Use of electronic resources by postgraduate students in University of Cape Coast

The study investigates the use of electronic resources by postgraduate students in University of Cape Coast (UCC). It specifically targets first year postgraduate students of UCC. Awareness, usage, training, and access were explored. A survey method was employed and a structured questionnaire was utilized to solicit data. The findings revealed that, though students are aware of electronic resources, they do not fully utilize them to support their academic pursuit due to poor level of information literacy skills. However, few students had not participated in all information literacy skills training organized by the library. Results from the study showed that, significant number of postgraduate students do access electronic resources when on campus and mostly use electronic devices such as laptops, ipad, desktop computers, and mobile phones. The findings indicated that students use the electronic resources to complete assignments, write project work, to update lessons note, for research, and update themselves on new information in their fields of study. It was recommended that a structured curriculum should therefore be established as part of postgraduate students’ normal lecture periods where time is allocated on their time table for electronic resource training, and if possible, credited to their academic performance ratings or grading

Performance analysis of Handwritten Devnagari Character Recognition using Feed Forward , Radial Basis , Elman Back Propagation, and Pattern Recognition Neural Network Model Using Different Feature Extraction Methods

This paper describes the performance analysis for the four types of neural network with different feature extraction methods for character recognition of hand written devnagari alphabets. We have implemented four types of networks i.e. Feed forward , Radial basis, Elman back propagation and Pattern recognition neural network using three different types of feature extraction methods i.e. pixel value, histogram and blocks mean for each network. These algorithms have been performed better than the conventional approaches of neural network for pattern recognition. It has been analyzed that the Radial Basis neural network performs better compared to other types of networks

Feature Extraction Techniques for Marathi Character Classification using Neural Networks Models

Hand written Marathi Character Recognition is challenges to the researchers due to the complex structure. This paper presents a novel approach for recognition of unconstrained handwritten Marathi characters. The recognition is carried out using multiple feature extraction methods and classification scheme. The initial stages of feature extraction are based upon the pixel value features and the classification of the characters is done according to the structural parameters into 44 classes. The final stage of feature extraction makes use of the zoning features. First Pixel values are used as features and these values are further modified as another set of features. All these features are then applied to neural network for recognition. A separate neural network is built for each type of feature. The average recognition rate is found to be 67.96% , 82.67%,63,46% and 76.46% respectively for feed forward , radial basis , elman and pattern recognition neural networks for handwritten marathi characters

Review on Optical Character Recognition of Devanagari Script Using Neural Network

During the last decades lot of research work has been done in the field of character recognition on various scripts in various languages. In India peoples are used to speak national language Hindi and spoken by more than 500 million people. Many languages in India, such as Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit has uses Devanagari as its base script .As compared to English character; Indian script (Devanagri) characters are complicated for recognition. Devnagri script is the basis for many Indian script including Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, Kashmiri, and so on. In this paper we present a review of research work that has been done in the field of character recognition in Devanagari script in past

ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE INHIBITORY EFFECT OF 3-(1H-INDOL-3-YL)-1, 3-DIPHENYLPROPAN-1-ONE DERIVATIVES

Objective: The objective of the study is acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory effect of 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-1, 3-diphenylpropan-1-one derivatives by Ellman's method, physostigmine is used as positive control.Method: 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-1, 3-diphenylpropan-1-one derivatives were synthesized by the addition of chalcone (0.25 g, 1 mmol), indole (0.12 g, 1 mmol) in ethanol (5 ml), and concentrated hydrochloric acid (5 mmol %). These earlier synthesized compounds were screened for AChE inhibitors by modifying Ellman's method.Results: Among the tested compounds, 3a and 3j were found to be having more potential than other compounds with half maximal inhibitory concentration values of 13.64 and 14.3 μg/ml, respectively. Whereas, compounds 3c, 3e, 3g, and 3i exhibited an average AChE inhibition of 16.4, 17.9, 17.6, and 21.1 μg/ml, respectively.Conclusion: The compounds 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-1, 3-diphenylpropan-1-one derivatives were found to be possible lead molecules in AChE inhibition and even though, the molecules were structurally dissimilar to that of the standard, still they exhibited a considerable degree of inhibition and encourage the researchers to look into the mode of action of their inhibition ability against AChE

Consequences of Eukaryotic Enhancer Architecture for Gene Expression Dynamics, Development, and Fitness

