The research introduces a novel algorithm called HyperStressPropagateNet that uses deep neural network based time series modeling to illustrate the qualitative and quantitative propagation of drought stress in a plant using hyperspectral imagery. The hyperspectral cameras typically capture a broad range of wavelengths at very narrow intervals of a few nanometers creating a hyperspectral cube. HyperStressPropagateNet uses spectral band difference-based segmentation method to create the binary mask of the plant which is then used to segment the plant in all bands of a hyperspectral cube to create the reflectance spectra at each plant pixel. The algorithm uses convolutional neural networks to classify the reflectance spectra generated at each pixel into either stressed or unstressed categories to determine the temporal propagation of stress. The limited water availability in the soil is confirmed by changes in the soil water content (SWC) measured using a hand-held device. The excellent correlation between the SWC and the corresponding temporal progression of percentage of stress pixels computed by HyperStressPropagateNet demonstrates the efficacy of the method. The algorithm is evaluated on a dataset of image sequences of cotton plants captured by the hyperspectral camera in the LemnaTec Scanalyzer 3D High Throughput Plant Phenotyping Platform in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. The excellent performance of the method is established based on evaluations using various metrics, e.g., confusion matrix, precision-recall curve, and F1-score. The method has the potential to be generalized to any plant species to study the effect of abiotic stresses on sustainable agriculture.

Introduction: Children with peanut allergy are at increased risk of developing tree nut allergies, which can be severe and for most lifelong. Introduction of peanut in the first year of life can reduce the risk of peanut allergy, however, prevention strategies for tree nut allergies have not been established. We aimed to test the efficacy and safety of a novel strategy, a supervised multi-nut oral food challenge (OFC) compared to standard care for tree nut allergy prevention in infants at high risk of developing tree nut allergy, TreEAT. Methods and analysis: TreEAT is a 2-armed, open-label, randomised, controlled trial (RCT). Infants (n=212) aged 4-11months with peanut allergy will be randomised 1:1 at peanut allergy diagnosis to either a hospital-based multi-tree nut (almond, cashew, hazelnut and walnut) OFC using multi-nut butter or standard care (home introduction of individual tree nuts). All infants will be assessed at age 18months, with questionnaires and SPT to peanut and tree nuts. Peanut and tree nut OFCs will be performed as required to determine allergy status for each nut. The primary outcome is tree nut allergy at age 18 months. Secondary outcomes include peanut allergy resolution, proportion and severity of adverse events related to tree nut ingestion, number and frequency of tree nuts ingested, quality of life and parental anxiety and allergy related healthcare visits from randomisation to 18 months of age. Analyses will be performed on an intention-to-treat basis. Ethics and dissemination TreEAT was approved by the Royal Children’s Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee (#70489). Outcomes will be presented at scientific conferences and disseminated through publication. Trial registration number: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04801823

Single-helical or double-helical structures are common in all living organisms, such as RNA and DNA. Helical assembly has been found in the artificial nanoparticles, but how they do so remains poorly understood. Here, we exploit atomically precise Au6Cu6 alloy nanoparticles (or called nanoclusters) as building blocks to construct a single-helical Au12Cu12 superstructure in an operative path, thereby providing access to currently elusive mechanistic pathways. We propose that the thermodynamically viable linear-to-bent process at a couple of Au6Cu6 nanoclusters imparted by the organic ligands seems to be critical for the helical-nanostructured arrangement of Au12Cu12. This study could help to offer new design rules for the exquisitely helical structure assembled from nanoparticles.

A document by Ambareen Beebeejaun. Click on the document to view its contents.

ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6391-1907. High-throughput phenotyping (HTP) are cost effective platforms that provide efficient evaluation of genetic resources, promote germplasm utilization, and inform breeding efforts for development of climate-resilient crops. MultispeQ device, a rapid, cost effective, and reliable HTP tool was employed to screen 112 cowpea genotypes for photosynthetic performance under drought stress conditions in a 8× 14 alpha-lattice design during the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 dry seasons in three agro-ecological zones in Nigeria. Drought stress was imposed at 35 DAP and relative chlorophyll content (RCC), leaf temperature differential (LTD), leaf angle, linear electron flow (LEF), Phi2 (Quantum yield of Photosystem II) before and during drought stress imposition, were measured. Data was subjected to ANOVA using a mixed model for individual and combined environment analysis. Each stress condition by year was considered as an environment, giving a total of twelve environments. Best Linear Unbiased Predictions and broad-sense heritability (H 2) were computed. Significant genotypic effects for RCC, LEF, LTD, Phi2 before and during stress conditions were recorded while genotype × environment effects were observed for all measured traits. LEF had lowest H 2 (27%) while LTD had highest H 2 (63%). High RCC and lower LTD under drought stress suggested drought tolerance and stomatal closure, reported to be associated with plant biomass under limited water conditions. Genetic variation in photosynthetic performance exists among the cowpea genotypes under drought stress. RCC, LTD and Phi2 were identified as useful traits in selection for drought resistant lines aimed at boosting crop production in a changing climate and extreme weather conditions.

