CARE1, a TY3-gypsy long terminal repeat retrotransposon in the food legume chickpea (Cicer arietinum L)

We report a novel Ty3-gypsy long terminal repeat retrotransposon CARE1 (_Cicer arietinum_ retro-element 1) in chickpea. This 5920-bp AT-rich (63%) element carries 723-bp 5' and 897-bp 3' LTRs respectively flanking an internal region of 4300-bp. The LTRs of CARE1 show 93.9% nucleotide identity to each other and have 4-bp (ACTA) terminal inverted repeats. A 17-bp potential tRNAmet primer binding site downstream to 5' LTR and a 13-bp polypurine tract upstream to 3' LTR have been identified. The order of domains (Gag-proteinase-reverse transcriptase-RNaseH-integrase) in the deduced amino acid sequence and phylogenetic tree constructed using reverse transcriptase sequences places CARE1 in the gypsy group of retrotransposons. Homologues of a number of _cis_-elements including CCAAT, TATA and GT-1 have been detected in the regulatory region or the 5' LTR of CARE1. Transgenic tobacco plants containing 5' LTR:GUS construct show that its 5'-LTR is inactive in a heterologous system under normal as well as tissue culture conditions. Genomic Southern blot experiments using 5’LTR of the element as a probe show that CARE1 or its related elements are present in the genomes of various chickpea accessions from various geographic regions

Cradle to Cradle and Whole-Life Carbon assessment - Barriers and opportunities towards a circular economic building sector

The general awareness of climate change has been increasing steadily while buildings continue to be the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. To address the need for change in the building industry and transform its hazardous impacts on the environment to a positive footprint, circular economic design approaches and Whole-Life Carbon (WLC) assessment have been introduced. This paper analyses the main barriers for a successful implementation of the regenerative Cradle to Cradle (C2C) concept and WLC evaluation, identifying the lack of unified and measurable framework along with the deficiency of detailed case studies and post occupancy evaluation. In the context of the increasing demand for carbon accounting, obtaining comprehensive information on embodied carbon in buildings is challenging despite the existing Life Cycle Assessment structure. To link theory with practice, the paper discusses the London School of Economics Centre Buildings Redevelopment by RSH+P as case study. It reveals barriers and opportunities for WLC evaluation as well as the potential of life cycle cost optimization in environmental and economic terms. The paper concludes with a reflection on how the certification of materials through material passports may not only achieve a higher transparency but lead to a circular economic building industry by comprehensive WLC assessment and a closer implementation of reversible building design corresponding to the C2C principles. The potential of combining WLC evaluation with C2C strategies and translating them into a comprehensive, unified assessment framework for a circular building sector is identified

Assessment of phthalate esters (PAEs) contamination in Urtica dioica L.

Phthalate esters are a group of chemical compounds of ubiquitous nature which nowadays have become a colossal threat to the environment, human-animal and plant health, because of its higher potential of accumulation in soil and aquatic habitat leading to environmental contamination due to its widespread industrial and agricultural usage. The present research aims to analyze the phthalate esters accumulation in Urtica dioica L. For this study, the Urtica dioica is tested for the presence of phthalates by using Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry. The Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry observations show the presence of 11 phthalate esters, among which diethyl phthalate (DEP) and bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (BEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) were found to be in significantly higher amount. The sum concentrations of the phthalate ester in different extracts of plant range from 16.25% to 84.07%. The % composition of diethyl phthalate is found to be comparatively higher than other phthalate esters in methanolic extract of Urtica dioica while diisobutyl phthalate and bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate accumulation is found relatively higher in the ethyl acetate and diethyl ether fractions. The observations show the contamination of the Urtica dioica plant with phthalate esters and also indicate the phthalate accumulating potential of the plant

Unit Route Planning

Report presents the methodology and results of experimental software developed to produce an efficient and effective mechanism whereby battalion, company, and platoon command entities controlled by computer generated forces systems can efficiently generate routes with minimal length and exposure to enemy fire. The new unit route planning algorithm is based on a novel abstraction called the Obstacle Segment Abstraction (OSA), combining the OSA with two route planning approaches, regular grid and vertex graph

Modulated structure in the martensite phase of Ni1.8Pt0.2MnGa: a neutron diffraction study

7M orthorhombic modulated structure in the martensite phase of Ni1.8Pt0.2MnGa is reported by powder neutron diffraction study, which indicates that it is likely to exhibit magnetic field induced strain. The change in the unit cell volume is less than 0.5% between the austenite and martensite phases, as expected for a volume conserving martensite transformation. The magnetic structure analysis shows that the magnetic moment in the martensite phase is higher compared to Ni2MnGa, which is in good agreement with magnetization measurement

