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Visible light responsive Gd, N co-doped mesoporous titania in the photo-oxidation of some novel 9-(N,N-Dimethylaminomethyl)anthracene systems
Oxidative semiconductor catalysis by light can be considered as an easy method for the conversion of harmful aromatics to less harmful products and at the same time move towards a sustainable chemistry. The present work reports the preparation of Gd, N co-doped TiO2 system by hydrothermal technique followed by calcination at 500C and checks its activity in photo-oxidation reactions. The prepared system was characterized by various physico-chemical techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, TGDTG, UV-DRS, SEM, TEM and XPS. Structural identity and mesoporous nature were identified from XRD and BET measurements respectively. On reaction, Tertiary amine appended anthracene and its phenyl substituted derivative in CH3CN yielded Anthraquinone as the major product. Substituted Anthracenemethanamine reacted slowly and a relatively stable intermediate could be isolated at shorter periods of time. The products were separated and purified by column chromatography and the resultant products were characterized thoroughly by 1H NMR, IR spectroscopy and GCMS analysis. 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York. -
Repercussions of global turbulence and market volatility in spot & futures market: India preparedness
This article examines the repercussions of global turbulence and market volatility in Indian Capital market for the period spanning from January 1, 2003 to August 31, 2013 with a total of 2654 observations and it is broken into pre-crisis and post-crisis respectively. The study employed Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (1,1) model to measure the volatility persistence by employing dummy variables. Cointegrating Regression Augmented Dickey Fuller (CRADF) and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) was employed to investigate the casual nexus between spot and futures market in both short and long run equilibrium. The squared residuals of VECM were applied to investigate the lead-lag relationship between the bivariate variables. Our findings indicate that there was a significant change in the post crisis period for spot and futures market volatility. Our result suggests that nothing can be learned and new regulation can only do more harm. Apart from this, nobody knows which financial instrument will be at the centre of the next crisis. Overall, the comprehensive financial sector reform like Credit Default Swap, Valuation Assumptions and Basel II Accord can create more problems and make the investors more complex to meet the global challenges environment. IJER Serials Publications. -
Detection of carbapenem resistance genes and cephalosporin, and quinolone resistance genes along with oqxAB gene in Escherichia coli in hospital wastewater: A matter of concern
Aims: This study was performed to detect the presence of Escherichia coli resistant to cephalosporins, carbapenems and quinolones in hospital wastewater. Methods and Results: Wastewaters from a rural (H1) and an urban (H2) hospital were tested for E.coli resistant to cephalosporins, carbapenem and quinolones. Genes coding for chromosomal and plasmid-mediated resistance and phylogenetic grouping was detected by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for genetic relatedness by rep-PCR. Of 190 (H1=94; H2=96) E.coli examined, 44% were resistant to both cephalosporins and quinolones and 3% to imipenem. ESBLs were detected phenotypically in 96% of the isolates, the gene blaCTX-M coding for 87% and blaTEM for 63%. Quinolone resistance was due to mutations in gyrA and parC genes in 97% and plasmid-coded aac-(6?)-Ib-cr in 89% of isolates. Only in one carbapenem-resistant E.coli, NDM-1 was detected. Nearly 67% of the isolates belonged to phylogenetic group B2. There was no genetic relatedness among the isolates. Conclusions: Hospital wastewater contains genetically diverse multidrug-resistant E.coli. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study stresses the need for efficient water treatment plants in healthcare settings as a public health measure to minimize spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria into the environment. 2014 The Society for Applied Microbiology. -
Correlation based ADALINE neural network for commodity trading
Commodity trading is one of the most popular resources owning to its eminent predictable return on investment to earn money through trading. The trading includes all kinds of commodities like agricultural goods such as wheat, coffee, cocoa etc. and hard products like gold, rubber, crude oils etc.,. The investment decision can be made very easily with the help of the proposed model. The proposed model correlation based multi layer perceptron feed forward adaline neural network is an integrated method to forecast the future values of all commodity trading. The correlation based adaline neuron is used as an optimized predictor in the multi layer perceptron feed forward neural network. The correlation is used for feature selection before building the predictive model. The aim of the paper is to build the predictive model for commodity trading. The model is created using correlation based feature selection and adaline neural network to prognosticate all future values of commodities. The adaptive linear neuron is formed with the help of linear regression. To implement the proposed model the live data is captured from mcxindia. The mcxindia is considered as one the popular website for doing commodities and derivatives in India. To train the proposed model, few random samples are used and the model is evaluated with the help of few test samples from the same data set. 2015 Chandra, J., M. Nachamai and Anitha S. Pillai. -
