Consonants in R.P. and G.I.E.: A Study in Contrastive Phonology

The present paper aims at the contrastive study of consonants in Received Pronunciation (R.P., the standard variety of English spoken by educated people in Britain) and General Indian English (G.I.E). The hypothesis is that it will help the Indian users of English to improve their pronunciation and try to overcome the errors made unconsciously or because of mother tongue (L1) interference

Software Techniques for Energy Efficient Memories

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Controlled Delivery of Pan-PAD-Inhibitor Cl-Amidine Using Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate) Microspheres.

This study deals with the process of optimization and synthesis of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) microspheres with encapsulated Cl-amidine. Cl-amidine is an inhibitor of peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs), a group of calcium-dependent enzymes, which play critical roles in a number of pathologies, including autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cancer. While Cl-amidine application has been assessed in a number of in vitro and in vivo models; methods of controlled release delivery remain to be investigated. P(3HB) microspheres have proven to be an effective delivery system for several compounds applied in antimicrobial, wound healing, cancer, and cardiovascular and regenerative disease models. In the current study, P(3HB) microspheres with encapsulated Cl-amidine were produced in a size ranging from ~4-5 µm and characterized for surface morphology, porosity, hydrophobicity and protein adsorption, in comparison with empty P(3HB) microspheres. Cl-amidine encapsulation in P(3HB) microspheres was optimized, and these were found to be less hydrophobic, compared with the empty microspheres, and subsequently adsorbed a lower amount of protein on their surface. The release kinetics of Cl-amidine from the microspheres were assessed in vitro and expressed as a function of encapsulation efficiency. There was a burst release of ~50% Cl-amidine in the first 24 h and a zero order release from that point up to 16 days, at which time point ~93% of the drug had been released. As Cl-amidine has been associated with anti-cancer effects, the Cl-amidine encapsulated microspheres were assessed for the inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in the mammalian breast cancer cell line SK-BR-3, including in the presence of the anti-proliferative drug rapamycin. The cytotoxicity of the combinatorial effect of rapamycin with Cl-amidine encapsulated P(3HB) microspheres was found to be 3.5% more effective within a 24 h period. The cells treated with Cl-amidine encapsulated microspheres alone, were found to have 36.5% reduction in VEGF expression when compared with untreated SK-BR-3 cells. This indicates that controlled release of Cl-amidine from P(3HB) microspheres may be effective in anti-cancer treatment, including in synergy with chemotherapeutic agents. Using controlled drug-delivery of Cl-amidine encapsulated in Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) microspheres may be a promising novel strategy for application in PAD-associated pathologies

ASAC: Automatic Sensitivity Analysis for Approximate Computing

The approximation based programming paradigm is especially attractive for developing error-resilient applications, targeting low power embedded devices. It allows for program data to be computed and stored approximately for better energy efficiency. The duration of battery in the smartphones, tablets, etc. is generally more of a concern to users than an application’s accuracy or fidelity beyond certain acceptable quality of service. Therefore, relaxing accuracy to improve energy efficiency is an attractive tradeoff when permissible by the application’s domain. Recent works suggest source code annotations and type qualifiers to facilitate safe approximate computation and data manipulation. It requires rewriting of programs or the availability of source codes for annotations. This may not be feasible as real-world applications tend to be large, with source code that is not readily available. In this paper, we propose a novel sensitivity analysis that automatically generates annotations for programs for the purpose of approximate computing. Our framework, ASAC, extracts information about the sensitivity of the output with respect to program data. We show that the program output is sensitive to only a subset of program data that we deem critical, and hence must be precise. The rest of the data can be computed and stored approximately. We evaluated our analysis on a range of applications, and achieved a 86 % accuracy compared to manual annotations by programmers. We validated our analysis by showing that the applications are within the acceptable QoS threshold if we approximate the non-critical data

Preliminary study on antiulcer effect of agomelatine and its potentiation with pyridoxine

