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Functional genome profiling of Murrah buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) was performed for milk-production trait by whole blood transcriptome analysis comparing RNA-seq data assembled from high and low milk producing multiparous (5 -6 parity) animals. These buffaloes reflected the genetic merit inherited as daughters born to extremely high- and low-end bulls evaluated under a progeny testing scheme and ranked by the estimated breeding value. The average standard milk yield (SMY) over the 305 d during the parity was recorded as 2909.50L ± 492.63 and 1869.57 ± 189.36L in high- and low-performance buffaloes, respectively. The “reference” assembly data was assembled from transcriptome libraries of a group of buffaloes (n=16), comprising of animals in different physiological states. Replicates selected within each category of the high and low genetic merit animals showed a correlation coefficient of high order (R2=0.98) while comparing with the `reference' assembly. The sequence data of selected buffaloes, mapped over the Mediterranean water buffalo genome, revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) distinctly depicted via heat maps and volcano plots obtained for two categories of animals, determining more than 25,000 genes via the Cufflink analysis. DEGs included 83 down-regulating and 142 up-regulating genes (p

Osteoarticular tuberculosis of the wrist is a very rare subset of skeletal Tuberculosis. Diagnosing the tuberculosis wrist in its early stage poses a major challenge to the clinicians because of its atypical and vague presentations and a close resemblance to many relatively benign pathologies. Clinicians from developed parts of the world having less exposure to the myriad forms of osteoarticular tuberculosis are more likely to miss it. We hereby report one such case who presented with wrist pain of short duration, which after thorough examination and investigations, turned out to be tuberculous. It was successfully managed with anti-tuberculosis drugs alone without any debridement or synovectomy. Familiarity with the clinical profile of this entity, in its early stages, is valuable for primary care physicians, rheumatologists, internal medicine specialists, and orthopaedicians alike, who may confuse it with one of the many more common inflammatory, degenerative, or traumatic causes of wrist pain. Within normal range or near normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein, and normal looking X-ray does not preclude the diagnosis of tuberculosis wrist. The role of a high index of suspicion and a low threshold for getting higher radiological investigation like MRI in non-responding cases of wrist joint pain cannot be overstated.

COVID-19 is an infectious disease that has cost millions of lives all over the world. A faster and safer diagnosis of COVID-19 is highly desirable in order to stop its spread. An electrocardiogram (ECG) signal-based diagnosis has shown its potential in the diagnosis of cardiac, stroke, and COVID-19. In this study, an ensemble of three deep learning models are used for COVID-19 detection in ECG images for multi-class classification. The results obtained with the weighted average ensemble technique have been improved by using the grid search technique. For multi-class classification, an optimized weighted average ensemble (OWAE) model classifies the ECG images with an accuracy of 95.29%, an F1-score of 95.4%, a precision of 95.5%, and a recall of 95.3%. In case of binary classification, VGG-19, EfficientNet-B4, and DenseNet-121 performed comparatively well with 100% accuracy. These results show that deep learning can be used in the diagnosis of COVID-19 disease using ECG images.

Abstract Background Encephaloceles are herniation of brain parenchyma through the defect in the dura and the skull bones. This case report reveals a rare association of frontonasal encephalocele, subependymal nodular heterotopias and cerebellar dysplasia with review of literature. Case presentation Frontonasal encephalocele is a rare entity. We report an 18-months-old male child who presented to the department of pediatrics with chief complaint of congenital swelling in the region of forehead. Swelling was increasing in size as told by the parents of the child. The child was born full term with normal vaginal delivery. There was no history of any obstetrical complications. The swelling was soft, transilluminant and pulsatile in nature. He was referred to the department of radio diagnosis for imaging evaluation. His CT and MRI images revealed defect in the anterior cranial fossa with herniation of meninges and brain parenchyma through it. There was also evidence of subependymal nodular heterotopias in this patient along with hypoplasia of left cerebellar hemisphere and left middle cerebellar peduncle with left cerebellar dysplasia. Conclusions This case report describes the coexistence of frontonasal encephaloceles, subependymal nodular heterotopias and cerebellar dysplasia, which is a very rare association.

