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Maintaining and enhancing agricultural productivity for food security while preserving the ecology and environment from the harmful effects of toxicants is the main challenge in modern monoculture farming systems. Microbial biological agents can be a promising substitute for traditional synthetic pesticides to manage plant diseases. Trichoderma spp. are soil-dwelling ascomycete fungi and are common biocontrol agents against diverse phytopathogens. Trichoderma-based biocontrol techniques can regulate and control soil-borne plant diseases through mechanisms such as mycoparasitism, the production of antibiotics and hydrolytic enzymes, rhizo-sphere competence, the effective competition for available resources, induction of plant resistance and facilitation of plant growth. Numerous secondary metabolites produced by Trichoderma spp. are reported to prevent the development of soil-borne plant disease. Thus, Trichoderma spp. may have direct and indirect biological impacts on the targeted plant pathogens. Furthermore, this review discusses the convenient implications and challenges of applying Trichoderma-based strategies in agricultural settings. Overall, the assessment underscores the potential of Trichoderma as a sustainable and effective tool for mitigating soil-borne pathogens, highlighting avenues for future research and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Recently, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly enhanced the diagnostic accuracy in breast cancer screening. This study aims to deliver an extensive review of the advancements in AI for breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis through a bibliometric analysis. Methodology: Therefore, this study gathered pertinent peer-reviewed research articles from the Scopus database, spanning the years 2000 to 2024. These articles were subsequently subjected to quantitative analysis and visualization through the Bibliometrix R package. Ultimately, potential areas for future research challenges were pinpointed. Results: This study analyzes the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research for breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis from 2000 to 2024, based on 2678 publications sourced from Scopus. A sharp rise in global publication trends is observed between 2018 and 2023, with 2023 producing 456 papers, indicating intensified academic focus. Leading contributors include ZHENG B, with 36 publications, and institutions like RADBOUD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER and the IEO EUROPEAN INSTITUTE OF ONCOLOGY IRCCS. The USA leads both in publications (473) and total citations (18,530), followed by India with 289 papers. Co-occurrence analysis shows that "mammography" (3171 occurrences) and "artificial intelligence" (1691 occurrences) are among the most frequent keywords, reflecting core themes. Co-citation network analysis identifies foundational works by authors like Lecun Y. and Simonyan K. in advancing AI applications in breast cancer. Institutional and country-level collaboration analysis reveals the USA's significant partnerships with China, the UK, and Canada, driving the global research agenda in this field. Conclusion: In conclusion, this bibliometric review underscores the growing influence of AI, particularly deep learning, in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment research from 2000 to 2024. The United States leads the field in publications and collaborations, with India, Spain, and the Netherlands also making significant contributions. Key institutions and journals have driven advancements, with AI applications focusing on improving diagnostic imaging and early detection. However, challenges like data limitations, regulatory hurdles, and unequal global collaboration persist, requiring further interdisciplinary efforts to enhance AI integration in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1,2,4-thiadiazoles are an important class of heterocyclic compounds with a wide scope as a pesticide, fungicide, and in drug development including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antituberculosis, anticancer, antihypertensive, and antifungal drugs, etc. Here, an oxidized-sulfur (sulfone) bridged two-dimensional cobalt (II) tetraphenylporphyrin covalent organic framework (Co-P) has been generated through a hydrothermal method on reacting of 5,10,15,20-Tetrakis-(4-bromophenyl)-porphyrin-Co(II) with sulfur powder in catalytic condition. The Co-P shows a favorable optical (1.98 eV) and electrochemical band gap (2.05 eV) for photocatalytic study. In a proof-on action study, the Co-P has been investigated in the oxidative cyclization of thioamide to 1,2,4-thiadiazole (yield = 93–97%) along with excellent regioselectivity, photostability as well as good recyclability (5 times). The excellent photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the presence of infused-sulfone functionality in the Co-P which is well known for its light-harvesting capability as well as the presence of a uniform microporous structure (pore size < 2 nm) with an average pore diameter of 1.80 nm and a surface area of approximately 4.23 m2g− 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: We aimed at evaluating the safety and efficacy of self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) insertion for managing patients with benign gastric outlet obstruction (GOO). Methods: This prospective interventional study included 23 patients. All consecutive treatment-naïve symptomatic patients with benign GOO were recruited. Fully covered SEMS were deployed across the stricture under fluoroscopic and endoscopic guidance. Technical success, clinical success and sustained treatment response (STR) were assessed. Technical success was defined as the successful deployment of SEMS at the desired anatomic location. Clinical success was defined as the resolution of symptoms and an increase in Gastric Outlet Obstruction Scoring System (GOOSS) of at least 1 point from the baseline score on Day 7. STR was assessed at four and eight weeks post stent removal in patients who had a response at week four. Factors associated with stent migration and non-response at week four were also assessed. Results: The median age of the study population was 30 years (range 19–65 years). Males constituted 65.22%. Most patients presented with vomiting (100%) and abdominal pain (95.65%). Peptic stricture was most common etiology for GOO (60.9%) followed by tubercular (26.1%) and corrosive (13%). Most common site of obstruction was junction of first and second part of duodenum (69.57%) followed by pyloric (30.43%). Median length of stricture was 2 cm (range 1.5–4). Technical success was achieved in all 23 patients (100%). Clinical success was achieved in 21 patients (91.3%). Response at Day 28 was seen in 20 patients (86.95%). Eighteen of 20 (90%) patients who had a response at week four had STR at week four and week eight after stent removal. Stent migration occurred in five (21.7%) patients. On univariate analysis, stricture length, calibre and stent length were found to predict migration. Conclusions: Fully covered SEMS was an effective and safe management modality in patients with benign GOO. Stent migration remains a troublesome disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper and Mercury ions have vital role to play in biological world as their excess or deficiency can cause different type of diseases in human being as well as biological species including plants and animals. Therefore, their detection at trace level becomes very important in term of biological. The current studies embody the fabrication, structural characterization and recognition behavior of a novel rhodamine B hydrazone formed when hydrazide of rhodamine B was condensed with 5-Allyl-3-methoxy salicylaldehyde (RBMA). RBMA was found to be responsive towards the very trace level of Cu2+ and Hg2+ among other tested cations so