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Avian haemosporidian may affect the host from body damage to the extinction of a population. Knowledge of their status may help in future avifauna conservation plans. Hence, their status in two bird groups of India and their phylogenetic relationships with other known lineages of the world were examined.Cytochrome b gene sequences (479 bp) generated from India and available at MalAvi database were used to study the avian haemosporidian prevalence and phylogenetic analysis of lineages at local and world levels.One common (COLL2) and only once in the study (CYOPOL01, CHD01, CYORUB01, EUMTHA01, GEOCIT01) haemosporidian lineages were discovered. 5.88% prevalence of haemosporidian infection was found in 102 samples belonging to 6 host species. Haemoproteus prevalence was 4.90% across five host species (Phylloscopus trochiloides, Cyornis poliogenys, C. hainanus dialilaemus, C. rubeculoides, Eumiyas thalassinus) and Plasmodium prevalence was 0.98% in Geokichla citrina. Spatial phylogeny at the global level showed that COLL2 lineage, found in C. poliogenys in India, was genetically identical to H. pallidus lineages (COLL2) in parts of Africa, Europe, North America, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The Plasmodium lineage (GEOCIT01) was related to PADOM16 in Egypt, but the sequences were only 93.89% alike.Four new lineages of Haemoproteus and one of Plasmodium were reported. COLL2 similarity with other H. pallidus lineages may suggest their hosts as possible infection sources.

An experiment was conducted to study the influence of environmental parameters and stocking density on growth, survival, feed utilization, and economic feasibility of a high value butter catfish, Ompok bimaculatus in floating cages in a large tropical reservoir of India for 180 days. The fingerlings (11.44 ± 1.33 cm; 8.05 ± 3.27 g) were stocked at three stocking densities, viz., 15, 25 and 35 fingerlings m-3 in GI cages (32m3) in triplicates. Commercial floating pellets were fed to fish at 5–3% of fish biomass. The results indicated that the fishes at the lowest stocking density of 15 fingerlings m-3 had significantly higher (p 0.05) between stocking densities of 15 fingerlings m-3 and 25 fingerlings m-3. The condition factor was insignificantly higher at lower densities and its values close to 1 indicated congeniality of reservoir ecosystem for cage culture of the species. The coefficient of variation of weight was significantly higher (24.19 ± 1.20) at 35 fingerlings m-3. The highest economic gains in terms of benefit cost ratio (1.77) were achieved at the lowest stocking density. The present study indicated better growth and economic returns at lower stocking densities of 15–25 fingerlings m-3. The nutrient load and plankton abundance were higher at culture site, however, did not vary significantly from reference sites throughout the culture period. Although most of the environmental parameters showed significant seasonal variations, dissolved oxygen showed significant positive relation (r = 0.86) with the growth of the fish. This is the first study reporting feasibility of cage culture of this highly renumerative species in open waters. The cage culture of this species will not only ensure better economic returns to the marginal cage farmers but will aid in the conservation of this species in natural ecosystem. Being a low volume high value species, the impact on environment will be less compared with high volume low value species. This study will serve as baseline for standardization of its grow-out protocol in cages and will be a step towards much needed species diversification for sustainable small scale cage farming in tropical reservoirs of Asia.

Reproductively mature koi carps (Cyprinus carpio) showed a prominent diurnal variation of sex steroids with sustained nocturnal rise. Exposure to chronic hypoxia (DO

Testing of equality of populations is one of the fundamental problems in Science. In this paper, we propose a new class of nonparametric tests for testing of location parameters of the distribution of populations against restricted alternatives. The asymptotic distribution of the proposed test statistics is derived. In order to attain maximum efficiency of the proposed tests, a general optimal choice of weights of the proposed class of test statistics is established. Pitman asymptotic relative efficiency and simulation study is carried out of the proposed class of tests. An illustrative example is provided to see the execution of the proposed test.