The wood of Blighia sapida when its anatomical properties are known could serve as an alternative for the exorbitant economic timber species. However, there is little information provided on the anatomical properties of the lesser-used species which could trigger its optimum utilization and wide range acceptability by timber marketers and end-users. There is, therefore, the need to evaluate the anatomical properties of the wood species. Three Blighia sapida trees were selected and felled. Wood discs were obtained at the base, middle, and top of the trees, from which billets of 500 mm long were also obtained from pith to bark and then split into three zones; the innerwood, the middlewood, and the outerwood sections. By the specified standard for the anatomical property tests (Fibre length, Fibre diameter, Lumen width, and Cell wall thickness which were used for the estimation of derived morphological features; Slenderness coefficient, Flexibility ratio, Runkel ratio, Rigidity coefficient, Form factor, and Muhlsteph ratio as well as vessel length, vessel diameter, and vessel frequency) were all evaluated. B. sapida was found to have thick cell walls which might be a setback to the production of quality paper, but a comparison of the cell wall thickness with that of the pines validated B. sapida wood fibre suitability for the pulp and paper industries if other morphological indices meet up with the requirements for the production of paper. However, the fibre length was short and the mean Runkel ratio, one of the major determinants of a fibrous material's appropriateness for production of quality paper, recorded for B. sapida wood was higher than 1 which makes it not suitable for quality paper production but other fibrous utilisation purposes could be explored, such as the production of intermediate papers that require strength. The species vessel length observed was within the category of short length vessels and vessel diameter was within the category of medium vessels, which is an indication that the wood will be denser, thereby having considerable mechanical strength that compared well with other economic timbers species, which could be used for medium to heavy construction works and the use of fillers will not also be employed to produce smooth the surface of quality paper during production.

Extractives in wood are one of the main reasons for wood resistance against bio-degradation. The chemical compositions of extractives from matured Khaya anthotheca that are known to be very resistant against bio-degradation were studied to assess their role as wood preservative. Ethanol and toluene were used in the extraction of these compounds from the heartwood of Azadirahcta indica. Chemical analysis of the extracts was done using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) after derivatization. The main groups of compounds identified from both extracts are fatty acids, hydrocarbons, sterols, sterol ketones, phenolics, sterol esters and waxes. The extracts obtained were used to treat sapwood of four different wood species that are known to be susceptible to bio-degradation at 12% (weight/weight) retention level. Treated samples were taken to timber graveyard for 12 months. It was observed that the extracts from Khaya anthotheca used improved the resistance of these susceptible wood species to bio-deteriorating agents at the timber graveyard more than 70% when compared to the controls and also it was observed that removal of extractives from Azadirahcta indica decreased their resistance to bio-deteriorating agents significantly. Conclusively, the extractives from Khaya anthotheca wood contribute greatly to the protection of susceptible wood species against bio-deteriorating agents.

Objective: This clinical study was conducted to evaluate the impact of ritlecitinib on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of caffeine, a cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) substrate. Methods: In this single-center, single-arm, open-label, fixed-sequence study, healthy participants received a single 100-mg dose of caffeine on two separate occasions: on Day 1 of Period 1 as monotherapy and on Day 8 of Period 2 after oral administration of ritlecitinib 200 mg once daily (QD) for 8 days. Serial blood samples were collected and analyzed using a validated LC/MS assay. PK parameters were estimated by using a non-compartmental method. Safety was monitored by physical examination, vital signs, electrocardiograms, and laboratory assessments. Results: Twelve participants were enrolled and completed the study. Co-administration of caffeine 100 mg in the presence of steady-state levels of ritlecitinib (200 mg QD) increased caffeine exposure compared with caffeine given alone. Area under the curve (AUCinf) and maximum concentration (Cmax) of caffeine increased by approximately 165% and 10%, respectively, when co-administered with ritlecitinib. The ratios of the adjusted geometric means (90% CI) for caffeine AUCinf and Cmax were 265.14% (234.12%-300.26%) and 109.74% (103.90%-15.91%), respectively, when caffeine was co-administered with steady-state ritlecitinib (test) compared with its administration alone (reference). Multiple doses of ritlecitinib when co-administered with a single dose of caffeine were generally safe and well tolerated in healthy participants. Conclusion: Ritlecitinib is a moderate inhibitor of CYP1A2 and can increase systemic exposures of CYP1A2 substrates.

