71 research outputs found
Coping with floods : the experience of rural women in Bangladesh : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University
No full textThis study focuses on how rural women in Bangladesh, who live in the poorest sector of one of the poorest countries in the world, cope with floods. It seeks to explain the principal factors structuring their responses. It addresses several related questions: how do women perceive and experience floods? What problems do they face and how do they respond to them? Arc they merely the passive victims of floods or do they play an active role in protecting their households? Do all women use the same coping strategies? Are the major parameters of rural society changed as a consequence of the way in which women cope with floods? In responding to these questions a sociological perspective is adopted but not to the exclusion of other approaches. However, it is the social and sociological aspects of the phenomena being explored which are of most concern to the author. The occurrence of floods in Bangladesh is as old as its history but over the last 40 years (1954-1995) the problem has become greatly aggravated and is now one of the main concerns of most rural households, life in which is precarious even in non-flood conditions. These problems affect women more severely than men because of the wider range of responsibilities that they have for their households and the fact that those responsibilities keep them tied to their households more strictly and more effectively than those of male members. Those responsibilities include food processing and cooking, cleaning, collecting water and fuel, bearing and rearing children, looking after livestock and income generation, all of which become much more difficult to perform under flood conditions. Despite this heavy burden, which women bear in extremely difficult circumstances, they demonstrate considerable fortitude and ingenuity in their attempts to maintain the livelihoods of their households. Explanation of these phenomena is sought in the economic, cultural and political structure of the country. Factors stressed in this study are the male-dominated structures of a predominantly conservative and Muslim society; the dominance of parda in the sub-culture of women and the position of women within the socio-economic context of their households
Deterioration of Soybean [Glycine Max (L.) Merr.] Seed by Colletotrichum Truncatum and its Control Through Bio-priming
No full textA study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Colletotrichum truncatum infection on soybean seed quality and its control through bio-priming. A total of 11 genera comprising of 17 species of seed-borne fungi were found to be associated with soybean var. Palmetto. The prominent fungus isolated externally and internally was C. truncatum with the frequency values of 12.75 and 9.75%, respectively, followed by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. glycines and Diaporthe phaseolorum var. sojae based on moist blotter and agar plate methods. The typical symptoms of C. truncatum on the infected seeds appeared as brown to black speckled lesions, producing numerous acervuli with black setae and conidia over the seed surface. Seed infection by C. truncatum in soybean seed caused pre and post-emergence damping-off, resulting in reduced seed germination and seedling survivability by 62.35 and 88.24%, respectively. Histopathological studies of naturally infected soybean seeds confirmed the presence of C. truncatum predominantly both intra- and inter-cellularly in the seed coat, cotyledon and embryonic axes of seed. The fungi were also detected on and in the seed coat, cotyledon and embryonic axes of artificially infected seeds. Seed viability and vigour were also reduced in C. truncatum infected seeds as determined by tetrazolium (TZ) and electrical conductivity (EC) tests. Seed volume of infected seeds was reduced, with an increase in soluble protein and oleic acid and a decrease in linoleic acid content as compared with healthy seeds. Two fungal biocontrol agents (BCAs), Trichoderma virens (UPM23) and T. harzianum (UPM40) were found to inhibit strongly the growth of C. truncatum through mycoparasitism, competition and antibiosis based on PIRG (Percent Inhibition of Radial Growth) values. However, one bacterial BCA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (UPM13B8) gave the highest PIRG values of 100% in the culture filtrate test, suggesting that antibiosis could be the main mechanism of antagonism. No phytotoxic effect was observed on soybean seeds and seedlings, when treated with suspensions of UPM23, UPM40 and UPM13B8. Therefore, the efficacy of bio-priming was conducted for controlling C. truncatum infection in soybean seeds using UPM23, UPM40 and UPM13B8. Artificially infected seeds by C. truncatum were bio-primed for 12 hours as this was