Advances in Research

Carrot Productivity and Economic Benefits as Influenced by Different Rates of Chicken Manure and NPK Fertilizer

Francis Agyapong — 2026-07-31

This study assessed the productivity and economic returns of chicken manure (CM) and NPK fertiliser, applied alone and in combination, in carrot (Daucus carota L.) production at Mampong-Ashanti during September–December 2021 and April–July 2022. The experiment used a randomised complete block design with six treatments and four replications: 300 kg ha⁻¹ NPK (full NPK), 20 t ha⁻¹ CM (full CM), ¾ NPK + ¼ CM, ½ NPK + ½ CM, ¼ NPK + ¾ CM, and an unfertilised control. Full CM in 2021 and ¼ NPK + ¾ CM in 2022 produced significantly higher root yields than the control. Economic analysis showed that full CM generated the highest net benefit in 2021 (USD 4,911.68 ha⁻¹), whereas ¼ NPK + ¾ CM generated the highest net benefit in 2022 (USD 5,503.31 ha⁻¹). Although full CM incurred the highest total variable cost (USD 469.64 ha⁻¹), its yield performance maintained its economic attractiveness. In 2021, ½ NPK + ½ CM produced a marginal rate of return (MRR) of 55.48% over the control, while full CM produced an MRR of 638.15% over ½ NPK + ½ CM. In 2022, ¼ NPK + ¾ CM had higher MRR (708.44%) than ½ NPK + ½ CM. The results indicate that 20 t ha⁻¹ CM may be suitable in the minor season, whereas ¼ NPK + ¾ CM may be suitable in the major season for improving carrot yield and profitability.

First-principles Electronic and Optical Response of a Tetragonal Co₂MnSi Model

Dipika Patel — 2026-08-01

The paper presents a first-principles analysis of the structural relaxation, spin-resolved electronic structure, and frequency-dependent optical response of a tetragonal Co₂MnSi model. Geometry optimisation and spin-polarised electronic calculations were carried out within density functional theory using the PBE generalised-gradient approximation, a plane-wave scheme employing ultrasoft pseudopotentials, a 60 Ry kinetic-energy cutoff, and an 8 × 8 × 8 k-point mesh. Optical functions were subsequently evaluated with a 500 eV cutoff and a 9 × 9 × 9 mesh for light polarised along [100]. The optimised P4/mmm cell has a = b = 2.85 Å, c = 5.58 Å, and a volume of 45.27 Å³. The total energy stabilises near −365.90944 Ry, and the self-consistent-field cycle becomes essentially stationary after the first few iterations. The supplied spin-resolved density of states and band dispersion are consistent with a candidate half-metallic solution: one spin channel retains finite states at the Fermi level, whereas the other displays an apparent gap of roughly 0.5–1.0 eV. Within this idealised calculation, that electronic topology corresponds to complete spin polarisation at the Fermi level. The optical response is strongest outside the visible range. The static real dielectric component is approximately 59.24, the absorption coefficient reaches about 2.93 × 10⁵ cm⁻¹ at 8.55 eV, the reflectivity maximum occurs near 21.86 eV, the main optical-conductivity feature appears near 7.5 eV, and the dominant loss-function peak lies near 22.6 eV. These results point to a strong far-ultraviolet and extreme-ultraviolet response. Because the modelled P4/mmm phase is not the conventional cubic L2₁ structure of Co₂MnSi, and because phase-stability, magnetic-order, magnetic-moment, phonon, spin-orbit, and convergence-comparison data were not available, the findings should be interpreted as predictions for the supplied tetragonal model rather than as proof of the equilibrium bulk phase.

Evaluation of Basmati Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Genotypes at Morphological, Biochemical and Molecular Levels

Jasmeet Kour — 2026-08-03

This study evaluated genetic diversity among 21 Basmati rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes using morphological, biochemical and molecular attributes. The field experiment was conducted in a randomised block design with three replications. Morphological and quality observations included plant height, effective tillers, flowering and maturity, grain yield, panicle length, grain dimensions, grain length-to-breadth ratio and aroma, while biochemical assessment covered starch, protein, iron, zinc and amylose content. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences among genotypes for most morphological and quality traits, except grain breadth, whereas biochemical traits showed relatively limited variation. The highest phenotypic and genotypic variances were recorded for plant height. The number of effective tillers showed the highest heritability, while panicle length showed the lowest. Molecular characterisation used 25 simple sequence repeat markers, which generated 59 amplified bands, of which 57 were polymorphic. The mean polymorphism information content was 0.45, ranging from 0 for RM145 and RM583 to 0.79 for RM26. UPGMA analysis separated the genotypes into two major clusters, with similarity coefficients ranging from 0.54 to 0.98. The combined evidence demonstrated variation among the evaluated genotypes at morphological, biochemical and molecular levels. These differences provide a basis for identifying genetically distinct material for parental selection, although broader multi-environment and genome-wide validation is required before breeding applications are confirmed.

