In an era where an emerging threat due cryptococcosis is encountered among the immunocompromised patients especially in those AIDS and in immunocompetent patients attributed to the virulent C. gattii counterpart the need for a study to better understand this disease is imperative. Routine surveillance and application of molecular typing methods are crucial to know the baseline and existing pattern of Cryptococcosis. The findings of the study will considerably enhance our ability to develop appropriate prevention and treatment strategies and be applicable for development of vaccine tailoring, enhance comprehension of disease epidemiology which contribute significantly in adopting strategies in managing disease burden. The proposed research is unique in a way that it address cryptococcus and cryptococcosis in the setttings of Karnataka state with regard to the mycological, ecological and molecular epidemiology aspects.

Bibliography p. 117-153

Twenty one thiazolidin-4-one derivatives were synthesized, purified by chromatographic and non-chromatographic methods. These were characterized through physical constants like melting point, various spectral and chromatographic techniques like, UV scan, IR spectra, NMR spectra, TLC, and LC-MS methods. Since the aim of the study was to evaluate the antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activities of the thiazolidin-4-ones, four compounds were tested using the streptozotocin + nicotinamide induced type-2 diabetes in mouse. All of them reversed the hyperglycemia. Among them, two compounds also reduced the glucose intolerance in an OGTT. All the synthesized 21 thiazolidin-4-ones were tested in an in vitro glucose uptake assay using isolated rat diaphragm. Three compounds showed significant enhancement of glucose uptake by isolated rat diaphragm in presence and absence of insulin. This suggested the potential of these compounds in attenuation of hyperglycemia through enhancement of glucose uptake by peripheral tissue and sensitization of tissue for insulin. In high carbohydrate diet (HCD)-induced insulin resistance mice model, three thiazolidin-4-ones were selected and evaluated. All tested compounds attenuated hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, and glucose intolerance. However, these compounds did not show any effect on hypoadiponectinemia. However, two thiazolidin-4-ones were able to enhance the leptin levels. In HCD model the disturbed liver antioxidants milieu was corrected by all three compounds. Thus, these results showed their anti-oxidant potential to attenuate oxidative stress in diabetes.

Summary p. 181, Bibliography p. 182-187

Daylight-artificial light integrated schemes encompassing soft computing models have been perceived as a lucrative option for lighting energy conservation. This thesis exploits the quintessence of design and real time implementation of adaptive predictive control strategy for robust control of daylight-artificial light integrated scheme. To elicit daylight variations, occupancy detections, and user preferences an online self adaptive predictive control algorithm is structured for real time control of artificial lights and window blinds. The developed model resolves the constraints of: (i) supplementing the daylight with artificial light to meet the set point illuminance, (ii) minimizing the energy consumption, (iii) maximizing the visual comfort by controlling daylight glare, and (iv) retaining the illuminance uniformity in the interior. In this perspective, the adaptive predictive model entails integration of: (a) An online Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference Scheme (ANFIS) daylight illuminance predictor in conjunction with artificial light intensity control algorithm for interior illuminance regulation, and (b) Fuzzy logic based window blind control algorithm to eliminate glare and solar heat gain. Control algorithm modeled with real time sensor information administers an online process identification, prediction and parameter adaptation. The devised prototype controller is successfully implemented in a test chamber (4m ×4m×2.3m). A real time user friendly simulator provides an online visualization of illuminance performance indicators and control of the process. The anticipated synergetic effects of online control algorithm validated in the test chamber highlights the benefits of the scheme in terms of glare control, illuminance uniformity and energy efficiency. Nevertheless, the scheme is proved to be economically feasible for large centralized installations. The concept presented in this thesis contributes to the advances in Building Light Management Systems for commercial buildings.

References p. 129-136, Publications p. 137-138

The present research work focuses on the preparation and the characterization of poly(dimethyl)siloxane (PDMS) ? colloidal silica (CS) composites. Various parameters such as the size of CS particles, the loading of CS in the composite, the dispersing aid with which CS particles are dispersed into PDMS, and the surface functionalization of CS are investigated in detail towards obtaining PDMS-CS composites with optimal performance. Both un-functionalized and functionalized CS particles are studied for their composition, thermal and morphological characteristics. The resultant PDMS-CS composites are investigated for their thermal and rheological properties in their un-cure state and for their composition, morphological, optical and mechanical characteristics in their cured state. Even though, the preparation of PDMS composites with high loadings (up to 40 wt %) of un-functionalized ?hydrophilic? CS could be achieved, these composites lack optimal optical and mechanical properties. Though the use of suitable dispersion aid can improve the dispersion of CS to a certain extent, the surface functionalization of CS is required to achieve a good dispersion of CS within PDMS. The preparation of surface functionalized CS (FCS) particles is achieved by treating CS with different functional silanes. Among the different commercial colloidal silica dispersions investigated, CS in water and in methanol dispersions could be functionalized with different mono- and tri-functional silanes efficiently. The surface functionalization of CS in IPA and in MEK dispersions, however, is hampered, due to the partial surface functionalization of CS in these cases. In general, the mechanical properties of the PDMS-CS / FCS composites are found to increase with increasing loading of CS / FCS in the composites.

