Biology of barley shoot fly Delia flavibasis Stein (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) on resistant and susceptible barley cultivars

The biology of barley shoot fly Delia flavibasis was studied using resistant (Dinsho and Harbu) and susceptible (Holker) barley cultivars at Sinana Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia. A higher number of eggs was laid on Holker (17 eggs/female) than on Dinsho (11 eggs/female) or Harbu (12 eggs/female). However, there were no differences between cultivars in preoviposition and total reproductive periods. The shortest time required to complete larval, pupal and total developmental stages from egg to adult emergence occurred when the insect was reared on the cultivar Holker. Pupal weight, adult emergence and adult longevity did not differ between cultivars. The female to male sex ratio was 1:1. This study enabled us to understand the duration of each of the life stages of D.flavibasis, which will undoubtedly aid researchers and growers to design a sustainable management strategy against barley shoot fly

Conservation and Diversity of Seed Associated Endophytes in Zea across Boundaries of Evolution, Ethnography and Ecology

Endophytes are non-pathogenic microbes living inside plants. We asked whether endophytic species were conserved in the agriculturally important plant genus Zea as it became domesticated from its wild ancestors (teosinte) to modern maize (corn) and moved from Mexico to Canada. Kernels from populations of four different teosintes and 10 different maize varieties were screened for endophytic bacteria by culturing, cloning and DNA fingerprinting using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) of 16S rDNA. Principle component analysis of TRFLP data showed that seed endophyte community composition varied in relation to plant host phylogeny. However, there was a core microbiota of endophytes that was conserved in Zea seeds across boundaries of evolution, ethnography and ecology. The majority of seed endophytes in the wild ancestor persist today in domesticated maize, though ancient selection against the hard fruitcase surrounding seeds may have altered the abundance of endophytes. Four TRFLP signals including two predicted to represent Clostridium and Paenibacillus species were conserved across all Zea genotypes, while culturing showed that Enterobacter, Methylobacteria, Pantoea and Pseudomonas species were widespread, with γ-proteobacteria being the prevalent class. Twenty-six different genera were cultured, and these were evaluated for their ability to stimulate plant growth, grow on nitrogen-free media, solubilize phosphate, sequester iron, secrete RNAse, antagonize pathogens, catabolize the precursor of ethylene, produce auxin and acetoin/butanediol. Of these traits, phosphate solubilization and production of acetoin/butanediol were the most commonly observed. An isolate from the giant Mexican landrace Mixteco, with 100% identity to Burkholderia phytofirmans, significantly promoted shoot potato biomass. GFP tagging and maize stem injection confirmed that several seed endophytes could spread systemically through the plant. One seed isolate, Enterobacter asburiae, was able to exit the root and colonize the rhizosphere. Conservation and diversity in Zea-microbe relationships are discussed in the context of ecology, crop domestication, selection and migration

UAS Simulator: A Laboratory Set-Up

This work describes the procedure for laboratory setup for Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Simulator. UAS has three major components viz., UAV (or drone), Pilot and the system in place that connects both of them or interface. This simulator not only helps pilot for training purposes, designers for testing new models, mission planners in planning missions in a different environment but also helps in testing and development of the Synthetic Vision System (SVS). SVS generates a rendered image or 3D image of the flying environment and aware operator using an onboard database of terrain, obstacles, and relevant cultural features

Online) An Open Access

ABSTRACT We retrospectively reviewed the clinical profile and treatment outcome of patients of penile fracture, managed in the urology department of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Kashmir, India. This study retrospectively assessed 42 cases of penile fracture admitted at our center from January 2003 to March 2013. Majority of the patients were diagnosed on history and physical examination. Eight patients required complimentary examination. Penile ultrasound was performed in 4 patients, while 4 patients needed retrograde urethrogram to rule out concomitant urethral injury. The most common cause was blunt trauma to erect penis during sexual intercourse. 34 (80.95%) patients were treated by an open surgical repair while 8 (19.05%) patients were managed conservatively. The age of patients ranged from 23 to 62 years (mean 36.71 years). Site of tunica albugenia tear was at the base in 20 (58.82%) and mid-shaft in 14 (41.18%) patients treated surgically. Associated urethral injuries were seen in 4 (9.52%) patients. All conservatively treated patients had complications on follow up, while around 80% of surgically treated patient had no or minimal complications. Penile fracture is caused by rapid blunt force to an erect penis, usually during sexual intercourse or aggressive masturbation, with a relatively straight forward clinical diagnosis. Early surgical repair is the preferred and ideal treatment in order to avoid complications associated with conservative management

Location error resilient geographical routing for vehicular ad-hoc networks

The efficiency and scalability of geographical routing depend on the accuracy of location information of vehicles. Each vehicle determines its location using global positioning system (GPS) or other positioning systems. Related literature in geographical routing implicitly assumes accurate location information. However, this assumption is unrealistic considering the accuracy limitation of GPS and obstruction of signals by road side environments. The inaccurate location information results in performance degradation of geographical routing protocols in vehicular environments. In this context, this study proposes a location error resilient geographical routing (LER-GR) protocol. Rayleigh distribution-based error calculation technique is utilised for assessing error in the location of neighbouring vehicles. Kalman filter-based location prediction and correction technique is developed to predict the location of the neighbouring vehicles. The next forwarding vehicle is selected based on the least error in location information. Simulations are carried out to evaluate the performance of LER-GR in realistic environments, considering junction-based as well as real map-based road networks. The comparative performance evaluation attests the location error resilient capability of LER-GR in a vehicular environment