Deployment of genetic and genomic tools toward gaining a better understanding of Rice-Xanthomonasoryzae pv. oryzae interactions for development of durable bacterial blight resistant rice

Rice is the most important food crop worldwide and sustainable rice production is important for ensuring global food security. Biotic stresses limit rice production significantly and among them, bacterial blight (BB) disease caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is very important. BB reduces rice yields severely in the highly productive irrigated and rainfed lowland ecosystems and in recent years; the disease is spreading fast to other rice growing ecosystems as well. Being a vascular pathogen, Xoo interferes with a range of physiological and biochemical exchange processes in rice. The response of rice to Xoo involves specific interactions between resistance (R) genes of rice and avirulence (Avr) genes of Xoo, covering most of the resistance genes except the recessive ones. The genetic basis of resistance to BB in rice has been studied intensively, and at least 44 genes conferring resistance to BB have been identified, and many resistant rice cultivars and hybrids have been developed and released worldwide. However, the existence and emergence of new virulent isolates of Xoo in the realm of a rapidly changing climate necessitates identification of novel broad-spectrum resistance genes and intensification of gene-deployment strategies. This review discusses about the origin and occurrence of BB in rice, interactions between Xoo and rice, the important roles of resistance genes in plant’s defense response, the contribution of rice resistance genes toward development of disease resistance varieties, identification and characterization of novel, and broad-spectrum BB resistance genes from wild species of Oryza and also presents a perspective on potential strategies to achieve the goal of sustainable disease management

A Single-Tube, Functional Marker-Based Multiplex PCR Assay for Simultaneous Detection of Major Bacterial Blight Resistance Genes Xa21, xa13 and xa5 in Rice

AbstractIn marker-assisted breeding for bacterial blight (BB) resistance in rice, three major resistance genes, viz., Xa21, xa13 and xa5, are routinely deployed either singly or in combinations. As efficient and functional markers are yet to be developed for xa13 and xa5, we have developed simple PCR-based functional markers for both the genes. For xa13, we designed a functional PCR-based marker, xa13-prom targeting the InDel polymorphism in the promoter of candidate gene Os8N3 located on chromosome 8 of rice. With respect to xa5, a multiplex-PCR based functional marker system, named xa5FM, consisting of two sets of primer pairs targeting the 2-bp functional nucleotide polymorphism in the exon II of the gene TFIIAɤ5 (candidate for xa5), has been developed. Both xa13-prom and xa5FM can differentiate the resistant and susceptible alleles for xa13 and xa5, respectively, in a co-dominant fashion. Using these two functional markers along with the already reported functional PCR-based marker for Xa21 (pTA248), we designed a single-tube multiplex PCR based assay for simultaneous detection of all the three major resistance genes and demonstrated the utility of the multiplex marker system in a segregating population

A joint Fermi-GBM and Swift-BAT analysis of gravitational-wave candidates from the third gravitational-wave observing run

We present Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (Fermi-GBM) and Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift-BAT) searches for gamma-ray/X-ray counterparts to gravitational-wave (GW) candidate events identified during the third observing run of the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. Using Fermi-GBM onboard triggers and subthreshold gamma-ray burst (GRB) candidates found in the Fermi-GBM ground analyses, the Targeted Search and the Untargeted Search, we investigate whether there are any coincident GRBs associated with the GWs. We also search the Swift-BAT rate data around the GW times to determine whether a GRB counterpart is present. No counterparts are found. Using both the Fermi-GBM Targeted Search and the Swift-BAT search, we calculate flux upper limits and present joint upper limits on the gamma-ray luminosity of each GW. Given these limits, we constrain theoretical models for the emission of gamma rays from binary black hole mergers

Enhancement of fault diagnosis of rolling element bearing using maximum kurtosis fast nonlocal means denoising

In this paper, a modified nonlocal means denoising (NL-means) algorithm is proposed for rolling element bearing fault diagnosis. Although, nonlocal means denoising is widely used in image processing, this algorithm is rarely used in 1-D signal processing. The present work deals with application of 1-D nonlocal means denoising method for enhancement of fault signature in rolling element bearings. The parameters for the NL-means method are obtained by maximizing kurtosis value of bearing vibration signal. The proposed method is compared with minimum entropy deconvolution (MED) technique and the results indicate that the proposed method performs better for bearing fault diagnosis. The method is shown to be robust against various noise levels. Further, envelope spectrum of bearing vibration signal is also used to obtain characteristic bearing defect frequencies

Study of Correlation among total silica, free silica and HGI in different specific gravity fractions of coals from Karanpura coalfields and its impact in thermal power station

Coal samples from Balkundra, Bansgara, Hathidari, and Sounda block of Karanpura coalfields were wasthed at different specific gravity (1.40 to 1.80) and each gravity fraction is analysed for chemical composition of ash, Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) and other chemical properties with a focus on the correlation of free silica (a –quartz) with HGI. Quantitative data on quartz are important, as quartz endows coal with an abrasive propensity by virtue of its hardness (7.0 on Mohs hardness scale). Free silica is responsible for erosion of the boilers unit in thermal power stations and also responsible for abrasion effect in mining and grinding equipment. It was observed that with the increase in the value of free silica, HGI value decreases with some exception and in those cases it may be due to higher amount of fusinite in this coal as it has highest grindability value in comparison to other macerals. The data generated on total silica, free silica of coal ash and HGI of the coal studies have been subjected to regression and correlation analysis. Positive correlation have been found between free silica and HGI (R2 = 0.8

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Not AvailableRamie (Boehmeria nivea) is used commercially for fiber production. The fiber obtained from ramie plant is one of the strongest vegetable fiber known in the world today. It possesses highest strength and length, good durability and absorbency with excellent luster. These remarkable characters make it rather more suitable for use in the manufacture of wide variety of textiles and cordage products. However, despite its unique quality, ramie has received comparatively less prominence in the calendar of important crops of the world. Recently with the availability of more technical know how, the crop has started getting slightly more importance and the countries like China, Korea, India, Brazil and the Philippines have come forward with commercial cultivation with some or larger extent.Not Availabl

Instruction cache tuning for embedded multitasking applications

"This paper is a postprint of a paper submitted to and accepted for publication in IET Computers and Digital Techniques and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. The copy of record is available at IET Digital Library."With the advent of mobile and handheld devices, power consumption in embedded systems has become a key design issue. Recently, it has been shown that cache requirements of the applications vary widely and a significant amount of energy can be saved by tuning the cache parameters according to the needs of the application. To this end, techniques have been proposed to tune the cache for single-task-based systems but no work has been done to extend these techniques to multitasking applications. In this research work, the authors present novel, lightweight and fast techniques for energy-sensitive tuning of the instruction cache hierarchy for multitasking applications. Cache tuning for real-time operating systems (RTOS)-driven multitasking applications is achieved by intelligently separating the user tasks and RTOS components and profiling them in isolation to identify the nature of loops in them. We then apply the proposed techniques to tune a predictor-based filter cache hierarchy for instructions for both single-task-based applications and RTOS-driven multitasking applications. The proposed techniques are able to identify optimal or near-optimal filter and L1 cache sizes for all the applications tested and are up to an order of magnitude faster than exhaustive cache hierarchy simulation techniques. The proposed techniques are also highly scalable and can be relied upon to predict the instruction cache hit rate for any range of instruction cache sizes after a one-time simulation and profiling.Peer reviewe