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Objective: To determine the effect of Cochlear Implants on electrophysiological and behavioural response in children with hearing impairment at frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of ENT, Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jul 2021 to Jul 2022. Methodology: Seventy children with hearing impairment aged 2-12 years of either gender, who had undergone cochlear implantation were part of the study. Language and hearing conditions were examined during the audiological assessment of candidates for cochlear implantation. At ER-tone 5A and TDH-39 using ISO 389-2 and 389-1 calibrations, warble tones given at different frequencies were used to derive behavioral air conduction thresholds. The Auditory Steady State Response test began with a carrier frequency of 500 Hz and advanced to frequencies of 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. Thresholds were set using a 10 dB down and 5 dB up procedure until no responses could be captured. Behavioral and Auditory Steady State Response responses were noted in all patients. Results: Mean age of the patients was 6.66±2.74 years. Behavioral threshold>110 dB HL were obtained in 8(11.4%) subjects, 10(14.3%) had behavioral thresholds from 100 to 110 dB HL, and 52(74.3%) had 110 dB HL (15.7%), 31(44%) achieved 100 to 110 dB HL and 28(40%) achieved

The ongoing expansion of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is enabling the possibility of effective Industry 4.0, where massive sensing devices in heterogeneous environments are connected through dedicated communication protocols. This brings forth new methods and models to fuse the information yielded by the various industrial plant elements and generates emerging security challenges that we have to face, providing ad-hoc functions for scheduling and guaranteeing the network operations. Recently, the large development of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies have made feasible the design and control of scalable and secure IIoT networks. This paper studies how AI and SDN technologies combined can be leveraged towards improving the security and functionality of these IIoT networks. After surveying the state-of-the-art research efforts in the subject, the paper introduces a candidate architecture for AI-enabled Software-Defined IIoT Network (AI-SDIN) that divides the traditional industrial networks into three functional layers. And with this aim in mind, key technologies (Blockchain-based Data Sharing, Intelligent Wireless Data Sensing, Edge Intelligence, Time-Sensitive Networks, Integrating SDN&TSN, Distributed AI) and improve applications based on AI-SDIN are also discussed. Further, the paper also highlights new opportunities and potential research challenges in control and automation of IIoT networks.

Objective: To assess the effect of cochlear implants on quality of life in the children. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: CMH, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jul 2021 to Feb 2022. Methodology: Forty-five children, aged 2-5 years, of either gender having cochlear implantation already and came for followup were included in the study. Children with Cochlear Implants: Parental Perspectives (CCIPP) questionnaire were used for data collection. Results: Among 45 cases, mean age was 4.29±0.73 years. We found that the improvement in communication with the known people was 51.1%, and before cochlear implantation, the effectiveness of hearing aids was slightly low (26.7%). Social relations received the highest ratings (mean=3.33, SD=1.36), followed by Well-being (mean=3.22, SD=1.36) and effects of implantation (mean=2.89, SD=0.95). Of 45 children, 60% of parents were satisfied with the improvement in communication, 66.7% for general functionality and autonomy, 71.1% for well-being and happiness, 77.8% for social relations, 73.3% for education and 71.1% for effects of implantation. A strong correlation was found between function in general and self-confidence of the child (r=0.761, p=0.001), self-confidence and education of the child (r=0.720, p=0.001) and function in general of the child and effect of implantation (r=0.725, p=0.001). Conclusion: The Cochlear implantation was effective for children in hearing, language understanding, self-reliance and educational conditions.

