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Genetic variability is crucial in improving crops like rice (Oryza sativa L.), focusing on enhancing yield and nutritional quality. In this study 54 rice genotypes were evaluated for phenotypic and genetic variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlations, direct and indirect effects, and genetic diversity on yield attributing traits, yield, and bran oil character. Results showed that traits like flag leaf length, flag leaf width, total number of spikelets, total number of fertile spikelets, test weight, rice bran oil (RBO) percentage, and single plant yield exhibited high values for PCV,GCV, h2,GAM exhibiting its potential for selection in breeding programmes. Correlation studies indicated negative correlation of rice bran oil % with flag leaf length (r = -0.34) which was further confirmed in path analysis where flag leaf length(-0.15) and rice bran oil %(-0.12) had a negative direct effect on single plant yield. Diversity analysis using Mahalanobis's D² categorized the genotypes into 22 distinct groups, highlighting significant genetic diversity. According to the analysis, rice bran oil percentage contributed the most to genetic divergence (37.09%), followed by grain length (22.42%) and test weight (20.07%). This study offers crucial insights for future breeding strategies targeting improved yield and nutritional quality, particularly emphasizing bran oil content and other essential traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article "Unraveling Diversity and Character Association in Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) using Different Agro-Morphological Traits" examines the genetic diversity and character associations of twenty sesame genotypes. The study identifies two distinct clusters among the genotypes and finds positive associations between seed yield per plant and other traits such as capsules per plant, biological yield per plant, and harvest index. Negative associations are observed with days to flowering and maturity. The findings can be useful for selecting parent plants for hybrid breeding and improving sesame seed yield. The article "Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function" discusses the concept of hierarchical grouping and its application in optimizing an objective function. The author provides a mathematical approach to hierarchical clustering and highlights its potential benefits in various fields. This research is valuable for those interested in statistical analysis and data clustering techniques. [Extracted from the article]

The characterization of garlic germplasm improves its utility, despite the fact that garlic hasn't been used much in the past. Garlic has an untapped genetic pool of immense economic and medicinal value in India. Hence, using heuristic core collection approach, a core set of 46 accessions were selected from 625 Indian garlic accessions based on 13 quantitative and five qualitative traits. The statistical measures (CV per cent, CR per cent, VR per cent) were used to sort the core set using Shannon-Wiener diversity index and the Nei diversity index. In addition, the variation within the core set was tested for 18 agro-morphological and six biochemical characteristics (allicin, phenol content, pyruvic acid, protein, allyl methyl thiosulfinate (AMTHS), and methyl allyl thiosulfinate (MATHS)). Further study of the core set's molecular diversity was performed using sequence related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers, which revealed a wide range of diversity among the core set's accessions, with an average polymorphism efficiency (PE) of 80.59 percent, polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.29, effective multiplex ratio (EMR) of 3.51, and marker index (MI) of 0.99. The findings of this study will be useful in identifying high-yielding, elite garlic germplasm lines with the trait of interest. Since this core set is indicative of total germplasm, these selected breeding lines will be used for genetic improvement of garlic in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum particle swarm optimization (QPSO) has disadvantages such as rapid loss of species diversity and inability to jump out of local optimum value in the later stage. In this paper, a QPSO algorithm based on dynamic dual-population joint-search mechanism (DJ-QPSO) is proposed. This algorithm establishes two local attraction points in the search area to guide the particle search in the population, and adjusts the global exploration and local exploitation ability by changing the population diversity. Then, the algorithm uses a periodic dynamic-sharing strategy to enable information exchange between the two subgroups. Finally, a global convergence formula is introduced to the search in the later stage to improve algorithm precision. The simulation results of 15 benchmark functions demonstrate that the improved algorithm performs better than comparable algorithms and can effectively deal with complex optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyanobacterial diversity from nine hot water springs of North-Western Himalayas scattered over an area of approximately 20,000 km 2 has been studied using polyphasic approach in relation to important ecological factors. These hot springs have hard water, with