A parametric study of textile artificial magnetic conductor with wire dipole at 2.45GHZ and 5.8GHZ

Textile Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) with wire dipole is presented. The AMCs are made of fleece and Shieldit fabrics and were designed to have in-phase reflections at 2.45GHz and 5.8GHz. Thorough parametric studies based on AMC unit cell have been performed to obtain the optimized design. Performance comparison between different types of environments, fabrics and arrays size were also conducted. The proposed AMC and wire dipole are designed, simulated, fabricated and tested. Results of return loss, radiation pattern and gain are presented. Results show that forward directive radiation pattern with improved gain are achieved with the introduction of the AMC at both 2.45GHz and 5.8GHz. The proposed textile AMC is suitable for body centric communication systems

Yield loss assessment of chickpea caused by botrytis gray mold through fungicide (Bavistin) spray

An experiment was conducted to assess the yield loss of chickpea caused by Botrytis gray mold (BGM) through fungicide spray at Pulses Research Centre, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Ishurdi, Pabna, Bangladesh. Sixteen entries were evaluated following RCB design with three replications. Out of 16 tested germplasms, eight germplasms (92040*52, FLIP97-530 CLIMS, 94-012*98V4006, FLIP98-106C, Gully, FLIP94-509C, 97020-1489 and S95425) showed resistant reaction, while eight and one entries showed susceptible and highly susceptible, respectably, in fungicide sprayed plot. The highest yield increase over BGM inoculated plot were observed in BARWON*98CIH4007 (180.49%) and 97020-1489 (157.96%). The lowest yield increase over BGM inoculated plot were recorded in HEERA*98CZH4010 (6.39%) and 94-012*98V4006 (8.93%) genotypes

Nexus Between Equity Pricing Models and Equity Price Fragility: Empirical Insights From Pakistan

Purpose: The study tests conventional and behavioral pricing multifactor impact on price fragility from the equity market of Pakistan. Methodology: The positivist approach is used to deduct study rationale via probability sampling. At the same time, systematic sampling for data collection of PSX is tested in parallel to mean-variance random walk theory. Findings: The impact of conventional factors is significant on price fragility in the short run and vice versa in the long run. Specifically, herd behavior and disposition effects are found to be insignificant. But size, value, illiquidity, and price earning had a significant impact on price fragility in the short run. Limitations: The current research has not covered the desired scope of the topic due to time limitations, lack of harmony in corporate data on databases, and literature on price fragility being very scarce. Implication: In PSX, there is a need to develop a corporate culture to promote the standard modern financial practice to enhance financial productivity and sustainability. For corporate culture to be established, corporate governance boards should be established, and family governance systems should be replaced by an independent democratic board. Mispricing and arbitragers need serious control. Originality: The value of the research is that little research currently exists on about pricing multifactor impact on price fragility. Copyright © 2022 Anser, Yusop, Abbas, Ali and Ahmad.APC will be provided by the corresponding author

M8 rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) mutants: evaluation for earliness with higher seed yield

An experiment was conducted with four rapeseed mutants, their mother variety Binasarisha-4 and early maturing variety Tori-7 during November 2012 to February 2013 at four different rapeseed growing areas of Bangladesh to study their agronomic performances and to select early maturing and high yielding mutants. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences for most of the characters among the mutants and checks in both of individual location and combined over locations. All the mutants showed shorter plant height and produced higher number of seeds/siliqua than the mother variety. Two mutants, MM-51 and MM-64 produced statistically similar seed yield (1667 and 1644 kg/ha, respectively) with Binasarisha-4 (1663 kg/ha) and matured one week earlier than Binasarisha-4. These two mutants also had non-significantly different maturing period (88 and 87 days, respectively) with the early maturing variety, Tori-7 (86 days). Both mutants (MM-51 and MM-64), because of their higher number of seeds/siliqua and higher seed yield potential along with early maturity can be selected for further trials both at research station and farmers’ field. These results suggest that gamma rays irradiation can be fruitfully applied for improved agronomic traits like shorter plant height and early maturity in oleiferous Brassica without compromising seed yield

A combination of waste biomass activated carbon and nylon nanofiber for removal of triclosan from aqueous solutions

Triclosan (TCS) is one of the biocide used as antibacterial and antifungal agent to kill and hinder the growth of bacteria and also it is used in many personal care and health care products. However, TCS can cause health and environmental problems such as environmental pollutions, acute toxicity, etc. The aim of this study is to investigate the removal of TCS from aqueous solution by combining the coconut pulp waste (Cocos nuciefera) activated carbon (AC) with nylon 6,6 membrane. To this end, first, the effects of physico-chemical characteristics of the membrane were studied. The nylon 6,6 membrane (14 wt.%] was prepared using electrospinning machine with injection rate at 0.4 mL/h, tip-to-collector distance at 15 cm, rotation speed at 1000 rpm, and applied voltage at 26 kV. The parameters studied for the membrane during the adsorption test were contact time, adsorbent dosage, agitation speed, initial TCS concentration, pH, and temperature of the TCS solution. The filtration test was done using flat sheet membrane test machine at pressure 1.0 bar. The characteristics of the membrane were analysed using the FESEM and FTIR tests. Based on the obtained results, the nylon 6,6 membrane can remove 90.2% of TCS within 5 minutes; the removal rate increased to 100% in less than 5 minutes after the membrane was combined with AC. This study proved that the combination of AC and nylon 6,6 membrane is able to maximize the TCS removal from water

