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The synergistic combination of 1D TiO2 nanorods and BiVO4 results in compatible electronic band structure alignment at their interfaces to ensure enhanced photoactivated charge separation and transportation under visible light irradiation. Herein, the plasmonic effect of platinum on 1D BiVO4/TiO2 nanorods was explored to establish charge transfer at the heterojunctions and improve the activities of methanol oxidation. Structural, compositional, morphological and electrochemical performance was explored. Noticeably, 10-Pt/BiVO4/TiO2 showed an excellent current density of 64.6 mA cm−2 under 100 mW cm−2 illumination as compared to 12.5 mA cm−2 under dark conditions. Moreover, the highest lifetime of 227.3 ms under light was observed as compared to 63.6 ms under dark conditions. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies of 10-Pt/BiVO4/TiO2 showed the least charge transfer resistance (Rct) of 161 Ω under one sun light in comparison to 385 Ω under dark conditions. Moreover, the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) efficiency for 5, 10 and 15 cycles of Pt over BiVO4/TiO2 was found to be 335%, 417% and 78%, respectively. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) property of Pt was enhanced with the substrate of the 1D BiVO4/TiO2 heterojunction, and this strategy showed its unprecedented potential to be utilized for electrocatalytic and photo-electrocatalytic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carthamus oxyacantha is the noxious weed of Pothwar Region of Pakistan. This weed has excellent growing and surviving characteristics even under extreme stress conditions that may be due to its higher level of phenolic compounds. Similarly, utilization of nanotechnology is a novel and innovative field. Drought is threatening the productivity of wheat worldwide as a main environmental stress, especially in countries like Pakistan, where about 25% of cultivated area is rainfed. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy spectrum of Carthamus oxyacantha nano-biomass showed the presence of seven functional groups (alcohols, phenols, alkanes, 1-amines, aromatics, aromatic amines and alkyl halides). Plant phenolic compounds can act as antioxidants, structural polymers (lignin), attractants (flavonoids and carotenoids), UV screens (flavonoids), signal compounds (salicylic acid and flavonoids) and defense response chemicals (tannins and phytoalexins). They also play a crucial role in the tolerance mechanisms against a wide range of stresses. So, it was hypothesized that the exogenous application of nano-biomass of aforesaid weed as catalytic agent may improve the drought tolerance of wheat and this technology will be proved as an environment friendly solution for drought prone areas. The nano biomass of the subject weed was prepared through top-down approach and was applied exogenously through petri dish, test tube, pot experiments and then under open field conditions at different crop growth stages of wheat. Results of petri dish, test tube and pot experiments showed positive effects of nanobiomass upto certain limits but affected negatively beyond 250 ppm. The results of field experiments showed that there were 55.55 and 68.75% increase in the crop growth rate of wheat in 2020 and 2021 by three applications of nano-biomass at 250 ppm compared to control. Similarly, 61.27 and 53.97% increase in the grain yield of wheat was recorded with nano-biomass application compared to control in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Similarly, there was 250% and 252% decrease in the proline accumulation where nano biomass was applied by three times at different growth stages of wheat as compared with control during 2020 and 2021 respectively which confirmed the presence of drought stress in control treatment but mitigation in treated plots. So, results of this study clearly exhibited that the application of this technology would be useful to mitigate drought stress under rainfed conditions and we can increase our wheat growth and production by following this technique under this changing climate. Moreover, the application of this technique is user and environment friendly. The study is also suggested to be evaluated for other crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, optical Bloch equations with and without neighboring hyperfine states near the degenerate two-level system (DTLS) in the challenging case of 85 Rb D2 transition, which involves the Doppler broadening effect, are solved. The calculated spectra agree well with the experimental results obtained based on the coupling-probe scheme with orthogonal linear polarizations of the coupling and probe fields. The mechanisms of electromagnetically induced absorption (electromagnetically induced transparency) for the open F g = 3 → F e = 2 and 3 transitions (open F g = 2 → F e = 2 and 3 transitions) are determined to be the effect of the strong closed F g = 3 → F e = 4 transition line (strong closed F g = 2 → F e = 1 transition line); this finding is based on a comparison between the calculated absorption profiles of the DTLS without neighboring states and those of all levels with neighboring states, depending on the coupling and probe power ratios. Furthermore, based on the aforementioned comparison, the crucial factors that enhance or reduce the coherence effects and lead to the transformation between electromagnetically induced absorption and electromagnetically induced transparency, are (1) the power ratios between the coupling and probe beams, (2) the openness of the excited state, and (3) effects of the neighboring states due to Doppler broadening in a real atomic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is one of the most important crops in Pakistan, grown all over the world. Rice production has decreased due to susceptibility to a number of biological and abiotic factors. One of the oldest diseases is bacterial leaf blight of rice. The causative agent of the disease is Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. In this study, seedlings of four commercially grown rice varieties were sown by following the randomized complete block design (RCBD). Four treatments were used to manage the disease and to promote the plant growth. Correlation and regression analysis was used to study the relation of BLB disease and environmental factors. It was observed that plant height increased by the application of NPK followed by Farm yard manure, boron and leaf manure. Panicle length and weight was maximum in boron treated plants while minimum in FYM. Minimum disease severity was recorded in NPK treatment followed by boron FYM and leaf manure. All the environmental variables showed significantly negative relationship with the development BLB disease. These results would be beneficial for the farming community to devise management options against BLB disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally, there is subsistence kind of farming in Pothwar Region of Pakistan. The per unit area income of farmers is very low and the soils of this region are very poor. Mostly mono-cropping system is prevailing here. So, the pearl millet and mung bean were selected as test crops to evaluate the intercropping system in this region for the ultimate improvement of the net profitability of the farmers per unit area simultaneously not compromising with the food security and soil health. Different line spacing's (inter and intra strip) i.e., 30, 60 and 90 cm were maintained along with different number of lines of pearl millet and mung bean i.e., 1, 2 and 3 in the form of strips for comparison. The results showed that intercropping significantly reduced density and dry biomass of weeds per unit area. Moreover, the biological yield, grain yield and the harvesting index of pearl millet and mung bean were also affected significantly under different sowing geometries. Both crops growth and yield was increased in the narrow row spacing as