The contribution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Shell Nigeria’s Corporate Strategy

Introduction Apart from profitability, the primary objective of business also includes sustenance of operations into the long term, receiving repeat business and thereby achieve the satisfaction of the needs of its shareholders. This necessitates the examination of operations with a view to advance objectives such as sustainability which entails being ethical and observing social responsibility. To many businesses operating in the modern competitive global economy, however, being ethical or socially responsible in the conduct of business presents an ongoing challenge (Wheeler et al., 2010). With a focus on Shell Nigeria, this report critically evaluates the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) assessing its contribution to the company’s corporate strategy. It begins by assessing the industry background of the oil sector in which Shell operates bringing forth the issues that impact the company and its stakeholders in their engagement. The report then looks at the concept of CSR, assessing its theoretical basis and the actual pursuits undertaken by the company. This culminates in the evaluation of the contribution of these initiatives to the company’s corporate strategy. Shell Nigeria Shell Nigeria is an arm of the multinational oil corporation Shell Corporation operating under the entities Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Nigeria Limited, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO), and Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG). It has had a presence in Nigeria since its foundation by Royal Dutch/Shell Group in 1936 and has been involved in onshore and offshore exploration and production of oil and natural gas (Shell, 2011). The company’s operations spread out within the Niger Delta (Nigeria) and constituting the Group’s international supply chain comprise 6000km of flow pipeline networks and stations, oil fields and producing wells, gas plants, and two major export terminals (Royal Dutch Shell, 2012a; OPEC, 2011). The parent company, Shell Corporation, is one among major entities participating in the exploration, production, distribution and sale of oil and gas across the globe. The company manages multinational subsidiary petrochemical and energy companies operating in over 80 countries (OPEC, 2011). Exploration and extraction operations of crude oil and gas in Nigeria form an essential component of Shell Corporations upstream supply chain. Its downstream supply chain is engaged in refinery and distribution of oil and gas, as well as trade and shipping of crude worldwide. The company is also involved in the manufacture and marketing of a range of products including petrochemicals for its industrial customers. Its daily volume of production entails 3.2 million barrels of oil and gas (at 48% this output) delivering refined fuel oil to consumers through its 43,000 Shell service stations across the globe (OPEC, 2011). Nigeria is important for Shell accounting for about a quarter of its worldwide production with an estimated contributed share in profit averaging $1.8 billion annually. This represents 10.4% of upstream operational profits and 7.3% of total profit (Shell, 2011). Given its importance to the Group’s upstream operations, any challenge on this front adversely affects global operations of the multinational corporation (Royal Dutch Shell, 2012a; Emesh, 2009). Several challenges beset multinational oil corporations operating particularly in developing countries as explored below. The dilemma of oil companies operating in developing countries Significant oil and gas reserves are found in developing countries of Africa (OPEC, 2011). These countries often lack the resource capability both in terms of financial capacity and infrastructure to conduct exploration and extraction operations of oil and gas. This explains the presence of multinational oil corporations such as Shell in these countries and in regions such as the Niger Delta of Nigeria which holds significant oil reserves deemed to be among the largest in Africa (Wheeler et al., 2010). Operations of oil multinationals in these developing countries are however fraught with huge challenges brought about by the political and social situations which characterise them. Due to their structural and institutional weaknesses, these countries are often prone to recurring conflict and political instability which portends violence and risks to investments (Wheeler et al., 2010; Idemudia, 2009). However, with much to gain from the exploration and exploitation of oil and in spite of the risks and attendant challenges, the multinational oil corporations value the acquisition of market share (Emesh, 2009). It is also noteworthy that profits accrued from the exploitation of the oil resource have historically been misappropriated, benefitting a few influential people in the local and national governments while the host communities and citizenry at large suffer poverty. With an abundance of oil revenue, a corrupt leadership forego accountability to constituents and undermine political and economic institutions while focus on oil wealth stifles diversification of the economy into other essential sectors (Emesh, 2009; Olowu, 2011). This scenario has often exacerbated the political and social situation, increasing the occurrences of conflicts and violence and threatening sustainability of business and integrity of the supply chain (Wheeler et al., 2010). The discontent of host communities and stakeholders at the local level has led to acts of vandalism, sabotage and disruption, as well as outright insurgency which not only threaten operations but also impact the prices of crude oil internationally fomenting unnecessary fluctuations (Olowu, 2011). This alongside the adverse environmental impact of the extractive industry in general and impacts on human rights has often injured the reputations particularly of oil multinationals such as Shell Nigeria. They have promoted the perception that such companies are merely profit-oriented and care less about the impacts of their operations (Idemudia, 2009). Such global concern over these issues has hitherto led to threats of and actual boycotts of Shell products, costly lawsuits and liabilities, and in addition to attendant inefficiencies and security of assets and resources, these challenges have not only impacted Shell’s local operations in Nigeria but have hindered the potential of the entire multinational corporation internationally (Olowu, 2011). Companies such as Shell, therefore, continually need to evaluate political and social risks assessing probable effects on their business and the investment climate, as well as the impact on their profit forecasts and sustenance of operations (Olowu, 2011; Fombrun, 2001). This scenario has illustrated that adverse effects can have dire consequences for the entire business beyond its local operational environment. In order to sustain their business and even achieve growth and expansion, it is imperative for companies to enhance their relations with society ensuring that they are strong and mutually beneficial. Beyond the profit objective, multinational corporations are increasingly demanded of to engage with host countries and communities and CSR has become one of the strategies towards this endeavour (Haigh and Jones, 2006). In response to this demand and in the attempt to shore up its reputation and to build goodwill with local communities, Shell has developed policies and programs aimed at taking on social responsibilities. These programs focus on poverty alleviation, dealing with challenging human rights issues, and the pursuit of sustainable development, seeking to lower the negative environmental impact of their activities (Shell, 2011; Olowu, 2011). These practices are generally referred to as corporate social responsibility (CSR). They can serve as a channel through which to nurture relations with society and stakeholders in general so as to address this dilemma that companies face in the modern business environment (Driver, 2006; Haigh and Jones, 2006). In this regard, it can act dually as an avenue for ethical and social responsibility and as well a worthwhile and essential business strategy. However, finding the right approach and the right initiatives to undertake is challenging for many entities as expectations are very high and diverse particularly in developing countries. As well, in most cases, the development initiatives anticipated should ideally be the prerogative and duty of respective governments and authorities. Their pursuit enables these public agencies to disregard their duties and to forgo accountability to their constituents, a free hand to misappropriate what would otherwise be spent on development (Frynas, 2005). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) CSR is a fast-growing concept in which organizations consider the interests of various stakeholders including society, the environment, and the community in which they are established, taking responsibility for the impact of their activities. It refers to activities that a corporate entity engages with and which are aimed at investment into better and stronger relations with stakeholders and society (Bourne, 2009). This commitment is a voluntary endeavour to improve quality of life for local communities and society at large and extends beyond the basic requirement to comply with regulations or legislation (Boyd et al., 2007). Though historically consider to encompass corporate philanthropy, the concept can now be summarized conveniently in the phrase†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"doing well by doing good† which is inherent in a firm’s accountability and which underlies its social contract with society (Driver, 2006). It encompasses concepts such as corporate accountability, corporate citizenship, business ethics, sustainability, as well as social responsibility in investment and community involvement (Fombrun, 2001). CSR is thus not the sole responsibility of the multinational corporation, but it also concerns the host communities and countries that can engage in planning and in the push for implementation of activities. This, however, gives the pursuit an arbitrariness that makes assessment of success and effectiveness quite challenging. Success in business and sustainability of operations significantly depends on an organization’s capacity to maximize benefits accrued from its resources such as financial and human resources, physical assets, as well as intangible resources such as goodwill from stakeholders and society in general (Werbach, 2009). This is quite evident in challenges that have beset Shell’s supply chain stemming from challenges in its operations in the Niger Delta. Even with the right mix of financial and human resources, as well as an adequate asset base, the lack of goodwill leading to discontent locally and globally and acts of reprisals has in the past led to disruption of operations and loss of potential which have had widespread implications, including adverse effects on profitability, the company’s reputation, as well as the prices of crude oil in the international market. In this regard CSR has become a significant component of Shell Nigeria’s corporate strategy in its quest for mutually beneficial engagement with stakeholders and achievement of requisite goodwill (Shell, 2011; Olowu, 2011). Through the proactive pursuit of CSR, companies can take responsibility for the impact of their operations and welfare of host societies, as well as stakeholders in general. Though perceived as an outlay that is difficult to recoup, there is evidence of potential reciprocal effect and business sense in CSR investments attributed to its creation of value and enhancement of stakeholder relations (Driver, 2006;). Due to the general lack of infrastructure and development projects provided by respective governments in developing countries, the need for CSR covering broader roles such as poverty alleviation, good governance and development is prominent. Multinational corporations such as Shell come under heightened expectations to fill in the gap providing the requisite development (Wheeler et al., 2010). The initiatives undertaken by Shell towards CSR are explored. Critics bemoan this reality in the expectation for intervention by such business entities on matters outside their primary objective. They posit that this demand influences and affects the conduct of business in the increasingly competitive business environment posing a challenge to strategists in the choice between meeting business objectives and shareholder satisfaction on the one hand, and the needs of the wider stakeholder base on the other (Frynas, 2005). This further complicates the development of corporate strategy given the need to focus on a number of extraneous issues often with private entities arrogating themselves duties that ought to be performed by the state or local councils. Such realities hinder the effectiveness of CSR initiatives and particularly its contribution to the company’s corporate strategy. CSR initiatives of Shell Nigeria are thus evaluated in the following section. CSR initiatives of Shell Nigeria Numerous activities that Shell engages in its pursuit of social responsibility are herein evaluated to assess their effectiveness and therefore contribution to the company’s corporate strategy. Initiatives undertaken by Shell Nigeria in its CSR pursuit cover external aspects such as environmental protection, community relations and human rights, as well as internal aspects such as principles and codes of practice, product stewardship, stakeholder and employee rights, and transparency (Shell, 2011; Idemudia, 2009). Shell Nigeria and the entire Group takes up an active leadership role in the development of codes of conduct and practice governing workplaces and their engagement with facets of society (Royal Dutch Shell, 2012b; UN, 2011). The company has also supported development through programs in education, health, construction, commerce, agriculture, transport, etc. benefiting local communities (Olowu, 2011). Additionally, the company alongside others in the oil industry command leadership in programs promoting CSR internationally on various fronts. This has been facilitated by Shell’s new and sophisticated approach they refer to as Community Development (CD), offering a paradigm shift to environmental responsibility, social welfare, human rights, and political responsibility, among other issues of CSR (UN, 2011). This approach entails greater stakeholder engagement bringing together many entities including NGOs, state and local governments, and community leaders in identifying and implementing projects, ensuring increased local ownership, transparency and accountability (Idemudia, 2009). Numerous projects have been successfully undertaken through this approach over the years especially benefiting areas in which the company’s infrastructure is located and/or flow lines traverse (Royal Dutch Shell, 2012b; Olowu, 2011). Goodwill generated from such â€Å"investments† in CSR has ensured integrity of assets that were hitherto under threat which is fundamental to successful operations. Various initiatives undertaken such as the community Health Insurance Schemes, enterprise development schemes, water supply and electricity supply, among others offer worthwhile lessons through which the success can be replicated elsewhere (UN, 2011; Idemudia, 2009). This way, the company has benefited from consistency afforded enabling it to meet tight lead times and to better align supply and demand through greater efficiency. Success of development initiatives has enhanced well-being and economic empowerment of communities thereby reducing dependency for regional development which had burdened the company (Shell, 2011; Emesh, 2009). Additionally, initiatives undertaken in partnership with numerous players aimed at enhancement of the conservation of biodiversity through the minimization of the negative impact of activities have enabled reduction of environmental impact due to gas flaring and oil spills. The diversification into the production of natural gas has benefited the company significantly, becoming a worthwhile revenue stream (Royal Dutch Shell, 2012a). Through a variety of indices assessing social and environmental performance of entities such as Shell, its CSR initiatives have earned it recognition globally as a leader in responsibility and a CSR champion. These indices include: the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)- 2010; Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DSI)- 2010; Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index – 2011, the FTSE4Good and Goldman Sachs Sustain ESG (environmental, social and governance) – 2010 (UN, 2011; Shell, 2011; OPEC, 2011). Good ratings attained in these indices are evidence of the impact that it has had in its CSR pursuit. The recognition has been beneficial in shoring the company’s reputation across the globe enhancing its corporate value and standing of its brand. However, oil multinationals (including Shell) remain at variance with local communities regarding the success and effectiveness of these CSR initiatives with the latter still not content. This represents the major challenge with CSR pursuits, particularly in cases such as this where expectations are quite high (Frynas, 2005). The actual success of Shell Nigeria’s CSR is evaluated to assess its contribution to its corporate strategy and bottom line. Contribution of CSR to Shell Nigeria’s corporate strategy Corporate strategy focuses on the organization’s overall scope with an aim to sustain growth and to achieve strategic positioning. The maximization of profits and minimization of costs is a primary goal of any business venture. This not only necessitates continuous improvement along the supply chain towards the enhancement of efficiency and effectiveness, but also entails an important aspect in the modern competitive business environment, value creation (Werbach, 2009; Kazem and Richard, 2008). Competitive advantage entails the capability a business to provide superior products, services, or value differentiating itself from its competitors. Price/cost advantage, delivery, quality and flexibility are identified as among the components of the value advantage which enhance competitive capability. To be able to sustain its competitive advantage, a company or organization has to exploit such available capabilities which are as important as resources such as physical assets, financial resources, and human resources (Werbach, 2009). However, the oil industry is characterized by minimal capacity for value addition to products and services, exploitation of a price advantage, or physical resource capabilities (Wheeler et al., 2010). It is therefore crucial for players in the industry to focus on value advantage deriving from delivery efficiency, quality, flexibility, as well as intangible aspects such as corporate value and reputation. The pursuit of corporate value and goodwill thr ough CSR is therefore crucial for an entity to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage given the intense competition and capabilities (Fombrun, 2001). According to Sachs et al., (2009) and Driver (2006), the CSR idea†¦ â€Å"ties up with the drive for sustainability which is to develop solutions for business in such a way as to meet the requirements of the current generation without compromising the ability to provide the needs of future generations in bounty and diversity.† This is the basis for Shell’s renewed and revitalised pursuit of CSR which has enabled it to assume leadership on the responsibility front, a model for corporate citizenship (Shell, 2011). Despite the challenge in defining actual benefit and achievement in sustainability initiatives, the pursuit of CSR has granted Shell an important edge in the intensely competitive environment, enhancing the company’s corporate value. Corporations invest in CSR motivated by the view on business ethics which holds that shareholders and stakeholders desire a financially stable and responsible corporation adhering to values of ethical conduct and environmental sustainability. A worthwhile brand image and reputation is thus central to strategy (Sachs et al., 2009; Haigh and Jones, 2006). This is the primary thesis of this report and which is shown to guide Shell Nigeria’s corporate strategy, as well as that of the entire Group. Benefiting from reduced civil tension, as well as oil theft and sabotage, Shell has, in recent years, managed to increase production from new ventures such as offshore deep water explorations, as well as enhanced supply chain efficiencies – achieving increases in production averaging 31% year-on-year. Diversification into Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) production has enabled the company to enhance its revenue and to develop a new market (both locally and for export). Its economic potential has generated incentive and economic impetus to enhance the capture of natural gas associated with oil reserves that would otherwise be flared (Royal Dutch Shell, 2012a; Shell, 2011; Fombrun, 2001). Reduced flaring and the clean-up of oil spills have had a positive effect on the company’s risk and reputation management warding off potential lawsuits and liabilities (Shell, 2011; Dyer and Chu, 2003). Turbulence in the political and social environment and the resultant uncertainty in supply and demand, as well as concerns over bad repute negatively affect investor decisions and therefore share prices (Fombrun, 2008). A firm that wishes to attain success in the modern business environment must keenly assess these fundamental flags and their associated costs , as well as future value or potential which significantly influence investor decisions. These may influence the company’s access to capital and to new markets and cannot be ignored (Sachs et al., 2009; Dyer and Chu, 2003). These factors can be adequately addressed through the focus on enhancement of goodwill and efficiency through social responsibility pursuits. It is evident therefore that Shell’s CSR initiatives have contributed significantly to the company’s corporate strategy enhancing its capacity to sustain its operations and to thrive despite the challenges in the extractive sector and developing countries hosting it. Conclusion Through the pursuit of CSR, oil multinationals such as Shell can gain valuable goodwill enabling success of their operations and the enhancement of their overall image and perception as a corporate citizen both locally and internationally. Shell Nigeria’s proactive community development initiatives have in the most part significantly reduced conflict resultant from discontent and grievance of local communities and global concern impacting the corporate reputation of the entire Group internationally. Reductions in civil tensions, oil theft and sabotage have enabled increased production and new ventures and as well, the venture into the capture of associated natural gas has seen the company diversify into new revenue streams and markets of LNG. These benefits as well as the bolstering investor confidence due to this revitalization are evidence of the contribution of CSR to Shell Nigeria’s corporate strategy. Bibliography Bourne, L., 2009. Stakeholder Relationship Management. CA, USA: Gower.. Boyd, E., Spekman, R., Kamauff, J., and Werhane, P., 2007. â€Å"Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chains: A Procedural Justice Perspective.† In: Long Range Planning, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 341-356. Driver, M., 2006. ‘Beyond the Stalemate of Economics versus Ethics: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Discourse of the Organizational Self.’ Journal of Business Ethics, 66: 337–56. Dyer, J., and Chu, W., 2003. â€Å"The role of trustworthiness in reducing transaction costs and improving performance: Empirical evidence from the United States, Japan and Korea.† Organization Science 14 (1), 57–68. Emesh, E., 2009. â€Å"Social Responsibility in Practice in the Oil Producing Niger Delta: Assessing Corporations and Government’s Actions.† Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, Vol. 11, No.2, pp.113-125. Fombrun, J., 2008. Corporate reputations as economic asset. In: Freeman, E., Harrison, J. S., (Eds.). The Blackwell handbook of strategic management. Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 289–312. Frynas, J., 2005. â€Å"The False Developmental Promise of Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Multinational Oil Companies.† International Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 3, pp. 581-598. Haigh, M., and Jones, M., 2006. â€Å"The Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Critical Review.† The Business Review, Cambridge, 5(2): 245–51. Idemudia, U., 2009. â€Å"Oil Extraction and Poverty Reduction in the Niger Delta: A Critical Examination of Partnership Initiatives.† Journal of Business Ethics: Supplement 90: 91. ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Kazem, C., and Richard, L., 2008. Sustainable competitive advantage: towards a dynamic resource-based strategy. East London Business School, University of East London, UK Olowu, D., 2011. â€Å"From Defiance to Engagement: An Evaluation of Shell’s Approach to Conflict Resolution in the Niger Delta.† African Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 10, Nr.3, pp. 75-100. OPEC, 2011. Nigeria facts and figures Viewed on 8/7/2014 from: http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/167.htm Royal Dutch Shell Public Limited Company, 2012a. Shell Petroleum Development and Exploration Company report: â€Å"Environmental Performance: Oil Spills. Shell Nigeria, Shell Petroleum Development Company.† Viewed on 3/7/2014 from www.shellreport.com Royal Dutch Shell Public Limited Company, 2012b. Shell Petroleum Development Company, Shell Nigeria report: â€Å"Improving Lives in the Niger Delta.† Viewed on 3/7/2014 from www.shellnigeria.com Sachs, S., E. Ruhli and I., Kern, 2009. Sustainable Success with Stakeholders. Palgrave Macmillan Shell, 2011. â€Å"Sustainability Report: Royal Dutch Shell Sustainability Report 2010.† In: Royal Dutch Shell Sustainability Report, pp. 1-37. Viewed on 6/7/2013 from: http://sustainabilityreport.shell.com/2010/servicepages/previous.html UN, 2011. Supply chain sustainability. United Nations global compact. Viewed from: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/supply_chain/index.html Werbach, A., 2009. Strategy for sustainability: a business manifesto. Adam Werbach. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Press Wheeler, D., H., Fabig, and R., Boele, 2010. â€Å"Paradoxes and Dilemmas for Stakeholder Responsive Firms in the Extractive Sector: Lessons from the Case of Shell and the Ogoni.† In: Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 39, pp. 297-318.

