The use of differential scanning fluorimetry in the rational design of plastic antibodies for protein targets

The development of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (MIP-NPs), which specifically bind biomolecules, is of great interest in the area of biosensors, sample purification, therapeutic agents and biotechnology. Polymerisation techniques such as precipitation polymerisation, solid phase synthesis and core shell surface imprinting have allowed for significant improvements to be made in developing MIP-NPs which specifically recognise proteins. However, the development of MIP-NPs for protein templates (targets) still require lengthy optimisation and characterisation using different ratios of monomers in order to control their size, binding affinity and specificity. In this work we successfully demonstrated that differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) can be used to rapidly determine the optimum imprinting conditions and monomer composition required for MIP-NP design and polymerisation. This is based on the stability of the protein template and shift in apparent melting points (Tm) upon interaction with different functional acrylic monomers. The method allows for the characterisation of molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (MIP-NPs) due to the observed differences in melting point profiles between, protein-MIP-NPs complexes, pre-polymerisation mixtures and non-imprinted nanoparticles (NIP-NPs) without the need for prior purification. The technique is simple, rapid and can be carried out on most quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) thermal cyclers which have the required filters for SYPRO© orange and could lead to the rapid development of MIPs nanoparticles for proteins

Extending CAM-based XAI methods for Remote Sensing Imagery Segmentation

Current AI-based methods do not provide comprehensible physical interpretations of the utilized data, extracted features, and predictions/inference operations. As a result, deep learning models trained using high-resolution satellite imagery lack transparency and explainability and can be merely seen as a black box, which limits their wide-level adoption. Experts need help understanding the complex behavior of AI models and the underlying decision-making process. The explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) field is an emerging field providing means for robust, practical, and trustworthy deployment of AI models. Several XAI techniques have been proposed for image classification tasks, whereas the interpretation of image segmentation remains largely unexplored. This paper offers to bridge this gap by adapting the recent XAI classification algorithms and making them usable for muti-class image segmentation, where we mainly focus on buildings' segmentation from high-resolution satellite images. To benchmark and compare the performance of the proposed approaches, we introduce a new XAI evaluation methodology and metric based on "Entropy" to measure the model uncertainty. Conventional XAI evaluation methods rely mainly on feeding area-of-interest regions from the image back to the pre-trained (utility) model and then calculating the average change in the probability of the target class. Those evaluation metrics lack the needed robustness, and we show that using Entropy to monitor the model uncertainty in segmenting the pixels within the target class is more suitable. We hope this work will pave the way for additional XAI research for image segmentation and applications in the remote sensing discipline

Model Comparisons for Assessment of NPK Requirement of Upland Rice for Maximum Yield

Upland rice farmers in Malaysia still depend on resultant ash from burning for K and N sources. Efficient use of chemical fertilizers in upland rice needs accurate assessment of required nutrient elements. The present study was performed to determine the N, P, and K requirements of three upland rice varieties grown on idle land (Bukit Tuku soil, AQUIC KANDIUDULT) using four response models. A glasshouse experiment was conducted using 0-200 kg N ha-1 (urea, 46%N), 0-120 kg P2O5 ha-1 (TSP, 45% P2O5), and 0-150 kg K2O ha-1 (MOP, 60% K2O), each at five levels. Three upland rice varieties used in the experiment were Ageh, Kendinga and Strao. The grain yield (14% moisture content) was measured at harvest and fitted using linear (L), linear with plateau (LP), quadratic (Q), and quadratic with plateau (QP) response models. The QP proved itself as the best fitted response model for the determination of fertilizer recommendation rates for maximum yield of upland rice cultivars used. The fertilizer rates were 112 kg N ha-1, 78 kg P2O5 ha-1 and 158 kg K2O ha-1 for Ageh (QP); 138 kg N ha-1 (LP), 87 kg P2O5 ha-1 (QR), 119 kg K2O ha-1 (QP) for Kendinga; and 125 kg N ha-1 (Q), 85 kg P2O5 ha-1 (LP) and 127 kg K2O ha-1 (L) for Strao

Empirical Study of PEFT techniques for Winter Wheat Segmentation

Parameter Efficient Fine Tuning (PEFT) techniques have recently experienced significant growth and have been extensively employed to adapt large vision and language models to various domains, enabling satisfactory model performance with minimal computational needs. Despite these advances, more research has yet to delve into potential PEFT applications in real-life scenarios, particularly in the critical domains of remote sensing and crop monitoring. The diversity of climates across different regions and the need for comprehensive large-scale datasets have posed significant obstacles to accurately identify crop types across varying geographic locations and changing growing seasons. This study seeks to bridge this gap by comprehensively exploring the feasibility of cross-area and cross-year out-of-distribution generalization using the State-of-the-Art (SOTA) wheat crop monitoring model. The aim of this work is to explore PEFT approaches for crop monitoring. Specifically, we focus on adapting the SOTA TSViT model to address winter wheat field segmentation, a critical task for crop monitoring and food security. This adaptation process involves integrating different PEFT techniques, including BigFit, LoRA, Adaptformer, and prompt tuning. Using PEFT techniques, we achieved notable results comparable to those achieved using full fine-tuning methods while training only a mere 0.7% parameters of the whole TSViT architecture. The in-house labeled data-set, referred to as the Beqaa-Lebanon dataset, comprises high-quality annotated polygons for wheat and non-wheat classes with a total surface of 170 kmsq, over five consecutive years. Using Sentinel-2 images, our model achieved a 84% F1-score. We intend to publicly release the Lebanese winter wheat data set, code repository, and model weights

Sifat elektrik dan kerentanan arus ulang alik superkonduktor Bi(Pb)-Sr-Ca-Cu-O dengan penambahan In2O3

