International Rice Outlook: International Rice Baseline Projections 2020-2030

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent lockdowns impacted all economies worldwide and created an economic recession far graver than the Great Recession, contracting the global growth of gross domestic product (GDP) nearly by 4.0% in 2020, compared to -2.0% in 2009 (IHS Markit database). COVID-19 disrupted global and local food supply chains, and resulted in a significant increase in food prices (FAO, 2021). Both global and domestic rice prices increased, driven primarily by temporary export restrictions imposed by several leading rice exporters, such as Vietnam and Myanmar. The market uncertainty also created in panic-buying and hoarding; consequently, the rice demand spiked in similar to that was observed during the 2007- 2008 rice crisis. For example, Thai 100% B and Vietnamese 5% long-grain rice prices increased by 30% and 25%, respectively, between March and May 2020 relative to the same period in 2019 (Fig. 1). Although prices in the international market have receded some since then, they remain higher than expected despite the record-high global rice production in 2020

International Rice Outlook: International Rice Baseline Projections 2021–2031

The war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are pushing input costs to record levels. Although rice prices have increased some in the last several months, production costs have increased more than proportionally, undermining rice profitability. We project global rice production will surpass global rice consumption for most of the coming decade, with a small deficit developing by the end of the projected period. The projected growth in production is almost exclusively due to productivity gains since the global rice area is projected to increase only marginally by 2029–2031. The projected growth in global rice consumption is exclusively based on population growth, as the average global per-capita consumption of rice is estimated to decrease in the coming decade. The international price of long-grain and medium-grain rice is projected to increase in nominal terms but decrease in real terms in the next decade due to ample rice supplies. We project that rice demand in Africa will continue to grow at a high pace, thus supporting a fast growth in regional production and imports. Global rice trade is projected to increase in nominal and relative (to supply) terms, with Africa being the main driver of the expansion. Rice exports will remain highly concentrated among the top-5 exporters. India will remain the largest exporter of rice, while Thailand will consolidate as the second largest exporter in the coming decade. Myanmar and Cambodia are expected to grow their export market share, while Vietnam, Pakistan, and the U.S. are expected to lose market share in the coming decade. On the rice import side, we project that China, the Philippines, the EU, and Saudi Arabia will lose market share, while Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Iran will grow their market shares by 2029–2031 relative to the situation in 2018–2020

International Rice Outlook: International Rice Baseline Projections 2020-2030

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent lockdowns impacted all economies worldwide and created an economic recession far graver than the Great Recession, contracting the global growth of gross domestic product (GDP) nearly by 4.0% in 2020, compared to -2.0% in 2009 (IHS Markit database). COVID-19 disrupted global and local food supply chains, and resulted in a significant increase in food prices (FAO, 2021). Both global and domestic rice prices increased, driven primarily by temporary export restrictions imposed by several leading rice exporters, such as Vietnam and Myanmar. The market uncertainty also created in panic-buying and hoarding; consequently, the rice demand spiked in similar to that was observed during the 2007- 2008 rice crisis. For example, Thai 100% B and Vietnamese 5% long-grain rice prices increased by 30% and 25%, respectively, between March and May 2020 relative to the same period in 2019 (Fig. 1). Although prices in the international market have receded some since then, they remain higher than expected despite the record-high global rice production in 2020

DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF NOVEL ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES FOR IN VITRO DISSOLUTION STUDY AND VALIDATION PROTOCOL FOR ESCITALOPRAM AS ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUG AND THEIR FORMULATION

Objective: To develop and validate the RP-HPLC method and in vitro dissolution study for escitalopram as antidepressant drug and their formulation. Methods: The chromatographic separation was done by using a C-18, 150 mm column and a mobile phase consisting of phosphate buffer (40%) and acetonitrile HPLC grade (60%). Detection was carried out at 211 nm with a flow rate of 1 ml/min with an injection of 20 μl. The method was validated with different parameters such as linearity, precision, accuracy, robustness, and limit of detection (LOD), the limit of quantification (LOQ) according to ICH guidelines. Results: The linear calibration curve was obtained in the concentration range of 0-50 μg/ml and gave an average correlation factor 0.992. The retention time was observed at 2.96 min. The Minimum concentration level at which the analyte can be reliably detected (LOD) and quantified (LOQ) were found to be 0.03 and 0.09 µg/ml, respectively. The relative standard deviation of intra and the inter-day assay was found to be less than 2. The dissolution studies show moderate dissolution (23.4%) after 45 min, but it reaches a plateau after approximately 25 min. Conclusion: This method was found to be simple, rapid and economic with less run time. The validated parameters manifest the method is reliable, linear, accurate and precise as well as robust with minor variations in chromatographic parameters. Therefore, the developed method can be applied for both routine analysis and quality control assay and it could be a very powerful tool to investigate the stability of escitalopram

