NEURAL NETWORK BASED AGE CLASSIFICATION USING LINEAR WAVELET TRANSFORMS

The facial image analysis for classifying human age has a vital role in Image processing, Pattern recognition, Computer vision, Cognitive science and Forensic science. The various computational and mathematical models, for classifying facial age includes Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Wavelet Transforms and Local Binary Pattern (LBP). A more sophisticated method is introduced to improve the performance of the system by decomposing the face image using 2-level linear wavelet transforms and classifying the human age group using Artificial Neural Network. This approach needs normalizing the facial image at first and then extracting the face features using linear wavelet transforms. The distance of the features is measured using Euclidean distance and given as input to Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART). The network is trained with an own dataset consisting of 70 facial images of various age group. The goal of the proposed work is to classify the human age group into four categories as Child, Adolescence, Adult and Senior Adult

Production and partial purification of extracellular tannase by Klebsiella pneumoniae MTCC 7162 isolated from tannery effluent

Diverse bacteria belonging to various taxa were isolated from tannery effluent of leather industries located at Ranipet, India and were screened for the production of extracellular tannase. One of the strains identified as Klebsiella pneumoniae MTCC 7162 was found to produce tannase (3.4 U/ ml) at pH 6.0, 37°C and 100 rpm. Use of individual carbon and inorganic nitrogen sources resulted in lower tannase production. However, a combination of urea and corn steep liquor extract yielded marginal increase in tannase production (3.9 U/ ml). End-product repression was also studied with inclusion of gallic acid to the growth medium. Enrichment with various additives of metal ions and detergents resulted in inhibition of tannase production. The enzyme was partially purified using ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by the use of DEAE-cellulose. SDS-PAGE analysis indicated that the molecular weight of the protein to be 46.5 kDa. The enzyme was found to be active in a wide range of pH and temperature with an optimal activity at pH 5.5 and 40°C.Key words: Bacterial tannase, Klebsiella pneumoniae MTCC 7162, tannery effluent, minimal media

Application studies of the halotolerant protease from a newly isolated Virgibacillus dokdonensis VIT P14

Protease extracted from halotolerant bacterium - was tested for possible industrial applications. This enzyme was able to dissolve blood clot and coagulated egg within 30 min. The enzyme exhibited substantial keratinolytic activity. It was compatible with all the tested commercial detergents like Rin, Surfexcel, Henko, Tide, Ariel and Technobright and was found to be effective in the removal of blood strains from cotton fabric in the presence of these detergents. The enzyme was compatible with the organic solvents like xylene, toluene, hexane and ethanol and the maximum activity was observed in the presence of ethanol. The enzyme was tested for antimicrobial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria and it was found that it possesses good inhibition capability against Escherichia coli, Streptococcus eqiuns, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enterica. The present report indicates that this halotolerant  protease has a wide range of properties and the conditions could be optimized to suit any particular industrial application

Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sample

The probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus fermentum MTCC 8711 were evaluated. The strain was resistant to the acidic environment with the pH of 3.5 and more than 100% survivability of the cells was observed after 4 h. Similarly, 85% survivability was observed in the presence of 0.3% (w/v) bile salts. The strain exhibited β- galactosidase activity by blue colored colony formation in the MRS agar plates with X-gal and IPTG. Further, it was found to be a medium acidifier with a DpH value of 0.96 after 5 h of growth. The strain was also able to reduce the cholesterol up to 50% in the presence of cholesterol and bile salts. Since the strain possesses the basic properties of the probiotics and produces riboflavin, it could be considered as a better starter culture in the fermented food industry. Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sampleS. Jayashree*, K. Jayaraman and G. KalaichelvanSchool of Biosciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore-632 014, Tamil Nadu, India*Corresponding Author, Email:  [email protected]; Phone- 91-416-220- 2901; Fax- 91-416-224-3092Cite This Article as: S. Jayashree, K. Jayaraman and G. Kalaichelvan. 2010. Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sample. J. Ecobiotechnol. 2(2): 11-16.ÂÂ

