(1R,2R,3S,6aS,7R,8R,9S,12aS)-1,2,3,7,8,9-Hexahydroxy­perhydro­dipyrido[1,2-a:1′,2′-d]pyrazine-6,12-dione

The crystal structure of the title compound, C12H18N2O8, exists as O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonded layers of mol­ecules running parallel to the ab plane. Each mol­ecule is a donor and acceptor for six hydrogen bonds. The absolute stereochemistry was determined by the use of d-glucuronolactone as the starting material

Genetic diversity and population structure of Fusarium fujikuroi causing Bakanae, an emerging disease of rice in India

45-52Bakanae caused by Fusarium fujikuroi (Nirenberg), is emerging as a serious threat for rice (Oryza sativa. L.) cultivation in India. In this study, 63 isolates of Fusarium fujikuroi isolated from symptomatic diseased plants were characterized for their morphology, pathogenicity and molecular variability using universal rice primers (URP). Of the 12 URPs used in the study, 6 primers could produce polymorphic fragments in all the isolates. The URP 17R primer was highly polymorphic (100%), whereas, the URP 1F primer produced 75% polymorphic fragments. A dendrogram obtained from the combined analysis of 6 URP primers categorized the isolates into four clusters, where most of the isolates from Punjab and Haryana were clustered separately. Mating type of the population was identified based on MAT-1 and MAT-2 region universal primers for Gibberella fujikuroi. Among the 63 isolates, 18 (28.57%) were identified as MAT-1 and 45 (71.42%) as MAT-2. The effective population number for mating type was 89% of the total population. Since the distribution frequencies of both mating types were not equal in the Indian population of F. fujikuroi, it could conclude that majority of the multiplication of isolates under field conditions was through asexual reproduction. However, the presence of both mating types in F. fujikuroi indicates that the population is also capable of sexual reproduction. Therefore, it is important to develop cultivars with inbuilt resistance to bakanae disease, taking into consideration the factors such as environmental conditions and variability of the pathogen in the area of intended cultivation

Experiment Simulation Configurations Used in DUNE CDR

The LBNF/DUNE CDR describes the proposed physics program and experimental design at the conceptual design phase. Volume 2, entitled The Physics Program for DUNE at LBNF, outlines the scientific objectives and describes the physics studies that the DUNE collaboration will perform to address these objectives. The long-baseline physics sensitivity calculations presented in the DUNE CDR rely upon simulation of the neutrino beam line, simulation of neutrino interactions in the far detector, and a parameterized analysis of detector performance and systematic uncertainty. The purpose of this posting is to provide the results of these simulations to the community to facilitate phenomenological studies of long-baseline oscillation at LBNF/DUNE. Additionally, this posting includes GDML of the DUNE single-phase far detector for use in simulations. DUNE welcomes those interested in performing this work as members of the collaboration, but also recognizes the benefit of making these configurations readily available to the wider community.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, configurations in ancillary file

Utilization of fungal biocontrol agents against rice sheath blight disease provides insight into their role in plant defense responses

Biotic and abiotic factors have an effect on rice production all around the world. Diseases are regarded as major restrictions among the biotic stressors, and rice sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani Kühn) is one of the most calamitous diseases that significantly damage the crop. Lately, biocontrol of fungal plant pathogens has appeared as an appealing approach. The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate different biocontrol agents like Talaromyces flavus, Chaetomium globosum, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Aspergillus niger against sheath blight disease. Prior to sowing, seeds were bioprimed with each isolate and sown in the nursery. After 21 days, seedlings were transplanted in-vivo and were inoculated with a virulent isolate of Rhizoctonia solani at maximum tillering stage. Observations on biochemical parameters and gene expression studies were carried out at 24, 48, 72, and 96 hpi. Enzymatic activity viz., chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase, catalase, and PAL was observed  maximum in Chaetomium globosum. PR-genes viz., IPT, BrD, HmPr, AMP, AldD, NIC and LisH showed up-regulation at 96 hpi. Chaetomium globosum had the highest yield, maximum number of tillers with least RLH% as compared to other treatments. However, results indicated biocontrol agents are helpful and they induce multitude of defence responses against R. solani in rice

Effective Biosorption of Phosphate from Water Using Fe(III)-Loaded Pomegranate Peel

Removal of phosphate from wastewater is necessary for the safety of public health and environmental protection. The present study used an easily available and affordable biosorbent obtained from the pomegranate peel for the excision of phosphate from water. The biosorption behavior of raw pomegranate peel powder (RPGPP) was found negligible. The RPGPP was further saponified with Ca(OH)2 followed by Fe(III) loading to obtain Fe(III)-loaded pomegranate peels (Fe(III)-PGPP), which was then employed for the phosphate uptake. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the biosorbent. The batch adsorption test was used to evaluate the adsorption viability of biosorbents for removing phosphate from aqueous solution. Fe(III)-PGPP was determined to have a pHPZC of 5.40. The experimental data were best explained by the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Fe(III)-PGPP had the largest phosphate biosorption capacity of 99.30 mg g–1 at the optimum pH of 3.0 and 2.5 hours of contact time. From the results obtained, Fe(III)-PGPP adsorbent can be regarded as an effective and cost-efficient material for the treatment of phosphate-anion-contaminated water

