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Marginal agricultural lands are considered unsuitable for conventional crop production but could be utilized for biofuel production, groundwater recharge, afforestation, and other land use purposes. Effective management of these lands requires accurate identification and understanding of their spatial distribution. We used random forest regression (RFR) with remotely sensed vegetation indices, soil properties, and climate data to estimate soybean and corn yield and identify marginal agricultural lands in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV). The developed RFR models were utilized to estimate gridded crop yields and identify marginal agricultural lands within the LMAV. Depending on the cost and revenue data used, the total area of marginal agricultural lands ranged from 18,888 to 720,655 ha. Using the 2021 sales price and associated production costs, 18,888 ha (1.03% of total cropland) of marginal lands were identified within the study area. However, using the six-year (2016–2021) average of the inflation-adjusted sales price and production costs, the estimated area of marginal agricultural lands increased to 720,655 ha (36.35% of total cropland). The findings have significant implications for land use planners and farmers, who can use the identified spatial distribution data of marginal lands within the study area to update existing field crops and plan for alternative land uses such as biofuel/bioenergy crop production, afforestation, groundwater recharge, restoring wildlife habitat, and soil restoration. These alternative land uses could result in higher returns and conservation of marginal lands, leading to sustainable and productive land use management.

Scrub typhus is a seriously neglected life threatening disease in Asia and the islands of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The causative agent is Orientia tsutsugamushi, an obligate intra-cytosolic bacterium transmitted to vertebrate animals such as human or rodent by larval trombiculid mites (chiggers). Here, we conducted an outbreak investigation in Madhya Pradesh state in central India after sudden upsurge in scrub typhus cases and mortality in humans. Sixty-five live traps were placed for capturing the rodents. The captured rodent species were identified and the samples were subjected to nested PCR targeting 56kDa TSA gene. Analysis revealed for the first-time predominant circulation of Karp genotype in this region. The vector species involved in transmission is Leptotrobidium deliense. In conclusion, we reported the circulation of Karp strain in outbreak regions of Madhya Pradesh and suggest that public health monitoring and surveillance needs to be improved. Studies on antigenic diversity, association of strains with clinical spectrum and pathogenicity in the local setup will be essential for development of region-specific diagnostics and vaccines.

त्रिषु लिङ्गेषु समानरूपवतां सर्वासु विभक्तिषु सर्वेषु वचनेषु च समानरूपवताञ्चाव्ययपदानां संस्कृतवाङ्मये महत्त्वपूर्णं स्थानमस्ति। अव्ययपदानि विभिन्नशास्त्रेषु शब्दसङ्ग्राहककोशेषु च प्राप्यन्ते। एतैर्भाषायां सारल्यं सरसताकर्षकता–मनोरञ्जकतारुचिवर्धकताश्च प्राप्यन्ते। यैर्विना भाषासु सजीवता नाप्यते। अतः प्रत्येकभाषार्थम् अव्ययशब्दानामतीव महत्त्वं विदृश्यते। वाक्यरचनायाञ्चाव्ययपदानां महदवदानं दृग्गोचरीभवति। अव्ययं नाम किम्? अव्ययानां कति भेदाः? ते चाव्ययाः कति संख्यान्विताः? तेषामर्थवैविध्यञ्च कीदृशमिति स्थले स्थले प्रकीर्णमेव विवेचनमुपलभ्यते। आचार्यपाणिनिमते सम्पूर्णः पदराशिः सुबन्तरूपेण तिङन्तरूपेण च द्विधा विभक्तो दृश्यते। अव्ययशब्दा अपि सुबन्तत्वेनाभिमताः। तेषामवान्तरपदविभागस्तु चतुर्धैव दृश्यते– निपातरूपेण, उपसर्गरूपेण, गतिरूपेण कर्मप्रवचनीयरूपेण च। साधुशब्दव्युत्पादनं पाणिनीयव्याकरणस्य मुख्यं प्रयोजनमस्ति। तत्र शब्दव्युत्पादनक्रमे प्रकृति–प्रत्ययविभागेन शब्दसाधुत्वस्य वर्णनं पाणिनिना बहुशो विहितम्। तेषु शब्देषु कतिपयशब्दाः प्रकृति–प्रत्ययरहिताः सन्तोऽव्युत्पन्ना दृश्यन्ते। ते एव शब्दा अव्ययपदेन व्यवह्रियन्ते। अनुसन्धानेऽत्र पाणिनिमतेऽव्ययपदविमर्शः क्रियते।