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) process has the capability to form small/medium-sized part generally used for rapid prototyping applications in automotive and non-automotive industry. Although considerable research has been conducted over the past decades on the formability of various aluminum alloy using SPIF process. This paper presents an investigation on the behavior of AA1200 H14 aluminum alloy by means of SPIF process. The formability of AA1200 H14 in terms of maximum formable wall angle has been evaluated using varying wall angle conical frustum (VWACF) profile. Taguchi method based design of experiment, analysis of variance (ANOVA), signal-to-noise ratio (S/N Ratio) have been employed to identify the significant parameters affecting formability. Utilizing the experimentally acquired results, the S/N ratio (dB) graphs have been drawn and identified the optimal parametric combination for maximizing the wall angle. Further, the formability of the parts has also been evaluated using forming limit curve. The changes in microstructure due to incremental deformation have been studied through scanning electron microscopic analysis.

The homologous series of MBC liquid crystals (LCs) show re-entrant nematic phase (chiral nature or adverse order) under the external electric field in the THz frequency range. The MBC LCs show the phase conversion from isotropic to nematic and subsequently, nematic to isotropic with the variation in electric field and length of alkyl chain in the molecular structure. The negative order parameter is decreased and the positive order parameter of the MBC series is decreased with the length of the alkyl chain of the molecular structure. The positive values of the birefringence of MBC series are reduced; however, adverse birefringence approximately remains constant. On account of the director angle, a short alkyl chain has smaller values, but after 5 MBC, all the molecules are parallel to the applied electric field and maintain a large perspective θ = 90. The refractive index of MBC increases with the extension of the alkyl chain length in the structure. The abstract image of the MBC LC series indicates the phase variation of the MBC series and the band gap of the nematic phase MBC is also affected by the applied electric field.

In the present work, we have calculated the electro-optical effect of the I52 (4-Ethyl-2-fluoro-4'-[2-(4-pentyl-cyclohexyl)-ethyl]-biphenyl) liquid crystal (LC) molecules under the influence of an external electric field in the THz frequency region. The electro-optical calculation has been performed with the help of a theoretical model which is developed for the organic compounds (liquid crystal), and also suitable for the terahertz (THz) device application. The theoretical model gives the electro-optical properties and correlates with experimental evidence. The birefringence, order parameter, refractive index, dipolar strength, and HOMO-LUMO of the I52 molecules have been calculated theoretically. By increasing the electric field on the molecules, the order parameter and birefringence show positive as well as negative values. The I52 LC molecule behaves as an insulator due to having a large bandgap (5.08 eV).

In this work, we present the effect of electric field on 4-(trans-4 $$'$$ -n-alkyl-cyclohexyl) isothiocyanate-benzene (nCHBT) liquid crystal (LC) molecules. Under the influence of an electric field, the birefringence exhibits the even–odd effect while order parameter, HOMO–LUMO gap, magic angle, isotropic polarisability, range of director angle and the refractive index do not exhibit any even–odd effect. The extension of the alkyl chain length of the nCHBT liquid crystal molecule exhibits the even–odd effect for the dipole moment and temperature from nematic to isotropic phase transition while the HOMO–LUMO gap remains constant. Still, order parameters, isotropic polarisability and refractive index have continuously increased. The odd carbon atom numbers present higher values than the even carbon atom numbers of the alkyl chain for the phase transition temperature. The nCHBT LC molecule expresses the order parameter, and birefringence is reciprocal to each other. For the whole series, there is an increase in order parameter, and a decrease in birefringence. The influence of the external electric field is an alternative to the temperature for the optical parameter of nCHBT LC.

We calculate the time reversal odd (T-odd) generalized transverse momentum dependent parton distributions (GTMDs) $F^o_{1,2}$ and $H^o_{1,1}$ in a light-front quark-diquark model based on ADS/QCD. In the limit of zero momentum transfer, these reduce to the Sivers and Boer-Mulders TMDs respectively. We have incorporated both scalar and axial vector diquarks in the model and obtained an overlap representation of the GTMDs using the light-front wave functions (LFWFs). Contribution from the final state interaction is incorporated at the level of one gluon exchange as a phase factor in the LFWF. We show that the final state interaction term can be factored out in this model and this part is the same for both GTMDs. We also present the corresponding Wigner distributions., Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures

The homologous series of the organic compound N(p-n-heptyloxy-benzylidene) p-toluidine (7O.m) expresses the odd–even effect under the influence of an external applied electric field by density functional theory (DFT) methods. The dipole moment, order parameter, and birefringence express an odd–even effect. At the same time, the Homo–Lumo gap and isotropic polarizability do not exhibit any odd–even effect under the influence of an external applied electric field. The Homo–Lumo gap remains constant for the homologous series of 7O.m (m = 1–10). The isotropic polarizability and refractive index continuously increase with an extension of alkyl chain length. The DFT methods (B3LYP and M062X) exhibit the same nature of optical characteristics for all the series but with different values.