Lemon is a prominent citrus fruit that supports regional economies worldwide. Several agronomic and fruit quality attributes are affected by the rootstock selection, thus its selection is essential for a successful grove. This study aims to compare the agronomic and quality attributes of four lemon cultivars (‘Mikrokarpo Messaras’, ‘Nouvel Athos’, ‘Femminello Commune,’ and ‘Zia gara Bianca’) grafted onto three rootstocks (‘Sour Orange’, ‘Yuma Ponderosa lemon’, and ‘Volkameriana’). The yield and rootstock/scion ratio were estimated along with fruit morphological characteristics (size, equatorial, and polar diameter). Internal fruit quality was also estimated (total soluble solids, total acidity, juiciness, ascorbic acid, total phenols, and total antioxidant activity). ‘Volkameriana’ rootstock stood out among the studied rootstocks, as all grafted lemon varieties increased their productivity. Its combination with the Italian cultivar ‘Femminello Commune’ exhibited enhanced tree vigor and tree yield. For all studied cultivars, the use of ‘Volkameriana’ or ‘Yuma Ponderosa lemon’ rootstocks decreased the total soluble content and total acidity, increased the ascorbic acid content, and did not influence the TSS/TA ratio, total phenols or total antioxidant activity. In conclusion, the vigorous ‘Volkameriana’ and ‘Yuma Ponderosa lemon’ rootstocks are a promising replacement for ‘sour orange’. This research provides valuable insights into the potential use of ‘Yuma Ponderosa lemon’ as a rootstock for lemons, as existing literature is rather limited.

Background: Phalsa (Grewia subinequalis L.) is a commercial and nutritionally important berry fruit. It is cultivated in Pakistan as a minor fruit crop without any variety characterization. Therefore, the objective of to assess genetic diversity through ISSR markers and morphological features of wild phalsa genotypes collected from different parts of Punjab, Pakistan. Methods: Morphological characteristics such as plant height, stem circumference, growth habit, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, leaf color and leaf apex shape showed high variation among genotypes. Results: Among the twenty inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) primers, UBC-812 exhibited the highest PIC values of (0.485) and Dj (0.389) compared to other primers, which considered it better for the identification of phalsa genotypes and prediction of diversity. Moreover, the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean cluster analysis divided the sampled genotypes into five clusters (clusters A-E) based on morphological analysis, while molecular data divided the genotypes into eight clusters (clusters A-H). Conclusion: This study confirmed the high diversity in wild populations especially 'O1P2” and “O7P3” genotypes, with both DNA-based and morphological descriptors that depict their potential use for future phalsa breeding programs.

Cotton is a precious commodity that offers raw material to the textile industry. This crop is grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Abiotic stresses exerts negative impact on cotton production, but water scarcity has the worst impact. It is rising due to current situation, in which global warming is producing a decrease in precipitation while an increase in evapo-transpiration is causing an agricultural drought. Thus, it is a difficult task for cotton breeders to identify cotton lines that can respond to areas with limited water supplies without lowering yields and might be utilized as suitable parents in a breeding program to produce drought-tolerant indices. The primary objective of this research was the estimation of drought tolerance indices in upland cotton under water deficit conditions. For this purpose, fifty accessions of upland cotton were assessed for their ability to tolerate the water stress under three conditions, namely control, 50% FC, and 75% FC. These genotypes showed significant variations based on morpho-physiological and biochemical characteristics. At control conditions, these genotypes exhibited enhanced growth and better performance. Whereas, the behavior of some indices under 75% FC showed less growth as compared to control, while under the 50% FC highly significant reductions were observed among genotypes. The genotypes that are resistant to drought and those that are susceptible were found using the K-means cluster and biplot analysis. In terms of performance, the genotypes namely Cyto-515, CIM-595, FH-142, and IR-3701 exhibited relatively better in all the treatments and low excised leaf water loss, high relative water contents, chlorophyll contents, free proline contents, and peroxidase activity were observed to be useful selection criteria for drought resistance. These identified genotypes namely, Cyto-515, CIM-595, FH-142, and IR-3701 may be grown in water deficit areas of the country to assess their potential, could be used in breeding programs for development of germplasm suitable for water stress conditions.