Abstract Background Malaria is a major public health problem in India and accounts for about 88% of malaria burden in South-East Asia. India alone accounted for 2% of total malaria cases globally. Anti-malarial drug resistance is one of the major problems for malaria control and elimination programme. Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) is the first-line treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum in north eastern states of India since 2013 after confirming the resistance against sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. In the present study, therapeutic efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine and k13 polymorphism was assessed in uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria. Methods This study was conducted at four community health centres located in Koraput district of Odisha, Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh and Gondia district of Maharashtra state. Patients with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria were administered with fixed dose combination (6 doses) of artemether-lumefantrine for 3 days and clinical and parasitological response was recorded up to 28 days as per World Health Organization protocol. Nucleotide sequencing of msp1 and msp2 gene was performed to differentiate between recrudescence and reinfection. Amplification and sequencing of k13 propeller gene region covering codon 450–680 was also carried out to identify the polymorphism. Results A total 376 malaria patients who fulfilled the enrolment criteria as well as consented for the study were enrolled. Total 356 patients were followed up successfully up to 28 days. Overall, the adequate clinical and parasitological response was 98.9% and 99.4% with and without PCR correction respectively. No case of early treatment failure was observed. However, four cases (1.1%) of late parasitological failure were found from the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. Genotyping of msp1 and msp2 confirmed 2 cases each of recrudescence and reinfection, respectively. Mutation analysis of k13 propeller gene showed one non-synonymous mutation Q613H in one isolate from Bastar. Conclusions The study results showed that artemether-lumefantrine is highly effective in the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria among all age groups. No functional mutation in k13 was found in the study area. The data from this study will be helpful in implementation of artemether-lumefantrine in case of treatment failure by artesunate plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine.

Serology remains the mainstay for diagnosis of scrub typhus. In central India, diagnosis of this neglected emerging zoonotic disease suffers due to lack of standardized region-specific cutoff value and diagnostic test. Henceforth, standardized region-specific cutoff value for diagnostic ELISA play a significant role in initial treatment of patients and to differentiate other febrile diseases in endemic setup. A total of 144 patients of all age groups with acute undifferentiated febrile illness patients, forty healthy controls, dengue and chikungunya positive thirty-five samples in each category, respectively were enrolled in the study and subjected to IgM ELISA (InBioS, International, Inc.). Samples showing OD value more than 0.5 in IgM ELISA, were subjected to nested PCR. Both, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and healthy volunteer samples mean with +3 SD were considered to generate region specific cutoff OD value. A total of 48 patients were diagnosed as cases of scrub typhus through IgM ELISA. Out of 48 samples, 30 were positive by nested PCR. The ROC curve analysis revealed a diagnostic ELISA cutoff value of 0.73 with sensitivity and specificity of 95% and 100%, respectively. The cut off arrived from healthy volunteer is mean OD + 3 SD is 0.72. Considering the significance of scrub typhus diagnosis for treatment and to understand disease dynamics in region wise, the cutoff value of >0.72 for diagnostic ELISA for Madhya Pradesh in central India can be used.