determined as the safe time limit for soybean. Treatments included were chemo-primed, Benlate® (T1); bio-primed, UPM13B8 (T2); bio-primed, UPM40 (T3); bio-primed, UPM23 (T4); bio-primed, UPM23+40 (T5) and the controls as hydro- primed (T6) and non- primed seeds (T7). Trichoderma isolates used either singly (UPM 23 and UPM40) or as a mixture (UPM23+40) colonized the seed surface with germinating hyphae after 12 hours of bio-priming. Bacterial isolate, P. aeruginosa was also detected to colonize the seed surface with increase in the colony forming unit (CFU) from 1.2 × 109 to 5.1 × 109 seed-1 after the bio-priming period. Bio-priming was effective to control pre and post-emergence damping-off and promote seed germination, seedling establishment and growth in the presence of C. truncatum in soybean seeds. Under the glass house conditions, Trichoderma isolates however, gave better control of pre and post-emergence damping-off and enhancement of growth followed by bio-priming with UPM13B8 and chemo-priming with Benlate®. Under the field conditions, UPM13B8 was better in controlling pre and post-emergence damping-off ranging from 48.64 to 51.85% and 65.0 to 97.20%, respectively and also enhanced seed germination, final seedling stand and increase in shoot length and dry weight of seedling. However, the biocontrol efficacy and subsequent growth enhancement of UPM13B8 were not significantly (P≤0.05) different from UPM40 or UPM23+40 or the fungicide ‘Benlate®’.
Bio-priming with Malaysian isolates of P. aeruginosa and T. harzianum offered an effective biological seed treatment system and an alternative to chemo-priming with Benlate® to control seed-borne infection by C. truncatum in seeds and seedlings of soybean. Besides, they also improve seed germination, seedling establishment and vegetative growth. This study has explored up new dimension of biological control for preventive as well as remedial of seed-borne infection by C. truncatum. Thus, bio-priming can be exploited by seed companies and organic farmers in the sustainable agriculture, which would be more economical and environmental friendly
Formulation of Equivalent Steel Section for Partially Encased Composite Column under Concentric Gravity Loading
No full textPartially encased composite column (PEC) consists of thin walled welded H- shaped steel section with transverse links provided at regular intervals between the flanges to inhibit the occurrence of local buckling in the thin flange plates. The space between the flanges and the web plate are filled up with concrete. Extensive experimental investigations have been conducted by several research groups to understand the behavior of this relatively new composite column under both concentric and eccentric loading conditions along with sophisticated non-linear finite element analysis. But the separation between concrete and steel initiates the unstable condition in the finite element analysis near the ultimate point when flange plate buckles. To avoid the expensive and cumbersome modeling of the behavior at the interface of two dissimilar materials, an attempt has been made in this study to replace the composite section of PEC column with an equivalent steel section which can easily be incorporated in commercially available finite element softwares
Analysis of Digital Image Watermarking Techniques through Hybrid Methods
No full textDigital image watermarking is an attractive research area since it protects the multimedia data from unauthorized access. For designing an efficient and robust digital image watermarking system, the trade-off among imperceptibility, robustness, capacity, and security must be maintained. Various studies regarding this concern have been performed to ensure these requirements by hybridizing different domains, such as spatial and transform domains. In this paper, we have presented an analytical study of the existing hybrid digital image watermarking methods. At first, we have given a standard framework for designing a hybrid method that ensures the basic design requirements of watermarking for various applications. After a brief literature review, we compared and analyzed the complexity of several existing hybrid methods in a tabular form. The limitations and applications of these methods are also highlighted. Finally, we summarized the challenges of the existing methods and concluded the study by giving future research directions
A Case Report On Cutaneous Leiomyosarcoma with Review of Literatures
No full textCutaneous leiomyosarcoma represents superficial form of leiomyosarcoma which is a rare mesenchymal tumour originating from smooth muscle cells. Clinically cutaneous leiomyosarcoma can be confused with other cutaneous tumour and needs histopathology and immunohistochemistry to confirm the diagnosis. As it is an uncommon malignant neoplasm we encouraged reporting this case who presented to our hospital as an irregular nodular cutaneous lump of short duration in her right thigh. After local excision histopathological examination of excised specimen established the diagnosis of cutaneous leiomyosarcoma. A brief review of literature is also included here.Journal of Current and Advance Medical Research 2017;4(2):63-67</jats:p
