Search results for: cercospora leaf spot

Authors: A. S. Grewal, Sh. Dharambir, R. S. Sangwan, Vikas Dhanda

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Every Scene of Crime is of different kind in nature. Sometimes we see such type of circumstances that we become confused to judge whether the case is of homicide or suicide. In such circumstances a doyen is asked for the option. On the basis of his esoteric knowledge he finds such clues which force the sleuth to change the under sections of Indian penal Code. Here we have examined a case by visiting Scene of Crime and found that a person was found lying dead in a room. There was only one passage which was found opened, the pistol along with the fired cartridge case, misfired cartridge were lying on the spot. Observation method, mathematical calculations, chemical examination and other aspects were considered.

Keywords: country-made pistol, misfired cartridge, fired cartridge case, blackening, nitrite

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: B. M. Vishal, Monamie Basu, Gopinath M., Rose Havilah Pulla

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Though there are several methods of synthesizing silver nano particles, Green synthesis always has its own dignity. Ranging from the cost-effectiveness to the ease of synthesis, the process is simplified in the best possible way and is one of the most explored topics. This study of extracting secondary metabolites from Perilla frutescens and using them for therapeutic additives has its own significance. Unlike the other researches that have been done so far, this study aims to synthesize Silver nano particles from Perilla frutescens using three available forms of the plant: leaves, seed, and commercial leaf extract powder. Perilla frutescens, commonly known as 'Beefsteak Plant', is a perennial plant and belongs to the mint family. The plant has two varieties classed within itself. They are frutescens crispa and frutescens frutescens. The species, frutescens crispa (commonly known as 'Shisho' in Japanese), is generally used for edible purposes. Its leaves occur in two forms, varying on the colors. It is found in two different colors of red with purple streaks and green with crinkly pattern on it. This species is aromatic due to the presence of two major compounds: polyphenols and perillaldehyde. The red (purple streak) variety of this plant is due to the presence of a pigment, Perilla anthocyanin. The species, frutescens frutescens (commonly known as 'Egoma' in Japanese), is the main source for perilla oil. This species is also aromatic, but in this case, the major compound which gives the aroma is Perilla ketone or egoma ketone. Shisho grows short as compared with Wild Sesame and both produce seeds. The seeds of Wild Sesame are large and soft whereas that of Shisho is small and hard. The seeds have a large proportion of lipids, ranging about 38-45 percent. Excluding those, the seeds have a large quantity of Omega-3 fatty acids, linoleic acid, and an Omega-6 fatty acid. Other than these, Perilla leaf extract has gold and silver nano particles in it. The yield comparison in all the cases have been done, and the process’ optimal conditions were modified, keeping in mind the efficiencies. The characterization of secondary metabolites includes GC-MS and FTIR which can be used to identify the components of purpose that actually helps in synthesizing silver nano particles. The analysis of silver was done through a series of characterization tests that include XRD, UV-Vis, EDAX, and SEM. After the synthesis, for being used as therapeutic additives, the toxin analysis was done, and the results were tabulated. The synthesis of silver nano particles was done in a series of multiple cycles of extraction from leaves, seeds and commercially purchased leaf extract. The yield and efficiency comparison were done to bring out the best and the cheapest possible way of synthesizing silver nano particles using Perilla frutescens. The synthesized nano particles can be used in therapeutic drugs, which has a wide range of application from burn treatment to cancer treatment. This will, in turn, replace the traditional processes of synthesizing nano particles, as this method will prove effective in terms of cost and the environmental implications.

Keywords: nanoparticles, green synthesis, Perilla frutescens, characterisation, toxin analysis

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Authors: Tatsuya Kasuga, Hidehisa Shimada, Kimio Oguchi

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Recent rapid progress in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has advanced the penetration of sensor networks (SNs) and their attractive applications. Agriculture is one of the fields well able to benefit from ICT. Plant factories control several parameters related to plant growth in closed areas such as air temperature, humidity, water, culture medium concentration, and artificial lighting by using computers and AI (Artificial Intelligence) is being researched in order to obtain stable and safe production of vegetables and medicinal plants all year anywhere, and attain self-sufficiency in food. By providing isolation from the natural environment, a plant factory can achieve higher productivity and safe products. However, the biggest issue with plant factories is the return on investment. Profits are tenuous because of the large initial investments and running costs, i.e. electric power, incurred. At present, LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights are being adopted because they are more energy-efficient and encourage photosynthesis better than the fluorescent lamps used in the past. However, further cost reduction is essential. This paper introduces experiments that reveal which color of LED lighting best enhances the growth of cultured radish sprouts. Radish sprouts were cultivated in the experimental environment formed by a hydroponics kit with three cultivation shelves (28 samples per shelf) each with an artificial lighting rack. Seven LED arrays of different color (white, blue, yellow green, green, yellow, orange, and red) were compared with a fluorescent lamp as the control. Lighting duration was set to 12 hours a day. Normal water with no fertilizer was circulated. Seven days after germination, the length, weight and area of leaf of each sample were measured. Electrical power consumption for all lighting arrangements was also measured. Results and discussions: As to average sample length, no clear difference was observed in terms of color. As regards weight, orange LED was less effective and the difference was significant (p < 0.05). As to leaf area, blue, yellow and orange LEDs were significantly less effective. However, all LEDs offered higher productivity per W consumed than the fluorescent lamp. Of the LEDs, the blue LED array attained the best results in terms of length, weight and area of leaf per W consumed. Conclusion and future works: An experiment on radish sprout cultivation under 7 different color LED arrays showed no clear difference in terms of sample size. However, if electrical power consumption is considered, LEDs offered about twice the growth rate of the fluorescent lamp. Among them, blue LEDs showed the best performance. Further cost reduction e.g. low power lighting remains a big issue for actual system deployment. An automatic plant monitoring system with sensors is another study target.