compared to wider row spacing, whereas, weed density and biomass was decreased in narrow spacing that may be due to less availability of space and more intra and inter specific competition. Maximum land equivalent ratio (1.8) was found under the plot where alternate strips of three lines of both crops were grown at 30 cm intra and inter strip distance and it was followed by (1.7) in the treatment where single lines of both crops were grown alternately at 30 cm distance. Similarly, the net income of intercropped plots having three lines of both crops grown alternately in the form of strips at 30 cm intra and inter strip spacing, was 116% higher than sole mung bean crop and 56% higher than sole pearl millet crop. Maximum weeds (106.4 m-2) were observed in single alternate lines of both crops grown at 90 cm intra and inter strip distance whereas minimum (75.2m-2) in triple lines of both crops grown alternately in the form of strips having 30 cm intra and inter strip distance. Therefore, intercropping of mung bean and pearl millet in the form of strips of three lines having 30 cm intra and inter strip distance is recommended to the farming community of Pothwar Region of Pakistan for taking maximum net returns per unit area per unit time through inter cropping in kharif season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to analyse family farming in context of socio-economic needs of farmers in district Nankana Sahib, Punjab, Pakistan in 2019. Tehsil Nankana Sahib was selected purposively as it was the largest tehsil of the selected district (Nankana Sahib). Twenty union councils were selected randomly; from each of the selected union councils three farm families were selected by using snow ball sampling technique. From each of the selected families, two respondents, one head of the farm family and second any other adult family member (willing to give concerned data) were selected. In this way, a validated and reliable interview schedule was used to collect data from 360 respondents. The collected data were analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Mean, standard deviation, weighted score and rank order were calculated to interpret the data. It was concluded that family farming was providing food to whole family (score = 1570 and mean = 4.36). It was also playing its role to engage the whole family in farming related activities (score = 1548 and mean = 4.30). The family-based farming was also responsible for a better living standard (score = 1321 & mean = 3.67) of the family farmers, it was also the only source of income to fulfill the expenditures for happy and sad moments (score = 1310 and mean = 3.64), and the family farming was also contributing for better health and education (score = 2364 and mean = 3.79). The family farmers were also depending on farms for their agricultural needs (seed, fertilizers, pesticides and etc.). It was suggested that family farmers should move towards modern agricultural farming techniques to secure their profesion as well as themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate identification of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) disease by analyzing the Raman spectroscopic images is a challenge for pathologists. To save precious human lives, an efficient technique is required with higher diagnostic accuracy at early‐stage of HBV. We proposed a novel method of HBV diagnosis using deep neural networks with the concept of transfer learning and Raman spectroscopic images. The proposed approach developed by utilizing pretrained convolutional neural networks ResNet101 by employing transfer learning on a real dataset of HBV‐infected blood plasma samples. Dataset consists of 1000 Raman images in which 600 are HBV‐infected blood plasma samples, and 400 are healthy ones. The developed model is capable to detect minute variation between infected and healthy samples and achieved enhanced performance. The proposed approach has been assessed and attained high classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of 99.7%, 100%, 99.25%, and 98.7%, respectively. The proposed TL‐ResNet101 model outperformed the conventional approaches such as PCA‐SVM and PCA‐LDA and demonstrated improved accuracy more than 7%. High performance indicates that the developed TL‐ResNet101 model has potential to use for HBV diagnosis. Moreover, the developed automated approach can be extended for other disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To determine the efficacy of scleral graft (autograft) in corneal perforation, it was a nonrandomized prospective study, in Department of Ophthalmology, Chandka Medical College Hospital Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Larkana from 01-03-2020 to 31-08-2020. Material and Methods: The patients selected from Out Patient Department and admitted in Ophthalmology department patients with complication of corneal perforation, secondary to non-traumatic or traumatic eyes. Ages of the patients range from 15 to 50 years and in both gender included in this study and some patient excluded with the history of collagen vascular disorder, ocular surgery and scleral disease. Results: We studied efficacy of scleral autograft in 52 eyes of 52 patients. Out of which 27 (51.92%) were males and 25(48.07%) were females.27(51.92%) patients had central corneal perforation,12(23.07%) had para-central while 13(25%) patients had peripheral corneal perforations. On second postoperative day 4 (7.69%) patients developed shallow anterior chamber with leakage which were resutured. After two weeks 01 (1.92%) patient developed graft suture abscess, which were managed with antimicrobial therapy. After 3 weeks of surgery 39 (59%) patients developed corneal vascularization. Anti VEGF therapy was given to the patients sub-conjunctivally and intra-stromal,that may result regression of corneal vascularization in 32 (61.53%) patients. Conclusion. We concluded that scleral autograft is cost effective, easily available method in the management of corneal perforation. Moreover this method is superior to other available methods, as corneal perforation is an emergency and this method is easily available and free from screening and rejection problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous cropping systems of the world are experiencing the emergence of new weed species in response to conservation agriculture. Conyza stricta Willd. is being a newly emerging weed of barley-based cropping systems in response to conservational tillage practices. Seed germination ecology of four populations (irrigated, rainfed, abandoned and ruderal habitats) was studied in laboratory and greenhouse experiments. The presence/absence of seed dormancy was inferred first, which indicated seeds were non-dormant. Seed germination was then recorded under various photoperiods, constant and alternating day/night temperatures, and pH, salinity and osmotic potential levels. Seedling emergence was observed from various seed burial depths. Seeds of all populations proved photoblastic and required 12-hour light/dark period for germination. Seeds of all populations germinated under 5–30°C constant temperature; however, peak germination was recorded under 17.22–18.11°C. Nonetheless, the highest germination was noted under 20/15°C alternating day/night temperature. Ruderal and irrigated populations better tolerated salinity and germinated under 0–500 mM salinity. Similarly, rainfed population proved more tolerant to osmotic potential than other populations. Seeds of all populations required neutral pH for the highest germination, whereas decline was noted in germination under basic and alkaline pH. Seedling emergence was retarded for seeds buried >2 cm depth and no emergence was recorded from >4 cm depth. These results add valuable information towards our understanding of seed germination ecology of C. stricta. Seed germination ability of different populations under diverse environmental conditions suspects that the species can present severe challenges in