Effect of ethrel spray on the ripening behaviour of mango (Mangifera indica L.) variety 'Dashehari'

An experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of post harvest spray of different concentrations (100, 200, 400, 600 and 800 ppm) of ethrel (2-chloroethyl phosphonic acid) on ripening and colour development in ‘Dashehari’ mango fruits harvested in second week of June, 2015. The treated fruits were assessed for physico-chemical parameters such as physiological loss in weight (%), firmness (Kg/cm2), TSS (°Brix), titrable acidity (%), total carotenoids (mg/100g) and peel chlorophyll (mg/100g) and observations were recorded at 2 days interval during 8 days storage at ambient temperature. Changes in total soluble solids (8.5 to 23.23° Brix), total carotenoids (0.807 to 7.12 mg/100g) and PLW (14.58%) showed increasing trends up to 8 days during storage whereas fruit firmness (8.5 to 0.68 Kg/cm2), titrable acidity (1.26 to 0.08%) and total peel chlorophyll (5.2 to 0.14 mg/100g) showed decreasing trends. At the end of the storage period for 8 days, Ethrel spray at 600 ppm induced uniform ripening with attractive yellow colour within 4 days while untreated control fruits failed to ripen uniformly and remain light green even after 8 days of storage. Ripening advances by 4 days in fruits sprayed with 600 ppm ethrel com-pared to unsprayed control fruits

A new synthesis of thiophenes and thiapyrans. Part V: 6:7-Benzothionaphthene and 9-chloronaphtho-(1':8'-bc)-thiapyran

This article does not have an abstract

HICF: A MATLAB PACKAGE FOR HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGE CLASSIFICATION AND FUSION FOR EDUCATIONAL LEARNING AND RESEARCH

A significant surge has been observed with the development and research in remote sensing in recent years for hyperspectral applications in Earth observation. Subsequently, the development of software and tools have also experienced an unprecedented rise, both in research as well as in academia. Although commercial software and tools such as ENVI by ITT Visual Information Solutions, Boulder, CO, USA are available for visualizing and analyzing the hyperspectral images, such software are expensive. Some open source toolboxes such as the MATLAB-based Hyperspectral Image Analysis Toolbox (HIAT) are also available. However, mostly these toolboxes have not been packaged for dissemination and operation without the MATLAB software which is commercial. In this paper, we introduce the Hyperspectral Image Classification and Fusion (HICF) package which is being developed at the Geoinformatics laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) in MATLAB that can be used by standalone installation with an open source supplementary MATLAB compiler. This software is intended to provide a collection of algorithms both conventional and those developed at the Geoinformatics laboratory that utilizes the numerical computing capability of MATLAB for the processing of hyperspectral and multispectral imagery. The HICF software comprises a simple design of the graphical user interface which can be efficiently used particularly for academic purposes

Naphthoquinone series - Part II: Bazanquinone vat dyes from 2:3-dichloro-1:4-naphthoquinone: part II

This article does not have an abstract

Excretory-Secretory antigens of rodent filariid, Acanthocheilonema viteae and their cross-reaction with human filarial sera

In vitro released products of adult filariid Acanthocheilonema viteae were characterized according to their SDS-PAGE profiles and immune recognition patterns by infected mastomys and by human sera. Adult worms survived well in the serum free media (HBSS; Sigma) more than ten days. SDS-PAGE analysis of E/S antigens revealed the molecules between 70 and 54.5kDa highly dominant whereas immune recognition with infected mastomys sera demonstrated the immunoreactivity in molecules present between 48.5 and 58kDa. Many of these cross-reacted with W. bancrofti infected human sera showing the sharing of antigens by the two filariid species. 143, 96, 74, 62, 44 and two below 26.6kDa of adult A. viteae E/S cross-reacted with human filarial sera. A number of molecules between 60 and 44kDa were found reactive with both mastomys and human sera demonstrating their possible use in diagnosis. Presence of common antigens between the rodent and human filariid and their shared immunoreactivity demonstrate the usefulness of A. viteae antigens in diagnosis/prophylaxis of human filariasis

The role of the subtropical jet in deficient winter precipitation across the mid-Holocene Indus basin

