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Phenetic analysis of Senna obtusifolia (L.) H.S.Irwin and Barneby provenance, prospecting greater availability of its bioactive principle
Full text linkSenna obtusifolia (L) H.S. Irwin and Barneby of family Leguminosae is a wild annual
tropical weed, growing in various edaphoclimatic conditions in India with significant
medicinal properties in Ayurveda, folklore, ethnomedicine and modern medicinal
properties due to the presence of various biochemical secondary metabolites like
anthraquinones, sennosides, sterols, anthrones, xanthones, aglycones, and polyketides. This study focused on intraspecific phenetic analyses of S. obtusifolia from twenty
different provenances of India for prospecting greater availability of a natural bioactive
secondary metabolite, rhein, having a broad array of medicinal properties. Rhein was
extracted, identified and quantified from the leaf samples of S. obtusifoila. The
identification and quantification of rhein were analysed by HPLC and ESI-MS studies. The present study pioneered in reporting the presence of rhein in the leaf samples of
the species. Provenance variations of the species were studied by considering the
phenetic aspects such as, phenology, morphology, and cytology. Subtle amount of
variations in different phenological as well as morphometric characters were observed
among different provenances. Cytological studies showed minor variations among the
provenances of the species with a common diploid set of 26 chromosomes. A considerable amount of variation was observed among the provenances of the species
in terms of rhein quantity. Samples from warmer zones showed higher rhein quantity.
Genetic variations of the plant from different provenances were also studied through
AFLP showing minor intraspecific variations through UPGMA analysis. It was
observed that S. obtusifolia plants, grown in warmer zones with higher minimum
temperature during the growth period, have greater heights in combination serves as the
index for the highest rhein producer
Design of Reversible Watermarking Techniques in Spatial Domain
Full text linkModern communication systems are changing expeditiously due to the significant development of Internet technology and digital communication. Today, multimedia documents like audio, video, and images are easy to store, manipulate and transmit through the Internet by exploiting the benefits of digital technology and communication. But, these documents can be changed by intruders, which gives rise to a violation of authenticity. This unauthorized modification is becoming an issue in many human-centric applications where authentication, copyright protection, and tamper detection are essential. To solve such problems one can use digital watermarking scheme. Digital watermarking is the process of embedding an invisible watermark within a digital image (cover image). Watermarks have been used for postage stamps, currency, and other
government documents. Many watermarking algorithms were developed to solve the unauthorized modification problem of digital data. Existing algorithms or methods have some advantages and disadvantages.
In this dissertation, six secured, robust, and reversible watermarking schemes have been introduced using weighted matrix (WM), cellular automata (CA), local binary pattern (LBP), and Lagrange interpolation polynomial (LIP) to address the problem of ownership identification, image authentication, tamper detection and localization. Moreover, the proposed schemes have been analyzed considering ten different geometric and steganographic attacks such as salt and pepper, cropping, opaque, copy-move forgery, median filtering, blurring, rotation, flipping, inversion, and JPEG compression. It is found that the developed algorithms can sustain against such attacks. In addition to the sustainability, our developed schemes provide high embedding capacity with good visual quality which is acceptable in various real-life applications like medical image processing, military application, etc. A shared secret key has been introduced to enhance the security of all the developed schemes. Finally, all the methods are compared with some state-of-the-art watermarking methods, and considerable improvements have been observed
Isolation, purification and characterization of bioactive polysaccharides from edible Mushrooms and polysaccharide based Nanoparticles
Full text linkThe present thesis entitled as “Isolation, purification and characterization of bioactive polysaccharides from edible mushrooms and polysaccharide based nanoparticles” consists of two sections. The first section represents the structural characterization and immunological activities of two different polysaccharides, isolated from two different edible mushrooms (Termitomyces heimii and Lentinus fusipes). The second section deals with the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using aqueous solution of a hetero polysaccharide (consisting of glucose, fucose and galactose), extracted from the Lentinus squarrosulus (Mont.) Singer and its effectiveness as an antibacterial agent. The entire thesis is divided into five chapters.