In this article, we study machine repair problems (MRP) consisting of the finite number of operating machines with the provisioning of the finite number of warm standby machines under the care of a single unreliable server. For the machining system’s uninterrupted functioning, an operating machine is immediately replaced with the available warm standby machine in negligible switchover time whenever it fails. The concept of threshold vacation policy: N-policy is also considered. Under this vacation policy, the server starts to serve the failed machines on the accumulation of a pre-specified number of failed machines in the system. The server continues until the system is empty from the failed machines; after that, the server goes for vacation. The notion of an organizational delay, server breakdown, and repair in multiple phases is also conceptualized to build the studied model more realistic. The recursive matrix method is used to find steady-state queue size distribution, and subsequently, various system performance measures are also developed to validate the studied model. The optimal analysis has been performed to identify the critical design parameters for the governing model. The state-of-the-art of the present study is its mathematical modeling of the multi-machine stochastic problem with varied limitations and strategies. The methodology to obtain queue size distribution, optimal design parameters, is beneficial for dealing with other complex and sophisticated real-time machining problems in the service system, computer and communication system, manufacturing and production system, etc. The present problem is limited to fewer machines, which can be extended to more machines with different topologies with high computational facilities.

Plastic waste poses a serious threat to the environment and it has been increasing at an alarming rate. In 2022, global plastic waste generation was reported to be around 380 million tonnes as compared to 353 million tonnes in 2019. Production of liquid fuel from plastic waste is regarded as a viable method for disposing of the plastic and utilizing its energy. Currently, a wide range of technologies have been explored for turning plastic waste into fuel, including the conventional pyrolysis, incineration, gasification and advanced oxidation. However, a systematic summary and comparative analysis of various technologies has still not reported. Traditional non-biodegradable plastic waste (NPW) treatment methods include landfilling and incineration, but these methods encounter bottlenecks and are unable to adequately address NPW issues. This review attempts to present a thorough summary of treatment methods for plastic waste (both conventional and novel treatment technologies that have recently been reported), examine their mechanism and their current state of development. Furthermore, the superiority and drawbacks of each technology are analysed and the prospects of technology application are proposed. By tackling the problems of white pollution and energy scarcity, this review intends to inspire the use of solid waste as a source of energy.

Salt accumulation within the soil is one of the subtle ecological issues around the world. An integrated of remote sensing with different statistical techniques has indicated accomplishment for creating soil quality forecasting models. The objective of this research was to unveil the degree and location of the salt affected soils as it has a severe effect on the agricultural crop yield of the Gautam Buddha Nagar (GBN) district. To assess spatial variation of the salt-affected soil a simulation model integrating satellite observation data, artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple linear regression (MLR) was used. The statistical correlation amongst ground-truth data and Landsat original bands and band ratios showed that all the bands and ratios showed a non-significant correlation with SAR. While four optical bands and eleven band ratios showed high correlation with all the soil quality parameters. Combining all the remotely sensed variables into models resulted in the finest fit with the R2 value equal to 0.84, 0.69, 0.59 and 0.85 for EC, pH, ESP and TSS, respectively. The soil quality parameter maps generated using selected models revealed that most of the part of the agricultural land of the study area lies in the range of moderately saline and moderately sodic soil. Further Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to generate overall soil degradation probability map of the district, with respect to salt accumulation. The result revealed that the major portion of the entire agricultural field of the study area lie between low (32.74 %) to moderate (29.53 %) probability zones of salt susceptibility.

