Variation in the grain properties of maize hybrids with different grain hardness characteristics and their response to nitrogen fertilizer in terms of milling quality : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Plant Science (Seed Technology) at Massey University

The proportion of grits and flour produced during the dry milling of maize (Zea mays L.) grain is related to the ratio of hard to soft endosperm. The quality standards required vary widely with different end uses, and for dry milling a hybrid with a 'hard' endosperm will usually yield the highest proportion of grits. The texture of the maize endosperm is variable and depends on the maize hybrid and agronomic conditions. In general the available literature showed protein concentration of the grain can be improved by nitrogen fertilizer application, and as the protein content increases, the amount of hard endosperm increases along with value to the miller. A field trial to investigate the effect of nitrogen fertilizer on grain yield and quality, especially grain protein content and hardness, was carried out at the Frewens block, Massey University in the 1994/95 season. Three maize hybrids (P3751, P3787 and A82-8 xNZ84) with three different endosperm textures (soft, intermediate and hard) were grown at two sowings (October and November) with three different nitrogen levels (0, 250, 500kg urea/ha). Urea fertilizer was applied as a side dressing and split into three application times, i.e. at the three leaf stage, at canopy closure and at the 50% silking stage. Plant growth and development were measured by counting the leaf number and leaf appearance rate, formation of the black layer and grain moisture dry down for each hybrid. Grain yields and yield components were measured for different nitrogen treatments at both sowings. Grain protein content was measured from total nitrogen percentage as determined by the Macro Kjeldhal method. Grain hardness was measured by a Stenvert Hardness Tester, while bulk density and grain moisture content were measured by a grain analysis computer. The total number of leaves per plant was greater in hybrid A82-8xNZ84 than hybrids P3787 and P3751 at both sowings, but rate of leaf appearance was faster for the November sowing than the October sowing. Formation of the 'black layer' (i.e physiological maturity) and moisture dry down rate was faster in hybrid P3787 than in hybrids P3751 and A82-8xNZ84 at both sowings. Grain yield was significantly increased at both sowings by the application of 250kg/ha urea, but not by the 500kg urea/ha treatment. Hybrid A82-8xNZ84 gave the highest yield and P3787 gave the lowest. The main yield components which differed between hybrids were number of grains per cob and 100-grain weight. Grain protein content increased progressively in response to the applied nitrogen fertilizer. Protein percentage increased from 8.81% in the control to 10.13% for 500kg urea/ha in the October sowing, and 8.72% in the control to 10.13% for 500kg urea/ha in the November sowing. At both sowings all three hybrids contained the highest amount of protein at the highest urea treatment i.e. 500kg urea/ha. Increased nitrogen application improved grain hardness. For those grains grown under higher nitrogen levels grinding resistance time, energy required for grinding and milling duration time were higher than grains grown when no urea was applied. Grain bulk density (test weight) increased as nitrogen increased. Hybrids A82-8xNZ84 and P3787 had higher grain hardness under the high nitrogen treatment than hybrid P3751. There was a strong, positive relationship between grain protein content and Stenvert Hardness Test parameters at both sowings. When nitrogen was applied grain contained a higher amount of protein (which presumably made grain harder) than the no applied nitrogen treatment. Inherent endosperm texture was not changed by the increased protein percentage as the soft endosperm hybrid did not show an improved hardness, but the intermediate and hard endosperm hybrids showed an improvement in this regard. Results from both sowings indicated grain yield, protein and hardness quality can be improved by applying nitrogen fertilizer. This has implications for dry milling, where hard grain is a necessity for higher grits recovery

Folk Medicinal Plants Used by Local Herbalists in and around Rajshahi Metropolitan City, Bangladesh

Folk medicinal plants used by local herbalists in and around Rajshahi metropolitan city were recorded. The study include 111 medicinal plants used to cure various diseases such as diarrhea, diabetes, toothache, fever, worm, snake-bite, blood disease, cough, menstrual disease, wound, itches, chicken pox, constipation, dysentery, eczema, piles, sex problems, skin diseases, headache, anemia, burning sensation, bronchitis, paralysis, jaundice, asthma,etc. Finally, this study shows that traditional medicine really contributes to the health care of the population and deserves to be accompanied. The identified medicinal plants will guide future research into natural substances for the development of improved traditional medicines