Chapter I
Part A: Now-a-days mushrooms are popularly used as food flavouring substances due to their unique taste, flavor, high nutritive value and medicinal values. Several bioactive substances like polysaccharides, phenolic compounds, sterols, terpenes and ceramides have been identified from mushrooms; among them polysaccharides (PS) can be considered as one of the major functional component responsible for various health benefits. In recent years mushroom-derived polysaccharides have drawn the attention of chemist and immunobiologists for their immunostimulatory, anti-oxidant, antimicrobial, antiflammatory, and anti-tumour properties. These bioactive polysaccharides bind to lymphocyte, serum specific proteins which activate macrophages, T-helper, NK, and other effector cells which fuel up the host‟s immune system. Thereby increase the production of antibodies, interleukins (IL-1, IL-2) as well as interferon (IFN-γ). It has been observed that the chemical compositions, molecular weight, conformation, glycosidic linkage and degree of branching are significantly related with immunostimulating activities. Several mushroom polysaccharides are widely used and commercialized worldwide as anti cancer agents for therapeutic purpose. Lentinan (from Lentinus edodes, Japan), Schizophyllan (from Schizophyllum commune), Agarican (from Agaricus blazei, USA), and Grifron-D (from Grifola frondosa, Japan) have been commercialized and used clinically as anti-tumor agents. Part B: Nanoparticles are defined as “a discrete entity with at least one dimension being 100 nm or less”. These materials show superior properties, e.g., enhanced catalytic, adsorption, enhanced optical properties, increased hardness, compressive strength, etc. due to their extremely small size and large surface to volume ratio. At present it is the most rapid growing area of research for versatile applications of nanoparticles (NPs) in various fields of science. Much attention has been focused on metal nanoparticles (especially Au and Ag-nanoparticles) because of their significant applications in the area of catalysis, optics, sensing, electronics, and biotechnology. Synthesis of metal nanoparticles using green renewable entities is very effective and therefore can be used as an economic and valuable alternative for the large-scale production of metal nanoparticles. Polysaccharides represent an excellent scaffold for nanoparticle synthesis as they have hemiacetal end to reduce metal salt precursors and lot of hydroxyl group and other functionalities to stabilize the synthesized metal NPs. Polysaccharides with hydroxyl and amino groups bind tightly to the surface of the metal nanoparticles giving them a hydrophilic surface. There are series of reports where heparin, hyaluronic acid (HA), alginic acid, chitosan as well as plant polysaccharides like starch, cellulose, dextran were employed in the synthesis and stabilization of AgNPs and AuNPs.
Chapter II
The methodologies that have been adopted to determine the structure of polysaccharides and their bioactivity studies have been discussed in this chapter. The biological activities of polysaccharides depend on the molecular weight, linking sequences of the monosaccharide residues, branching pattern etc. So, it is very important to determine the exact structure of the repeating unit of the polysaccharides isolated either from mushroom. The exact structure of the polysaccharides is determined using two types of methods: (1) Chemical method that includes total acid hydrolysis, methylation, periodate oxidation and smith degradation studies. (2) Spectroscopic method comprising of 1D (1H, 13C) and 2D NMR (DQF-COSY,TOCSY, NOESY, ROESY, HSQC, HMBC etc) and Mass spectroscopic experiment
(GLC-MS).
The techniques used in the synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles have also been highlighted in this chapter. Ag-NPs have been prepared by chemical synthesis method using hetero-glycan as both reducing and capping agent. Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV-Visible, HR-TEM, SEM, XRD techniques.For the determination of antibacterial efficacy of AgNPs-glucan conjugates, gel electrophoresis, Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis was done.
