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We evaluated root system architecture (RSA) of a set of 58 historical spring wheat cultivars from Pakistan representing 105 years of selection breeding. The evaluations were carried out under control and water-limited conditions using a high-throughput phenotyping system coupled with RhizoVision Explorer software. The cultivars were classified into three groups based on release year as cultivars released pre-1965, released between 1965 and 2000, and cultivars released post-2000. Under water-limited conditions a decline in 20 out of 25 RSA component traits was observed in pre-1965 cultivars group. Whereas cultivars released after the 1965, so-called green revolution period, showed a decline in 17 traits with significant increments in root length, depth, and steep angle frequency which are important root traits for resource-uptake under water-limited conditions. Similarly, cultivars released after 2000 indicated an increase in the number of roots, depth, diameter, surface area, and steep angle frequency. The coefficient of correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between root depth and yield-related traits under water-limited conditions. We also investigated the effects of green-revolution genes (Rht1) and some phenology-related genes such as DRO1, TaMOR, TaLTPs, TaSus-2B on RSA and identified significant associations of these genes with important root traits. There was strong selection pressure on DRO1 gene in cultivated wheat indicating the allele fixed in modern wheat cultivars is different from landraces. The expression of DRO1, and TaMOR were retrieved from an RNAseq experiment, and results were validated using qRT-PCR. The highest expression of DRO1 and TaMOR was found in Chakwal-50, a rainfed cultivar released in 2008, and MaxiPak-65 released in 1965. We conclude that there is a positive historic change in RSA after 1965 that might be attributed to genetic factors associated with favored RSA traits. Furthermore, we suggest root depth and steep angle as promising traits to withstand water-limited environments and may have implications in selection for breeding.

The current study explored the anti-nociceptive activity of magnolol in post-incisional inflammatory nociceptive pain.Preliminary, the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cytoprotective potential of magnolol were confirmed against hydrogen peroxide (HThe results indicate that magnolol significantly suppressed post-incision-induced mechanical allodynia, thermal hyperalgesia, and paw edema. Magnolol promisingly inhibited post-incision induces nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), eosinophil peroxidase (EPO), and neutrophil infiltration. Magnolol strongly attenuated post-incision inducing the release of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and inhibited deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation. Magnolol markedly reverses post-incisional histopathological changes and biochemical composition of the incised paw. Magnolol markedly down-regulated post-incisional increase expression of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1), purinergic (P2Y) nociceptors as well as toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cell (NF-κB), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) while upregulating the expression of inhibitor of nuclear kappa B alpha (IκB-α).The present study strongly suggests that magnolol significantly suppressed post-incisional inflammatory nociceptive pain by targeting TRPV1/P2Y and TLR4/NF-κB signaling.

Increasing global temperature has adverse effects on crop health and productivity at both seedling and reproductivity stages. It is paramount to develop heat tolerant wheat cultivars able to sustain under high and fluctuating temperature conditions. An experiment was conducted to characterize 194 historical wheat cultivars of Pakistan under high temperature at seedling stage to identify loci associated with heat tolerance using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A quantitative trait locus, TaHST1, on chr4A was also characterized to identify the haplotypes at this locus associated with heat tolerance in wheat from Pakistan. Initially, the diversity panel was planted under control conditions (25°C/20°C day and night temperature) in a glass house. At three leaf stage, plants were subjected to heat stress (HS) by increasing temperature (40°C/35°C day and night), while one treatment was kept at control condition. After 7 days of HS, data were collected for seedling morphology. Heat stress reduced these traits by 25% (root weight) to 40% (shoot weight), and shoot biomass was largely affected by heat stress. A GWAS model, fixed and random model circulating probability unification (FarmCPU), identified 43 quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) on all chromosomes, except chr7B, were associated under both HS and control conditions. Thirteen QTNs were identified in control, while 30 QTNs were identified in HS condition. In total, 24 haplotypes were identified at TaHST1 locus, and most of the heat tolerant genotypes were assigned to Hap-20 and Hap-21. Eleven QTNs were identified within 0.3–3.1 Mb proximity of heat shock protein (HSP). Conclusively, this study provided a detailed genetic framework of heat tolerance in wheat at the seedling stage and identify potential genetic regions associated with heat tolerance which can be used for marker assisted selection (MAS) in breeding for heat stress tolerance.

Memristive crossbar Physical Unclonable Function (PUF) structures are emerging as strong security primitives for resource-constrained devices demanding good retention time, negligible standby power, small size, and ultra-low power operating requirements. Memristive PUF exploits the inherent high process variations of a memristor as a source of entropy to generate device-specific signatures. These PUFs need to be strong enough to deal with active and passive attacks as well as machine learning attacks, hence requires more device-to-device variability. Memristive PUF requires dense crossbar architecture to generate unique, uniform, and reliable device signatures. Dense memristive crossbars (Xbar) face the challenges of low noise margin, proper load resistance selection, scalability, and a precise sense circuitry at the load resistance side to read the resistive state of a memristor accurately. In this work, we have simulated and optimized the load resistance of memristive scaled up crossbar arrays. We have used two of our fabricated devices for memristive crossbar PUF simulation. The proposed crossbar PUF architecture satisfies the basic PUF evaluation metrics and improves noise margin (NM). The load resistance is optimized through MATLAB simulation. The impact of optimized load resistance on Xbar architecture is observed to be noticeable and around 18% improvement in the noise margin was observed when the crossbar is scaled up from $16\times 2$ to $128\times 2$ .