BodyText: Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system can facilitate the study of crop physiological responses to abiotic stress. It has been established in automated controlled-environment across the globe. Nonetheless, each crop in every new environment requires specific experimental design and data analysis pipeline. At Purdue University's Ag Alumni Phenotyping Facility (AAPF), 15 indica and eight tropical japonica rice genotypes were raised up to 13 weeks old under two nitrogen treatments. HSI data were collected two to three times per week and 14 physiological traits relating to growth, photosynthesis capacity and water transportation were measured manually. With principal component analysis (PCA), physiological trait data showed the effects of subpopulation and treatment whereas only treatment effect could be revealed in HSI data. Changes of reflectance around 715 nm (in the red edge region) were associated with the treatment effect in HSI data based on the loadings of PCA. By training support vector machine classifiers, we found that classification accuracy of treatment levels in HSI data was 80% or greater when the rice plants were six to 10 weeks old. Furthermore, leaf-level nitrogen content (N, %) and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N) could be predicted from HSI data by building partial least squares regression models (PLSR) with featured wavelengths. The í µí± ! values for N and C:N were 0.83 and 0.73, respectively, and normalized root mean square error of prediction for N and C:N were 13.67% and 14.39%, respectively (in validation datasets). This is the first study that showed the potential use of HSI on rice at AAPF.

This study introduces a novel and very accurate method for implementing Robin boundary conditions while solving boundary value problems with compact finite difference schemes. Most studies numerically approximate Neumann and Robin boundary conditions with a first-order approximation, however, this reduces the accuracy in general. Our implementation produces highly accurate results in solving nonlinear singular boundary value problems. Other reported results achieved utilizing various techniques are used for comparison. Tables and graphs showing the results are given.

In this paper, we study the existence and nonexistence of nontrivial solutions for the following Schrödinger-Poisson system with zero mass potential { − △ u + ϕu = − a | u | p − 2 u + f ( u ) , x ∈ R 3 , − △ ϕ = u 2 , x ∈ R 3 , where a>0 and p ∈ ( 2 , 12 5 ) . We obtain the existence of nontrivial radial solutions and the nonexistence of nontrivial solutions for the above system under weaker assumptions on a and f. In particular, applying our results to the following system: { − △ u + ϕu = − | u | p − 2 u + | u | q − 2 u , x ∈ R 3 , − △ ϕ = u 2 , x ∈ R 3 , a sufficient and necessary condition is obtained on the existence of nontrivial radial solutions.

Recognizing the users of devices, who use IP addresses as unique identity on the Internet, can easily enable numerous security applications. Due to the lot’s kinds of device data and large number of missing values, it is difficult to recognize the users of devices well. The community detection methods based on Graph Neural Network (GNN) can integrate multi-source data well to cluster devices into the community with the same user, so as to realize user recognition of devices with higher performance. While existing GNN methods face several issues that the methods on homogeneous graphs could not utilize the multi-source data of devices and most of the methods on heterogeneous graphs need specific knowledge to design meta paths. Also, the web-scale Internet data of devices make it hard for existing methods to learn the representation fully. Finally, a majority of the methods above do not consider the known partial labels in the early stage of training models, not making full use of label information, leading to the effects slightly insufficient. To improve the performance of user recognition, this paper proposes HGT-PL, namely Heterogeneous Graph Transformer with Partial Labels, to calculate the representation of devices on the Internet, on which cluster methods are used to realize user recognition. By using graph transformer, HGT-PL deeply learns node features and graph structure on the heterogeneous graph of devices. By Label Encoder, HGT-PL fully utilizes the users of partial devices from preliminary rules with high confidence. By using cluster methods, the communities with different users are carefully divided and modified. The paper conducts experiments on the web-scale data collected from the Internet and the results show that HGT-PL is able to recognize users of devices more accurately and effectively, with 0.5121 NMI and 0.3554 ARI, compared with existing GNN methods.

