Browse Items (1473 total)
Sort by:
-
Fabrication of Robust Wettability Gradients on Soft Surfaces Through Physicochemical Modulations
The creation of robust surface gradients on soft materials is an emerging area of research in materials chemistry. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomeric soft material, is widely employed in diverse research fields due to its exceptional properties including ease of processability, newlinebiocompatibility, and transparency. These properties make it an ideal choice for applications in microfluidics, soft robotics, and biomedical devices. Creating surface gradients on soft surfaces can be challenging, requiring expensive chemicals, sophisticated instrumentation, time, and complex experimental setups. This study presents simple and cost-effective methods newlinefor creating chemical (wettability) and physical (morphological) gradients on newlinePDMS surfaces. The methods we developed to create wettability gradients involves (i) newlinecreation of a gradient of crosslinking density on the PDMS surface by using newlinea differential curing method and (ii) selective inhibition of normal curing newlineusing an inhibitor. Contact angle measurements confirm the successful newlinecreation of both radial and linear gradient of surface wettability using both these methods with regions of higher crosslinking density exhibiting higher hydrophobicity. We have also devised an innovative technique for fabricating morphological gradients on soft surfaces. The method makes use of newlinedifferential curing and buckling instability to create hierarchical wrinkled patterns on the PDMS surface. Optical microscopy and profilometry confirm the uniformity, reproducibility, and controlled optical properties of the wrinkled surface patterns. newlineGradients we prepared demonstrated excellent performance in various applications, including water collection, cell adhesion, and triboelectric charge generation. They can be utilized in microfluidics, sensors, and newlinebiomedical devices due to their structural consistency, controllable physical newlineresponses, and reproducibility of the performances. -
-
Facile Fabrication of Nano carbon Derivatives for Optical and Electro chemical Applications
From synthesis of novel materials to their end-use applications, the prime objective of the material science community is to address the burgeoning social issues across the world. Noxious emissions from fossil fuel combustion, increased incidence of skin cancer, drug misuse, and ever-increasing demand for energy are some of the global concerns that require urgent consideration. This drives a relentless quest for a multifunctional material with broad applicability that can directly and constructively impact the quality of life, environment, and economic progress. However, materials of this kind should embrace versatile characteristics, improved competency, plausibility, and lower cost. In light of this, the current doctoral research emphasizes the development of trailblazing graphene-based materials with manifold usages derived from a naturally abundant carbonaceous fossil fuel coke to discover scientific solutions to the aforesaid trials and tribulations. Fossil fuel coal, mainly used for energy purposes, is often discouraged from industrial and domestic consumption due to its contribution to global warming. Despite the fact that coal is a non-renewable resource and a source of greenhouse gas emissions, it is one of the world's bountiful carbon resources. Therefore, it can be exploited as a potent substitute for conventional graphite, enabling the extraction of value-added graphene derivatives along with the sustainable utilization of coal. However, the purity of the precursor is a vital criterion to guarantee the quality and supply of graphene materials. In this doctoral work, coal-coke with 99% carbon content was used for the production of high-quality oxidized multilayer graphene derivatives by employing an environmentally-benign synthesis technique. The obtained graphene structure exhibited a multi-emissive fluorescence property having emissions ranging from blue to green-yellow. In addition, it also possessed remarkable electrochemical performance, good rate capability, and durability, signifying its expediency in energy storage devices. In an attempt to further enhance the scope of as-synthesized coke-based graphene derivatives, heteroatoms such as nitrogen and phosphorus were introduced into the graphene lattice via substitutional doping. It was perceived that nitrogen doping impressively amended the photophysical properties, especially in terms of quantum yield and fluorescence lifetime. Therefore, the as-synthesized nitrogen-doped multilayer graphene derivative was used as a fluorescent biomarker for imaging melanoma skin cancer cells with the purpose of early detection. Wherein co-doping of nitrogen and phosphorus endorsed excellent electrochemical characteristics and sensing performance, owing to the synergistic effect from heteroatoms and the imparted structural corrugations. Thus, by utilizing the as-synthesized nitrogen, phosphorus co- doped heteroatom derivative, oxytocin, a high-risk abused drug, was electrochemically detected in an nM range and validated the possibility of real-time surveillance over its mishandling in edibles and biological models. The coke-based graphene derivatives were further refashioned to obtain optimum textural and surface chemistry characteristics beneficial for energy storage characteristics. Accordingly, simultaneous heteroatom-doping and activation of graphene derivative were achieved. The obtained sample had a high surface area, hierarchical porous structure, increased defect densities, and co-active heteroatom enriched graphene network, suggesting its potential as an electrode material for supercapacitor applications. It was observed that the as-synthesized simultaneously heteroatom-doped and activated samples demonstrated high capacitance value, appreciable cyclic stability, and lower charge-transfer resistance. Henceforth, such enhanced supercapacitive performance points toward the cradle-to-gate transformation of fossil fuel, i.e., the conversion of sluggish black coal to green energy. -