Keywords: electric power consumption, LED color, LED lighting, plant factory

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Zoliana Bawitlung, P. C. Rohmingliana, L. Z. Chhangte, Remlal Siama, Hming Chungnunga, Vanram Lawma, L. Hnamte, B. K. Sahoo, B. K. Sapra, J. Malsawma

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Mizoram state has the highest lung cancer incidence rate in India due to its high-level consumption of tobacco and its products which is supplemented by the food habits. While smoking is mainly responsible for this incidence, the effect of inhalation of indoor radon gas cannot be discarded as the hazardous nature of this radioactive gas and its progenies on human population have been well-established worldwide where the radiation damage to bronchial cells eventually can be the second leading cause of lung cancer next to smoking. It is also known that the effect of radiation, however, small may be the concentration, cannot be neglected as they can bring about the risk of cancer incidence. Hence, estimation of indoor radon concentration is important to give a useful reference against radiation effects as well as establishing its safety measures and to create a baseline for further case-control studies. The indoor radon/thoron concentrations in Mizoram had been measured in 41 dwellings selected on the basis of spot gamma background radiation and construction type of the houses during 2015-2016. The dwellings were monitored for one year, in 4 months cycles to indicate seasonal variations, for the indoor concentration of radon gas and its progenies, outdoor gamma dose, and indoor gamma dose respectively. A time-integrated method using Solid State Nuclear Track Detector (SSNTD) based single entry pin-hole dosimeters were used for measurement of indoor Radon/Thoron concentration. Gamma dose measurements for indoor as well as outdoor were carried out using Geiger Muller survey meters. Seasonal variation of indoor radon/ thoron concentration was monitored. The results show that the annual average radon concentrations varied from 54.07 – 144.72 Bq/m³ with an average of 90.20 Bq/m³ and the annual average thoron concentration varied from 17.39 – 54.19 Bq/m³ with an average of 35.91 Bq/m³ which are below the permissible limit. The spot survey of gamma background radiation level varies between 9 to 24 µR/h inside and outside the dwellings throughout Mizoram which are all within acceptable limits. From the above results, there is no direct indication that radon/thoron is responsible for the high lung cancer incidence in the area. In order to find epidemiological evidence of natural radiations to high cancer incidence in the area, one may need to conduct a case-control study which is beyond this scope. However, the derived data of measurement will provide baseline data for further studies.

Keywords: background gamma radiation, indoor radon/thoron, lung cancer, seasonal variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Binaya Tamang, Buddhi R. Pokharel, Narayan Gautam, Puspa R. Dhakal, Yuresh Twayana

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Background and Objective: Microalbuminuria is often regarded as a sign of end-organ damage due to hypertension, with an increased risk for renal diseases. The present study was designed to find the prevalence of microalbuminuria in hypertensive patients by determining albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) and the association of ACR and microalbuminuria status with different stages and duration of hypertension (HTN). Also, to establish the correlation of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) with various parameters viz; ACR, urinary microalbumin (UMA), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), urinary creatinine (Ucreat), serum creatinine (Screat), and find out their significance among HTN and ACR status. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry in collaboration with the Department of Internal Medicine, UCMS, Bhairahawa, Nepal from April 2019 to September 2019 after obtaining ethical approval from institutional review committee (IRC), UCMS. A total of 120 hypertensive patients were enrolled whose blood, and spot urine samples were taken. eGFR was calculated by using Cockcroft-Gault formula after determining Screat while ACR was calculated after measuring Ucreat and UMA from the spot urine sample. Creatinine was estimated from modified jaffes’ reaction, whereas urinary micro albumin was done by Mispa i3 analyzer. Data were analyzed by using SPSS. 20 using p-value ≤ 0.05 as statistically significant. Results: In our study, the highest enrolled were grade II HTN (36.7%) followed by normal (33.3%), grade I (20.8%) and grade III (9.2%). Evaluating the ACR status, 19.2% were microalbuminuria, and the rest were normal. Though the ACR status (normal and microalbuminuria) was not statistically significant with HTN status (P=0.860) and the duration of HTN status (P=0.165), 5 (45.5%) out of 11 grade III HTN were microalbuminuria and the prevalence was also higher for longer duration .i.e., more than 10 years. In microalbuminuria, both the SBP (p=0.023, r=0.471) and DBP (P=0.034, r= 0.444) were strongly and positively correlated with Screat, in contrast to eGFR, which was negatively but weakly correlated. With the significant difference between the HTN group, the mean ACR (P=0.047) and UMA (P=0.02) were found to be highest among grade III patients, i.e., 84.3 ± 113.3 mg/gm. and 88.4 ± 83.9 mg/l respectively. The mean eGFR (64.2 ± 24.8 vs 77.2 ± 18.1 ml/min) was considerably lower in microalbuminuria ( p=0.026) than the normal in contrast to the SBP (160 ± 33.7 vs. 146.6 ± 19.5 mm of Hg) which was significantly higher (P=0.008). Among the different BMI category, the mean ACR was found to be significantly different (P= 0.01) with the highest value in underweight (115.2 ± 51.5 mg/gm.) and lowest in overweight (31.8 ± 4.3 mg/gm.). Conclusion: The study recommends that the microalbuminuria can be a very useful and imperative predictor of deranged kidney functions in hypertensive patients. The high value of ACR and UMA in hypertensive patients along with significant increased Screat, SBP whereas decreased eGFR in microalbuminuria patients explicitly supports the above statement.

Keywords: albumin creatinine ratio, hypertension, microalbuminuria, renal disease

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: Engy Shokry, Giancarlo La Marca, Maria Luisa Della Bona

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Newborn screening for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) relies on quantification of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone using enzyme immunoassays. These assays, in spite of being rapid, readily available and easy to perform, its reliability was found questionable due to lack of selectivity and specificity resulting in large number of false-positives, consequently family anxiety and associated hospitalization costs. To improve specificity of conventional 17α-hydroxyprogesterone screening which may experience false transient elevation in preterm, low birth weight or acutely ill neonates, steroid profiling by LC-MS/MS as a second-tier test was implemented. Unlike the previously applied LC-MS/MS methods, with the disadvantage of requiring a relatively high number of blood drops. Since newborn screening tests are increasing, it is necessary to minimize the sample volume requirement to make the maximum use of blood samples collected on filter paper. The proposed new method requires just one 3.2 mm dried blood spot (DBS) punch. Extraction was done using methanol: water: formic acid (90:10:0.1, v/v/v) containing deuterium labelled internal standards. Extracts were evaporated and reconstituted in 10 % acetone in water. Column switching strategy for on-line sample clean-up was applied to improve the chromatographic run. The first separative step retained the investigated steroids and passed through the majority of high molecular weight impurities. After the valve switching, the investigated steroids are back flushed from the POROS® column onto the analytical column and separated using gradient elution. Found quantitation limits were 5, 10 and 50 nmol/L for 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione and cortisol respectively with mean recoveries of between 98.31-103.24 % and intra-/ inter-assay CV% < 10 % except at LLOQ. The method was validated using standard addition calibration and isotope dilution strategies. Reference ranges were determined by analysing samples from 896 infants of various ages at the time of sample collection. The method was also applied on patients with confirmed CAH. Our method represents an attractive combination of low sample volume requirement, minimal sample preparation time without derivatization and quick chromatography (5 min). The three steroid profile and the concentration ratios (17OHP + androstenedione/cortisol) allowed better screening outcomes of CAH reducing false positives, associated costs and anxiety.

