Higher Fertilizer Inputs Increase Fitness Traits of Brown Planthopper in Rice.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the primary staple food source for more than half of the world's population. In many developing countries, increased use of fertilizers is a response to increase demand for rice. In this study, we investigated the effects of three principal fertilizer components (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) on the development of potted rice plants and their effects on fitness traits of the brown planthopper (BPH) [Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Homoptera: Delphacidae)], which is a major pest of rice in Bangladesh and elsewhere. Compared to low fertilizer inputs, high fertilizer treatments induced plant growth but also favored BPH development. The BPH had higher survival, developed faster, and the intrinsic rate of natural increase (r m ) was higher on well-fertilized than under-fertilized plants. Among the fertilizer inputs, nitrogen had the strongest effect on the fitness traits of BPH. Furthermore, both the "Plant vigor hypothesis" and the "Plant stress hypothesis" were supported by the results, the former hypothesis more so than the latter. These hypotheses suggest that the most suitable/attractive hosts for insect herbivores are the most vigorous plants. Our findings emphasized that an exclusive focus on yield increases through only enhanced crop fertilization may have unforeseen, indirect, effects on crop susceptibility to pests, such as BPH

An optimal path selection using lion optimization routing protocol for mobile ad-hoc network

MANET is a set of nodes that communicate with each other directly or indirectly. The nodes in MANET can be moved freely. The dynamic nature of the network makes several challenges. One of the challenges in routing is to transfer the data from the start node (source) to the end node (destination). Routing suffers from several metrics such as power-consuming, delay, packet delivery ratio, etc. This paper proposed a new protocol called the Lion Optimization Routing protocol (LORP) based on the lion algorithm and AODV protocol. This protocol uses the Lion Optimization Algorithm to select the optimal path. Firstly, we use lion optimization to select the optimal path using the LOA maximization algorithm depending on three main metrics Power Efficiency, Throughput, and Packet Delivery Ratio. Secondly, we use the LOA minimization algorithm to select the optimal path using two metrics Delay and Short Path. In LOA Maximization algorithm metrics calculated and choose the max path value. The result of this protocol is compared with AODV, DSR, and ANTHOCNET

Sensory hypoinnervation in club foot

Abstract We have compared the density of nerve fibres in the synovium in club foot with that of specimens obtained from the synovium of the hip at operations for developmental dysplasia. The study focused on the sensory neuropeptides substance P; calcitonin gene-related peptide; protein gene product 9.5, a general marker for mature peripheral nerve fibres; and growth associated protein 43, a neuronal marker for new or regenerating nerve fibres. In order to establish whether there might be any inherent difference we analysed the density of calcitonin gene-related peptide-positive nerve fibres in the hip and ankle joints in young rats. Semi-quantitative analysis showed a significant reduction in the number of sensory and mature nerve fibres in the synovium in club foot compared with the control hips. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) positive fibres were reduced by 28%, substance P-positive fibres by 36% and protein gene product 9.5-positive fibres by 52% in club foot. The growth associated protein 43-positive fibres also seemed to be less in six samples of club foot. No difference in the density of CGRP-positive nerve fibres was observed in the synovium between ankle and hip joints in rats. The lack of sensory input may be responsible for the fibrosis and soft-tissue contractures associated with idiopathic club foot

Infrequent pattern detection for reliable network traffic analysis using robust evolutionary computation

While anomaly detection is very important in many domains, such as in cybersecurity, there are many rare anomalies or infrequent patterns in cybersecurity datasets. Detection of infrequent patterns is computationally expensive. Cybersecurity datasets consist of many features, mostly irrelevant, resulting in lower classification performance by machine learning algorithms. Hence, a feature selection (FS) approach, i.e., selecting relevant features only, is an essential preprocessing step in cybersecurity data analysis. Despite many FS approaches proposed in the literature, cooperative co-evolution (CC)-based FS approaches can be more suitable for cybersecurity data preprocessing considering the Big Data scenario. Accordingly, in this paper, we have applied our previously proposed CC-based FS with random feature grouping (CCFSRFG) to a benchmark cybersecurity dataset as the preprocessing step. The dataset with original features and the dataset with a reduced number of features were used for infrequent pattern detection. Experimental analysis was performed and evaluated using 10 unsupervised anomaly detection techniques. Therefore, the proposed infrequent pattern detection is termed Unsupervised Infrequent Pattern Detection (UIPD). Then, we compared the experimental results with and without FS in terms of true positive rate (TPR). Experimental analysis indicates that the highest rate of TPR improvement was by cluster-based local outlier factor (CBLOF) of the backdoor infrequent pattern detection, and it was 385.91% when using FS. Furthermore, the highest overall infrequent pattern detection TPR was improved by 61.47% for all infrequent patterns using clustering-based multivariate Gaussian outlier score (CMGOS) with FS

Characterization of Cu3SbS3 thin films grown by thermally diffusing Cu2S and Sb2S3 layers