DEVELOPMENT OF HPLC AND CHEMOMETRIC ASSISTED SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHODS FOR THE SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF FIVE ACTIVE INGREDIENTS IN COUGH AND COLD TABLETS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO DISSOLUTION STUDY

Objective: Chemometric assisted spectrophotometry, and HPLC methods have been developed for the simultaneous determination of phenylephrine hydrochloride (PEPH), paracetamol (PCM), guaifenesin (GNF), chlorpheniramine maleate (CPM) and bromhexine hydrochloride (BRM).Methods: The chromatographic separation was carried out on a Phenomenex RPC18 column. An isocratic elution was carried out with the mobile phase comprising methanol, acetonitrile and 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 3) in the ratio of 27.5:22.5:50 respectively at a wavelength of 218 nm. Two chemometric methods i.e. principal component regression (PCR) method and partial least squares (PLS) method were also developed to quantify each drug in the mixture using the information included in the UV absorption spectra of appropriate solutions in the range 210–320 nm with the intervals of 2 nm at 51 wavelengths.Results: The three methods were successfully applied to a tablet formulation and the results were compared statistically by applying ANOVA, which showed no significant difference among the three methods. The methods were applied to the dissolution study of the five components in tablet formulation and the percentage release of all the five components was found to be greater than 85% within 45 min by all the three methods.Conclusion: Thus, the proposed methods, i.e., PLS, PCR and HPLC, were found to be suitable and can be successfully used for the determination of the PEPH, PCM, GNF, CPM and BRM in pharmaceutical tablet formulation as well as for dissolution study.Â

Auto Sizing Control Panel for Needle Bearing

In daily routine life the use of bearing is very essential, as we use many house hold devices like washing machines, water motors, bikes, cars and many moredevices. Without bearings there can be a friction between two surfaces which will reduce the life of any device. So to overcome all these problems there should be some way which will give us better efficiency with greater throughput. And it should also give us higher rate of efficiency. On the other hand the bearings are used for less clearance, which will enhance the life. The bearings which were initially designed expected to limit the rate of rotation and now developed to provide us higher rates with large range in limited rotations. These bearings are used by many houses for their devices as well as in machinery and those machineries are owed by the industries.By the use of bearings the friction between two surfaces is avoided or more over it is reduced which increases the life of the devices

The Role of Knowledge in Leadership Management

Strategic planning, an umbrella term used to include and summarize such activities as planning, performance measurement, program budgeting, and the like, has proven to be very useful but limited. It is a technical fix that gets at only part of the question of organizational effectiveness and only deals with some of the dilemmas organizations face. The efforts of public administrators to control organizational endeavours are essential, necessary, and aligned with current best practices. But the control mechanisms ultimately prove to be only part of the puzzle. In the face of such realities, the notion of strategic thinking emerges to fill the gaps and overcome the limitations that experience with strategic planning has proven to exhibit. This paper presents an integration of leadership ideas, strategic thinking and traditional planning activities in an effort to make important connections and important distinctions. The result is an outline of the foundations of strategic thinking. Keywords: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Strategic Thinking, Organizational Philosophy, Managemen

A review of the impact of commercial drug advertising on the emergence of self-medication phenomenon

Introduction: Today, the phenomenon of commercial advertising is not a simple information tool to link consumer to producers. The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly influenced by commercial advertising. Self-medication may be one of the major consequences of drug advertising.Methodology: This review article was conducted through reviewing 100 articles and 12 books, derived from valid libraries and electronic sources.Findings: Besides the drugs prescribed by physicians, patients also go to pharmacies directly and provide and take different drugs based on their own [often false] diagnosis to prevent their diseases or to treat or strengthen themselves and this is due to the inappropriate culture induced by drug advertising. On the other hand, commercial advertising has changed the culture of over-the-counter (OTC) medications and has increased their use. One of the major strategies used in satellite TV advertising is promotion of the culture of disease among public and in some cases, the information and statistics given by these channels have no scientific and official base. Discussion and conclusion: Numerous studies indicate that due to the drug advertising, some common and non-medical symptoms are considered as disease. Considering the lack of awareness of people about the nature of their diseases, further expansion of these ads will certainly result in medication misuse, induction of false need and the prevalence of smuggled, unhealthy and fake drugs among public. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate this phenomenon in Iranian society to identify its unknown dimensions in accordance with today’s Iranian culture and to make effective efforts to promote educations and to build a proper culture.Keywords: commercial advertising, drug advertising, self-medicatio