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A Simple and Efficient Ligand-Free Copper-Catalyzed C-N Bond Formation of Aryl (Hetero) Halides and N-Heteroaryl Amines
In this protocol, we report a simple, inexpensive, and user-friendly conventional method for C-N cross coupling between aryl/heteroaryl halides and hetero aryl amines using copper iodide as a catalyst in DMSO as a solvent to prepare pyrimidines and pyrazines derivatives. The reaction conditions were optimized by screening in various copper catalysts and bases. The substrate scope of the reaction was also carried out to prepare novel functionalized N-arylated compounds in good yields. 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. -
Metal and Ligand-Free Approach Towards the Efficient One-Pot Synthesis of Dipyridopyrimidinimine Derivatives
We report a facile, expeditious, user-friendly, and convenient metal-free synthesis employing base catalysis in a one-pot procedure to construct 11H-dipyrido[1,2-a : 3?,2?-d]pyrimidin-11-imine derivatives. This protocol involves a domino process leading to the formation of double C?N bonds utilising KOtBu as the base and DMAc as the superior solvent at 25 C for 2 h. The versatility of this methodology was demonstrated by its successful application to substrates with both electron-withdrawing and electron-donating functional groups, yielding novel functionalized stable 11H-dipyrido[1,2-a : 3?,2?-d]pyrimidin-11-imine derivatives in good to excellent yields. Additionally, we have discussed a plausible reaction pathway for the synthesis. 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH. -
An Efficient Copper-Catalyzed Regioselective One-Pot Synthesis of Pyrido[1,2-a]benzimidazole and Its Derivatives
A facile and effectual regioselective one-pot synthesis protocol has been developed for the construction of pyrido[1,2-a]benzimidazole and its derivatives using Copper(I) bromide as the catalyst, 1,10-phenanthroline as ligand, and K3PO4 (Tripotassium phosphate) as the base in Dimethyl sulfoxide as solvent at 110 C for 12 h. The reaction conditions were optimized by screening various copper catalysts, ligands, solvents, and bases. The substrate scope of the reaction was also carried out with electron-withdrawing and donating functional groups to prepare novel functionalized regioselective benzimidazole compounds in good to excellent yields. All the isolated compounds were characterized by 1H, 13C, and 19F NMR. 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH. -
A Quantum-Inspired Self-Supervised Network model for automatic segmentation of brain MR images
The classical self-supervised neural network architectures suffer from slow convergence problem and incorporation of quantum computing in classical self-supervised networks is a potential solution towards it. In this article, a fully self-supervised novel quantum-inspired neural network model referred to as Quantum-Inspired Self-Supervised Network (QIS-Net) is proposed and tailored for fully automatic segmentation of brain MR images to obviate the challenges faced by deeply supervised Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architectures. The proposed QIS-Net architecture is composed of three layers of quantum neuron (input, intermediate and output) expressed as qbits. The intermediate and output layers of the QIS-Net architecture are inter-linked through bi-directional propagation of quantum states, wherein the image pixel intensities (quantum bits) are self-organized in between these two layers without any external supervision or training. Quantum observation allows to obtain the true output once the superimposed quantum states interact with the external environment. The proposed self-supervised quantum-inspired network model has been tailored for and tested on Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast (DSC) brain MR images from Nature data sets for detecting complete tumor and reported promising accuracy and reasonable dice similarity scores in comparison with the unsupervised Fuzzy C-Means clustering, self-trained QIBDS Net, Opti-QIBDS Net, deeply supervised U-Net and Fully Convolutional Neural Networks (FCNNs). 2020 Elsevier B.V. -
Qutrit-Inspired Fully Self-Supervised Shallow Quantum Learning Network for Brain Tumor Segmentation
Classical self-supervised networks suffer from convergence problems and reduced segmentation accuracy due to forceful termination. Qubits or bilevel quantum bits often describe quantum neural network models. In this article, a novel self-supervised shallow learning network model exploiting the sophisticated three-level qutrit-inspired quantum information system, referred to as quantum fully self-supervised neural network (QFS-Net), is presented for automated segmentation of brain magnetic resonance (MR) images. The QFS-Net model comprises a trinity of a layered structure of qutrits interconnected through parametric Hadamard gates using an eight-connected second-order neighborhood-based topology. The nonlinear transformation of the qutrit states allows the underlying quantum neural network model to encode the quantum states, thereby enabling a faster self-organized counterpropagation of these states between the layers without supervision. The suggested QFS-Net model is tailored and extensively validated on the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) dataset collected from the Nature repository. The experimental results are also compared with state-of-the-art supervised (U-Net and URes-Net architectures) and the self-supervised QIS-Net model and its classical counterpart. Results shed promising segmented outcomes in detecting tumors in terms of dice similarity and accuracy with minimum human intervention and computational resources. The proposed QFS-Net is also investigated on natural gray-scale images from the Berkeley segmentation dataset and yields promising outcomes in segmentation, thereby demonstrating the robustness of the QFS-Net model. 2012 IEEE. -