The mid-Holocene (7-5 ka) was a period with an increased seasonal insolation cycle, resulting from decreased insolation during northern hemisphere winter. Here, a set of six CMIP5 models is used to show that the decreased insolation reduced the upper-tropospheric meridional temperature gradient, producing a weaker subtropical jet with less horizontal shear. These effects work to reduce the baroclinic and barotropic instability available for perturbations to grow, and in consequence, storm-tracking results show that there are fewer winter storms over India and Pakistan (known as western disturbances). These western disturbances are weaker, resulting in a reduction in winter precipitation of around 15% in the north Indus Basin. Combined with previous work showing greater northwestward extent of the Indian monsoon during the mid-Holocene, our GCM-derived results are consistent with the Indus Basin changing from a summer-growing season in the mid-Holocene to a winter-growing season in the present day

A two-year participatory intervention project with owners to reduce lameness and limb abnormalities in working horses in Jaipur, India

Participatory methods are increasingly used in international human development, but scientific evaluation of their efficacy versus a control group is rare. Working horses support families in impoverished communities. Lameness and limb abnormalities are highly prevalent in these animals and a cause for welfare concern. We aimed to stimulate and evaluate improvements in lameness and limb abnormalities in horses whose owners took part in a 2-year participatory intervention project to reduce lameness (PI) versus a control group (C) in Jaipur, India.In total, 439 owners of 862 horses participated in the study. PI group owners from 21 communities were encouraged to meet regularly to discuss management and work practices influencing lameness and poor welfare and to track their own progress in improving these. Lameness examinations (41 parameters) were conducted at the start of the study (Baseline), and after 1 year and 2 years. Results were compared with control horses from a further 21 communities outside the intervention. Of the 149 horses assessed on all three occasions, PI horses showed significantly (P<0.05) greater improvement than C horses in 20 parameters, most notably overall lameness score, measures of sole pain and range of movement on limb flexion. Control horses showed slight but significantly greater improvements in four parameters, including frog quality in fore and hindlimbs.This participatory intervention succeeded in improving lameness and some limb abnormalities in working horses, by encouraging changes in management and work practices which were feasible within owners’ socioeconomic and environmental constraints. Demonstration of the potentially sustainable improvements achieved here should encourage further development of participatory intervention approaches to benefit humans and animals in other contexts

Phenotypic profiling of lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) accessions enabled identification of promising lines for use in breeding for high yield, early flowering and desirable traits

In the face of climate change, developing resilient crops is crucial for global food security in the 21st century to feed a growing population. Lentil (Lens culinaris Medikus) plays a vital role in ensuring global food and nutritional security. Traits like early flowering enable the crop to mature faster, thereby shortening the growing window and reducing yield losses caused by moisture and heat stresses during the reproductive phase. However, issues like limited genetic diversity in this trait remain unaddressed. To address this gap, our study aims to comprehensively assess genetic variability and trait associations in 158 lentil accessions. In the present study, we observed significant variations for days to 50% flowering (67–90 days), days to maturity (109–122 days) and 100 seed weight (1.69–2.68 g) throughout a period of two consecutive years (2020–2021 and 2021–2022). The observed variability in these traits offers a valuable avenue for the improvement of lentil yield through targeted selection and hybridization. Additionally, correlation analysis showed negative correlation between days to 50% flowering and grain yield per plant, while plant height had a significant (P < 0.01) positive correlation with all traits except yield per plant. Furthermore, we identified specific germplasm with exceptional traits that hold significant potential for future breeding programmes. The genotypes EC 223197-A and EC 267696 were identified for early flowering with high yield, and other genotypes that were identified for various traits would serve as breeding material for the introgression of these traits into elite cultivars

Oral and pharyngeal cancer in South Asians and non-South Asians in relation to socioeconomic deprivation in South East England.

From UK Thames Cancer Registry data, after controlling for socioeconomic deprivation of area of residence, South Asian males showed a higher relative risk of oral (1.36; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.67), but not of pharyngeal cancer than non-South Asian males, whereas South Asian females had much higher risks of these cancers (3.67; 95% CI: 2.97, 4.53 and 2.06; 95% CI: 1.44, 2.93), respectively, than non-South Asians