Optimization and characterization of a new lipopeptide biosurfactant produced by marine Brevibacterium aureum MSA 13 in solid state culture

The biosurfactant production of a marine actinobacterium Brevibacterium aureum MSA 13 was optimized using industrial and agroindustrial solid waste residues as substrates in solid state culture

Micro-algal lethality potentials of marine organisms collected from the Indian littoral

Microalgal lethality bioassay was developed to detect the toxic profile of organic extract of marine organisms and their possible significance in the context of antifouling activities. Organic extracts of seaweeds, Ulva fasciata and Hypnea musciformis, sponges, Dendrilla nigra, Axinella donnai and Clathria gorgonoides and a holothurian Holothuria scabra were used for the detection of microalgal lethality potential. The microalgae such as Isochrysis galbana, Chlorella salina and Nanochloropsis sp. were used for the assay. The findings revealed that H. scabra contained toxic secondary metabolites, which might have the reason for its potent antifouling activity. Invariably all extracts inhibited the growth of microalgae at various concentrations except H. musciformis and A. donnani, which induce the growth of microalgae to certain extent. Based on the present findings, it could be inferred that the ‘microalgal lethality bioassay’ could be used as a primary screening assay system for the detection of biotoxic and antifouling agents from marine organisms

Bioactivity of the red algae Asparagopsis taxiformis collected from the Southwestern coast of India

Among the diverse variety of red algae, Asparagopsis taxiformis constitutes one of the abundant biomass in the Kollam coast (Southwest coast of India). Therefore, in the present study, A. taxiformis was collected, extracted and fractionated using column chromatography. The individual fractions were evaluated in vitro for their antifouling, anticyanobacterial, piscicidal and crustaceans toxicity assays. The fraction eluted with 2:8, petroleum ether and ethyl acetate exhibited strong and broad spectrum of bioactivity. In antifouling assay against Limnea truncatula, the active algal fraction produced 80% of foot repellency at 150 mg/L whereas in anticyanobacterial assay, the active fraction inhibited 100% growth of Trichodesmium sp. at 320 mg/L. The algal fraction showed higher piscicidal effect at the level of 60 mg/L. The crustacean toxicity of the active fraction was also evaluated to find compounds without toxicity in non target organisms, Penaeus monodon and Macrobrachium rosenbergii. It was found that column fraction showed less toxicity against the non target organisms. The chemical constituents of the active fraction were identified by means of chromatographic systems such as TLC, reverse phase HPLC and GC-MS. The overall activity profile envisages that the active column fraction of A. taxiformis might contain synergistic bioactive metabolites that could be utilized for the control of fouling organisms, algal bloom and herbivorous/predaceous fishes in aquaculture ponds

GeantV: Results from the prototype of concurrent vector particle transport simulation in HEP

Full detector simulation was among the largest CPU consumer in all CERN experiment software stacks for the first two runs of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In the early 2010's, the projections were that simulation demands would scale linearly with luminosity increase, compensated only partially by an increase of computing resources. The extension of fast simulation approaches to more use cases, covering a larger fraction of the simulation budget, is only part of the solution due to intrinsic precision limitations. The remainder corresponds to speeding-up the simulation software by several factors, which is out of reach using simple optimizations on the current code base. In this context, the GeantV R&D project was launched, aiming to redesign the legacy particle transport codes in order to make them benefit from fine-grained parallelism features such as vectorization, but also from increased code and data locality. This paper presents extensively the results and achievements of this R&D, as well as the conclusions and lessons learnt from the beta prototype.Comment: 34 pages, 26 figures, 24 table

Challenges in developing a voice input voice output communication aid for people with severe dysarthria

This paper describes the development of a voice-input voice-output communication aid (VIVOCA) for people with disordered or unintelligible speech, initially concentrating on people with severe dysarthria. The VIVOCA is intended to recognize and interpret an individual’s disordered speech and speak out an equivalent message in clear synthesized speech. User consultation suggests that such a device would be acceptable and would be useful in communication situations where speed and intelligibility are crucial. Speech recognition techniques build on previously successful development of speech-based home control interfaces, and various methods for speech ‘translation’ have been evaluated

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Not AvailableSponges are closely associated with microorganisms that occur either intracellularly and extracellularly. Sponges are soft-bodied sessile organisms appear to be defenseless in facing predation. Microbial symbionts supposed to have a functional role in the host defense against pathogens, predation and microfouling processes. Recently, the ubiquitous defense enzyme, phospholipase A2 (PLA2) detected in the sponge associated bacterium envisaged the possible functional role in the ecological succession of host sponge against predatory / fouling pressure in the habitat. In present review, we highlighted the possible functional interactions between associated microbes and host sponges and its potentials in bioprospecting approaches.Not Availabl

Sponge-microbial interactions: Ecological implications and bioprospecting avenues

Sponges are closely associated with microorganisms that occur either intracellularly and extracellularly. Sponges are soft-bodied sessile organisms appear to be defenseless in facing predation. Microbial symbionts supposed to have a functional role in the host defense against pathogens, predation and microfouling processes. Recently, the ubiquitous defense enzyme, phospholipase A2 (PLA2) detected in the sponge associated bacterium envisaged the possible functional role in the ecological succession of host sponge against predatory / fouling pressure in the habitat. In present review, we highlighted the possible functional interactions between associated microbes and host sponges and its potentials in bioprospecting approaches

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Not AvailableThe biosurfactant production of a marine actinobacterium Brevibacterium aureum MSA 13 was optimized using industrial and agroindustrial solid waste residues as substrates in solid state culture.Not Availabl