A simple and efficient dye-based technique for rapid screening of fungi for L-asparaginase production

Three hundred and sixty four (364) isolates of tropical soil fungi were screened for L-asparaginase production by rapid plate method using modified Czapek-Dox agar containing L-asparagine, and either bromo cresol purple or phenol red dye as an indicator. Results of the study revealed that total one hundred and thirty five (135) isolates showed positive reaction for L-asparaginase production as indicated by the color change in and around the colonies between 48-72 hours of incubation at 280 C. A comparative study of the two indicator dyes with varying concentrations showed bromo cresol purple is a better and efficient indicator for L-asparaginase screening than phenol red. Quantitative estimation of L-asparaginase in the selected fungi showed Aspergillus sp. and Fusarium sp. were good candidates for L-asparaginase production

The History of neurosurgery

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Static Hand Gesture Recognition for PowerPoint Presentation Navigation using Thinning Method

In this paper a method to control the power point presentation navigation using bare hands, is proposed. The proposed method takes static hand gestures as input via webcam connected to the computerand uses thinning method to obtain the hand shape parameters. Thesehand shape parameters are used to countthe number of raised fingers. Based on this count, the gestures are identified and then used to control the slides. This method does not require devices such asmarkers orgloves or any other devices andalso does not require any database to identify a gesture

Family Relations in the Moral Values Expressed by Dravidian Literature

Dr. Robert Caldwell learned Tamil when he came to Tamil Nadu to do religious work. In the Dravidian language family, Tamil is known as the classical language. He studied linguistically that Tamilam was the Tramilam and the Tramilam was Dravidian and found that Tamil was the oldest and the first of the Dravidian languages. Knowing that Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam are like Tamil with grammar and literary dialogues, he wrote a book of a comparative grammar book. In 1856, Caldwell was the first to introduce the term "comparison grammar book of Dravidian languages" or "south Indian family languages" to the world of linguistics. This article explores the trend of moral literature and the literary records of family relations as a literary form in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam, all the four Dravidian languages

Genetic Analysis of Biofortification of Micronutrient Breeding in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice is a staple food for millions of people and has great importance in food and nutritional security. Rice is the second most widely consumed in the world next to wheat. The poorest to the richest person in the world consumes rice in one or other form. New research on the importance of micronutrients, vitamins and proteins aims at biological and genetic enrichment. Vital nutrients that the farmer can grow indefinitely without any additional input to produce nutrient-packed rice grains in a sustainable way is the only feasible way of reaching the malnourished population in India. In the present study, an attempt has been made to improve the nutritional quality of rice

Analysis of Resource-Sharing Decisions in Dyadic Collaborative Knowledge Creation: A Game-Theoretic Approach

Knowledge is an asset that can give an organization competitive edge. However, knowledge creation is an expensive activity. One of the reasons organizations form knowledge creation collaborations is to share resources that are needed to create knowledge. This dissertation models the dyadic collaborations as games between the partners and arrives at resource-sharing schemes for them. Specifically, the collaborations are modeled as two games- Stackelberg Leader-Follower game and Partnership game. The types of collaborations are distinguished based on the nature of the marginal return functions with respect to knowledge creation investments for each of the collaborating organizations. Three essays are presented and discussed. In Essay 1, collaborations between organizations characterized by decreasing marginal returns with respect to investments are modeled as a partnership game. In Essay 2, collaborations between organizations characterized by increasing marginal returns with respect to investments are modeled as a Stackelberg Leader-Follower game. In Essay 3, collaborations where the leader organization is characterized by decreasing marginal returns with respect to investment and the follower organization is characterized by increasing marginal returns with respect to investments are studied. The solutions for the game in terms of the participation rate, knowledge creation investments, and the system gain are presented for each essay. The results are analyzed and the observations are stated as propositions. The propositions provide guidelines for collaborating organizations to arrive at a resource-sharing scheme. Additionally, the results suggest conditions under which the potential partners collaborate specifically with respect to the participation rate and the system gain. The results of Essays 2 and 3 provide conditions for participation rate. The results of Essay 3 provide the conditions of expected system gain under which the follower organization will collaborate with a potential leader organization. The results have implications for several stages of the alliance management process such as partner selection, gauging the behavior of potential and current partners, and renegotiation of alliance terms

The Organisational Salience and the Perceived Influence of Operational Safety Professionals: An examination of Hopkins’ hypothesis that decentralised hierarchical structures limit the capacity of technical experts and specialists to promote operational safety priorities in corporate decision-making processes

This research examines Hopkins’ argument, in his analysis of the BP Texas City Refinery disaster, that a decentralised organisational structure contributed to a “blindness to major risk”. Hopkins asserts that communications along hierarchical lines of operational accountability allow for safety-critical information to be discounted by intermediaries with commercial priorities. He suggests that fully independent and centralised lines of functional accountability for technical experts and safety specialists could ensure that safety priorities are recognised and advocated if decision-making can be readily escalated to their CEO. Hopkins’ recommendations are grounded in high reliability theory and supported by the analysis of several disaster investigations. A literature review identifies various theoretical issues that underpin the central research hypothesis that organisational structure impacts on the exercise of influence. The research itself is a practical inquiry: seeking to better understand how this hypothesis is interpreted and applied by safety practitioners within hazardous industry. I gather the opinions, insights and experiences of thirty professionals from nine participating companies within the Australian resources sector. The key research objective is to examine the practical relationship between: the structured organisational salience of technical safety professionals; and their perceived influence on the priority given to operational safety issues in both operational and strategic decision- making. A secondary concern is to identify organisational dynamics that affect the influence that is exercised by technical safety professionals and to understand how organisational design parameters may be utilised to appropriately reinforce operational safety priorities. The research findings are presented as nine corporate case studies, describing the structured positions and activities of technical experts and process safety professionals within the operational hierarchy. The research finds that operational safety professionals and process safety experts are typically not able to fulfil their responsibilities within their defined roles. They are instead challenging or circumventing the structured parameters of their position and functions. The research findings confirm the underlying concerns that organisational design choices impact on the capacity within the organisation to reliably communicate safety-critical technical details. Hopkins’ hypothesis is extended to include organisational design parameters beyond structure. Three other modifying factors are identified as also able to elevate or undermine the influence of technical experts and safety specialists. These are: leadership support; management systems; and personal credibility, as illustrated below. Figure: Organisational Factors that Modify Influence In particular, the capacity of leadership, such as CEOs, to dictate and modify organisational structure and to establish and reinforce corporate priorities has both indirect and direct impacts on the influence that operational safety professionals exercise. There is also a widely acknowledged expectation that safety practitioners, including technical experts, should be personally persuasive with “an ability to influence”. This suggests that delegated authority for safety practitioners is accepted as being limited and unlikely to be available. Promoting a single cohesive safety message that does not account for such issues of influence and authority may present the appearance of a unified safety culture in spite of recognised underlying conflicts: between organisational sub-cultures such as managers, operators and engineers; or between corporate goals such as production and safety