A study was undertaken to examine the influence of foliar application of gibberellic acid (GA3), calcium and boron on fruit drop, yield and quality attributes of aonla (Emblica Officinalis Gaertn.) cv. NA 7 during two successive years, i.e. 2014-15 and 2015-16 on 15 year old plant of aonla cv. NA 7 at CSAUA&T, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), India. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design with three replications and 10 treatments, viz. GA3 (25, 50 and 100 ppm), calcium chloride (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 %) and borax (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 %) including a control. Significantly reduced fruit drop (66.2 %) with increased fruit retention (29.85%) and specific gravity (1.06 g/cm3) was observed in plants treated with borax at 0.6%. Maximum fruit length (3.78 cm), width (3.89 cm), weight (30.90 g), volume (29.46 cc), pulp weight (29.16 g), total sugars (12.92 %), TSS (14.90 0Brix), fruit yield (80.50 kg/plant) with more moisture contents (94.04 %) was recorded in fruits produced from GA3 50 ppm treated plants, whereas, GA3 @ 100 ppm treatment reduces the titratable acidity (1.56 %) and stone weight (1.45 g) but increases the pulp: stone ratio (18.44%). Fruits with maximum ascorbic acid (608 mg/100g pulp) contents were produced from the plants treated with calcium chloride 1.5 % in the month of August in northern plains of India.

Maternal exposure to a carcinogen is associated with increased risk of different cancers in the offspring. The foetus is highly sensitive to carcinogens and this contributes to the foetal basis of the onset of disease. The better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the early stage of lung tumourigenesis in the offspring is needed for the newer preventive strategies. We evaluated the effects of N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU) given on the 17th day of gestation and antitumour agent inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) to the mothers at the early stage of lung tumourigenesis in F1 mice. There was no treatment related effects on the litter size or body weight of the F1 mice at the PND12 or 24. Analysis of PCNA, NF-κB (p50), IL-6, COX-2, pSTAT3, STAT3, caspase-3, caspase-9, PARP, Akt signalling and downstream cyclin D1 along with miR-155, suggested the modulation of proliferation, inflammation and apoptosis at PND12 and 24. IP6 administration to the predisposed mothers prevented the proliferation, inflammation and enhanced apoptosis in F1 lung as showed by a reduction in PCNA, NF-κB (p50), IL-6, COX-2, pSTAT3, STAT3, miR-155 and increase in caspases, cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. IP6 administration also inhibited the activation of Akt and cyclin D1. Our study shows that tumourigenic changes take place in the lungs of the F1 generation from the carcinogen predisposed mothers even before the onset of tumours and the simultaneous intake of chemopreventive agent during the gestation or lactation period could prevent the lymphocytic infiltration and hyperplasia preceding the tumourigenesis.

Of late, there has been growing awareness among organizations as to the importance of green issues. This article seeks to examine how workplace design features of a green building contribute to the formation of employee organization commitment (OCM) through better job satisfaction (JST) within employees. Based on a comprehensive literature review, a theoretical model was proposed for investigation. Three putative paths linking workspace (WSP) to JST, departmental space (DSP) to JST, and JST to OCM were then tested relying on a survey data of 356 employees collected from three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified companies, namely Indian Tobacco Company (ITC), Suzlon Energy Ltd, and Olympia Technology Park uses structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology as prescribed by Hair et al. Significant evidences were witnessed in support of all three purposed paths. The study drew data only from the green-certified organization. Future research should involve other green organization or larger sample of green building. The size and character of the sample were restricted by organizational constraints.

Endophytic bacteria reside within the plant cell and are beneficial to it in a number of ways like growth, protection to environmental conditions and sustainability in favor of the hosts. Throughout the ages, Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has legendary therapeutic importance. The important step in endophyte isolation is the removal of plant tissue surface microflora, called as surface sterilization. Endophytes from medicinal plants may mimic the compound produced by the host plant and also plays an important role in production of bioactive compound, so it is necessary to isolate endophytes, not the epiphytic microbes. The present investigation was undertaken with an aim to optimize the sterilization parameters viz: time and concentration of ethanol and sodium hypochlorite for isolation of endophytic bacteria as well as exploring their antibacterial activity from Allium sativum. The results revealed that concentration and exposure time of sterilizing agent caused prominent surface sterilization but have negative effect on isolation of endophytes. Experimental results revealed that 70% ethanol (6 min), 2% sodium hypochlorite (1 min) followed by 70% ethanol (30 sec) is effective for surface sterilization of leaf and 70% ethanol (6 min), 3% sodium hypochlorite (1 min) followed by ethanol (30 sec) for bulb of Allium sativum. A total of 86 bacterial endophytes were recovered and screened for antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus cereus ATCC 11778, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi and Proteus. Out of 86 bacterial endophytes, only (9%) endophytes were found to be inhibiting one or all test human pathogen. The findings of the present study suggest that use of optimized sterilization conditions are effective for removing surface bacterial strains without affecting endophytes as well as the Allium sativum plant of the Jaunpur district represents an excellent reservoir of endophytic bacteria and novel source of bioactive compounds. On the other hand different concentration and time of their exposure to different parts of plant is required for proper surface sterilization of that part and isolation of endophytes.