variation of temperature from 40 to 90 °C and pH from 6.8–8.0. A total of 625 cyanobacterial isolates were cultured from 150 samples. On the basis of morphology, these isolates were represented by 22 species of 11 genera. A total of 220 cyanobacterial isolates representing morpho-species from each sampling site were subjected to molecular characterization by amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA), 16S rRNA gene, rbcL gene and cpcB -IGS- cpcA phycocyanin locus region sequencing for elucidating their identity, diversity and phylogenetic relationships. ARDRA analysis revealed 22 groups of cyanobacterial isolates from selected hot water springs. Sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene, rbcL gene and cpcB -IGS- cpcA phycocyanin locus region revealed that the identity of the majority of the cyanobacterial species was congruent with the identity based on morphological features. The identity of 3 taxa; Leptolyngbya sp. PUPCCC 112.22, Phormidium sp. PUPCCC 118.2 and Phormidium sp. PUPCCC 118.3, based on both morphological features and molecular markers, did not match with known cyanobacterial species, indicating these as new genera/species. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that taxa from selected hot springs belonging to Stigonematales are monophyletic, whereas Chroococcales and Oscillatoriales are polyphyletic. Canonical correspondence analysis of physico-chemical parameters and cyanobacterial community of each hot water spring revealed that temperature, pH, conductivity, nitrogen, sulphate and phosphate influenced cyanobacterial community structure. Further, our study has revealed that the cyanobacterial community of hot water springs is comprised of endemic as well as globally distributed representatives and is influenced by ecological parameters. The nature of the cyanobacterial community structure depended on the water chemistry rather than geographical location of the spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversity aspects, particularly ethnic, linguistic and religious ones, have become global, capturing a large interest in being extremely sensitive recently. Traditionally, these had been issues concerning only particular countries and/or regions, due to specific historical conditions. The recent waves of mass migration towards the wealthier countries rose great problems regarding populations which come with radically different ethnic, linguistic and religious background compared to the local population. Our research is focused on analysing ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity in Romania, at Local Administrative Units level (LAU2), along with the segregation analysis regarding the same aspects at county (NUTS3) and region levels (NUTS2) by integrating R processing fl exibility with and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) presentation abilities. R programming language offers support for developing integrated analysis solutions, based on specialized packages for computing diversity/segregation indices, in connection with packages that allow processing and visualising data geospatially, through interoperability with popular GIS, such as ArcGIS and QGIS. It is Romania census data that is employed as data source for analysis, with a focus on the latest census data from 2011. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microsatellite based characterization of Kajali sheep population found in Punjab and adjoining regions was carried out and genetic diversity measures were analysed. High measures of allele (7.778±0.80) and gene diversity (0.66±0.03) were observed across this population. A significant positive FIS (0.23±0.03) value suggested a deficiency in the number of heterozygotes in Kajali sheep which may be attributed to population sub-structuring into different colour variants (White and Kali Kajali). The population revealed presence of genetic diversity and there was no significant heterozygosity excess indicating the absence of genetic bottleneck in the recent past. The phylogenetic study analysis with 18 other Indian sheep breeds revealed that Kajali sheep clustered in same node with Munjal sheep (bootstrap value of 22%). However, Kajali and Munjal sheep are phenotypically distinct from each other. The genetic characterization of Kajali sheep will help in devising suitable strategies for its genetic improvement, management and recognition at national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A CO 2 leakage simulation platform was constructed, and the high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing technique was performed on the Illumina platform to compare the responses of soil microbial communities. In the CO 2 leakage group, the content of soil organic matter increased continuously up to a high of 29.4% while electrical conductivity, pH and nitrate continuously declined, with the nitrate concentration never exceeding 85.5%. Rarefaction results showed that the Chao indexes increased by 18.40% ± 2.40% and the Shannon index increased by 6.20% ± 1.20% as the amount of CO 2 leakage increased. In addition, as CO 2 flux increased, the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes phylum decreased, whereas the relative abundance of Firmicutes, Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi phyla increased. Within the Bacteroidetes phylum, the Bacteroidales order decreased sharply during the period of highest CO 2 flux. Beta diversity of microbial community was significantly correlated with the CO 2 leakage gradient ( p < 0.01). Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that differences in bacterial communities were significantly affected by soil properties ( p < 0.01). The relative abundance of Bacteroidales demonstrated great variability, which may be used as a microbial sensitivity index to assess leakage risks on soil bacterial communities in other systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study to compare different methods of estimation was conducted. The goal was to provide an estimate for the number of petal colors existing in the field by using a random sample of Lycoris longituba flowers taken from the field. Three methods of estimation were used to estimate the actual number of the colors in the field. Using the variance analysis, the maximum number of colors was obtained at 5% risk being in error. The study revealed that the estimation from observed sample (Fisher's method) agrees very well with third order Jackknife method of estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many qualitative studies describe the diversity of certain cognitions or behaviors in a population by means of semi-structured interviews with a small sample of population members. Up to now this type of qualitative research remains undefined in the methodological literature, however.It is argued that most of these studies may well be typified by the label "qualitative survey." While the statistical survey analyses frequencies in member characteristics in a population, the qualitative survey analyses the diversity of member characteristics within a population. The diversity of member characteristics may either be predefined or developed in open coding. Three levels of diversity analysis are defined: uni-dimensional description, multi-dimensional description and explanatory analysis, which may develop either in a concept-oriented or in a unit-oriented fashion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Diversity analysis among 23 rice varieties including 16 non-basmati scented accessions, 5 basmati accessions and 2 non-scented accessions was performed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker systems. The varieties analyzed by 11 RAPD and 8 ISSR primers yielded an average of 65% and 80% polymorphism, respectively. The average number of polymorphic bands generated per RAPD primer was 6 and per ISSR primer was 5.87. RAPD and ISSR data analysis individually could not segregate basmati and non-basmati scented rice accessions. However, the analysis using a combined data could group basmati and non-basmati scented rice accessions separately. The bands present specifically among three accessions of non-basmati scented rice were also identified. The study revealed a high genetic diversity among non-basmati scented rice accessions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Coastal dune systems are particularly fragile and threatened environments, which, however, provide fundamental ecosystem services to nearby urban areas acting for example as protective buffers against erosion. Correctly assessing their conservation status is a priority in order to manage them adequately and to plan urban development in coastal regions. In this paper we propose a practical multiscale method for the assessment of the conservation status of sandy coastal environment. The proposed method is articulated in two stages, one focusing on the landscape and the other on the plant community level. In the first phase mosaic structure and composition of the coastal landscape are analyzed using a series of indicators: natural coastal surface, richness of land cover typologies, landscape diversity and eveness, number and average size of habitat patches, and mean shape index. At a detailed scale, floristic, vegetational and structural aspects of the dune plant communities are analyzed along the main environmental gradient by measuring: spatial connectivity and richness of boundaries, species diversity, eveness and chorological index. In this work we apply and test the method in an experimental area on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy (Latium region), comparing the conservation status of two study sites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes to what extent the multipath diversity is extracted by a cyclic prefixed single-carrier (CPSC) transmission. The state-of-the-art is currently pessimistic on that issue, and has to be moderated: if it is true that the asymptotical, i.e. at infinite signal to noise ratio (SNR), diversity order achieved by CPSC is equal to one, we prove that the block size has an influence on the performance at moderate SNR. In particular, for reasonably large values of the block size, we show that the multipath diversity can be extracted by CPSC for the range of bit error rate values typically used in practice. The influence of suboptimal linear receivers on the diversity extraction is also investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many studies on human intestinal microbiota indicate that gender difference is one of the key factors influencing microbial community composition. To date, the degree of