The shape of the secondary sexual characters is, traditionally, used to discriminate marine shrimps at species level. However, qualitative evaluation structures that are morphologically variable in taxonomy can favor misunderstandings and misidentifications. These possibilities taxonomic inaccuracies especially alarming when there is a need evaluate invasion introduced species. present study ge...

One of the values of biodiversity is that it may provide 'biological insurance' for services currently rendered by domesticated species or technology. We used crop pollination as a model system, and investigated whether the loss of a domesticated pollinator (the honey bee) could be compensated for by native, wild bee species. We measured pollination provided to watermelon crops at 23 farms in N...

Decent work concept is based on four pillars namely employment, employment rights,social dialogue, social security. The uptake of decent work practices in smallholder dairy farms is poorly understood. This paper explores the linkage between socioeconomic status of smallholder farmer and compliance to decent work standards. The study involved 123 farmers. Three index scales were constructed to m...

The human-animal relationship is an important component of the welfare of farm animals and for this reason animal responsiveness tests to humans are included in on-farm welfare assessment schemes that provide indicators for this. However, apart from the behaviour of stockpersons towards their animals, other factors may also influence animals' reactivity to humans as observed through behavioural...

Bovine neosporosis caused by the apicomplexan protozoan parasite N. caninum, was initially recognized in 1989 and is now reported as a leading infectious cause of reproductive failure in dairy cattle in world wide. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of N. caninum infection in industrial dairy cattle of Hamedan province (west of Iran) by ELISA method. Blo...

Biodynamic farming practices show promise in mitigating some of the adverse effects of conventional agriculture on the environment. Biodynamic farming is like organic farming in that no synthetic chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used. Unlike organic farmers, biodynamic farmers add eight specific preparations (made from cow manure, silica, and various plants) to enhance soil quality and p...

In wild-type trimethylamine dehydrogenase, residue Arg-222 is positioned close to the isoalloxazine N1/C2 positions of the 6S-cysteinyl FMN. The positively charged guanidino group of Arg-222 is thought to stabilize negative charge as it develops at the N1 position of the flavin during flavinylation of the enzyme. Three mutant trimethylamine dehydrogenases were constructed to alter the nature of...