KEY MESSAGE : Analysis of phenotypic data for 20 drought tolerance traits in 1–7 seasons at 1–5 locations together with genetic mapping data for two mapping populations provided 9 QTL clusters of ...which one present on CaLG04 has a high potential to enhance drought tolerance in chickpea improvement. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the second most important grain legume cultivated by resource poor farmers in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Drought is one of the major constraints leading up to 50 % production losses in chickpea. In order to dissect the complex nature of drought tolerance and to use genomics tools for enhancing yield of chickpea under drought conditions, two mapping populations—ICCRIL03 (ICC 4958 × ICC 1882) and ICCRIL04 (ICC 283 × ICC 8261) segregating for drought tolerance-related root traits were phenotyped for a total of 20 drought component traits in 1–7 seasons at 1–5 locations in India. Individual genetic maps comprising 241 loci and 168 loci for ICCRIL03 and ICCRIL04, respectively, and a consensus genetic map comprising 352 loci were constructed ( http://cmap.icrisat.ac.in/cmap/sm/cp/varshney/ ). Analysis of extensive genotypic and precise phenotypic data revealed 45 robust main-effect QTLs (M-QTLs) explaining up to 58.20 % phenotypic variation and 973 epistatic QTLs (E-QTLs) explaining up to 92.19 % phenotypic variation for several target traits. Nine QTL clusters containing QTLs for several drought tolerance traits have been identified that can be targeted for molecular breeding. Among these clusters, one cluster harboring 48 % robust M-QTLs for 12 traits and explaining about 58.20 % phenotypic variation present on CaLG04 has been referred as “QTL-hotspot”. This genomic region contains seven SSR markers (ICCM0249, NCPGR127, TAA170, NCPGR21, TR11, GA24 and STMS11). Introgression of this region into elite cultivars is expected to enhance drought tolerance in chickpea.
The electrical and magnetic properties of the layered oxypnictide LaMnAsO have been investigated through fluorine doping at the oxygen site. LaMnAsO is well-established as an insulator and exhibits ...antiferromagnetic behavior below its Neel temperature, TN = 360 K. With F-doping, the electrical and magnetic characteristics undergo a transition from insulating antiferromagnetic states to semiconducting and then to metallic ferromagnetic states. With F-doping levels ranging from approximately x=0.15 to nearly its maximum at 0.25, the resistivity experiences a remarkable reduction by five orders of magnitude, reaching values of approximately 0.04 Ω cm at room temperature. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent resistivity profile demonstrates a decidedly metallic nature for the F-doping ranges of x=0.15 to 0.25. The transition temperatures (TC) exhibit a spread of approximately 20 K around 300 K. Notably, the transverse magnetoresistance (MR) is approximately 12% in the vicinity of the room temperature transition.
•F-doped LaMnAsO exhibits a transition from an AFM insulator to an FM metallic phase.•F-doping proves remarkably effective in inducing metallization like H doped LaMnAsO.•Significant room temperature magnetoresistance was observed in the metallic state.
Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion is associated with vascular dementia (VaD). Cerebral hypoperfusion may initiate complex molecular and cellular inflammatory pathways that contribute to long-term ...cognitive impairment and memory loss. Here we used a bilateral common carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) mouse model of VaD to investigate its effect on the innate immune response-particularly the inflammasome signaling pathway. Comprehensive analyses revealed that chronic cerebral hypoperfusion induces a complex temporal expression and activation of inflammasome components and their downstream products (IL-1β and IL-18) in different brain regions, and promotes activation of apoptotic and pyroptotic cell death pathways. Polarized glial-cell activation, white-matter lesion formation and hippocampal neuronal loss also occurred in a spatiotemporal manner. Moreover, in AIM2 knockout mice we observed attenuated inflammasome-mediated production of proinflammatory cytokines, apoptosis, and pyroptosis, as well as resistance to chronic microglial activation, myelin breakdown, hippocampal neuronal loss, and behavioral and cognitive deficits following BCAS. Hence, we have demonstrated that activation of the AIM2 inflammasome substantially contributes to the pathophysiology of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion-induced brain injury and may therefore represent a promising therapeutic target for attenuating cognitive impairment in VaD.