The intrinsic and extrinsic traits of citrus fruits change throughout their developmental process, and, therefore, to ensure the highest quality, fruit must be harvested at an appropriate stage of maturity. In a 2-year study, mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) cultivars (Kinnow and Feutrell’s Early) grafted on rough lemon (C. jambheri Lush) rootstock were selected to analyze the effect of harvest time on their physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant potential in two consecutive growing seasons in the Multan region of South Pakistan, which has a subtropical climate. Fruits were harvested from commercial citrus groves at intervals of one month (from September to February). The results showed that different maturity stages/harvesting dates have a significant effect on the fruit quality and yield characteristics of mandarin cultivars. An increase in fruit weight, juice content, total soluble solids, ripening index, juice pH, and total sugar content was observed with the advancement of fruit maturity, while juice acidity, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, and vitamin C content had a decreasing trend towards fruit maturity. Overall, both cultivars showed similar profiles to the change in fruit quality traits during growth and development, but their amounts showed great variation. Based on the comprehensive consideration, Kinnow attained the maximum fruit quality and yield values from mid-January to February, whilst Feutrell’s Early attained the maximum values of these parameters from mid-December to mid-January, attributing to higher consumer acceptability. This study demonstrated that harvest time plays a key role in controlling the fruit quality and yield of mandarin cultivars. In practice, harvest time should be highly considered for the fresh and processed citrus market and industry.

The increasing demand of routing in the field of communication is the most important subject in ad hoc networks now a days. Flying Ad Hoc Network (FANET) is one of the emerging areas that evolved from Mobile Ad Hoc Networks. Selecting the best optimal path in any network is a real challenge for a routing protocol. Because the network performance like throughput, Quality of Service (QoS), user experience, response time and other key parameters depend upon the efficiency of the algorithm running inside the routing protocol. The complexity and diversity of the problem is augmented due to dynamic spatial and temporal mobility of FANET nodes. Due to these challenges the performance and efficiency of the routing protocol becomes very critical. This paper presents a novel routing protocol for FANET using modified AntHocNet. Ant colony optimization technique or metaheuristics in general has shown better dependability and performance as compared to other legacy best path selection techniques. Energy stabilizing parameter introduced in this study improves energy efficiency and overall network performance. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol is better than generic Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and other traditional routing protocols utilized in FANET.

Citriculture and the postharvest industry are in the quest for biostimulants that favour fruit quality and extend shelf-life. Recently, Si has emerged as a biostimulant and its impact on fruit quality and postharvest shelf-life needs to be elucidated. The experiment is conducted for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) in a commercial citrus orchard. In the present study, a Si–Ca-based product (Gravital® Force SC, AGROLOGY SA, Sindos, Greece) is foliar sprayed upon clementine mandarin (Citrus clementina Hort. Ex Tan cv. SRA 63) trees from August to November, while unsprayed trees are kept as controls. At commercial maturity, both sprayed and unsprayed fruits are harvested and stored for thirty (30) days at 5 °C with 90–95% relative humidity. Afterwards, they are kept at shelf temperature (20 °C) for six (6) days (shelf-life). At different intervals [at harvest, after cold storage (30 d at 5 °C), at the third day of shelf-life (30 d at 5 °C plus 3 d at 20 °C) and sixth day of shelf-life (30 d at 5 °C plus 6 d at 20 °C)], fruits are sampled and analysed for their qualitative characteristics. According to the results, the preharvest foliar application of the Si–Ca-based product delayed fruit maturation, increased peel firmness, total soluble content, total acidity, ascorbic acid, total phenols and antioxidant capacity, and reduced fruit decay during shelf storage. Results suggest that the preharvest foliar spray of Si–Ca products is able to maintain the postharvest quality of mid-ripening mandarin fruit.