Chapter III
Two water soluble polysaccharides (PS-I & PS-II) have been isolated from the alkaline extract of the edible mushroom Termitomyces heimii. The detailed structural investigation and biological activities of PS-I were investigated and presented in this chapter. The average molecular weight of PS-I is ~1.48 ×105 Da. PS-I contained (1→3), (1→6), (1→3, 6)-linked and terminal β-D-glucopyranosyl moieties in a ratio of nearly 2:1:1:1. Based on the total hydrolysis, methylation analysis, periodate oxidation, Smith degradation, partial hydrolysis and 1D/2D NMR experiments the structure of the PS-I was elucidated and it was found that the repeating unit of the PS-I consist of a backbone chain of two (1→6)-β-D-glucopyranosyl residues, one of which was branched at O-3 position with the side chain consisting of two (1→3)-β-Dglucopyranosyl and a terminal β-D-glucopyranosyl residue. On the basis of these experiments, the structure was established as: The in-vitro cellular toxicity of PS-I on human blood lymphocytes at varied concentrations ranging from 25 μg/ml to 400 μg/ml was studied by MTT assay. Cell proliferative activity was observed significantly up to 200 μg/ml but, at the dose of 400 μg/ml the PS-I showed mild toxicity. The biocompatibility was established by measuring glutathione levels (oxidised and reduced form), MDA levels on cell lysates. The reduced glutathione (GSH) level significantly increased up to 200 μg/ml, whereas at 400 μg/ml, it was moderately decrease, exhibited slight increase in GSSG level. MDA level also slight increase at 400μg/ml dose. Moreover, it also exhibited potent antioxidant activities by diminishing the ROS and NO in the nicotine stimulated lymphocytes upto 200 μg/ml. This property of PS-I was also established by FACS analysis of nicotine treated lymphocytes.
Chapter-IV Two water soluble polysaccharides (PS-I & PS-II) have been isolated from the aqueous extract of the edible mushroom Lentinus fusipes. The detailed structural investigation and biological activities of PS-II were investigated and presented in this chapter The average molecular weight the PS-II is ~ 60 kDa. The structural characterization of PS-II was carried out using total acid hydrolysis, methylation analyses, periodate oxidation, Smith degradation and 1D/2D NMR experiments. Total acid hydrolysis indicated the presence of D-galactose and D-glucose in a molar ratio of approximately 1:1. The chemical and NMR analyses revealed that the proposed repeating unit of the PS-II had a backbone chain consisting of three (1→6)-linked α-D-galactopyranosyl residue and two (1→6)-linked β-D-glucopyranosyl residues, one of the β-D-glucopyranosyl residue was branched at O-3 position with a terminal β-D-glucopyranosyl. On the basis of these experiments, the structure was established as:
The in-vitro cellular toxicity of PS-I on human blood lymphocytes at varied concentrations ranging from 20μg/ml to 320μg/ml was studied by MTT assay. Cell proliferative activity was observed significantly up to 160 μg/ml but 320 μg/ml dosage showed mild toxicity. The biocompatibility was established by measuring glutathione levels (oxidised and reduced form), MDA levels on cell lysates. The reduced glutathione (GSH) level significantly increased up to 160 μg/ml, whereas at 320 μg/ml, it was moderately decrease, exhibited slight increase in GSSG level. MDA level also slight increase at the dose of 320 μg/ml. The PS-II exhibited significant in vitro splenocyte and macrophage activations with optimum dose of 20 μg/ml and 80 μg/ml respectively. Flow cytometry study revealed the protective role of the PS-II against nicotine stimulated lymphocytes at a concentration of 160 μg/ml. Moreover, the ROS scavenging property of PS-II was also established using DPPH radical scavenging assay.
Chapter-V Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized using a hetero polysaccharide (PS) isolated from Lentinus squarrosulus (Mont.) Singer. The polysaccharide fraction (consisting of glucose, fucose and galactose) serves the role of both reducing as well as stabilizing agent. UV-vis spectroscopy showed maximum absorbance at 407 nm due to surface plasmon resonance. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) exhibited that the average diameter of the nanoparticles was 2.78 ± 1 nm. The selected area diffraction pattern (SAED) revealed the „fcc‟crystalline structure of Ag NPs–PS conjugates. The XRD analysis further confirmed face-centered cubic (fcc) geometry of silver nanoparticles.