The regulatory logic of time- and tissue-specific gene expression has mostly been dissected in the context of the smallest DNA fragments that, when isolated, recapitulate native expression in reporter assays. It is not known if the genomic sequences surrounding such fragments, often evolutionarily conserved, have any biological function or not. Using an enhancer of the even-skipped gene of Drosophila as a model, we investigate the functional significance of the genomic sequences surrounding empirically identified enhancers. A 480 bp long “minimal stripe element” is able to drive even-skipped expression in the second of seven stripes but is embedded in a larger region of 800 bp containing evolutionarily conserved binding sites for required transcription factors. To assess the overall fitness contribution made by these binding sites in the native genomic context, we employed a gene-replacement strategy in which whole-locus transgenes, capable of rescuing even-skipped- lethality to adulthood, were substituted for the native gene. The molecular phenotypes were characterized by tagging Even-skipped with a fluorescent protein and monitoring gene expression dynamics in living embryos. We used recombineering to excise the sequences surrounding the minimal enhancer and site-specific transgenesis to create co-isogenic strains differing only in their stripe 2 sequences. Remarkably, the flanking sequences were dispensable for viability, proving the sufficiency of the minimal element for biological function under normal conditions. These sequences are required for robustness to genetic and environmental perturbation instead. The mutant enhancers had measurable sex- and dose-dependent effects on viability. At the molecular level, the mutants showed a destabilization of stripe placement and improper activation of downstream genes. Finally, we demonstrate through live measurements that the peripheral sequences are required for temperature compensation. These results imply that seemingly redundant regulatory sequences beyond the minimal enhancer are necessary for robust gene expression and that “robustness” itself must be an evolved characteristic of the wild-type enhancer

Investigation of the mechanism of chromium removal in (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane functionalized mesoporous silica

We are proposed that a possible mechanism for Cr(VI) removal by functionalized mesoporous silica. Mesoporous silica was functionalized with (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTMS) using the post-synthesis grafting method. The synthesized materials were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N-2 adsorption-desorption analysis, Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to confirm the pore structure and functionalization of amine groups, and were subsequently used as adsorbents for the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution. As the concentration of APTMS increases from 0.01 M to 0.25 M, the surface area of mesoporous silica decreases from 857.9 m(2)/g to 402.6 m(2)/g. In contrast, Cr(VI) uptake increases from 36.95 mg/g to 83.50 mg/g. This indicates that the enhanced Cr(VI) removal was primarily due to the activity of functional groups. It is thought that the optimum concentration of APTMS for functionalization is approximately 0.05 M. According to XPS data, NH3+ and protonated NH2 from APTMS adsorbed anionic Cr(VI) by electrostatic interaction and changed the solution pH. Equilibrium data are well fitted by Temkin and Sips isotherms. This research shows promising results for the application of amino functionalized mesoporous silica as an adsorbent to removal Cr(VI) from aqueous solution

Decolorization and partial mineralization of a polyazo dye by Bacillus firmus immobilized within tubular polymeric gel

The degradation of C.I. Direct red 80, a polyazo dye, was investigated using Bacillus firmus immobilized by entrapment in tubular polymeric gel. This bacterial strain was able to completely decolorize 50 mg/L of C.I. Direct red 80 under anoxic conditions within 12 h and also degrade the reaction intermediates (aromatic amines) during the subsequent 12 h under aerobic conditions. The tubular gel harboring the immobilized cells consisted of anoxic and aerobic regions integrated in a single unit which was ideal for azo dye degradation studies. Results obtained show that effective dye decolorization (97.8%), chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction (91.7%) and total aromatic amines removal were obtained in 15 h with the immobilized bacterial cell system whereas for the free cells, a hydraulic residence time of 24 h was required for an equivalent performance in a sequential anoxic and aerobic process. Repeated-batch experiments indicate the immobilized cells could decolorize C.I. Direct red 80 and reduce medium COD in five successive batch runs with enhanced activity obtained after each consecutive run, thus suggesting its stability and potential for repeated use in wastewater treatment. UV–visible spectrophotometry and HPLC analysis were used to confirm the partial mineralization of the dye. Data from this study could be used as a reference for the development of effective industrial scale biotechnological process for the removal of dyes and their metabolites in textile wastewater

Development of Trypanosoma cruzi in vitro assays to identify compounds suitable for progression in Chagas’ disease drug discovery

Chagas' disease is responsible for significant mortality and morbidity in Latin America. Current treatments display variable efficacy and have adverse side effects, hence more effective, better tolerated drugs are needed. However, recent efforts have proved unsuccessful with failure of the ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitor posaconazole in phase II clinical trials despite promising in vitro and in vivo studies. The lack of translation between laboratory experiments and clinical outcome is a major issue for further drug discovery efforts. Our goal was to identify cell-based assays that could differentiate current nitro-aromatic drugs nifurtimox and benznidazole from posaconazole. Using a panel of T. cruzi strains including the six major lineages (TcI-VI), we found that strain PAH179 (TcV) was markedly less susceptible to posaconazole in vitro. Determination of parasite doubling and cycling times as well as EdU labelling experiments all indicate that this lack of sensitivity is due to the slow doubling and cycling time of strain PAH179. This is in accordance with ergosterol biosynthesis inhibition by posaconazole leading to critically low ergosterol levels only after multiple rounds of division, and is further supported by the lack of effect of posaconazole on the non-replicative trypomastigote form. A washout experiment with prolonged posaconazole treatment showed that, even for more rapidly replicating strains, this compound cannot clear all parasites, indicative of a heterogeneous parasite population in vitro and potentially the presence of quiescent parasites. Benznidazole in contrast was able to kill all parasites. The work presented here shows clear differentiation between the nitro-aromatic drugs and posaconazole in several assays, and suggests that in vitro there may be clinically relevant heterogeneity in the parasite population that can be revealed in long-term washout experiments. Based on these findings we have adjusted our in vitro screening cascade so that only the most promising compounds are progressed to in vivo experiments