Innovative Hr Practices by Organisation Across Different Sectors

Innovative HR Practices by Organisation across Different Sectors Introduction Companies are taking up people-related initiatives as there is a need to manage human resources advantageously, so as not to lose the competitive edge in talent that they have built. In managing their human resources, companies have time and again focused on values, invested in personnel, emphasized on meritocracy and consequently attaining excellence in HR processes. Innovative Practices of Recruitment and Selection * Second career Internship Program: Tata SCIP was launched in March 2008 on International Women’s Day . It is a career transition management programme for women professionals who have taken a break of 1-8 years for any reason, and wish to re-enter the professional space. * Holding on to the employees Quatrro BPO Solutions has nurtured a concept of keeping in touch with high performers who leave the concern and hone in them, whenever they want to come back. * Making use of pre hiring Process: Genpact, the BPO pioneer, uses a pre-hiring process to aid in arresting attrition. The organisation brings people before they join, and have them look at the workplace. If the people choose to join, that reduces potential attrition. * Checking the Profile on Social Networking Sites: Organisations are pursing the candidate’s profile on sites such as Face book and LinkedIn. Once a candidate applies, his social behavior is traced. The persons social Skills decide if he fits the job. This practice has also started in India. Innovative practices of Reward and Recognition In today’s competitive world, rewards and recognition plays an important role in motivating and retaining employees. Rewards and recognition is an important part in every HR plan these days. Rewarding the high performing and motivating others to become such is becoming mandatory in IT & BPO industry. 1. Giving Store Vouchers like Shoppers stop, life style etc. 2. Giving cash prizes. 3. Giving articles (wide range of durables as per the level of performance). 4. Organizing holiday trips. 5. Article Gifting Innovative Practices of Motivation Giving Freebies Every weekend, people working at Coco-Cola India’s Gurgan Head quarters received for liters of company beverages free in a program called weekend funda * Providing Dependent Insurance The biggest employee benefit, HSBC provided to its employees was 100% hospitalization benefit for employees Spouse and children. * Offering Stock Options iGate is among a few firms, that has continued to offer stock options to its employe es. There are longterm investment measures for weeding, families, even retirement. Making use of Music Raymond Limited Hosted Music events to its employees. Dream Circle is a group of people with different skill set who play percussion instrument in freestyle but produce a harmonized rhythm in the end. * Treating as Guest: At Marriot Hotels India, The employee usually join the hotel in the batches. The hotel grates six off days every month, something uncommon for the hotel industry and there is also excellent system of compensatory off, * Launching Employee Assistance Program HSBC initiated the Employee Assistant Program(EAP) to assist in coping with trauma and stress post 26/11. Innovative Practices of cost Cutting * Offering Sabbatiacal Package * Offering VRS * Compulsory Leaves Innovative Practices of Traning * Providing Classroom Curriculam * Empowering Young Executives * Encouraging a culture of Innovation * Watching Film Conclusion To conclude, it can be said that those companies that have invested considerable time and resource in building a solid human capital management foundation are better positioned to weather the strom.

