Examination of different reading strategies with eye tracking measures in paragraph questions [Paragraf sorularında farklı okuma stratejilerinin göz izleme metrikleriyle incelenmesi]

This study aims at investigating the effects of two different test-taking strategies on reading achievement, dwell time, fixation counts and number of regressions on area of interests (AOIs) of the multiple choice reading comprehension questions with different type and difficulty levels. In this true experimental study, 28 subjects are randomly assigned into two groups. While subjects in stem first strategy (S-FS) group read the question stem first, subjects in paragraph first strategy group (P-FS) read paragraph first. Results of this study show that dwell time, fixation counts, and number of regressions on question stem AOIs in the S-FS group are significantly higher than the P-FS group. As a result, contrary to the common recommendations in practice, reading the question stem first provides no advantage in terms of reading achievement and dwell time as expected. Moreover, the S-FS significantly increases dwell time, fixation counts, and number of regressions on question stem AOIs. © 2020, Hacettepe University. All rights reserved

Comparative Analysis of Cost and Profitability in the Irrigated and Non-irrigated Chestnut Farming: Case of Aydin Province, Turkey [Vergleichende Kosten- und Rentabilitätsanalyse der Kastanienproduktion mit und ohne Zusatzbewässerung in der türkischen Provinz Aydin]

The objective of this paper was to examine comparatively the cost and profitability of chestnut farming in the irrigated and non-irrigated farms in Aydin Province. The data of this study was collected with face to face surveys from 99 chestnut farms using the stratified sampling method. Partial budgeting analysis was applied to 27 irrigated and 72 non-irrigated farms in order to explain the cost and profitability of chestnut production. The results of the study highlighted that the average production cost of chestnut per kilogram was US $1.26 in the irrigated farms, whereas it was US$1.21 in the non-irrigated farms. The chief element of cost was labor, and the share of labor in the total cost was 70.77% in the irrigated farms and 69.24% in the non-irrigated ones. The gross production value per decare and per tree were US $422.62 and US$47.01 in the irrigated farms, while they were US $270.83 and US$39.77 in the non-irrigated farms, respectively. In the irrigated farms, the gross profit and net profit were US $259.08 and US$158.14, whereas in the non-irrigated farms, they were US $184.50 and US$95.92, respectively. The rate of return was 1.60 in the irrigated farms and 1.55 in the non-irrigated ones. The results of the study confirmed that the chestnut production cost of the farms could be lessened via utilization of irrigation and the effective use of inputs particularly labor. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland, ein Teil von Springer Nature

Chemical constituent and radical scavenging antioxidant activity of Anthemis kotschyana Boiss

PubMed: 32028798Phenolic content and antioxidant activity of Anthemis kotschyana Boiss. var. discoidea (A. kotschyana) were reported in this study. The ethanol extract of Anthemis kotschyana (EEA) and the water extract of Anthemis kotschyana (WEA) were prepared and used for biochemical analyses. Radical scavenging antioxidant capacities of EEA and WEA were evaluated by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging method. Another goal of the study was to evaluate the phenolic compositions of A. kotschyana by liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Rhamnetin (5.484 ± 0.020 ppm; µg/g extract) and quinic acid (2.251 ± 0.012 ppm; µg/g extract) were identified as major two compounds in the plant sample. This study will be a scientific base for further studies about A. kotschyana for plant biochemistry and plant-based pharmacological industry. © 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Synthesis, spectroscopic properties, crystal structures, antioxidant activities and enzyme inhibition determination of Co(II) and Fe(II) complexes of Schiff base

Considering the importance of metal complexes in the development of medical science, two different Schiff base Fe(II) and Co(II) metal complex compounds were synthesized with Schiff base obtained through the condensation of 1-(4-aminophenyl)ethanone with 2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde. The reactions of the ligand with Co(II) and Fe(II) metal ions enabled six coordination compounds with octahedral geometries. The novel metal complexes were characterized by IR, elemental analyses, magnetic susceptibility, mass spectra, UV–Vis, thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis (TGA–DTA) and X-ray diffraction analysis. The antioxidant properties of the new compounds were investigated using different in vitro assays. Moreover, enzyme inhibition of derivatives complexes against carbonic anhydrase I and II isoenzymes (CA I and II) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was evaluated. The best inhibitor complex for CA I and II isoenzymes was the Fe(II) complex with Ki values of 52.83 ± 11.52 and 63.34 ± 8.88, respectively. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V

Electrical properties of Al/PCBM:ZnO/p-Si heterojunction for photodiode application

In this paper, the electrical characteristics of spin-coated PCBM:ZnO interlayered Al/PCBM:ZnO/Si diode are investigated under the aim of photodiode application. Under dark condition, the diode shows about four orders in magnitude rectification rate and diode illumination results in efficient rectification with increase in intensity. The analysis of current-voltage curve results a non-ideal diode characteristics according to the thermionic emission model due to the existence of parasitic resistances and interface states. The measured current-voltage values are used to extract the barrier height and ideality factor under dark and illumination conditions. Under illumination, photo-generated carriers contribute to the current flow and linear photo-conductivity behavior in photo-current measurements with illumination shows the possible use of hybrid PCBM:ZnO layer in Si-based photodiodes. In addition, change in the series and shunt resistance values under illumination is found to be effective in this light-sensing behavior of the diode. This characteristic is also observed from the typical on/off illumination switching behavior for the photodiodes in transient photo-current, photo-capacitance and photo-conductance measurements with the quick response to the illumination. The deviations from ideality are also discussed by means of distribution of interface states and series resistance depending on the applied frequency and bias voltage. © 2020Selçuk Üniversitesi: 19401034This work is supported by Selçuk University BAP office with the research Project Number 19401034

