A Semiparametric Bayesian Approach to a New Dynamic Zero-Inflated Model

We develop a dynamic zero-inflated model to analyse the number of hospital admissions within an aging population, which allows for the considerable number of zero hospital admissions at the individual level and occurrence dependence. In addition, certain health conditions may lead to groups of individuals having similar hospital admission rates. We analyse the US Health and Retirement Survey, which includes selfassessed health (SAH), which can be predictive of hospital admissions. Our modelling framework embeds a dynamic hierarchical matrix stick-breaking process to flexibly characterize this dynamic group structure allowing individuals to belong to different SAH groups at different points in time

Transcription factors and plants response to drought stress: Current understanding and future directions

Increasing vulnerability of plants to a variety of stresses such as drought, salt and extreme temperatures poses a global threat to sustained growth and productivity of major crops. Of these stresses, drought represents a considerable threat to plant growth and development. In view of this, developing staple food cultivars with improved drought tolerance emerges as the most sustainable solution toward improving crop productivity in a scenario of climate change. In parallel, unraveling the genetic architecture and the targeted identification of molecular networks using modern “OMICS” analyses, that can underpin drought tolerance mechanisms, is urgently required. Importantly, integrated studies intending to elucidate complex mechanisms can bridge the gap existing in our current knowledge about drought stress tolerance in plants. It is now well established that drought tolerance is regulated by several genes, including transcription factors (TFs) that enable plants to withstand unfavorable conditions, and these remain potential genomic candidates for their wide application in crop breeding. These TFs represent the key molecular switches orchestrating the regulation of plant developmental processes in response to a variety of stresses. The current review aims to offer a deeper understanding of TFs engaged in regulating plant’s response under drought stress and to devise potential strategies to improve plant tolerance against drought

Generation and Measurement of Non Equilibrium Spin Currents in Two Terminal Systems

Generation and measurement of non-equilibrium spin current in two probe configuration is discussed. It is argued and shown that spin current can be generated in two terminal non-magnetic system. Further it is shown that these spin currents can be measured via conductance in two probe configuration when the detector probe is ferromagnetic.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Antimoth finishing treatment for woollens using tannin containing natural dyes

Attempts have been made to develop natural dye based antimoth finishing process using natural dyes as an alternative of  chemical based process. Natural dyes obtained from different sources are used to dye the woollen fabric and then screened for antimoth efficacy. Woollen fabrics dyed with extract of silver oak leaves, wall nut husk and pomegranate rind have shown highest resistance to moth attack. The screened sources carrying antimoth property are then subjected to phytochemical analysis along with non-carrying natural dyes for analyzing their chemical constituents. The result reveals that the chemical constituent of natural dyes plays a crucial role in determining antimoth efficacy. The amount of tannin content present in the natural dyes can be taken as an indicator to determine the antimoth efficacy

DPS1 regulates cuticle development and leaf senescence in rice

AbstractLeaves are the primary food‐producing organs for a plant that carry out photosynthesis and contribute to biomass and grain yield. Leaf senescence is a developmentally regulated physiological process but early leaf senescence is known to negatively affect plant yield. The cuticle is an outer waxy protective layer on the leaf surface which protects plants from pathogens attack as well as dehydration. Our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cuticle development and leaf senescence is still immature. The present study reports the role of the DEGENERATED PANICLE AND PARTIAL STERILITY 1 (DPS1) gene encoding a cystathionine β‐synthase (CBS) domain‐containing protein in cuticle development and leaf senescence in rice. The dps1 loss‐of‐function mutant showed leaf senescence phenotype with twisted leaves, significantly reduced chlorophyll content and degenerated chloroplasts characterized by a reduced number of starch granules and an abundance of osmiophilic bodies. Furthermore, dps1 leaves displayed defective cuticle development, reduced wax and cutin compounds, and lower relative water content as compared with wild type. Physiological assays showed significantly higher accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accompanied by enhanced DNA fragmentation in dps1 leaves, which could be associated with chloroplast degeneration and defective cuticle development. Transcriptome analysis revealed altered expression of several critical genes related to photosynthesis and wax/cutin pathway. This study revealed a crucial role of DPS1 in regulating leaf cuticle development and senescence by affecting the expression of several genes. Thus, a moderate expression of DPS1 is necessary for better plant growth and productivity

