Value orientation of professional students in kerala

The present study is on value orientation of professional students•and as such the theoretical value is inherent and implied. Variation on this value is likely to be limited among the subjects. The relevance of the present study is with particular reference, to management as a profession. In organisational settings motivation plays an important role. According to McClelland's theory of needs, achievement, power, and affiliation are the three important needs that help in understanding motivation. Achieve~ent need may be defined as the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed. Some people have a compelling drive to succeed. They have a desire to do something better or more efficiently than it has been done before. McClelland found that high achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire to do things . better. Considering this fact, 'achievement' is included as one of the values for the study

Predicted impact of the sea-level rise at VellareColeroon estuarine region of Tamil Nadu coast in India: Mainstreaming adaptation as a coastal zone management option

Low-lying coastal areas are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as they are highly prone for inundation to SLR (Sea-Level Rise). This study presents an appraisal of the impacts of SLR on the coastal natural resources and its dependent social communities in the low-lying area of VellareColeroon estuarine region of the Tamil Nadu coast, India. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from SRTM 90M (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) data, along with GIS (Geographic Information System) techniques are used to identify an area of inundation in the study site. The vulnerability of coastal areas in Vellar-Coleroon estuarine region of Tamil Nadu coast to inundation was calculated based on the projected SLR scenarios of 0.5 m and 1 m. The results demonstrated that about 1570 ha of the LULC (Land use and Land cover) of the study area would be permanently inundated to 0.5 m and 2407 ha for 1 m SLR and has also resulted in the loss of three major coastal natural resources like coastal agriculture, mangroves and aquaculture. It has been identified that six hamlets of the social communities who depend on these resources are at high-risk and vulnerable to 0.5 m SLR and 12 hamlets for 1 m SLR. From the study, it has been emphasized that mainstreaming adaptation options to SLR should be embedded within a coastal zone management and planning effort, which includes all coastal natural resources (ecosystem-based adaptation), and its dependent social communities (community-based adaptation) involved through capacity building

Attribute reduction and missing value imputing with ANN: prediction of learning disabilities

Learning disability (LD) is a neurological condition that affects a child’s brain and impairs his ability to carry out one or many specific tasks. LD affects about 10% of children enrolled in schools. There is no cure for learning disabilities and they are lifelong. The problems of children with specific learning disabilities have been a cause of concern to parents and teachers for some time. Just as there are many different types of LDs, there are a variety of tests that may be done to pinpoint the problem The information gained from an evaluation is crucial for finding out how the parents and the school authorities can provide the best possible learning environment for child. This paper proposes a new approach in artificial neural network (ANN) for identifying LD in children at early stages so as to solve the problems faced by them and to get the benefits to the students, their parents and school authorities. In this study, we propose a closest fit algorithm data preprocessing with ANN classification to handle missing attribute values. This algorithm imputes the missing values in the preprocessing stage. Ignoring of missing attribute values is a common trend in all classifying algorithms. But, in this paper, we use an algorithm in a systematic approach for classification, which gives a satisfactory result in the prediction of LD. It acts as a tool for predicting the LD accurately, and good information of the child is made available to the concerned

Flexure-shear Analysis of Concrete Beam Reinforced with GFRP bars

This paper gives the details of flexure-shear analysis of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP rebars. The influence of vertical reinforcement ratio, longitudinal reinforcement ratio and compressive strength of concrete on shear strength of GFRP reinforced concrete beam is studied. The critical value of shear span to depth ratio (a/d) at which the mode of failure changes from flexure to shear is studied. The fail-ure load of the beam is predicted for various values of a/d ratio. The prediction show that the longitudinally FRP reinforced concrete beams having no stirrups fail in shear for a/d ratio less than 9.0. It is expected that the predicted data is useful for structural engineers to design the FRP reinforced concrete members.

Impact of Product Quality, Service Quality and Contextual Experience on Customer Perceived Value and Future Buying Intentions

Recognizing that high satisfaction leads to high customer loyalty, companies today are aiming for total customer satisfaction. This article explains relative impact of product quality, service quality and contextual experience on customer perceived value and intention to shop in the future. The data has been collected using a questionnaire from 205 customers of a national retailer chain. The relative importance of product quality, service quality and contextual experience on customer perceived value and thus on customer preference and future intentions was measured using multiple regression. Also, the contribution of perceived value to preference and thus on future buying intention was also measured. Structural Equation Model (SEM) using Amos 4 was used to find the overall fitness of the model. It was found that product quality, service quality and contextual experience have a major influence on customer perceived value