Self-referenced hydrogen nanosensor based on SPP resonator system

This paper presents a numerical study of a nanoscale hydrogen gas sensor based on a surface plasmon polariton resonator system. The system consists of two resonators, one with a silver-core and the other with a palladium-core, and a side-coupled access waveguide. In this study, an effective method for eliminating inhibitory detection parameters in hydrogen gas detection is proposed. With a sensitivity of 350 pm/% hydrogen, the proposed structure and the method should lead to future studies investigating more compact, cost-effective, practical and accurate hydrogen detection technology. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Toxicological effects of some antiparasitic drugs on equine liver glutathione S-Transferase enzyme activity

PubMed: 31887670Benzimidazoles are antiparasitic drugs having an extensive application field like agriculture, medicine, and especially in veterinary medicine. In this study, we report the effect of some benzimidazole drugs such as ricobendazole (RBZ), thiabendazole (TBZ), albendazole (ALBA) and oxfendazole (OFZ) on glutathione s-transferase (GST) enzyme activity. The kinetics studies, IC50 and Ki values of the tested drugs on GSTs enzyme activity were investigated. The obtained ranking of IC50 values were found to be approximately RBZ (53.31 µM, r2: 0.9778) < OFZ (57.75 µM, r2: 0.9630) < ALBA (63.00 µM, r2: 0.9443) < TBZ (69.30 µM, r2: 0.9491). And the obtained ranking of Ki values of the tested drugs (RBZ, TBZ, ALBA, and OFZ) for GSTs enzyme activity was found to be approximately 26.37 ± 2.96, 44.01 ± 5.74, 39.82 ± 3.98 and 30.14 ± 3.03 µM, respectively. Experimental results showed that tested the benzimidazoles drugs have some significant inhibitory effect on GSTs enzyme activity. And also, it was determined that RBZ, ALBA, OFZ are competitive inhibition, but TBZ is non-competitive inhibitors on GSTs enzyme activity. RBZ drug showed the best inhibitory effect with the lowest Ki value. © 2019 Elsevier B.V

Influence of some beta-lactam drugs on selected antioxidant enzyme and lipid peroxidation levels in different rat tissues

WOS: 000470421900001PubMed: 31060396Antioxidant enzymes play an important role in body defense and free radical removal. Cephalosporins are beta-lactam antibiotics. In this work, the effects of cefazolin, cefuroxime and cefoperazone which are cephalosporins on some selected antioxidant enzyme and levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) as lipid peroxidation product were investigated in kidney, liver, and brain tissues of albino female rats. Ninety-six albino rats were randomly divided into 16 groups of equal number (n = 6). 50 mg/kg cefazolin, 25 mg/kg cefuroxime, and 100 mg/kg cefoperazone were injected intraperitoneally to the groups (5th-8th and 9th-12th, and 13th-16th groups), respectively. The changes in glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels were studied in each time point group and a time-dependent manner (at the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th hour). In addition, MDA levels were examined in all the tissues. The drugs evaluated in this study had different effects on the same enzyme in different tissues depending on time. MDA levels especially in cefazolin and cefoperazone experiments were lower in all the tissues; however, MDA levels were higher in brain and kidney tissues in the cefuroxime groups in a time-dependent manner (p < 0.05). These results revealed the complex effects of the tested drugs on different tissues at different time points. Therefore, the dose and use of these drugs should be adjusted correctly.Scientific Research Fund of Igdir University [2018-SBE-A11]This study was supported by Scientific Research Fund of Igdir University. Project Number: 2018-SBE-A11

The C-V characteristics of TiO2/p-Si/Ag, GNR doped TiO2/p-Si/Ag and MWCNT doped TiO2/p-Si/Ag heterojunction devices

The TiO2/p-Si/Ag, graphene (GNR) doped TiO2/p-Si/Ag and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) doped TiO2/p-Si/Ag heterojunction devices were fabricated by electrospinning technique at same conditions. Their structural, morphological properties, thermal analyses (TGA), and capacitance voltage characteristics were studied and compared. The undoped, GNR and MWCNT doped TiO2 structures obtained successfully according to XRD measurements. Morphological properties of the undoped, GNR and MWCNT doped TiO2 composite structures have rod or ribbon like structures. The TGA result confirmed the GNR and MWCNT doped TiO2 structures. The C-V and G-V measurements were employed for electrical characterization of the TiO2/p-Si/Ag, GNR doped TiO2/p-Si/Ag and MWCNT doped TiO2/p-Si/Ag devices for various frequencies at room temperatures. The results imparted that the capacitance and conductance behaviors of all devices are strong functions of the frequency and voltage. The electrical parameters were calculated from C-2-V plots of the heterojunction devices and compared for three devices. The transient photocapacitance plots revealed that the devices can be employed for optical communication applications. © 2020 The Physical Society of the Republic of China (Taiwan

Corrigendum to “Multi-criteria decision-making in the location selection for a solar PV power plant using AHP” (Measurement (2018) 129 (218–226), (S0263224118306134), (10.1016/j.measurement.2018.07.020))

The authors would like to draw your attention to the fact that the first author's surname has been changed from Seda Ozdemir to Seda Turk. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. © 2019 Elsevier Lt