Viviendas de bajo costo y disponibles a nivel local en Pakistán

Las inundaciones en 2010 afectaron a 18 millones de personas en Pakistán. Con la disminución de los fondos por parte de los donantes e inundaciones recurrentes en 2011 y 2012, la comunidad humanitaria requería soluciones de bajo costo que pudieran ampliarse para satisfacer tanto las necesidades inmediatas como las necesidades transitorias de grandes poblaciones en diferentes zonas geográficas

EXTRACTION-SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF SOME ANTIHYPERTENSIVE DRUGS IN PHARMACEUTICAL AND BIOLOGICAL FLUIDS USING TWO SULPHONPHTHALEIN DYES

Objective: Two simple and sensitive extractive spectrophotometric methods have been described for the determination of some antihypertensive drugs namely, bisoprolol (BIS), carvedilol (CAR), propranolol (PRP) and telmisartan (TLM) either in pharmaceutical formulations or biological fluids. Methods: The proposed methods involve the formation of yellow colored ion-pair complexes of the studied drugs with two sulphonphthalein dyes as bromophenol blue (BPB) and bromocresol purple (BCP) in acidic medium. Results: The colored products are extracted into methylene chloride and measured spectrophotometrically at 402 nm for all the drugs. Beer's law limits, Sandell sensitivity values, limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) values have also been reported for both the methods. The composition of the ion-pair complexes was found 1: 1 by Jobʼs continuous variations method. The effects of concentration of dye, pH and interference of excipients have been studied and optimized. The accuracy and precision of the methods were evaluated on intra-day and inter-day basis; the relative standard deviation (RSD) was<1.72%. Various analytical parameters have been evaluated and the results have been validated by statistical data and indicated no significant difference in accuracy and precision. Conclusion: The proposed methods were successfully applied to the determination of the studied drugs in pharmaceutical formulations and in biological fluids. Keywords: Antihypertensive drugs, Sulphonphthalein dyes, Ion-pair, Pharmaceuticals

Usability Evaluation of E-Commerce Mobile Application

Mobile is not only reducing the distance between the people; it is also providing easiness for people to buy items remotely in just one click. In today’s global village, different companies like Ali Express, eBay, Amazon, Daraz, Olx, Goto, and others have provided electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms by offering facilities of mobile applications for users. During the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the e-commerce landscape is changing rapidly, and on top of health concerns, brands across the globe are concerned about how COVID-19 will impact e-commerce. Most of the people all around the world using these e-commerce applications for grocery, daily usage products, or for clothing. Providing a better User Experience (UX) to the users, the user interface (UI) of e-commerce applications should be simple and easy to use for attracting users. But there are usability issues that developers cannot comprehend because these issues can only be identified with the help of users interacting with the UI. Therefore, to evaluate the usability and to find out the user’s satisfaction System Usability Scale (SUS) is conducted on popular e-commerce mobile applications, including Ali Express, Daraz, and Goto. Sixty-Eight participants evaluated the interface from Pakistan. The results illustrated 71%, 69%, and 55% user satisfaction for Ali Express, Daraz, and Goto, respectively. Moreover, five usability experts evaluated the Goto interface to identify the existing issues in the UI. The results revealed a path for designers to develop an efficient UI interface for e-commerce applications

Sub-lethal effects of lufenuron exposure on spotted bollworm Earias vittella (Fab): key biological traits and detoxification enzymes activity

Spotted bollworm, Earias vittella, is one of the most serious and devastating insect pests of vegetables and cotton. Currently, insecticides are necessary for its control in nearly all crop systems. In this paper, we evaluate the sub-lethal effects of lufenuron on biological traits and activity of detoxification enzymes: cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, esterase, and glutathione Stranseferase (GST) in second instar larvae of E. vittella. Results showed that sub-lethal concentrations (LC15 and LC40 of lufenuron), prolonged larval period (at LC40 = 13.86 ± 1.22 day, LC15 = 13.14 ± 1.15 day, control = 12.28 ± 0.7), pupal duration (LC40 = 11.1 ± day, LC15 = 11.8 ± 0.28 day, control = 9.40 ± 0.52), and extended mean generation time (LC40 = 27.3 ± 0.43 LC15 = 29.0 ± 1.19 day, control = 26.0 ± 0.65). Sub-lethal exposure significantly prolonged the pre-adult stage, decreased pupal weight, and reduced adult longevity in the parent (F0) and F1 generation. Moreover, the fecundity and egg viability were significantly lowered in parental and F1 generations at both sub-lethal concentrations compared to the control. While no significant effects were noted on reproductive parameters such as the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), and net reproduction rate (R0) of F1 generation when compared to the control. Only mean generation time (T) in F1 at LC15 was significantly longer compared to the LC40 and control (LC40 = 3.79 ± 0.37, LC15 = 32.28 ± 1.55 day, control = 29.79 ± 0.55). Comparatively, the activities of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and esterase were higher than GST in treated populations. The increase in resistance development against insecticides may possibly because of elevated activity of detoxification enzymes. These results provide useful information for monitoring resistance in integrated pest management (IPM) programs for E. vittella

