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Reducing toxic effects of pesticide residues in agricultural soils through organic amendments is an eco-friendly technique. Cypermethrin (CYP) and Chlorpyrifos (CPP) are widely used pesticides in peach growing orchards in Swat valley of Pakistan. The aim of the current study was to investigate the degradation behavior of CYP and CPP in soil by the application of different combination of organic/inorganic amendments. A total of 36 soil samples were used in the current incubation study which was collected from 4 peach orchards in district Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. Different amendments including urea, farm yard manure (FYM) and saprofil were applied alone and in various combinations. The initial concentrations of CYP and CPP in the tested soil was range from 0.94 to 4.8 mg kg−1 and 0.024 to 4.12 to mg kg−1. Soil samples were taken at 5, 15, 30 and 45 days after exposure to different treatments. The extraction of pesticides from soils was done through quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction method. Soils amended with urea, FYM and saprofil individually and in combinations significantly reduced the concentrations of CYP and CPP. However, the concentration of CYP (24.6) and CPP (27.0) in soil showed higher reduction through the application of FYM. While the concentrations of CYP and CPP were declined with the 5, 15, 30 and 45 days intervals, however, reduction at day 30 and 45 was faster for CYP (16.7 to 8.46) than CPP (20.2 to 12.3). At day 5 and 15, the CYP (42.5 to 30.7) was slightly lower than CPP (42.9 to 32.7).The highest half-life value (t ½) of CYP was in control treatment (32 days) and the shortest was soil amended with FYM (18.6 days). While the longest half-life value (t ½) of CPP was maximum in control treatment (42 days) and the minimum was in FYM (22 days). Based on our findings, it was concluded that soil application of FYM is recommended for the degradation of CYP and CPP.

Three different wheat and triticale genotypes (two wheats; CYMMIT and Aras, and one triticale Rwaida) were evaluated under five late sowing dates at Einkawa farm of Erbil Dry-land Research Center, KRG –Iraq (Lat 350 0′ 38″ N Long 430 0′ 24″ E) for two growing seasons 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 to test any agronomic variance characteristics as a strategy to reduce risks attributable to inadequate precipitation in order to achieve proper soil plowing humidity. Results pointed to superiority of Rwaida genotype, and earliest Sowing date with their interaction V3D1 in grain yield (193.1, 241.6, and 266 g m−2 respectively) due to higher chlorophyll content in their flag leaves and taller plants that push the flag leaves up to receive higher amounts of irradiance. leading to the conclusion of achieving tillage as soon as possible with the assumption of reducing grain yield to a half when delaying sowing date for more than two months from the advised sowing date in the region (15th Nov.).

Energy storage materials play a vital role in modern technology. A single device can perform multifunctions if fabricated using a multifunctional material like BiFeO3. For this purpose, a series of La and Cr doped BiFeO3 was synthesized using sol‒gel auto-combustion technique. A single phase rhombohedral distorted perovskite crystal structure related to bismuth ferrite with space group R3c (161) was confirmed from the X-ray diffraction patterns. Doping of La/Cr at Bi/Fe lattice sites in BiFeO3 did not affect the crystal symmetry of the parent compound. Morphological analysis exhibited homogeneous micro structures showing uniform distribution of multi-shaped grains with decreasing porosity and grain sizes with increasing Cr contents. These materials exhibited the conventional ferrite-like dielectric response, which gradually decreased with increasing frequency and lastly became constant in the high frequency regime. Impedance spectroscopy revealed the contribution of grains, grain boundaries and interfaces in electrical response of the samples. Frequency dependent electric modulus analysis confirmed the non-Debye type relaxation.

This paper considers the estimation of parameters for the inverse Gaussian regression model in the presence of multicollinearity. To mitigate this issue, we propose the inverse Gaussian James–Stein estimator (IGJSE) and compare its performance with other estimation methods i.e. maximum likelihood estimator (MLE), ridge and Liu estimators. Theoretical comparisons between the usual MLE, ridge, Liu and IGJSE are derived using matrix mean − squared error and scalar mean squared error criterions. The statistical properties of these estimators are systematically scrutinized via a Monte Carlo simulation. The findings of the simulation study clearly demonstrate that the proposed IGJSE showed a consistent behaviour as compared to the other estimation methods in all the evaluated situations. Finally, we evaluate the performance of IGJSE with the help of real example. The simulation and real example results show that the performance of IGJSE is better as compared to other estimation methods with correlated explanatory variables.

Lead halide perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) are reported as a promising branch of perovskites, which have recently emerged as a field in luminescent materials research. However, before the practical applications of PQDs can be realized, the problem of poor stability has not yet been solved. Herein, we propose a trioctylphosphine (TOP)-assisted pre-protection low-temperature solvothermal synthesis of highly stable CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocomposites. Due to the protection of branched ligands and the lower temperature of shell formation, these TOP-modified CsPbBr3 PQDs are successfully incorporated into a TiO2 monolith without a loss of fluorescence intensity. Because the excellent nature of both parent materials is preserved in CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocomposites, it is found that the as-prepared CsPbBr3/TiO2 nanocomposites not only display excellent photocatalytic activity but also yield improved PL stability, enabling us to build highly stable white light-emitting diodes and to photodegrade rhodamine B.