Natural Health Beauty Tips

With the many beauty products available in the market, it is often difficult to decide which one is the best for us; however, these products are quite expensive and take a lot of effort and time to apply each day. The best way to be beautiful is the natural way; drink at least 8 glasses of water everyday, it hydrates our body and our skin. Eat green leafy vegetables that are rich in antioxidants to help you achieve that glowing skin.Always drink two glasses of milk everyday, it has the calcium and vitamins that gives your hair and nails that extra shine and gives you energy throughout the day, as well as help in maintaining your weight.Sleep at least 8 hours a day, when we sleep, our bodies renew itself and no matter how beautiful we are, lack of sleep makes us look old and fatigued. Do not drink too much alcohol and do not smoke, these two vices hastens our bodies aging and can dry up the skin. Steps to a Pedicure Tired of going to the parlor and paying for expensive pedicures? Here are simple steps to get that clean and healthy looking nails. First, prepare everything you need, nail brush, nail file, nail cutter, nail buffer and a wooden tip and cuticle softening solution.Lather your nails with softening solution and gently push the cuticles back. Do not cut them; this is best left to the experts. Then brush each nail paying attention to the sides and the base of the nail. Rinse with water and then dry each nail with a towel. Cut your nails according to your preference and then file the tips to smoothen the edges. Finally, buff each nail with the buffer to give it that healthy looking shine. Beat dry skin the Natural Way Dry skin is embarrassing and painful; do you want to know how to make your skin supple and soft to the touch the natural way?Follow these steps and you will see results almost immediately. First stay away from extreme temperatures, too hot and too cold whether it be at home, under the sun, or when taking a shower. Then make sure that you appl y petroleum jelly to the driest part of the skin or those that have cracked especially the heels, do this daily. Now to give that extra boost to your skin, after a shower, put on body oil all over your skin paying attention to the elbows and knees, then wear a cotton sweater and pajama and socks to lock in the moisture and sleep in it overnight. In the morning your skin will feel soft to the touch.As always, drink vitamin c, drink plenty of water and get your beauty sleep. 5 Tips for Radiant Skin Moisturize your skin by using an intensive body lotion, apply it right after taking a shower when your skin is still wet and dewy, this will lock more moisture in. Use a powerful sunblock whenever you are going outdoors and stay away from the sun between 10 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon. Drink vitamin E, it nourishes your skin from the inside. Get a body scrub once a week to revitalize and rejuvenate your skin cells, and never use harsh and very fragrant soaps as these can irritate y our skin, making it dull and dry.Tips for Perfect Lips Everyone wants to have the Angelina Jolie lips and keeping your lips plump and pink with health is easy. First exfoliate your lips, get a soft toothbrush and dip it in cold water, then gently rub it on your lips. Then pat your lips dry and apply a generous amount of lip balm, use you fingers as it is absorbed more by your lips. Then line your lips with a lip liner that is a lighter shade than your lipstick, this would keep your lipstick from bleeding. Apply your lipstick with a lip brush starting from the center to the sides.Then for long lasting lipsticks, dab a little powder on your lips and apply a lighter coat of lipstick and top it off with a lip shiner. Tips to look Younger The secret to looking younger is to laugh and have a positive disposition. If you are happy, and do not worry so much about the difficulties of life, then you surely would look younger than your age. Learn how to manage your stress, use it to motivate y ou to work on the things that you can and graciously accept the things you cannot. If you have graying hairs, color your hair, you don’t have to be stuck with the same color for the rest of your life, experiment and have fun.Regularly have your physical check-up, in that way you know what is going on with your body and any illness can speed up the aging process. Don’t believe older people when they say they can’t wear something because it’s not for their age. Be adventurous, wear something that hides your age and make you feel younger. Take care of your skin and stay away from unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking too much alcohol. Remove dark circles under eyes Dark circles under the eyes can be bothersome and indicates lack of sleep and tiredness.To remove dark circles, get an ice cube and on a freshly washed face dab the ice cubes on the dark circles, this will instantly increase the blood circulation. You can also get an eye cream and massage it in the dark circles working your way from the inside to the outside. Another way would be to get two tea bags and place it in the refrigerator until cold to the touch. Close your eyes and place it on the dark circle for 30 minutes, at the same time get that much needed sleep. Or if everything else fails, you can put on a concealer and apply it on the dark circles then cover it with foundation and apply makeup. Fade those FrecklesFreckles often occur when the skin is exposed to too much sunlight, unfortunately once freckles appear it is very difficult to completely erase it. One can however at least make the freckles fade and can be masked with makeup to get that flawless skin. Use a whitening soap, and pay attention to the freckles whenever taking a bath. Then slather on whitening lotion and apply a generous amount of sun block in the affected areas. Refrain from wearing shirts or dresses that would expose the freckles to the sun. Finally, stay away from direct sunlight and have a p rotective covering whenever going outside may it be an umbrella, a coat or a hat.Look after your Pores Large pores are unsightly and are more prone to acne and pimples. To care for your pores always use lukewarm water when washing your face as it opens the pores and releases the dirt lodged in it. Use cold water as a final rinse when washing the face as it closes the pores and hence dust and impurities would have difficulty getting into the pores. When you have blackheads and or pimples, do not attempt to pinch it to get the dirt out, instead wait until the pores itself releases the black head and then dab an ice cube on the affected part to zap the pore.Do not use too harsh and scented facial scrubs as well as use it only twice a week not everyday as it can make the pores look dull and larger. Makeup tips for eyes lips and face When applying make up, less is more. Start with a concealer for those unsightly zits, pores, or dark circles. Then use a foundation that is the same skin co lor as you are. Apply it is wet sponge using upward strokes; you can also use the gel type and apply it with your fingers blending it in with the concealer. Then work on the eyes, apply eye liner to the eye lids, a darker line are more dramatic, a lighter line is more casual and laid back.Apply eye shadow on the folds of the eyes, using two colors, the darker one is applied on the base of the fold and the lighter one on top, make sure to blend it and use color that would accentuate the eyes and compliment her over-all look. Then apply blush on to the cheeks using upward motion to put color on the cheeks, blend it in with the foundation so that the make up will be seamless. Then apply lip liner and lipstick, the shade should tie up the desired over-all look. For a pouty lip, apply lipstick from the center to the sides, add a lip shiner to enhance the lip color.

Sexuality and Breast Cancer Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

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Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 380

Assignment Example The thesis has been supported with examples of policies that have been implemented by the government. For example, the government has restricted insurance companies from charging premium prices to the obese people and this is not motivating people to eat healthy. The author is trying to argue against government’s present steps to fight obesity, but the article fails to persuade me because it lacks factual information and only focuses on providing emotional and opinion based information. The article titled as â€Å"Escape From The Western Diet† was authored by Michael Pollan and in this article the author argues that the Western Diet is the main cause of obesity and people should start eating the same way their ancestors used to. The author argues that the causes of obesity that have been identified by researchers are not real and are motivated by personal gains. The thesis of the article is that the western diet is the main cause of obesity and not the individual ingredients in the western diet (Graff 421). The author does not explicitly state the thesis and instead develops it over time. The author is trying to persuade the readers that it is time to change their diet plans and instead of eating a western diet, citizens of US should move back to eating what the ancestors used to consume. In order to pursued the readers, the author has quite well used the ethical appeals of ethos and pathos but the article lacks logos which includes factual information and thus the article lacks

Organisational Behaivior Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Organisational Behaivior - Assignment Example However, all this changed after 2002, as Luxborough Chiltern increased in size and acquired more employees and projects. The lack of documentation suggests that no formal change management process was implemented and changes made were reactionary and not enacted with the participation of those undertaking tasks. The effects of the absence of a change management programme led to the gradual attrition of skilled labour for a variety of reasons. Certain policies were discontinued without prior consultation or regard to the employees it may affect. Actions such as these, had the effect of invalidating the organisational motto of "Transparency and Fairness for All" as the emphasis was placed on a certain category of employees. This pattern was followed in the reward system with bonuses which excluded a significant portion of the workforce. No consultation were held with regards to salary review, and as a result highly skilled employees have left the organisation as they believe their contribution and qualifications are not adequately recognised and rewarded. Immense pressure was being placed on meeting targets, and this pressure made it difficult for employees to be flexible and meet other commitments for fear of disappointing their respective teams. The list is endless; however the main underlying theme with the problems facing Luxborough Chiltern is that of a lack of communication between the managerial levels and the operational levels. Too many assumptions and judgements are being made which are having an adverse impact on the quantity and quality of the work produced. This lack of communication has been responsible for the resistance to change in this organisation, which has manifested as poor retention rates. If this is not addressed with urgency, Luxborough Chiltern will face a decline as it loses its value - which is its workforce. The recommendations for this situation have to start at the basic level, which is the 8 step change management model, which will form the basis for other additional programmes to rectify this situation. The onus is on the management of Luxborough Chiltern to acknowledge their contribution to this problem, and to recognise that the solutions lie in listening to and involving their workforce. Introduction Following Luxborough Chiltern's (LC) successful amalgamation of several organisations, the organisation has become one of the largest planning consultancies in the country. LC has grown from being a medium sized employer to being one that employs several hundred people. However, it as been an observation that this growth is having a negative effect on LCs retention rate, which is a cause for concern. If our retention rate continues on this downward spiral, this organisation could face serious threats to its reputation, as it would have lost its most valuable resource and the knowledge and expertise entwined within its employees. The problem with the retention rate has really been highlighted by the situation facing the Scarlett team which is now the smallest team in the organisation, and it is also the team that is experiencing a high rate of resignations. The manager for the Scarlett team is new to the organisation and has different

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES - Essay Example Inflamed by environmental, security, economic and social concerns, regulations on energy have been in a flux. Majority of the changes are exhibiting impact on renewable energy. This cuts across from policies designed explicitly to promote energy sources that are renewable and some policies targeted to influence indirectly renewable energy barriers and incentives (Frass-Ehrfeld, 2009). Renewable energy is provided by the environment. Thus, practitioners should relocate from buildings closed environments to the exterior. This is not a big deal as our natural environment provides the fulfillment and the joy of renewable energy. The renewable energy sources are resupplied continuously by the solar or through tapping resources that are inexhaustible including geothermal power, wind and water among others (â€Å"NREL.U.S. Department of Energy†, 1997). The utilization of renewable energy modern technologies has contributed significantly to pollution reduction. Due to increased consumer demand, renewable energy technology has expanded significantly. For example, renewable energy is always scattered in the environment making it damn expensive and difficult to contain. According to Twidell and Weir (2006), renewable energy wide spread application would act in favor of communities that are dispersed in comparison to concentrated ones. In that case, powering of electricity grids will be based on embedded generation that is small-scaled. Therefore, power flows will move intermittently in divergent directions corresponding to local demand and local generation. As renewable energy is spreading at a faster speed, modern technology and science has a great influence on it. For instance, they have ensured that there is an improvement to the existing technologies. However, it is quite difficult to exactly predict the long-term impacts of the changes. As a matter of fact, renewable energy

Cyberlaw Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Cyberlaw Research - Essay Example From the essay's analysis, it may be seen that new legislation does indeed impact upon individual liberties. In cases such as that of Jose Padilla discussed in the essay, the actions of the Government have been dismissed by the Courts as violative of constitutional rights to freedom. Terrorists now have access to Cyber weapons such as TEDs, RF munitions, TEMPEST monitoring devices and electromagnetic bombs in addition to the uploading of malicious viruses. By hacking into the access codes for control of weapons and missile systems of the United States of America, or locations such as the World Trade Center, terrorists can create havoc – long distance and unidentified. The purpose of a terrorist attack is to generate fear in the mind of the victim. Serious cyber attacks can be conceived and planned without detectable logistic preparation. They can be invisibly reconnoitered, clandestinely rehearsed, and then mounted in a matter of minutes or even seconds without revealing the i dentity and location of the attacker. Through manipulation of cyberspace architecture and increased surveillance in the US today, online activity is being regulated today. The restrictive immigration laws have ensured that the likelihood of a large scale attack is defused. But this cannot be equated to a victory for terrorists. The researcher states that there must be more emphasis on preserving individual liberties but it is not of a magnitude that justifies the conclusion that the terrorists have won the war.