-
FACTORS EFFECTING EMPLOYMENT CHOICE AND WILLINGNESS TO STAY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY
Employer Brand refers to what people currently associate with an organization, employer branding can been described as the sum of a companys efforts to communicate to existing and prospective staff what makes it a desirable place to work, and the active management of a companys image as seen through the eyes of its associates and potential hires. This study is an attempt to continue afresh with new perspective to the field of human resource and behavioural sciences with special reference to employer branding: factors effecting employment choice and willingness to stay in information technology industry. The review on the related literature in the area of Employer branding and their willingness to stay or quit studied in this research has provided the researcher an insight into many factors. It also provides directions in designing the present study. Having reviewed several studies and having identified the gap, the investigator felt an imperative need to undertake the present investigation. The sample consisted of 276 IT employees from 11 employers of Bangalore city listed by NASSCOM. The sample consisted of both male and female IT employees. Judgemental sampling technique was adopted to select the number of respondents across the three types of management levels. The Major findings of the study were: 1. The five major media adopted to choose to work with the present employer were personal contacts followed by friends at the organization, job portals, company website and campus recruitment. Whereas medias like head-hunters, advertisements, internship, articles in media or product information had less interference in media adoption process. 2. It was found that challenging tasks, good reference for future career, international career opportunity, financial benefits, and work life balance were the top five factors that motivated employees to stay in the organization. Whereas wages / salary,products / services, retirement insurance, vehicle loan / discount facility, support staff for domestic help where least in motivating employees to stay. 3. It was found that compensation and benefits was the highest factor triggering an employees decision to quit followed by rewards and recognition, training programs, corporate culture and too challenging tasks. Other factors like recruitment and induction processes, reputation of the organization, leave and vacation policy, vehicle loan / discount facility and corporate social responsibility did not influence employees decision to quit. 4. It was found that compensation was the highest factor on why employees leave the organization.This was followed by reference for rewards,training programs,corporate culture, and challenging tasks. 5. Employees perception of trust too played a vital role in his decision process to stay or quit. It was found that dimensions like willingness to listen; trust, reliability, accountability, fairness, commitment and integrity played a vital role in influencing the trust process in an employee towards the organisation. Implications : HR managers need to have a good theory or model of how employer branding works in their own organisations. What works in one organisation or one industry sector may be quite different from what works in another. This indicates that there is some hard evidence and useful insights to be learned from emerging research in employer branding and its close relative, talent management. HR managers would be advised to look at this evidence-based work before leaping. Conclusion: The findings and outcome of this research will be beneficial to the IT organisations in India, which is a flourishing industry and contributes significantly to the GDP of the country and the talent pool of the world. The study will bring in sharp focus on the major challenges encountered in these areas and the solutions that will aid IT organisations to deal more significantly in increasing their organisational efficiency. Key words: employer branding, willingness to stay, perception of trust -
Factors influencing family reintegration of children in conflict with law
The Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) is one of the two categories of children under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (JJA, 2015). The behaviour formation of the CCL is significant because it could help the children: (a) from being a possible threat to society, and (b) being disciplined at all stages of their growth. The failure of behaviour correction of CCL may lead to severe recidivism, and can potentially
transform them into experienced criminals who would not be tolerated by any society. Reintegration of CCL back into their family is the best solution for the problem. The research “Factors influencing family reintegration of CCL” is an attempt to find the factors influencing these children, their family environment, and the society as a whole for reintegration. This fact-finding study has been completed with an explanatory sequential method in a mixed-research approach. The child offender’s demographic details, personality, family environment, social support, and protective factors were part of this research’s study. The data were collected both quantitativelyand qualitatively. The self-made interview schedules and a standardised tool of the Big Five Personality Inventory were used quantitatively. Case studies through indepth interviews and observations were applied qualitatively to collect data. Simple frequency analysis and cross-case study with thematic analysis have been used for analysing the data. Though many powerful social support systems like the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), Police and Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) supported the reintegration of CCL actively, the personality of the children and their family environment with its’ traditions had created adverse effects on the attempts towards reintegration. -