An 18-months field trial was performed to explore the effect of duration of stunting on growth, digestive enzymes and carcass quality in Chanos chanos. Milkfish fry (weight of 1.25 ± 0.03 g and length of 5.53 ± 0.03 cm) were stocked in earthen ponds of 0.02 ha, in triplicate, for different duration of stunting, viz., 4 months (Treatment-1; T4), 8 months (Treatment-2; T8) and 12 months (Treatment-3; T12) and a normal seed (Control; C) separately. In the stunting phase, fish were stocked at higher stocking density (0.2 million/ha) and fed de-oiled rice bran at sub-optimal level. Post-stunting or re-feeding phase commenced immediately after completion of respective stunting duration and fish were reared for the rest of the period to complete the total rearing period of 18 months. In post-stunting, fish stocking density was adjusted to (5000 pieces/ha) and fed at an optimum level (3%). At the end of stunting phase, the study found a significant reduction in growth, survival, digestive enzymes activity, except protease in the T4 group, and carcass nutrients composition of stunted fish. However, in the initial phase of post-stunting, T8 group exhibited an elevated specific growth rate (5.00 ± 0.092%/day), body weight gain (80.82 ± 1.28 g), amylase (0.585 ± 0.021 U/mg protein), protease (5.48 ± 0.13 U/mg protein), and lipase activity (7.92 ± 0.32 U/mg protein). All stunted fish groups displayed a compensatory growth response in post-stunting, but a complete growth compensation was observed in T8 group, which resulted in better feed conversion ratio (3.03 ± 0.04) feed efficiency ratio (0.33 ± 0.01), protein efficiency ratio (1.91 ± 0.03), survival (91.38 ± 0.07%) and digestive enzyme activities. Similarly, at the end of post-stunting, carcass analysis revealed a complete restoration of nutrients in stunted fish and significantly higher protein content in T8 group. Further, the study found lower meat and higher bone contents in normally reared fish than the post-stunted fish which revealed the carcass quality improvement in post-stunted fish thus indicates superiority of the stunting process over normal rearing. Overall, the study suggests that stunting of milkfish, for 8 months (T8), positively affects its growth, survival, digestive enzyme activities and carcass quality which in turn, shall help to overcome the contemporary challenges in milkfish culture.

Diel cyclic hypoxia occurs with varying frequency and duration in freshwater habitats, yet little is known about its effects on reproduction of freshwater fishes. The present study shows that long-term exposure of goldfish (Carassius auratus) to cyclic hypoxia (0.8 ± 0.2 mg/l dissolved oxygen) for 9 h or more, per day, altered plasma lipid and sex steroid profiles, which in turn directly or indirectly suppressed ovarian growth and viable spermatozoa production. Hypoxia decreased total cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL p

Three hydroponic media crushed stones (T1), river stones (T2), and floating raft (T3) were compared in an aquaponic system with common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and mint (Mentha arvensis). Fish effluents were used as plant nutrients while plants filtered water by stripping off the nutrients before returning to the fish tank. Fish growth, plant growth, and water quality parameters were used to evaluate the suitability of three different media. Growth performance of common carp and mint followed the relationship of crushed stones > floating raft > river stones with significant difference observed among all treatments. Total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) removal varied significantly among different treatments. The maximum TAN removal was observed in T1 (77.13%) followed by T3 (69.65%), and the minimum removal was observed in T2 (48.82%). Nitrate removal varied significantly among different treatments. The highest removal was observed in T1 (82.95%) followed by T3 (68.04%) and T2 (59.51%). Removal of phosphate was significantly lower in T2 (50.12%) when compared to T1 (67.85%) and T3 (70.71%). Biofilter performance (g m−3 day−1) of T2 (4.80) was significantly lower compared to T1 (7.13) and T3 (7.37). Crushed stone and floating raft were significantly efficient when compared to river stone medium in terms of nutrient removal and water quality maintenance for the fish culture. Considering all growth parameters, crushed stone media proved to be better when compared to other two media. Thus, medium selection could be a considerable factor when designing an aquaponic system.