Enhanced effects of dietary tannic acid with chlorantraniliprole on life table parameters and nutritional physiology of Spodoptera exigua (Hübner)

The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly polyphagous pest which causes considerable economic losses to cotton and many vegetable crops. Tannins are among the most important secondary metabolites in cotton plants. We show that tannic acid enhances the toxic effect of chlorantraniliprole on S. exigua when presented in combination. Bioassays using third-instar S. exigua larvae on an artificial diet showed that consumption of tannic acid with chlorantraniliprole at the concentration of (2 mg/g and LC50 0.018 mg/L) had higher toxicity when compared to either chlorantraniliprole or tannic acid alone (LC50 0.027 mg/L). The diet containing tannic acid with chlorantraniliprole significantly prolonged larval and pupal developmental time and extended mean generation time and total preoviposition period compared to either chemical alone. Moreover, fecundity, survival rate, reproductive value, intrinsic rate of increase, finite rate of increase and net reproduction rate declined significantly when exposed to the combined treatment. No difference was observed between tannic acid and the control. Meanwhile, tannic acid with chlorantraniliprole had markedly antifeedant effects; causing significant decline in the relative growth rate (RGR), the relative consumption rate (RCR), the efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI), the efficiency of conversion of digested food and an increase in the approximate digestibility (AD) compared to either chemical alone. Tannic acid with chlorantraniliprole also decreased the insect’s carbohydrate, lipid and protein contents significantly. The results showed that the interaction between tannic acid and chlorantraniliprole on the growth inhibition of larvae was additive and tannic acid increased the toxicity of chlorantraniliprole to insects. The results of this study provide information useful in integrated pest management programs for S. exigua and show that tannic acid combined with chlorantraniliprole may be a route to reducing the use of synthetic pesticides

Knock-down of gossypol-inducing cytochrome P450 genes reduced deltamethrin sensitivity in Spodoptera exigua (Hübner)

Plants employ an intricate and dynamic defense system that includes physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms to counteract the effects of herbivorous attacks. Besides their tolerance to phytotoxins, beet armyworm has quickly developed resistance to deltamethrin; a widely used pyrethroid insecticide in cotton fields. The lethal concentration (LC50) required to kill 50% of the population of deltamethrin to gossypol-fed Spodoptera exigua larvae was 2.34-fold higher than the control group, suggesting a reduced sensitivity as a consequence of the gossypol diet. Piperonyl butoxide (PBO) treatment was found to synergize with deltamethrin in gossypol-fed S. exigua larvae. To counteract these defensive plant secondary metabolites, beet armyworm elevates their production of detoxification enzymes, including cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s). Gossypol-fed beet armyworm larvae showed higher 7-ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase (ECOD) activities and exhibited enhanced tolerance to deltamethrin after 48 and 72 h when compared to the control. Moreover, gossypol pretreated S. exigua larvae showed faster weight gain than the control group after transferring to a deltamethrin-supplemented diet. Meanwhile, gossypol-induced P450s exhibited high divergence in the expression level of two P450 genes: CYP6AB14 and CYP9A98 in the midgut and fat bodies contributed to beet armyworm tolerance to deltamethrin. Knocking down of CYP6AB14 and CYP9A98, via dsRNA in a controlled diet, rendered the larvae more sensitive to the insecticide. These data demonstrate that generalist insects can exploit secondary metabolites from host plants to enhance their defense systems against other toxic chemicals. Impairing this defense pathway by RNAi holds a potential to eliminate the pest’s tolerance to insecticides and, therefore, reduce the required dosages of agrochemicals in pest control

A mechanistic insight into chemical cues and interactions involved in herbivory induced jasmonate mediated plant defense mechanism

