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In general, the Riesz derivative and the fractional Laplacian are equivalent on ℝ. But they generally are not equivalent with each other on any proper subset of ℝ. In this paper, we focus on the difference between them on the proper subset of ℝ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional fumigants, used to control stored grain insect pests, have not only led to environmental and health concerns, but also raised insecticide resistance development in insect pests. Their efficiency is diminishing owing to variable degree of application, accuracy, exposure time, conditions and frequency of usage. Red Flour Beetle (RFB), Tribolium castaneum, is pest of high economic importance in stored grain products. It was trialed for evaluation of entomotoxicity of plant essential oils (Calotropis procera, Azadirachta indica, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Datura stramonium and Nicotiana tabacum) and phosphine gas at various concentrations alone and synergistically. Results depicted that essential oil of N. tabacum and phosphine gas caused the highest mortality (65% and 80%, respectively) at their highest concentrations (15% and 500 ppm). The highest synergistic toxic effect was observed for N. tabacum and A. indica essential oils at 500 ppm + 15% combination while the least synergistic toxic effect was observed in E. camaldulensis (37% mortality) with respect to the control treatment. Progeny development in the treated RFB females was significantly suppressed by the higher concentrations of plant essential oils and phosphine gas. Similarly, Phosphine combinations with N. tabacum and C. procera significantly suppressed the F1 progeny multifold as compared to control treatment. Eco-friendly biopesticides based on plant extracts or oils, with affirmative synergism, can be integrated as part of management module to control stored grain insect pests for a safer food storage and supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the trends of precipitation and temperature extremes for the historical observations (1961–1990) and future period (2061–2090) in the Jhelum River Basin. Future trends are estimated by using ensemble mean of three general circulation models under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Therefore, statistical downscaling model has been used to downscale the future precipitation and temperature. A total of 15 precipitation and temperature indices were calculated using the RClimdex package. Man-Kendall and Sen's slope tests were used to detect the trends in climate extreme indices. Overall, the results of study indicate that there were significant changes in precipitation and temperature patterns as well as in the climate extremes in the basin for both observed as well as projected climate. Generally, more warming and increase in precipitation were observed, which increases from RCP4.5 to RCP8.5. For all the stations, increasing trends were found for both precipitation and temperature for twenty-first century at a 95% significance level. The frequency of warm days (TX90p), warm nights (TN90p), and summer days (SU25) showed significant increasing trends, alternatively the number of cold nights (TN10p) and cold days (TX10p) exhibited opposite behaviors. In addition, an increasing trend of warmest day (TXx) and coldest day (TNn) was observed. Our analysis also reveals that the number of very wet days (R90p) and heavy precipitation days (R10 mm) will likely increase in the future. Meanwhile, the Max 1-day (RX1-day) and 5-day (RX5-day) precipitation indices showed increasing trends at most of the stations of basin. The results of the study is of potential benefit for decision-makers to develop basin wide appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures to combat climate change and its consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In medium voltage direct current (MVDC)-based power distribution scheme DC faults can cause instant disruption in service continuity to various connected loads. Many integrated power systems (IPS) found MVDC as a better replacement of MVAC for detection, isolation as well as protection against DC faults. DC fault protection strategy for developed MVDC-IPS system (which is accompanied by LVDC subsystem), is proposed here by introducing a modified series Z-source breaker circuitry which minimize fault or transient current that reflects back at the DC source by keeping its common ground return path and to re-energize the DC load after fault clearance. The versatility of the proposed idea also include to energize the loads after the fault clearance. The main problem is that a large value of fault/transient current 0 that reflects back at the source and SCR (when it stops commutation). This large reflective current value is much greater than the value of the SCR peak cycle surge value and can damage the SCR permanently. To overcome this problem in the developed technique, an addition of series resistance is made with capacitors which minimize the effect of transient level on SCR and source. Furthermore, due to this resistance the other component size or value is decreased which helps in minimizing the effect of transient current at SCR and source. Another aim is to build the breaker structure in such an optimize way so that to minimize dissipation and weight as compared to its classic structure along with enhancement of efficiency. The proposed strategy of DC fault for IPS is validated through