Shrinking of the thickness of silicon on insulator (SOI) has been proposed as a potential solution for scaling down the physical base length of symmetric lateral electrostatically doped bipolar transistors. An ultra-thin body device that utilizes the full SOI thickness has been presented and the performance of the same is investigated in detail. The device features two distinct doping techniques: work function-induced electrostatic doping (WED) and bias-induced electrostatic doping (BED). The proposed design approach leads to significant improvements in gain and cut-off frequency compared to previously reported designs. The resulting devices exhibit peak current gain β values >1100, ft>500 GHz, fmax>1300 GHz. Moreover, these improved device performance matrices get translated into better performance of universal gates with low rise and fall time of ∼1.3 ns, and improved noise margin performance in static random access memory (SRAM) device of 0.43 and 0.41 for WED and BED based devices respectively. Furthermore, the study investigates the reliability of the device concerning breakdown voltage and its response to different temperature conditions. The findings reveal a decline in the β value for WED-based devices when subjected to temperatures exceeding 340 K. In contrast, BED-based devices demonstrate a comparatively smaller variation in β at temperatures above 340 K. These results show the potential of the proposed device for mixed-signal and digital circuit applications.

Phytoplankton are the world’s largest oxygen producers found in oceans, seas and large water bodies, which play crucial roles in the marine food chain. Unbalanced biogeochemical features like salinity, pH, minerals, etc., can retard their growth. With advancements in better hardware, the usage of Artificial Intelligence techniques is rapidly increasing for creating an intelligent decision-making system. Therefore, we attempt to overcome this gap by using supervised regressions on reanalysis data targeting global phytoplankton levels in global waters. The presented experiment proposes the applications of different supervised machine learning regression techniques such as random forest, extra trees, bagging and histogram-based gradient boosting regressor on reanalysis data obtained from the Copernicus Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Hindcast dataset. Results obtained from the experiment have predicted the phytoplankton levels with a coefficient of determination score (R2) of up to 0.96. After further validation with larger datasets, the model can be deployed in a production environment in an attempt to complement in-situ measurement efforts.

The machine learning (ML) model provides an alternative method for estimating inherent optical properties (IOPs) in clear and coastal waters. This study introduces an effective approach by employing ensemble machine learning techniques, such as random forest, gradient boosting, extra tree, adaboost, bagging, and voting model, to predict phytoplankton absorption coefficient ( $\text{a}_{\mathrm {ph}}(\lambda)$ , $\text{m}^{-1}$ ) at selected key wavebands of 443, 489, 510, 555, and 670 nm in clear and coastal waters. The optimization of the hyperparameters of these models through Bayesian techniques ensured high predictive accuracy. Furthermore, this research highlights the critical importance of wavelengths 670, 489, and 510 nm through feature importance analysis. The models exhibit excellent performance in terms of the coefficient of determination (R2) value when predicting phytoplankton at various wavelengths (e.g., 443, 489, 510, 555, and 670 nm). The R2 value of around 0.9033 is obtained for the absorption coefficient of phytoplankton aph at the wavelength 510 nm. The lowest mean squared error (MSE) of 0.0001 was achieved at the green waveband (i.e., 555 nm). Other statistical matrices, such as mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and mean absolute error (MAE), have shown a low error across the selected wavelengths. It is found that the predicted phytoplankton absorption coefficients are in close agreement with actual values. This study shows the success of optimized ensemble models for both global and selected regional datasets that can accurately derive $\text{a}_{\mathrm {ph}}(\lambda)$ , which will contribute to the improvement of ocean primary productivity modelling and understanding the distribution of phytoplankton blooms.

