Rice β-Glucosidase 4 (Os1βGlu4) Regulates the Hull Pigmentation via Accumulation of Salicylic Acid

Salicylic acid (SA) is a stress hormone synthesized in phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and the branching acid pathway. SA has two interconvertible forms in plants: SAG (SA O-β-glucoside) and SA (free form). The molecular mechanism of conversion of SA to SAG had been reported previously. However, which genes regulate SAG to SA remained unknown. Here, we report a cytoplasmic β-glucosidase (β-Glu) which participates in the SA pathway and is involved in the brown hull pigmentation in rice grain. In the current study, an EMS-generated mutant brown hull 1 (bh1) displayed decreased contents of SA in hulls, a lower photosynthesis rate, and high-temperature sensitivity compared to the wild type (WT). A plaque-like phenotype (brown pigmentation) was present on the hulls of bh1, which causes a significant decrease in the seed setting rate. Genetic analysis revealed a mutation in LOC_Os01g67220, which encodes a cytoplasmic Os1βGlu4. The knock-out lines displayed the phenotype of brown pigmentation on hulls and decreased seed setting rate comparable with bh1. Overexpression and complementation lines of Os1βGlu4 restored the phenotype of hulls and normal seed setting rate comparable with WT. Subcellular localization revealed that the protein of Os1βGlu4 was localized in the cytoplasm. In contrast to WT, bh1 could not hydrolyze SAG into SA in vivo. Together, our results revealed the novel role of Os1βGlu4 in the accumulation of flavonoids in hulls by regulating the level of free SA in the cellular pool.     

VPR-Bench: An Open-Source Visual Place Recognition Evaluation Framework with Quantifiable Viewpoint and Appearance Change

International Journal of Computer Vision - Visual place recognition (VPR) is the process of recognising a previously visited place using visual information, often under varying appearance...     

A wireless Web for creating and sharing personal content through handsets

Mobile handsets have evolved from voice transmission devices to sophisticated digital assistants permanently connected to the Internet. These handsets now include hardware attachments that let users capture images and video and accurately track handsets' positions. These new features combined with the terminals' data transmission capabilities support a rich multimedia interaction model that enables users to share digital assets directly from their mobile devices. We call this model the Personalized Group Wide Web. PGWW aims to provide a flexible, simple, and efficient mechanism to enable next-generation cell phone users to share their digital assets. Increasingly sophisticated handheld devices provide an appropriate infrastructure to host a highly dynamic wireless WWW variant. This variant uses a flexible middleware infrastructure to overcome handset heterogeneity and resource limitations.     

Estrous cyclicity in nonlactating and lactating Holsteins and Jerseys during a Pakistani summer.

Data from 36 cows were used in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement to determine the effects of breed and lactation status on estrous cyclicity during a Pakistani summer (June through October). Cows were selected from a herd of Holsteins and Jerseys imported from the United States 5 yr earlier. Ambient temperatures were highest in June and declined in the ensuing months with the onset of the rainy season. Relative humidity increased in July and August and them remained stable until the end of the study. Although early morning rectal temperatures gradually declined from June through October, late afternoon rectal temperatures were highest in August. Average early morning rectal temperatures were higher in Holsteins than in Jerseys (38.5 vs. 38.3 degrees C). Even though all cows were cyclic throughout the study, as indicated by patterns of progesterone secretion, observed expression of estrus was low (36.8%) and unaffected by breed or lactation status. Average serum progesterone concentrations were lower (2.4 vs. 3.1 ng/ml), and cortisol concentrations were higher (4.1 vs. 3.9 ng/ml), in Holsteins than in Jerseys. Breed by lactation status interactions were significant for lengths of the luteal phase and estrous cycle. Lengths for lactating Holsteins were longer than those of other groups.     

An efficient composition of Web services with active network support

Composition of Web services enables collaboration among autonomous business organisations such that they can integrate their services to perform collaborative business activities. It facilitates the development of new services using pre-existing Web services thus reducing development and operational costs. However, the highly distributed, dynamic, and autonomous nature of component Web services gives rise to various issues such as service matchmaking, reliability, availability, security and efficiency. This paper presents a new protocol in order to improve the efficiency of Web services composition. The proposed protocol is based on the peer-to-peer paradigm which exploits the capabilities of underlying networks such that part of the processing is carried out at the network nodes. Efficiency of the proposed protocol is tested through various experiments. Experimental results show that the proposed protocol significantly improves performance by reducing the system response time in the composition of Web services.     

