Universally Optimal Multivariate Crossover Designs

In this article, universally optimal multivariate crossover designs are studied. The multiple response crossover design is motivated by a $3 \times 3$ crossover setup, where the effect of $3$ doses of an oral drug are studied on gene expressions related to mucosal inflammation. Subjects are assigned to three treatment sequences and response measurements on 5 different gene expressions are taken from each subject in each of the $3$ time periods. To model multiple or $g$ responses, where $g>1$, in a crossover setup, a multivariate fixed effect model with both direct and carryover treatment effects is considered. It is assumed that there are non zero within response correlations, while between response correlations are taken to be zero. The information matrix corresponding to the direct effects is obtained and some results are studied. The information matrix in the multivariate case is shown to differ from the univariate case, particularly in the completely symmetric property. For the $g>1$ case, with $t$ treatments and $p$ periods, for $p=t \geq 3$, the design represented by a Type $I$ orthogonal array of strength $2$ is proved to be universally optimal over the class of binary designs, for the direct treatment effects.Comment: 17 Pages, 2 Figure

Assessing Habitat Quality of Forest-Corridors through NDVI Analysis in Dry Tropical Forests of South India: Implications for Conservation

Most wildlife habitats and migratory routes are extremely threatened due to increasing demands on forestland and forest resources by burgeoning human population. Corridor landscape in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRT) is one among them, subjected to various anthropogenic pressures. Human habitation, intensive farming, coffee plantations, ill-planned infrastructure developments and rapid spreading of invasive plant species Lantana camara, pose a serious threat to wildlife habitat and their migration. Aim of this work is to create detailed NDVI based land change maps and to use them to identify timeseries trends in greening and browning in forest corridors in the study area and to identify the drivers that are influencing the observed changes. Over the four decades in BRT, NDVI increased in the core area of the forest and reduced in the fringe areas. The change analysis between 1973 and 2014 shows significant changes; browning due to anthropogenic activities as well as natural processes and greening due to Lantana spread. This indicates that the change processes are complex, involving multiple driving factors, such as socio-economic changes, high population growth, historical forest management practices and policies. Our study suggests that the use of updated and accurate change detection maps will be useful in taking appropriate site specific action-oriented conservation decisions to restore and manage the degraded critical wildlife corridors in human-dominated landscape

Mutagenic potential of Indian tobacco products

The mutagenic potential of aqueous extracts of masheri (ME), chewing tobacco alone (CTE) and a mixture of chewing tobacco plus lime (CTLE) was tested using the Ames assay. ME exhibited mutagenicity in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 upon metabolic activation with aroclor-1254-induced rat liver S9, while nitrosation rendered it mutagenic in TA100 and TA102. CTE exhibited borderline mutagenicity in the absence or presence of S9 in TA98 and TA100 and after nitrosation in TA102, while nitrosation led to doubling of TA98 and TA100 revertants. In contrast, CTLE exhibited direct mutagenicity in TA98, TA100 and TA102, was mutagenic to TA98 upon S9 addition and induced mutagenic responses in all three tester strains after nitrosation. Experiments using scavengers of reactive oxygen species (ROS) suggested that CTLE-induced oxidat-ive damage in TA102 was mediated by a variety of ROS. The high mutagenic potency of CTLE vis a vis that of CTE may be attributed to changes in the pH leading to differences in the amount and nature of compounds extracted from tobacco. Thus, exposure to a wide spectrum of tobacco-derived mutagcns and promutagens may play a critical role in the development of oral cancer among users of tobacco plus lime

Edge effect compensation for citrus canker lesion detection due to light source variation – a hyperspectral imaging application

The spread of citrus canker has become one of the most important challenges faced by Florida Fresh Market citrus is affecting the export of citrus fruits to several international markets including European countries.  Previous studies have shown that automated detection systems can help detect citrus canker infected fruit and could assist in eliminating the detected fruit from shipment to closed markets.  Most automated detection systems use some form of machine vision with artificial light sources.  However, when capturing images of spherical objects, non-uniform illumination results in an edge blackening effect resulting in higher misclassification rate.  The basic objective of this research was to implement a compensation algorithm to eliminate the edge effect when capturing hyperspectral image of citrus fruits.  The algorithm originally developed by Gomez et al. 2007, was adapted for the purpose of canker detection.  The image was corrected for spatial variations (flat field correction) caused by intensity of light source as well as geometrical variation caused by the spherical geometry of the citrus fruit.  In this study, the geometric correction was accomplished by constructing a 3-D digital elevation model (DEM) of the fruit from its 2-D image.  This DEM provided the geometric properties of the fruit X, Y, and Z coordinates which were exploited in the course of estimating the geometric correction factor for each pixel.  The corrected image portrayed a more uniform brightness of the citrus fruit surface throughout.  Tests were conducted on 10 orange samples (five marketable and five cankerous) to validate the results of the algorithm which demonstrated that the geometric correction resulted in uniform intensity of radiation throughout the fruit surface thus reducing the within class variation.   Keywords: edge effect compensation, hyperspectral imaging, canker, spatial correction, geometric correctio

Can We Picture Equity? Critically Examining Cross-Cultural Short-Term Project Collaborations

This paper explores equity challenges common to short-term cross-cultural research partnerships. We focus on a project-based activity in which U.S. undergraduate students and college faculty taught middle-school students in Goa, India how to make podcasts about complex environmental problems. Project team members conducted a collaborative auto-ethnography focused on questions of power, leadership, collaboration, and equity, and examined exit-interview photo elicitation data to identify the core challenges of ethical and equitable short-term cross-cultural research and programming. Our use of photographs as conversation prompts helped to highlight contradictions and asymmetries along axes of power, cultural imperialism, knower-knowledge, age, race/ethnicity, social class, and gender. We reflect on possibilities for educational research that rejects a “voluntourism” model and moves, if imperfectly, toward more equitable international collaborations

