Why not everybody loves Hofstede? What are the alternative approaches to study of culture?

In these days the Hofstede's work on culture is most quoted in many publications. For scholars and practitioners knowing and having complete understanding of cross cultural dimensions, Hofstede's work plays an important and dynamic role. His observations and analysis gives the full understanding to the readers and as well as authors and scholars. Still such pioneering work faces much criticism by scholars. Some of the scholars appreciated his credible work. Some scholars quote his finding in their research and some ignore it. In our paper, this study concludes all the criticism on hofstede's work. Basically there are two parts of this paper; in first part we discuss the reason why hofstede's work faces criticism and in second part we recommend various other cultural dimensions, which we can use to understand the culture. Research Findings This paper tries to conclude all the dimensions and also suggest the model for understanding the national culture. Key Words Culture, National culture, Hofstede, cross cultural dimension

Spirowallichiione: A Rearranged Multiflorane from Euphorbia wallichii Hook F. (Euphorbiaceae)

Euphorbia wallichii of the family Euphorbiaceae yielded a new rearrangedpentacyclic triterpene of the multiflorane class which we have named spirowallichiione.The structure of this natural spirocompound was elucidated with the aid of modernspectroscopic techniques, including 2D-NMR

Design and Simulation of Low Cost Pure Sin Wave Inverter Through Multivibrator Technique by Using Multisim

Pure sine wave transformers are very important nowadays when it comes to using ds power sources for both low and high-power applications. These inverters not only increase the efficiency of the power system but also prevent electrical components from damaging. Much work has been done in the field of pure sine wave inverter but for a waveform with low number of harmonics along with high efficiency is still an open challenge. There are techniques available to do this, but the need to adapt to a solution that is easy to implement as well as specifically for low energy applications. In this paper, a multi-vibration technique is used to generate a square wave which is then split into two square waves of the same frequency by the 4017-decade counter to hold the H-bridge inverter. The output of the H-bridge inverter contains harmonics that are filtered using a low pass filter. Thus, we get a pure sin wave in the output

New secondary metabolites and volatile constituents from the leaves of <i>Ocimum gratissimum</i> Linn.

The phytochemical investigation on the ethanolic extract of the leaves of Ocimum gratissimum (syn. O. viride) has led to the isolation of a new alkaloid, diazovirid or 1,1′-(diazeno1,2-diyl) bis (ethane-1,2-diol) (1) and 2-hydroxy-D-glucal or (2 R, 3S, 4S)-2-(hydroxymethyl)-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran-3,4,5-triol (2), reported for the first time as a natural product. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic analyses. The volatile constituents have also been studied by GC-FID and GC-MS leading to the characterization of compounds 3–18, respectively.</p

Novel Plant-Based Metabolites as Disinfectants against <i>Acanthamoeba castellanii</i>

Due to global warming, coupled with global water shortages and the reliance of the public on household water tanks, especially in developing countries, it is anticipated that infections caused by free-living amoebae such as Acanthamoeba will rise. Thus, the development of novel disinfectant(s) which can target pathogenic free-living amoebae effectively is warranted. Herein, we extracted and isolated several plant-based secondary metabolites as novel disinfectants for use against pathogenic Acanthamoeba. The identity of the compounds was confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance and tested for antiamoebic activities against clinical isolate of A. castellanii, belonging to the T4 genotype. Amoebicidal assays revealed that the compounds tested showed antiamoebic properties. Betulinic acid and betulin exhibited parasite killing of more than 65%. When tested against the cyst stage, betulinic acid, betulin, and vanillic acid inhibited both encystation and excystation processes. Furthermore, the plant-based metabolites significantly inhibited the binding capability of A. castellanii to host cells. Finally, most of the tested compounds displayed minimal cytotoxic activities against human cells and noticeably perturbed amoeba-mediated host cell cytotoxicity. Notably, both alkaloid and betulinic acid showed 20% cytotoxic effects, whereas betulin and lupeol had cytotoxic effects of 24% and 30%, respectively. Overall, our findings indicate that plant-based natural compounds demonstrate anti-Acanthamoebic properties, and they have potential candidates for water disinfectants or contact lens disinfecting solutions, as well as possible therapeutic drugs against Acanthamoeba infections

A new glycosidic antioxidant from <i>Ranunculus muricatus</i> L. (Ranunculaceae) exhibited lipoxygenasae and xanthine oxidase inhibition properties

<p>Phytochemical investigation of <i>Ranunculus muricatus</i> L. (Ranunculaceae) led to the isolation of a new metabolite named as ranuncoside from the ethyl acetate fraction of the plant. Structure of the novel compound was elucidated through detailed spectroscopic analyses, using UV, IR, ¹H, ¹³C NMR and 2D NMR in combination with EIMS and HR EI-MS techniques. The compound was evaluated for antioxidant activity using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay. Its inhibitory potential was tested against lipoxygenase and xanthine oxidase enzymes. Ranuncoside potently scavenged the DPPH free radicals (IC₅₀ = 56.7 ± 0.43 μM) and strongly inhibited the activities of lipoxygenase (IC₅₀ = 63.9 ± 0.17 μM) and xanthine oxidase (IC₅₀ = 43.3 ± 0.22 μM).</p