A simple, rapid and efficient method for the extraction of genomic DNA from Allium roseum L. (Alliaceae)

The isolation of intact, high-molecular-mass genomic DNA is essential for many molecular biology applications including long range PCR, endonuclease restriction digestion, southern blot analysis, and genomic library construction. Many protocols are available for the extraction of DNA from plant material, but obtain it is difficult in many plants because of metabolites that interfere with DNA isolation procedures and subsequent applications. With frame of the present work, we developed the first reliable and efficient method for isolatingAllium roseum L. genomic DNA that is free from polysaccharides and polyphenols. This protocol uses 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8), 20 mM EDTA, 1.4 M NaCl, 3% PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone 40.000), 3% mercaptoethanol, and an incubation at 65°C for 1 h. The purity of isolated genomic DNA was confirmed by spectrophotometric analyses (A260/230 ratio of 1.947, A260/280 of 1.804). DNA was obtained in the amount of 189  Allium roseum L. genomic DNA that is free from polysaccharides and polyphenols. This protocol uses 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8), 20 mM EDTA, 1.4 M NaCl, 3% PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone 40.000), 3% mercaptoethanol, and an incubation at 65°C for 1 h. The purity of isolated genomic DNA was confirmed by spectrophotometric analyses (A260/230 ratio of 1.947, A260/280 of 1.804). DNA was obtained in the amount of 189 Allium roseum L. genomic DNA that is free from polysaccharides and polyphenols. This protocol uses 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8), 20 mM EDTA, 1.4 M NaCl, 3% PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone 40.000), 3% mercaptoethanol, and an incubation at 65°C for 1 h. The purity of isolated genomic DNA was confirmed by spectrophotometric analyses (A260/230 ratio of 1.947, A260/280 of 1.804). DNA was obtained in the amount of 189 g per gram of leaf material, and it proved amenable to restriction digestion

Effects of concurrent TeO2 reduction and ZnO addition on elastic and structural properties of (90 − x)TeO2–10Nb2O5–(x)ZnO glass

Niobium-containing tellurite glass with starting composition of (90 − x)TeO2–10Nb2O5–(x)ZnO (x = 0–15 mol%) have been prepared by melt-quenching method and the effect of reduction of TeO2 with simultaneous increase in ZnO on elastic properties was studied. Ultrasonic longitudinal and shear velocity showed initial decrease of 3.52% and 2.37%, respectively, at x = 5 mol%. For x > 5 mol%, longitudinal velocity showed weak recovery but shear velocity showed steady recovery with ZnO and recorded 0.95% increase in value at x = 15 mol% compared to x = 0 sample. Shear and Young's moduli recorded similar drop at x = 5 mol% followed by strong recovery at x > 5 mol%, while longitudinal and Bulk modulus showed weak and no recovery, respectively, with x. Infrared (IR) absorption spectra showed increase in intensity of NbO6-assigned peak accompanied by increase in intensity of ZnO4 tetrahedra and TeO4 trigonal bipyramid (tbp) assigned peaks indicating formation of both non-bridging oxygen, NBO and bridging oxygen, BO, respectively, with addition of ZnO. The initial drop in ultrasonic velocity and related elastic moduli observed at x = 5 mol% indicates weakening of network rigidity of the glass system due to structural modification as a direct effect of TeO2 reduction and existence of NBO. However, further replacement of TeO2 by ZnO at x > 5 mol% contributed to increase in BO causing rigidity of the glass network to improve. In addition, hardness, H, was observed to increase with ZnO indicating increase in connectivity of the glass network while Poisson's ratio, σ, decreased indicating increase in cross-link density of the glass system. The combined results of ultrasonic velocity and IR absorption spectra suggest that the role of TeO2 is very critical in the ternary glass system as, although ZnO addition showed improved rigidity due to recovery of shear modulus, the weakening of longitudinal and Bulk moduli indicates ZnO is not fully effective as glass former in place of TeO2

Reduced graphene oxide-multiwalled carbon nanotubes hybrid film with low Pt loading as counter electrode for improved photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitised solar cells

In this work, the role of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with hyperbranched surfactant and its hybridisation with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) as counter electrode (CE) were investigated to determine the photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs). Sodium 1,4-is(neopentyloxy)-3-(neopentyloxycarbonyl)- 1,4-dioxobutane-2-sulphonate (TC14) surfactant was utilised as dispersing and stabilising agent in electrochemical exfoliation to synthesise graphene oxide (GO) as initial solution for rGO production prior to its further hybridisation and fabrication as thin film. A chemical reduction process utilising hydrazine hydrate was conducted to produce rGO due to the low temperature process and water-based GO solution. Subsequently, hybrid solution was prepared by mixing 1 wt% MWCNTs into the produced rGO solution. TC14-rGO and TC14-rGO_MWCNTs hybrid solution were transferred into fluorine-doped tin oxide substrate to fabricate thin film by spraying deposition method. Finally, the CE films were prepared by coating with thin Pt NPs. Photoanode film was prepared by a two-step process: hydrothermal growth method to synthesise titanium dioxide nanowires (TiO2 NWs) and subsequent squeegee method to apply TiO2 NPs. According to solar simulator measurement, the highest energy conversion efficiency (η) was achieved by using CE-based TC14-rGO_MWCNTs/Pt (1.553%), with the highest short current density of 4.424 mA/cm2. The highest η was due to the high conductivity of CE hybrid film and the morphology of fabricated TiO2 NWs/TiO2 NPs. Consequently, the dye adsorption was high, and the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs was increased. This result also showed that rGO and rGO_MWCNTs hybrid can be used as considerable potential candidate materials to replace Pt gradually