The tropical anguillid eel, Anguilla bicolor McCelland, 1844, includes two subspecies, Anguilla bicolor bicolor McCelland, 1844 and Anguilla bicolor pacifica Schmidt, 1928, and is distributed across the Indo-Pacific region. Although A. bicolor is widely distributed and recognized as an important fish resource in the Indo-Pacific region, few studies have been conducted on its genetic variation and population structure. DNA barcoding of A. bicolor specimens collected in the Indo-Pacific region was carried out in this study using mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I. Anguilla bicolor was found to diverge genetically, which supported its classification into two different subspecies. In addition, our study showed that A. bicolor bicolor had two genetically distinct populations/groups, and these different populations co-occur geographically in Indonesia and Malaysia in the eastern Indian Ocean. Our findings suggest that the eel larvae might be transported from at least two geographically different spawning grounds in the Indian Ocean, and then recruited to and settled in the same habitats in Indonesian and Malaysian waters. The molecular evidence calls for further research on the life history, stock assessment and protection of the populations of A. bicolor bicolor in Indonesia and Malaysia.

We present the design and practical implementation of a microstrip diplexer based on the wave discrimination property associated with the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like effect. The EIT is a quantum interference phenomenon which happens between two atomic transition pathways and allows wave propagation within a medium’s absorption spectrum. Here, we exploit an analogous interference mechanism in a three-port microstrip structure to demonstrate a diplexer based on the EIT-like effect in the microwave regime. Since the transparency is accompanied by a high transmission and strong dispersion characteristics, compact frequency discriminating structures that can resolve nearby frequencies with high isolation can be devised. Our proposed C-band diplexer consists of pairs of unequal open-circuit stubs, which resonate at detuned frequencies and interfere to form the EIT-like passbands for diplexer action. The design is highly compact and scalable in frequency for both PCB and on-chip applications. A prototype of diplexer is fabricated for the center frequencies of lower and upper passbands at 4.6 GHz and 5.5 GHz respectively. The transmission zeros are designed at the complementary channels so that the two passbands are highly isolated presenting the isolation of about 40 dB. The measured insertion loss of lower and upper passband is 0.59 dB and 0.61 dB respectively. Measured input return loss is better than − 15 dB, while the output return losses are well below − 12 dB. Moreover, a decent value of about 200 is achieved for the group refractive index around the EIT-like passbands, which reveals the slow wave characteristics of the proposed EIT-based diplexer.

The bell regression is used, when the response variable is in the form of counts with over dispersion. The bell regression coefficients are generally estimated using the maximum likelihood estimato...

Low-salinity waterflooding (LSWF) has, in the past decade, attained a lot of attention to enhance oil recovery. In LSWF, diluted water is injected into an oil reservoir to improve oil recovery. The injected low-saline water changes the wettability of the reservoir, which leads to higher oil recovery. The recovery of an oil reservoir can be predicted from simulators, which are tedious, expensive, and time-consuming. Therefore, there is a need for a simple, quick, and inexpensive substitute to predict the oil recovery factor for low-salinity waterfloods. This paper presents a novel empirical correlation based on a feed-forward neural network to predict LSWF recovery efficiency in a heterogeneous reservoir at and beyond water breakthrough. The proposed model is valid for a broad range of dimensionless input parameters—degree of dilution of high saline water, mobility ratio, degree of reservoir heterogeneity, permeability anisotropy ratio, API gravity, and production water cut. The new empirical correlation was developed using 20,000 simulated data points obtained from simulation results to cover a wide range of input values. The LSWF simulation model was developed and validated with a model of a real carbonate reservoir located in the Madison formation in Wyoming. The artificial neural network (ANN) model parameters were optimized by conducting extensive sensitivities of ANN parameters (hidden layer neurons, training algorithms, and transfer functions). Moreover, an interesting trend analysis was conducted to validate the physical behavior of the ANN model, and a comparison with the unseen dataset was performed. To evaluate the performance of the newly developed correlation, three statistical indices were used, including the average absolute percentage error (AAPE). AAPE was 1.69% and 1.84% for the training and testing datasets, respectively. The proposed ANN model is limited to a single-stage, low-saline waterfloods for a 5-spot pattern.

Harvest maturity determines the shelf life and nutritional quality of fruits. The present study was planned to determine the effect of harvest maturity on fruit quality of carambola. Fruits of carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) cv. “Arkin” were harvested at five maturity stages, i.e., M1 (100% green), M2 (75% green and 25% yellow), M3 (50% green and 50% yellow), M4 (25% green and 75% yellow), and M5 (100% yellow) and subjected to physico-chemical analysis. At eating soft stage, a significant linear increase in fruit juice percentage, total soluble solids (TSS), ripening index (TSS/TA) and fruit juice pH, while a decrease in rag content, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and titratable acidity (TA) was observed as the maturity progressed from 100% green to 100% yellow. Sensory evaluation data of fruit skin colour, flavour, texture, and acceptability showed the highest score for fruits harvested at 25% green and 75% yellow (M4) stage. In conclusion, harvest maturity significantly influenced various biochemical quality characteristics and carambola fruits harvested at 75% yellow (M4) is considered as an optimal harvest stage that exhibited best sensory and nutritional quality attributes.

Very recently, two-dimensional (2D) perovskite nanosheets (PNSs), taking the advantages of perovskite as well as the 2D structure properties, have received an enormous level of interest throughout the scientific community. In spite of this incredible success in perovskite nanocrystals (NCs), self-assembly of many nanostructures in metal halide perovskites has not yet been realized, and producing highly efficient red-emitting PNSs remains challenging. In this Letter, we show that by using CsPbBrI2 perovskite nanoparticles (NPs) as a building block, PNSs can emerge spontaneously under high ambient pressure via template-free self-assembly without additional complicated operation. It is found that the formation of PNSs is ascribed to the high pressure that provides the driving force for the alignment of NPs in solution. Because of the disappearance of the grain boundaries between the adjacent NPs and increased crystallinity, these PNSs self-assembled from NPs exhibit enhanced properties compared to the initial NPs, including higher PL intensity and remarkable chemical stability toward light and water.

This study covers chemical profiling of leaf essential oil of Plectranthus scutellarioides (L.) R.Br along with the first report on its antibacterial activity. The extraction was performed by micro...

