Archives-July 2012

The Fourier transform Raman (FT-Raman) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra for Lamivudine in the solid phase have been recorded in the region 4000–100 and 4000–400 cm ^-1 , respectively, compared with the harmonic vibrational frequencies calculated using density functional theory (DFT) (B3LYP) and Restricted Hartee Fock (RHF) method by employing 6-31G (d,p) basis set with appropriate scale factors. Optimised geometries of the molecule have been interpreted and compared with the reported experimental values. The experimental geometrical parameters show satisfactory agreement with the theoretical prediction from DFT. The scaled vibrational frequencies seem to coincide with the experimentally observed values with acceptable deviations. The theoretical spectrograms (IR and Raman) have been constructed and compared with the experimental FTIR and FT-Raman spectra. The UV spectrum was measured in methanol. In order to gain some insight into the recorded spectrum, the quantum mechanical calculations were performed for Lamivudine using TD DFT with B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) basis set. The optimized molecular geometry, bond orders, harmonic vibrational wavenumbers of Lamivudine were calculated by Restricted Hartree Fock and Density functional B3LYP method with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set using Gaussian 03W program.

In practical problems involving flow past a porous lining, it is necessary to involve directly the thickness of the porous lining to have an increase in the mass flow rate. The peristaltic pumping of a Newtonian fluid in an inclined channel lined with porous material is investigated under long wavelength and low Reynolds number assumptions. The velocity distribution, the volume flow rate, the pressure rise and the frictional force are obtained. The effect of thickness of porous lining on the peristaltic pumping is discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine the behavior of exchange rate movements towards foreign direct investment (FDI). Comparative data analysis is applied through answering developed research questions, which are: “What are different types of exchange rate risks that multi-national corporations face?”; “Is there any impact of exchange rate movement on capital market structure of recipient country?”; “Does decision of pioneer Multi-national Corporation affect rivals’ FDI decision?”; and “What is the impact of exchange rate movement on exchange theories?”. Study found that Multi-National Corporations face two main exposures of exchange rate known as cash flow exposure and accounting exposure; exchange rate movements affect market structure; firms follow the rivals in an oligopoly while making foreign direct investment with product differentiation; and exchange rate variations have longitudinal impact on trade theory and state that investment abroad is alternative to trade when free flow of goods is impeded by tariff or other barriers.

This paper describes the study of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of as-cast and heat treated aluminium 7075/ SiC composites. These composites were subjected to different aging durations. The stir casting technique is used to prepare the castings. Castings were machined in accordance with ASTM standards followed by heat treatment process. All the castings were aged to different periods of 1hr, 3hr, 5hr at an aging temperature of 175 oC. Coefficient of thermal expansion tests were performed in both as-cast and heat treated conditions. In each case the coefficient of thermal expansion values were found to increase with increase in aging durations. Solution heat treatment at 530 oC followed by artificial aging at 175 oC found to increase in dimension change of every specimen tested. The coefficient of thermal expansion curves exhibited some residual strains, which were decreased with the increase in aging durations.

This study aims to observe relationship between leadership behaviors and employee’s innovation; and to analyze the impact of leadership behaviors on employee’s innovation in public and private sector organizations individually and collectively. Two questionnaires were developed, one for employees and one questionnaire for leaders/managers. Sample comprises of randomly selected five hundred managers and five hundred employees of different private and public sector organizations. Percentages, compute variable technique, independent samples T-test, correlation analysis, and regression analyses have been used to analyze data. Results indicate that: firstly, same leadership behaviors are adopted in public sector and private sector organizations but heterogeneity prevails in providing vision leadership behavior and consulting leadership behavior. Secondly, all leadership behaviors are positively interrelated with employee’s innovation. Thirdly, all leadership behaviors have no effect on employee’s innovation based on individual analysis; whereas, only innovative role modeling leadership behavior has significant positive impact on employee’s innovation based on pooled analysis.

Knowledge management can play a vital role in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of businesses. The earnings from utilizing knowledge management has caused that most organizations try to execute this process. In their initial attempts, however, most organizations were faced with a major challenge that despite of investing on knowledge management, the penetration of its usage is too low. The main reason is the lack of an applied model by the organization in order to achieve the aims rapidly. After introducing the concepts of knowledge management, present study studies various models on executing knowledge management provided by various authors. Affecting factors on each model are extracted. Likewise, various introduced processes of knowledge management by authors are studied. By using such factors, we achieved knowledge management execution model in organization.