Factors influencing family reintergration of children in conflict with law
The Children in Conflict with Law (CCL) is one of the two categories of children under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (JJA, 2015). The behaviour formation of the CCL is significant because it could help the children: (a) from being a possible threat to society, and (b) being disciplined at all stages of their growth. The failure of newlinebehaviour correction of CCL may lead to severe recidivism, and can potentially newlinetransform them into experienced criminals who would not be tolerated by any society. newlineReintegration of CCL back into their family is the best solution for the problem. The newlineresearch Factors influencing family reintegration of CCL is an attempt to find the factors influencing these children, their family environment, and the society as a newlinewhole for reintegration. This fact-finding study has been completed with an explanatory sequential method in a mixed-research approach. The child offender s demographic details, personality, family environment, social support, and protective factors were part of this research s study. The data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively. The self-made interview schedules and a standardised tool of the newlineBig Five Personality Inventory were used quantitatively. Case studies through in depth interviews and observations were applied qualitatively to collect data. Simple newlinefrequency analysis and cross-case study with thematic analysis have been used for newlineanalysing the data. Though many powerful social support systems like the Juvenile newlineJustice Board (JJB), District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), Police and Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) supported the reintegration of CCL actively, the newlinepersonality of the children and their family environment with its traditions had created adverse effects on the attempts towards reintegration. Twenty to thirty per cent newlineof successful reintegration proves that a scientific and timely intervention can solve newlinethe problems of juvenile delinquency to a great extent. -
Families Experience with Family Therapy: A Qualitative Inquiry
Various studies have found out that the experiences of the families with family therapy in several countries have generally been positive and the number of the people who benefit from family therapy is also high. Studies reveal that though there is a heightened need for family therapy in India, there is a kind of reluctance among the people towards it. When there is good number of literature in India that reveals the general attitude of Indian population towards family therapy, there is a lack of studies that explore the lived experience of the family members who have undergone family therapy. This study was designed to examine therapy from the point of view of the families. The participants of this study were eight families from Kerala and Karnataka who had completed entire family therapy under the trained professionals in the duration of last five months. The data was collected through in-depth interviews. The study reveals the common factors that led the families to family therapy, their experience with the whole therapeutic process, the barriers that prevented them and the perceived benefits of family therapy. Ten global themes and twenty seven organizing themes have been identified on the whole in relation with the research query. The findings are described along with the practical implication, suggestions and future research agendas. Keywords: Therapeutic process, Rapport building, Working phase, Termination, Interventions, Mental well-being -
Feminism in belly dance and its portrayal in the media /
Bellydance is an art form that has gained tremendous popularity in the world today. There are different kinds of bellydance such as folk, tribal fusion, cabaret etc. In a world and time where women‟s rights and respect has been the foremost of most people‟s concerns, bellydance with its barrier breaking techniques and methods have created controversies yet have also resulted in a form of dance that is beautiful and helps a woman celebrate herself. -
Feminism in popular culture: A case study on justice league /
With popular culture stemming largely from the superhero comics it is difficult to ignore them nowadays. Marvel and DC have also been going at great lengths to ensure that for the next ten years, there exists a whole stock of such movies, comics and merchandise. This in turn means that there is a growing need to document and study the patterns of this growing culture. Within this, the evolution of female characters and feminist ideologies must be mapped. -
Filmography of social issues in Punjabi cinema /
Through this dissertation, the researcher aims to find out the various social issues reflected in the cinema of the Punjab. The main focus of the research is on three films. The first film is Maarhi Da Deeva which is based on a book by Punjabi writer Gurdial Singh and it talks about the trials and tribulations faced by the lower classes at the hands of the upper classes in a rural setup in the Punjab of 1980s. -
Financial Capability and Decision Making Effects on Financial Wellbeing of Women in Community Based Organisations
