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Biowaste-Derived, Highly Efficient, Reusable Carbon Nanospheres for Speedy Removal of Organic Dyes from Aqueous Solutions
The current work explores the adsorptive efficiency of carbon nanospheres (CNSs) derived from oil palm leaves (OPL) that are a source of biowaste. CNSs were synthesized at 400, 600, 800 and 1000 C, and those obtained at 1000 C demonstrated maximum removal efficiency of ~91% for malachite green (MG). Physicochemical and microscopic characteristics were analysed by FESEM, TEM, FTIR, Raman, TGA and XPS studies. The presence of surface oxygen sites and the porosity of CNSs synergistically influenced the speed of removal of MG, brilliant green (BG) and Congo red (CR) dyes. With a minimal adsorbent dosage (1 mg) and minimum contact time (10 min), and under different pH conditions, adsorption was efficient and cost-effective (nearly 99, 91 and 88% for BG, MG and CR, respectively). The maximum adsorption capacities of OPL-based CNSs for BG were 500 and 104.16 mg/g for MG and 25.77 mg/g for CR. Adsorption isotherms (Freundlich, Langmuir and Temkin) and kinetics models (pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and Elovich) for the adsorption processes of all three dyes on the CNSs were explored in detail. BG and CR adsorption the Freundlich isotherm best, while MG showed a best fit to the Temkin model. Adsorption kinetics of all three dyes followed a pseudo-second-order model. A reusability study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of CNSs in removing the MG dye and showed ~92% efficiency even after several cycles. Highly efficient CNSs with surface oxygen groups and speedy removal of organic dyes within 10 min by CNSs are highlighted in this paper. 2022 by the authors. -
UVIT view of Centaurus A: A detailed study on positive AGN feedback
Supermassive black holes at the centre of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) produce relativistic jets that can affect the star formation characteristics of the AGN hosts. Observations in the ultraviolet (UV) band can provide an excellent view of the effect of AGN jets on star formation. Here, we present a census of star formation properties in the Northern Star-forming Region (NSR) that spans about 20 kpc of the large radio source Centaurus A hosted by the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5128. In this region, we identified 352 UV sources associated with Cen A using new observations at an angular resolution of <1.5 arcsec observed with the Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard AstroSat. These observations were carried out in one far-ultraviolet (FUV; ?mean = 1481 and three near-ultraviolet (NUV; with ?mean of 2196, 2447, and 2792 respectively) bands. The star-forming sources identified in UV tend to lie in the direction of the jet of Cen A, thereby suggesting jet triggering of star formation. Separating the NSR into Outer and Inner regions, we found the stars in the Inner region to have a relatively younger age than the Outer region, suggesting that the two regions may have different star formation histories. We also provide the UVIT source catalogue in the NSR. 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. -
Parental beliefs about positive affect and parental depressive symptoms predicting parents' positive emotion socialisation in India
Emerging literature examines implications of parental socialisation of positive affect (PA) for children's socio-emotional functioning, though little is known about predictors of parental PA socialisation behaviours in diverse families around the world. Based on the literature that suggests that parental cognitions (Okagaki & Bingham, 2005) and their own mood state contribute to their parenting (Dix & Meunier, 2009), we examined two parent-related factors (parental beliefs regarding PA and depressive symptoms) as predictors of parental responses to their adolescents' PA in an urban middle-class sample of mothers and fathers from India (N = 267; 40.4% mothers). Parents completed measures of their PA-related beliefs, depressive symptomatology, and their responses to adolescents' PA at two-time points, 5 months apart. Parental PA-related beliefs showed low stability and depressive symptoms showed moderate stability across time. There were concurrent bivariate associations between parental PA-related beliefs and their socialisation behaviours, though these relations did not hold in multivariate path analyses across time. Parental depressive symptoms at T1 inversely predicted family savouring at T2 and positively predicted dampening at T2. These findings provide the first line of evidence indicating that parental cognitions and their own mood contribute to their emotion-related parenting behaviours in India. 2022 The Authors. International Journal of Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Union of Psychological Science. -
A Comparative Study of Thermoconvective Flows of a Newtonian Fluid Over Three Horizontal Undulated Surfaces in a Porous Medium