future if not managed. Deep seed burial along with effective management of the emerging seedlings seems a pragmatic option to manage the species in cultivated fields. However, immediate management strategies are needed for rest of the habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid advancement in imaging technology generates an enormous amount of heterogeneous medical data for disease diagnosis and rehabilitation process. Radiologists may require related clinical cases from medical archives for analysis and disease diagnosis. It is challenging to retrieve the associated clinical cases automatically, efficiently and accurately from the substantial medical image archive due to diversity in diseases and imaging modalities. We proposed an efficient and accurate approach for medical image modality classification that can used for retrieval of clinical cases from large medical repositories. The proposed approach is developed using transfer learning concept with pre-trained ResNet50 Deep learning model for optimized features extraction followed by linear discriminant analysis classification (TLRN-LDA). Extensive experiments are performed on challenging standard benchmark ImageCLEF-2012 dataset of 31 classes. The developed approach yields improved average classification accuracy of 87.91%, which is higher up-to 10% compared to the state-of-the-art approaches on the same dataset. Moreover, hand-crafted features are extracted for comparison. Performance of TLRN-LDA system demonstrates the effectiveness over state-of-the-art systems. The developed approach may be deployed to diagnostic centers to assist the practitioners for accurate and efficient clinical case retrieval and disease diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of Raman spectroscopy has been utilized for the diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in blood plasma. Raman spectra of 24 diseased and 10 healthy samples were used to develop distinct types of support vector machine (SVM) models, including linear, quadratic, and radial basis function (RBF) using multivariate method of principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensions of the obtained datasets. To assess the diagnostic power of these algorithms, developed models were tested on independent dataset. RBF‐based PCA‐SVM model achieved the best performance and yielded accuracy of 98.82%, sensitivity of 98.89%, and specificity of 98.80%. The performance of the SVM models was compared with rerated chemometric method of partial least square regression (PLSR), which has been developed by using the same dataset. The PLSR model attained the diagnostic accuracy of 88%, sensitivity of 93%, and specificity of 78% for same dataset. Our developed model has established promising results compared with state‐of‐the‐art approaches. The results reveal the improved performance of the developed chemometric techniques and clinical prediction potential of HBV by PCA‐SVMs in conjunction with Raman spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linear properties of magnetosonic waves are studied in nearly degenerate and nearly non‐degenerate quantum plasmas composed of electrons, positrons and ions in the presence of spin‐12 effect. Using the fluid equations, a generalized dispersion relation for perpendicular and oblique propagation is derived. It is found that degree of temperature and spin degeneracy modify the dispersive properties of the given modes. The results of analysis are beneficial for understanding the collective phenomena in dense quantum astrophysical plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Untreated industrial wastewater (IWW) creates a number of problems in ecosystem. This study highlights the possibility of using IWW for forest irrigation. Five tree species were selected for this study, Albizia lebbeck, Bauhinia purpurea, Dalbergia sissoo, Millettia peguensis, and Pongamia pinnata, and these species were grown in pots and were irrigated with different concentrations of IWW, rich in heavy metals. All the species showed positive results for fresh weight, plant height, and stem diameter. The maximum proline content was observed in B. purpurea (6.33), whereas the least quantity was observed in P. pinnata (3.89). Lead uptake (163.801 mg/day) by B. purpurea was promising. Uptake of Cr and Cu was slow in all species. Translocation factor of D. sissoo was maximum, that is 3.37. This study successfully combats wastewater problem. These five species are much tolerant in IWW and can be successfully used for phytoextraction processes. The chromium accumulation in stem is as follows: D. sissoo > A. lebbeck > M. peguensis > P. pinnata > B. purpurea. Metal Bioaccumulation in leaf and root was less. The idea is to utilize IWW to generate urban forests (in eco-friendly and sustainable way), which can reduce multiple problems such as IWW toxicity and air pollution through urban forestry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GPCRs are among the most abundant surface receptors that play diverse roles including cell signalling and molecular transportation. They are major therapeutic receptor targets against various diseases like cancer and diabetes. A number of new GPCRs are being consistently being identified and deorphanised. Among them, some GPCRs are constitutively expressed while others are down-regulated. New therapeutic agents in the form of small molecule, synthetic peptides, and recombinant nucleic acids and proteins act as antagonists and agonists against various GPCR targets that potentially regulate glucose homeostasis. In the current review, we intend to summarize the various categories of GPCRs. At the same time, we intend to highlight the major GPCRs that have been targeted by various pharmaceutical companies against diabetes mellitus. In addition, we intended to summarize the most recently identified orphan GPCRs and their therapeutic potential against diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology plays a significant role in promoting agriculture and agricultural products. Agriculture and food industry aims for the sustainability and the protection of agricultural products, including crops for human and livestock. Nanotechnology helps in the manufacturing of innovative agrochemicals and novel delivery mechanisms to enhance crop production and decrease in pesticide use. Nanotechnology also contributes in increasing the crop yield in agriculture. One of the major contribution of nanotechnology in the field of agriculture is the formulation of nano based pesticides and fertilizers for increased crop production. Precise farming techniques can promote crop production without damaging soil and water, reducing losses due to leaching of nitrogen and enhancing long lasting incorporation of nutrients by micro-organisms present in the soil. Another major breakthrough of nanotechnology for improvement in agriculture production is the development of insect-resistant varieties by DNA transfer in the plants or nanoparticle-mediated gene. Biofuel production from biomass is estimated to speed up using nanotechnology. Researchers and manufacturers have to demonstrate that the application of nanotechnologies have no harmful effect on the atmosphere against the anomaly based only on small amounts of toxicological research and concerns about the safety of nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is an important oil seed crop in Pakistan having the potential of bridging gap between production and consumption of edible oil in the country. The experiment was conducted at National Agriculture Research Center (NARC) Islamabad, Pakistan, during August to December, 2016, to evaluate different exotic sunflower hybrids for their performance and adaptability in the field area of NARC. Twelve sunflower hybrids including one check i.e. SF-16013, SF-16007, SF-16010, SF-16005, SF-16006, SF-16002, SF-16008, SF-16004, SF-16011, SF16003, SF-160011, Hysun-33 were studied in the experiment. The experiments were carried out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The distance between adjacent rows was 75 cm while the distance between plants to plant was 30 cm. The seed was sown in the first week of August. The following parameters were studied in the experiment i.e. days to flower initiation, days to flower completion, plant height, days to maturity, stem diameter, head diameter, number of leaves, 1000 seed weight and seed yield per hectare. Quality parameters were consisted upon oil content (%), protein content (%), and fatty acid profile. The results showed that significantly highest seed yield (2187.3) kg ha-1 was produced by SF 16003 followed by SF16010 and SF 16002 having (2016.2) kg ha-1 and (1888.2) kg ha-1 seed yield respectively. The Cluster analysis also determined SF 16003 as best hybrid which was at a very close distance from the group of SF16010 and SF 16002. