Browse Items (11810 total)
Sort by:
-
Monoclinic yttrium oxide quantum dots surface modified by biotin for bioimaging applications
Semiconductor nanoparticles or quantum dots are one of the central topics of interest in material science research due to its size dependent physical and chemical characteristics and applications in different areas from display to biomedical fields. This work reports the first-time synthesis of biotin functionalized monoclinic yttrium oxide quantum dots at low temperature and its application in live cell imaging. The presence of biotin was confirmed through FTIR measurements. HRTEM analysis confirmed the formation of small spherical quantum dots with an average size of 3.8 nm. Zeta potential measurements gave a negative surface charge of -26.9 mV confirming colloidal stability. The quantum dots show sharp absorption in the short UV region and PL experiments delivered defect related intense blue fluorescence emission. The material is nontoxic to both normal (L929) and cancer (MCF 7) cells and the live cell imaging experiments performed on MCF 7 cells show specific binding to the cells and presented bright fluorescence emission from the cells thus confirming the applicability of the material in both display industry and cancer cell imaging. 2023 Elsevier B.V. -
Synergetic effects of cross-linking and incorporation of Fe-Al bimetallic combination on the properties of polyvinyl alcohol novel films
Polyvinyl alcohol films incorporated with Fe-Al bimetallic combination novel films were synthesized by sol-gel method in the presence of glutaraldehyde (GA). The results of FTIR spectra confirmed the cross-linking between PVA and GA, resulted in the formation of rigid molecular chains. The comparison of thermograms of pure PVA and Fe-Al PVA films cured with GA indicated the enhanced thermal stability of the cured films. The electrical properties of the pure PVA films and bimetallic PVA films cured with GA were studied in the frequency range 100 Hz to 100 kHz. The current study explains the effect of GA and incorporation of Fe-Al bimetallic combination towards the structural modification and dielectric properties like dielectric constant, dielectric loss, ac conductivity, polarization, and permittivity of the cured PVA films. The variation of the storage modulus of cured PVA films as a function of temperature has also been studied. 2023, Qatar University and Springer Nature Switzerland AG. -
Design and validation of the digital well-being scale
As the reliance on digital products and services continues to increase, there arises the need to measure and understand how the use of digital devices affects our well-being. In order to do so, the researchers attempted to create and validate an instrument. The items for the instrument were identified through an extensive review of literature, followed by a brainstorming session. The statements were then validated by a panel of experts, post which the instrument was administered, and the data was collected and analyzed for reliability and validity. The final instrument returned a Cronbachs alpha score of 0.921, indicating high reliability. The validity of the instrument was also established through a confirmatory factor analysis. 2023, University of Bologna. All rights reserved. -
Enhanced Battery Life with Supercapacitor Applied to Renewable Energy Based Electric Vehicles
The main goal of this work is of developing a control approach, which is able to obtain the smooth switching between energy sources, battery, and Supercapacitor (SCAP). With four separate math functions, a new math function-based (MFB) controller is designed, and this MFB will generate four output signals corresponding to the motor's speed. Further, the MFB is combined with an FLC/PI controller to reach the theme of the work. Two-hybrid different controllers are intended as per the proposed control strategy termed as MFB with FLC and MFB with PI and both are implemented individually in MATLAB/Simulink in four different modes. The entire model is implemented including a solar panel to charge the battery, this solar panel (SP) is connected to the battery and UDC through various control switches. Finally, a comparative analysis is made between two hybrid controllers to know the better-performed controller. 2023 Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal. All rights reserved. -
Environmental cost of food wastage: Integrated response through a mix of environmental policy instruments
Food, when wasted, reaches landfills and emits greenhouse gases. The impact of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in turn, is felt by even those who do not waste food in the place. Externalities thus created are known to distort market efficiency and the most widely discussed externality is climate change. This study takes the case of United States of America (USA) to ascertain the GHGs resulting due to food wastage. The difference between cost per capita due to emissions from animal-based products and emissions from plant-based products comes out to be $122. In the year 1997 total GHG emission for the entire population of the USA due to food wastage was 401.98 billion kgCO2eq, costing the country 45.42 billion US dollars. Two decades later, in 2017, the food waste costs went up by 6 billion US dollars amounting to 51.14 billion US dollars and 452.64 billion kgCO2eq of GHG emissions The novelty of this research lies in highlighting the carbon footprints of food wastage in terms of GHG's and monetizing these emissions. The study proposes an integrated response through a mix of environmental policy instruments of economic incentives, command and control and moral suasion. 2023 ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. -
