Recent advancements in the breeding of sorghum crop: current status and future strategies for marker-assisted breeding

Sorghum is emerging as a model crop for functional genetics and genomics of tropical grasses with abundant uses, including food, feed, and fuel, among others. It is currently the fifth most significant primary cereal crop. Crops are subjected to various biotic and abiotic stresses, which negatively impact on agricultural production. Developing high-yielding, disease-resistant, and climate-resilient cultivars can be achieved through marker-assisted breeding. Such selection has considerably reduced the time to market new crop varieties adapted to challenging conditions. In the recent years, extensive knowledge was gained about genetic markers. We are providing an overview of current advances in sorghum breeding initiatives, with a special focus on early breeders who may not be familiar with DNA markers. Advancements in molecular plant breeding, genetics, genomics selection, and genome editing have contributed to a thorough understanding of DNA markers, provided various proofs of the genetic variety accessible in crop plants, and have substantially enhanced plant breeding technologies. Marker-assisted selection has accelerated and precised the plant breeding process, empowering plant breeders all around the world

Analysis of ALTO protocol over P2P networks

Thesis (M.A.)--Özyeğin University, Graduate School of Sciences and Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, October 2012.Currently, for distributed applications such as Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), the most important challenge is to determine the optimal peer or node selection process, since it sometimes causes low Quality of Experience and affects the economics of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) negatively. Therefore, in recent years significant research has been conducted in this area. However, since these protocols operate on Layer 7 (Application Layer) according to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, they are network-oblivious. Therefore, without a co-operation between service or network providers (i.e. ISPs) and applications, obtaining an optimal solution is not easy or even possible. Since P2P applications are one of the most widely used applications on the Internet, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has started to work on a protocol, commonly referred to as the Application Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) Protocol, in order to enable a standartized interface between applications and network providers. With this protocol, both applications and service providers have a chance to interact using a common interface via the ALTO Server and share the necessary information in order to calculate the costs of communication between peers, so that a better-than-random peer or node selection is possible. In this thesis, we implement an ALTO Server for several ISPs, describe several(either novel or from the literature) cost calculation methods and try to improve the performance of the communication network from the perspectives of both applications and service providers. We analyse the implemented ALTO Server using a P2P BitTorrent-Like file sharing application, a P2P real-time scalable video streaming application and a CDN application running on a Software DefinedNetwork (SDN) with an OpenFlow Controller. Simulation results and demos show that, with carefully designed peer selection algorithms used in the ALTO Service, the performance of the applications can be sustained (even can be improved), while the inter-ISP traffic rates can be reduced dramatically.Günümüzde eş görevli (P2P) ve içerik dağıtım ağlarında (CDN) en önemli problem uygulamaların servis kalitesini ve servis sağlaycıların ekonomilerini kötü yönde etkilemesi nedeniyle en iyi eş ya da düğümün seçilmesi problemidir. Bu nedenle son yıllarda bu problemi çözmek ya da iyileştirebilmek adına araştırmalar yapılmakta, ceşitli öneriler sunulmaktadr. Ancak bu uygulamalar açık sistemler arabağlaşım (OSI) modeline göre 7. katmanda calıştıkları için, üzerinde çalıştıkları ağın bilgilerine sahip değildirler. Dolayısıyla, uygulamalar ile servis sağlayıcılar arasnda bir işbirliği olmadan en uygun çözümü bulmak çok zor hatta imkansızdr. Tüm bu nedenlerden ve ayrıca bu uygulamaların internet üzerinde en çok trafik yaratan uygulamalar olmasından dolayı İnternet Mühendisliği Çalışma Grubu (IETF), Uygulama Katmanı Trafik Eniyilemesi (ALTO) protokolü adı verilen ve, uygulamalar ile servis sağlayıcılar arasnda bir arayüz tanımlayan bir protokol oluşturmaya başlamştır. Bu protokolle birlikte uygulamalar ile servis sağlayıcılar, ALTO Sunucusu olarak adlandırılan ortak bir arayüzde haberleşme ve bilgi paylaşma imkanı bulacak ve paylaşılan bu bilgilerle potansiyel eşler arasındaki maliyetler hesaplanarak, rastgele bir eş eşleştirmeden daha iyi ve hatta en iyi eş eşleştirme yapılabilecektir. Bu tezde servis sağlayıcılar için, literatürde var olan ve yeni önerilen maliyet hesaplama metodları geliştirerek, bir ALTO Sunucusu gerçeklenmiştir. Bu maliyet hesaplama yöntemleri ile hem uygulamaların performanslarının iyileştirilmesi, hem de servis sağlayıcıların ağ kaynaklarının daha verimli kullanılması amaçlanmıştır. Geliştirilen bu ALTO Sunucusu sırasıyla, BitTorrent benzeri bir dosya paylaşım uygulamasında, P2P Gerçek-Zamanlı Ölçeklenebilir Video Dağıtımuygulamasında ve son olarak OpenFlow Kontrolör ile kontrol edilen Yazılım Tabanlı Ağ (SDN) üzerinde gerçeklenen CDN uygulaması üzerinde analiz edilmiştir. Benzetim sonuçları göstermiştir ki, ALTO servisinin bu uygulamalar için aktif hale getirilmesi servis sağlaycılar arası trafiği önemli ölçüde azaltmış, aynı zamanda uygulamaların performanslarını da korumuştur