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is facing a chronic deficiency of edible oil and imports around 75% of its edible oil from other countries which is a huge burden on our national economy. The situation thus requires for enhancing the indigenous oilseed production through different possible approaches. Development and promotion of local sunflower hybrids can be one of the options. Local sunflower hybrids with higher yield and wider adoptability can make Pakistan self sufficient in edible oil. Therefore a study was carried out at National Agricultural Research Centre Islamabad, to evaluate the performance of 12 locally developed sunflower Hybrids. Twelve sunflower hybrids including two checks viz., SMH 1006, SMH 0907, SMH 0932, SMH 1208, NKS-278, SMH 1001, SMH 0917, SMH 1401, Hysun-33, SMH 0927, SMH 0909 and SMH 1215 were studied in the experiment. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data regarding Agronomic parameters was collected on days to flower initiation, days to flower completion, stem diameter, number of leaves per plant, plant height, head diameter, days to maturity, 100 seed weight, number of seeds per head and seed yield per hectare. Quality parameters were consisted upon oil content (%), protein content (%) and Fatty acid profile. Results showed that SMH-1001 and SMH-1215 hybrids performed best for yield and quality parameters, whereas, SMH-1006 and SMH-0909 were considered best for early maturing traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability of the soil productivity and soil moisture conservation are two major problems of rainfed agriculture. Thus, to address these issues, a two year field study was carried out at Agronomic Research Area of University Research Farm of PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi during 2012-14.The effects of different tillage systemscombined with glyphosate herbicide on soil moisture content, bulk density and porosity associated with wheat grain yield were evaluated. Seven tillage treatments were applied in the fallow periods (summer seasons) of both years before sowing of wheat crop. These tillage treatments were (i) Once Mould board plowing followed by 8 cultivations with planker (1 MBP + 8 CS) as a check, (ii) No-till followed by twice application of glyphosate herbicide (NT + GH), (iii) Once Mould board plowing followed by twice application of glyphosate herbicide (1 MBP + GH), (iv) Once Mould board plowing followed by 4 cultivations with planker (1 MBP + 4 CS), (v) Once disc harrowing followed by twice application of glyphosate herbicide (1 DH + GH), (vi) Once disc harrowing followed by 4 cultivations with planker (1 DH + 4 CS)and (vii) Once chisel plowing followed by twice application of glyphosate herbicide (1 CP + GH). Results of two year study showed integrated use of glyphosate and tillage systems in general did not affect soil moisture content (P > 0.05). However, soil moisture content was 9% higher in NT + GH as compared to check (1 MBP + 8 CS; P = 0.05). Soil moisture content was significantly higher at 30-45 cm soil depth as compared to top soil (0-30 cm; P = 0.05). Besides, higher soil moisture content was measured at wheat developmental stage relative to other stages (P = 0.05). Soil porosity was significantly higher and bulk density was significantly lower under two statistically similar treatments, i.e. 1 MBP + 8 CS as well as 1 MBP + 4 CS.The wheat production was significantly affected by deep tillage systems having highest and statistically similar yield under the treatments, i.e. 1 MBP + 8 CS as well as 1 MBP + 4 CS. The regression analysis proved that soil moisture content and bulk density have a great association with tillage systems, whereas, the correlation analysis proved that soil porosity and tillage intensity have a strong and positive correlation with wheat grain yield. In conclusion soil moisture dynamics can be improved by combine use of no-till and glyphosate herbicide (NT + GH)while soil porosity, its productivity and wheat economical yield in rainfedagriculture can be enhance by once mould board plowing following 4 cultivations with planker (1 MBP + 4 CS). However, further long term investigations are recommended tostudy the dynamics of conserved soil moisture under conservation tillage system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat is the main cereal crop and a staple food in Pakistan. It is an important cereal crop of Potohar region. Weeds infestation is a major cause of low wheat yield. Synthetic herbicides are mostly used to control weeds. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the Chemical control of broad-leaved weeds in wheat at the Koont Research Farm, PMAS-Arid Agricultural University, Rawalpindi, during rabbi season, 2014. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replications, with a plot size of 06 x 04 m2. Four different herbicides were applied as post emergence with three different doses each viz:,Ally max @ 34.58, 46.11 and 23.04 g ha-1, Lihua @ 53.34, 72.4 and 36.23 g ha-1, and Wheat Star @ 370.5, 494 and 247 g ha-1 and Buctril super 60% EC @ 741, 988 and 494 ml ha-1. An untreated control and hand weeded plot was also included in the trial. Wheat variety AUR-2009 was sown as a test crop and the herbicide was applied 65 days after sowing. All herbicides were sprayed as post-emergence. The best weed control was accomplished by Wheat star@ 494 gha-1 as profoundly lower weed counts m-2 (26), and higher percent weed control (27.9%) were noted after 25 days of its spray. Wheat growth parameters like plant height, number of tillers per m2, spike length and number of spikelets per spike remained statistically at par among various treatments. Significantly higher number of fertile tillers (172), Plant height (93.83 cm), spike length (7.4 cm) were noted with Wheat Star @ 370.5 g ha-1. Although treatments did not differ significantly with respect to wheat grain and biological yields, yet the highest grain yield (3295 kg ha-1) and biological yield (11173 kg ha-1) were produced by Wheat Star @ 370.5 g ha-1. Based on better weed control and wheat yield, Wheat Star @ 370.5 g ha-1 and Buctril Super @ 741 ml ha-1 are recommended in similar areas where wheat fields are predominantly affected by drought and infested by broad leaved weeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil weed seed bank is a natural source for weed infestation. Determination of soil weed seed bank has primary importance to get complete picture of weed seed reservoir in the soil profile. An experiment was conducted at University Research Farm, Chakwal Road, Rawalpindi to compare the techniques for determination of soil weed seed bank during winter 2012-2013 under rainfed conditions of Pothowar. Soil samples for the weed seed bank analysis were taken from the experimental field before wheat sowing from 0-10 cm, 11-20 cm and 21-30 cm soil depth. Two soil weed seed bank determination techniques were compared viz., sieving method and seedling emergence method. The data were collected on the seed density m-2, seed frequency, diversity of weed species and relative importance value. The