Bibliography included

A systematic study to explore the soil and marine sources for L-asparaginase producing eukaryotes was carried out. The study included identification of the isolate, optimization of process parameters; purification and characterization of the enzyme and evaluation of in vitro anti-leukemic activity. In screening 79 isolates were found to produce L-asparaginase. Two isolates with good extracellular asparaginase activity were selected for developing as an alternative resource to bacterial L-asparaginase. Optimization was carried out by classical and statistical methods. Plackett Burman design was used for preliminary screening of factors and Response Surface Methodology was employed for optimizing their levels. The production of enzyme was regulated by nitrogen sources and asparagine. Enzyme from the best isolate was subjected to purification, characterization and in vitro studies. Purification steps included ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by separation using Ion exchange and gel filtration chromatography. A purity fold 86.75 was achieved. The molecular weight of the purified enzyme by SDS-PAGE technique was found to be 35.26 kDa. The purified sample had optimum activity at pH 8.0 and 40°C. The purified sample was stable at pH range of 7-11.0 and temperature ranging from 20 to 50°C. The enzyme was inhibited by serine protease inhibitors, cysteine protease inhibitors and ferrous ions. The relative activity of the enzyme using L-glutamine as substrate was found to be 7%. The Km and Vmax of the enzyme was found to be 277.78 µM substrate and 40.39 µM/min, which indicate the better substrate specificity. The sample was found to have IC50 (77.42IU/mL) against MOLT-4. The isolates were identified as Aspergillus terreus NCIM 1357 and Aspergillus cervinus NCIM 1356 by ARI, Pune, India and were submitted to NCIM. The above results were encouraging and worth pursuing for further development of the fungal isolates as an alternative resource for therapeutic L-asparaginase.

Summary p. 123-124, Bibliography p. 111-122, Appendix p. 125-127

Corrosion can be defined as the degradation of a material due to its reaction with the environment. Aluminium matrix composites are among the most promising materials for wear and structural applications due to their low cost, light weight and the ease of fabrication. newlineIn the present work, an attempt has been made to study the inhibiting effect of a series of organic compounds namely, ethyl-2-phenyl hydrozono-3-oxobutyrate (EPHO), 2-chloro-1-benzothiophene-3-carbohydrazide (CBTC),5-[(2-methylphenoxy) methyl]-4-{[(1E)-(3-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl) methylene] amino}-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (MMATT), ethyl (2E)-2-[2-(4-chlorophenyl)hydrazinylidene]-3-oxobutanoate (ECHO), propanoyl(1Z)-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-2-oxopropanehydrazonoate (PDOH), propanoyl(1Z)-N-(2-hydoxyphenyl)-2-oxopropanehydrazonoate (PHOH), propanoyl(1E)-N-(2-acetylphenyl)-2-oxopropanehydrazonoate (PAOH) and N naphthyl Nand#8242; phenyl thiourea (NPTU) on the corrosion of 6061 Al alloy 15 vol. % SiC(p) composite in 0.1, 0.5 and 1 M HCl solutions at 30, 40, 50 and 60 °C temperatures and at five levels of inhibitor concentrations using potentio-static polarization techniques and weight loss method. newlineThe polarization data have shown that all the compounds are mixed inhibitors for 6061 Al alloy 15 vol. % SiC(p) composite in hydrochloric acid medium with reasonably good inhibition efficiency (85.53 - 96.79 %). Adsorption of all the compounds on the composite surface is found to obey Temkin s and Langmuir adsorption isotherms. The compounds are most likely adsorbed through the sulphur, nitrogen or oxygen atoms, forming donor - acceptor bond between unpaired electrons of these atoms and the positive active centers of the metal surface. The thermodynamic parameters of adsorption reveal a strong interaction and spontaneous adsorption of the inhibitor compounds on the composite surface. The inhibition is governed predominantly by physical adsorption along with weak chemical bonding (mixed adsorption mechanism). The results of the investigation sho

The control of an integrating process with dead time is still being a challenging one to stabilize it under the parameter uncertainty of the process. In this research work an integrating process with dead time is considered as a benchmark system, which is the mathematical model of the distillation column. Most of the conventional controller design technique fails to maintain the steady state of the integrating process after applying the load disturbance. By designing control strategies such as IMC and Modified Smith Predictor better time domain specifications can be achieved with better load rejection. But the conventional controllers cannot withstand the uncertainty. This leads to the design of robust control. The design of robust control involves higher analytical calculations and results in higher order controller, which makes the physical realization of the controller difficult. This problem can be overcome by designing a fixed order controller satisfying the robust control principles. The PID control structure is considered as a fixed order controller (second order), because of its simplicity in design with higher control capability. The control parameters such as Kp, Ki and Kd are plotted as a 3D plot by satisfying the robust control principles. Also the control parameters stabilizing range are used in the Hurwitz criteria. Finally the first order robust controller with three tuning parameters (x1, x2 and x3) is proposed for the integrating process with dead time and the simulation results are compared with the various conventional, advanced control strategies and robust control. The robust stability and robust performance of the controller are analyzed with various robust conditions and the results are compared with the conventional controller design and results are found to be satisfactory. newline

