Investigating the Genetic Basis of Agronomically Important Traits in Sorghum

The genetic basis of three key agronomic traits viz. anthracnose resistance, tolerance to salinity and plant height, which affect sorghum grain, forage, and biomass production was investigated. Modern genomic tools like high-throughput genotyping, sequence-based marker technology and statistical software were used in conjunction with field or greenhouse based evaluation of recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations to identify the genomic regions and genes controlling these traits. A total of 9 quantitative trait loci (QTL) that imparted variable levels of resistance to anthracnose, were identified from two different RIL populations. Of these QTL, three encoded stable resistance across all environments while two loci were environment specific. A brief examination of the candidate genes underlying one of the major resistance QTL revealed a block of genes that may play a role in host plant resistance. The molecular markers identified in this study serve as a tool for accelerated pyramiding of multiple anthracnose resistance loci into an elite sorghum genotype to provide effective and durable resistance. The analysis of a RIL population segregating for salt tolerance in greenhouse conditions consistently detected a QTL based on the percentage of total leaf area that was necrotic or damaged. Markers linked to the trait that could potentially be used for marker-assisted introgression of salt tolerance were identified. Of the genes observed on surveying the QTL, a cation/H^+ antiporter appears as a strong potential candidate conditioning salt tolerance to sorghum. The genomic locus controlling plant height in sorghum and harboring the dwarfing gene Dw2 was mapped at high resolution using individuals from a RIL population segregating for height. The locus was narrowed to ~0.1 Mbp and a candidate histone deacetylase gene and the molecular marker linked to this locus were identified. The functional validation of the candidate gene using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was attempted but was not successful on account of the recalcitrance of sorghum for in vitro growth and transformation

A STUDY OF LIGNIN DEPOLYMERIZATION BY SELECTIVE CLEAVAGE OF THE Cα-Cβ LINKAGES IN LIGNIN MODEL COMPOUNDS VIA BAEYER-VILLIGER OXIDATION & AN INVESTIGATION OF THE CHANNELING REACTION IN NITROGEN-DOPED MULTIWALLED CARBON NANOTUBES (N-MWCNTS)

A STUDY OF LIGNIN DEPOLYMERIZATION BY SELECTIVE CLEAVAGE OF THE Cα-Cβ LINKAGES IN LIGNIN MODEL COMPOUNDS VIA BAEYER-VILLIGER OXIDATION Lignin is amorphous aromatic polymer derived from plants and is a potential source of fuels and bulk chemicals. Herein, we present a survey of reagents for selective stepwise oxidation of lignin model compounds. Specifically, we have targeted the oxidative cleavage of Cα-Cβ bonds as a means to depolymerize lignin and obtain useful aromatic compounds. In this work, we prepared several lignin model compounds that possess structures, characteristic reactivity, and linkages closely related to the parent lignin polymer. We observed that selective oxidation of benzylic hydroxyl groups using TEMPO/O2, followed by Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of the resulting ketones using H2O2, successfully cleaves the Cα-Cβ linkage in the model compounds. This process was also applied to depolymerization of Organosolv lignin. The deconstructed lignin was analyzed by a number of techniques, including ATR-IR, GPC, and 31P NMR of suitably derivatized samples. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE CHANNELING REACTION IN NITROGEN-DOPED MULTIWALLED CARBON NANOTUBES (N-MWCNTS) The reduction of nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs) with Li/NH3 results in deep longitudinal cuts in the nanotubes structure. As the N-MWCNTs are anisotropic, we were able to investigate whether the unzipping process proceeds with equal efficiency from the tip end or from the root (catalyst) end of the N-MWCNT structure. To accomplish this we prepared polymer filled aligned arrays of N-MWCNTs, then exposed one or the other end. Through this approach we were able to shield the sidewalls and either end of the nanotubes from the Li/NH3 solution We have found that when the top end of the N-MWCNTs array was exposed to the reaction mixture, very few nanotubes suffered significant ‘unzipping’. However, when the root (substrate) side of the array is exposed to the reaction mixture, we observe the features characteristic of nanotubes with longitudinal cuts. Our finding provides some insight into the mechanism of the unzipping process, and provides evidence that the unzipping process has a directional preference-unzipping from the root end towards the tip end. And may provide a method for selective functionalization of the interior of tubes and create a new form of nanotube- based porous membrane

