Browse Items (5511 total)
Sort by:
-
Can Renewable Energy Be a Driving Factor for Economic Stability? An In-Depth Study of Sector Expansion and Economic Dynamics
India has emerged as one of the world's most appealing locations for renewable energy development. It has set lofty renewable energy goals to reach 450 gigawatts (GW) capacity by 2030. These aims indicate India's determination to move to greener and more sustainable energy sources. India has been investing in R&D to promote technological innovation in renewable energy. This includes improvements to solar photovoltaic technology, wind energy, energy storage technologies, and smart grid systems. Innovation is critical for improving efficiency, lowering prices, and increasing the reliability of renewable energy sources. This paper aims to analyse the linkages between economic growth and renewable energy usage in India. For this, the Granger Causality technique is adopted, and it is found that no short-run causality exists among the economic growth and RE installed capacity. However, Industrial Production Granger Causes both GDP and Renewable Energy Capacity. When the stock price data of the last five years of top renewable energy companies was also collected, it was found that all the companies are showing an upward trend. While renewable energy is growing rapidly, especially solar and wind power, it is insufficient to meet the bulk of India's energy demands. Renewables contribute to reducing carbon emissions and diversifying the energy mix, but they still account for a smaller percentage compared to thermal power. 2024, Creative Publishing House. All rights reserved. -
Can we improve the outcome of pregnancies with low serum PAPP-A in the first trimester?
Low birth weight is associated with various complications, and recent findings rely on the fact that micronized progesterone supplementation leads to improved birth weight, which is crucial for addressing concerns related to fetal growth. Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of micronized progesterone (VMP4) supplementation on pregnancies with low serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) multiples of the median (MoM) values during first-trimester screening. Methods: Out of 8933 patients evaluated, 116 pregnant women with low PAPP-A concentrations in their blood and no fetal chromosomal anomalies (CAs) were included. Three groups were formed: group 1 received VMP4 from 11 to 16weeks (29 women, 25%), group 2 received VMP4 from 11 to 36weeks (25 women, 21.5%), and group 3 (62 women, 53.5%) served as controls without receiving progesterone. Results: Results indicated that group 3 had higher rates of complications, including miscarriages (16.37%), preterm delivery (17.8%), and fetal developmental abnormalities (19.4%). Birthweight variations were elevated in pregnancies without progesterone, contrasting with lower variations in VMP4 groups. Group 2, receiving VMP4 until 36weeks, reported the lowest incidence of abortion and preterm birth (PB), along with the highest mean birth weight. Conclusions: The conclusion suggests that 200 mg per day of VMP4 up to 36weeks of supplementation led to fewer placental-related complications in women with very low PAPP-A at first-trimester screening (0.399 MoM). By reporting lower rates of miscarriages, PBs, and fetal developmental abnormalities in the micronized progesterone-treated groups, the study suggests a potential reduction in complications. 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. -
Canine-assisted Therapy in Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Scoping Review
Introduction: Animal-Assisted Therapy has been advocated to benefit individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Among all the various kinds of animals used in the therapy, dogs are the most utilized because of their temperament and accessibility. Methods: This systematic scoping review was carried out to present the existing literature employing canine-assisted therapy in the diverse population of neurodevelopmental disorders. The study used the Arksey and O'Malley framework for scoping reviews. Several databases including the gray literature were searched for publications on animal-assisted therapy. Results: The search yielded 4898 articles of which 41 articles were eliigible for inclusion into the review. Conclusions: Scrutiny of the articles suggested a dearth of studies in the various sub-diagnostic categoriesfor neurodevelopmental disorders along with a lack of focus on adult populations with this diagnosis. In addition, the critical need for standardization of therapy guidelines and promotion of animal welfare is reaffirmed. 2022 Elsevier GmbH -
Canopy removal on satellite images using classification and contrast enhancement