Background: The role of right hemisphere (RH) in lexico-semantic processing continues to remain as a debatable issue. In the past, various techniques and paradigms employed in several populations have provided equivocal evidence on the role of RH in lexico-semantic processing. newlineAim and Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the debatable role of RH in lexico-semantic processing. The specific objectives of the study were: (1) to compare the lexical retrieval skills in a group of right-handed subjects with right hemisphere damage (RHD) with that of age-, gender-, and literacy-matched neurologically normal subjects and (2) to analyze the errors to assess the nature of underlying lexico-semantic processing deficits in the clinical group, if any. newlineMethods: A comprehensive battery of convergent (i.e., confrontation naming) and divergent (i.e., verbal fluency) tasks was developed and subsequently administered on the two groups. The study employed stringent response coding criteria in the former task. Under the same task, the performance of the two groups was compared in terms of the accurate scores as well as the errors. Under the divergent tasks, the accurate responses as well as certain additional measures such as cluster size, switching and time course of lexical retrieval were compared between the two groups. newlineResults: The RHD subjects performed poorly on all but one (definition naming) task. The analysis of errors in the convergent task showed a preponderance of the delayed correct responses, no responses, and semantic errors. The comparison of performance on divergent groups showed significant difference in the semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tasks. Subjects with RHD showed significantly smaller cluster size only in the semantic, but not in the phonemic condition. The two groups did not show any difference in terms of the switching strategy under both semantic and phonemic conditions. The time course analysis showed a similar pattern in both groups with a gradual reduction in the number of exemplars generated across the four time quadrants of 60 seconds duration. newlineConclusions: The present study provided evidence for the role of RH in lexico-semantic processing. Additionally, the study advocates the use of comprehensive batteries with stringent scoring criteria in the assessment of lexical-retrieval skills of subjects with RHD. newline

Background: Fall prevention programs commonly address sensorimotor systems under single task conditions. Older adults are at risk of fall under dual task conditions that are inevitable in daily activities. Research is required to determine if, postural control training under dual task conditions is effective in decreasing falls, and risk factors for falls. Objectives: To determine if postural control training under dual task conditions in older adults (1) decreases falls and fall risk in older adults as compared to conventional exercises, (2) is influenced by the nature of the secondary task used in training and (3) newlineis influenced by the sensory context in which training is done. Methods: The sample consisted of 93 older adults aged over 60 years identified as at risk of fall and consenting to participate in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to the control Group-A (conventional exercises under single task conditions, n = 23) and experimental groups (postural control training under dual task conditions with a secondary task), Group-B (manual tasks, n = 24), Group-C (manual-cognitive tasks, n = 23), Group-D (manual-cognitive tasks in a graded sensory context, n = 23). The participants were assessed for physical risk factors (balance, gait, functional mobility under single and dual task conditions, automaticity of functional mobility) and psychological risk factors (fear of fall and depression) at baseline (Pre-assessment), and following ten training sessions (Post-assessment-I). After three months, Postassessment- newlineII was done and the participant s adherence to home program, fall or near fall events were recorded. Results: The study groups were equivalent with respect to socio-demographic characteristics, number of falls in the previous year, and baseline performance on tests of physical and psychological risk factors for falls. At Post-assessment-I, as compared to the control group, the experimental groups demonstrated significant improvements in some physical risk factors (static balance and gait

References included

Aim: Investigate the Prevalence and Nature of Voice Problems in call center operators (CCO)in Indian set up. Objectives: Determine the prevalence of voice problems in CCOs using self-reported questionnaire, Identify the variables associated with increased risk of voice problems in the CCOs, determine functional impact of voice problems in CCOs and perform a comparative acoustic and auditory perceptual analysis of voice of CCOs. Study design: Cross-sectional survey study. Data collection: Study conducted using self- reported questionnaire. From 11 call centers 1093 samples obtained. 104 voice samples recorded to compare and identify the differences if any among the CCOs who are reporting frequent voice problems and who are not reporting voice problems. Results: Higher prevalence rate observed in CCOs with 59% of career prevalence and 27% of point prevalence. Working in other jobs, raising voice due to noise, experiencing stressful calls, hearing difficulty, acid reflux, coaching, throat clearing, water intake and rate of speech were the variables found to have significant influence on experiencing the vocal symptoms. Impacts of the vocal symptoms were significantly higher in female than male CCOs. Acoustic analysis did not reveal any significant difference between the two groups barring NHR in female CCOs. Significant difference in few acoustic parameters found when compared with existing norms. Auditory perceptual scores overlapped considerably between those reporting vocal symptoms and those not reporting symptoms. Conclusion: Higher prevalence of vocal symptoms experienced by CCOs in the present study indicates CCOs are greater risk of developing voice problems. These problems affect productivity and are associated with modifiable risk factors. This warrants the need for vocal education in CCOs for optimal productivity and vocal health.

References p. 196-227

Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide, both in men and women. In India, it is one of the leading cancers in males. Tumorigenesis is asymptomatic and patients with gastric cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage. There is a dire need to identify molecular newlinemarkers for early detection of gastric cancer. Discovery of genes that are aberrantly expressed in cancer as compared to normal would lead to the development of biomarkers for clinical diagnosis and prognosis. In order to achieve this, two different approaches were used. In the first newlineapproach, a genome wide gene expression analysis was carried out to identify differentially expressed genes in gastric adenocarcinoma tissues as compared to adjacent normal tissues. Agilent?s whole human genome oligonucleotide microarray platform representing ~41,000 newlinetranscripts was used to carry out gene expression analysis. Through this approach, several previously known candidate genes along with a number of novel candidate genes were identified in gastric cancer. Testican-1 (SPOCK1) was one among the novel candidates that was found to be 10-fold upregulated in tumors. Using tissue microarrays, the expression of testican-1 was validated by immunohistochemical staining. It was overexpressed in 56% (160/282) of the cases newlinetested. Secondly, mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomic analysis was carried out to identify genes that were differentially expressed at protein level. In particular, the proteins that were specifically secreted from gastric cancer were studied using gastric cancer cell lines. Stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) was employed to identify differentially secreted proteins. This study led to the identification of several markers. PCSK9, LMAN2, LGALS4 and PDAP1 were four novel candidates chosen for validation by immunohistochemical analysis. Through this study, a robust pipeline to discover biomarkers has been established.