Auto-diagnosis of covid-19 using lung ct images with semi-supervised shallow learning network
In the current world pandemic situation, the contagious Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has raised a real threat to human lives owing to infection on lung cells and human respiratory systems. It is a daunting task for the researchers to find suitable infection patterns on lung CT images for automated diagnosis of COVID-19. A novel integrated semi-supervised shallow neural network framework comprising a Parallel Quantum-Inspired Self-supervised Network (PQIS-Net) for automatic segmentation of lung CT images followed by Fully Connected (FC) layers, is proposed in this article. The proposed PQIS-Net model is aimed at providing fully automated segmentation of lung CT slices without incorporating pre-trained convolutional neural network based models. A parallel trinity of layered structure of quantum bits are interconnected using an N -connected second order neighborhood-based topology in the suggested PQIS-Net architecture for segmentation of lung CT slices with wide variations of local intensities. A random patch-based classification on PQIS-Net segmented slices is incorporated at the classification layers of the suggested semi-supervised shallow neural network framework. Intensive experiments have been conducted using three publicly available data sets, one for purely segmentation task and the other two for classification (COVID-19 diagnosis). The experimental outcome on segmentation of CT slices using self-supervised PQIS-Net and the diagnosis efficiency (Accuracy, Precision and AUC) of the integrated semi-supervised shallow framework is found to be promising. The proposed model is also found to be superior than the best state-of-the-art techniques and pre-trained convolutional neural network-based models, specially in COVID-19 and Mycoplasma Pneumonia (MP) screening. 2013 IEEE. -
Prediction of indoor air circulation of residential room with adaptation of solar chimney using numerical technique
With the exponential increase in consumption of electrical power during the summer season by household, there is a great need for households to withhold sustainability. To maintain the temperature of the household a passive heating and cooling system is used i.e. Solar Chimney. Ventilation, through a natural convection process, is gaining a lot of attention to be an alternative technique for mechanical air conditioning ventilation because of its reduced power usage when compared to the external cooling devices used in residential buildings of hot regions. The present study, involve solar chimney of horizontal and vertical designs in comparison with different width and height. The following paper studies the effect of a solar chimney on the indoor thermal behavior using Numerical Technique for a prototype of a residential room. The performance on the ventilation velocity and air temperature operation inside the room with varying air gap width is studied based on multiple numerical analysis solutions. The present study deals with two different architectures of a two dimensional model and results have shown that the ventilation velocity has increased to 0.017626444 kg/s and operative air temperature has been decreased by 7.26C for the vertical model while the horizontal model has shown a mass flow rate of 0.018027636 kg/s and a temperature decrease of 9.15C. The most efficient chimney was found to be model 7 which is horizontal solar chimney 3 with an air gap width of 0.05625m and a height of 0.3175 m, when compared to the other models from model number one to six. BEIESP. -
Efficient Disease Detection in Wheat Crops: A Hybrid Deep Learning Solution
Wheat rust disease poses a significant danger to global food security and requires rapid, precise diagnosis to be effectively managed. Using a hybrid deep learning (DL) model consisting of a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a decision tree (DT), a new method for classifying wheat rust illness across six magnitude scales has been described in the proposed study. For training and assessing the model, a dataset of 50,000 wheat leaf photos representing a wide range of disease magnitude has been amazing. The suggested work developed a hybrid CNN-DT model with an amazing overall accuracy of 93.47% by carefully analyzing the data and crafting the model. The model's resilience in identifying multiple levels of disease magnitude was proved by the performance metrics for each disease magnitude class. The proposed hybrid model also outperformed state-of-the-art models in terms of accuracy, as shown by the comparisons conducted. The findings provide important new information on the potential of DL methods for wheat rust disease classification, which can then be used as a trusted resource for early disease diagnosis and smarter agricultural policymaking. In the face of agricultural diseases, the suggested model has important implications for improving crop management, reducing yield losses, and guaranteeing food security. 2023 IEEE. -
Safety of Unmanned Systems
The safety risk management process describes the systematic application of management policies, procedures and practices to the activities of communicating, consulting, establishing the context, and assessing, evaluating, treating, monitoring and reviewing risk. This process is undertaken to provide assurances that the risks associated with the operation of unmanned aircraft systems have been managed to acceptable levels. Active efforts should be made to develop rules to ensure the safe operation of unmanned aerial vehicles. For the safe integration of operations with unmanned aerial vehicles, it is important to take into account the influence of different levels of control and autonomous capabilities, as well as the source of movement monitoring in the system. This article discusses the security issues of unmanned systems, the main directions of ensuring the information security of unmanned systems, software and hardware vulnerabilities have been identified. The methods of information protection are given, the disadvantages are indicated. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024. -