Background: Agomelatine is a synthetic analogue of melatonin and a potent agonist of melatonin receptors. Agomelatine has Hepatoprotective as well as antioxidant activity. The aim of study was to evaluate the antiulcer activity of Agomelatine and its potentiation through the pyridoxine on ethanol induced gastric ulcer in rats.Methods: Thirty number of rats were divided in to five groups contro, standard, Agomelatine low dose, Agomelatine high dose and Agomelatine with Pyridoxine groups. Ethanol was used to induced gastric ulcer in rats. ulcer index and also the other biochemical parameters like free Acidity, total Acidity, gastric pH, volume of gastric juice was determined. Statistically analysis was done by ANOVA P value less than 0.05 was considered Statistically significant.Results: In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the gastric antisecretory, antiulcer and cytoprotective properties of agomelatine. The results are statistically significant by ANOVA test. Ranitidine showed a statistically significant decrease in the volume of gastric juice by free acidity and total acidity. when compared to control. Agomelatine shows a showed similar response to the volume of gastric juice. A significant difference in pH was observed between the agomelatine-treated, agomelatine with pyridoxine treated group and the control groups.Conclusions: Pretreated rats with Agomelatine (40mg/kg) showed protective effect against ethanol induce gastric ulcer. Agomelatine (40mg/kg) showed the ameliorative effect with Pyridoxine (0.3mg/kg), on gastric ulcer

Preclinical study of peripheral nerve regeneration using nerve guidance conduits based on polyhydroxyalkanaotes

Nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) are used as an alternative to the “gold standard” nerve autografting, preventing the need for surgical intervention required to harvest autologous nerves. However, the regeneration outcomes achieved with the current NGCs are only comparable with autografting when the gap is short (less than 10 mm). In the present study, we have developed NGCs made from a blend of Polyhydroxyalkanoates, a family of natural resorbable polymers. Hollow NGCs made from a 75:25 Poly(3‐hydroxyoctanoate)/Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate) blend (PHA‐NGCs) were manufactured using dip‐moulding. These PHA‐NGCs showed appropriate flexibility for peripheral nerve regeneration. In vitro cell studies performed using RT4‐D6P2T rat Schwann cell line confirmed that the material is capable of sustaining cell proliferation and adhesion. PHA‐NGCs were then implanted in vivo to repair 10 mm gaps of the median nerve of female Wistar rats for 12 weeks. Functional evaluation of the regenerated nerve using the grasping test showed that PHA‐NGCs displayed similar motor recovery as the autograft, starting from week 7. Additionally, nerve cross‐sectional area, density and number of myelinated cells, as well as axon diameter, fibre diameter, myelin thickness and g‐ratio obtained using the PHA‐NGCs were found comparable to an autograft. This preclinical data confirmed that the PHA‐NGCs are indeed highly promising candidates for peripheral nerve regeneration

The Impact of Change Management on Employees Performance in Information Management System

The result or outcome of an entity for its deliberate operational success is the outcome or outcome of an institution with regard to the desired objectives and targets. Operational output the study utilizes the analytical data collection process. For analysis, though, it will use both primary and secondary information. The main statistics is information that the author gathers through surveys or questionnaires and the secondary data is the data collected from prior studies and research. The study examined the effect of change management on the quality of workers, taking into account many factors such as ethics, productivity, morale and interaction among others. The research findings have shown that the greater the integrity of workers and the better the interaction, the higher the productivity and the lower the attrition. The study analyzed the impact of change management on employees� performance, taking into account many factors such as organizational ethics, recruitment, morale and interaction. The research results demonstrate that the higher the moral and communication standards of employees are at work, the greater the retention and the lower the turnover

Metabolic effects of oral vitamin D supplementation as an adjuvant therapy on subjects with type 2 diabetes

Background: It is common for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to have vitamin D deficiency. Aim of the study is to determine the metabolic effects of oral vitamin D supplementation in a cohort of T2DM subjects.Methods: Subjects with T2DM were divided into two groups. Group A (Control) included subjects who received the standard treatment (conventional antidiabetic drugs). Group B (Intervention), apart from the standard treatment (conventional antidiabetic drugs), was also supplemented with Vitamin D3. All the patients were followed up at baseline, 6 months, 12 months and 18 months.Results: Vitamin D deficiency was noted down in all the study subjects. Even after 18 months of supplementation, all subjects remained vitamin D deficient. There was a significant improvement in the circulating levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Improvement in the lipid profile of subjects was observed as evidenced by a decrease in total cholesterol (5.0±0.92 mmol/l) as compared to baseline (5.5±1.6 mmol/l). HOMA-IR changed significantly after 18 months of supplementation from baseline (7.0±1.06 vs 10.8±1.96 nmol/l).Conclusions: Supplementation to achieve higher levels of vitamin D remains a promising adjuvant therapy for T2DM patients. Additionally, the intervention brought out a favourable change in HDL/LDL ratio among study subjects