Search

Abstract Post-harvest losses caused by insect pests, particularly the rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae, pose a significant challenge in food storage facilities worldwide. To combat this pest, synthetic insecticides and fumigants are widely used. However, effective contact insecticides are scarce. Hence, the present study explored the alternatives by evaluating the contact toxicity of various insecticides against S. oryzae using glass, jute, and floor tiles as surface substrates and further examining the effect on progeny production of promising candidate insecticides. Among the insecticides tested, malathion exhibited the highest toxicity on glass and jute surfaces regardless of the exposure period. On the other hand, spinetoram proved to be the most effective on tile surface with an 8 h exposure period. Among the alternate insecticides (spinosad, spinetoram, chlorfenapyr and lambda-cyhalothrin), spinetoram was most effective with LC50 values of 155.8 and 116.9 mg/m² for 4 h and 8 h exposure, respectively, on tile surface; 204.6 and 129.0 mg/m² for 4 h and 8 h exposure, respectively, on glass surface; and 271.5 and 199.5 mg/m² for 4 h and 8 h exposure, respectively, on jute surface. Relative toxicity assessments revealed spinetoram to be 2.11 and 2.51 times more effective than deltamethrin on tile surface for 4 and 8 h of exposure, respectively whereas it was 1.14 times more effective than malathion on tile surface at 8 h exposure. Principal component analysis indicated a higher demand for insecticide doses closely associated with the structural properties of surfaces, particularly evident with jute surfaces. Furthermore, the effect on adult mortality and progeny production by malathion, spinetoram, and lambda-cyhalothrin revealed malathion as the most effective insecticide followed by spinetoram. Carboxylesterase, acetylcholinesterase, and Glutathione S-transferase (GST) activities were notably higher in deltamethrin-treated insects compared to other insecticides. The studies concluded that spinetoram can be considered an alternative to conventional insecticides for the management of S. oryzae under different storage conditions.

Abstract The cotton whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is considered as a species complex with 46 cryptic species, with Asia II-1 being predominant in Asia. This study addresses a significant knowledge gap in the characterization of odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) and chemosensory proteins (CSPs) in Asia II-1. We explored the expression patterns of OBPs and CSPs throughout their developmental stages and compared the motif patterns of these proteins. Significant differences in expression patterns were observed for the 14 OBPs and 14 CSPs of B. tabaci Asia II-1, with OBP8 and CSP4 showing higher expression across the developmental stages. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that OBP8 and CSP4 form distinct clades, with OBP8 appearing to be an ancestral gene, giving rise to the evolution of other odorant-binding proteins in B. tabaci. The genomic distribution of OBPs and CSPs highlights gene clustering on the chromosomes, suggesting functional conservation and evolutionary events following the birth-and-death model. Molecular docking studies indicate strong binding affinities of OBP8 and CSP4 with various odour compounds like β-caryophyllene, α-pinene, β-pinene and limonene, reinforcing their roles in host recognition and reproductive functions. This study elaborates on our understanding of the putative roles of different OBPs and CSPs in B. tabaci Asia II-1, hitherto unexplored. The dynamics of the expression of OBPs and CSPs and their interactions with odour compounds offer scope for developing innovative methods for controlling this global invasive pest.

INTRODUCTION: Thrower’s Ten program is a thrower-specific workout program that increases upper-extremity strength, power, and endurance, especially in overhead athletes. The study compares the thrower's ten-exercise program to the regular warm-up program in recreational cricket bowlers' posterior capsule tightness, internal rotator strength, upper extremity stability, and explosive power. METHODS: Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 82 recreational cricket bowlers were divided into experimental (n=41) and control (n=41) groups. The experimental group received Thrower's ten warm-up programs three times a week for six weeks, along with the standard warm-up. Control maintained its warm-up routine. Before and after six weeks, participants were tested for shoulder internal rotator strength, posterior capsule tightness, stability, and explosive power. SPSS software was used to calculate outcome measures mean, standard deviation, independent t-test, and paired t-test. RESULTS: After six weeks, all outcome measures exhibited a significant difference (p0.05) within the control group. A significant difference (p0.05) was noted between groups for posterior capsule tightness and upper extremity explosive power. CONCLUSION: Compared to the usual warm-up program used by recreational cricket bowlers, the thrower’s customized warm-up routine is more successful in improving internal rotator strength and upper extremity stability. Both warm-up programs enhance posterior capsule tightness and upper extremity explosive power.