far. The sensing procedure is based on the classical opening of the spiroatom ring of rhodamine. The limit of detection (LOD) and binding constant is 5.35 ppm, 2.06 × 104 M−1 and 5.16 ppm, 1.26 × 104 M−1 for Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions respectively. The probable mechanism correlates the specific binding of RBMA with Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions. The 1:1 stoichiometry of RBMA with Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions have been supported by HRMS, FT-IR data, Job's plot, and binding constant data. Reversibility is well exhibited by RBMA by the involvement of CO32− ions via demetallation process. The real time application is well demonstrated by the use of paper strip test. The DFT study also carried out which agrees well with the experimental findings. The results displayed the novelty of this current work towards the trace level analysis of the Cu2+ and Hg2+ of the cations which are play the crucial role in industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the serious complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Vasant Kusumakar Rasa (VKR) is a Herbo-metallic formulation reported in Ayurveda, an Indian system of medicine. The present work was designed to study the effect of VKR in cardiomyopathy in type 2 diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced by feeding a high-fat diet (HFD) for 2 weeks followed by streptozotocin (STZ) administration (35 mg/kg i.p.). VKR was administered orally at dose of 28 and 56 mg/kg once a day for 16 weeks. The results of the study indicated that VKR treatment significantly improved the glycemic and lipid profile, serum insulin, CK-MB, LDH, and cardiac troponin-I when compared to diabetic control animals. VKR treatment in rats significantly improved the hemodynamic parameters and cardiac tissue levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL- 6 were also reduced. Antioxidant enzymes such as GSH, SOD, and catalase were improved in all treatment groups. Heart sections stained with H & E and Masson's trichome showed decreased damage to histoarchitecture of the myocardium. Expression of PI3K, Akt, and GLUT4 in the myocardium was upregulated after 16 weeks of VKR treatment. The study data suggested the cardioprotective capability of VKR in the management of diabetic cardiomyopathy in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with a variation of the knapsack problem called the quadratic bottleneck knapsack problem (QBKP). In QBKP, there is a quadratic cost associated with each pair of objects and the objective is to minimize the maximum quadratic cost such that sumtotal of weights of objects should be at least equal to the capacity of knapsack. Despite the practical application of this N P -hard problem in selecting investments for a portfolio, it remains an under-studied problem as only a few exact and heuristic approaches exist in the literature. This has motivated us to develop a metaheuristic approach based on steady-state genetic algorithm (SSGA) for the QBKP. Our SSGA approach uses worst among most similar replacement strategy to preserve useful population diversity which has a significant impact on the performance of our algorithm. Further, our crossover and mutation operators are designed as per the characteristics of the QBKP. We have experimentally compared the performance of our proposed approach with those available in the literature and clearly demonstrated our approach to be better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with an N P -hard problem called the colored balanced traveling salesman problem (CBTSP), which is a variation of colored traveling salesman problem (CTSP) which in turn is a variation of multiple traveling salesman problem. To effectively solve this problem, an approach based on evolution strategy is proposed where mutation operator is designed taking into consideration the characteristics of CBTSP. The results obtained through our approach have been compared with the results of the novel genetic algorithm (NGA) which is the best approach available in the literature. The results show that our approach surpasses the results reported in the literature for majority of the instances in shorter amount of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of industrial tribo-systems depends on advanced composites with superior tribological characteristics. In this study, the CoCrFeMnNi high entropy alloy (HEA) is prepared through mechanical alloying, while stir squeeze casting aided with an ultrasonic transducer is used to fabricate AA 6082 alloy and x% HEA/AA composites (where, x= 2, 4, 6, 8 in weight percentage). The effect of HEAp on dry sliding wear performance of HEA/AA composites is examined in as-cast conditions using a pin-on-disk wear tester at varying normal applied pressure (0.254 MPa, 0.509 MPa, 0.763 MPa, 1.018 MPa, and 1.273 MPa), varying sliding distance (1000 m, 2000 m, 3000 m, 4000 m, and 5000 m) and a constant sliding speed (3.5 m/sec), special emphasis is centered on response factors such as wear rate, seizure resistance, and bulk temperature upsurge. The composite showed an ability to withstand higher temperatures, and better seizure and wear resistance over the alloy. The phase identification and microstructural study were carried out using an X-ray diffractometer, field emission scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope, whereas the topography of worn-out surface was examined through an optical profilometer. There was a substantial decrease in coefficient of friction, and wear rate noticed as the HEAs concentration increased, whereas in all the wear conditions, the wear rate of 8% HEA/AA composite shows maximum resilience against wear, the inclusion of HEA particles also influences the extent of the subsurface at the seizure condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the Al7075 metal matrix composite was reinforced with different weight percentages (HEA content 0–8 wt%; interval of 2) of CoMoMnNiV high entropy alloy (HEA) was processed by an ultrasonic vibrator-coupled stir casting route. The mechanical alloying technique was employed to prepare high-entropy alloy metallic powder. The developed composite was examined for microstructural and mechanical behaviour. The phase evolution and microstructure of HEA particles and composites were examined by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. An optical microscopic examination was carried out to investigate grain size and reinforcement dispersion over the matrix materials. The mechanical properties of composites improved significantly with HEAp content and attained maximum value for a composite with 6 wt% HEAp content. The hardness and ultimate tensile strength of the 6 wt% HEAp composite improved by 40% and 53%, respectively, as compared with as-cast Al7075 alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, activated carbon prepared from H2SO4-functionalized Moringa oleifera leaves (ACMOL) was used as a potential adsorbent for the effective removal of malachite green (MG) dye from aqueous media. FT-IR, SEM, EDS, Zeta potential, XRD, BET, proximate, and CHNS analysis techniques were used for surface characterization of the ACMOL. The adsorption efficiency of the ACMOL was investigated as a function of varying adsorbent dosage (0.02–0.2 g/100 mL), pH (3.0–9.0), ionic strength (0.1–0.5 M KCl), urea concentration (0.1–0.5 M), contact time (30–210 min), and temperature (303–323 K). The representative adsorption isotherms belong to the typical L-type. Maximum percentage removal was found to be 84% (124.40 mg/g) for MG dye concentration (30 mg/L) at pH 7.0 and 303 K with ACMOL dose 0.02 g/100 mL. The adsorption kinetics and equilibrium experimental data of MG dye adsorption on the ACMOL were well explained by the pseudo-second-order kinetics (R2 = 0.99) and Langmuir isotherm model (R2 = 0.99), respectively. The value of adsorption and desorption coefficient was found to be 0.036 min−1 and 0.025 mg min−1/L, respectively. Thermodynamic study showed the spontaneous (ΔG° = − 31.33, − 31.92, and − 32.49 kJ/mol at temperatures 303 K, 313 K, and 323 K, respectively) and exothermic (ΔH° = − 13.7 kJ/mol) nature of the adsorption with some structural changes occurring on the ACMOL surface (ΔS° = 58.198 J/K·mol). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigenetic alterations of tumor suppressor genes (TSG) involved in the onset and progression of Breast Cancer (BC) may serve as biomarkers for early detection and prediction of disease prognosis. We have herein tried to determine the methylation status of TSG, p16INK4a, in our 50 BC patients and their association with clinicopathological parameters. The methylation status of the p16INK4a gene in fresh tissue samples from 50 patients with BC was assessed by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR). The mean age of BC patients was 49.30 ± 9.75 years. Of 50 BC samples tested, 21 (42%) had methylated p16INK4a gene. p16INK4a gene hypermethylation was significantly associated with age ≤ 50 years, premenopausal status and advanced BC stage. Multivariate analysis revealed a strong association between advanced BC stage (Stage III and Stage IV) and p16INK4a hypermethylation (P = 0.008, RR = 5.996, 95% CI = 1.581—22.739). p16INK4a methylation was significantly associated with Triple Negative BC (TNBC) (P = 0.045, OR = 4.181, 95% CI = 1.030–16.981). These findings indicate that p16INK4a hypermethylation frequently occurs in BC. Hypermethylation of p16INK4a in young, premenopausal, TNBC and with advance stage in BC patients suggests its association with aggressive BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facility location models involve identifying locations for facilities that provide services to the customers which are also called demand points. The p-median problem is a facility location problem which deals with locating p facilities in such a way that the sumtotal of demand-weighted distances between each demand point and its respective closest facility is minimized. The p-median problem does not take into account the possibility of failure of the facilities, but rather considers that the facilities once located will always be available to serve the customers or demand points. But, in reality, some of the facilities may face unpredicted disruptions, thereby forcing the customers to seek services from other functioning facilities. The reliability p-median problem (RpMP) concerns with locating facilities which minimize the cost while considering the cost of facility failures. In this paper, we have proposed a hyper-heuristic approach with naive Bayes classifier for the RpMP and compared its performance on standard benchmark instances with two best performing approaches for RpMP, viz. a genetic algorithm and a scatter search approach available in the literature. The results show the effectiveness of our approach in terms of the solution quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of developing countries such as India, with great differences in people’s living standards and different communities, municipal solid waste (MSW) management is one of the most promising problems in front of municipal organizations. Unlike every city in India, Aligarh City also faces the same problem of municipal solid waste management. This problem not only affects the esthetic view but is also hazardous to people nearby health. Currently, solid waste collected is either dumped in landfill unscientifically or partially treated by A to Z waste management (limited) by composting. In the present study, an effort was made to know about the per capita waste generation and variations in the quantity of different components of the MSW in five different regions of the city with dissimilar living standards. Also, weekly variation was analyzed in the study. One-way ANOVA analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences is performed to investigate the variations in the mean composition of different components. The per capita solid waste generation in Aligarh City was found to be 0.42 kg/person/day. From the analysis, we came to know that compostable component (35.4%) is the highest, then inert (24.6%), plastic (12.2%), paper (10%), textile (9.2%), and sand (8.6%). After analysis, the results can help sort out the problem of MSW management in the city by selecting appropriate units as per the composition of MSW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In hot and moist weather, a hybrid liquid desiccant dehumidification conditioning (LDAC) system is proposed as a viable substitute to stand-alone conventional vapour compression refrigeration (VCR) system because of their dominance in extracting the latent heat load from the air, being environmentally friendly, removing pollutants from the processed air, and consuming less electrical energy. The current research article experimentally investigates the dehumidification performance of a potassium formate (KCOOH) solution on an innovatively designed and developed 5-kW hybrid LDAC system. The main aim of this research paper is to optimize the performance parameters of a hybrid LDAC system employing a full factorial DOE design. The three input variables are selected to evaluate their effects on the three output performance responses. The regression correlation is obtained to anticipate the performance of the KCOOH solution for the output responses. The experimental result reveals that their improvement of 26.97% in COP Hybrid as compared to a stand-alone VCR unit and that the influence of inlet desiccant concentration is more prominent than the inlet mass flow rate and inlet desiccant temperature on the output responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acid mine drainage and soil erosion are significant problems in the coal mining area. It affects the water quality and soil quality, henceforth affecting plant growth and most aquatic life. During the last two decades, coal mining areas were increased by 194 hectares in Makum coalfield (Assam), which led to an increase in acid mine drainage and soil loss. In this paper, the water chemistry of water samples was analyzed, and annual soil loss near the area of Makum coalfield was calculated to investigate the most affected region by Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) and soil erosion. The Watershed delineation, slope angle, elevation contour map, and drainage system of 57 km2 of the study area were developed by ArcGIS Pro. The Universal Soil Loss Equation was used to estimate the amount of annual soil loss. The USLE parameter was assessed using a Digital Elevation Model with a 30-meter X 30-meter resolution. The result indicates that the quality of drainage near the mines was highly acidic. Also, compared to the area near the riverside, the proximity of mines is more affected by soil erosion and needs improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a set of potential facility location sites along with a positive weight associated with each site as per its importance, the anti-covering location problem (ACLP) is about locating a set of facilities at some of these potential locations such that no two facilities are closer than a given distance from each other and sum of weights of chosen locations is as large as possible. This NP -hard problem has several important real-world applications such as telecommunications equipment siting, locating military units, locating franchise outlets, locating obnoxious facilities, forest management and DNA sequence matching. There are weighted and unweighted versions of ACLP. The unweighted version of ACLP is widely studied in the literature. However, the weighted version did not receive much attention despite several real-world applications. In this paper, we have proposed two evolutionary approaches based on genetic algorithm (GA) and discrete differential evolution (DDE) to solve the weighted version of the ACLP. The proposed approaches