This paper presents a comparison between the results of three thermoconvective flows of a Newtonian fluid over uniformly heated, undulated horizontal surfaces in a porous medium against the background of the results of a flat plate. The undulations are assumed to have sinusoidal, sawtooth, and triangular waveforms. A system of nonlinear coupled partial differential equations arising in the study is solved using the KellerBox method. Streamlines and isotherms have been plotted and analyzed to examine the effect of parameters on the fluid dynamics and heat transfer. At large surface amplitudes, secondary flow is observed in the cases of sinusoidal and triangular waveforms, but not in the cases of a sawtooth surface and a flat plate. The magnitude of the slip velocity at the horizontal surface is greatest for the sine waveform, while it is least in the case of triangular. The flat plate does not support slip in the velocity to the extent seen in the case of undulated surfaces. The variation of the mean Nusselt number and mean skin friction with surface amplitude and the Rayleigh number indicate that heat transfer and viscous friction at the boundary increase with individual and collective increases in the values of the amplitude and the Rayleigh number. Further, the mean Nusselt number and mean skin friction are found to be maximum for the sinusoidal surface and minimum for the triangular one. The heat transfer and skin friction by the flat surface are much less than that of all three undulated surfaces. Copyright VC 2022 by ASME. -
Lattice thermal conduction in cadmium arsenide
Lattice thermal conductivity (LTC) of cadmium arsenide (Cd3As2) is studied over a wide temperature range (1-400 K) by employing the Callaway model. The acoustic phonons are considered to be the major carriers of heat and to be scattered by the sample boundaries, disorder, impurities, and other phonons via both Umklapp and normal phonon processes. Numerical calculations of LTC of Cd3As2 bring out the relative importance of the scattering mechanisms. Our systematic analysis of recent experimental data on thermal conductivity (TC) of Cd3As2 samples of different groups, presented in terms of LTC, ? L, using a nonlinear regression method, reveals good fits to the TC data of the samples considered for T < ? 50 K, and suggests a value of 0.2 for the Gruneisen parameter. It is, however, found that for T > 100 K the inclusion of the electronic component of TC, ? e, incorporating contributions from relevant electron scattering mechanisms, is needed to obtain good agreement with the TC data over the wide temperature range. More detailed investigations of TC of Cd3As2 are required to better understand its suitability in thermoelectric and thermal management devices. 2022 Chinese Physical Society and IOP Publishing Ltd. -
Surface adsorption and anticorrosive behavior of benzimidazolium inhibitor in acid medium for carbon steel corrosion
Corrosion inhibition property of a newly synthesized 3-(4-chlorobenzoylmethyl) benzimidazolium bromide inhibitor against carbon steel corrosion in 1N hydrochloric acid solution was studied and analyzed utilizing various electrochemical methods. Electrochemical impedance study inferred that the inhibition efficiency increased with increasing inhibitor concentration and give 93.5% at 250ppm. Potentiodynamic polarization study emphasized that inhibitor acted as a mixed type inhibitor and the adsorption of inhibitor on the metal surface followed Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The noise results were in good correlation with other electrochemical results obtained. The increase of inhibition efficiency with concentrations of inhibitor is attributed to the blocking of the active area by the inhibitor adsorption on the metal surface. The thermodynamic parameter values were calculated and discussed to explain the adsorption mechanism of inhibitor in an acidic medium. The protective surface morphology governed by the inhibited medium was investigated using the scanning electron microscopic technique. The surface roughness of the sample in the absence and presence of inhibitor was obtained using atomic force microscopic study. The effect and reactivity of the inhibitor are further clarified with quantum chemical analysis. Finally, the corrosion protection mechanism is proposed on the ground of experimental and theoretical studies. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. -
A Novel Georouting Potency based Optimum Spider Monkey Approach for Avoiding Congestion in Energy Efficient Mobile Ad-hoc Network
Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is one of the recent fields in wireless communication that involves a large number of wireless nodes, which could be changed arbitrarily with the ability to link or exit the system anytime. Nevertheless, network congestion and energy management is a major problem in MANET. Consequently, the infrastructure of a network changes frequently which results in data loss and communication overheads. Therefore, in this paper, a novel Georouting Potency based Optimum Spider Monkey algorithm has been proposed for energy management and network congestion. The proposed technique in MANET is implemented using Network Simulator2 platform and the proposed outcomes show that the node energy, overload, and delay are minimized by increasing the quantity of packets transmitted through the network. Moreover, the delay in routing overhead and congestion is decreased by the proposed protocol. Consequently, the energy management is enhanced based on constraints of delay, energy consumption, and routing overhead of the nodes. Thus the effectiveness of the proposed protocol is enhanced by selecting the optimal path within the network, decreasing the consumption of energy, and congestion avoidance. Sequentially, the performance of the proposed routing algorithm is compared to existing protocols in terms of end-to-end delay, throughput, Packet Delivery Ratio, energy consumption, etc. Thus the result shows that the lifetime of the nodes have been enhanced by a high 98% of throughput ratio, less 0.01% of energy consumption, and congestion avoidance using the proposed network. 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
WELL-BEING AND PROSPERITY: Multidirectional Disciplinary Interactions with Religion