Abstract Objectives: This study aimed to identify the related risk factors and potential predictors of SARS-CoV-2 RNA negative conversion by describing the dynamics of viral shedding in infected children admitted to two hospitals from Shanghai during Omicron variant outbreak. Methods: This retrospective cohort included laboratory-confirmed cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection from Shanghai between March 28 and May 31, 2022. Clinical characteristics, personal vaccination, household vaccination rates were collected through electronic health records and telephone interviews. Results: The total of 603 pediatric cases confirmed with COVID-19 was included in this study. Both Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to filter independent factors for the duration to viral RNA negative conversion. Data on cases re-detected SARS-CoV-2 after showing negative results on RT-PCR test (intermittent negative status) were also analyzed. The median duration of virus shedding was 12(Interquartile Qange,IQR: 10-14) days. The severity of clinical outcome, personal vaccination-2doses, household vaccination rates, abnormal defecation were factors indecently affecting negative conversion of SARS-CoV-2 RNA, suggesting that patient who had abnormal defecation or with more severe condition would delay virological clearance, while patient accepted 2 doses vaccination or with higher household vaccination rates would accelerate virological clearance. Loss of appetite (Odds Ratio (OR) :5.343; 95%CI: 3.307-8.632) and abnormal defecation (OR:2.840; 95%CI: 1.736-4.645) were significantly associated with intermittent negative status. Conclusion: These findings could provide clues for early identification of pediatric patients with prolonged viral shedding, enriching the evidence for development of prevention and control strategies especially the vaccination policies for children and adolescents.

In this paper, we develop a weak Galerkin (WG) finite element method for a linear poroelasticity model where weak divergence and weak gradient operators defined over discontinuous functions are introduced. We establish both the continuous and discrete time WG schemes, and obtain their optimal convergence order estimates in a discrete $H^1$ norm for the displacement and in $H^1$ and $L^2$ norms for the pressure. Finally, we present some numerical experiments on different kinds of meshes to illustrate the theoretical error results, and furthermore verify the locking-free property of our proposed method.

This paper is devoted to solve the backward problem for radially symmetric time-fractional diffusion-wave equation under Robin boundary condition. This problem is ill-posed and we apply an iterative regularization method to solve it. The error estimates are obtained under the a priori and a posteriori parameter choice rules. Numerical results show that the proposed method is efficient and stable.

Water-heat transport in frozen soil impacts the hydrological processes in cold region through its influences on the surface energy budget and water storage. In this study, sensitivities of soil water-heat transport simulations to parameterizations of soil permeability, supercooled water and freezing temperature threshold that determines phase change criteria were assessed in the Noah with multi-parameterization (Noah‐MP) land surface model. The results showed that Noah-MP well reproduce the seasonal variations in soil temperature and moisture in the freeze-thaw (FT) process, while it still involves biases in soil temperature and moisture simulations with RMSE of 4.35 ℃ and 0.068 mm 3/mm 3 at shallow layer during soil thawing period. Performances of Noah-MP in soil water-heat transport simulations are not very sensitive to the optional combinations of soil permeability and supercooled water parametrizations. Nevertheless, instead of constant freezing temperature, a virtual temperature implemented to redefine the phase change criteria improves soil moisture simulations in the FT process evidently by about 20%–50% bias reduction, especially during soil thawing period, and the simulated soil water–heat coupling relation is consistent with the observations. Global simulations further validate the improvements of implemented frozen soil parameterizations in Noah-MP. Results in this study emphasize the importance of phase change criteria choice in land surface model for frozen soil hydrothermal regime simulations.

Most broccoli cultivars or accessions have green buds at an appropriate growth environment. They would develop red or purple buds at cold temperature, while some have green buds both at normal growth or cold temperature. In this study, through BSA-seq, fine mapping and transcriptome analyses, we identified a candidate gene ( F3’H) responsible for reducing the accumulation of anthocyanins in a mutant GS and HX-16 broccoli (DH line) ( Brassica oleracea L. var. italica), which would have caused green buds even at low temperature. A 43-bp deletion was detected in the CDS of the F3’H gene of HX-16 and mutant GS, which largely reduced the expression of F3’H and the accumulation of cyanidin and delphinidin in the mutant GS. The expression of F3’H was up-regulated at low temperature in the wild line PS.The detection of 43-bp deletion in the broccoli germplasm resources and other varietas in Brassica oleracea showed that there could be other factors for green buds at low temperature in Brassica oleracea. This study provides the critical genetic and molecular information for the molecular breeding of B. oleracea and illuminates the molecular basis of the low-temperature effect on buds’ color in broccoli.

