Resumo O tempo de transplante e o genótipo contribuem para melhorar a produtividade e a qualidade da cultura da berinjela (Solanum melongena L.). Um experimento de campo foi conduzido para investigar o impacto da aplicação foliar de triacontanol (TRIA) e genótipos de berinjela 25919, Nirala, 28389 e Pak-10927, transplantados em 1 de março, 15 de março e 1 de abril de exposição a condições de alta temperatura do ar. O experimento foi realizado de acordo com o Randomized Complete Block Design e os dados foram analisados pelo teste de Tuckey. O TRIA foi aplicado a 10 µM na fase de floração; água destilada foi utilizada como controle. Taxa de fotossíntese e transpiração, condutância estomática, eficiência do uso da água e efeitos sobre as enzimas antioxidantes (superóxido dismutase, catalase e peroxidase) foram avaliados. O TRIA 10 µM aumentou a taxa de fotossíntese e a eficiência do uso da água e o rendimento foi melhorado em todos os genótipos transplantados nas diferentes datas. A aplicação foliar de TRIA 10µM aumentou as atividades das enzimas antioxidantes (SOD, POD e CAT) e melhorou os atributos fisiológicos e bioquímicos de genótipos de berinjela expostos a condições de alto calor. A atividade mais elevada da enzima dismutase 5,41mg / 1g FW foi registrada no genótipo Nirala no segundo transplante. Considerando que o mais baixo foi observado em PAK-10927 (2,30 mg / g FW). A produtividade máxima de frutos foi encontrada no acesso 25919 (1,725 kg por planta) no 1º transplante com Triacontanol, enquanto o acesso PAK-10927 deu a menor produção (0,285 kg por planta) no tratamento de controle no 3º transplante. Genótipo, data de transplante e aplicação de TRIA, melhoramento do crescimento, rendimento e atributos de qualidade sob estresse térmico em berinjela.

Abstract Transplanting time and genotype contribute to improving crop yield and quality of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.). A field experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of foliar applied of triacontanol (TRIA) and eggplant genotypes 25919, Nirala, 28389 and Pak-10927,transplanted on 1 March,15 March, and 1 April on exposure to high air temperature conditions. The experiment was performed according to Randomized Complete Block Design and the data was analyzed by using Tuckey,s test . The TRIA was applied at 10µM at flowering stage; distilled water was used as the control. Rate of photosynthesis and transpiration, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency, and effects on antioxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase) were evaluated. The 10µM TRIA increased photosynthesis rate and water use efficiency and yield was improved in all genotypes transplanted at the different dates. Foliar application of 10µM TRIA increased antioxidative enzyme activities (SOD, POD & CAT) and improved physiological as well as biochemical attributes of eggplant genotypes exposed to high heat conditions. Highest activity of dismutase enzyme 5.41mg/1g FW was recorded in Nirala genotype in second transplantation. Whereas, lowest was noted in PAK-10927 (2.30mg/g FW). Maximum fruit yield was found in accession 25919 (1.725kg per plant) at 1st transplantation with Triacontanol, whereas accession PAK-10927 gave the lowest yield (0.285 kg per plant) at control treatment on 3rd transplantation. Genotype, transplanting date and application of TRIA improved growth, yield and quality attributes under of heat stress in eggplant.

Resumo O veneno do escorpião contém uma variedade de neurotoxinas que interagem com os canais iônicos e afetam suas atividades. O presente estudo foi desenhado para avaliar o potencial do veneno de escorpião como inibidor da acetilcolinesterase (AChE) usando o Aedes aegypti como organismo modelo. Venenos de duas espécies, Hottentota tamulus (Fabricus, 1798) e Androctonus finitimus (Pocock, 1897) foram selecionados para este estudo. Dois peptídeos (36 kDa de H. tamulus e 54 kDa de A. finitimus) foram separados do veneno de escorpião usando HPLC. Peptídeos selecionados causaram mortalidade significativamente maior em larvas e adultos de Aedes aegypti do que o controle (não foram observadas mortalidades nos grupos controle). O potencial inibitório significativo da acetilcolinesterase (AChE) de ambos os peptídeos foi registrado por espectrofotômetro. O peptídeo de A. finitimus causou mortalidade significativamente maior (95 ± 1,53% em larvas e 100% em adultos) que o peptídeo de H. tamulus (84,33 ± 2,33% em larvas e 95,37 ± 1,45% em adultos). Enquanto o peptídeo de H. tamulus foi mais eficiente na redução da atividade da AChE (0,029 ± 0,012 em larvas e 0,03 ± 0,003 em adultos) do que o peptídeo de A. finitimus (0,049 ± 0,005 em larvas e 0,047 ± 0,001 em adultos). Concluiu-se que o peptídeo do veneno de H. tamulus foi mais eficiente na redução da atividade da AChE, podendo ser um potencial bioinseticida que pode ser sintetizado em escala industrial para o controle de insetos nocivos.

Abstract Scorpion venom contains a variety of neurotoxins which interact with ion channels and affect their activities. The present study was designed to evaluate the potential of scorpion venom as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor by using Aedes aegypti as model organism. Venoms of two species, Hottentota tamulus (Fabricus, 1798) and Androctonus finitimus (Pocock, 1897) were selected for this study. Two peptides (36 kDa from H. tamulus and 54 kDa from A. finitimus) were separated from scorpion venom by using HPLC. Selected peptides caused significantly higher mortality in larvae and adults of Aedes aegypti than control (no mortalities were observed in control groups). Significant acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory potential of both peptides was recorded by spectrophotometer. The peptide of A. finitimus caused significantly higher mortality (95±1.53% in larvae and 100% in adults) than the peptide of H. tamulus (84.33±2.33% in larvae and 95.37±1.45% in adults). While H. tamulus peptide was more efficient in reducing AChE activity (0.029±0.012 in larvae and 0.03±0.003 in adults) than the peptide of A. finitimus (0.049±0.005 in larvae and 0.047±0.001 in adults). It was concluded that H. tamulus venom peptide was more efficiently reducing AChE activity, thus it could be a potential bio-insecticide which can be synthesized at industrial scale for the control of harmful insects.

Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) is an appealing classification model for learning causal and noncausal dependencies among a set of query variables. It is a challenging task to learning BBN structure from observational data because of pool of large number of candidate network structures. In this study, we have addressed the issue of goodness of data fitting versus model complexity. While doing so, we have proposed discriminant function which is non-parametric, free of implicit assumptions but delivering better classification accuracy in structure learning. The contribution in this study is twofold, first contribution (discriminant function) is in BBN structure learning and second contribution is for Decision Stump classifier. While designing the novel discriminant function, we analyzed the underlying relationship between the characteristics of data and accuracy of decision stump classifier. We introduced a meta characteristic measure AMfDS (herein known as Affinity Metric for Decision Stump) which is quite useful in prediction of classification accuracy of Decision Stump. AMfDS requires a single scan of the dataset.

Effect of mass transfer in the magnetohydrodynamic flow of a Casson fluid over a porous stretching sheet is addressed in the presence of a chemical reaction. A series solution for the resulting nonlinear flow is computed. The skin friction coefficient and local Sherwood number are analyzed through numerical values for various parameters of interest. The velocity and concentration fields are illustrated for several pertinent flow parameters. We observed that the Casson parameter and Hartman number have similar effects on the velocity in a qualitative sense. We further analyzed that the concentration profile decreases rapidly in comparison to the fluid velocity when we increased the values of the suction parameter.