ASPECTS OF EMOTIONAL PROSODY IN MALAYALAM AND HINDI

Emotional prosody is considered as the ability to express emotions. Intonation is one parameter of prosody that gives information on the production aspects of emotions. The aim was to study the intonation patterns in two languages, Malayalam and Hindi, from two different language groups in India and also to document if there are differences in the patterns produced across gender groups. Eight native speakers of Malayalam and Hindi, in the age range of 18-40 years were considered for the study (two males and two females for each of the languages). Simple sentences with five basic emotions were used as the stimuli and the samples were recorded in Motor Speech Profile software (MSP) of Computerized Speech Lab 4150. The patterns were plotted using the PHH model. Acoustic data were subjected to statistical analysis, using Mann Whitney U Test (SPSS Version 16).The results of this study reveal that across the five emotions, the terminal intonation pattern has a falling contour, except for the emotion of anger in females, which has a raising contour. This was observed in both the languages. On subjective observation, there were instances of differences in the patterns across the genders, but these were not statistically significant

Listeria monocytogenes Survival on Peaches and Nectarines under Conditions Simulating Commercial Stone-Fruit Packinghouse Operations

Recent recalls of stone fruit due to potential Listeria contamination and associated foodborne outbreaks highlight the risk for pathogen transmission through stone-fruit consumption. Particularly, surface contamination of fruits increases the risk for cross-contamination of produce during processing and storage. This highlights the need for quality control in stone fruits intended for consumption. To develop effective food safety practices, it is essential to determine the critical factors during stone-fruit processing that influence Listeria survival. Therefore, this study evaluated the ability of Listeria to survive on peaches and nectarines under simulated stone-fruit loading and staging, waxing and fungicide application and storage conditions. The results of our study indicate that current stone-fruit handling conditions do not favor Listeria growth. However, once fruit is contaminated, Listeria can survive on the fruit surface in significant numbers under current processing conditions. Therefore, there is a need to develop and implement preventive controls at the stone-fruit packinghouse to prevent Listeria contamination and deter pathogen persistence

Identification of variety-specific ISSR markers in small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton.)

----------

Trends in secondary production in the inshore waters of the seas around India

CMFRI has been monitoring the microscopic organisms which belong to the categories of phyto and zooplanktons, being a reliable tool for the identification of areas prone to industrial and natural pollution and for understanding its extent and intensity, especially in the inshore areas selected centres along the Indian coasts.These studies assist in foretelling any alarming situations developed in the living environment that may affect the commercially important resources adversely. The pattern of the occurrence and abundance of zooplankton along the Indian coasts from Bombay on the west coast upto Madras on the east coast were described.The samples were collected from Bombay, Karwar, Calicut, Vizhinjam, Tuticorin, Mandapam and Madras. In conclusion,the rate of secondary production on the west as well as on the east coasts during the 1981-82 period was comparatively lesser than during the previous year

Hydrodeoxygenation of isocyanates : snapshots of a magnesium-mediated C=O bond cleavage

Organic isocyanates are readily converted to methyl amine products through their hydroboration with HBpin in the presence of a β-diketiminato magnesium catalyst. Although borylated amide and N-,O-bis(boryl)hemiaminal species have been identified as intermediates during the reductive catalysis, the overall reduction and C–O activation is metal-mediated and proposed to occur through the further intermediacy of well-defined magnesium formamidato, formamidatoborate and magnesium boryloxide derivatives. Examples of all these species have been identified and fully characterised through stoichiometric reactivity studies and the stability of the borate species leads us to suggest that, under catalytic conditions, the onward progress of the deoxygenation reaction is crucially dependent on the further activation provided by the Lewis acidic HBpin substrate. These deductions have been explored and ratified through a DFT study

Magnesium-catalysed nitrile hydroboration

A β-diketiminato n-butylmagnesium complex is presented as a selective precatalyst for the reductive hydroboration of organic nitriles with pinacolborane (HBpin). Stoichiometric reactivity studies indicate that catalytic turnover ensues through the generation of magnesium aldimido, aldimidoborate and borylamido intermediates, which are formed in a sequence of intramolecular nitrile insertion and inter- and intramolecular B–H metathesis events. Kinetic studies highlight variations in mechanism for the catalytic dihydroboration of alkyl nitriles, aryl nitriles bearing electron withdrawing (Ar(EWG)CN) and aryl nitriles bearing electron donating (Ar(EDG)CN) substitution patterns. Kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) for catalysis performed with DBpin indicate that B–H bond breaking and C–H bond forming reactions are involved in the rate determining processes during the dihydroboration of alkyl nitriles and Ar(EDG)CN substrates, which display divergent first and second order rate dependences on [HBpin] respectively. In contrast, the hydroboration of Ar(EWG)CN substrates provides no KIE and HBpin is not implicated in the rate determining process during catalysis. Irrespective of these differences, a common mechanism is proposed in which the rate determining steps are deduced to vary through the establishment of several pre-equilibria, the relative positions of which are determined by the respective stabilities of the dimeric and monomeric magnesium aldimide and magnesium aldimidoborate intermediates as a result of adjustments to the basicity of the nitrile substrate. More generally, these observations indicate that homogeneous processes performed under heavier alkaline earth catalysis are likely to demonstrate previously unappreciated mechanistic diversity

Review of research on kokum, camboge and related species

Garcinia species are distributed throughout the tropics and have tremendous potential, both as spices and medicinal plants. Though there are more than 200 species in the genus, only 20 are found in India. The two species namely Garcinia gummi-gutta (L) Rob. (camboge) and G. indica Choisy (kokum) are widely distributed in the Western Ghats and are very popular in Sooth Indian cuisine. Recently excited the scientific world for processing properties that regulate obesity. Though commercially important, these species remained neglected and not much attention was given for their research and development. In this review, an attempt has been made to collect and compile the available information so that areas of interest could easilly be identified for further investigation and research. &nbsp

In vitro propagation of Vanilla tahitensis Moore

A commercially viable protocol for mass propagation of Vanilla tahitensis, a cultivated species of vanilla, was standardized. A multiplication ratio of 1 : 4.7 was observed over a culture period of 60-70 days on benzylaminopurine (1 mgl-1) and a-naphthaleneacetic acid (O.1 mgl-1). &nbsp

The significance of secondary interactions during alkaline earth-promoted dehydrogenation of dialkylamine-boranes

Reactions of anilidoimine magnesium n-butyl and calcium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide derivatives with Me2NH·BH3 at 25 °C resulted in the isolation of complexes containing [NMe2BH2NMe2BH3]− and [NMe2BH3]− anions respectively.</p