Estimation of Genetic Divergence and Character Association Studies in Local and Exotic Diversity Panels of Soybean(Glycine max L.)Genotypes

The availability of favorable genetic diversity is a thriving vitality for the success of a breeding program.It provides a firm basis of selecting superior breeding lines for the development of high yielding crop genotypes.In this context,present investigation aimed to generate information on genetic divergence and character association in a diversity panel of 123 local and exotic soybean genotypes.Analysis of variance revealed significant response of the evaluated genotypes based on studied attributes.It depicted the probability of selecting desirable soybean genotypes by focusing on character association studies and genetic diversity analysis.Correlation analysis revealed that seed yield per plant showed high positive correlation with 100-seed weight followed by pods per plant and plant height.Furthermore,path coefficient analysis exposed that pods per plant had maximum direct contribution in seed yield per plant followed by 100-seed weight,days to flowering and SPAD measurement.Genotype named“G-10”showed maximum yield per plant followed by 24607,G-52,24593,Arisoy,24566,17426,A-3127,24570 and 24567.Genetic diversity analysis grouped the evaluated germplasm into 17 clusters.All clusters showed zero intra-cluster variability;while inter-cluster divergence ranged from 9.00 to 91.11.Cluster V showed maximum inter-cluster distance with cluster XII followed by that of between V and VIII.Moreover,cluster IV with superior genotypes(G-10,24607,24593 and 24566),VI(17426 and 24567),XIII(24570)and X(Arisoy and G-52)showed above mean values for most of the studied characters.Overall,the results of hybridization between the superior genotypes of these cluster pairs might be useful for soybean breeding with improving agronomic traits and adaptability.

Response of Contrasting Rice Genotypes to Zinc Sources under Saline Condition

Abiotic stresses are among the major limiting factors for plant growth and crop productivity.Among these,salinity is one of the major risk factors for plant growth and development in arid to semi-arid regions.Cultivation of salt tolerant crop genotypes is one of the imperative approaches to meet the food demand for increasing population.The current experiment was carried out to access the performance of different rice genotypes under salinity stress and Zinc(Zn)sources.Four rice genotypes were grown in a pot experiment and were exposed to salinity stress(7 dS m^(−1)),and Zn(15 mg kg^(-1)soil)was applied from two sources,ZnSO4 and Zn-EDTA.A control of both salinity and Zn was kept for comparison.Results showed that based on the biomass accumulation and K^(+)/Na^(+)ratio,KSK-133 and BAS-198 emerged as salt tolerant and salt sensitive,respectively.Similarly,based on the Zn concentration,BAS-2000 was reported as Zn-in-efficient while IR-6 was a Zn-efficient genotype.Our results also revealed that plant growth,relative water content(RWC),physiological attributes including chlorophyll contents,ionic concentrations in straw and grains of all rice genotypes were decreased under salinity stress.However,salt tolerant and Zn-in-efficient rice genotypes showed significantly higher shoot K^(+)and Zn concentrations under saline conditions.Zinc application significantly alleviates the harmful effects of salinity by improving morpho-physiological attributes and enhancing antioxidant enzyme activities,and the uptake of K and Zn.The beneficial effect of Zn was more pronounced in salt-tolerant and Zn in-efficient rice genotypes as compared with salt-sensitive and Zn-efficient genotypes.In sum,our results confirmed that Zn application increased overall plant’s performance under saline conditions,particularly in Zn in-efficient and tolerant genotypes as compared with salt-sensitive and Zn efficient rice genotypes.

Review of magnetorheological (MR) fluids and its applications in vibration control

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids are now well established as one of the leading materials for use in controllable structures and systems. Commercial application of MR fluids in various fields, particularly in the vibration control, has grown rapidly over the past few years. In this paper, properties of magnetorheological (MR) fluids ,its applications in suspensions of vehicles, suspension of trains, high buildings cable-stayed bridges have been discussed. The scope of MR fluids in future, problems and some suggestions are also presented. Finally, effectiveness of MR fluids in vibration control of marine diesel engine through experiment is briefly discussed by the author.

