Productivity, profitability and water use efficiency of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under different customized fertilizers and moisture regimes

A field experiment was conduct during the winter (rabi) season of 2010-2011 on silty loam soil at Faizabad (Uttar Pradesh), India to develop suitable dose of customized fertilizers (CF) and moisture regime for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop. Productivity of grain and straw of wheat increased with increasing level of nutrient. Highest grain yield (53.13 q ha-1) was recorded under the application of CF 12 : 30 : 16 : 0.5 : 0 : 5 (NPK 150 : 75 : 40) which was accounted increases of 18.22%, 14.55% and 10.88% more yield than F1, F4 and F6 treatment respectively. Highest water use efficiency was recorded with 6 cm irrigation at 0.8 IW/CPE ratio and customize fertilizer 12: 30: 16: 0.5: 0: 5(NPK 150: 75: 40). The highest net returns (Rs. 61324 ha-1) and B:C (2.29) were recorded under the treatment combination of 1.0 IW/CPE ratio + customize fertilizer 12: 30: 16: 0.5: 0: 5 (NPK 150: 75: 40). The increased dose of fertilization in the form of CF with proper irrigation scheduling in wheat has a high scope for the maximization of yield as well as profitability in wheat growing regions of Uttar Pradesh

Fermionic representation for the ferromagnetic Kondo lattice model -- diagrammatic study of spin-charge coupling effects on magnon excitations

A purely fermionic representation is introduced for the ferromagnetic Kondo lattice model which allows conventional diagrammatic tools to be employed to study correlation effects. Quantum 1/S corrections to magnon excitations are investigated using a systematic inverse-degeneracy expansion scheme which incorporates correlation effects in the form of self-energy and vertex corrections, while explicitly preserving the continuous spin-rotation symmetry. Magnon self-energy is studied in the full range of interaction strength, and shown to result in strong magnon damping and anomalous softening for zone boundary modes, which accounts for several zone-boundary anomalies observed in recent spin-wave measurements of ferromagnetic manganites.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

STUDYING REGUATION OF NEU5AC (SIALIC ACID) BIOSYNTHESIS IN DROSOPHILA

Glycoconjugates are very important compounds found in all domains of life. They are not primary products of genetic code like other structural biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. They are product of glycosylation, i.e. addition of sugars to target molecules like proteins and lipids. Sialylated glycoconjugates are synthesized when sialic acids from donor molecules are transferred to the target molecules by sialyltransferase. These sialylated glycoconjugates are involved primarily in mediating the cell-cell interaction. Due to their prominent position on cell surface they act as a recognition site for various receptors as well as pathogens. Until now, most of the research about sialic acids and their functions is limited to deuterostomes. The information about the biosynthesis of sialic acid is incomplete and not well studied in protostomes. In Drosophila, the GNE enzyme that catalyzes the first two steps of sialic acid synthesis in vertebrates, is absent but the sialylated products can be detected in small quantities. I studied if an isozyme of GNE is present in Drosophila which catalyzes the rate limiting reaction of the glycosylation pathway. iv The results from immunoassay and western blot suggest that recombinant protein is being synthesized in the cytosol. At this moment, I am balancing the transgenic flies which will be tested for in vivo expression of GNE enzyme. I will perform physical tests to check for ectopic expression in these transgenic flies

Oral Microbiome Dysbiosis in Head and Neck Cancer: Chemoradiation Therapy and Related Complications

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is an escalating global concern, with the debilitating complications arising from its treatment, chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and radiation therapy (RT), have serious negative consequences relating to clinical outcomes and patients’ quality of life. Recent studies suggest that the oral microbiome might play a role in exacerbating the severity of CRT/RT-induced toxicities in HNC patients. This research explored the pattern of CRT/RT-induced changes or imbalances in the oral microbiome, often referred to as 'dysbiosis'. It also examined its association with treatment toxicities such as oral mucositis and dysphagia. In this study, oral microbiome samples were collected from different oral sites including saliva, tongue, buccal mucosa, faucial pillars, and palate, from both non-HNC controls and HNC patients. Utilising 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the salivary microbiome was found to be the most stable and diverse, making it an ideal choice for longitudinal studies. Subsequently, through metagenomic sequencing, the microbial profiles of saliva samples from HNC patients were scrutinised, before , immediately after, and 12 months following CRT/RT treatment. The results revealed significant differences in diversity and composition between the microbiomes of HNC patients and non-HNC controls. Treatment with CRT/RT was observed to reduce microbial richness, increase evenness, and cause substantial short-term changes in composition, which notably persisted 12 months post-treatment. Specific bacterial taxa and microbial functional pathways that changed in abundance due to CRT/RT were identified, alongside trends in their long-term recovery. Despite these changes, clinical variables such as cancer location, stage, HPV status, and the type of treatment (either combined CRT or RT alone) did not significantly affect the trajectory of the oral microbiome after treatment. However, surgery prior to CRT/RT was associated with better microbiome recovery in terms of both richness and composition at 12 months post-treatment. The study found a correlation between severe mucositis at treatment's end and long-term dysphagia, along with a lack of microbiome recovery to its pre-treatment state even at 12 months. Long-term dysphagia was associated with shift in oral microbiome composition due to treatment, which remained significant a year after the conclusion of CRT/RT. However, no correlation was discerned between microbiome dysbiosis and physiological metrics of swallow functions 12 months after CRT/RT. These findings highlight the complex interplay between the oral microbiome and CRT/RT-induced toxicities, notably severe mucositis and long-term dysphagia, and suggest the need for more high-powered studies to deepen our understanding of these dynamics, which could form the basis for developing microbiome modulation strategies to mitigate these side effect