In this research article, we have designed a novel image encryption scheme based on Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and chaotic sequencing. We have studied sequences of different genes consisting of four bases, Adenine (A), Cytosine (C), Thymine (T) and Guanine (G), also known as nucleotides which are the fundamental code of life. The purpose of DNA is to store, copy and transmit the genetic information of the living organism. The proposed image encryption scheme uses the chaotic system to generate random sequences and to choose between two or more options. The image is totally transformed by first encoding it into DNA nucleotides, shuffling to achieve diffusion and then substitution is performed to achieve confusion. Then later the DNA fusion operation is performed on the DNA image and the DNA complements are applied on the resulting DNA image, a random number of times to break the residual correlation between the pixels. The cipher image has been tested to fulfill all the standard benchmarks to be categorized as a good ciphered image which includes entropy, correlation coefficient, Pearson’s chi square, peak signal to noise ratio, mean square error, mean absolute error, structure similarity indexed measures, differential analysis and histogram uniformity test.

Månsson and Shukur (Econ Model 28:1475–1481, 2011) proposed a Poisson ridge regression estimator (PRRE) to reduce the negative effects of multicollinearity. However, a weakness of the PRRE is its relatively large bias. Therefore, as a remedy, Türkan and Özel (J Appl Stat 43:1892–1905, 2016) examined the performance of almost unbiased ridge estimators for the Poisson regression model. These estimators will not only reduce the consequences of multicollinearity but also decrease the bias of PRRE and thus perform more efficiently. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to derive the mean square error properties of the Modified Almost Unbiased PRRE (MAUPRRE) and Almost Unbiased PRRE (AUPRRE) and then propose new ridge estimators for MAUPRRE and AUPRRE. Secondly, to compare the performance of the MAUPRRE with the AUPRRE, PRRE and maximum likelihood estimator. Using both simulation study and real-world dataset from the Swedish football league, it is evidenced that one of the proposed, MAUPRRE ($$ \hat{k}_{q4} $$ k ^ q 4 ) performed better than the rest in the presence of high to strong (0.80–0.99) multicollinearity situation.

Artemisia vulgaris hydrogel (AVH) was acetylated (AAVH) and characterized by FTIR, CP/MAS 13C-NMR spectroscopic techniques and thermogravimetric analysis. Flynn–Waal–Ozawa model was used to investi...

Euphopias A-C (1-3), three rearranged jatrophane-type diterpenoids with tricyclo[8.3.0.02,7]tridecane (1 and 2) and tetracyclo[11.3.0.02,10.03,7]hexadecane (3) cores, were isolated from Euphorbia helioscopia. Comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, quantum-chemical calculations, and X-ray diffractions were used to identify their structures. Compounds 1-3 could significantly inhibit NLRP3 inflammasome activation and block NLRP3 inflammasome-induced pyroptosis. Additionally, a mechanistic study revealed that 2 could ameliorate mitochondria damage, thereby interrupting NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Control charts are commonly applied for monitoring and controlling the performance of the manufacturing process. Usually, control charts are designed based on the main quality characteristics variable. However, there exist numerous other variables which are highly associated with the main variable. Therefore, generalized linear model (GLM)-based control charts were used, which are capable of maintaining the relationship between variables and of monitoring an abrupt change in the process mean. This study is an effort to develop the Phase II GLM-based memory type control charts using the deviance residuals (DR) and Pearson residuals (PR) of inverse Gaussian (IG) regression model. For evaluation, a simulation study is designed, and the performance of the proposed control charts is compared with the counterpart memory less control charts and data-based control charts (excluding the effect of covariate) in terms of the run length properties. Based on the simulation study, it is concluded that the exponential weighted moving average (EWMA) type control charts have better detection ability as compared with Shewhart and cumulative sum (CUSUM) type control charts under the small or/and moderate shift sizes. Moreover, it is shown that utilizing covariate may lead to useful conclusions. Finally, the proposed monitoring methods is implemented on the dataset related to the yarn manufacturing industry to highlight the importance of the proposed control chart.

The difficulty in differentiating the sex of monomorphic bird species has made molecular sexing an important tool in addressing this problem. This method uses noninvasively collected materials such as feathers and may be advantageous for sexing endangered as well as commercialized bird species. In this study, seven primer sets for sexing birds were screened in Aerodramus fuciphagus using a total of 13 feather samples that were randomly selected from the state of Perak, Malaysia. From the screening analysis, only one primer set (P8/WZ/W) successfully differentiated the sex of A. fuciphagus. PCR amplification produced a single 255‐bp DNA fragment for males which was derived from CHD‐Z (CHD gene region in the sex chromosome Z), while for the females it produced two fragments (144 and 255 bp). The 144‐bp fragment was from CHD‐W (CHD gene region in the sex chromosome W). Results from sequencing showed no variations in the base sequences of the CHD‐W and CHD‐Z amplified fragments within the same sexes, except for one male sample (A23) where at position 166, a base substitution occurred (G → A). Phylogenetic analysis of CHD‐W showed that four (Apodiformes; Gruiformes; Passeriformes; and Pelecaniformes) out of the five orders investigated had formed four clear clusters within their orders, including the studied order: Apodiformes. Whereas in CHD‐Z, four (Accipitriformes; Columbiformes; Galliformes; and Passeriformes) out of five orders investigated formed four clear clusters within their orders, excluding the studied order. In addition, A. fuciphagus and Apus apus (both Apodiformes) showed less divergence in CHD‐W than CHD‐Z (0% c.f. 9%). The result suggests that in A. fuciphagus, CHD gene evolution occurred at a higher rate in males (CHD‐Z) compared to females (CHD‐W). This finding may be useful for further studies on sex ratio and breeding management of A. fuciphagus., In this study, a molecular sexing method was used to identify the sex of monomorphic and economically important bird species; Aerodramus fuciphagus (Thunberg, 1812). Interestingly, we found one male sample (A23) where at position 166, had a base substitution (G → A), hence, an evolution study in CHD‐W and CHD‐Z genes by comparing A. fuciphagus with 14 other bird species from the same Apodiformes order (Apus apus and Calypte costae) and Aves class was performed. This study is important for further studies on sex ratio and breeding management of A. fuciphagus as well as CHD gene evolution.