The present study investigates the influence of on-tree fruit bagging on the quality and shelf life of mango (Mangifera indica L. cv. ‘Samar Bahisht Chaunsa’) during cold storage (12 °C ± 1; 85–90% RH) for 0, 10 and 20 days (d) and subsequent shelf storage under ambient conditions (25 °C ± 1; 60–65% RH). Fruits were covered with brown paper bags at the marble stage and then harvested at commercial maturity. Results showed that 0 d and 10 d cold-stored fruits, irrespective of bagging treatments, retained eatable quality and shelf-life up to 7 d and 5 d during ambient storage, respectively. However, bagged fruits had better postharvest performance compared with non-bagged fruits by exhibiting slower weight loss, higher fruit firmness, more total soluble solids, vitamin C and total phenolic content and higher activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase during cold storage and ambient shelf storage. On the other hand, 20 d cold-stored fruits, both bagged and non-bagged, were decayed when kept under ambient conditions. It is proposed that mango fruit bagging could be a potential cultural practice to preserve postharvest quality up to 10 d of cold storage, followed by 5 d under ambient conditions.

Biological remediation serves as a powerful technique for addressing heavy metals toxicity in metals-contaminated soils. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of lead (Pb)-resistant rhizobacterial strains on growth, photosynthetic traits, and antioxidant activities of the Arabidopsis plant under lead toxicity in pot conditions. Two pre-isolated and pre-characterized Pb-resistant Morganella morganii (ABT3) and Morganella morganii (ABT9) strains were used for inoculating Arabidopsis plants grown under varying Pb concentrations (1.5 mM and 2.5 mM) using PbNO3 as the lead source. The treatments were set up in a completely randomized design with four replications. Data on growth parameters, physiological characteristics, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant activities were recorded at harvesting. It was observed that Pb contamination caused a significant reduction in Arabidopsis growth, chlorophyll content and quantum yield at both lead concentrations. The Pb concentration of 2.5 mM, showed a substantial decrease in all parameters, including shoot fresh weight (58.72%), shoot dry weight (59.31%), root fresh weight (67.31%), root dry weight (67.28%), chlorophyll content (48.69%), quantum yield (62.36%), catalase activity (65.30%), superoxide dismutase (60.88%), and peroxidase activity (60.54%) while increasing lipid peroxidation (113.8%). However, the inoculation with Pb-resistant M. morganii strains (ABT3 and ABT9) improved plant growth, photosynthesis and antioxidant activities, while reduced the malondialdehyde content of Arabidopsis compared to control plants without inoculation. The M. morganii strain ABT9 showed a maximum increase in the shoot fresh weight (67.18%), shoot dry weight (67.96%), root fresh weight (94.04%), root dry weight (93.92%), shoot length (148.88%), root length (123.33%), chlorophyll content (52.53%), quantum yield (58.57%), catalase activity (39.46%), superoxide dismutase (21.84%), and peroxidase activity (22.34%) while decreasing lipid peroxidation (35.28%). PCA analysis further showed that all nine treatments scattered differently across the PC1 and PC2, having 81.4% and 17.0% data variance, respectively, indicating the efficiency of Pb-resistant strains. The heatmap further validated that the introduction of Pb-resistant strains positively correlated with the growth parameters, quantum yield, chlorophyll content and antioxidant activities of Arabidopsis seedlings. Both Pb-resistant strains improved Arabidopsis plant growth and photosynthetic efficiency under lead stress conditions. Thus, both Morganella morganii ABT3 and Morganella morganii ABT9 strains can be considered as bio-fertilizer for reducing lead toxicity thereby improving plant growth and physiology in metal-contaminated agricultural soils.

The present study investigates the comparative effect of pre- and post-storage quarantine heat treatments (hot water treatment (HWT) and vapor heat treatment (VHT)) on the post-harvest performance of the mango fruit cv. ‘Chenab Gold’. The results indicate that the application of HWT at 48 °C for 60 min or VHT at 47 °C for 25 min after 21 days under cold storage enhanced the ethylene production and fruit weight loss, while decreasing fruit firmness and vitamin C content. Noticeably, the post-storage heat treatments ruptured the fruit and destroyed their market value. However, fruit treated with HWT or VHT at harvest exhibited slow weight loss, better skin color, and maintained biochemical attributes as compared to the control when kept under ambient storage conditions. Taken together, the application of hot water before storage has a positive influence on mango fruit quality, while post-storage heat treatment has a devastating impact upon fruit quality and shelf life, cancelling its potential commercial application.

