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Field performance of f2 generation progenies of a locally developed hybrid chili (Capsicum Annuum L.) variety
Get PDFResearchers and plant breeders have been consistently working to create improved chilli cultivars through hybridization. Because of the ability to thrive in specific niches and environmental conditions, locally produced hybrid chilli types have become well known. Hence, this study was conducted at the Field Crops Research and Development Institute (FCRDI) Mahailupallama, Sri Lanka to assess the field performances of F2 generation progenies obtained from a locally developed hybrid chilli variety MICH HY1. F1 Generation of MICH Hy 1 Chilli seeds (T1), F2 Generation of self-pollinated MICH Hy 1 Chili seeds (T2) and F2 Generation of open-pollinated MICH Hy 1 Chilli seeds (T3) were used as planting materials and the treatments were arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design having 20 replicates. Different vegetative and reproductive characteristics and yield parameters were recorded. The results showed that the F1 generation performed well compared to the F2 generations from both self-pollination and openpollination in terms of plant height and canopy width, suggesting a genetic advantage defined by taller plants and broader canopies. Chilli plants in T3 took higher days for 1st flowering (65.3 days) while the T1 and T2 took 62.3 and 61.8 days respectively. Moreover, when compared to the F2 generation, the F1 generation produced more pods, higher total weights, and higher overall crop yields. These findings provide chilli farmers and breeders with practical assistance, allowing them to make informed decisions to increase chilli crop yield and success. Future study into the underlying genetic pathways promises more efficient and sustainable chilli cultivation approaches
Probiotic lactic acid bacteria from papaya, banana fruits and fermented red raw rice batter: isolation, screening and antimicrobial property
Get PDFProbiotic lactic acid bacteria are “live microorganisms which, when
administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host”. Therefore, the
purpose of the study was to isolate the lactic acid bacteria from papaya fruit, banana
fruits, fermented papaya fruit, fermented banana fruit and fermented red raw rice batter
to screen the probiotic potential of isolated strains. The gram staining and catalase
tests were performed to identify the presumptive lactic acid bacteria. Further, the
isolated strains were subjected to diverse biochemical and physiological tests, such as
different carbohydrate fermentation test, gas production from fructose and glucose and
ability to survive under different temperature, pH concentration, bile salt concentration
and sodium chloride concentration. The antimicrobial test was done for all selected
isolated bacterial strains against E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and
Staphylococcus aureus. Eight bacterial strains were isolated, and all isolated bacteria
strains were gram positive, catalase negative, non-spore forming and non-motility
strains. Based on the antimicrobial activity, the R2 isolated from fermented red raw rice
batter and FB1 and FB2 isolated from fermented banana fruit bacterial strains have
ability to control E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus than
other bacterial strains. Therefore, the R2, FB1 and FB2 bacterial strains identified as
probiotic lactic bacterial strains due to antimicrobial activity. Based on the biochemical
and physiological tests indicated that R2 can survive at low pH (1.5 to 4), high
temperature (470C), different bile salt concentrations (0.3%, 0.8% and 1.0%) and
different sodium chloride concentrations (2% ,6% and 10%). Therefore, this study
concluded that R2 isolated from fermented red raw rice batter considered as potential
probiotic lactic acid bacteria. Further study could be performed to confirm its probiotic
potential and identify strain based on molecular techniques
The prospect of Avicennia marina in sediment remediation from toxic elements: a case study in Eastern Sri Lanka
Get PDFVarieties of mangrove plants are investigated in phytoextraction potentiality of
probable toxic elements considering the different regions of the world which are
controlled by the prevailing environmental and climatic conditions. Yet, the eastern
coastal environments of Sri Lanka are rich in natural vegetation, a very few studies
have been carried out to investigate the phytoextraction potentiality of Sri Lankan
mangrove species. The present study aimed to estimate the phytoextraction potentiality
of selected six heavy metals in readily available mangrove species (Avicennia marina)
in Batticaloa Lagoon and Uppar Lagoon of the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. A batch
experiment was conducted considering the concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb
in three similar extent plants in each lagoon. The root sediments and plant parts
including roots, stem below water, stem above water and leaves were considered in
order to identify the above trace metal concentrations using Inductively Coupled
Plasma Mass Spectrometry. The average toxic element concentrations in sediments are
in the order of Cr (58.97 ppm)> Ni (39.20 ppm)> Cu (25.57 ppm)> Pb (10.56 ppm)>
As (0.95 ppm)> Cd (0.14 ppm). The content of Ni is above the Effect Rage -Low
(ERL) in marine sediments indicating its rare adverse effects on biodiversity whereas
other elements are below the ERL values. The concentration of considered toxic metals
in different parts of Avicennia marina shows higher values in stem parts for Cd and Pb
while all other elements show that in roots. The Bio Concentration Factor (BCF) of
below water plant parts (roots and stem) were in order of Cr > As > Ni > Cu > Pb > Cd
indicating significant phytoextraction potentiality for the study area compared to the
previous studies in different regions of the world. The root to leave translocation factors
(TF) are in order of Pb (0.97)> Cu (0.91)> Ni (0.74)> As (0.69)> Cd (0.68)> Cr (0.54)
indicating the high capacity of Avicennia marina to store the metals. Hence, the present
study recommends the applications of Avicennia marina in soil remediation from non
essential toxic elements such as Pb, Cd and As for Sri Lankan coastal environments
Individual factors of work life balance and job performance; special reference to academic and administrative heads of Sri Lankan Universities: structural equation modeling
Get PDFPurpose: This paper aims to explore the strength of individual work life balance
(WLB) factors on job performance (JP).