In linear regression modeling, the presence of multicollinearity among the explanatory variables has undesirable effects on the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). To overcome this effect, we propo...

In numerous application areas, when the response variable is continuous, positively skewed, and well fitted to the inverse Gaussian distribution, the inverse Gaussian regression model (IGRM) is an ...

The inverse Gaussian regression model (IGRM) is frequently applied in the situations, when the response variable is positively skewed and well fitted to the inverse Gaussian distribution. The maxim...

In the Inverse Gaussian Regression (IGR), there is a significant increase in the variance of the commonly used Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimator in the presence of multicollinearity. Alternatively,...

Escalating pesticide deposition in the aquatic environment is becoming a potential threat to aquatic organisms. Present study was designed to investigate acute toxicity in O. niloticus. the fish were exposed to five different concentrations of malathion, chlorpyrifos and lambda-cyhalothrin (synthetic pyrethroid) pesticides in the laboratory using separate aquaria for each chemical. Mortality ranged from 100 to 0%. The 24 h LC50 (median lethal concentration) for O. niloticus was 5.70, 0.5 and 0.015 ppm for malathion, chlorpyrifos and Lambda-cyhalothrin, respectively. LC50 values obtained after 24 h of exposure indicated that the fish were sensitive to all the three tested pesticides. The mortality rate was directly proportional to the pesticides concentration. The results showed that the lambda- cyhalothrin was found more toxic followed by chlorpyrifos and malathion. The study results suggested that the runoff of organophosphates and synthetic pyrethorid pesticides from nearby agricultural fields to aquatic environment posed health hazards on fish.

Varietal variation in apricot causes differential changes in fruit quality during ripening. A study was executed to evaluate the effect of apricot varietal variation on fruit physico-chemical and sensory attributes during fruit ripening. Fruits of two apricot cultivars, ‘Old Cap’ and ‘Red Flesh’ obtained from Baluchistan were monitored at ambient conditions (25 ± 2 °C and 60-65% RH) during fruit ripening for physico-chemical and sensory attributes. Irrespective to days at shelf during fruit ripening, fruits of ‘Red Flesh’ apricot exhibited significantly reduced fruit weight loss with greater fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), total phenolic content (TPC), ascorbic acid and antioxidant scavenging activity (ASA) than ‘Old Cap’ apricot fruits. However, titratable acidity (TA) of ‘Old Cap’ apricot fruits remained significantly higher than ‘Red Flesh’ apricot fruits during ripening. At eating soft stage, sensory attributes including fruit pulp colour, taste, flavour and overall acceptability of ‘Red Flesh’ apricot fruits were superior to ‘Old Cap’ apricot fruits. In conclusion, ‘Red Flesh’ apricot showed better fruit physico-chemical attributes during fruit ripening and fruit sensory attributes at eating soft stage than ‘Old Cap’ apricot fruits.

The Poisson regression model (PRM) aims to model a counting variable y, which is usually estimated by using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method. The performance of MLE is not satisfactory in...

Composite dielectrics and insulators are emerging as replacement of neat epoxy because of their superior characteristics. However, methods of composite preparation, type and size of filler and stresses such as temperature and mechanical stresses influence these characteristics. In addition, inorganic oxides-based epoxy composites are expected to have good dielectric characteristics. In this work, effect of compression and silica on the dielectric properties of epoxy composites with reference to neat epoxy is explored. Epoxy microcomposite (15% by weight silica loading) and nanocomposites (2.5% and 5% by silica loadings) are prepared, and their dielectric properties are investigated before and after compression at 15 MPa. Overall epoxy nanocomposites with 5% nanosilica performed best having 0.09 dissipation factor and dielectric constant of 6.23. After compressing the samples at 70 °C and 15 MPa, dramatic increase in the dissipation factor of microcomposites was recorded where the average $$ \kappa $$ increased by a factor of 1.53–8.27 in comparison with 5.40 in the uncompressed form.

Cotton yield is affected by several factors some of which are related to soil characteristics, and some are related to farmers’ input. The effect of these factors on cotton yield is studied in the ...

In this article, we propose some diagnostic techniques for the inverse Gaussian regression model (IGRM), which are appropriate for modeling the response variable that undertakes positively skewed c...

The present study was designed to assess the alternate environmental friendly source of protein; here we report the suitability of soybean meal as a plant protein source for partial replacement of fishmeal in the diet of Arabian yellowfin seabream Acanthopagrus arabicus; reared in floating net cages. A total of 56 days feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the growth performance, feed utilization, survival, and carcass composition of the juveniles. Triplicate groups (30 fish/cage) of A. arabicus (initial weight 22.61 ± 0.11 g) were stocked in floating net cages (1.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 m). Five semi-purified experimental diets, each containing 42% dietary protein, were prepared where fishmeal was replaced with soybean meal: 0% (control), 20% (SBM20), 40% (SBM40), 60% (SBM60) and 80% (SBM80). Fish were fed twice daily at 7% body weight. The formulated diet was well accepted by the fish, where, 100% of survival was recorded at the end of the experiment. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed in final weight gain (WG) and specific growth rate (SGR) of juvenile Arabian yellowfin seabream fed on SBM20 and SBM40 diets compared to the control diet. However, a decline in growth performance was recorded in fish received SBM60 and SBM80 diets. Poor feed conversion ratio (FCR) was observed for fish fed with increasing dietary soybean meal above SBM40. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in the final whole-body carcass composition of proteins, moisture, and ash. However, the lipid content in the fish body increased significantly (P