The approach of the complex network has well described seismic complex systems. In this paper, this is the first time three classical network construction methods for seismicity are compared. By using the same dataset from the Southern California Seismic Network, three networks are constructed. They all present the scale-free, small-world properties, a strength-degree correlation, and an assortative mixing feature. However, they show some differences in the hierarchical clustering feature. On observing the evolution results, three measures show a similar correlation with seismicity dynamics, but one measure shows a different result. These results show that different network construction methods will present some similarities and differences in network properties. This situation needs to be considered, especially when discussing a predictive indicator of seismicity.

Although foliar boron (B) fertilization is regarded as an efficient way to remedy B deficiency, the mechanisms of foliar B transport from leaves to roots are still unclear. In this study, performed with 1-year-old “Newhall” navel orange (Citrus sinensis) grafted on trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata) plants, we analyzed the B concentration in leaves and roots, B-sucrose complex in the phloem sap after foliar application of 10B, girdling, and/or shading treatments. Results indicated that 10B concentration was significantly increased in roots after foliar 10B treatment. On the other hand, both girdling the scion stem and shading over the plants with a black plastic net significantly reduced the B and 10B concentration in roots. LC-MS analysis revealed that foliar 10B-treated plants had higher concentration of sucrose and some sugar alcohols in the phloem sap as compared to foliar water-treated plants. Combining with the analysis in the artificial mixture of B and sucrose, a higher peak intensity of the 10B-sucrose complex was found in the phloem sap of foliar 10B-treated plants compared to the control plants. Taken together, it is concluded that foliar B can be long distance transported from leaves to roots via phloem, at least by forming a B-sucrose complex in citrus plants.

Wizened buds are frequently observed in pear (Pyrus spp.) trees, which greatly reduces the yield. However, little is known about the mechanism of wizened bud formation. Here, we analyzed physiological and transcriptomic differences between normal buds and wizened buds of ‘710’ pear trees. The results indicated that the sorbitol and boron (B) contents, during bud differentiation, were significantly reduced in wizened buds. The microscopic observation and transcriptome analysis revealed that the collapse of the organ structure and cell wall loosening process may have a close relation with wizened bud formation. Moreover, reduced transcript levels of PpyMYB39.1 and its downstream genes (PpyHT1, PpyHT2, PpyPMEI1 and PpyPMEI2) were found in wizened buds. However, the transcript levels of pentose and glucuronate interconversion pathway genes (PpyPME3, PpyPL18.1, PpyPL18.2, PpyPG1 and PpyPG2) and the concentration of pectin-degradation-related enzymes were increased in wizened buds. Correspondingly, the pectin concentration was significantly reduced in wizened buds. Taken together, PpyMYB39.1 may promote pectin degradation and decrease carbohydrate transport by regulating its downstream genes and is supposed to play a vital role in the wizened bud formation resulting from the cell wall loosening process. Our study provides fundamental insights into wizened bud formation and strategies to reduce the wizened bud occurrence in pear trees.

Performance of any network is based on the routing protocols. RIP, Session, OSPF and BGP are the few commonly used dynamic routing protocols used in today’s networks. Routing refers to the phenomenon of selecting the best available path to forward packets to its destination. It is a core feature for any network because the performance of the networks heavily depends upon it. In this paper we will perform comparative analysis by using Distance Vector, Link State and Session routing protocol. We will study Packet drop rate (PDR), Bandwidth / Link Utilization, End to End Delay, throughput behavior of these protocols by using network simulator 2 (ns2) for route optimization & comparative analysis to find optimal routing protocol.