Keywords: congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione, cortisol, LC-MS/MS

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Authors: Deepa Kundu, Prabhakar Sharma, Sayan Bhattacharya, Jianying Shang

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The discharge of dye-containing effluents in the water bodies has raised concern due to the potential hazards related to their toxicity in the environment. There are various treatment technologies available for the removal of dyes from wastewaters. The use of biosorbent to remove dyes from wastewater is one of the effective and inexpensive techniques. In the study, the adsorption of phenothiazine dye methylene blue onto biosorbent prepared from Lantana camara L. has been studied in aqueous solutions. The batch adsorption experiments were conducted and the effects of various parameters such as pH (3-12), contact time, adsorbent dose (100-400 mg/L), initial dye concentration (5-20 mg/L), and temperature (303, 313 and 323 K) were investigated. The prepared leaf (BCL600) and shoot (BCS600) biochar of Lantana were characterized using FTIR, SEM, elemental analysis, and zeta potential (pH~7). A comparison between the adsorption potential of both the biosorbent was also evaluated. The results indicated that the amount of methylene blue dye (mg/g) adsorbed onto the surface of biochar was highly dependent on the pH of the dye solutions as it increased with an increase in pH from 3 to 12. It was observed that the dye treated with BCS600 and BCL600 attained an equilibrium within 60 and 100 minutes, respectively. The rate of the adsorption process was determined by performing the Lagergren pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetics. It was found that dye treated with both BCS600 and BCL600 followed pseudo-second-order kinetics implying the multi-step nature of the adsorption process involving external adsorption and diffusion of dye molecules into the interior of the adsorbents. The data obtained from batch experiments were fitted well with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms (R² > 0.98) to indicate the multilayer adsorption of dye over the biochar surfaces. The thermodynamic studies revealed that the adsorption process is favourable, spontaneous, and endothermic in nature. Based on the results, the inexpensive and easily available Lantana camara biomass can be used to remove methylene blue dye from wastewater. It can also help in managing the growth of the notorious weed in the environment.

Keywords: adsorption kinetics, biochar, Lantana camara, methylene blue dye, possible mechanism, thermodynamics

Procedia PDF Downloads 128

Authors: Aneta Binkowska, Artur Kamecki

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The ability to provide first aid should be one of the basic skills of each of us. First aid by the Law on National Medical Emergency dated 8 September 2006 as amended, is a set of actions undertaken to save a person at the scene of an accident. In Poland, on the basis of Article 162 of the Criminal Code, we are obliged to provide first aid to the victim. In addition, according to a large part of society, unselfishness towards others in need of help is our moral obligation. The aim of the study was to learn the opinion of the members of Medical Rescue Teams (MRT) of the ‘Meditrans’ Provincial Ambulance and Sanitary Transport Service (PA and STS ‘Meditrans’) in Warsaw on how people react in real situations threatening life or health of the injured person. The study was conducted in the third quarter of 2015 on 335 members of medical rescue teams, including 77 W and 258 M, who provided medical services in the ‘Meditrans’ Provincial Ambulance and Sanitary Transport Service MRT in Warsaw. The research tool was an anonymous questionnaire survey of own design, which consisted of 12 questions: closed, half open and one open question. Respondents were divided into 3 age groups and by individual medical professions (doctor, paramedic, nurse). The straight majority of respondents encountered granting the first aid the event on the spot. However, the frequency of appearing in such proceedings isn’t too high. The first aid has most often been given in the street and in houses. The final audited fairly important element is the reason not to provide first aid by bystanders in the opinion of members of the medical teams. Respondents to this question, which was an open question were asked to name the reason for not taking any action while waiting for an ambulance. Over 50% of respondents could not answer. The most common answers were: fear, lack of knowledge and skills, reluctance, indifference, lack of training, lack of experience and fear that harm. Conclusion: The majority of respondents have encountered instances of first aid provision, but respondents assessed the frequency of such situations as low. Placing the victim in the recovery position is the simplest and most common form of first aid. Therefore, training should be introduced not only on CPR but also in the scope of helping persons in sudden health emergency, who do not have a sudden cardiac arrest. A statement can be formulated, as a main conclusion of the analysis, that only continuous education and in particular practical training will help people to overcome the barrier of their limitations in order to help others. Among the largest group of witnesses providing first aid are the elderly and youth, who are subjected to various forms of education related to first aid provision.

Keywords: BLS, first aid, medical rescue, resuscitation

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Chun-Chuan Yang, Jeng-Yueng Chen, Yi-Ting Mai, Hsieh-Hua Liu

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By introduction of Relay Nodes (RNs), LTE-Advanced can provide enhanced coverage and capacity at cell edges and hot-spot areas. The authors have been researching the issue of power saving in mobile communications technology such as WiMax and LTE for some years. Based on the idea of Load-Based Power Saving (LBPS), three efficient power saving schemes for the user equipment (UE) were proposed in the authors’ previous work. In this paper, three revised schemes of the previous work in order to integrate RN and UE in power saving are proposed. Simulation study shows the proposed schemes can achieve significantly better power saving efficiency than the standard based scheme at the cost of moderately increased delay.

Keywords: DRX, LTE-A, power saving, RN

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Authors: Lahoucine Zaama, Sanae Douama

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In this work, we present the results of a dosimetry study in a Moroccan radiology department . The results are compared with those of a similar study in France. Furthermore, it determines the coefficient of transmission of the lead sheets of different thicknesses depending on the voltage (KV) in a direct exposure. The objective of this study is to choose the thickness of the radiation means to determine the leaf sample sealed with the smallest percentage value radiation transmission, and that in the context of optimization. Thus the comparison among the studies is essential to consider conduct studies and research in this framework to achieve the goal of optimization.

Keywords: radiology, dosimetry, radiation, dose, transmission

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Authors: Athena Nguyen, Rojin Belganeh

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Detecting and identifying differences in like polymer materials are key factors in deformulation, comparative analysis as well as reverse engineering. Pyrolysis-GC/MS is an easy solid sample introduction technique which expands the application areas of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The Micro-furnace pyrolyzer is directly interfaced with the GC injector preventing any potential of cold spot, carryover, and cross contamination. This presentation demonstrates the study of two similar polymers by performing different mode of operations in the same system: Evolve gas analysis (EGA), Flash pyrolysis, Thermal desorption analysis, and Heart-cutting analysis. Unknown polymer materials and their chemical compositions are identified.

