Structure and function of isozymes: Evolutionary aspects and role of oxygen in eucaryotic organisms

Oxygen is not only one of the most abundant elements on the Earth, but it is also one of the most important elements for life. In terms of composition, the feature of the atmosphere that most distinguishes Earth from other planets is the presence of abundant amounts of oxygen. The first forms of life may have been similar to present day anaerobic bacteria such as clostridium. The relationship between prokaryotes and eukaryotes, if any, has been a topic of much speculation. With only a few exceptions eukaryotes are oxygen-utilizing organisms. This research eukaryotes or eukaryotic biochemical processes requiring oxygen, could have arisen quite early in evolution and utilized the small quantities of photocatalytically produced oxygen which are thought to have been present on the Earth prior to the evolution of massive amounts of photosynthetically-produced oxygen

Production of phytate-hydrolyzing enzymes by thermophilic moulds

138 isolates of thermophilic/thermotolerant moulds were isolated from soil, straw and compost samples, collected from various regions of India. Among the thermophilic fungal isolates screened for the secretion of phytase (phytate-hydrolyzing enzyme), Sporotrichum thermophile BJTLR50 produced a very high enzyme titre at pH 5.0, 45°C and 250 rpm in 5 days with an inoculum level of 1 × 107 spores per 50 ml medium prepared from 6 days old culture. Glucose and ammonium sulphate supported higher phytase production than other carbon and nitrogen sources. The phytase of S. thermophile was optimally active at pH 5.0 and 60°C. An overall 2-fold improvement in the phytase production was achieved due to optimization.Key words: Phytic acid, phytase, thermophilic moulds, Sporotrichum thermophile, Humicola lanuginosa, submerged fermentation, optimization

Phytase production by the unconventional yeast Pichia anomala in fed batch and cyclic fed batch fermentations

A marked enhancement in the production of cell-bound phytase in Pichia anomala was achieved in cyclic fed batch fermentation (47333 UL-1) in comparison with that in batch (11569 UL-1) and fixed volume fed batch (36911 UL-1) fermentations in cane molasses medium. Phytase productivity was sustainable in cyclic fed batch fermentation over seven days, and therefore, this mode of fed batch fermentation appears to be a better approach for producing phytase in a cost-effective manner.Keywords: Fed-batch fermentation, cyclic fed batch fermentation, Pichia anomala, phytas

Effect of Plant Growth Regulators on Corm Production and Vase Life in Gladiolus

Influence of plant growth regulator sprays on corm production and post-harvest life of two gladiolus cultivars, Darshan and Dhiraj, was investigated for two consecutive years, 2008-09 and 2009-10. Growth regulators, viz., gibberellic acid (100 and 150ppm), tri-iodo benzoic acid (TIBA) (50 and 100ppm), 2-chloro, 4-pyridyl phenyl urea (CPPU) (2.5 and 5ppm) and brassinosteroid (BR) (5 and 10ppm) were sprayed at the 3rd and 6thleaf stage. Cv. Darshan recorded maximum number of large cormels per plant and cormel weight, while, cv. Dhiraj recorded maximum number of small cormels per plant in treatments of pre-harvest foliar sprays with plant growth regulators. Foliar sprays of BR (10ppm) and GA3 (150ppm) significantly increased number of corms produced per plant, corm size, corm weight, and propagation coefficient. Number of large cormels and total number of cormels per plant were significantly higher in BR (10ppm), followed by TIBA (100ppm). BR (10ppm) and TIBA (100ppm) produced maximum number of small cormels per plant. Weight of cormels per plant was maximum in BR (10ppm) and GA3 (150ppm). Post-harvest studies revealed that cv. Darshan recorded maximum diameter of second fully-opened floret and higher vase-life than cv. Dhiraj with pre-harvest foliar spray of plant growth regulators. Pre-harvest foliar spray of GA3 (150ppm), BR (10ppm) and CPPU (5ppm) induced earliest first-floret opening and recorded maximum value for number-of-floretsopen- at-a-time per spike, diameter of second fully-opened floret, and vase-life. Foliar spray of BR (10ppm) and GA3 (150ppm) at 3rd and 6th leaf stage can be recommended for large-scale multiplication of quality planting material and longer vase-life of flower spikes, respectively, in gladiolus

Structural and Dielectric Characterization of La Modified PZT (52/48) Nano Ceramic Material for Electronic Applications

The objective of the presented work is to investigate the effects of varying concentration of La as hard dopant on structural, morphological and dielectric properties of lead zirconium titanate (PZT). The base material PZT was prepared by sol-gel technique on lab scale to reduce the injection of sintering defects. After addition of varying weight percentage of La, the different composite materials were analyzed under scanning electron microscope to study the structural modifications taking place. X-Ray diffraction patterns were studied in combination with variation of dielectric constant with temperature and frequency. it is observed that a single phase perovskite structure with tetragonal phase is formed for all compositions of PLZT. The dielectric constant of undoped PZT is found to be 11,300 at a temperature of 500OC and frequency of 100Hz. The results further indicate that the dielectric properties of the pure-phase PZT are better than La doped PZT at higher temperature