two case studies done in PSCAD simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a computing scheme as a variant of a recently proposed granular recurrent neural network. Being deduced from a generic system of partial differential equations, this variant is able to capture the spatiotemporal variability of some datasets and problems. The convergence of the computing scheme has been formally discussed. Some preliminary numerical experiments were first performed by using synthetic datasets, inferring some particular partial differential equations. Then two application examples were considered (by using publicly available datasets), namely the prediction of dissolved oxygen in surface water simultaneously at different depths (unlike the current literature) and the prediction of the concentration of particulate matter less than 2.5 μ m in diameter at different sites. The numerical results show the potential of the approach for forecast against well-known techniques such as Long Short-Term Memory networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inequity of water allocation in the Indus Basin by the rotational method has created conflicts of interest leading to water scarcity for irrigated agricultural land. The arid region of the basin is affected the most, which demands a new inventive way of managing water resources. Geo-informatics maps of the Bahawalnagar canal circle were prepared which show groundwater quality and depth to water table (DWT) for 2006 and 2016, crop evapotranspiration (ETc) by using product MOD16A2 for Kharif (April to September) 2017 and Rabi (October to March) 2017–18 cropping season. Results showed that groundwater quality is deteriorating and DWT is rising over 72% of the study area which leads to waterlogging and salinization. Surface water deficit filled through groundwater contribution is 53.66% and 39%, while ETc varies from 0.0 to 931 and 0.0 to 1979 mm/season for the Rabi and Kharif cropping seasons respectively. This paper presents the status of water balance and groundwater characteristics of the arid region of the Indus basin and recommends re-evaluation of the current water allocation system both within and between canal command areas, recommending that water allocation should be allocated as per crop water requirement and groundwater quality. A re-allocation of water-based on groundwater characteristics will not only mitigate waterlogging and soil salinity, which is a threat to the sustainability of agricultural land but also reduces the stress of inequities within the current rotational system. Implementation of this water allocation strategy will require long-lasting monitoring of groundwater quality at a different depth, a variation of depth to the water table, and estimation of crop evapotranspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exponential integrators, due to their robust stability properties, have been considered as reliable schemes for numerical solutions of stiff systems. In this paper, we propose generalized exponential time differencing (GETD) schemes for nonlinear fractional differential equations of order α ∈ (0,1). First, we improve the suboptimal performance of the multistep GETD schemes. Using graded mesh, uniform optimal convergence rates under no additional smoothness requirements are obtained. Second, we develop and analyze novel second-order and third-order accurate predictor-corrector type GETD schemes. Using linear stability analysis and numerical illustrations, we demonstrate that the newly introduced schemes have better stability properties than the multistep GETD schemes. Partial fraction decompositions of global Padé approximations for Mittag-Leffler function are used for efficient implementation. Numerical examples involving nonlinear scalar equations and stiff systems are provided to illustrate the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article recovers multiwave, homoclinic breather, M-shaped rational solitons and interaction of M-shaped rational solitons with single and double kinks for pure cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation, with full nonlinearity, in a non-Kerr law media via the logarithmic transformation and symbolic computation with ansatz functions scheme. We use quadratic-cubic law and some suitable transformations involving trigonometric, exponential and hyperbolic functions to obtained various forms of stated solutions. In addition, we compute kink cross-rational solutions, periodic cross-rational solutions and periodic cross kink rational solutions for governing model. The proposed model is assumed with a few Hamiltonian perturbation terms that will sustain the balance between dispersion and self-trapping effect stemming from the nonlinear refractive index. Furthermore, the solitons behaviors for attained via different values parameters in the produced solutions are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of increasing levels of metals (10 and 20 mg of Cr kg and 25 and 50 mg of Cd, Pb, and Ni kg soil) and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi Glomus intraradices on the yield, chemical composition of volatile oil, and metal accumulation in sweet basil ( Ocimum basilicum L.) were investigated in a pot experiment. The shoot yield, content of essential oil, and root yield of sweet basil were increased by the application of low dose of Cd, Pb, and Ni as compared to control. The application of high level of metals had deleterious effect on the yield. In soil with low dose