Male and female interaction in apple: Pollen tube growth, fruit set, fruit quality, and return bloom

In apple, adequate and appropriate pollination and fertilization is required for fruit set, fruit quality and subsequent fruit growth. Pollen source, pollen-style interaction and compatibility, and ample pollen tube growth are potentially highly influential factors on the fertilization and fruit setting process. Pollinizer is considered to be one of the influential factors and has a remarkable impact on fertilization. However, basic information on the level of pollinizer compatibility and its contribution to yield is lacking for many commercial apple cultivars. Hence, we conducted these experiments to compare pollinizers in terms of pollen tube growth, fruit set, fruit quality and return bloom. Honeycrisp, Gala, and Fuji cultivars were hand-pollinated by Crabapple, Red Delicious or Golden Delicious pollen. Pollen source had a significant influence on pollen tube growth and pollen tube enrichment in to the base of the style. Golden Delicious pollen had the highest and fastest growth followed by Red Delicious and Crabapple. Crabapple was not an effective pollinizer for Honeycrisp resulting in low fruit set, but both Red Delicious and Golden Delicious were adequate pollinizers of Honeycrisp apples. Pollen tube growth increased overtime after pollination and generally reached the base of the style 96 hours after pollination. ^ Fruit quality attributes and return bloom were generally not affected by pollen source. However, Crabapple pollen resulted in the lowest number of seeds per fruit in all cultivars. Seed number was positively correlated with Gala and Honeycrisp fruit fresh weight regardless of the pollen source. A significantly positive correlation was found between pistil number and seed number indicating that reducing pistil number is an effective experimental tool to regulate seed number. The percent return boom was dramatically decreased with increasing individual fruit fresh weight. Likewise, percent return boom was reduced with increasing seed number per fruit. These results suggest that pollen source and seed number per fruit influence fruit set, fruit quality, and biennial bearing potential of Honeycrisp. This has real world implications for orchard design. Based on our findings, we recommend growers to do not plant Ralph-Shay or Malus floribunda Crabapples as pollinizers for Honeycrisp

Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguide Fed Broadband Nano-antenna for Nanophotonic Applications

In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid plasmonic waveguide fed broadband optical patch nano-antenna for nanophotonic applications. Through full wave electromagnetic simulation, we demonstrated our proposed antenna to radiate and receive signal at all optical communication windows (e.g. $\lambda$ = 850nm, 1310nm & 1550nm) with around 86% bandwidth within the operational domain. Moreover numerical results demonstrate that the proposed nano-antenna has directional radiation pattern with satisfactory gain over all three communication bands. Additionally, we evaluated the antenna performances with two different array arrangements (e.g. one dimensional and square array). The proposed broadband antenna can be used for prominent nanophotonic applications such as optical wireless communication in inter and intra-chip devices, optical sensing and optical energy harvesting etc.Comment: 4 Page, 7 figure

Guidance of Sex Education for Pre-Puberty Children: Study at Darul Muttaqein Bogor

Sex education is a comprehensive education that needs to be disclosed publicly to pre-puberty-children aged between 7 to 10 years old. To ensure that they understood the meaning of life and are not being affected by western ideology. Providing sex education in Islam is very important to find their true identity and understand the concept of life as a Muslim when they reached puberty. This article aims to find out knowledge taught to pre-puberty age children about sex education. This research used qualitative methods, combining library researched (pedagogies aspect) and field researched (psychologist aspect). The results showed that the guidance of sex education about the body anatomy and their relevance to faith, worship, and sharia is to ensure that the child understands their responsibility and to adopt good morals in life. Abstrak         Pendidikan seks merupakan pendidikan komprehensif yang perlu didedahkan kepada anak pra-akil baligh berumur antara 7 hingga 10 tahun. Ini memastikan mereka memahami erti kehidupan dan tidak terpengaruh dengan ideologi Barat. Menyediakan pendidikan seks dalam Islam adalah penting untuk mencari identitas kebenaran mereka dan memahami konsep kehidupan sebagai seorang Muslim apabila mereka mencapai usia akil baligh. Tujuan artikel ini adalah untuk mengetahui apa yang diajar kepada kanak-kanak umur pra-akil baligh tentang pendidikan seks. Kaedah kualitatif digunakan dalam penyelidikan ini dengan menggabungkan penelitian perpustakaan (aspek paedegogis) dan penyelidikan lapangan (aspek psikologi). Hasil kajian menunjukkan bimbingan pendidikan seks mengenai anatomi tubuh dan kaitannya dengan iman, ibadah dan syariat adalah untuk memastikan anak memahami tanggungjawab mereka dan menyesuaikan akhlak yang baik dalam kehidupa

The Influence of Social Media on Arabic Writing Skills among Jordanian 10th Graders'

This study aimed to investigate the influence of using social media on the 10th graders' progress in writing skills, and their attitudes towards writing at Naour District in Amman schools, and the effect of gender, academic qualifications,  educational and professional experiences. A five-point questionnaire, and a standardized writing test were sophisticated.  It included three composition questions to get three paragraphs based on  writing. The sample of the randomized study consisted of (1064) students of the 10th grade. The study showed,  there were no significant differences in the effect of social media towards writing skills for 10th graders’ due to academic qualification on third domain, whereas there were significant differences on the effect of social media towards Arabic writing proficiency due to academic qualification in the first and second domains. There were also statistically significant differences on the effect of social media towards writing proficiency for 10th graders’. Keywords: Social Media, Writing Skills, 10th Graders, Amman schools, Teaching Methods. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-36-18 Publication date: December 31st 202

Attenuation of Chemically Induced Diabetes in Rabbits with Herbal Mixture (Citrullus colocynthis and Cicer arietinum)