Kesan penambahan In2O3 terhadap superkonduktor (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (In2O3)x (x = 0- 0.1 peratus berat) telah dikaji. Pencirian yang dijalankan ialah pembelauan sinar-X, mikrostrukur, rintangan elektrik, kerentanan arus ulang alik dan ketumpatan arus genting antara butiran. Suhu genting mula, Tc mula dan suhu genting sifar, Tc sifar adalah tertinggi bagi sampel x = 0 iaitu Tc mula = 112 K dan Tc sifar = 90 K. Corak pembelauan sinar-X menunjukkan peratus isi padu fasa (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (Bi-2223) dan (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi-2212) adalah hampir sama untuk semua sampel. Pengukuran kerentanan ulang alik telah dijalankan pada frekuensi 295 Hz dan medan magnet H = 5 Oe. Dua peralihan pada kerentanan ulang alik bagi x = 0 menandakan kewujudan fasa Bi-2223 dan Bi-2212. Suhu pada puncak kehilangan tenaga, Tp untuk kerentanan khayal, χ” adalah tertinggi (74 K dan 104 K) untuk x = 0. Penambahan In2O3 telah menyebabkan Tp beranjak kepada suhu lebih rendah dan ini menunjukkan fluks magnet menembusi antara butiran pada suhu yang semakin menurun apabila In2O3 ditambah. Lengkung puncak Tp juga melebar apabila In2O3 ditambah. Ini menunjukkan gandingan antara butiran yang semakin lemah dan tenaga pengepinan fluks yang menurun. Ketumpatan arus genting antara butiran Jc(Tp) telah diukur menggunakan model Bean dan nilainya adalah antara 16 hingga 20 A cm-2 bagi semua sampel. Satu model skematik arus aruhan bagi bahan polihablur yang mengandungi dua fasa superkonduktor dengan pecahan isi padu yang sama tetapi suhu genting yang berlainan dibincangkan

Interaction effect of nitrogen and potassium on growth and yield of carrot

The experiment was carried out to study the effects of three mulching practices viz., no mulch, water hyacinth mulch and polythene mulch, three levels of nitrogen viz., 0, 150 and 200 and three levels of potassium viz., 0, 200 and 250 kg/ha on the growth and yield of carrot. The yield and yield contributing characters of carrot were significantly influenced by the application of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers with mulching treated plot. The highest marketable yield (63.47 t/ha) was recorded from the treatment combination of black polythene mulch with 200 kg N/ha and 200 kg K/ha treated plot and the lowest (23.69 t/ha) from the control treatment (M0N0K0). But the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) was found maximum (5.60) in the treatment combination of water hyacinth mulch with 200 kg N/ha and 200 kg K/ha, and the lowest (2.54) in control treatment. Considering the above findings, water hyacinth mulch with the application of 200 kg N/ha and 200 kg K/ha appeared to be recommendable for carrot cultivation for the place where irrigation facility was not available

An Annotated Checklist Of Herpetofauna Of Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia.

The herpetofauna ofLangkawi Island was recorded during the Scientific & Heritage Expedition ofthe Langkawi Islands, Kedah from 10 -15 April 2003. The reptiles such as snakes, lizards and turtles and amphibians such as toads and frogs were captured or observed and then identified. The reptiles and amphibians were captured and observed during trekking bouts along used and unused trails, along rivers and streams and during chance encounter

An inhibitive determination method for heavy metals using tomato crude proteases

A new inhibitive heavy metals determination method using extract from Lycopersicon esculentum or tomato from has been developed. The enzyme was assayed using the casein-Coomassie-dye-binding method. In the absence of inhibitors, casein was hydrolysed to completion and the Coomassie-dye was unable to stain the protein and the solution became brown. In the presence of metals, the hydrolysis of casein was inhibited and the solution remained blue. The inhibitions shown by lead, chromium and zinc were, 67.9, 53.1 and 53 %, respectively. The IC50 (concentration causing 50% inhibition) values were 1.407, 0.835 and 0.707 mg/l, respectively. The limits of quantitation (LOQ), for zinc, chromium and lead were 0.729, 0.506 and 0.541 mg/l, respectively. The limits of detection (LOD) for zinc, chromium and lead were 0.032, 0.0317 and 0.0317 mg/l, respectively. The IC50 value for zinc was much lower than the IC50 values for papain and Rainbow trout assays. The IC50 value for zinc was lower than the immobilized urease assay. Other toxic heavy metals, such as silver, arsenic, copper, mercury and cadmium, did not inhibit the crude proteolytic enzyme activity. Based on the characteristics, crude protease enzyme from L. esculentum (tomato) can be used to detect heavy metals in various samples in conjunction with the dye-binding assay

Effects of Eurycoma longifolia

Testosterone replacement is the choice of treatment in androgen-deficient osteoporosis. However, long-term use of testosterone is potentially carcinogenic. Eurycoma longifolia (EL) has been reported to enhance testosterone level and prevent bone calcium loss but there is a paucity of research regarding its effect on the bone structural parameters. This study was conducted to explore the bone structural changes following EL treatment in normal and androgen-deficient osteoporosis rat model. Thirty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 12 months were divided into normal control, normal rat supplemented with EL, sham-operated, orchidectomised-control, orchidectomised with testosterone replacement, and orchidectomised with EL supplementation groups. Testosterone serum was measured both before and after the completion of the treatment. After 6 weeks of the treatment, the femora were processed for bone histomorphometry. Testosterone replacement was able to raise the testosterone level and restore the bone volume of orchidectomised rats. EL supplementation failed to emulate both these testosterone actions. The inability of EL to do so may be related to the absence of testes in the androgen deficient osteoporosis model for EL to stimulate testosterone production