Analysis and measurement of supply chain flexibility
Supply chain flexibility is a strategic and tactical necessity for sustenance and progress of business enterprises. Measurement of flexibility is therefore necessary for its monitoring, control and communication. The study proposes a framework and a methodology for flexibility performance measurement of supply chains. The framework identifies flexibility objectives and its contributing attributes at four levels of the supply chain and suggests taxonomy of flexibility performance measures. A methodology to prioritise the contribution of each performance attribute to achieve the desired flexibility objective using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has also been proposed and demonstrated in this study. The research is based on detailed literature-based study and analysis of existing frameworks of flexibility performance measurement in supply chain and expert opinion. The proposed framework is suitable for measurement, monitoring and controlling flexibility in a supply chain in addition to prioritising contributing attributes of flexibility. The research does not test the model but suggests a platform for further development. Copyright 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. -
Performance comparison of artificial neural network techniques for foreign exchange rate forecasting
Artificial Neural Networks is one of the promising techniques for forecasting financial time series markets and business. In this paper, Radial Basis Function is used to forecast the daily foreign exchange rate of USD in terms of Indian rupees in India during the period 2009-2014. Here, seven technical indicators like simple moving average of one week, Two week, Momentum, Price rate of change, Disparity 7, Disparity 14, Price oscillator are proposed as inputs for forecasting the time series. In addition, this study compares the four models namely Pattern Recognition Networks, Feed Forward Back Propagation Networks, Feed Forward Networks with no feedback, and Radial Basis Function Network to forecast the daily currency exchange rate during the period. The performance of all these models are analysed from accuracy measures namely Mean Square Error, Mean Absolute Error, Sum Square Error and Root Mean Square Error. From the simulation results, the average performance of Radial Basis Function network was found considerably better than the other networks. Research India Publications. -
Dynamic task distribution model for on-chip reconfigurable high speed computing system
Modern embedded systems are being modeled as Reconfigurable High Speed Computing System (RHSCS) where Reconfigurable Hardware, that is, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), and softcore processors configured on FPGA act as computing elements. As system complexity increases, efficient task distribution methodologies are essential to obtain high performance. A dynamic task distribution methodology based on Minimum Laxity First (MLF) policy (DTD-MLF) distributes the tasks of an application dynamically onto RHSCS and utilizes available RHSCS resources effectively. The DTD-MLF methodology takes the advantage of runtime design parameters of an application represented as DAG and considers the attributes of tasks in DAG and computing resources to distribute the tasks of an application onto RHSCS. In this paper, we have described the DTD-MLF model and verified its effectiveness by distributing some of real life benchmark applications onto RHSCS configured on Virtex-5 FPGA device. Some benchmark applications are represented as DAG and are distributed to the resources of RHSCS based on DTD-MLF model. The performance of the MLF based dynamic task distribution methodology is compared with static task distribution methodology. The comparison shows that the dynamic task distribution model with MLF criteria outperforms the static task distribution techniques in terms of schedule length and effective utilization of available RHSCS resources. 2015 Mahendra Vucha and Arvind Rajawat. -
Preparation for parenthood programme: Experiences from southern India