Progressive Resistance Exercise for Quadriceps Strength in Male and Female Athletes: A Critical Narrative Review of Loading Models, Modalities, and Sex-Specific Responses

Ritu Harsh Rajdeep — 2026-07-30

Quadriceps strength is a central determinant of force production, deceleration, jumping, sprinting, change of direction, and knee-joint control in many sports. Progressive resistance exercise is therefore widely prescribed to athletes, yet the phrase encompasses markedly different loading models, contraction modes, equipment, progression rules, and monitoring systems. This critical narrative review evaluates the efficacy of conventional high-load isotonic training, periodised and autoregulated progression, isokinetic loading, eccentric and flywheel methods, variable and elastic resistance, and low-load blood-flow-restriction exercise for improving quadriceps or closely related lower-body strength in male and female athletes. A transparent search of accessible scholarly indexes and citation networks was undertaken for literature published from 1945 to 25 May 2026, with foundational earlier work considered where necessary. Evidence was appraised for design quality, training specificity, participant training status, sex representation, measurement validity, and transfer to athletic performance. The most defensible conclusion is that progressive overload, adequate exposure to high force, and alignment between the trained movement and the strength test are more important than the brand name of a technique. Heavy dynamic training generally provides the clearest advantage for one-repetition-maximum strength, while volume, frequency, and proximity to failure mainly influence whether sufficient high-quality work can be accumulated and recovered from. Isokinetic, eccentric, flywheel, variable-resistance, autoregulatory, and blood-flow-restriction methods can all increase strength, but superiority over well-designed conventional training is inconsistent and usually outcome-specific. Relative lower-body strength gains appear broadly similar in women and men when programmes and baseline training status are comparable, although female athletes remain underrepresented and sex-specific inferences are constrained by small samples and weak control of reproductive-status variables. Advanced methods are best viewed as tools for solving specific programming problems rather than universal replacements for conventional progressive loading. Future trials require adequately powered sex-stratified designs, athlete-specific samples, standardised quadriceps outcomes, transparent progression algorithms, and longer follow-up to establish durability and sport transfer.

Prebiotic and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: A Critical Narrative Review of Mechanistic, Observational, and Clinical Evidence

Sheetal B Patil — 2026-07-31

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and dietary modulation of the gut microbiota has emerged as a candidate strategy for risk reduction. Prebiotics—substrates selectively utilised by host microorganisms to confer a health benefit—have been proposed to influence cardiovascular risk through short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production, modulation of trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) generation, lipid-lowering effects and attenuation of low-grade inflammation. This critical narrative review synthesises mechanistic, observational and randomised controlled trial (RCT) evidence published up to 6 April 2026 concerning inulin-type fructans, β-glucans, galacto-oligosaccharides and related fermentable fibres in relation to lipid profile, blood pressure, glycaemic control, inflammatory biomarkers and clinical cardiovascular outcomes. Evidence for cholesterol-lowering effects, particularly from viscous fibres such as oat β-glucan, is comparatively consistent, with meta-analyses reporting modest but reproducible reductions in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Evidence for blood pressure reduction is more heterogeneous, with meaningful effects observed predominantly in hypertensive populations and largely derived from animal models rather than adequately powered human trials. Mechanistic work implicates SCFA-receptor signalling (GPR41, GPR43, GPR109A) in vascular and renal blood pressure regulation, while the relationship between prebiotic fibre intake and TMAO remains inconsistent, with a small pilot trial suggesting attenuation only in subgroups with lower habitual meat intake. Anti-inflammatory effects are plausible but are confounded across the literature by co-administration with probiotics and by short trial durations. Methodological limitations pervade this evidence base, including small sample sizes, heterogeneous prebiotic formulations and doses, short follow-up, reliance on surrogate rather than hard cardiovascular endpoints, and frequent conflation of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic interventions. No adequately powered trial has examined prebiotic supplementation against incident myocardial infarction, stroke or cardiovascular mortality. This review concludes that prebiotic fibres represent a biologically plausible but incompletely validated adjunctive strategy for cardiovascular risk modification, with the strongest evidence supporting lipid-related benefits and the weakest evidence supporting hard clinical outcomes. Priorities for future research include adequately powered, long-duration trials with cardiovascular endpoints, standardisation of prebiotic dosing and characterisation, and mechanistic studies disentangling prebiotic-specific from probiotic-associated effects.