Diffusible iodine-based contrast-enhanced computed tomography (diceCT) has emerged as a viable tool for discriminating soft tissues in serial CT slices, which can then be used for three-dimensional analysis. This technique has some potential to supplant histology as a tool for identification of body tissues. Here, we studied the head of an adult fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx) and a late fetal vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) using diceCT and µCT. Subsequently, we decalcified, serially sectioned and stained the same heads. The two CT volumes were rotated so that the sectional plane of the slice series closely matched that of histological sections, yielding the ideal opportunity to relate CT observations to corresponding histology. Olfactory epithelium is typically thicker, on average, than respiratory epithelium in both bats. Thus, one investigator (SK), blind to the histological sections, examined the diceCT slice series for both bats and annotated changes in thickness of epithelium on the first ethmoturbinal (ET I), the roof of the nasal fossa, and the nasal septum. A second trial was conducted with an added criterion: radioopacity of the lamina propria as an indicator of Bowman’s glands. Then, a second investigator (TS) annotated images of matching histological sections based on microscopic observation of epithelial type, and transferred these annotations to matching CT slices. Measurements of slices annotated according to changes in epithelial thickness alone closely track measurements of slices based on histologically-informed annotations; matching histological sections confirm blind annotations were effective based on epithelial thickness alone, except for a patch of unusually thick non-OE, mistaken for OE in one of the specimens. When characteristics of the lamina propria were added in the second trial, the blind annotations excluded the thick non-OE. Moreover, in the fetal bat the use of evidence for Bowman’s glands improved detection of olfactory mucosa, perhaps because the epithelium itself was thin enough at its margins to escape detection. We conclude that diceCT can by itself be highly effective in identifying distribution of OE, especially where observations are confirmed by histology from at least one specimen of the species. Our findings also establish that iodine staining, followed by stain removal, does not interfere with subsequent histological staining of the same specimen.

Concrete is mainly employed as a construction material. Due to the manufacturing of cement and the extent of concrete usage, numerous environmental issues and water suction have presented challenges. There is an immediate need to overcome these problematic issues by substituting natural resources with wastes and by-products of different biological processes in the production of concrete in order to make green concrete. Green concrete provides a relatively low-impact material to satisfy potential concrete demand and offers a cheaper, robust and highly reliable alternative that could fulfil future construction requirements in an environmentally safer way. The present review highlights the possible use of waste residues of agricultural origin from cereal farming in concrete as alternative materials to cement, fine aggregate and fiber reinforcement. The review also considers appropriate methods of treatment, the selection of residual resources and the blending ratios that may allow the development of next-generation green concrete with better physicochemical and mechanical properties. It also explores in-depth studies and the wider range of innovations in cereal farming residues for appropriate use in green construction for environmental sustainability. Green concrete could be an alternative material that could replace those used in conventional methods of construction and help make a further step towards environmental sustainability and a circular bioeconomy.

Abstract India produces huge quantities of agricultural residues and stubbles and mainly disposed by burning on site causing air pollution. The organic matter present in the residues and stubble may be utilized by anaerobic digestion as a source of renewable energy subsequently reducing emission of greenhouse gases caused by burning. In the present study, solid state anaerobic digestion (SSAD) of pearl millet straw was investigated at mesophilic and thermophilic temperature with four different total solid (TS) content (15, 20, 25 and 30%). Results showed that 20 and 25% TS generated maximum methane (124.1 ± 7 and 162.4 ± 9L/kg VS) at mesophilic and thermophilic temperature respectively. However, increasing TS content beyond 25% did not show significant increment on methane yield. Analytical analysis showed correlation between the reduction of volatile solids and methane yield as well as VFA (volatile fatty acid) accumulation at high TS content. Also, VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija Komoromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods as MultiCriteria Decision Making modelling (MCDM) applied to select best possible alternative for SSAD of pearl millet. MCDM analysis showed that VIKOR method endorsed the experimental results.

Abstract Modern seafood processing practices result in amassment of a large volume of waste products, i.e., skin, head, tails, shells, scales, backbones, etc. These waste products may often encompass several high-value products which are still untapped due to the dearth of appropriate management. Moreover, inadequate disposal of waste also has negative implications on both environment and human health. This seafood waste often contains a huge amount of chitin, a polysaccharide that exhibits exceptional inherent characteristics including biocompatibility, biodegradability, antimicrobial, antitumor and antioxidant activities. The present review summarizes the existing methods for recovery of chitin and its derivatives from marine waste. The preparation of chitin nanoparticles was discussed along with blending of chitin and chitosan with other biopolymers. The recent trends of the application of chitin and chitosan nanostructures in various sectors were explored. This review is an attempt to highlight the extraction methods of chitin and chitosan from marine waste resources and its transformation into valuable commercial products as a solution to waste management.