Appendix p. 79-101, Bibliography p. 102-112

Infections due to Salmonella spp. are of great risk to human health. It is known that genes involved in pathogenesis of Salmonella spp. are clustered within Salmonella pathogenicity islands. In this study, we have developed three multiplex PCRs to detect potentially pathogenic Salmonella directly from clinical and seafood samples. The multiplex PCR involving the hns gene could detect Salmonella up to a level of 102 cells/ml in 10 times diluted clinical samples. This study also aimed to detect the prevalence of 12 different virulence associated genes coded by 4 pathogenicity Islands namely, SPI-1, SPI-2, SPI-3 and SPI-5, in 58 Salmonella enterica spp. isolated from both food and clinical samples. Two sets of Hexaplex PCR were also developed. Results showed that the genes hilA, invA, ssaB, ssaP, ssaQ, ssaT, sseD and mgtC were 100% prevalent in all Salmonella isolates tested in this study, followed by rhuM (96.77%), sseC (93.5%), sopB (90.34%) and pipC (90.34%). The detection limit of the optimized multiplex PCR was tested with lowest detectable concentration of 0.005 ng and#956;l-1. The assay using the SPI virulence genes was reproducible and sensitive in detecting Salmonella. While in this study, the amplification of hns could point to the presence of Salmonella, the presence of virulence genes could determine its pathogenicity. Finding the presence or absence of virulence genes could explain the reason behind the stringent host adaptation of seafood associated serovars of Salmonella. In addition, this study also aimed in developing polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies targeting Salmonella outer membrane proteins (OMP?s) which are highly immunogenic and considered as diagnostic antigens. Primers designed in this study targeting the ompV and ompF genes were specific in detecting Salmonella. The OMPs genes were cloned and expressed in E. coli host system and the purified OmpF protein was used to raise monoclonal antibodies.

Summary included, Bibliography p. 108-149

The present investigation was conducted to determine the effect of psycho-educative newlineintervention on adherence to treatment among persons with Bipolar Affective Disorder newline(BPAD). Objectives: The primary objectives of the study were to develop and validate a psycho-educative intervention for persons with BPAD and their caregivers and to find the effect of psychoeducative intervention on adherence to treatment among persons with BPAD. The secondary objective was to find the effect of psycho-educative intervention on knowledge, attitude, quality of life, disability and burden. Method: An evaluative approach was considered for this study since the aim was to find the effect of psycho-educative intervention on adherence to treatment. A randomized controlled newlinetrial design was used with a sample size of 50; 24 in experimental and 26 in control group. Four and five sessions of psycho-education was conducted for the caregiver and patient in experimental group after the baseline assessment and the outcome was measured immediately after the psycho-educative intervention and at 1 month and 3 months. The same assessment was done for the control group without a psycho educative intervention. The various data newlinecollection instruments used in the study were Socio demographic proforma, Knowledge newlinequestionnaire, Scale of patient?s attitude towards BPAD, Scale of family caregivers attitude towards BPAD, WHOQOL- BREF Scale, WHO DAS II , Burden Assessment Schedule of newlineSCARF and YMRS/ HDRS.

References p. 115-127, Appendix p. 128-195

The present thesis focuses on the evaluation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) as a model to understand the propensity of independently derived cell lines towards specific germ layers if any. Obtaining a purer population of desired cell type in large numbers based on this inherent potential of hESC was the next aim. Finally, this study explores the feasibility of these hESC and their derivatives in determination of toxic effects of known drugs and drug solvents so as to make available a humanized cell-based platform for drug screening and toxicity testing.

Summary and Bibliography included

A co-relational study on quality of life and psychosocial variables of nurses working in selected hospitals of Udupi and Mangalore (South Canara) districts, Karnataka, India was carried out by Tessy Treesa Jose for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, at Manipal College of Nursing Manipal, Manipal University, Karnataka. The objectives of the study were to: 1) determine the Quality of Life of nurses as measured by WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), 2) identify the psychosocial variables of nurses: stress, coping, psychiatric morbidity, self- esteem, social support, and job satisfaction, 3) find out the determinants of Quality of life of nurses with regard to: 3.1) Demographic variables such as age, professional qualification, marital status, married status, number of children, type of family, and monthly income. 3.2) Work place variables such as area of work, daily working hours, experience in current area of work and total years of experience, 4) find out the determinants of psycho-social variables with regard to demographic and work place variables, 5) find the relationship between quality of life and psycho-social variable, 6) find the relationship among the psycho-social variables, 7) compare the quality of life of nurses working in private and government hospitals, 8) compare the psycho-social variables of nurses working in private and government hospitals and 9) determine the predictors of quality of life. The assumptions underlying the study were: 1) Nursing is a helping profession requiring a high degree of commitment and involvement. 2) Quality of life is subjective and can be measured. 3) Quality of life influences the performance of nurses. 4) Nurses? health and well-being are greatly influenced by the psychosocial and physical environment at work place. 5) Stress is a natural phenomenon that everyone experiences in their lifetime. 6) Coping responses are influenced by the source of stress, individual?s appraisal and situation in the workplace.