The Thal region of Punjab often experiences dry weather conditions with extreme variability in rainfall on a spatiotemporal scale during Rabi cropping season. The current study assesses the impacts of agricultural drought on wheat crops for 2000–2015. MOD13Q1 and CHIRPS data were used for identifying and assessing variation in agricultural drought patterns and severity. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), Stress Vegetation Index (STVI) and wheat crop yield anomalies were computed to characterize the gravity of drought across the Thal region. The results indicate that the wheat Rabi cropping seasons of the years 2000–2002 experienced extreme agricultural drought, with a spatial difference in severity level causing low and poor yield, while the years 2011 and 2014 were almost normal among all the years, leaving varied impacts on wheat yield. The combined agricultural risk map was generated by integrating the agricultural and meteorological droughts severity maps. The combined risk map generated using weighted overlay analysis of all the parameters indicate that the total Thal area can be classified into slight, moderate and no drought covering 28.12, 12.76, and 59.12% respectively of the total area. Hence an agricultural risk map would be extremely helpful as a tool to guide the decision-making process for monitoring drought risk on agricultural productivity.

Extended hot water quarantine treatment (HWQT) is a commercial phytosanitary measure used for fruit fly disinfestation in mangoes. These studies were targeted to evaluate the physiological behaviour and qualitative response of hot water treated fruits of late maturing mango cv. Sufaid Chaunsa under two different commercial shipment conditions including ambient shipment (28 ± 2 °C; 60-65% RH; simulated for air freight) and refrigerated shipment (10 ± 1 °C; 80-85% RH; simulated for containerized shipments through sea-freight or land routes). The fruits were harvested at physiological maturity, de-sapped (0.5% lime; 2-3 min dip), precooled to 20 °C (forced-air cooling), transported (350 km) in a reefer van (at 20 ± 1 °C), and subjected to two HWQT protocols i.e. 48 °C for 60 min and 45 °C for 75 min in comparison with control. HWQTs were found to have significant impact on physiological aspects of the fruits with significantly more weight loss and higher rate of respiration as compared to control. The fruits subjected to 48 °C for 60 min had more weight loss and higher respiration rate as compared to those at 45 °C for 75 min. Water temperature was found more critical than the treatment duration in causing fruit weight loss. HWQT protocols did not have negative impact on physico-chemical fruit quality attributes under both shipment conditions. Based upon respiratory peak, 3 weeks storage at 10 ± 1 °C; 80-85% RH was found better along with 7 days post-shipment shelf life as it maintained better eating quality at retail. The turnout is expected to be much better at neighbouring export destinations (situated at less transition/transport periods); however, the inclusion of disease control strategies at pre and postharvest levels is indispensable for low temperature shipments.

Quinoa is gaining importance globally owing to its nutritional quality and its adaptability under variety of conditions. However, limited information is available on the impact of planting techniques on growth, morphology, and yield and biomass accumulation under irrigation conditions. To the date, no ideal planting technique (sowing method) has been reported for the flat irrigated land for better adjustment of quinoa in a crop rotation. To test the hypothesis, a two-year field study (2013–14 and 2014–15) was carried out at University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The experiment comprised of four planting technique bed sowing (BS), ridge sowing (RS), flat line sowing (FLS), and sowing in standing water (SSW) in main plots, and two quinoa accession (A7 and A9) in subplots. The results showed that BS method improved the morphological attributes viz. stem thickness, main panicle, main panicle, thousand grain weight, grain yield, and harvest index as compared to SSW. Regarding the quinoa accessions, A9 performed better than A7 for morphology, biomass, and yield. Panicle number per plant was positively correlated with harvest index and main panicle weight in 2013–14, while 1000-grain weight and harvest index had a stronger correlation during 2014–15. The average and maximum biomass production rate of A7 in BS plants were relatively higher than other sowing techniques either for A9 or A7. Our data suggest that the BS method is a relatively better planting technique and A9 quinoa accession is a suitable genotype to obtain a high targeted grain yield under irrigated conditions.

This article introduces the almost unbiased gamma ridge regression estimator (AUGRRE) estimator based on the gamma ridge regression estimator (GRRE). Furthermore, some shrinkage parameters are prop...

Multiple environmental stresses produce complex phenomena of aging in polymeric insulators. The main aim of this research is to investigate the improved aging characteristics of silica (SiO2)/alumina trihydrate (ATH) hybrid samples (HSs) in high-temperature vulcanized rubber. For this purpose, three HSs comprising 20% micro-ATH with 2% nano-SiO2 (S2), 4% nano-SiO2 (S4), 6% nano-SiO2 (S6) along with sample-virgin (SV) are subjected to long-term accelerated aging of 9000 h. A special aging chamber is fabricated for the aging process of samples. The aging characteristics of these samples are investigated by measuring leakage current (LC) and hydrophobicity classification (HC) after every weathering cycle. Similarly, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is performed to observe the important structural changes over the entire aging time. The dielectric strength of AC is also performed after every 1000 h of aging. Tracking and erosion resistance and mechanical properties are also investigated before and after aging. From the critical investigation, it is observed that HSs possess improved results in all the conducted tests. S2 has the lowest LC and HC values throughout the aging time. Similarly, S6 described the highest breakdown strength at the end of the accelerated aging. In the case of FTIR, it is analyzed that the important wave numbers remain intact for all the HSs in the accelerated aging environment. The loss percentage in the wave number for SV is higher, compared to the HSs. After performing the tracking and erosion resistance test, HSs have superior performance. For some of the mechanical properties, HSs showed improved values. Thus, from the experimental analysis, it is deducted that the sample S2 offers the highest resistance to the aging conditions, compared to the SV and other HSs.