Stevia is a natural sweetener. The herb can aid in weight loss by reducing appetite and can be used to suppress tobacco and alcohol cravings. Stevia leaf also contains various vitamins and minerals including vitamins A and C, zinc, , magnesium and iron. Stevia leaves contain numerous natural nutrients important to regulating blood sugar, including chromium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, selenium, zinc, and vitamin B3 (Niacin), which the body converts into niacin amide and nicotinic acid. In the present study the nutritive value and shelf life of the products (Flavoured Milk and Custard Pudding) prepared from stevia powder was estimated and analyzed. In has been found that both products have very high nutritive value and self life indicate that they are also stable preparations under normal domestic storage conditions.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite that can infect a wide range of warm-blooded animals including humans. In humans and other intermediate hosts, toxoplasma develops into chronic infection that cannot be eliminated by host’s immune response or by currently used drugs. In most cases, chronic infections are largely asymptomatic unless the host becomes immune compromised. Thus, toxoplasma is a global health problem and the situation has become more precarious due to the advent of HIV infections and poor toleration of drugs used to treat toxoplasma infection, having severe side effects and also resistance have been developed to the current generation of drugs. The emergence of these drug resistant varieties of T. gondii has led to a search for novel drug target. Threonine synthase is one such protein. It is a member of Serine / Threonine protein family which is a very important metabolic enzyme especially in signal transduction mechanisms of a cell. It is an active part of Glycine, Serine, Threonine Metabolism, Vitamin B6 Metabolism pathways. The PDB and Modebase 3D structure of Threonine synthase was not available; therefore homology model of Threonine synthase was constructed using MODELLER and model was validated using PROCHECK and Verify3D programs and SAVS and PROSA server to obtain a stable structure. The model was further explored for the molecular dynamics simulation study with GROMACS. Binding site was characterized by CASTp and PASS. Virtual screening of Threonine synthase was performed, against the NCI diversity subset II molecules (retrieved from ZINC database), through molecular docking studies using Autodock- vina. The Python scripts in MGL tools package were used to analyze the docking results. The top ten ligands were selected based on AutoDock energy score. Further the Complexes were analyzed for their interaction through LIGPLOT. On the basis of Complex scoring and binding ability it is deciphered that these top ten NCI diversity set II compounds could be promising inhibitors for T. gondii using, Threonine synthase as drug target, yet pharmacological studies have to confirm it.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular apicomplexan parasite that can infect a wide range of warm-blooded animals including humans. In humans and other intermediate hosts, toxoplasma develops into chronic infection that cannot be eliminated by host’s immune response or by currently used drugs. The ability of the parasite to convert to the bradyzoite stage and live inside slow-growing cysts that can go unnoticed by the host immune system allows for parasite persistence for the life of the infected host. Little is known, however, about how bradyzoites manipulate their host cell. Large scale microarray experiments are becoming increasingly routine, particularly those which track a number of different cell lines through time. This time course information provides valuable insight into dynamics of various biological processes. The proper statistical analysis, however, requires the use of more sophisticated tools and complex statistical models. In the current study, the open-source R programming environment in conjunction with the open-source Bioconductor software were used to analyze microarray data of T. gondii. Several statistical analysis procedures like (log) fold changes in conjunction with ordinary and moderated t-statistics have been used for determining differentially expressed genes. The differentially expressed genes were subjected to cluster analysis followed by the annotation of the up and down regulated genes based on the gene ontology. The findings in this study suggests the overall effect of the gene expression changes is to modulate the key metabolic pathways leading to compromised host immune response, enhancement in programmed cell death, depression in cell proliferation process and induction of various diseases

This paper presents a novel method of allocation of capacitor size for a distribution feeder with uncertain load. The interval mathematics is used to perform the power flow solution of radial distribution system. The simulation results have been obtained using the INTLAB Toolbox in MATLAB environment. The standard 15-bus, 10-bus and the 33-bus radial distribution systems which are used by the researchers have been analyzed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The developed program gives the range of the capacitor ratings in kVAr which could be selected for compensation, corresponding to the min and max limits of the voltages at each bus. For a range of values of capacitor ratings, which when installed at a particular bus results in the range of reduction in cost of capacitor and energy loss reduction. This information is very useful for a distribution system planner.