Keywords: gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, pyrolysis, pyrolyzer, thermal desorption-GC/MS

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Authors: F. A. M. Safwan, H. N. N. Dilrukshi, P. U. S. Peiris

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Less availability of high quality green forages leads to low productivity of national dairy herd of Sri Lanka. Growing grass and fodder to suit the production system is an efficient and economical solution for this problem. CO-3 is placed in a higher category, especially on tillering capacity, green forage yield, regeneration capacity, leaf to stem ratio, high crude protein content, resistance to pests and diseases and free from adverse factors along with other fodder varieties grown within the country. An experiment was designed to determine the effect of organic sheep manure, inorganic fertilizers and liquid sheep manure on growth, yield and nutritive value of CO-3. The study was consisted with three treatments; sheep manure (T1), recommended inorganic fertilizers (T2) and liquid sheep manure (T3) which was prepared using bucket fermentation method and each treatment was consisted with three replicates and those were assigned randomly. First harvest was obtained after 40 days of plant establishment and number of leaves (NL), leaf area (LA), tillering capacity (TC), fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) were recorded and second harvest was obtained after 30 days of first harvest and same set of data were recorded. SPSS 16 software was used for data analysis. For proximate analysis AOAC, 2000 standard methods were used. Results revealed that the plants treated with T1 recorded highest NL, LA, TC, FW and DW and were statistically significant at first and second harvest of CO-3 (p˂ 0.05) and it was found that T1 was statistically significant from T2 and T3. Although T3 was recorded higher than the T2 in almost all growth parameters; it was not statistically significant (p ˃0.05). In addition, the crude protein content was recorded highest in T1 with the value of 18.33±1.61 and was lowest in T2 with the value of 10.82±1.14 and was statistically significant (p˂ 0.05). Apart from this, other proximate composition crude fiber, crude fat, ash, moisture content and dry matter were not statistically significant between treatments (p ˃0.05). In accordance with the results, it was found that the organic fertilizer is the best fertilizer for CO-3 in terms of growth parameters and crude protein content.

Keywords: fertilizer, growth parameters, Hybrid Napier CO-3, proximate composition

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Authors: M. Naimi, M. B. Khaled

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The aim of the present work was to test in vitro inhibition of food pathogens and spoilage bacteria by crude bacteriocins from autochthonous lactic acid bacteria. Thirty autochthonous lactic acid bacteria isolated previously, belonging to the genera: Lactobacillus, Carnobacterium, Lactococcus, Vagococcus, Streptococcus, and Pediococcus, have been screened by an agar spot test and a well diffusion assay against Gram-positive and Gram-negative harmful bacteria: Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa under conditions means to reduce lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide effect to select bacteria with high bacteriocinogenic potential. Furthermore, crude bacteriocins semiquantification and heat sensitivity to different temperatures (80, 95, 110°C, and 121°C) were performed. Another exploratory test concerning the response of St. aureus ATCC 6538 to the presence of crude bacteriocins was realized. It has been observed by the agar spot test that fifteen candidates were active toward Gram-positive targets strains. The secondary screening demonstrated an antagonistic activity oriented only against St. aureus ATCC 6538, leading to the selection of five isolates: Lm14, Lm21, Lm23, Lm24, and Lm25 with a larger inhibition zone compared to the others. The ANOVA statistical analysis reveals a small variation of repeatability: Lm21: 0.56%, Lm23: 0%, Lm25: 1.67%, Lm14: 1.88%, Lm24: 2.14%. Conversely, slight variation was reported in terms of inhibition diameters: 9.58± 0.40, 9.83± 0.46, and 10.16± 0.24 8.5 ± 0.40 10 mm for, Lm21, Lm23, Lm25, Lm14and Lm24, indicating that the observed potential showed a heterogeneous distribution (BMS = 0.383, WMS = 0.117). The repeatability coefficient calculated displayed 7.35%. As for the bacteriocins semiquantification, the five samples exhibited production amounts about 4.16 for Lm21, Lm23, Lm25 and 2.08 AU/ml for Lm14, Lm24. Concerning the sensitivity the crude bacteriocins were fully insensitive to heat inactivation, until 121°C, they preserved the same inhibition diameter. As to, kinetic of growth , the µmax showed reductions in pathogens load for Lm21, Lm23, Lm25, Lm14, Lm24 of about 42.92%, 84.12%, 88.55%, 54.95%, 29.97% in the second trails. Inversely, this pathogen growth after five hours displayed differences of 79.45%, 12.64%, 11.82%, 87.88%, 85.66% in the second trails, compared to the control. This study showed potential inhibition to the growth of this food pathogen, suggesting the possibility to improve the hygienic food quality.

Keywords: exploratory test, lactic acid bacteria, crude bacteriocins, spoilage, pathogens

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Authors: N. Sefiani, C. Fikri Benbrahim, A. Boumane, K. Reklaoui

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Nowadays, the reflection on competence management is the basic for new competitive strategies. It is considered as the core of the problems of the global supply chain. It interacts a variety of actors: information, physical and activities flows, etc. Even though competence management is seen as the key factor for any business success, the existing approaches demonstrate the deficiencies and limitations of the competence concept. This research has two objectives: The first is to make a contribution by focusing on the development of a competence approach, based on continuous improvement. It allows the enterprise to spot key competencies, mobilize them in order to serve its strategic objectives and to develop future competencies. The second is to propose a method to evaluate the level of Collective Competence. The approach was confirmed through an application carried out at an automotive company.

Keywords: competence, competencies’ approach, competence management, continuous improvement, collective competence level, performance indicator

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Authors: Mohamud Ali Ibrahim, Ali Bayat, Ali Bolat

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Defoliant spraying is an important link in the mechanized cotton harvest because adequate and uniform spraying can improve defoliation quality and reduce cotton trash content. In defoliant application, application volume and spraying technology are extremely important. In this study, the effectiveness of defoliant application to cotton plant that has come to harvest with two different application volumes and three different types of nozzles with a standard field crop sprayer was determined. Experiments were carried in two phases as field area trials and laboratory analysis. Application rates were 250 l/ha and 400 L/ha, and spraying nozzles were (1) Standard flat fan nozzle (TP8006), (2) Air induction nozzle (AI 11002-VS), and (3) Dual Pattern nozzle (AI307003VP). A tracer (BSF) and defoliant were applied to mature cotton with approximately 60% open bolls and samplings for BSF deposition and spray coverage on the cotton plant were done at two plant height (upper layer, lower layer) of plant. Before and after spraying, bolls open and leaves rate on cotton plants were calculated, and filter papers were used to detect BSF deposition, and water sensitive papers (WSP) were used to measure the coverage rate of spraying methods used. Spectrofluorophotometer was used to detect the amount of tracer deposition on targets, and an image process computer programme was used to measure coverage rate on WSP. In analysis, conclusions showed that air induction nozzle (AI 11002-VS) achieved better results than the dual pattern and standard flat fan nozzles in terms of higher depositions, coverages, and leaf defoliations, and boll opening rates. AI nozzles operating at 250 L/ha application rate provide the highest deposition and coverage rate on applications of the defoliant; in addition, BSF as an indicator of the defoliant used reached on leaf beneath in merely this spray nozzle. After defoliation boll opening rate was 85% on the 7th and 12th days after spraying and falling rate of leaves was 76% at application rate of 250 L/ha with air induction (AI1102) nozzle.

