• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.260-263
• /
• 2003

Ethanol extract of the root of Clitoria ternatea Linn (CTEE) was evaluated for different neuropharmacological actions, such as general behaviour, exploratory behaviour, muscle relaxant activity and phenobarbitone induced sleeping time, in rats and mice. The extract was found to cause reduction in spontaneous activity, decrease in exploratory behavioural pattern by the head dip and Y- maze test, reduction in the muscle relaxant by rotarod, $30^{\circ}C$ inclined screen and traction tests. In addition CTEE significantly potentiated the phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time. Preliminary tests indicate that the ethanol extract of Clitoria ternatea Linn. At the doses of 100 and 150 mg/kg showed significant neuropharmacological activity.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.18-31
• /
• 2020

Cognitive biases can influence human information behaviour and decisions made in information behaviour and use. This study aims to identify the biases involved in some aspects of information behaviour and the role they play in information behaviour and use. Twenty-five semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted in an exploratory qualitative study with graduate (MA and PhD) students who were at the stage of their dissertation/thesis research. Eisenberg & Berkowitz Big6^TM Skills for Information Literacy was adopted as a framework for interviews and the analysis was done using grounded theory coding method. The findings revealed the presence of twenty-eight biases in different stages of information behaviour, including availability bias (affects the preference for information seeking strategies), attentional bias (leads to biased attention to some information), anchoring effect (persuades users to anchor in special parts of information), confirmation bias (increases the tendency to use information that supports one's beliefs), and choice-supportive bias (results in confidence in information seeking processes). All stages of information seeking were influenced by some biases. Biases might result in a lack of clarity in defining the information needs, failure in looking for the right information, misinterpretation of information, and might also influence the way information is presented.

• Journal of Construction Engineering and Project Management
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.45-53
• /
• 2017

Although much research has been conducted to identify the influence of culture on conflict management and resolution behaviours in organizational settings, no study has been done yet in the construction industry particularly in considering the influence of individual level individualistic and collectivistic values. Despite the key role of self-construal in explaining or predicting behaviour in interpersonal conflict, it has not received enough attention in construction management. Reflecting this necessity, the objective of this exploratory study was to establish, through the application of the Rahim Organizational Inventory (ROC II) instrument, how the cultural values of professionals of construction businesses relate to the application of different conflict-handling styles through self-construal. Data were collected using questionnaire surveys from construction professionals working in contracting firms. The findings illustrate the importance of self-construal type as an individual-level cultural variable in explaining the differences in the style of handling interpersonal conflict in the context of the construction industry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
• /
• 2012.10a
• /
• pp.51-52
• /
• 2012

Safety at sea continues to be an important topic for research. The factors that contribute to safety issues are often complex and unclear. Lack of non-technical skills in such areas as communication, teamworking, situational awareness, decision making etc. are well documented as directly affecting safety in high risk work settings such as on board merchant vessels. Competence in non-technical skills can be affected by various habits and circumstances that influence a worker and result in either positive thinking and behaviour or negative thinking and behaviour. Negative thinking can cause stress, anger, frustration; loneliness etc. and this can possibly result in behaviour or actions that undermine the safety of crew and ship. Factors that may contribute to these negative thoughts and behaviours are many and varied and this paper will be looking at one aspect: mobile phone use. In the Republic of Korea, dependency on mobile phones is uniquely high. Maritime students are also susceptible to such dependency and this paper will demonstrate that the symptoms associated with mobile phone addiction and dependency, and in particular the symptoms of withdrawal, are important factors that need to be mitigated in order to improve safety at sea. Although the benefits of mobile phones are many it will be suggested that over-reliance, dependency or addiction can result in negative thinking or behaviour that may directly or indirectly contribute to the factors that cause incidents and accidents at sea. It will be suggested that the most appropriate method of dealing with this problem is twofold: firstly, through training at the educational level and secondly, by encouraging the shipping industry and government to invest more into providing seafarers with better access to the communication methods that they are used to on shore in order to improve work conditions.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.34-38
• /
• 2006

The hot water extract of the seeds of Vernonia anthelmintica Kuntze (Compositae) in a dose of 10 ml/kg body weight of mice, showed significant analgesic activity on the hot plate analgesic method throughout the 4 h experimental period. The hole cross scores and the climbing out scores are of lower than the control animals. The hot water extract reduced the defecation in hole board study and significantly reduces the exploratory ambulation and head dipping behaviour. The seed also showed significant depressant activity on the exploratory ambulation of the open field scores. The drug decreased the spontaneous locomotion activity on brick-chip displacement method up to 45 min and also showed the ability to lessen the amphetamine induced hyperactivity up to 20 min. But it didn't show any effect on pentobarbital induced sleeping time test. The extract reduced gastrointestinal motility.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.79-86
• /
• 2017

The purpose of this research is to examine reasons and evaluate strategies implemented by the Indian banking industry in tackling jay-customers in general and in light of the recent demonetization in particular. After a thorough germane literature and theoretical framework on jay-customers and Indian banking industry, researchers framed a well-structured questionnaire for collecting banking employees opinions along with a set of questions framed to conduct in-depth personal interviews with banking customers. The collected data were summarized, coded, and controlled by using Software R and the selected hypotheses were analyzed by the observance of percentile values. More than 90 percent of banking employees said lack of proper supply of cash from the Reserve Bank of India is the major reason for this kind of customer behaviour and shockingly 95 percent of banking customers expressed backdoor preference given by banking employees to some big customers is the major reason. The research confined only two state capitals Amaravati and Bangalore in India and covered only two largest banks one in public and private sector. The research provides useful insight into the crucial reasons for jay-customers' behaviour from the dyadic perspective of both employees and customers of the Indian banking industry.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.409-417
• /
• 2007

