BACKGROUND: Pharmacological research has shown that cactus polysaccharide (CP) has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-aging, and immune-stimulating activities. It may also provide protective effects ...BACKGROUND: Pharmacological research has shown that cactus polysaccharide (CP) has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-aging, and immune-stimulating activities. It may also provide protective effects against oxidative stress injuries in the rat brain. OBJECTIVE: To validate the effects of CP on H2O2-induced oxidative stress injuries in the rat cerebral cortex and hippocampal slices 30 minutes prior to injury, as well as 30 minutes and 2.5 hours after injury. DESIGN: A randomized controlled experiment. SETTINGS: Department of Pharmacology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology; Department of Pharmacology, College of Medical Science, Yangtze University. MATERIALS: A total of 50 male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, normal grade and weighing 200 300 g, were provided by the Laboratory Animal Center of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The protocol was performed in accordance with ethical guidelines for the use and care of animals. Cactus polysaccharide, a dried needle crystal, was extracted from Opuntia milpa alta at the Chemistry and Environment Engineering School of Yangtze University. The following chemicals and instruments were used: 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (Sigma, St Louis, Missouri, USA); lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and total antioxidant competence (T-AOC) assays (Jiancheng-Bioeng Institute, Nanjing); McIllwain tissue chopper (Mickle Laboratory Engineering, USA); and ELISA reader and Magellan software (TECAN, Austria). METHODS: This experiment was performed at the Department of Pharmacology, Medical College of Yangtze University, between March and June 2006. All rats were sacrificed after anesthesia. The cerebral cortex and hippocampus were dissected. Several cerebral cortex and hippocampus slices were selected as controls, while other sections were co-incubated with H2O2 for 30 minutes to induce an oxidative stress injury. The experimental slices were randomly divided into 3 groups: model group, low-dose group, and high-dose group. Slices from the low- and high-dose group were incubated with CP 30 minutes prior to injury, as well as 30 minutes and 2.5 hours after injury. The number of cerebral cortex and hippocampus slices at each time point was greater than 10 and 7, respectively. The control group slices were incubated with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) for 3 hours. The model group slices were incubated with aCSF for 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of aCSF with H2O2 incubation to establish the oxidative stress injury model. Thereafter, the slices were re-incubated with aCSF for 2 hours. The slices in the low- and high-dose group were co-incubated with 0.33 mg/L CP or 1.67 mg/L CP, respectively. CP was applied either for 30 minutes prior to the H2O2 treatment, co-incubated with H2O2 for 30 minutes, or applied 2 hours after H2O2 treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Brain slice activity was determined by TTC staining. Biochemical markers, such as LDH, SOD, GSH, and T-AOC, were analyzed in clear supernatant liquid to study the pharmacological mechanisms. RESULTS: (1) Effects of CP on H2O2-injured brain slices: TTC absorption level at 490 nm decreased with a 30-minute CP administration before and after injury. The TTC absorption values in the low- and high-dose group were significantly lower than the control group (P 〈 0.05 - 0.01 ). CP administration prior to insult had greater neuroprotective effects on brain slices than administration during the insult. CP Administration after insult had no obvious protective effects on the brain slices. There was no significant difference in TTC absorption levels between administration after 2.5 hours and the model group (P 〉 0.05). (g) Effects of CP on substances released from H2O2-induced injury slices were as follows: following incubation with 2 mmol/L H2O2 for 30 minutes, LDH release was significantly increased from the rat cortical and hippocampal brain slices. T-AOC and GSH were decreased, which is in accordance with the TTC assay for evaluating the degree of slice injury. Prior administration of 0.33 mg/L CP and 1.67 mg/L CP decreased LDH release and enhanced T-AOC and GSH release in a dose-dependent manner. After H2O2-induced damage for 30 minutes, the release of SOD increased to some extent. SOD levels were further raised by pre-incubation with 0.33 mg/L CP or 1.67 mg/L CP, compared to the model group (P 〈 0.05). CONCLUSION: CP can protect rat cerebral cortex and hippocampal slices from H2O2-induced injury, This protective effect is dose-dependent. CP administration before injury is more effective than during or after injury.展开更多
Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antioxidant power of cactus pear seed oil [Opuntia ficusincida L. MILL.(CPSO)] and its protective effect against chemically induced diabetes mellitus in mice. Methods: The in vitro ...Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antioxidant power of cactus pear seed oil [Opuntia ficusincida L. MILL.(CPSO)] and its protective effect against chemically induced diabetes mellitus in mice. Methods: The in vitro antioxidant effect of CPSO was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) scavenging assay. The preventive effect was conducted on Swiss albino mice treated with CPSO(2 m L/kg, per os), before and after a single intraperitoneal alloxan administration(100 mg/kg). Survival rate, body weight and fasting blood glucose were measured and histopathological analysis of pancreas was performed to evaluate alloxaninduced tissue injuries. Results: CPSO exhibited an antioxidant effect in DPPH scavenging assay. Moreover, the administration of CPSO(2 m L/kg) significantly attenuated alloxaninduced death and hyperglycemia(P<0.001) in treated mice. Morphometric study of pancreas revealed that CPSO significantly protected islets of langerhans against alloxan induced-tissue alterations. Conclusions: Based on theses results, CPSO can prevent alloxan-induced-diabetes by quenching free radicals produced by alloxan and inhibiting tissue injuries in pancreatic β-cells.展开更多
An L(0,1)-labelling of a graph G is an assignment of nonnegative integers to the vertices of G such that the difference between the labels assigned to any two adjacent vertices is at least zero and the difference betw...An L(0,1)-labelling of a graph G is an assignment of nonnegative integers to the vertices of G such that the difference between the labels assigned to any two adjacent vertices is at least zero and the difference between the labels assigned to any two vertices which are at distance two is at least one. The span of an L(0,1)-labelling is the maximum label number assigned to any vertex of G. The L(0,1)-labelling number of a graph G, denoted by λ0.1(G) is the least integer k such that G has an L(0,1)-labelling of span k. This labelling has an application to a computer code assignment problem. The task is to assign integer control codes to a network of computer stations with distance restrictions. A cactus graph is a connected graph in which every block is either an edge or a cycle. In this paper, we label the vertices of a cactus graph by L(0,1)-labelling and have shown that, △-1≤λ0.1(G)≤△ for a cactus graph, where △ is the degree of the graph G.展开更多
In this work we used a new organic biodegradable flocculants which is the cactus cladodes juice in order to recycle water from phosphate schlamms. This flocculants has enabled us to increase the settling velocity of t...In this work we used a new organic biodegradable flocculants which is the cactus cladodes juice in order to recycle water from phosphate schlamms. This flocculants has enabled us to increase the settling velocity of the schlamms so consequently the water recycled degree. The study was conducted on an industrial sample of phosphates schlamms from Khouribga phosphates washing plant. The study was about the influence of concentration, pH, and velocity gradient with cactus extract leads to satisfactory results in term of settling decantation, and in water recycling degree which is 93%.展开更多
Let C be a set of colors, and let ?be an integer cost assigned to a color c in C. An edge-coloring of a graph ?is assigning a color in C to each edge ?so that any two edges having end-vertex in common have different c...Let C be a set of colors, and let ?be an integer cost assigned to a color c in C. An edge-coloring of a graph ?is assigning a color in C to each edge ?so that any two edges having end-vertex in common have different colors. The cost ?of an edge-coloring f of G is the sum of costs ?of colors ?assigned to all edges e in G. An edge-coloring f of G is optimal if ?is minimum among all edge-colorings of G. A cactus is a connected graph in which every block is either an edge or a cycle. In this paper, we give an algorithm to find an optimal edge- ??coloring of a cactus in polynomial time. In our best knowledge, this is the first polynomial-time algorithm to find an optimal edge-coloring of a cactus.展开更多
Polymorphism in two types of Cereus peruvianus, short and long spines clones, and its F1 hybrids cultivated in Indonesia were detected by RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) markers. High amount of mucilage (ge...Polymorphism in two types of Cereus peruvianus, short and long spines clones, and its F1 hybrids cultivated in Indonesia were detected by RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) markers. High amount of mucilage (gelling polysaccharides) present in C. peruvianus was a major obstacle in isolating good quality genomic DNA. To obtain good quality DNA, the CTAB (Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide) methode was modified. Out of 17 primers were used, and two primers OPN-05 and OPM-10 have specific loci, OPN-05550, OPN-05800 and OPM-10650, linked with spines types in parents clones. Those can be used as molecular marker for spines type. Seventeen primers were used generated 113 loci, of which 65 loci were polymorphic in parental clones and 132 loci, of which 93 loci were polymorphic in F1 plants. Dendrogram generated by Jaccard coefficient showed that parents' clones had lower genetic diversity than F1 plants. At 72% similarity, all of long or short spine parent clones grouped in one cluster according to its size of spines. At that time F1 plants were separately grouped. None ofF1 hybrid plants grouped with its common female parents.展开更多