Keywords: cotton defoliant, air induction nozzle, dual pattern nozzle, standard flat fan nozzle, coverage rate, spray deposition, boll opening rate, leaves falling rate

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Authors: Min Liu, Jirui Gong, Qinpu Luo, Lili Yang, Bo Yang, Zihe Zhang, Yan Pan, Zhanwei Zhai

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Grazing disturbance is one of the important land-use types that affect plant growth and ecosystem processes. In order to study the responses of dominant species to grazing in the semiarid temperate grassland of Inner Mongolia, we set five grazing intensity plots: a control and four levels of grazing (light (LG), moderate (MG), heavy (HG) and extreme heavy grazing (EHG)) to test the morphological and physiological responses of Stipa grandis, Leymus chinensis at the individual levels. With the increase of grazing intensity, Stipa grandis and Leymus chinensis both exhibited reduced plant height, leaf area, stem length and aboveground biomass, showing a significant dwarf phenomenon especially in HG and EHG plots. The photosynthetic capacity decreased along the grazing gradient. Especially in the MG plot, the two dominant species have lowest net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and water use efficiency (WUE). However, in the HG and EHG plots, the two species had high light saturation point (LSP) and low light compensation point (LCP), indicating they have high light-use efficiency. They showed a stimulation of compensatory photosynthesis to the remnant leaves as compared with grasses in MG plot. For Leymus chinensis, the lipid peroxidation level did not increase with the low malondialdehyde (MDA) content even in the EHG plot. It may be due to the high enzymes activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) to reduce the damage of reactive oxygen species. Meanwhile, more carbohydrate was stored in the leaf of Leymus chinensis to provide energy to the plant regrowth. On the contrary, Stipa grandis showed the high level of lipid peroxidation especially in the HG and EHG plots with decreased antioxidant enzymes activity. The soluble protein content did not change significantly in the different plots. Therefore, with the increase of grazing intensity, plants changed morphological and physiological traits to defend themselves effectively to herbivores. Leymus chinensis is more resistant to grazing than Stipa grandis in terms of tolerance traits, particularly under heavy grazing pressure.

Keywords: antioxidant enzymes activity, grazing density, morphological responses, photosynthesis

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Authors: Kam Wen Hang, Tan Kee Teng, Huang Poh Ching, Chia Kai Xiang, H. V. Annegowda, H. S. Naveen Kumar

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Gynura procumbens (G. procumbens) leaves, commonly known as ‘sambung nyawa’ in Malaysia is a well-known medicinal plant commonly used as folk medicines in controlling blood glucose, cholesterol level as well as treating cancer. These medicinal properties were believed to be related to the polyphenolic content present in G. procumbens extract, therefore optimization of its extraction process is vital to obtain highest possible antioxidant activities. The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of different concentrations of extracting solvent (ethanol) on the amount of polyphenolic content and antioxidant activities of G. procumbens leaf extract. The concentrations of ethanol used were 30-70%, with the temperature and time kept constant at 50°C and 30 minutes, respectively using ultrasound-assisted extraction. The polyphenolic content of these extracts were quantified by Folin-Ciocalteu colorimetric method and results were expressed as milligram gallic acid equivalent (mg GAE)/g. Phosphomolybdenum method and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assays were used to investigate the antioxidant properties of the extract and the results were expressed as milligram ascorbic acid equivalent (mg AAE)/g and effective concentration (EC50) respectively. Among the three different (30%, 50% and 70%) concentrations of ethanol studied, the 50% ethanolic extract showed total phenolic content of 31.565 ± 0.344 mg GAE/g and total antioxidant activity of 78.839 ± 0.199 mg AAE/g while 30% ethanolic extract showed 29.214 ± 0.645 mg GAE/g and 70.701 ± 1.394 mg AAE/g, respectively. With respect to DPPH radical scavenging assay, 50% ethanolic extract had exhibited slightly lower EC50 (314.3 ± 4.0 μg/ml) values compared to 30% ethanol extract (340.4 ± 5.3 μg/ml). Out of all the tested extracts, 70% ethanolic extract exhibited significantly (p< 0.05) highest total phenolic content (38.000 ± 1.009 mg GAE/g), total antioxidant capacity (95.874 ± 2.422 mg AAE/g) and demonstrated the lowest EC50 in DPPH assay (244.2 ± 5.9 μg/ml). An excellent correlations were drawn between total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity and DPPH radical scavenging activity (R2 = 0.949 and R2 = 0.978, respectively). It was concluded from this study that, 70% ethanol should be used as the optimal polarity solvent to obtain G. procumbens leaf extract with maximum polyphenolic content with antioxidant properties.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, DPPH assay, Gynura procumbens, phenolic compounds

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Authors: Himanshu Sharma, Karthik Kumar, Harish Kumar

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The major problem in crop cultivation is the occurrence of multiple crop diseases. During the growth stage, timely identification of crop diseases is paramount to ensure the high yield of crops, lower production costs, and minimize pesticide usage. In most cases, crop diseases produce observable characteristics and symptoms. The Surveyors usually diagnose crop diseases when they walk through the fields. However, surveyor inspections tend to be biased and error-prone due to the nature of the monotonous task and the subjectivity of individuals. In addition, visual inspection of each leaf or plant is costly, time-consuming, and labour-intensive. Furthermore, the plant pathologists and experts who can often identify the disease within the plant according to their symptoms in early stages are not readily available in remote regions. Therefore, this study specifically addressed early detection of leaf scald, red rot, and eyespot types of diseases within sugarcane plants. The study proposes a computer vision-based approach using a convolutional neural network (CNN) for automatic identification of crop diseases. To facilitate this, firstly, images of sugarcane diseases were taken from google without modifying the scene, background, or controlling the illumination to build the training dataset. Then, the testing dataset was developed based on the real-time collected images from the sugarcane field from India. Then, the image dataset is pre-processed for feature extraction and selection. Finally, the CNN-based Visual Geometry Group (VGG) model was deployed on the training and testing dataset to classify the images into diseased and healthy sugarcane plants and measure the model's performance using various parameters, i.e., accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1-score. The promising result of the proposed model lays the groundwork for the automatic early detection of sugarcane disease. The proposed research directly sustains an increase in crop yield.