Characterization and Pathogenicity of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio vulnificus from Marine environments

The genus Vibrioof the family Vibrionaceae are Gram negative, oxidasepositive, rod- or curved- rodshaped facultative anaerobes, widespread in marine and estuarine environments. Vibrio species are opportunistic human pathogens responsible for diarrhoeal disease, gastroenteritis, septicaemia and wound infections and are also pathogens of aquatic organisms, causing infections to crustaceans, bivalves and fishes. In the present study, marine environmental samples like seafood and water and sediment samples from aquafarms and mangroves were screened for the presence of Vibrio species. Of the134 isolates obtained from the various samples, 45 were segregated to the genus Vibrio on the basis of phenotypic characterization.like Gram staining, oxidase test, MoF test and salinity tolerance. Partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis was utilized for species level identification of the isolates and the strains were identified as V. cholerae(N=21), V. vulnificus(N=18), V. parahaemolyticus(N=3), V. alginolyticus (N=2) and V. azureus (N=1). The genetic relatedness and variations among the 45 Vibrio isolates were elucidated based on 16S rDNA sequences. Phenotypic characterization of the isolates was based on their response to 12 biochemical tests namely Voges-Proskauers’s (VP test), arginine dihydrolase , tolerance to 3% NaCl test, ONPG test that detects β-galactosidase activity, and tests for utilization of citrate, ornithine, mannitol, arabinose, sucrose, glucose, salicin and cellobiose. The isolates exhibited diverse biochemical patterns, some specific for the species and others indicative of their environmental source.Antibiogram for the isolates was determined subsequent to testing their susceptibility to 12 antibiotics by the disc diffusion method. Varying degrees of resistance to gentamycin (2.22%), ampicillin(62.22%), nalidixic acid (4.44%), vancomycin (86.66), cefixime (17.77%), rifampicin (20%), tetracycline (42.22%) and chloramphenicol (2.22%) was exhibited. All the isolates were susceptible to streptomycin, co-trimoxazole, trimethoprim and azithromycin. Isolates from all the three marine environments exhibited multiple antibiotic resistance, with high MAR index value. The molecular typing methods such as ERIC PCR and BOX PCR revealed intraspecies relatedness and genetic heterogeneity within the environmental isolatesof V. cholerae and V. vulnificus. The 21 strains of V. choleraewere serogroupedas non O1/ non O139 by screening for the presence O1rfb and O139 rfb marker genes by PCR. The virulence/virulence associated genes namely ctxA, ctxB, ace, VPI, hlyA, ompU, rtxA, toxR, zot, nagst, tcpA, nin and nanwere screened in V. cholerae and V. vulnificusstrains.The V. vulnificusstrains were also screened for three species specific genes viz., cps, vvhand viu. In V. cholerae strains, the virulence associated genes like VPI, hlyA, rtxA, ompU and toxR were confirmed by PCR. All the isolates, except for strain BTOS6, harbored at least one or a combination of the tested genes and V. choleraestrain BTPR5 isolated from prawn hosted the highest number of virulence associated genes. Among the V. vulnificusstrains, only 3 virulence genes, VPI, toxR and cps, were confirmed out of the 16 tested and only 7 of the isolates had these genes in one or more combinations. Strain BTPS6 from aquafarm and strain BTVE4 from mangrove samples yielded positive amplification for the three genes. The toxRgene from 9 strains of V. choleraeand 3 strains of V. vulnificus were cloned and sequenced for phylogenetic analysis based on nucleotide and the amino acid sequences. Multiple sequence alignment of the nucleotide sequences and amino acid sequences of the environmental strains of V. choleraerevealed that the toxRgene in the environmental strains are 100% homologous to themselves and to the V. choleraetoxR gene sequence available in the Genbank database. The 3 strains of V. vulnificus displayed high nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarity among themselves and to the sequences of V. cholerae and V. harveyi obtained from the GenBank database, but exhibited only 72% homology to the sequences of its close relative V. vulnificus. Structure prediction of the ToxR protein of Vibrio cholerae strain BTMA5 was by PHYRE2 software. The deduced amino acid sequence showed maximum resemblance with the structure of DNA-binding domain of response regulator2 from Escherichia coli k-12 Template based homology modelling in PHYRE2 successfully modelled the predicted protein and its secondary structure based on protein data bank (PDB) template c3zq7A. The pathogenicity studies were performed using the nematode Caenorhabditiselegansas a model system. The assessment of pathogenicity of environmental strain of V. choleraewas conducted with E. coli strain OP50 as the food source in control plates, environmental V. cholerae strain BTOS6, negative for all tested virulence genes, to check for the suitability of Vibrio sp. as a food source for the nematode;V. cholerae Co 366 ElTor, a clinical pathogenic strain and V. cholerae strain BTPR5 from seafood (Prawn) and positive for the tested virulence genes like VPI, hlyA, ompU,rtxA and toxR. It was found that V. cholerae strain BTOS6 could serve as a food source in place of E. coli strain OP50 but behavioral aberrations like sluggish movement and lawn avoidance and morphological abnormalities like pharyngeal and intestinal distensions and bagging were exhibited by the worms fed on V. cholerae Co 366 ElTor strain and environmental BTPR5 indicating their pathogenicity to the nematode. Assessment of pathogenicity of the environmental strains of V. vulnificus was performed with V. vulnificus strain BTPS6 which tested positive for 3 virulence genes, namely, cps, toxRand VPI, and V. vulnificus strain BTMM7 that did not possess any of the tested virulence genes. A reduction was observed in the life span of worms fed on environmental strain of V. vulnificusBTMM7 rather than on the ordinary laboratory food source, E. coli OP50. Behavioral abnormalities like sluggish movement, lawn avoidance and bagging were also observed in the worms fed with strain BTPS6, but the pharynx and the intestine were intact. The presence of multi drug resistant environmental Vibrio strainsthat constitute a major reservoir of diverse virulence genes are to be dealt with caution as they play a decisive role in pathogenicity and horizontal gene transfer in the marine environments.