are used to solve the 80 ACLP instances with upto 1577 potential sites. Computational results show the effectiveness of our approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advancements in nanotechnology have made it feasible to excite, control and tune Fano resonance in plasmonic nanosystems, especially through structural and material engineering. Because of various applications in areas such as refractive-index sensing, surface enhanced Raman scattering, and biosensing among others, considerable attention has been devoted to increase the sensitivity of Fano resonance based sensors. In this article, the formation of Fano resonances in graphene-assisted concentric nanoshell and nanomatryoshka is investigated using Mie theory, and the results have been validated using FEM-based COMSOL Multiphysics. It is shown that Fano resonances strongly depend on the chemical potential of graphene and the refractive index of the embedding environment. This makes these nanoparticle systems ultrasensitive sensors for sensing food adulteration. Refractory nitrides (e.g., ZrN and TiN) based plasmonic nanoshell and nanomatryoshka sensor designs optimized for maximum sensitivity are proposed with sensitivity up to 799.02 nm/RIU, representing a 120% increase in the sensitivity from the previous highest reported values. The present work paves way for developing highly sensitive Fano resonance based sensors with applications in diverse fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the geochemical and petrographic characteristics of seven bituminite shales from the Kapurdi mine in the Rajasthan, NW India, in order to assess their organic matter inputs and evaluate the oil-prone potentials. These bituminite shale samples exhibit high total organic carbon (TOC) content (up to 45.11 wt.%). The high TOC contents were correlated with low total sulfur content of less than 1 wt.% and suggest that these bituminite shales were deposited in a fresh lacustrine environment. The dominance of such lacustrine environmental setting was confirmed by the presence of the Botryococcus algae. The analyzed bituminite shales are characterized by a bimodal distribution of normal alkanes and relatively low isoprenoid Pr/Ph, Pr/n-C17 and Ph/n-C18 ratios. These characteristics suggest that these bituminite shales contain a blend of organic matter that was derived primarily from algal lacustrine and other aquatic organic matter, with terrigenous land plants and deposited under suboxic to anoxic environmental conditions. Such findings of the organic matter (OM) input and environmental conditions are consistent with mainly Types I and II kerogen and small amounts of Type II/III kerogen, thus yielding both oil and gas prone to higher concentrations of oil generation potential. The dominance of hydrogen-rich kerogen and oil generation potential is in agreement with the findings of high hydrogen index (HI = 240–425 mg HC/g TOC) and H/C atomic ratio of more than 1.20. The abundance of n-alkene and n-alkane doublets in the pyrolysis–gas chromatography (Py–GC) also indicates that these bituminite shales have potential to generate high concentrations of paraffinic waxy oil. Most of the maturity indicators show that the bituminite shales from the Kapurdi mine have not yet entered the main stage of oil generation window, exhibiting a range of immature stages. Therefore, as highlighted in this study, these bituminite shales can be considered as a good candidate for oil shale reoterting processes to release commercial amounts of oil upon using artificial heating techniques such as hydrothermal conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to improve the processability and oral bioavailability of itraconazole (ITZ) via spherical agglomeration. ITZ-spherical agglomerates (ITZ-SA) and ITZ-poloxamer 407-spherical agglomerates (ITZ-PLX-SA) were optimized using Box-Behnken design. Here, the drug release was affected by polymer concentration and stirring speed, whereas particle size was altered by stirring speed, polymer concentration, and amount of bridging liquid. Heckel and Kawakita studies showed a reduction in mean yield pressure and remarkably lowered 1/b value than ITZ, indicating better compactibility and flowability of ITZ-PLX-SA. Physicochemical interactions were not observed during the process, as indicated by ATR-FTIR, DSC, and XRPD. The significant improvement in % drug release of ITZ-PLX-SA was attributed to better wettability and the presence of polymer than ITZ-SA and ITZ. The pharmacokinetic study in rats indicated fivefold enhanced Cmax and twofold improved AUC for ITZ-PLX-SA than plain drug. Thus, spherical agglomeration could improve overall processability and pharmacokinetic profile of ITZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The damping capacities of three different phases: hexagonal close packed (hcp), body-centered cubic (bcc) and martensite phase in a Mg–Sc alloy were investigated by nano-dynamic mechanical analysis equipment as a value of internal friction, tan δ. Martensite plates, which have orthorhombic structure, were formed in bcc through water quenching after heat treatment process. The martensite phase showed much higher value of tan δ than hcp and bcc. The martensite plates contained lattice defects introduced by lattice invariant shear. Therefore, the higher damping capacity of martensite is considered to be operated by the movement of lattice defects such as twin interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive account on the evolution of the Tertiary Himalaya coals of India and their various attributes. The coal bearing sequences in Himalaya have formed in two different geotectonic settings, first under foreland basin (Oligocene coals of Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh of northeastern India) and second under Platform basin (Eocene coals of Meghalaya of north-eastern India) conditions. The Jammu coals of northwest India developed in the late Paleocene in the western Himalayan foreland basin. A sea transgression inundated the Jammu area which gave rise to forest swamp and Jammu coals eventually formed under tropical humid climatic conditions in the tropical climatic belt of northern hemisphere. In northeastern India, the Oligocene coals have shown more maturity than the Eocene coals and have relatively high carbon content and they also have developed caking characters in many coalfields. This may be because the Eocene coal developed in the tropical climatic belt when the northern part of the northeast India was still in the southern hemisphere and the Oligocene coal evolved when the northern part of the northeast India was in the northern hemisphere and the collision during the Oligocene in this part improved the maturity of Oligocene coal due to Himalayan orogeny. The Himalayan coals are exceedingly rich in vitrinite with variable quantities of liptinite and inertinite macerals. Dominance of typical Tertiary angiospermic floral assemblage in the Himalayan coals is well indicated by the occurrence of single, double and triple celled telutospores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a steady state genetic algorithm based approach for solving the obnoxious cooperative maximum covering location problem (OCMCLP) on a network. In cooperative coverage models, it is assumed that each facility emits a signal that decays over distance. At each demand point the cumulative signal strength received from all the facilities is calculated. A demand point is deemed to be covered if the total signal strength received by it is not less than a given threshold. All facilities contribute to the coverage of each demand point. Such models are different from the individual coverage models where the coverage of a demand point is decided by the single facility closest to that demand point. Given a graph with the set of demand points, the set of edges between these demand points, and the non-negative real weights associated with each demand point