Design/methodology/approach: A survey strategy was adopted to collect the
data by using self-reported questionnaire from the North East universities’
academic and administrative heads in Sri Lanka. Out of total 339 samples, 257
utilizable responses were obtained and a vigorous analytical procedure followed.
Findings: The results exposed that, individual WLB factors have considerable
influence on JP with the regression weight R2 of 11%, (β = 0.326, p=0.000<0.05)
and supported with the hypothesis of the study.
Practical implications: This study provides helpful imminent and direction for
Sri Lankan higher education sector. Further, the result of the study would provide
as a guide to the university’s academic and administrative heads to improve their
performance by using individual factors of WLB.
Research limitations: This research is narrow only to academic and
administrative heads of the north east universities in Sri Lanka. Hence, it
disregarded other service category of employees in the universities and other
organizations as well. Future scholars may consider in extending the study by
using different sampling procedures, different factors of WLB, conduct in other
service sectors as well as might consider comparative studies too.
Originality value: The study is beneficial for University Grant Commission and
ministry of higher education to consider the individual factors of WLB such as
personality, time management, well-being, self-esteem, spiritual intelligence and
awareness to augment the JP
Multi-S3p: protein secondary structure prediction with specialized multi-network and self-attention-based deep learning model
Get PDFProtein structure prediction (PSP) is a vital challenge in bioinformatics, structural biology
and drug discovery. Protein secondary structure (SS) prediction is critical since three-dimensional (3D)
structures are primarily made up of secondary structures. With the advancement of deep learning approaches,
SS classification accuracy has been significantly improved. Many existing methods use an ensemble of
complex neural networks to improve SS prediction. Because of the high dimensionality of the hyperparam eter space, deep neural networks with complex architectures are typically challenging to train effectively.
Also, predicting secondary structures in the boundary regions between different types of SS is challenging.
This study presents Multi-S3P, which employs bidirectional Long-Short-Term-Memory (BILSTM) and
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) with a self-attention mechanism to improve the secondary structure
prediction using an effective training strategy to capture the unique characteristics of each type of secondary
structure and combine them more effectively. The ensemble of CNN and BILSTM can learn both contextual
information and long-range interactions between the residues. In addition, using a self-attention mechanism
allows the model to focus on the most important features for improving performance. We used the SPOT 1D dataset for the training and validation of our model using a set of four input features derived from
amino acid sequences. Further, the model was tested on four popular independent test datasets and compared
with various state-of-the-art predictors. The presented results show that Multi-S3P outperformed the other
methods in terms of Q3, Q8 accuracy and other performance metrics, achieving the highest Q3 accuracy of
87.57% and a Q8 accuracy of 77.56% on the TEST2016 test set. More importantly, Multi-S3P demonstrates
high performance in SS boundary regions. Our experiment also demonstrates that the combination of
different input features and a multi-network-based training strategy significantly improved the performance
Determinants of instant messenger (IM) adoption and its effect on team performance: Mediating role of knowledge creation and quality communication
Get PDFComputer-mediated communication has dramatically transformed the human communication landscape by enhancing speed, content and social presence. The world has been
experiencing a sharp decline in using email and phone calls due to organizations’ rapid
adoption of instant messenger (IM) for their day-to-day communication with their stakeholders. Moreover, the world has been experiencing a sharp decline in using email and phone
calls since the beginning of the IM era. Hence, the aim of this study is to comprehend the IM
adoption process through the lens of three theories. A structured questionnaire was developed to collect data from the organizations and test hypotheses using consistent PLS-SEM
(PLSc) in SMART PLS combined with bootstrapping. The results indicated that parallelism
is the most dominating factor explaining IM adoption in organizations followed by transmission velocity, rehearsability and symbol set. The findings of this study also confirmed that
team performance is not influenced by communication but by the quality of the communication and the level of knowledge within the group that can create using instant messenger.
Indeed, this empirical study is one of the limited investigations that combine three theories
to explain the IM adoption process and its effect on team performance. Moreover, this study
contributes both theoretically and practically to comprehending the adoption process of IM.