Parenting skills are critically important to ensure that children are brought up in a safe environment. Recent evidence shows that studies of parenting skills are still at a preliminary stage in low-and middle-income countries. These need to involve family practitioners and religious groups who often play a major role in preparing young people in India. There are organized programmes available in the country for Christian adults to prepare themselves for marriage and family life through various church initiatives and activities. In order to develop a programme which can be used to prepare young parents for responsibilities of parenthood, a needs assessment was carried out among 70 young adults who attended a marriage preparation course in Bangalore, India. All the participants belonged to the Christian faith. Participants consisted of 53% men and 47% women whose average age for deciding to get married was 26.8 years. All of them expressed a need for such a preparatory programme for parenthood. They considered they needed to know about normal child development, behavioural management of children, to develop adequate skills in handling children at different ages, and deal with their own past issues with their own parents when they were being parented. The results suggest that the development of a preparatory programme for young adults to support them in the role of parenthood must take their views and needs into account. 2014 Institute of Psychiatry. -
Vapour growth and characterization of beta indium sesquitelluride crystals
Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) provides stoichiometric crystals of different morphology, depending upon the materials, geometry of ampoules, temperature profiles, growth parameters and kinetics of crystallization. The crystal forms such as needles, platelets and spherulites of beta indium sesquitelluride (?-In2Te3) were produced by controlling the temperature of source and growth zones. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and chemical analysis of the spherulitic crystals confirmed zinc blende structure with beta phase. Their resistivity (135.16 ? cm) at room temperature (300 K) was determined by van der Pauw method. The temperature dependence of DC conductivity was investigated using the conventional two-probe technique. The variation of dielectric constant (?1) and dielectric loss (tan ?) with temperature has been studied for different frequencies (1 kHz-1 MHz). The AC conductivity, ?ac(?) was found to vary with angular frequency as ?s, where s is the frequency exponent. The values of s lie very close to unity and show a slight decrease with increase in temperature, which indicate a Correlated Barrier Hopping (CBH) between centres forming Intimate Valence Alternation Pairs (IVAP). The activation energy for conduction ranges from 0.187 eV to 0.095 eV. The microhardness of ?-In2Te3 spherulites is found to be 353.5 kg/mm2, which is higher than that of other semiconducting chalcogenides. The results thus obtained on crystals grown from vapour phase open up ample possibilities for radiation detector applications. 2014 Elsevier B.V. -
Stock market linkages in emerging Asia-Pacific markets
This study examines the stock market integration among major stock markets of emerging Asia-Pacific economies, viz. India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China, and Indonesia. The Johansen and Juselius multivariate cointegration test, Granger causality/Block exogeneity Wald test based on the vector error correction model (VECM) approach, and variance decomposition analysis were used to investigate the dynamic linkages between markets. Cointegration test confirmed a well-defined long-run equilibrium relationship among the major stock markets, implying that there exists a common force, such as arbitrage activity, which brings these stock markets together in the long run. The results of Granger causality/Block exogeneity Wald test based on VECM and variance decomposition analysis revealed the stock market interdependencies and dynamic interactions among the selected emerging Asia-Pacific economies. This result implies that investors can gain feasible benefits from international portfolio diversification in the short run. On the whole, the study results suggest that although long-term diversification benefits from exposure to these markets might be limited, short-run benefits might exist due to substantial transitory fluctuations. The Author(s) 2013. -
Enhancement of thermoelectric efficiency in vapor deposited Sb 2Te3 and Sb1.8In0.2Te3 crystals
Pure and indium doped antimony telluride (Sb2Te3) crystals find applications in high performance room temperature thermoelectric devices. Owing to the meagre physical properties exhibited on the cleavage faces of melt grown samples, an attempt was made to explore the thermoelectric parameters of p-type crystals grown by the physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. The crystal structure of the grown platelets (9 mm8 mm2 mm) was identified as rhombohedral by x-ray powder diffraction method. The energy dispersive analysis confirmed the elemental composition of the crystals. The electron microscopic and scanning probe image studies revealed that the crystals were grown by layer growth mechanism with low surface roughness. At room temperature (300 K), the values of Seebeck coefficient S (c) and power factor were observed to be higher for Sb1.8In0.2Te 3 crystals (155 ?VK-1, 2.669 10-3 W/mK2) than those of pure ones. Upon doping, the thermal conductivity ? (c) was decreased by 37.14% and thus thermoelectric efficiency was improved. The increased figure of merit, Z = 1.23 10-3 K -1 for vapour grown Sb1.8In0.2Te3 platelets indicates that it could be used as a potential thermoelectric candidate. Pure and indium doped antimony telluride (Sb2Te 3) crystals were grown by the physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. Incorporation of indium atoms into the antimony sub lattice improved Seebeck coefficient and reduced thermal conductivity. The increased figure of merit, Z = 1.23 10-3K-1 for vapor grown Sb 1.8In0.2Te3 platelets indicates that it could be used as a potential thermoelectric candidate. 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. -
