Thon rings from amorphous ice and implications of beam-induced Brownian motion in single particle electron cryo-microscopy

We have recorded dose-fractionated electron cryo-microscope images of thin films of pure flash-frozen amorphous ice and pre-irradiated amorphous carbon on a Falcon~II direct electron detector using 300 keV electrons. We observe Thon rings \cite{Thon1966} in both the power spectrum of the summed frames and the sum of power spectra from the individual frames. The Thon rings from amorphous carbon images are always more visible in the power spectrum of the summed frames whereas those of amorphous ice are more visible in the sum of power spectra from the individual frames. This difference indicates that while pre-irradiated carbon behaves like a solid during the exposure, amorphous ice behaves like a fluid with the individual water molecules undergoing beam-induced motion. Using the measured variation in the power spectra amplitude with number of electrons per image we deduce that water molecules are randomly displaced by mean squared distance of $\sim$ 1.1 \AA$^{2}$ for every incident 300 keV e$^{-}$/\AA$^2$. The induced motion leads to an optimal exposure with 300 keV electrons of 4.0 e$^{-}$/\AA$^2$ per image with which to see Thon rings centred around the strong 3.7{\AA} scattering peak from amorphous ice. The beam-induced movement of the water molecules generates pseudo-Brownian motion of embedded macromolecules. The resulting blurring of single particle images contributes an additional term, on top of that from radiation damage, to the minimum achievable B-factor for macromolecular structure determination.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, Supplementary information 6 pages with 5 figure

EFFECTS OF THREATS ON ETHICAL BEHAVIOR OF PROFESSIONAL VALUERS IN SRI LANKA

Ethical behavior means compliance with the ethical standards. Though there are fundamental standards, unethical behavior may emerge due to many obstructions (threats) arise in property valuation profession. To date, there is no evidence of adequate research on this issue. This paper focus on analyzing the factors affecting on the ethical behavior of valuers over mortgagevaluation in Sri Lanka. Based on the quantitative approach the data was collected from 100 professionals. In particular, following factors such as self-interest threat, self-review threat, client conflict threat, advocacy threat, familiarity threat, and intimidation threat were analyzed. Results revealed that, all other tested factors except intimidation threat, influenced the ethicalbehavior of valuers in mortgage valuation. It is recommended to organize awareness programmes on ethical behavior frequently

Accumulation efficiency of sunflower for lead and cadmium along with sustainable crop productivity under soil stress

By nature coastal saline soils having several constraints in crop production in addition to that of heavy metals contamination deteriorate the soil productivity. To restore these contaminated soils, various remediation techniques in practices must be revamped. The present study was conducted to enhance the accumulation of heavy metals lead and cadmium in sunflower and improve the crop productivity using organic and inorganic soil amendments along with NPK fertilizers in completely randomized design. Soil samples were admitted to estimating soil physico chemical properties and DTPA extractable lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) and plant samples analyzed for DTPA extractable Pb and Cd concentrations under ICP-OES. The physico-chemical properties and DTPA extractable Pb and Cd concentrations were significantly influenced by amendments. Sunflower exhibited significant differences concerning accumulation of Pb and Cd against amendments tested along with higher biomass production. Higher shoot and root concentration of Pb(0.72,0.81 and 0.94,0.97 mg kg-1) and Cd (1.78, 2.32 and 0.35,0.32 mg kg-1)were recorded in the treatment RDF + EDTA, which was followed by RDF + Potassium humate and RDF + Zeolite application at 45 DAS and at harvest. Remediation efficiency of sunflower increased by application of RDF + EDTA through enhanced solubility of Pb and Cd in soil and thus increased Pb and Cd accumulation in root and shoot of sunflower. Whereas, the application of RDF+ FYM or press mud reduced the bioavailability of Pb and Cd in soil and thus restricted the accumulation of Pb and Cd by sunflower. Further, application of NPK fertilizers maintained the availability of nutrients and enhanced the yield of sunflower. The application of EDTA along with NPK fertilizer enhanced the bioaccumulation of lead and cadmium by sunflower without yield loss. Since, there is a possibility to cause leaching of HMs to ground water by EDTA. Hence, RDF plus Potassium humate or Zeolite can be recommended for lead and cadmium removal by sunflower in coastal saline soils with no loss in crop productivity