Lastly, this study reconfirmed the importance of Media Synchronicity Theory (MST) and
Social Presence Theory (SPT) in predicting IM adoption; and the findings of this research
extended the applications of the Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) from the IM perspective, which is, indeed, rare. Finally, this study provides a great foundation for managers to
understand the importance of IM in their day-to-day communication systems
Molecular phylogeny and characterization of mundri sheep (ovis aries) of Pakistan through sequencing of mitochondrial cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase subunit i
Get PDFThe main focus of this research is to determine the molecular phylogeny and characterization of Mundri Sheep (Ovis aries) through
sequencing of mitochondrial Cytochrome b
and Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (COI).
This sheep breed appears morphologically
different from other local sheep breeds of Pakistan. The current research is carried out to
appraise the status of Mundri sheep whether
it is a different breed from other breeds or not.
Blood samples of Mundri sheep were collected from Livestock Experiment Station, (LES)
Fazilpur in district Rajanpur (Punjab). DNA
was isolated and subjected to Polymerase
Chain Reaction (PCR) for amplification of Cytochrome b and COI genes using appropriate
primers. PCR products were sequenced and
analyzed by MEGA X software. The phylogeny analysis categorized Ovis aries including
Mundri sheep into three and two groups for
Cytochrome b and COI genes respectively.
It showed Mundri sheep as a separate group
and thus as a separate breed from all other
local sheep breeds. Hence the study validates
based on Cytochrome b and COI that Mundri
sheep is a distinctive breed from the rest of the
local sheep breed
Efficient solid polymer electrolytes for energy storage devices
Get PDFRecently, energy storage devices are soaring demand in transportation, mobile
electronic strategies and other applications in renewable energy. Battery is used to give
power to the system and stored the electrical energy in the form of chemical energy.
Since the electrolyte is the key component in batteries, it affects the electro-chemical
performance and safety of the batteries. In lithium batteries, the solid electrolyte is
selected based on the best performance in a wide variety of operating temperature, cell
capacity, cyclic ability of the batteries and safety. In this study, the electrical
conductivity can be obtained by modifying the structure of the insulating polymer chain
by doping of metallic ions. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) based solid polymer
electrolytes were fabricated and characterized. Conductivity of the electrolyte has been
enhanced by incorporating suitable number of Li-ions. 0.5 g of polyvinylpyrrolidone
(PVP) was dissolved in 1 ml of methanol and the solution was continuously stirred
using magnetic stirrer for 12 hours to get a homogeneous gel polymer electrolyte. In
order to enhance the conductivity of the gel polymer electrolyte, different amount
(weight percentages of the polymer) of LiCl was added to the polymer solution and
solution was continuously stirred for 12 hours to get a homogeneous gel electrolyte. To
get the solid polymer electrolyte film, all gel electrolytes were allowed to dry on glass
plate. Semi-transparent solid films were obtained. PVP + 15% lithium-ion combination
shows a high conductivity in gel electrolyte and solid polymer electrolyte which are
0.0046 Scm-1 and 1.90045×10-5 Scm-1 respectively. Fabricated PVP/lithium-ion
electrolyte can be used in rechargeable batteries
Macrotexture and grain size characteristics of lagoonal and riverine coastal deposits along the Southeastern coast of Sri Lanka: implication for paleoenvironment
No full textBeach placers are concentrations of economically potential minerals formed by surface earth processes and are identified as one of the most easily exploitable mineral deposits in the world. We studied the placer and non-placer sediments in lagoonal and riverine beaches of the southeastern part of Sri Lanka to unravel their specific sedimentary features, depositional settings and paleoenvironments. Swash zone deposits (105) were investigated for their surface microtextures, granulometry and their identification. Near the lagoonal outlets, black-coloured placers are reported with abundant ilmenite and
accessory zircon, while red-coloured almandine placers are founded in the riverine areas. Placer deposits are composed
of coarse-skewed leptokurtic to platykurtic fin sand and evidenced for dominant bottom suspension mechanisms on the
weak wave-generated depositional agent. Quartz grains (240) from placer and siliciclastic sediments showed the presence
of 25 pre-defend microtextures indicating the influences from sub-aqueous beach, fluvial, aeolian and chemical alteration
processes. From siliciclastic to red placer to black placer sediments, decreasing order of source-sink distance and increasing order of fluvial influences are resulted. Cracks and solution pits are higher in the sediments of placer deposits revealing
their deposition in the steady low energy environment. The crosscut relations indicate prevailed pre-aeolian processes and
post-chemical alteration processes on placer deposits. Large conchoidal fractures, arcuate and straight steps microtextures, and mineralogical contents of the placer deposits infer the crystalline rock sources of granitic gneiss and garnet-bearing granulates of the Precambrian Vijayan Complex and Highland-Vijayan tectonic boundary zone