Antibacterial activity of the AgNPs-PS conjugate was tested against multiple antibiotics resistant (MAR) Escherichia coli strain MREC33 and it was noted that killing was due to generation of Reactive oxygen species (ROS). Internalization of AgNPs-PS conjugate along with its DNA degradation capability was demonstrated using Flow cytometry. Ag NPs-PS conjugates showed only 1.017% hemolysis at LD50 concentration to human RBCs. This LD50 dosage of AgNPs-PS conjugates in combination with each of the four antibiotics (ampicillin, azithromycin, kanamycin and netilmicin) to which E. coli MREC33 was resistant, showed synergistic effect to inhibit complete bacterial growth. This opens a new possibility to use antibiotics in combination with reduce dosage of nanoparticles to combat MAR bacteria
Allelopathic interferences of Aquatic Plants in the Floodplain Wetlands of West Bengal and their inductive inference on Fish and Harmful Algal Bloom - An Experimental and Statistical Perspective
Full text linkNatural product chemistry has long served as a consistent resource to pharmaceutical
needs. Although to contrary, the need for scientific guidelines and criterions as a
qualitative and qualitative tool to measure its accuracy seems to be deficient.This
explains the fact that even though more than 50% of people around the globe use herbal
formulations as curatives but very few gain acknowledgment. In this study, the natural
products are attempted to be used as aquaculture drugs considering the apparently
related biology of the aquatic ecosystem.The allelopathic interferences of aquatic
macrophytes collected from the floodplain wetlands of West Bengal are used as a
natural warfare against fish diseases. The antimicrobial product screening is inclusive of
fish toxicity markers with antioxidant activity, brine shrimp lethality test, duckweed
toxicity test and most importantly anti-algal assay against harmful algal blooms.Three aquatic macrophytes have been considered for the study, Vallisneria spiralis L.,
Ipomoea aquatica Forssk. and Cyperus rotundus L. The use of banana (Musa
paradisiaca) leaves is an auxiliary addition which was necessary realising its potential
role in maintain and restoring the pH of the water body.
Two bioactive fractions have been isolated from V. spiralis leaf extract, Ethanol 80%
(VsE80) and semi-purified methanol fraction (VsF7). The VsF7 has shown a strong
antioxidant activity with IC50 0.258 mg/ml with antimicrobial activity against Aeromonas species. The GCMS data shows the fraction to be rich in long chain alkenes
and esters of phthalic acid. The VsE80 was more proficient in anti-algal assay
suprresing the Chlorophyll-pigmentation. It also showed antifungal activity against
Malassezia globosa. The m/z of the crystal obtained had molecular mass of 359 and the
FT-IR spectra revealed significant functional groups at fingerprint regions with
sulphoxides (S=O) at 1360cm-1 being one such.Bio-minerals are one of the plant secondary metabolites that are imperative for their
biological communication. Raphides or calcium oxalate (CaC2O4●2H2O) crystals from
the aqueous fraction of Ipomoea aquatica leaves (F2a1a) are abundantly synthesized
bio-minerals in plants which help channelize the excess calcium absorbed. 1.6%
raphide content have been isolated and purified by chromatographic process. The
structural characterization of the crystal by the magnetic resonance and infra-red spectra
further confirmed the presence of raphides.Direct bio-autography followed by agar
well diffusion assay revealed the in-vitro antimicrobial property of the crystals against
fish pathogen Citrobacter freundii with MIC< 50 ppm. The crystal exhibited strong free
radical scavenging activity with AAI 1.38 and IC50 at 0.144 mg/ml. The atomic force
microscopy studies predicted a hydrous inorganic salt displaying average peaks
between 4-5 nm with homogeneity of dispersion.
The Cyperus rotundus contained three bioactive fraction of diverse polarity, CrP
isolated from Petroleum ether fraction, CrCh isolated from chloroform fraction and
CrM isolated from the methanol fraction. The CrP fraction showed strong bactericidal
activity against fish pathogens Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus safensis and Citrobacter
freundii. It showed an ABTS radical scavenging activity at IC50 70.8mg/ml. The
fraction constituted of methyl esters with commercially known antimicrobials like
methyl Linoleate, Methyl Stearate and Eicosanoic Acid methyl ester.The CrM fraction was
the most feasible fraction with least toxicity and with strong antimicrobial property against
Aeromonas. popoffi, A. hydrophila and Edwardsiella tarda. The fraction mainly
consisted of Mycorradicin, Annosquamosin A and Cinnamylcinnamate. They are known
standards of antimicrobial and antioxidant protocols. The fraction has also shown
chlorophyll-a inhibition from 60% to 24%.As for Musa paradisiaca, the ethyl acetate fraction was found to be most bioactive and
holds the bacteriostatic property against Edwarsiella tarda and Streptococcus aureus.