In this paper, firstly, reports on use of various nature originated polysaccharides as gate dielectric candidates for organic field effect transistors (OFETs) to achieve eco-friendliness and eventual biodegradability in devices, are summarized. To emphasize the same, the performance of flexible OFETs fabricated with cyanoethyl cellulose (CEC), a synthetically modified cellulose as gate dielectric is comprehensively investigated. A widely studied TIPS-pentacene: PS blend is used to form the active layer in these devices, showing a p-channel transistor operation at a low voltage of −5 V. Along with high performance, these devices exhibited excellent repeatability and shelf life up to 10 months in ambient conditions. Effect of repeatability, bias-stress, and bending stability were investigated to confirm the decent electrical and bending stability. The device can sustain the transistor performance even after application of 200 bending cycles. Moreover, the effect of annealing temperature on transistor performance was studied to observe their suitability in real applications. These findings suggest that polysaccharides can be suitable gate dielectric for eco-sustainable electronics.

Despite the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS/Aqua) presently collects data on operational basis, evaluation of its biogeochemical products from standard bio-optical algorithms is scare especially in Arctic waters. The present study is aimed to evaluate several MODIS/Aqua bio-optical algorithms and MODIS/Aqua remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) products in Kongsfjorden waters on the western side of Svalbard, Arctic. Data sets consisting of in-situ measurements of radiometric quantity (Rrs), Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) and Suspended Sediment (SS) concentrations, and absorption coefficients of coloured dissolved organic matter (aCDOM) and phytoplankton (aph) collected coincidently with MODIS/Aqua observations during the 2007 and 2008 cruises were used to evaluate performances of the MODIS/Aqua algorithms in a wide range of waters within Kongsfjorden and its offshore regions with Chl-a varying from 0.01 to 5.8 mg m-3, aCDOM (400) from 0.01 to 0.4 m-1, and aph (400) from 0.01 to 0.08 m-1. The comparison of MODIS/Aqua Rrs from the standard atmospheric correction (SAC) with in-situ measurements at six wavelengths (412, 443, 488, 531, 551 and 667nm) showed that these satellite Rrs values are notably higher at 412nm and 443nm and lower at 551nm and 667nm than in-situ Rrs values at these wavelengths. By contrast, Rrs values from the MUMM atmospheric algorithm are slightly better than those of the SAC algorithm at 412 and 443nm, although being severely underestimated at 551 and 667nm. The over- and underestimated Rrs values in short and long wavelengths may be caused by adjacent effects and sub-pixel contamination of the ice cover and clouds in the region. An evaluation of the bio-optical algorithms revealed systematic and large overestimations with Chl-a and aCDOM(400) retrievals and underestimations with aph(675) retrievals from the SAC_Rrs data. There was an inverse trend with MUMM that underestimated Chl and aph values although producing nearly consistent results for aCDOM. Among the algorithms tested, MODIS_DC_case-2_Chl (Default case), MODIS_OC3_Chl and MODIS_DAAC-v4_ Chl algorithms had the relatively better statistics than other pigment algorithms. The analyses further demonstrate that algorithms for estimating the absorption coefficients of CDOM and phytoplankton also tended to produce high errors (with overestimation at 400nm for aCDOM and underestimation at 675nm for aph). These analyses suggest that an independent treatment of the atmospheric correction and the development of new bio-optical algorithms are required to obtain reliable estimates of water constituents and inherent optical properties in high latitude waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soluble alternating copolymers of N-(3,4,5-tri-n-dodecyloxyphenyl)dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyrrole donor groups and 2,3-di-n-decylquinoxaline, 2,3-di-n-decylpyrido[3,4-b]pyrazine, 2,3,6,7-tetrakis(n-decyloxy)benzo[a,c]phenazine, or 2,3,6,7-tetrakis(n-decyloxy)dibenzo[f,h]pyrido[4,3-b]quinoxaline acceptors were synthesised using Stille coupling reactions. Experimental absorption maxima in THF range from 645 to 770 nm. These optical data, along with the results of quantum-chemical calculations and electrochemical measurements, show that, as expected, the pyridopyrazine moiety acts as a stronger acceptor than quinoxaline and that the extended species benzophenazine and dibenzopyridoquinoxaline are stronger acceptors than quinoxaline and pyridopyrazine, respectively. Modest average hole mobilities of up to ca.3.0 × 10−4cm2V−1s−1were obtained in field-effect transistors. Bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices made from blends of the benzo[a,c]phenazine-based polymer with 3′-phenyl-3′H-cyclopropa[1,9](C60-Ih)[5,6]fullerene-3′-butanoic acid methyl ester (1 : 3 weight ratio) exhibited average power conversion efficiencies up to 1.4%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of highly soluble donor–acceptor (D–A) copolymers containing N-(3,4,5-tri-n-decyloxyphenyl)-dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyrrole (DTP) or N-(2-decyltetradecyl)-dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyrrole (DTP′) as donor and three different acceptors, 4,7-dithien-2-yl-[2,1,3]-benzothiadiazole, 4,9-dithien-2-yl-6,7-di-n-hexyl-[1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-g]quinoxaline and 4,8-dithien-2-yl-2λ4δ2-benzo[1,2-c;4,5-c′]bis[1,2,5]thiadiazole (BThX, X = BTD, TQHx2, BBT, respectively) were synthesized by Stille coupling polymerizations. The optical and electrochemical properties of these copolymers were investigated, along with their use in field-effect transistors and photovoltaic devices. The band gaps (eV) estimated from UV-vis-NIR spectra and electrochemical measurements of the copolymers varied from ca.1.5–0.5 eV, and were consistent with quantum-chemical estimates extrapolated using density functional theory. Oxidative and reductive spectroelectrochemistry of the copolymers indicated they can be both p-doped and n-doped, and three to four differently colored redox states of the polymers can be accessed through electrochemical oxidation or reduction. The DTP-BThBTD and DTP-BThTQHx2copolymers exhibited average field-effect hole mobilities of 1.2 × 10−4and 2.2 × 10−3cm2/(Vs), respectively. DTP-BThBBT exhibited ambipolar field-effect characteristics and showed hole and electron mobilities of 1.2 × 10−3and 5.8 × 10−4cm2/(Vs), respectively. Bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices made from blends of the copolymers with 3′-phenyl-3′H-cyclopropa[1,9](C60-Ih)[5,6]fullerene-3′-butanoic acid methyl ester (PCBM) (1:3 weight ratio) exhibited average power conversion efficiencies as high as 1.3% under simulated irradiance of 75 mW/cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and its surface components were assessed for their inflammatory potential by footpad oedema test using plethysmometer. Inflammation was found to be the highest when outer membrane proteins (OMPs) were used as inflammagen followed by lipid associated protein-lipopolysaccharide complex (LAP-LPS) and lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Inflammation produced by OMPs was found to be comparable to that by carrageenan (a known positive inflammagen). However, injection of L-histidine (an antioxidant) prior to administration of carrageenan or Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium inhibited the inflammation, which indicated the involvement of oxidants during inflammatory response. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase and nitric oxide (NO) production by peritoneal macrophages from infected mice exhibited a significant increase as compared to those of the immunized mice. In contrast, glutathione production was found to be the maximum in the macrophages taken from OMPs-immunized mice followed by LAP-LPS and LPS alone. The biochemical studies correlated well with histopathological studies of intestinal tissue of animals from various groups. Based upon these parameters, inflammation seems to be modulated by OMPs and LAP-LPS, which may be because of the protein moieties present in the components. Hence, immunization with protein moieties having L-histidine or L-histidine-like structures may suggest an alternative to the potential therapeutic values of anti-inflammatory drugs. Thus the results of this study form the basis for evaluating these antigens (either alone or in combination with polysaccharides) for preventive intervention rather than therapeutic. (Mol Cell Biochem 270: 167–175, 2005) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic and comprehensive study on the charge-carrier injection and trapping behavior was performed using displacement current measurements in long-channel capacitors based on four promising small-molecule organic semiconductors (pentacene, DNTT, C10-DNTT and DPh-DNTT). In thin-film transistors, these semiconductors showed charge-carrier mobilities ranging from 1.0 to 7.8 cm2 V−1 s−1. The number of charges injected into and extracted from the semiconductor and the density of charges trapped in the device during each measurement were calculated from the displacement current characteristics and it was found that the density of trapped charges is very similar in all devices and of the order 1012 cm−2, despite the fact that the four semiconductors show significantly different charge-carrier mobilities. The choice of the contact metal (Au, Ag, Cu, Pd) was also found to have no significant effect on the trapping behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistive switching (RS) behavior of bilayer of poly(4-vinylphenol) (PVP): molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanocomposite (NC) and TiO2 in resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices were explored. Devices were demonstrated on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass and polyethylene naphtholate (PEN) substrates, with ITO acting as bottom electrode and Ag as top electrode for both rigid and flexible RRAM devices. The rigid devices exhibited excellent RS with very low SET and RESET voltages of ∼1 V and ∼−1.2 V, whereas the flexible devices showed average SET and RESET voltages of 1.5 V and −0.7 V. A decent repeatability was demonstrated with high on/off current ratios of more than 103 at reading voltage of 0.2 V for both types of devices. The flexible devices exhibited decent switching behavior even after bending up to a radius of 7 mm, indicating that PVP:MoS2 NC bilayer can be a promising candidate for the demonstration of high-performance RRAM devices for flexible electronics.