The cactus is a plant that grows in many rural areas,widely used as a hedge,and has multiple benefits through the manufacture of various cosmetics and other products.However,this crop has been suffering for some time ...The cactus is a plant that grows in many rural areas,widely used as a hedge,and has multiple benefits through the manufacture of various cosmetics and other products.However,this crop has been suffering for some time from the attack of the carmine scaleDactylopius opuntia(Hemiptera:Dactylopiidae).The infestation can spread rapidly if not treated in the early stage.Current solutions consist of regular field checks by the naked eyes carried out by experts.The major difficulty is the lack of experts to check all fields,especially in remote areas.In addition,this requires time and resources.Hence the need for a system that can categorize the health level of cacti remotely.To date,deep learning models used to categorize plant diseases from images have not addressed the mealy bug infestation of cacti because computer vision has not sufficiently addressed this disease.Since there is no public dataset and smartphones are commonly used as tools to take pictures,it might then be conceivable for farmers to use them to categorize the infection level of their crops.In this work,we developed a system called CactiVIT that instantly determines the health status of cacti using the Visual image Transformer(ViT)model.We also provided a new image dataset of cochineal infested cacti.1 Finally,we developed a mobile application that delivers the classification results directly to farmers about the infestation in their fields by showing the probabilities related to each class.This study compares the existing models on the new dataset and presents the results obtained.The VIT-B-16 model reveals an approved performance in the literature and in our experiments,in which it achieved 88.73%overall accuracy with an average of+2.61%compared to other convolutional neural network(CNN)models that we evaluated under similar conditions.展开更多
In this article,we obtain an upper bound for the regularity of the binomial edge ideal of a graph whose every block is either a cycle or a clique.As a consequence,we obtain an upper bound for the regularity of binomia...In this article,we obtain an upper bound for the regularity of the binomial edge ideal of a graph whose every block is either a cycle or a clique.As a consequence,we obtain an upper bound for the regularity of binomial edge ideal of a cactus graph.We also identify a certain subclass attaining the upper bound.展开更多
Aims The spatial distribution of biotic and abiotic factors may play a dominant role in determining the distribution and abundance of plants in arid and semiarid environments.In this study,we evaluated how spatial pat...Aims The spatial distribution of biotic and abiotic factors may play a dominant role in determining the distribution and abundance of plants in arid and semiarid environments.In this study,we evaluated how spatial patterns of microhabitat variables and the degree of spatial dependence of these variables influence the distribution and abundance of the endangered cactus Harrisia portoricensis.Methods We used geostatistical analyses of five microhabitat variables(e.g.vegetation cover,soil cover and light incidence)and recorded the abundance of H.portoricensis in 50 permanent plots established across Mona Island,Puerto Rico,by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service as part of the Forest Inventory and Analysis(USDA–FIA).We also used partial Mantel tests to evaluate the relationships between microhabitat variables and abundance of H.portoricensis,controlling for spatial autocorrelation.Important findings Abundance of H.portoricensis showed strong affinities with microhabitat variables related to canopy structure,soil cover and light environment.The distribution of this cactus species throughout the island was consistent with the spatial variation patterns of these variables.In general,landscape-level analyses suggested a predictive value of microhabitat traits for the distribution and abundance of this endangered species.For sensitive cacti species,wherein abundance may be influenced by similar variables,these types of analyses may be helpful in developing management plans and identifying critical habitats for conservation.展开更多
In this paper we give six explicit formulae to compute the Kirchhoff index,the multiplicative degree-Kirchhoff index and the additive degree-Kirchhoff index of the k-cactus chain and the cactus graph which can be obta...In this paper we give six explicit formulae to compute the Kirchhoff index,the multiplicative degree-Kirchhoff index and the additive degree-Kirchhoff index of the k-cactus chain and the cactus graph which can be obtained from a k-cactus chain by expanding each of the cut-vertices to a cut edge.展开更多