Digital Image Watermarking Techniques: A Review
No full textDigital image authentication is an extremely significant concern for the digital revolution, as it is easy to tamper with any image. In the last few decades, it has been an urgent concern for researchers to ensure the authenticity of digital images. Based on the desired applications, several suitable watermarking techniques have been developed to mitigate this concern. However, it is tough to achieve a watermarking system that is simultaneously robust and secure. This paper gives details of standard watermarking system frameworks and lists some standard requirements that are used in designing watermarking techniques for several distinct applications. The current trends of digital image watermarking techniques are also reviewed in order to find the state-of-the-art methods and their limitations. Some conventional attacks are discussed, and future research directions are given
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
No full textSUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALToDifferential scanning calorimetry as a tool to assess the oxidation state of cold-pressed oils during shelf-life Mahbuba Islama, Anna Kaczmareka, Jolanta Tomaszewska-Grasa*a Department of Food Safety and Quality Management, Poznań University of Life Sciences, ul. Wojska Polskiego 31/33, 60-637 Poznań, [email protected], ORCID: 0000-0003-1860-3718; [email protected], ORCID: 0000-0001-7888-0026*Corresponding author: e-mail: [email protected], ORCID: 0000-0003-3964-809
A Hybrid robust watermarking system based on discrete cosine transform, discrete wavelet transform, and singular value decomposition
No full textDigital data sharing is increased day by day due to the rapid access of the Internet by mass people. Multimedia, for example text, image, video, and audio can be easily accessed by unauthorized users. To ensure multimedia security, researchers are focusing on digital image watermarking. A robust watermarking system must satisfy the basic design requirements like imperceptibility, robustness, security, and payload capacity. Watermarking can be embedded into a host image through different transform operations, such as discrete cosine transform (DCT), discrete wavelet transform (DWT), and singular value decomposition (SVD). However, a single transformation does not ensure all the design requirements simultaneously. To fill this gap, a hybrid blind digital image watermarking with a combination of DCT, DWT, and SVD is proposed in this paper. At first, the Arnold map is used to encrypt the watermark image. Then DCT is applied to it and to the host image followed by DWT before SVD. After that, the watermarked image is generated by embedding the watermark image into the host image. The performance is evaluated under various attacks and experimental results show that our algorithm ensures improved robustness while preserving high imperceptibility and enhanced security than the state-of-the-art methods
Chaotic Lightweight Cryptosystem for Image Encryption
No full textData transmission over the Internet and the personal network has been risen day by day due to the advancement of multimedia technology. Hence, it is today’s prime concern to protect the data from unauthorized access and encrypt the multimedia element as they are stored on the web servers and transmitted over the networks. Therefore, multimedia data encryption is essential. But, the multimedia encryption algorithm is complex to implement as it requires more time and memory space. For this reason, the lightweight image encryption algorithm gains popularity that requires less memory and less time along with low power or energy and provides supreme security for limited devices. In this study, we have studied the chaotic-based lightweight image encryption method. At first, we have presented a standard framework and algorithm based on two chaotic maps such as Arnold and logistic for lightweight image encryption and performed some experiments. We have analyzed different groups of images such as miscellaneous, medical, underwater, and texture. Experimentations have provided the largest entropy 7.9920 for medical image (chest X-ray), large key space 2m×m×8, and average encryption and decryption times are 3.9771 s and 3.1447 s, respectively. Besides, we have found an equal distribution of pixels and less correlation coefficients among adjacent pixels of the encrypted image. These criteria indicate an efficient image encryption method. Also, our method is efficient and less complex than the existing state-of-the-art methods
- …
