Minimum Enclosing Circle with Few Extra Variables

Asano et al. [JoCG 2011] proposed an open problem of computing the minimum enclosing circle of a set of n points in R^2 given in a read-only array in sub-quadratic time. We show that Megiddo\u27s prune and search algorithm for computing the minimum radius circle enclosing the given points can be tailored to work in a read-only environment in O(n^{1+epsilon}) time using O(log n) extra space, where epsilon is a positive constant less than 1. As a warm-up, we first solve the same problem in an in-place setup in linear time with O(1) extra space

Biodegradability Studies of Bio-Composites of Polypropylene Reinforced By Potato Starch

ABSTRACT: In this study, poly propylene (PP)/potato starch (PS) blend films are prepared using the two roll mill machine. The biodegradability of the films is investigated by soil burial method over a period of 4 months. The percentage weight loss of the bio-composites in the compost soil burial test is increasing with increasing PS content. The biodegradability of the bio-composites is enhanced with increasing starch content because the PS is easily attacked by microorganisms. Any changes in the various properties of the PP/PS before and after degradation are monitored using weight loss, FTIR spectroscopy, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for surface morphology, a thermo gravimetric analyzer (TGA) for rapid determination of starch content and a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for crystallanity. It can be concluded from the results that use of these bio-composites will reduce the environmental problems associated with waste pollution and the study findings support the predicted application of bio-composites as green-composites or eco-materials

<span style="font-size:15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt" lang="EN-GB">Peptide mass fingerprinting of rice (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Oryza sativa</i> L.) leaves during UV-B induced stress at seedling stage: <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">A proteom analysis </span></span>

504-508The depletion of stratospheric ozone layer has led to the increase in solar ultraviolet (UV-B: 280-320 nm) radiation reaching the Earth’s surface and resulted in reduction of the growth and yield of crop plants. To defend against such adverse effect, plants may have developed some kind of resistance mechanism through differential expression of genes involved in UV stress. To determine the differentially expressed proteome in 3 local rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars, namely, Sadamala, Lalmala and Paijam, 15-d-old seedlings were exposed to ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B: 280-320 nm) for 4, 8 and 12 h duration. The leaf proteins were separated through SDS-PAGE to detect the differentially expressed protein for proteomic analysis. Further, mass spectrometry (MS) and bioinformatics were used to study the proteomic responses in the leaves of the rice seedlings. An extra unique band was detected at around 60 kDa size range in the cultivar Sadamala only after 8 h treatment when compared to control sample. However, differentially expressed protein band was not detected in the other two cultivars of Lalmala and Paijam probably because they may be sensitive to UVB irradiation as compared to cultivar Sadamala. Proteins in this extra band were identified by peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) through nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS technique. Twenty-seven different proteins were thus identified from this extra band in PMF while performing a database search using MASCOT in NCBInr. These proteins include stress inducible and differentially expressed proteins, such as, ST-1 (stress inducible protein-1), putative chaperonin 60 <span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Symbol; mso-ascii-font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-hansi-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:symbol"="" lang="EN-GB">b-precursor, Rubisco subunit binding-protein <span style="font-size:9.0pt; font-family:Symbol;mso-ascii-font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-hansi-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:="" symbol"="" lang="EN-GB">b-subunit, heat shock cognate 70 kDa (Hsp70) protein, putative malate dehydrogenase, putative endosperm specific protein SC3, α-L-arabinofuranosidase and others. These results suggest that there may exist some kind of UV protective mechanism in rice plant to tolerate UV-B exposure. </span