Summary p. 231-251, References p. 252-263

The work presented in this thesis was carried out to understand a novel phenomenon newlineof suppression of transcription termination defect associated with rho and nusG mutants by certain mutations in the DNA-binding protein H-NS. H-NS is a highly abundant bacterial protein in E. coli which is the structural constituent of the bacterial nucleoid. It was earlier discovered in this lab that a point mutation in H-NS, E74K suppressed the rho and nusG mutant phenotypes of polarity relief at galEp3, trpE(oc) and also lethality associated with newlineColE1-family plasmids like pACYC184. Another dominant-negative mutant of hns, HNSand#916;64, newlinewhich is a C-terminal truncation of H-NS was also shown to be a strong suppressor newlineof these rho and nusG mutant phenotypes (Harinarayanan and Gowrishankar, 2003). This newlinestudy was undertaken to understand the mechanism of suppression of rho and nusG mutant phenotypes by mutations in hns, particularly H-NSand#916;64. Three different approaches were undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of this suppression namely, (i) obtaining suppressors of H-NSand#916;64 effect in rho and nusG strains by mutagenesis, (ii) testing candidate genes of the H-NS family, that is, hns, stpA, hha and ydgT for suppression of transcription termination defect and (iii) identification of multicopy newlinesuppressors of transcription termination defect in rho and nusG mutants. A total of nine suppressor mutants were chosen to work with and the characterization of eight of these is reported in this study. These are organized as follows.

References included

Any physical quantity that is measured in an experiment is subject to some error and newlineuncertainty. In a cDNA microarray experiment the measurement result is the expression level of each gene which is measured in terms of intensity ratio. The true intensity ratio at a spot is unknown and hence we estimate it with the associated uncertainty. The uncertainty associated with intensity ratio at a spot depends on uncertainty in measuring the average intensities of red and green foreground as well as background pixels in that spot. The objectives of this thesis study are (a) To study uncertainty associated with background corrected intensity ratio at each spot in microarray experiment (b) To study the variance covariance matrix of background corrected intensity ratio at each spot in microarray experiment and use it for estimating propagated uncertainty (c) To see how correlation between pixels within a spot affects uncertainty, and (d) To find how the estimated uncertainty at each spot affects statistical inference. We use theory of error propagation for estimating the uncertainty associated with background corrected intensity ratio at a spot as well as to estimate the variance covariance matrix of intensity ratios at all spots in a newlinemicroarray chip. To explore how correlation affects the statistical inferences we estimate uncertainty associated with mean intensity ratio of each spot under three different situations(a) assuming positive correlation (b) negative correlation and, (c ) zero correlation between intensities of red and green pixels in a spot. The inverse of these estimated uncertainties were used as weights in downstream analysis and obtained the weighted mean and weighted standard deviation We used a dataset from the GEO database for verifying our results. We obtained 95% confidence interval for the mean background corrected intensity ratio of each spot and also the p values using the weighted mean and weighted standard deviations obtained under the three different situations.

Summary and References included

This thesis addressed the question how the multidimensional socio-cultural world of the newlinelearner?the everyday world of the child outside school and the world of the school? newlineinteract and constitute the child?s learning of science. The Indian school is believed to newlinehave a strongly framed curriculum, where everyday knowledge and school knowledge are newlineseparated by a strong boundary. Yet there are many experiences and concepts relating to newlinescience which are also a part of the everyday worlds, and we can ask what the interaction newlineis between the two and how this manifests in and constitutes children?s understanding. This study of children in a middle school in a village Government Malayalam medium school in Kerala was designed to examine their conceptions of ?matter? by taking a socio-cultural situated approach to learning in general and to science learning in newlineparticular. The concept of matter was chosen because it is an important foundational newlineconception in school science and at the same time it is pervasively a part of the child?s newlineeveryday material world. The study attempted to take a situated approach to learning, newlineand to situate children?s understanding of science concepts in the ?total context? of science learning?the everyday world, the school, the curriculum and textbooks for science and the science classroom and pedagogy. Following a Vygotskian approach of situating learning, the socio-cultural, cognitive and science education approaches were seen to be enveloping and related frameworks which can be used together to understand children?s scientific conceptions. The sociocultural perspective along with the science education perspective was drawn upon to understand the context as constituted by science curriculum of the State of Kerala, pedagogic activities as shaped by the textbooks and carried out by the teachers in the science classroom. The cognitive perspective was brought in while examining children?s conceptions of matter. newline

References p. 363-373

This thesis examines the difficulties surrounding the legal regulation of religion. These difficulties are caused by the inability of law to coherently identify religion as an entity, which results in every human activity having the potential to be considered religious. Social theory universally accepts the view that all societies undergo a process of secularisation wherein religion recedes and fades away. The failure of law to regulate religion is seen as the inadequacy of law itself, and as evidence of that society?s inability to secularise. Within this theory of secularisation there is no attempt to theorise religion. In order to analyse these difficulties I identify a particular legal category which is the religious place or ?the place of worship? for investigation. I propose that such difficulties are due to the colonial origins of the Indian legal system and a conceptual framework that is based on Western law and culture. Therefore an archaeology of colonial legal discourse must form the mode of investigation. I argue that that the unintelligibility of religion within law is due to the dynamic of theologisation in which idolatry as a concept plays a central role. Theologisation is the process of bringing about ?religion? in legal discourse and is behind the making of our secular legal systems. The cultural history of theologisation, and the structural resemblance that it bears to the manner in which religion (in the form of Christianity) has spread in the West, forces us to rethink the nature of the religious and the ?secular?. This has implications for our understanding of the Indian legal system and the emergence of Islamic law in a particular form and structure in the post-colonial period.

