Differential Synergistic Interactions Among Four Different Wheat-Infecting Viruses

Field-grown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) plants can be co-infected by multiple viruses, including wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV), Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV), brome mosaic virus (BMV), and barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV). These viruses belong to four different genera in three different families and are, hence, genetically divergent. However, the impact of potential co-infections with two, three, or all four of them on the viruses themselves, as well as the wheat host, has yet to be examined. This study examined bi-, tri-, and quadripartite interactions among these viruses in wheat for disease development and accumulation of viral genomic RNAs, in comparison with single virus infections. Co-infection of wheat by BMV and BSMV resulted in BMV-like symptoms with a drastic reduction in BSMV genomic RNA copies and coat protein accumulation, suggesting an antagonism-like effect exerted by BMV toward BSMV. However, co-infection of either BMV or BSMV with WSMV or TriMV led to more severe disease than singly infected wheat, but with a decrease or no significant change in titers of interacting viruses in the presence of BMV or BSMV, respectively. These results were in stark contrast with exacerbated disease phenotype accompanied with enhanced virus titers caused by WSMV and TriMV co-infection. Co-infection of wheat by WSMV, TriMV, and BMV or BSMV resulted in enhanced synergistic disease accompanied by increased accumulation of TriMV and BMV but not WSMV or BSMV. Quadripartite interactions in co-infected wheat by all four viruses resulted in very severe disease synergism, leading to the death of the most infected plants, but paradoxically, a drastic reduction in BSMV titer. Our results indicate that interactions among different viruses infecting the same plant host are more complex than previously thought, do not always entail increases in virus titers, and likely involve multiple mechanisms. These findings lay the foundation for additional mechanistic dissections of synergistic interactions among unrelated plant viruses.

Change and Continuity in Event Tourism Development in Nigeria: Examples from Ekpe Cultural Festival in Abia State

Events are not only one of the most important parts of tourism, but also an inseparable part of human society. In recent times, events have gained global significance through the tourism industry. As festivals are essentially special events, their special appeal stems in part from their limited duration or concentration of activities over a set period and innate uniqueness of each event or there may be a particular theme. This article critically examines the change and continuity processes of a community festival—Ekpe Cultural Festival in Umunkpeyi and Isingwu in Abia State, Nigeria—for a deeper understanding of the effects in the development of event tourism and its sustainability. Data were collected through ethnographic fieldwork conducted with key informants directly involved in the festival, including the community leaders, chiefs, and staff of the Department of Tourism (DoT), the Abia State Tourism Board (ASTB), and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC). Data were analyzed using content analysis to identify themes that reflect informants’ perception of the changes and continuity that affect the festival in the study area. Findings revealed notable changes in the practices associated with the festival such as indifference to attire for the festival, drastic reduction in masking, attitude to funding during the festival, while male dominance continues to be paramount. This article concludes that event tourism development requires government support, collaboration, and sensitization to harness and retain some practices of the festival amid obvious changes.

Parameter Analysis of Electronic Gadgets during Homa

All of us are aware that the modern mechanical and electrical systems in joint collaboration of AI, CPS and IoT have affected our life much in drastic manner, at one end, they have provided ease and comfort, at other end, the electrical and magnetic radiations emitted by them have threatened the mental and physical fitness too. Surprisingly, the Asian Agnihotra process is much effective in reducing the electrical, magnetic radiations, emitting from electronic devices. The present manuscript deals with the computational analysis of electrical, magnetic radiations and power density measurement of environmental effect and gadgets after the Homa terapy. In gap of certain time, readings were recorded and it was observed that drastic reduction occurred at the place where Yajna was performed. This gap was curtailing gradually as time increases. The phenomenon can certainly be used to address the threats of human health due to electronic gadgets in 21st century.Also it supports the concepts of Smart cities where one can easily identify the numerous effects due to Yajna process.

Utilization of ionic liquid for ICP-OES based trace metal assay in thorium matrix for decrease in liquid organic waste, cost, human exposure and time of analysis

Ionic liquid based 'Green" separation methodology was used for drastic reduction in organic phase requirement, generation of organic liquid waste, time of analysis, personal exposure towards radiotoxic environment, less chances...

An Atom Probe with Ultra-Low Hydrogen Background

Atom probe tomography (APT) is a single-ion sensitive time-of-flight mass spectrometry method with near-atomic spatial resolution. In principle, it can be used to detect any chemical element, but so far hydrogen in the form of protium (1H) had to be largely excluded. This is owing to the residual H emitted from the stainless-steel chambers and in-vacuum parts commonly used in atom probe instrumentation. This residual H is then picked up in the APT experiment. In this paper, we show that by replacing the stainless-steel chamber and in-vacuum parts with titanium parts, this residual H can largely be removed, thus enabling the direct imaging of H using APT. We show that besides the drastic reduction of H, also other contaminants such as O, OH, and H2O are reduced by employing this instrument. In the current set-up, the instrument is equipped with high-voltage pulsing limiting the application to conductive materials.