We investigated the effect of Arogh, a polyherbal formulation (PHF) on animal models of anxiety based on exploratory behavior. The anxiolytic activity of polyherbal formulation (30, 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg) was studied using various behavioural paradigms such as elevated plus maze (EPM), light/dark apparatus (LDA), open field apparatus (OFA), hole board apparatus (HBA). Diazepam (1 mg/kg) was used as a standard anxiolytic drug. The effect of PHF (100 and 300 mg/kg) on serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline mediated behaviour was studied by lithium induced head twitches in rats, haloperidol induced catalepsy in mice and clonidine induced hypothermia in rats respectively. In EPM, PHF (100, 300 and 500 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) increased the time spent in open arms and the number of entries in open arms. In LDA, PHF (100, 300 and 500 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) increased the time spent in lit zone. In OFA, PHF (100, 300 and 500 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) increased the number of assisted rearing and the number of squares traversed. In HBA, PHF (100, 300 and 500 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) increased the number of head poking. In lithium induced head twitches, PHF (100 and 300 mg/kg) significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the number of head twitches. In haloperidol induced catalepsy, PHF (300 mg/kg) decreased the duration of catalepsy significantly (P < 0.05) at 60 min. In clonidine-induced hypothermia, PHF (300 mg/kg) did not modify the effect. Drugs must be carefully assessed on EPM test and therefore in the present study EPM is supported by other tests. Present study indicates that Arogh, a polyherbal formulation possess anxiolytic activity. It diminished serotonergic transmission and decreased the duration of catalepsy indicating potentiation of dopaminergic transmission. Thus, Arogh a polyherbal formulation contains bioactive principles which possess anxiolytic activity and modified 5-HT and DA mediated behaviour.

• CELLMED
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.36.1-36.4
• /
• 2012

This study was carried out to investigate the neurobehavioural effects of the smoking of Carica papaya leaves based on ethnopharmacological information. Twenty -four rats used for the study were grouped into four groups namely; Groups 1 (Control, unexposed to any smoke) and Groups 2 - 4 (exposed to smoke from varying amount of pawpaw leaf powder). Groups 2, 3, and 4 were exposed to smoke from 6.25 g (low dose), 12.50 g (medium dose), and 18.75 g (high dose) of dry pawpaw leaves respectively in a smoking chamber twice daily for 21 one days with each exposure lasting 3 min. The spontaneous motor activities and locomotory behaviour of the animals were assessed using an open field maze and hole board maze test. The results showed that the smoking of Carica papaya leaves led to a significant (p < 0.05) increase in locomotory activities from $33.36{\pm}3.36$ (control) to $66.50{\pm}6.16$ (high dose), number of head dips (from $8.50{\pm}0.36$, to $12.83{\pm}0.87$) and rearing behaviour (from $14.83{\pm}0.74$, to $27.0{\pm}1.46$). However, the freezing durations as animals were introduced into the maze and grooming behaviour were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in the treated groups. In conclusion, the increased ambulations and exploratory behaviours imply that the anxiety level is low in the treated groups compared to the control group which thus confirms that dry Carica papaya leaf may possibly contain psychoactive substance(s) that become active when smoked.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.207-214
• /
• 2016

In Malaysia, data on components suitability the established smoking cessation module is limited. This exploratory study aimed to evaluate the suitability of the components developed in the module for group behavioural therapy in workplace smoking cessation programs. Twenty staff were identified but only eight individuals were selected according to the study criteria during the recruitment period in May 2014. Focus group discussion was conducted to identify themes relevant to the behavioural issues among smokers. Thematic analysis yielded seven major themes which were reasons for regular smoking, reasons for quitting, comprehending smoking characteristics, quit attempt experiences, support and encouragement, learning new skills and behaviour, and preparing for lapse/relapse or difficult situations. As a result, the developed module was found to be relevant and suitable for use based on these themes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.452-458
• /
• 2019

Objective: The study was carried to determine the interaction effects of pen enrichment and sex on behavioral activities, skin lesions and physiology of Windsnyer pigs. Methods: Forty-eight growing Windsnyer pigs of both sex, with an average initial body weight of 21.6 (${\pm}9.01$) kg were used. Four pigs were randomly assigned to either enriched or barren pens at a stocking density of $0.35m^2/pig$. Enriched pens contained 2 L bottles filled with stones and suspended at head level on ropes stretching across the pens. In addition, two plastic balls (90 mm in diameter) and 500 mL bottles (235 mm long) were placed on the floor of each enriched pen. Results: Pigs in barren environments had higher heart rates (p<0.001) than those in enriched pens. There was an interaction of pen environment and sex on rectal temperature (p<0.001). Females in enriched pens had higher rectal temperatures (p<0.05) than females in barren pens. There was no interaction of pen environment and sex on time spent eating and drinking (p>0.05). Time spent bullying was influenced (p<0.05) by pen environment and sex. Female pigs in barren environment spent more time on bullying than females in enriched pens. There was an interaction of pen environment and sex on time spent lying down and walking (p<0.05). Female pigs in enriched pens spent more time lying down than females in barren pens. Males in barren pens spent more time walking than males in enriched pens while no effect of pen environment was observed in females. There was an interaction of pen environment and sex on the number of skin lesions in the head, neck and shoulder region and other parts of the body (p<0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that pen enrichment reduced the number of skin lesions and anti-social behaviors, especially for female pigs. There is a need, therefore of housing indigenous pigs under confinement.