Opuntia ficus-indica(L.)Miller is a CAM(crassulacean acid metabolism)plant with an extraordinary capacity to adapt to drought stress by its ability to fix atmospheric CO_(2) at nighttime,store a significant amount of ...Opuntia ficus-indica(L.)Miller is a CAM(crassulacean acid metabolism)plant with an extraordinary capacity to adapt to drought stress by its ability to fix atmospheric CO_(2) at nighttime,store a significant amount of water in cladodes,and reduce root growth.Plants that grow in moisture-stress conditions with thick and less fine root hairs have a strong symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)to adapt to drought stress.Water stress can limit plant growth and biomass production,which can be rehabilitated by AMF association through improved physiological performance.The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of AMF inoculations and variable soil water levels on the biomass,photosynthesis,and water use efficiency of the spiny and spineless O.ficus-indica.The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with a full factorial experiment using O.ficus-indica type(spiny or spineless),AMF(presence or absence),and four soil water available(SWA)treatments through seven replications.Water treatments applied were 0%–25%SWA(T1),25%–50%SWA(T2),50%–75%SWA(T3),and 75%–100%SWA(T4).Drought stress reduced biomass and cladode growth,while AMF colonization significantly increased the biomass production with significant changes in the physiological performance of O.ficus-indica.AMF presence significantly increased biomass of both O.ficus-indica plant types through improved growth,photosynthetic water use efficiency,and photosynthesis.The presence of spines on the surface of cladodes significantly reduced the rate of photosynthesis and photosynthetic water use efficiency.Net photosynthesis,photosynthetic water use efficiency,transpiration,and stomatal conductance rate significantly decreased with increased drought stress.Under drought stress,some planted mother cladodes with the absence of AMF have not established daughter cladodes,whereas AMF-inoculated mother cladodes fully established daughter cladodes.AMF root colonization significantly increased with the decrease of SWA.AMF caused an increase in biomass production,increased tolerance to drought stress,and improved photosynthesis and water use efficiency performance of O.ficus-indica.The potential of O.ficus-indica to adapt to drought stress is controlled by the morpho-physiological performance related to AMF association.展开更多
The distance between two vertices u and v in a connected graph G is the number of edges lying in a shortest path(geodesic)between them.A vertex x of G performs the metric identification for a pair(u,v)of vertices in G...The distance between two vertices u and v in a connected graph G is the number of edges lying in a shortest path(geodesic)between them.A vertex x of G performs the metric identification for a pair(u,v)of vertices in G if and only if the equality between the distances of u and v with x implies that u=v(That is,the distance between u and x is different from the distance between v and x).The minimum number of vertices performing the metric identification for every pair of vertices in G defines themetric dimension of G.In this paper,we performthemetric identification of vertices in two types of polygonal cacti:chain polygonal cactus and star polygonal cactus.展开更多
Multipurpose cactus pear plant with great potential as a source of food and livestock faced a threat from Dactylopius spp in different countries. Specifically, D. coccus is an important pest damaging significant areas...Multipurpose cactus pear plant with great potential as a source of food and livestock faced a threat from Dactylopius spp in different countries. Specifically, D. coccus is an important pest damaging significant areas in Tigray-Ethiopia. Using pest-resistant cultivars is an important element of an integrated pest management strategy, and studying the mechanisms of resistance is vital. It can be chemical or physical such as oxalate crystals and other cladode characteristics. Cladode features of six cultivars (three O. ficus-indica, two O. cochenillifera, and one O. robusta) were examined for resistance to D. coccus in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. ‘Rojo Pelón’ (O. ficus-indica), ‘Robusta’ (O. robusta), and ‘Bioplástico’ (O. cochenillifera) are resistant cultivars;and ‘Atlixco’ and ‘Chicomostoc’ (O. ficus-indica) and ‘Nopalea’ (O. cochenillifera) are susceptible. Cultivars showed a significant difference in cladode weight in g, and cladode length, cladode width, and cladode thickness in cm, where cladode thickness was higher in ‘Rojo Pelón’ followed by ‘Robusta’. Calcium oxalates number per mm was higher in ‘Bioplástico’ (20.7 ± 2.08) followed by ‘Robusta’ (18.9 ± 2.31) and ‘Rojo Pelón’ (15.9 ± 0.34);and similarly, epidermis thickness found higher in ‘Bioplástico’ (0.21 ± 0.032) and ‘Robusta’ (0.19 ± 0.014), but similar with ‘Rojo Pelón’ (0.18 ± 0.026). However, cuticle thickness didn’t show a difference among cultivars. Cladode thickness, calcium oxalate number, and epidermis thickness had positive correlations with resistance. These results demonstrate that calcium oxalate number and epidermis thickness might have a positive role in D. coccus resistance in O. ficus-indica. This feeding-barring role and the insect-plant interaction need to be studied.展开更多
