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Aims: To study and estimate the forest cover loss and gain across the 13 districts of Uttarakhand. Place and Duration of Study: Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, between September 2021 and December 2021. Methodology: We extracted forest cover time-series data from the year 2001 to the year 2020 from Hensen Global Forest Change Dataset. This data was then mapped to the shapefile created in ARC-GIS containing all 13 districts as a Feature Collection, which was then used to individually classify each region and to estimate the size of the loss of tree cover precisely over the district boundary. Results: Our study shows forest loss of about (21,05,71,646 square meters) and forest gain of (6,00,79,072 square meters) cumulatively in all the districts of Uttarakhand from the year 2001 to 2020 at a spatial resolution of 30 meters where trees were identified as canopies greater than 5 meters in height. Conclusion: Among the districts of Uttarakhand Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, and Champawat alone contribute to the total tree cover loss area of 15061.7513801 ha. which is about 71.5 % of Uttarakhand’s total tree cover loss. These regions require monitoring and controlling deforestation and more detailed studies like this are required to analyze and prevent the causes of such great-scale deforestation. Analyzing districts apart from those mentioned above, it is observed that the amount of tree cover loss is greater than the reforestation.

Seeds are essential for human civilization, so understanding the molecular events underpinning seed development and the zygotic embryo it contains is important. In addition, the approach of somatic embryogenesis is a critical propagation and regeneration strategy to increase desirable genotypes, to develop new genetically modified plants to meet agricultural challenges, and at a basic science level, to test gene function. We briefly review some of the transcription factors (TFs) involved in establishing primary and apical meristems during zygotic embryogenesis, as well as TFs necessary and/or sufficient to drive somatic embryo programs. We focus on the model plant Arabidopsis for which many tools are available, and review as well as speculate about comparisons and contrasts between zygotic and somatic embryo processes.

AGAMOUS-like 15 (AGL15) is a member of the MADS-domain transcription factor (TF) family. MADS proteins are named for a conserved domain that was originally from an acronym derived from genes expressed in a variety of eukaryotes (MCM1-AGAMOUS-DEFICIENS-SERUM RESPONSE FACTOR). In plants, this family has expanded greatly, with more than one-hundred members generally found in dicots, and the proteins encoded by these genes have often been associated with developmental identity. AGL15 transcript and protein accumulate primarily in embryos and has been found to promote an important process called plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis (SE). To understand how this TF performs this function, we have previously used microarray technologies to assess direct and indirect responsive targets of this TF. We have now revisited this question using next generation sequencing (NGS) to both characterize in vivo binding sites for AGL15 as well as response to the accumulation of AGL15. We compared these data to the prior microarray results to evaluate the different platforms. The new NGS data brought to light an interaction with brassinosteroid (BR) hormone signaling that was “missed” in prior Gene Ontology analysis from the microarray studies.

AGAMOUS-Like 18 (AGL18) is a MADS domain transcription factor (TF) that is structurally related to AGL15. Here we show that, like AGL15, AGL18 can promote somatic embryogenesis (SE) when ectopically expressed in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Based on loss-of-function mutants, AGL15 and AGL18 have redundant functions in developmental processes such as SE. To understand the nature of this redundancy, we undertook a number of studies to look at the interaction between these factors. We studied the genome-wide direct targets of AGL18 to characterize its roles at the molecular level using chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-SEQ combined with RNA-SEQ. The results demonstrated that AGL18 binds to thousands of sites in the genome. Comparison of ChIP-SEQ data for AGL15 and AGL18 revealed substantial numbers of genes bound by both AGL15 and AGL18, but there were also differences. Gene ontology analysis revealed that target genes were enriched for seed, embryo, and reproductive development as well as hormone and stress responses. The results also demonstrated that AGL15 and AGL18 interact in a complex regulatory loop, where AGL15 inhibited transcript accumulation of AGL18, while AGL18 increased AGL15 transcript accumulation. Co-immunoprecipitation revealed an interaction between AGL18 and AGL15 in somatic embryo tissue. The binding and expression analyses revealed a complex crosstalk and interactions among embryo TFs and their target genes. In addition, our study also revealed that phosphorylation of AGL18 and AGL15 was crucial for the promotion of SE.

