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Energy and Environmental Applications of Polymer Based Mixed Metal Oxide Nanocomposites
The dependence of human lives on fossil fuels is very inevitably high for the development of society. This leads to the exploitation of these non-renewable sources, which brings forth society, which is another major issue that has to be tackled. In this study, we have focused on addressing the energy and environmental needs of society using different catalysts. The polymer based mixed metal oxide catalysts are used for the utility towards multiple applications. The energy issues can be mitigated through newlinesupercapacitance studies and water splitting studies. The water splitting studies can newlineproduce hydrogen, an efficient and eco-friendly fuel, and supercapacitors can store newlineenergy effectively. Water pollution is another problem faced by our society, which newlinereduces the availability of freshwater sources. This can be overcome by following newlineeffective and cost-efficient adsorption techniques. Another major threat that prevails in our society is corrosion. Corrosion inhibition studies are followed to tackle this issue and provide a corrosion-free environment. The various polymers used in this study are polyaniline, polypyrrole, poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), and chitosan. These polymers are mixed with different metal oxides, and the synergy between the polymers and metal oxides provides efficiency towards the mentioned applications. The successful formation of composites is confirmed using various characterization techniques. Several electrochemical studies like cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge studies, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, linear sweep voltammetry, and potentiodynamic techniques are employed to analyze the efficacy of the composites towards supercapacitance, water splitting, and corrosion inhibition studies. The batch adsorption studies are executed for water purification studies. The synthesized multifunctional composites can be used as potential candidates for addressing the energy and environmental needs of our society in a sustainable manner. -
Fabrication of Molecularly Imprinted Electrochemical Sensors for Food Additives
Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have emerged as a promising technique for the newlinepreparation of synthetic polymers with specific binding sites for target molecules. These polymers have found applications in various fields, including sensing, where they serve as a recognition element for the detection and quantification of analytes in chemical and biological environments. In recent years, MIPs have been utilized as sensing materials for biomolecules, food additives, pesticides, metal ions, and other target species. This work presents the development of MIP-based electrochemical sensors for the selective and rapid detection of food additives, namely tartrazine, 4-hexylresorcinol, butylated hydroxy anisole, and brilliant blue FCF. Conducting polymers, metal nanoparticles and 2D material-based electrode modifications have been employed in newlinethe preparation of MIPs for electrochemical sensing applications. Investigations reveal newlinea significant enhancement in the electrochemical oxidation/reduction current of the analytes upon the surface modifications applied to the Carbon Fibre Paper (CFP) substrate. The surface morphology of the modified electrodes was characterized using techniques such as Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Electron Diffraction X-ray (EDX), X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Optical newlineProfilometry, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Nyquist plots newlinedemonstrated the lowest charge transfer resistance at the finally modified working newlineelectrodes compared to other control electrodes. Optimization of experimental newlineconditions, including pH effects, investigation of reaction mechanisms through scan rate variations, determination of the number of cycles required for film newlineelectrodeposition to achieve maximum current response, and determination of the potential window, was carried out using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The quantification newlineof analytes was performed using Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV). -
Establishing a service composition framework for smart healthcare system
