Technological, Organizational, and Environmental Antecedents to Web Services Adoption

The proliferation of web services within the last two years enables organizations to assimilate software and services from different companies and locations into an integrated service capable of streamlining important processes. Widespread adoption of web services has not yet occurred across all industries. To better understand the key determinants of web services adoption at the firm level, a conceptual model of factors impacting web services adoption was developed. The conceptual model was grounded in the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework (Tomatzky and Fleischer, 1990) to support the formulation of eleven propositions that may affect adoption and continued utilization of web services. Specifically, factors for each of the contexts within the TOE framework were formulated and supported including: (1) technological factors (security concerns; reliability; deployability); (2) organizational factors (firm size; firm scope; technological knowledge; perceived benefits); and, (3) environmental factors (competitive pressure; regulatory influence; dependent partner readiness; trust in the web service provider). A summary of the relationships between the key constructs in the model and recommendations for future research are provided

INUNDATION MAPPING – A HAZARD STUDY BASED ON THE DECEMBER 26, 2004 TSUNAMI ALONG THE KARAIKAL COAST OF INDIA

A study of tsunami impact was undertaken along India’s Karaikal coast from Poovam in Karaikal to Nagore, Nagapatinam. An integrated approach was adopted for the preparation of thematic maps on land use, land cover and coastal geomorphology using multispectral remote sensing data. RTK GPS instruments were used for the collection of topographic data with contour intervals of 0.5m. The GIS tool was used to incorporate the elevation data, the extent of tsunami inundation and the thematic maps derived from remote sensing data. The present study highlights the most vulnerable areas of tsunami inundation and provides demarcations of suitable sites for rehabilitation

Some glimpses of the marine fisheries in Andhra pradesh

Andhra Pradesh stands 5th in the marine fish production among the maritime states of India. The advent of mechanisation of fishing craft and introduction of mechanised fishing vessels have brought significant changes in the marine fishing industry of Andhra Pradesh. As a result of this, the fisheries harbour at Visakhapatnam has become one of the key harbours for mechanised trawl fishing and Visakhapatnam itself has emerged as one of the most important centres for exporting marine products to foreign countrie

Growth, maturity and mortality of Upeneus sulphureus from Andhra - Orissa coast

The length weight relationship, relative condition factor, growth, maturity, mortality and exploitation ratio of Upeneus sulphureus (cuv.) from Andhra-Orissa coast were studied. Growth parameters estimated from von Bertilanfly's growth function were: La, 20.22 cm; K, 0.65846/year; and to, —0.284 years. The fish attained maturity at 131 mm and had a longevity of 4.56 years. The total mortality Z and the fishing mortality F wore estimated as 2.318/year and 0.826/year respectively. The exploitation ratio E at 0.356 indicated under-exploited state of the stock

Comparative growth of seven species of micro-algae in artificial and natural media

Results of an experiment to compare the growth of seven species of microalgae in natural seawater and an artificial medium are presented. Artificial medium was found to support better growth of algae under identical culture conditions. Based on the findings, the artificial medium was suggested as ideal for maintenance of stock cultures in the shrimp hatcheries along the east coast where temporal variations in hydrological conditions are well known

Crafts and gear used for marine fishing along the Andhra Pradesh coast

Until the middle of nineteen sixties fishing for marine finfishes and shellfishes along the Andhra Pradesh coast used to be carried out employing indigenous non-mechanised crafts. Subsequently trawlers and later mechanised vessels operating gillnets came into use which resulted in the increased fish production. Use of outboard engine on indigenous crafts for reaching fishing grounds is a recent feature of near the coast fishing. The different kinds of non-mechanised and mechanised crafts and gear employed in the region are dealt with in this article

Vulnerability from storm surges and cyclone wind fields on the coast of Andhra Pradesh, India

The results presented here are from a study conducted for the government of the state of Andhra Pradesh (GOAP) in India, as part of a World Bank project on cyclone mitigation. A set of detailed maps were prepared depicting the Physical Vulnerability (PV), specifically storm surge inundation zones are shown for frequent occurrence, 50-year return period, likely scenario for global warming and extreme global warming. Similarly vulnerable areas from strong wind field from tropical cyclones (TCS) are also presented for the same four parameters. Vulnerability zones are presented from a social point of view also based upon certain socio-economic parameters that were included in determining the overall vulnerability of each Mandal in a coastal district (a Mandal represents a group of villages and towns) include: population, senior citizens, women, children under different age groups, type of housing, income level, cyclone shelters, hospitals and medical centres, schools and caste based population. The study is about scenarios that could happen if global warming and the predicted intensification of TCS actually occur as predicted by some numerical models

Introduction of 43 footer mechanised boats for commercial trawling along the coast of Andhra Pradesh

The introduction of costly bigger boats in the commercial fleet at a time when most of the resources in the presently fished areas have reached MSY levels appears significant. The introduction of these boats is primarily to go for fishing for a period of 10-15 days without returning to the base daily thereby cutting expenditure on oil

Red Panda: A Novel Method for Detecting Variants in Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

BACKGROUND: Single-cell sequencing enables us to better understand genetic diseases, such as cancer or autoimmune disorders, which are often affected by changes in rare cells. Currently, no existing software is aimed at identifying single nucleotide variations or micro (1-50 bp) insertions and deletions in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. Generating high-quality variant data is vital to the study of the aforementioned diseases, among others. RESULTS: In this study, we report the design and implementation of Red Panda, a novel method to accurately identify variants in scRNA-seq data. Variants were called on scRNA-seq data from human articular chondrocytes, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), and simulated data stemming from the MEF alignments. Red Panda had the highest Positive Predictive Value at 45.0%, while other tools-FreeBayes, GATK HaplotypeCaller, GATK UnifiedGenotyper, Monovar, and Platypus-ranged from 5.8-41.53%. From the simulated data, Red Panda had the highest sensitivity at 72.44%. CONCLUSIONS: We show that our method provides a novel and improved mechanism to identify variants in scRNA-seq as compared to currently existing software. However, methods for identification of genomic variants using scRNA-seq data can be still improved

Mitigation of flooding and cyclone hazard in Orissa, India

Storm surges generated by the strong tangential wind stressesand normal atmospheric pressure gradients at the sea surface due to tropical cyclones (TC"S)have been studied with the goal of detecting any significant and systematic changes due to climatechange. Cyclone and storm surge data for the 19th and 20th centuries for the Bay of Bengalcoast of the state of Orissa in India are available to varying degrees of quality and detail,the data being more scientific since the advent of the India Meteorological Department in 1875.Based on more precise data for the period 1971 to 2000, statistical projections have been madeon the probable intensities of tropical cyclones for various return periods. The super cyclone ofOctober 29, 1999 (SC1999) appears to have a return period of about 50 years. The cyclones of1831, 1885 and possibly the one in 1895 could have been super cyclones. During the 19th century,there were 72 flooding events associated with cyclones, whereas in the 20th century therewere only 56 events. There was no observational evidence to suggest that there was an increaseeither in the frequency or intensity of cyclones or storm surges on the coast of Orissa. However,the impact of cyclones and surges is on the increase due to increase of population and coastal infrastructure