Behavior of geopolymer concrete exposed to elevated temperatures

The research in the area of geopolymer is gaining momentum during the past 20 years. Studies confirm that geopolymer concrete has good compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity and durability. These properties are comparable with OPC concrete.There are many occasions where concrete is exposed to elevated temperatures like fire exposure from thermal processor, exposure from furnaces, nuclear exposure, etc.. In such cases, understanding of the behaviour of concrete and structural members exposed to elevated temperatures is vital. Even though many research reports are available about the behaviour of OPC concrete at elevated temperatures, there is limited information available about the behaviour of geopolymer concrete after exposure to elevated temperatures. A preliminary study was carried out for the selection of a mix proportion. The important variable considered in the present study include alkali/fly ash ratio, percentage of total aggregate content, fine aggregate to total aggregate ratio, molarity of sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide ratio, curing temperature and curing period. Influence of different variables on engineering properties of geopolymer concrete was investigated. The study on interface shear strength of reinforced and unreinforced geopolymer concrete as well as OPC concrete was also carried out. Engineering properties of fly ash based geopolymer concrete after exposure to elevated temperatures (ambient to 800 °C) were studied and the corresponding results were compared with those of conventional concrete. Scanning Electron Microscope analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared analysis, X-ray powder Diffractometer analysis and Thermogravimetric analysis of geopolymer mortar or paste at ambient temperature and after exposure to elevated temperature were also carried out in the present research work. Experimental study was conducted on geopolymer concrete beams after exposure to elevated temperatures (ambient to 800 °C). Load deflection characteristics, ductility and moment-curvature behaviour of the geopolymer concrete beams after exposure to elevated temperatures were investigated. Based on the present study, major conclusions derived could be summarized as follows. There is a definite proportion for various ingredients to achieve maximum strength properties. Geopolymer concrete with total aggregate content of 70% by volume, ratio of fine aggregate to total aggregate of 0.35, NaOH molarity 10, Na2SiO3/NaOH ratio of 2.5 and alkali to fly ash ratio of 0.55 gave maximum compressive strength in the present study. An early strength development in geopolymer concrete could be achieved by the proper selection of curing temperature and the period of curing. With 24 hours of curing at 100 °C, 96.4% of the 28th day cube compressive strength could be achieved in 7 days in the present study. The interface shear strength of geopolymer concrete is lower to that of OPC concrete. Compared to OPC concrete, a reduction in the interface shear strength by 33% and 29% was observed for unreinforced and reinforced geopolymer specimens respectively. The interface shear strength of geopolymer concrete is lower than ordinary Portland cement concrete. The interface shear strength of geopolymer concrete can be approximately estimated as 50% of the value obtained based on the available equations for the calculation of interface shear strength of ordinary portland cement concrete (method used in Mattock and ACI). Fly ash based geopolymer concrete undergoes a high rate of strength loss (compressive strength, tensile strength and modulus of elasticity) during its early heating period (up to 200 °C) compared to OPC concrete. At a temperature exposure beyond 600 °C, the unreacted crystalline materials in geopolymer concrete get transformed into amorphous state and undergo polymerization. As a result, there is no further strength loss (compressive strength, tensile strength and modulus of elasticity) in geopolymer concrete, whereas, OPC concrete continues to lose its strength properties at a faster rate beyond a temperature exposure of 600 °C. At present no equation is available to predict the strength properties of geopolymer concrete after exposure to elevated temperatures. Based on the study carried out, new equations have been proposed to predict the residual strengths (cube compressive strength, split tensile strength and modulus of elasticity) of geopolymer concrete after exposure to elevated temperatures (upto 800 °C). These equations could be used for material modelling until better refined equations are available. Compared to OPC concrete, geopolymer concrete shows better resistance against surface cracking when exposed to elevated temperatures. In the present study, while OPC concrete started developing cracks at 400 °C, geopolymer concrete did not show any visible cracks up to 600 °C and developed only minor cracks at an exposure temperatureof 800 °C. Geopolymer concrete beams develop crack at an early load stages if they are exposed to elevated temperatures. Even though the material strength of the geopolymer concrete does not decrease beyond 600 °C, the flexural strength of corresponding beam reduces rapidly after 600 °C temperature exposure, primarily due to the rapid loss of the strength of steel. With increase in temperature, the curvature at yield point of geopolymer concrete beam increases and thereby the ductility reduces. In the present study, compared to the ductility at ambient temperature, the ductility of geopolymer concrete beams reduces by 63.8% at 800 °C temperature exposure. Appropriate equations have been proposed to predict the service load crack width of geopolymer concrete beam exposed to elevated temperatures. These equations could be used to limit the service load on geopolymer concrete beams exposed to elevated temperatures (up to 800 °C) for a predefined crack width (between 0.1mm and 0.3 mm) or vice versa. The moment-curvature relationship of geopolymer concrete beams at ambient temperature is similar to that of RCC beams and this could be predicted using strain compatibility approach Once exposed to an elevated temperature, the strain compatibility approach underestimates the curvature of geopolymer concrete beams between the first cracking and yielding point.