indicating the total demand at each point, the OCMCLP is concerned with locating p obnoxious (undesirable) facilities either at the demand points or along the edges in such a manner that maximizes the uncovered demand. The proposed genetic algorithm based approach makes use of crossover and mutation operators designed as per the characteristics of the OCMCLP. Solutions obtained through these genetic operators are improved further by a local search strategy. The performance of the proposed approach has been evaluated on the standard benchmark instances available in the literature. Computational results clearly show our proposed approach to be better in comparison to the existing state-of-the-art approaches for the OCMCLP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mini review focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of virus diseases using Crisper-Cas technology. The present paper describes various strategies involved in diagnosing diseases using Crispr-Cas-based assays. Additionally, CRISPR-Cas systems offer great potential as new therapeutic tools for treating viral infections including HIV, Influenza, and SARS-CoV-2. There are several major challenges to be overcome before this technology can be applied routinely in clinical settings, such as finding a suitable delivery tool, toxicity, and immunogenicity, as well as off-target effects. This review also discusses ways to deal with the challenges associated with Crisper-Cas technology. Key points: • Crisper technology is being applied to diagnose infectious and non-infectious diseases. • A new generation of CRISPR-Cas-based assays has been developed which detect pathogens within minutes, providing rapid diagnosis of diseases. • Crispr-Cas tools can be used to combat viral infections, specifically HIV, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to significantly impact the global population, thus countermeasure platforms that enable rapid development of therapeutics against variants of SARS-CoV-2 are essential. We report use of a phage display human antibody library approach to rapidly identify neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) against SARS-CoV-2. We demonstrate the binding and neutralization capability of two nAbs, STI-2020 and STI-5041, against the SARS-CoV-2 WA-1 strain as well as the Alpha and Beta variants. STI-2020 and STI-5041 were protective when administered intravenously or intranasally in the golden (Syrian) hamster model of COVID-19 challenged with the WA-1 strain or Beta variant. The ability to administer nAbs intravenously and intranasally may have important therapeutic implications and Phase 1 healthy subjects clinical trials are ongoing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With indiscriminate use of antibiotics, newer strains of resistant organisms are emerging. We analysed the clinical and microbial profile of patients with acute bacterial cholangitis who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP). It was a case series analysis. Consecutive patients with cholangitis were included. Bile obtained during biliary cannulation, was cultured and microbial isolates and their antibiotic susceptibility was documented. Demographic, clinical, laboratory parameters were recorded. 116 patients were included. Most common symptoms were abdominal pain (89.6%), jaundice (84.4%) and fever (56.8%). 81.9% had positive bile culture and 17.9% of positive bile cultures showed polymicrobial growth. 92.9% of the organisms were gram negative bacteria (GNB) with Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae constituting 85% of the isolates. Enterococcus spp. (7%) constituted all gram—positive organisms. GNB had highest sensitivity to aminoglycosides (69.6–78.4%) and tigecycline (80–88.4%) and had lowest sensitivity to cephalosporins (21.5–33.3%), fluoroquinolones (18.1–26.7%). In-hospital mortality was 10.3%. Low serum albumin levels and septic shock were associated with mortality on multivariate analysis. Gram negative bacilli are the most common bacterial isolates in the bile culture and emergence of carbapenem resistant organisms poses a major therapeutic challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex physical and mathematical concepts of quasicrystals have been applied, for the first time, to an engineering processing of an alloy containing a quasicrystalline phase. Icosahedral quasicrystals (i-phase), which are quasiperiodic and possess fivefold symmetry, are often found as stable phase in aluminum and magnesium alloys. They are known to be hard and brittle at room temperature, therefore their deformation behavior at lower temperatures is not well understood yet. High pressure torsion (HPT) gives an opportunity to study deformation of brittle materials due to confinement of the dies. Here, we report on deformation behavior of 27 vol% eutectic i-phase present in a magnesium alloy Mg-12Zn-2Y (at%) subjected to HPT under 5 GPa pressure at RT with a number of rotations N. The matrix α\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\alpha$$\end{document}-Mg phase deformed by twinning and dislocation slip, leading to full recrystallization. Consequently, diffraction peaks showed broadening, followed by sharpening. The peaks of i-phase continued to broaden. Fivefold symmetry diffraction peaks broadened disproportionately to the others. Peak broadening analysis showed that deformation occurs predominantly by changes in fivefold symmetry planes, as observed to be by twinning and formation of narrow planar faults. No evidence of new random phason strains was detected. Introduction of localized phonon strain was detected at high strains, which could be correlated with creation of interfaces and surfaces by fragmentation of i-phase into nanoparticles and dispersion into the matrix. Vickers microhardness of the alloy increased from 118 Hv to over 175 Hv after N = 40.Graphical Abstract: Complex physical and mathematical concepts of quasicrystals have been applied, for the first time, to an engineering processing of an alloy containing a quasicrystalline phase. Icosahedral quasicrystals (i-phase), which are quasiperiodic and possess fivefold symmetry, are often found as stable phase in aluminum and magnesium alloys. They are known to be hard and brittle at room temperature, therefore their deformation behavior at lower temperatures is not well understood yet. High pressure torsion (HPT) gives an opportunity to study deformation of brittle materials due to confinement of the dies. Here, we report on deformation behavior of 27 vol% eutectic i-phase present in a magnesium alloy Mg-12Zn-2Y (at%) subjected to HPT under 5 GPa pressure at RT with a number of rotations N. The matrix α\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\alpha$$\end{document}-Mg phase deformed by twinning and dislocation slip, leading to full recrystallization. Consequently, diffraction peaks showed broadening, followed by sharpening. The peaks of i-phase continued to broaden. Fivefold symmetry diffraction peaks broadened disproportionately to the others. Peak broadening analysis showed that deformation occurs predominantly by changes in fivefold symmetry planes, as observed to be by twinning and formation of narrow planar faults. No evidence of new random phason strains was detected. Introduction of localized phonon strain was detected at high strains, which could be correlated with creation of interfaces and surfaces by fragmentation of i-phase into nanoparticles and dispersion into the matrix. Vickers microhardness of the alloy increased from 118 Hv to over 175 Hv after N = 40. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Macromolecules are important in polymer-based drug delivery systems as they help in specific targeting. This study explores the use of guggul gum (GG) and chitosan (Ch) in encapsulating boswellic acid (BA) which has high first-pass metabolism and low aqueous solubility for possible uses in inflammatory conditions. Methods: Ionic complexation was used for nanoparticle formulation. The contents of guggul gum, chitosan, and boswellic acid were taken as independent variables, and their influence on encapsulation, particle size, and polydispersity were optimized by using Box-Behnken design. The developed formulation was assessed for drug release (in vitro) and release kinetics, stability, and preclinical pharmacokinetics. The formulation was also evaluated for inhibition of carrageenan-induced hind paw inflammation in rats. Results: The nanoparticles were successfully prepared by ionic complexation method. The runs suggested by the design yielded a quadratic model for predicting the relationship between independent variables and responses. The optimum condition suggested by point prediction tool yielded spherical nanoparticles with 81.7% encapsulation, drug loading 21.2%, 377.19 nm size, and 0.201 PDI. The nanoparticles showed zero-order kinetics demonstrating an amalgamation of drug diffusion through matrix and erosion of polymeric medium. Conclusion: Ionic complexation is a suitable method for nanopartile formulation. GG-Ch nanoparticles are beneficial for specific delivery and anti-inflammation of boswellic acid. The bioavailability of boswellic acid was increased by 11.38 times when given as a GG-Ch nanoparticle. The nanoparticles were stable at 25 °C for 6 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sucrose is the prime product of sugarcane and a significant variation has been observed among different sugarcane genotypes for the time taken to initiate sucrose accumulation. High sucrose accumulation in sugarcane at early crop phase is one of the most desirable traits, since it can help in reducing its long growth cycle. This study is based on a segregating population raised in sub-tropical India, where, sucrose accumulation starts at ~ 10-month crop stage. RNA-seq data of two extreme bulks from a segregating full-sib population and its parents were used to identify differential genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with early season high sucrose accumulation. A total of 49 common significantly differential genes were identified between high- and low- sucrose parents and bulks among which chlorophyll a-b binding protein and psaK were observed as initial points of sucrose-mediated feedback regulation. The high sucrose accumulation during early season coincided with upregulation of transcription factors (TIFY10a and ERF), and genes related to arabinogalactans, glutaredoxin, ethylene and amino acid transporters as well as downregulation of genes for solute transport (PUP, STP) and hormones (ABA and IAA). Further, six of the identified early sucrose linked DEGs, viz., ethylene-responsive transcription factor 1 (AP 2), TIFY, YUCCA, Monosaccharide transporter 2, Photosystem I reaction center subunit psaK, and chlorophyll a-b binding protein were validated for similar patterns of differential expression in a panel of sugarcane genotypes comprising the two parents and three varieties each showing early season high and low sucrose accumulation. This study was further able to identify significantly differential SNPs located pre-dominantly on several transcription factors, receptor kinases, glucuronosyltransferase, callose synthase, microRNA biogenesis complex and phytohormone action. These preliminary results provide useful insights into the role of differential genes and allelic heterozygosity in early season sucrose accumulation in sugarcane. Further confirmation of the role of these genes in early sucrose accumulation is suggested and could assist in the production of early maturing sugarcane varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of natural language descriptions for a video has been reported by many researchers till now. But, it is still the most interesting research topic among the researchers due to the emerging interdisciplinary problem of Computer Vision (CV), Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Deep Learning (DL). The results of a video description are still not convincing due to the redundancy of a large number of similar frames in a video. In this paper, we propose dual-stage based text generation approach in which the first stage is for reducing redundancy due to the similar frames by processing selected sets of frames and keyframe from the shots of a video and in the second stage, the text generator module will generate relevant text for a video using the selected sets of frames and keyframes of each shot. In the first stage, a flexible novel shot boundary detection (SBD or temporal boundaries) approach is proposed which will segment the video into shots and then keyframe and set of frames are selected from each shot using frame selection policy. Then, the spatio-temporal features for each segment and 2D features for each keyframe are extracted respectively using the 3D convolutional network and VGG19. These features are passed to the next stage where these features are embedded with semantic concepts related to video and then text generation will take place using Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent network. The proposed approach is the amalgamation of classical and modern computer vision techniques. In the first stage, the Noise-Resistant Local Binary Pattern (NRLBP) feature is used for detecting illumination and motion invariant temporal boundaries in a video and processing keyframes and sets of frames for the further text generation. TRECVid 2001 and 2007 datasets are used to validate the exactness of the proposed SBD approach and MSR-VTT (Microsoft Research Video to Text) and YouTube2text (MSVD) datasets are applied to analyze and validate the performance of proposed video to text generation approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Atogepant is the latest calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonist approved exclusively for prophylaxis of episodic migraine and is administered orally in doses of 10–60 mg/day. This article aims to provide a systematic review of the efficacy and safety of atogepant in migraine prevention. Methods: The literature was searched in different databases, i.e., the National Institute of Health clinical trials registry, PubMed, and the Cochrane library between 2018 to October 2021 using the keywords atogepant, MK-8031, and migraine. Conference abstracts listed in the Cochrane database (includes Embase) and drug information provided by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) label were also reviewed. Only English-language clinical trials were included. The authors retrieved 58 articles. Eventually, two randomized, double-blind, multicenter clinical trials involving 1,727 participants and one open-label trial were analyzed. Results: The FDA approved atogepant for migraine prevention in September 2021 based on two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. Atogepant approved for migraine prevention acts as a CGRP receptor antagonist and is administered orally. Based on the 12-week clinical trials, atogepant was efficacious in prevention of migraine and it was well tolerated. The most common treatment-emergent adverse events were nausea, constipation, and upper respiratory infection. Relevance to patient care and clinical practice: Atogepant had a statistically significant change from baseline in monthly migraine days, monthly headache days, and acute medication use days. Conclusions: Atogepant seems to be beneficial for migraine prevention, and it may be of more benefit in individuals who do not wish to take the drug as an injection or do not require a prolonged duration of drug effect. However, head-to-head trials with other CGRP antagonists are required to ascertain its place in migraine prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of micro-alloying on tensile behavior at strain rates in various ranges is examined using five types of extruded Mg-0.3 at. pct Mn–0.1 at. pct X ternary alloys, where X is selected as a common element, Al, Li, Sn, Y or