Gene-gene,gene-environment,gene-nutrient interactions and single nucleotide polymorphisms of inflammatory cytokines

Inflammation plays a significant role in the etiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).The rise in the pro-inflammatory cytokines is the essential step in glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity induced mitochondrial injury,oxidative stress and beta cell apoptosis in T2 DM.Among the recognized markers are interleukin(IL)-6,IL-1,IL-10,IL-18,tissue necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-α),C-reactive protein,resistin,adiponectin,tissue plasminogen activator,fibrinogen and heptoglobins.Diabetes mellitus has firm genetic and very strong environmental influence; exhibiting a polygenic mode of inheritance.Many single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) in various genes including those of pro and antiinflammatory cytokines have been reported as a risk for T2 DM.Not all the SNPs have been confirmed by unifying results in different studies and wide variations have been reported in various ethnic groups.The inter-ethnic variations can be explained by the fact that gene expression may be regulated by gene-gene,gene-environment and gene-nutrient interactions.This review highlights the impact of these interactions on determining the role of single nucleotide polymorphism of IL-6,TNF-α,resistin and adiponectin in pathogenesis of T2 DM.

Recent Progress,Challenges,and Prospects in Two‑Dimensional Photo‑Catalyst Materials and Environmental Remediation

The successful photo-catalyst library gives significant information on feature that affects photo-catalytic performance and proposes new materials.Competency is considerably significant to form multi-functional photo-catalysts with flexible characteristics.Since recently,two-dimensional materials(2DMs)gained much attention from researchers,due to their unique thickness-dependent uses,mainly for photo-catalytic,outstanding chemical and physical properties.Photo-catalytic water splitting and hydrogen(H2)evolution by plentiful compounds as electron(e−)donors is estimated to participate in constructing clean method for solar H2-formation.Heterogeneous photocatalysis received much research attention caused by their applications to tackle numerous energy and environmental issues.This broad review explains progress regarding 2DMs,significance in structure,and catalytic results.We will discuss in detail current progresses of approaches for adjusting 2DMs-based photo-catalysts to assess their photo-activity including doping,hetero-structure scheme,and functional formation assembly.Suggested plans,e.g.,doping and sensitization of semiconducting 2DMs,increasing electrical conductance,improving catalytic active sites,strengthening interface coupling in semiconductors(SCs)2DMs,forming nano-structures,building multi-junction nano-composites,increasing photo-stability of SCs,and using combined results of adapted approaches,are summed up.Hence,to further improve 2DMs photo-catalyst properties,hetero-structure design-based 2DMs’photo-catalyst basic mechanism is also reviewed.

Isolation and Identification of Multi-Drug Resistant Strains of Non-Lactose Fermenting Bacteria from Clinical Refuses in Major Hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Purpose: The present studied was performed in order to investigate the drug resistance of different non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria from clinical isolates. The bacteria were morphologically characterized through culturing and gram staining techniques were used for the identification of different bacterial strains. Methods: A total of 324 samples were collected from patients, after they were diagnosed by physicians at different hospitals at district Peshawar. Samples were morphologically identified by blood agar, MacConkey agar and Eosine Methylene Blue, identified by gram staining techniques. Modified Kirby-Bauer Disc diffusion method was used to test the in-vitro susceptibility of the identified isolates to different antibiotics. Results: The non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria were isolated from samples of blood (33.30%), pus/ wound (33.30%), urine (23.30%) and from ascetic/pleural fluids (10.20%). The study revealed that Pseudomonas aeroginosa showed high resistance against Gentamicin (74%) and Aztreonam (74%), followed by Ciprofloxacin (59.20%) and Amikacin (33.30). Tazocin was active as low resistance (18.50%) is shown. More resistance was seen in Morganella morganii against Aztreonam (77.7%) followed by Gentamicin (62.90%), Ciprofloxacin (40.70%). Tazocin show low resistance (3.70%). Multidrug resistant Proteus mirabillis was highly resistance to Gentamicin (66.60%), followed by Aztreonam (62.90%), Amikacin (55.50%), Ciprofloxacin (40.20%) and low resistance to Tazocin was (22.20%). Salmonella typhi demonstrated high resistance against Amikacin (62.90%), followed by Aztreonam (48.10%), Tazocin (40.70%). Gentamicin showed low resistance (29.60%), and hence it is more active against S. typhi. Conclusions: It can be concluded from the present study that different species of non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria have shown a different resistivity pattern. This study is a gate way for better and suitable management strategy for the infections caused by non-Lactose fermenting bacteria in the sampling region.

