Characterization of laccase from Streptomyces psammoticus: an enzyme for eco-friendly treatment of environmental pollutants

The present study has identified an actinomycete culture (S. psammoticus) which was capable of producing all the three major ligninolytic enzymes. The study revealed that least explored mangrove regions are potential sources for the isolation of actinomycetes with novel characteristics. The laccase production by the strain in SmF and SSF was found to be much higher than the reported values. The growth of the organism was favoured by alkaline pH and salinity of the medium. The enzyme also exhibited novel characteristics such as activity and stability at alkaline pH and salt tolerance. These two characters are quite significant from the industrial point of view making the enzyme an ideal candidate for industrial applications. Many of the application studies to date are focused on enzymes from fungal sources. However, the fungal laccases, which are mostly acidic in nature, could not be used universally for all application purposes especially, for the treatment of effluents from different industries, largely due to the alkaline nature of the effluents. Under such situations the enzymes from organisms like S. psammoticus with wide pH range could play a better role than the fungal counterparts. In the present study, the ability of the isolated strain and laccase in the degradation of dyes and phenolic compounds was successfully proved. The reusability of the immobilized enzyme system made the entire treatment process inexpensive. Thus it can be concluded from the present study that the laccase from this organism could be hopefully employed for the eco-friendly treatment of dye or phenol containing industrial effluents from various sources.

Efficacy of Cluster- Based Approach for the revival of Handloom Co-operative Societies in Kerala- with special reference to Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur Districts

one of the key sectors, identified by the Department of Industries Government of Kerala, for the cluster development initiative is Handloom, which gives employment to over over 50,000 people directly. Despite its age old tradition and fame, the performance of the sector vis-à-vis power looms is not very rosy owing to (i) competition from cheap power loom cloth from other states (ii) scarcity of quality yarn (iii) price escalation of yarn, dyes, chemicals and other raw materials (iv) the shrinking market for handlooms in Kerala (v) non-demand based production and inadequacy of new designs and (vi) inefficiencies in the system, particularly in the co-operative sector. Cluster based approach is adopted in the handloom sector with the objective of providing necessary support mechanism to come out of the crisis that the sector faces now. While four cluster schemes are being implemented in Kerala, it is under IHDS-CDP that the State got a sizeable number of clusters benefiting a large number of societies and weavers- 24 handloom clusters, bringing 152 handloom co-operative societies and over 19,800 handloom workers under the Programme. This research attempts to revisit the underlying rationale and context of the new direction and would attempt to broadly analyze the growth trends under the influence of cluster model adopted by the State IHDS-CDP for the revival of handloom sector through a detailed study of the handloom co-operative societies in Kerala. If handloom sector in Kerala can be revived using cluster based approach, it can be easily concluded that cluster is capable of taking the MSME in Kerala to a ‘high growth path.’ The study is aimed at understanding how best clusters emerge as appropriate industrial organization suitable for the current global structure of manufacture

Developing a Child Friendly Text-to-Speech System

This paper discusses the implementation details of a child friendly, good quality, English text-to-speech (TTS) system that is phoneme-based, concatenative, easy to set up and use with little memory. Direct waveform concatenation and linear prediction coding (LPC) are used. Most existing TTS systems are unit-selection based, which use standard speech databases available in neutral adult voices.Here reduced memory is achieved by the concatenation of phonemes and by replacing phonetic wave files with their LPC coefficients. Linguistic analysis was used to reduce the algorithmic complexity instead of signal processing techniques. Sufficient degree of customization and generalization catering to the needs of the child user had been included through the provision for vocabulary and voice selection to suit the requisites of the child. Prosody had also been incorporated. This inexpensive TTS systemwas implemented inMATLAB, with the synthesis presented by means of a graphical user interface (GUI), thus making it child friendly. This can be used not only as an interesting language learning aid for the normal child but it also serves as a speech aid to the vocally disabled child. The quality of the synthesized speech was evaluated using the mean opinion score (MOS).

A socio friendly approach to the analysis of emotive speech

This paper describes certain findings of intonation and intensity study of emotive speech with the minimal use of signal processing algorithms. This study was based on six basic emotions and the neutral, elicited from 1660 English utterances obtained from the speech recordings of six Indian women. The correctness of the emotional content was verified through perceptual listening tests. Marked similarity was noted among pitch contours of like-worded, positive valence emotions, though no such similarity was observed among the four negative valence emotional expressions. The intensity patterns were also studied. The results of the study were validated using arbitrary television recordings for four emotions. The findings are useful to technical researchers, social psychologists and to the common man interested in the dynamics of vocal expression of emotions

Offline Emergence Engineering For Agent Societies

Many examples for emergent behaviors may be observed in self-organizing physical and biological systems which prove to be robust, stable, and adaptable. Such behaviors are often based on very simple mechanisms and rules, but artificially creating them is a challenging task which does not comply with traditional software engineering. In this article, we propose a hybrid approach by combining strategies from Genetic Programming and agent software engineering, and demonstrate that this approach effectively yields an emergent design for given problems.

