Investigating the concerns of first-time distance education instructors

The purpose of the study is to investigate the concern developments of first-time distance education instructors using the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM). This study used stages of concern (SoC), a component of CBAM, as its theoretical framework. A descriptive case study was implemented, which focused on the adaptation processes of nine instructors lecturing for the first time via distance education. The instructors attended a two-day training, which was designed based on their initial concerns. Then instructors implemented their courses for four weeks via distance education. While the informational and personal stages (self-concerns) decreased compared to the initial findings, the consequence stage increased in intensity. However, self-concerns remained predominant in the process despite the reduction in self-concerns and increase in the consequence stage. Based on the findings, the implications for distance education and recommendations for addressing the instructors' concerns are discussed. Recommendations for alleviating the concerns of first-time distance education instructors include: the provision of ongoing concern-based interventions that incorporate technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge; providing working examples related to distance education from which instructors can learn vicariously; and encouraging collaboration among instructors. © Athabasca University

Analysis of Genetic Diversity Among 'Misket' Apple Clones Using AFLP, SSR and RAPD Markers

WOS: 000480483100012Knowledge of genetic relationship among genotypes is an important concern for utilization of germplasm resources in breeding. The need for knowledge in local apple cultivars is increasing and molecular marker analysis has contributed to understanding of the apple genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationship between genotypes. Three different DNA-based techniques, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), simple sequence repeat (SSR) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) were used for detecting genetic variation among the 30 local 'Misket' apple genotypes. A total of 423 bands amplified and 205 polymorphic band were obtained with three marker techniques. Thirty RAPD primers amplified 207 bands, of which 91 were polymorphic (40.1%), 10 SSR primers produced 33 bands and 26 of them were polymorphic (78.78%) and 5 AFLP combinations amplified 183 bands of which 88 were polymorphic (48.08%). The average numbers of polymorphic marker per primer combination were 17.6, 3.03 and 2.6 for AFLP, RAPD and SSR respectively. Our results indicate that SSR was less informative in characterizing closely related 'Misket' apple genotypes, compared with RAPD and AFLP markers. AFLP seemed to best suited for evaluating the genetic relationship among the apple genotypes. Closely related genotypes may require more than one marker technique. The findings will be useful to identify and evaluate the local growing apple genetic resources

Genetic evaluation of linear type traits and their association with milk production traits in beetal goats in Pakistan

Data on linear type and milk production traits of Beetal does (n=127) were analyzed to estimate variance components hence genetic parameters and to find the relationship between linear type and milk production traits fitting an individual animal model. Fixed effects were flock and parity in the model while linear and quadratic effects ofage of doe were fitted as covariables. Genetic parameters (heritability estimates) of linear type traits and their correlations with milk production traits were computed using ASREML software. Heritability of various body measurement traits varied from 0.04 to 0.98. Genetic correlations between different body measurements and milk production traits ranged from-0.41 to 0.88 for lactation milk yield (LMY) and from-0.69 to 0.64 for lactation length (LL). Phenotypic correlations in corresponding combinations ranged from-0.33 to 0.90 for LMY, and from-0.46 to 0.89 for LL. In conclusion, some of thecorrelationscould provide strong effects in selection and prediction of milk production from linear type traits. © 2019, Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum. All rights reserved

Determination of antioxidant enzyme activity and phenolic contents of some species of the Asteraceae family from medicanal plants