Multi-objective routing optimisation for battery-powered wireless sensor mesh networks

Copyright © 2014 ACM2014 Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (GECCO ’14), Vancouver, BC, Canada, 12-16 July 2014This paper won the Best Paper award in the Real World Applications category at the GECCO ’14 conferenceMesh network topologies are becoming increasingly popular in battery powered wireless sensor networks, primarily due to the extension of network range and resilience against routing failures. However, multi-hop mesh networks suffer from higher energy costs, and the routing strategy directly affects the lifetime of nodes with limited energy sources. Hence while planning routes there are trade-offs to be considered between individual and system-wide battery lifetimes. We present a novel multi-objective routing optimisation approach using evolutionary algorithms to approximate the optimal trade-off between minimum lifetime and the average lifetime of nodes in the network. In order to accomplish this combinatorial optimisation rapidly and thus permit dynamic optimisation for self-healing networks, our approach uses novel k-shortest paths based search space pruning in conjunction with a new edge metric, which associates the energy cost at a pair of nodes with the link between them. We demonstrate our solution on a real network, deployed in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. We show that this approach provides better trade-off solutions in comparison to the minimum energy option, and how a combination of solutions over the lifetime of the network can enhance the overall minimum lifetime

FILTWAM and Voice Emotion Recognition

This paper introduces the voice emotion recognition part of our framework for improving learning through webcams and microphones (FILTWAM). This framework enables multimodal emotion recognition of learners during game-based learning. The main goal of this study is to validate the use of microphone data for a real-time and adequate interpretation of vocal expressions into emotional states were the software is calibrated with end users. FILTWAM already incorporates a valid face emotion recognition module and is extended with a voice emotion recognition module. This extension aims to provide relevant and timely feedback based upon learner's vocal intonations. The feedback is expected to enhance learner’s awareness of his or her own behavior. Six test persons received the same computer-based tasks in which they were requested to mimic specific vocal expressions. Each test person mimicked 82 emotions, which led to a dataset of 492 emotions. All sessions were recorded on video. An overall accuracy of our software based on the requested emotions and the recognized emotions is a pretty good 74.6% for the emotions happy and neutral emotions; but will be improved for the lower values of an extended set of emotions. In contrast with existing software our solution allows to continuously and unobtrusively monitor learners’ intonations and convert these intonations into emotional states. This paves the way for enhancing the quality and efficacy of game-based learning by including the learner's emotional states, and links these to pedagogical scaffolding.The Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning (NELLL) of the Open University of the Netherlands

Measurement of the muon anti-neutrino double-differential cross section for quasi-elastic scattering on hydrocarbon at~Eν∼3.5E_\nu \sim 3.5 GeV

We present double-differential measurements of anti-neutrino quasi-elastic scattering in the MINERvA detector. This study improves on a previous single differential measurement by using updated reconstruction algorithms and interaction models, and provides a complete description of observed muon kinematics in the form of a double-differential cross section with respect to muon transverse and longitudinal momentum. We include in our signal definition zero-meson final states arising from multi-nucleon interactions and from resonant pion production followed by pion absorption in the primary nucleus. We find that model agreement is considerably improved by a model tuned to MINERvA inclusive neutrino scattering data that incorporates nuclear effects such as weak nuclear screening and two-particle, two-hole enhancements.Comment: 47 pages, 31 figure

FINE NEEDLE ASPIRATION CYTOLOGY OF BREAST LUMP IN T.U. TEACHING HOSPITAL

This is a retrospective study of fine needle aspiration cytology of breast lesions performed between May 1998 and April 2000. During this period, a total of 2001 fine needle aspirations were done in the Tribhuvan Universtiy Teaching Hospital (TUTH), of which 470 (23.48 %) were of the breast. Fibrocystic disease found to be the most frequent and was diagnosed in 183 cases (38.9%). Fibroadenoma was the third common pathological condition, numbering 61 (12.9%). Malignant conditions of the breast were 72 cases (15.3%). During these two years, histological diagnosis was available in 154 cases. Histological examination revealed benign conditions in 74 cases (48%), malignancy in 59 cases (38.3%) and inflammatory & lactational changes in 21 cases (13.7%). Out of these 154 cases, 71 cases had also undergone fine needle aspiration cytology. The 36 cases diagnosed as benign cytologically, 34 cases were also benign histologically, whereas 2 cases turned out to be malignant. Out of 37 cases that were histologically malignant, on cytology 35 cases were diagnosed as malignant. The sensitivity and specificity of cytopathological diagnosis for breast lesions was 100% and 94.6% respectively. Inflammatory lesions correlated well cytologically and histolgically. FNAC is a safe and rapid diagnostic method for evaluation of various lesions. However, there are possibilities of false negative and false positive results because of wide range of appearance of breast lesions. Key Words: Breast lumps, Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology, Benign Lesions, Malignant Lesions, Histopathology and Correlation