Exogenous Silicon Modulates Growth,Physio-Chemicals and Antioxidants in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Exposed to Different Temperature Regimes

Silicon - The exogenous application of silicon (Si) is reported to enhance tolerance of plants against various environmental stresses. Therefore, the present study was carried out to examine the...     

Application of Artificial Neural Networks to Project Reference Evapotranspiration Under Climate Change Scenarios

Water Resources Management - Evapotranspiration is sensitive to climate change. The main objective of this study was to examine the response of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) under various...     

Senior government executives' use of the internet: A Bruneian scenario

In gearing up the task of e-Government, the governments of the various economies are investing heavily in Information Technology (IT). The success of e-Government program therefore depends upon the IT literacy and skills of the senior government executives, especially in the use of the Internet. This study focuses on 100 senior government executives of the 10 different ministries of Brunei Darussalam. The results indicate that 70% of the senior executives have positive attitudes about the Internet. Results further show that 50% of these senior executives are in fact using the Internet and 66% of them are underutilizing the technology by just sending and receiving e-mails. The study further develops a normative model by using Davis's Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and by adding external variables. A Structural Equation Modelling technique is used to test the parsimony of the model. The final model has confirmed that external variables, PC self-efficacy and task variety contribute toward both the beliefs perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Only perceived ease of use contributes in determining the attitude that further predicts the Internet use of the senior government executives.     

Scattering of electromagnetic plane wave from a perfect electric conducting strip placed at free space–chiral interface

The scattering of electromagnetic plane wave from a perfect electric conducting strip of finite width is investigated in this study. The strip is placed at the planar interface of free space and chiral medium. The Kobayashi potential method is used to determine the scattering from the strip. The dual integral equations are acquired through the boundary conditions. These equations as well as the edge conditions are satisfied through the properties of Weber–Schafheitlin integrals and the Jacobi polynomials. The projection of the Jacobi polynomials is used to get the matrix equations which are solved numerically to determine the unknown coefficients. Monostatic and bistatic scattering widths are examined in the free space region of the geometry. The far-zone scattered fields are analyzed by changing the values of different parameters, i.e. chirality and incident angle.     

Biochemical characterization of wheat straw cell wall with special reference to bioactive profile

The core objective of the current study was to extract and characterize the wheat straw cell wall for its nutritional and bioactive profile. For the purpose, four different wheat straw varieties namely Ujala-16, Johar-16, Gold-16, and Galaxy-13 were procured from Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The whole research was conducted in three different phases. In first phase, nutritional composition and mineral profile of straw of different wheat varieties were determined. In second phase, wheat straw cell wall of different varieties was isolated and characterized for its important bioactive constituents, such as lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses, phytosterol, and policosanol (PC) content. Results showed that straw of different wheat varieties contained 7.75–9.24, 3.98–5.06, 3.43–3.98, and 1.60–2.24 g/100 g moisture, ash, protein, and fat contents, respectively, whereas potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium were 1.19–2.03, 0.10–0.79, 0.10–0.98, 0.03–0.98 ppm, respectively. Moreover, lignocellulosic mass: cellulose 37.75–38.18 g/100 g raw material, lignin 15.67–16.07 g/100 g raw material, hemicelluloses 28.25–28.98 g/100 g raw material, was present in wheat straw and varied significantly among different varieties. In addition, phytosterol ranged from 854 to 1176 mg/kg in straw of different wheat cultivars, whilst PC from 196.09 to 236.48 mg/kg. Conclusively, wheat straw was an excellent source of many important bioactive moieties especially lignocelluloses and could have functional use.     

Low viscosity shear heating in piston skirts EHL in the low initial engine start up speeds

Absence of elastohydrodynamic lubricating (EHL) film causes piston wear in low speed cold initial engine start up, while shearing of low viscosity lubricant in few cycles affects its load carrying capacity. Shear heating effects are incorporated in 2-D hydrodynamic and EHL model by solving 2-D heat equation. EHL pressures are calculated using inverse solution technique. Comparative analysis is based on viscous dissipation coupled with piston motion, changes in pressure, film thickness and viscosity. This study suggests that the increase in temperature varies with speed to affect piston eccentricities, viscosity and film thickness. This optimizes low start up speed for a few engine cycles.     

Natural polyphenols: An overview

Plant-derived functional foods are gaining considerable attention due to their safety and therapeutic potentials. Research on plant-based functional foods presents several challenges ranges from hypercholesterolemia to cancer prevention. In last decade, special attention has been paid to edible plants and especially their phytochemicals. Today, there is an increasing interest in their bioactivities provided by these phytochemicals. Polyphenols are the most numerous and widely distributed group of bioactive molecules. Polyphenols have two general classes, one is flavonoids and other is phenolic acids. Among these, flavonoids are further divided into flavones, flavononse, flavonols, flavanols, isoflavones, and phenolic acids are generally classified into hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids. Fruit peel is one of the dense sources for flavonoids and their content may vary from species to species and due to exposure of light. Polyphenols have wide range of molecules and different set of biological activities that are mainly attributed to their structure. Investigations have revealed that polyphenols play a key role to prevent various diseases, like hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and cancer insurgence. The current review article summarizes the literature pertaining to polyphenols and its allied health benefits.