Keywords: automatic classification, computer vision, convolutional neural network, image processing, sugarcane disease, visual geometry group

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Authors: Birgul Hizlar, Sibel Karakaya

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Nowadays, consumers are more and more aware of the benefits beyond basic nutrition provided by food and food compounds. Between these, carotenoids have been demonstrated to exhibit multiple health benefits (for example, some types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, eye disorders, among others). However, carotenoid bioaccessibility and bioavailability is generally rather low due to their specific localization in plant tissue and lipophilic nature. This situation is worldwide issue, since both developed and developing countries have their interest and benefits in increasing the uptake of carotenoids from the human diet. Recently, a new class of foods designed to improve the bioaccessibility/bioavailability of orally administered bioactive compounds is introduced: excipient foods. Excipient foods are specially designed foods which are prepared depending on the physicochemical properties of target bioactive compounds and increasing the bioavailability or bioaccessibility of bioactive compound. In this study, effects of food matrix (greating, boiling and mashing) and different excipient foods (olive oil, lemon juice, whey curd and dried artichoke leaf powder) on bioaccessibility of β-carotene in carrot were investigated by means of simulating in vitro gastrointestinal (GI) digestion. β-carotene contents of grated, boiled and mashed (after boiling process) carrots were 79.28, 147.63 and 151.19 μg/g respectively. No significant differences among boiled and mashed samples indicated that mashing process had no effect on the release of β-carotene from the food matrix (p > 0.05). On the contrary, mashing causes significant increase in the β-carotene bioaccessibility (p < 0.05). The highest β-carotene content was found in the mashed carrots incorporated with olive oil and lemon juice (C2). However, no significant differences between that sample and C1 (mashed carrot with lemon juice, olive oil, dried artichoke leaf powder), C3 (mashed carrot with addition of olive oil, lemon juice, whey curd) and). Similarly, the highest β-carotene bioaccessibility (50.26%) was found mashed C3 sample (p < 0.05). The increase in the bioaccessibility was approximately 5 fold and 50 fold when compared to grated and mashed samples containing olive oil, lemon juice and whey curd. The results demonstrate that both, food matrix and excipient foods, are able to increase the bioaccessibility of β-carotene.

Keywords: bioaccessibility, carotenoids, carrot, β-carotene

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Authors: Rutuja Desai

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Search engine is fundamentally a framework used to search the data which is pertinent to the client via WWW. Looking close-by spot identified with the keywords is an imperative concept in developing web advances. For such kind of searching, extent pursuit or closest neighbor is utilized. In range search the forecast is made whether the objects meet to query object. Nearest neighbor is the forecast of the focuses close to the query set by the client. Here, the nearest neighbor methodology is utilized where Data recovery R+ tree is utilized rather than IR2 tree. The disadvantages of IR2 tree is: The false hit number can surpass the limit and the mark in Information Retrieval R-tree must have Voice over IP bit for each one of a kind word in W set is recouped by Data recovery R+ tree. The inquiry is fundamentally subordinate upon the key words and the geometric directions.

Keywords: information retrieval, nearest neighbor search, keyword search, R+ tree

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Authors: Jaroslav Kraus

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Spatial information about demographic processes are a standard part of outputs in the Czech Republic. That was also the case of Population and Housing Census which was held on 2011. This is a starting point for a follow up study devoted to two basic types of households: single person households and households of one completed family. Single person households and one family households create more than 80 percent of all households, but the share and spatial structure is in long-term changing. The increase of single households is results of long-term fertility decrease and divorce increase, but also possibility of separate living. There are regions in the Czech Republic with traditional demographic behavior, and regions like capital Prague and some others with changing pattern. Population census is based - according to international standards - on the concept of currently living population. Three types of geospatial approaches will be used for analysis: (i) firstly measures of geographic distribution, (ii) secondly mapping clusters to identify the locations of statistically significant hot spots, cold spots, spatial outliers, and similar features and (iii) finally analyzing pattern approach as a starting point for more in-depth analyses (geospatial regression) in the future will be also applied. For analysis of this type of data, number of households by types should be distinct objects. All events in a meaningful delimited study region (e.g. municipalities) will be included in an analysis. Commonly produced measures of central tendency and spread will include: identification of the location of the center of the point set (by NUTS3 level); identification of the median center and standard distance, weighted standard distance and standard deviational ellipses will be also used. Identifying that clustering exists in census households datasets does not provide a detailed picture of the nature and pattern of clustering but will be helpful to apply simple hot-spot (and cold spot) identification techniques to such datasets. Once the spatial structure of households will be determined, any particular measure of autocorrelation can be constructed by defining a way of measuring the difference between location attribute values. The most widely used measure is Moran’s I that will be applied to municipal units where numerical ratio is calculated. Local statistics arise naturally out of any of the methods for measuring spatial autocorrelation and will be applied to development of localized variants of almost any standard summary statistic. Local Moran’s I will give an indication of household data homogeneity and diversity on a municipal level.

Keywords: census, geo-demography, households, the Czech Republic

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Authors: Alexis Naranjo

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In the current global stage, a new sense and mix feelings against the globalization has started to take shape thanks to events such as Brexit and the 2016 US election. The perceptions towards the globalization have started to focus in a resistance movement called the 'anti-globalization movement'. This paper examines the current global stage vs. leadership decisions in a time when market integrations are not longer seeing as an opportunity for an economic growth buster. The biggest economy in the world the United States of America has started to face a new beginning of something called 'anti-globalization', in the current global stage starting with the United Kingdom to the United States a new strategy to help local economies has started to emerge. A new nationalist movement has started to focus on their local economies which now represents a direct threat to the globalization, trade agreements, wages and free markets. Business leaders of multinationals now in our days face a new dilemma, how to address the feeling that globalization and outsourcing destroy and take away jobs from local economies. The initial perception of the literature and data rebels that companies in Western countries like the US sees many risks associate with outsourcing, however, saving cost associated with outsourcing is greater than the firm’s local reputation. Starting with India as a good example of a supplier of IT developers, analysts and call centers we can start saying that India is an industrialized nation which has not yet secured its spot and title. India has emerged as a powerhouse in the outsource industry, which makes India hold the number one spot in the world to outsource IT services. Thanks to the globalization of economies and markets around the globe that new ideas to increase productivity at a lower cost has been existing for years and has started to offer new ideas and options to businesses in different industries. The economic growth of the information technology (IT) industry in India is an example of the power of the globalization which in the case of India has been tremendous and significant especially in the economic arena. This research paper concentrates in understand the behavior of business leaders: First, how multinational’s leaders will face the new challenges and what actions help them to lead in turbulent times. Second, if outsourcing or withdraw from a market is an option what are the consequences and how you communicate and negotiate from the business leader perspective. Finally, is the perception of leaders focusing on financial results or they have a different goal? To answer these questions, this study focuses on the most recent data available to outline and present the findings of the reason why outsourcing is and option and second, how and why those decisions are made. This research also explores the perception of the phenomenon of outsourcing in many ways and explores how the globalization has contributed to its own questioning.