Zn. Microstructural observations reveal that the average grain size of these extruded alloys is between 1 and 3 μm, and these micro-alloying elements segregate at grain boundaries. In room temperature tensile and compression tests, these results show that the mechanical properties and deformation behavior are influenced by the micro-alloying element, even as a small addition of 0.1 at. pct. Mg–Mn–Y and Mg–Mn-Zn alloys show higher strength and smaller strain rate sensitivity (m-value) among the present alloys, owing to the rate-controlling mechanism as dislocation slip. On the other hand, the Mg–Mn–Li alloy exhibits the largest elongation to failure in tension and the highest strain rate sensitivity, associated with high contribution of grain boundary sliding to deformation. These differences are due to the grain boundary segregation of the micro-alloying elements. Compared to the common Mg alloys, the present ternary alloys also show a trade-off relationship between strength and ductility, which is similar to that of the well-known Mg alloys; however, these properties of the Mg–Mn system ternary alloys could be controlled via the type of micro-alloying elements with a chemical content of 0.1 at. pct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, rapid developments in imaging concepts and computational methods have given rise to a new generation of imaging technologies based on chaos. These chaos-inspired imaging technologies (CI2-Tech) consist of two directions: non-invasive and invasive. Non-invasive imaging, a much older research direction with a goal of imaging through scattering layers, has reached faster, smarter, and sharper imaging capabilities in recent years. The invasive imaging direction is based on exploiting the chaos to achieve imaging characteristics and increase dimensionalities beyond the limits of conventional imagers. In this roadmap, the current and future challenges in invasive and non-invasive imaging technologies are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to its role as a TB vaccine, BCG has been shown to elicit heterologous protection against many other pathogens including viruses through a process termed trained immunity. Despite its potential as a broadly protective vaccine, little has been done to determine if BCG-mediated trained immunity levels can be optimized. Here we re-engineer BCG to express high levels of c-di-AMP, a PAMP recognized by stimulator of interferon genes (STING). We find that BCG overexpressing c-di-AMP elicits more potent signatures of trained immunity including higher pro-inflammatory cytokine responses, greater myeloid cell reprogramming toward inflammatory and activated states, and enhances epigenetic and metabolomic changes. In a model of bladder cancer, we also show that re-engineered BCG induces trained immunity and improved functionality. These results indicate that trained immunity levels and antitumor efficacy may be increased by modifying BCG to express higher levels of key PAMP molecules. Vaccination with BCG has been shown to induce a pre-priming effect in innate immune cells termed trained immunity. Here the authors re-engineer the BCG vaccine and show augmented immune responses, enhanced induction of trained immunity and improved antitumor efficacy in pre-clinical models of bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viloxazine (SPN-812), an age-old antidepressant, has recently been approved by the US FDA for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children aged 6–17 years, at a dose range of 100–400 mg/day. Viloxazine acts primarily by norepinephrine reuptake inhibition and may also modulate the serotonergic system. The efficacy of viloxazine for the treatment of ADHD in children aged 6–17 years has been demonstrated in a series of short-term clinical trials. The most common adverse events include somnolence and gastrointestinal upset, while the FDA has issued a black-box warning regarding suicidal ideation or behavior. This article summarizes the information regarding viloxazine based on previously published narrative reviews, preclinical studies, and blinded controlled clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shot boundary detection is mainly considered as a stepping stone in the broad arena of content-based video retrieval. Ample systematic investigation has been carried out in the terrain of shot boundary detection. The attainment of shot boundary detection procedures is greatly hindered due to the presence of unforeseen illumination change and motion effects in a video. This work proposes a novel bifold-stage technique to recognize abrupt transition in videos, invariant to motion, and illumination effects. In the first stage, the local ternary patterns feature is used to extract information from each frame in a video. Then, a set of novel adaptive thresholds such as γ and β are used to find the possible transition frames. In the confirmation stage, Lab color difference along with an adaptive threshold δ is used to extract actual transition frames. The experimental result depicts that the motion effect is also scaled down in the initial stage. The Lab color difference passed down in the second stage also handles the illumination and motion effects which are not managed in the initial stage. Experimentation is done using TRECVid 2001 and 2007 standard datasets and palpable that the proposed technique outperforms most of the contemporary shot boundary detection approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, active research is going on for bridging the gap between computer vision and natural language. In this paper, we attempt to address the problem of Hindi video captioning. In a linguistically diverse country like India, it is important to provide a means which can help in understanding the visual entities in native languages. In this work, we employ a hybrid attention mechanism by extending the soft temporal attention mechanism with a semantic attention to make the system able to decide when to focus on visual context vector and semantic input. The visual context vector of the input video is extracted using 3D convolutional neural network (3D CNN) and a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent network with attention module is used for decoding the encoded context vector. We experimented on a dataset built in-house for Hindi video captioning by translating M S R - V T T dataset followed by post-editing. Our system achieves 0.369 CIDEr score and 0.393 METEOR score and outperformed other baseline models including RMN (Reasoning Module Networks)-based model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Molecular imaging has provided unparalleled opportunities to monitor disease processes, although tools for evaluating infection remain limited. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is mediated by lung injury that we sought to model. Activated macrophages/phagocytes have an important role in lung injury, which is responsible for subsequent respiratory failure and death. We performed pulmonary PET/CT with 124I-iodo-DPA-713, a low-molecular-weight pyrazolopyrimidine ligand selectively trapped by activated macrophages cells, to evaluate the local immune response in a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Procedures: Pulmonary 124I-iodo-DPA-713 PET/CT was performed in SARS-CoV-2-infected golden Syrian hamsters. CT images were quantified using a custom-built lung segmentation tool. Studies with DPA-713-IRDye680LT and a fluorescent analog of DPA-713 as well as histopathology and flow cytometry were performed on post-mortem tissues. Results: Infected hamsters were imaged at the peak of inflammatory lung disease (7 days post-infection). Quantitative CT analysis was successful for all scans and demonstrated worse pulmonary disease in male versus female animals (P < 0.01). Increased 124I-iodo-DPA-713 PET activity co-localized with the pneumonic lesions. Additionally, higher pulmonary 124I-iodo-DPA-713 PET activity was