基金the Science Foundation of Hubei Provincial Department of Education, No. Q200712004
文摘BACKGROUND: Pharmacological research has shown that cactus polysaccharide (CP) has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-aging, and immune-stimulating activities. It may also provide protective effects against oxidative stress injuries in the rat brain. OBJECTIVE: To validate the effects of CP on H2O2-induced oxidative stress injuries in the rat cerebral cortex and hippocampal slices 30 minutes prior to injury, as well as 30 minutes and 2.5 hours after injury. DESIGN: A randomized controlled experiment. SETTINGS: Department of Pharmacology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology; Department of Pharmacology, College of Medical Science, Yangtze University. MATERIALS: A total of 50 male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, normal grade and weighing 200 300 g, were provided by the Laboratory Animal Center of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. The protocol was performed in accordance with ethical guidelines for the use and care of animals. Cactus polysaccharide, a dried needle crystal, was extracted from Opuntia milpa alta at the Chemistry and Environment Engineering School of Yangtze University. The following chemicals and instruments were used: 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (Sigma, St Louis, Missouri, USA); lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and total antioxidant competence (T-AOC) assays (Jiancheng-Bioeng Institute, Nanjing); McIllwain tissue chopper (Mickle Laboratory Engineering, USA); and ELISA reader and Magellan software (TECAN, Austria). METHODS: This experiment was performed at the Department of Pharmacology, Medical College of Yangtze University, between March and June 2006. All rats were sacrificed after anesthesia. The cerebral cortex and hippocampus were dissected. Several cerebral cortex and hippocampus slices were selected as controls, while other sections were co-incubated with H2O2 for 30 minutes to induce an oxidative stress injury. The experimental slices were randomly divided into 3 groups: model group, low-dose group, and high-dose group. Slices from the low- and high-dose group were incubated with CP 30 minutes prior to injury, as well as 30 minutes and 2.5 hours after injury. The number of cerebral cortex and hippocampus slices at each time point was greater than 10 and 7, respectively. The control group slices were incubated with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) for 3 hours. The model group slices were incubated with aCSF for 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of aCSF with H2O2 incubation to establish the oxidative stress injury model. Thereafter, the slices were re-incubated with aCSF for 2 hours. The slices in the low- and high-dose group were co-incubated with 0.33 mg/L CP or 1.67 mg/L CP, respectively. CP was applied either for 30 minutes prior to the H2O2 treatment, co-incubated with H2O2 for 30 minutes, or applied 2 hours after H2O2 treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Brain slice activity was determined by TTC staining. Biochemical markers, such as LDH, SOD, GSH, and T-AOC, were analyzed in clear supernatant liquid to study the pharmacological mechanisms. RESULTS: (1) Effects of CP on H2O2-injured brain slices: TTC absorption level at 490 nm decreased with a 30-minute CP administration before and after injury. The TTC absorption values in the low- and high-dose group were significantly lower than the control group (P 〈 0.05 - 0.01 ). CP administration prior to insult had greater neuroprotective effects on brain slices than administration during the insult. CP Administration after insult had no obvious protective effects on the brain slices. There was no significant difference in TTC absorption levels between administration after 2.5 hours and the model group (P 〉 0.05). (g) Effects of CP on substances released from H2O2-induced injury slices were as follows: following incubation with 2 mmol/L H2O2 for 30 minutes, LDH release was significantly increased from the rat cortical and hippocampal brain slices. T-AOC and GSH were decreased, which is in accordance with the TTC assay for evaluating the degree of slice injury. Prior administration of 0.33 mg/L CP and 1.67 mg/L CP decreased LDH release and enhanced T-AOC and GSH release in a dose-dependent manner. After H2O2-induced damage for 30 minutes, the release of SOD increased to some extent. SOD levels were further raised by pre-incubation with 0.33 mg/L CP or 1.67 mg/L CP, compared to the model group (P 〈 0.05). CONCLUSION: CP can protect rat cerebral cortex and hippocampal slices from H2O2-induced injury, This protective effect is dose-dependent. CP administration before injury is more effective than during or after injury.