Keywords: anti-globalization, globalization, leadership, outsourcing

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Authors: Michela C. Batista Matos, Madelaine Venzon, Elem F. Martins, Erickson C. Freitas, Adenir V. Teodoro, Maira C. M. Fonseca, Angelo Pallini

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Aromatic plant species are capable of producing and releasing volatile organic compounds spontaneously, which can repel or attract beneficial insects such as generalist predators of herbivores. Attractive plants could be used as crop companion plants to promote biological control of pests. In order to select such plants for future use in horticulture fields, we assessed the attractiveness of the aromatic plants Ocimum basilicum L. (basil), Mentha piperita L. (peppermint), Melissa officinalis L. (lemon balm) and Cordia verbenacea DC (black sage) to adults of the generalist lacewing predator Ceraeochrysa cubana Hagen (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). This predator is commonly found in agroecosystems in Brazil and it feeds on aphids, mites, small caterpillars, insect eggs and scales. We further tested the effect of these plant species on the survival, development and oviposition of C. cubana. Finally, we evaluated the survival of larvae and adults of C. cubana when only flowers of basil were offered. Females of C. cubana were attracted to basil but not to the remaining aromatic plants. Larvae survival was higher when individuals had access only to basil leaf than when they had access to peppermint, lemon balm, black sage or water. Adult survival on leaf treatments and on water was no longer than three days. Flowers of basil enhanced predator larvae survival, yet they did not reach adulthood. Adults fed on basil flowers lived longer compared with water, but they did not reproduce. Basil is a promising aromatic plant species to be considered for conservation biological control programs. Besides being attractive to adults of the generalist predator, it benefits larvae and adults by providing nutritional resources when prey or other resources are absent. Financial support: CNPq, FAPEMIG and CAPES (Brazil).

Keywords: basil, chrysopidae, conservation biological control, companion plants

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Authors: Kathryn Nderitu, Atunga Nyachieo, Ezekiel Mecha

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Introduction: Solanum nigrum , also known as black nightshade, biosynthesizes various phytochemical compounds with various pharmacological activities, including treating cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, among others. Materials and Methods: To assess the anti-obesity effects of Solanum nigrum using high-fat-fed diet rats, Sprague Dawley male rats (n = 35) of weights 160–180 g were assigned randomly into seven groups comprising n = 5 rats each. Each group was fed for 11 weeks as follows: normal group (normal chow rat feed); high-fat diet control (HFD); HFD and standard drug (Orlistat 30 mg/kg bw); HFD and methanolic extract 150 mg/kgbw; HFD and methanolic extract 300 mg/kgbw; HFD and dichloromethane extract 150 mg/kgbw; HFD and dichloromethane extract 300 mg/kgbw. Body mass index and food intake were monitored per week, and an oral glucose tolerance test was measured in weeks 5 and 10. Lipid profiles, liver function tests, adipose tissue, liver weights, and phytochemical analysis of Solanum nigrum were later carried out. Results: High-fat diet control group rats exhibited a significant increase in body mass index (BMI), while rats administered with leaf extracts of Solanum nigrum showed a reduction in BMI. Both low doses of dichloromethane (150 mg/kgbw) and high doses of methanol extracts (300 mg/kgbw) showed a better reduction in BMI than the other treatment groups. A significant decrease (p <0.05) in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides, and cholesterol was observed among the rats administered with Solanum nigrum extracts compared to those of HFD control. Moreover, the HFD control group significantly increased liver and adipose tissue weights compared to other treatment groups (p<0.05). Solanum nigrum also decreased glycemic levels and normalized the hepatic enzymes of HFD control. However, food intake among the groups showed no significant difference (p>0.05). Qualitative analysis of Solanum nigrum leaf extracts indicated the presence of various bioactive compounds associated with anti-obesity. Conclusion: These results validate the use of Solanum nigrum in controlling obesity.

Keywords: solanum nigrum, High fat diet, phytocompounds, obesity

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Authors: Miguel Angel Calvo Salve

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Building enclosures and façades not only have an aesthetic component they must also ensure thermal comfort and improve the acoustics and air quality in buildings. The role of facades design, its assemblies, and construction are key in developing a greener future in architecture. This research and study focus on the design of a multi-leaves building envelope, with a self-supporting wall of granite slabs. The study will demonstrate the advantages of its use in compare with the hanging stone veneer in a vented cladding system. Using the Design of the School of Music and Theatre of the Atlantic Area in Spain as a case study where the multi-leaves enclosure system consists in a self-supported outer leaf of large granite slabs of 15cm. of thickness, a vent cavity with thermal isolation, a brick wall, and a series of internal layers. The methodology used were simulations and data collected in building. The advantages of the self-supporting wall of granite slabs in the outer leaf (15cm). compared with a hanging stone veneer in a vented cladding system can summarize the goals as follows: Using the stone in more natural way, by compression. The weight of the stone slabs goes directly to a strip-footing and don't overload the reinforced concrete structure of the building. The weight of the stone slabs provides an external aerial soundproofing, preventing the sound transmission to the structure. The thickness of the stone slabs is enough to provide the external waterproofing of the building envelope. The self-supporting system with minimum anchorages allows having a continuous and external thermal isolation without thermal bridges. The thickness of ashlars masonry provides a thermal inertia that balances the temperatures between day and night in the external thermal insulation layer. The absence of open joints gives the quality of a continuous envelope transmitting the sensations of the stone, the heaviness in the facade, the rhythm of the music and the sequence of the theatre. The main cost of stone due his bigger thickness is more than compensated with the reduction in assembly costs. Don´t need any substructure systems for hanging stone veneers.