The damage mode and strength characteristics of rock masses containing natural structural surfaces are important factors affecting the stability and safety of underground cavern excavation and slope engineering. The damage behavior of tuff rock masses containing calcite mineral filling under uniaxial compression experimental conditions is unclear, and the fracture mechanism of the rock masses needs to be further explored. In this study, uniaxial compression tests were conducted on tuff rock specimens containing natural calcite filled structural surfaces by combining acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) techniques. The effects of these structural surfaces on the generation and development of cracks on the surface of the specimens until the formation of macroscopic penetration, the overall state of the macroscopic cracks formed, the final damage state of the specimens, and the strength properties of the rock mass were analyzed. The results showed that (1) the transversely distributed structural planes caused significant stress concentrations in the rock specimens (2) the longitudinally distributed structural planes caused cracks in the specimens or influenced the expansion path of the longitudinal principal cracks. (3) The final damage pattern of the specimens did not differ significantly from that of conventional rock masses due to the presence of structural planes. (4) The presence of the structural face had a significant effect on the uniaxial compressive capacity of the rock, but the load variation process of the specimen with time still conformed to the load variation pattern during the uniaxial compressive test of conventional rocks.

Major aridification events in Australia during the Pliocene may have had significant impact on the distribution and structure of widespread species. To explore the potential impact of Pliocene and Pleistocene climate oscillations we estimated the timing of population fragmentation and past connectivity of the currently isolated but morphologically similar subspecies of the widespread brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). We use ecological niche modelling (ENM) with the current fragmented distribution of brushtail possum to estimate the environmental envelope of this marsupial. We projected the ENM on models of past climatic conditions in Australia to infer the potential distribution of brushtail possums over six million years. D-loop haplotypes were used to describe population structure. From shotgun sequencing we assembled whole mitochondrial DNA genomes and estimated timing of intraspecific divergence. Our projections of ENMs suggest current possum populations were unlikely to have been in contact during the Pleistocene. Although lowered sea level during glacial periods enabled colonisation of Tasmania, climate fluctuation during this time would not have facilitated gene flow. The most recent common ancestor of sampled intraspecific diversity dates to the early Pliocene when continental aridification caused significant changes to Australian ecology and Trichosurus vulpecula distribution was likely fragmented. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the subspecies T. v. hypoleucus (koomal; southwest), T. v. arnhemensis (langkurr; north) and T. v. vulpecula (bilda; southeast) correspond to distinct mitochondrial lineages. Despite little phenotypic differentiation, Trichosurus vulpecula populations probably experienced little gene flow with one another since the Pliocene, supporting the recognition of several subspecies and explaining their adaptations to the regional plant assemblages on which they feed.

Species in Lonicera genus are magic elves with excellent adaptability to varying environments with the aid of the divergent morphological and color pattern variation. Flowers undergo strong selection of both biotic and abiotic factors with species-specific morphology and color strategies. Take Lonicera nervosa (L. nervosa) and Lonicera tangutica (L. tangutica) as representative species, two sister taxa of Lonicera widespread in alpine to subalpine ecosystems in the same region, which present ideal subject in terms of evolution and adaptation of flowers to determine underlying ecological implications with close evolutionary relationship: (1) both species present differentiation in floral structure, corolla orientation and anther position; (2) L. nervosa has constant color while L. tangutica undergoes color change during florescence (3) Both species share the same pollinators, distribution and specimen coordinates show that the two species of Lonicera have similar distribution centers.

Background and aims. Among the numerous pantropical species of the yam genus, Dioscorea, only a small group occurs in the Mediterranean basin, including two narrow Pyrenean endemics (Borderea clade), and two Mediterranean-wide species (D. communis and D. orientalis, Tamus clade). However, several currently unrecognized species and infraspecific taxa have been described in the Tamus clade due to significant morphological variation associated with D. communis. Our overarching aim was to investigate taxon delimitation in the Tamus clade using an integrative approach combining phylogenomic, spatial and morphological data.Methods. We analysed 76 herbarium samples using Hyb-Seq genomic capture to sequence 260 low-copy nuclear genes and plastomes, together with morphometric and environmental modelling approaches.Key results. Phylogenomic reconstructions confirmed that the two previously accepted species of the Tamus clade, D. communis and D. orientalis, are monophyletic and form sister clades. Three subclades showing distinctive geographic patters were identified within D. communis. These subclades were also identifiable from morphometric and climatic data, and introgression patterns were inferred between subclades in the eastern part of the distribution of D. communis. Conclusions. We propose a taxonomy that maintains D. orientalis, endemic to the eastern Mediterranean region, and splits D. communis sensu lato into three species: D. edulis, endemic to Macaronesia (Canary Islands and Madeira); D. cretica, endemic to the eastern Mediterranean region; and D. communis sensu stricto, widespread across western and central Europe. Introgression inferred between D. communis s.s. and D. cretica is likely to be explained by their relatively recent speciation at the end of the Miocene, disjunct isolation in eastern and western Mediterranean glacial refugia and a subsequent westward recolonization of D. communis s.s. Our study shows that the use of integrated genomic, spatial and morphological approaches allows a more robust definition of species boundaries and the identification of species that previous systematic studies failed to uncover.