As the idea of location awareness has already matured and numerous applications are flooded in today s word, the logical next step reasons out, to context-awareness. Though the idea of context-awareness has been in the newlineresearch field for close to two decades, the recent advancement in Internet of Things has brought a more compelling thrust in its research. Sensor networks integrating billions of sensors and actuators will be prevalent in the near future producing big data. Filtering and analysing this data with the contextual information will yield more significant results. But deducing the newlinecontext information itself poses many challenges and unresolved research problems. Context-awareness systems involve acquiring, analysing, reasoning the data and composing the services for suitable action. Service newlinecomposition either by orchestrating or choreographing technique has been deployed in certain applications, however, each domain requires unique methodology. Healthcare has always been the top priority when it comes to newlineapplying novel technologies. Applying context-awareness computing in the healthcare service sector is of paramount importance. newlineThe problem context for this research lies in a cardiology speciality hospital s Intensive Therapy Unit or the post-surgery recovery ward which has lot of scenarios emanating that involves course of actions to be delivered by the healthcare professionals depending on the context. Depending on newlinemere human service may not be adequate. With the available advancements in technologies, it would be possible to leverage optimum service in that time critical situations, provided technology can sense the changes in context and act accordingly. The course of actions to be taken involves an amalgamation of understanding the location, presence availability, relevance of and coordination among various departments, machines and personnel. This can be summarized as Response with Context-Awareness . newline -
Study of substituion effectson structure and properties of high temperature superconductors and isostructure compounds
The thesis mainly describes the investigation of the structural formation of higher order members of bismuth system of superconductors Bi1.6sPb0.35Sr2CazCu4Oy (n = 4, 2234 phase), Bi1.6sPb0.35Sr2Ca4CusOy (n = 5, 2245 phase) and Bi1.65Pb0.35Sr2CasCu,Oy (n = 9, 2289 phase). The samples were synthesized by solid state reaction technique. Micro-structural and morphological features of the synthesized samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS). The XRD pattern of all the samples revealed the presence of Bismuth 2212 and 2223 phases of which 2223 phase was found to be the predominant. Superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of the samples measured by self-inductance method and dc four probe method showed Tc value around 110 K. There was no signature of the formation of 2234, 2245 or 2289 phases in this investigation. newlineFormation of Bi-2245 compound was further investigated by preparing the sample in a new matrix route. The Tc on set of this sample was found to be 127 K which was the highest reported ever in bismuth system superconductors. The complete replacement of copper by nickel in bismuth system superconductor Bi2SraCu06 (2201) was ttempted by preparing the sample in air by solid state reaction method under open and closed environment. Morphological and microstructural features of the synthesized sample Bi2Sr2Ni0g was investigated by X-ray diffraction, SEM and EDAX. The analysis of X-ray diffraction pattern revealed that nickel can replace copper completely and form a single phase Bi2Sr2Ni06 only when prepared in a closed environment in air. This phase formation of BizSr2NiOo was reported first time. -
Tribal population and skill development programme : A study of idukki district in kerala
India is a country which has people of different cultures, religions, traditions, newlinelanguages, castes and creed. In the democratic country of India, tribal people are one of the groups keeping their own culture and tradition that needs to be emphasized. The significant characteristics of the tribes are primitive traits, geographic isolation, distinct culture, shyness of contact and economically backwardness. By and large, tribes are living in different geo-climatic and ecological conditions covering from forest and plains to hills and the area lack accessibility. Though they are considered as the marginalized or most vulnerable population in India, their way of life and tradition, culture is to be preserved and they should be brought into the mainstream of society. In order to uplift the tribal community to be a part of the mainstream of society, the development of their skills is very essential. Skill development is the driving force for the transformation and development of an economy. The Government of India has taken several steps and launched many skill development newlineschemes along with other welfare schemes for the betterment of the mainstream as well as the tribal communities in India. .Keeping this objective in mind, in the 12thfive-year plan, the government of India gave the highest priority to skill development. The National Policy on Skill Development was announced by the cabinet of India (2009) to make a workforce with the strong skills knowledge and accepted qualification framework which will help to enhance the competitiveness of India and to get a decent job in the global market(IBEF, 2013). But many factors prevent the scheduled tribes from becoming beneficiaries of various skill development programs provided by the government. In the above context, this study is an attempt to know the nature and effectiveness of various skill development programs offered to the tribal community. -
Risk and Return Analysis of Socially Responsible Equity Investment for Optimum Portfolio
