Studies on the purification and characterisation of the major albumin seed proteins from pea (pisum sativum L.)

PLA does not contain methionine, but contains a relatively high-level of cysteine (4 residues per polypeptide) suggesting a possible role as a sulphur storage protein. However, its sequence is not homologous to low Mr (2S) storage proteins from castor bean (Ricinus communis) or rape (Brassica napus); PLA therefore represents a new type of low Mr seed protein. The putative storage role of PMA and PLA is not supported by studies on germinating seeds which show that PMA-L, PMA-S and PLA are not significantly degraded. on or after germination during the period in which the major globulin fraction storage proteins are utilised. It is possible that these proteins have no significant role in seed physiology, since a few different pea lines are shown to lack either PMA-L, PMA (L + S), or other proteins of the albumin solubility fractions, although none lack PLA. Further evidence for the non-functional role of PMA is provided by its species distribution; preliminary screening indicates the presence of homologous major albumin proteins only in closely related legume species

Properties Of Polyphenoloxidase Of Sugarcane And Development Of Methods To Prevent Discolouration Of Juice

The objective of the research was to develop a method to extend the shelf life of freshly extracted sugarcane juice. The work focused on understanding the properties of sugarcane juice as well as determining methods of preserving the colour. Polyphenoloxidase (PPO) from sugarcane juice was extracted, partially purified and characterised. Results indicated that the temperature for optimum PPO enzyme activity was 30°C at pH 7.6. Heat inactivation studies showed that enzyme lost 50% activity by exposure to 80, 75, 70 and 65°C for 1 .2, 2.8, 3.6 and 7.8 min, respectively. The use of ascorbic acid (0.5mM concentration), erythorbic acid (0.5mM concentration) and sodium metabisulphite (0.5mM concentration) inhibited the browning reaction 80%, 74% and 92%, respectively.The effect of different blanching conditions on the quality of juice was also investigated. Sugacane was blanched at various temperatures and time intervals using both steam ( 100 °C) and hot water (75°C, 80 °C and 85 °C). After blanching the juice was analysed for chlorophyll content, colour, PPO activity and tannin content and sensory evaluated for colour and taste. Unpeeled sugarcane stems which were steam blanched for 13±1 min yield the highest quality juice

Impact of garment industries on road safety in metropolitan Dhaka

There are about 4,000 garment industries in Bangladesh, most of them are clustered in and around the capital city. Together they account for 75 percent of the country's export earnings and employ around 1.8 million people which is almost one half of the total industrial workforce of the country. Though it is the most important economy sector of Bangladesh, unplanned and haphazardly built garment factories are also inducing many social, housing and most importantly urban transportation problems which are a great cause of concern. This study investigates the impact of garment industries on transportation, in particular road safety issues of garment workers. Data is collected to identify the locational problems of garment factories, spatial distribution of worker residences, and their travel pattern as well as to assess their walking and road crossing problems. Finally, recommendations are put forward to tackle transport problems arising from these unplanned establishments of export oriented garments industries in Dhaka Metropolitan City

Reviewing traffic conflict techniques for potential application to developing countries

The economic and social costs due to road crashes are disproportionately higher in developing countries. In addition, underreporting, coupled with an incomplete and inconsistent recording of reported crashes is a major issue in such settings. A brief outline of the dimension of road safety problems in developing countries and the most common limitations of existing crash databases is given in the paper. The challenges in applying traditional approaches for traffic safety evaluation and initiatives are also discussed. Diagnosis of road safety problems using traffic conflict techniques has received considerable research interest and has gained acceptance as a proactive surrogate measure in developed countries. Significant studies have been accomplished to develop, validate and apply different surrogate indicators for the estimation of traffic conflicts, as well as an assessment of the safety problem in different road geometric and operating conditions. This has provided a substitute for the historical crash records in traffic safety research. The main objective of this paper is to assess the application potentiality of this surrogate safety measures to address safety issues in developing countries. To do that, this paper critically reviews and synthesizes the different indicators of surrogate safety measures. The main principles, as well as advantages and disadvantages of the major indicators and prospects of application, are presented here. Finally, future research directions for road traffic safety assessment are outlined in the perspective of understanding the most concerning human issue due to traffic crashes in developing countries