Financial Social Work (FSW) is a multi-disciplinary interactive approach that deals with financially vulnerable populations financial issues/solutions. FSW deals with individual, family and community wellbeing by increasing access to good financial services, asset-building opportunities, financial education and guidance. The two concepts newlineunderlying FSW are financial capability and financial wellbeing. Financial capability is increasingly becoming a priority for policymakers, social workers, academicians and organisations of economic and social newlinesignificance. In India, limited studies are available for measuring the financial capability of Indian citizens. While literature suggests various studies on financial capability and financial wellbeing, the focus on their combined effect has been limited. The feminisation of poverty is an newlineessential topic when discussing the capability and wellbeing of women. This refers to the increasing tendency for those in poverty to be women and children due to the reasons such as economic conditions, demographic composition and government policy. Hence, it is relevant to consider newlinewomen as the focus point of the study. The present study measures women s financial capability and examines how demographic factors influence the same. The study also explores the impact of financial capability on the decision making ability and financial wellbeing of women associated with Community Based Organisations (CBOs). It further newlineexamines whether the decision making ability mediates between financial capability and financial wellbeing. Primary data was collected from the respondents through a structured questionnaire to identify and establish these aspects. In total, 1000 women who were associated with the CBOKudumbashree in the state of Kerala, India, identified through the multistage sampling technique, participated in the survey-based study. -
Financial Literacy and Financial Capability among the Urban Street Vendors
Employment in the informal sector has grown rapidly over the years as it requires a limited skill set, limited educational background, and least initial investment. One such vulnerable sector which forms the major portion of the informal workforce is the street vendors. They lack basic facilities to newlinehave a good standard of living. It is observed that they are usually denied newlinevarious opportunities though their contribution to the economic growth and newlinedevelopment is immense. Their unstable income has left them vulnerable to many financial situations and led them into a financial debt trap. This research is carried out entirely from the view of the street vendors. newlineFinancial literacy has gained importance over the years as it enhances and empowers one s financial ability. Financial literacy is promoted through financial inclusion where all the sections of the society come under one roof to avail finance at ease. Basic financial literacy is will aid the users to newlinemake better utilization of financial schemes under financial inclusion. This in turn leads to better financial capability for individuals. It is observed that there is a gap that needs to be bridged between the street vendors and financial accessibility as they lack basic financial knowledge as are from a low educational background in this study. Better financial knowledge will newlinelead to better usage and accessibility of financial inclusion schemes which will result in better financial capability; this concept is being examined in the current study. The identified relationship impact of financial inclusion on financial literacy and financial capability forms an integral part of the study. It is useful in bringing out the gap between the street vendors and their financial distress. The research was designed to develop an instrument. A research instrument to measure variables was built based on previous studies and the expert s newlineconsultation. -
-
fluorescence diffuse optical tomography : Synthesis characterization and imaging of a novel target specific near infra-red contrast agent for breast cancer detection
Contrast agents are finding profound application in optical imaging of breast cancer for an early detection. In the present work, a novel estrogen receptor (ER) targeted near infra-red fluorescent dye conjugate was synthesized, referred to as Novel Dye Conjugate (nDC) hereafter. nDC is a conjugate of 17and#946;-estradiol with a derivative of indocyanine green dye, bis-1,1-(4-sulfobutyl) indotricarbocyanine-5-carboxylic acid, sodium salt. Structural composition of nDC was validated using Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) and Hydrogen-1 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H-NMR) technique. MCF-7 and MDA MB 231 Cell lines studies proved the special biding ability of nDC with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cell lines and its photophysical properties were verified to be in near infrared region (NIR). Similar studies were conducted on ER expressing cancerous tissues like Non-Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, Non-Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, Non-Invasive Adenocarcinoma and Non-Invasive Medullary Carcinoma. In all the above tissues, nuclear level ER binding of nDC was observed leading to the validations of the unique binding properties of the novel dye. Mathematical modeling for tumor to background mapping using nDC was carried out through Fluorescence Diffuse Optical Tomography (FDOT) simulations. Simulation results were also validated using silicone phantom experiments. An array of 8*8 boundary data was collected using frequency domain-FDOT system which was setup indigenously. Commercially available fluorescent dye Indocyanine Green (ICG) was used in the present study for comparative analysis with nDC. When compared to ICG, proposed dye had 1.5-fold higher target to background contrast with respect to fluorescent lifetime in both simulation and phantom studies. Similarly proposed novel dye had a two-fold higher target to background contrast with respect to fluorophore absorption. Above results proved the superiority of nDC compared to ICG on target(tumor) to background ratio enhancement. -
