Extending Shelf-life of Different Cut-flowers under Cold Room Conditions

Uniform and healthy Rose cv. ‘Dutch'; Gerbera cv. ‘Lexington'; Gladiolus cv. ‘Top Secrate'; Tuberose cv. ‘Bizet' and Carnation cv. ‘Liberty' were used for the study in September 2016. Cut flowers were harvested at 7.00 am at proper stage, transported within 1.30 hours by AC car to the Agricultural Research Laboratory of Ecofrost Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Pune and then immediately prepared for post-harvest treatment and storage. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of different storage conditions, i.e. room and cold storage conditions (10°C + 93 % RH) on the longevity of the cut flowers. The two treatments viz., holding flowers at room temperature (RT) (T1) and at cold room conditions (T2), were replicated twice. The result showed that keeping cut-flowers at cold storage in a holding-solution of tap water recorded the maximum storage-life (days) compared to room conditions

Comparative study of Reinforced Concrete frame structure Steel-Concrete composite structure subjected to static and dynamic loading

The word lsquocompositersquo in composite material signifies that two or more materials are combined on a macroscopic scale to form a useful material and the individual materials are easily distinguishable. In the present work RCC structure with steel concrete composite options are considered for comparative study of G+20 story building which is situated in earthquake zone-II and for earthquake loading, the provisions of IS: 1893 (Part1)-2002 is considered. The design and analysis of the structure are carried out with the help of STAAD-PRO software. The results are compared and found that composite structure more economical

Overexpression of the gene for Rpb7 subunit of yeast RNA polymerase II rescues the phenotypes associated with absence of the largest, nonessential subunit Rpb4

The easily dissociable subcomplex of Rpb4 and Rpb7 subunits of yeast RNA polymerase II has been considered, for long, to play a role in stabilizing Pol II under stress. On the basis of previous genetic and biochemical observations, it was proposed that within the subcomplex one of the functions of Rpb4p is to stabilize the interaction between Rpb7p and the rest of Pol II. We took a direct approach to test the latter possibility by overexpression and mutagenesis of RPB7 in absence of Rpb4p. We report here the results, which support the latter hypothesis. While it has been previously reported that absence of Rpb4p results in reduction in overall transcription by Pol II, our comparative analysis of RNAs from RPB4 and rpb4d cells suggests that there are indeed several genes differentially expressed between the two cells. We propose that the qualitative differences in overall transcription in presence and absence of Rpb4p imply a more active role for Rpb4p in transcription of at least a subset of genes

Genome-wide expression profile of RNA polymerase II subunit mutant of yeast using microarray technology

Rpb4, the non-essential core subunit of RNA polymerase II has been assigned a function of regulating stress response in S. cerevisiae based mainly on phenotypes associated with its deletion. The actual mechanism has been elusive, although various hypotheses have been put forth. We have shown previously that it plays a significant role in activation of a subset of genes, rather than causing generalized defect in transcription. We used the microarray technology to look at the effect of this RNA polymerase subunit on the expression pattern of the entire S. cerevisiae genome. Many surprises emerged when we compared the genome-wide expression patterns of wild type and a mutant lacking the RPB4 gene (rpb4Δ) subjected to heat shock. The initial analysis of genes downregulated in the mutant showed that the co-regulation of genes is not position-dependent, although the locus carrying the deletion had unexpectedly a large cluster of down-regulated genes. We also found that among the known down-regulated genes, a majority is involved in hexose uptake and utilization. We speculate that this could potentially contribute to the slow growth rate of the mutant. Compared to the other components of the transcription machinery, the Rpb4 subunit affects a unique set of genes

Personal carbon allowances revisited

Here we discuss how personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could play a role in achieving ambitious climate mitigation targets. We argue that recent advances in AI for sustainable development, together with the need for a low-carbon recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, open a new window of opportunity for PCAs. Furthermore, we present design principles based on the Sustainable Development Goals for the future adoption of PCAs. We conclude that PCAs could be trialled in selected climate-conscious technologically advanced countries, mindful of potential issues around integration into the current policy mix, privacy concerns and distributional impacts

Emerging role of microRNAs in diagnosis and treatment of various diseases including ovarian cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a class of small non-coding RNAs that control gene expression by targeting messenger RNA (mRNA). Recently, it has been demonstrated that miRNA expression is altered in many human diseases including cancers, suggesting that miRNA may play a potential role in the pathogenesis of different diseases. It has also been reported that there is a unique expression pattern of miRNAs in the disease state differing from the normal state. In this review, we focus on the miRNA signatures in different human diseases including cancers. Such signatures may be used as diagnostic and prognostic markers

Automatic Caption Generation for Aerial Images: A Survey

Aerial images have attracted attention from researcher community since long time. Generating a caption for an aerial image describing its content in comprehensive way is less studied but important task as it has applications in agriculture, defence, disaster management and many more areas. Though different approaches were followed for natural image caption generation, generating a caption for aerial image remains a challenging task due to its special nature. Use of emerging techniques from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) domains have resulted in generation of accepted quality captions for aerial images. However lot needs to be done to fully utilize potential of aerial image caption generation task. This paper presents detail survey of the various approaches followed by researchers for aerial image caption generation task. The datasets available for experimentation, criteria used for performance evaluation and future directions are also discussed

Finite Element Analysis of Shear- Localization in High Speed Machining of Aisi 4340 Steel

Hardened AISI 4340 steel is one of the difficult-to-machine materials. As the cutting speed increases, the chip morphology changes from discontinuous chip, to continuous chip, to shear-localized chip. At speeds above this, the shear-localized chips continue to form except that instead of continuous series of segments in the chips, the segments get isolated. As the hardness of the workmaterial increases, these transitions occur at much lower speeds. To understand the mechanism of chip formation in high-speed machining of AISI 4340 steel, finite element analysis is used. It is a Lagrangian explicit finite element code available commercially (AdvantEdgeTM). To overcome the problems associated with extensive element distortion, adaptive meshing and remeshing are used. Johnson-Cook's material model that is capable of giving flow stresses at various strains, strain rates, and temperature is used along with Recht's catastrophic shear failure criterion. A user-subroutine (UMAT) is developed to incorporate Johnson-Cook's material model and Recht's catastrophic shear failure criterion in the finite element code. Effects of workmaterial hardness, cutting speed, tool rake angle, and contact length on the chip morphology, temperature, strains, forces, and power are investigated. Finite element analysis of the machining of AISI 4340 steel is studied for different hardness values, viz., 215 BHN, 325 BHN, and 520 BHN. The cutting speed used are 65 m/min and 488 m/min to machine AISI 4340 steel (215 BHN), 40 m/min, 125 m/min, and 275 m/min to machine AISI 4340 steel (325 BHN), 15 m/min and 61 m/min to machine AISI 4340 steel (520 BHN). The tool rake angles used for all the simulations are -15�, -5�, 15�, and 30� and the depth of cut used is 0.5 mm. The model is validated by comparing the simulation results with the experimental results published in the literature and also with the results from another finite element code, ABAQUS for which conventional method of Johnson-Cook's constitutive and damage model was used. The results of the present investigation agree reasonably with the experimental results published in the literature (difference less than 11%). Also, the shear-localization process agrees closely with the process published in the literature.Mechanical & Aerospace Engineerin