The brine shrimp lethality assay states the LC50 for 6hrs at 0.845μg/ml and that of 1 hr
at 15.005μg/ml which concludes the fraction to be toxic in nature.The in-vivo application of F2a1a and CrM was tested against Aeromonas infected
Pangasius hypophthalmus. Two experimental conditions were studies with plant sample
formulated feed and banana leaf extract in the medium. The prophylaxis set was found
to show significant results than curatives. The infected fish fed with formulated feed
had almost the same histopathology like the uninfected fish samples with only
exception of cytoplasmic vacuoles. The intact triad and the proportionate hepatocytes
of the liver were seen. The kidney tissue samples were marked with prominent and
integrated Bowman’s capsule.Comprehensively, impact study of environmental chemistry on aquaculture point of view has also been made for isolation and molecular identification of bioactive allelocompounds
Evaluation of Motion Stereotype of Bengali (Indian) Population and its Application in Interface Design
Full text linkIntroduction: Motion stereotypes are important factors which should be considered for each population with special care during man-machine interface design. Motion stereotypes are repetitive motion exhibited by users against specific stimulus for operation of a control-display configuration. Stereotypes are basically habituated reflexes that have become involuntary and ‘automatic’ by nature. Colour is something which is quite important in industrial design. It is one of the key factors in product semantics which is the study of symbolic characters of man-made forms in the perspective of their use and the application of this knowledge to the industrial design. Symbolic qualities represents psychological, social and cultural context of a product.Aim and objectives: The main aim of this study was to evaluate the pattern of motion stereotype of Bengali (Indian) population. The objectives of the study were to determine the direction of motion stereotype, stereotype strength, response initiation time (RIT) and index of reversibility (IR) and to find the factors influencing the motion stereotype, viz, gender, handedness, socioeconomic status, place of habitation as well as to promote the application of motion stereotypic principle in designing man-machine interface.Methods: To fulfill the aim of the study some suitable methods had been employed. About 5228 healthy adults (18-60 years) and 500 children (6-9 years) were selected from different
districts of West Bengal state, India on the basis of random sampling. This cross-sectional study was conducted according to the ethical standards of the institute.
To test the motion stereotype of the subjects total eleven sets of control-display units were fabricated which were given bellow in the table:
The subjects were instructed to operate control to get a predefined response (say, increase the values of the display). The direction of motion of control attempted by the subject was recorded. The stereotype was determined by greater percentage of subjects operated a control in a particular direction (say, clockwise / anticlockwise of up / down) for a desired response. The strength of stereotype becomes increased as the percentage of subject responds to a direction is increased. A value of 50% indicated poor stereotype or no clear stereotype.
The colour stereotype of the subjects was tested for four sets of criteria by using a color chart with nine different colours. A digital timer was used for recording response initiation time (RIT) of the subjects. The handedness of the subjects was evaluated by measuring the strength of the
hand. Hand grip dynamometer was used to evaluate the hand strength. The hand with greater strength was regarded as dominant hand. The Socio-economic status of the subjects in this study was determined by Modified B.G. Prasad Scale. The resting and working heart rate of the subjects were measured by a heart rate monitor (Polar S610i).From the resting and working heart rates the cardiovascular stress index (CSI) was determined and the effect of the stress on motion stereotype was assessed. The Job related psychological stress was measured by a standard questionnaire (Srivastava and Singh, 1984) to assess the Occupational Stress Index (OSI) of the subjects. The thermal stress was determined by a highly sensitive digital Thermal Environmental Monitor (3M QUIEST-36). The effects of job related stress and heat stress on motion stereotype was assessed by dividing the subjects into different stress levels.Results and Discussion: From the analysis of the results it was found that mean height, weight and BMI of the adult urban male were significantly (P<0.001) higher than that of the rural male. The mean weight of urban female is found to be significantly (P<0.01) higher than that of the rural female, but in case of mean height and BMI no significant difference was found between rural and urban females. There was significant difference (P<0.01 or less) among adult male and female for height, weight and BMI. The mean weight of the urban male children were significantly (P<0.05) higher than the rural male. The same finding was recorded for female children. There was a tendency of higher mean values between rural and urban females for height, weight and BMI. Same trend was found in rural and urban males also. There was no significant difference between male and female children for height, weight and BMI.