Background Lignocaine with adrenaline is routinely used as a local anesthetic for dental procedures. Adrenaline was added to increase the duration of anesthesia. However, epinephrine containing a local anesthetic solution is not recommended in conditions such as advanced cardiovascular diseases and hyperthyroidism. Recently, ropivacaine has gained popularity as a long-acting anesthetic with superior outcomes. The goal of this study was to assess and compare the effectiveness of 0.75% ropivacaine alone and 2% lignocaine with adrenaline (1:80,000) in the removal of bilateral maxillary wisdom teeth using the posterior superior alveolar nerve block technique. Methods This was a single-blind, randomized, split-mouth, prospective study assessing 15 systemically sound outpatients who needed bilateral removal of maxillary third molars. We randomly allocated the sides and sequences of ropivacaine and lignocaine with adrenaline administration. We evaluated the efficacy of both anesthetics with regard to the onset of anesthesia, intensity of pain, variation in heart rate, and blood pressure. Results The onset of anesthesia was faster with lignocaine (138 s) than with ropivacaine (168 s), with insignificant differences (p = 0.001). There was no need for additional local anesthetics in the ropivacaine group, while in the lignocaine with adrenaline group, 2 (13.3%) patients required additional anesthesia. Adequate intraoperative anesthesia was provided by ropivacaine and lignocaine solutions. No significant difference was observed in the perioperative variation in blood pressure and heart rate. Conclusion Ropivacaine (0.75%) is a safe and an adrenaline-free local anesthetic option for posterior superior alveolar nerve block, which provides adequate intraoperative anesthesia and a stable hemodynamic profile for the removal of the maxillary third molar.

With growing populations and pressing environmental problems, future economies will be increasingly plant-based. Now is the time to reimagine plant science as a critical component of fundamental science, agriculture, environmental stewardship, energy, technology and healthcare. This effort requires a conceptual and technological framework to identify and map all cell types, and to comprehensively annotate the localization and organization of molecules at cellular and tissue levels. This framework, called the Plant Cell Atlas (PCA), will be critical for understanding and engineering plant development, physiology and environmental responses. A workshop was convened to discuss the purpose and utility of such an initiative, resulting in a roadmap that acknowledges the current knowledge gaps and technical challenges, and underscores how the PCA initiative can help to overcome them., National Science Foundation 1916797 David W Ehrhardt, Kenneth D Birnbaum, Seung Yon Rhee; National Science Foundation 2052590 Seung Yon Rhee

This chapter explores and explains some of these apparent dualities by paying close attention to middle-class formation in one of the more important cities of colonial India — Lucknow. It suggests, the comparative approach itself can be quite valuable, even if it hasn’t always been used to good effect. The chapter attempts to use comparisons to suggest that a truly comparative history of the middle classes in the West and the non-Western parts of the world can in fact help us better understand the contradictions that are an inherent part of middle-class formation across the world. Much of the contemporary discussion on the Indian middle class continues to be inhibited by comparisons with an ideal-type of the category, derived ultimately from rather simplistic readings of European history. A close investigation of the construction of an Indian middle class in a local milieu reveals multiple, often contradictory, pressures constituting middle-class politics in colonial India.

The paper discusses various approaches to merge PMU measurements with RTU measurements for process of state estimation. Due to higher installation and communication cost few PMUs are available in power system grid. It creates need to merge RTU and PMU measurements for the process of state estimation which form Hybrid State Estiamtion. In this paper, process of hybrid state estimation in two stages has been implemented using various approaches. Mathematical formulation of hybrid state estimation for each approach has been presented. Merging of polar and rectangular coordinates of PMU measurements in the process of state estimation has been discussed. The performance of state estimators with all presented approaches has been compared in view of mean square error of voltage magnitude and phase angle. Effectiveness of all the presented approaches has been demonstrated on IEEE 14 and IEEE 118 bus network.