Non‐Newtonian squashed flow simulation across Darcy‐Forchheimer sensor

The current mathematical formulation is dedicated to investigate the Darcy‐Forchheimer boundary layer–squeezed hydromagnetic flow of a Casson fluid passing through a sensor surface. The flow phenomenon is occurring in a locally free stream under the combined sway of heat generation and thermic radiation. The energy equation is deliberated with the assistance of Cattaneo‐Christov theory rather than using Fourier's law for conduction of heat. Here, the thermic conductivity is being presumed as a function of temperature. The governing mathematical structure consists of highly nonlinear terms, so a set of regulatory parameters is being accomplished to attain the unpretentious dimensionless equations. This nondimensional structure is then treated numerically to attain the nearly converging results. The significance of substantial parameters such as magnetic factor, radiation parameter, Casson fluid parameter, heat origination, and thermal relaxation time on the flow phenomenon is estimated and presented graphically. Besides this, the factors of engineering interest like the Prandtl number and squeezed flow index with vacillating thermic conductivity have strong effects on the flow behavior of the fluid. It is observed that the magnetic effect causes an expansion in the velocity curve while a reduction is found for squeezed flow index parameter.     

Creatinine-based non-phospholipid vesicular carrier for improved oral bioavailability of Azithromycin

Context: Novel, safe, efficient and cost effective nano-carriers from renewable resources have got greater interest for enhancing solubility and bioavailability of hydrophobic dugs.

Objectives: This study reports the synthesis of a novel biocompatible non-phospholipid human metabolite "Creatinine" based niosomal delivery system for Azithromycin improved oral bioavailability.

Methods: Synthesized surfactant was characterized through spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques and then the potential for niosomal vesicle formation was evaluated using Azithromycin as model drug. Drug loaded vesicles were characterized for size, polydispersity index (PDI), shape, drug encapsulation efficiency (EE), in vitro release and drug–excipient interaction using zetasizer, atomic force microscope (AFM), LC–MS/MS and FTIR. The biocompatibility of surfactant was investigated through cells cytotoxicity, blood hemolysis and acute toxicity. Azithromycin encapsulated in niosomes was investigated for in vivo bioavailability in rabbits.

Results: The vesicles were spherical with 247?±?4.67?nm diameter hosting 73.29?±?3.51% of the drug. Surfactant was nontoxic against cell cultures and caused 5.80?±?0.51% hemolysis at 1000?µg/mL. It was also found safe in mice up to 2.5?g/kg body weight. Synthesized surfactant based niosomal vesicles revealed enhanced oral bioavailability of Azithromycin in rabbits.

Conclusions: The results of the present study confirm that the novel surfactant is highly biocompatible and the niosomal vesicles can be efficiently used for improving the oral bioavailability of poor water soluble drugs.     

Input Selection of Wavelet-Coupled Neural Network Models for Rainfall-Runoff Modelling

Water Resources Management - The use of wavelet-coupled data-driven models is increasing in the field of hydrological modelling. However, wavelet-coupled artificial neural network (ANN) models...     

Analysis of Energy Efficiency and Area Throughput in Large Scale MIMO Systems with MRT and ZF Precoding

The large-scale multiple input multiple output (LS-MIMO) systems are equipped with a large number of antennas at the base station. These systems are capable of serving a larger number of user terminals, with massive gains in the form of energy and bandwidth efficiency. The energy efficiency of LS-MIMO system depends on the overall power consumption and data rate. In this paper, we have improved the energy efficiency of the LS-MIMO system by using maximum ratio transmission/combining and zero forced linear pre-coding schemes in single and multi-cell scenarios. We have jointly considered the uplink and downlink communications to propose an improved, more practical and more realistic power consumption model. The proposed model deliberates the power required for the power amplifier, linear processing and the circuit components at the base stations and user terminals. The outcome of this work provides a significant improvement in terms of energy efficiency and area throughput. The analytical results illustrate that the LS-MIMO systems achieve the maximum energy efficiency and area throughput wherein larger number of transmit antennas are installed at the base station to serve comparatively greater number of users terminals. The mathematical results depict the similar performance for imperfect channel state information in multi-cell setups. All aspects of power consumption during bidirectional communication are considered to provide precise results. Hence, the improvements in simulations results support the accuracy of the proposed model.     

A new technique for the construction of confusion component based on inverse LA-semigroups and its application in steganography

The present article introduced a novel idea for information hiding namely steganography. We have used new notions for the construction of the nonlinear component for block cipher based on inverse LA-semigroups. This nonlinear component fundamentally provides confidentiality in the proposed steganographic algorithm. The construction of the algorithm is fundamentally twofold. Firstly, we have constructed a novel scheme to design confusion component namely substitution box (S-box). Secondly, we have utilized the anticipated nonlinear component in digital steganography. The suggested algorithm is tested for different standard digital images. The authentication of the proposed algorithm is confirmed through statistical analysis.