From the results the dominant patterns of motion stereotypes which were found in case of the Bengali (Indian) population were, “Clockwise to increase”, “anticlockwise to decrease”, “clockwise to up”, “anticlockwise to down”, “right to increase”, “left to decrease”, “up to
increase”, “down to decrease”, “right to on”, “left to off”, “down to on” and “up to off”. The present study showed that there was no variation in direction of motion stereotype between adult male and female but the stereotype strength, index of reversibility and mean response initiation time were found to be significantly (P<0.05 or less) different. The adult and children subjects (both male and female) showed significant difference in mean response initiation time and Index of Reversibility (IR) but for the other components of stereotypic responses (like direction of motion stereotype, strength of stereotype) they did not show much differences. The male subjects (both adult and children) in the present study took lesser time to respond to the stimulus than their female counterpart. The adult subjects took lesser time to respond to the stimulus than the children.
The population drawn in the present study showed that a very small percentage (11%) of the population was left handed. It was found that the direction of stereotype was the same in both right and left handed subjects. However, for all other aspects of motion stereotype (stereotype strength, index of reversibility and response initiation time) the left and right handed (both male and female) subjects showed significant variations (P<0.05 or less).
The majority (41.62%) of the subjects of the present study is from lower middle class and only 7.66% subjects are from upper class. From the results it was noted that the direction of stereotype was the same in the subjects of all levels of socioeconomic conditions and there was a significant association between the socioeconomic status (for both sexes) and stereotype strength. The mean response initiation time was also significantly different among the four social classes (for both sexes) and it was noted that the upper class has the shortest response initiation time and the lower middle class has the longest (for both sexes) RIT. The strength of stereotype was also found to be different among all social classes (for both sexes). The poorest compatibility was seen in case of
horizontal rocker switch-electric light display for both sexes and the best compatibility was noted for vertical rocker switch electric light (in case of females) and semicircular display with rotary switch (in case of males).
Results revealed that the higher level of education among male and female were associated with stronger motion stereotype. The response initiation time was significantly faster (P<0.01) among the subjects with higher level of education for both male and female subjects than that of lower level of education.
The present study indicated that red colour was found to be strongly associated with the “hot sensation”, “danger”, “off response” and “stop”. Other than this green colour was found to be strongly preferred by the subjects for “on response”, “safe area” and “go” criterions. The results showed that the percentage of colour preferences for each and every criterion was significantly different (P<0.01 or less) between male and female subjects. In cases of “cold sensation”, “off response”, “safe area” and “caution” no clear cut colour preference or colour stereotype was noted. There was no significant difference between the rural and urban subjects for stereotype strength or colour preference.
From the results it was noted that the strength of stereotype, index of reversibility (IR) and response initiation time of rural and urban subjects (for both sexes) were found to be significantly (P<0.01 or less) different for all the control display unit operation.
The results also suggested that the Y-ZR plane (sagittal) was found to be the most compatible and suitable plane for positioning control in both digital and analog display units for studied population.
The Cardiovascular stress significantly altered the direction of motion stereotype in almost all the control-display units studied. Index of reversibility was also found to be significantly different. Heat stress showed significant (p<0.01 or less) impact on motion stereotype strength IR and RIT in most of the control display combinations but direction of motion stereotype did not changed due to heat stress. Job related psychological stress showed no impact on direction of motion stereotype and strength of motion stereotype but RIT and IR changed significantly (P<0.01) at different levels of job related psychological stress.
The principle of motion stereotype was used to modify a man-machine interface. A modification of conventional gas oven burner was done on the basis of motion stereotype of the subjects which was expected to be more compatible. In the modified gas oven the gas knob function was modified on the basis of four selected criteria (based on response of the subjects) and population stereotype. In the conventional gas oven burner there were some drawbacks from the view pots of motion stereotype. The intensity of gas flow could be reduced by moving the control knob in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions from the vertical position (maximum flow). This was beyond the common principle of motion stereotype – ‘clockwise to decrease’ and ‘anticlockwise increase’. Attempts were taken to modify the conventional gas burner oven to avoid the confusion of the users. In this interface from the “off” position, the knob can be moved anticlockwise to get the desired flow of gas gradually from minimum to maximum flow. The knob cannot be moved further due to the modification. “Anticlockwise to increase the flow” and “clockwise to decrease the flow” principle of motion stereotype were used in this interface. Experimental study was conducted on two groups of subjects- regular users of gas oven and non-users of gas oven. Experimental results suggested that the modified gas oven showed significantly (P<0.01 or less) increased strength of stereotype than that of the conventional gas
oven in most of the given tasks during experiments. The response initiation time also found to be significantly (P<0.01 or less) decreased in case of modified gas oven operation for both groups of subjects. The mean error percentage also found to be decreased in case of modified gas oven operation. So it could be expected that the modified gas oven is more compatible for the users.