Literature Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Literature Analysis - Assignment Example Hierarchical organizations that need a focused approach for task completion appealed to a leadership style that was more authoritarian in nature where as an organization with the same demographics needing to explore/brainstorm new ideas, required less restriction. Existence of different leadership styles is an indicator of possible differences in effectiveness of the styles in different organizational environments or differences in leader’s traits to facilitate effectiveness of a leadership style. Almansour (2012) sought to investigate relationship between leadership approach and leaders’ effectiveness, with focus on the leaders’ level of motivation. This was based on the hypothesis that leaders’ performance is an indicator of their level of motivation. The author applied an exploratory approach on existing literature on the relationship, approach that offers sufficient data for an in-depth analysis of a subject matter. The research method is however limited to reliability and validity of the applied literature, which may also be difficult to ascertain. The author identifies three leadership styles that are explored. Transformational leadership is the first style, is associated with change and influence, and has fo ur fundamental factors. Idealized influence is one of the factors and defines a mentorship role to followers. The factor also attracts trust and respect on leaders and these empower leaders towards effectiveness, and ensure that followers are obedient to the leader’s directions. Intellectual stimulation is another of the author’s reported factors and defines ability to promote creativity and innovation among followers through improving people’s rationale and ability to solve problems. Transformational leaders are also inspirational, improving followers commitment to objectives, and considerate to ensure utility in both followers and the subject organization. These factors therefore identify

Similarities and differences between The Big Sleep and Casablanca in Essay

Similarities and differences between The Big Sleep and Casablanca in Camera shooting - Essay Example The movie is based upon the novel by Chandler but differs considerably owing to changes in the content in some cases. The camera movements of the two classic movies encompasses the expressionist style along with some unique approach as suitable for a romantic melodrama (Casablanca) on one hand and a thriller (The Big Sleep) on the other. Almost the entire shooting of Casablanca takes place in the Moroccan city of Casablanca and the entire shot was almost held in the studio itself. It is one of the classic movies shot in black and white. The cinematographer Arthur Edison uses the Curtiz style of camera movements or expressionist lighting where the lights and shadow effects are used to create expression. The focus of the camera lies mainly on Bergman enacting the role of Ilsa Lund. The camera angle is mostly placed such that the shots are moved from the left side of her face as per her preference. To enhance the expressions of sadness, tender and nostalgia. This is especially true in the scene where she meets Rick alone. Symbolic shadows are cast on the characters to highlight essence of certain situations. The camera moves across a doorway with the inscription on stone "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" standing for Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, a common saying amongst the French Repupublicans. The Vichy govenrment has not yet replaced it. The cinematography uses the smooth movements of the camera along with this expressionist lighting with the environment serving as the backbone to highlight each moment and interplay of emotions. The establishment of Rick was built in three parts which were separated from one another. Hence the camera was set such that it looked through one of the walls of the cafà © into Rick’s office. Camera is held at close ups where the objects or the individual is significant and indicates something more important than the eye

Foundations in human physiology- structure, function and permeability Assignment

Foundations in human physiology- structure, function and permeability of cells - Assignment Example One or more cells constitute all forms of life. Cells can only develop from pre-existent cells. The smallest form of life is cell. The human cell consists of an outer plasma membrane which encloses the minute organelles dispersed within the cytoplasm. These organelles include endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, mitochondria, ribosome, chromosomes, nucleus, lysosome, vacuoles and centrioles. A typical human cell (Carone, 2001) The outer cell membrane is made up of lipid molecules and provides the passage for interaction of cells with each other. Different kinds of human cells have distinct structures that aid in the functioning of their particular activity, such as the axons of nerve and brain cells which transmit signals out across distances to other cells via neurotransmitters. The neurons are specially adapted to perform this function as the axons are as long as one meter in length and the nerve impulse is transmitted from one neuron to another. The various functions performed by human cells include enzyme production, movement, transmission of electrical impulses and demolishing invaders. Among the various cells constituting the human body five main are: epithelial, nerve or neuron, connective, adipose and muscle cells. The four main selected to be explained in the given text include epithelial cells, neuron, connective and adipose cells (Marieb & Hoehn, 2010). Nerve Cells Nerve cells or neurons are specialized cell often referred as the structural and functional unit of nervous system. A characteristic neuron consists of a cell body known as soma, an axon and dendrites. The thin structures arising from the cell body are dendrites that frequently extend for hundred micrometres and forming multiple branches thus forming a complex called "dendritic tree". An axon on the other hand is a peculiar cellular extension that originates from the axon hillock and travels as far as one meter (Chudler, 2012). A typical Neuron (Chudler, 2012) Synapse is a specialized c onnection of these neurons with other cells that facilitates chemical signal. Neurons communicate by electrical and chemical (via neurotransmitters like GABA, dopamine and glutamate) synapses in a process referred as synaptic transmission. Action potential is the basic process that activates synaptic transmission, a disseminating electrical signal that is produced by tapping the electrically impulsive membrane (the myelin sheath) that encloses the axon of the neuron. This is also known as a wave of depolarization. Neurons are the central part of the nervous system consisting of the spinal cord, the brain and peripheral ganglia. A great number of these specialized neurons exist and are classified on the basis of their function as sensory, motor and inter-neurons. The inter-neurons connect other neurons within the spinal cord or brain while the motor neurons transmit the response generated from brain and spinal cord to the organs. Sensory neurons respond to light, sound, touch, taste and legion other stimuli impacting the epithelial cells of the sensory organs (Levitan & Kaczmarek, 2001). Dorsal root ganglion The sensory neurons cell bodies are settled outside the spinal cord and brain in ganglia or in the sensory organs. Ganglia situated along specific cranial and spinal nerves accommodate the sensory neurons

Policy and Strategy in Global Competition Essay Example for Free

Policy and Strategy in Global Competition Essay Discussion Question 11.1: Why is it important for an organization to have alignment between its strategy and organizational structure? The relationship between an organization’s strategy and structure are extremely important because it â€Å"directly impacts a firm’s performance† (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 309). Also, as an organization grows, it should reevaluate the current strategy and structure to ensure that it remains the optimal choice for the organization (Rothaermel, 2013). The four types of organizational structures, listed in order of least to most complex according to Rothaermel (2013), are: (1) simple, (2) functional, (3) multidivisional, and (4) matrix. The simple structure is for small firms or organizations that are just starting out (Rothaermel, 2013). The decision-making structure is quite flat, as â€Å"the founders tend to make all the important strategic decisions† (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 309). Growth will often cause the higher-ups to feel overwhelmed under this type of structure, requiring the organization to adopt a different, more complex structure (Rothaermel, 2013). A functional structure groups employees into teams, allowing for increased decision-making at lower levels of the managerial chain (Rothaermel, 2013). The opportunity for specialization allows for the functional structure to be employed with each of the business-level strategies: cost leadership, differentiation, or integration (Rothaermel, 2013). One of the hurdles to overcome would be the likely increase in difficulties which arise from departmentalization of the varying teams (Rothaermel, 2013). The best way to overcome such a hurdle is through cross-functional teams (Rothaermel, 2013). Whenever the organization seeks greater diversification, into varying product lines and service offerings, it will likely look into utilizing a multidivisional structure (Rothaermel, 2013). Under this structure, the organization is further compartmentalized  into strategic business units (â€Å"SBUs†) which are governed by their own profit-and-loss (â€Å"PL†) responsibilities (Rothaermel, 2013). At this level, each of the SBUs is viewed as its own independent entity, pursuing its own profit-creating goals (Rothaermel, 2013). While organizations with a corporate-level strategy with a single or dominant business would be best served by a functional structure, organizations seeking related or unrelated diversification would be wise to utilize a multidivisional structure (Rothaermel, 2013). Lastly, the matrix structure is a combination of the functional and multidivisional structures (Rothaermel, 2013). It is most appropriate when an organization needs a structure which allows for both centralized and decentralized decision-making, and can be organized by geographic areas and product divisions (Rothaermel, 2013). While a global strategy does not automatically lend to a matrix structure, a transnational strategy which has the requirements above is better served through a matrix structure (Rothaermel, 2013). Discussion Question 11.3(a): What commonalities across the products would likely be enhanced by flexible cross-functional teams? Gore has product lines which include consumer products like guitar strings and vacuum filters, cables and cable assemblies, electronic and electrochemical materials, fabrics, fibers, filtration products, medical products, pharmaceutical processing, sealants, and venting products (Gore, 2015). Its product lines are used in industries ranging from aerospace and automotive to military and textiles (Gore, 2015). Gore utilizes cross-functional teams to help develop its many products within varying lines (Rothaermel, 2013). Cross-functional teams allow for individuals from differing functional areas within an organization to temporarily come together and work on a particular project (Rothaermel, 2013). These teams would allow for the differing products, though developed for a particular function, to be developed for use in more than one of the organization’s products (Rothaermel, 2013). As an example, the cables developed for aeronautics can likely be used in other electronic or automotive applications if developed by members from the appropriate cross-functional teams. Discussion Question 11.3(b): What would be your expectations of the type of norms found at W. L. Gore? Organizational norms â€Å"define appropriate employee attitudes and behaviors† (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 318). The norms which exist at Gore likely arise from founder imprinting,  which means that Bill Gore, the founder of W. L. Gore Associates, has helped to establish and define the company’s culture (Rothaermel, 2013). The organization’s four core values, stated succinctly, are: (1) fairness, (2) freedom, (3) individual commitment, and (4) consultation and collaboration (Rothaermel, 2013). These values, coupled with the open nature of the organization’s structure, result in organizational norms which encourage the free exchange of ideas and collaboration up and down the organizational ladder (Rothaermel, 2013). Employees, associates as they are called at Gore, likely show great respect to one another and to the customers for whom their products are developed (Rothaermel, 2013). Chapter 12 Discussion Question 12.1: How can a firm lower the chances that key managers will pursue their own self-interest at the expense of the stockholders? At the expense of the employees? Corporate governance tools are utilized to help align the interests of principals and agents, or organizations and employees (Rothaermel, 2013). A board of directors is one such tool which helps to prevent key managers to avoid pursuing their own self-interest at the expense of the stockholders (Rothaermel, 2013). A board of directors is independent, made up of both inside and outside directors, and answers directly to the shareholders (Rothaermel, 2013). Another tool is executive compensation which links compensation to the performance of the company (Rothaermel, 2013). This means that the CEO would receive certain stock options in lieu of pay (Rothaermel, 2013). If the company’s stocks are doing well, likely showing that the company is successfully operating, then the CEO receives greater value in the stock options (Rothaermel, 2013). The concept of the market as a corporate control has the potential to protect both stockholders’ and employees’ interests through a key manager’s fear of being replaced if the company performs poorly (Rothaermel, 2013). If a company is not performing well, then the stock prices will begin to plummet, increasing the opportunity for an entity to purchase enough shares to exert significant control over the company (Rothaermel, 2013). Such control would likely result in the removal of current management, and possibly the dismantling of the organization (Rothaermel, 2013). This clearly injures the management, employees, and shareholders of the failing organization. As  such, managers are motivated by the external market to perform well, thereby protecting the interests of stockholders and employees alike (Rothaermel, 2013). Discussion Question 12.2: Why are these two roles typically separated? Is it a positive development for so many firms to have a combined CEO and board chair? The two roles of management and ownership are typically separated to ensure that the board of directors maintains its necessary independence (Rothaermel, 2013). Where a board of directors is   The decline stage differs from those above, as it introduces four strategic options for firms to pursue: (1) exit, (2) harvest, (3) maintain, and (4) consolidate (Rothaermel, 2013). The exit strategy is precisely as it says: it involves the firm choosing to leave the market to pursue other endeavors (Rothaermel, 2013). The harvest strategy means that the firm will still sell the product or service, but will reduce the level of investment in its maintenance and development (Rothaermel, 2013). The maintain strategy is also exactly what it sounds like: the firm continues offering the product or service at the same level as it has been, despite the declining demand (Rothaermel, 2013). The consolidate strategy involves the purchasing of rivals in an effort to shrink the industry, which provides firms employing this strategy to reach near-monopolistic status (Rothaermel, 2013). References Rothaermel, F. T. (2013). Strategic Management. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Walmart. Our story. Retrieved on January 25, 2015, from http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/

