Chickpea is a cool season, photothermal-sensitive crop, that is adversely affected by high temperatures (>35°C) and whose flowering is promoted by long-day conditions (>12 h). This prevents horizontal crop spread under a variety of agro-climatic conditions and the development of insensitive genotypes that perform well in all seasons. Therefore, a study was conducted to identify genotypes that are mature early, insensitive to photoperiod, high temperature and tolerant to drought stress. A set of 74 genotypes was evaluated under rainfed conditions in Kharif 2021 (off-season) to select eight promising early-maturing genotypes with high-yielding capacity. Then further investigations were conducted in five different seasons Late Kharif 2021, rabi 2021, summer 2022, early Kharif 2022 and Kharif 2022 to identify the genotypes with photothermo-insensitivity among the selected eight genotypes. With the exception of rabi 2021, each of these seasons were distinct from the chickpea's typical growing season. Among these eight, the stable genotypes which are performed better in all the seasons, especially in summer were considered, such as IPC 06-11, MNK-1, JG-14 and ICE 15654-A as a photothermo-insensitive, were able to flower and set pods with higher seed yield and, resulting in early maturity in a temperature range of 41.4/9.3°C with photoperiods of 13.1/10.9 h to reach in all seasons throughout the year. The heritability was more than 60%. Hence, these genotypes can be used as donor aids in the development of early maturing, drought stress tolerant and photothermo-insensitive chickpea.

The goal in system-level design is to generate a diverse set of high-performing design configurations that allow trade-offs across different objectives and avoid early concretization. We use deep generative models to learn a manifold of the valid design space, followed by Monte Carlo sampling to explore and optimize design over the learned manifold, producing a diverse set of optimal designs. We demonstrate the efficacy of our proposed approach on the design of an SAE race vehicle and propeller.

The current study was undertaken to identify the sources of tolerance to bruchid in cowpea, by screening a set of germplasm accessions as a source for natural resistance. A total of 103 diverse accessions of cowpea were evaluated for resistance to Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. under no-choice artificial infestation conditions. Significant differences among the cowpea accessions were observed for oviposition, adult emergence, exit holes and per cent seed weight loss (PSWL) caused by the bruchid infestation. The accessions showed variation in physical seed parameters viz., colour, shape, testa texture, length, width and seed hardness. Among the seed biochemical parameters studied, per cent sugar content ranged from 0.322 (IC330950) to 1.493 (IC249137), and per cent phenol content ranged from 0.0326 (EC390261) to 1.081 (EC528423). Correlation studies indicated that PSWL had significant positive correlation (r = 0.335) with exit holes, oviposition (r = 0.219), adult emergence (r = 0.534) and seed roundness (r = 0.219). Adult emergence had a significant negative correlation with seed hardness (r = −0.332). Correlation with biochemical parameters indicated that PSWL had a significant positive correlation (r = 0.231) with sugar content and a significant negative correlation with phenol content (r = −0.219). None of the accessions were found to be immune to bruchid infestation. However, out of studied accessions, EC528425 and EC528387 were identified as resistant based on PSWL and moderately resistant based on adult emergence. These resistance sources of cowpea germplasm can be used as potential donors for development of bruchid tolerant/resistant cultivars.

Seven half-day regional listening sessions were held between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide-resistance management. The objective of the listening sessions was to connect with stakeholders and hear their challenges and recommendations for addressing herbicide resistance. The coordinating team hired Strategic Conservation Solutions, LLC, to facilitate all the sessions. They and the coordinating team used in-person meetings, teleconferences, and email to communicate and coordinate the activities leading up to each regional listening session. The agenda was the same across all sessions and included small-group discussions followed by reporting to the full group for discussion. The planning process was the same across all the sessions, although the selection of venue, time of day, and stakeholder participants differed to accommodate the differences among regions. The listening-session format required a great deal of work and flexibility on the part of the coordinating team and regional coordinators. Overall, the participant evaluations from the sessions were positive, with participants expressing appreciation that they were asked for their thoughts on the subject of herbicide resistance. This paper details the methods and processes used to conduct these regional listening sessions and provides an assessment of the strengths and limitations of those processes.