Intellectual Property Management in Health and Agricultural Innovation: Executive Guide

Prepared by and for policy-makers, leaders of public sector research establishments, technology transfer professionals, licensing executives, and scientists, this online resource offers up-to-date information and strategies for utilizing the power of both intellectual property and the public domain. Emphasis is placed on advancing innovation in health and agriculture, though many of the principles outlined here are broadly applicable across technology fields. Eschewing ideological debates and general proclamations, the authors always keep their eye on the practical side of IP management. The site is based on a comprehensive Handbook and Executive Guide that provide substantive discussions and analysis of the opportunities awaiting anyone in the field who wants to put intellectual property to work. This multi-volume work contains 153 chapters on a full range of IP topics and over 50 case studies, composed by over 200 authors from North, South, East, and West. If you are a policymaker, a senior administrator, a technology transfer manager, or a scientist, we invite you to use the companion site guide available at http://www.iphandbook.org/index.html The site guide distills the key points of each IP topic covered by the Handbook into simple language and places it in the context of evolving best practices specific to your professional role within the overall picture of IP management

Investigating the Relationship between Occupational Stress and Work-Life Balance among Indian Construction Professionals

The construction industry has long been recognized as a stressful industry, due to its complexity and management of a large number of stakeholders. Occupational stress causes a negative impact on both the work and personal life of professionals. Previous studies have established that occupational stress of construction professionals is strongly associated with low productivity, high absenteeism, and poor work performance. However, there is a lack of scientific studies that provide linkages between occupational stressors and the dimensions of work-life balance. The present research aims to study the perceived level of occupational stress and assess its relationship with the dimensions of work-life balance among construction professionals. Within an established theoretical framework, eight hypotheses were formulated to investigate the above relationship. A cross-sectional survey-based approach was adopted to assess the level of occupational stress and work-life balance. The survey was administered among construction project managers, project engineers, and site engineers in the Indian context. With 285 valid responses, relative importance index and multiple regression analysis methods were utilised to analyse the collected data. The findings revealed major stressors that contribute to high levels of occupational stress under work-related and organisation-related stressor categories. The top five identified stressors included job nature demands coordination with multiple stakeholders, tight time frame for work, unstable working hours, bureaucracy, and quantitative work overload. With regards to the relationship between the categories of occupational stress and work-life balance, the results indicate that work-related stressors are significantly and positively related to work interference to personal life (WIPL) and personal life interference to work (PLIW) and negatively relate to work enhancement of personal life (WEPL) and personal life enhancement of work (PLEW). In the case of organisation-related stressors, both organisation policy and organisation position-related stressors significantly and positively influence WIPL however, no significant relationship was noticed with PLIW, WEPL, and PLEW. While the existing studies have provided evidence that work-life imbalance causes occupational stress, one of the major contributions of the present study is that it provides valid scientific evidence that occupational stress significantly influences work-life life balance negatively. The study’s findings with regards to unveiling the relationship between the categories of occupational stressors and dimensions of work-life balance would help organisations derive relevant policies for creating a supportive work environment. To this end, the paper advances our collective understanding of occupational stress and work-life balance with multiple dimensions and perspectives

Image Segmentation Based on Doubly Truncated Generalized Laplace Mixture Model and K Means Clustering

The present paper aims at performance evaluation of Doubly Truncated Generalized Laplace Mixture Model and K-Means clustering (DTGLMM-K) for image analysis concerned to various practical applications like security, surveillance, medical diagnostics and other areas. Among the many algorithms designed and developed for image segmentation the dominance of Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) has been predominant which has the major drawback of suiting to a particular kind of data. Therefore the present work aims at development of DTGLMM-K algorithm which can be suitable for wide variety of applications and data. Performance evaluation of the developed algorithm has been donethrough various measures like Probabilistic Rand index (PRI), Global Consistency Error (GCE) and Variation of Information (VOI). During the current work case studies forvarious different images having pixel intensities has been carried out and the obtained results indicate the superiority of the developed algorithm for improved image segmentation

A Suggestive Diagnostic Technique For Early Identification Of Acyanotic Heart Disorders From Infant’s Cry

Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are the critical heart disorders that can be observed at the birth stage of the infants. These are classified mainly into two, Cyanotic and Acyanotic. The present paper concentrates on the Acyanotic heart disorders. Acyanotic heart disorder cannot be observed on external checkup, whereas bluish skin is the indication for the infant affected with Cyanotic disorder. Acyanotic heart disorder can only be diagnosed using chest X-Ray, ECG, Echocardiogram, Cardiac Catheterization and MRI of the Heart. The present work aims at estimating the fundamental frequency (pitch) and the vocal tract resonant frequencies (formants) from the cry signal of the infants. The pitch frequency and formant frequencies are estimated using frequency domain (Cepstrum) and Linear Prediction Code (LPC) methods. The results show that the fundamental frequency of the cry signal was between 600Hz-800Hz for the infants with Acyanotic heart disorders. This fundamental frequency helps in identifying Acyanotic heart disorders at an early stage