Filamentous fungi for pharmaceutical compounds degradation in the environment: A sustainable approach
Pharmaceutical compounds play an important role in enhancing the quality of human life. They substantially increase the life expectancy of humans and the well-being of livestock. The expansion in the global human population has increased the usage of pharmaceuticals in an enormous way. This has led to the emergence of pharmaceutical compounds as environmental pollutants because these components are continuously released to various water sources and terrestrial ecosystems. The pharmaceutical components are released during their synthesis, as waste from human and veterinary healthcare sectors, and dumping of drugs that are not used. Pharmaceutical components are known to persist in their potential even at lower concentrations and can create serious issues for ecosystems, especially aquatic systems. Various efforts are being made to remove or reduce the toxicity of pharmaceutical components in aquatic systems. Bioremediation using fungi is one of the most secure and sustainable ways of decontaminating polluted environments. With their strong morphology and diverse metabolic abilities, Fungi employ different methods including fungal enzymes to clear pollutants. Studies have proven that fungi and fungal enzymes can transform these pharmaceutical compounds into less toxic components. This review highlights the role of fungi in the bioremediation of pharmaceutical compounds. 2023 The Author(s) -
Critical point equation on almost f-cosymplectic manifolds
Purpose: Besse first conjectured that the solution of the critical point equation (CPE) must be Einstein. The CPE conjecture on some other types of Riemannian manifolds, for instance, odd-dimensional Riemannian manifolds has considered by many geometers. Hence, it deserves special attention to consider the CPE on a certain class of almost contact metric manifolds. In this direction, the authors considered CPE on almost f-cosymplectic manifolds. Design/methodology/approach: The paper opted the tensor calculus on manifolds to find the solution of the CPE. Findings: In this paper, in particular, the authors obtained that a connected f-cosymplectic manifold satisfying CPE with \lambda=\tilde{f} is Einstein. Next, the authors find that a three dimensional almost f-cosymplectic manifold satisfying the CPE is either Einstein or its scalar curvature vanishes identically if its Ricci tensor is pseudo anti?commuting. Originality/value: The paper proved that the CPE conjecture is true for almost f-cosymplectic manifolds. 2021, H. Aruna Kumara, V. Venkatesha and Devaraja Mallesha Naik. -
Fake News Detection Using TF-IDF Weighted with Word2Vec: An Ensemble Approach
Social media platforms' utilization for news consumption is steadily growing due to their accessibility, affordability, appeal, and ability to propagate misinformation. False information, whether intentionally or unintentionally created, is being disseminated across the internet. Certain individuals spread inaccurate information on social media to gain attention, financial benefits, or political advantage. This has a detrimental impact on a substantial portion of society that is heavily influenced by technology. It is imperative for us to develop better discernment in distinguishing between fake and genuine news. In this research paper, we present an ensemble approach for detecting fake news by using TF-IDF Weighted Vector with Word2Vec. The extracted features capture specific textual characteristics, which are converted into numerical representations for training the models and balanced dataset with the Random over Sampling technique. The implementation of our proposed framework utilized the ensemble approach with majority voting which combines 2 machine learning models like Random Forest and Decision Tree. The proposed strategy was adopted empirically evaluated against contemporary techniques and basic classifiers, including Gaussian Nae Bayes, Logistic Regression, Multilayer Perceptron, and XGBoost Classifier. The effectiveness of our approach is validated through the evaluation of the accuracy, F1-Score, Precision, Recall, and Auc curve, yielding an impressive accuracy score of 94.24% on the FakeNewsNet dataset. 2023, Ismail Saritas. All rights reserved. -
Spatio-temporal Crime Analysis and Forecasting on Twitter Data Using Machine LearningAlgorithms
The concept of social media began to gain popularity in the late 1990s and has played a significant role in connecting people across the globe. The constant addition of features to old social media platforms and the creation of new ones have helped amass and retain an extensive user base. Users could now share their views and provide detailed accounts of events from worldwide to reach like-minded people. This led to the popularization of blogging and brought into focus the posts of the commoner. These posts began to be verified and included in mainstream news articles bringing about a revolution in journalism. This research aims to use a social media platform, Twitter, to classify, visualize, and forecast Indian crime tweet data and provide a spatio-temporal view of crime in the country using statistical and machine learning models. The Tweepy Python module's search function and '#crime' query have been used to scrape relevant tweets under geographical constraints, followed by substring-keyword classification using 318 unique crime keywords. The Bokeh and gmaps Python modules create analytical and geospatial visualizations, respectively. Time series forecasting of crime tweet count is performed by comparing the accuracy of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), and Seasonal Auto-Regressivee Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) models to determine the best model. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Linkage Between Brand Value and Firm Performance: An Empirical Examination Using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis
This study is designed with the data of Interbrand for ranking top 100 global brands. In this study, the linkage between brand values and financial performance was estimated using different performance measures that include both stock market and operating performance using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) technique. The study investigates the effect of brand value on profitability and shareholder. It is observed that the firms that have superior operating performance result in greater brand valuation. Performance of firms measured through profitability is found to be a significant factor in brand valuation. Brand valuation is also found to be significant determinant of profitability. Thus, higher brand quality improves the likelihood of repurchases and in turn improved cash flows. Firms with high agency conflicts tend to have lower brand value. Higher market valuation positively impacts brand valuation in the context of lower leverage and agency costs. The linkage of brand value to firm performance is the justification for marketers investments toward branding initiatives as a mechanism that creates value. This study is the first of its kind to examine the impact of agency costs on brand value using fsQCA technique to understand valuation impact of brands. To measure the effect of branding and marketing initiatives of the firms on financial performance, this study integrated both econometric and financial modeling. The Author(s) 2023. -
Impact of Abuse on Mental Health and Happiness Among Students: Mediating Role of Family Environment
Background: Child abuse and neglect is an issue of concern for public health professionals. The impact of abuse may lead to poor physical and mental health conditions. Family environment may impact coping and recovery among victims of abuse. The association between child abuse, mental health, happiness, and family environment is complex. The study examines the association and pathways between child abuse exposure, mental health and happiness, while exploring the potentially mediating effect of the family environment. Methods: Data were collected from 571 high school students from Kerala, India, by using various tools, including a semi-structured questionnaire, Depression and Anxiety Youth Scale, and happiness scale. A mediation analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) was carried out to test the objectives of the study. Results: The analysis shows that mental health, happiness, and family environment are correlated with abuse experience. The mediation analysis further shows that the indirect effect of abuse on mental health via the family environment was significant (? = 0.013, 95% CI [0.002, 0.033]). The indirect effect of abuse on happiness via the family environment was significant (? = 0.019, 95% CI [0.044, 0.003]). Furthermore, the total effect of abuse on mental health (? = 0.266, 95% CI [0.164, 0.354]) and abuse on happiness (? = 0.152, 95% CI [0.259, 0.050]) was significant. Conclusion: The study reveals that abuse experiences impact happiness and mental health outcomes among students. The family environment mediates the relationship between child abuse and mental health, and between child abuse and happiness. 2023 The Author(s). -
Occupational stress and psychological wellbeing during COVID 19: Mediating role of positive psychological capital
The COVID 19 pandemic has challenged the humankinds livelihood, physical health, mental health, employment, and economy. Lockdowns, quarantines, online teaching, and learning have become new normal. Negativities have been spread across the globe and society by the pandemic. The negative effects caused a confused mindset, fear, anxiety, stress, and other psychological complications amongst the people especially among the Health Care Workers (HCWs), children, elderly people, and Frontline Workers (FLWs). This research work examines the levels of Occupational Stress (OS), and psychological well-being (PWB) of HCWs and police personnel during the pandemic and the relationship between OS and PWB. Further, the study analyzed the role of Positive Psychological Capital (PPC) as a mediator and Emotional Quotient (EQ) as a moderator in the relationship between OS and PWB. Positive Psychological Capital (PPC) characteristics of the respondents such as having faith in one's ability, and performance, willingness to succeed or attain the goals framed, ability to bounce back from the hard times, and their optimism about the future have helped them to tackle the stress caused by the pandemic and to maintain a better state of psychological wellbeing in the fight against the pandemic. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
Hydrothermally synthesized mesoporous Co3O4 nanorods as effective supercapacitor material