Causality between public expenditure and economic growth: The indian case
This study investigates the causal nexus between public expenditure and economic growth in India using cointegration approach and error correction model. The analysis was carried out over the period 1973 to 2012. The Cointegration test result confirms the existence of long-run equilibrium relationship between public expenditure and economic growth in India. The empirical results based on the error-correction model estimate indicates one-way causality runs from economic growth to public expenditure in the short-run and long-run, supporting the Wagner's law of public expenditure. -
Large scale extinction maps with UVIT
The Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) is scheduled to be launched as a part of the ASTROSAT satellite. As part of the mission planning for the instrument we have studied the efficacy of UVIT observations for interstellar extinction measurements. We find that in the best case scenario, the UVIT can measure the reddening to an accuracy of about 0. 02 magnitudes, which combined with the derived distances to the stars, will enable us to model the three-dimensional distribution of extinction in our Galaxy. The knowledge of the distribution of the ISM will then be used to study distant objects, affected by it. This work points the way to further refining the UVIT mission plan to best satisfy different science studies. 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. -
EC(H) onarrating stories: Ecological thought and metanarrativity in folktales
This paper studies the ecological discourse constructed in folktales, looking at the relationship between folktales and the human-nature-culture paradigm. By closely examining select folktales collected by folklorist A. K. Ramanujan, this paper looks at the metanarrativity of tales and argues from a narratological perspective that folktales deploy nature metaphors to establish a close relationship between nature, women and culture. This, it is argued, is made possible only in the conservation of stories for, in conserving a story, the message of conserving cultures and their artefacts (an ecological metaphor) is spread. The story is conserved; however, not in hoarding it but quite contrarily in transmitting and letting it go. The paper also critically examines how female subjects, through the use of nature metaphors and symbols of fertility and femininity speak of their consciousness in these 'woman-centred tales' in a space characterized by the absence of the Phallic Other but inevitably speak the patriarchal language of feminine inscriptions. Using folkloric research of A. K. Ramanujan as well as ecocritical frameworks, this paper looks at the narratological dimensions of folklore to understand metanarration as a crucial aspect of folklore and ecological conservation. Therefore the lessons of conservation lie not only in the content of the folktales but also in their very telling. The ecological aspects in and of the tale must necessarily be echoed multiple times to enable the tale's transmission, and in effect, their conservation. 2014 Journal of Dharma: Dharmaram Journal of Religions and Philosophies (Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bangalore). -
Corporate social responsibility: Myth and reality
Companies nowadays strive to be socially conscious in the way they do business by taking up corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities besides maintaining profitability. Similarly consumers modulate their purchase choices to be made up of products that have been produced and marketed through socially responsible processes. But the congruence between achieving gain and being responsible to the community has ethical contradictions due to the presence of self interest. This paper proposes to examine the dimensions of this conflict and towards the end suggest a new orientation that foregrounds social responsibility relative to profit or gain. 2013 Journal of Dharma: Dharmaram Journal of Religions and Philosophies (Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bangalore). -
Intelligent load shedding using ant colony algorithm in smart grid environment