基金supported by grants from CNRST,Morocco(Project URAC-40)Belgium(Program 3,CUD Project)
文摘Objective: To evaluate the in vitro antioxidant power of cactus pear seed oil [Opuntia ficusincida L. MILL.(CPSO)] and its protective effect against chemically induced diabetes mellitus in mice. Methods: The in vitro antioxidant effect of CPSO was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) scavenging assay. The preventive effect was conducted on Swiss albino mice treated with CPSO(2 m L/kg, per os), before and after a single intraperitoneal alloxan administration(100 mg/kg). Survival rate, body weight and fasting blood glucose were measured and histopathological analysis of pancreas was performed to evaluate alloxaninduced tissue injuries. Results: CPSO exhibited an antioxidant effect in DPPH scavenging assay. Moreover, the administration of CPSO(2 m L/kg) significantly attenuated alloxaninduced death and hyperglycemia(P<0.001) in treated mice. Morphometric study of pancreas revealed that CPSO significantly protected islets of langerhans against alloxan induced-tissue alterations. Conclusions: Based on theses results, CPSO can prevent alloxan-induced-diabetes by quenching free radicals produced by alloxan and inhibiting tissue injuries in pancreatic β-cells.
文摘An L(0,1)-labelling of a graph G is an assignment of nonnegative integers to the vertices of G such that the difference between the labels assigned to any two adjacent vertices is at least zero and the difference between the labels assigned to any two vertices which are at distance two is at least one. The span of an L(0,1)-labelling is the maximum label number assigned to any vertex of G. The L(0,1)-labelling number of a graph G, denoted by λ0.1(G) is the least integer k such that G has an L(0,1)-labelling of span k. This labelling has an application to a computer code assignment problem. The task is to assign integer control codes to a network of computer stations with distance restrictions. A cactus graph is a connected graph in which every block is either an edge or a cycle. In this paper, we label the vertices of a cactus graph by L(0,1)-labelling and have shown that, △-1≤λ0.1(G)≤△ for a cactus graph, where △ is the degree of the graph G.
文摘In this work we used a new organic biodegradable flocculants which is the cactus cladodes juice in order to recycle water from phosphate schlamms. This flocculants has enabled us to increase the settling velocity of the schlamms so consequently the water recycled degree. The study was conducted on an industrial sample of phosphates schlamms from Khouribga phosphates washing plant. The study was about the influence of concentration, pH, and velocity gradient with cactus extract leads to satisfactory results in term of settling decantation, and in water recycling degree which is 93%.
文摘Let C be a set of colors, and let ?be an integer cost assigned to a color c in C. An edge-coloring of a graph ?is assigning a color in C to each edge ?so that any two edges having end-vertex in common have different colors. The cost ?of an edge-coloring f of G is the sum of costs ?of colors ?assigned to all edges e in G. An edge-coloring f of G is optimal if ?is minimum among all edge-colorings of G. A cactus is a connected graph in which every block is either an edge or a cycle. In this paper, we give an algorithm to find an optimal edge- ??coloring of a cactus in polynomial time. In our best knowledge, this is the first polynomial-time algorithm to find an optimal edge-coloring of a cactus.