Mesoporous Co3O4 nanomaterial in rod-shape morphology has been synthesized via a hydrothermal method, and heat treated at 350 C for 2 h to develop a phase. Phase purity, morphology, specific surface area and chemical composition of as-obtained Co3O4 material were studied using XRD, Raman, TEM, N2-adsoprtion/desorption and XPS techniques. XRD and Raman analyses indicate single phase material formation with nano-structure, and cubic normal spinel-type structure with a cell parameter of 8.123 The spinel particles are of rod-shape morphology and the specific surface area, estimated through BET studies, is obtained as 47 m2/g. Cyclic voltammogram (CV) recorded at different scan rates evidently demonstrate pseudocapacitance nature of the synthesized material. Maximum specific capacitance (CS) is computed and the value is 261 F/g at 0.25 A/g. These materials have shown longer cycle stability at lower KOH concentration and lower current density. Synthesized Co3O4 nanomaterial could be used as electrode material for energy storage applications. 2023 Elsevier B.V. -
Risk Behavior Among Emerging Adults: The Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), Perceived Family and Interpersonal Environment
Background: Evidence demonstrates that ambiance provided during childhood and the interactions of children with different social agents during childhood have an impact on their adult behaviour. Objective: The current research tries to explore the role of adverse childhood experiences and perceived family and interpersonal interactions in their resultant adult risk behaviour. Method: Around 613 emerging adults (1824 years; Male 343 and Female 270) from the northern districts of Kerala, India took part in the study. The participants were selected using multistage sampling techniques. A Semi-structured Questionnaire was used to understand the perceived family and interpersonal environment. In addition, a checklist (adopted from the risk behaviour scale and youth risk behaviour survey) was also employed. The checklist assisted to understand the presence of actual risk behaviours. Results: Hierarchical Logistic Regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that 87.2 % of the participants were engaged in at least one type of risk behaviour. Socio-demographic variables (gender and family type) and items of perceived family and interpersonal relationships and adverse childhood experiences were found to be significant predictors of emerging adult risk behaviour. Conclusion: The results further highlight the significance of childhood experiences and the current family environment of emerging adults in understanding their behaviour, and in designing evidence-based intervention program for emerging adults. 2023 The Author(s). -
Rayleigh-Bard Convection of Water-Copper and Water-Alumina Nanofluids Based on Minimal- and Higher-Mode Lorenz Models
Linear and nonlinear stability analyses of Rayleigh-Bard convection in water-copper and water-alumina nanofluids are studied in the paper by considering a minimal as well as an extended truncated Fourier representation. These representations respectively result in a third-order classical Lorenz model and a five-dimensional extended Lorenz model. The marginal stability plots reveal that the influence of added dilute concentration of nanoparticles in water is to destabilize the system. The rate of destabilization depends on the nanoparticles' thermophysical properties and their volume fraction. Influence of adding an additional mode in the horizontal direction is to modify the cell size. This can be observed through the marginal curves as well as the stream line plots. Further, from the Nusselt number plots it is evident that the presence of dilute concentration of nanoparticles in water is to enhance heat transport in the system significantly. The dynamical behavior of the minimal and the extended Lorenz models is investigated using the bifurcation diagram. From the study an important finding that emerges is that the Fourier truncated solution is predicted to have different effects in lower-order and higher-order models. The extended penta-modal Lorenz system predicts advanced onset of chaos compared to that predicted by the classical third-order Lorenz model. The individual influence of both nanoparticles in water is to advance the onset of convection as well as to advance the onset of chaos. 2023 World Scientific Publishing Company. -
Environmentally sustainable zinc oxide nanoparticles for improved hazardous textile dye removal from water bodies
A sustainable, affordable, and cost-effective method was developed to synthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles (SB-ZnO-NPs) using leaf extracts of Strobilanthes barbatus. The synthesized SB-ZnO-NPs displayed an absorbance maximum at 359 nm with a band gap of 3.24 eV. The average diameter of the SB-ZnO-NPs, as determined by FESEM analysis, was 84.23 nm. The particles had nearly spherical morphologies. By using FTIR analysis, it was established that functional groups played a part in the formation of SB-ZnO-NPs. Reactive Yellow 86 (RY-86) and Reactive Yellow 145 (RY-145) textile dyes were degraded by SB-ZnO-NPs under the impact of UV irradiation, and the degradation rates were 87.50 and 91.11%, respectively, in 320 min. When dye solutions treated with SB-ZnO-NPs were tested for phytotoxicity, the results showed a sharp decline in the effectiveness of the inhibition compared to dye effluents. The synthesised SB-ZnO-NPs can, therefore, be employed as a substitute potential catalyst for the breakdown of textile colours both before and after release into water bodies. 2023 The Author. -