Рутениевые катализаторы на углеродном носителе с контролируемым размером частиц для селективного гидрирования левулиновой кислоты в γ-валеролактон

Liquid phase levulinic acid hydrogenation into γ-valerolactone in 1,4-dioxane as a solvent (165°C, 20 bar) was studied over a range of Ru monometallic catalysts using mesoporous carbon material Sibunit as a support. In addition to the catalyst prepared by impregnation with RuCl3∙nH2O (0.1 M) followed by reduction in H2, size-controlled Ru(NPs)/Sibunit catalysts were synthesized by immobilization of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) stabilized Ru nanoparticles (NPs) (dRu=2.4 nm). Сarbon supported colloidal Ru NPs were not studied earlier in levulinic acid hydrogenation. Activity of colloidal Ru(NPs)/Sibunit catalysts was found to be lower than that of impregnated Ru/Sibunit which could be attributed to hampering effect of PVP. However, colloidal Ru(NPs)/Sibunit purified by thermal treatment in air (180°C) followed by reduction in H2 (400°C) exhibited the same activity as impregnated one yielding 93% γ-valerolactone at 100% levulinic acid conversion. Applicability of supported PVP-assisted colloidal Ru NPs in hydrogenation of levulinic acid illustrates a potential to prepare more efficient catalysts for this reaction with a desired particle size. The catalysts were characterized by TEM, XRF, and N2 physisorption to compare their physical chemical propertiesЖидкофазное гидрирование левулиновой кислоты (ЛК) в γ-валеролактон (ГВЛ) было изучено в присутствии Ru на мезопористом углеродном носителе Сибунит (растворитель 1,4-диоксан, 165 °C, давление водорода 20 бар). Наряду с катализаторами, приготовленными методом пропитки раствором RuCl3 nH2O (0,1 М) с последующим восстановлением в Н2, были синтезированы катализаторы Ru/Сибунит с контролируемым размером частиц Ru путем иммобилизации стабилизированных поливинилпирролидоном (ПВП) наночастиц (НЧ) Ru (dRu 2,4 нм), ранее не исследованные в гидрировании ЛК. Показано, что активность коллоидных Ru(НЧ)/Сибунит ниже, чем у пропиточных, что может быть обусловлено блокирующим эффектом ПВП. Обработка на воздухе (180 °C) с последующим восстановлением в водороде (400 °C) приводит к увеличению активности Ru(НЧ)/Сибунит до активности пропиточного Ru/Сибунит с селективностью 93 % по ГВЛ при 100%-й конверсии ЛК. Эффективность ПВП- стабилизированных коллоидных НЧ Ru в гидрировании ЛК открывает возможность получения более эффективных катализаторов для этой реакции с контролируемым размером частиц. Катализаторы изучены методами ПЭМ, РФлА и адсорбции азот

Effect of the G375C and G346E Achondroplasia Mutations on FGFR3 Activation

Two mutations in FGFR3, G380R and G375C are known to cause achondroplasia, the most common form of human dwarfism. The G380R mutation accounts for 98% of the achondroplasia cases, and thus has been studied extensively. Here we study the effect of the G375C mutation on the phosphorylation and the cross-linking propensity of full-length FGFR3 in HEK 293 cells, and we compare the results to previously published results for the G380R mutant. We observe identical behavior of the two achondroplasia mutants in these experiments, a finding which supports a direct link between the severity of dwarfism phenotypes and the level and mechanism of FGFR3 over-activation. The mutations do not increase the cross-linking propensity of FGFR3, contrary to previous expectations that the achondroplasia mutations stabilize the FGFR3 dimers. Instead, the phosphorylation efficiency within un-liganded FGFR3 dimers is increased, and this increase is likely the underlying cause for pathogenesis in achondroplasia. We further investigate the G346E mutation, which has been reported to cause achondroplasia in one case. We find that this mutation does not increase FGFR3 phosphorylation and decreases FGFR3 cross-linking propensity, a finding which raises questions whether this mutation is indeed a genetic cause for human dwarfism

On the inadequacy of environment impact assessments for projects in Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park of Goa, India : a peer review

The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is a regulatory framework adopted since 1994 in India to evaluate the impact and mitigation measures of projects, however, even after 25 years of adoption, EIAs continue to be of inferior quality with respect to biodiversity documentation and assessment of impacts and their mitigation measures. This questions the credibility of the exercise, as deficient EIAs are habitually used as a basis for project clearances in ecologically sensitive and irreplaceable regions. The authors reiterate this point by analysing impact assessment documents for three projects: the doubling of the National Highway-4A, doubling of the railway-line from Castlerock to Kulem, and laying of a 400-kV transmission line through the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park in the state of Goa. Two of these projects were recently granted ‘Wildlife Clearance’ during a virtual meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) without a thorough assessment of the project impacts. Assessment reports for the road and railway expansion were found to be deficient on multiple fronts regarding biodiversity assessment and projected impacts, whereas no impact assessment report was available in the public domain for the 400-kV transmission line project. This paper highlights the biodiversity significance of this protected area complex in the Western Ghats, and highlights the lacunae in biodiversity documentation and inadequacy of mitigation measures in assessment documents for all three diversion projects. The EIA process needs to improve substantially if India is to protect its natural resources and adhere to environmental protection policies and regulations nationally and globally