Objective: The purpose of study was to evaluate the efficiency of intravitreal bevacizumab injections in improving the visual acuity for diabetic retinopathy treatment. Study Design: A prospective study. Place and Duration: This study was conducted at District Headquarters Hospital Muzaffarabad for the duration of one year starting from September, 2019 to August, 2020. Methodology: In our study we include 59 diabetic patients who were having diabetic macular edema and fresh vitreous hemorrhage. With a dose of 1.25mg in 0.05ml (at 0month, 1 month, 2 months) each of patients were given three intravitreal bevacizumab injections at the period of 3 months with final follow up. Stabilization was considered if the visual acuity was unchanged relative to the baseline while the criteria for improvement was a gain of at least one line on Snellen’s visual acuity chart, compared to the baseline. Results: In our present study 59 patients were included. According to gender distribution, intravitreal injection was given to 34 patients (50.84%) who were females and 25 patients (49.1%) who were male and their age range from 45-67 years. The patients with diabetic macular edema, 26 eyes (44.06%) show improvement while whereas visual acuity was found in 4 eyes (6.7%). Patients with vitreous hemorrhage, visual acuity stabilization were noticed in 2 eyes (3.3%) whereas 27 eyes (45.76%) show improvement. We don’t notice any patient with falling of visual acuity. Conclusion: At the end of our study, we conclude that the effective thing for the improvement of visual outcomes in diabetic patients who were having macular edema and vitreous hemorrhage is intravitreal bevacizumab injection. Key Words: Intravitreal, Visual Outcome, Diabetic Retinopathy, Bevacizumab.

Objective: To evaluate the percentage of various early postoperative complications. Material and method: This is descriptive type of study with a purposive, non-probability sampling technique. We included all patients who underwent open splenectomy due to injury or other medical conditions. Place and Duration: Study was conducted in the Surgical department of District Headquarters hospital Rawalpindi for one-year duration from 1st June 2019 to 30th May 2020. Results: A total of 30 patients were enrolled in the study. we examined 30 patients. Of these 30 patients, 18 were admitted to the emergency department after an injury, and the remaining 12 patients were elective for medical conditions. Among these patients, the greatest number of patients undergoing splenectomy was in the age group of 21-30 years, and then in the group of 31-40 years. There were 20 men (67%) and 10 women (33%). Key words: Splenectomy, Complications, Postoperative

The structural regulations of Ba2LaF7 self-crystallized glass-ceramics were successfully analyzed by adjusting the concentration of the doped TiO2. Increasing the doping concentration of TiO2 tightened the internal structure of the glass and depleted the self-crystallization of Ba2LaF7. Further analysis revealed that TiO2 acts as a nucleating agent in the glass-ceramics. However, the number of the crystal nuclei increased, and the growth of the crystal grains was reduced. The change in the internal structure of the glass-ceramics was due to the varying self-crystallization process of Ba2LaF7 in the glass-ceramics and was not directly caused by the incorporation of TiO2.

Experiments were carried out in a slug flow microreactor to systematically investigate reaction behavior under variation of flow rate, and a comparative study was made. Y-junction microreactor and T-junction microreactor have been used to extract yttrium(III) using 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl (EHEHPA or P507). Results show that the maximum extraction efficiency of 90.4% in both microreactors could be achieved corresponding to the minimum flow rate of 10 and 100 μL/min. The values of specific interfacial area remain unchanged with the increase of flow rate, and the specific interfacial area of the Y-junction serpentine microreactor is much higher than that of the T-junction microreactor. Maximum values of volumetric mass-transfer coefficient (1.642 s–1) in the Y-junction microreactor are found to be several orders of magnitude higher than those of the T-junction microchannel (0.043 s–1) and conventional extractors (0.0197 s–1).

During the past two decades, Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) remained under discussion as strong hardware security primitives. As compared to conventional technology, memristor-based PUFs got tremendous attraction due to their simple and easy architecture, high endurance, low energy consumption, small size, and low cost. The inherent high variability of memristive devices makes it an ideal candidate for the generation of unique fingerprints for individual devices. By exploiting this variation, we propose a novel architecture dual memristive crossbar (DuMXbar) that integrates two memristive crossbar PUFs implemented with two different memristor devices. Each PUF generates highly uncorrelated response pairs. The simulation results of DuMXbar PUF prove that it is comparatively more robust against machine learning (ML) based classification algorithms like logistic regression and support vector machine. We have also proposed a secure authentication protocol for DuMXbar PUF to restrict the prediction accuracy of ML algorithms close down to 50% (ideal).