Art Therapy for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in India
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of art therapy for 9 children with autism spectrum disorder in India using a prepost experimental design with a control group. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale was used to measure symptoms before and after 8 individual art therapy sessions, and changes in the childrens art development was also examined. Analysis of covariance results showed that art therapy was effective and content analysis of the drawings indicated progress seen in the developmental art stages, based on Lowenfeld theory. The positive changes were notable in the participants cognitive, social, and motor skills. 2019, AATA, Inc. 2019. -
Solution Focused vs Problem Focused Questions on Affect and Processing Speed among Individuals with Depression
The present study investigated the effect of solution-focused and problem-focused questions on affect and processing speed in a sample of 60 individuals diagnosed with depression. Participants were equally and randomly assigned to the solution focused question group, problem focused question group, and delayed experimental group. The Beck depression inventory-II was used to assess the severity of depressive symptoms of the participants. The positive and negative affect schedule was used to measure affect. Symbol search and coding were used to measure the processing speed. Solution-focused questions significantly reduced negative affect and improved coding compared to problem-focused questions. Even though there was no significant interaction between the groups in positive affect and symbol search test performance, solution-focused questions caused simple effects in both. Findings imply the scope of solution-focused questions as psychological first aid in intervening depression. Possible long-term effects of solution-focused questions on individuals with depression were discussed. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
In silico analysis of NHP2 membrane protein, a novel vaccine candidate present in the RD7 region of Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of tuberculosis, is one of the trickiest pathogens. We have only a few protective shields, like the BCG vaccine against the pathogen, which itself has poor efficacy in preventing adult tuberculosis. Even though different vaccine trials for an alternative vaccine have been conducted, those studies have not shown much promising results. In the current study, advanced computational technology was used to study the potential of a novel hypothetical mycobacterial protein, identified by subtractive hybridization, to be a vaccine candidate. NHP2 (Novel Hypothetical Protein 2), housed in the RD7 region of the clinical strains of M. tuberculosis, was studied for its physical, chemical, immunological and structural properties using different computational tools. PFAM studies and Gene ontology studies depicted NHP2 protein to be functionally active with a possible antibiotic binding domain too. Different computational tools used to assess the toxicity, allergenicity and antigenicity of the protein indicated its antigenic nature. Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) tools were used to study the T and B cell determinants of the protein. The 3D structure of the protein was designed, refined and authenticated using bioinformatics tools. The validated tertiary structure of theprotein was docked against the TLR3 immune receptor to study the binding affinity and docking scores. Molecular dynamic simulation of the protein-protein complex formed were studied. NHP2 was found to activate host immune response against tubercle bacillus and could be explored as a potential vaccine in the fight against tuberculosis. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Plant Science and Biodiversity Centre, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), Institute of Molecular Biology, Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS). -
Structural and functional characterization of a hypothetical protein in the RD7 region in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis an in silico approach to candidate vaccines
Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been ravaging humans by inflicting respiratory tuberculosis since centuries. Bacillus Calmette Guerine (BCG) is the only vaccine available for tuberculosis, and it is known to be poorly effective against adult tuberculosis. Proteins belonging to the ESAT-6 family and PE/PPE family show immune responses and are included in different vaccine trials. Herein, we study the functional and structural characterization of a 248 amino acid long putative protein novel hypothetical protein 1 (NHP1) present in the RD7 region of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (identified first by subtractive hybridization in the clinical isolate RGTB123) using bioinformatics tools. Results: Physicochemical properties were studied using Expasy ProtParam and SMS software. We predicted different B-cell and T-cell epitopes by using the immune epitope database (IEDB) and also tested antigenicity, immunogenicity, and allergenicity. Secondary structure of the protein predicted 30% alpha helices, 20% beta strands, and 48% random coils. Tertiary structure of the protein was predicted using the Robetta server using the Mycobacterium smegmatis protein as the putative protein with homology. Structural evaluations were done with Ramachandran plot analysis, ProSA-web, and VERIFY3D, and with GalaxyWEB server, a more stable structure was validated with good stereo chemical properties. Conclusion: The present study of a subtracted genomic locus using various bioinformatics tools indicated good immunological properties of the putative mycobacterial protein, NHP1. Evidence obtained from the analyses of NHP1 using structure prediction tools strongly point to the fact that NHP1 is an ancient protein having flavodoxin folding structure with ATP binding sites. Positive scores were obtained for antigenicity, immunogenicity, and virulence too, implying the possibility of NHP1 to be a potential vaccine candidate. Such computational studies might give clues for developing newer vaccines for tuberculosis, which is the need of the hour. 2022, The Author(s). -