The ongoing corona pandemic has created unparalleled fear in the minds of mankind. Humanity, all over the world, is trying, praying and playing its role in containing the Pandemic faced by the World. These are unusual , uncertain times, we never had imagined . The dental professionals have always been exposed to various life threatening diseases like HIV, Hepatitis B, Tuberculosis, to name only a few. This new Covid 19 virus varies from all the above-mentioned infections that we know by having a very high human to human transmission rate and relatively long incubation period. And, I strongly believe that we are much better prepared to deal with this situation than many of our other colleagues in the field of healthcare.

Background: With the onset of a second decade of opioid use creating devastating outcomes in the United States, there is value in studying the prevalence of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in pregnant women, a group critical to this outbreak. We used Medicaid claims 2014-2019, to analyze the medical, social and economic aspects of OUD in pregnant women and their babies. Objectives: The research aims to study the impact of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) in Medicaid-enrolled pregnant women and model the vertical perinatal effect of OUD, known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), to the newborn baby. We also attempt to understand the effects of state legislation on doctor shopping and the role of prescribers in fraudulent solicitation of opioids. Methods: The research uses multivariate logistic regression to create a predictive model for high-risk pregnant women based on their claims history. Doctor shopping trends pre- and post-legislation are analyzed using regression discontinuity and graph analysis of the co-prescription network of physicians. Finally, OUD and NAS are modeled together as a probabilistic Bayesian belief network to simulate the cost of interventions, namely MAT enrollment, pharmacotherapy and dyad rooming-in. Results: Pregnant women who may have NAS offsprings are likely to have a history of nicotine addiction, alcohol use, dependence on pain medication and mental health diagnoses in the years leading up to pregnancy. State legislation is found to reduce prescription opioid shopping over the years, though the research highlights the need for policies to target complicit prescribers in addition to prescription monitoring. Finally, the compartment model calculates an incidence of 19-22% for downstream neurological delay in babies born to high-risk mothers. Lower delay rates are found to be associated with high MAT enrollment in the mother, high rooming-in of mother-infant dyad and low rate of pharmacotherapy in infants.

This paper describes an automated method to test the Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) life-cycle of an Automotive Electronic Control Unit (ECU) using the VT System as hardware in loop and accessing it using the CAN Access Programming Language (CAPL). Faults will be inserted as per the output load specifications using the inputs and outputs of the VT System to create various test scenarios. Interfaces that connect hardware parts in the testing configuration, also enable the data exchange and communication between the isolated software of VT System and ECU. This configuration has been simulated in CANoe software implementing most of the real time constraints and adding functionalities to make the testing framework more efficient. The self-generated test report provides an overview of the passing or failure status of the testing performed with the triggered DTCs.

Deep-water reservoirs have high formation pressure, and the fracture pressure is very close to formation pressure. During cementation, pressure has to be balanced within a small range. So, cementing a long section of casing becomes difficult. To increase economic benefit of the project, it is imperative that cementation is carried out in the least possible time, i.e. with least setting time and lower weight of cementation wherever applicable. Keeping these in mind, efforts were made to increase the mechanical properties of the cement by using nanocellulose. Experiments have shown that considerable improvement in cement properties was achieved.

Background: Blood pressure (BP) measurement is routinely done and often, the values obtained from the left and right arms of patients differ. Difference between left and right arm BP relates to delayed diagnosis of hypertension. Failure of considering higher value for diagnosis results in the delayed institution of treatment. Aim and Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the correlation of interarm difference (IAD) of BP with anthropometric parameters and mean arterial BP and its association with family history. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 300 healthy subjects in the age group of 18–60 years after approval of the ethical committee. Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and BP were measured after written informed consent. Results: Data were analyzed using Pearson’s coefficient of correlation analysis and Chi-square test. About 51.91% of people showed large IAD (≥10 mmHg) with 38.03% of systolic IAD (SIAD) and 13.88 % of diastolic IAD (DIAD) χ2 = 39.892 with 3 degrees of freedom; P = 0.000). SIAD showed significant and positive correlation with weight (r = 0.205**; P = 0.000), BMI (r = 0.184**; P = 0.001), WC (r = 0.127*; P = 0.03), and left arm mean (LAM) arterial pressure (r = 0.278**; P = 0.000). On the other hand, DIAD showed significant and positive correlation only with LAM (r = 0.181**; P = 0.002) and right arm mean arterial pressure (r = 0.244**; P = 0.000). Conclusion: Positive correlation of increased IAD in BP with adverse values of anthropometric parameters and mean arterial pressure was confirmed.