•Impact of nanomaterials for hydrogen production using various biological routes are reviewed.•Mechanisms of the nanomaterials mediated enhanced biohydrogen production have been reviewed.•Emphasis ...has been made on the feasibility of nanomaterials for cellulosic biohydrogen production.•Challenges to implement nanomaterials for cellulosic biohydrogen production have been discussed.
Recent advances on biohydrogen production using different types of waste biomass with the implementation of nanomaterials are summarized. Inspired by exceptional physicochemical and catalytic properties of nanomaterials, the present review focuses on several approaches including impact of nanomaterials on cellulosic biohydrogen production, possible pretreatment technology, as well as improved enzyme & sugar production in order to enhance the biohydrogen yield. Particularly, impacts of nanomaterial are elaborated in detail on different pathways of biohydrogen production (e.g. dark fermentation, photo-fermentation and hybrid-fermentation) using variety of waste biomass. Additionally, emphases are made on the feasibility of nanomaterials for making the biohydrogen production process more economical and sustainable and hence to develop advanced techniques for biohydrogen production using waste biomass.
Nowadays, new products have been introduced in the market at an ever increasing pace due to rapid technology advancement. Consequently, products are becoming outdated and discarded faster than ever ...before. Since the demand for new solutions to economically deal with such outdated products begun to rise, the disassembly line has emerged as a viable solution to this problem. The disassembly line has been considered as a viable choice for automated disassembly of returned products. The problem of sequence generation in disassembly is complex due to its NP-Hard nature and therefore the heuristically solutions are most preferable for these types of problems. In this paper, a heuristic has been proposed to assign the disassembly tasks/parts to the work stations under its precedence constraints. It incorporates Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (Fuzzy AHP) and PROMETHEE method for the selection of tasks for assignment to the disassembly line. The Fuzzy AHP has been used to find the relative importance of each criteria and PROMETHEE method has been used for prioritising the tasks for assignment. The proposed heuristics has been illustrated with an example and the results have been compared to the heuristic proposed by McGovern and Gupta. The proposed heuristic performs well and has shown improvements in terms of cycle time and idle time of the workstations.
This paper highlights the structure-property relationship of optimally functionalized single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) incorporated vinyl terminated polydimethyl siloxane (VPDMS). Our previous ...studies revealed that functionalization of SWCNTs for 4 h (FSWCNT-4) incorporates maximum concentration of functional groups with least defects on the nanotube surface. Hence, to validate the utility of FSWCNT-4 in VPDMS, nanocomposites with different concentration of nanotubes were prepared through platinum catalysed hydrosilylation route where the processing conditions were controlled through ultrasonication. When the physico-mechanical properties of these nanocomposites were compared with those prepared using nanotubes functionalized for different extent of time, it was found that a better interaction between VPDMS and SWCNT observed for the composite containing nanotubes functionalized for 4 h (FSWCNT-4). The polymer-filler interaction in these nanocomposites was reflected in the improved mechanical and thermal properties which were attributed to the optimum extent of functionalization of the nanotube. The site of interaction between VPDMS matrix and the functionalized nanotubes has been identified through computational studies. Mechanical properties proved that the interaction of cyclic siloxane groups of VPDMS with hydroxyl groups in nanotubes was the maximum for FSWCNT- 4 imparting an enhancement of 220% in tensile strength and 272% in modulus. Thermal stability, thermo-oxidative stability and adhesive characteristics of the polymer were improved when the composites were prepared using optimally functionalized single walled carbon nanotube.
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•Literature on VPDMS-optimally functionalized SWCNT are scarce.•Nanotube functionalization optimized for better interaction with VPDMS.•Optimally functionalized carbon nanotubes impart superior properties to VPDMS.•Adhesive and mechanical improved with optimally modified nanotube addition.•Interaction sites between VPMDS and CNT established via computational studies.