Predicted properties of the superheavy elements, II. Element 111, Eka-Gold

The chemical properties of element 111, eka-gold, are predicted through the use of the periodic table, relativistic Hartee-Fock-Slater calculations, and various qualitative theories which have established their usefulness in understanding and correlating properties of molecules. The results indicate that element 111 will be like Au(III) in its chemistry with little or no tendency to show stability in the I or II states. There is a possibility that the 111 - ion, analogous to the auride ion, will be stable.

Predicted properties of the superheavy elements. III. Element 115, Eka-Bismuth

Element 115 is expected to be in group V-a of the periodic table and have most stable oxidation states of I and III. The oxidation state of I, which plays a minor role in bismuth chemistry, should be a major factor in 115 chemistry. This change will arise because of the large relativistic splitting of the spherically symmetric 7p_l/2 shell from the 7P_3/2 shell. Element 115 will therefore have a single 7p_3/2 electron outside a 7p^2_1/2 closed shell. The magnitude of the first ionization energy and ionic radius suggest a chemistry similar to Tl^+. Similar considerations suggest that 115^3+ will have a chemistry similar to Bi^3+. Hydrolysis will therefore be easy and relatively strongly complexing anions of strong acids will be needed in general to effect studies of complexation chemistry. Some other properties of 115 predicted are as follows: ionization potentials I 5.2 eV, II 18.1 eV, III 27.4 eV, IV 48.5 eV, 0 \rightarrow 5^+ 159 eV; heat of sublimation, 34 kcal (g-atom)^-1; atomic radius, 2.0 A; ionic radius, 115^+ 1.5 A, 115^3+ 1.0 A; entropy, 16 cal deg^-1 (g-atom)^-l (25°); standard electrode potential 115^+ |115, -1.5 V; melting and boiling points are similar to element 113.

Approximate solutions and error estimates for a Stokes boundary value problem

The aim of this paper is the numerical treatment of a boundary value problem for the system of Stokes' equations. For this we extend the method of approximate approximations to boundary value problems. This method was introduced by V. Maz'ya in 1991 and has been used until now for the approximation of smooth functions defined on the whole space and for the approximation of volume potentials. In the present paper we develop an approximation procedure for the solution of the interior Dirichlet problem for the system of Stokes' equations in two dimensions. The procedure is based on potential theoretical considerations in connection with a boundary integral equations method and consists of three approximation steps as follows. In a first step the unknown source density in the potential representation of the solution is replaced by approximate approximations. In a second step the decay behavior of the generating functions is used to gain a suitable approximation for the potential kernel, and in a third step Nyström's method leads to a linear algebraic system for the approximate source density. For every step a convergence analysis is established and corresponding error estimates are given.