The increasing the usage of satellite remote sensing for a civilian purpose has proved to be the most cost-effective mapping environmental changes with regard to natural resources, particularly in developing countries. Forests as one part of the wildlife of human societies in economic growth and permanency of natural resources in the countries of the world. But because of various details such as the growth of population, progressively varying forest to the other unfitting applications such as agriculture, providing energy and fuel, millions of hectares from the natural means are destroyed every year, and the remainder of the surface changes quantitatively and qualitatively. For better management of the forests, the evolution of forest area and rate of forest concentration should be examined. It is achievable that, there isnt any change in the field of the forest during the time, but the density of forest canopy is changed. Estimation of forest canopy cover has recently become an essential part of the forest. Therefore, the research study is to develop Forest Canopy Remover, which is used to get an accurate result of Forest and deforested area from the satellite earth images. It is used to calculate forest density using vegetation. Then, the changes in area and forest density during a particular period can be distinguished. 2020 IJSTR. -
Capacitive Behaviour of Imidazole Azo Modified Carbon Nanotubes/Polypyrrole Composite in Aqueous Electrolytes
Here, we reported imidazole azo (Im) modified carbon nanotubes (CNT) grafted polypyrrole (PPy) via the chemical oxidation method. The synthesized hybrid material has shown a unique structure consisting of carbon nanotubes with a conductive network via polypyrrole. The presence of Im derivatives has helped CNTs to enhance their electrochemical performances. The as synthesized composite was characterized using various techniques like FT-IR, XRD, XPS, and Raman spectroscopy. The morphological studies were performed using SEM technique which also confirmed the nature of the composite. The electrochemical performances of the electrode material were investigated using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in various electrolytes. The best performance of the electrode material was observed in 1 M H2SO4 with a specific capacitance of 305 F g?1 at a current density of 1 A g?1. The electrode material also showed a coulombic efficiency of 96% even after 5000 cycles. 2023 The Electrochemical Society (ECS). Published on behalf of ECS by IOP Publishing Limited. -
Capacitive dominated charge storage in supermicropores of self-activated carbon electrodes for symmetric supercapacitors
The present work demonstrates a systematic study of pore size and specific surface area (SSA) of biomass-derived carbon and the choice of electrolyte concentrations affecting charge-storage mechanism (surface controlled and diffusion controlled) and electrochemical behaviour. Porous nanocarbons derived from Caesalpinia Sappan pods were synthesized by pyrolysis at 400, 600, and 800 C. Pyrolysis at 800 C was found suitable for the self-activation mechanism which formed bimodal porous nanocarbons with a high SSA of 675 m2/g. A maximum specific capacitance of 261.8 F/g at 0.5 A/g in 5.0 M KOH was observed for electrode materials synthesized at 800 C. The highlight of the study is the porous nanocarbon synthesized at 800 C which was found to possess micropores of size 0.71.0 nm playing a pivotal role in enhancing capacitance. The effect of electrolyte concentration on capacitance and charge storage mechanisms was also analyzed. A diffusion-controlled self-discharge model is established for supercapacitor devices. The single cell can power a red LED for 15 min; exemplifying the sustainable strategy of the utilization of abundant bio-waste to efficient energy storage devices. 2022 Elsevier Ltd -
Capturing non-financial information in integrated reporting
In the contemporary business scenario, integrated reporting is a transformational form of corporate reporting. Integrated reporting provides material and substantial information about an entitys prospects, governance, strategy and actions that serve as a reflection of social and commercial viability within the holistic environment in which it operates (IIRC, 2013). Thus, in integrated reports, along with financial information the critical non-financial aspects that affect the reputation, performance and sustainability of the firm are also required to be reported by companies. While regulations are instituted for compulsory divulgence of non-financial information as part of annual reports, there is a lot of ambiguity regarding the non- financial items to be included and the manner of reporting. This paper delineates the non-financial capital components for disclosure in integrated reports. It also discusses the current practices of integrated reporting world over, which will help organisations gain clarity in presenting the non-financial items under different heads of non-financial capitals. Copyright 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. -