Chickpea has a profound nutritional and economic value in vegetarian society. Continuous decline in chickpea productivity is attributed to insufficient genetic variability and different environmental ...stresses. Chickpea like several other legumes is highly susceptible to terminal drought stress. Multiple genes control drought tolerance and ASR gene plays a key role in regulating different plant stresses. The present study describes the molecular characterization and functional role of Abscissic acid and stress ripening (ASR) gene from chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and the gene sequence identified was submitted to NCBI Genbank (MK937569). Molecular analysis using MUSCLE software proved that the ASR nucleotide sequences in different legumes show variations at various positions though ASR genes are conserved in chickpea with only few variations. Sequence similarity of ASR gene to chickpea putative ABA/WDS induced protein mRNA clearly indicated its potential involvement in drought tolerance. Physiological screening and qRT-PCR results demonstrated increased ASR gene expression under drought stress possibly enabled genotypes to perform better under stress. Conserved domain search, protein structure analysis, prediction and validation, network analysis using Phyre2, Swiss-PDB viewer, ProSA and STRING analysis established the role of hypothetical ASR protein NP_001351739.1 in mediating drought responses. NP_001351739.1 might have enhanced the ASR gene activity as a transcription factor regulating drought stress tolerance in chickpea. This study could be useful in identification of new ASR genes that play a major role in drought tolerance and also develop functional markers for chickpea improvement.
Nickel oxide nanoparticles of different sizes are prepared by a sol–gel method. Samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Dc susceptibility measurements as ...a function of temperature and field are done for various particle sizes. We find peaks in zero field cooled susceptibility vs. temperature curves. In sufficiently low fields the peak temperature decreases with increasing particle size whereas at higher fields the peak temperature increases with increasing particle size. We propose that these nanoparticles consist of antiferromagnetically aligned core spins and a spin glass like surface layer.
Tremendous strides have been made in charged-particle acceleration using intense, ultrashort laser pulses. Accelerating neutral atoms is an important complementary technology because such particles ...are unaffected by electric and magnetic fields and can thus penetrate deeper into a target than ions. However, compact laser-based accelerators for neutral atoms are limited at best to millielectronvolt energies. Here, we report the generation of megaelectronvolt-energy argon atoms from an optical-field-ionized dense nanocluster ensemble. Measurements reveal that nearly every laser-accelerated ion is converted to an energetic neutral atom as a result of highly efficient electron transfer from Rydberg excited clusters, within a sheath around the laser focus. This process, although optimal in nanoclusters, is generic and adaptable to most laser-produced plasmas. Such compact laser-driven energetic neutral atom sources could have applications in fast atom lithography for surface science and tokamak diagnostics in plasma technology. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
The superior agronomic and human nutritional properties of grain legumes (pulses) make them an ideal foundation for future sustainable agriculture. Legume‐based farming is particularly important in ...Africa, where small‐scale agricultural systems dominate the food production landscape. Legumes provide an inexpensive source of protein and nutrients to African households as well as natural fertilization for the soil. Although the consumption of traditionally grown legumes has started to decline, the production of soybeans (Glycine max Merr.) is spreading fast, especially across southern Africa. Predictions of future land‐use allocation and production show that the soybean is poised to dominate future production across Africa. Land use models project an expansion of harvest area, whereas crop models project possible yield increases. Moreover, a seed change in farming strategy is underway. This is being driven largely by the combined cash crop value of products such as oils and the high nutritional benefits of soybean as an animal feed. Intensification of soybean production has the potential to reduce the dependence of Africa on soybean imports. However, a successful “soybean bonanza” across Africa necessitates an intensive research, development, extension, and policy agenda to ensure that soybean genetic improvements and production technology meet future demands for sustainable production.
Soybean is fast becoming an increasingly attractive cash crop in Africa. We have examined current and future legume production in Sub‐Saharan Africa using a modelling approach based on available FAO data to provide projections for 2050. These data predict a large expansion in African soybean production. The resultant great potential for the amelioration of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition will be a major driver for farmers and producers to overcome the significant challenges that might otherwise impede soybean production in Africa.
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