Aharonov-Bohm oscillations and spin transport in a mesoscopic ring with a magnetic impurity

We present a detailed analysis of the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interference oscillations manifested through transmission of an electron in a mesoscopic ring with a magnetic impurity atom inserted in one of its arms. The spin polarization transport is also studied. The electron interacts with the impurity through the exchange interaction leading to exchange spin-flip scattering. Transmission in the spin-flipped and spin-unflipped channels are explicitly calculated. We show that the entanglement between electron and spin-flipper states lead to a reduction of AB oscillations in spite of absence of any inelastic scattering. The spin-conductance (related to spin-polarized transmission coefficient) is asymmetric in the flux reversal as opposed to the two probe conductance which is symmetric under flux reversal. We point out certain limitations of this model in regard to the general notion of dephasing in quantum mechanics.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX, 9 eps figures included, enlarged version of cond-mat/000741

Biodiesel production from camelina oil: Present status and future perspectives

Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz is an oilseed crop with favorable potentials for biodiesel production, such as the high plant yield, high oil content in the seed, high net energy ratio, and low oil production cost. This review paper deals with the present state and perspectives of biodiesel production from camelina oil. First, important issues of camelina seed pretreatment and biodiesel production are reviewed. Emphasis is given to different biodiesel technologies that have been used so far worldwide, the economic assessment of the camelina oil biodiesel (COB) production, the camelina-based biorefineries for the integrated biodiesel production, the COB life cycle analysis, and impact human health and ecosystem. Finally, the perspectives of COB production from the techno-economic and especially genetic engineering points of view are discussed

Physical routes for the synthesis of kesterite

This paper provides an overview of the physical vapor technologies used to synthesize Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 thin films as absorber layers for photovoltaic applications. Through the years, CZT(S,Se) thin films have been fabricated using sequential stacking or co-sputtering of precursors as well as using sequential or co-evaporation of elemental sources, leading to high-efficient solar cells. In addition, pulsed laser deposition of composite targets and monograin growth by the molten salt method were developed as alternative methods for kesterite layers deposition. This review presents the growing increase of the kesterite-based solar cell efficiencies achieved over the recent years. A historical description of the main issues limiting this efficiency and of the experimental pathways designed to prevent or limit these issues is provided and discussed as well. Afinal section is dedicated to the description of promising process steps aiming at further improvements of solar cell efficiency, such as alkali doping and bandgap grading1. R Caballero and M León acknowledge financial support via the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities project (WINCOST, ENE2016-80788-C5-2-R) and thank H2020 EU Programme under the project INFINITE-CELL (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017-777968). 2. S Canulescu and J Schou acknowledge the support from Innovation Fund Denmark. 3. D-H Kim acknowledges financial support via the DGIST R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and ICT, KOREA (18-BD-05). 4.C. Malerba acknowledges the support from the Italian Ministry of Economic development in the framework of the Operating Agreement with ENEA for the Research on the Electric System. 5.A Redinger acknowledges financial support via the FNR Attract program, Project : SUNSPOT, Nr.11244141. 6. E Saucedo thanks H2020 EU Programme under the projects STARCELL (H2020-NMBP-03-2016-720907) and INFINITE-CELL (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017-777968), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the IGNITE project (ENE2017-87671-C3-1-R), and the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF, FEDER Programa Competitivitat de Catalunya 2007–2013). IREC belong to the SEMS (Solar Energy Materials and Systems) Consolidated Research Group of the ‘Generalitat de Catalunya’ (Ref. 2017 SGR 862). 7. Taltech acknowledges financial support via the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research funding project IUT19-28 and the European Union Regional Development Fund, Project TK141. 8. B Vermang has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement No 715027

Efficacy of natural dye from Gerardiana diversifolia on pashmina (Cashmere) shawls

The present investigation deals with studies on potentiality of a colour extract from Gerardiana diversifolia as a source of natural dye, and on identification of chemical constituents responsible for dyeing ability. The efficacy of the extracted dye(s) on pashmina (Cashmere) fabrics has been evaluated for colour strength and fastness properties. Phytochemical studies reveal that the quinone and tannin are major components contributing to dyeing properties. The extracted colorant from Gerardiana diversifolia has potential to dye pashmina fabric with brown and grey shades having excellent wash and good to very good light fastness properties