Carbon Disclosure and Organization Performance: A Literature Review
As a response to the threat of climate change, a growing number of businesses are voluntarily reporting carbon statistics. This article provides a comprehensive understanding of carbon disclosure, organization performance (OP), and cost of capital. This study aims to map the landscape of existing carbon disclosure and firm performance research completed over the past 10 years (2013-2022) utilizing bibliometric analysis. Sparked by the growing political, social, academic, and practical significance of controlling and reporting on climate-related concerns worldwide, this study analyzes the production and acquisition of information about significant regions and territories, institutions, publications, and channels for carbon disclosure and firm performance research using data from 878 publications retrieved from the Scopus database. To identify themes and subthemes in the research on carbon disclosure and firm performance, network analysis was utilized to reveal connections between the topics represented by keywords. Further, critical gaps have been highlighted in the literature, such as: the lack of carbon disclosure research across cross-sector settings, the lack of sectorial comparisons on the carbon disclosure practices, and the dearth of analyses of both pre-carbon disclosure and after-carbon disclosure practices and their impact on various financial and nonfinancial issues (for example, cost of capital and firm performance, sustainability, and climate change). Finally, this study makes specific recommendations for future carbon disclosure and firm performance research. 2023 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. -
Carbon dots derived from frankincense soot for ratiometric and colorimetric detection of lead (II)
We report a simple one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of carbon dots from frankincense soot. Carbon dots prepared from frankincense (FI-CDs) have narrow size distribution with an average size of 1.80 nm. FI-CDs emit intense blue fluorescence without additional surface functionalization or modification. A negative surface charge was observed for FI-CDs, indicating the abundance of epoxy, carboxylic acid, and hydroxyl functionalities that accounts for their stability. A theoretical investigation of the FI-CDs attached to oxygen-rich functional groups is incorporated in this study. The characteristics of FI-CDs signify arm-chair orientation, which is confirmed by comparing the indirect bandgap of FI-CDs with the bandgap obtained from Tauc plots. Also, we demonstrate that the FI-CDs are promising fluoroprobes for the ratiometric detection of Pb2+ ions (detection limit of 0.12 ?M). The addition of Pb2+ to FI-CD solution quenched the fluorescence intensity, which is observable under illumination by UV light LED chips. We demonstrate a smartphone-assisted quantification of the fluorescence intensity change providing an efficient strategy for the colorimetric sensing of Pb2+ in real-life samples. 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd. -
Carbon dots-Zno/TiO2 ternary nanocomposite as a proficient material to enhance the performance of natural DSSC
A novel sustainable approach for enhancing the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) involves the utilization of a combination of ZnO and carbon dots (CDs) derived from Citrus medica fruit extract, along with microwave-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles for the preparation of the photoanode. Natural dyes such as Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and Allium Cepa peel are employed as sensitizers to reduce production costs. This co-activation method has demonstrated a significant improvement in the output parameters of the devices. Notably, the photoanode co-activated with ZnO-CD composite (ZnO-CD/TiO2) exhibits the most favorable output parameters when combined with Hibiscus rosa-sinensis dye (open circuit voltage (Voc) = 0.80 V, short circuit current density (Jsc) = 6.62 mA/cm2, fill factor (FF) = 64.20 %, photo conversion efficiency (PCE) = 3.40 %) and Allium Cepa peel dye (Voc = 0.81 V, Jsc = 6.79 mA/cm2, FF = 65.70 %, PCE = 3.61 %). When paired with Allium Cepa dye, the CD modified photoanode (CD/TiO2) offers Voc = 0.73 V, Jsc = 6.64 mA/cm2, FF = 61.27 % and PCE = 2.97 %. Similarly, when combined with Hibiscus rosa-sinensis dye, the output parameters of the CD/TiO2 photoanode are Voc = 0.72 