Effect of degree of salinity on seed germination and initial growth of chickpea (Cicer arietinum)

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the main pulse crops cultivated mostly in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, very often on saline lands. The problem is that it has not been clearly determined yet what is the safe salinity degree for obtaining uniform and vigorous sprouts of the crop without significant suppression in the parameters of initial growth and development. The goal of our study was to determine the effect of different NaCl concentrations in solutions on chickpea germination and initial growth to determine the safe degree of salinity for the crop cultivation. The study was carried out in greenhouse conditions of Kherson State Agrarian University. We studied the effect of five different gradually increasing degrees of NaCl solutions on the germination percentage and initial growth of chickpea (variety Rosanna, kabuli type) that was germinated in laboratory conditions in flasks filled with sand, at the temperature of 25 oC. A significant decrease in all the studied parameters was observed with the increase of salinity degree. However, we think that a considerable decrease of the crop germination and initial growth started with NaCl concentration of 1.79 g/L: germination percentage decreased by 33.9%, plant height – by 7.8 cm, root length – by 5.5 cm in comparison to the control variant (not saline conditions). Therefore, we conclude that the chickpea can be efficiently cultivated on slightly-saline lands. Besides, the results of linear regression analysis revealed that the most susceptible stage of chickpea growth and development is germination because this stage had strong close inter-connection with the degree of salinity. Further growth of the crop was less affected by the salinity stress. We recommend cultivation of chickpea on the saline lands only with a slight salinity level

A framework for evaluating automatic image annotation algorithms

Several Automatic Image Annotation (AIA) algorithms have been introduced recently, which have been found to outperform previous models. However, each one of them has been evaluated using either different descriptors, collections or parts of collections, or "easy" settings. This fact renders their results non-comparable, while we show that collection-specific properties are responsible for the high reported performance measures, and not the actual models. In this paper we introduce a framework for the evaluation of image annotation models, which we use to evaluate two state-of-the-art AIA algorithms. Our findings reveal that a simple Support Vector Machine (SVM) approach using Global MPEG-7 Features outperforms state-of-the-art AIA models across several collection settings. It seems that these models heavily depend on the set of features and the data used, while it is easy to exploit collection-specific properties, such as tag popularity especially in the commonly used Corel 5K dataset and still achieve good performance

Advanced Luminescence Imaging of CIGS Solar Cells

The importance of CIGS based solar cells for terrestrial application increases steadily. A key issue for a high production yield are efficient inspection tools at the early stage of the production process. The present contribution focuses on imaging characterization of CIGS solar cells including photo and electroluminescence. PL imaging does not need electrical contacts and can be applied after the absorber deposition prior to the TCO deposition and the completion of the module. The effect of heat treatment on thermally evaporated In2S3 buffer layer with respect to the device performance is studied on the absorber amp;buffer stack by PL imaging. The correlation between PL intensity with achieved open circuit voltages of the completed devices has been established. It will be concluded that the quality of the buffer layer and the interface is well detectable at this early stage by PL imaging. The other issue addressed in this contribution is a characterization of graded gap absorbers by EL imaging. It will be demonstrated that luminescence imaging using optical bandpass filters can be used for the evaluation of the bandgap grading of CIGS absorbers fabricated by sequential processes. Furthermore, lateral inhomogeneities with respect to the In Ga intermixing can be detected already after the absorber deposition by the proposed PL imaging metho

Should Part M lead to more inclusive designs?: built environment professionals' perspective

An inclusive built environment design should reflect the fact that most people experience changes in the level of abilities during the different stages in life. The design should facilitate greater participation and inclusion of people of all ages and abilities by providing accessible and usable environments. Unfortunately, it is observed that some built environments pose challenges with regards to accessibility and usability for people with a range of impairment. The current Part M of the Building Regulations and the associated Approved Document underline basic minimum statutory requirement and suggest reasonable provision to ensure buildings are accessible and useable. An e-survey carried out on 104 construction professionals such as building control officers, planners and building surveyors revealed a greater need for engagement of built environment professionals to understand the inclusive design perspective. This is because compliance with Part M of Building Regulations does not necessarily cater to the needs of users with all types of impairment

Investigation of β-carotene–gelatin composite particles with a multiwavelength UV/vis detector for the analytical ultracentrifuge

A multiwavelength UV/vis detector for the analytical ultracentrifuge (MWL-AUC) has been developed recently. In this work, β-carotene–gelatin composite particles are investigated with MWL-AUC. Band centrifugation with a Vinograd cell is used to ensure maximum sample separation. Spectral changes of the system are observed in dependence of the sedimentation coefficient and are attributed to a previously unknown inhomogeneity of the β-carotene chemical composition with both H- and J-aggregates coexisting in a mixture. In addition, our data suggest that pure H- and J-aggregates exist in a particle while their relative concentrations in a mixture determine the color characteristics of the sample. The unique abilities and properties of MWL-AUC include sedimentation coefficient distributions for all possible wavelengths, full UV/vis spectra of each different species in the mixture and 3D movies of the sedimentation process. These properties significantly extend the scope of the analytical ultracentrifuge technique and show that complex biopolymer multicomponent mixtures can be resolved into their individual species