input and output data was also collected to find out the socioeconomic feasibility of the techniques. The comparative analysis of seed bank extraction methods revealed higher weed seeds density, weed frequency with more diversity of weed species under sieving method in comparison to seedling emergence method. Therefore, sieving method was considered superior over seedling emergence method. The feasibility analysis of seed bank extraction methods indicated that sieving was cost-effective, less time consuming, more user friendly with higher accuracy over seedling emergence method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present extreme ultraviolet laboratory spectra of highly charged S IX and S X measured using a compact electron beam ion trap. The data were recorded using a flat-field grazing incidence spectrometer in the wavelength range between 210 and 290 Å. The beam energy was tuned for three different values at 365, 410 and 465 eV while keeping electron beam current constant at 10 mA. By measuring the beam energy dependence, we identified several lines originating from S IX and S X ions with the support of collisional-radiative modeling. We compared them with the present calculations and transitions listed in the NIST data base and found in good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We performed high resolution extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectroscopy measurements of highly charged xenon ions with a compact electron beam ion trap. The spectra were recorded with a flat-field grazing incidence spectrometer while varying the electron beam energy between 200 and 890 eV. We measured the wavelengths for several lines of Rh-like Xe 9+ - Cd-like Xe 6+ and Cu-like Xe 25+ - Se-like Xe 20+ in the range of 150–200 Å with an uncertainty of 0.05 Å. Previously, most of these lines have been reported from EBITs with a wavelength uncertainty of 0.2 Å. Additionally, based on the electron beam energy dependence of the observed spectra we tentatively identified three new lines, which were reported as unidentified lines in the previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is the staple food of more than one third of world population. The emerging threat to this crop is the stem rot of rice. It is one of the dangerous disease causing huge losses to rice crop worldwide. In-vitro experiments were performed for evaluation of three plant extracts (Eucalyptus globules, Azadirachta indica and Alstonia scholaris) was done at three concentrations (10%, 5% and 2.5%) by poison food technique against the causal fungus, Sclerotium oryzae. Eucalyptus extract was found the most effective followed by neem and devil. Similarly, three fungicides, Thiophenate methyl 70% WP, Difenoconazole 10% WDG and Azoxystrobin 50% WDG were also tested at three concentrations (R, R/2 & R/4) and among these Thiophenate methyl 70% WP was the most effective followed by Difenoconazole 10% WDG and Azoxystrobin 50% WDG. The field trial based on 11 treatments comprising of organic nutritional amendments, plant extracts and fungicides was conducted using RCBD. It revealed that mixture of all organic nutritional amendments in combination with Thiophenate methyl fungicide showed significant response in the reduction of disease incidence. Moreover, these amendments also improved the plant growth and yield parameters i.e. plant height, panicle length (cm), number of tillers per plant, number of kernels per panicle, 1000-grain weight and yield/plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report high-resolution density dependent intensity ratio measurements for middle charge states of iron in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectral wavelength range of 160-200 Å. The measurements were performed at the Tokyo EBIT laboratory by employing a flat-field grazing incidence spectrometer installed on a low energy compact electron beam ion trap. The intensity ratios for several line pairs stemming from Fe X, Fe XI and Fe XII were extracted from spectra collected at the electron beam energies of 340 and 400 eV by varying the beam current between 7.5 and 12 mA at each energy. In addition, the effective electron densities were obtained experimentally by imaging the electron beam profile and ion cloud size with a pinhole camera and visible spectrometer, respectively. In this paper, the experimental results are compared with previous data from the literature and with the present calculations performed using a collisional-radiative model. Our experimental results show a rather good agreement with the calculations and previous reported results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavior of different organic manures may vary in soil because of their compositional differences. The basic objective of this study was to examine the fundamental characteristics of the traditional organic manures and their direct effect upon aggregate formation and stability. The organic manures i.e. municipal solid waste compost, farmyard manure and poultry litter were characterized on the basis of total organic carbon, total polysaccharides, microbial biomass carbon, humic and fulvic acid content. A two years field trial was executed by applying each of these manures at four levels i.e. 0, 0.25, 0.50 and 1% of soil organic carbon in a randomized complete block design. Poultry litter dominated in the carbonaceous compounds in its composition and under field conditions its application at 0.25% level significantly enhanced the macro aggregate formation (2-4 and 1-2 mm) which reflected in mean weight diameter (MWD) as 1.48 mm and effective sizes at D10, D30 and D60 (0.0261, 0.099 and 0.732 mm, respectively). The application of MSW compost at 0.25% level significantly improved the MWD of wet aggregates (5.5 mm) and carbon concentration of macro aggregates (2-4, 1-2 and 0.5-1 mm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of calcipotriol versus betamethasone dipropionate in the treatment of mild to moderate chronic plaque psoriasis. Methodology: A total of 112 patients with mild to moderate psoriasis were enrolled in this randomized controlled trial. These patients were randomly allocated into two groups (A and B) by lottery method. Betamethasone dipropionate was given to group A, while calcipotriol was given to group B. Response to treatment was assessed on the basis of 50% reduction in psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score after 4 weeks of topical treatment. SPSS version 21 for Windows was used for data entry and analysis. Results: In group A, Betamethasosne was effective in 44 patients (78.57%), while it was not effective in 12 patients (21.43%). In group B, calcipotriol was effective in 41 patients (73.21%). while it was not effective in 15 (26.79%). The P value was 0.659 which was statistically not significant. Conclusion: Both betamethasone dipropionate and calcipotriol were found effective in mild to moderate forms of chronic plaque psoriasis. Calcipotriol has comparable effectiveness to betamethasone dipropionate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of neighboring transitions through Doppler broadening on the electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) of the degenerate two-level system (DTLS) in 85Rb atoms with respect to the linear parallel polarization configuration of coupling and probe lasers have been investigated. The calculated coherent absorption profiles with and without neighboring effects have been compared to elucidate the neighboring effects between the DTLS and nearby states for the conversion between EIA and EIT. Even in the case of the closed system, i.e., F g = 3 → F e = 4 of 85Rb, for the first time, EIT instead of EIA has been observed owing to the neighboring effect of dominant F g = 3 → F e = 3 on the linear parallel polarization configuration case of 85Rb in the low power regime. All the transitions ( F g = 3 → F e = 2 and 3 and F g = 2 → F e = 1, 2, and 3) of linear parallel polarization cases exhibit EIT owing