V, Jsc = 6.54 mA/cm2, FF = 64.4 % and PCE = 3.03 %. In comparison to all tested devices, the unmodified photoanode (TiO2) displayed the lowest performance, with parameters such as Voc = 0.59 V, Jsc = 6.45 mA/cm2, FF = 52.5 %, PCE = 2.10 % using Allium Cepa peel dye, and Voc = 0.66 V, Jsc = 6 mA/cm2, FF = 51.60 %, PCE = 2.04 % using Hibiscus rosa-sinensis dye. Furthermore, the co-activation process has been shown to enhance the stability of the devices. While the unmodified photoanodes ceased to operate after eight days, the ZnO-CD composite co-activated photoanodes retained their initial efficiencies up to 61.50 % and 68.53 % with the Allium Cepa peel dye and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis dye, respectively. Therefore, this study underscores the potential of the synthesized composite material in enhancing the performance of natural DSSCs. 2024 Elsevier Ltd -
Carboplatin-loaded zeolitic imidazolate framework-8: Induction of antiproliferative activity and apoptosis in breast cancer cell
The challenge with breast cancer is its ongoing high prevalence and difficulties in early detection and access to effective care. A solution lies in creating tailored metalorganic frameworks to encapsulate anticancer drugs, enabling precise and targeted treatment with less adverse effects and improved effectiveness. Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) and carboplatin (CP)-loaded ZIF-8 were synthesized and characterized using various analytical techniques. High Resolution-transmission electron microscopy of ZIF-8 and CP@ZIF-8 indicates that the particles had a spherical shape and were nanosized. The drug release rate of CP is 98% under an acidic medium (pH 5.5) because of the dissolution of ZIF-8 into its coordinating ions, whereas 35% in a physiological medium (pH 7.4) with the addition of CP, the high porosity, and pore diameter of ZIF-8 decrease from 1243 to 1041m2/g. Breast cancer MCF-7 cells were shown greater IC50 in CP@ZIF-8 (15.013.03g/mL) than free CP (34.984.25g/mL) in an in vitro cytotoxicity assessment. The cytotoxicity of the CP@ZIF-8 against MCF-7 cells was studied using the methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide method. The morphological changes were examined using fluorescent staining (acridine orangeethidium bromide and Hoechst 33258) methods. The comet assay assessed the DNA fragmentation (single-cell gel electrophoresis). The results from the study revealed that CP@ZIF-8 can be used in the treatment of breast cancer. 2024 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. -
Carcinogens in Food: Evaluating the Presence of Cadmium, Lead, in Poultry Meat in South India
Objective: Local chickens were spontaneously sampled and slaughtered in the central markets of Coimbatore, Erode, and Namakkal districts, South India. Materials and Methods: Wet digestion was used to extract lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn) in their blood and selected different organs (intestine, breast, liver, and gizzard), and their concentrations were measured using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results: Apart from the blood of chickens from Coimbatore and Namakkal, where Pb was not found, the concentrations of Pb in the blood and organs of chickens from the three towns ranged from 1.8 to 8.33 mg/kg, exceeding the maximum tolerance thresholds (0.1 mg/kg) in internal organs of poultry birds. Except for the intestine of chickens from the three areas, Cd was only found in the heart, blood, and gizzard of Erode chickens, as well as the liver and gizzard of Namakkal chickens, in concentrations ranging from 0.13 to 0.58. According to threshold level, the upper limit met the maximum limits (0.5 mg/kg). Zn was found in all sections of chickens from the three selected districts, with concentrations ranging from 4.96 to 174.17 mg/kg. Conclusion: Its concentrations were within the permissible limits (10-50 mg/kg) in some areas of certain chickens, but it surpassed the permissible limit in the liver of chicken from Coimbatore. Any organs and blood from local chickens sold in Coimbatore, Erode, and Namakkal areas can be hazardous to ones health. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License -