Medicnal and aromatic plants are used in different fields depending on the amount of antioxidant and phenolic substances they have. This study was conducted to determine the antioxidant enzyme activity and phenolic contents of some species of the Asteraceae family (Achillea biebersteinii Afan., Achillea millefolium L., Achillea nobilis L., Artemisia absinthium L., Artemisia alba Turra., Artemisia dracunculus L., Artemisia santanicum L., Artemisia vulgaris L., Carthamus tinctorius L., Centaurea cyanus L., Echinacea pallida Nutt., Echinacea purpurea L. Moench., Grindelia robusta Nutt., Helianthus annuus L., Helichrysum plicatum L., İnula helenium L. and Santolina chamaecyparissus L.) for medicines, additive food supplement and cosmetic sector. In, this study, the antioxidant amount of some medicinal and aromatic plants with different properties belonging to Asteraceae family and hormones, phenolic substance and vitamin C and vitamin E were determined. E. purpurea, A. nobilis, G. robusta and S. chamaecyparissus species have more antioxidant, enzymes, hormones and some phenolic substances such as vitamin C and vitamin E, than other species in Asteracae. According to study result, highest amount of gibberellic acid, salicylic acid, indole acetic acid (IAA), abscisic acid (ABA), catalase (CAT) enzyme activity, peroxidase (POD) enzyme activity, superoksid dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity, ascorbate peroxidase (AxPOD) enzyme activity, malondialdehyte (MDA), hydrogen peroxide, total antioxidant, total phenolic, total carotenoid amount, vitamin E contents, vitamin C contents, chlorogenic acid contents, caffeic acids, chloric acid and proantocyanidin were determined in the A. millefolium (819.46 ng µl-1), A. dracunculus (91.29 ng µl-1), S. cyparissus L. (1985.08 enzyme unit (EU) g leaf-1), S. chamaecyparissus (415.22 EU g leaf-1) E. purpurea (83.78 EU g leaf-1), A. nobilis (41.91 EU g leaf-1), S. chamaecyparissus (140.85 nmol g-1), E. purpurea (10.49 µmol g-1) A. nobilis (1464 µmol Trolox Equivalents (TE) per g-1), E. purpurea (13.34 mg gallic acid (GA) per g-1 fresh weight (FW)), E. purpurea (29.41 g vitamine A 100-1), G. robusta (33.63 g-Alfa tocopherol eg 100 g-1), A. nobilis (20.70 g 100g-1), E. purpurea (13.51 mg g-1 fw), A. nobilis and S. chamaecyparissus (1.83 mg g-1 fw), S. chamaecyparissus (143.84 mg g-1 fw) and A. nobilis (83.63%) species, respectively. According to the results obtained, it is determined that there are significant changes in the contents of the medicinal and aromatic plants depending on the region and climatic conditions. © 2019 Elsevier B.V

Synthesis, characterization, molecular docking and biological activities of novel pyrazoline derivatives

PubMed: 31125504In this study, synthesis of ethyl 2-((4-bromophenyl)diazenyl)-3-oxo-phenylpropanoate 1 was carried out and a series of new 3H-pyrazol-3-ones (P1–7) were synthesized from 1 as well as various hydrazines. The obtained yields of the synthesized compounds were moderate (40–70%) and these compounds were confirmed by spectral data. These novel pyrazoline derivatives were effective inhibitor compounds of the human carbonic anhydrase I and II isozymes (hCAs I and II) and of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme, with Ki values in the range of 17.4–40.7 nM for hCA I, 16.1–55.2 nM for hCA II, and 48.2–84.1 nM for AChE. In silico studies were performed on the compounds inhibiting hCA I, hCA II, and AChE receptors. On the basis of the findings, the inhibition profile of the new pyrazoline compounds at the receptors was determined. © 2019 Deutsche Pharmazeutische GesellschaftThis study was supported by Scientific Research Fund of Iğdır University. Project Number: 2018-SBE-A01. A certain part of this study was carried out in Igdır University Research Laboratory Practice and Research Center

Investigation of the life quality of women in Ankara according to their participation in physical activity

Introduction: Exercising regularly and participating in physical activity improves endurance by strengthening the cardiovascular system as well as muscle strength and flexibility. Regular physical exercise is also beneficial for mental health. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of joining a physical exercise program in female participants in terms of age, marital status, education level, welfare level, frequency of participation in physical activity, general health status, physical appearance and life quality. Material and method: A quantitative method was used in the research. The population of the study consists of women over the age of 18 who live in Ankara who regularly attend sport centres. The study group consisted of 355 women who were collected by easy sampling, within a total sample of 7500 women over the age of 18, members of 15 B-fit sports centres operating in different regions of Ankara. In order to evaluate the life quality of the research group, the ''Life Quality'' scale developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) (1998) and adapted by Sevil into Turkish was used as data collection tool. The scale has five sub-dimensions and consists of 23 questions. As the data showed normal distribution, T-test was used for binary comparisons, Anova for multiple comparisons, and LSD test was used to determine the source of the differences. Results: The majority of the women participating in the study were between 36-44 years old, married and graduate. The majority of women exercised occasionally. Welfare, health status and physical appearance ware intermediate. It was determined that women attribute importance to health status and physical appearance. Conclusion: It was found that the life quality of the women with good welfare level was higher and was concluded that the quality of life increased as the physical activity level increased. © 2019 A. CARBONE Editore. All rights reserved

