Multi-criteria assessment to screen climate smart rice establishment techniques in coastal rice production system of India

Introduction: Conventional rice production techniques are less economical and more vulnerable to sustainable utilization of farm resources as well as significantly contributed GHGs to atmosphere. Methods: In order to assess the best rice production system for coastal areas, six rice production techniques were evaluated, including SRI-AWD (system of rice intensification with alternate wetting and drying (AWD)), DSR-CF (direct seeded rice with continuous flooding (CF)), DSR-AWD (direct seeded rice with AWD), TPR-CF (transplanted rice with CF), TPR-AWD (transplanted rice with AWD), and FPR-CF (farmer practice with CF). The performance of these technologies was assessed using indicators such as rice productivity, energy balance, GWP (global warming potential), soil health indicators, and profitability. Finally, using these indicators, a climate smartness index (CSI) was calculated. Results and discussion: Rice grown with SRI-AWD method had 54.8 % higher CSI over FPR-CF, and also give 24.5 to 28.3% higher CSI for DSR and TPR as well. There evaluations based on the climate smartness index can provide cleaner and more sustainable rice production and can be used as guiding principle for policy makers.publishedVersio

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ∼ 1.7 {{s}} with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of {40}-8+8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 {M}ȯ . An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ∼ 40 {{Mpc}}) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ∼ 9 and ∼ 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.</p

Phenotypic and genotypic assessment of elite rice varieties for brown plant hopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stål.) resistance

Popular rice varieties from India which exhibited field resistance against Brown Plant Hopper attack were selected to validate their resistance reaction. Genotyping using twenty-four gene-specific markers for BPH resistance was carried out. Besides this, phenotyping of morpho-economic traits along with resistance reaction was performed. Stepwise regression of phenotypic data showed that the traits viz. trichome number, leaf area and leaf number per tiller were significantly correlated to BPH damage score, while the traits, grains per panicle, tiller number, plant height and leaf number per plant contributed significantly towards seed yield. It was observed that there was a positive association between leaf area and BPH damage while trichome number was negatively associated, causing decreasing value in damage score. In the case of yield, except leaf number per plant, others traits showed a positive association. Further, PCA biplot analysis results confirmed the findings. Phenotypically, the rice variety Hasanta exhibited the highest BPH resistance followed by Jyotirmayee, Mahanadi, Konark and Pratap. Out of the twenty-four gene-specific markers, six markers exhibited polymorphism and RM247 showed the highest polymorphic information content (PIC) value. Cluster analysis of the varieties based on the marker data placed the variety Hasanta in a separate cluster, confirming its distinctness. Genotyping confirmed the genetic nature of BPH resistance in Hasanta variety. The cluster 2.2a included the highest number of varieties based on genetic similarity although it comprised of resistant, moderately resistant and susceptible types. This finding indicated that phenotypic variation within genotypic similar groups might be due to environment or different sources of origin. Hence, this phenotypic and genotypic variation among the genotypes would be useful for selecting elite and potential BPH-resistant donors in a crop improvement program

Study of drug resistance in pulmonary tuberculosis cases in south coastal Karnataka

The present cross-sectional study was conducted for the first time from the Udupi district of coastal Karnataka to know the prevalence of drug resistance and comparative analysis of MDR and non-MDR cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. Details of 862 smear positive cases of pulmonary tuberculosis with age ⩾15 years from 12 designated microscopy centres of the Udupi district were studied. Initially 2 sputum samples trailed by one follow-up sample were collected from each patient and processed for culture and drug sensitivity on the Lowenstein-Jensen medium. A total resistance of 33.4% was observed that includes the mono-resistance of 22.5%, multidrug resistance (MDR) of 6.3% and extensive drug resistance (XDR) of 0.3%. Significant odds ratio (OR) was observed in category 2 cases (OR 3.9) for the development of MDR tuberculosis. A significant statistical association was observed using Fisher’s exact test while comparing mortality rate (19.3% vs. 1.8%), treatment failure (8.8% vs. 3.8%) and cure rate (68.4% vs. 85.4%) between MDR and non-MDR cases (p < 0.001). Category 2 patients are important risk factors for the development of MDR in pulmonary tuberculosis. Due to high mortality and low cure rate in MDR cases it is imperative to know the drug sensitivity report before institution of anti-tubercular treatment