Conclusions: In the present study the motion stereotype of the Bengali (Indian) population has been established. From the results it may be concluded that clear-cut direction of motion stereotypes were found in the said population for operation of some common control display units. There was no variation in the direction of stereotype between male and female subjects. However, variations were noted in stereotype strength (SS), response initiation time (RIT) and Index of reversibility (IR). No adult-children variation was noted in motion stereotype strength but variation in IR and response initiation time (RIT) were found. Vertical rocker switch-electric light unit and Digital display-horizontally sliding switch unit were found to be the most compatible analog and digital displays respectively for the studied population. It may be concluded that the observed response of the participants will be helpful for fabricating the control –display for the target population.
An indication of colour stereotype was also noted for Bengali (Indian) population. In cases of “cold sensation”, “off response”, “safe area” and “caution” no clear-cut colour preference or colour stereotype was noted. A significant gender variation in colour preference was noted but no significant rural-urban variation was found in colour stereotype. These finding will also be helpful for rectifying the wrong colour coding of the controls as well as for introducing the proper colour coding for new control-display system where there is no colour coding at all.
In case motion stereotype there was a significant variation in stereotype strength (SS), IR and RIT between left handed and right handed subjects but direction of motion stereotypes were found to be the same in left handed and right handed male and female subjects. Therefore, the interface design would be same for both right and left handed people.
Socioeconomic status and educational status of the subjects also had significant impacts on SS, IR and RIT but the direction of motion stereotypes were found to be the same for all the subjects of both sexes.
Impact of rural-urban variation on the strength of motion stereotype, IR and RIT was noted but direction of motion stereotypes was found to be the same in rural and urban subjects.
It was also concluded from the present investigation that the motion stereotype pattern might be altered under stress condition. Higher level of work related cardiovascular stress changed the direction of motion stereotypes significantly in almost all the control display operations. IR was also found to be changed due to cardiovascular stress. Heat stress caused significant variation in the stereotype strength (SS), RIT and IR. Job related psychological stress, however, had no significant impact on SS but IR and RIT were found to be changed significantly due to variation in job related psychological stress. Therefore, the design of interface should carefully be done where the control display operation is made under stressed condition.
Y-ZR plane (sagittal) was found to be the most compatible and suitable plane for positioning control in both digital and analog display units for studied population. These findings will enable the interface designers to design the control display unit properly.
A modification of a conventional gas burner oven, a commonly used control-display unit, on the basis of the population stereotype was suggested in the present study. The modified gas burner
oven was analyzed and compared with the conventional gas burner oven. It was found that the modified gas burner oven showed more efficiency and human compatibility for operation among the users and it also created less confusion during operation than that of the conventional gas burner oven.