Abstract In this study, activated carbon (AC) prepared from cork powder was used in synthesis of AC stabilized nano-zero-valent iron (AC/NZVI) composite and evaluated phosphate (PO4 3−) removal efficiency from aqueous solution. The as-obtained AC/NZVI was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Response surface methodology based on a three-level, three-factor, Box–Behnken design (B.B.D.) has been employed for determination of optimal combination of three significant process factors or variables such as temperature, solution pH and AC/NZVI dose, for maximum removal of PO4 3− from aqueous solution. Based on B.B.D. experimental design, a limited number of experiments were performed in a cost-effective manner at initial PO4 3− concentration of 211 mg L−1 as a fixed input parameter. A statistically validated quadratic model was developed to predict the responses in the form PO4 3− removal capacity from aqueous solution and adequacy of the model was evaluated using regression analysis and analysis of variance. The model predicted maximum PO4 3− removal capacity of the AC/NZVI was 152.12 mg g−1 under the optimal condition of process variables (temperature 60 °C, pH 3.5, and AC/NZVI dose 0.4 g L−1) which was strictly closer to the experimental value (151.10 mg g−1) obtained in batch experiment under the same optimize condition of process variables. The result of the study inferred that all three factors had a significant impact on removal of PO4 3−.

Introduction: Neonatal septicaemia is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in newborn infants. It often presents a diagnostic challenge in the resource poor setting of most developing countries. Aim: To determine the efficacy of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and Immature Neutrophil Count (INC) to Total Neutrophil Count (TNC) ratio (I/T ratio) in the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study included all term and preterm babies inborn and out born referred cases. The babies less than seven days of age with clinical symptoms and signs of suspected neonatal sepsis were included. Significant values for screening tests were taken as Total Leucocyte Count (TLC) of >25,000/0.2 and CRP positive (>0.6 mg/dL). Sepsis screen was considered positive for two or more positive tests. Blood culture was used as gold standard. The statistical analysis was done by Chi-square, Fisher’s exact and ANOVA tests using SPSS 20.0 version. Results: A total number of 60 subjects were included in the study with 45 (75%) as outborn neonates. Most of the neonates presented with tachypnea 27 (45%), 11(18.3%) with difficulty in feeding and 10 (16.7 %) with lethargy. Significant p-values were observed using CRP and ITR as independent sepsis screening markers. The combination of CRP with I/T ratio showed positive correlation with blood culture (p-value 0.016). Conclusion: Sepsis screen in neonates is required for detection of infection as blood culture may be negative and even positive result takes few hours. C-reactive protein showed high sensitivity while I/T ratio was found to be highly specific.

Anaerobic digestion is an attractive technology for resource management of organic waste and stubble. The state of biochemical reactions and activities in anaerobic digestion determines the process stability. Biochemical activities, such as syntrophic, metabolic, catalytic, and enzymatic activities, regulate the anaerobic efficiency for improved methane yield. Inhibitors, such as access to volatile fatty acids, ammonia, sulfur, and heavy metals, may slow down the anaerobic digestion and may cause reactor failure. However, additives for various biochemical activities may help to diminish the effect of inhibitors as well as improve process stability for enhanced methane yield. This manuscript presents an overview of various additives for enhancing the biochemical activities. The overview consists of the application of (a) conductive material for improving syntrophic activity, (b) trace metals for metabolic activities, (c) nanoparticles for improving catalytic activity, metabolism, and symbiosis during AD, (d) biological additives for enzymatic action, and (e) application of zeolite for introducing cation exchange properties in anaerobic digestion. Also, a comparison of various additives as per biochemical activity has also been performed for a deeper insight into the application of additives in anaerobic digestion.