The New Neutrosophic Double and Triple Exponentially Weighted Moving Average Control Charts

The concept of neutrosophic statistics is applied to propose two monitoring schemes which are an improvement of the neutrosophic exponentially weighted moving average(NEWMA)chart.In this study,two control charts are designed under the uncertain environment or neutrosophic statistical interval system,when all observations are undermined,imprecise or fuzzy.These are termed neutrosophic double and triple exponentially weighted moving average(NDEWMA and NTEWMA)control charts.For the proficiency of the proposed chart,Monte Carlo simulations are used to calculate the run-length characteristics(such as average run length(ARL),standard deviation of the run length(SDRL),percentiles(P_(25),P_(50),P_(75)))of the proposed charts.The structures of the proposed control charts are more effective in detecting small shifts while these are comparable with the other existing charts in detecting moderate and large shifts.The simulation study and real-life implementations of the proposed charts show that the proposed NDEWMA and NTEWMA charts perform better in monitoring the process of road traffic crashes and electric engineering data as compared to the existing control charts.Therefore,the proposed charts will be helpful in minimizing the road accident and minimizing the defective products.Furthermore,the proposed charts are more acceptable and actual to apply in uncertain environment.

A New Attempt to Neutrosophic Soft Bi-Topological Spaces

In this article,new generalized neutrosophic soft∗b open set is introduced in neutrosophic soft bi-topological structurers(NSBTS)concerning soft points of the space.This new set is produced by making the marriage of soft semi-open set with soft pre-open set in neutrosophic soft topological structure.An ample of results are investigated in NSBTS on the basis of this new neutrosophic soft∗b open set.Proper examples are settled for justification of these results.The non-validity of some results is vindicated with examples.

Monitoring of Unaccounted for Gas in Energy Domain Using Semantic Web Technologies

Smart Urbanization has increased tremendously over the last few years,and this has exacerbated problems in all areas of life,especially in the energy sector.The Internet of Things(IoT)is providing effective solutions in gas distribution,transmission and billing through very sophisticated sensory devices and software.Billions of heterogeneous devices link to each other in smart urbanization,and this has led to the Semantic interoperability(SI)problem between the connected devices.In the energy field,such as electricity and gas,several devices are interlinked.These devices are competent for their specific operational role but unable to communicate across the operational units as required for accounting and monitoring of gas losses due to heterogeneity in device communication standards.To overcome this problem,we have proposed a model and ontology by applying semantic web technologies and cloud storage to address the tracking of customers to observe Unaccounted for gas(UFG)in the gas domain of energy.Semantization is achieved by replicating heterogeneous devices Sensor Model Language(SenML)data into Resource description framework(RDF)without human interventions.As semantic interoperability is used to efficiently and meaningfully share the information from one location to another.Therefore,the proposed ontology and model focus more efficiently on customer tracking,forecasting,and monitoring to detect UFG in gas networks.This also helps to save Gas Companies from financial gas losses.

Design of Grid-Connected Photovoltaic System

This paper presents a grid connected photovoltaic system (PV) with a proposed high voltage conversion ratio DC-DC converter which steps up the variable low input voltages of photovoltaic module to the required DC link voltage. This voltage is applied to an H-bridge inverter which converts DC voltage into AC voltage and a low pass filter is used to filter the output. By adjusting the duty ratio of switches in DC-DC converter, the magnitude of inverter’s output voltage is controlled. The frequency and phase synchronization are ensured by a feedback signal taken from the grid. In this way, inverter is synchronized and connected with the grid to meet the energy demand. The PV system has been designed and simulated.

Isolation and Identification of Multi-Drug Resistant Strains of Non-Lactose Fermenting Bacteria from Clinical Isolates

