872 research outputs found
Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sample
No full textThe probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing lactic acid bacterium, Lactobacillus fermentum MTCC 8711 were evaluated. The strain was resistant to the acidic environment with the pH of 3.5 and more than 100% survivability of the cells was observed after 4 h. Similarly, 85% survivability was observed in the presence of 0.3% (w/v) bile salts. The strain exhibited β- galactosidase activity by blue colored colony formation in the MRS agar plates with X-gal and IPTG. Further, it was found to be a medium acidifier with a DpH value of 0.96 after 5 h of growth. The strain was also able to reduce the cholesterol up to 50% in the presence of cholesterol and bile salts. Since the strain possesses the basic properties of the probiotics and produces riboflavin, it could be considered as a better starter culture in the fermented food industry. Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sampleS. Jayashree*, K. Jayaraman and G. KalaichelvanSchool of Biosciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore-632 014, Tamil Nadu, India*Corresponding Author, Email: [email protected]; Phone- 91-416-220- 2901; Fax- 91-416-224-3092Cite This Article as: S. Jayashree, K. Jayaraman and G. Kalaichelvan. 2010. Probiotic properties of the riboflavin producing Lactobacillus fermentum strain isolated from yoghurt sample. J. Ecobiotechnol. 2(2): 11-16.ÂÂ
Suppression of Brake Noise and Vibration Using Aramid and Zylon Fibers: Experimental and Numerical Study
No full text[Image: see text] Aramid pulp/fiber is the most vital ingredient of brake friction material (FM) formulation. It is perpetually added to achieve quality brake pads/shoes and improve the overall friction and wear performance. Additionally, novel Zylon fibers have a superior property to aramid fibers. However, no studies give insights on their influence on brake noise and vibration (NV) performance. In the current work, a series of six different types of eco-friendly brake pads was developed. The first five contain aramid pulp, aramid short fibers, and Zylon fibers of different sizes (1, 3, and 6 mm) as the theme ingredients (3 wt %) by keeping the parent composition identical. Additionally, one more pad was developed that contains no aramid/Zylon fibers (i.e., reference pad). The pads were characterized for physical and mechanical properties. The damping and natural frequencies of pads were measured experimentally and numerically. All brake pads were evaluated for detailed NV performance by following the SAE J 2521 test schedule. In addition, numerical simulation was performed to validate the experimental brake squeal results. Results revealed that aramid/Zylon fiber-based pads improved the porosity, damping, and compressibility. Overall, brake noise and vibrations were improved for aramid/Zylon fiber-based pads by 1.2–1.5 dBA and 20–25%, respectively, compared to the reference pad. The complex eigenvalue analysis (CEA) proved that squeal was mainly influenced by the damping and density of the pad materials. Thus, aramid/Zylon fiber-based pads can effectively suppress the instability of the brake system and reduce the brake squeal propensity
MIRACLE at ImageCLEFanot 2007: Machine Learning Experiments on Medical Image Annotation
No full textThis paper describes the participation of MIRACLE research consortium at the ImageCLEF Medical Image Annotation task of ImageCLEF 2007. Our areas of expertise do not include image analysis, thus we approach this task as a machine-learning problem, regardless of the domain. FIRE is used as a black-box algorithm to extract different groups of image features that are later used for training different classifiers based on kNN algorithm in order to predict the IRMA code. The main idea behind the definition of our experiments is to evaluate whether an axis-by-axis prediction is better than a prediction by pairs of axes or the complete code, or vice versa
Uncovering and recovering the popular romance novel
No full textUniversity of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. December 2008. Major: English. Advisor: Dr. Timothy Brennan. 1 computer file (PDF); v, 373 pages, appendix.Popular romance novels are a twentieth- and twenty-first century literary form defined by a material association with pulp publishing, a conceptual one with courtship narrative, and a brand association with particular author-publisher combinations. The theme of romantic love in romance novels forms the basis of a drama involving the extra-private worlds of the protagonists (financial, civic, and familial). The framework of the romantic relationship allows the genre to study the challenges these spheres face over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. A comprehensive look at the genre's history and diversity, as well as its reception in different readership communities, undergirds this analysis of three tropes involving the romance hero--capitalist, soldier, and heterosexual. The analysis proves the genre's struggle with an economic, political, and social ideology that has gathered force over the last hundred years. Though popular as well as academic critiques of the genre disparage its formulaic sexual content or its attachment to the ideology of middle class morality, its very nature as "commodity literature" helps challenge conservative thought on capitalism, national defense strategies, and sexual orientation.