Dextranase Enzyme Production

Dextranase Enzyme Production Dextranase definition and its uses Dextran is a collective name given to a large class of homopolysaccharides composed of D-glucans with contiguous a-1, 6 glycosidic linkages (95%), with minor secondary linkages such as a-1, 2, a-1, 3 and a-1, 4 [74]. It is produced by microorganisms such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Streptococcus sp., Acetobacter capsulatus and Acetobacter viscus [44]. Dextrans are well soluble in water, have low toxicity, and relative inertness. These properties make dextrans effective water-soluble carriers for dyes, indicators, and reactive groups in a wide variety of applications. They are widely used in the pharmaceutical and biochemical fields. Dextrans of low molecular weight are used as an alternative to blood plasma. They are also used for clinical purposes such as drug delivery [82], and by cross-linking for the production of the chromatographic matrix Sephadex. They are also widely used as both anterograde and retrograde tracers in neurons [94]. On the other hand microbial synthesis of de xtrans in damaged cane and beets or other products containing sucrose is a serious problem in sugar and food industry. Dextran is also a structural component of dental plaque which causes the development of dental caries [78], [85]. Dextranases are enzymes that cleave the a-1,6 glycosidic linkages of dextran to yield either glucose or isomaltose (exodextranases) or isomalto-oligosaccharides (endodextranases), and are only produced as extracellular enzymes by a small number of bacteria and fungi, including yeasts and perhaps some higher eukaryotes [44]. Enzymes in many groups can be classified as dextranases according to function: dextranhydrolases, glucodextranases, exoisomaltohydrolases, exoisomaltotriohydrases, and branched-dextran exo-1,2-alpha glucosidases. In particular the chemical reaction catalyzed is as follows: (1,4-alpha-D-glucosyl)n + (1,4-alpha-D-glucosyl)m à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬  (1,4-alpha-D-glucosyl)n-1 + (1,6-alpha-D-glucosyl)m + 1 These enzymes belong to the family of glycosyltransferases, specifically the exosyltransferases. The systematic name of this enzyme class is: 1,4-alpha-D-glucan: 1,6-alphaD-glucan 6 alpha-d-glucosyltransferase. Other commonly used names include dextrin 6-glucosyltransferase and dextrin dextranase. Many microorganisms are known to produce dextranase, including filamentous fungi belonging to the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus, Spicaria, Fusarium and Chaetomium, bacteria, e.g. Lactobacillus, Cellvibrio, Flavobacterium etc. The only yeasts reported to produce dextranases are members of the family Lipomycetaceae. Only Lipomyces kononenkoae [104] and Lipomyces starkeyi dextranases have been characterized [47]. Potential commercial uses of dextranases include: The synthesis of potentially valuable oligosaccharides [30] Potential mouthwash ingredients since isomaltose may be of significant importance for the prevention of dental caries [40], [41] Clearance of dextran contamination in cane sugar processing [25] Dual-stimuli-responsive drug release as in biodegradable polymer-structured hydrogels of gelatin and dextran [55]. Hydrogels are used for a wide range of biomaterials applications such as: contact lenses, drug delivery vehicles and tissue adhesives. Dextrans are polymers that mimic biological sugars found on tissue surfaces. The dextran hydrogel system with tunable mechanical and biochemical properties appears promising for applications in cell culture and tissue engineering [58] Drug delivery device suitable for delivering drug to the colon [7], [8]. Brondsted et al. studied the application glutaraldehyde dextran as a capsule material for colon-specific drug delivery. The dextran capsules were challenged with a dextranase solution, simulating the arrival of the drug delivery to the colon, so they broke and the drug was released as a dose pump. The outcome highlights the dextran capsules as promising candidates for providing a colon-specific drug delivery Also in site-specific drug delivery systems with the use of antibodies [69] The improvement of brewing yeast strain for beer industry. Due to the rising demand for low-calorie beverages, including beer, recombinant strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been produced by integrating LSD1 gene of Lipomyces starkeyi [101]. S. cerevisiae lacks the ability to produce extracellular depolymerising enzymes that can efficiently liberate fermentable sugar from abundant, polysaccharide rich substrates [75]. By introducing the gene mentioned above, adding an exogenous enzyme during beer fermentation to achieve starch hydrolysis and oligosaccharide reduction can be avoided Carbohydrase activity produced can also be exploited in sensitive chromogenic bioassays for toxicity: a mycotoxin bioassay using the intracellular ÃŽÂ ²-galactosidase activity of Kluyveromyces marxianus has been developed [20] Classification of dextranase based on amino acid sequence Dextranases are dextran-degrading enzymes that form a diverse group of carbohydrases and transferases. The more recent classification divides dextranases into two classes: endodextranases (a-1,6-glucan-6-glucnohydrolase; also referred to as dextranase) and exodextranases ( glucan-1,6-ÃŽÂ ±-glycosidase; also referred to as dextran glucosidases). The Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUB-MB) provides a system of classification depending on the type of reaction catalyzed and product specificity (Table 1). Contrary to that system, the Carbohydrate Active Enzymes (CAZy) database describes the families on terms of structural and mechanical features of these enzymes; enzymes with different substrate specificities are placed in the same family and those that hydrolyze the same substrate are sometimes placed in different families. In another classification system, Henrissat and Bairoch [33] have divided glucosylhydrolases and glycosylt ransferases into five families on the basis of the similarities in the amino acid sequences (Table 2). Table 1: The IUB-MB classification system EC3.2.1.11 Dextranases EC3.2.1.70 Glucan-1,6-glucosidases EC3.2.1.94 Glucan-1,6-isomaltosidases EC3.2.1.95 Dextran-1,6-isomaltotriosidases EC3.2.1.115 Branched-dextran exo-1,2-glucosidases Table 2: Classification of dextran hydrolysing enzymes, based on amino acid sequences. Dextran-glucosidases Families 13 15 Isomaltodextranase Family 27 Isomaltotriosidase Family 49 Endodextranases Families 49 66 (no sequence similarities between the two families) Aoki and Sakano (1997) came up with 4 families [2]. They isolated and sequenced the isopullunase gene (ipuA) from Aspergillus niger ATCC 9642. The gene shows significant amino acid similarity to the dextranase produced by Penicillium minioluteum (PEMDEX) and Arthrobacter sp. (ARTDEX). Since ASNIPU shows great similarity to PEMDEX and ARTDEX, they can be classified as Family 1. In the same fashion, the researchers compared the amino acid sequences of dextranases and dextran-hydrolising enzymes, including ASNIPU. Lipomyces species and Lipomyces starkeyi Lipomyces starkeyi and Lipomyces kononenkoae belong to the Lipomycetaceae family and are the only yeasts reported to produce dextranases. The first Lipomyces species was identified by Robert Starkeyi in 1946 during a study of nitrogen-fixing bacteria: it was then that he discovered L. starkeyi, a fat-producing, ascosporogenous soil yeast. The family Lipomycetaceae was proposed later, in 1952 by Lodder and Kreger von Rij. Lipomyces species can utilize starch as a sole source of carbon. Both species contain highly efficient amylolytic systems, permitting growth on starch with very high biomass yields [97]. The family Lipomycetaceae is known to utilize certain heterocyclic compounds, such as imidazole, pyrimidine, and pyrazine and their derivatives, as sole nitrogen sources [92]. Information on the genome organization and molecular genetics of this group of yeasts is very limited. The ascosporogenous soil yeast L. starkeyi has been reported to produce commercially useful extracellular dextranase activity [97], [52], [53], and it can utilize a variety of other compounds, like hexoses, pentoses, alcohols and organic acids, as sole sources of carbon and energy [46]. The strains of L. starkeyi currently used are NCYC 1436, IGC 4047, ATCC 12659 and its de-repressed mutant ATCC 20825. L. starkeyi dextranases Commercial use of dextranase began in 1940s, mainly by producing low-molecular-weight clinical dextran. Therefore, industrially practical mixed culture fermentation of L. starkeyi and Leuconostoc mesenteroides was capable of producing controlled-size dextrans in order to satisfy clinical use, in which dextranase produced by L. starkeyi hydrolyzed the high molecular weight dextran produced by L. mesenteroides to a controlled size [46]. The enzyme production system of L. starkeyi needs an inducer. Dextran is its normal inducer but it is a relatively expensive carbon source for large-scale fermentations. Also, L. starkeyi is reported to have slow growth and difficulty of avoiding contamination from other microorganisms during growth. With that in mind D. W. Koenig and D. F. Day (1989) undertook to establish conditions which would minimize the cost of the inducer for producing an enzyme by using a de-repressed mutant of L. starkeyi ATCC 12659 grown on glucose. Thus the mutant ATCC 20825 is capable of hyperproducing dextranase at low pH to provide biologically contaminant-free supernatant liquid containing dextranase. Lipomyces starkeyi (IGC 4047), when grown on dextran as a sole carbon source produced a dextranase able to hydrolyse blue dextran and Sephadex G-100. The molecular weight was 23kDa and the isoelectric point was 5.4 [97]. The dextranase of L. starkeyi (ATCC 20825) studied by Koening and Day (1988, 1989a, 1989b) was analysed by SDS-PAGE and produced four bands, of molecular weights 65 kDa, 68 kDa, 71 kDa, and 78 kDa. Millson and Evans (2007) have isolated extracellular dextranase of L. starkeyi NCYC 1436 and have found that for their strain the enzyme occurs as three molecular weight species and seven isoelectric forms [68]. L. starkeyi nutrients (YPDex / YPD) The main ingredient in the chosen media is yeast extract. Yeast extract is a dried autolysate which facilitates rapid and luxuriant growth when used in various media or fermentation broth. It is a good source of amino-nitrogen and vitamins, especially the water-soluble B-complex vitamins. However, yeast extract is reported to enhance glucose metabolism to lipids, but inhibit lipolysis [18]. The metabolic pathway consists of converting glycerol into pyruvate or glucose and then hydrolysis by a phosphatase gives glycerol again. The disruption of this metabolic pathway, could account for the seemingly truncated numerous bands that SDS gives after prolonged storage of the yeast. Mycological peptone is incorporated in the media and discourages bacterial growth because of its acidity. Environment that dextranases favour Dextranase activity is affected by temperature, pH, metal ions and nutrients. According to Lin Chen et al (2007), dextranase activity is optimized between temperatures of 10oC and 60oC at pH of 6.0 [12]. In the particular study, the effect of pH on enzyme activity was determined by varying the pH between 3.5 and 8.5 under the temperature of 30oC. The pH of 3.4-4.5, 5.0-7.5, and 8.0-8.5 were maintained by sodium acetate buffer (20mM), citrate and phosphate buffer (20mM) and sodium phosphate buffer (20mM) respectively. The effects of metal ions (AlCl3, CaCl 2, CoCl2, CuSO4, FeCl3, KCl, MgCl2, NaCl, NiSO4, MnCl2 and ZnCl2) and SDS on dextranase activity were assayed by incubation of dextranase with 1mM metal ions or 1 mM SDS at pH 4.5 for 3h at 37oC, and then the enzyme activity of dextranase was determined. Ravi Kiran Purama and Arun Goyal (2008) in a study for optimization of nutritional factors, estimated dextransucrase activity in the cell free extract of Leuconostoc mesenteroides. They analysed the regression coefficients and t-values of six ingredients: yeast extract, sucrose, intercept, K2HPO4, beef extract, peptone and Tween 80. Yeast extract, sucrose, beef extract, and K2HPO4 displayed a positive effect for enzyme production whereas, peptone and Tween 80 had a negative effect on enzyme production. The variables with confidence levels greater than 90% were considered as significant. Sucrose was significant at 99.99% confidence levels for dextransucrase production. K2HPO4 and yeast extract were found significant about 94% level for dextransucrase production. Beef extract was significant 91% for dextransucrase production. Peptone and Tween 80 were found insignificant with negative coeffficients for enzyme activities. Methods used for enzyme activity measurement Enzymatic activity is measured with the help of laboratory methods called enzyme assays. All enzyme assays measure either the consumption or production of product over time. Enzyme assays can be split into two groups according to their sampling method: continuous assays, where the assay gives a continuous reading of activity, and discontinuous assays, where samples are taken, the reaction stopped and then the concentration of substrates/products determined [11], [20]. Continuous assays: Spectrophotometry in which you follow the course of the reaction by measuring a change in how much light the assay solution absorbs Fluorimetric assay in which we make use of the difference in the fluorescence of substrate from product to measure enzyme reaction. These assays are in general much more sensitive than spectrophotometric assays, but can suffer from interference caused by impurities and the instability of many fluorescent compounds when exposed to light Calorimetric assay in which the heat released or absorbed by chemical reactions is measured Chemiluminescence in which the light emitted by some enzyme reactions is measured so as to detect product formation. The detection of horseradish peroxidase by ECL is a common method of detecting antibodies in western blotting Discontinuous assays: Radiometry in which the incorporation of radioactivity in substrates is measured Chromatographic assays measuring product formation by separating the reaction mixture into its components. This is usually done by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), but thin layer chromatography can also be used. Although this approach needs a lot of consumables its sensitivity can be increased by labelling the substrates/products with a radioactive or fluorescent tag Methods and assays for dextranase activity measurement The large variability of available substrates makes it difficult to estimate the enzyme activity, because the reaction product is often an undefined mixture of sugar polymers. The existing assays try to compromise convenience, speed and accuracy [44] Viscosimetric analysis was among the first to be used [31], [35], [36]. This method measured the amount of enzyme which reduced the specific viscosity of the dextran solution by half in 10min. and it is more suitable when dextranase hydrolyses the dextran molecule at random, producing long oligosaccharides. Reducing-sugar assay or saccharogenic methods measure the rate of increase in reducing sugar as measured with the Somogyi assay, the 3,5-dinitrosalicylicacid method (DNS) [102], thiourea borax-modified O-toluidine colour reagent (35) and alkaline potassium ferricyanide solution (225). These methods