In this work, the dielectric property of a nanocomposite (NC) consisting of silver nanoparticle and E7 liquid crystal (LC) has been investigated theoretically at different temperatures. The study shows that the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and filling fraction of the silver nanoparticle significantly change the dielectric property of the NC. To study the optical property of the defective periodic structure, the NC was considered as a defect layer in a semifinite one-dimensional periodic structure (1DPS) of $$\hbox {TiO}_{{2}}$$ and $$\hbox {SiO}_{{2}}$$ layers, i.e. ( $$\hbox {TiO}_{{2}}{\vert }\hbox {SiO}_{2})^{5}{\vert }\hbox {NC}{\vert }(\hbox {TiO}_{{2}}{\vert }\hbox {SiO}_{2})^{5}$$ . The optical properties of the 1DPS with the NC as the defect layer have been studied by the simple transfer matrix method (TMM). Moreover, the transmission and absorption characteristics of the 1DPS in the presence of silver nanoparticle in the NC have been studied with different orientations of the LC molecule.

In this article, we develop an algorithm for working out the distribution of proposed test statistics. The computed distribution is compared with its existing asymptotic normal approximation using convergence rates and disparity measures. Simulation study is made to estimate the level of significance, and power to assess the performance of algorithm based procedure in comparison to asymptotic normal approximation. Both power comparisons and convergence rates suggest that the distribution computed through algorithm procedure be used for smaller sample sizes.

An experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of biofilm production in natural and artificial substrates and to study their effect on water quality and growth of Etroplus suratensis. Four different substrates were used for biofilm formation: paddy straw (T1), sugarcane bagasse (T2), polyvinylchloride (PVC) pipe (T3) and plastic sheet (T4). The experiment was carried out in mud-bottomed fibre-reinforced plastic tanks (300 L) in triplicates. About 3000 cm2 surface area (600 g) of each substrate was suspended in water supplemented with fertilizers. Only cow dung and urea were applied in control tanks. The tanks were stocked with 25 fishes with average weight of 9.1 ± 0.22 g. The overall mean value of heterotrophic bacteria in substrate was found higher in straw followed by bagasse, plastic and PVC. The dominant genera of bacteria in the substrate were Bacillus, Pseudomonas and Micrococcus in that order of preponderance. The mean phytoplankton and zooplankton density on the substrates were higher in bagasse followed by straw, plastic and PVC. The biofilm developed on the substrate significantly reduced the ammonia nitrogen and nitrite-nitrogen content of water. The growth of fishes was significantly (P

In this paper, we investigate tunable transmission characteristics of a one-dimensional periodic structure (1DPS), designed with periodic dielectric materials containing a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) as a defect layer, on the basis of orientation and re-orientation of LC molecules. The nonlinear differential equation for the director of the liquid crystal under the light field is solved numerically. The relation between the liquid crystal director and the intensity of the electromagnetic wave (EMW) is derived. Transmittances of the liquid crystal defect layer in the 1DPS are calculated with the variation of the intensity of the incident wave and liquid crystal director tilt angles. By varying the director tilt angle of the liquid crystal molecules as well as the incident angle of the EMW, the shifting of the transmitted defect mode wavelengths is studied. Such study is helpful to understand how orientation and reorientation of the molecules affect the transmittance of the considered periodic structure when the EMW interacts with an embedded liquid crystal as a defect layer in the 1DPS of dielectric materials. Such photonic structure of dielectric materials with the liquid crystal layer as a defect layer can be used to fabricate bistable switches, optical filters, feedback lasers, etc.

We have studied the Wigner distributions of a physical electron using the light-front wavefunctions of the QED model where the physical electron is considered as a composite system of a bare electron and a photon. The Wigner distributions for an unpolarized as well as a longitudinally polarized electron are presented here. Our results reveal the multi-dimensional images of the electron in impact-parameter, momentum and mixed space.