文摘Polymorphism in two types of Cereus peruvianus, short and long spines clones, and its F1 hybrids cultivated in Indonesia were detected by RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) markers. High amount of mucilage (gelling polysaccharides) present in C. peruvianus was a major obstacle in isolating good quality genomic DNA. To obtain good quality DNA, the CTAB (Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide) methode was modified. Out of 17 primers were used, and two primers OPN-05 and OPM-10 have specific loci, OPN-05550, OPN-05800 and OPM-10650, linked with spines types in parents clones. Those can be used as molecular marker for spines type. Seventeen primers were used generated 113 loci, of which 65 loci were polymorphic in parental clones and 132 loci, of which 93 loci were polymorphic in F1 plants. Dendrogram generated by Jaccard coefficient showed that parents' clones had lower genetic diversity than F1 plants. At 72% similarity, all of long or short spine parent clones grouped in one cluster according to its size of spines. At that time F1 plants were separately grouped. None ofF1 hybrid plants grouped with its common female parents.
基金PHC Toubkal/21/121-Campus France:45942UG who funded the work and the mobility fee between Morocco and France.
文摘The cactus is a plant that grows in many rural areas,widely used as a hedge,and has multiple benefits through the manufacture of various cosmetics and other products.However,this crop has been suffering for some time from the attack of the carmine scaleDactylopius opuntia(Hemiptera:Dactylopiidae).The infestation can spread rapidly if not treated in the early stage.Current solutions consist of regular field checks by the naked eyes carried out by experts.The major difficulty is the lack of experts to check all fields,especially in remote areas.In addition,this requires time and resources.Hence the need for a system that can categorize the health level of cacti remotely.To date,deep learning models used to categorize plant diseases from images have not addressed the mealy bug infestation of cacti because computer vision has not sufficiently addressed this disease.Since there is no public dataset and smartphones are commonly used as tools to take pictures,it might then be conceivable for farmers to use them to categorize the infection level of their crops.In this work,we developed a system called CactiVIT that instantly determines the health status of cacti using the Visual image Transformer(ViT)model.We also provided a new image dataset of cochineal infested cacti.1 Finally,we developed a mobile application that delivers the classification results directly to farmers about the infestation in their fields by showing the probabilities related to each class.This study compares the existing models on the new dataset and presents the results obtained.The VIT-B-16 model reveals an approved performance in the literature and in our experiments,in which it achieved 88.73%overall accuracy with an average of+2.61%compared to other convolutional neural network(CNN)models that we evaluated under similar conditions.
文摘In this article,we obtain an upper bound for the regularity of the binomial edge ideal of a graph whose every block is either a cycle or a clique.As a consequence,we obtain an upper bound for the regularity of binomial edge ideal of a cactus graph.We also identify a certain subclass attaining the upper bound.
基金National Science Foundation-Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology(NSF-CREST,HRD-0206200 and HRD 0734826)through the Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation of the University of Puerto Rico.
文摘Aims The spatial distribution of biotic and abiotic factors may play a dominant role in determining the distribution and abundance of plants in arid and semiarid environments.In this study,we evaluated how spatial patterns of microhabitat variables and the degree of spatial dependence of these variables influence the distribution and abundance of the endangered cactus Harrisia portoricensis.Methods We used geostatistical analyses of five microhabitat variables(e.g.vegetation cover,soil cover and light incidence)and recorded the abundance of H.portoricensis in 50 permanent plots established across Mona Island,Puerto Rico,by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service as part of the Forest Inventory and Analysis(USDA–FIA).We also used partial Mantel tests to evaluate the relationships between microhabitat variables and abundance of H.portoricensis,controlling for spatial autocorrelation.Important findings Abundance of H.portoricensis showed strong affinities with microhabitat variables related to canopy structure,soil cover and light environment.The distribution of this cactus species throughout the island was consistent with the spatial variation patterns of these variables.In general,landscape-level analyses suggested a predictive value of microhabitat traits for the distribution and abundance of this endangered species.For sensitive cacti species,wherein abundance may be influenced by similar variables,these types of analyses may be helpful in developing management plans and identifying critical habitats for conservation.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China(No.11401102)
文摘In this paper we give six explicit formulae to compute the Kirchhoff index,the multiplicative degree-Kirchhoff index and the additive degree-Kirchhoff index of the k-cactus chain and the cactus graph which can be obtained from a k-cactus chain by expanding each of the cut-vertices to a cut edge.
基金supported by the Ethiopian Ministry of Education.
