Structural and Optical Properties of Electro Sprayed Tin Oxide Thin Films

Semiconducting transparent SnO2 thin films were prepared by microcontroller processed electro spraying technique. The structural and optical properties of the films were studied using X-ray diffractometer, UV-Vis spectrophotometer and Photoluminescence spectroscopy respectively. The polycrystalline nature of the films with tetragonal structure was observed from XRD pattern with the mean grain size of 17 nm. The Optical band gap of the films was calculated from the absorption curve and the interference pattern was observed on transmittance spectra. The calculated band gap of 3.5 eV is larger than the bulk band gap of Tin oxide. The blue emission band at 388 nm was observed from room temperature photoluminescence analysis and the effect of excitation wavelength of the films were studied and discussed. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3598

Differential Evolution Based IDWNN Controller for Fault Ride-Through of Grid-Connected Doubly Fed Induction Wind Generators

The key objective of wind turbine development is to ensure that output power is continuously increased. It is authenticated that wind turbines (WTs) supply the necessary reactive power to the grid at the time of fault and after fault to aid the flowing grid voltage. At this juncture, this paper introduces a novel heuristic based controller module employing differential evolution and neural network architecture to improve the low-voltage ride-through rate of grid-connected wind turbines, which are connected along with doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs). The traditional crowbar-based systems were basically applied to secure the rotor-side converter during the occurrence of grid faults. This traditional controller is found not to satisfy the desired requirement, since DFIG during the connection of crowbar acts like a squirrel cage module and absorbs the reactive power from the grid. This limitation is taken care of in this paper by introducing heuristic controllers that remove the usage of crowbar and ensure that wind turbines supply necessary reactive power to the grid during faults. The controller is designed in this paper to enhance the DFIG converter during the grid fault and this controller takes care of the ride-through fault without employing any other hardware modules. The paper introduces a double wavelet neural network controller which is appropriately tuned employing differential evolution. To validate the proposed controller module, a case study of wind farm with 1.5 MW wind turbines connected to a 25 kV distribution system exporting power to a 120 kV grid through a 30 km 25 kV feeder is carried out by simulation

Germination and vigour of polymer coated cotton seeds under different water holding capacities

The cotton seeds were coated with different polymers namely Genius coat 171, Genius coat 172, Arcus, Myconate and Quick roots  and evaluated for various physiological quality parameters at water holding capacities of 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 per cent  in sand medium along with untreated control seed. The seeds coated with Quick roots polymer recorded higher speed of germination (8.5), germination (88 %), root length (10.35 cm), shoot length (10.80 cm), dry matter production (489.9 mg seedlings-10) and vigour index (1861), respectively over untreated control (5.5, 68, 9.00, 9.50, 458.6 and 1258, respectively)  under suboptimal moisture condition like 30 per cent water holding capacity. Cotton seeds coated with Quick roots can tolerate both high as well as low moisture content and produce better germination and seedling establishment

Whole Genome Characterization of a Few EMS-Induced Mutants of Upland Rice Variety Nagina 22 Reveals a Staggeringly High Frequency of SNPs Which Show High Phenotypic Plasticity Towards the Wild-Type

The Indian initiative, in creating mutant resources for the functional genomics in rice, has been instrumental in the development of 87,000 ethylmethanesulfonate (EMS)-induced mutants, of which 7,000 are in advanced generations. The mutants have been created in the background of Nagina 22, a popular drought- and heat-tolerant upland cultivar. As it is a pregreen revolution cultivar, as many as 573 dwarf mutants identified from this resource could be useful as an alternate source of dwarfing. A total of 541 mutants, including the macromutants and the trait-specific ones, obtained after appropriate screening, are being maintained in the mutant garden. Here, we report on the detailed characterizations of the 541 mutants based on the distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS) descriptors at two different locations. About 90% of the mutants were found to be similar to the wild type (WT) with high similarity index (>0.6) at both the locations. All 541 mutants were characterized for chlorophyll and epicuticular wax contents, while a subset of 84 mutants were characterized for their ionomes, namely, phosphorous, silicon, and chloride contents. Genotyping of these mutants with 54 genomewide simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers revealed 93% of the mutants to be either completely identical to WT or nearly identical with just one polymorphic locus. Whole genome resequencing (WGS) of four mutants, which have minimal differences in the SSR fingerprint pattern and DUS characters from the WT, revealed a staggeringly high number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on an average (16,453 per mutant) in the genic sequences. Of these, nearly 50% of the SNPs led to non-synonymous codons, while 30% resulted in synonymous codons. The number of insertions and deletions (InDels) varied from 898 to 2,595, with more than 80% of them being 1–2 bp long. Such a high number of SNPs could pose a serious challenge in identifying gene(s) governing the mutant phenotype by next generation sequencing-based mapping approaches such as Mutmap. From the WGS data of the WT and the mutants, we developed a genic resource of the WT with a novel analysis pipeline. The entire information about this resource along with the panicle architecture of the 493 mutants is made available in a mutant database EMSgardeN22 (http://14.139.229.201/EMSgardeN22)