Aqueous asymmetric supercapacitors (AASCs) are a leading candidate for energy storage systems due to their low cost, high energy and power densities, and excellent cyclic stability. Unfortunately, owing to the H2/O2 potential range at 1 atm at room temperature, aqueous electrolytes have a short potential window (1–1.23 V). Energy density, in addition to the supercapacitor's advantageous position in an electrolyte solution, is used to evaluate other critical parameters such as rate performance, equivalent series resistance, power density, operating temperature range, cyclability, toxicity, and self-discharge rates, all of which are important in real-world applications. This review article looks at the most recent developments in aqueous electrolyte research and processing, as well as the impact of electrolyte properties on supercapacitor performance. The interaction of the materials with electrolytes, other electro-active materials, and inactive components are analyzed to understand their effects on the performance of supercapacitors. The ionic conductivity, mobility, diffusion coefficient, the radius of bare and hydrated spheres, ion solvation, viscosity, dielectric constant, electrochemical stability, thermal stability, solvent interaction, and techniques like nano-structuring and hybridization, are systematically discussed for improving electrode performance in this review paper. Finally, outstanding challenges and possible solutions about the complexities and problems of dealing with aqueous electrolytes are briefly presented with some perspectives toward the future development. Many feasible research paths are suggested to address these issues in future efforts to increase the energy efficiency of AASCs without sacrificing their current benefits.

Excellent cycling stability along with a high specific capacitance of the electrode material is the primary requirement for supercapacitor (SC) in recent years. Exceptionally simple and cost-effective solution process is employed for the first time to prepare [Formula: see text]-MnO2/rGO composites, in which KMnO4 content varies from (2[Formula: see text]mg, 4[Formula: see text]mg, 6[Formula: see text]mg and 8[Formula: see text]mg). The morphological analysis showed that [Formula: see text]-MnO2/rGO composites possess nanorod like morphology and were fully covered with rGO sheet. Among all composites, the sample with 6[Formula: see text]mg content of KMnO4 denoted as [Formula: see text]-MnO2/rGO composite (S–3) showed excellent supercapacitive performance with a specific capacitance of 720[Formula: see text]F/g at a current density of 4 A g[Formula: see text] with excellent cycling stability of 93% after 2000 cycles. Furthermore, these nanocomposites showed excellent supercapacitive properties with specific capacitances of 720–498 F/g at the current density of 4 A g[Formula: see text] with cycling stabilities of 71%, 68% and 60%, respectively.

The effect of ultrasound on gold leaching rate and kinetics was investigated in the Co-NH3-S2O32− system. First, the effects of ultrasound power, temperature, the concentration of thiosulfate, cobalt and ammonia on gold leaching rate were studied under ultrasound. The optimized leaching parameters are 0.03 M Co2+, 0.2 M S2O32−, 1 M NH3, 323 K, and 750 W ultrasonic power. Moreover, the leaching rate of gold is 8 times faster, and the extraction percentage is approximately 25% higher, under ultrasound than under conventional conditions. The experimental results show that ultrasound can effectively enhance the leaching rate and the extraction percentage. The kinetic analysis indicates that the internal diffusion step controlled the ultrasound leaching process. The increase in the leaching rate under ultrasound is due to the decrease of activation energy from 22.65 kJ/mol to 13.86 kJ/mol. Therefore, ultrasound efficiently improved the leaching rate of gold in the Co-NH3-S2O32− leaching system.

An approach to estimate the swelling pressure of compacted bentonite (Bent) using Gouy–Chapman diffuse double layer theory is presented. Several laboratory swelling pressure tests on compacted Bent (MX80 and Calcigel) under constant volume conditions were performed and compared with the calculated swelling pressure using the original theory. The study revealed that at low dry density the as prepared total void ratios are less than theoretical void ratios using diffuse double layer theory, however, reverse behavior has been noticed for high compaction dry densities. Based on the experimental results of Bent with different valences, the relationship between the theoretical void ratio from diffuse double layer theory and as prepared total void ratio were determined. New equations were derived on the basis of diffuse double layer theory and experimental swelling pressure data. The method categorizes the different Bents into two groups depending upon the weighted average valency. A good agreement was observed in all the cases between experimental and estimated swelling pressure using derived equations. The applicability of the proposed method was investigated by comparing the estimated swelling pressure results with the additional reported in literature laboratory results on swelling pressure of compacted Bent.

This paper presents a study on time effects on total suction of bentonite-based materials under constant water content conditions. Three different types of bentonite (i.e., MX80, Calcigel I, and Calcigel II) and a natural expansive clay (i.e., London Clay) were used. Total suction was measured using chilled-mirror hygrometer technique. The measurements were performed on specimens aged 1 hour, 6 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months. The results show that the true equilibrium state for two types of bentonite (i.e., MX80 and Calcigel I) used is time dependent. Total suction increases with time and this behaviour is controlled by the characteristics of the bentonites. Total suction of the other specimens (i.e., Calcigel II and London Clay) is not affected by curing time. The changes in total suction with time as the specimen's age are attributed to non homogeneity of the water content distribution in the micro- and macropores of the bentonites and inaccuracy of the device used.