Pear (Pyrus spp.) is one of the most commonly consumed temperate fruits, having considerable economic and health importance. Fresh-cut or processed pear fruits are prone to browning because of the abundant phenolic compounds; however, little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying enzymatic browning of fresh-cut sand pear fruit. In this study, fruits of two sand pear genotypes (low browning cultivar ‘Eli No.2′ and high browning cultivar ‘Weiningdahuangli’) were used to analyze the molecular mechanism of enzymatic browning by SMRT-seq and RNA-seq. The results generated 69,122 consensus isoforms, 21,336 new transcripts, 7105 alternative splicing events, and 254 long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Furthermore, five genes related to enzymatic browning were predicted to be targets of six lncRNAs, and 9930 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between two different flesh browning cultivars. Meanwhile, most DEGs (e.g., PAL, 4CL, CAD, CCR, CHS, and LAR) involved in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway were up-regulated, and the expression of PPO and POD were highly expressed in the high-browning cultivar. Interestingly, the transcript level of PbrPPO4 (Pbr000321.4) was significantly higher than other PPO and POD genes, and a high level of total polyphenol and PPO activity were observed in the high browning cultivar. We found that the expression of lncRNA PB.156.1 was significantly positively correlated with the target gene PbrPPO4 (Pbr000321.4). The results suggest that PbrPPO4 might act as a major contributor and a key enzyme encoding gene in regulating fresh-cut sand pear fruit enzymatic browning; the expression of PbrPPO4 was probably regulated by lncRNA PB.156.1. Altogether, the transcriptomic and physiological analyses expand the knowledge of sand pear flesh enzymatic browning at the molecular level and provide a foundation for germplasm resources for molecular breeding of high polyphenol and low browning cultivars in sand pears.

Due to large spectral efficiency and low power consumption, the Massive Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) became a promising technology for the 5G system. However, pilot contamination (PC) limits the performance of massive MIMO systems. Therefore, two pilot scheduling schemes (i.e., Fractional Pilot Reuse (FPR) and asynchronous fractional pilot scheduling scheme (AFPS)) are proposed, which significantly mitigated the PC in the uplink time division duplex (TDD) massive MIMO system. In the FPR scheme, all the users are distributed into the central cell and edge cell users depending upon their signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). Further, the capacity of central and edge users is derived in terms of sum-rate, and the ideal number of the pilot is calculated which significantly maximized the sum rate. In the proposed AFPS scheme, the users are grouped into central users and edge users depending upon the interference they receive. The central users are assigned the same set of pilots because these users are less affected by interference, while the edge users are assigned the orthogonal pilots because these users are severely affected by interference. Consequently, the pilot overhead is reduced and inter-cell interference (ICI) is minimized. Further, results verify that the proposed schemes outperform the previous proposed traditional schemes, in terms of improved sum rates.

A structural health monitoring (SHM) system is an approach for identifying the damages caused to various kinds of structures using different system functions and providing the necessary feedback about structure’s conditions. As civil structures are the backbone of our society, to determine its daily operations is a very important issue. The performance measurement of those structures is manual whereas a computer-based monitoring system could automatically assess the structural damages and identify its exact location. Recently, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have attracted a great deal of attention for remote sensing applications due to flexibility to measure of various activity of large scale network. Since technology is advancing day by day, the overall cost of a monitoring system is also decreased. However, the major challenging fact of a WSNs is to provide scalability for covering a large area. The main question is arisen how much capable have of a monitoring system to turn off unnecessary nodes to save energy while there are no events detected. To support the scalability required of an existing network and save the node energy for future use, we propose a topology maintenance protocol integrated with construction to address the issue of a node’s energy consumption by placing it optimally and extending the monitoring system’s lifetime. As per the authors’ acknowledgement that, a little attention has been paid to developing such a hybrid approach. To mitigate node energy consumption issue with large scale support, an Internet of Things (IoT)-based maintenance approach is the best candidate for obtaining better system lifetime responses. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to develop an ‘on-the-fly’-based topology maintenance monitoring system, which can maintain a network’s infrastructure while gathering a node’s information to switch its state regularly when the present network is no longer optimal.