The sustainable development goals of industry, innovation and infrastructure aims at building sustainability by paving way for socially responsible investing. Socially responsible investing identifies investment newlineavenues that considers social and environmental responsibilities along with newlinefinancial return. The question of risk and return relationship and whether socially responsible investment outperforms conventional investment has been keen area of interest to empirically drive investors in order to establish an optimal portfolio for socially responsible equity investments. The aim of the study is identifying Equity investments which are Socially Responsible newlinefrom listed Equity investments in India, to examine whether socially responsible equity investments outperformed conventional equity newlineinvestments, to assess the equity investments performance which are socially responsible and equity investments which are conventional across different sectors based on the risk adjustment metrics for establishing an Optimal Equity portfolio which are Socially responsible with Sharpe Index newlineOptimization Model. The study identified socially responsible companies which adhered to sustainability reporting and disclosures of ESG from the total companies listed newlinein BSE and NSE as on 31.12.2021. Annual average return rate, standard deviation, beta and different risk adjustment metrics for evaluating the performance of equity investments which are socially responsible and the equity investments which are conventional was utilized by the study. The newlinesample period of the research between lies between 2012 to 2022. Correlation analysis as well as t-test have been performed using E-views software. Socially responsible equity companies showed significant strong positive newlinerelationship of risk and return than conventional companies. Commodities, Health care, Industrials, Information Technology and Telecommunication sectors outperformed conventional companies of similar sector. -
Study of Early-Type Emission -Line Stars in the Galaxy Using Lamost and GAIA
The study of massive emission-line stars (ELS), particularly those classifed as O, B, and A spectral types, is crucial in advancing our understanding of various fundamental aspects of astrophysics. They provide valuable insights into the accretion processes, the physical conditions of material around the star, and the stellar evolution. The frst theme of thesis focuses on identifying and characterising hot ELS newlinefrom large spectroscopic surveys such as LAMOST and Gaia DR3. Utilising the low-resolution spectroscopic database provided by LAMOST DR5, we employed an automated Python routine and identifed 3339 unique sources encompassing 4138 spectra that exhibited Hand#945; in emission. Since both HAeBe stars and Classical Ae/Be stars show Hand#945; emission, we differentiated them in terms of IR excess, from the analysis of 2MASS and WISE photometry. This analysis led to the identifcation of 1089 Classical Be stars, 233 Classical Ae stars, and 56 Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) stars. This homogeneous emission-line spectra will facilitate detailed investigations of the emission phenomenon, removing concerns related to data compilation newlinebiases from diverse sources. We also compared the astrophysical parameters obtained from Gaia DR3 with those derived from LAMOST spectra. The emission-line source classifcations in Gaia DR3 were reasonably consistent with those in the LAMOST OBA emission catalogue. Additionally, newlinewe used a larger dataset of ELS to update the empirical relation for converting pseudo-equivalent width to observed equivalent width in Gaia DR3, employing a second-degree polynomial relation and piece-wise linear ft newlineparameters. As the second theme of the thesis, we examined the X-Shooter spectral newlinedatabase to study the circumstellar medium of HAeBe stars through various spectral features and near-infrared excess. We observed that the ma-jority of massive and young stars exhibited emission in all higher-order HI newlinelines, while stars displaying only lower-order lines had effective temperatures below 12000 K and ages ranging from 5 to 10 Myr. -
Thinking Beyond Empowerment : Understanding Autonomy in the Context of Kudumbashree
The concepts empowerment, agency and autonomy have gained a wider range of attention in newlinethe developmental research regimes. Amidst the conceptual drift these concepts are used newlineinterchangeably leading to uncertainty and proliferated meanings. The process of newlineempowerment may not always lead to autonomy. Through an ethnography of Kudumbashree, newlinean SHG in the South Indian state of Kerala, the current research focuses on how these women exercise agency to trouble the conventional boundaries between empowerment and autonomy. The transition of agency from the economic to the political domain is a subtle enterprise and is mediated by a number of factors including economic independence, decision making capability, mobility and political participation. Social - economic - political and cultural implications of women empowerment could be the first step in challenging and overcoming the relations of oppression in any society. The stereotypical assumptions can be negotiated by solely apportioning responsibilities and re-engaging with the system through everyday practices. The nuances of empowered women s re-engagement with local power regimes lead newlineto changes at the conceptual level that cuts beyond the individual and group level material transformations. The study figures how autonomy is a mediated process that is both agentic and subversive to the local patriarchal structures. -