Political Education in Plural Societies: Using the Anti-Bias Approach to Challenge Oppression in Bombay and Berlin

This study addresses the effectivity of the Anti-Bias approach and training methodology as a pedagogical political strategy to challenge oppression among student groups in the cities of Bombay and Berlin. The Anti-Bias trainings conducted within the framework of this study also become the medium through which the perpetuation of oppressive structures by students within and outside the school is investigated. Empirical data from predominantly qualitative investigations in four secondary schools, two each in Bombay and Berlin, is studied and analysed on the basis of theoretical understandings of prejudice, discrimination and identity. This study builds on insights offered by previous research on prejudices and evaluations of anti-bias and diversity interventions, where the lack of sufficient research and thorough evaluations testing impact has been identified (Levy Paluck, 2006). The theoretical framework suggests that prejudices and discriminatory practices are learnt and performed by individuals over the years by way of pre-existing discourses, and that behaviour and practices can be unlearnt through a multi-step process. It proposes that the discursive practices of students contribute to the constitution of their viable selves and in the constitution of ‘others’. Drawing on this framework, the study demonstrates how student-subjects in Bombay and Berlin perpetuate oppressive discourses by performing their identities and performing identities onto ‘others’. Such performative constitution opens up the agency of the individual, disclosing the shifting and dynamic nature of identities. The Anti-Bias approach is posited as an alternative to oppressive discourses and a vehicle that encourages and assists the agency of individuals. The theoretical framework, which brings together a psychological approach to prejudice, a structural approach to discrimination and a poststructural approach to identity, facilitates the analysis of the perpetuation of dominant discourses by the students, as well as how they negotiate their way through familiar norms and discourses. Group discussions and interviews a year after the respective trainings serve to evaluate the agency of the students and the extent to which the training impacted on their perceptions, attitudes and behavioural practices. The study reveals the recurrence of the themes race, religion, gender and sexuality in the representational practices of the students groups in Berlin and Bombay. It demonstrates how students in this study not only perform, but also negotiate and resist oppressive structures. Of particular importance is the role of the school: When schools offer no spaces for discussion, debate and action on contemporary social issues, learning can neither be put into practice nor take on a positive, transformative form. In such cases, agency and resistance is limited and interventionist actions yield little. This study reports the potential of the Anti-Bias approach and training as a tool of political education and action in education. It demonstrates that a single training can initiate change but sustaining change requires long-term strategies and on-going actions. Taking a poststructural perspective, it makes concrete suggestions to adapt and alter the Anti-Bias approach and the implementation of Anti-Bias trainings.

Contribuyendo al reto de la sostenibilidad: el sistema producto- servicio en la industria de la moda rápida

El presente proyecto de grado se inscribe bajo el proyecto de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial de la línea de investigación de Realidad Empresarial de la Facultad de Administración de la Universidad del Rosario. El problema de investigación surge de dos problemas actuales, que convergen en la insostenibilidad a largo y mediano plazo de la manera en que se hacen la mayoría de los negocios hoy en día. El primer problema, es el de suficiencia, se evidencia desde el punto de vista del consumidor, el cual pareciera estar diseñado para comprar y acumular objetos y cosas que luego de un tiempo irán a parar a la basura. El segundo problema es el modelo de negocio que extrae recursos, los transforma, los comercializa de manera repetitiva y obliga al cliente a seguir comprando, olvidando que la mayoría de cosas que produce, terminan en el basurero. La deficiencia actual del consumismo insostenible y del diseño que no piensa en las generaciones futuras son dos caras de la misma moneda. Por eso es que se estudia el problema desde la perspectiva tanto del consumidor, como del productor. Las tendencias internacionales relacionadas con la sostenibilidad están llevando a los negocios por una nueva senda, la cual les dará ventajas competitivas a los adoptadores tempranos. A raíz de los problemas planteados y con el objetivo de encontrar la sostenibilidad empresarial, se estudia una posible solución para cada actor del problema. Por el lado del consumidor, se analiza la teoría que gira alrededor del consumo responsable y de cómo los consumidores tienen el poder de causar un efecto positivo con lo que mejor saben hacer: comprando (y eligiendo que comprar). Por el lado del productor se estudia un nuevo modelo de negocios llamado el sistema producto-servicio, el cual se enfoca a satisfacer necesidades de los clientes por medio de una combinación de prestación de servicios y facilitación de productos, en vez de la comercialización de estos. Es decir que en vez de vender cosas que los consumidores quieran acumular (problema de suficiencia), se les vende soluciones que satisfagan sus necesidades, reteniendo la compañía la propiedad sobre los productos que integran al servicio. Se estudia también de que maneras este modelo particular de sistemas producto-servicio puede ser recibido por los consumidores de hoy en día, tan acostumbrados al modelo actual. Se quiere explorar el sistema de productos y servicio como una alternativa empresarial perdurable que solucione los retos ambientales del siglo XXI. Para poder probar la viabilidad de este hipotético modelo que cambia los patrones de interacción de las empresas con los usuarios, se plantea una idea de negocio que integre productos y servicios para satisfacer las necesidades del cliente. Se escogió un área viii caracterizada por ser de las más consumistas y acumuladoras en cuanto al volumen de compras anual de los clientes: el negocio de la ropa. Y no solo cualquier tipo de ropa, sino el de la moda rápida, un modelo que obliga a los consumidores a comprar ropa con una frecuencia aún mayor. Se hizo esto con el objetivo de probar que el modelo propuesto puede funcionar inclusive bajo los supuestos más “consumistas” que existen hoy en día.