A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF CRYPTOGRAPHY AND KEY MANAGEMENT BASED SECURITY IN CLOUD COMPUTING

Cloud computing is a cost effective flexible and proven delivery platform for providing consumer IT services or business services over internet. It has an ability to provide many services over internet. It not only provides computing services but additional computing resources. To interact with various services in the cloud and to store retrieve data from cloud several security mechanism is required. Cryptography and key management mechanism are one of the import services in the cloud to secure data. In this context, this paper investigates the basic problem of cloud computing with cryptography and key management system for enabling support of interoperability between cloud cryptography client and key management services

The Impact of Spirituality on Alcoholics in Select De-Addiction Centres in Tiruchirappalli District, Tamilnadu

Aim: The aim of the study was to examine the individual prayer involvement, church/temple and mosque attendance and involvement in pilgrimage among the in-patients of alcohol de-addiction centre. Method: The sample consisted of 118 patients. The age range of the sample between 23 and 64 years. The tools used in the study were personal information data sheet, individual prayer involvement, church/temple and mosque attendance and involvement in pilgrimage questionnaire. The data were analysed using percentage analysis independent, cross tabulation and one-way ANOVA through IBM SPSS 20. Results: From the output of Reliability Statistics obtained Cronbach's Alpha value of 0.707 > 0.600. On the basis of decision-making in the reliability test, we could be found that this research questionnaire is reliable, where as it is a high level of reliability. 87 of the respondents are married, 30 percent of the respondents are drink 465 ml of alcohol per day and 23 percent drink 750 ml of alcohol per day. In overall out of 118 respondents 57.6% of the respondents are worship their gods, 14.4% are spent more time with their family members, 11% are doing yoga and meditation, 7.6% are spent more time with nonalcoholic friends and 4.2% are admit themselves into hospital/de addiction centres to get rid of alcoholism. From the one way ANOVA table it can be observed that the mean value on the study dimensions are Christian respondents (M=2.7586), the Muslim respondents (M=2.7368) and the Hindus (M=2.2571). Conclusion: The results were revealed the majority of the respondents first drinking age below twenty years. Nearly half of the respondents are already taken the treatment and now relapsed. There is a significance difference between Age and Individual prayer, Church involvement and involvement in pilgrimage of the respondents. There is no significant difference between the Individual Prayer between the Prefer to Drink Alcohol, involvement in church / temple / mosque between the Prefer to Drink Alcohol and the time of pilgrimage between the Prefer to Drink Alcohol

Structure of the deactive state of mammalian respiratory complex I

Complex I (NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase) is central to energy metabolism in mammalian mitochondria. It couples NADH oxidation by ubiquinone to proton transport across the energy-conserving inner membrane, catalyzing respiration and driving ATP synthesis. In the absence of substrates, ‘active’ complex I gradually enters a pronounced resting or ‘deactive’ state. The active-deactive transition occurs during ischemia and is crucial for controlling how respiration recovers upon reperfusion. Here, we set a highly-active preparation of Bos taurus complex I into the biochemically-defined deactive state, and used single-particle electron cryomicroscopy to determine its structure to 4.1 Å resolution. We show that the deactive state arises when critical structural elements that form the ubiquinone-binding site become disordered, and we propose reactivation is induced when substrate binding to the NADH-reduced enzyme templates their reordering. Our structure both rationalizes biochemical data on the deactive state, and offers new insights into its physiological and cellular roles.Data were recorded at the UK National Electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC) at Diamond (proposal EM13581, funded by the Wellcome Trust, MRC and BBSRC) with help from Dan Clare and Alistair Siebert. This work was supported by The Medical Research Council, grant numbers U105663141 (to J.H.) and U105184322 (K.R.V. in R. Henderson's group)

PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF SWIETENIA MAHAGONI – A HIGHLY MEDICINAL PLANT IN INDIA

The present study was designed to evaluate the phytochemical analysis and antibacterial activity of Swietenia mahagoni leaf extract. The leaf extract was subjected to a variety of phytochemical analysis. The qualitative phytochemical tests exhibited the presence of common phytocompounds like alkaloids, tannins, saponins, phlobatannins, flavanoids, terpenoids and volatile oils as major active constituents. The plant (Swietenia mahagoni) leaf has valuable medicinal uses, hence petroleum ether (18.2g) was found to be a good solvent for the phytochemical and antibacterial study. Similarly, the Methanolic leaf extract of Swietenia mahagoni has highest zone of inhibition on Bacillus subtilis