The vision of kuriakose elias chavara on family wellbeing and its actualization in the family apostolate of congregation of the mother of carmel
Family is the abode where the society takes birth and it is the pillar where the nation finds its strength. Kuriakose Elias Chavara a man of immense astuteness and novel thoughts had lofty apparition and great concern for the families. He was born on 10th February 1805, in the village of Kainakary in Kerala, India. At the age of 24 he was ordained as a religious priest. His being was highly committed for people and for the welfare of the society. He believed that strengthening of the individual can lead to formation of stable families which in turn can empower the society. He was a social reformer who stood for the marginalized, an innovative educationist who opened the school for low caste, an eminent spiritual leader who renewed the face of the church, popularized the press, media and founded two religious congregations for men and women. At the age of 66, 1871 January 3rd he left for his heavenly abode. On 23rd November 2014 he was canonized as saint by the Catholic Church. The present study The vision of Kuriakose Elias Chavara on family wellbeing and its actualization in the family apostolate of Congregation of the Mother of Carmel is an attempt to explore the vision of Chavara on family wellbeing and its relevance in the present era. Qualitative approach is employed and the data is collected through key informant interview and interview methods. The different aspect of Chavara s family wellbeing is explored mainly by reviewing the literature. Hermeneutic approach is used to interpret the literature. By analyzing the official documents of the congregation the actualization of his vision in the family apostolate is explored. The relevance of his views is explored through an interview with nine families from three different parts of Kerala. The influence of Chavara vision on family apostolate of Chavara and its implementation are investigated through the document analysis and key informant interview with members of the congregation. -
Rayleigh-benard and benard-marangoni convection in micropolar fluid
We study in this thesis, Rayleigh-Bard and Bard-Marangoni convection in a micropolar fluid. We study the effects of temperature modulation at the boundary and gravity modulation in the presence of porous medium. The effects of rotation and internal heat generation are also investigated and results are presented graphically and discussed qualitatively. The problem presented in this thesis throws light on externally controlled internal convection in a micropolar fluid. These problems have many possible applications in geophysics, astrophysics, oceanography engineering and in space situations with g-jitter connected with gravity stimulation study. With this motivation, we examine in this thesis five problems and their summary is given below one by one. (i) THE EFFECT OF IMPOSED TIME-PERIODIC BOUNDARY TEMPERATURE AND POROUS MEDIUM ON THE ONSET OF RAYLEIGH-BARD CONVECTION IN A MICROPOLAR FLUID The analysis of buoyancy driven convection in a micropolar fluid saturated porous layer heated from below and subject to temperature modulation is presented. In addition to a steady temperature difference between the walls of the porous layer, a time-dependent periodic perturbation is applied to the wall temperatures. The small amplitude of the modulation is used to compute the critical Rayleigh number and critical wave number. Three cases of the oscillating temperature field are examined: (a) symmetric, so that the wall temperatures are modulated in phase, (b) asymmetric, corresponding to out-of-phase modulation, and (c) only the bottom wall is modulated. Possibilities of the occurrence of subcritical instabilities are also discussed. The shift in the critical Rayleigh number is calculated as a function of frequency and it is found that it is possible to advance or delay the onset of convection by time modulation of the wall temperatures. (ii)LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR ANALYSES OF GRAVITY MODULATION ON THE ONSET OF RAYLEIGH-BARD CONVECTION IN A MICROPOLAR FLUID WITH POROUS MEDIUM. -
Determinants and Impacts of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Drugs and Pharmaceutical Industry in India