The Inverse Gaussian Regression Model (IGRM) is used when the response variable is positively skewed and follows the inverse Gaussian distribution. In this article, we propose a Liu-type estimator ...

To investigate the water-deficit tolerance, 45 cotton genotypes were grown under normal irrigation and water-deficit conditions for 2 years. Genotype × treatment × year interaction was determined f...

Present study deals with fabrication of macromolecular prodrugs (MPDs) of flurbiprofen (FLB) with hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC). FLB was activated using p-toluenesulfonyl chloride and reacted with pre-dissolved HEC to yield HEC-FLB conjugates 1–3. Resultant prodrugs showed moderate to high degree of substitution (DS: 0.40–1.74) and assembled into nanoparticles of 220–550 nm at water/DMSO interface. Pharmacokinetic studies of HEC-FLB conjugate revealed a tmax of 4.0 h indicating delayed release of FLB while t1/2 of 10.63 h indicated sustained release characteristics of the conjugate in rabbit model. Pharmacological studies revealed that HEC-FLB conjugates had immunomodulatory potential as results showed 34 and 36% inhibition of Interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α, respectively. A 79% inhibition of paw edema indicated anti-inflammatory properties of the conjugates. Cell viability studies indicated safety of the conjugates to L929 cell lines up to 24 h in the range of 2–10 mM. Moreover, thermal analysis indicated greater stability of MPDs than FLB. Keywords: Hydroxyethylcellulose, Flurbiprofen, Prodrug, Immunomodulatory assay, Anti-inflammatory activity

Herein, we report on the evaluation of chemically modified hyrdroxyethylcellulose for its sorption efficacy to remove Cd(II) from spiked high-hardness ground water (GW) and distilled water (DW) solutions. Hyrdroxyethylcellulose was chemically modified using adipic anhydride in the presence of DMAP as a catalyst under homogeneous reaction conditions. Hyrdroxyethylcellulose adipate (HEC-Adip) obtained was then converted to its sodium salt as HEC-Adip-Na after treating with saturated solution of NaHCO3. Structures were thoroughly characterized using FTIR, SEM, EDS and solid-state CP/MAS 13C NMR. The surface charge of the sorbent was monitored by pHZPC (pH of zero point charge). The sorption data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic model. Maximum sorption capacity of Cd(II) was calculated to be 114.94 mg g−1 and 112.35 mg g−1 from DW and GW, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters, i.e., ΔH°, ΔS° and ΔG°, were also calculated and showed negative values indicating spontaneous and exothermic nature of sorption process. In addition, the synthesized sorbent is more suitable for repeated use because it shows negligible decrease in its sorption capacity for the uptake of Cd(II) from aqueous solution after five regeneration cycles. Keywords: Hydroxyethylcellulose, Sodium hydroxyethylcellulose adipate, Metal uptake, Cadmium, Kinetics

In this article, a novel antenna subset selection technique for enhancing the Physical Layer Randomness (PLR) of Antenna Subset Modulation (ASM) has been proposed. Hamming Distance Optimized Antenna Subset Selection (HD-OASS) minimizes the correlation between the antenna subsets at transmitter by maximizing the hamming distance between the successively used antenna subsets. Unlike previously proposed Randomized Antenna Subset Selection (RASS) and Side-Lobe Level Optimized Antenna Subset Selection (SLL-OASS), in which antenna subsets are randomly selected from the codebook, HD-OASS chooses the antenna subsets having optimally maximized hamming distance. It is shown that SLL-OASS has rather unfavorable effects on encryption strength due to considerable reduction of codebook size. Furthermore, HD-OASS has been shown to outperform RASS and SLL-OASS in terms of encryption strength in the unwanted directions of eavesdropper.

The present study was conducted for the taxonomic, morphometric and limnological assessment of the commercially important ichthyofauna of Sakhakot Stream, Malakand, Pakistan. The study area was divided into three sites along the water course namely Dargai Stream, Sakhakot Stream and Shergarh Stream. Fish samples were collected randomly during January to August 2017 with the help of fish gears. A taxonomic key was designed for the collected fish specimens. Ten fish species were identified belonging to 3 orders and 4 families. Family Cyprinidae was the dominant family with seven representative species while families Siluridae, Nemacheilidae and Mastacembelidae were represented by one species each. Lower mean total length and standard length was recorded in Puntius conchonius (Hamilton, 1822) as 9.2 ± 0.6 cm and 7.3 ± 0.6 cm respectively, while highest mean total length and standard length was recorded in Mastacembelus armatus (Lacepede, 1800) as 28.1 ± 1.7 cm and 15.9 ± 2.4 cm respectively. Mean pH of the water ranged from 6.1 at Shergarh Stream in August to 8.7 at Sakhakot Stream in January. Average temperature range was recorded from 10.9 °C in January at Dargai Stream to 18.7 °C in August at Shergarh Stream. No statistically significant difference was found for temperature (p = 0.96) and pH (p = 0.14) in the three water streams. The present study will provide a baseline for the rearing and enhancement of wild stock of the commercially important ichthyofauna in the field of aquaculture and fisheries. Resumo O presente estudo foi realizado para a avaliação taxonômica, morfométrica e limnológica da ictiofauna comercialmente importante do Riacho Sakhakot, Malakand, Paquistão. A área de estudo foi dividida em três locais ao longo do curso de água, nomeadamente Riacho Dargai, Riacho Sakhakot e Riacho Shergarh. As amostras de peixes foram coletadas aleatoriamente durante janeiro e agosto de 2017, com a ajuda de artes de peixes. Uma chave taxonômica foi projetada para os espécimes de peixes coletados. Foram identificadas dez espécies de peixes pertencentes a 3 ordens e 4 famílias. A família Cyprinidae foi a família dominante, com sete espécies representativas, enquanto as famílias Siluridae, Nemacheilidae e Mastacembelidae foram representadas por uma espécie cada. O comprimento total médio mais baixo e o comprimento padrão foram registrados em Puntius conchonius (Hamilton, 1822) como 9.2 ± 0.6 cm e 7.3 ± 0.6 cm, respectivamente, enquanto o comprimento total médio e o comprimento padrão mais altos foram registrados em Mastacembelus armatus (Lacepede, 1800) como 28.1 ± 1.7 cm e 15.9 ± 2.4 cm, respectivamente. O pH médio da água variou de 6.1 no Riacho Shergarh em agosto a 8.7 no Riacho Sakhakot em janeiro. A faixa de temperatura média foi registrada de 10.9 °C em janeiro no Riacho Dargai a 18.7 °C em agosto no Riacho Shergarh. Não foi encontrada diferença estatisticamente significativa para temperatura (p = 0,96) e pH (p = 0,14) nos três cursos de água. O presente estudo fornecerá uma linha de base para a criação e aprimoramento do estoque selvagem da ictiofauna comercialmente importante no campo da aquicultura e pesca.