Fluorescence diffuse optical tomography: Synthesis, characterization and imaging of a novel target specific near infra-red contrast agent for breast cancer detection /
A paradigm shift is seen for cancer treatment since many decades in developing safe and efficient techniques to prevent, detect, treat and cure cancer worldwide. However, there is still a long way to stabilize the rate of cancer occurrence. Breast cancer is found to be among the top three cancer types in terms of incidence and fifth in terms of mortality. An estimate of 2.1 million new cases of breast cancer was recorded in the International Agency for Research on Cancer [IARC] Report 2018. Close to a half (43.6%) of all breast cancers were diagnosed within the Asia-Pacific region (approximately 911014 cases), with the greatest number of those occurring in China, Japan and Indonesia. Although the prognosis is relatively favorable, at least in more developed countries, early diagnosis is the lifesaver. Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT) is one of the emerging diagnostic tools for early detection of breast cancer. It uses near infra-red (NIR) light to probe human soft tissues and is capable of continuous monitoring of the patient. DOT is cheaper, compact and uses non-ionizing radiation unlike its counterparts like CT-Scan, Mammogram and PET scan. The potential of DOT can be enhanced by using a NIR exogenous contrast agents, and the system is known as Fluorescence-DOT (FDOT). Indocyanine Green (ICG) is a popular FDA approved dye available in the market which is explored for cancer detection using FDOT. But, with its non-specific nature, there was a need for a specific and functionally orientated dye to further improve the efficacy of FDOT imaging. -
Forcing Parameters and Propagation Time of Certain Graph Classes
A branch of mathematics that treats vertices and edges of a graph is called graph theory. This theory is used to replicate many real-life situations and physical problems. Graph coloring problem is one of the prominent studies in extremal graph theory. Suppose information has to be communicated in a network or some product has to be marketed to all the people in a cluster then there are two types of cost that needs to be encountered, one the cost of selecting the initial set of vertices in a network and the second is, time it takes to propagate the information through the entire network. The sum of these two parameters is known as the total cost. Optimizing the total cost, which is the sum of vertices and the time it takes to propagate information through the entire network, is a challenging problem for any newlinegraph. Such an interesting and well-studied problem is called the dynamic coloring newlineproblem. The forcing problem also known as infecting or spreading problem is one newlinesuch dynamic coloring problem where two colors- white and black are used. Assume that a fxed set of vertices in a graph G are initially black and that the remaining vertices are considered white vertices. The aim of the forcing process is to obtain, fully black-colored vertices of the graph G by progressively applying the color change law, making sure that at least one white vertex is forced black in every discrete time interval. The forcing index is the minimum cardinality of the forcing sets. Diand#64256;erent types of forcing, such as one forcing, connected one forcing, k-forcing connected k-forcing etc., are defned based on the color change law. The one forcing is the basic form of forcing. A generalised form of one forcing is known as k-forcing where k lt V (G). The time taken by a forcing set to force the entire vertices of the graph G black is the propagation time or iteration index. The subject of study aims to fnd the one forcing number and k-forcing number of diand#64256;erent types of graph classes and derived graph classes. -
-
Forecasting volatility evidence from the futures market in India
This thesis focuses on modelling and forecasting of select products in the Indian futures market using econometric time series models and artificial neural network based models. These models have been compared for their forecasting accuracy to determine the best forecasting model for a particular futures series. This study applies GARCH, EGARCH, PARCH, TARCH, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to assess the best predicting model for exchange rate futures, commodity index futures and stock index futures. After testing for stationarity of data series, GARCH, EGARCH, PARCH and TARCH models are developed. In addition to in-sample forecasts, 1-day, 5-day, 10-day, 15-day and 30-day out-of-sample forecasts have been carried out. For ANN, data is scaled using the minmax scaling methodology to ensure that newlinethe data series is normalised and in the range of 0 to 1. ANN is developed using the feedforward methodology. While the basic neural network architecture has one input layer, one hidden layer and one output layer, the number of neurons in the input and hidden layers vary from 1 to 20. The optimum number of input and hidden neurons in their respective layers are then selected based on the combination which gives the least error. These network combinations are used for out-of-sample forecasting and errors are compared with the forecast output of the GARCH models. RMSE, MAE, MAPE, Theil s-U statistic and Correlation coefficient is computed for error newlinecomparison. Results indicate that for currency futures and commodity index futures, ANN provides better forecast accuracy. For stock index futures, GARCH family models work better in some cases. -