Assessment of the strength of grignard reagent for the synthesis of secondary and tertiary alcohols of terpenes using metal plate flow reactor
The secondary and tertiary alcohols of terpenes were synthesized from aldehydes, and ketones using allyl magnesium chloride by the continuous metal flow reactor method. The flow process was conducted using metal plate reactors of 10 ml capacity in the presence of solvent mixtures, instead of large amounts of pure solvent like tetrahydrofuran. The products were isolated, and confirmed using gas chromatography and Nuclear magnetic resonance techniques respectively. Subsequently, the optimization studies were conducted to obtain mild, and economical reaction conditions, by varying the amount of allyl magnesium chloride, temperature, pressure, retention time, and flow rates. A comparison between batch processes and flow processes proved the advantages of the flow process in terms of reproducibility and product yield without the requirement of excess reagents compared to the batch process. The product yield was found to be excellent (6097 %) and reproducible at (150) gram scale through flow process. The scope of the reaction was studied by synthesizing terpene alcohols using different carbonyl compounds at optimized reaction conditions, which resulted in high product yield. This research addresses a crucial gap in terpene alcohol synthesis, offering a scalable and environmentally friendly approach with broad applicability. 2024 -
Micro Borrowing an Amalgam of Structure and Strategy: Evidence from India
Micro borrowing was either an outcome of structure in the credit environment (termed the outreach stream), or a strategic response of the borrowers (termed the sustainability stream). Furthermore, borrower personal effects drove borrowing behaviour. This study draws variables from both the streams of literature and tests them against the amount borrowed and purposes loans are borrowed for. Results show how borrowing behaviour is neither an outcome of pure structure nor pure strategy, but rather, is an interplay of both, and further influenced by personal effects. The survey data (consisting of 839 rural borrower responses, from four districts of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh in South India) was subjected to a rigorous statistical analysis. Results show how a larger number of banks in the villages (a structural constraint), enabled the borrowers to receive larger loans, who defaulted more (a strategic response). Men borrowed larger sums (a personal effect). A similar amalgam of structure, strategy and personal effects drive borrowing behaviour even after controlling for loan purpose and district fixed effects. Yet, when district effects are introduced, amount borrowed is agnostic to personal effects, and is driven purely by structure and strategy. JEL Classifications: C25, C83, G51, Z13 2022 SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. -
Formal banks, semi-formal SHGs or informal moneylenders, who is better? a study of borrower credit preference in India
The present study explores the factors driving borrowers preference for formal banks, self-help groups (SHGs) and moneylenders. The study is based on a systematic survey of 839 rural borrowers from southern India, sampled from four districts with varied levels of credit access (surplus, constrained and moderate credit). The data was analysed using multinomial logistic regression in SPSS. Results show how banks and moneylenders exclude borrowers based on relative wealth and gender. SHGs service women borrowers but are preferred more by wealthier borrowers, highlighting intragroup inequalities. Yet, the three lenders service a variety of purposes, justifying their demand in the market. The study enhances understanding of rural borrowers constraints concerning various credit sources. The implications of this study are as follows: one is identifying the lacunae in the formal banking system, which policy amendments could address. Two, the study recommends an investigation of intragroup inequalities within SHGs. Third, the study underscores the demand for multiple players in the rural credit markets and their contribution to the borrowers credit needs. (2024), (Indian Academy of Sciences). All rights reserved. -
Value Ingredients Private Limited: engaging farmers for achieving triple bottom line
Learning outcomes: After completion of this case study, students will be able to apply the triple bottom line concept to a spice manufacturing and export company (RBT 3); to examine the options before Value Ingredients Private Limited (VIPL), namely, to cultivate spices in the traditional way versus adopting integrated pest management (IPM) to cater to international markets (RBT 4); to analyse the returns for an IPM farmer vis-vis a conventional farmer, and to compare the returns therein (RBT 4); and to evaluate the ways and means of engaging farmers to change their way of cultivation (RBT 5) Case overview/synopsis: The COVID-19 pandemic heightened awareness about the benefits of spices and buoyed its demand worldwide, which presented an opportunity to VIPL, a spice manufacturing company based in Chennai, to expand its business. However, the export markets demanded residue-free spices grown with little or no use of pesticides. Traditional farmers supplying spices to VIPL were accustomed to spraying pesticides whenever there was a pest attack. This case study discussed the options that the protagonist