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The increasing demand for electrical energy is a result of advancing technologies and changing lifestyles worldwide. Meeting this escalating energy need poses a substantial challenge, especially the difficulty in constructing new conventional power plants due to limited fossil fuel resources. To address this, demand-side management (DSM) in smart grid (SG), integrated with solar photovoltaic energy (SPE) have emerged as a crucial tool for effectively managing electricity demand, ensuring flexibility and reliability. DSM achieves optimal electricity utilization by rescheduling the operation schedules of consumer appliances and carefully adjusting their demand profiles. Integrating DSM into a smart grid framework is highly advantageous for the power industry's pursuit of sustainable energy goals. While various heuristic-based optimization techniques have been employed for DSM, the focus on SPE has been limited to small-scale residential loads. This study utilizes the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm to tackle a day ahead DSM minimization problem, considering SPE in areas with large number of appliances. The DSM minimization problem falls into the category of discrete combinatorial problems, making it well-suited for ACO optimization. The self-healing, self-protection, and self-organizing attributes of ACO make it particularly effective for DSM solutions. Residential, commercial, and industrial loads, with and without SPE integration, are considered to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed ACO algorithm. Simulation results are compared with other studies in the literature, including Evolutionary Algorithm (EA), Moth Flame Optimization (MFO), and Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO), in terms of reducing consumer's cost of energy (CCE) and utility peak load (UPL). The findings indicate that the proposed ACO algorithm outperforms the other algorithms considered in the current context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture faces serious constraints due to drought and salinity. Soils under these pressures can result in low productivity, decreasing the farmlands area and a negative impact on the food security. In this context, the cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) can be considered important microorganisms. They are commonly found in rice fields and agricultural soils where they perform important ecological functions. Cyanobacteria improve the soil fertility and productivity of crops through the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, phosphate solubilization and release of nutrients. Several cyanobacteria also secrete biologically active compounds such as phytohormones, amino acids, polysaccharides and vitamins which help in plant growth promotion. Studies have shown the potential of these compounds in the alleviation of abiotic stress in crop plants. Through an array of physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms, the cyanobacteria improve plant growth and development. Therefore, mitigation strategies using cyanobacteria are important in combating the drought and salinity stress. This article discussed the possible outcomes of employing cyanobacteria to regulate the growth and development of plants as an effective way to overcome the drought and salinity stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, certain properties of Jacobi's theta functions have been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural productivity is threatened by increasing incidence of drought and the drought tolerant cyanobacteria offer a better solution in the restoration of soil fertility and productivity. The present study describes the comparative physiological response of the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. acclimated and un-acclimated to desiccation stress induced by polyethylene glycol (10% PEG). While, the acclimated cyanobacterial cells grew luxuriantly with optimal chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activities and nitrogen fixation, the un-acclimated cells exhibited reduced growth rate, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activities and nitrogen fixation. Distinct differences in the accumulation of lipid peroxidation products, proline and activity of superoxide dismutase were observed under identical growth conditions in the acclimated and un-acclimated cells. Desiccation-acclimated and un-acclimated cyanobacteria showed significant alterations in the abundance of important proteins in the proteome. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by MALDI-TOF–MS/MS analysis identified twelve proteins. The acclimated cells showed the up regulation of proteins such as Rubisco, fructose-bis-phosphate aldolase, fructose 1–6 bisphosphatase, phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase and elongation factors Tu and Ts as compared to un-acclimated cells. Therefore, the ability to maintain photosynthesis, antioxidants and increased accumulation of proteins related to energy metabolism helped the acclimated cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. to grow optimally under desiccation stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity is one of the major constraints for agricultural productivity and the problem of salinity is likely to increase further. The aquatic fern Azolla is employed as an important bio-inoculant for the cultivation of rice paddy. In addition to this it is also used as feed supplement for cattle and poultry. However, increasing soil salinity is a serious threat for its wider exploitation. Stressors such as salinity leads to drastic changes in the metabolic activities especially the photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation. The potential of plants to tolerate salinity is determined by efficient mechanisms operating at cellular and sub-cellular levels. Several adaptation strategies are required to cope with salinity stress. Complicated interactions between the host plant Azolla and its symbiont should be considered if this organism is employed as bio-inoculant. Therefore, in the present review we discuss on the effect of salinity on Azolla and its cyanobiont with an emphasis on the physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms of salinity tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) elimination programme in India relies on indoor residual spraying (IRS) for sand-fly vector control. Insecticide supplied by a new manufacturer was introduced for IRS in 2019. We aimed to explore whether this led to a change in insecticide quantity being used in the field. Methods We compared measurements of weights of 250 mL of insecticide powder of two different manufacturers using a certified and calibrated weighing instrument. Results The density of insecticide supplied in 2019 was 43.4% lower than that in 2018, thereby leading to underdosing during current IRS activity. Conclusions Insecticide-measuring containers should be recalibrated prior to every IRS round and also when an insecticide manufacturer changes, so that the insecticide dose is maintained within the recommended range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, making use of Bailey's transform and certain known summation formula, we have established certain interesting transformation formula of ordinary hypergeometric series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing an intelligent transportation system has attracted a lot of attention in the recent past. Moreover, with the growing number of vehicles on the road most nations are adopting an intelligent transport system (ITS) for handling issues like traffic flow