Herbicide resistance is ‘wicked’ in nature; therefore, results of the many educational efforts to encourage diversification of weed control practices in the United States have been mixed. It is clear that we do not sufficiently understand the totality of the grassroots obstacles, concerns, challenges, and specific solutions needed for varied crop production systems. Weed management issues and solutions vary with such variables as management styles, regions, cropping systems, and available or affordable technologies. Therefore, to help the weed science community better understand the needs and ideas of those directly dealing with herbicide resistance, seven half-day regional listening sessions were held across the United States between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide resistance management. The major goals of the sessions were to gain an understanding of stakeholders and their goals and concerns related to herbicide resistance management, to become familiar with regional differences, and to identify decision maker needs to address herbicide resistance. The messages shared by listening-session participants could be summarized by six themes: we need new herbicides; there is no need for more regulation; there is a need for more education, especially for others who were not present; diversity is hard; the agricultural economy makes it difficult to make changes; and we are aware of herbicide resistance but are managing it. The authors concluded that more work is needed to bring a community-wide, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexity of managing weeds within the context of the whole farm operation and for communicating the need to address herbicide resistance.

The electronic structure of CeAg2Ge2 single crystal has been investigated by using resonant valence band photoemission and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy at different photon energies. Resonant photoemission has been observed near the 4d threshold of Ce at 121 eV. The constant initial state spectra show two photoemission features having 4f character near the Fermi level that exhibits Fano-like sharp resonance profile. Experimental energy bands have been mapped from the normal-emission photoelectron spectra of CeAg2Ge2 (001) surface along the Γ–Z direction. Four photoemission features are observed to show the dispersion related to the Ce 4f states and the hybridized Ag 4d with Ge 4p states. The experimental spectra have been interpreted with the help of calculations based on full potential linear augmented plane wave method using density functional theory.

Templated growth for the fabrication of semiconductor nanostructures such as quantum dots and lattice-mismatched structures has been employed in this study. Self assembly of block copolymers (BCP) has been exploited to create a regular array of nanoscale patterns on a substrate to generate the growth template. These patterned templates were used for the selective area growth of pseudomorphic quantum dots, allowing for precise control over the dot size and spatial distribution. Strain relaxation in lattice-mismatched structures grown past the pseudomorphic limit was also studied. Analysis of the grown structures suggests that this approach using block copolymer templating followed by selective growth can be used for defect reduction in lattice-mismatched materials.

Summary

Objective: This retrospective study aims to describe the airway management and benefits of nasotracheal intubation over tracheostomy in 260 patients with oral cancer undergoing surgery. Methods and Results: The medical records of 260 patients undergoing surgery for oral cancer were reviewed for airway management during the perioperative period. Eighteen patients had previous surgery for oral cancer and were scheduled for flap reconstruction, recurrence or other complications. In 28 cases neck movement was restricted and decreased mouth opening was found in 50% of all patients because of a large growth or fixation of tissues of head and neck, oral cavity, pharynx or larynx by tumour, or radiation fibrosis. In 53 patients intubation was undertaken under spontaneous ventilation. In 20 cases the trachea was extubated in the immediate postoperative period. In 220 cases patients were extubated next morning in the intensive care unit. In none of the cases was elective tracheostomy under local anaesthesia performed before surgery for the maintenance of the airway for anaesthesia. Elective tracheostomies were done in 17 cases. Three patients remained intubated for 24–48 h because of a high suspicion of airway obstruction following extubation due to a large pectoralis major flap. These three patients received a tracheostomy because of increased oropharyngeal and laryngeal oedema. In three cases emergency tracheostomies were performed due to upper airway obstruction after extubation and in one case prolonged elective ventilation was required due to severe chest infection. Conclusion: Oral cancer patients have a potentially difficult airway but, if managed properly during perioperative period, morbidity and mortality can be reduced or avoided. Oral cancer patients can be managed safely without the routine use of a tracheostomy. Nasotracheal intubation is a safe alternative to tracheostomy in oral cancer patients except in some selected patients.

The very intense radiation environment of high luminosity future colliding beam experiments (LHC, etc.) makes radiation hardness the most important issue for Si detectors. The crucial question is whether the Si strip detectors can withstand the harsh radiation environment for sufficiently long time (full LHC lifetime) and hence the central issue concerning all LHC experiments is the breakdown performance of these detectors. In this paper the simulations have been performed to analyze electrical parameters for the most deleterious long-term effect of radiation: the change in effective charge carrier concentration and resulting increase in full depletion bias. Detailed calculations using Hamburg Model have allowed the parameterization of these effects, and helped to simulate the operation scenario of Si detectors over 10 years of LHC operation. The systematic studies of the electric field to get an insight into the device behavior provide, for the first time, a possible explanation for the improvement in breakdown performance with radiation. Simulation study is also carried on optimized guard ring structures to study the change in guard voltage distribution after 10 years of neutron radiation damage.