There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Computer and Robot Vision Vol. 1, by R.M. Haralick and Linda G. Shapiro, Addison-Wesley, 1992, ISBN 0-201-10887-1.

Computer and Robot Vision

Lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) is the most abundantly available bioresource amounting to about a global yield of up to 1.3 billion tons per year. The hydrolysis of LCB results in the release of various reducing sugars which are highly valued in the production of biofuels such as bioethanol and biogas, various organic acids, phenols, and aldehydes. The majority of LCB is composed of biological polymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which are strongly associated with each other by covalent and hydrogen bonds thus forming a highly recalcitrant structure. The presence of lignin renders the bio-polymeric structure highly resistant to solubilization thereby inhibiting the hydrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose which presents a significant challenge for the isolation of the respective bio-polymeric components. This has led to extensive research in the development of various pretreatment techniques utilizing various physical, chemical, physicochemical and biological approaches which are specifically tailored towards the source biomaterial and its application. The objective of this review is to discuss the various pretreatment strategies currently in use and provide an overview of their utilization for the isolation of high-value bio-polymeric components. The article further discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the various pretreatment methodologies as well as addresses the role of various key factors that are likely to have a significant impact on the pretreatment and digestibility of LCB.

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Recent Trends in the Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass for Value-Added Products

Lignin is the most abundant aromatic polymer in nature. Due to its high amount of phenolic compounds storage, lignin is considered as an alternative source for various polymers and biomaterials production. Except for the native lignin in lignocellulose, a massive amount of technical lignin is being produced daily all over the world. However, the complex structure and low reactivity of lignin limit its further applications and currently, most of the lignin is burned for generating energy. Therefore, the depolymerization of lignin is considered one of the important challenges in lignin utilization. Methods for lignin depolymerization can be divided into thermochemical treatment, mechanical treatment, chemical catalysis, and biological treatment. Different methods for lignin depolymerization, their characteristics and products are extensively discussed in this review.

Lignin utilization: A review of lignin depolymerization from various aspects

Soybean yield prediction from UAV using multimodal data fusion and deep learning

Production performance and egg quality characteristics of pullets and spent layers were compared in this study. Forty birds, each from the flocks of pullets (24 weeks old) and spent layers (76 weeks old) were selected as experimental birds. The birds from each age group were divided into five replicates, each comprising of eight birds. All the experimental birds were fed a commercial layer ration @ 110g/bird/day for 12 weeks. The data on egg production, feed consumption, egg weight and egg quality characteristics viz. shell thickness, shell weight, breaking strength, albumen diameter, albumen weight and yolk weight were recorded. The data thus collected were utilized for calculation of FCR, Haugh unit and yolk index values. The results revealed that pullets produced more eggs and utilized their feed more efficiently than spent layers. However, egg weight in spent layers was higher than in their counterparts. Pullets also produced eggs with thicker shell and higher Haugh unit values when compared to the spent layers. Feed consumption and yolk index values remained unaffected due to the age. Pullets also had better egg quality characteristics than those of spent layers.

Comparative productive performance and egg characteristics of pullets and spent layers.

Updates on inulinases: Structural aspects and biotechnological applications.

Piroplasmosis is an important animal disease that is a major constraint to the development of the livestock industry, often resulting in significant economic losses. Therefore, there is an urgent need to further understand the etiology of this and other tick-borne infections. Blood samples were collected from tick-infested animals from the Chakwal, Jhang, and Faisalabad districts of Punjab, Pakistan and from peri-urban areas around Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China to investigate the presence of Babesia and Theileria species. In total, 450 blood samples were collected with FTA cards from cattle of the study areas of Pakistan; the genomic (g)DNA of one hundred and twenty samples from cattle in Inner Mongolia were provided by the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, China. Following the extraction of gDNA, the 18S rRNA gene (V4 hypervariable region) of piroplasms was amplified in all samples using semi-nested PCR. Positively identified samples were sequenced for the identification of Theileria and Babesia species. The partial full-length sequence of 18S rDNA was amplified for species confirmation of Theileria-positive samples, whereas the RAP-1c gene was amplified for Babesia bigemina-positive samples. Semi-nested PCR results revealed that 144 (25.26%) samples were positive for piroplasms. Theileria annulata was the most prevalent species (115/144; 20.17%), followed by Theileria orientalis (16/144; 2.80%). Among Babesia, the only species recorded was Babesia bigemina (13/144; 2.28%). The present study reveals new data on the prevalence of piroplasm species in bovine populations of selected areas of China and Pakistan and their phylogenetic relationships. It is also the first detailed report of T. orientalis from native animals in Pakistan.

/pdf/molecular-survey-of-piroplasm-species-from-selected-areas-of-3g3ohzhl9u.pdf

Molecular survey of piroplasm species from selected areas of China and Pakistan

Anaplasma ovis is one of the tick-transmitted pathogens of small ruminants It causes ovine anaplasmosis and widely distributed in the world In contrast to extensive worldwide genetic diversity of A marginale and A phagocytophilum, there are few reports on the classification of A ovis strains This study was conducted to investigate the occurrence and characterize A ovis strains from goats and sheep from 12 provinces in China The occurrence of A ovis DNA was tested in 552 goats and sheep, by PCR based on the msp4 gene Positive samples were used for the amplification of the msp1a gene of A ovis The Msp1a amino acid repeats were further identified and used for the characterization of A ovis strains The results showed that 79 (143%) goats and sheep were positive for A ovis The infection rates of A ovis among different study sites ranged from 0 to 100%, and were significantly higher in sheep (266%, 45/169) than in goats (89%, 34/383) (χ
 2 = 21403, df = 1, P < 0001) The msp4 gene sequences of these isolates were 998–100% identical to each other, and they represented two sequence types Forty-four partial msp1a gene sequences containing the repeat sequences were obtained from A ovis-positive samples After translation to amino acid sequences, 24 Msp1a repeats with 33 to 47 amino acids, which corresponded to 19 genotypes of A ovis, were recognized in goats and sheep in China Anaplasma ovis is widely distributed in the investigated geographical regions The msp4 gene of A ovis had high sequence identity and was unable to be used to discriminate different strains The Msp1a could be used as a genetic marker for characterizing A ovis, and 19 genotypes of A ovis were recognized in domestic small ruminants in China The present study revealed, for the first time, the genetic diversity of A ovis based on the analyses of Msp1a amino acid repeats

/pdf/characterization-of-anaplasma-ovis-strains-using-the-major-4uw5cjilvn.pdf

Characterization of Anaplasma ovis strains using the major surface protein 1a repeat sequences.

Graphene-based composites have gained great attention in the field of gas sensor fabrication due to their higher surface area with additional functional groups. Decorating one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor nanomaterials on graphene also show potential benefits in gas sensing applications. Here we demonstrate the one-pot and low cost synthesis of W18O49 NWs/rGO composites with different amount of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) which show excellent gas-sensing properties towards toluene and strong dependence on their chemical composition. As compared to pure W18O49 NWs, an improved gas sensing response (2.8 times higher) was achieved in case of W18O49 NWs composite with 0.5 wt. % rGO. Promisingly, this strategy can be extended to prepare other nanowire based composites with excellent gas-sensing performance.

Muhammad Hassan

Papers

Comparative productive performance and egg characteristics of pullets and spent layers.

Updates on inulinases: Structural aspects and biotechnological applications.

Molecular survey of piroplasm species from selected areas of China and Pakistan

Characterization of Anaplasma ovis strains using the major surface protein 1a repeat sequences.

Ultrathin Tungsten Oxide Nanowires/Reduced Graphene Oxide Composites for Toluene Sensing.