Image Processing from Handcrafted Operators to Foundation Models: A Critical Review of Methods, Applications and Recent Advances

Ankatwar Gajanan — 2026-08-01

Digital image processing has evolved from deterministic operators designed around explicit assumptions to data-driven systems that learn representations, priors and decision rules from large image collections. This transition has improved performance in restoration, segmentation, compression and visual interpretation, but it has also complicated evaluation, reproducibility and deployment. This critical narrative review examines the field as a connected pipeline rather than as a catalogue of algorithms. It considers image formation and degradation, classical spatial and variational methods, non-local and sparse modelling, convolutional neural networks, vision transformers, diffusion models and emerging foundation models. It also analyses how these approaches are translated into medical imaging, Earth observation, industrial inspection, agriculture and multimedia systems. The evidence indicates that classical methods remain valuable when physical assumptions are credible, data are scarce or interpretability and predictable failure behaviour are important. Learned models are strongest when training and deployment distributions are aligned and task-specific data are sufficiently representative, while hybrid physical and learned approaches can reduce sample requirements and constrain implausible outputs. Transformers and diffusion models broaden context modelling and generative capability, although their computational cost, dependence on pretraining and uncertain behaviour under distribution shift limit universal claims of superiority. Across applications, benchmark gains frequently exceed improvements demonstrated in prospective or operational settings. Image quality metrics, dataset design and reporting practices often fail to capture clinically, environmentally or industrially consequential errors. The review therefore argues for evaluation that is task-aware, distribution-aware and resource-aware, with uncertainty, fairness, calibration and reproducibility treated as core properties rather than optional add-ons. Future progress is likely to depend less on isolated architectural novelty than on credible image-formation models, representative data, robust adaptation, efficient computation and validation against domain outcomes.

Comparing Core Strengthening Techniques in Badminton: A Critical Narrative Review of Mechanisms, Evidence Quality and Transfer to On-Court Performance

Aseem Yadav — 2026-08-03

Core strengthening occupies a settled place in badminton conditioning practice, yet the training methods gathered under that label differ widely in external loading, surface stability, movement velocity and coordinative complexity. Whether those differences matter for badminton performance remains unresolved, and prescription is frequently justified by appeal to the construct rather than by comparative evidence. This critical narrative review evaluates the strength, consistency and methodological adequacy of the literature bearing on that question, and asks whether the available data support differentiating among core strengthening techniques for badminton players. Peer-reviewed evidence was identified through open scholarly indexes and metadata registries, supplemented by backward and forward citation searching, institutional and journal sources, and checks for corrections and retractions, with the final search conducted on 25 May 2026. Three findings dominate the synthesis. First, general syntheses of trunk and core training in trained athletes report reliable gains in trunk endurance and balance but small, inconsistent transfer to sport-specific outcomes, whereas badminton-specific and racket-sport-specific syntheses report substantially larger effects; the divergence is attributable in large part to differences in control-group design, outcome selection and study quality rather than to genuine sport specificity. Second, direct comparisons among modality families are scarce, and where they exist the contrasts typically confound modality with external load, session duration or coaching attention, so that claims of superiority for unstable-surface, Pilates-based or integrated approaches are not supported by adequately controlled data. Third, the badminton evidence base is small, dominated by short interventions in youth and collegiate players, weakly powered, and marked by at least one retraction, which constrains confidence in pooled estimates. Core strengthening can be recommended as an adjunct that improves trunk endurance, dynamic balance and, in less-trained players, change-of-direction performance, but assertions that any particular technique is superior for badminton exceed the evidence. Priorities include adequately powered comparative trials with load-matched control conditions and badminton-valid outcomes.

Successful Management of Complete Uterine Prolapse Following Abortion in a Non-descript Cow: A Case Report

Renu Sharma — 2026-08-03

Uterine prolapse is a life-threatening obstetrical emergency in cattle that requires immediate clinical intervention. A non-descript cow with an unknown reproductive history was presented to the IVRI Polyclinic with complete uterine prolapse accompanied by retained fetal membranes, severe uterine oedema, contamination, and localised necrosis. The relatively small caruncles suggested that the prolapse had followed abortion rather than full-term parturition. Clinical examination revealed reduced feed and water intake, mild dehydration, and mild hypocalcaemia, with a serum calcium concentration of 7.9 mg/dL. Following caudal epidural anaesthesia, the retained fetal membranes were removed, the prolapsed uterus was thoroughly cleansed, devitalised tissue was debrided, and uterine lacerations were repaired using No. 1 Vicryl in a cross-mattress pattern. Topical application of 50% dextrose solution reduced uterine oedema and facilitated manual replacement. The cow was maintained in sternal recumbency on two stacked mattresses, with the hindquarters elevated and both hind limbs extended caudally. After complete repositioning, a Buhner’s vulval retention suture was applied. Systemic ceftiofur, meloxicam, chlorpheniramine maleate, dextrose saline, calcium borogluconate, and supportive therapy were administered. The retention suture was removed on day seven, and the cow recovered without recurrence. This case demonstrates that timely replacement, correction of hypocalcaemia, careful tissue management, and appropriate postoperative monitoring can support a favourable clinical outcome.