to dominant neighboring EIT in the DTLS. In each polarization scheme, the observed spectral trends of the transitions are similar owing to the neighboring effect. The EIT spectral trends with the neighboring effect of F g = 2 → F e = 1, 2, and 3 are governed by the openness of pure DTLS calculation. • EIT instead of EIA observed due to neighboring effect. • The observed spectral trend of the transition similar due to neighboring effects. • EIA and EIT based on the linear parallel polarization of coupling and probe beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the frequency of HER-2 receptors in patients with breast cancer. Methods: This study was conducted at Department of Surgery, Bahawal Victoria Hospital and BINO Cancer Hospital Bahawalpur from 22-08-2014 to 21-02-2015. This was a cross sectional study. A total of 126 consecutive cases of breast cancer were included in study. A tissue biopsy was sent for immunohistochemical (IHC) studies (HER-2/neu receptors and ER/PR receptors and detailed histopathological analysis including tumour subtype, histological grade. Patients having only ductal and lobular histopathologic type were included in the study. Name, age, weight, height and age at first live birth noted. Statistical Analysis was done with SPSS 16. Results: 126 patients of breast cancer included in the study were diagnosed on histopathology of tissue sample. All patients were female. Age distribution ranged from 20-73 years with a Mean±SD of age 44.1±11.2 years. 73 (57.9 %) patients were >41 years. The HER-2/neu receptor, ER, PR receptor were found positive in 41.3%, 61.9%, 53.2% of patients respectively. Majority of patients 113 (89.7 %) were found with invasive ductal carcinoma. 45 (35.7 %) patients were obese. In our study HER-2 Receptor status was not significantly associated with age at fist live birth of respondents (n=126) and obesity but it was significantly associated with younger age groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between HER-2 receptor and younger age group. HER-2/neu receptor status should be checked in all breast cancer along with estrogen and progesterone receptor especially in young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since last decade, energy management and conservation in residential buildings received a great attraction of the researchers. A number of methods exist in the literature for energy conservation, but the trade-off between occupant comfort level and energy consumption is still a major challenge and needs more attention. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA) based power control methodologies have been proposed previously. These techniques achieved good performance up-to some extent, but still there is room for improvements. In this paper, an enhanced optimized power control and hybrid prediction model based on preprocessing/post-processing, GA and hybrid prediction algorithms for occupants comfort index, energy saving and energy consumption prediction is proposed. Main focus is given to increase user's comfort index and minimize energy consumption using GA based optimized and hybrid predicted systems with preprocessing and post-processing of data. Proposed method provides energy efficient environment by reducing energy consumption and improving occupants comfort index as compared to previous GA based power prediction model. The proposed system is also compared with individual Kalman filter ARIMA model prediction. The comparative results show the efficiency of the proposed model in decreasing the predicted power consumption and enhancing the occupants comfort index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis L.) is a troublesome weed of rainfed areas. Seed bank density, weed population dynamics and crop productivity were studied in wheat crop under different tillage treatments in a field experiment carried out during summer and winter seasons of 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Different combinations of tillage, integrated with glyphosate herbicide were used in the fallow period (summer season). Results showed that tillage systems along with glyphosate in summer season controlled the establishment of seed bank density as observed in conventional tillage treatment. There was a positive and very week correlation between tillage intensity and seed bank density of C. arvensis L. Similarly the weed population dynamics with reference to importance value index of weed was minimum in 1 Disc harrowing + 4 cultivations that was not significantly different from no-till + glyphosate. Tillage intensity integrated with glyphosate showed negligible but negative correlation with the weed population dynamics. In crux, no tillage integrated with glyphosate is recommended for economical reduction of seed bank density and weed population of field bindweed in rainfed wheat areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the bright, dark, and singular solitons are being constructed for nonlinear longitudinal wave equation with dispersion caused by transverse Poisson’s effect in a magneto-electro-elastic circular rod. The solitary wave ansatz is used to carry out these solutions. The constraint conditions, for the existence of the soliton solutions, are also listed. This article provides a lot of encouragement for the researchers in this era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensity ratio of density sensitive emission lines emitted from Fe ions in the extreme ultraviolet region is important for astrophysics applications. We report high-resolution intensity ratio measurements for Fe ions performed at Tokyo EBIT laboratory by employing a flat-field grazing incidence spectrometer. The experimental intensity ratios of Fe X and Fe XII are plotted as a function of electron density for different electron beam currents. The experimental results are compared with the predicted intensity ratios from the model calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary metabolite β-phellandrene was analyze in callus cultures of two varieties of Momordica charantia L. i.e. Jaunpuri and Jhalri. Conditions for seed germination and callus induction were optimized. Seedlings grown under aseptic conditions served as explant sources. 6- Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) supplemented in Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium were scrutinized as the most suitable combination of plant growth regulators with different concentrations for callus induction in both the varieties. Cotyledon explant of (cultivars) cv. Jaunpuri revealed maximum callus induction with 1.0 mgl-1 BAP and 1.5 mgl-1 2,4- D in eight days as compared to internode, apical bud and leaf. Cotyledon and leaf explants of cv. Jhalri responded to 1.5 mgl-1 BAP and 1.0 mgl-1 2,4-D in nine days for callus and internode and apical bud with 1.0 mgl-1 BAP and 1.5 mgl-1 2,4-D. Best grown calli from different explants were analyzed through GC-MS for production of secondary metabolites. Along with other secondary metabolites β-phellandrene was the most prominent secondary metabolites found in in vitro grown callus cultures of both the varieties. The callus cultures of cv. Jaunpuri produced substantial amount of β-phellandrene i.e. up to 30 percent of the total secondary metabolites as compared to calli from cv. Jhalri explants. The callus cultures of M. charantia can prove the best alternative, rapid and uninterrupted source for natural β-phellandrene production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we have investigated extreme ultraviolet emission spectra of highly charged xenon and barium in the wavelength range of 90–130 Å. A compact electron beam ion trap equipped with a high resolution flat-field grazing incidence spectrometer was used to record spectra. The electron beam energy was tuned at 225, 280 and 460 eV for xenon to produce Xe 8 + –Xe 11+ and at 500, 550 and 670 eV for barium to produce Ba 18 + –Ba 21+ . We compared the observed wavelength values with data available in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last couple of years, energy management in the building environment has been a topic of interest to the research community. A number of renowned methods exist in the literature for energy management in buildings, but the trade-off between occupants comfort level and energy consumption is still a major challenge and needs more attention. In this paper, we propose a power control model for comfort and energy saving, using a fuzzy controller and genetic programming (GP). Our focus is to increase the occupants' comfort index and to minimize the energy consumption simultaneously. First, we implemented a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to optimize the environmental parameters. Second, we control the environment using fuzzy logic and third, we predict the consumed power using GP. The environmental and comfort parameters considered are temperature, illumination and air quality. At the end of the work we compare the power consumption results with and without prediction. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed technique in getting the solution for the above mentioned problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conducive environmental conditions for the development of Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) diseasewere characterized. Correlation of environmental conditions (maximum and minimum air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, clouds and windvelocity) with MYMV disease incidence was determined on twenty varieties/lines of mungbean. It was revealed that maximum temperature had significantly negative correlation with the disease incidence. The disease incidence increasedwith the decrease of minimum temperature.Minimum temperature and wind velocity had non-significant correlation with MYMV disease incidence. It was also found that relative humidity and rainfall had significant correlation with Mungbean yellow mosaic virusdisease incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed genetic programming (GP)-based evolutionary ensemble system for the early diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of human breast cancer. This system has effectively exploited the diversity in feature and decision spaces. First, individual learners are trained in different feature spaces using physicochemical properties of protein amino acids. Their predictions are then stacked to develop the best solution during GP evolution process. Finally, results for HBC-Evo system are obtained with optimal threshold, which is computed using particle swarm optimization. Our novel approach has demonstrated promising results compared to state of the art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, the solitary wave and shock wave solitons for nonlinear equation of special interest in nanobiosciences, namely the transmission line model for nano-ionic currents along microtubules, have been constructed successfully. The solitary wave ansatz is used to carry out the solutions which shows the consistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparison to previously known severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants, the newly emerged Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant shows higher infectivity in humans. Exceptionally high infectivity of this variant raises concern of its possible transmission via other intermediate hosts. The SARS-CoV-2 infectivity is established via the association of spike (S) protein receptor binding domain (RBD) with host angiotensin I converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor. In the course of this study, we investigated the interaction between Omicron S protein RBD with the ACE2 receptor of 143 mammalian hosts including human by protein–protein interaction analysis. The goal of this study was to forecast the likelihood that the virus may infect other mammalian species that coexist with or are close to humans in the household, rural, agricultural, or zoological environments. The Omicron RBD was found to interact with higher binding affinity with the ACE2 receptor of 122 mammalian hosts via different amino acid residues from the human ACE2 (hACE2). The rat (Rattus rattus) ACE2 was found to show the strongest interaction with Omicron RBD with a binding affinity of -1393.6 kcal/mol. These distinct strong binding affinity of RBD of Omicron with host ACE2 indicates a greater potential of new host transmissibility and infection via intermediate hosts. Though expected but the phylogenetic position of the mammalian species may not dictate the Omicron RBD binding to the host ACE2 receptor suggesting an involvement of multiple factors in guiding host divergence of the variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of an accurate and reliable intelligent decision-making method for the construction of cancer diagnosis system is one of the fast growing research areas of health sciences. Such decision-making system can provide adequate information for cancer diagnosis and drug discovery. Descriptors derived from physicochemical properties of protein sequences are very useful for classifying cancerous proteins. Recently, several interesting research studies have been reported on breast cancer classification. To this end, we propose the exploitation of the physicochemical properties of amino acids in protein primary sequences such as hydrophobicity (Hd) and hydrophilicity (Hb) for breast cancer classification. Hd and Hb properties of amino acids, in recent literature, are reported to be quite effective in characterizing the constituent amino acids and are used to study protein foldings, interactions, structures, and sequence-order effects. Especially, using these physicochemical properties, we observed that proline, serine, tyrosine, cysteine, arginine, and asparagine amino acids offer high discrimination between cancerous and healthy proteins. In addition, unlike traditional ensemble classification approaches, the proposed ' IDM- PhyChm- Ens' method was developed by combining the decision spaces of a specific classifier trained on different feature spaces. The different feature spaces used were amino acid composition, split amino acid composition, and pseudo amino acid composition. Consequently, we have exploited different feature spaces using Hd and Hb properties of amino acids to develop an accurate method for classification of cancerous protein sequences. We developed ensemble classifiers using diverse learning algorithms such as random forest (RF), support vector machines (SVM), and K-nearest neighbor (KNN) trained on different feature spaces. We observed that ensemble-RF, in case of cancer classification, performed better than ensemble-SVM and ensemble-KNN. Our analysis demonstrates that ensemble-RF, ensemble-SVM and ensemble-KNN are more effective than their individual counterparts. The proposed ' IDM- PhyChm- Ens' method has shown improved performance compared to existing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study proposes a novel prediction approach for human breast and colon cancers using different feature spaces. The proposed scheme consists of two stages: the preprocessor and the predictor. In the preprocessor stage, the mega-trend diffusion (MTD) technique is employed to increase the samples of the minority class, thereby balancing the dataset. In the predictor stage, machine-learning approaches of K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and support vector machines (SVM) are used to develop hybrid MTD-SVM and MTD-KNN prediction models. MTD-SVM model has provided the best values of accuracy, G-mean and Matthew's correlation coefficient of 96.71%, 96.70% and 71.98% for cancer/non-cancer dataset, breast/non-breast cancer dataset and colon/non-colon cancer dataset, respectively. We found that hybrid MTD-SVM is the best with respect to prediction performance and computational cost. MTD-KNN model has achieved moderately better prediction as compared to hybrid MTD-NB (Naïve