It may be stated that the direction of motion stereotype observed in the studied population may be implemented for common control display units so that errors in the operation can be lessened and productivity can be increased
Management of human resources in Indian tea industry: With special reference to North Bengal region
Full text linkManagement of human resource is one of the most important aspects and has become a deep concern to the management of an organization. The human resource of an organization comprises the entire labour force. The winning of an organization largely depends upon the human resources. Human resources are the most important assets of an organization. Unlike many other resources, such as materials, technology, etc. that can be purchased and sold easily; human resource is a ticklish and sensorial element that needs to be handled with care. Even in this robotic, automation, and internet era, human resource is always a precious and unique resource. It is the people who can get other resources moving. Among all the resources of a typical organization, the major six resources are: Man, Money, Material, Machine, Method and Market (6 M’s). If you have five all major resources except Man, it’s a big question that “who will manage all these?” No organization can produce outputs and render services without proper utilization of Human Resources.In India, the tea plantation industry was materially initiated and shaped by the European entrepreneurs. In 1823, Robert Bruce discovered the indigenous tea plants in Sibsagar of Assam. Shortly after, tea cultivation was introduced in full swing in Assam and in the Northern part of Bengal. Total 276 organized tea estates of North Bengal play monumental role in the economy of this region. The industry provides 2,62,426 employments directly and several millions indirectly. There are seven employers’ associations and 22 trade unions registered under the banners of different political parties. However, in the recent years the overall scenario of tea industry is not satisfactory. Several tea gardens have been closed whereas several others have been lockout. As a consequence, hundreds of people have died due to starvation and malnutrition. These have been studied as the ill effect of the LPG (Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization) policy which was advocated in India in 1991. Indian tea industry has confronted stiff competition in the global market due to lessening of import tariff barrier and withdrawn of the quantity ceiling on import. Thus, to remain competitive in the economy, tea producing companies of the North Bengal have been enforced on sinking the various costs, specially the labour cost. Due to the cost diminution policy, tea producing companies in this province are not in a position to execute their responsibilities viz. health, welfare, safety, working conditions, etc. to the workers in conformity with the Plantation Labour Act (PLA), 1951. Beside these, inappropriate staffing, passive attitudes of planters on providing proper training, abnormality in payment of wages, bonus, gratuity, provident fund, etc. have been enlarged significantly. Further, other non-statutory benefits for workers like fuels, umbrella, slippers, tarpaulin, etc. have been fully eroded. Thus, the study concludes that the labour forces, i.e. human resources are not properly managed in the tea plantation industry of North Bengal. As a result, workers who are engaged with the tea industry for the survival of themselves and their families have been unfavorably affected. As a consequence, workers backed by the trade union, call strike, create stress on the management to execute their demands. Hence, labour conflict has become a usual phenomenon in this region. Finally, all these issues lead to the labour turbulence in the forms of strikes, gheraos, etc. and thus the industry has become vulnerable
Evaluation of Indole-3-carbinol,a phenolic phytomedicine & its nanoformulation in cancer therapy
Full text linkMetal nanoparticles are also under development for anticancer, antimicrobial, self-decontaminating and UV blocking functions and civilian health products. Gold nanoparticles have many applications in biomedical field. Improving delivery of anticancer agents to tumours using nanoparticles is one of the most promising research arenas in the field of nanotechnology. Beside the chemical, physical techniques for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles, biological approach is the most evolving approach of preparation due to easier processing, eco-friendly and less time consuming.On this background the present thesis was aimed to synthesize gold nanoparticles following green synthesis protocol using indole-3-carbinol, phenolic phytomedicine and hydro-chloroauric acid. The biogenic gold nanoparticles (AuNPI3Cs) were characterized by DLS, Zeta potential, UV-vis Spectrophotometer, FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, AFM, NMR study. The particle size was 2-7nm and spherical in nature. The acute and sub-acute toxicity study of AuNPI3Cs was performed in in vitro and in vivo models. Toxicity studies revealed that AuNPI3Cs did not cause acute toxicity and sub-acute toxicity up to 2000μg/kg body wt. for 28 days respectively.AuNPI3Cs were cytotoxic to Jurkat (IC50 -13.5μg ml-1 ), MCF-7 (IC50 11.2 μg ml-1 ), Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) (IC50 - 5μg ml-1) and Dalton’s Ascites Lymphoma (DLA) cells (IC50 -10μg ml-1) and increased intracellular ROS and chromatin condensation, cell cycle arrest, induction of pro-apoptotic proteins and down regulate of anti-apoptotic proteins in the cancer cells. EAC and DLA bearing mice displayed prominent reduction in body weight, tumour volume and increased mean survival time, normalize haematological and biochemical parameters after AuNPI3Cs treatment. Inhibition of Ki-67 and CD-31 proteins confirmed the antiproliferative and antiangiogenic role of AuNI3Cs in tumour bearing mice.The in-vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of AuNPI3Cs were investigated. AuNPI3Cs exhibited enhanced DPPH, nitric oxide, hydroxyl radical,hypochlorous acid, superoxide anion lipid peroxidation and peroxynitrite free radical scavenging activities. Beside this AuNPI3Cs showed significant anti-inflammatory action by stabilizing HRBC membrane and inhibiting protein denaturation activity in in vitro as well as by preventing carrageenan induced paw edema in mice. The overall results suggest that biogenic AuNPI3Cs can be used as a potent anticancer agent in future