The dominant Anopheles vectors of human malaria in the Asia-Pacific region: occurrence data, distribution maps and bionomic précis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The final article in a series of three publications examining the global distribution of 41 dominant vector species (DVS) of malaria is presented here. The first publication examined the DVS from the Americas, with the second covering those species present in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Here we discuss the 19 DVS of the Asian-Pacific region. This region experiences a high diversity of vector species, many occurring sympatrically, which, combined with the occurrence of a high number of species complexes and suspected species complexes, and behavioural plasticity of many of these major vectors, adds a level of entomological complexity not comparable elsewhere globally. To try and untangle the intricacy of the vectors of this region and to increase the effectiveness of vector control interventions, an understanding of the contemporary distribution of each species, combined with a synthesis of the current knowledge of their behaviour and ecology is needed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Expert opinion (EO) range maps, created with the most up-to-date expert knowledge of each DVS distribution, were combined with a contemporary database of occurrence data and a suite of open access, environmental and climatic variables. Using the Boosted Regression Tree (BRT) modelling method, distribution maps of each DVS were produced. The occurrence data were abstracted from the formal, published literature, plus other relevant sources, resulting in the collation of DVS occurrence at 10116 locations across 31 countries, of which 8853 were successfully geo-referenced and 7430 were resolved to spatial areas that could be included in the BRT model. A detailed summary of the information on the bionomics of each species and species complex is also presented.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This article concludes a project aimed to establish the contemporary global distribution of the DVS of malaria. The three articles produced are intended as a detailed reference for scientists continuing research into the aspects of taxonomy, biology and ecology relevant to species-specific vector control. This research is particularly relevant to help unravel the complicated taxonomic status, ecology and epidemiology of the vectors of the Asia-Pacific region. All the occurrence data, predictive maps and EO-shape files generated during the production of these publications will be made available in the public domain. We hope that this will encourage data sharing to improve future iterations of the distribution maps.</p

Diversity of Global Rice Markets and the Science Required for Consumer-Targeted Rice Breeding

With the ever-increasing global demand for high quality rice in both local production regions and with Western consumers, we have a strong desire to understand better the importance of the different traits that make up the quality of the rice grain and obtain a full picture of rice quality demographics. Rice is by no means a ‘one size fits all’ crop. Regional preferences are not only striking, they drive the market and hence are of major economic importance in any rice breeding / improvement strategy. In this analysis, we have engaged local experts across the world to perform a full assessment of all the major rice quality trait characteristics and importantly, to determine how these are combined in the most preferred varieties for each of their regions. Physical as well as biochemical characteristics have been monitored and this has resulted in the identification of no less than 18 quality trait combinations. This complexity immediately reveals the extent of the specificity of consumer preference. Nevertheless, further assessment of these combinations at the variety level reveals that several groups still comprise varieties which consumers can readily identify as being different. This emphasises the shortcomings in the current tools we have available to assess rice quality and raises the issue of how we might correct for this in the future. Only with additional tools and research will we be able to define directed strategies for rice breeding which are able to combine important agronomic features with the demands of local consumers for specific quality attributes and hence, design new, improved crop varieties which will be awarded success in the global market

Kedudukan Watak-Watak Wanita dalam Kumpulan Cerpen "Ammavuku" Menerusi Kajian Subaltern

Kajian tentang ‘menelusuri watak-watak wanita dalam kumpulan cerpen ‘Ammavuku'; satu kajian subaltern' ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti kedudukan watak wanita dalam sistem patriarki seperti yang digambarkan oleh Saras dalam kumpulan cerpennya ‘Ammavuku'. Kajian ini dapat menjawab persoalan tentang kedudukan wanita-wanita subaltern dalam sesebuah organisasi keluarga. Kajian ini dijalankan menggunakan kaedah kualitatif dan dihuraikan secara deskriptif. Kaedah kajian kepustakaan dibuat untuk mengkumpul maklumat dan data yang berkaitan dalam kajian ini. Bahan – bahan rujukan dalam buku, jurnal, internet, serta perpustakaan daripada beberapa institut pengajian tinggi awam telah dikaji untuk mengambil maklumat dan data dengan terperinci. Kaedah kepustakaan digunakan secara menyeluruh dalam kajian ini. Kajian Subaltern dalam cerpen Saras meliputi hak-hak wanita yang ditindas oleh golongan lelaki dalam kehidupan seharian mereka. Hak wanita yang dikaji dari segi kedudukan wanita sebagai seorang ibu, isteri dan anak. Penelitian terhadap teori subaltern dalam kumpulan cerpen ‘Ammavuku' akan menjadi suatu kesedaran bagi masalah yang dihadapi oleh kaum wanita dalam institusi kekeluargaan