Bayes) but at the expense of higher computing cost. MTD-KNN model is faster than MTD-RF (random forest) but its prediction is not better than MTD-RF. To the best of our knowledge, the reported results are the best results, so far, for these datasets. The proposed scheme indicates that the developed models can be used as a tool for the prediction of cancer. This scheme may be useful for study of any sequential information such as protein sequence or any nucleic acid sequence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Okra is an important vegetable crop consumed as fresh and canned food. Okra yellow vein mosaic virus (OYVMV) causes the most devastating disease in terms of quality and quantity of the produce. OYVMV is transmitted by whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.). As no viricide is available, viral diseases are controlled indirectly by using insecticides against their vectors. Extensive use of insecticides poses a great threat to the environmental safety causing air, water and soil pollution. In order to avoid the environmental deterioration different eco-friendly approaches were used against the OYVMVD. These approaches include resistant source, nutritional management and plant extracts. In order to find out the resistant source against the OYVMVD seven okra varieties were phenotypically screened. None of the variety was found to be immune against OYVMVD. Chinese Red and Ikra-3 gave highly resistant response. Green Wonder and PMS-Beauty were regarded as resistant. Selection-31, Laxmy and Parbhani Kranti were moderately resistant. Different nutrients and plant growth regulators were evaluated for the management of OYVMVD. NPK solution and neem extract were the most effective among nutrients and plant extracts respectively followed by the other treatments in terms of reducing the OYVMVD incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectronic recombination measurements for highly charged ions were performed at the Stockholm refrigerated electron beam ion trap. We have obtained KLL DR resonance strengths for highly charged H- and He-like sulfur and silicon ions. The experimental results are compared with the theoretical data obtained from GRASP II code. Both the experimental and calculated results agree well within the experimental error bars. Moreover, the dielectronic recombination resonance strengths are used to obtain the new scaling parameters by incorporating our results with the previous measurements and to check the behaviour of scaling formula for H- and He-like isoelectronic sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liver performs various functions, such as the production and detoxification of chemicals; therefore, it is susceptible to hepatotoxins such as carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), which causes chronic injury. Thus, assessment of injury and its status of severity are of prime importance. Current work reports an ex vivo study for probing the severance of hepatic injury induced by CCl4with polarized light over the spectral range 400-800 nm. Different concentrations of CCl4were used to induce varying severity of hepatic injury in a rat model. Linear retardance, depolarization rates, and diagonal Mueller matrix elements (m22, m33, and m44), were successfully used as the distinguishing criterion for normal and different liver injuries. Our results show that linear retardance for injured liver samples with lower doses of CCl4tends to increase when compared with normal liver samples, while samples injured at higher doses of CCl4offer almost no retardance. Total, linear, and circular depolarizations follow decreasing trends with increased liver injury severity over the entire investigated wavelength range. Linear polarization states were observed to be better maintained as compared to circular polarization states for all samples. Furthermore, numerical values of diagonal elements of the experimentally measured Mueller matrix also increase with increasing doses of CCl4. Liver fibroses, change in transport albedo, and the relative refractive index of the extracellular matrix caused by CCl4are responsible for the observed differences. These results will provide a pathway to gauge the severity of injury caused by toxic chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birds have become an increasing concern for ecological preservation and safety. This paper proposes hierarchical architecture of semantic sensing information for bird acoustic data representation in bird ecological environment. This architecture provides various real-time sensing data such as bird calls using acoustic sensors in sensor networks. In this paper, we implement an ontology structure of hierarchical semantic information representation in bird’s ecological environment. Information of this architecture supports to recognize bird calls, identify birds, classify species, and to track a bird behavior in bird ecological environment. All of this would indicate that we suggest relationship between phenomenon data to service/semantic information in bird ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Priming technique used for achieving better crop stand, in which seeds are partially hydrated to a point where germination process begin but radical emergence does not occur. A pot experiment was conducted in a green house. The seeds were invigorated by traditional soaking (hydropriming), osmo-conditioning using phosphorous (KH2PO4; 200 mM and 400 mM), mannitol (20 and 40 gl-1), polyethylene glycol (50 and 100 gl-1), sodium molybdate dihydrate (0.2 and 0.4 gl-1) and hormonal priming by salicylic acid (10 and 20 ppm). Untreated dry seeds were used as control. All the invigoration treatments significantly improved plant vigor in terms of final germination biomass, root, shoot length and nutrient uptake of mungbean seedlings compared to control (non-primed dry seedling). The application of seed priming also improved the protein concentration at the early stage of seedlings. Phosphorous application through priming significantly improved germination up to 95%, seedling vigour index up to 23.05 and protein content up to 2.17 (g-1 FW). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The absorption of photon through silicon and niobium is measured by using Si(Li) X-ray detector. We use Fe55 radioactive source to produce fluorescence lines from Si, Cl and Ti. The experimental results show that the absorption strongly depends on the energy of the incoming photon, material thickness and the atomic number of the absorber. The photon fraction absorbed is consistent when Nb and Si are placed together as an absorbing material and when they are placed one by one and resulting fraction is added. The experimental results agree well with the calculated values of the photons fraction absorbed at five different energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf and internode explants from in vitro grown seedlings of Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schard. were used to establish callus cultures in MS media supplemented with different concentrations (ranging from 1 to 3 mg/L) and combinations of plant growth regulators like BAP with NAA, and Kin with 2, 4-D. BAP 3 mg/L and NAA 2 mg/L supported green to yellowish green embryogenic callus from internode explant with callus index of 300 and callus initiation commenced in 3 days. Leaf explant produced green callus under influence of 2, 4-D 2 mg/L and Kin 1 mg/L with callus index of 200 and callus initiation duration was 15 d. Leaf and internode tissues from in vitro grown seedlings and leaf and internode calli were analyzed for secondary metabolites through GC-MS. Nineteen compounds were detected from leaf and internode tissues. From the comparative analysis of secondary metabolites it can be concluded that regardless of a few different compounds, most of the secondary metabolites from seedlings were present in their respective calluses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]