Vectorial Formalism of Polyphase Synchronous Machine with Permanents Magnets

- This paper presents a mathematical model that transforms the real machine to fictitious machines and our goal is to simulate these and see the behavior of these machines in load. The polyphase machines are developed mainly in the field of variable speed drives of high power because increasing the number of phases on the one hand allows to reduce the dimensions of the components in power modulators energy and secondly to improve the operating safety. By a vector approach (vector space), it is possible to find a set of single-phase machine and / or two-phase fictitious equivalent to polyphase synchronous machine. These fictitious machines are coupled electrically and mechanically but decoupled magnetically. This approach leads to introduce the concept of the equivalent machine (multimachine multiconverter system MMS) which aims to analyze systems composed of multiple machines (or multiple converters) in electric drives. A first classification multimachine multiconverter system follows naturally from MMS formalism. We present an example of a pentaphase (polyphase) synchronous machine for a simulation and study the behavior of the machine load

Experimental results on the shear behaviour of steel fibre self-compacting concrete (SFSCC) beams

This paper presents an experimental test program that was carried out to investigate the shear performance of steel fibre self-compacting concrete (SFSCC) beams. In this paper, the mechanical performance of results from all mixtures used to cast normal concrete (NC), self-compacting concrete (SCC) and steel fibre self-compacting concrete (SFSCC) were also investigated. In total, 27 cubes, 9 cylinders, 9 prisms and 9 beams were prepared for the assessment of mechanical properties of three different mixtures. Four beams (125 mm × 250 mm × 2200 mm) were tested and cast using three different concrete mixtures, having two different spacing of stirrups as a result of 50% reduction of the stirrups amount. Three beams with different mixtures having similar stirrups spacing 125mm while the fourth beam with SFSCC mixes having 250mm stirrups spacing. The results show that the mechanical properties were positively affected with steel fibres inclusion. The addition of steel fibres showed an increment up to 40% in the shear load capacity for B-SFSCC125 compared to B-NC125 and B-SCC125. In addition, the crack pattern of B-SFSCC was found better than B-NC and B-SCC

The Genus Mimosa with Special Reference Tom. Quadrivalvis L. Var. Leptocarpa (D.c.) Earnedy, a New Species Record for the Weed Flora in Malaysia*)

An exploratory floristic survey of the genus Mimosa was conducted in 1993 to ascertain species diversity and their spatial patterns of distribution in Peninsular Malaysia. A new species record of uncertain indigene, M.. quadrivalvis was recorded for the first time in restricted localities along the roadsides in Pekan Darat and Bertam, Seberang Perai, Gurun and Bedong in Kedah in addition to widely distributed and seemingly ubiquitous presence of M. invisa Mart. ex. Colla and M. pudica L. The latter two species were mostly found in open, disturbed and derelict habitats, agricultural areas and ex-mining lands. Both species exhibited largely contagious and overdispersed distribution patterns with positive peaks in pattern intensity values although regularity or underdispersed distribution patterns do manifest in certain localities. The giant mimosa, M. pigra inhabited in clustered thickets, large pockets of lands in the urban and sub-urban localities in the states of Penang, Perak, Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan. In other states, M. pigra was confined to a few localities in smaller patches. Except for M. quadrivalvis, the other species of Mimosa are serious weeds in the agricultural, recreational and residential and derelict areas. A key to the Mimosa species is constructed along with brief descriptions on their morphology and ecology

Butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae) from Abu Hashish fringing reefs, Port Sudan, Red Sea

Using Reef Check Programme butterflyfishes of Abu Hashish fringing reefs were recorded during 2003 and 2013. The results showed that the numbers of species declined from nine to seven. Chi square test revealed that the number of butterflyfishes significantly decreased (p<0.00001). This reduction was attributed to continuous construction and anthropogenic actives Keywords: Butterflyfishes, Abu Hashish, Port Suda

SNR Improvement and Bandwidth Optimization Technique Using PCM-DSSS Encryption Scheme

Cryptography, the scheme of information stashing and verification, entirely deals with protocols, algorithms and strategies to ensure the precise security facility of the signal consistently by hindering unauthorized access to the confidential information. Albeit in most of the encryption schemes, certain impediments are faced by the service providers such as the expansion of required bandwidth, the fragile encryption technique, the consumption of maximum bandwidth in security purpose, less priority to improvement of SNR of the system, the complexity in decryption and so forth.  This paper illustrates the SNR enhancement & bandwidth optimization technique in security purpose using PCM- DSSS sample by sample encryption scheme. For this purpose, after sampling of a signal, simple mathematical operation is performed in each sample with a time varying arbitrary weights. This arbitrary weight can be obtained from D/A conversion of pseudo noise sequence. Since the bandwidth consumption in security purpose can be minimized in this scheme, a significant portion of unused bandwidth can be used to improve the SNR of the system by reducing quantization noise of encrypted samples. By the same token, the possibility of SNR improvement is demonstrated by reckoning the quantization noise while introducing additional quantization step