Despite significant advancements in science and technology, religion continues to influence human lives. The twentieth-century perspectives from social sciences, influenced by the secular hypothesis, mainly highlight the negative influence of religion on human progress and practically ignore its influential and positive impact on various fields of knowledge/disciplines. In this paper, we have examined literature from politics, economics, and psychology to understand religions impact on these disciplines and vice versa. We find that religions contribution to human society in the 20th and 21st centuries has been mostly positive, especially in education, healthcare, social justice, economic growth, ethics, and initiatives for eradicating inequality and injustice. For instance, religion provides effective coping measures and strategies when humans face uncertainties and catastrophes and facilitate comfort, confidence, and emotional wellness. Further, we realised that (i) the contemporary research literature in social sciences generally highlights the interaction between religion and various fields of knowledge in a unidirectional way i.e., religion influencing disciplines and not how disciplines influence religion, and (ii) that it fails to reveal a more complex multidirectional and circular relationship between religion and social sciences. This paper proposes ways to bring together social scientists and religious scholars to facilitate the much-needed discussion on the multidirectional relationship between religion and social sciences, thereby paving the way toward the well-being of individuals and social transformation. 2022 Journal of Dharma: Dharmaram Journal of Religions and Philosophies (DVK, Bangalore),. -
Time-periodic heating in boussinesq-stokes suspension with three diffusing components
The effect of time-periodic heating in Boussinesq-Stokes suspension with three diffusing components has been carried out for the linear case. The correction Rayleigh number is obtained by applying the perturbation method to effectually control the convective flow by varying amplitude and frequency of modulation, and the eigenvalues are obtained by the Venezian approach. The time-periodic heating has been carried out for three cases: symmetric, asymmetric, and modulating only the lower boundary. It is found that the system is stable for smaller values whereas unstable for moderate values of frequency of modulation. 2021 by the authors. -
Financial capability and financial wellbeing of women in community-based organizations: mediating role of decision-making ability
Purpose: Financial capability is considered to be an important concept that has drawn the attention of many world nations. While the literature suggests various studies on financial capability and financial wellbeing, focus on their combined significance has been limited. The purpose of this paper is to examine how financial capability affects the financial wellbeing of women in community-based organizations and how decision-making ability mediated this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 1,000 women who are associated with the community-based organization Kudumbashree in the state of Kerala, India participated in the survey-based study. Findings: The structural equation modelling results show that there exists a significant relationship between financial capability and the financial wellbeing of women in CBOs. Further, decision-making ability was identified as a significant mediator in this relationship thus establishing a partial mediation effect. Practical implications: The financial social workers can focus their activities on promoting financial capability and decision making aspects of women from middle/low income families to facilitate their financial wellbeing. The scope for financial socialisation and proper orientation is more for the women associated with the community based organisations. This opportunity can be made use by the government authorities and other practitioners to change their financial outlook and contribute towards the empowerment of these women from the grass root level. Originality/value: The studies related to financial literacy and financial inclusion are available in the Indian context, but the conceptualization of financial capability is still an under-researched area in India. Hence, this study is an attempt to explain the capability-wellbeing relationship from a financial point of view in the Indian context, and further establishes its connection with the individual's decision-making ability. To strengthen the research base, the study was conducted among the women in the community-based organization who belong to middle and low-income families. 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Nexus Between Tax Buoyancy and Economic Growth Evidence from India1
This paper examines the trends in fiscal revenue collections and the relationship between tax buoyancy and economic growth. In recent years, the responsiveness of revenue growth in relation to economic growth is a growing concern as we witness staggered tax revenue growth with the convergence of percentage contribution of direct taxes to the aggregate revenue with indirect taxes. Using the Log OLS model, for the period between 2000-2018 the variability in tax revenue due to the change in economic growth as measured by GDP was verified. We confirm the test results using M-estimation Robust Log-OLS. We critically appraise the policy interventions and administrative initiatives taken up to improve the buoyancy rate and suggest ways to enhance the voluntary tax compliance rate in the country. The studys findings show a significant relationship between tax revenue and economic growth, but it does not necessarily improve the tax buoyancy rate. Indian Institute of Finance. -