Optimal Customized Content Dissemination for Rich Content Format in Pub/Sub Framework

Publish-Subscribe system is a message passing system which categorized into two types i.e. topic based system and content based system. The publisher is the sender who is responsible for deciding the classes or topics of publish messages to which subscribers can able to subscribe. Subscriber is a receiver who will receive all messages published to the class to which they subscribe. A content based publish-subscribe framework that delivers the content by matching constraints to the subscribers into their required format. Such framework enables the publish-subscribe system to adapt richer content formats including larger text files containing huge number of events to be published with different properties and other content. In Customized Content Dissemination, user’s i.e. consumers in addition to specifying their information needs, also specify their profile information which includes the device characteristics used to obtain the content. Our pub sub system as being responsible for matching and distributing the published content, also responsible for converting the content into the desired format for subscribers. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15073

Gender, Perceptions of HIV-Related Stigma and Social Support, and HIV Serostatus Disclosure Decision-Making in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: A Mixed Methods Approach

OBJECTIVE: People’s perceptions of HIV-related stigma and social support in their neighborhoods affect their decisions to disclose their HIV serostatus. The aim of this study is to explore how those perceptions vary by gender and what role that variance has on disclosure status among 60 HIV positive men and women who engage in high-risk sexual activity in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. METHODS: Quantitative analyses involved descriptive statistics (frequency counts and cross-tabulations). A two-stage directed content analysis was used to identify deductive and emergent themes. Respondents were then stratified by gender and disclosure status and comparisons were made across the four families. RESULTS: Almost all participants (92%) reported at least one perception of HIV-related stigma but while all self-disclosed men reported perceptions of social support, only 36% of non-disclosed women did. Participants were most likely to disclose to primary partners (87%) and family members (80%) and most non-disclosed women intended to disclose their serostatus to a primary partner or family member at some point. Trust, protection and isolation played important roles in decisions to disclose HIV status. CONCLUSIONS: Gender differences in perceptions of HIV-related stigma and social support influence HIV serostatus disclosure decision-making and HIV care and treatment services need to integrate gender programming to encourage more women to disclose their status.Master of Public Healt

EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF MOORVA AS A NON ABSORBABLE MONO FILAMENT SUTURE

Suturing material plays a very important role in surgical procedures. The purpose of suturing (Seevankarma as called in the Ayurvedic terminology) is to approximate the wound edge for faster healing. This study was an attempt to assess Moorva mono filament fiber for the suturing purpose. An attempt to compare it with ethilon3-0 as non-absorbable suture in rats was done. Fully grown Moorva leaves were taken. Its fibers were separated under running water and subjected to autoclave. Moorva fiber tensile strength and thickness was measure before and after autoclave. Ethilon 3-0 tensile strength and thickness was measured. Rats were Anesthetized intramuscularly using 1ml syringe, after that suturing was done on prepared area. Redness, Discharge, Temperature, Approximation, Odema were observed for eight days and biopsy was taken on day eight. Temperature was measured on infrared thermometer. 12 rats were used for this study Trial group and control group skin closures were done on the same rat on different sites. Both the groups shows equivalent results for Redness, Odema, Discharge, Approximation, Temperature. Histopathological changes for inflammatory infiltrate, vascularity, fibrosis were same in both the groups. Moorva fibers tensile strength and thickness was less than ethilon 3-0 and this tensile strength and thickness was sufficient to hold the wound edges. The study proves that the Moorva fiber can be made and acceptable suturing material and it can be used for skin closures. Scope for further study Along term study on tissue absorbability property of Moorva fiber suturing material and detail chemical study of Moorva fiber

UHMWPE for biomedical applications: performance and functionalization.