Domestic Violence Against Women in Bangladesh: Nature, Reasons and Policy Guidelines

Domestic violence is a pattern of assault and coercive behavior including physical, sexual and psychological attacks, by a person against his/her own intimate partner. Women are more frequently the victims. Domestic violence against women in Bangladesh is a major social problems and barriers to national development. In a patriarchal society like Bangladesh woman always remain subordinate to male and sometimes become victim of repression. This article provides a scenario of different forms of domestic violence against women. As well as reasons of domestic violence i.e., social, cultural, traditional, religion, economical, legal and psychological were also explored and some policy guidelines have been suggested. Keywords: Domestic Violence, Woman, Empowerment, Bangladesh DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/11-8-02 Publication date: April 30th 202

Food taboo of taking pineapple and milk at a time

The purpose of this study was to assess whether potential toxic interactions occur between the pineapple and milk following oral administration in rats by comparing clinical signs, hematological and biochemical parameters with the normal control and toxic standard groups. Pineapple and milk solutions were made by 1:1 (PMS1) and 2:1 (PMS2) ratio, administered 12 mL/kg body weight. Forty rats were equally divided into 4 groups treated for 3 days: a) normal control (only vehicle treated); b) toxic standard (CCl4 was suspended in corn oil, 20% v/v; treated 1.25 mL/kg), c) PMS1 and d) PMS2 groups. CCl4 administration altered the normal behavior, changes gross and microscopic morphology. Toxicity related hematological and serum biochemistry changed significantly (p<0.05) than the normal group. However, all these clinical and pathological changes were completely absent in PMS treated groups. These results suggest that taking pineapple with milk is not toxic and this food taboo is wrong

Efficient Mission Planning for Robot Networks in Communication Constrained Environments

Many robotic systems are remotely operated nowadays that require uninterrupted connection and safe mission planning. Such systems are commonly found in military drones, search and rescue operations, mining robotics, agriculture, and environmental monitoring. Different robotic systems may employ disparate communication modalities such as radio network, visible light communication, satellite, infrared, Wi-Fi. However, in an autonomous mission where the robots are expected to be interconnected, communication constrained environment frequently arises due to the out of range problem or unavailability of the signal. Furthermore, several automated projects (building construction, assembly line) do not guarantee uninterrupted communication, and a safe project plan is required that optimizes collision risks, cost, and duration. In this thesis, we propose four pronged approaches to alleviate some of these issues: 1) Communication aware world mapping; 2) Communication preserving using the Line-of-Sight (LoS); 3) Communication aware safe planning; and 4) Multi-Objective motion planning for navigation. First, we focus on developing a communication aware world map that integrates traditional world models with the planning of multi-robot placement. Our proposed communication map selects the optimal placement of a chain of intermediate relay vehicles in order to maximize communication quality to a remote unit. We also vi propose an algorithm to build a min-Arborescence tree when there are multiple remote units to be served. Second, in communication denied environments, we use Line-of-Sight (LoS) to establish communication between mobile robots, control their movements and relay information to other autonomous units. We formulate and study the complexity of a multi-robot relay network positioning problem and propose approximation algorithms that restore visibility based connectivity through the relocation of one or more robots. Third, we develop a framework to quantify the safety score of a fully automated robotic mission where the coexistence of human and robot may pose a collision risk. A number of alternate mission plans are analyzed using motion planning algorithms to select the safest one. Finally, an efficient multi-objective optimization based path planning for the robots is developed to deal with several Pareto optimal cost attributes

Improving the crown rot resistance and tolerance of wheat using marker-assisted recurrent selection