The first step in plant defense mechanism is to sense the insect attack stimulus. Plant sensitivity of an insect attack is the first step of defense. Molecules generated by the oral secretion of the insect interact with the plant receptors to trigger plant defense mechanisms. We selected some highly cited insect elicitors molecules, volicitin, caeliferin, bruchin which interact with plant defense by interacting with plant elicitors (systemin, inceptin and peps) located on the plant cell surface. This interaction activates plant receptors SYR1, LRR, PEPR and triggers downstream defense signaling. The octadecanoid pathways, involving enzymes allene oxide synthase (AOS) and Hydroxyperoxide lyase (HPL) are activated. These enzymes mediate production of green leafy volatiles and Jasmonic acid by interacting with hydroxperoxide molecules. We docked the elicitors with receptors and enzymes with substrates in the pathway of JA production. Phe was found to be an important amino acid that interacts with 13-hydroxyperoxides in the case of AOS to produce JA but not in the case of HPL. JA is converted to JA-Ile which shows strong binding with COI1 and COI1-JA-Ile complex docked with JAZ which showed strong interaction with ve hydrogens and one salt bridge bond. AOS and HPL showed less than 40% identity for sequence and structure alignment. AOS and HPL had shown an interaction between each other and showed a common interaction partner of the Lipoxygenase family. HPL shows interaction with ADH2 (Alcohol dehydrogenase) involved in GLVs production. AOS also showed interaction partner AOC, COI1 and OPR1 which are involved in JA-induced plant defense mechanism.peer-reviewe

RNA interference-mediated knockdown of a cytochrome P450 gene enhanced the toxicity of α-cypermethrin in xanthotoxin-fed larvae of Spodoptera exigua (Hübner)

The beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) is a highly polyphagous agricultural pest that is distributed worldwide. However, the adaptive mechanisms of S. exigua for various insecticides and defensive substances in host plants are unknown. Insect P450 monooxygenases play an important role in the detoxification of plant toxins and insecticides, leading to insecticides resistance. We investigated the induced effects of xanthotoxin exposure on detoxification enzyme activity and larval tolerance to α-cypermethrin in S. exigua. Our results showed that the lethal concentration (LC50) of α-cypermethrin for xanthotoxin-exposed larvae was 2.1-fold higher than in the control. Moreover, cytochrome P450 enzyme activity was significantly elevated by upregulation of P450 genes in treated larvae. RT-qPCR results showed that CYP9A10 expression level was significantly increased in all treatments, while maximal expression level was observed in xanthotoxin+α-cypermethrin-fed larvae. RNAi-mediated silencing of CYP9A10 further increased mortality by 18%, 26% and 35% at 48 h and by 27%, 43% and 55% at 72 h when larvae were exposed to diets containing chemicals as compared to the control. The results show that CYP9A10 might play an important role in xanthotoxin and α-cypermethrin detoxification in S. exigua. RNAi-mediated silencing could provide an effective synergistic agent for pest control or insecticide resistance management

Machine-Vision-Based Plastic Bottle Inspection for Quality Assurance

With the increasing utilization of plastic bottles in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, the efficiency and accuracy of the bottle defect inspection process becomes very important for quality assurance. Deep-learning-based inspection is accurate and robust, but at the same time data hogging and computationally expensive. Thus, it is not feasible for fast inspection. Therefore, this paper presents an efficient and fast machine-vision-based system for inspecting plastic bottle defects. The system is composed of a chamber which has a camera and illuminators to capture high-resolution images in controlled lighting conditions. Captured images are processed by using simple image processing techniques to identify multiple defects such as seated cap, dents on the body and label alignment on the plastic. The experimental results show that the proposed system is 95% accurate in determining a range of bottle defects. It is highly feasible for fast inspection and does not require high computation power and a large amount of training data

EEG Feature Extraction with Fast Fourier Transform for Investigating different Brain regions in Cognitive and Reasoning Activity

In this study, cortical brain activity during a pattern matching task (PMT) was measured by employing electroencephalography (EEG). The EEG data were recorded from 128 scalp locations during a pattern-matching task and in rest conditions (eyes open and eyes closed). Spectral Analysis of EEG frequency bands reflected a significant (p&lt;0.025) difference between baseline and PMT task. The EEG activity in slow waves (delta: 0.5 to 3 Hz and theta: 4 to 7 Hz) was high during PMT in frontal regions, while EEG activity in fast waves (Beta: 14 to 20 Hz and Gamma: 21 to 30 Hz) was reduced in parietal and occipital regions as compared to the frontal region. The changes in EEG medium waves (alpha: 8 to 13 Hz) was high in frontal, central, and temporal regions, while depressed in parietal, parieto-occipital and occipital regions. The results show high cortical activations in different brain regions during solving pattern-matching task as compared to baseline resting conditions. The study has implications for thinking and decision-making situation, such as object recognition, visual comparison, and consumer choice.</p