Friendly Settlements in the Framework of the Inter- American Human Rights System

The Inter-American system for the protection of human rights provides that disputesbetween States and victims of human rights violations or their representatives can beresolved through a friendly settlement. In this arrangement, conducted before the regionalorgans of protection of human rights, the State accepts its international responsibility,commits itself to investigate and judge the responsible and makes commitmentson compensation to the offended, the victims, on his part, renounce to take the caseto the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Commissionmonitors the legal consistency of the agreement and holds the role of independentobserver. What are these agreements, what possibilities and limitations provide to theopposing parties and, above all, what kind of reparation offer to victims of humanrights violations are issues to resolve in this article.

El World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) : equilibrios, misiones y prospectivos.

Resumen tomado del autor. Resumen del autor también en inglés. Monográfico titulado: La REEC cumple 10 años. La Educación Comparada entre los siglos (1995-2005)

At the centre of the Bologna process : do European universities train their students to face knowledge based societies?. 'En el centro del proceso de Bolonia: ¿entrenan las universidades europeas a sus estudiantes para enfrentarse a sociedades basadas en el conocimiento?'.

Resumen tomado de la publicación. Monográfico con el título: El proceso de Bolonia : dinámicas y desafíos de la enseñanza superior en Europa a comienzos de una nueva época

Societies in change : Y8.

Pertenece este texto al Schools History Project creado en 1972 para mejorar el estudio de la historia entre estudiantes de trece a dieciseis años. Reconsidera las formas en que la historia contribuye a las necesidades educativas de los jóvenes, y por ello idea nuevos objetivos, nuevos criterios para la planificación y desarrollo del curso, así como de sus materiales de apoyo. Requiere nuevos criterios de evaluación y, por tanto nuevos exámenes y, adquirió mayor expansión con la introducción del General Certificate of Secondary Education en 1987.

Societies in change. Teacher's resource book.

Cumple con los requisitos del currículo nacional inglés para la etapa de 3 de secundaria (key stage 3). Este recurso proporciona al profesor distinto tipo de material didáctico sobre estrategias de enseñanza, organización del curso, formas de evaluación y, orientación sobre actividades y preguntas basadas en el libro del alumno. Este texto esta preparado para el Schools History Project creado en 1972 para mejorar el estudio de la historia entre estudiantes de trece a dieciséis años. Reconsidera las formas en que la historia contribuye a las necesidades educativas de los jóvenes, y por ello idea nuevos objetivos, nuevos criterios para la planificación y desarrollo del curso, así como de sus materiales de apoyo. Requiere nuevos criterios de evaluación y, por tanto nuevos exámenes y, adquirió mayor expansión con la introducción del General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) en 1987.

Environmental systems and societies.

Este recurso se adapta a los contenidos y enfoques específicos del International Baccalaureate (IB) y proporciona a los alumnos los conocimientos científicos y las herramientas necesarias para garantizar la comprensión y el aprendizaje del tema, y el desarrollo de argumentos y comentarios críticos sobre los grandes problemas ambientales a los que se enfrentan los seres humanos, las otras especies y el mundo en que vivimos. También, para permitir a los estudiantes afrontar decisiones importantes sobre los desafíos planteados.