Rice proteomics: a cornerstone for cereal food crop proteomes

Proteomics-a systematic study of proteins present in a cell, tissue, organ, or organism at a particular moment during the life cycle-that began with classical two-dimensional electrophoresis and its advancement during the 1990s, has been revolutionized by a series of tremendous technological developments in mass spectrometry (MS), a core technology. Proteomics is exerting its influence on biological function of genes and genomes in the era (21st century) of functional genomics, and for this reason yeast, bacterial, and mammalian systems are the best examples. Although plant proteomics is still in its infancy, evolving proteomic technologies and the availability of the genome sequences of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heyhn, and rice (Oryza sativa L.), model dicotyledoneous and monocotyledoneous (monocot) species, respectively, are propelling it towards new heights, as evidenced by the rapid spurt in worldwide plant proteome research. Rice, with an immense socio-economic impact on human civilization, is a representative model of cereal food crops, and we consider it as a cornerstone for functional genomics of cereal plants. In this review, we look at the history and the current state of monocot proteomes, including barley, maize, and wheat, with a central focus on rice, which has the most extensive proteomic coverage to date. On one side, we highlight advances in technologies that have generated enormous amount of interest in plant proteomics, and the other side summarizes the achievements made towards establishing proteomes during plant growth & development and challenge to environmental factors, including disease, and for studying genetic relationships. In light of what we have learned from the proteomic journey in rice and other monocots, we finally reveal and assess their impact in our continuous strive towards completion of their full proteomes.     

Synthesis, characterization, and reactivity ratio studies on new sulfide copolymers containing ethylbenzene units

Soluble new sulfide copolymers were synthesized readily by the polycondensation of ethylene dibromide (EDB) (or methylene dibromide (MDB)) with styrene dibromide (SDB) and sodium sulfide (Na₂S) in the presence of phase transfer catalyst. The copolymers were characterized by using Fourier transform-infrared, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, gel permeation chromatography, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. The copolymer composition obtained from the ¹H NMR spectra led to the determination of reactivity ratios. The analysis of reactivity ratios revealed that both EDB and MDB are more reactive than SDB towards Na₂S, and copolymers formed are random in nature. Furthermore, it also gave an insight on the microstructure of the copolymers that both poly (ethylene sulfide-co-styrene sulfide) (p(ES-co-SS)), and poly(methylene sulfide-co-styrene sulfide) (p(MS-co-SS)) copolymers have more of blocky structure with increase in the concentration of ethylene sulfide (ES) or methylene sulfide (MS) units in the respective copolymers. The TGA was used to find out the thermal stability of these polymers. The XRD data indicated an increase in the amorphous content of the copolymers with an increase in the concentration of styrene sulfide (SS) units and thereby resulting in most of these copolymers being soluble in common organic solvents. The solubility and molecular weight of the polymers formed were dependent on the concentration of SDB taken in the feed.     

Live sequence charts applied to hardware requirements specification and verification

Techniques and tools for formally verifying compliance with industry standards are important, especially in System-on-Chip (SoC) designs: a failure to integrate externally developed intellectual property (IP) cores is prohibitively costly. There are three essential components in the practical verification of compliance with a standard. First, an easy-to-read and yet formal specification of the standard is needed; we propose Live Sequence Charts (LSCs) as a high-level visual notation for writing specifications. Second, assertions should be generated directly from the specification; an implementation will be scrutinized, usually by model checking, to check that it satisfies each assertion. Third, a formal link must be made between proofs of assertions and compliance with the original specification. As an example, we take the Virtual Component Interface (VCI) Standard. We compare three efforts in verifying that the same register transfer level code is VCI-compliant. The first two efforts were manual, while the third used a tool, lscAssert, to automatically generate assertions in LTL. We discuss the details of the assertion generation algorithm.     

Fabrication of PVDF hierarchical fibrillar structures using electrospinning for dry-adhesive applications

We report the fabrication of hierarchical poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) fibrous structures using a unique fabrication technique based on electrospinning. Electrospinning was used to fabricate aligned PVDF fibrous membranes. These membranes were then brought in contact with anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) template and then heat-treated above the glass transition temperature (T _g) of the polymer to assist the flow of polymer within the cylindrical pores of AAO template. Scanning electron microscopy images confirmed that this approach lead to the growth of nanopillars on the surface of PVDF fibers. Nanoindenter was used to measure the pull-off force that was required to completely detach the indenter from the samples. To investigate the effect of hierarchy, pull-off force required to detach the indenter from neat PVDF fibers was determined and compared with the pull-off force recorded for hierarchical fibers. The effect of indentation depth was also investigated on both PVDF fibers and PVDF fiber with nanopillars. Significant pull-off force recorded indicates that these PVDF hierarchical fibrous structures can be potentially used for dry-adhesive applications.     

Novel composites of $$\upbeta $$-SiAlON and radome manufacturing technology developed at ARCI,Hyderabad, for hypervelocity vehicles