noted in male versus female hamsters (P = 0.02). DPA-713-IRDye680LT also localized to the pneumonic lesions. Flow cytometry demonstrated a higher percentage of myeloid and CD11b + cells (macrophages, phagocytes) in male versus female lung tissues (P = 0.02). Conclusion: 124I-Iodo-DPA-713 accumulates within pneumonic lesions in a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection. As a novel molecular imaging tool, 124I-Iodo-DPA-713 PET could serve as a noninvasive, clinically translatable approach to monitor SARS-CoV-2-associated pulmonary inflammation and expedite the development of novel therapeutics for COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor bioavailability of hesperidin (HES) due to its gastric instability and low aqueous solubility limits its clinical application. The objective of presented work was to incorporate self-microemulsifying drug delivery system of HES (SMEDDS-HES) into alginate beads. The alginate beads were characterized for their size and morphology by using motic microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The selected beads formulation (BF 7) revealed particle size (1.3 ± 0.117 mm), entrapment efficiency (87.4 ± 2.2%), circularity (0.9987), aspect ratio (0.9950), and swelling index (81.75 ± 2.14%). The encapsulation of HES in beads was assured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy study. The in vitro drug release kinetic of beads was performed in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF). The results revealed negligible release of HES (3.52 ± 0.8%) from beads in SGF after 2 h, and in SIF (after 8 h), the beads showed burst release (72.52 ± 3.5%) of HES. Antidiabetic and histopathological studies on experimental rat revealed promising hypoglycemic activity of beads which sought for its ability to protect HES in the stomach. The shelf life of optimized bead formulation was estimated 1079 days suggesting excellent stability of HES after encapsulation. Finally, developed beads formulation was considered a promising approach in oral delivery of HES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, research activity on image caption generation has attracted several researchers. The present work attempt to address the problem of Hindi image caption generation using Hindi Visual genome dataset. Hindi is the official and most spoken language in India. In a linguistically diverse country like India, it is essential to provide a means that can help the people to understand the visual entities in their native languages. In this paper, an encoder-decoder based architecture is proposed where Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is employed for encoding visual features of an image and stacked Long Short-Term Memory (sLSTM) in combination with both uni-directional LSTM and bi-directional LSTM for generating the captions in Hindi. For encoding the visual feature representation of an image, VGG19 based pre-trained model is used and sLSTM architecture is employed for caption generation at the decoder side. The model is tested over Hindi visual genome dataset to validate the proposed approach's performance and cross-verification is carried out for English captions with Flickr dataset. The experimental results of the proposed approach manifest that the model is qualitatively and quantitatively better than state-of-the-art approaches for Hindi caption generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides detailed information about the geochemistry and coal petrography of Paleogene lignite deposits of Bikaner-Nagaur Basin and the Barmer Basin of Rajasthan, India, which have been used to reconstruct paleoclimatic, paleovegetational, and paleodepositional conditions. Petrographic characteristics show the dominance of huminite group macerals followed by inertinite and liptinite group macerals in Rajasthan lignites. The mean random huminite reflectance value (%Rom) ranges from 0.27 to 0.33%, which put these lignites as low-rank lignite 'B'. 13C NMR spectra show sharp peaks in the aliphatic region, indicting immaturity of organic matter. These peaks confirm the presence of aliphatic CH2, aliphatic –CH3 bonding, protonated aromatic carbons, and oxygenated aromatic carbon atoms (Ar-O). δ13C values in xylite-rich lithotype range from − 25.04 to − 25.61‰, indicating the contribution of gymnosperm plants (Taxodiaceae during) in peat. Whereas, δ13C in matrix-rich lithotype range from − 26.82 to − 27.44‰, and show the presence of angiosperm taxa (Typhaceae, Iridaceae, and Gramineae) during peat formation in the study area. The samples dominated by huminite group macerals have a slightly low δ13C value than inertinite-rich samples. In contrast, the least δ13C value has been recorded in the liptinite rich samples. δ13C values also suggest C3 plants to be the main peat-forming vegetation in the study area during the Paleogene. The mineralogical study indicates peat formation in semi-arid to slightly arid climatic conditions. The presence of framboidal pyrite, alginite, funginite macerals, and high sulfur content of the studied lignites indicate marine incursion in the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present study was intended to examine the comparative transcript profile of six drought-responsive genes under water deficit conditions in sugarcane. Two tolerant genotypes of sugarcane Co 98014 and Co 0118 and two sensitive genotypes CoJ 85 and Co 89003 have had the contrast response to water stress were planted in big plastic pots in a complete randomized design. Water deficit conditions were created by water withholding on 120th day. Soil moisture was measured by gravimetric method. The moisture content was observed 23.9, 18.1 and 5.9% on 120th day, 135th and 150th day, respectively (0–20 cm soil depth). The third upper expanded leaf was randomly collected as sample of all three stages. Using quantitative PCR analysis change in mRNA transcript was calculated and the level of mRNA transcript was remarkedly increased for SOD and DroPro gene in tolerant than sensitive genotypes on 150th day whereas DREB and DNAj TFs was observed higher at 135th day as compared to irrigated condition (120th day). Ferredoxin-I and LEA gene transcripts were completely down regulated on 150th day. The fold change was comparatively more down regulated in the sensitive genotypes in compare to tolerant genotypes. The present study endorses the further exploration of these genes and its gene families for the future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a variant of the many-to-many hub location-routing problem. Given an undirected edge-weighted complete graph G = (V , E) , this problem consists in finding a subset of V designated as hub nodes, partitioning all the nodes of V into cycles such that each cycle has exactly one hub node, and determining a Hamiltonian cycle on the subgraph induced by hub nodes. The objective is to minimize the total cost resulting from all these cycles. This problem is referred to as Many-to-Many p-Location-Hamiltonian Cycle Problem (MMpLHP) in this paper. To solve this problem, one has to deal with aspects of subset selection, grouping, and permutation. The characteristics of MMpLHP change according to the values of its constituent parameters. Hence, this problem can be regarded as a general problem which encompasses a diverse set of problems originating from different combinations of values of its constituent parameters. Such a general problem can be tackled effectively by suitably selecting and combining several different heuristics each of which cater to a different characteristic of the problem. Keeping this in mind, we have developed a simple multi-start hyper-heuristic approach for MMpLHP. Further, we have investigated two different selection mechanisms within the proposed approach. Experimental results and their analysis clearly demonstrate the superiority of our approach over best approaches known so far for this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]