Mergers and Acquisitions (MandAs) are inorganic growth strategies adopted by firms for achieving the objective of long-term growth maximization. Compared to other inorganic growth strategies like joint ventures and strategic alliances, MandAs offer deeper restructuring opportunities and better control over business over a long-term newlinebasis. During the third wave of globalization which started in early 1990s, MandAs became a popular strategy for firms to expand their businesses beyond the national boundaries. newlineIndian economy has been witnessing buzzling activity in the MandA landscape. A sectoral analysis of MandA trends identifies pharmaceutical sector as one of the top 5 newlinesectors with the highest MandA deal values during the period 2013-2016. Though Pharma sector has witnessed a decline in deal values during few years in the recent past, the resilience of the sector is visible through its ability to bounce back with record newlinebreaking deal values. Due to the continuous regulatory changes occurring in the domestic and foreign markets, pharma companies have to constantly change their strategies to survive and grow in the industry. MandAs enable pharma companies to adapt to these changes quickly. This study explores how the firms in the pharmaceutical sector use MandA as a strategy to navigate through the dynamic competitive landscape. The objectives of this research are threefold developing an understanding of the motives behind MandA decisions of the pharma firms, identification of the firm level determinants of acquisition probability and assessment of impact of MandAs. This study newlineuses qualitative content analysis for identification of MandA motives. The firm level newlinedeterminants of acquisition probability have been explored using Random Effect Logistic (REL) regression using panel data. Case study approach has been employed to assess the MandA impact by comparing the MandA motives with the post MandA outcomes. -
Impact of Adoption of Account Aggregator Framework In India
Open banking is closely associated with the Account Aggregator (AA) concept, enabling customers to securely and selectively authorise third-party providers to access their financial information. The AA framework works in tandem to protect client data while facilitating secure data transmission among authorised parties, promoting competition and innovation in the banking industry, and allowing clients to access and use financial services through various channels and platforms. Open banking can increase financial inclusion by allowing third-party developers to access customer data and construct new financial products and services on top of existing bank infrastructure. It can also encourage innovation and competition in the Indian banking sector, which would benefit customers in the long term. Open banking systems face significant challenges, such as weak security, data protection violations, money laundering, and terrorist funding risks. It is crucial to couple the widespread adoption of open banking frameworks with robust data protection and privacy legislation to safeguard customer data and financial information. India is adopting the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019, which proposes establishing a specialized. Data Protection Authority tasked with securing persons' data. Operational and cyber security hazards associated with open banking include data leaks, misuse, falsification, denial of service attacks, and infrastructure failures. To ensure compliance with these laws, financial institutions must implement mechanisms to monitor and manage risks related to open banking. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has developed the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) to provide secure and privacy-protected access to personal data. DEPA includes data sharing agreements, consent management, and authentication for third-party developers. While unique to India, DEPA shares similarities with the European Commission's efforts to promote open banking and open finance in the European Union through the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2). PSD2 mandates that banks across all EU member countries provide API access to third-party payment account information and services. The study highlights the importance of perceived ease of use, trust, and utility in shaping people's attitudes and intentions towards an open banking fram ework. Interestingly, risk has a minimal impact on user adoption. This finding offers valuable insights to developers and marketers, indicating the need to prioritise user-friendly, trustworthy, and effective technologies while mitigating perceived risks to maximise adoption and customer satisfaction. This study attempts to understand better the influence of implementing the Account Aggregator Framework in India, and the sample size chosen comprised clients of the account aggregator framework in India. -
Product knowledge attitude and motivation on purchase intention towards organic food products