Hyperspectral field measurements to determine dry matter yield and nutritive value of legume-grass swards

Summary: Productivity, botanical composition and forage quality of legume-grass swards are important factors for successful arable farming in both organic and conventional farming systems. As these attributes can vary considerably within a field, a non-destructive method of detection while doing other tasks would facilitate a more targeted management of crops, forage and nutrients in the soil-plant-animal system. This study was undertaken to explore the potential of field spectral measurements for a non destructive prediction of dry matter (DM) yield, legume proportion in the sward, metabolizable energy (ME), ash content, crude protein (CP) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) of legume-grass mixtures. Two experiments were conducted in a greenhouse under controlled conditions which allowed collecting spectral measurements which were free from interferences such as wind, passing clouds and changing angles of solar irradiation. In a second step this initial investigation was evaluated in the field by a two year experiment with the same legume-grass swards. Several techniques for analysis of the hyperspectral data set were examined in this study: four vegetation indices (VIs): simple ratio (SR), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and red edge position (REP), two-waveband reflectance ratios, modified partial least squares (MPLS) regression and stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR). The results showed the potential of field spectroscopy and proved its usefulness for the prediction of DM yield, ash content and CP across a wide range of legume proportion and growth stage. In all investigations prediction accuracy of DM yield, ash content and CP could be improved by legume-specific calibrations which included mixtures and pure swards of perennial ryegrass and of the respective legume species. The comparison between the greenhouse and the field experiments showed that the interaction between spectral reflectance and weather conditions as well as incidence angle of light interfered with an accurate determination of DM yield. Further research is hence needed to improve the validity of spectral measurements in the field. Furthermore, the developed models should be tested on varying sites and vegetation periods to enhance the robustness and portability of the models to other environmental conditions.

Patent DE10 2004 037 519 B4 “Sensor Process and Device for Determining a Physical Value“. A Proof of Concept

At present, a fraction of 0.1 - 0.2% of the patients undergoing surgery become aware during the process. The situation is referred to as anesthesia awareness and is obviously very traumatic for the person experiencing it. The reason for its occurrence is mostly an insufficient dosage of the narcotic Propofol combined with the incapability of the technology monitoring the depth of the patient’s anesthetic state to notice the patient becoming aware. A solution can be a highly sensitive and selective real time monitoring device for Propofol based on optical absorption spectroscopy. Its working principle has been postulated by Prof. Dr. habil. H. Hillmer and formulated in DE10 2004 037 519 B4, filed on Aug 30th, 2004. It consists of the exploitation of Intra Cavity Absorption effects in a two mode laser system. In this Dissertation, a two mode external cavity semiconductor laser, which has been developed previously to this work is enhanced and optimized to a functional sensor. Enhancements include the implementation of variable couplers into the system and the implementation of a collimator arrangement into which samples can be introduced. A sample holder and cells are developed and characterized with a focus on compatibility with the measurement approach. Further optimization concerns the overall performance of the system: scattering sources are reduced by re-splicing all fiber-to-fiber connections, parasitic cavities are eliminated by suppressing the Fresnel reflexes of all one fiber ends by means of optical isolators and wavelength stability of the system is improved by the implementation of thermal insulation to the Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG). The final laser sensor is characterized in detail thermally and optically. Two separate modes are obtained at 1542.0 and 1542.5 nm, tunable in a range of 1nm each. Mode Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) is 0.06nm and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is as high as 55 dB. Independent of tuning the two modes of the system can always be equalized in intensity, which is important as the delicacy of the intensity equilibrium is one of the main sensitivity enhancing effects formulated in DE10 2004 037 519 B4. For the proof of concept (POC) measurements the target substance Propofol is diluted in the solvents Acetone and DiChloroMethane (DCM), which have been investigated for compatibility with Propofol beforehand. Eight measurement series (two solvents, two cell lengths and two different mode spacings) are taken, which draw a uniform picture: mode intensity ratio responds linearly to an increase of Propofol in all cases. The slope of the linear response indicates the sensitivity of the system. The eight series are split up into two groups: measurements taken in long cells and measurements taken in short cells.