Ds tagging of BRANCHED FLORETLESS 1 (BFL1) that mediates the transition from spikelet to floret meristem in rice (Oryza sativa L)

BACKGROUND: The genetics of spikelet formation, a feature unique to grasses such as rice and maize, is yet to be fully understood, although a number of meristem and organ identity mutants have been isolated and investigated in Arabidopsis and maize. Using a two-element Ac/Ds transposon tagging system we have isolated a rice mutant, designated branched floretless 1 (bfl1) which is defective in the transition from spikelet meristem to floret meristem. RESULTS: The bfl1 mutant shows normal differentiation of the primary rachis-branches leading to initial spikelet meristem (bract-like structure equivalent to rudimentary glumes) formation but fails to develop empty glumes and florets. Instead, axillary meristems in the bract-like structure produce sequential alternate branching, thus resulting in a coral shaped morphology of the branches in the developing panicle. The bfl1 mutant harbours a single Ds insertion in the upstream region of the BFL1 gene on chromosome 7 corresponding to PAC clone P0625E02 (GenBank Acc No. message URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=nucleotide&list_uids=34395191&dopt=GenBank&term=ap004570AP004570). RT-PCR analyses revealed a drastic reduction of BFL1 transcript levels in the bfl1 mutant compared to that in the wild-type. In each of the normal panicle-bearing progeny plants, from occasional revertant seeds of the vegetatively-propagated mutant plant, Ds was shown to be excised from the bfl1 locus. BFL1 contains an EREBP/AP2 domain and is most likely an ortholog of the maize transcription factor gene BRANCHED SILKLESS1 (BD1). CONCLUSIONS: bfl1 is a Ds-tagged rice mutant defective in the transition from spikelet meristem (SM) to floret meristem (FM). BFL1 is most probably a rice ortholog of the maize ERF (EREBP/AP2) transcription factor gene BD1. Based on the similarities in mutant phenotypes bfl1 is likely to be an allele of the previously reported frizzy panicle locus

Color Representation in the Word ‘COVID-19’ in WHO Indonesia’s Instagram

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has triggered governments worldwide, including WHO Indonesia, to use social media as an essential tool for digital education dissemination. In this case, WHO Indonesia uses Instagram to share posters, with a visual emphasis through the use of color in the word 'COVID-19'. This study aims to describe how colors are represented in the word COVID-19 on WHO Indonesia's Instagram posters. This study uses qualitative research. This study was analyzed using content analysis. The results reveal that the word COVID-19 in each poster content uploaded by WHO Indonesia has a variety of colors. The color representations contained in the word COVID-19 are red as a risk warning to smokers, dark orange as sensitivity and empathy for survivors of violence, yellow-gold as a reminder of healthy activities at home, indigo as awareness of body health, teal green as maintaining physical distance, dodger blue as maintaining health during a pandemic, sienna as resilience and fortitude in facing the pandemic, white as preventing the spread of the virus, and dim gray as serious form in facing COVID-19. This study aids in comprehending the reasoning behind the selection of specific colors in the posters utilized by WHO Indonesia in their digital education endeavors regarding COVID-19. It can prove beneficial in designing more impactful health messages and understanding the influence of colors on individuals' perceptions and reactions

Forecasting number of vulnerabilities using long short-term neural memory network

Cyber-attacks are launched through the exploitation of some existing vulnerabilities in the software, hardware, system and/or network. Machine learning algorithms can be used to forecast the number of post release vulnerabilities. Traditional neural networks work like a black box approach; hence it is unclear how reasoning is used in utilizing past data points in inferring the subsequent data points. However, the long short-term memory network (LSTM), a variant of the recurrent neural network, is able to address this limitation by introducing a lot of loops in its network to retain and utilize past data points for future calculations. Moving on from the previous finding, we further enhance the results to predict the number of vulnerabilities by developing a time series-based sequential model using a long short-term memory neural network. Specifically, this study developed a supervised machine learning based on the non-linear sequential time series forecasting model with a long short-term memory neural network to predict the number of vulnerabilities for three vendors having the highest number of vulnerabilities published in the national vulnerability database (NVD), namely microsoft, IBM and oracle. Our proposed model outperforms the existing models with a prediction result root mean squared error (RMSE) of as low as 0.072