Bibliography and Annexure included

Earthworms known as ?ecological engineers? are increasingly being recognized as key indicators of sustainable soil health and fertility. There are more than 3,000 different earthworm species which are placed into one of the three groups? epigeic,endogeic and anecic. With the earthworm ?sphere? constantly changing in space and time, its importance as a ?hot spot? of microbial activity in the soil, has been widely accepted. The role of earthworms as keystone animal group regulating activities of soil microorganisms, plant growth and interactions within soil communities has been extensively investigated. These factors are exclusively due to their burrowing activity. One of the most significant effects of earthworms on soils is the stimulations of microbial activity that occurs in their burrows. The nature of burrows formed in the soil is usually species specific and the micro environment associated with the walls of earthworm burrow may be substantially different from soil only a few millimeters away. It is also known that earthworms largely influence the soil microbial community with regards to their composition and function. The aim of the present study was to investigate the microbial community structure and function within the burrows and in soil close to burrow wallsunder laboratory conditions. The burrow walls of the two species of earthworms commonly found in Bangalore, India- Pontoscolexcorethrurus and Lampitomauritii,were considered to analyze whether these different earthworm species have their own role to play in influencing the microbial community. An enhanced microbial activity was expected in the burrow linings at different depths and time intervals. Hence this study included analysis at two different depths of 0-15 cm and 15- 30 cms and at two time intervals of 30 and 45 days.

Bibliography and Appendix included

Opportunistic infections in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients are often associated with an increase in HIV replication. Due to the high incidence of both HIV and Mycobacterium sp. infection in the developing countries, tuberculosis (TB) has emerged to be the most common opportunistic infection in HIV-infected patients world-wide. Co-infection with the bacilli has been postulated to be an important exogenous factor that influences the severity and rate of disease progression in HIV-infected individuals, reducing the chances of survival and increasing the risk of HIV transmission. Macrophages act as a host to both M. tuberculosis and HIV and hence appear to be a possible site of interaction for these two deadly pathogens. The incidence of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) infection is found to be accelerated in people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the mechanisms by which mycobacterial protein(s) enhance transcriptional activity of HIV-1 LTR, the sole promoter element of HIV (Bernier et al., 1998, Kitaura et al., 2001), is not clearly understood. In the present study it has been demonstrated that one of the M. tuberculosis PPE proteins, Rv1168c can trans-activate HIV-1 LTR in monocyte/macrophage cells by targeting the NF-and#954;B signaling cascades. The NF-and#954;B is one of the most important factors involved in the transcription of HIV-1 LTR (Nabel et al., 1987, Asin et al., 2001, Rothwarf et al., 1999). Western blotting and EMSA results indicate that Rv1168c up-regulates p50 and p65 protein expression and its DNA-binding activity. The Rv1168c-mediated increase in HIV-1 LTR activity was found to be predominantly dependent on NF-and#61547;B transcription factor as inhibition of NF-and#61547;B signaling by either treating cells with the specific pharmacological inhibitor, PDTC or by over-expressing phosphorylation defective Iand#61547;Band#945; decrease transcription from the HIV-1 LTR promoter by more than 90% in cells treated with Rv1168c.

Bibliography p. 214-247, Appendix included

Lung cancer is the leading cause of mortality in India with cancers of the lung constituting 8.73% of relative proportion of all cancers in Bangalore (NCRP, 2008). The development of specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as erlotinib against the Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been promising in targeted therapy of lung cancers. Specific driver mutations in EGFR kinase domain are responsible for determining sensitivity or resistance to TKIs. More than 50% of the mutations have a leucine to arginine substitution at position 858 (L858R) that confers sensitivity to erlotinib. EGFR activation at the membrane triggers a series of tyrosine and serine/threonine phosphorylation cascades. The goal of this study was to identify the sites of phosphorylation of proteins and quantify the degree of phosphorylation upon ligand stimulation or TKI inhibition of a lung adenocarcinoma cell line harboring a TKI-sensitizing mutant EGFR. H3255, a lung adenocarcinoma cell line harboring L858R EGFR was SILAC (Stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture) labeled and phosphorylated serine/threonine/tyrosine peptides were enriched using a titanium dioxide based chemical method and also an antibody enrichment method (Phosphoscan). A 3-plex SILAC labeling method where control cells were labeled ?light?, cells treated with EGF labeled ?medium? and cells treated with EGF and erlotinib were labeled ?heavy? was used. From the Phosphoscan enrichment protocol we could identify a total of 460 tyrosine (pY), 64 serine (pS) and 49 threonine sites (pT) that represents 207 proteins while in tandem, in the TiO2 enrichment protocol we could identify of a total of 3586 phosphosites (3167 phosphoserine sites, 395 phosphothreonine sites and 24 phosphotyrosine sites) that represents 1434 proteins. The higher counts for the serine and threonine residues are representative of the biological stoichiometry where serine/threonine residues are more abundant than tyrosine phosphorylated residues.