In the present paper, 80 MeV Si7+ ion beam-induced changes in selenium nanowire arrays, fabricated on copper substrates, have been examined. The nanowire arrays were electrodeposited into polymer membranes using template method. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–visible spectroscopy have been used to study the ion-induced effects in fabricated nanowire arrays. The XRD and FESEM results confirmed the formation of selenium nanowire arrays with trigonal structures. An intensity variation in the XRD peaks is observed for irradiated nanowires at different ion fluences. The band gap energy of the irradiated nanowire arrays was found to reduce compared with the pristine case. The irradiation of semiconducting selenium nanowires enhances the electrical conductivity. The current–voltage characterizations also confirm an enhancement in electrical conductivity of selenium nanowire arrays with an increase in ion fluence. This study is anticipated to greatly facilitate the design and development of nanodevices-based semiconductor nanowires which can be utilized even in the harsh environment.

A 60 days feeding trial was conducted to study the effects of dietary supplementation of anthraquinone extract (AE) on growth, metabolic and haemato-immunological responses in Cirrhinus mrigala fingerlings challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila infection. One hundred and eighty fingerlings were randomly distributed into five treatments in triplicates. Five diets were prepared with graded level of AE. Five different treatment groups were: control (Basal feed + 0 % AE), T1 (Basal feed + 0.5 % AE), T2 (Basal feed + 1 % AE), T3 (Basal feed + 2 % AE) and T4 (Basal feed + 4 % AE). Significantly (P 0.05) A/G ratio was manifested in the T2 group fed with 1 % AE diet. Similarly, total leucocyte and erythrocyte counts were significantly (P

We report the fabrication of highly ordered arrays of tellurium nanowires and investigate their electrical, optical and structural properties. The tellurium nanowire arrays were synthesized by electrochemical deposition via a template method and characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–Visible spectroscopy. The XRD and FESEM characterizations confirm the formation of a dense crop of tellurium nanowire arrays with hexagonal phase. The intense crystalline peak corresponding to the (100) plane observed in the XRD spectra suggests a preferential growth of wires along the [001] direction. The crystallite size and micro-strain effect were estimated by Williamson–Hall (WH) analysis. The average crystallite size and lattice strain extracted from WH plot were found to be ∼34 nm and 0.0044, respectively. Further, electrical properties of the arrays of nanowires were examined using a two-probe method. The current–voltage curve of the tellurium wires exhibits a non-linear behavior and a double diode-like characteristic, which signifies their novel applications in future nanodevices.

Xanthan gum is a biopolymer produced by Xanthomonas sp. XC6. In this study, xanthan gum is produced from potato starch using a stepwise bioprocess design. Potato starch is hydrolyzed using Bacillus sp. having amylase activity and 30.2 g/L reducing sugar was released, while Xanthomonas sp. XC6 can release only 14.5 g/L. Bacillus sp. hydrolyzed potato starch extract was further used as a carbon source for xanthan gum biosynthesis using Xanthomonas sp. XC6. Yeast extract acts as the best nitrogen source, and 10.0 g/L xanthan gum was recovered. Downstreaming process after stepwise bioprocess resulted in 17.4 g/L xanthan gum production, which is 2.8 times higher as compared to single step process. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13205-014-0273-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Large scale selenium nanowires have been prepared into the pores of polycarbonate track-etched membrane by template electrodeposition. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–Visible spectroscopy have been used to characterize as-prepared crop of selenium nanowires. XRD and FESEM studies confirmed the formation of dense crop of selenium nanowires with trigonal phase. The spectra exhibited a highly crystalline peak corresponding to (100) plane suggesting a preferential growth along [001] direction. Williamson–Hall analysis has been used to determine the crystallite size and micro strain induced due to lattice deformation. The band gap of as-prepared selenium nanowires has been found to be 1.76 eV and of the direct type of transition. The blue shift observed in the optical band gap of selenium nanowires has been attributed to quantum size effect in semiconductor nanowires. Electrical properties of selenium nanowires have been examined using two probe method and showed double diode like current–voltage characteristics. The possible reaction mechanism of the formation of selenium nanowires has also been discussed.

Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus is the dominant invasive species of the river Yamuna. Gut analysis showed that the majority of the food items ingested consisted of Chlorophyceae, Myxophyceae, Bacillariophyceae and detritus. Among the diatoms—Synedra spp. (80.75 %), Melosira spp. (73.5 %), Cyclotella spp. (73 %), Meridion spp. (71.75 %) and Nitzchia spp. (73.25 %), the green algae—Ankistrodesmus spp. (71.00 %), Coelastrum spp. (61.5 %), Scenedesmus spp.(52 %), Tribonema spp. (49.5 %), Protococcus spp. (58.5 %), Oocystis spp. (49.75 %) and Pediastrum spp. (49.5 %) and among blue green algae, Oscillatoria spp. (70.5 %), Anacystis spp. (61.5 %) and Phormidium spp. (46.5 %) showed high frequency of occurrence. The Gastrosomatic Index in males and females ranged from 0.23 to 0.93 and 0.25 to 1.1 respectively with no significant difference between males and females throughout the year (t test, p > 0.05). In addition to this, higher percentage of males and females showing low feeding intensity during all the months except in January indicted the species to be the poor feeder. However, the condition factor >1 suggested the species to be in good condition throughout the year in both males and females. Dominancy of detritus and pollution indicator genera Synedra spp., Anacystis spp., Ankistrodesmus spp., Melosira spp., Nitzchia spp., Oscillatoria spp., Phormidium spp. and Scenedesmus spp. suggested Nile tilapia to be the cleaner of the polluted river Yamuna.

To evaluate the dietary effect of ethanolic extract of Pedalium murex (Bada Gokshru) on growth and haemato-immunological parameters of an Indian major carp, Labeo rohita fingerlings, a 45 days study was conducted. Fishes were fed with diets containing six graded levels (0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.7, 1.1 and 1.5 g/100 g diet) of ethanolic extract of P. murex. There was significant variation (p

There is little information available on the primary products of photosynthesis and the change in the activity of the associated enzymes with altitude. We studied the same in varieties of barley and wheat grown at 1300 (low altitude, LA) and 4200 m (high altitude, HA) elevations above mean sea level in the western Himalayas. Plants at both the locations had similar photosynthetic rates, leaf water potential and the chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics. The short-term radio-labelling experiments in leaves showed appearance of (14)CO(2) in phosphoglyceric acid and sugar phosphates in plants at both the LA and HA, suggesting a major role of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) in CO(2) fixation in the plants at two altitudes, whereas the appearance of labelled carbon in aspartate (Asp) and glutamate (Glu) at HA suggested a role of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase) in photosynthesis metabolism. Plants at HA had significantly higher activities of PEPCase, carboxylase and oxygenase activity of Rubisco, aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT), and glutamine synthetase (GS). However, the activities of malate dehydrogenase, NAD-malic enzyme and citrate synthase were similar at the two locations. Such an altered metabolism at HA suggested that PEPCase probably captured CO(2) directly from the atmosphere and/or that generated metabolically e.g. from photorespiration at HA. Higher oxygenase activity at HA suggests high photorespiratory activity. OAA thus produced could be additionally channelised for Asp synthesis using Glu as a source of ammonia. Higher GS activity ensures higher assimilation rate of NH(3) and the synthesis of Glu through GS-GOGAT (glutamine:2-oxoglutarate aminotransferase) pathway, also as supported by the appearance of radiolabel in Glu at HA. Enhanced PEPCase activity coupled with higher activities of AspAT and GS suggests a role in conserving C and N in the HA environment.

A class of selection procedures for selecting the least dispersive distribution from k available distributions has been proposed. This problem finds applications in reliability and engineering. In engineering, for example, the goal of the experimenter is to select a firm whose components have least dispersive distribution from the available set of competing firms manufacturing the components of the desired specifications meant for the same purpose. The proposed procedures can be used even when the underlying distributions belong to different families. Applications of the proposed selection procedures are discussed by taking exponential, gamma and Lehmann type distributions. Performance of the proposed selection procedures is assessed through simulation study. Implementation of the proposed selection procedure is illustrated through an example.