UVIT view of NGC 5291: Ongoing star formation in tidal dwarf galaxies at ? 0.35 kpc resolution
NGC 5291, an early-type galaxy surrounded by a giant H I ring, is believed to be formed from collision with another galaxy. Several star forming complexes and tidal dwarf galaxies are distributed along the collisional ring which are sites of star formation in environments where extreme dynamical effects are involved. Dynamical effects can affect the star formation properties and the spatial distribution of star forming complexes along the tidal features. To study and quantify the star formation activity in the main body and in the ring structure of the NGC 5291 system, we use high spatial resolution FUV and NUV imaging observations from the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope onboard AstroSat. A total of 57 star-forming knots are identified to be part of this interacting system out of which 12 are new detections (star forming complexes that lie inside the H I contour) compared to the previous measurements from lower resolution UV imaging. We estimate the attenuation in UV for each of the resolved star-forming knots using the UV spectral slope ?, derived from the FUV - NUV colour. Using the extinction corrected UV fluxes, we derive the star formation rate of the resolved star forming complexes. The extinction corrected total star formation rate of this system is estimated as 1.75 0.04 M? yr-1. The comparison with dwarf galaxy populations (BCD, Sm, and dIm galaxies) in the nearby Universe shows that many of the knots in the NGC 5291 system have SFR values comparable to the SFR of BCD galaxies. 2023 The Author(s). -
Pi-MnO2 decorated poly-3-thienylacetic acid on carbon fiber paper for electrochemical synthesis of 2-formyl-thiophene
Sustainable and environmentally benign synthesis methods have captured researchers' minds in recent times and have contributed a lot towards the green synthesis of organic compounds. This work presents an efficient green method for synthesizing 2-formyl thiophene using a newly designed Pi-MnO2 deposited on poly-3-thienylacetic acid coated Toray carbon fiber paper (PThAA-Pi-MnO2-TCFP) electrode. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA) and bulk electrolysis (BE) techniques were employed for the optimization and synthesis of 2-formyl thiophene and the product obtained was characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy. The efficacy of the developed electrode was examined by different electrochemical and physicochemical studies. It is an intriguing approach for the 4-acetamido-TEMPO (4-ACT) mediated, PThAA-Pi-MnO2-TCFP catalyzed electro-oxidation of thiophene-2-ylmethanol (TM). This method is handy and reasonably practical since the developed electrocatalyst is inexpensive, and the synthesis is environmentally benign. Hence it is a highly efficient method for synthesizing 2-formyl thiophene, a much sought-after starting material in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and cosmetics. 2023 -
The Impact of Supportive Factors on the Academic Reintegration of Students with Mental Illness: A Qualitative Study
Introduction: Returning to college following a psychiatric illness can be overwhelming for students as academic reintegration is a significant undertaking. Psychological distress can negatively impact a student's performance and levels of academic achievement. A better understandingof the factors that facilitateacademicreintegration would helpmental health professionals, educators, and family members support students more effectively. Methods and Materials: The study followed an explorative research design and utilized a purposivesampling technique. The Institute's(National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, NIMHANS) Ethics Committee evaluated and approved this study, while four (4) mental health experts validated the interview schedule. Theprimary researcher (ASR) audio-recorded, transcribed and coded fourteen (14) in-depth interviews.The study supervisors (AJ and TK) verified this procedure.Themes and sub-themes were derivedfrom the codes,and thenthematic analysis was conducted. Results: Fivesupportive factors (themes and sub-themes) were derived: 1. Family:Educational qualification of the members, Family accommodations (travelling to the city where the student is studying for additional support).Academic assistance, Freedom to select their educational course; 2.Support from friends and peers: Academic support, Emotional support (caregiving,home visits, sharing problems with them), Logistic support (physically accompanying the student to and from class, providing transport); 3.Support from Teachers and Collegeadministration: Additional academic support from teachers, Reasonable classroom accommodations; 4.SupportfromMental health professionals (MHPs):Providing Pharmacological or Psychosocial Interventions, Follow up,andcontinuous guidance (handholding); 5. Individual factors (students' strengths): High degree of motivation or interest in studies, strong academic record, and healthy coping mechanisms. Conclusion: Students with mental illnesses require additional support with academic reintegration. As a result, assisting students in successfully returning to academics is frequently a collaborative effort involving family, peers, mental health professionals, teachers, and college administration. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature India Private Limited. -
Challenging the Representation of the HumanAnimal Relationship in The Elephant Whisperers
[No abstract available]