Theory of Change (ToC) and Social Return of Investment (SROI) are planning tools that help projects craft strategic approaches in order to create the most impact. In 2018, the Management & Ecology of Malaysian Elephants (MEME) carried out planning exercises using these tools to develop an Asian elephant conservation project with agriculture communities. First, a problem tree was constructed together with stakeholders, with issues arranged along a cause-and-effect continuum. There were 17 main issues identified, ranging from habitat connectivity and fragmentation, to the lack of tolerance toward wild elephants. All issues ultimately stemmed from a human mindset that favors human-centric development. The stakeholders recognize the need to extend conservation efforts beyond protected areas and move toward coexistence with agriculture communities for the survival of the wild elephants. We mapped previous Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) management methods and other governmental policies in Malaysia against the problem tree, and provided an overview of the different groups of stakeholders. The ToC was developed and adapted for each entity, while including Asian elephants as a stakeholder in the project. From the SROI estimation, we extrapolated the intrinsic value of the wild Asian elephant population in Johor, Malaysia, to be conservatively worth at least MYR 7.3 million (USD 1.8 million) per year. From the overall calculations, the potential SROI value of the project is 18.96 within 5 years, meaning for every ringgit invested in the project, it generates MYR 18.96 (USD 4.74) worth of social return value. There are caveats with using these value estimations outside of the SROI context, which was thoroughly discussed. The SROI provides projects with the ability to justify to funders the social return values of its activities, which we have adapted to include the intrinsic value of an endangered megafauna. Moreover, SROI encourages projects to consider unintended impacts (i.e., replacement, displacement, and deadweight), and acknowledge contributions from stakeholders. The development of the problem tree and ToC via SROI approach, can help in clarifying priorities and encourage thinking out of the box. For this case study, we presented the thinking process, full framework and provided evidences to support the Theory of Change.

An energy efficient nanoplasmonic metascreen is tailored to support near perfect absorption of sunlight around visible frequency range. To efficiently tap sunlight source, the metascreen is designed to perfectly absorb a spectrally dense region of solar spectrum. The absorption efficiency depends upon the choice of plasmonic material and optical thickness of the dielectric substrate between the metascreen and ground reflector. Alternative plasmonic materials including copper and aluminum are evaluated for their absorption characteristics, and their performance is compared to that of conventional gold and silver. Intrinsic surface plasmon resonance damping in copper-based metascreen platform is ideally suited to absorb an overall 72% of solar spectral irradiance between 400 and 1800 nm wavelength. The proposed polarization independent metascreen absorber can efficiently trap light to improve overall efficiency of solar cell.

This study assesses the performance of two-parameter estimation methods to combat multicollinearity in the Gamma regression model. We derived optimal values for two-parameter estimation methods in the Gamma regression model. Furthermore, we proposed some estimation methods to estimate the shrinkage parameters and these methods improve the efficiency of the two-parameter estimator. We compare the performance of these estimators by means of Monte Carlo simulation study where the mean squared error (MSE) is considered as a performance criterion. Finally, consider a reaction rate data to evaluate the performance of the estimators. The simulation and numerical example results showed that the two-parameter biased estimators have smaller MSE than the maximum likelihood estimator under certain conditions.

In this article, we have deigned a new mechanism for the construction of confusion component which is one of the most important and integral part of any confidential scheme in secure communication. The privacy of digital information is one of the most vital issues of the digitally advanced world. The proposed nonlinear component which is usually termed as substitution box (S-box) is constructed by utilizing quantum map. Moreover, we have performed the robust analysis for our anticipated nonlinear component and compared it with already existing standards.

Aim: The study compared performance of nanoparticles prepared from synthetic organic, natural organic and inorganic materials as vaccine delivery platforms. Materials & methods: Various formulation (concentration, polymer/silica:surfactant ratio, solvent) and process parameters (homogenization speed and time, ultrasonication) affecting functional performance characteristics of poly(lactic- co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), chitosan and silica-based nanoparticles containing bovine serum albumin were investigated. Nanoparticles were characterized using dynamic light scattering, x-ray diffraction, scanning/transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and in vitro protein release. Results: Critical formulation parameters were surfactant concentration (PLGA, silica) and polymer concentration (chitosan). Optimized nanoparticles were spherical in shape with narrow size distribution and size ranges of 100–300 nm (blank) and 150–400 nm (protein loaded). Protein encapsulation efficiency was 26–75% and released within 48 h in a sustained manner. Conclusion: Critical formulation and process parameters affected size of PLGA, chitosan and silica nanoparticles and protein encapsulation, while silica produced the smallest and most stable nanoparticles.

