Review on Microbial Sources, Production, Purification and Potential Industrial Applications of Laccases

Laccase (EC 1.10.3.2) is a multicopper blue oxidase which are involved in the oxidation of a broad range of organic substrates, including phenols, polyphenols, anilines, and even certain inorganic compounds by a one-electron transfer mechanism. Laccases are widely distributed in bacteria, fungai, insects and higher plants. There are mainly two production techniques for cultivation of laccase such as submersed fermentation and solid- state fermentation. This paper briefly discuss the effect of carbon source, effect of nitrogen source, effect of inducers, effects of surfactants, effect of agitator, influence of metal ions and use of agro-industrial waste in production medium. The paper also discussed the purification techniques such as ammonium sulphate precipitation for extraction purpose followed by dialysis and ion-exchange chromatography as well characterization techniques. Laccases are known to show application ranging from pharmaceutical industries to textile sector as well as in biosensor development.

Social Judgments, Social Media, and Self-Deprecation

Two experiments examined how perceivers evaluated target individuals based on minimal information as presented in a typical social media post and whether inferences varied as a function of information source (self vs. other) and valence (positive vs. negative). Across experiments, results indicated that targets were: (a) less likely to be rated with traits consistent with behavior and (b) perceived less favorably when positive behavior information was self-generated than when the same information was other-generated. The inclusion of self-deprecating hashtags reduced the source effect of positive information by reducing perceived arrogance and increasing perceived sense of humor of target individuals. Together, these experiments provide greater understanding of the influence of information source, valence, and self-deprecation on trait and favorability judgments in a social media context.

The size-of-source effect in thermography

In thermometry, the displayed temperature value of an object depends on the size of the object. This behaviour, also known as the size-of-source effect (SSE), might be a major cause of measurement uncertainty in a thermoscene. The SSE is caused by diffraction, scattering, reflection, aberration and digitization in the optoelectronic propagation path. The influence of diffraction and digitization (sampling and pixelization) can be described advantageously with the modulation transfer function MTF. The system MTF of an uncooled camera is determined by the diffraction in the lens (optical MTF) and the averaging of the radiation over the pixel area (pixel MTF). If the system MTF is known, the contrast reduction and, thus, the SSE can be calculated. Especially with very small objects, e.g. hotspots creating an image covering less than 4 pixel × 4 pixel on the focal plane, the displayed temperatures are much too low. When imaging large objects, such as area blackbodies, not only the edge areas are affected, but also the entire image. Finally, the contrast reduction by the MTF is explained by means of a complex scene (Siemens star).