Abstract Background This study investigated a novel in ovo feeding strategy to determine the prebiotic effects of xylo- and mannan- oligosaccharides (XOS and MOS) differing in the degree of polymerization. A total of 192 fertilized eggs were divided into 6 treatment groups: i) normal saline control (NSC), ii) xylotriose (XOS3), iii) xylotetraose (XOS4), iv) mannotriose (MOS3), v) mannotetraose (MOS4), and vi) no injection control (NIC), each containing 4 replicate trays with 8 eggs per replicate. On d 17 of incubation, 3 mg of oligosaccharides (except for controls) dissolved in 0.5 mL of 0.85% normal saline were injected into the amnion of Cobb 500 broilers eggs. After hatch, the chicks were raised for 28 d under standard husbandry practices and were fed a commercial broilers diet ad libitum, and samples were collected periodically. Results The hatchability, growth performance, and relative weights of breast, drumstick, liver, and proventriculus were not different among the treatments (P > 0.05). The XOS3 injection increased the total short-chain fatty acid production at d 28 compared with both control groups (P 0.05). On the hatch day, the expression level of the CD3 gene (a T cell marker) was increased by XOS3, while the IL-10 gene (a marker of anti-inflammatory cytokine) was reduced by MOS4 (P 0.05), except XOS4 increased IL-4 compared with NSC (P

In recent years, Deep Learning Multi-Layer Perceptron (DLMLP) neural networks have shown remarkable success in addressing crop yield forecast related problems. The methodologies used so far for crop yield forecast with remotely sensed data were focused upon vegetation indices generated from optical data. The prediction of crop yield in an accurate manner by developing robust machine learning models based on soil health parameters is crucial since it helps keep a track of soil health as well as its impact on overall yield. This study aims to utilize remotely sensed Microwave satellite data from Sentinel-1 and optical data from Sentinel-2, and field data to estimate three important soil health parameters- Soil Moisture, Soil Salinity, and Soil Organic Carbon (SOC). The study has been carried out in the Rupnagar district of Punjab in India. The estimated soil health parameters, SAR backscatter, and optical remote sensing satellite data parameters were utilized to estimate wheat crop yield. The soil health based DLMLP model performed best in crop yield estimation and gave R2 values of 0.723 and 0.684 in the training and testing phases, respectively, and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.98 and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value of 1.24 for the 2019–20 season. The DLMLP test R2 was 42.2% more than the Ordinary Least Squares Regressor (OLS), while the MAE and RMSE were 37.97% and 38.61% less than the OLS regressor for wheat crop yield estimation. The soil health-based DLMLP model gave satisfactory yield estimation accuracy in the absence of validation of soil health parameter values for the preceding years-2015–16 till 2018–19 wheat seasons. This study's novel feature is that it estimates soil health parameters for the early stages of wheat crop growth when soil lies mostly exposed and utilises them for crop yield prediction.