3D human hand pose estimation from visual data has received an increasing amount of attention, and the availability of low-cost depth cameras gives a great impetus to the development of this field. Nearly all recent hand pose estimation methods are oriented towards unified evaluation criteria defined by popular public benchmark datasets: the ultimate goal is to reduce the estimation error. However, the fact is that there exists a gap between human hand pose estimation and its applications. It is unclear how to recover global and local degrees of freedom from a set of structural hand joints, which is a necessary condition to apply human hand pose estimation to teleoperation, i.e., mapping estimated human hand poses at the master side to robotic hand poses at the slave side. Conventional teleoperation systems are implemented with the aid of a data glove or essentially built on gesture recognition. These solutions are inferior to vision-based hand pose estimation in offering an easy-to-use and natural human-robot interaction interface. In this paper, we propose three methods to teleoperate robotic hands by 3D vision-based human hand pose estimation. The feasibility of the three methods is tested in a simulated environment.

The quest for alternative building materials, easy availability with supply in an economy where the population increases at high rate in a steady flow per year. Bamboo as a renewable, sustainable alternative material is explored for the production of roofing tiles, Bambusa vulgaris were chipped into flakes, sieve and further subjected to modified conventional treatment, the flake were oven dry in a control temperature of 170 o C to Moisture Content range of 11-12 %, Portland cement were employed as a binder, using batch method of mixing in the production of the roofing tiles. Moisture content, density of the roofing tiles, thickness swelling and impact test were determined, the average moisture content of the tiles12.7%, average density 0.031g/cm 3 , average thickness swelling which showcases the dimensional stability of the tiles is 0.75%. The impact test is 2.6N/mm 2. The various results obtained were favourable suggesting that bamboo most especially of the Bambusa vulgaris can be suitable raw material and substitute material to wood for the production of roofing tiles.

This study evaluated the effects of production variables on the physical and mechanical properties of Wood Plastic Composites produced from the pod of Delonixregia and pure water nylon. The boards were produced at three levels of mixing ratio. (MR 1.1), (MR 1.2) and (MR 1.2.5) of wood fiber to pure water nylon and two levels of board density, BD1 (100kg/m 3) and BD2 (1100kg/m 3). The materials were fed into the Extruder machine at the required levels of production variable, the temperatures of the extruder were controlled at 170 0 C, 180 0 C, 185 0 C and 190 0 C for zones 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively while the temperature of the extruder die was held at 200 0 C. The screw speed was varied between 150 revolutions per minutes and the pressure from 33 to 47 bars. The extruded strand passed through a water bath and was subsequently pelletized and ran into a mold of 300mmx180mmx6.4 and hot pressed for thirty (30) minutes. The board produced was conditioned and test samples of 128mmmmX12mm x 6.4mm were cut for evaluating the water absorption, thickness swelling, modulus of elasticity and modulus of rupture. The value obtained for water absorption for 24 hours ranges from 1.22±0.241% to 2.03±0.163 % and that of Thickness Swelling ranges from 0.05±0.014 to 0.14±0.032%, Water Absorption for 48 hours ranges from 1.24±0.234 to 2.08±0.184% and that of Thickness swelling ranges from 0.05±0.017 to 0.17±0.043%. The results obtained showed that rate of water absorption of the boards produced increased from 24 hours of soaking through 48 hours. Also, an increase in mixing ratio resulted in decrease water absorption. The mean value for MOE ranges from 640.60±64.890 to 1204.63±215.847N/mm 2 while that of MOR ranges from 33.48±10.238 to 42.56±14.132N/mm 2 .This result shows that the mechanical properties increases as the plastic content in the mixture increases.