test the presence of free carbonyl group (C=O). It is a simple method commonly used to analyze for reducing sugars produced from enzymatic hydrolysis of substrates such as starch and sucrose [67].The most common substrates applied are Dextran T2000,47 T-260,3 and T110 [54], [72]. A number of substances have been reported as interfering with DNS colour development and citrate is one of them. Acetate and citrate are reported to enhance colour development and the true antagonist in this reaction is the proton (H+) [96]. This method is based on the release of short coloured products from polymeric blue dextran and their selective colorimetric detection at 610-650nm after precipitation of the p olymer. DNS colorimetric assays reported in literature are often modifications of the method of Webb and Spender-Martins (1983). E. F. Khalikova and N. G. Usanov (2001) developed a dextranase assay using an isoluble substrate, namely, Sephadex G-200 with Remazol Brilliant Blue dye [45]. The action pattern of dextranase was then, studied by means of exclusion chromatography. Overall, this assay was reported as convenient for quantitative dextranase detection, relatively independent of the enzyme source, and is proposed as an inexpensive alternative to the known procedures utilizing coloured substrates. The dextranase substrates can be either dye-releasing or fluorogenic. The assay procedures based on these substrates are accurate, fast and can be recommended for dextranase-producing microbial screening and enzyme purification. Other assay procedures worth mentioning include a spectrophotometric method with the use of Blue Dextran developed by Kauko K. Makinen and Illika K. Paunio (2004) who recommend it for column chromatography [62], and a method based on simple titration, developed by Eggleston and Gillian (2005) for easy use at the sugar cane factory [19]. Fluorometric assays are based on measuring the fluorescence of the samples and the results are often compared to a series of standards of Penicillium sp. A very sensitive fluorometric assay using amino-dextran-70 coupled with fluorescent dye BODIPY (4,4-difluoro-5,7-dimethyl-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-sindacene-3-propionic acid, succinimidyl ester) as the substrate was described by M. Zhou et al. (1998). The BODIPY FL dye-labelled dextranase substrate is an amine-containing dextran derivative that is labelled with the pH-insensitive, green fluorescent BODIPY FL dye, resulting in almost total quenching of the conjugates fluorescence. The increase of the fluorescent degradation products of BODIPY FL dextran is proportional to the amount of dextranase activity [102]. A suspension of Sephadex in a buffer is supplemented with agar, sterilized, and poured in Petri dishes, and after the wells are filled with the test solution, they are left to incubate. The dextranase activity can be evaluated by the extent of halos around the holes due to the opalescence of Sephadex. Milson and Evans (2007), measured dextranase activity using SDS PAGE as described by Laemmli (1970), using both mini-gel and Protean II electrophoresis systems, and stained using Coomassie Blue [68], [56]. Molecular weight markers were used to construct a calibration curve, from which molecular weights of dextranase were determined. Native gel electrophoresis was performed, but the loading buffer and the gel lacked SDS and ÃŽÂ ²-mercaptoethanol and the samples were not heated prior to loading on the gel. In the same study, dextranase activity was estimated in SDS gels, without extraction, by a plate modified from the method of Lawman and Bleiweis (1991) [57]. FL versus DNS assay method The classic method (DNS) for measuring glycosidases through release of reducing activity is simple and inexpensive and, as cited above, has been modified in several studies so as to suit the researchers needs. It may, however, have some pitfalls. The reaction taking place is the following: aldheyde group oxidation> carboxyl group 3,5-dinitrisalicylic acid reduction-> 3-amino,5-nitrosalycilic acid (Nam Sun Wang, University of Maryland) The above reaction scheme shows that 1 mole of sugar reacts with 1 mole of 3,5-dinitrisalicylic acid. However, it is suspected that there are many side reactions, and the actual stoichiometry is more complicated than that previously described. Different reduced sugars yield different colour intensities; thus it is necessary to calibrate for each sugar. Apart from the oxidation, other side reactions may compete for the availability of 3,5-dinitrisalicylic acid. Consequently, the calibration curve may be affected and the intensity of the developed colour may be enhanced. Therefore, the method has low specificity and one must run blanks diligently if the colorimetric results are to be interpreted correctly and accurately [96]. Another obstacle to be dealt with when using DNS is non-linearity. One cause of non-linearity could be the common practice of diluting reaction products before quantification of reducing compounds and another is the insufficiency of substrates. The fluorometric assay (FL), seems to gain ground in the most recent studies as faster and more accurate and it seems to leave space for modifications and combined use with other methods (see  §1.3.1). A standard curve is constructed from Penicillium sp. and then compared with the one derived from Lipomyces starkeyi. As described in the previous paragraph dextranase activity is estimated by the increase of the fluorescent products of dextran degradation. However, if too many fluoro are conjugated to the dextran molecule undesired may come up. Molecular Probes TM seems to overcome this problem by removing as much of the free dye as possible and then assaying the fluorescent dextran by (TLC) to ensure that it is free of low molecular weight dyes. So, in general, FL seems to yield accurate curves. Millson and Evans (2007), used an assay of dextranase activity which was a variation on that reported by Zhou et al. (1998). In that study, fluorescence vs. dextranase activity produced a linear log [68], [102]. Purification of L. starkeyi dextranase Dialysis tubing Dialysis tubing is typically used for changing the buffering solution of a protein and is also a method for concentrating protein solutions by dialysis against a hygroscopic environment (e.g. PEG, Sephadex). The protein solution is contained within a membrane which permits solute exchange with a surrounding solution and whose pore size prevents the protein from escaping. Except for small volumes, this method is time-consuming [11]. Filtration Ultrafiltration Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which hydrostatic pressure forces a liquid against a semi-permeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained, while low molecular weight solutes pass through the membrane. UF is not fundamentally different from microfiltration or nanofiltration, except in terms of the size of the molecules it retains. [11], [77]. SDS-PAGE Purification of Lipomyces starkeyi dextranase is carried out mainly by running a SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) analysis. The solution of proteins to be analyzed is first mixed with SDS, an anionic detergent which denatures secondary and non-disulfide-linked tertiary structures, and applies a negative charge to each protein in proportion to its mass. SDS binds in a ratio of approximately 1.4g SDS per 1.0g protein. The size of the protein is directly related to the distance it migrates through the gel. Dextranase molecules migrate as bands based on size. Each band can be detected using stains such as Coomassie blue dye [77]. Modifications to the polypeptide backbone, such as N- or O- linked glycolylisation, however have a significant impact on the apparent molecular weight. Thus, the apparent molecular weight is not a true reflection of the mass of the polypeptide chain. In most cases, SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is carried out with a discontinuous buffer system in which the buffer in the reservoirs is of a different pH and ionic strength from the buffer used to cast the gel. After migrating through a stacking gel of high porosity the SDS-polypeptide complexes are deposited in a very thin zone (or stack) on the surface of the resolving gel. The discontinuous buffer system that is most widely used was originally devised by Orstein (1964) and Dvis (1964) [77]. The sample and the stacking gel contain Tris Cl (pH 6.8), the upper and lower buffer reservoirs contain Tris-glycine (pH 8.3) and the resolving gel contains Tris Cl (pH 8.8). All components of the system contain 0.1% SDS [56]. Precipitation methods of proteins Precipitation is widely used in downstream processing of biological products, especially proteins. It serves to concentrate and fractionate the target product from various contaminants, as in biotechnology industry where precipitation helps to eliminate contaminants commonly contained in blood. The underlying mechanism of precipitation is to alter the solvation potential of the solvent and thus lower the solubility of the solute by addition of a reagent. Precipitation is usually induced by any of the following methods [11]: Salting out Isoelectric point precipitation Precipitation with organic solvents Non-ionic hydrophilic polymers Flocculation by polyelectrolytes Polyvalent metallic ions Salting out This the most common type of precipitation. Normally a neutral salt is added, such as ammonium sulphate, which compresses the solvation layer and increases protein protein interactions. As the salt concentration of a solution is increased, more of the bulk water is associated with the ions. Consequently, less water is available to partake in the solvation layer around the protein, which exposes hydrophobic interactions, aggregate and precipitate from solution. Isoelectric point precipitation The isoelectric point (pI) is the pH of a solution at which the net primary charge of a protein becomes zero. At a solution pH that is above the pÃŽâ„ ¢ the surface of the protein is primarily negatively charged and therefore like-charged molecules will exhibit repulsive forces. At a solution pH that is below the pI, the surface of the protein is primarily positively charged and repulsion between proteins occurs. At the pI, the negative and positive charges cancel, repulsive electrostatic forces are reduced and the dispersive forces predominate, and will, therefore, cause aggregation and precipitation. The pI of most proteins lies in the pH range of 4-6. Mineral acids, such as hydrochloric and sulphuric acid are used as precipitants. The greatest disadvantage to isoelectric point precipitation is the irreversible denaturation caused by the mineral acids. For this reason isoelectric point precipitation is most often used to precipitate contaminant proteins, rather than target pro tein. Precipitation with organic solvents Ethanol or methanol, if added to a solution may cause the proteins of the solution to precipitate. As the organic solvent gradually displaces water from the surface of the protein and binds it in layers around the organic solvent molecules, the solvation layer around the protein decreases. In that state, the protein can aggregate by attractive electrostatic and dipole forces. Parameters to consider are temperature (should be less than 0 °C to avoid denaturation), pH and protein concentration of the solution. Miscible organic solvents decrease the dielectric constant of water, which in effect allows two proteins to come together. At the pI the relationship between the dielectric constant and protein solubility is given by: log S = k/e2 + log S0 S0 is an extrapolated value of S, e is the dielectric constant of the mixture and k is a constant that relates to the dielectric constant of water [98]. Non- ionic hydrophilic polymers Dextrans, polyethylene glycols and other polymers are used in precipitation of proteins due to their low flammability and are less likely to denature biomaterials compared to pI precipitation. These polymers attract water molecules away from the salvation layer around the protein, which enforces protein-protein interactions and induces precipitation. For the case of polyethylene glycol, the following equation models precipitation: ln(S) +pS = X ÃŽÂ ±C C is the polymer concentration, P is a protein-protein interaction coefficient, ÃŽÂ ± is protein- polymer interaction coefficient and X = ( ÃŽÂ ¼i ÃŽÂ ¼i0 )RT ÃŽÂ ¼ is the chemical potential of component I, R is the universal gas constant and T is the absolute temperature [98]. Flocculation by polyelectrolytes Polyelectrolytes form extended networks between protein molecules in solution. These include alginate, carboxylmethylcellulose, polyacrylic acid, tannic acid and polyphosphates. The pH of the solution determines the effectiveness of these polyelectrolytes. Anionic polyelectrolytes are used at pH above the pI. Cationic polyelectrolytes are used at pH above the pI. The precipitate may dissolve back into the solution if an excess of polyelectrolytes is used. Polyvalent metallic ions Enzymes and nucleic acids are precipitated with the use of metal salts at low concentrations. Most frequently polyvalent metallic ions used are Ca+, Mg+, Mn+ or Fe+. Precipitation reactors Industrial scaled reactors that are used to precipitate large amounts of proteins, such as recombinant DNA polymerases from a solution include: Batch reactors The agent is slowly added to the protein solution under mixing, so the aggregating particles tend to be regular in shape. The protein particles are exposed to a wide range of shear stresses for a log period of time and become mechanically stable. Tubular reactors The precipitating reagent and the feed protein solution are contacted in an area of mixing and then added into enlongeted tubes where precipitation occurs. Plug flow is approached by the elements as they move along the tubes. The tubular reactor is inexpensive to be constructed but can become long and slow in case that aggregation of the particles occur slowly. Continuous stirred tank reactors CSTR reactors also known as vat or back mix reactors, run at steady state with a continuous flow of reactants and products in a well-mixed tank. It is a type of reactor mainly used in chemical engineering. A CSTR often refers to a mathematical model which is used to estimate the key unit operation variables when using a continuous agitated-tank reactor to reach a specified output. Perfect mixing is demanded. Precipitation of L. starkeyi The most common precipitation methods in the case of L. starkeyi cited in literature are: Isoelectric focusing Koening and Day (1988) used precast IsoGel agarose isoelectric focusing plates, pH 5.0-8.5. A standard mixture of proteins was applied in the lane next to each sample and the protein profile was quantified by densitometer scans. The enzyme activity in the gel was determined by slicing an unstained gel into 0.9 mm sections. Each section was placrd in a test tube with 1.0 ml 0.05 M citrate/phosphate (pH 5.5) buffer, allowed to elute overnight at 4oC and assayed for enzyme activity. This method separated the protein mixture into five isoelectric bands. All five forms were found to have dextranase activity and exhibited the same Km values. Organic solvents Polyethylene glycol precipitation is often used. Nishimura et al. (2002) used this method in an effort to prepare total DNA from L. starkeyi for taxonomy analysis. They added phenol solution (phenol: chloroform: isoamyl alcohol=25:24:1) to a test tube of Tris-SDS. The