References p. 88-100, Appendix p. 101-119

Present study aimed at identifying the phytoconstituents responsible for radioprotection by Coronopus didymus (L.) (CD). Three flavonoids namely CD-C1, CD-C2 and CD-C3 were identified in the ethanolic extract of CD. An in-house method was also developed for obtaining a flavonoid mixture (CDFM). The antioxidant potential of the phytoconstituents and CDFM were investigated based on in vitro and in vivo radioprotection studies. CDFM effectively scavenged free radicals (R?), exhibiting maximum antioxidant potential compared to its constituent flavonoids. CD-C2 with two OH groups showed better antioxidant activity than CD-C3 with one OH group. At optimum concentrations, CDFM and CD-C1 (20 µg/ml) were most effective in scavenging reactive oxygen species in ?-irradiated V79 cells, followed by CD-C2 and CD-C3 (40 µg/ml). CDFM and the isolates, at their optimum concentrations, protected V79 cells from radiation-induced mutagenicity and genotoxicity. CDFM consistently showed better radioprotection, with a maximum increase in anti-apoptotic protein (Bcl-2), and a maximum decrease in the pro-apoptotic protein (cleaved caspase-3), than the individual flavonoids. CDFM (at 200 mg/kg, i.p., 30 min prior to ?-radiation) improved the overall survival in mice by 40%, possibly by protecting rapidly proliferating organs such as spleen and GIT. CDFM prevented hepatic lipid peroxidation which helped in preserving the endogenous antioxidant milieu consistent with in vitro and cell culture studies. The presence of CD-C2 (with a C4?-OH in its ring B) in CDFM, could be responsible for contributing to its anti-lipid peroxidation potential. In vivo radioprotection by CDFM could also be attributed to the increased absorption of its constituent flavonoid glycosides (CD-C2 and CD-C3) in cellular compartments. CD-C3, the major constituent of CDFM, protected mice against hematopoietic and hepatic damage, though not as efficiently as CDFM. However, CD-C3 failed to protect mice GIT from radiation damage.

Summary and Bibliography included

Clinical Decision Making is the formulation of diagnosis based on the patient information and domain knowledge gathered from various sources. Delay in receiving these information can affect patient care. In this regard, Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) can be seen as a promising tool to equip and support the healthcare professionals with patient information and domain knowledge to assist in quality decision making during patient care and evaluation. Cancer control and prevention highly depends on instant availability of health information and clinical knowledge related to cancer care, where CDSS can play a very crucial part. Design, development and implementation of Clinical Decision Support System is dependent on the knowledge, utilization pattern, perception and expectation of oncologists regarding this. Aim: To design and develop a customized clinical decision support system in Oncology. Objectives: To assimilate the knowledge and to understand the utilization pattern of existing information system and assess the perception and expectation of Oncologists in respect of clinical decision support system. Methodology: The research was conducted in three phases: Phase 1 consisted of assessing the awareness and utilization pattern of existing information system and identifying the perception and expectation of Oncologist towards CDSS. A descriptive study was conducted among 100 Oncologists of 12 cancer hospitals and research centers of Southern India. A validated survey questionnaire consisting of open and closed ended questions related to knowledge of information system, utilization of existing information system in practice, perception and expectations of Oncologists in respect of CDSS was provided to the participants who were asked to mark their response on a 5-Point Likert Scale i.e. from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree and Yes and No. A time motion study was also conducted to understand the issues related to the access of patient information and domain knowledge.

References p. 198-220, Appendix p. 221-251

The tiger (Panthera tigris) typifies endangered large species across the globe. The Indian subcontinent currently harbours about 60% of the global tiger population (? 3200-3500) in an estimated 8-25% remaining tiger habitats. Little is known about the genetic makeup and diversity of historical and present tiger populations. As most of the residual populations are small and poorly interconnected, adequate understanding of patterns of genetic variation, population structure and dynamics will be critical for their survival. newlineThis dissertation addressed this gap in our knowledge of tiger biology by evaluating the genetic variation harboured by Indian tigers in the recent past and the present and developing tools that use genetic information to answer questions at various biological levels. newlineFaecal sample based genetic data reveal that Indian tigers retain more than half of the extant genetic diversity in the species. Coalescent analysis attributes this high diversity to a historically large population size in peninsular India that declined within last 200 years. Genetic data from geo-temporally referenced museum tiger samples reveal much higher number of historical mitochondrial DNA variants, the majority of which (93%) are currently extinct in modern populations. Further analyses indicate an increase in population differentiation among current tiger populations for both mtDNA and microsatellites, indicating a decrease in connectivity. newlineWe have developed rigorous field and laboratory-based protocols to assess distribution, abundance, individual identification, demographic ratio and genealogical relationships of tigers. Population estimation using faecal-DNA based individual identification in a mark-recapture framework at Bandipur national park closely matched abundance estimates generated from photographic capture-recapture sampling.

References p. 163-165

Laser-induced plasmas (LIPs) of materials formed at laser pulse irradiances near the plasma ignition threshold are of great interest since they have several important applications. Optical emission spectra of a LIP consist of atomic and ionic lines, superimposed on a continuum of radiation. Elemental analysis of the sample based on the optical emission spectra from a LIP is newlineknown as laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS), also called as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The LIBS technique, utilizing a pulsed LIP formed near the plasma ignition threshold as a spectroscopic source, is fast becoming an analytical technique which can provide remote, in-situ, rapid and multi-elemental analysis of bulk and trace sample in any phase (solid, liquid and gas) with no or minimal sample preparation. In particular, vaporization and excitation of samples are possible in a single step and no restriction has to be placed on the sample size or specific sample preparation. During the last two decades, LIBS has attracted a lot of attention, leading to an ever-increasing list of applications, both in laboratory and in industry. In view of the above, it?s inferred that a LIBS system can very well detect trace level elemental presence in environmental samples like soil. The need for such newlinevaluable information has become imperative in view of the increased environmental pollution caused by the advancing technologies such as nuclear and thermal power stations, special newlinematerial connected technologies (semiconductor), and industries like oil, petroleum, and fertilizers.