For every country which is expecting a large growth in power demand in the near future or facing a power crisis, an effective load control and power distribution strategy is a necessity. Load shedding is done whenever power demand is more than power generation in order to sustain power system stability. The current load shedding strategies fails to shed exact amount of load as per the system requirement and does not prioritize loads which are being shed. Given the dimension of the problem, it would not be feasible computationally, to use regular optimization techniques to solve the problem. The problem is typically suited for application of meta-heuristic algorithms. This paper proposes a new scheme for optimizing load shedding using ant colony algorithm in a smart grid platform considering loads at utility level. The algorithm developed considers each electrical connection from Distribution Company as one lumped load and provides an effective methodology to control the load based on various constrains such as importance of load and time of load shedding. Springer India 2015. -
Digital filter architectures for multi-standard wireless transceivers
This paper addresses on two different architectures of digital decimation filter design of a multi-standard RF transceivers. Instead of using single stage decimation filter network, the filters are implemented in multiple stages using FPGA to optimize the area and power. The proposed decimation filter architectures reflect the considerable reduction in area & power consumption without degradation of performance. The filter coefficients are derived from MATLAB , the filter architectures are implemented and tested using Xilinx SPARTAN FPGA . The Xilinx ISE 9.2i tool is used for logic synthesis and the Xpower analysis tool is used for estimating the power consumption. First, the types of decimation filter architectures are tested and implemented using conventional binary number system. Then the different encoding scheme i.e. Canonic Signed Digit (CSD) representation is used for filter coefficients and then the architecture performance is tested .The results of CSD based architecture shows a considerable reduction in the area & power against the conventional number system based filter design implementation. -
Preterm birth prediction using cuckoo search-based fuzzy min-max neural network
In the latest history, a Decision making and prediction system has been investigated vigorously for several decades and has got a lift. Together with preterm birth study, the decision support system has been explored in different areas. Using fuzzy, neural network and cuckoo search algorithm, the medical decision support system is improved for the forecast of preterm birth in this document. A two-module pattern categorization and rule extraction system has been highlighted by this study, where in the former module emphasises an altered fuzzy min-max (FMM) neural-network-based pattern classifier, whereas the subsequent module emphasises oppositional cuckoo search based rule extractor. With the theory of opposition, this paper examines altered cuckoo search algorithm. Using Pre Term Birth (PTB) datasets, the empirical analysis is executed and applied using MATLAB. Performance assessment matrix occupied is the precision and our suggested method is compared with the active methods. It is examined that our suggested method has attained improved precision value (85.6 %) when compared to FMM (77.36 %) which illustrates the efficiency of the suggested method from the results. 2013 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved. -
Digital awakening religious communication in a virtual world
This paper explores the religious presence and possibilities in the virtual world. An analysis of communication progress leads to the present scenario of new media environment. Based on the idea of revelation and a system of autopoiesis, religion appears like a closed communicator. Religion's communication needs to be placed within the context of evolving new media environment. Basing on McLuhan's theory of extension, religious narratives need new forms of presence in the digital world. When it comes to diffusion of innovation (Everett Rogers) the state of religion appears precarious. From a communication perspective adoption of innovation by religion can come under the category of 'laggards' and 'luddites'. The transference of religion's presence from the real to the virtual demands new innovative and participatory models to serve the digital natives. 2015 Journal of Dharma: Dharmaram Journal of Religions and Philosophies (DVK, Bangalore), ISSN: 0253-7222. -
Efficiency evaluation of total manufacturing sectors of India DEA approach
Efficiency, Productivity and Competitiveness are some of the performance indicators of any manufacturing firm. In Indian soil manufacturing industry plays predominant role in the countrys economy. Industrialization of manufacturing sectors generates employment, income and promotes GNP. To institute suitable policy measures it is desirable to divide the total manufacturing sectors of Indian states into efficient and inefficient. This study treats the total manufacturing sectors of a state as a decision making unit. 14 states account for more than 80% of total value added. Data Envelopment Analysis models are used to assess the efficiency of total manufacturing sectors of 14 Indian states. Research India Publications.