Applied

Social insects harbor diverse assemblages of bacterial microbes, which may play a crucial role in the success or failure of biological invasions. The invasive fire ant Solenopsis invicta (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) is a model system for understanding the dynamics of invasive social insects and their biological control. However, little is known about microbes as biotic factors influencing the success or failure of ant invasions. This pilot study is the first attempt to characterize and compare microbial com-munities associated with the introduced S. invicta and the native Solenopsis geminata in the USA. Using 16S amplicon 454 pyrosequencing, bacterial communities of workers, brood, and soil from nest walls were compared between neighboring S. invicta and S. geminata colonies at

The effectiveness of Modified Vogel Johnson agar and lithium chloride-phenylethanol-moxalactam agar for detection of Listeria spp. in foods was compared by using the media to analyze retail-level meat, poultry, and seafood both by direct plating and in conjunction with a three-tube most-probable-number enrichment. The most-probable-number protocol detected Listeria species, including Listeria monocytogenes, in a substantial portion of the fresh meat and seafood samples. In most instances the Listeria levels were less than 2 CFU/g, which precluded detection by direct plating. Modified Vogel Johnson agar performed as well as did lithium chloride-phenylethanol-moxalactam agar and was considerably easier to use because of its ability to differentiate Listeria spp. from other microorganisms.

The spin relaxation in undoped InSb films grown on GaAs has been investigated in the temperature range from 77to290K. Two distinct lifetime values have been extracted, 1 and 2.5ps, dependent on film thickness. Comparison of this data with a multilayer transport analysis of the films suggests that the longer time (∼2.5ps at 290K) is associated with the central intrinsic region of the film, while the shorter time (∼1ps) is related to the highly dislocated accumulation region at the film-substrate interface. Whereas previous work on InAs films grown on GaAs showed that the native surface defect resulted in an additional charge accumulation layer with high conductivity but very short spin lifetime, in InSb layers the surface states introduce a depletion region. We infer that InSb could be a more attractive candidate for spintronic applications than InAs.

Of 31 freshwater bacterial isolates screened using the Biolog MT2 assay to determine their metabolism of the microcystin LR, 10 were positive. Phylogenetic analysis (16S rRNA) identified them as Arthrobacter spp., Brevibacterium sp., and Rhodococcus sp. This is the first report of microcystin degraders that do not belong to the Proteobacteria .

Anin situX-ray diffraction investigation of goethite-seeded Al(OH)3precipitation from synthetic Bayer liquor at 343 K has been performed. The presence of iron oxides and oxyhydroxides in the Bayer process has implications for alumina reversion, which causes significant process losses through unwanted gibbsite precipitation, and is also relevant for the nucleation and growth of scale on mild steel process equipment. The gibbsite, bayerite and nordstrandite polymorphs of Al(OH)3precipitated from the liquor; gibbsite appeared to precipitate first, with subsequent formation of bayerite and nordstrandite. A Rietveld-based approach to quantitative phase analysis was implemented for the determination of absolute phase abundances as a function of time, from which kinetic information for the formation of the Al(OH)3phases was determined.

Isolation, molecular characterisation, and extracellular enzymatic behavior of cultivable halophilic bacteria from natural environments of hypersaline. 19: Biodiversitas 1828-1834. Saline habitats are unusual extreme environments, like the Dead Sea, because of their extreme salinity. Most saline environments are caused by seawater evaporation and have an almost neutral to slightly alkaline pH (such as the Red Sea (pH8.3) and the Arab Gulf (pH8.3). Ten halophilic (two Gram-negative) bacterial strains belonging to the Halomonadaceae family and (eight Gram-positive) belonging to the Bacillaceae family were isolated from the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and the Dead Sea by subjecting the isolates to a high salinity medium, followed by identification using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Four of the isolates were designated on the basis of their high salinity tolerance; SBR1 showed 97% homology to Halomonas aquamarina, SBR2 showed 97% homology to Sediminibacillus sp., (Red Sea), SBA9 showed 94% h...

From a total of 17,461 species of butterfly described worldwide, at least two-third are from the tropics. Peninsular Malaysia is home to 1038 butterfly species. Endau-Rompin Johor National Park (ERJNP) in particular recorded 349 species as analysed from collections of 1987 to 2015. It represents 34% of butterfly fauna in Peninsular Malaysia. This paper aims (i) to document the diversity of butterfly in ERJNP and (ii) identify potential groups of butterfly that satisfy six criteria for good nature tourism product. The criteria are reliability of sighting, safe, with unique morphology and behaviour, rare or endemic and with cultural linkage. The samplings were done manually using aerial net and trapping using fruit baits along two 1 km transects in the eastern part of ERJNP (Nature Education and Research Centre and Kuala Jasin) from February 2014 to July 2015. This study successfully recorded 131 species comprising of 491 individuals from five families. Nymphalidae was the most domina...

Recent work suggests that treatment with inhaled beta(2)-agonists reduces the incidence of high-altitude pulmonary edema in susceptible subjects by increasing respiratory epithelial sodium transport. We estimated respiratory epithelial ion transport by transepithelial nasal potential difference (NPD) measurements in 20 normal male subjects before, during, and after a stay at 3,800 m. NPD hyperpolarized on ascent to 3,800 m (P < 0.05), but the change in potential difference with superperfusion of amiloride or isoprenaline was unaffected. Vital capacity (VC) fell on ascent to 3,800 m (P < 0.05), as did the normalized change in electrical impedance (NCI) measured over the right lung parenchyma (P < 0.05) suggestive of an increase in extravascular lung water. Echo-Doppler-estimated pulmonary artery pressure increases were insufficient to cause clinical pulmonary edema. There was a positive correlation between VC and NCI (R(2) = 0.633) and between NPD and both VC and NCI (R(2) =...