The present study was carried out to investigate the hypoglycemic potential of herbal mixture (Citrullus Colocynthis and Cicer arietinum) in normal and alloxan induced diabetic rabbits. Hypoglycemic potential was evaluated through curative and preventive modes of treatments. Blood glucose and lipid level was measured in serum of experimental rabbits. Significant (P<0.05) increase was observed in glucose level (466.33+9.07 mg/dl) in diabetic control group after the injection of alloxan (120 mg/kg) as compared to normal group (103.67±4.51 mg/dl). Treatment of diabetic rabbits with herbal mixtures at the dose of 150 mg/kg for three weeks significantly decreased (126±9.17 mg/dl) glucose level of the alloxan induced. The oral administration of herbal mixture in curative and preventive groups showed significant reduction in plasma glucose, and low density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol levels, and significant (P<0.05) increased was observed in the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL). The phytochemical studies revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and steroids in herbal mixture. The results of this study indicated that antidiabetic potential of herbal mixture (Citrullus Colocynthis and Cicer arietinum) may be due to presence of bioactive phytochemical constituents. It can be concluded that herbal mixture has strong hypoglycemic and antilipidemic potential which is comparable with standard drug

Human System Modeling for Optimum Labor Utilization and Man-Machine Configuration

Manufacturing organization with increased in the organizational complexity, is facing difficulty in measuring its performance. Various factors could affect manufacturing performance such as equipment performance, material planning and human resources. In this paper, focus was given primarily on the human resource which was considered as an important factor of the simulation model development to achieve optimum utilization and ensure efficient operator allocation to the machines. Static modeling was performed to capture all the critical factors contributing to the work such as the operator activity sequence, the time value for each activity and also the machine process time for each batch of product. A dynamic model was then developed to enable quantitative analysis in the optimization of human system performance. This paper illustrates the application of different modeling approaches to demonstrate advantages gained in the process of evaluating human system performance

Blockchain-based Security Framework for Critical Industry 4.0 Cyber-physical System

There has been an intense concern for security alternatives because of the recent rise of cyber attacks, mainly targeting critical systems such as industry, medical, or energy ecosystem. Though the latest industry infrastructures largely depend on AI-driven maintenance, the prediction based on corrupted data undoubtedly results in loss of life and capital. Admittedly, an inadequate data-protection mechanism can readily challenge the security and reliability of the network. The shortcomings of the conventional cloud or trusted certificate-driven techniques have motivated us to exhibit a unique Blockchain-based framework for a secure and efficient industry 4.0 system. The demonstrated framework obviates the long-established certificate authority after enhancing the consortium Blockchain that reduces the data processing delay, and increases cost-effective throughput. Nonetheless, the distributed industry 4.0 security model entails cooperative trust than depending on a single party, which in essence indulges the costs and threat of the single point of failure. Therefore, multi-signature technique of the proposed framework accomplishes the multi-party authentication, which confirms its applicability for the real-time and collaborative cyber-physical system.Comment: 07 Pages, 4 Figures, IEEE Communication Magazin

Cigarette smoke regulates the expression of TLR4 and IL-8 production by human macrophages

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are present on monocytes and alveolar macrophages that form the first line of defense against inhaled particles. The importance of those cells in the pathophysiology of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has well been documented. Cigarette smoke contains high concentration of oxidants which can stimulate immune cells to produce reactive oxygen species, cytokines and chemokines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, we evaluated the effects of cigarette smoke medium (CSM) on TLR4 expression and interleukin (IL)-8 production by human macrophages investigating the involvement of ROS.</p> <p>Results and Discussion</p> <p>TLR4 surface expression was downregulated on short term exposure (1 h) of CSM. The downregulation could be explained by internalization of the TLR4 and the upregulation by an increase in TLR4 mRNA. IL-8 mRNA and protein were also increased by CSM. CSM stimulation increased intracellular ROS-production and decreased glutathione (GSH) levels. The modulation of TLR4 mRNA and surface receptors expression, IRAK activation, IκB-α degradation, IL-8 mRNA and protein, GSH depletion and ROS production were all prevented by antioxidants such as N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>TLR4 may be involved in the pathogenesis of lung emphysema and oxidative stress and seems to be a crucial contributor in lung inflammation.</p

Nurse level of education, quality of care and patient safety in the medical and surgical wards in Malaysian private hospitals: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Nursing knowledge and skills are required to sustain quality of care and patient safety. The numbers of nurses with Bachelor degrees in Malaysia are very limited. This study aims to predict the impact of nurse level of education on quality of care and patient safety in the medical and surgical wards in Malaysian private hospitals. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional survey by questionnaire was conducted. A total 652 nurses working in the medical and surgical wards in 12 private hospitals were participated in the study. Multistage stratified simple random sampling performed to invite nurses working in small size (less than 100 beds), medium size (100-199 beds) and large size (over than 200) hospitals to participate in the study. This allowed nurses from all shifts to participate in this study. RESULTS: Nurses with higher education were not significantly associated with both quality of care and patient safety. However, a total 355 (60.9%) of respondents participated in this study were working in teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals offer training for all newly appointed staff. They also provide general orientation programs and training to outline the policies, procedures of the nurses’ roles and responsibilities. This made the variances between the Bachelor and Diploma nurses not significantly associated with the outcomes of care. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing educational level was not associated with the outcomes of care in Malaysian private hospitals. However, training programs and the general nursing orientation programs for nurses in Malaysia can help to upgrade the Diploma-level nurses. Training programs can increase their self confidence, knowledge, critical thinking ability and improve their interpersonal skills. So, it can be concluded that better education and training for a medical and surgical wards’ nurses is required for satisfying client expectations and sustaining the outcomes of patient care