Isolation and identification of bacterial strains from different tea growing areas against Macrophoma sp. in southern India tea plantation

Branch canker is an important secondary stem disease in tea caused by Macrophoma theicola. Three different Macrophoma spp. were identified from three tea growing regions of southern India and their identity was confirmed by 18S rRNA method. Bacterial biocontrol isolated from four different locations of south India were also identified through 16S rRNA method. The bacterial strains were identified and evaluated for their antagonistic potential for the control of branch canker. Dual plate technique revealed that among the four bacterial strains, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (78.9±0.4) showed maximum level of antagonism against all the three strains of Macrophoma spp. followed by B. subtilis (72.9±0.6) and B. licheniformis (64.2±0.7). In culture filtrate studies also, B. amyloliquefaciens (80.2) was found to possess highest antagonistic activity against the test pathogen, followed by B. subtilis (74.8) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (69.0). Among these, one potent strain of B. amyloliquefaciens was taken for GC-MS study and their bioactive compounds were identified as 1H-indene, 1-methylene, 3-hexadecene (Z), benzene acetic acid, phenol, and caffeine. These compounds could be responsible for antifungal activity against branch canker pathogen

Bioefficacy of certain chemical and biofungicides against Hypoxylon spp. causing wood rot disease in tea

Wood rot disease caused by Hypoxylon serpens is the most widespread and serious stem disease in tea. Among the 350 bacterial and 35 fungal biocontrol isolates collected from several tea growing regions of southern India, three bacterial isolates produced higher antagonistic potential against this fungal pathogen. Two of the efficient strains were identified as Bacillus sp. (HBCWR-3 and WR46-2) and third one was Pseudomonas sp. (WR5-4). In case of fungal biocontrol agents, the type culture Trichoderma viride procured from Microbial Type Culture Collection (MTCC) performed better in controlling the pathogen over T. harzianum. Five systemic fungicides, hexaconazole, carbendazim, tebuconazole, tridemorph, benomyl and a contact fungicide, copper oxychloride were evaluated for studying their bioefficacy against wood rot pathogen. In this study, benomyl 50% WP or copper oxychloride at the lowest concentration (0.01%) completely inhibited the growth of the fungus in vitro. Moreover, bioefficacy of certain plant aqueous extracts of Azadirachta indica, acetone extracts of Pongamia pinnata, Cinnamom, Artemisia nilagirica, Lantana camera, Ageratum conyzoides and a bryophyte, Heteroscyphus argutus were also studied against H. serpens. Among them, A. nilagirica followed by H. argutus and A. indica were effective in controlling the wood rot pathogen. In the case of liquid biofungicides tested, ‘Expel’ controlled the tea pathogen efficiently. The present study revealed that, chemical fungicide (Benomyl or copper oxychloride at 0.01%), botanical extracts at 10% (A. nilagirica, H. argutus, Azadirachta and ‘Expel’) and biocontrol agents (Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp. and T. viride) were effective in controlling wood rot pathogen under in vitro condition

An End-to-End Automated License Plate Recognition System Using YOLO Based Vehicle and License Plate Detection with Vehicle Classification

An accurate and robust Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) method proves surprising versatility in an Intelligent Transportation and Surveillance (ITS) system. However, most of the existing approaches often use prior knowledge or fixed pre-and-post processing rules and are thus limited by poor generalization in complex real-life conditions. In this paper, we leverage a YOLO-based end-to-end generic ALPR pipeline for vehicle detection (VD), license plate (LP) detection and recognition without exploiting prior knowledge or additional steps in inference. We assess the whole ALPR pipeline, starting from vehicle detection to the LP recognition stage, including a vehicle classifier for emergency vehicles and heavy trucks. We used YOLO v2 in the initial stage of the pipeline and remaining stages are based on the state-of-the-art YOLO v4 detector with various data augmentation and generation techniques to obtain LP recognition accuracy on par with current proposed methods. To evaluate our approach, we used five public datasets from different regions, and we achieved an average recognition accuracy of 90.3% while maintaining an acceptable frames per second (FPS) on a low-end GPU

2,3,5-Triphenyl­pyrazine

In the title mol­ecule, C22H16N2, the pyrazine ring deviates very slightly from planarity [maximum deviation 0.044 (3) Å], tending towards a twist-boat conformation. The phenyl ring at position 3 makes dihedral angles of 64.0 (2) and 45.8 (2)°, respectively, with the phenyl rings at positions 2 and 5. The dihedral angle between the phenyl rings at positions 2 and 5 is 49.7 (2)°. A C—H⋯π inter­action is found in the crystal structure, but no classical hydrogen bonds form

Bioefficacy of efficient entomopathogenic fungus against branch canker pathogen (Macrophoma theicola) in tea plantations of southern India

