The improvement of antioxidant contents and fruit quality of Sukkary date cultivar using various Potassium levels and Irrigation interval

Sukkary date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) were treated with three levels of potassium fertilizer combined with three irrigation intervals regime, five replicates were allocated per treatment, to enhance better date peel color; decrease loose crust, and subsequently, improve high market ability. Potassium sulfate (49% K2O) was applied annually at a rate of 490 g (as common fertilization applied in the farm in which this experiment was carried out, therefore, it was considered as a control treatment), 735 g, or 980 g K2O per palm tree, each level was divided into three equal doses. The first dose was added one month after pollination; the other two doses were added at two month interval, whereas the irrigation treatments were as follows: 24 hrs (as common irrigation application in the farm used for this study, and it was considered as a control treatment), 48 hrs, or 72 hrs. The results showed a great decrease in the loose crust dates at harvesting time. An inverse proportional relationship between irrigation intervals and loose crust of dates was observed. The High potassium fertilizer treatment accompanied with 72 hrs irrigation interval treatment produced a significantly higher date quality regarding with bright yellow color, less darkening, and loose crust. High potassium fertilizer treatments (735, or 980 g K2O per palm) increased total yield, improved date weight, size, and color. Moreover, increasing potassium level affected significantly the date total antioxidant. This study showed that, a potential means to control peel darkening and loose date crust and improve quality of cv. Sukkary dates, which ultimately improves its market ability, through implementing appropriate potassium and irrigation regimes

Analisis Suhu Tanah di Kawasan Wisata Alam Danau Linow Kota Tomohon Sulawesi-Utara

Sulawesi Utara mempunyai potensi untuk dikembangkan menjadi kawasan wisata, salah satu potensi adalah Danau Linow di Tomohon Selatan. Kawasan Danau Linow memiliki lahan yang cukup luas serta keragaman flora dan fauna dengan topografi berbukit-bukit. Untuk menunjang wisata alam di kawasan Danau Linow maka tujuan penelitian ini adalah melakukan kajian mendalam potensi lahan agar dapat dioptimalkan penggunaannya kearah pemanfaatan yang konservatif tentang suhu termal dikawasan tersebut. Metode pengukuran suhu tanah pada penelitian ini dilakukan pada tiga tempat yang berbeda, yaitu pada lahan persawahan, hutan, dan lahan terbuka yang merupakan tempat sumber termal. Jarak pengukuran dari tepi danau dengan kisaran 0 m, 2 m, 8 m, 16 m, 32 m. kedalaman pengukuran pada tanah 60oC. Pada kedalaman sekitar 1 m, suhu tanah bervariasi antara 45 >70oC. Lahan di lokasi ini tidak ditumbuhi rumput atau pepohonan. Kesimpulan hasil pengukuran dan analisis suhu tanah pada beberapa lokasi di sekitar danau Linow menunjukkan bahwa suhu tanah sangat bervariasi yang dipengaruhi oleh penyinaran matahari dan karena adanya sumber termal. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa pengaruh energi termal dari lapisan bawah permukaan bumi hanya mencapai jarak mendatar kurang dari 8 m, sehingga sebagian besar lahan sekitar danau Linow dapat dimanfaatkan untuk penanaman vegetasi atau budidaya tanaman serta pengembangan kearah agrowisata. Kata kunci: Danau Linau, energi termal, Tomohon, suhu tana

Pengembangan Produk Kursi Sudut Pada UKM Pengrajin Bambu Dengan Metode Quality Function Deployment (Qfd) (Study Kasus :Ud.tiga Putri Di Gunung Sari, Nusa Tenggara Barat)

The more demands of the consumers for quality product have made the industry develop product which can satisfy the customers. This study aimed at finding out the design process and the product development which observed the customer's needs and wants, and developed the initial design to obtain the design which met customer's wants and needs.This study employed QFD method to identify the Voice of Customers (VoC). VoC was obtained through questionnaire, distibuted to 90 customers from 3 UKMs, i.e. UD Tiga Puteri, and two competitor UKMs, UKM Debu and UKM Mia Bamboo Collection. The questionnare distribution was undertaken to find the lavel of the customer's interest, so that the UKM needed to develop a new product which met the customers' satisfaction.From the three studied design, the old design (A) and the two new designs (B and C), the new desigm of chair (C) was the most appealing to the customers, with the average grade of 4.26, and the least appealing was the chair with the design (A) with the average score of 3.54. As for the bamboo chair product development according to the priority for improvement were, respectively, finishing process with priority contribution of 5.7, the strength value with the priority contribution of 2.5, durability with priority contribution of 1.9, and the aspect with the lowest priority value was colour with the score of 0.9

