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Evaluating the growth and water use efficiency of chili pepper ‘Tanjung’, ‘Unpad’, and ‘Osaka’ using SFM1 sap flow in agro-environment
Abstract Water use efficiency in horticultural crops is necessary for sustainable agriculture, especially under changing micro climate conditions. This study assesses the water use efficiency (WUE), growth, and physiological performance of three chili cultivars (Tanjung, Unpad, and Osaka-3) under various conditions of agro-environment. The experiment was carried out from December 2023 to May 2024 at Universitas Padjadjaran in Indonesia, using a factorial randomized complete block design with 432 plants spread among four conditions of agro-environment: greenhouse, rain shelter, screen house, and open field. Plants were given nutrient solutions in varied quantities based on evapotranspiration (ETc) in four conditions of agro-environment. a Sap Flow Meter (SFM1) with the Heat Pulse Velocity technique measure volume of nutrient solution for watering the plants which was predicted using a soil water balance model. The results revealed interaction and significant effect of cultivar and four conditions of agro-environment that influenced water intake, sap flow, and growth. Osaka had the highest water sap velocity, indicating intense transpiration, particularly in the screen house and open field. Tanjung performed best in the screen house, with the maximum WUE (2.0 g/L) and absolute growth rate (> 0.60 cm/day), despite the low water usage. Correlations between sap velocity and water consumption for absolute growth rate (AGR) was 0.68* and WUE was 0.59. These findings emphasize the significance of controlled conditions of agro-environment designs to maximize water use efficiency and maintain chili productivity.
I will continue the fight for environmental justice in Black communities
Children’s resource taking varies with experimentally manipulated relative status
Briefing Chat: Pokémon turns 30 — how Pikachu and pals inspired generations of researchers
Investigating potential backers’ reactions to fundraiser misconduct in crowdfunding: a psychological reactance perspective
Daily briefing: This Utah family line might be evidence of ‘selfish genes’ in humans
A cross-sectional quality assessment of panic attacks information on Douyin in China
Optimization of split-ring resonator slots using levy-opposition-enhanced Newton Raphson method for high-gain UWB Vivaldi antenna design
Abstract This paper presents a novel hybrid metaheuristic optimization algorithm, termed Lévy-opposition-enhanced Newton–Raphson-based optimization (NRBO-LO), and its application to the design of a high-gain ultra-wideband (UWB) antipodal Vivaldi antenna. The proposed algorithm enhances the conventional Newton–Raphson-based optimizer by integrating random opposition learning to improve population diversity and Lévy flight–based guided learning to strengthen exploitation, thereby mitigating premature convergence. The effectiveness of NRBO-LO is first rigorously evaluated using a comprehensive set of unimodal, multimodal, and composite benchmark functions, where it demonstrates superior convergence accuracy, robustness, and stability compared to several well-established metaheuristic algorithms. Following algorithmic validation, NRBO-LO is employed within a MATLAB–CST co-simulation framework to optimize the geometrical parameters of split-ring resonator (SRR) slots embedded on both the radiating surface and ground plane of a compact antipodal Vivaldi antenna fabricated on a low-cost FR-4 substrate. The optimized antenna occupies an area of 40 × 40 mm 2 and achieves a continuous impedance bandwidth covering the entire 3.1–10.6 GHz UWB range by reducing the lower cutoff frequency from 4.8 GHz to approximately 3 GHz. A maximum realized gain of 9.2 dB is obtained, representing a significant improvement over the reference design. Comprehensive electromagnetic analyses are performed to assess antenna performance in both the frequency and time domains. The proposed design exhibits directive radiation characteristics, an average radiation efficiency of approximately 75% with a peak efficiency of 91%, stable group delay, and high fidelity factors across multiple antenna orientations, indicating minimal signal distortion. The results confirm that the combined use of the NRBO-LO algorithm and metamaterial-inspired SRR slots provides an effective and practical approach for the optimization of compact, high-performance UWB Vivaldi antennas suitable for radar, microwave imaging, and wireless communication applications.
Automatic text readability assessment for educational content based on graph representation learning
Benchmarking quantum kernels and modern vision models for compound facial expression recognition
High-density lead-free alloys for compact and sustainable photon shielding: a Monte Carlo and benchmarking study
Circulating immune cell phenotypes are associated with inflammatory biomarkers in dementia-free participants from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort
Biological assessment of Coccinia grandis leaf and Lupeol against β-lactam resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae through integrated in-silico and in-vitro studies
Clinical impact of the methylation status of SMAD4 and AKR1B1 genes in a liquid biopsy sample as a prognostic marker for breast cancer
Abstract The role of DNA methylation in the prognosis of breast cancer, particularly concerning small mothers against decapentaplegic 4 (SMAD4) and aldo-keto reductase family 1 member B1 (AKR1B1), remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the clinical role of SMAD4 and AKR1B1 methylation as noninvasive prognostic biomarkers in breast cancer. The study included 140 individuals. The patients were stratified into two groups based on their diagnostic investigation: women diagnosed with cancer in breast ( N = 80) and cases with benign lesions in breast ( N = 30). Additionally, a group of subjects considered as healthy served as the control group ( N = 30). Methylation levels of SMAD4 and AKR1B1 were quantified using the Methyl II quantitative PCR system. The methylation specificity and sensitivity were examined through performing a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The association of the methylation of investigated patterns with breast cancer clinical features and response to treatment was also examined. Survival patterns were assesed using Kaplan-Meier analyses. The outcomes revealed that hypermethylation of SMAD4 and AKR1B1 was upregulated in cancerous patients relative to the benign group and healthy subjects. Based on the values of the area under the curve (AUC) (0.945 and 0.935, respectively) for SMAD4 and AKR1B1, both markers demonstrated superior diagnostic accuracy, surpassing conventional biomarkers for instance cancer antigen 15 − 3 (CA 15 − 3; AUC = 0.698) as well as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA; AUC = 0.537). Remarkably, SMAD4 and AKR1B1 hypermethylation exhibited a significant association with invasive duct carcinoma (IDC), particularly in early stages, high grades, and cases with lymph node metastasis. A significant difference was observed in methylation status concerning both items and treatment response. Additionally, survival outcomes indicated that hypermethylation of SMAD4 and AKR1B1 was associated with worse DFS and OS. In conclusion, SMAD4 and AKR1B1 methylation may serve as significant epigenetic markers affecting breast cancer prognosis, potentially indicating more aggressive disease and poorer outcomes in these patients.