Effect of air flow on tubular solar still efficiency

BACKGROUND: An experimental work was reported to estimate the increase in distillate yield for a compound parabolic concentrator-concentric tubular solar still (CPC-CTSS). The CPC dramatically increases the heating of the saline water. A novel idea was proposed to study the characteristic features of CPC for desalination to produce a large quantity of distillate yield. A rectangular basin of dimension 2 m × 0.025 m × 0.02 m was fabricated of copper and was placed at the focus of the CPC. This basin is covered by two cylindrical glass tubes of length 2 m with two different diameters of 0.02 m and 0.03 m. The experimental study was operated with two modes: without and with air flow between inner and outer tubes. The rate of air flow was fixed throughout the experiment at 4.5 m/s. On the basis of performance results, the water collection rate was 1445 ml/day without air flow and 2020 ml/day with air flow and the efficiencies were 16.2% and 18.9%, respectively. FINDINGS: The experimental study was operated with two modes: without and with air flow between inner and outer tubes. The rate of air flow was fixed throughout the experiment at 4.5 m/s. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of performance results, the water collection rate was 1445 ml/day without air flow and 2020 ml/day with air flow and the efficiencies were 16.2% and 18.9%, respectively

Effectiveness of STEM courseware based on edugame and assistive approach

Implementing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in curriculum has become an ultimate target for many nations around the world. The implementation of STEM education also has been focused among Malaysian preschoolers. However, majority of preschoolers STEM education throughout the world still rely upon a traditional teaching format that reaches only a subset of student. Many preschoolers are lack of interest and engagement to learn STEM Education due to limited availability of interactive teaching method and tools. Research indicates that, there is limited high-quality assistive technology to drive effective practice for early preschool STEM education. On the other hand, playing games to acquire basic educational skills especially in preschools has been one of the most effective ways of learning. Although the discussion between these two technologies has been gaining strength in recent years, there are limited studies that cover the integrating features between them, especially for STEM education. The purpose of this study is to identify those elements of between the assistive technology and edugames and propose courseware design model for preschoolers STEM education. The study used a systematic literature review (SLR) as a method to identify the courseware component and element of assistive technology and edugames. Hence, the proposed courseware design model consists of four courseware components which are structural component, content composition component, learning approach and technology component. A prototype known as Bridge Master has been developed based on the proposed courseware model. Overall, the result showed a very high score obtained by the preschoolers has utilizing the courseware. This indicates, the Bridge Master courseware design model has been proven as effective for the preschoolers STEM education

Effect of Triazine Comonomer Substitution on the Structure and Glass Transition Temperature of Monomethacrylate-based Resin Polymer: An In Vitro Study

Aim and objectives: The present research aimed to characterize and deduce the structure of a novel denture base copolymer containing antimicrobial triazine comonomer by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopies. Also, it aimed to evaluate the glass transition temperature (Tg) with the addition of TATA at different concentrations. Materials and methods: The trial groups G10 and G20 were thermo-polymerized with triazine comonomer, whereas the control group G0 was polymerized without the triazine. NMR and EDX spectroscopies assessed copolymerization along with deducing elemental composition in mass %. The surface topographies were observed through field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The Tg of the resultant copolymer was examined by differential scanning calorimetry. Pertinent statistical tests with relevant multiple comparison tests were exercised to compare the mean Tg of the groups. Results: The configuration of a new copolymer containing triazine comonomer was manifested with additional protons and carbon atoms. Nitrogen was detected in the EDX spectroscopy of the trial groups. The Tg of the new copolymer was higher than the G0. The triazine comonomer in the copolymer at 20% concentration exhibited the highest Tg. Conclusion: The triazine comonomer substitution produced a novel denture base copolymer with enhanced Tg. Clinical significance: The novel denture base copolymer may possess enhanced biomechanical properties due to the TATA’s cross-linking capability. Nevertheless, the antimicrobial property of the triazine comonomer incorporated in the denture base composition might be beneficial in inhibiting the microbial colonization on the denture’s surface