India is credited to have the largest area under organic food cultivation. The size of the area earmarked with organic food cultivation is akin to countries like newlineArgentina, Brazil, China and Uruguay. newlineDelhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune are four cities in India that are experiencing increased consumer interest towards organic food products. This increased consumer interest has led to the emergence of many retailers to sell organic food products that have their presence across the above mentioned four cities. Conscious Foods, Eco Farms, Morarka Organic Foods, Navdanya, Organic India, Sresta etc are some of the retailers doing business in the organic food market segment. The consumer demand for food products that are cultivated organically in India for the period between 2012 and 2017 was predicted to increase at a CAGR of approximately 19%. In India, consumer demand for organically produced food products between the period 2015 and 2020 is expected to increase at a CAGR above 25% (India Organic Food market, 2020). Domestic demand towards organically produced food products for the Indian market presently is approximated at 40,000 million Indian Rupees. This figure is poised to increase by 100,000 million to 120,000 million Indian Rupees for the year 2020 with an identical increase in exports business towards organic food products ( Big Basket keen on collaborating with organic farmers in Karnataka, 2017). Although India is a developing economy, the market for organic food products is immature. Country specific research undertaken by AC Nielsen in the year 2006 revealed that despite Indians being one of the top ten buyers of food fortified with additives for general well-being; do not have access to organic food products. Poor infra-structure conditions in the country such as transportation facilities, storage, warehousing, etc leads to low volume of the newlineproducts for transaction which further increases selling price of organic food newlineproducts. -
A Study of popular gujarati films using agenda setting
Indian cinema is an umbrella term used to refer to films made in different languages in India. Gujarati cinema is one of those lesser popular film industries which began in early twentieth century but today has lost its glory, popularity and grandeur. A dying film industry today, Gujarati films have been quiet popular among Gujaratis since its inception, yet there has been little or no study done to understand how these films have newlinerepresented and framed the culture of Gujarat. This thesis tries to investigate Gujarati cinema and explore some of the newlinedominant films of the golden era to see how it frames Gujarati culture through its history, folk lore, tales, and people in terms of their dress, dialect, celebrations, and other significant codes through select fifty films. The study makes an attempt to connect mise-en-scene of these films with newlineframing analysis to interrogate the way visuals have been prioritized in the films to accommodate/ideas depict any specific agenda/ideology. It is important to note that Gujarati cinema subtly but consistently shared the responsibility of restoring cultural symbols and stories within the film newlinenarrative especially post integration in 1960 to remind every Gujarati about his/her roots and work towards Gujarati asmita. -
Optical Spectroscopy of Classical Be Stars in The Galaxy
A classical Be (Be hereafter) star is a special type of massive B-type main newlinesequence star surrounded by a geometrically thin, equatorial, gaseous, decretion disc orbiting the central star. Spectra of Be stars show emission lines of different elements. Studying these lines provide an excellent opportunity to understand the geometry and kinematics of the circumstellar newlinedisc and properties of the central star itself. Be stars, thus provide excellent opportunities to study circumstellar discs. However, the disc formation mechanism in Be stars the Be phenomenon is still poorly understood. The present study focuses on studying a large sample of Be stars through newlineoptical spectroscopy and using two national optical telescope facilities. We performed the spectroscopic study of all major emission lines for a sample of 115 feld Be stars in the wavelength range of 3800 - 9000 using the 2.1-m HCT facility at Ladakh. To our knowledge, this is the frst study where near simultaneous spectra covering the whole spectral range of 3800 - 9000 has been studied for over 100 feld Be stars. We, therefore, produce an atlas of emission lines for Be stars which will be a valuable resource for researchers involved in Be star research. We made use of the unprecedented capability of the Gaia mission to re-estimate the extinction parameter (AV ) for these stars. The estimated AV values are used for extinction correction in the analysis of Balmer decrement (D34 and D54) for our program stars. D34 in our sample ranges between 0.1 and 9.0, whereas the corresponding D54 value mostly (and#8776; 70%) ranges between 0.2 and 1.5, clustering somewhere near 0.8 and#8722; 1.0. Our study indicates that Be star discs are generally optically thick in nature in majority of the cases. Through comparative study with the literature, we also noticed that the Hand#945; EW values in Be stars are usually lower than -40 Further from our analysis, it appears that the emission strength of Hand#945;, P14, FeII 5169 and OI 8446 is more in early B-type stars. -
Study of buoyancy and surface tension driven convention in nanaofluid