Presumptive relationship between oxidoreduction potential and both antibacterial and antioxidant activities of herbs and spices: Oxidoreduction potential as a companion tool for measuring the antioxidant activity

Antibacterial and antioxidant activities form an essential component of the bioactive properties of plant products. The antibacterial and the antioxidant properties of three types of aqueous extracts of four herbs and spices were evaluated. While the total phenolic content, DPPH radical scavenging activity and oxidoreduction potential methods were used for the antioxidant properties determination, the inhibition diameters of extracts toward the growth of Staphylococcus warneri, Bacillus cereus, Enterobacter cloacae and Proteus vulgaris were evaluated. Although the phenolic content did not correlate with the antibacterial activity of plant extracts, it linearly correlated (R2 = 0.827) with DPPH scavenging activity of the studied plants following the order: sumac > ginger > rosemary > cinnamon. The oxidoreduction potential values linearly correlated with both the phenolic content (R2 ? 0.88) and DPPH scavenging activity values (R2 ? 0.96). The oxidoreduction potential could be proposed as a useful companion tool combined with other techniques when determining the antioxidant activity of plant extracts and food products is considered. © Not Bot Horti Agrobo, 2019

The C–V characteristics of the Cu2WSe4/p-Si heterojunction depending on wide range temperature

Cu2WSe4 nanosheets were synthesized by hot-injection method and employed as interfacial layers between the p-Si and Au metal via spin coating technique. The capacitance–voltage (C–V) and conductance-voltage (G–V) measurements were performed on the Cu2WSe4/p-Si heterojunction device depending on wide range temperatures from 80 to 400 K by 40 K steps. The device exhibited decreasing capacitance behavior with increasing temperature at the inversion region because of the interface states and series resistance. The conductance values increased with increasing temperature owing to increasing free charge carriers. The series resistance (Rs) and interface states density (Nss) were extracted from C–V and G–V measurements and discussed in the details. The results highlighted that the electrical parameters are a strong function of the voltage and temperature. The Au/Cu2WSe4/p-Si device can be employed for controllable capacitor applications. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.17401159 32-M-16 Canon Foundation for Scientific Research, CFSRThe authors would like to thank to Selçuk University BAP office (Project Number 17401159) and Karamanoglu Mehmetbey University (Grand Number: 32-M-16) for Scientific Research Foundation. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

Determination of factors affecting dairy cattle: a case study of Ardahan province using data mining algorithms

WOS: 000501503600001This study was conducted to compare predictive performances of different data-mining algorithms for determining factors influencing the average daily milk yield at dairy cattle enterprises of Ardahan province, located in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The algorithms employed in the present study were Classification and Regression Tree (CART), Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detector (CHAID), Exhaustive Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detector (Exhaustive CHAID), Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP). The MARS algorithm outperformed the other algorithms in the study. Visual results of CART revealed that the culture-breed cows with a lactation length greater than 237.500 days had the highest milk yield (10.64 kg/day). Culture-breed cows calving earlier than the 4th month gave the highest yield of approximately 10 kg/day in the regression tree of CHAID. The Exhaustive CHAID results were almost the same as the structure of the CHAID. The use of MARS may provide an opportunity to detect factors affecting milk production (breed, feed supply, type of milking, mastitis control, cow year group, and lactation length) and their interactions. Moreover, the MARS algorithm may be useful in making an accurate decision about increasing milk yield per cow

Mesoporous Materials in Biofuel Cells

WOS: 000458589000007In biological systems, the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy exhibited the importance of biological fuel cells. Thus, studies on the use of microbes and enzymes in fuel cell devices have recently increased. Reduced fossil resources and damage to the environment have led to an increase in the search for new energy sources. Electric energy can be obtained by using microbial and enzymes in fuel cells. The efficiency and durability of the material to be used in cathodic and anodic electrodes enable the efficient use of the biofuel cell. It is very important to know the properties of the membrane materials that provide ion transfer between the cathode and the anode. So, the characteristics of the materials used in these fuel cells, which can be expressed as biological fuel cells, affect the energy efficiency. This chapter is aimed to report recent developments in microbial fuel cells, enzymatic fuel cells and carbon-based fuel cells and the materials used in these fuel cells