Grazing can have implications for ecosystem management, biodiversity conservation, human livelihoods and global biogeochemical cycles. Grazers can either depress or promote plant production, with weak or strong effects on vegetation composition. Such variability is a major challenge for sustaining production while avoiding undesirable vegetation shifts. It is also uncertain how knowledge obtained from native herbivores can be used to manage domestic livestock and vice versa. In addition, graz...

A new multi-component chemosensor system comprising a naphthalimide moiety as fluorophore is designed and developed to investigate receptor–analyte binding interactions in the presence of metal and non-metal ions. A dimethylamino moiety is utilized as receptor for metal ions and a thiourea receptor, having acidic protons, for binding anions. The system is characterized by conventional analytical methods. The absorption and fluorescence spectra of the system consist of a broad band typical for...

The mechanisms of nonradiative deactivation of a phenylalanine residue after near-UV photoexcitation have been investigated in an isolated peptide chain model (N-acetylphenylalaninylamide, NAPA) both experimentally and theoretically. Lifetime measurements at the origin of the first ππ* state of jet-cooled NAPA molecules have shown that (i) among the three most stable conformers of the molecule, the folded conformer NAPA B is ∼50-times shorter lived than the extended major conformer NAPA A and...

We calculate the degree of horizon smoothness of a multi-M2 brane solution with branes along a common axis. We find that the metric is generically only thrice continuously differentiable at any of the horizons. The 4-form field strength is found to be only twice continuously differentiable. We work with Gaussian null-like co-ordinates which are obtained by solving geodesic equations for multi-M2 brane geometry. We also find different, exact co-ordinate transformations which take the metric fr...

At present, part of the forward RPC muon system of the CMS detector at the CERN LHC remains uninstrumented in the high-η region. An international collaboration is investigating the possibility of covering the 1.6 < |η| < 2.4 region of the muon endcaps with large-area triple-GEM detectors. Given their good spatial resolution, high rate capability, and radiation hardness, these micro-pattern gas detectors are an appealing option for simultaneously enhancing muon tracking and triggering capabili...

In the paper, conditions are obtained, in terms of coefficient functions, which are necessary as well as sufficient for non-oscillation/oscillation of all solutions of self-adjoint linear homogeneous equations of the form ∆(pn−1∆yn−1)+qyn = 0, n ⩾ 1, where q is a constant. Sufficient conditions, in terms of coefficient functions, are obtained for non-oscillation of all solutions of nonlinear non-homogeneous equations of the type ∆(pn−1∆yn−1)+qng(yn) = fn−1, n ⩾ 1, where, unlike earlier works...

The body defense mechanism has evolved to protect animals from invading pathogenic microorganisms and cancer. It is able to generate a diverse variety of cells and molecules capable of specifically recognizing and eliminating a limitless variety of foreign invaders. These cells and molecules act together in a dynamic network and are known as the immune system. Innate mucosal immunity consists of various recognition receptor molecules, including toll-like receptors, NOD-like receptors, and RIG...

TRP channels are localized at specialized sub-cellular compartments like filopodial tips, ciliary structures, growth cones and spines that have importance in the context of several sensory functions. Several motor proteins largely regulate these localizations. Recent studies indicate that both physical and genetic interactions exist between TRP channels with actin and microtubule-based motor proteins. These two groups of proteins share specialized and fine regulation underlying physiological ...