The dissertation also considers the impact of the dust jackets and paperback covers of romance novels on non-romance readers. A survey of this material history suggests that it has contributed to derogatory opinions on the genre; in particular, the genre has been indicted because of the "bodice-ripper" covers that adorn many romance novels rather than for the actual content. A look at reader and author discussions on the genre, alongside textual analysis of selected works, proves that romance fiction is not fixated on a clichéd plot and descriptions of sexual intercourse; it involves complex themes that are disguised as stereotypical genre elements. Readers' online debates demonstrate how this romance "formula," albeit a function of the genre's commodification, engages them in addressing quandaries related to societal preoccupations. The concluding study of romance reading in India further supports the possibility of multiple, even liberating, readings that can empower romance readers.Kamble, Jayashree. (2008). Uncovering and recovering the popular romance novel. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/47092
MIRACLE at ImageCLEFannot 2008: Classification of Image Features for Medical Image Annotation
No full textThis paper describes the participation of MIRACLE research consortium at the ImageCLEF Medical Image Annotation task of ImageCLEF 2008. A lot of effort was invested this year to develop our own image analysis system, based on MATLAB, to be used in our experiments. This system extracts a variety of global and local features including histogram, image statistics, Gabor features, fractal dimension, DCT and DWT coefficients, Tamura features and coocurrency matrix statistics. Then a k-Nearest Neighbour algorithm analyzes the extracted image feature vectors to determine the IRMA code associated to a given image. The focus of our experiments is mainly to test and evaluate this system in-depth and to make a comparison among diverse configuration parameters such as number of images for the relevance feedback to use in the classification module
Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics- Open Access www.omicsonline.com Research Article JPB/Vol.1/November 2008 Correlation between the Sucrose Synthase Protein Subfamilies, Variations in Structure and Expression in Stress-derived
No full textCopyright: © 2008 Jayashree B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Sucrose synthase is a key regulatory protein, and a potential biomarker for abiotic stress response in plants. These metabolic enzymes have been extensively examined for their varied functional roles. The upregulation of this P i- and adenylate-independent glycolytic enzyme in different environmental contexts has also been extensively characterized. Here we present an analysis of the evolutionary features of sucrose synthases in an effort to correlate variations in sequence to the structure and function of this protein and its potential implication for the stress response mechanism in plants as evidenced from transcript distribution studies. An analysis of the evolutionary characteristics of this enzyme is useful given the role of this protein in sugar sensing, sugar import to sink tissues and plant development. Based on the secondary structural features of sucrose synthases and mapping of sequence variations in the context of the fold of these proteins, we note evolutionarily conserved amino acids of potential functional significance. In addition, we also observe the presence of target peptides i
Commercialization of Traditional Knowledge Based Technologies by Small Entrepreneurs: An Exploration of Strategic and Policy Options
No full textThe paper is based on the case study of an entrepreneur who has invested his career in developing a new product based on traditional knowledge. Using this case we highlight the issues faced by a small entrepreneur in the commercialization of traditional knowledge based technologies in pharmaceuticals industry. The framework developed by Teece is used to analyze the strategic options available to the entrepreneur in a weak appropriability regime. We also analyze a hypothetical scenario of strategic options available to the entrepreneur if the appropriability regime was strong. Since traditional knowledge based entrepreneurial activities have significant scope in India, it is important to explore the policy and strategic options that are available to us. In the context of the case study, the concluding part of the paper reviews these options and the associated implications for the holders of traditional knowledge.