Summary p. 195-199, List of publications p. 200-246, References included in chapters

Small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum M.) is traditionally grown in the Indian newlineCardamom Hills (ICH) of the Western Ghats, Kerala. The Western Ghats of India have newlinebeen considered one of the biodiversity hotspots in the world. Currently the production of cardamom in major producing countries consumes very high quantity of pesticides and other chemicals. Although the chemical intensification of cardamom farming in ICH has been going on for the last two decades, sufficient information and data are not available on the quantity of pesticides used by cardamom as in the case of majority of the crops in India .Cardamom cultivation in India might have experienced deterioration of ecosystem because of current growing practices of intensive chemical application and shade lopping that radically changes the properties of cardamom ecosystem components (soil and water.). Also the impacts of chemical intensification on the ecosystem properties are not well known which is very important for such a densely populated biodiversity hot spots like cardamom hills. A comprehensive investigation of factors that affect pesticide usage like climate newlinechange, soil biochemical properties and agronomic practices including shade lopping was done for drawing new information that can be used for the long term sustainability of newlinecardamom ecosystem. Pesticide consumption data were drawn from the personal newlineinterviews of 103 cardamom planters from the ICH. The analysis of the data collected newlinefrom questionnaire interviews showed that cardamom consumed more pesticides than tea newlineduring the year 2009. Among the pesticides consumed by cardamom the use of newlineinsecticides was the highest followed by fungicides and hormones. In tea plantations the herbicide consumption was higher than the insecticides and fungicides. The application of hormones and growth regulators in tea was much lesser. Pesticides were applied on newlinecalendar basis in less than 28 days interval.

Summary p. 173-176, References p. 177-198

Recent progress in computational methods for predicting physical and functional protein-protein interactions has provided new insights into the complexity of biological processes. Most of these methods assume that functionally interacting proteins are likely to have a shared evolutionary history. These methods include phylogenetic profiling (PP),gene neighborhood (GN), gene cluster (GC), and the mirrortree. Expression similarity in various physiological conditions also has been used an indicator of functional linkages between genes. Comprehensive newlinecomparison of these methods has not been frequently reported in literature. In this work, I have shown that the higher performance for predicting protein-protein interactions was achievable even with 100?150 bacterial genomes out of 565 genomes. I find that variants of PP and GN are robust against reference genome selection. This study also reveals that the prediction of metabolic pathway protein interactions continues to be a challenging task for all methods which possibly reflect flexible/independent evolutionary histories of these proteins. On the contrary, genetic information processing pathways are predicted with comparable accuracy. I have also shown that the effective use of a particular prediction method depends on the pathway under investigation. The topological properties of network predicted by each method differ significantly. This study suggests that organization of proteins in the predicted networks ensure the local perturbations in the metabolic pathways and protein complexes should communicate with quickly to other cellular proteins. A set of seven machine learning classifiers also used to predict genome-scale interactome. It is observed that probabilistic classifiers such as naïve bayes are best suitable for PPI prediction task. Finally, I have predicted functions for number of uncharacterized proteins and some of them tested experimentally. A high quality PPIs can be accessible through user friendly interface at http://www.cdfd.org.in/ecofunppi

References p. 138-150, Appendix p. 151-157

Scoliosis is a three dimensional deformity of human spine comprising coronal plane curvature and axial rotation. Imaging modalities such as radiography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) play pivotal roles in the diagnosis, monitoring and management of the scoliosis with radiography having the primary role with MRI/CT. Severity of the spine curvature in the lateral view is quantified by Cobb angle. Quantification of Cobb angle is based on the identification of vertebral endplates as well as manual landmark. This thesis proposes a method for automatic identification of vertebral endplates by extracting the boundary using image processing. Firstly, using non-linear filters noise present in the radiographs are removed without blurring the expected edges. Segmentation of vertebral boundary is done using active contour models. The vertical component of the boundary is removed by morphological operation. The slope of horizontal component calculated from Hough transform helps to decide the vertebral endplates. The slope intercept representation of these endplates are used for quantification of Cobb angle. Scoliosis is a three dimensional deformity, only the spinal curvature is not sufficient to estimate the extent of severity. Objective estimation of vertebral rotation involves identification of apical vertebra and pedicle displacement. This thesis automates the identification of apical vertebra and position of pedicle using image processing. Scoliosis curve pattern classification are used in surgical planning. State-of-the-art classification procedures are based on manual identification of the curves at different levels as well as its deviation. This thesis extracts spinal column from the entire radiograph using customized filter and thereby avoiding misclassification.

References p. 135-145

Background: Community based health insurance has been one of the options of health financing in India for a large number of population from the informal sector constituting about 90% of the total population. There are about 40 odd CBHI schemes in India as per crude estimates The functioning of each of these schemes differ from one another, but broadly categorized into three types. There has been studies on few of these schemes in terms of its functioning and coverage areas, a few studies dwelt into the impact of these schemes in the target population and also utilization of the schemes by those enrolled. But there has been gaps in this area in terms of empirical evidence on factors influencing take up of these schemes. This objectives of this study were to find out what are the determinants which has influenced the beneficiaries of the CBHI schemes to enroll, by comparing them to a non-insured group and to find out the performance of the schemes the technical and organizational characteristics. The bases for the insured group were beneficiaries of two prominent CBHI schemes the Manipal Arogya Suraksha and the Sampoorna Suraksha operating in the study area. Methods: A combination of both qualitative and quantitative method was used to carry out the study .A cross sectional household survey, focus group discussions and indepth interviews were carried out. Surveys on 1638 households were carried out, which had 1108 insured household to 530 non-insured which was a 2:1 ratio. This was done using a two stage sampling method. Data was analyzed using the SPSS 20 where descriptive, univariate and multivariate analysis was carried out. Results: The multivariate analysis revealed that, household variables such as gender of household head, religion, family size, were determinants along with variables like literacy, occupation and marital status of the individuals.

Reference p. 158-167