REVIEWING TRAFFIC CONFLICT TECHNIQUES FOR POTENTIAL APPLICATION TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The economic and social costs due to road crashes are disproportionately higher in developing countries. In addition, underreporting, coupled with an incomplete and inconsistent recording of reported crashes is a major issue in such settings. A brief outline of the dimension of road safety problems in developing countries and the most common limitations of existing crash databases is given in the paper. The challenges in applying traditional approaches for traffic safety evaluation and initiatives are also discussed. Diagnosis of road safety problems using traffic conflict techniques has received considerable research interest and has gained acceptance as a proactive surrogate measure in developed countries. Significant studies have been accomplished to develop, validate and apply different surrogate indicators for the estimation of traffic conflicts, as well as an assessment of the safety problem in different road geometric and operating conditions. This has provided a substitute for the historical crash records in traffic safety research. The main objective of this paper is to assess the application potentiality of this surrogate safety measures to address safety issues in developing countries. To do that, this paper critically reviews and synthesizes the different indicators of surrogate safety measures. The main principles, as well as advantages and disadvantages of the major indicators and prospects of application, are presented here. Finally, future research directions for road traffic safety assessment are outlined in the perspective of understanding the most concerning human issue due to traffic crashes in developing countries

Applying the AcciMap methodology to investigate the tragic Mirsharai road accident in Bangladesh

A serious road accident happened on Monday, 11 July, 2011 afternoon in Mirsharai sub-district of Bangladesh's Chittagong district, that killed at least 44 schoolboys injured many more when the truck in which they were traveling skidded off a highway and plunged into a canal. In this study, the AcciMap methodology is applied, an extension to Rasmussen’s Risk Management Framework. This sociotechnical framework provides an insight into the interactions between different levels of a system, and supports the development of recommendations that could mitigate or prevent the outcomes of such an incident in the future. In the case of Mirsharai accident, the police and social media put the blame on the truck driver alone; however, this study, based on popular media reports, accident investigation reports and local interviews revealed mismanagement and an apparent disregard for safety across different levels of the socio-technical system. By integrating the different levels of the system, from international committees to end users, the road accident scenario of Bangladesh can be improved through developing a systematic approach to accident analysis

Determinants of students’ satisfaction with digital classroom services: moderating effect of students’ level of study

Purpose – Like every other sector, educational institutions have also been suffering immensely due to COVID-19 pandemic. Many educational institutions are now adopting digital classroom services. However, an online platform with the need for appropriate technology and infrastructure from the students’ perspective poses a severe challenge to developing countries like Bangladesh. The paper aims to figure out the relevant factors that affect the extent of student satisfaction with digital classroom services at the school and tertiary levels. Design/methodology/approach – It is a quantitative study of 450 students from Bangladesh who encountered online classes during the pandemic of COVID-19. An equal number of students from all levels, including schools, colleges and tertiary stages, participated in the survey. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are used to interpret the data. Structural equation modeling using AMOS graphic software is incorporated to test the study’s hypothesis. Findings – Among all the four determinants of student satisfaction during this critical era, all levels look satisfied with the three underlying influences: technological, convenience and resource-related factors. However, school-level students found the digital classroom services abrasive with Internet connectivity and technical structures during online classes and exams. Research limitations/implications – A comprehensive study can assess the difference between private and public university students in this regard. In addition, the impact of gender and/or location (rural/urban area) can be assessed by using the same model of the study. Practical implications – Having the experience of the students’ satisfaction level during this pandemic, the government, educational institutions and other stakeholders can take away the findings of the results to have a better plan for Internet-based education at every level. Originality/value – The study is unique to see the readiness of developing nations such as Bangladesh to focus on the sudden uncertainty like a pandemic in introducing the digital education platform. The study can add value to achieving the country’s sustainable development goal of becoming a digitally enabled regional education hub