This thesis presents a detail study of linear and non-linear analysis of buoyancy and surface tension driven convection in nanofluid. The linear Rayleigh-Bard / Rayleigh- Bard Marangoni convection in nanofluids in the presence of external constraints like magnetic field, rotation and newlineinternal heat generation is investigated. The effect of temperature and volumetric concentration modulation of nanoparticles at the boundary and gravity modulation are studied on the onset of Rayleigh- Bard newlineconvection. The obtained results are discussed qualitatively and presented newlinegraphically. The problem discussed have important applications in the field of oceanography, geophysics, nuclear fuel, astrophysics, geothermal reservoirs, engineering and space situations with g-jitter connected with gravity simulation studies.Given the rising relevance of nanofluid application, we discuss four newlineproblems in this thesis whose detail summary is presented below: (i) LINEAR AND WEAKLY NON-LINEAR ANALYSIS OF GRAVITY MODULATION ON THE ONSET OF RAYLEIGH BARD CONVECTION IN NANOFLUID The effect of modulation of gravity or time-periodic body force on newlinethe onset of Rayleigh-Bard convection in nanofluid is studied using newlinelinear and non-linear analysis. The stability of the fluid layer heated from newlinebelow is analysed by considering time-periodic body acceleration. This newlinehappens generally in the vehicles and satellites associated with studies of newlinemicro gravity simulation. In order to study the effect of gravity modulation newlineon the system stability limit, linear and weakly non-linear analysis is performed. Normal mode technique and perturbation method is applied to study linear stability. The critical Rayleigh number and wave number is newlinecalculated by taking modulation of small amplitude. It is found that the critical thermal Rayleigh number can be increase or decrease by a massive amount depending upon the distribution of nanoparticles.In this thesis we considered bottom heavy distribution of nanoparticles. -
A Study on work engagement of secondary school teachers in relation to their psychological well-being, leadership behaviour of principals and organizational health
Organizational success is determined by work engagement and psychological well-being of the workforce. Efficient leadership and a healthy teaching environment determine the professional conduct of school teachers. Work engagement not only reflects teachers performance but also implies the performance of pupils and the school. Work engagement depends on the congeniality of the working conditions. The present study explores work engagement of 516 secondary school teachers working in Bengaluru, India. The Work and Well-being survey (UWES) was used to measure teachers work engagement by assessing their vigour, dedication, and absorption. The scale of psychological well-being scale (developed by Ryff) was employed to evaluate in terms of self-acceptance, positive relation with others,autonomy,environmental mastery, purpose in life and personal growth.The leadership behaviour of principals questionnaire was used to measure in terms of consideration and initiating structure. The Organizational health Inventory was employed to quantify the Organizational health at the institutional, managerial, and technical levels. Results from the regression analysis suggest that work engagement of teachers was positively correlated and significantly influenced by psychological well-being, leadership behaviour of principals and organizational health. -
Selective Oxidation of Hetrocyclic Alcohols Using Carbon Based Modified Electrodes
Electro-organic synthesis has achieved great significance over the conventional synthesis routes due to its diverse features which includes the in-situ generation of reagents, replacement of harmful redox reagents, rapid response, and low energy consumption. The choice of reactants (heterocyclic alcohols) for the electrochemical oxidation is solely based on the applications of its corresponding aldehydes. Furthermore, 2-thiophene methanol, piperonyl alcohol, 5-methyl furfuryl alcohol and Tetrahydro furfuryl alcohol have been chosen as reactants of interest as their corresponding aldehydes 2-thiophene carboxaldehyde, piperonal, 5-methyl furfural and Tetrahydro furfural possess various synthetic applications such as production of newlinedyestuffs, perfumes, veterinary products, agrochemicals and pharmaceutical drugs. newlineCarbon based electrodes provide a versatile platform for catalysis reactions. newlineElectrocatalysts for the selective oxidation of heterocyclic alcohols are designed on newlineemploying diverse modifications on the carbon fiber paper (CFP) electrode. Such newlinemodifications have attracted researchers due to their exceptional selectivity, stability, newlineelectrical conductivity and lower charge transfer resistance. The modifications newlineemployed in the current study include immobilized laccase-based materials and newlinegraphitic carbon nitride-based composites. newlineThe physico-chemical properties of the fabricated electrodes were studied using newlinedifferent characterization techniques like Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS), X-Ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Optical Profilometry (OP) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Electrochemical investigations were performed using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Chronoamperometry (CA) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Optimization of experimental conditions such as effect of pH and scan rate to understand the reaction mechanism were studied in detail.