Anatomical Aspect of Snayu; Ayurveda and Modern Perspectives

In Ayurveda, ligaments described as Snayu while tendon described as Kandra. Anatomically the muscle, ligament and tendon represent extra-articular apparatus. Snayu as structure of human body posses close relation to the Sandhi. Snayu as bunches of fibres helps to maintain body posture and impart weight wearing capacity. Acharya Sushruta referred working of Snayu as like binding plates of boats that allows boat to bear the weight. Snayu itself mean to bind, it helps to bind joints together and its fibrous nature provides flexibility. As anatomical structure Snayu having physiological importance but also suffered by pathological problems. There are some diseases described in Ayurveda related to the impairment of Snayu possessing symptoms of pain, stiffness and swelling, etc. Snayu Sharira needs to be understood in details to explore its physiological, anatomical and pathological aspects. Present article explain Ayurveda and modern view on Snayu Sharira

International Rice Outlook: International Rice Baseline Projections 2022-2032

Rice prices in Asia increased since the Summer of 2022 mainly due to worries about a reduction in rice production in India caused by an abnormal monsoon season (Fig. 1). The upward trend in export prices solidified after India implemented a 20% export tariff on brown and milled long-grain rice, and a complete ban on exports of broken rice, in September 2022 to curve down exports and release the pressure on domestic rice prices. India’s rice export prices increased since then and proportionally to the value of the export tax. The latest estimates put rice production at 128 million metric tons (mmt) in 2022/2023, only slightly below the record-high production of 129.5 mmt in 2021/2022. The export prices out of Thailand and Vietnam increased 14% and 16% between September 2022 and April 2023 in accordance with the higher export prices of India (Fig. 1). Despite the export tariff, India remains the most competitive supplier among the top Asian exporters. The U.S. export price for long-grain rice has been consistently above that of other Asian exporters, but the gap widened even more in 2022 after two consecutive short U.S. crops

International Rice Outlook: International Rice Baseline Projections 2022-2032

Rice prices in Asia increased since the Summer of 2022 mainly due to worries about a reduction in rice production in India caused by an abnormal monsoon season (Fig. 1). The upward trend in export prices solidified after India implemented a 20% export tariff on brown and milled long-grain rice, and a complete ban on exports of broken rice, in September 2022 to curve down exports and release the pressure on domestic rice prices. India’s rice export prices increased since then and proportionally to the value of the export tax. The latest estimates put rice production at 128 million metric tons (mmt) in 2022/2023, only slightly below the record-high production of 129.5 mmt in 2021/2022. The export prices out of Thailand and Vietnam increased 14% and 16% between September 2022 and April 2023 in accordance with the higher export prices of India (Fig. 1). Despite the export tariff, India remains the most competitive supplier among the top Asian exporters. The U.S. export price for long-grain rice has been consistently above that of other Asian exporters, but the gap widened even more in 2022 after two consecutive short U.S. crops

Interoperability Benefits and Challenges in Smart City Services: Blockchain as a Solution

The widespread usage of smart devices with various city-centric services speeds up and improves civic life, in contrast to growing privacy and security concerns. Security issues are exacerbated when e-government service providers trade their services within a centralised framework. Due to security concerns, city-centric centralised services are being converted to blockchain-based systems, which is a very time-consuming and challenging process. The interoperability of these blockchain-based systems is also more challenging due to protocol variances, an excessive amount of local transactions that raise scalability and rapidly occupy memory. In this paper, we have proposed a framework for interoperability across various blockchain-based smart city services. It also summarises how independent service providers might continue self-service choices (i.e., local transactions) without overloading the blockchain network and other organisations. A simulated interoperability network is used to show the network’s effectiveness. The experimental outcomes show the scalability and memory optimization of the blockchain network

Prediction of RNA Secondary Structure Using Butterfly Optimization Algorithm

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) structure is vital to its ability to function within the cell. The ability to predict RNA structure is essential to implementing new medications and understanding genetic illnesses. It is also important in synthetic and computational biology. All these functions are directly related to its secondary structure. Also prediction of RNA secondary structure process is the most significant step to determining the tertiary structure of RNA. On account of this, prediction of secondary structure of RNA is the crying topic in bioinformatics. In this research, we present the swarm-based metaheuristic Butterfly Optimization Algorithm (BOA) method for predicting the secondary structure of RNA. The main feather of the BOA is that it can conduct both local and global search simultaneously. According to the problem perspective, we have redesigned the operators of BOA to perform global and local search operations in different ways. We have followed a thermodynamic model for the selection of the stable secondary structure with minimum Gibbs free energy. Predicting the minimum free energy value we also developed an “Optimize” function to search the new optimize structure. This function increases the prediction efficiency, creating new stable structure and also decreases the time complexity of global searching procedure. We have used a public dataset to perform the prediction operation. To accuse our prediction efficiency, we have compared our outcomes to existing popular algorithms. The result shows that the proposed approach can predict secondary RNA structure better than other state-of-the-art algorithms