Endocrine surgeries pose unique challenges to the anesthesiologists, so is the case in primary hyperparathyroidism due to hypercalcemia. A 29-year-old male, operated case of intertrochanteric femur neck fracture following trivial fall, had history of frequent muscle cramps and fatiguability post operatively and swelling in right side of front of neck. On investigating, his thyroid function tests were normal, elevated serum calcium, alkaline phosphatase and parathormone, and decreased phosphate. After ultrasound of neck and abdomen, the patient was diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism and posted for peroral endoscopic parathyroidectomy under general anesthesia. Induction was done with propofol and succinylcholine video-direct laryngoscopy-guided nasal intubation was done to avoid the pathological fracture of cervical spine; maintained on isoflurane, fentanyl and titrated doses of vecuronium; extubated smoothly and shifted to intensive care unit. Thorough perioperative monitoring of electrolytes including calcium was done. Adequate preoperative assessment, preparation, monitoring the signs and symptoms of hypo/hypercalcemia, and maintaining normocalcemia during perioperative period determines the success of anesthetic management.

The internal kinematics of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) disk have been modeled by several studies using different tracers with varying coverage, resulting in a range of parameters. Here, we model the LMC disk using 1705 star clusters and field stars, based on a robust Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, using Gaia DR3 data. The dependency of the model parameters on the age, coverage, and strength of the clusters are also presented. This is the first comprehensive 2D kinematic study using star clusters. Red clump (RC) stars and young main-sequence stars are also modeled for comparison. The clusters and field stars are found to have distinctly different kinematic centers, disk inclination, position angle of the line of nodes, and scale radius. We also note a significant radial variation of the disk parameters. Clusters and young stars are found to have a large residual proper motion and a relatively large velocity dispersion when compared to the RC field population, which could be due to perturbation from the bar and spiral arms. We trace the presence of the large residual proper motion and noncircular motion among clusters likely to be due to the bar and detect a decrease in the scale radius as a result of the possible evolution of the bar. The kinematically deviant clusters point to a spatiotemporal disturbance in the LMC disk, matching with the expected impact factor and time of the recent collision between the LMC and the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Beauveria bassiana is an entomopathogenic fungus that causes the white muscadine disease in insects. The majority of entomopathogenic fungi are soil and insect borne, 15 soil samples were collected from seven different locations during 2021, from January to December. Similarly, during 2022, March to December, 15 fungus-infected insect specimens were collected from five different locations hence soil and insect samples from various ecosystems were collected. As a result, 30 B. bassiana isolates from 11 different geographical areas were identified using morphological characteristics and multilocus sequence data in this investigation. The taxonomical positions of the isolates were determined using morphological characteristics and phylogenetic inferences based on three loci (Internal Transcribed Sequence, Elongation Factor-1α, and B. bassiana chitinase 1). In phylogenetic analysis of B. bassiana, the Maximum Likelihood analytical method produced distinct tree topology when compared to Neighbor-joining and minimum evolution. Three isolates viz., Bb3, Bb7 and Bb20 were found closely linked with reference isolate (KTU-24) and other showed the higher population diversity among them. The genetic distances of 30 B. bassiana isolates revealed that 15 were not closely related (D varied from 0.003 to 0.036). The pathogenicity of B. bassiana isolates from various hosts along with one commercial formulation (Beveroz) was assessed against Tetranychus truncatus under in vitro conditions by a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment. The same experiment was repeated thrice to confirm the pathogenicity of B. bassiana against T. truncatus. Later, the collected T. truncatus mortality data was converted into corrected mortality by using the Abbott formula and the values were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA) in SPSS 23.0 software. Duncan’s Multiple Comparison Test was also done to compare the percentage mortality rates among the 30 B. bassiana isolates. The recorded results showed that the Bb6, Bb15 and Bb12 isolates caused significantly higher mortality of T. truncatus, i.e., 97.73, 96.73 and 94.50% respectively, than the other isolates. This study showed the relativeness among the B. bassiana isolates and establishes their bio-efficacy against T. truncatus, which further can be used for commercialization as bio-pesticide.

This study conducted to understand the limitations of existing wound-dressing systems. A case study on healing performance of different types of commercially available wound dressings was conducted at Madras Medical College and Government General Hospital (MMC&GH), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (Ethical Clearance No. 3250/ME5/2010). The study indicated that the single-layer dressing would not satisfy most of the requirements of an ideal wound-dressing system, and hence there is the need for developing a multilayer wound-dressing system with each layer satisfying different requirements of an ideal wound-dressing system.