Copper antimony sulphide (Cu3SbS3) with a p-type conductivity and optical band gaps in the range of 1.38 to 1.84 eV is considered to be a promising solar harvesting material with non-toxic and economical elements. In this study, we reported the fabrication of Cu3SbS3 thin films using successive thermal evaporation of Cu2S and Sb2S3 layers followed by annealing in an argon atmosphere at a temperature range of 300-375°C. The structural and optical properties of the as-deposited and annealed films were investigated. The annealed films notably show the crystalline phase of the Cu3SbS3, identified from the X-ray diffraction analysis and endorsed by the Raman analysis as well. Whereas their chemical state of the constituent elements was characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The measured highest resistivity of the annealed film was found to be ~0.2 Ω-cm. Hence, our obtained results for the fabricated Cu3SbS3 thin films bring to light that Cu3SbS3would be a good absorber layer in solar cells due to their low resistivity, a higher value of the optical absorption coefficient (~105 cm-1), the low transmittance (<5%) and an optical direct band gap of 1.6 eV in the visible range of the solar spectrum

Distribution of chromosomal abnormalities commonly observed in adult acute myeloid leukemia in Pakistan as predictors of prognosis

Objective: The heterogenous response to treatment in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can be attributed largely to the difference in cytogenetic features identified in between cases. Cytogenetic analysis in acute leukemia is now routinely used to assist patient management, particularly in terms of diagnosis, disease monitoring, prognosis and risk stratification. Knowing about cytogenetic profile at the time of diagnosis is important in order to take critical decisions in management of these patients. The study was conducted to determine the distribution of cytogenetic abnormalities in Pakistani adult patients with AML in order to have insights regarding behavior of the. method: A retrospective analysis of all the cases of AML (≥15years old) diagnosed at Aga Khan University from January 2011 to December 2016 was performed. Cytogenetic analysis was made for all cases using the trypsin-Giemsa banding technique. Karyotypes were interpreted using the International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN) criteria. Result: A total of 321 patients were diagnosed with AML during the study period, of which 288 samples successfully yielded metaphase chromosomes. The male to female ratio was 1.7:1. A normal karyotype was present in 61% (n=176) of the cases whereas, 39% (n=112) had an abnormal karyotype. Of the abnormal cases, t (8;21) (q22;q22) and t (15;17) (q22;q12) were identified in 8.3% and 4.9% cases respectively. Adverse prognostic cytogenetic subgroups including complex karyotype, monosomy 7 and t(6;9)(p23;q34) were identified in 9%, 1% and 0.7% patients respectively. Conclusion: This largest cytogenetic data in adult AML from Pakistan showed comparable prevalence of favorable prognostic karyotype to international data. The prevalence of specific adverse prognostic karyotype was low

The relationship between modified Graeb score and intraventricular hematoma volume with Glasgow outcome scale and modified Rankin scale in intraventricular hemorrhage of brain: a comparative study

Background: Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is an acute neurosurgical condition. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between modified Graeb score (mGS) and intraventricular hematoma volume with Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) and modified Rankin scale (mRS).Methods: This is a Quasi-experimental study conducted in the department of neurosurgery, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Chittagong, Bangladesh during the period from 24 July 2018 to 23 July 2019. After a detailed history and clinical examination, 150 patients were selected for this study. The study participants were divided into two major groups- external ventricular drainage (EVD) and conservative; both groups consisted of 44 patients. Written informed consent were taken from the participants. Data were analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software.Results: Overall mean age was around 60 years with an age range from 15-85 years. More than three fourth of the patients in both groups were from the age group of >50 years (73.83%). There were no differences between EVD and conservative groups regarding medical comorbidities. Most prevalent comorbidity among the patients of both groups’ hypertension, followed by diabetes and previous ischemic stroke. Overall the most frequent symptoms in the studied patients were vomiting, followed by loss of consciousness, headache and convulsion. There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding presenting symptoms. The mean Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score level was significantly lower in the patients with EVD than their counterpart from 1st post-operative day to 8th post-operative day. However, within-group comparison shows that the GCS score was significantly increased from 1st day to 8th day in both groups of patients.Conclusions: These findings can be used to identify patients in whom an EVD may provide measurable outcomes benefit with respect to patient mortality and help guide neurosurgical decision-making in particular patient subgroups with acute IVH

Behaviour change intervention for smokeless tobacco cessation: its development, feasibility and fidelity testing in Pakistan and in the UK