influence that gender has on equid intestinal microbiota has not been reported. Thus, microbiota was analyzed in feces of seven female Przewalski's horses (FRPHs) and seven male Przewalski's horses (MRPHs) in this study, determining which microbiota characteristics respond to gender biases. The microbial community composition and structure were explored by 16S rRNA sequencing, followed by diversity analysis and difference analysis. Female Przewalski's horses showed higher Shannon diversity than MRPHs, no difference in Simpson diversity, and displayed difference in beta diversity. Although gender had little effect on the overall microbiota, it significantly changed the dominant microbial community in each classification level. Male Przewalski's horses contained significantly higher amounts of microorganisms related with diseases, including spirochetes (phylum), deltaproteobacteria (class), fibrobacteria (class), spirochaetia (class), desulfovibrionales (order), fibrobacterales (order), spirochaetales (order), and spirochaetaceae (family). Female Przewalski's horses showed less than MRPHs in the top 10 genera. To our knowledge, this study is the first to document the gender-related intestinal microbiota profile in equines and discovered notable differences between the gender, which suggests that gender should be considered as a biological variable in future microbiota studies. • Intestinal microbiota can mirror the states of hosts. • The intestinal microbial community of Przewalski's horses was explored by high-throughput sequencing. • The differences of intestinal microbial community composition and diversity between genders were discovered. • Gender should be considered as a biological variable in future microbiota studies for horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Woodland cover dominated by AM-plants and soil were similar to Patagonian forests. • Agaricales (Agaricomycets) and Helotiales (Leotiomycets) were the most abundant. • Humidity, EC, C, N, and P were modelers of the community at different taxonomic levels. • The seasons influenced the class and guild, but not the diversity of the community. • Saprotroph were the most abundant; followed by Pathogen and ECM (specially Cortinarius). • Woodland management only modified richness and phosphorus, they could be bio-indicators. Forest management can alter soil fungal communities which are important in the regulation of biogeochemical cycles and other ecosystem services. The current challenge of sustainable management is that management be carried out while preserving the bioecological aspects of ecosystems. Mixed Patagonian woodlands are subject to continuous disturbance (fire, wood extraction, and livestock), with unknown consequences for soil fungal communities. Our objective was to study the fungal community and the effects of an experimental forest management program, which combines harvesting and implantation, on the soil fungal communities in Patagonian woodland, in Argentina; considering contrasting seasons and soil parameters. At site level, the mixed woodlands appear to have greater soil cover with AM plants and soil chemical characteristics similar to other forest environments in the same region, with an intermediate fungal diversity value. When the seasonal effect was analyzed, no changes were observed in the fungal richness and diversity index, whereas modifications were recorded in the class level, in the ecological guilds, and in certain soil parameters; the inversion of phyla should be highlighted. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the predominant phyla, and presented a tendency to an inversion between seasons: Ascomycota fungi predominated in autumn, while Basidiomycota were more abundant in summer. The Glomeromycota were not well represented in this study. The most abundant classes were Agaricomycetes, followed by Leotiomycetes, Sordariomycetes, and Tremellomycetes, with some changes in the proportions between the two seasons, which could be related to certain soil characteristics. The most abundant orders in both seasons were Agaricales, Helotiales, Mortierellales, and Filobasidiales, correlated with some soil characteristics. The ordination analysis (NMDS) showed a correlation between taxonomic assignation and some soil characteristics, and only between class seasons. The most abundant ecological guild was saprotrophs (in both seasons: Hygrocybe , Mortierella , Cryptococcus), followed by plant pathogens (Ilyonectria , which increase in autumn); and the ectomycorrhizal symbiont (Hygrocybe in both seasons, while in summer Cortinarius , Clitopilus , and Geoglossum), all are related to C and N cycle. The only post-management changes observed in soil fungal community and chemical characteristics were in fungal richness (OTUs) and available phosphorus values; all the others (diversity indexes, taxonomy, and ecological guilds) were unaffected by this anthropic disturbance. It should be highlighted that available P and fungal species richness could be proposed as bioindicators. Future studies in native management programs, considering other aspects such as diversity of vegetation uses and system functions of the area will allow us to assess whether some of these changes are early bio-indicators of sustainable use and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]