Lipid extraction from microalgal biomass faces some challenges such as the selection of a suitable biomass type and its quality, lipid yield (LY), and process energy consumption. This study aimed to develop optimized processing conditions using response surface methodology, for the ultrasonic extraction (UE) of lipids from wet and dried marine Chlorella sp. Integrated process approaches with different extraction and solvent recovery steps were developed for the evaluation of the lipid recovery and process energy consumption. The effects of other processing factors, such as the biomass-to-solvent ratio, solvent type, and solvent-to-solvent ratio were investigated. The biomass and lipids extracted were characterized by scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) analysis, respectively. With a single extraction and single-solvent recovery (1-1 cycle) process, the LYs from fresh and stored paste were 11.7% and 6%, respectively, while freeze-dried biomass produced an 18.5% LY. The energy consumption was 6000 MJ/kg lipid for the wet route and 8200 MJ/kg lipid for the dry route in the 1-1-cycle process. Dried biomass was selected for further investigation due to its longer storage-period capability and higher LY. The LY of the 2-1-cycle process using methanol/hexane (2/1 v/v) with a biomass-to-solvent ratio of 1/20 g/mL was 31% and was considered as a base case scenario of this study, which is 40.3% and 9.7% greater than those of the 1-1 cycle and 2-2 cycle, respectively. The lipids obtained from the 2-1 cycle at the optimum condition were mainly saturated fatty acids which are suitable for a biodiesel feedstock.

Cotton plant observes significant reduction in seed cotton yield when subjected to water stress. To find out genotypes having better drought tolerance, seven genotypes of Gossypium hirsutum L. were tested under two moisture levels, i.e., normal and water deficit stress conditions at five locations of Punjab, Pakistan (Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Vehari, Rahim Yar Khan, and Bahawalpur) in 2013 and 2014. Genotype×environment interaction (GEI) was studied using the genotype main effects and genotype by environment interaction (GGE) biplot and additive main effect and multiplicative interaction analysis. The genotypes G3 (7001/11) and G6 (FH-942) were stable under normal condition, while under drought condition, the stable genotype was G5 (FH-326) when analysed using additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) biplot scheme. While GGE biplot analysis on the basis of best performance revealed that under normal condition the genotypes, G1 (L-13/10) and G2 (FH-2056/10), carrying the common position in biplot. Whereas, under water deficit stress condition, G5 was the best adaptive genotype at all five locations. In the same way, ranking of genotypes showed that the G5 was the ideal genotype under both conditions. So, it is concluded that the genotype G5 (FH-326) was found best for water deficit stress condition and can be cultivated under water scarce areas of Punjab.

Mercury is a widespread aquatic pollutant that adversely affects the reproductive system of male fish. Although the effects of mercuric chloride (HgCl2) on the testicular structure, the sperm count and altered sperm morphology of fish have been investigated, the effects on sperm quality and fertilization are unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of HgCl2 exposure in different concentrations (0; 0.5; 1; 2.5; 5 ppm) on sperm parameters and fertility of male Cyprinus carpio. Sperm quality parameters, including mass and individual time of sperm motility (s), and viability (%) were measured using digital inverted microscopy. The fertilization (%) was measured by counting the number of fertilized eggs. Integrity or DNA fragmentation (%) was measured by Acridine orange test (AOT) using fluorescence microscopy. The change of sperm membrane surface was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the in vitro exposure of mercury could significantly decrease some parameters of fish sperm qualities, i.e. decreased the time for mass and individual motility, viability, DNA fragmentation, and fertilization ability (P

Homobimetallic organotin(IV) carboxylates dithiocarboxylates, Ph2SnLCS2Sn(Cl)Ph2 (1) and Ph3SnHLCS2SnPh3 (2) were synthesized by a room temperature reaction of l-lysine monohydrate (H2LH) with potassium hydroxide, carbon disulfide and Ph3SnCl/Ph2SnCl2 in methanol. Heterotrinuclear complexes (Bu2SnLCS2)2Pd (3) and (Bu2SnLCS2)2Pd (4) were also synthesized by a reaction of H2LH with KOH, CS2 and PdCl2(aq) in methanol followed by the treatment with n-Bu2SnCl2/Ph2SnCl2. The products were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, multinuclear NMR (1H, 13C and 119Sn) and electron ionization mass spectroscopy (EIMS). The elemental analysis and mass spectrometry verified the molecular composition and structures of complexes. FT-IR spectroscopy demonstrated monodentate binding behavior of the carboxylate group and chelating mode of the dithiocarbamate moiety. The diorganotin(IV) derivatives 1, 3 and 4 convert their solid-state tetra-coordinated structures into trigonal bipyramidal arrangements in solution. However, triphenyltin(IV) derivative 2 exhibited penta-coordinated environment around Sn(IV) in the solid-state and tetrahedral configuration in the solution form. A square planar environment around Pd(II) was exhibited in the solid state. The investigated products displayed antibacterial/antifungal potential, and their minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) values were also demonstrated. The nature of the coordinated metals (Sn + Sn or Sn + Pd) and the substitution pattern at tin play a major role in biological actions of these products. The heterometallic (Pd, Sn) products possessed more potential against fungi than bacteria. The heterobimetallic dibutyltin(IV) complex 3 has shown the lowest hemolytic activity (10.76%), while its phenyltin(IV) counterpart 4 possessed the highest cytotoxicity (50.11%).

This article introduces some Liu parameters in the linear regression model based on the work of Shukur, Mansson, and Sjolander. These methods of estimating the Liu parameter d increase the efficien...