Background: People of South Asian-origin are responsible for more than three-quarters of all the smokeless tobacco (SLT) consumption worldwide; yet there is little evidence on the effect of SLT cessation interventions in this population. South Asians use highly addictive and hazardous SLT products that have a strong socio-cultural dimension. We designed a bespoke behaviour change intervention (BCI) to support South Asians in quitting SLT and then evaluated its feasibility in Pakistan and in the UK. Methods: We conducted two literature reviews to identify determinants of SLT use among South Asians and behaviour change techniques (BCTs) likely to modify these, respectively. Iterative consensus development workshops helped in selecting potent BCTs for BCI and designing activities and materials to deliver these. We piloted the BCI in 32 SLT users. All BCI sessions were audiotaped and analysed for adherence to intervention content and the quality of interaction (fidelity index). In-depth interviews with16 participants and five advisors assessed acceptability and feasibility of delivering the BCI, respectively. Quit success was assessed at 6 months by saliva/urine cotinine. Results: The BCI included 23 activities and an interactive pictorial resource that supported these. Activities included raising awareness of the harms of SLT use and benefits of quitting, boosting clients’ motivation and self-efficacy, and developing strategies to manage their triggers, withdrawal symptoms, and relapse should that occur. Betel quid and Guthka were the common forms of SLT used. Pakistani clients were more SLT dependent than those in the UK. Out of 32, four participants had undetectable cotinine at 6 months. Fidelity scores for each site varied between 11.2 and 42.6 for adherence to content – maximum score achievable 44; and between 1.4 and 14 for the quality of interaction - maximum score achievable was 14. Interviews with advisors highlighted the need for additional training on BCTs, integrating nicotine replacement and reducing duration of the pre-quit session. Clients were receptive to health messages but most reported SLT reduction rather than complete cessation. Conclusion: We developed a theory-based BCI that was also acceptable and feasible to deliver with moderate fidelity scores. It now needs to be evaluated in an effectiveness trial

Kinetics of biodiesel production from microalgae using microbubble interfacial technology

As an alternative to fossil fuels, biodiesel can be a source of clean and environmentally friendly energy source. However, its commercial application is limited by expensive feedstock and the slow nature of the pretreatment step-acid catalysis. The conventional approach to carry out this reaction uses stirred tank reactors. Recently, the lab-scale experiments using microbubble mediated mass transfer technology have demonstrated its potential use at commercial scale. However, all the studies conducted so far have been at a lab scale~100 mL of feedstock. To analyze the feasibility of microbubble technology, a larger pilot scale study is required. In this context, a kinetic study of microbubble technology at an intermediate scale is conducted (3 L of oil). Owing to the target for industrial application of the process, a commercial feedstock (Spirulina), microalgae oil (MO) and a commercial catalyst para-toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) are used. Experiments to characterize the kinetics space (response surface, RSM) required for up-scaling are designed to develop a robust model. The model is compared with that developed by the gated recurrent unit (GRU) method. The maximum biodiesel conversion of 99.45 ± 1.3% is achieved by using these conditions: the molar ratio of MO to MeOH of 1:23.73 ratio, time of 60 min, and a catalyst loading of 3.3 wt% MO with an MO volume of 3 L. Furthermore, predicted models of RSM and GRU show proper fits to the experimental result. It was found that GRU produced a more accurate and robust model with correlation coefficient R2 = 0.9999 and root-mean-squared error (RSME) = 0.0515 in comparison with RSM model with R2 = 0.9844 and RMSE = 3.0832, respectively. Although RSM and GRU are fully empirical representations, they can be used for reactor up-scaling horizontally with microbubbles if the liquid layer height is held constant while the microbubble injection replicates along the floor of the reactor vessel—maintaining the tessellation pattern of the smaller vessel. This scaling approach maintains the local mixing profile, which is the major uncontrolled variable in conventional stirred tank reactor up-scaling

Kinetics of Biodiesel Production from Microalgae Using Microbubble Interfacial Technology

As an alternative to fossil fuels, biodiesel can be a source of clean and environmentally friendly energy source. However, its commercial application is limited by expensive feedstock and the slow nature of the pretreatment step-acid catalysis. The conventional approach to carry out this reaction uses stirred tank reactors. Recently, the lab-scale experiments using microbubble mediated mass transfer technology have demonstrated its potential use at commercial scale. However, all the studies conducted so far have been at a lab scale~100 mL of feedstock. To analyze the feasibility of microbubble technology, a larger pilot scale study is required. In this context, a kinetic study of microbubble technology at an intermediate scale is conducted (3 L of oil). Owing to the target for industrial application of the process, a commercial feedstock (Spirulina), microalgae oil (MO) and a commercial catalyst para-toluene sulfonic acid (PTSA) are used. Experiments to characterize the kinetics space (response surface, RSM) required for up-scaling are designed to develop a robust model. The model is compared with that developed by the gated recurrent unit (GRU) method. The maximum biodiesel conversion of 99.45 ± 1.3% is achieved by using these conditions: the molar ratio of MO to MeOH of 1:23.73 ratio, time of 60 min, and a catalyst loading of 3.3 wt% MO with an MO volume of 3 L. Furthermore, predicted models of RSM and GRU show proper fits to the experimental result. It was found that GRU produced a more accurate and robust model with correlation coefficient R2 = 0.9999 and root-mean-squared error (RSME) = 0.0515 in comparison with RSM model with R2 = 0.9844 and RMSE = 3.0832, respectively. Although RSM and GRU are fully empirical representations, they can be used for reactor up-scaling horizontally with microbubbles if the liquid layer height is held constant while the microbubble injection replicates along the floor of the reactor vessel—maintaining the tessellation pattern of the smaller vessel. This scaling approach maintains the local mixing profile, which is the major uncontrolled variable in conventional stirred tank reactor up-scaling