Evaluation of a seed storage facility in relation to preserving seed moisture, vigour and germination

The performance of a solar energy-assisted seed storage room was evaluated through an ordinary 22-m3 room that was retrofitted with a solar  collector, inlets and chimney. The structure was made of a solar collector to heat the ambient air before entering the chimney. The chimney  circulated the air inside the structure and inlets. To compare the performance of the modified storage room, a room with a similar capacity and  without the retrofitted components (control storage room) was used. Twelve 8 kg bags of maize were stored in each storage room for a period of  three months. Samples were taken every two weeks to determine germination rate, moisture content and seed vigour. The temperature and relative  humidity (RH) was measured during storage. The RH in the control storage was significantly higher (P≤0.05) (60.6 ± 5.87%) than in the  modified storage (40.1 ± 3.21%) during the day. However, at night, the RH in the control storage room was significantly lower (P≤0.05) (58.5 ± 7.32%)  than in the modified storage (63.7 ± 6.28%). The RH in the modified storage room increased from 40.1% during the day to 63.7% at night. The RH in  the control storage room decreased slightly from 60.6% to 58.5% during the day and night. The seed moisture content in the modified storage  facility was significantly lower (P≤0.05) (12.6 ± 0.21%) than in the control storage room (13.3 ± 0.52%). The moisture content in the modified storage  room decreased from 12.6% to 12.4%, whereas in the control room, moisture content increased from 12.6% to 13.8% in three months. The seed  germination rate obtained after three months of storage in the modified storage room was significantly higher (P≤0.05) (98.5 ± 0.85%) than in the  control storage room (96.8 ± 1.49%).The seed igour obtained in the modified storage room was significantly higher (93.6 ± 0.35%) than in the control  room (91.7 ± 2.08%) (P≤0.05). Seed stored in the control storage lost vigour at a faster rate, compared to the seeds stored in the modified storage room. Therefore, the modified naturally-ventilated seed storage room maintained seed quality better than the control storage room

A Roadmap for Astrophysics and Cosmology with High-Redshift 21 cm Intensity Mapping

In this white paper, we lay out a US roadmap for high-redshift 21 cm cosmology (30 < z < 6) in the 2020s. Beginning with the currently-funded HERA and MWA Phase II projects and advancing through the decade with a coordinated program of small-scale instrumentation, software, and analysis projects targeting technology development, this roadmap incorporates our current best understanding of the systematics confronting 21 cm cosmology into a plan for overcoming them, enabling next-generation, mid-scale 21 cm arrays to be proposed late in the decade. Submitted for consideration by the Astro2020 Decadal Survey Program Panel for Radio, Millimeter, and Submillimeter Observations from the Ground as a Medium-Sized Project.Comment: 10 pages (plus a cover page and references), 6 figures. Submitted as a APC White Paper for Astro202

HIRAX:A Probe of Dark Energy and Radio Transients

The Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) is a new 400-800MHz radio interferometer under development for deployment in South Africa. HIRAX will comprise 1024 six meter parabolic dishes on a compact grid and will map most of the southern sky over the course of four years. HIRAX has two primary science goals: to constrain Dark Energy and measure structure at high redshift, and to study radio transients and pulsars. HIRAX will observe unresolved sources of neutral hydrogen via their redshifted 21-cm emission line (`hydrogen intensity mapping'). The resulting maps of large-scale structure at redshifts 0.8-2.5 will be used to measure Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). HIRAX will improve upon current BAO measurements from galaxy surveys by observing a larger cosmological volume (larger in both survey area and redshift range) and by measuring BAO at higher redshift when the expansion of the universe transitioned to Dark Energy domination. HIRAX will complement CHIME, a hydrogen intensity mapping experiment in the Northern Hemisphere, by completing the sky coverage in the same redshift range. HIRAX's location in the Southern Hemisphere also allows a variety of cross-correlation measurements with large-scale structure surveys at many wavelengths. Daily maps of a few thousand square degrees of the Southern Hemisphere, encompassing much of the Milky Way galaxy, will also open new opportunities for discovering and monitoring radio transients. The HIRAX correlator will have the ability to rapidly and eXperimentciently detect transient events. This new data will shed light on the poorly understood nature of fast radio bursts (FRBs), enable pulsar monitoring to enhance long-wavelength gravitational wave searches, and provide a rich data set for new radio transient phenomena searches. This paper discusses the HIRAX instrument, science goals, and current status.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Effect of chitosan coating on the structural and magnetic properties of MnFe2O4 and Mn0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles

We report the influence of polymer coatings on structural and magnetic properties of MnFe2O4 and Mn0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 nanoferrites synthesized by glycol thermal technique and then coated with chitosan viz. CHI-MnFe2O4 and CHI-Mn0.5Co0.5Fe2O4. The compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetization measurements. The powder XRD patterns of naked nanoferrites confirmed single-phase spinel cubic structure with an average crystallite size of 13 nm, while the coated samples exhibited an average particle size of 15 nm. We observed a reduction in lattice parameters with coating. HRTEM results correlated well with XRD results. 57Fe Mössbauer spectra showed ordered magnetic spin states in both nanoferrites. This study shows that coatings have significant effects on the structural and magnetic properties of Mn-nanoferrites. Magnetization studies performed at room temperature in fields up to 14 kOe revealed the superparamagnetic nature of both naked and coated nanoparticles with spontaneous magnetizations at room temperature of 49.2 emu/g for MnFe2O4, 23.6 emu/g for coated CHI–MnFe2O4 nanoparticles, 63.2 emu/g for Mn0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 and 33.2 emu/g for coated CHI–Mn0.5Co0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles. We observed reduction in coercive fields due to coating. Overall, chitosan-coated manganese and manganese-cobalt nanoferrites present as suitable candidates for biomedical applications owing to physicochemical, and magnetic properties exhibited

1H-NMR and LC-MS Based Metabolomics Analysis of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Cultivars Irrigated with Fly Ash Treated Acid Mine Drainage

1H NMR and LC-MS, commonly used metabolomics analytical platforms, were used to annotate the metabolites found in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) irrigated with four different treatments based on FA to AMD ratios, namely: control (0% AMD; tap water), 1:1 (50% AMD), 3:1 (75% AMD is 75% FA: AMD), and 100% AMD (untreated). The effects of stress on plants were illustrated by the primary metabolite shifts in the region from &delta;H 0.0 to &delta;H 4.0 and secondary metabolites peaks were prominent in the region ranging from &delta;H 4.5 to &delta;H 8.0. The 1:3 irrigation treatment enabled, in two potato cultivars, the production of significantly high concentrations of secondary metabolites due to the 75% FA: AMD content in the irrigation mixture, which induced stress. The findings suggested that 1:1 irrigation treatment induced production of lower amounts of secondary metabolites in all crops compared to crops irrigated with untreated acid mine drainage treatment and with other FA-treated AMD solutions