Cardiovascular Disease Prediction through Ensembled Transfer Learning on Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) cause more deaths worldwide than most of the other diseases. The diagnosis of cardiovascular disease from Magnetic Resonance Imaging plays a major role in the medical field. The technological revolution contributed a lot to increase the effectiveness of CVD diagnosis. Many Artificial Intelligence methods using Deep Learning models are available to assist the cardiologist in the diagnosis of CVD from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In this study, we leverage on the merits of deep learning, transfer learning, and ensemble voting to improve the accuracy of Artificial Intelligence-based CVD detection. VGG16, MobileNetV2, and InceptionV3, trained on ImageNet, are the models used and the dataset is the Automatic Cardiac Diagnosis Challenge dataset. We customized the classification layers of all three models to suit the CVD detection problem. The results from these models are ensembled using the soft-voting and hard-voting approaches. Test accuracies obtained are 97.94% and 98.08% from hard-voting and soft-voting respectively. The experimental results demonstrated that the ensemble of outputs from transfer learning-based Deep Learning models produces much improved results for CVD diagnosis from MRI images. 2022 Sibu Cyriac, Sivakumar R. and Nidhin Raju. This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. -
Carmelight Trends in Social Sector Expenditure
The Multidisciplinary National Journal, Vol-10 (1), pp. 77-96. ISSN-0975-9484 -
Carrying capacity assessment for religious crowd management - An application to sabarimala mass gathering pilgrimage, India
Crowd Management is always a challenging task when people gather in large numbers. Crowd disasters in India, including recurring incidents at religious venues, demands a crowd management system developed on the characteristics of the place, event, and participants. Assessment of carrying capacity is the prime process to design crowd management protocols and regulations. Carrying capacity assessment of religious gathering venues in India is often an overlooked process. The present study assessed the crowd carrying capacity of Sabarimala pilgrimage, Kerala, India. Physical carrying capacity assessment methods used for tourism venues have been applied and contextualised for crowd carrying capacity assessment. Characteristics of the venue, pilgrimage and pilgrims were studied to map the active crowd area and space utilisation zones. The physical carrying capacity was estimated based on the comfortable crowd density and threshold crowd density assessments. The study identified two factors influencing pilgrim movement within the venue viz. service level at the holy step and capacity of the darshan facility. Service level at the holy step is the prime factor that regulates the flow of the pilgrim within the venue including the pilgrim movement for deity darshan and hence the comfortable capacity of the holy step was distinguished as the effective carrying capacity of the venue. Physical carrying capacity at the comfortable crowd density has to be maintained throughout the event to avoid the triggering of crowd crushes. The crowd carrying capacity assessment (CCCA) method applied in this study is a simple process. Considering the crowd density and crowd regulation factors, the CCCA method can be applied to design crowd management protocols of other religious pilgrimage destinations in India. International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage -
Caste, Cricket, and Community Fraternal Intersections in Blue Star
[No abstract available] -
Casual nexus between firm ownership structure and market liquidity /
Asian Journal of Research in Banking and Finance, Vol.4, Issue 12, pp.12-22, ISSN No: 2249-7323. -
Cat Swarm Optimization Algorithm Tuned Multilayer Perceptron for Stock Price Prediction
Due to the nonlinear and dynamic nature of stock data, prediction is one of the most challenging tasks in the financial market. Nowadays, soft and bio-inspired computing algorithms are used to forecast the stock price. This article assesses the efficiency of the hybrid stock prediction model using the multilayer perceptron (MLP) and cat swarm optimization (CSO) algorithm. The CSO algorithm is a bio-inspired algorithm inspired by the behavior traits of cats. CSO is employed to find the appropriate value of MLP parameters. Technical indicators calculated from historical data are used as input variables for the proposed model. The model's performance is validated using historical data not used for training. The model's prediction efficiency is evaluated in terms of MSE, MAPE, RMSE and MAE. The model's results are compared with other models optimized by various bio-inspired algorithms presented in the literature to prove its efficiency. The empirical findings confirm that the proposed CSO-MLP prediction model provides the best performance compared to other models taken for analysis. 2022 Polish Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. -
Catalytic Activity and Reusability of Mesoporous Iron Aluminophosphate Catalyst in Pharmacologically Important Organic Transformations
Journal Atoms and Molecules an International Online Journal, Vol-4 (1), pp. 675-681. ISSN-2277-1247