Keeping the importance of developing suitable radome (a word derived from radar \(+\) dome) materials and near-net shape consolidation technique for manufacturing radomes suitable for hypersonic (>mach 5) radar-guided missiles in India, the International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad, has initiated an in-house R&D programme and successfully developed a complete process know-how for manufacturing defect-free prototype \(\upbeta \)-SiAlON-based radome structures with all the desired properties. As a part of this R&D programme, total six separate sub-projects mentioned below were undertaken and executed: (i) identification of the best composition out of \(\upbeta \)-\(\hbox {Si}_{6-z}\hbox {Al}_{z}\hbox {O}_{z}\hbox {N}_{8-z}\) (0 \(\le z \le \) 4.1) solid solution, which possesses a right combination of properties required for radome applications, (ii) designing of an AlN-free precursor mixture for consolidating \(\upbeta \)-\(\hbox {Si}_{4}\hbox {Al}_{2}\hbox {O}_{2}\hbox {N}_{6}\) ceramics by following aqueous colloidal processing routes, (iii) development of a process for passivating water-sensitive AlN powder against hydrolysis, (iv) development of aqueous gelcasting (GC) and hydrolysis-assisted solidification (HAS) powder processing routes for consolidating dense \(\upbeta \)-SiAlON ceramics using highly solids loaded (>50 vol%) aqueous slurries, (v) development of an hydrolysis-induced aqueous gelcasting (GCHAS) process, a novel near-net-shape consolidation technique, to produce radomes with very high-production yields and (vi) development of an economic route for synthesizing the low-dielectric constant and high strength novel \(\upbeta \)-SiAlON-\(\hbox {SiO}_{2}\) ceramic composites. In this paper, (i) the basis for choosing \(\upbeta \)-SiAlON-based ceramics for hypervelocity radome applications, and (ii) the various bottle-neck problems faced, while executing this entire R&D work and the way they were overcome have been critically analysed and discussed systematically, while citing all the relevant and important references.     

Measurement of Carrier Bead Velocity Distribution in Cascade Flow

A miniature piezoelectric impact probe is described for measuring the impact velocity of carrier beads in a cascade flow. The probe can sense a force of a few dynes. It has a response time of about 1 ?s and a total settling time of less than 40 ?s. The impacts of a few microgram particles due to a free-fall under gravity of a distance of about 50 ?m and at a count rate in excess of 20 000/s have been measured. The probe has been used in measuring the impact velocity distribution of carrier beads in a cascade flow. The impact velocity distributions have been measured at different flow conditions and compared with theoretical predictions. The characteristics of the cascade flow are briefly discussed in terms of the two parameters: the number density of the carrier beads in the flow and the diffusion constant of the flow.     

A Theoretical Study of the Mechanics of a Xerographic Cleaning Blade

The use of a polymeric blade is common in removing the residual toner from the imaging surface in xerography. The cleaning action of such a blade is influenced by its local deformation in the contacting region. A nonlinear beam theory approach is presented for studying the deformation of a xerographic cleaning blade. Both the straight and tip regions of the blade are examined. The parameters studied include the normal load, the ratio of tangential and normal forces (the coefficient of friction , ?), the blade tip angle, blade inclination angle, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, blade length, and thickness. The effect of these parameters on the size of the contacting region is presented. The critical ratio ?c and the critical inclination angle which determine blade curl-under and curl-up are discussed. The maximum blade inclination angle which governs the tip stability is predicted. Cleaning performance criteria for planning and local curl-unders are developed in terms of the pressure in the contacting region. Agreement of the analytical findings with the available experimental data is good.     

Detection of Nitric Oxide from Living Cells Using Polymeric Zinc Organic Framework‐Derived Zinc Oxide Composite with Conducting Polymer

Sensitive and selective detection of nitric oxide (NO) in the human body is crucial since it has the vital roles in the physiological and pathological processes. This study reports a new type of electrochemical NO biosensor based on zinc‐dithiooxamide framework derived porous ZnO nanoparticles and polyterthiophene‐rGO composite. By taking advantage of the synergetic effect between ZnO and poly(TTBA‐rGO) (TTBA = 3′‐(p‐benzoic acid)‐2,2′:5′,2″‐terthiophene, rGO = reduced graphene oxide) nanocomposite layer, the poly(TTBA‐rGO)/ZnO sensor probe displays excellent electrocatalytic activity and explores to detect NO released from normal and cancer cell lines. The ZnO is immobilized on a composite layer of poly(TTBA‐rGO). The highly porous ZnO offers a high electrolyte accessible surface area and high ion–electron transport rates that efficiently catalyze the NO reduction reaction. Amperometry with the modified electrode displays highly sensitive response and wide dynamic range of 0.019–76 × 10^?6m with the detection limit of 7.7 ± 0.43 × 10^?9m . The sensor probe is demonstrated to detect NO released from living cells by drug stimulation. The proposed sensor provides a powerful platform for the low detection limit that is feasible for real‐time analysis of NO in a biological system.     

S-shaped and V-shaped gaining-sharing knowledge-based algorithm for feature selection

In machine learning, searching for the optimal feature subset from the original datasets is a very challenging and prominent task. The metaheuristic algorithms are used in finding out the relevant, important features, that enhance the classification accuracy and save the resource time. Most of the algorithms have shown excellent performance in solving feature selection problems. A recently developed metaheuristic algorithm, gaining-sharing knowledge-based optimization algorithm (GSK), is considered for finding out the optimal feature subset. GSK algorithm was proposed over continuous search space; therefore, a total of eight S-shaped and V-shaped transfer functions are employed to solve the problems into binary search space. Additionally, a population reduction scheme is also employed with the transfer functions to enhance the performance of proposed approaches. It explores the search space efficiently and deletes the worst solutions from the search space, due to the updation of population size in every iteration. The proposed approaches are tested over twenty-one benchmark datasets from UCI repository. The obtained results are compared with state-of-the-art metaheuristic algorithms including binary differential evolution algorithm, binary particle swarm optimization, binary bat algorithm, binary grey wolf optimizer, binary ant lion optimizer, binary dragonfly algorithm, binary salp swarm algorithm. Among eight transfer functions, V₄ transfer function with population reduction on binary GSK algorithm outperforms other optimizers in terms of accuracy, fitness values and the minimal number of features. To investigate the results statistically, two non-parametric statistical tests are conducted that concludes the superiority of the proposed approach.