A Fully 3D-Printed Steerable Instrument for Minimally Invasive Surgery

In the field of medical instruments, additive manufacturing allows for a drastic reduction in the number of components while improving the functionalities of the final design. In addition, modifications for users’ needs or specific procedures become possible by enabling the production of single customized items. In this work, we present the design of a new fully 3D-printed handheld steerable instrument for laparoscopic surgery, which was mechanically actuated using cables. The pistol-grip handle is based on ergonomic principles and allows for single-hand control of both grasping and omnidirectional steering, while compliant joints and snap-fit connectors enable fast assembly and minimal part count. Additive manufacturing allows for personalization of the handle to each surgeon’s needs by adjusting specific dimensions in the CAD model, which increases the user’s comfort during surgery. Testing showed that the forces on the instrument handle required for steering and grasping were below 15 N, while the grasping force efficiency was calculated to be 10–30%. The instrument combines the advantages of additive manufacturing with regard to personalization and simplified assembly, illustrating a new approach to the design of advanced surgical instruments where the customization for a single procedure or user’s need is a central aspect.

Visibility Predictions for Near-future Satellite Megaconstellations: Latitudes near 50° Will Experience the Worst Light Pollution

Megaconstellations of thousands to tens of thousands of artificial satellites (satcons) are rapidly being developed and launched. These satcons will have negative consequences for observational astronomy research, and are poised to drastically interfere with naked-eye stargazing worldwide should mitigation efforts be unsuccessful. Here we provide predictions for the optical brightnesses and on-sky distributions of several satcons, including Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper, and StarNet/GW, for a total of 65,000 satellites on their filed or predicted orbits. We develop a simple model of satellite reflectivity, which is calibrated using published Starlink observations. We use this model to estimate the visible magnitudes and on-sky distributions for these satellites as seen from different places on Earth, in different seasons, and different times of night. For latitudes near 50° north and south, satcon satellites make up a few percent of all visible point sources all night long near the summer solstice, as well as near sunrise and sunset on the equinoxes. Altering the satellites’ altitudes only changes the specific impacts of the problem. Without drastic reduction of the reflectivities, or significantly fewer total satellites in orbit, satcons will greatly change the night sky worldwide.

Micro-climatic study and trend analysis of fog characteristics at IGI airport New Delhi using hourly data (1981-2005)

Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, New Delhi where near about 675 flights on an averagedepart and arrive daily, is highly susceptible to dense fog occurrences during the winter season. In the present paper, anattempt has been made for development of an intensity based fog climatological information system for December andJanuary based on hourly visibility data of 25-years (1981-2005) recorded at IGI airport. Variations and trends if any werealso analyzed along with their extreme years and dates of occurrences. Data since 1964 were also used to find climaticjumps in the trend which includes various higher visibilities of no fog conditions. Besides various vital fog climatologicalinformation generated through the present study for use in aviation, the most important finding is the alarming increasingtrend of the dense fog (< 200m) occurrences in both the months up to as high as 10-20 times from 1960s in contrast tounusual drastic reduction of higher visibility hours to as low as one thirtieth to one fiftieth of hours which were observedin 1960s. Thus, finally making IGI airport, a unique airport in the world which hardly experiences good visibilityconditions (>5000m) in both the months. By considering the unexpected huge annual growth of 30% in both air trafficand passengers that India including IGI has presently been experiencing against the global average of 6%, such visibilitytrend also confirms that present flight disruptions and passengers sufferings in winter will be aggravated more severely indays to come unless CAT-III ILS implemented fully. Finally, we have computed further number of consecutive hours,spell periodicity, most favorable climatological timing of fog onset and fog dispersal based on various intensities for usein aviation and fog forecasting.

Cyanogenic glycosides content as graft compatibility indicator in pear/quince combinations

The objective of this work is to evaluate the concentration of cyanogenic glycosides CGs (amygdalin and prunasin) in the cultivar and rootstock, as an indicator of compatibility in pear grafts. The work consists of two experiments. Experiment 1 evaluated Cascatense/Pyrus Calleryana and Cascatense/EMC combinations. Experiment 2 evaluated the combinations Packham’s Triumph/Adams, Santa Maria/Adams, and Rocha/Adams. The experimental design of the two experiments was randomized blocks with four replications. The evaluations were carried out in the spring and summer of the harvest 2014/2015. The results indicated graft compatibility in the Cascatense/P. Calleryana, Packham’s Triumph/Adams, and Rocha/Adams combinations; slight incompatibility of Santa Maria/Adams, and severe incompatibility of Cascatense/EMC. The obtained results indicate that differences ≥ 20 mg g-1 of CGs between scion and rootstock were correlated with a drastic reduction in vigor, problems of continuity in graft union, low yield, and early defoliation.