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) Based Virtual Organization Model for the Coordination of Sustainable Textile Supply Chain

The lack of attention on the forward and backward supply chain issues, i.e., the transparency between supply chain agents, information sharing, resource deployment, workforce knowledge, waste reduction, cost efficiency, and resource management are the major problems of textile supply chain. The coordination of forward and backward supply chain becomes difficult due to the players\u27 self-interest and firmographics. It becomes much complicated when we consider the triple bottom line of sustainability (TBLS) in the supply chain. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an Industry 4.0 (I4.0) based virtual organization model for the coordination of the forward and backward supply chain. The results obtained through virtual organization model are also compared with the centralized supply chain and traditional cost-sharing contract. The results reveal that virtual organization model can perform better than the price only contract and it will be help firms in achieving greater sustainability with respect to traditional contract mechanisms

Evaluating Quality of Matrimonial Websites: Balancing Emotions with Economics

There are a plethora of studies evaluating the quality of websites on functional and design-related aspects such as usability and visual parameters. The majority of these studies are related to e-commerce websites where individuals make decision largely relying on economic parameters. However, matrimonial websites are unique, as the decisions involve both economic and non-economic parameters. Therefore, this study aims to propose a framework to evaluate quality of matrimonial websites by incorporating contextual factors and examine differences among different groups of users. This study proffers a website evaluating framework considering non-economic and emotion based factors from the information systems (IS) success model and the search match interaction (SMI) framework. The study proposes a hybrid model of multi-criteria decision-making techniques—namely Fuzzy-AHP and ranking models such as evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS), technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and complex proportional assessment (COPRAS). The results indicate that the context-specific factors related to search and matchmaking options are the most preferred parameters for evaluation. Males and females have been found to differ in their preferences related to service quality and price. Next, the study compares the performance of three ranking models, namely EDAS, TOPSIS, and COPRAS. The first and second models provide similar results, while the rankings obtained through COPRAS differ slightly. The study contributes towards website evaluation literature by highlighting the importance of contextual factors while evaluating the matrimonial websites and the differences among preferences of the users

Bioremediation of arsenic contamination from the environment: New approach to sustainable resource management

Present acceleration of Arsenic [As] exposure leads to severe health problems. Modern scientific approaches look towards potent bio-agents for the removal of such types of contaminations in sustainable ways. Microbes can potentially change the redox potential, solubility, pH by different complex reactions during bioremediation. There are many enzymes present in the microbial system which are involved in methylation such as As (V) reductase, monomethyl arsonic acid reductase, As (III) methyltransferase, and MMA (III) methyltransferase. On the other hand, microbes have As transformation ability and changed into different extractable forms with sulfide minerals such as arsenopyrite (FeAsS), enargite (Cu3AsS4) and realgar (As4S4). In some bacteria, the As-operon machinery thiol group bind with As, itdetoxifies its toxicity. Ars R gene and arsenic reductase enzyme (Ars C) play the key role in the reduction of As (V) to As (III) and detoxify by being transported outside of the cell by Ars AB As chemiosmotic efflux system. In fungi, As (V) is reduced to As (III) by the arsenate reductase and GSH glutathione converted into GSSH glutathione disulfide. In plants, As (III) conjugates with phytochelatin (PC) or GSH glutathione and accumulates in the vacuole or is converted into less toxic forms in the presence of arsenic reductase enzyme. This review focused on the potentiality and mechanisms of different microbes for As-detoxification in a sustainable manner

Evaluating Quality of Matrimonial Websites: Balancing Emotions with Economics

There are a plethora of studies evaluating the quality of websites on functional and design-related aspects such as usability and visual parameters. The majority of these studies are related to e-commerce websites where individuals make decision largely relying on economic parameters. However, matrimonial websites are unique, as the decisions involve both economic and non-economic parameters. Therefore, this study aims to propose a framework to evaluate quality of matrimonial websites by incorporating contextual factors and examine differences among different groups of users. This study proffers a website evaluating framework considering non-economic and emotion based factors from the information systems (IS) success model and the search match interaction (SMI) framework. The study proposes a hybrid model of multi-criteria decision-making techniques—namely Fuzzy-AHP and ranking models such as evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS), technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and complex proportional assessment (COPRAS). The results indicate that the context-specific factors related to search and matchmaking options are the most preferred parameters for evaluation. Males and females have been found to differ in their preferences related to service quality and price. Next, the study compares the performance of three ranking models, namely EDAS, TOPSIS, and COPRAS. The first and second models provide similar results, while the rankings obtained through COPRAS differ slightly. The study contributes towards website evaluation literature by highlighting the importance of contextual factors while evaluating the matrimonial websites and the differences among preferences of the users

Academic Track Choices, Educational Achievements and Social Inequality in India

Expansion of educational opportunities has the potential to overcome social and economic inequalities. Educational achievements might be used as a social policy tool to reduce socio-economic inequalities by improving labor market outcomes. However, the benefits derived depend on academic choices an individual makes and the social group he or she belongs to. Children from marginalized social groups choose different academic tracks than those from privileged ones, which accounts for further differences in labor market outcomes. The present study examines whether social background defines educational achievements in India. The findings reveal that students with marginalized background have significantly lower test scores at all three tested educational levels (high school, bachelor and MBA). Social background remains the strongest predictor for educational achievements even after controlling for academic track choices and previous performance of the students. Using the social transformation theory, the study further concludes that differences in achievement scores by socio-economic background could be reduced by aspirational marginalized students; however, those cannot be erased completely