Development of Hospital Management System

Development of Hospital Management System Introduction Hospital Management is a web based application to manage the activities related to doctor and patient. Hospital Management is based on distributed architecture. This involves the web services which receives request from the web based application and service processes the request and sends the response back to the application. Web services performs the database operations like insert, delete and update the information about the patients, doctors etc. This kind of distributed architecture is called as Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). This application contains login form, patient registration, doctor registration. Hospital Management application allow patients to edit their information like patient name, contact number, address, disease from which he is suffering from etc. The concept of hospital management is very big. The scope of hospital management involves different modules like login module, patient info, doctor info, billing module, registration module and administration module. Login module will include the operation related to login, forgot password, password change, sending confirmations or alerts etc. Patient info module will include the details about the patient like patient history about his treatment and doctors involved in the treatment, details of medicines suggested by doctors. Billing Module will include the details of fees, mode of payment used by the patient to pay the fees. Registration module will allow the users to register their profiles. Administration module allows performing operations like creating the new users, performing password change operations, loading the information of doctors for the first time. Hospital Management uses sql server 2005 as the backend. The database is maintained on the remote server, this database h olds all the information related to the hospital. Abstract: Before SOA architecture, DCOM or (ORBs) object request brokers based on CORBA specifications were used to develop the distributed applications. DCOM is known was distributed component object model. DCOM is an extension of COM (component object model), DCOM was released in 1996. It works primarily with Microsoft windows. It will work with Java Applets and ActiveX components through its use of COM. Service Oriented Architecture is nothing but collection of services. These services are deployed at different servers at different locations. These services communicate with each other to perform required operations. The communication can be simple data passing. Service Provider: The provider will create the service using any technology like .net or java and publishes its information for accessing the outside world. The provider decides which service to be published and one service can provide multiple operations, how to price the services or without charge like free services. Provider also decides the category of the services. The most common broker service is UDDI (Universal Description Discovery and Integration) provides a way publish and discover the information about the services. Service Requester: The requester identifies the services using UDDI or any other service broker. The services provide the required operations then the requester should take it to the service provider for contract. Then requester can bind the services to the application and execute to get the required information. The principles used for development, maintenance and usage of SOA are Reuse, comparability, granularity and interoperability. Identifying the services and categorizing them. Monitoring and tracking. The specific architectural principles of SOA design are Service loose coupling Service encapsulation Service contract Service abstraction Service reusability Service discoverability PROJECT SCOPE AND OBJECTIVE: SCOPE Development of a computerized Hospital management system with the provision of flexible, accurate and secured access to data thus bringing in the highly useful end product for the users as well as for the management. OBJECTIVE To develop a system that maintains a sophisticated Hospital management details bringing out the flexibility and the ease with which the users can use it. To track and improve internal performance of the financial corporation thereby allowing the flexible and secured transactions to happen. FEATURES OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM In the existing system the data required for the Hospital management is maintained in records. These are to be updated according to the requirements of the customer. It takes time to search for the required data. All the details regarding the hospitals and its timings are hard to maintain. The work will be more so the systems need more number of crew to fulfill the requirements. There may be a chance of failure since it is manual. A simple fault of the system may lead to inconvenience and also cause a vast destruction. So these faults make the system less effective and performance of the system is very slow. Hence, there should be a system to overcome all these defects and provide the users with more facilities. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INTENDED SYSTEM In the proposed system everything is computerized. The system provides all the details regarding the hospitals, its details, and soon. The users can search the required data easily within no time. A very less number of people are required to handle the system. The patients need not wait for long time to fulfill his requirement. There is no chance of any failure in the system, which improves the performance of the system and also increases the efficiency of the system. Though this system is very beneficial a minor failure in the server or else the computer leads to a major loss of data. PROJECT OVERVIEW The project performs the following functions In 1997, a team of Medical Professionals has set up the first hospital, it signaled the dawn of a new era in medical care. At the heart of this movement was a burning desire to practice medicine with Compassion, Concern and Care, with a single-minded objective the recovery of the patient. Today, with Multi-Specialty HOSPITAL across the state, and a reputation for humanitarian and selfless service of the highest order, Hospital enjoys an unbelievable amount of goodwill. A million smiles will bear testimony to that. At hospital, we operate on a physician driven model. This means that all the main constituents of the CARE movement the promoters, administrators and service providers are physicians. At the centre of the CARE model is the patient and the over-riding motive of all of Cares activities is to provide quality medical care at an affordable cost. Technology, Training and Teamwork form the very core of the CARE model. We emphasize on a comprehensive and continuous education and training of every individual involved in patient care. Every effort will be taken to ensure that our growth is one decided by the patients needs, and not one decided by our corporate requirements. Our hospital believes at: A patient is the most important person in our hospital. He is not an interruption to our work; he is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our hospital. He is a part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so. NEED FOR COMPUTERIZATION: The use of computerized hospital is to provide effective facilities to the people, which are suffering from any problems. The advantages are: Less cost No mediators Excellent services The main goal of this hospital management system is to achieve the people satisfaction. Hospital management system provides effective facilities to the people from any place in the world. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Software Requirement Specifications: Operating Systems : Windows 2000 Prof Database server : Sql Srver 2005 Programming Language : C# Hardware Requirement Specifications: Application Server Configuration: Computer Processor : Pentium IV Clock Speed : 700MHZ Processor Hard Disk : 40GB RAM : 256/512 MB Modem : 56KBPS Database Server Configuration: Computer Processor : Pentium IV Clock Speed : 700MHZ Processor Hard Disk : 40GB RAM : 256/512 MB SYSTEM ANALYSIS Existing System: In the current system the data required is maintained in records. They are to be updated according to the requirements of the users. It takes time to search for the required query. All the details regarding the hospital and its patients are hard to maintain. The work will be more, so the system needs more number of crew to fulfill the requirements. There may be a chance of failure since it is manual. A one fault of the system may lead to inconvenience and also causes a vast destruction. So these faults make the system less efficient and performance of the system is very slow. Hence, there should be a system to overcome all these defaults and provide the users with more facilities. In the current system if the user was suffering from any pain or etc heshe has no idea how to control the pain and suffering. Just they will be no idea for them and they become sicker and died more sooner And to know the availability for the treatment they have to go to hospital but mostly the government hospital doesnt give more facilities to the patient as the patients want from the doctors. But in the case of the private hospital the patients has to pay more fares for the treatment and they do more delays in the case of the treatment they will be more formalities to be fulfil by the patients which take lot of time waste. Proposed System: In the proposed system everything is computerized. The system provides all the details regarding the Hospital, doctors, patients, bed numbers, and fares also and so on. The user can search required data easily with no time. A very less number of staff is required to handle the system. The patients need not wait for a long time to fulfil his requirement. There is no chance of any failure in the system, which improves the performance of the system and also increases the efficiency of the system. Though this system is very beneficial a minor failures in the server or else the computer leads a major loss of data. FEASIBILITY STUDY In preliminary investigation we got the result that the computerized Hospital management system is feasible. This includes following aspects. Technical Feasibility: Technical feasibility is nothing but implementing the project with existing technology. Computerized Hospital management System is feasible. Economical Feasibility: Economic feasibility means the cost of under taking project should be less than existing system Hospital management system is economically feasible, because it reduces the expenses in the manual system. TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW .NET Framework The .NET Framework is a new computing platform that simplifies application development in the highly distributed environment of the Internet. The .NET Framework is designed to fulfill the following objectives: To provide a consistent object-oriented programming environment whether object code is stored and executed locally, executed locally but Internet-distributed, or executed remotely. To provide a code-execution environment that minimizes software deployment and versioning conflicts. To provide a code-execution environment that guarantees safe execution of code, including code created by an unknown or semi-trusted third party. To provide a code-execution environment that eliminates the performance problems of scripted or interpreted environments. To make the developer experience consistent across widely varying types of applications, such as Windows-based applications and Web-based applications. To build all communication on industry standards to ensure that code based on the .NET Framework can integrate with any other code. .NET FRAMEWORK HAS TWO MAIN COMPONENTS: The Common Language Runtime and the .NET Framework Class Library: The common language runtime is the foundation of the .NET Framework. You can think of the runtime as an agent that manages code at execution time, providing core services such as memory management, thread management, and remoting, while also enforcing strict type safety and other forms of code accuracy that ensure security and robustness. In fact, the concept of code management is a fundamental principle of the runtime. Code that targets the runtime is known as managed code, while code that does not target the runtime is known as unmanaged code. The class library, the other main component of the .NET Framework, is a comprehensive, object-oriented collection of reusable types that you can use to develop applications ranging from traditional command-line or graphical user interface (GUI) applications to applications based on the latest innovations provided by ASP.NET, such as Web Forms and XML Web services. The .NET Framework can be hosted by unmanaged components that load the common language runtime into their processes and initiate the execution of managed code, thereby creating a software environment that can exploit both managed and unmanaged features. The .NET Framework not only provides several runtime hosts, but also supports the development of third-party runtime hosts. For example, ASP.NET hosts the runtime to provide a scalable, server-side environment for managed code. ASP.NET works directly with the runtime to enable Web Forms applications and XML Web services, both of which are discussed later in this topic. Internet Explorer is an example of an unmanaged application that hosts the runtime (in the form of a MIME type extension). Using Internet Explorer to host the runtime enables you to embed managed components or Windows Forms controls in HTML documents. Hosting the runtime in this way makes managed mobile code (similar to Microsoft ® ActiveX ® controls) possible, but with significant improvements that only managed code can offer, such as semi-trusted execution and secure isolated file storage. The following illustration shows the relationship of the common language runtime and the class library to your applications and to the overall system. The illustration also shows how managed code operates within a larger architecture. .NET COMPONENTS AND FEATURES: .NET Architecture: Features of the Common Language Runtime: The common language runtime manages memory, thread execution, code execution, code safety verification, compilation, and other system services. These features are intrinsic to the managed code that runs on the common language runtime. With regards to security, managed components are awarded varying degrees of trust, depending on a number of factors that include their origin (such as the Internet, enterprise network, or local computer). This means that a managed component might or might not be able to perform file-access operations, registry-access operations, or other sensitive functions, even if it is being used in the same active application. The runtime enforces code access security. For example, users can trust that an executable embedded in a Web page can play an animation on screen or sing a song, but cannot access their personal data, file system, or network. The security features of the runtime thus enable legitimate Internet-deployed software to be exceptionally featuring rich. The runtime also enforces code robustness by implementing a strict type- and code-verification infrastructure called the common type system (CTS). The CTS ensures that all managed code is self-describing. The various Microsoft and third-party language compilers generate