Identification of drought tolerant maize genotypes and seedling based morpho-physiological selection indices for crop improvement

Maize is an imperative grain crop used as a staple food in several countries around the world. Water deficiency is a serious problem limiting its growing area and production. Identification of drought tolerant maize germplasm is comparatively easy and sustainable approach to combat this issue. Present research was conducted to evaluate 50 maize genotypes for drought tolerance at early growth stage. Drought tolerance was assessed on the basis of several morphological and physiological parameters. Analysis of variance showed significant variation among the tested maize genotypes for recorded parameters. Principal component analysis revealed important morpho-physiological traits that were playing key role in drought tolerance. Correlation studies depicted significant positive correlation among the attributes such as fresh shoot length (FSL), fresh root length (FRL), dry shoot weight (DSW), dry root weight (DRW), relative water contents (RWC) and total dry matter (TDM) while a strongly negative correlation was observed among RWC and excised leaf water loss. Results concluded that the parameters fresh shoot weight, fresh root weight, FRL, DRW, TDM, cell membrane thermo stability (CMT) and RWC can be useful for rapid screening of maize germplasm for drought tolerance at early growth stages. Furthermore, the genotypes 6, 16, 18, 40, 45 and 50 can be used as a drought tolerant check in breeding programs. Moreover, biplot analysis along with other indices was proved to be a useful approach for rapid and cost efficient screening of large number of genotypes against drought stress condition

Adaptive refined random orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm for FBMC/OQAM MIMO framework

The fifth generation of wireless communication is anticipated to provide improved quality of service and enhanced data rates to the end users. One such technology that stands out as a potential transmission scheme for 5G systems is Filter Bank Multicarrier using Offset Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (FBMC/OQAM) with an effective channel estimation technique for improved performance. However, due to the inherent imaginary interference, channel estimation methods relying on preamble structures in FBMC/OQAM systems exhibit sub-optimal performance, particularly within Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) setups. For channel estimation schemes based on compressed sensing, the inherent sparsity of wireless channels can be exploited for accurate channel reconstruction and overall performance improvement.We propose a novel compressed sensing based algorithm namely, Adaptive Refined Random Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (ARROMP), for MIMO-FBMC system with Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) scheduling. This algorithm adaptively selects a support set by utilizing a double threshold for the minimization of mean squared error and for accurate channel reconstruction. The proposed algorithm's performance is compared with existing Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) schemes such as random OMP, refined random OMP, and least square-based estimation. The numerical simulations suggest that the proposed adaptive algorithm provides performance improvement in terms of reduced Mean Squared Error (MSE) of channel reconstruction and Bit Error Rate (BER). Moreover, the proposed ARROMP algorithm for MIMO-FBMC is rigorously tested with CoMP scheduling for a cellular network using frequency division duplex mode. The proposed system presents significant improvements in throughput and spectral efficiency for all types of cell users, including cell-edge users. The simulation results validate the improved performance of the proposed algorithm with CoMP scheduling over the existing single-cell system with no coordination

SARS-CoV-2 vaccination modelling for safe surgery to save lives: data from an international prospective cohort study

Background Preoperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination could support safer elective surgery. Vaccine numbers are limited so this study aimed to inform their prioritization by modelling. Methods The primary outcome was the number needed to vaccinate (NNV) to prevent one COVID-19-related death in 1 year. NNVs were based on postoperative SARS-CoV-2 rates and mortality in an international cohort study (surgical patients), and community SARS-CoV-2 incidence and case fatality data (general population). NNV estimates were stratified by age (18-49, 50-69, 70 or more years) and type of surgery. Best- and worst-case scenarios were used to describe uncertainty. Results NNVs were more favourable in surgical patients than the general population. The most favourable NNVs were in patients aged 70 years or more needing cancer surgery (351; best case 196, worst case 816) or non-cancer surgery (733; best case 407, worst case 1664). Both exceeded the NNV in the general population (1840; best case 1196, worst case 3066). NNVs for surgical patients remained favourable at a range of SARS-CoV-2 incidence rates in sensitivity analysis modelling. Globally, prioritizing preoperative vaccination of patients needing elective surgery ahead of the general population could prevent an additional 58 687 (best case 115 007, worst case 20 177) COVID-19-related deaths in 1 year. Conclusion As global roll out of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination proceeds, patients needing elective surgery should be prioritized ahead of the general population.The aim of this study was to inform vaccination prioritization by modelling the impact of vaccination on elective inpatient surgery. The study found that patients aged at least 70 years needing elective surgery should be prioritized alongside other high-risk groups during early vaccination programmes. Once vaccines are rolled out to younger populations, prioritizing surgical patients is advantageous