Geranyl diphosphate synthase (GPPS) is a plastid localized enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of Geranyl diphosphate (GPP), which is a universal precursor of monoterpenes. Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox L.), a famous deciduous flowering shrub with a strong floral scent character, could have GPPS-like homologs that are involved in monoterpenes biosynthesis, but it remains unclear. In the present study, five full-length GPPS and geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthases (GGPPS) genes were identified in the wintersweet transcriptome database. The isolated cDNAs showed high protein sequence similarity with the other plants GPPS and GGPPS. The phylogenetic analysis further classified these cDNAs into four distinct clades, representing heterodimeric GPPS small subunits (SSU1 and SSU2), homodimeric GPPS, and GGPPS. Analysis of temporal expression revealed that all genes have the highest transcript level at the full-open flower stage. From tissue-specific expression analysis, CpGPPS.SSU1 and CpGGPPS1 were predominantly expressed in petal and flower, whereas CpGPPS.SSU2, GPPS, and GGPPS2 showed a constitutive expression. Additionally, the subcellular localization assay identified the chloroplast localization of SSUs and GGPPSs proteins, and the yeast two-hybrid assay showed that both CpGPPS.SSU1 and CpGPPS.SSU2 can interact with the GGPPS proteins. Taken together, these preliminary results suggest that the heterodimeric GPPS can regulate floral scent biosynthesis in wintersweet flower.

Citric acid metabolism is considered to be the central cellular process of metabolite conversions. ATP-citrate lyase (ACL) and cytosolic aconitase (cyt-ACO) are the two citrate-degrading enzymes that decide the carbon flux towards different metabolite biosynthesis pathways. However, the correlation of their activities with metabolite concentrations in citrus fruits is still unclear. Here, the concentrations of soluble sugars, organic acids, acetyl-CoA, flavonoids, carotenoids, and γ-aminobutyric acid, as well as the activities of ACL, cyt-ACO, acetyl-CoA C-acetyltransferase, and acetyl-CoA carboxylase, were compared among the fruits of six citrus cultivars during fruit development and ripening. The results showed that the correlation between citrate concentration and cyt-ACO or ACL activity varied greatly among cultivars, while the activities of cyt-ACO and ACL had a significantly negative correlation (r = −0.4431). Moreover, ACL overexpression and RNA interference in the Citrus callus indicated that increasing and decreasing the ACL activity could reduce and induce cyt-ACO activity, respectively. In addition, significant correlation was only observed between the ACL activity and the concentration of acetyl-CoA (r = 0.4333). Taken together, the present study suggested that ACL and cyt-ACO synergistically control the citrate fate for the biosynthesis of other metabolites, but they are not the key determinants for the accumulation of citrate, as well as other metabolites in citrus fruits.

Summary: Nowadays, as the world is transformed because of the interconnectivity, there we see several issues regarding security which is supposed to be one of the biggest problems for the concept of smart cities. In future, aerial vehicles can be merged with smart cities to enhance the interoperability among internet of things (IoT) devices. Routing protocols plays an important role when flying vehicles communicate with one another. Reinforcing connection in flying ad hoc networks using routing protocols is the optimal way to reduce end‐to‐end delay. However, utilizing flying networks with the deployment of routing techniques is a very difficult task to tackle the dynamic pattern of aerial vehicles. Internet of flying vehicles is the emerging area which is still in the evolutionary process; however, the interconnectivity can be efficiently formulated by applying security algorithms for improving signal power. In unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), every node will have some specific location, direction, speed, velocity, and acceleration which will identify and relate information about mobility model. This paper proposes a novel routing technique, which is the extension of AntHocNet due to mobile characteristics; it is termed as flying nature inspired algorithm. Also a case study is conducted to improve the signal power using modeled learning approach called decision tree. Experimental simulations are managed on network simulators that prove the proposed work efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]