Academia in college is different from high school because college students will meet people who have different cultures, personalities, points of view, and interests. Personal adjustments are essential for these college students in this different scenario. Not only can it boost social interaction but it will help how to be persistent and resilient in their academic life. Failure in developing personal adjustments could turn the college students into anxiety in their social interaction which the freshman students may encounter when they face the changes in their environment and culture. An attempt to increase personal adjustment and decrease social anxiety through Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) is possible. There are five stages used in MET, that are pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. This study used an experimental method with one group of pretest and post-test design which included 100 freshman college students. This research aims to know the effect of MET treatment to reduce social anxiety and increase personal adjustment in freshman college students in Indonesia. The instruments are the Social Anxiety Scale (La Greca & Lopez, 1998) consisting of 18 items, and the adjustment scale (Haber & Runyon, 1984) consisting of 25 items. The analysis in this study is a paired sample t-test that examines decrease in social anxiety and increase in personal adjustment before and after being given MET treatment. The results revealed that MET significantly reduced social anxiety and increased personal adjustment in freshman college students in Indonesia. The results have been discussed and recommendations are given.

Oral pulsatile drug delivery systems (PDDS) are intended to induce programmable lag phases before a quick and quantifiable, repeated, or prolonged medication release. As a result, they are gaining popularity due to their inherent suitability for achieving chronotherapeutic goals, which have just been highlighted concerning several prevalent chronic illnesses characterized by typical night or early-morning recurring symptoms (e. g. bronchial asthma, heart attack, rheumatoid arthritis, early-morningawakening). Furthermore, time-based colonic release is possible when pulsatile delivery devices are correctly modified to overcome unexpected gastric emptying and give delay periods that roughly match the small intestine transit time. Oral pulsatile administration is accomplished using several release platforms, including reservoir, capsular, and osmotic devices. The current review article addressed the topics that followed: the reason pulsatile drug delivery systems have been invented; diseases for which pulsatile release is necessary; classification, advantages and disadvantages; methods used in the current systems; the situation nowadays and its potential for the future; recent advancements, and especially, the previous five to ten years of research on pulsatile drug delivery conducted by researchers using a variety of drugs for a variety of diseases.

Water samples collected throughout several reclamation facilities were analyzed for the presence of infectious Cryptosporidium parvum by the focus detection method-most-probable-number cell culture technique. Results revealed the presence of infectious C. parvum oocysts in 40% of the final disinfected effluent samples. Sampled effluent contained on average seven infectious oocysts per 100 liters. Thus, reclaimed water is not pathogen free but contains infectious C. parvum .

Introduction We present an environment for learning and teaching mathematics that aims at inspiring the creative potential of students by enabling the learners to perform various kinds of interactive computer experiments during their learning process. Computer interactions are both of visual and purely formal mathematical nature, where the computer-algebra system Mathematica powers the visualization of mathematical concepts and the tools provided by the mathematical assistant system Theorema, which is also based on Mathematica, are used for the formal counterparts. We present case studies on equivalence relations and polynomial interpolation, in which we demonstrate the entire bandwidth of computer-support that we envision for modern learning environments for mathematics.

We investigated the effect of organically modified clay alone and in combination with zinc borate on the thermal/flammability behavior of nylon‐6 nanocomposites. Differential thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the peak decomposition temperature was not affected by the addition of clay, but the rate of weight loss decreased with increase in clay concentration. Nanocomposite films of approximately 0.5 mm thickness with 2.5 and 5 wt % clay burned for almost the same duration as neat nylon‐6 but with reduced dripping in horizontal flame test. The 10 wt % clay nanocomposite sample burned without any dripping and the flame spread rate was reduced by 25–30%. Zinc borate/clay containing nanocomposite developed into a very good intumescent system in cone calorimeter test, swelling about 10–13 mm height prior to ignition forming a cellular char structure. This was found to be an effective composition in reducing the heat release and mass loss rate of nylon‐6 by about 65% and at par wit...

The heterologous surface expression of the cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) from Vibro cholerae in two staphylococcal species, Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus carnosus, has been investigated. The gene encoding native CTB (103 amino acids) was introduced into gene constructs encoding chimeric receptors designed to be translocated and anchored on the outer cell surface of the staphylococci. Since functionality of CTB is correlated with its ability to form pentamers and the capacity of the pentameric CTB to bind the GM1 ganglioside, both the surface accessibility and the functionality of the surface-displayed CTB receptors were evaluated. It could be concluded that the chimeric receptors were targeted to the cell wall of the staphylococci, since they could be released by lysostaphin treatment and, after subsequent affinity purification, identified as full-length products by immunoblotting. Surface accessibility of the chimeric receptors was demonstrated by a colorimetric assay a...

Spectroscopic properties of Er:TiO2 samples have been investigated at room temperature, the samples are prepared with different doping rate by using Sol Gel method. A Judd-Ofelt analysis is used to analysis the UVVisible spectra (in range of 400-900nm) and calculate the three Judd-ofelt of parameters; Ω2, Ω4 and Ω6. From the obtained parameters, the radiative transition probabilities A(J;J’), radiative lifetime τrad and fluorescence branching ratio were calculated. The optical properties of prepared doped samples are close to the known of Er:YAG optical property. Due to these suitable optical properties of doped sample, the Er:TiO2 has the potential to be a laser material and serious may find its application in eye-safe near-infrared laser systems.