Response of some chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) genotypes to salt stress conditions

The salt (NaCl) tolerance of 5 chickpea genotypes was investigated. Plants were grown in 5 different NaCl concentrations. Germination percentage, shoot and root length, shoot and root dry weight and salt tolerance percentage in the shoots and roots were evaluated. The salt tolerance index (STI) of the genotypes, expressed as the ratio of dry matter yield produced under the NaCl treatments compared to the control treatment, was found to be a reliable criterion for ranking genotypes for their tolerance to NaCl. İnci, Aydi{dotless}n-92 and FLIP 98-55C showed high levels of tolerance and İzmir-92 medium levels. FLIP 98-63C was the most susceptible genotypes to NaCl

Nutritive value of Mediterranean shrubs

Nutritive values of the leaves of Mediterranean shrubs Quercus coccifera, Calicotome villosa, Rhamnus oleoides ssp. graecus, Pistacia terebinthus, Paliurus spina-christi and Phillyrea latifolia, and Leuceana leucocephala, an introduced species were studied. These shrubs were hand harvested from three plots established in the experimental field at before flowering, flowering and bear fruit stages. The nutritive values were evaluated in terms of the chemical composition, dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), relative feed value (RFV), dry matter intake (DMI) as well as digestible dry matter (DDM).Maturity had a significant effect on the chemical composition, DM, OM and estimated parameters (DDM, DMI and RFV) of the leaves of the shrub species. Neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and condensed tannin (CT) contents increased with increasing maturity whereas the crude protein decreased. DM and estimated parameters also decreased with increasing maturity. CP, ADF, NDF, Ash and CT contents ranged from 6.4 to 33.3%, from 6.9 to 39.1%, from 10.1 to 50.5%, from 2.9 to 6.8% and from 0.7 to 15.8%, respectively. The OM and DM ranged from 93.2 to 97.1% and from 28.5 to 70.8%, respectively. The digestibility DM, DM intake and RFV ranged from 58.4 to 83.5%, from 2.4 to 11.9% and from 107.7 to 769.3, respectively ADF, NDF and condensed tannin contents of the leaves of the shrub species harvested at bear fruit stage were significantly higher than those harvested at before flowering and flowering stages, while CP contents and estimated parameters of the leaves of the shrub species harvested at flowering stage were significantly higher than those harvested at before flowering and bear fruit stages. The biplot analysis indicated negative correlation of CP content with OM and DM, whereas it is positively correlated with CT and ash contents. On the other hand, ADF was positively correlated with NDF, whereas it is negatively correlated with estimated parameters. The shrub species harvested at the proper stage of maturity offers considerable potential as high quality forage for ruminants during critical period in the semi arid and arid regions

Primary intestinal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma forming multiple lymphomatous polyposis

Multifocal and skip involvement is quite a rare developmental pattern for primary gastrointestinal lymphomas. A 25-year-old male patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the small intestine, with macroscopic features and clinical aspects imitating Crohn's disease and attracting attention with cobblestone-like appearance, is presented herein together with the clinical and pathological features. Multiple ulcerated lesions were also observed infiltrating the serosa with polypoid appearance, 2.5 cm in largest diameter, within the resected jejunoileal specimen, which displayed patchy, healthy-appearing mucosal areas. In microscopic examination, a tumoral infiltration was observed comprised of pleomorphic, atypical lymphoid cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, marked nucleoli and vesicular nuclei. A B-cell phenotype immunoreaction was observed by vimentin, LCA, CD20, and CD79a in those atypical cells. The diagnosis of the case was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.The possibility of the presence of this disorder, although rare, is emphasized here for patients applying to the hospital with the signs and symptoms of Crohn's disease