Current and prospective strategies in the varietal improvement of Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) specially Heterosis breeding

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is an herbaceous crop and plays an important role as common spices and vegetables. Pepper (Capsicum spp.) is one of the most cost-effective and agricultural vegetables in the world. The most significant characteristics of peppers, as spices and in various pharmacological uses, are pungency and oleoresin (color). Cabsicum annuum L. is widely used as a medicinal herb and in the Mediterranean diet (at the present, C. annuum var. acuminatum Fingerh. and Capsicum frutescens L. are considered synonyms of C. annuum L.). Capsicum annuum includes a wide range of carotenoids including capsanthin, capsorubin, beta-carotene, cryptoxanthin, lutein, fanthophyl, and xanthophyll, and capsaicinoid. However, it remains limited in production due to the lack of development in varieties especially under severe climatic circumstances such as drought, high temperature, or salt. Some reports were provided through distinct traditional approaches for genetic improvement. A combination of traditional and molecular breeding, especially breeding for heterosis, might be a good option for developing a novel genotype for ecologically adversely affected niche adaption. This review summarizes the current chilli breeding approaches with their drawbacks and highlights some recent classical efforts for the improvement of the crop. This would be the milestone for the breeders in the planning of a successful chilli breeding program to combat the adverse ecological condition. Thus, the information gathered in this article might be considered as the cornerstone of Chilli breeders at their ongoing and sustainable future programs as well

Isoprene hotspots at the Western Coast of Antarctic Peninsula during MASEC′16

Isoprene (C5H8) plays an important role in the formation of surface ozone (O3) and the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) which contributed to the climate change. This study aims to determine hourly distribution of tropospheric isoprene over the Western Coast of Antarctic Peninsula (WCAP) during the Malaysian Antarctic Scientific Expedition Cruise 2016 (MASEC′16). In-situ measurements of isoprene were taken using a custom-built gas chromatography with photoionization detector, known as iDirac. Biological parameters such as chlorophyll a (chl-a) and particulate organic carbon (POC) were compared to the in-situ isoprene measurements. Significant positive correlation was observed between isoprene and POC concentrations (r2 = 0.67, p < 0.001), but not between isoprene and chl-a. The hotspots of isoprene over maritime Antarctic were then were investigated using NAME dispersion model reanalysis. Measurements showed that isoprene mixing ratio were the highest over region of King George Island, Deception Island and Booth Island with values of ∼5.0, ∼0.9 and ∼5.2 ppb, respectively. Backward trajectory analysis showed that air masses may have lifted the isoprene emitted by marine algae. We believe our findings provide valuable data set of isoprene estimation over the under sampled WCAP

Number of Nanoparticles per Cell through a Spectrophotometric Method - A key parameter to Assess Nanoparticle-based Cellular Assays

Engineered nanoparticles (eNPs) for biological and biomedical applications are produced from functionalised nanoparticles (NPs) after undergoing multiple handling steps, giving rise to an inevitable loss of NPs. Herein we present a practical method to quantify nanoparticles (NPs) number per volume in an aqueous suspension using standard spectrophotometers and minute amounts of the suspensions (up to 1 μL). This method allows, for the first time, to analyse cellular uptake by reporting NPs number added per cell, as opposed to current methods which are related to solid content (w/V) of NPs. In analogy to the parameter used in viral infective assays (multiplicity of infection), we propose to name this novel parameter as multiplicity of nanofection.JJDM thanks Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad for a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship and for supporting this work partially by Grant CTQ2012-34778. This research was partially supported by Marie Curie Career Integration Grants within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG-Project Number 294142 and FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG-Project Number 322276) to RMSM and JJDM, respectively. This research was partially supported by the Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia de la Junta de Andalucía (BIO-1778) to JJDM. RMSM and JDUB thank CEI Biotic Granada for funding P_BS_54 and mP_BS_37 projects. JDUB thanks Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad for a Torres Quevedo fellowship (PTQ-13-06046)

Palladium-mediated dealkylation of N-propargyl-floxuridine as a bioorthogonal oxygen-independent prodrug strategy

Herein we report the development and biological screening of a bioorthogonal palladium-labile prodrug of the nucleoside analogue floxuridine, a potent antineoplastic drug used in the clinic to treat advanced cancers. N-propargylation of the N3 position of its uracil ring resulted in a vast reduction of its biological activity (~6,250-fold). Cytotoxic properties were bioorthogonally rescued in cancer cell culture by heterogeneous palladium chemistry both in normoxia and hypoxia. Within the same environment, the reported chemo-reversible prodrug exhibited up to 1,450-fold difference of cytotoxicity whether it was in the absence or presence of the extracellular palladium source, underlining the precise modulation of bioactivity enabled by this bioorthogonally-activated prodrug strategy