Mr Sijil Karim, managing director and CEO of VIPL, had, who wanted to onboard farmers for pesticide-free cultivation. The options before him were either to continue traditional farming or adopt IPM. This case study discussed the merits, demerits and challenges of each of these options. The triple bottom line concept discussed three Ps people, planet and prosperity for this case as follows: The farmers and the consumers constituted the people in the spice supply chain. The farmers supplying organic, export-worthy spices under the guidance of VIPL gained 30% more than regular spice farmers, which were accrued through cost savings and better prices. The consumers benefitted from the pesticide-free, organic spices through accrued health gains. The manufacture of organic, pesticide-free spices helped the planet, as the process did not release hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere. VIPL manufactured pesticide-free spice with a focus on prosperity. Complexity academic level: The case study can be introduced in a course on sustainability while discussing the triple bottom line concept. This case study showed how a for-profit company grew without losing sight of the planet or its focus on people. This case is best suited for students who have preliminary knowledge of supply chain management, operations and sustainability. Therefore, it is suited for sophomore-year students of MBA. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 11: Strategy. 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Heat transfer in the flow of blood-gold Carreau nanofluid induced by partial slip and buoyancy
Dynamics of blood containing gold nanoparticles on a syringe and other objects with a nonuniform thickness is of importance to experts in the industry. This study presents the significance of partial slip (i.e. combination of linear stretching and velocity gradient) and buoyancy on the boundary layer flow of blood-gold Carreau nanofluid over an upper horizontal surface of a paraboloid of revolution (uhspr). In this report, the viscosity of the Carreau fluid corresponding to an infinite shear-rate is assumed as zero, meanwhile, the viscosity corresponding to zero shear-rate, density, thermal conductivity, and heat capacity were assumed to vary with the volume fraction of nanoparticles. The governing equation that models the transport phenomenon were non-dimensionalized and parameterized using suitable similarity variables and solved numerically using classical RungeKutta method with shooting techniques and MATLAB bvp4c package for validation. The results show that temperature distribution across the flow decreases more significantly with buoyancy-related parameter when the influence of partial slip was maximized. Maximum velocity of the flow is ascertained at larger values of partial slip and buoyancy parameters. At smaller values of Deborah number and large values of volume fraction, maximum local skin friction coefficient, and local heat transfer rate are ascertained. 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. -
Challenges to state control of territory: Comparative analysis of Yemen, Afghanistan and Myanmar
States around the world have lost control over their territory to armed non-state actors, including states like Yemen, Afghanistan and Myanmar in the Asian region. This article aims to understand why these states are unable to exercise control over all of their territory. The study identifies and examines four major challenges faced by states in maintaining control over their territory lack of state legitimacy and effectiveness, strategic motives of armed non-state actors, socio-economic motives of armed non-state actors and external intervention. A comparative analysis of the cases of Yemen, Afghanistan and Myanmar illustrates the wide relevance of these challenges faced by the states with respect to territorial control. The Author(s) 2021. -
Inclusive business approaches in tourism: Stakeholder engagement
The link between inclusivity and sustainability transcends economic considerations, extending into various dimensions such as gender equality, accessibility, cultural sensitivity, and community engagement. These dimensions underline that inclusivity is central to how tourism interacts with societies and ecosystems. This understanding prompts stakeholders to broaden their perspectives and integrate diverse viewpoints to create a more balanced and resilient industry. A central theme running through the chapters is the essential role of inclusivity in achieving a sustainable tourism sector. As the industry evolves, so do the expectations of travelers and communities. This heightened awareness and connectivity era demands that tourism entities proactively adapt strategies to foster inclusivity. Whether by creating accessible infrastructure, respecting local cultures, or integrating fairness into business models, inclusivity emerges as a foundation for lasting sustainability. The chapters compiled in this book offer a comprehensive exploration of inclusive tourism and sustainable development. In the context of the evolving global tourism landscape, these chapters illuminate various facets that shape the industry's present and future trajectories. These chapters reveal common themes and key insights, highlighting the importance of proactive measures, collaboration, and innovation to establish a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable tourism sector. A prominent revelation throughout these chapters is the interconnectedness of inclusivity and sustainability in tourism. It becomes increasingly evident that sustainable tourism cannot be achieved without an inclusive framework that embraces diverse communities, stakeholders, and perspectives. The chapters illustrate how sustainability efforts lacking inclusivity can lead to inequality and overlook crucial factors shaping destinations' social and environmental aspects. 2024 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.