Root cause analysis of bowl-mill pinion shaft failures

AbstractPinion shafts made of 18CrNiMo7-6 material, are used for transmitting torque from motor to gear box used in bowl mills of fossil fuel fired power plants. This work elucidates the metallurgical investigation that was carried out on a failed pinion shaft for analyzing the cause for failure. Fractography revealed the initiation of a crack from the keyway corner. Mechanical testing indicated that the yield strength of the material was lower than the specified value. Observation of the bowl mill at site after failure indicated that hard lumps were present in the bull ring segment, which clearly made it evident that there was sudden jamming of it which in turn led to overloading of the pinion shaft leading to the initiation of crack. A small overload fracture zone was also observed in the interior of the shaft suggesting low stress but high stress concentration torsional failure. Hence, this investigation concluded that this was a consequential failure

Managing the natural disasters from space technology inputs

Natural disasters, whether of meteorological origin such as Cyclones, Floods, Tornadoes and Droughts or of having geological nature such as earthquakes and volcanoes, are well known for their devastating impacts on human life, economy and environment. With tropical climate and unstable land forms, coupled with high population density, poverty, illiteracy and lack of infrastructure development, developing countries are more vulnerable to suffer from the damaging potential of such disasters. Though it is almost impossible to completely neutralise the damage due to these disasters, it is, however possible to (i) minimise the potential risks by developing disaster early warning strategies (ii) prepare developmental plans to provide resilience to such disasters, (iii) mobilize resources including communication and telemedicinal services and (iv) to help in rehabilitation and post-disaster reconstruction. Space borne platforms have demonstrated their capability in efficient disaster management. While communication satellites help in disaster warning, relief mobilisation and telemedicinal support, Earth observation satellites provide the basic support in pre-disaster preparedness programmes, in-disaster response and monitoring activities, and post-disaster reconstruction. The paper examines the information requirements for disaster risk management, assess developing country capabilities for building the necessary decision support systems, and evaluate the role of satellite remote sensing. It describes several examples of initiatives from developing countries in their attempt to evolve a suitable strategy for disaster preparedness and operational framework for the disaster management Using remote sensing data in conjunction with other collateral information. It concludes with suggestions and recommendations to establish a worldwide network of necessary space and ground segments towards strengthening the technological capabilities for disaster management and mitigation

Reduction Inshipment Delinquencies Andproduct Lead TIME Onenhancing Customer Service: a Case Study

REDUCTION INSHIPMENT DELINQUENCIES ANDPRODUCT LEAD TIME ONENHANCING CUSTOMER SERVICE: A CASE STUDY. Customer service plays an important role in an organization\u27s ability to generate income and revenue. From this perspective, customer service should be included as part of an overall approach to systematic improvement. A customer service experience can change the entire perception a customer has of the organization. The present paper identifies the current weaknesses of an electronic companyin terms of shipment delinquencies and long product lead-times and to propose recommendations to the company to overcome the issues towards enhancing customer service. The paper investigates the organizations\u27 internal and external environment factors towards establishing strengths and opportunities and further analyzing the various problems faced in order to establish the root-cause components. A list of recommendations are proposed through which the company may be able to enhance its level of customer service, increase its market share and sustain in the industry as a serious and viable contender

Isolation of mosquito larvicidal molecule form the leaves of Clausena anista

The vector-borne diseases caused by mosquitoes are one of the major health problems in many countries especially in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The resistance of mosquitoes to synthetic chemicals and environmental toxicity created by the chemicals raised the demand for finding of alternate natural molecules that control mosquito. In the present study, the compound 1, 2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, mono (2-ethylhexyl) ester was isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of leaves of Clausena anisata and it was identified by various spectral studies. The larvicidal potential of the isolated compound was evaluated against early 4th instar larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus, Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi. The compound exhibited 100% larval mortality against A. aegypti and A. stephensi at 40 ppm with LC50 values of 8.944 and 9.230 ppm respectively. The molecule also showed the LC50 value of 12.067 ppm against C. quinquefasciatus. The molecule isolated from C. anisata can be better explored for the control of mosquito population after toxicological evaluation