A precompiler for enchanced program testing
No full textProgram testing has been, and will continue to be, the primary means of demonstrating the correctness of computer programs. This thesis presents a precompiler which has been designed and implemented to process FORTRAN programs so that the program testing process will be facilitated in two ways. First, software instruments are inserted into the program so that test thoroughness can be measured during subsequent testing of the processed program. Second, software instruments of another type are inserted into the program to perform data flow analysis during test execution; this makes it possible to expose errors (data flow anomalies) in the usage patterns of variables.Computer Science, Department o
BARC: A Battery Aware Reliable Clustering algorithm for sensor networks
No full textClustering in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) provides scalability and robustness for the network; it allows spatial reuse of the bandwidth, simpler routing decisions, and results in decreased energy dissipation of the whole system by minimizing the number of nodes that take part in long distance communication. Clustering allows for data aggregation which reduces congestion and energy consumption. Recent study in battery technology reveals that batteries tend to discharge more power than needed and reimburse the over-discharged power if they are recovered. In this paper, we first provide an online mathematical battery model suitable for implementation in sensor networks. Using our battery model, we propose a new Battery Aware Reliable Clustering (BARC) algorithm for WSNs. BARC incorporates many features which are missing in many other clustering algorithms. It rotates cluster heads (CHs) according to a battery recovery scheme and it also incorporates a trust factor for selecting cluster heads thus increasing reliability. Most importantly, our proposed algorithm relaxes many of the rigid assumptions that the other algorithms impose such as the ability of the cluster head to communicate directly with the base station and having a fixed communication radius for intra-cluster communication. BARC uses Z-MAC which has several advantages over other MAC protocols. Simulation results show that using BARC prolongs the network lifetime greatly in comparison to other clustering techniques. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Akyildiz IF, 2002, COMPUT NETW, V38, P393, DOI 10.1016-S1389-1286(01)00302-4; Bandyonpadhyay S., 2003, P IEEE INFOCOM 2003, P1713; Bandyopadhyay S, 2003, IEEE INFOCOM SER, P1713; Banerjee S., 2001, P IEEE INFOCOM APR; CERPA A, 2002, P IEEE INFOCOM NEW Y; Chatterjee M., 2002, Cluster Computing, V5, DOI 10.1023-A:1013941929408; Chiasserini CF, 2001, IEEE J SEL AREA COMM, V19, P1385, DOI 10.1109-49.932705; Chiasserini CF, 2001, IEEE J SEL AREA COMM, V19, P1235, DOI 10.1109-49.932692; Commuri S, 2006, INT J DISTRIB SENS N, V2, P333, DOI 10.1080-15501320600719151; GERLA M, 2000, P WCNC; GHOSH T, 2004, 29 ANN IEEE INT C NO, P224, DOI 10.1109-LCN.2004.36; Heinzelman WB, 2002, IEEE T WIREL COMMUN, V1, P660, DOI 10.1109-TWC.2002.804190; JAYASHREE L, 2006, IFIP INT C WIR OPT C, P7; Maihofer C, 2004, IEEE COMMUN SURV TUT, V6, P32, DOI 10.1109-COMST.2004.5342238; MHATRE V, 2003, DESIGN GUIDELINES WI, P45; Panigrahi D., 2001, P 14 INT C VLSI DES, P57; Rakhmatov D., 2003, ACM T EMBED COMPUT S, V2, P277, DOI 10.1145-860176.860179; Rakhmatov D., 2001, P 2001 IEEE ACM INT, P488; Rhee I., 2005, P 3 INT C EMB NETW S, P90, DOI 10.1145-1098918.1098929; Rao R, 2003, COMPUTER, V36, P77, DOI 10.1109-MC.2003.1250886; Watfa M., 2006, J NETWORKS JNW, V1, P10; Watfa M. K., 2007, International Journal of Sensor Networks, V2; WEN CY, 2005, EURASIP J WIREL COMM, P686; Yi S, 2007, COMPUT COMMUN, V30, P2842, DOI 10.1016-j.comcom.2007.05.034; Younis O, 2004, IEEE T MOBILE COMPUT, V3, P366, DOI 10.1109-TMC.2004.41128
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