文摘Opuntia ficus-indica(L.)Miller is a CAM(crassulacean acid metabolism)plant with an extraordinary capacity to adapt to drought stress by its ability to fix atmospheric CO_(2) at nighttime,store a significant amount of water in cladodes,and reduce root growth.Plants that grow in moisture-stress conditions with thick and less fine root hairs have a strong symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)to adapt to drought stress.Water stress can limit plant growth and biomass production,which can be rehabilitated by AMF association through improved physiological performance.The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of AMF inoculations and variable soil water levels on the biomass,photosynthesis,and water use efficiency of the spiny and spineless O.ficus-indica.The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with a full factorial experiment using O.ficus-indica type(spiny or spineless),AMF(presence or absence),and four soil water available(SWA)treatments through seven replications.Water treatments applied were 0%–25%SWA(T1),25%–50%SWA(T2),50%–75%SWA(T3),and 75%–100%SWA(T4).Drought stress reduced biomass and cladode growth,while AMF colonization significantly increased the biomass production with significant changes in the physiological performance of O.ficus-indica.AMF presence significantly increased biomass of both O.ficus-indica plant types through improved growth,photosynthetic water use efficiency,and photosynthesis.The presence of spines on the surface of cladodes significantly reduced the rate of photosynthesis and photosynthetic water use efficiency.Net photosynthesis,photosynthetic water use efficiency,transpiration,and stomatal conductance rate significantly decreased with increased drought stress.Under drought stress,some planted mother cladodes with the absence of AMF have not established daughter cladodes,whereas AMF-inoculated mother cladodes fully established daughter cladodes.AMF root colonization significantly increased with the decrease of SWA.AMF caused an increase in biomass production,increased tolerance to drought stress,and improved photosynthesis and water use efficiency performance of O.ficus-indica.The potential of O.ficus-indica to adapt to drought stress is controlled by the morpho-physiological performance related to AMF association.
文摘The distance between two vertices u and v in a connected graph G is the number of edges lying in a shortest path(geodesic)between them.A vertex x of G performs the metric identification for a pair(u,v)of vertices in G if and only if the equality between the distances of u and v with x implies that u=v(That is,the distance between u and x is different from the distance between v and x).The minimum number of vertices performing the metric identification for every pair of vertices in G defines themetric dimension of G.In this paper,we performthemetric identification of vertices in two types of polygonal cacti:chain polygonal cactus and star polygonal cactus.
文摘Multipurpose cactus pear plant with great potential as a source of food and livestock faced a threat from Dactylopius spp in different countries. Specifically, D. coccus is an important pest damaging significant areas in Tigray-Ethiopia. Using pest-resistant cultivars is an important element of an integrated pest management strategy, and studying the mechanisms of resistance is vital. It can be chemical or physical such as oxalate crystals and other cladode characteristics. Cladode features of six cultivars (three O. ficus-indica, two O. cochenillifera, and one O. robusta) were examined for resistance to D. coccus in a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. ‘Rojo Pelón’ (O. ficus-indica), ‘Robusta’ (O. robusta), and ‘Bioplástico’ (O. cochenillifera) are resistant cultivars;and ‘Atlixco’ and ‘Chicomostoc’ (O. ficus-indica) and ‘Nopalea’ (O. cochenillifera) are susceptible. Cultivars showed a significant difference in cladode weight in g, and cladode length, cladode width, and cladode thickness in cm, where cladode thickness was higher in ‘Rojo Pelón’ followed by ‘Robusta’. Calcium oxalates number per mm was higher in ‘Bioplástico’ (20.7 ± 2.08) followed by ‘Robusta’ (18.9 ± 2.31) and ‘Rojo Pelón’ (15.9 ± 0.34);and similarly, epidermis thickness found higher in ‘Bioplástico’ (0.21 ± 0.032) and ‘Robusta’ (0.19 ± 0.014), but similar with ‘Rojo Pelón’ (0.18 ± 0.026). However, cuticle thickness didn’t show a difference among cultivars. Cladode thickness, calcium oxalate number, and epidermis thickness had positive correlations with resistance. These results demonstrate that calcium oxalate number and epidermis thickness might have a positive role in D. coccus resistance in O. ficus-indica. This feeding-barring role and the insect-plant interaction need to be studied.