Through the historicization of one episode, this essay addresses a variety of questions related to class, caste, gender, religion, and social life as well as cultural attitudes in Kumaon between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The politics of naming—who among the Christian converts of Almora changed their names and who retained their pre-conversion names—is central to this essay. Behind each name retained or changed was a story. The essay juxtaposes many different stories drawn from a variety of sources—missionary records, nationalist sources, fiction, and families' own archives. Rather than place these stories into the better-known master narratives of colonialism and nationalism or even of religion and conversion, this essay tries to highlight issues that are much more local and contextual yet resonate with concerns of other people and places. Through historicizing the local and the everyday, I argue for not conflating the ordinary and the mundane with the trivial or the unimportant. Touching on themes common to different parts of Asia, this essay highlights local histories of a region often neglected in the history of the subcontinent.

HyperSpectral Imagers (HySI) are used in the spacecraft or aircrafts to get minute characteristics of target element through capturing image in a large number of narrow and contiguous bands. HySI data represented as data cube with two dimensions representing spatial distribution and third dimension providing band information is huge in volume and challenging task to handle. Hence onboard compression becomes a necessary for optimal usage of onboard storage and downlink bandwidth. CCSDS recommended 123.0-B-1 standard(2) has been released with onboard compression scheme of hyperspectral data. The scheme is based on Fast Lossless algorithm and consists of two main functional blocks namely Predictor and Encoder. Predictor algorithm can be implemented in two modes ‗Full Neighborhood Oriented' and ‗Reduced Column Oriented'. Encoder algorithm also defines two options ‗sample-adaptive' and ‗block-adaptive'. We have developed a MATLAB based model implementing the compression scheme with all options defined by the standard. Decompression model is also developed for getting back actual data and end to end verification. Four sets of HySI data (AVIRIS, Hyperion, Chandrayan-1 and FTIS) have been applied as input to the developed model for evaluation of the model. Compression ratio achieved is between 2 to 3 and lossless compression is ensured for each set of data as Mean Square Error (MSE) is zero for all hyperspectral images. Also visual reconstruction of decompressed data matches with original ones. In this paper we have discussed algorithm implementation methodology and results.

The category “middle class” can refer to quite different social entities. In the United States, it is often used as a synonym for “ordinary folk.” In the United Kingdom it references an elite with economic and social privileges. In India, “the middle class” acquired its own valence through a history that encompasses colonialism, nationalism, and desire for upward social mobility. At one level the Indian middle class was evidently derivative. Indians who wished to emulate the achievements and standing of the British middle class adopted the category, “middle class” as a self-descriptor. Yet the Indian middle class was hardly a modular replica of a metropolitan “original.” The context of colonialism, indigenous hierarchies, and various local histories shaped the nature of the Indian middle class as much as any colonial model. Composed of people—often salaried professionals—who were reasonably well off but not among India’s richest, being middle class in colonial India was less a direct product of social and economic standing and more the result of endeavors of cultural and political entrepreneurship. These efforts gave the middle class its shape and its aspirations to cultural and political hegemony. The same history, in turn, shaped a variety of discourses about the nature of society, politics, culture, and morality in both colonial and post-independent India. Contradictions were inherent in the constitution of the middle class in colonial India, and continue to be apparent today. These contradictions become even more evident as newer, formerly subaltern social groups, seek to participate in a world created through middle class imaginations of society, culture, politics and economics.

Pathogenic bacteria develop antibiotic-resistance at a pace much faster than the pace at which new antimicrobials can be discovered and introduced into the market. The process of new drug development demands identification of novel targets in the pathogenic population. Conventional antibiotics have largely targeted bacterial cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis, or nucleic acid synthesis. However in recent years, quorum sensing (QS) machinery of the pathogenic bacteria has received considerable attention as potential target of novel anti-infective agents.

This article examines selected high school textbooks from India and Pakistan to see how they craft two different histories out of a shared past. Central to this endeavour, the article suggests, is ...