Keywords: self-supporting wall, stone cladding systems, hanging veneer cladding systems, sustainability of facade systems

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Authors: S. Padma, D. H. Tejavathi

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Somatic embryogenesis is a remarkable illustration of the dictum of plant totipotency where developmental reconstruction of somatic cells takes place towards the embryogenic pathway. It recapitulates the morphological and developmental process that occurs in zygotic embryogenesis. S. androgynous commonly called as multivitamin plant. The leaves are consumed as green leafy vegetable by the Southeast Asian communities due to their rich nutritional profile. Despite being a good nutritional vegetable with proteins, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, it is warned for excessive intake due to the presence of alkoloid called papaverine. Papaverine at higher concentrations is toxic and leads to a syndrome called Bronchiolitis Obliterans. In the present study, morphogenetic potential of shoot tip, leaf and nodal explants of Sauropus androgynous was investigated to develop and enhance the reliable plant regeneration protocol via somatic embryogenesis. Somatic embryos were derived directly from the embryogenic callus derived from shoot tip, node and leaf cultures on Phillips and Collins (L2) medium supplemented with NAA at various concentrations ranging from 5.3 µM/l to 26.85 µM/l within two months of inoculation. Thus obtained embryos were sub cultured to modified L2 media supplemented with increased vitamin level for the further growth. Somatic embryos with well-developed cotyledons were transferred to normal and modified L2 basal medium for conversion. The plantlets thus obtained were subjected to brief acclimatization before transferring them to land. About 95% of survival rate was recorded. The augmentation process of culturing various explants through somatic embryogenesis using synthetic medium with various plant growth regulators under controlled conditions have aggrandized the commercial production of Sauropus making it easily available over the conventional propagation methods. In addition, regeneration process through somatic embryogenesis has ameliorated the development of desired character in Sauropus with low papaverine content thereby providing a valuable resource to the food and pharmaceutical industry. Based on this research, plant tissue culture techniques have shown promise for economical and convenient application in Sauropus androgynous breeding.

Keywords: L2 medium, multivitamin plant, NAA, papaverine

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Authors: Muhammad Aown Sammar Raza

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Environmental stresses are one of the major reasons for poor crop yield across the globe. Among the various environmental stresses, drought stress is the most damaging one, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Wheat is the major staple food of many countries of the world, which is badly affected by drought stress. In order to fulfill the dietary needs of increasing population with depleting water resources there is a need to adopt technologies which result in sufficient crop yield with less water consumption. One of them is partial root zone drying. Keeping in view these conditions, a wire house experiment was conducted at agronomic research area of University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The Islamia University Bahawalpur during 2015, to screen out the different wheat varieties for partial root zone drying (PRD). Five approved local wheat varieties (V1= Galaxy-2013, V2= Punjab-2011, V3 = Faisalabad-2008, V4 = Lasani-2008 and V5 = V.8200) and two irrigation levels (I1= control irrigation and I2 = PRD irrigation) with completely randomized design having four replications were used in the experiment. Among the varieties, Galaxy-2013 performed the best and attained maximum plant height, leaf area, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, total sugars, proline contents and antioxidant enzymes activities and minimum values of growth and physiological parameters were recorded in variety V.8200. For irrigation levels, higher values of growth, physiological and water related parameters were recorded in control treatment (I1) except leaf water potential, osmotic potential, total sugars and proline contents. However, enzyme activities were higher under PRD treatment for all varieties. It was concluded that Galaxy-2013 is the most compatible and V.8200 is the most susceptible variety for PRD, respectively and more quality traits and enzymatic activities were recorded under PRD irrigation as compared to control treatment.

Keywords: antioxidant enzymes activities, osmolytes concentration, partial root zone drying, photosynthetic rate, water relations, wheat

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Authors: Débora V. Busman, Venerando E. Amaro, Mattheus da C. Prudêncio

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Prognostic studies of the shoreline are of utmost importance for Ponta Negra Beach, located in Natal, Northeastern Brazil, where the infrastructure recently built along the shoreline is severely affected by flooding and erosion. This study compares shoreline predictions using three linear regression methods (LMS, LRR and WLR) and tries to discern the best method for different shoreline position scenarios. The methods have shown erosion on the beach in each of the scenarios tested, even in less intense dynamic conditions. The WLA_A with confidence interval of 95% was the well-adjusted model and calculated a retreat of -1.25 m/yr to -2.0 m/yr in hot spot areas. The change of the shoreline on Ponta Negra Beach can be measured as a negative exponential curve. Analysis of these methods has shown a correlation with the morphodynamic stage of the beach.

Keywords: coastal erosion, prognostic model, DSAS, environmental safety

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Authors: Amlan Kumar Das, Avinash Marwal, Vikram Pareek

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Liposome plays an important role in medical and pharmaceutical science as e.g. nano scale drug carriers. Liposomes are vesicles of varying size consisting of a spherical lipid bilayer and an aqueous inner compartment. Magnet-driven liposome used for the targeted delivery of drugs to organs and tissues1. These liposome preparations contain encapsulated drug components and finely dispersed magnetic particles. Liposomes are vesicles of varying size consisting of a spherical lipid bilayer and an aqueous inner compartment that are generated in vitro. These are useful in terms of biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity, and can control biodistribution by changing the size, lipid composition, and physical characteristics2. Furthermore, liposomes can entrap both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs and are able to continuously release the entrapped substrate, thus being useful drug carriers. Magnetic liposomes (MLs) are phospholipid vesicles that encapsulate magneticor paramagnetic nanoparticles. They are applied as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)3. The biological synthesis of nanoparticles using plant extracts plays an important role in the field of nanotechnology4. Green-synthesized magnetite nanoparticles-protein hybrid has been produced by treating Iron (III)/Iron(II) chloride with the leaf extract of Dhatura Inoxia. The phytochemicals present in the leaf extracts act as a reducing as well stabilizing agents preventing agglomeration, which include flavonoids, phenolic compounds, cardiac glycosides, proteins and sugars. The magnetite nanoparticles-protein hybrid has been trapped inside the aqueous core of the liposome prepared by reversed phase evaporation (REV) method using oleic and linoleic acid which has been shown to be driven under magnetic field confirming the formation magnetic liposome (ML). Chemical characterization of stealth magnetic liposome has been performed by breaking the liposome and release of magnetic nanoparticles. The presence iron has been confirmed by colour complex formation with KSCN and UV-Vis study using spectrophotometer Cary 60, Agilent. This magnet driven liposome using nanoparticles-protein hybrid can be a smart vesicles for the targeted drug delivery.

Keywords: nanoparticles-protein hybrid, magnetic liposome, medical, pharmaceutical science

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Authors: Ja’afar Umar, Adamu Aliyu Aliero

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Plant growth, biochemical parameters, zinc metal concentrations were determined for Capsicum frutescens L. in response to varied concentration of zinc metal. The plant exhibited a decline in the vegetative parameters measured. Free proline and glycine betaine content increases with increasing concentration of zinc metal and differ significantly (P<0.05). It can be concluded that the osmolyte (pro and GB) accumulations, and high length of stem and wide leaf expansion are possible indicator of tolerance to heavy metals (Zinc) in Capsicum frutescens.

Keywords: zinc metal, osmolyte, Capsicum frutescens, stress

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