Cytokinins, a type of phytohormones that induce division of cytoplasm, have considerable value in agriculture due to their influences on several physiological processes of plants such as morphogenesis, development of chloroplast, seed dormancy, leaf senescence, etc. Previously, it was assumed that plants obtain cytokinin from the soil produced by microbes as these hormones were first discovered in soil-inhabiting bacteria i.e., Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Later, the cytokinin biosynthesis gene, i.e., ipt gene, has been reported in plants too. Though plants synthesize cytokinins, several studies have reported that the exogenous application of cytokinins has numerous beneficial effects including the acceleration of plant growth and boosting economic yield. Cyanobacteria may be employed in the soil not only as the source of cytokinins but also as the source of other plant growth-promoting metabolites. These organisms biosynthesize the cytokinins using the enzyme isopentenyl transferases (IPTs) in a fashion similar to the plants; however, there are few differences in the biosynthesis mechanism of cytokinins in cyanobacteria and plants. Cytokinins are important for the establishment of interaction between plants and cyanobacteria as evidenced by gene knockout experiments. These hormones are also helpful in alleviating the adverse effects of abiotic stresses on plant development. Cyanobacterial supplements in the field result in the induction of adventitious roots and shoots on petiolar as well as internodal segments. The leaf, root, and stem explants of certain plants exhibited successful regeneration when treated with cyanobacterial extract/cell suspension. These successful regeneration practices mark the way of cyanobacterial deployment in the field as a great move toward the goal of sustainable agriculture.

A study was conducted at AFU livestock farm, Rampur, Chitwan in 2017-18 to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of garlic and ginger in different combination on feed intake, growth performance and economics by using commercial Cobb 500 broilers. A total of two hundred, 11-day-old chicks were allocated randomly to five different treatments. The experiment was designed in a Completely Randomized Design, each treatment with four replication and each replication had 10 birds. They were fed isoproteinous and isocaloric Basal diet (BD) and BD supplemented with four different levels of garlic and ginger such as T1 (BD only), T2 (BD + 1% garlic); T3 (BD + 1.0% ginger); T4 (BD + 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger) and T5 (BD + 1% garlic and 1% ginger). Weekly average body weight, weight gain, feed consumption, and feed efficiency were recorded up to sixth week of age. All data were statistical analyzed using Completely Randomized Design. The results showed that overall feed consumption was significantly (P≤0.05) higher for broiler fed diet supplemented with 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger (T4) followed by T5 (basal diet with 1% garlic and 1% ginger). On the other hand significantly higher (P≤0.01) cumulative weekly live body weight and body weight gain (g/bird) was found for the treatment with supplemented 1% garlic powder (T2), followed by broiler fed diet supplemented with 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger powder (T4). Similarly, feed conversion ratio was significantly (P≤0.01) better in broiler fed basal diet with supplementation of 1% garlic (T2) followed by basal diet with supplementation of 0.5% garlic and 0.5% ginger (T4). The maximum benefit was obtained from the broiler fed basal diet with supplementation of 1% garlic (T2). The findings revealed that broiler fed basal diet with supplementation of 1% garlic powder had helped as a growth promoter contributing to the better growth performance, feed efficiency and higher benefit: cost ratio. Thus, addition of 1% garlic powder can be safely recommended as a growth promoter in broilers.