Crown rot disease (Fusarium pseudograminearum) of wheat causes significant yield losses across Australia. However, the genetic control of crown rot resistance and tolerance is complex and traditional breeding strategies have proven ineffective. Marker Assisted Recurrent Selection (MARS) was examined as a strategy to more effectively pyramid the many minor genes controlling plant response to crown rot. Populations were developed from three-way crosses to (i) optimize screening procedures for crown rot, (ii) examine the relationship between resistance and tolerance, (iii) identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) linked to resistance and tolerance, (iv) pyramid QTLs using MARS and (v) confirm response to selection. Disease severity in greenhouse pot tests was less reliable than field screening using managed inoculum; hence field screening was used for all subsequent evaluations. In the MARS approach, materials from each population were genotyped and phenotyped by F4 for crown rot response and QTLs linked to crown rot resistance and/or tolerance identified. Consistent QTL, mapped to unique chromosomal regions, were then recombined in crossing to pyramid markers. Following two cycles of recombination, the progeny from both cycles of MARS, the base population and the original parents were compared for resistance and/or tolerance depending on the population. Resistance and tolerance (determined as reduced yield loss in the presence of crown rot) were independently inherited. A significant and positive response to selection was observed with some recombinants significantly more resistant and higher yielding than their parents. The genotypes identified and developed in this study combine multiple sources of resistance and tolerance and these materials and their associated markers can be used by the Australian wheat industry to improve wheat yield in the presence of crown rot

Roles of surfactant and binary polymers on dissolution enhancement of bcs ii drugs from nanocomposites and amorphous solid dispersions

Drug nanocomposites and amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs) are two major formulation platforms used for the bioavailability enhancement of BCS Class II drugs. The major drawback of nanocomposites is their inability to attain high drug supersaturation during in vitro (\u3c50% relative supersaturation) and in vivo dissolution. On the other hand, formulating an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) with high drug loading (\u3e20%) that releases drug rapidly, while generating and maintaining high supersaturation over at least three hours is challenging. The goal of this thesis is to develop a fundamental understanding of the impact of anionic surfactants–polymers on in vitro drug release from nanocomposites and ASDs, while addressing the above challenges. To achieve this goal, the following objectives are set: (1) compare griseofulvin (GF, drug) release from spray-dried nanocomposites and ASDs with identical formulation that has low GF:polymer (HPC/Soluplus) mass ratio (1:1 to 1:5) and an anionic surfactant (SDS), (2) examine the presence/absence of SDS on drug release from nanocomposites, (3) develop rapidly supersaturating ternary ASDs of GF with HPC/Sol and SDS as a minor component, (4) investigate GF release from ternary ASDs of GF with a hydrophilic, wettability-enhancing polymer (HPC/PVP-VA64) as a minor component and an amphiphilic polymer as drug precipitation inhibitor (Soluplus), and (5) apply the fundamental knowledge generated for GF to another BCS Class II drug, itraconazole (ITZ). Spray-drying of aqueous GF nanosuspensions with 1:5 GF:Sol–0.125% SDS has led to formation of a novel class of nanocomposites, HyNASDs, which have notable amorphous GF content (~5–20%). Their dissolution has generated 300% supersaturation within 20 min that is largely maintained after 3 h (250%). Such remarkable drug supersaturation is made possible by strong intermolecular interactions/miscibility between GF–Soluplus at 1:5 ratio and ensuing fast kinetic solubilization of GF nanoparticles upon contact of HyNASDs with water. While HyNASDs do not generate as high saturation as ASDs (480%), they can be rendered competitive to ASDs upon further optimization. The supersaturation generation by HyNASDs is affected by presence of SDS either in the formulation or in the dissolution medium, drug–polymer interactions/miscibility as well as the size of the drug (nano)crystals in the polymeric matrix. Incorporating even 1.23% SDS in Sol-based ASDs has led to dramatic increase in supersaturation (max. 570%), but it has no notable improvement for HPC-based ASDs. SDS provides Sol-based ASDs with enhanced wettability and augments Sol in solubilizing GF, without interfering with Sol’s ability to inhibit GF recrystallization. Combination of Sol with HPC/VA64 has led to a trade-off between rapid drug release and high supersaturation. A strong synergistic effect exists for the ASD with 11:1 Sol:VA64. The inclusion of a hydrophilic polymer as a minor component in an amphiphilic, precipitation-inhibiting polymer of a ternary ASD exhibited optimal drug release. General findings from GF regarding HyNASD formation and impact of SDS are applicable to ITZ as well. Overall, this thesis has generated fundamental knowledge about the impact of SDS and binary polymers on improved in vitro release of BCS Class II drugs