Study of the prevalence of hypersensitivity β-lactam antibiotics among the population of Ukraine

Алергічні реакції до ß-лактамних антибіотиків є найбільш частою причиною побічних медикаментозних реакцій, опосередкованих специфічними імунологічними механізмами. Метою даної роботи було визначення поширеності гіперчутливості до ß-лактамних антибіотиків серед населення шляхом дослідження анамнестичних даних і проведення алергологічного обстеження для підвищення безпеки антибіотикотерапії і поліпшення фармакоекономічного профілю лікування. Аллергические реакции к ß-лактамным антибиотикам является наиболее частой причиной побочных медикаментозных реакций, опосредованных специфическими иммунологическими механизмами. Целью данной работы было определение распространенности гиперчувствительности к ß-лактамным антибиотикам среди населения путем исследования анамнестических данных и проведение аллергологического обследования для повышения безопасности антибиотикотерапии и улучшения фармакоэкономического профиля лечения. Allergic reactions to β-lactam antibiotics are the most common cause of adverse drug reactions mediated by specific immunological mechanisms. The purpose of this work was to determine the prevalence of hypersensitivity to ß-lactam antibiotics among the population by studying anamnestic data and conducting an allergic examination to improve the safety of antibiotic therapy and improve the pharmacoeconomic profile of treatment

Sparse Kernel Learning for Image Annotation

In this paper we introduce a sparse kernel learning frame-work for the Continuous Relevance Model (CRM). State-of-the-art image annotation models linearly combine evidence from several different feature types to improve image anno-tation accuracy. While previous authors have focused on learning the linear combination weights for these features, there has been no work examining the optimal combination of kernels. We address this gap by formulating a sparse kernel learning framework for the CRM, dubbed the SKL-CRM, that greedily selects an optimal combination of ker-nels. Our kernel learning framework rapidly converges to an annotation accuracy that substantially outperforms a host of state-of-the-art annotation models. We make two surprising conclusions: firstly, if the kernels are chosen correctly, only a very small number of features are required so to achieve superior performance over models that utilise a full suite of feature types; and secondly, the standard default selection of kernels commonly used in the literature is sub-optimal, and it is much better to adapt the kernel choice based on the feature type and image dataset

Performance of a fast fiber based UV/Vis multiwavelength detector for the analytical ultracentrifuge

The optical setup and the performance of a prototype UV/Vis multiwavelength analytical ultracentrifuge (MWL-AUC) is described and compared to the commercially available Optima XL-A from Beckman Coulter. Slight modifications have been made to the optical path of the MWL-AUC. With respect to wavelength accuracy and radial resolution, the new MWL-AUC is found to be comparable to the existing XL-A. Absorbance accuracy is dependent on the light intensity available at the detection wavelength as well as the intrinsic noise of the data. Measurements from single flashes of light are more noisy for the MWL-AUC, potentially due to the absence of flash-to-flash normalization in the current design. However, the possibility of both wavelength and scan averaging can compensate for this and still give much faster scan rates than the XL-A. Some further improvements of the existing design are suggested based on these findings

OBSERVATIONS ON NAVICULA THALLODES (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE), A BLADE-FORMING DIATOM FROM THE BERING SEA 1

A thallus-forming diatom, Navicula thallodes Proschkina-Lavrenko, previously known only from the original collection at Bering Island (U.S.S.R.), has been found at Amchitka Island in the Aleutians, Alaska. The most remarkable observation of the present report is that N. thallodes may form blades up to 50 cm long, which to our knowledge is the greatest length reported for a colonial diatom. SEM observations of this diatom are presented for the first time.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65176/1/j.1529-8817.1988.tb04487.x.pd

An information-theoretic framework for semantic-multimedia retrieval

This article is set in the context of searching text and image repositories by keyword. We develop a unified probabilistic framework for text, image, and combined text and image retrieval that is based on the detection of keywords (concepts) using automated image annotation technology. Our framework is deeply rooted in information theory and lends itself to use with other media types. We estimate a statistical model in a multimodal feature space for each possible query keyword. The key element of our framework is to identify feature space transformations that make them comparable in complexity and density. We select the optimal multimodal feature space with a minimum description length criterion from a set of candidate feature spaces that are computed with the average-mutual-information criterion for the text part and hierarchical expectation maximization for the visual part of the data. We evaluate our approach in three retrieval experiments (only text retrieval, only image retrieval, and text combined with image retrieval), verify the framework’s low computational complexity, and compare with existing state-of-the-art ad-hoc models