Three branch canker pathogens, viz. NBCHE-6, UPA-61 and VPM were isolated from different tea growing districts of south India and four entomopathogenic fungus, viz. Beauveria bassiana, Paecilomyces lilacinus, Lecannicillium lecannii and Paecilomyces fumosoroseus were procured from the microbial type culture collection and gene bank (MTCC), Chandigarh. In vitro studies revealed that Beuveria bassiana showed highest antagonistic effect against NBCHE-6 (64.22) followed by Paecilomyces fumosoroseus against UPA-61(56.66). Paecilomyces lilacinus significantly controlled VPM (54.66), while Lecannicillium lecannii showed insignificantly control against VPM (47.33). While Beuveria bassiana and Paecilomyces lilacinus coiled around and shrink branch canker pathogen, Lecannicillium lecannii breaks into branch canker hyphae and Paecilomyces fumosoroseus produces more spore to kill branch canker. In culture filtrate studies, Paecilomyces fumosoroseus and Paecilomyces lilacinus showed maximum control of VPM (68.44) and UPA-61 (65.59). Beauveria bassiana also showed significant control of two isolates VPM and UPA-61 (54.44). Lecanniicillium lecannii showed least control of VPM (30.44). This study concludes that entomopathogens can significantly control branch canker pathogen (Macrophoma theicola)

A model to assess the technological level of small businesses

none2In this paper we present a three-dimensional framework (named Cu- be of Corporate Technological Level – CCTL) to evaluate the technological po- sition of small enterprises from different points of view. This framework has been developed from existing tools with similar goals, already proposed by oth- er authors. Compared to existing ones, this framework differs primarily for the inclusion of a collaborative perspective. It reflects the distinctive features of the latest interactive and web 2.0 tools (chat, blogs, forums, ...), that allow compa- nies to manage their relationships with the external stakeholders of the supply chain. The proposed framework has been applied to a sample of small business- es to test its validity. Some business cases with different positions in the Cube are described.This paper is the joint effort of the authors. Francesca Maria Cesaroni developed sections 1, 2 and 5 and Domenico Consoli sections 3 and 4.openF.M.Cesaroni; D.ConsoliCesaroni, FRANCESCA MARIA; D., Consol

Venetoclax induces deep hematologic remissions in t(11;14) relapsed/refractory AL amyloidosis

Venetoclax is efficacious in relapsed/refractory t(11;14) multiple myeloma, thus warranting investigation in light-chain amyloidosis (AL). This retrospective cohort includes 43 patients with previously treated AL, from 14 centers in the US and Europe. Thirty-one patients harbored t(11;14), 11 did not, and one t(11;14) status was unknown. Patients received a venetoclax-containing regimen for at least one 21- or 28-day cycle; the median prior treatments was three. The hematologic response rate for all patients was 68%; 63% achieved VGPR/CR. t(11;14) patients had higher hematologic response (81% vs. 40%) and higher VGPR/CR rate (78% vs. 30%, odds ratio: 0.12, 95% CI 0.02-0.62) than non-t(11;14) patients. For the unsegregated cohort, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 31.0 months and median OS was not reached (NR). For t(11;14), median PFS was NR and for non-t(11;14) median PFS was 6.7 months (HR: 0.14, 95% CI 0.04-0.53). Multivariate analysis incorporating age, sex, prior lines of therapy, and disease stage suggested a risk reduction for progression or death in t(11;14) patients. Median OS was NR for either subgroup. The organ response rate was 38%; most responders harbored t(11;14). Grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred in 19% with 7% due to infections. These promising results require confirmation in a randomized clinical trial

Protocol for the Foot in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis trial (FiJIA): a randomised controlled trial of an integrated foot care programme for foot problems in JIA

<b>Background</b>: Foot and ankle problems are a common but relatively neglected manifestation of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Studies of medical and non-medical interventions have shown that clinical outcome measures can be improved. However existing data has been drawn from small non-randomised clinical studies of single interventions that appear to under-represent the adult population suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis. To date, no evidence of combined therapies or integrated care for juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients with foot and ankle problems exists. <b>Methods/design</b>: An exploratory phase II non-pharmacological randomised controlled trial where patients including young children, adolescents and adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and associated foot/ankle problems will be randomised to receive integrated podiatric care via a new foot care programme, or to receive standard podiatry care. Sixty patients (30 in each arm) including children, adolescents and adults diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis who satisfy the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be recruited from 2 outpatient centres of paediatric and adult rheumatology respectively. Participants will be randomised by process of minimisation using the Minim software package. The primary outcome measure is the foot related impairment measured by the Juvenile Arthritis Disability Index questionnaire's impairment domain at 6 and 12 months, with secondary outcomes including disease activity score, foot deformity score, active/limited foot joint counts, spatio-temporal and plantar-pressure gait parameters, health related quality of life and semi-quantitative ultrasonography score for inflammatory foot lesions. The new foot care programme will comprise rapid assessment and investigation, targeted treatment, with detailed outcome assessment and follow-up at minimum intervals of 3 months. Data will be collected at baseline, 6 months and 12 months from baseline. Intention to treat data analysis will be conducted. A full health economic evaluation will be conducted alongside the trial and will evaluate the cost effectiveness of the intervention. This will consider the cost per improvement in Juvenile Arthritis Disability Index, and cost per quality adjusted life year gained. In addition, a discrete choice experiment will elicit willingness to pay values and a cost benefit analysis will also be undertaken

e3 service: A Critical Reflection and Future Research

Commercial services are of utmost importance for the economy. Due to the widespread use of information and communication technologies, many of these services may be delivered online by means of service value networks. To automate this delivery, however, issues such as composition, integration, and operationalization need to be addressed. In this paper, the authors share their long-term vision on composition of service value networks and describe relationships with fields such as cloud computing and enterprise computing. As a demonstration of the state of the art, capabilities and limitations of e 3 service are described and research challenges are defined