According to a survey conducted by Grand View Research, the market demand for medical grade UHMWPE has raise remarkably from 60.9 kilotons up to 204.8 kilotons during 2015–2024 valued at $1.36 billion (USD) with a compound annual growth rate of 15%. There are various materials available for medical implants comprising of metals, ceramics and polymers among them UHMWPE has been used widely. The wide impact of UHMWPE in medical field is due it's superior biocompatibility, chemical resistance, low wear volume (0.68 mm3), ultimate tensile strength (41.3 MPa), low coefficient of friction [In dry condition (0.12–0.15)] and high crystallinity (more than 90%). However, wear debris, oxidative degradation due to generation of free radicals when subjected to irradiation with gamma rays and low ageing of implant are some critical problems observed in UHMWPE based implants in human body. These severe problems have been resolved using various innovative methodologies to enhance the properties of UHMWPE, comprising of surface modification techniques for pure UHMWPE as well as composite reinforced UHMWPE. The enhancement in properties of pure UHMWPE is achieved using electron beam or atmospheric cold plasma treatment. The reinforced composites are majorly developed by reinforcement of materials such as hydroxyapatite, Multi walled carbon nanotubes, Vitamin E (α-tocopherol), graphene oxide, DLC films, Gallic acid and Dodecyl gallate along with base UHMWPE matrix material. Based on the recent studies, Comparative study of these functionalization techniques along with the ameliorated surface or bulk properties along with it's diverse application in medical implant fields (Total hip arthroplasty, joint implants, bone tissue engineering) has been discussed extensively. Descriptive study of pure UHMWPE along with it's composite to functionalize the properties of the medical implants has been included in this review along with it's future scope succeeding the review

A large multilobulated ankle swelling: rare presentation of gout

We are presenting a case study of a male patient presented to our outpatient department with large lobulated hard swelling in subcutaneous plane of left ankle. We found large whitish soft tissue masses. We did chemical analysis of same and it showed presence of uric acid crystals. This is a very rare presentation of gout. Upto the best of our knowledge only one such lesion has been reported from Turkey. So we wish to report this rare presentation of Gout

Development of a Cone CVT by SDPD and Topology Optimization

The automotive industries have undergone a massive change in the last few decades. Nowadays, automotive industries and OEM manufacturers implement various innovative ideas to ensure the desired comfort while minimizing the cost, weight, and manufacturing time. Transmission system plays a major role in the aforementioned items. This paper aims to develop a conical roller with belt Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) System by employing the System Driven Product Development (SDPD) approach and topology optimization of its traditional design. Furthermore, this paper explains the design steps of the CVT and its advantages and limitations compared with the other automatic transmission systems

TECHNO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SOLAR PV SYSTEM

It has been largely observed that the traditional energy resources make damage to the nature. These energies are also called non nonrenewable. It is possible and easy to seek the alternative energy sources to save the environment. Solar energy, wind power, and geothermal heat can be the best alternatives.These energies are also called renewable energies.It is the solar energy that can be dominantly used at the lowest cost. The location for the Solar Power Plant is determined by solar isolation availability along with other essential factors and considerations. The solar system can be calculated in terms of panel generation factor, energy required from PV modules, total watt peak ratings,required PV modules, inverter andbattery sizing, PV modules circuit and land required. The project installation cost can be taken into consideration with the help of such important factors as module, inverter, design, engineering, management, installation labor, operation, maintenance coast,levelized cost of energy and capacity factor. The present paper is the study of the Solar Power system analysis presented with technical and economicalfeasibility to meet the load demand of 30kWh / day. The system requires 6 series arrays and 4 parallel plan 24 solar panels. The required area is 569.96 m2. The levelized cost of energy 25 years will be 6.3327Rs. / kWh having 5% escalation. https://journalnx.com/journal-article/2015053

IRIS Feature Extraction and Classification using FPGA

An approach of singular value (SVD) of a (mxn) 2-D matrix has beenpopularly used by researchers for representing a 2-D image by a set of less than or equal to n values sequenced in descending order of which a subset of only first few values which are significant is treated as a set of features for that image. These features are further used for image recognition and classification. Though many papers as reviewed from literature have discussed about this implantation using software/MATLAB approach, rarely a paper appears on hardware implementation of SVD algorithm for image processing applications. This paper presents the details of a hardware architecture developed by us to implement SVD algorithm and then presents the results of implementation of this architecture in the Xilinx field programmable gate array Virtex5 to extract the features of an iris image. A comparison between the feature values extracted by MATLAB and those obtained by hardware simulation using Xilinx ISE tool indicates a very good match validating the hardware architecture. A hamming distance classifier using appropriate threshold values stored in ROM is used to classify the iris images.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i2.15