We investigate the effect of the target position, laser polarization, and focusing on the energy spread and the angle of emittance for the acceleration of electrons generated during the ionization of rarefied gases, neon ions Ne8+, krypton ions Kr32+, and argon ions Ar16+ by a laser pulse. The electrons generated from the ions at the position after laser focus interact with the laser pulse for a longer duration and gain more energy than those electrons generated from the ions at the position before laser focus. There are two peaks in the energy spectrum for linear polarization and only one peak for circular polarization. The energy spectrum peak is sharper for circular polarization than that for linear polarization. The energy gained by the electrons increases with the laser spot size due to the increase in the laser energy. The spectrum of the angle of emittance for electrons shows the sharpest peak at the lowest angle for linear polarization for ions at the position after laser focus. The circular polarization is good to obtain quasi-monoenergetic electron beams and linearly polarized laser pulse is good to generate collimated electron beams. The required laser intensity to ionize electrons from the ions Ne8+, Kr32+, and Ar16+ increases and the electron energy peaks are at higher energies and scattering angles are at lower values for these gases, in their respective orders.

The study on the effectiveness of teaching and learning mathematics online focused on teachers' perspectives on the experiences they face in real-life situations in the Nepalese context. This study examines the effectiveness of online mathematics teaching and learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on a qualitative exploratory case study design. The results of the study are based on the holistic views of eight persistently selected university mathematics teachers. It examines the effectiveness of teaching mathematics online covering four areas; teacher preparation and technological competence, the issue concerning students, access to resources, and the nature of mathematics. Teachers' technical competence and preparation for online lessons were rated as satisfactory. Similarly, student-related issues were found to be uncooperative and dependent on teacher guidance during online learning. Likewise, students were found to benefit according to their access to resources. Urban students have an advantage in online learning over remote students. Similarly, the results suggest that online math classes were perceived as difficult due to the nature of mathematics. Thus, the study concludes that higher-level online mathematics education has several determinants that make online mathematics education effective compared to face-to-face classroom instruction.

Agriculture residue is a promising resource of energy. It can be seen as a source of power production. In India, there is a huge amount of biomass available, but it cannot be used in proper ways, and with the help of GIS it can be customised. In the present paper, it is estimated that biomass reserves are available for power generation. The biomass produced by the surplus agricultural crops is reflected as a source of fuel for electricity generation. The data taken by satellite are useful for assessment of the areas with the help of satellite images taken in high resolution, which increases the preciseness of estimation. An agriculture cropland map with agricultural statistics has been analyzed in GIS to discover the agricultural straw potential for bioenergy generation. Due to unawareness about the benefits and uses of GIS, the modern farming sector bears a loss of huge bioenergy potential every year. To overcome the above mentioned challenges, the agricultural system needs a major shift from conventional farming to smart farming practices with the help of GIS. Agricultural waste is the best source for bioenergy production, and it can be used as biomass for meeting renewable energy goals in the country.

Abstract Naumure Multipurpose Project (NMP) featuring a 169 m high Concrete Face Rock Filled Dam (CFRD) is the proposed reservoir project in the West Rapti River with an installed capacity of 218.34 MW. Most of the rivers in Nepal carry significant sediment loads that will consequently catalyze reservoir sedimentation. This phenomenon prevails as the primary factor in reducing reservoirs useful life, making ineffective for both flood control and hydroelectricity generation. Ultimately, such process of sedimentation has adverse impacts on projects economic feasibility and long-term sustainability. Therefore, the objective of this research was to examine the expected sediment deposition pattern in the NMP reservoir throughout its operational period by employing 1D HEC-RAS model to simulate the sedimentation process. The model was simulated for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years. Yang’s equation as a sediment transport function, Active layer as a bed sorting method and Toffaleti as a fall velocity method were best suited for the river reach. The delta deposition was formed between 11 km and 22 km upstream of the dam region in the Jhimruk river, with the sediment deposition depth reaching peaks of about 23 m, 38 m, 39 m, 41 m and 49 m in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years, respectively. Similarly, the delta deposition was formed between 13 km and 33 km upstream of dam region in the Madi river, with the sediment deposition depth reaching peaks of about 47 m, 62 m, 60 m, 68 m and 75 m in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years respectively. Headcutting of delta deposition occurred between 20 and 30 year due to high flood during low stage of reservoir. Furthermore, the study revealed that about 6.22%, 11.61%, 15.94%, 22.96% and 25.65% of the storage capacity of NMP reservoir will be depleted in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years respectively.