Challenges of providing healthcare worker education and training in protracted conflict: a focus on non-government controlled areas in north west Syria

Without healthcare workers (HCWs), health and humanitarian provision in Syria cannot be sustained either now or in the post-conflict phase. The protracted conflict has led to the exodus of more than 70% of the healthcare workforce. Those remaining work in dangerous conditions with insufficient resources and a healthcare system that has been decimated by protracted conflict. For many HCWs, particularly those in non-government-controlled areas (NGCAs) of Syria, undergraduate education and postgraduate training has been interrupted with few opportunities to continue. In this manuscript, we explore initiatives present in north west Syria at both undergraduate and postgraduate level for physician and non-physician HCWs. Conclusion: Challenges to HCW education in north west Syria can be broadly divided into 1. Organisational (local healthcare leadership and governance, coordination and collaboration between stakeholders, competition between stakeholders and insufficient funding.) 2. Programmatic (lack of accreditation or recognition of qualifications, insufficient physical space for teaching, exodus of faculty affecting teaching and training, prioritisation of physicians over non-physicians, informally trained healthcare workers.) 3. Healthcare system related (politicisation of healthcare system, changing healthcare needs of the population, ongoing attacks on healthcare.) Locally implementable strategies including dedicated funding are key to supporting retention of HCWs and return during post-conflict reconstruction

Modelling of Turbocharger heat transfer under stationary and transient conditions

A lumped capacity heat transfer model has been developed and compared tomeasurements from a turbocharger operating on a 2.2L Diesel engine under steadyand transient conditions ranging from 1000-3000rpm and 2-17bar BMEP. Themodel parameters have been estimated based on similar devices and this studyquantifies the errors associated with this approach. Turbine outlet gas temperatureprediction was improved with RMSE reduced from 29.5oC to 13oC. A sensitivitystudy showed the parameters of the heat transfer model influence gastemperatures by only ±4oC but housing temperatures by up to 80oC. Transientsimulations showed how errors in the thermal capacitance also lead to errors. Thisstudy shows the importance of undertaking a full thermal characterisation and theneed for accurate adiabatic maps in turbocharger simulations

Nicotinic Receptor M3 Transmembrane Domain: Position 8Ј Contributes to Channel Gating

ABSTRACT The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a pentamer of homologous subunits with composition ␣ 2 ␤⑀␦ in adult muscle. Each subunit contains four transmembrane domains (M1-M4). Position 8Ј of the M3 domain is phenylalanine in all heteromeric ␣ subunits, whereas it is a hydrophobic nonaromatic residue in non-␣ subunits. Given this peculiar conservation pattern, we studied its contribution to muscle nAChR activation by combining mutagenesis with single-channel kinetic analysis. Construction of nAChRs carrying different numbers of phenylalanine residues at 8Ј reveals that the mean open time decreases as a function of the number of phenylalanine residues. Thus, all subunits contribute through this position independently and additively to the channel closing rate. The impairment of channel opening increases when the number of phenylalanine residues at 8Ј increases from two (wild-type nAChR) to five. The gating equilibrium constant of the latter mutant nAChR is 13-fold lower than that of the wild-type nAChR. The replacement of ␣F8Ј, ␤L8Ј, ␦L8Ј, and ⑀V8Ј by a series of hydrophobic amino acids reveals that the structural bases of the observed kinetic effects are nonequivalent among subunits. In the ␣ subunit, hydrophobic amino acids at 8Ј lead to prolonged channel lifetimes, whereas they lead either to normal kinetics (␦ and ⑀ subunits) or impaired channel gating (␤ subunit) in the non-␣ subunits. The overall results indicate that 8Ј positions of the M3 domains of all subunits contribute to channel gating

Co-option of neurotransmitter signaling for inter-organismal communication in C. elegans

Biogenic amine neurotransmitters play a central role in metazoan biology, and both their chemical structures and cognate receptors are evolutionarily conserved. Their primary roles are in cell-to-cell signaling, as biogenic amines are not normally recruited for communication between separate individuals. Here, we show that in the nematode C. elegans, a neurotransmitter-sensing G protein-coupled receptor, TYRA-2, is required for avoidance responses to osas#9, an ascaroside pheromone that incorporates the neurotransmitter, octopamine. Neuronal ablation, cell-specific genetic rescue, and calcium imaging show that tyra-2 expression in the nociceptive neuron, ASH, is necessary and sufficient to induce osas#9 avoidance. Ectopic expression in the AWA neuron, which is generally associated with attractive responses, reverses the response to osas#9, resulting in attraction instead of avoidance behavior, confirming that TYRA-2 partakes in the sensing of osas#9. The TYRA-2/osas#9 signaling system represents an inter-organismal communication channel that evolved via co-option of a neurotransmitter and its cognate receptor