Purpose: We studied the drug resistance of different microbes from clinical isolates. The morphological characteristics of bacteria were observed through culture characteristics and by carrying out gram staining techniques while the biochemical characteristics of bacteria were carried out by biochemical test. Methods: A total of 324 samples were collected from suspected patients visiting different hospitals at district Peshawar. For morphological identification, samples of clinical isolates were analyzed by blood agar, MacConkey agar and Eosine Methylene Blue, identified by gram staining and characterized by different biochemical tests. Antibiotic Sensitivity test by Modified Kirby-Bauer Disc diffusion method was used to test the in-vitro susceptibility of the identified isolates to different antibiotics such as Ceftazidime, Ceftazidime, Ceftriaxone, Cefepime and Imipenem. Results: These resistant non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria were isolated from samples of pus/wound (33.30%, n = 108/324), blood (33.30%, n = 108/324), urine (23.30%, n = 75/324) and from ascetic/pleural fluids (10.20%, n = 33/324). The study revealed that the percentage of non-fermenting bacterial infection was higher in females (53%) as compared to males (47%) along with higher infection observed in the age group of 11 - 30 years. Pseudomonas aeroginosa showed high resistance against Cefepime (88.80%), followed by Cefoperazone (55.50%), Ceftazidime (48.10%), Ceftriaxone (33.30%). Imipenem was active with low resistance (7.40%). More resistance was seen in Morganella morganii against Imipenem (66.70%) followed by Cefoperazone (55.50%), Ceftriaxone (55.50%). Cefepime showed low resistance (11%). Multi-drug resistant Proteus mirabillis was highly resistance to Ceftriaxone (74.07%), followed by Cefepime (59.20%), Cefoperazone (44.40%) and low resistance for Imipenem (25.90%). Salmonella typhi demonstrated high resistance against Imipenem (74.07%), followed by Ceftriaxone (40.70%), Ceftazidime (37.03%). Cefepime showed low resistance (3.70%), hence it is more active against S. typhi. Conclusions: The different species of non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria have shown a different resistivity pattern in the present study. Therefore identification of non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria and looking after their resistivity/susceptibility pattern are important for suitable management of the infections caused by them.

Iron Deficiency Anemia in School Age Children in District Karak Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan

The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in school-going children. Both Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia have considerable adverse effect on human health. Among the different negative health concerns, including stunt development, less developed immunity, lower IQ level, no proper physical work capacity, more fatigue, maternal mortality rates, young ones born with low birth weight, birth complications and infant mortality rates are some of the remarkable health concerns posed by iron deficiency level. Our study sample was consisting of 420 school age children of both genders. The blood samples were collected in EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) tubes from different school and health maternity centres by trained and veteran persons. Questionnaires were utilised for the data collection, at the time of blood samples collection. Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrite (Hct), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell and red blood cell (RBC) were determine by automatic hematological analyzer model Symex Ks-21 having two reagents, cell pack and Stromatolyser-wwt 500 ml. The total percentage of anemia recorded in school age children was 34.0%. In tehsil Banda Daud Shah, the incidence of anemia was high up to 43.6% while in tehsil Takhti Nasrati and Karak was 32.1% and 26.4% respectively. The percentage was higher in girls (38.9%) than in boys (31.0%). The anemia percentage was recorded high (55.8%) in lower socioeconomic family children, than middle class (32.2%) and upper class (17%). The percentage of anemic children was also high (40%) in age group of 10 - 12 years. Pale skin was the most common symptom of anemia.

Tropospheric Scintillation Estimation Using 10 Years Meteorological Data

This paper presents estimation of tropospheric scintillation based on ITU-R model from previous 10 years meteorological data.Scintillation As(p) is critical in designing of microwave links for achieving optimal performance.There are many phenomenons that cause degradation to signal during transmission through the earth's atmosphere one of them is scintillation.Scintillation estimation is based on measurements of surface temperature T and relative humidity RH.Input parameter for ITU-R scintillation estimation model is the monthly average of wet part of refractivity Nwet.MATLAB software tool is employed to show the results for tropospheric scintillation in various seasons for time percentage p and frequencies ranging from 4GHz to 20 GHz.

MicroRNAs as Modulators of Endothelial Differentiation of Stem Cells

MicroRNAs (miRs) are a class of small (~22 nucleotides), widely distributed, and highly conserved non-coding RNA molecules and play an important post-transcriptional regulatory role by targeting mRNA. Embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs and iPSC, respectively) hold great promise for vascular regenerative therapies. However, several limitations currently prohibit their therapeutic use. The importance of miRs in controlling the gene expression profile of a particular cell type is emerging and a multitude of miRs have been identified that play key roles in vascular development and regeneration. A combination of pluripotency transcription factors and different miRs not only enhances the pluripotency of stem cells but also has been reported to enhance their endothelial differentiation. This review will summarize the findings that focus different miR clusters in the induction, maintenance, and directed endothelial differentiation of ESCs and iPSCs.

