes of measurement applied in NIRS measurement setup, Design of Experiment (DoE), classification/quantification algorithms used in the case of milk composition prediction like Fat%, Protein%, Lactose%, Solids Not Fat (SNF%) along with different approaches for adulterant identification. We have also discussed the important NIR ranges for the chosen milk parameters. The performance metrics used in the comparison of the various Chemometric approaches include Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), R^2, slope, offset, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy

Keywords: chemometrics, design of experiment, milk quality analysis, NIRS measurement modes

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Authors: Michael Shulman, Paige North, Benedikt Ahrens, Dmitris Tsementzis

Abstract:

The Univalence Principle is the statement that equivalent mathematical structures are indistinguishable. We prove a general version of this principle that applies to all set-based, categorical, and higher-categorical structures defined in a non-algebraic and space-based style, as well as models of higher-order theories such as topological spaces. In particular, we formulate a general definition of indiscernibility for objects of any such structure, and a corresponding univalence condition that generalizes Rezk’s completeness condition for Segal spaces and ensures that all equivalences of structures are levelwise equivalences. Our work builds on Makkai’s First-Order Logic with Dependent Sorts, but is expressed in Voevodsky’s Univalent Foundations (UF), extending previous work on the Structure Identity Principle and univalent categories in UF. This enables indistinguishability to be expressed simply as identification, and yields a formal theory that is interpretable in classical homotopy theory, but also in other higher topos models. It follows that Univalent Foundations is a fully equivalence-invariant foundation for higher-categorical mathematics, as intended by Voevodsky.

Keywords: category theory, higher structures, inverse category, univalence

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Authors: Chia-Hao Chang, Geng-Gui Wang, Jee-Cheng Wu

Abstract:

The prediction of a landslide is a difficult task because it requires a detailed study of past activities using a complete range of investigative methods to determine the changing condition. In this research, first step, LiDAR 1-meter by 1-meter resolution of digital elevation model (DEM) was used to generate six environmental factors of landslide. Then, back-propagation neural networks (BPNN) was adopted to identify scarp, landslide areas and non-landslide areas. The BPNN uses 6 environmental factors in input layer and 1 output layer. Moreover, 6 landslide areas are used as training areas and 4 landslide areas as test areas in the BPNN. The hidden layer is set to be 1 and 2; the hidden layer neurons are set to be 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; the learning rates are set to be 0.01, 0.1 and 0.5. When using 1 hidden layer with 7 neurons and the learning rate sets to be 0.5, the result of Network training root mean square error is 0.001388. Finally, evaluation of BPNN classification accuracy by the confusion matrix shows that the overall accuracy can reach 94.4%, and the Kappa value is 0.7464.

Keywords: digital elevation model, DEM, environmental factors, back-propagation neural network, BPNN, LiDAR

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Authors: Sunil Dutta

Abstract:

Synchronization is defined as ‘the sequencing and re-sequencing of all relative and absolute activities in time and space and continuous alignment of those actions with purposeful objective in a complex and dynamic atmosphere. In a complex and dynamic production / maintenance setup, no single group can work in isolation for long. In addition, many activities in projects take place simultaneously at the same time. Work of every section / group is interwoven with work of others. The various activities / interactions which take place in production / overhaul workshops are interlinked because of physical requirements (information, material, workforces, equipment, and space) and dependencies. The activity sequencing is determined by physical dependencies of various department / sections / units (e.g., inventory availability must be ensured before stripping and disassembling of equipment), whereas resource dependencies do not. Theory of constraint facilitates identification, analyses and exploitation of the constraint in methodical manner. These constraints (equipment, manpower, policies etc.) prevent the department / sections / units from getting optimum exploitation of available resources. The significance of theory of constraints for achieving synchronization at overhaul workshop is illustrated in this paper.

Keywords: synchronization, overhaul, throughput, obsolescence, uncertainty

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Authors: Ruchi Yadav, Shivani Pandey, Prachi Srivastava

Abstract:

Microarrays provide a rich source of data on the molecular working of cells. Each microarray reports on the abundance of tens of thousands of mRNAs. Virtually every human disease is being studied using microarrays with the hope of finding the molecular mechanisms of disease. Bioinformatics analysis plays an important part of processing the information embedded in large-scale expression profiling studies and for laying the foundation for biological interpretation. A basic, yet challenging task in the analysis of microarray gene expression data is the identification of changes in gene expression that are associated with particular biological conditions. Careful statistical design and analysis are essential to improve the efficiency and reliability of microarray experiments throughout the data acquisition and analysis process. One of the most popular platforms for microarray analysis is Bioconductor, an open source and open development software project based on the R programming language. This paper describes specific procedures for conducting quality assessment, visualization and preprocessing of Affymetrix Gene Chip and also details the different bioconductor packages used to analyze affymetrix microarray data and describe the analysis and outcome of each plots.

Keywords: microarray analysis, R language, affymetrix visualization, bioconductor

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Authors: Ritesh Kumar, Gitanjali Chhetri, Mandira Bhatia, Mohit Mishra, Abhijith Bailur, Abhinav

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The prevalence of the internet and technology in our day to day lives is creating more security issues than ever. The need for protecting and providing a secure access to private and business data has led to the development of many security systems. One of the potential solutions is to employ the bio-metric authentication technique. In this paper we present an innovative biometric authentication method that utilizes a person’s EEG signal, which is acquired in response to an auditory stimulus,and transferred wirelessly to a computer that has the necessary ANN algorithm-Multi layer perceptrol neural network because of is its ability to differentiate between information which is not linearly separable.In order to determine the weights of the hidden layer we use Gaussian random weight initialization. MLP utilizes a supervised learning technique called Back propagation for training the network. The complex algorithm used for EEG classification reduces the chances of intrusion into the protected public or private data.

Keywords: EEG signal, auditory evoked potential, biometrics, multilayer perceptron neural network, back propagation rule, Gaussian random weight initialization

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Authors: Muhammad Tarmidzi, Reza M. G. Gani, Andri Luthfi

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to identify rock zone containing hydrocarbons with calculating rock property includes volume shale, total porosity, effective porosity and water saturation. Identification method rock property based on GR log, resistivity log, neutron log and density rock. Zoning is based on sequence stratigraphic markers that are sequence boundary (SB), transgressive surface (TS) and flooding surface (FS) which correlating ten well log in blok “M”. The results of sequence stratigraphic correlation consist of eight zone that are two LST zone, three TST zone and three HST zone. The result of rock property calculation in each zone is showing two LST zone containing hydrocarbons. LST-1 zone has average volume shale (Vsh) 25%, average total porosity (PHIT) 14%, average effective porosity (PHIE) 11% and average water saturation 0,83. LST-2 zone has average volume shale (Vsh) 19%, average total porosity (PHIT) 21%, average effective porosity (PHIE) 17% and average water saturation 0,82.

Keywords: hydrocarbons zone, petrophysic, rock property, sequence stratigraphic

Procedia PDF Downloads 327