of metal applied, AM fungi inoculation significantly enhanced the metal concentration in shoots and had adverse effect on the yield, whereas in soil with high dose of metal applied, AM fungal inoculation reduced the metal concentration in shoot and had beneficial effect on the yield. The content of linalool in basil oil was decreased and that of methyl chavicol was increased by the application of Cr, Cd, and Pb in soil as compared to control. Similarly, the level of linalool and methyl chavicol was decreased and that of methyl eugenol was increased by the application of Ni as compared to control. However, AM fungal inoculation led to maintain the content of linalool, methyl chavicol, and methyl eugenol in volatile oil, which were either increased or decreased by the application of metals. We conclude that the AM-sweet basil symbiosis could be used as a novel approach to enhance the yield and maintain the quality of volatile oil of sweet basil under metal-contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of carbon diffusion in the as-cast and heat-treated grey iron and 304 stainless steel bimetallic composites was investigated in this study. A simplistic empirical model for the interface carbon diffusion was proposed and has been validated against the experimental data. A liquid-solid compound casting technique was used to fabricate the bimetallic composites. For the graphitizing annealing heat treatment, the bimetallic composite specimens were heated to 940 °C and held for 120 min and 240 min in an electric heating furnace. The proposed empirical model is based on the presence of eutectic carbides chill zone near the interface that formed during solidification of the liquid grey iron above the solid stainless steel substrate. It was found that the calculated carbon concentration profiles based on the proposed diffusion model were in good agreement with the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the design and analysis of a metamaterial-based wideband microwave absorber in the C- and X-band, comprised of lumped resistors, having thicknesses of the order of 0.05 λ mm. The structure was micro-machined on the FR-4 sheet in a periodically arranged array of 15 × 15 unit cells. These unit cells have a dimension of 12 × 12 mm each. The proposed absorber design presents excellent broadband absorption characteristics with relative bandwidth (RBW) of 85.05% covering a bandwidth of 8.02 GHz ranging from 5.42 to 13.44 GHz. The absorption mechanism has been explained with the help of characteristic impedance and surface current densities in the operating region. The designed absorber shows polarization angle independency and wide incidence angle stability for the incident microwaves. The results of the prototype are compared with the simulated results illustrating excellent compatibility with the simulation results. Absorber structure may find its potential use in camouflage applications during war times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

M-type barium hexaferrite ceramics have emerged as important materials both for technological and commercial applications. However, limited work has been reported regarding the investigation of nanocrystalline Ni-doped barium hexaferrites. In this study, nanocrystalline barium hexaferrite ceramics with the composition BaFe12−xNixO19 (where x = 0, 0.3 and 0.5) were synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and precision impedance analyzer. All the synthesized samples had single magnetoplumbite phase having space group P63/mmc showing the successful substitution of Ni in BaFe12O19 without the formation of any impurity phase. Average grain size of undoped samples was around 120 nm which increased slightly with the addition of Ni. Saturation magnetization (Ms) and remnant magnetization (Mr) increased with the addition of Ni, however, coercivity (Hc) decreased with the increase in Ni from x = 0 to x = 0.5. Real and imaginary parts of permittivity decreased with the increasing frequency and increased with Ni content. Dielectric loss and conductivity showed slight variation with the increase in Ni concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed priming is a commercially successful practice, but reduced longevity of primed seeds during storage may limit its application. We established a series of experiments on rice to test: (1) whether prolonged storage of primed and non-primed rice seeds for 210 days at 25°C or −4°C would alter their viability, (2) how long primed rice seed would potentially remain viable at 25°C storage, and (3) whether or not post-storage treatments (re-priming or heating) would reinstate the viability of stored primed seeds. Two different rice cultivars and three priming agents were used in all experiments. Prolonged storage of primed seeds at 25°C significantly reduced the germination (>90%) and growth attributes (>80%) of rice compared with un-stored primed seeds. However, such negative effects were not observed in primed seeds stored at −4°C. Beneficial effects of seed priming were maintained only for 15 days of storage at 25°C, beyond which the performance of primed seeds was worse even than non-primed seeds. The deteriorative effects of 25°C storage were related with hampered starch metabolism in primed rice seeds. None of the post-storage treatments could reinstate the lost viability of primed seeds suggesting that seeds become unviable by prolonged post-priming storage at 25°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]