Search

The hybrid electric train which operates without overhead wires or traditional power sources relies on hydrogen fuel cells and batteries for power. These fuel cell-based hybrid electric trains (FCHETs) are more efficient than those powered by diesel or electricity because they do not produce any tailpipe emissions making them an eco-friendly mode of transport. The target of this paper is to propose low-budget FCHETs that prioritize energy efficiency to reduce operating costs and minimize their impact on the environment. To this end, an energy management strategy [EMS] has been developed that optimizes the distribution of energy to reduce the amount of hydrogen required to power the train. The EMS achieves this by balancing battery charging and discharging. To enhance the performance of the EMS, proposes to use of a deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithm specifically the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) combined with transfer learning (TL) which can improve the system's efficiency when driving cycles are changed. DRL-based strategies are commonly used in energy management and they suffer from unstable convergence, slow learning speed, and insufficient constraint capability. To address these limitations, an action masking technique to stop the DDPG-based approach from producing incorrect actions that go against the system's physical limits and prevent them from being generated is proposed. The DDPG+TL agent consumes up to 3.9% less energy than conventional rulebased EMS while maintaining the battery's charge level within a predetermined range. The results show that DDPG+TL can sustain battery charge at minimal hydrogen consumption with minimal training time for the agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strain An-F was isolated from the rhizosphere soil of replant site of apple orchard at Shimla district H.P. and identiûed as Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the basis of biochemical tests and by 16S rRNA sequences. This bacterium exhibits a broad-spectrum antifungal activity towards phytopathogenic fungi. The antifungal metabolite by An-F was extracted and characterized using TLC and HPLC (High pressure liquid chromatography). Production of siderophores, phosphatase, HCN, ammonia, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins and cytokinins in An-F were determined. The antifungal metabolite produced by An-F has been identiûed as 2, 4-diacetylphloroglucinol on the basis of TLC and HPLC data. Present study reports the production of 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol as well as IAA, gibberellins and cytokinins for the ûrst time by a saprophytic P. aeruginosa strain An-F isolated from the replant site of apple. Because of the production of siderophore, growth hormone, protease and phosphatase and its innate fungicidal potential, this strain can be used as biofertilizer and antagonist against a range of phytopathogenic fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular markers have been found useful in assessing the genetic diversity in a precise manner, which is based on naturally occurring DNA polymorphism. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA analysis was performed using four arbitary decamer primers to observe genetic homogeneity/ polymorphism among 10 isolates of fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. isolated from apple and pear rhizosphere from different locations of Mandi and Chamba districts. Out of 52 bands generated with 4 RAPD primers, 13.46% were monomorphic bands, while 86.33% were polymorphic bands. The result showed that the isolates of fluorescent Pseudomonas sp. were divided into 2 clusters by RAPD primers. Among all the combinations maximum similarity (90.48%) was found between PN-7-Cha and PN-2-San isolates of Chamba and Mandi districts. However, minimum similarity (36.7%) was observed in PN-11-San and PN- 7-Cha isolates of Mandi and Chamba districts. This technique is highly beneficial for testing similarity analysis among fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. isolated from different locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ongoing, innovative youth worker professional development is described in this article. This initiative began as youth worker professional development and then transcended to personal and organizational development. It grew from a moral response of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation staff and two faculty members of Youth Studies, University of Minnesota to offer higher-quality services to youth for their healthy development. Its underlying philosophies and ethos included building and sustaining meaningful relationships, cocreating a space for learning and change, becoming a reflecting practitioner, and community organizing. This professional development responded to the participants' interests and needs or to local situations in that moment, that space, and the discussions, and took on different shapes at different times. There were many accomplishments of, challenges and barriers to, and lessons learned from this professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few formal post-secondary educational programs in the United States focus on youth work, thus youth workers often enter the field with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of experience working with youth. Drawing on mounting evidence that quality youth service requires skilled staff, professional-development opportunities have received increasing support by agencies and funders. Typically, youth work professional development supports propositional (theory) knowledge learning to develop a more skilled workforce. This article describes an approach to youth work professional development that supports professional-craft knowledge learning (practice wisdom). Based on action research methodology, the approach has been developed over the last three years with groups of youth workers in a public organization. Using program evaluation data over the last two years and university-facilitator reflections, the authors describe what have been found to be the critical components of this approach. Also discussed are implications of using such an approach in day-to-day youth work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Plant growth promoting fluorescent Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains An-E and An- F were used for the suppression of replant disease organisms which were isolated from replant site of apple in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh. Full and half concentration of individual and consortial strains were used for the experiment. Among all the treatments, full concentration of compatible consortial strains were quite effective in decreasing the deleterious rhizobacterial (197-99 cfu/g) and fungal population (7-0 cfu/g). Total rhizobacterial count starts decreasing after each cyclic application of fluorescent P. aeruginosa strains An-E and An-F due to root colonization property of these plant growth promoting strains in the replant site of apple. Establishment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains at replant site was inversely correlated with decreasing deleterious bacterial and fungal population in the replant site. 70 per cent survival of apple rootstocks was recorded in full concentration of consortial treatment (An-E and An- F) as compared to control after three years of plantation. Four major fungal pathogens viz. Dematophor anecatrix, Phytophthora cactorum, Pythium ultimum and Fusarium oxysporum were isolated and identified from National centre for fungal taxonomy, New Delhi. These strains can be further exploited and recommended for the management of replant problem of apple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good, high-quality youth development programs require effective youth organizations. While youth organizations are commonly understood as valuable and supportive of healthy youth development, attention and focus on youth organizations in both scholarship and practice are missing within the youth development field. The authors advocate for a more distinct and clearer focus on youth organizations to foster positive youth development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetically diverse bell pepper cultivars and their 30 F1 hybrids were developed by means of diallel mating system including reciprocals. Variance analysis illustrated considerable disparity among newly developed bacterial wilt resistant hybrid lines for all the studied traits. General Combining ability (gca) effects were more pronounced than specific combining ability effects (sca). The gca effects were high with parents DPBWRC-6-1, EC-464107, EC-464115 and DPBWRC-39 for fruit yield and yield-enhancing traits. Further, reciprocal effects influenced all parameters except fruit width, TSS and lobes per fruit. Among the additive and non-additive genetic variance, the latter had a more significant influence on the inheritance of all studied characters except for fruit width and pericarp thickness. Based on sca analysis, three cross-combinations viz., DPBWRC-29×EC-464107, DPBWRC-39× DPBWRC-1 and EC-464115 × DPBWRC-29 were found to be good specific combiners for the majority of traits and can further be utilized to isolate superior segregates or released as hybrids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including youth services, youth organizations and organizational transformation.

Organizational development is based in part on knowledge development, both formal, scientifically proven and also nonscientific practice wisdom. This article brings together all of the lessons learned over our six years of work with Saint Paul Parks and Recreation, and suggests the practice utility of these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]