managed code that conforms to the CTS. This means that managed code can consume other managed types and instances, while strictly enforcing type fidelity and type safety. In addition, the managed environment of the runtime eliminates many common software issues. For example, the runtime automatically handles object layout and manages references to objects, releasing them when they are no longer being used. This automatic memory management resolves the two most common application errors, memory leaks and invalid memory references. The runtime also accelerates developer productivity. For example, programmers can write applications in their development language of choice, yet take full advantage of the runtime, the class library, and components written in other languages by other developers. Any compiler vendor who chooses to target the runtime can do so. Language compilers that target the .NET Framework make the features of the .NET Framework available to existing code written in that language, greatly easing the migration process for existing applications. While the runtime is designed for the software of the future, it also supports software of today and yesterday. Interoperability between managed and unmanaged code enables developers to continue to use necessary COM components and DLLs. The runtime is designed to enhance performance. Although the common language runtime provides many standard runtime services, managed code is never interpreted. A feature called just-in-time (JIT) compiling enables all managed code to run in the native machine language of the system on which it is executing. Meanwhile, the memory manager removes the possibilities of fragmented memory and increases memory locality-of-reference to further increase performance. Finally, the runtime can be hosted by high-performance, server-side applications, such as Microsoft ® SQL Serverâ„ ¢ and Internet Information Services (IIS). This infrastructure enables you to use managed code to write your business logic, while still enjoying the superior performance of the industrys best enterprise servers that support runtime hosting. .NET Framework Class Library: The .NET Framework class library is a collection of reusable types that tightly integrate with the common language runtime. The class library is object oriented, providing types from which your own managed code can derive functionality. This not only makes the .NET Framework types easy to use, but also reduces the time associated with learning new features of the .NET Framework. In addition, third-party components can integrate seamlessly with classes in the .NET Framework. For example, the .NET Framework collection classes implement a set of interfaces that you can use to develop your own collection classes. Your collection classes will blend seamlessly with the classes in the .NET Framework. As you would expect from an object-oriented class library, the .NET Framework types enable you to accomplish a range of common programming tasks, including tasks such as string management, data collection, database connectivity, and file access. In addition to these common tasks, the class library includes types that support a variety specialized development scenarios. ADO.NET ADO.NET IN CONNECTED MODE: ADO.NET provides consistent access to data sources such as Microsoft SQL Server, as well as data sources exposed via OLE DB and XML. Data-sharing consumer applications can use ADO.NET to connect to these data sources and retrieve, manipulate, and update data. ADO.NET cleanly factors data access from data manipulation into discrete components that can be used separately or in tandem. ADO.NET includes .NET data providers for connecting to a database, executing commands, and retrieving results. Those results are either processed directly, or placed in an ADO.NET Dataset object in order to be exposed to the user in an ad-hoc manner, combined with data from multiple sources, or remotes between tiers. The ADO.NET Dataset object can also be used independently of a .NET data provider to manage data local to the application or sourced from XML. The ADO.NET classes are found in System.Data.dll, and are integrated with the XML classes found in System.Xml.dll. When compiling code that uses the System.Data namespace, reference both System.Data.dll and System.Xml.dll. ADO.NET provides functionality to developers writing managed code similar to the functionality provided to native COM developers by ADO. The most important change from classic ADO is that ADO.NET doesnt reply on OLE DB providers and uses .NET managed providers instead. A .NET provider works as a bridge between your application and the data source. ADO .NET and .NET managed data providers dont use COM at all, so a .NET application can access data without undergoing any performance penalty deriving the switch between managed and unmanaged code. The most important difference between ADO and ADO.NET is that dynamic and Key set server -side cursors are no longer supported. ADO.NET supports only forward-only read-only result sets and disconnected result sets. .NET Data Providers: .NET data providers play the same role that OLE DB providers play under ADO, they enable your application to read and write data stored in a data source. Microsoft Currently supplies five ADO.NET providers: OLE DB .NET Data Provider: This provider lets you access a data source for which an OLE DB provider exists, although at the expense of a switch from managed to unmanaged code and the performance degradation that ensues. SQL Server .NET Data Provider: This provider has been specifically written to access SQL Server version 7.0 or later using Tabular Data Stream (TDS) as the communication medium. TDS is SQL Servers native protocol, so you can expect this provider to give you better performance than the OLE DB Data Provider. Additionally, the SQL Server, .NET Data Provider exposes SQL Server specific features, such as named transactions and support for the FOR XML clause in SELECT queries. ODBC .NET Data Provider: This provider works as a bridge toward an ODBC source, so in theory you can use it to access any source for which an ODBC driver exists. As of this writing, this provider officially supports only the Access, SQL Server, and Oracle ODBC drivers, so theres no clear advantage in using it instead of the OLE DB .NET Data Provider. The convenience of this provider will be more evident when more ODBC drivers are added to the list of those officially supported. .NET Data Provider for Oracle: This provider can access an Oracle data source version 8.1.7 or later. It automatically uses connection pooling to increase performance if possible, and supports most of the features of the Microsoft OLEDB Provider for Oracle, even though these two accessing techniques can differ in a few details—for example, the .NET Data Provider for Oracle doesnt support the TABLE data type and ODBC escape sequences. SQLXML Library: This DLL, which you can download from the Microsoft Web site, includes a few managed types that let you query and update a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 data source over HTTP. It supports XML templates, XPath queries, and can expose stored procedures and XML templates as Web services. The ODBC and Oracle providers are included in .NET Framework 1.1 but were missing in the first version of the .NET Framework. If you work with .NET Framework 1.0, you can download these providers from the Microsoft Web site. The downloadable versions of these providers differ from the versions that come with .NET Framework 1.1, mainly in the namespaces they use: Microsoft.Data.Odbc and Microsoft.Data.Oracle instead of System.Data.Odbc and System.Data.Oracle. ADO.NET Object Model: Its time to have a closer look at the individual objects that make up the ADO.NET architecture illustrated in Figure 21-1. Youll see that objects are divided into two groups, the objects included in the .NET Data Provider, and those that belong to the ADO.NET disconnected architecture. (In practice, the second group includes only the Dataset and its secondary objects.) Dataset (Disconnected data) .NET Data Provider Connection DataAdapter Command Data Reader ADO.NET Objects at a Glance The Connection object has the same function it has under ADO: establishing a connection to the data source. Like its ADO counterpart, it has the Connection String property, the Open and Close methods, and the ability to begin a transaction using the Begin transaction method. The ADO Execute method isnt supported, and the ADO.NET Connection object lacks the ability to send a command to the database. The Command object lets you query the database, send a command to it, or invoke one of its stored procedures. You can perform these actions by using one of the objects Executexxxx methods. More specifically, you use the ExecuteNonQuery method to send an action query to the database—for example, an INSERT or DELETE SQL statement—an Execute Reader method to perform a SELECT query that returns a result set, or an Execute Scalar method to perform a SELECT query that returns a single value. Other properties let you set the command timeout and prepare the parameters for a call to a stored procedure. You must manually associate a Command object with the Connection object previously connected to the data source. The Data Reader object is the object returned by the Execute Reader method of the command object and represents a forward-only, read-only result set. A new row of results becomes available each time you invoke the Data Readers Read method, after which you can query each individual field using the Get Value method or one of the strongly typed Getxxxx methods, such as Get String or Get Float. Remember that you cant update the database by means of a Data Reader object. The Dataset object is the main object in the ADO.NET disconnected architecture. It works as a sort of small relational database that resides on the client and is completely unrelated to any specific database. It consists of a collection of DataTable objects, with each DataTable object holding a distinct result set (typically the result of a query to a different database table). A DataTable object contains a collection of Data Row objects, each one holding data coming from a different row in the result. A Dataset also contains a collection of Data Relation objects, in which each item corresponds to a relationship between different Data Table objects, much like the relationships you have between the tables of a relational database. These relations let your code navigate among tables in the same DataSet using a simple and effective syntax. The DataAdapter object works as a bridge between the Connection object and the DataSet object. Its Fill method moves data from the database to the client-side DataSet, whereas its Update method moves data in the opposite direction and updates the database with the rows that your application has added, modified, or deleted from the DataSet. Connection Object: Whether you work in connected or in disconnected mode, the first action you need to perform when working with a data source is to open a connection to it.InADO.NET terms, this means that you create a Connection object that connects to the specific database. The Connection object is similar to the ADO object of the same name, so youll feel immediately at ease with the new ADO.NET object if you have any experience with ADO programming. Setting the Connection String Property the key property of the Connection class is Connection String, a string that defines the type of the database youre connecting to, its location, and other semicolon-delimited attributes. When you work with the OleDbConnection object, the connection string matches the connection string that you use with the ADO Connection object. Such a string typically contains the following information, The Provider attribute, which specifies the name of the underlying OLE DB Provider, used to connect to the data. The only values that Microsoft guarantees as valid are SQLOLEDB (the OLE DB provider for Microsoft SQL Server), Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 (the OLE DB provider for Microsoft Access), and MSDAORA (the OLE DB provider for Oracle). The Data Source attributes, which specifies where the database is. It can be the path to an Access database or the name of the machine on which the SQL Server or the Oracle database is located. The User ID and Password attributes, which specify the user name and the password of a valid account for the database. The Initial Catalog attributes, which specifies the name of the database when youre connecting to a SQL Server or an Oracle data source. Once youve set the Connection String property correctly, you can open the connection by invoking the Open method: ADO.NET in Disconnected Model: In the preceding chapter, you saw how to work with ADO.NET in connected mode, processing data coming from an active connection and sending SQL commands to one.ADO.NET in connected mode behaves much like classic ADO, even though the names of the involved properties and methods (and their syntax) are often different. Youll see how ADO.NET differs from its predecessor when you start working in disconnected mode. ADO 2.x permits you to work in disconnected mode using client-side static record sets opened in optimistic batch update mode. This was one of the great new features of ADO that proved to be a winner in client/server applications of any size. As a matter of fact, working in disconnected mode is the most scalable technique you can adopt because it takes resources on the client (instead of on the server) and, above all, it doesnt enforce any locks on database tables (except for the short-lived locks that are created during the update operation). The following Imports statements are used at the file or project level: Imports System. Data Imports System.Data.Common Imports System.Data.OleDb Imports System.Data.SqlClient Imports System.Data.Odbc Imports System.IO Imports System.Text.RegularExpressions The DataSet Object Because ADO.NET (and .NET in general) is all about scalability and performance, the disconnected mode is the preferred way to code client/server applications. Instead of a simple disconnected recordset, ADO.NET gives you the DataSet object, which is much like a small relational database held in memory on the client. As such, it provides you with the ability to create multiple tables, fill them with data coming from different sources, enforce relationships between pairs of tables, and more. Data Set: The DataSet object is central to supporting disconnected, distributed data scenarios with ADO.NET. The DataSet is a memory-resident representation of data that provides a consistent relational programming model regardless of the data source. It can be used with multiple and differing data sources, used with XML data, or used to manage data local to the application. The DataSet represents a complete set of data including related tables, constraints, and relationships among the tables. The DataAdapter object, which works as a connector between the DataSet and the actual data source. The DataAdapter is in charge of filling one or more DataTable objects with data taken from the database so that the application can then close the connection and work in a completely disconnected mode. After the end user has performed all his or her editing chores, the application can reopen the connection and reuse the same DataAdapter object to send changes to the database. Admittedly, the disconnected nature of the DataSet complicates matters for developer