土壤活性有机碳测定方法的改良

土壤碳库是陆地生态系统中最大的碳库,活性有机碳作为土壤碳库中最活跃的组分,对土壤碳含量的变化和碳排放具有较好的指示作用。目前活性有机碳的测定主要采用333 mmol L^(-1)KMnO_4氧化方法,然而该方法存在诸多不足,需要进行改良。采用改良方法(1:0.2 K_2Cr_2O_7-H_2SO_4)和KMnO_4法测定我国农田生态系统5个长期施肥站点土壤活性有机碳的含量。两种方法测定的土壤活性有机碳含量存在极显著的线性回归关系,且在各地点和施肥处理下均呈极显著的线性关系;改良方法测定的标准误和变异系数都比KMnO_4方法低;并且改良方法所需设备简单、操作简便快速等优点。因此本研究的改良方法与KMnO_4法相比具有一定的优势,可以考虑作为土壤活性有机碳测定的改良方法。

Analysis of migraine in mutlicellular organism based on trapezoidal neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy TOPSIS method

In this paper,we define a new idea of trapezoidal neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy number based on migraine diseases.We define and the migraine diseases on trapezoidal neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy number and operational laws of trapezoidal neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy number and hamming distance of TrNCHFNs.The new concept of trapezoidal neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy TOPSIS method is introduced.Furthermore,we extend MCDM method based on the trapezoidal neutrosophic cubic hesitant fuzzy TOPSIS method.Finally,an illustrative example is given to verify and demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Graphene Nanosheets Decorated with Copper Oxide Nanoparticles for the Photodegradation of Methylene Blue

Textile industries extensively use colorants,such as methylene blue,and if disposed off untreated,they contaminate the effluent streams,causing a severe impact on the environment and aquatic life.Photocatalytic degradation has been found as an inevitable approach to treat them.Herein,we decorated the copper oxide nanoparticles on graphene nanosheets during the reflux process.The resultant copper oxide/graphene nanocomposites were analyzed for structural and functional attributes.It was observed that on increasing the copper oxide contents,the z-average size of the resultant nanocomposites decreased.The X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated the crystalline nature of the nanocomposite.The surface morphology of the copper oxide nanoparticles appeared to be spherical and that of the copper oxide/graphene composite somehow wrinkled.The infrared analysis indicated successful intercalation of precursors in the nanocomposite.The bandgap of copper oxide/graphene nanocomposites varied in the range of 1.03—1.30 eV,which indicated their effective photocatalytic activity.The results demonstrated that after 120 min of exposure,the methylene blue removal efficiency reached 94.0%,92.2%,and 89.4%(mass fraction)on the copper oxide/graphene nanocomposite at copper oxide nanoparticles to graphene nanosheets ratios of 1:1,1.5:1,and 2:1(mass ratio),respectively.The photodegradation performance of the prepared nano-catalyst was found satisfactory even after five cycles.

Fast Processing of Optical Fringe Movement in Displacement Sensors Without Using an ADC

An interferometer based optical sensor for displacement measurement is reported. This method requires quite simple signal processing as well as least electronic components. Referring to this technique, two photodiodes spatially shifted by 90 degrees were used. The output of photodiodes was converted into rectangular signals which were extracted in LabVIEW using the data acquisition card without using an analog to digital converters （ADC）. We have also processed the signals in C＋＋ after acquiring via parallel port. A Michelson interferometer configuration was used to produce linear fringes for the detection of displacements. The displacement less than 100nm could be measured using this technique.

Properties of Exponential Ratio Type Estimators in Equal Probability Sampling: A Simulation Study

In this paper,the properties and goodness of fit of exponential ratio type estimatorproposedbyKhanetal.(SciInt(Lahore)26(5):1897–1902,2014)havebeen carried out through simulation.It has been shown that estimator is consistent;the con-vergence of mean and variance of the estimator are discussed.The properties of some existing estimators based on simulation study have also been discussed.Goodness of fit test on the estimator has been carried out using Kolmogorov–Smirnov,Anderson–Darling,Cramer–von MisesandChi-squarestatistics.Fewstandarddistributionssuch as normal,Student t,Weibull and Cauchy distributions are fitted on the estimator.The best-fitted distribution on the estimator turned out to be normal distribution.

Three-Component Mixture of RayleighModel Under Doubly Censored Samples:A Bayesian Look

Feroze and Aslam(J Natl Sci Found Sri Lanka 42:325-334,2014)and Sindhu et al.(J Mod Appl Stat Methods 13:259-286,2014)have considered the Bayesian analysis of the two-component mixture of lifetime distributions under doubly censored samples.In this paper,the concept has been extended for the three-component mixture of lifetime(Rayleigh)distribution under doubly censored samples.The likelihood function for the mixture of lifetime models under doubly type-II censored samples has been introduced.Different priors and loss functions have been assumed for the derivation of Bayes estimators and posterior risks.The comparisons among various estimators have been made by analyzing the simulated and real data sets.