density, queue length, the average speed of the traffic, and total vehicles passing through a point in a specific time interval and so on. ITS by capturing traffic images and videos through cameras, helps the traffic control centres in monitoring and managing the traffic. Efficient and unfailing vehicle detection is a crucial step for the ITS. This study reviews different techniques and applications used around the world for vehicle detection under various environmental conditions based on video processing systems. This study also discusses the types of cameras used for vehicle detections, and the classification of vehicles for traffic monitoring and controlling. This study finally highlights the problems encountered during surveillance under extreme weather conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combustion of fossil fuels and resultant emission of carbon dioxide has led to increased global temperature. Since cyanobacteria are an integral component of the paddy field microflora and contribute to nitrogen fixation, increase in temperature may adversely affect the nitrogen dynamics of the soil. Therefore, to understand the physiological and biochemical response of the mesophilic diazotrophic cyanobacterium Anabaena doliolum to elevated temperature, the organism was grown under three temperature regimes 30, 35 and 40°C for 15 days. Exposure of the cyanobacterium to 40°C resulted in severe reduction in growth and cellular constituents as compared to the cells exposed to 35°C. The cyanobacterial cells also showed enhanced production of H2O2 and lipid peroxidation products in response to exposure to elevated temperature. Further, we observed increased activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase in A. doliolum exposed to elevated temperature. Increase in the temperature resulted in enhanced level of non-enzymatic antioxidants such as carotenoid, proline and ascorbate. Although, the number of heterocysts increased in response to temperature, the nitrogenase activity decreased significantly. The results have demonstrated the sensitivity of the cyanobacterium A. doliolum to elevated temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of the nitrogen fixing aquatic pteridophyte Azolla microphylla is severely affected by salinity. Salinity exposure (0.5%) resulted in significant reduction in chlorophyll a and b content, altered chl a/b ratio and photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm). Chloroplasts maintain photosynthesis but are highly sensitive to salinity stress. Chloroplast proteins extracted from A. microphylla was separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) and approximately 200 proteins were observed on each gel. Forty two differentially expressed protein spots were detected and out of this 17 could be identified through MALDI-TOF-MS/MS analysis. Out of the 17 identified proteins, 15 were found to be down regulated and 2 proteins were up regulated. Most of the down regulated proteins were associated with Calvin cycle, ATP synthesis, oxygen evolution, photosystem I and ROS scavenging. The results show changes in proteome dynamics of the chloroplasts of A. microphylla and such changes may lead to reduction in growth and metabolism. The primary target of salinity in A. microphylla is photosynthesis and the changes in the proteome dynamics of the chloroplasts lead to reduced growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carboxylate efflux from roots is a crucial and differential response of soybean genotypes to low phosphorus (P) stress. Exudation of carboxylic acids including oxalate, citrate, succinate and fumarate was induced under low P stress, particularly in P-efficient soybean genotypes. Enhancement of root length, surface area and volume further improved P acquisition under low P stress. To understand the molecular basis of carboxylate efflux under low P stress, the root proteome of contrasting genotypes (P-efficient: EC-232019 and P-inefficient: EC-113396) was compared. Among a total of 325 spots, 105 (32%) were differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) between sufficient (250 μM) and low P (4 μ M) levels. Abundance of 44 (14%) proteins decreased by more than two-fold under low P stress, while 61 (19%) proteins increased by more than two-fold. Protein identification and annotation revealed that the DAPs were involved in a myriad of functions including carboxylic acid synthesis, carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism. Proteins with significant abundance included malate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase, phosphoglycerate mutase, fructokinase, enolase, phosphoglycerate kinase, triosephosphate isomerase, alcohol dehydrogenase, glucan water dikinase, glutamine synthetase and argininosuccinate lyase. Inferences from proteomic analysis suggests the crosstalk between various metabolic pathways implicated in conferring superior P acquisition efficiency under stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshly separated cyanobionts of Azolla microphylla and Azolla caroliniana plants exposed to salinity showed decline in the cellular constituents such as chlorophyll (23.1 and 38.9%) and protein (12.9 and 19.3%). However, an increase in the carotenoid and sugar content was observed. Exposure to salinity stress reduced the heterocyst frequency (35.4 and 57.2%) and nitrogenase activity (37.7 and 46.3%) of the cyanobionts. Increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as super oxide dismutase (50.6 and 11.5%), ascorbate peroxidase (63.7 and 57.9%), catalase (94.2 and 22.5%) as well as non-enzymatic antioxidant proline (18.8 and 13.3%) was also observed in response to salinity. The cyanobionts exhibited significant increase in the intracellular Na + level and reduced intracellular K + /Na + and Ca 2+ /Na + ratio in response to salinity. The results demonstrate the adverse impact of salinity on the freshly separated cyanobionts as similar to free living cyanobacteria. These results may be helpful in the critical evaluation of salinity tolerance mechanism of the cyanobiont and its interaction with the host. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, making use of certain modular equations due to Ramanujan, an attempt has been made to establish some new P-Q identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspergillus fumigatus is one of the most common opportunistic fungal pathogens responsible for a variety of diseases in human, from allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis to chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, mostly in immunocompromized patients. In this study, one monoclonal antibody MAb R-5 (IgM) raised against enolase cell surface protein of A. fumigatus exhibited significant inhibition of spore germination in A. fumigatus (88.3%), Aspergillus flavus (57.4%) and Aspergillus niger (30.6%). The MAb R-5 also showed in vitro fungicidal activity against these species as follows: A. fumigatus (24.1%), A. flavus (13.3%) and A. niger (8.8%). These findings were supported by the indirect immunofluorescence microscopy, where the antibody showed binding with germinated spores and hyphae of A. fumigatus as well as A. flavus and A. niger. In vivo protective effect of MAb R-5 was evaluated in BALB/c mice challenged intravenously with A. fumigatus spores, where a significant reduction in CFU (85.9%) was observed in kidney tissue. The mean survival time of mice treated with MAb R-5 (18.5 days) was also enhanced compared to control (6.5 days). These results indicate that MAb R-5 could be valuable in diagnosis as well as in the treatment of broad range of Aspergillus infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]