It is widely acknowledged that the distribution of Covid cases and that of Covid deaths by age constitute a factor that deserves to be taken into account in assessing and comparing quantitative indicators of Covid-related mortality. The single most widely employed measure of Covid mortality is the so-called Case Fatality Rate (CFR), which is just the ratio of Covid deaths to Covid cases. The CFR is essentially a measure of central tendency. The present note outlines a procedure, drawing on the standard literature on income inequality, for deriving a measure of Covid mortality which supplements information on average mortality with information on its dispersion across a population’s age cohorts.

The concept of periodic renewal of boundary layers is a promising technique for the enhancement of heat transfer in microchannels. Extending the above concept, microchannel heatsink with modified hexagonal fins has been proposed for disrupting the flow periodically. An experimental study has been carried out to investigate the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a microchannel heat sink with modified hexagonal fins and a conventional type of microchannels with plate fins. The heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the modified hexagonal fin microchannels have been compared with the plate fin microchannels. The heat transfer enhancement factor and pressure drop penalty factors are evaluated and compared. The modified hexagonal fin microchannel heat sink has been found to outperform the plate fin microchannel heat sinks in spite of the lesser heat transfer area.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of nerium accessions and their categorization based on colour and uses. Field experiment was conducted at the “Botanical garden, Department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore”. Thirteen nerium accessions were collected and coded named as ACC-1 to ACC-13. Significant variations in vegetative and flowering related traits were observed among the accessions. Out of the thirteen accessions, ACC-6 recorded the maximum number of primary branches (6.17), leaf area (29.67cm2), number of flowers per plant (16) and yield per plant per year (245.89 g), whereas, plant height (176.11cm) and shelf life (3.73 days) was maximum in ACC-10. From among the thirteen accessions, the desired one could be identified easily for aspecific purpose, since Nerium is vegetatively propagated and selected for defined traits vegetati-ve, flowering and flower qualities (flower form, colour).

The increasing concern of global climate changes, the promotion of renewable energy sources, primarily wind generation, is a welcome move to reduce the pollutant emissions from conventional power plants. Integration of wind power generation with the existing power network is an emerging research field. This paper presents a meta-heuristic algorithm based approach to determine the feasible dispatch solution for wind integrated thermal power system. The Unit Commitment (UC) process aims to identify the best feasible generation scheme of the committed units such that the overall generation cost is reduced, when subjected to a variety of constraints at each time interval. As the UC formulation involves many variables and system and operational constraints, identifying the best solution is still a research task. Nowadays, it is inevitable to include power system reliability issues in operation strategy. The generator failure and malfunction are the prime influencing factor for reliability issues hence they have considered in UC formulation of wind integrated thermal power system. The modern evolutionary algorithm known as Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm is applied to solve the intended UC problem. The potential of the GWO algorithm is validated by the standard test systems. Besides, the ramp rate limits are also incorporated in the UC formulation. The simulation results reveal that the GWO algorithm has the capability of obtaining economical resolutions with good solution quality.

‘Distributional judgments’—judgments on the extent of inequality in the distribution of income and wealth—are routinely made by economists in exercises aimed at comparing inequalities in alternative situations. Yet the measurement of inequality is informed by certain nuances, which it would do well to be attentive to. In particular, the values underlying measurement protocols are not always made explicit, which tends to lend a somewhat misleading semblance of ‘value-neutrality’ to the activity of measurement. It is argued, with specific reference to the problem of inequality measurement, that such an orientation can compromise the possibility of accurate diagnosis and appropriate policy prescription. There is little that is original in this article, and much that is owed to the pioneering contributions of Serge-Chritophe Kolm. The emphasis throughout is on explicating an important issue through a deliberate effort at achieving simplicity in both argument and expression

This essay is a quick critique of one aspect of Derek Parfit’s criticism of Egalitarianism in his larger consideration of the claims of, and distinction between, Prioritarianism and Egalitarianism. It reviews issues relating to the ‘Levelling Down Objection’ and the ‘Divided World Example’. More specifically, it is argued that the Levelling Down Objection is a serious problem only for Pure Telic Egalitarianism, not for Pluralist Telic Egalitarianism; and thateven in a Divided World, one can have an egalitarian justification forpreferring an equal distribution of a smaller sum of wellbeing to an unequal distribution of a larger sum. By these means, it is contended that Parfit’s claim of the vulnerability of Egalitarianism to the Levelling Down Objection and the Divided World Example is not sustainable