Identification of Deleterious Mutations in Myostatin Gene of Rohu Carp (Labeo rohita) Using Modeling and Molecular Dynamic Simulation Approaches

The myostatin (MSTN) is a known negative growth regulator of skeletal muscle. The mutated myostatin showed a double-muscular phenotype having a positive significance for the farmed animals. Consequently, adequate information is not available in the teleosts, including farmed rohu carp, Labeo rohita. In the absence of experimental evidence, computational algorithms were utilized in predicting the impact of point mutation of rohu myostatin, especially its structural and functional relationships. The four mutations were generated at different positions (p.D76A, p.Q204P, p.C312Y, and p.D313A) of MSTN protein of rohu. The impacts of each mutant were analyzed using SIFT, I-Mutant 2.0, PANTHER, and PROVEAN, wherein two substitutions (p.D76A and p.Q204P) were predicted as deleterious. The comparative structural analysis of each mutant protein with the native was explored using 3D modeling as well as molecular-dynamic simulation techniques. The simulation showed altered dynamic behaviors concerning RMSD and RMSF, for either p.D76A or p.Q204P substitution, when compared with the native counterpart. Interestingly, incorporated two mutations imposed a significant negative impact on protein structure and stability. The present study provided the first-hand information in identifying possible amino acids, where mutations could be incorporated into MSTN gene of rohu carp including other carps for undertaking further in vivo studies

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Not AvailablePresently, the world is suffering from the declining trend of crop yields globally, making food security a major challenge. The limited availability of arable land and water resources has made this challenge even bigger. Recent research-based studies depict that, in many developing countries, poor soil fertility, lower availability of mineral nutrients in soil, improper nutrient management, along with the lack of plant genotypes having high tolerance to nutrient deficiencies or toxicities are major constraints leading to food insecurity, malnutrition (i.e., micronutrient deficiencies), and degradation of ecosystem. It has been stated that 60% of our cultivated soils have growth-limiting problems with deficiencies and toxic-ities of available mineral nutrients. About 50% of the world population suffers from micronutrient de-ficiencies that make mineral nutrition studies a major promising area in meeting the global demand for sufficient food production with enhanced nutritional value. Integration of plant adaptation strategies in such soils using genetics and plant breeding and molecular biology is indispensable in developing plant genotypes with high genetic potential to acclimatize such nutrient-deficient and toxic soil conditions to translocate more micronutrients into edible plant parts such as cereal grains. Thus, plant nutrition research provides invaluable information, which is highly useful in elimination of these constraints, and leads to sustain the food security and well-being of humans without harming the environment. Keeping all these points in mind this chapter helps in understanding the mechanisms and strategies of plant in nutrient-deficient and toxic soil conditions. hysiological mechanisms and adaptation strategies of plants under nutrient deficiency and toxicity conditions. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352055185_Physiological_mechanisms_and_adaptation_strategies_of_plants_under_nutrient_deficiency_and_toxicity_conditions [accessed Jun 12 2021].Not Availabl

Modeling storm surge and its associated inland inundation extent due to very severe cyclonic storm Phailin

A hindcast simulation of storm surge and inundation from tropical cyclone Phalin, which made landfall at Odisha, India, on 12 October 2013, was carried out using ADCIRC model. Model-simulated inundation extent matched well with field surveys at Ganjam, Odisha, within a few days of landfall. Further, the model reproduced the temporal evolution of the surge residual with respect to observations from a tide gauge at Paradip (correlation 0.8, RMSE 0.26 m). However, the model marginally underestimated the magnitude with respect to observations, which can be attributed to the lack of wave setup in the model and uncertainty in wind and pressure information. The experiment also involved the use of two idealized scenarios, that is, variation of landfall timings with the ebbing and high tide phase. These scenarios were required for better understanding the sensitivity of inundation to the phase of tide in the model. Simulation with landfall at flooding (ebbing) tide showed greater (lower) inundation than the real scenario. Results from idealized scenarios confirmed the significance of the accuracy needed in forecasting landfall time. Our results clearly indicate that the overall performance of the model is good and therefore is of potential use as a tool to forewarn disaster management authorities