Characterization of Thirty Cultivars of Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae) by Their Foliar Anatomical Traits

Leaves of thirty cultivars of Mangifera indica L. were investigated to compare their anatomical variations and identify the characteristic features which are potential markers for the identification of the cultivars. Variations were noted in the thickness of cuticle, length of epidermal cells in the abaxial and adaxial surfaces, length of palisade and spongy tissue. The length of epidermal cell varied from 10 µm in ‘Goto’ to 25 µm in ‘Desi’ cultivars on adaxial side, while on the abaxial side it varied from 15.5 µm in ‘Alphonso’ to 6.9 µm in ‘Sopari’. The palisade tissue length was maximum in ‘Jahangir’ (111.36 µm), while it was lowest in ‘Fazli’ (24.13 µm). Spongy tissue length was the highest in ‘Jamadar’ (199.92 µm) and lowest in ‘Fazli’ (90.55 µm). Two layers of palisade tissue were seen in ‘Sindoria’, ‘Jhumakhiya 2’, ‘Aambadi’, ‘Neelam’,  ‘Rajapuri’, ‘Fazli’, ‘Jahangir’, ‘Kaju’, and ‘Aamir pasand’, while three layers were seen in ‘Alphonso’, ‘Jamadar’, ‘Ladvo’, ‘Sopari’ and ‘Dudhpendo’. Such parameters can be used for distinctly differentiating varieties among them and thus have an exact identification when morphological features are indistinguishable

Plasmacytoma of Bronchus Treated by Radical Radiotherapy-A Rare Case with Four and a Half Years Follow up

AbstractPlasmacytoma of the bronchus is a very rare plasma cell neoplasm affecting the bronchus. Here we report a case of plasmacytoma of the bronchus treated by radical radiotherapy in July 2002. The tumor responded very well to treatment and showed a slow but sustained regression in the size over two years. Presently, he has completed four and a half years of follow-up and is free of disease

SATELLITE BASED DATA COMMUNICATION: A SURVEY

ABSTRACT Satellite communication is well known in providing best services where broadcasting is essential, where terrain is hostile and very sparsely populated. It also has niche where rapid deployment is very critical and important. In Global Network Infrastructure satellite is considered as an inseparable component of the communication infrastructure. A variety of research work has been explored and published for satellite based data communication & networking. It is utmost important to conduct a survey on different aspects and research issues of satellite based communication with a focus on the latest development. In this paper, we summarize, compare & comments on the approaches proposed for the satellite based data communication with keeping in view the parameters like Quality of service, Interplanetary Internet, Mobility management, explicit load balancing and packet reordering issue

An extended COPRAS model for multi-criteria decision-making problems and its application in web-based hotel evaluation and selection

Facilitation of suitable accommodation for different travellers is the prime concern of travel agencies. Travel agencies must keep themselves competitive and sustain a good pace of growth to continue raising profits by attracting and retaining as many tourists as possible through meeting their various prospective needs. To achieve this, the agencies must prepare well-organised data for hotels and destinations from a quality control perspective. Initially, the hotels are ranked and evaluated according to performance across several criteria from the tourists’viewpoint. The relative importance of each criterion is mainly subjective and depends on the assessor’s judgement. Additionally, hotels’ rankings vary across different websites, resulting in inconsistencies. To handle such inconsistencies and subjectivity, this paper presents a collective decision-making evaluation framework by integrating a weighted interval rough number (WIRN) method and a WIRN- based complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) model to evaluate and rank hotels. An empirical example and a real-world case study from the Indian tourism industry are presented to validate the applicability of the proposed framework. Finally, a comparison and sensitivity analysis are performed to examine the validity and robustness of the proposed model

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Breast cancer management pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic: outcomes from the UK ‘Alert Level 4’ phase of the B-MaP-C study

Abstract: Background: The B-MaP-C study aimed to determine alterations to breast cancer (BC) management during the peak transmission period of the UK COVID-19 pandemic and the potential impact of these treatment decisions. Methods: This was a national cohort study of patients with early BC undergoing multidisciplinary team (MDT)-guided treatment recommendations during the pandemic, designated ‘standard’ or ‘COVID-altered’, in the preoperative, operative and post-operative setting. Findings: Of 3776 patients (from 64 UK units) in the study, 2246 (59%) had ‘COVID-altered’ management. ‘Bridging’ endocrine therapy was used (n = 951) where theatre capacity was reduced. There was increasing access to COVID-19 low-risk theatres during the study period (59%). In line with national guidance, immediate breast reconstruction was avoided (n = 299). Where adjuvant chemotherapy was omitted (n = 81), the median benefit was only 3% (IQR 2–9%) using ‘NHS Predict’. There was the rapid adoption of new evidence-based hypofractionated radiotherapy (n = 781, from 46 units). Only 14 patients (1%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during their treatment journey. Conclusions: The majority of ‘COVID-altered’ management decisions were largely in line with pre-COVID evidence-based guidelines, implying that breast cancer survival outcomes are unlikely to be negatively impacted by the pandemic. However, in this study, the potential impact of delays to BC presentation or diagnosis remains unknown

Optimal Returns Policy under Demand Uncertainty

Multiple categories of retail products suffer limited shelf life, demand uncertainty, and, in some cases, long lead times. To provide retailers with an incentive to increase the stocking quantity of such products, manufacturers may offer an option to return unsold items at wholesale or less than wholesale prices. This article extends the additive price-dependent demand model in three ways. First, partial returns are optimal for the manufacturer but do not induce higher stocking quantities compared with when the manufacturer offers no returns. Second, in terms of the effect of investment in demand-enhancing activities, when retailers invest, they set higher resale prices, but an optimal partial returns policy still does not induce higher stocking quantity, whereas when manufacturers invest, the optimal returns policy induces higher stocking quantity. Third, when the manufacturer and retailer have different expectations of demand uncertainty, the retailer's estimate influences the expected profits for both, whereas the manufacturer's estimate has a major impact on its profits only

Petiolar Anatomy as an Aid to the Identification of Mangifera indica L. Varieties

Petiole anatomy of eight varieties of Mangifera indica L., namely Alphonso, Badshashpasand, Cowasji, Jhumakhiya, Khodi, Ladvo, Pairi and Sindoria, growing in Gujarat were carried out. The evaluated characters were found to be useful in differentiating individual varieties. On the basis of significant characters, such as shape of petiole, cross-sectional area of petiole , vascular arc, shape of vascular strands, total visual count of vessels and radial multiples of vessels in main arc, number of resin canals and their diameter, thickness of cuticle and shape and size of epidermal cell and layers of hypodermal cell the varieties were investigated. Number of resin canal was highest in Jhumakhiya (18), followed by Khodi and Cowasji (15), Pairi and Ladvo (14), Alphonso Badshahpasand Sindoria (13) respectively. Thickness of cuticle was maximum in Pairi (12 ?m), Khodi (10 ?m), Alphonso (8.5 ?m), followed by Jhumakhiya (6.24 ?m), Ladvo (7 ?m), Badshahpasand (6 ?m), Cowasji (5 ?m) and Sindoria (5 ?m). Shape of petiole on adaxial side was circular in all the varieties except Alphonso and Badshahpasand, which had planoconvex shape and Sindoria with a highly convex shape. The evaluated petiole anatomical characteristic features proved to be a useful tool for the taxonomic discrimination of the eight studied varieties. An artificial synoptic key to the identification of the varieties has been formulated