A review of innovative bond instruments for sustainable development in Asia
Purpose: Advancing the economies in Asia toward meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs) needs an unprecedented investment in people, processes and the planet. The participation of the private sector is necessary to bridge the financing gap to attain this objective. Engaging the private sector can contribute significantly to attaining the 2030 agenda for SD. However, the financial markets in Asian economies are yet to realize this potential. In this context, this paper aims to discuss the state of finance for SD in Asia and identifies innovative financial instruments for attracting private investments for SDs in these economies. Design/methodology/approach: This study relies on published articles, reports and policy documents on financing mechanisms for SD. The literature review covered journal data sources, reports from global institutions such as the UN, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and think-tanks operating in the field of climate change policies. Though the topic was specific to financial market instruments, a broader search was conducted to understand the different sources of sustainable finance available, particularly in Asia. Findings: The investments that are required for meeting the SDGs remain underfunded. Though interest in sustainability is growing in the Asian economies, the financial markets are yet to transition to tap the growing interest in sustainable investing among global investors. This paper concludes that to raise capital from private investors the Asian economies should ensure information availability, reduce distortions and unblock regulatory obstacles. It would also need designing policies and introducing blended financing instruments combining private and public funds. Research limitations/implications: Though the study has grouped Asian economies, the financing strategy for SDGs should be developed at the country-level considering the domestic financial markets, local developmental stage, fiscal capacity and nationally determined contributions. Further research can focus on developing country-specific strategies for using innovative financial instruments. Originality/value: Mobilizing funds for implementing the 2030 Agenda for SD is a major challenge for Asian economies. The paper is addressed to national policymakers in Asian economies for developing strategies to raise capital for SD through private participation. It provides opportunities for revisiting national approaches to sustainable finance in these economies. 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
A Precise Computational Method for Hippocampus Segmentation from MRI of Brain to Assist Physicians in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease
Hippocampus segmentation on magnetic resonance imaging is more significant for diagnosis, treatment and analyzing of neuropsychiatric disorders. Automatic segmentation is an active research field. Previous state-of-the-art hippocampus segmentation methods train their methods on healthy or Alzheimer's disease patients from public datasets. It arises the question whether these methods are capable for recognizing the hippocampus in a different domain. Therefore, this study proposes a precise computational method for hippocampus segmentation from MRI of brain to assist physicians in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (HCS-MRI-DAD-LBP). Initially, the input images are pre-processed by Trimmed mean filter for image quality enhancement. Then the pre-processed images are given to ROI detection, ROI detection utilizes Weber's law which determines the luminance factor of the image. In the region extraction process, Chan-Vese active contour model (ACM) and level sets are used (UACM). Finally, local binary pattern (LBP) is utilized to remove the erroneous pixel that maximizes the segmentation accuracy. The proposed model is implemented in MATLAB, and its performance is analyzed with performance metrics, like precision, recall, mean, variance, standard deviation and disc similarity coefficient. The proposed HCS-MRI-DAD-LBP method attains in OASIS dataset provides high disc similarity coefficient of 12.64%, 10.11% and 1.03% compared with the existing methods, like HCS-DAS-MLT, HCS-DAS-RNN and HCS-DAS-GMM and in ADNI dataset provides high precision of 20%, 9.09% and 1.05% compared with existing methods like HCS-MRI-DAD-CNN-ADNI, HCS-MRI-DAD-MCNN-ADNI and HCS-MRI-DAD-CNN-RNN-ADNI, respectively. 2022 World Scientific Publishing Europe Ltd. -
On (?)-Lorentzian para-Sasakian Manifolds
The object of this paper is to study (?)-Lorentzian para-Sasakian manifolds. Some typical identities for the curvature tensor and the Ricci tensor of (?)-Lorentzian para-Sasakian manifold are investi-gated. Further, we study globally ?-Ricci symmetric and weakly ?-Ricci symmetric (?)-Lorentzian para-Sasakian manifolds and obtain interesting results. 2022 Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research TMU. -
On the Non-Inverse Graph of a Group
Let (G, ?) be a finite group and S = {u G|u u-1}, then the inverse graph is defined as a graph whose vertices coincide with G such that two distinct vertices u and v are adjacent if and only if either u ? v S or v ? u S. In this paper, we introduce a modified version of the inverse graph, called i?-graph associated with a group G. The i?-graph is a simple graph with vertex set consisting of elements of G and two vertices x, y ? are adjacent if x and y are not inverses of each other. We study certain properties and characteristics of this graph. Some parameters of the i?-graph are also determined. 2022 Javeria Amreen et al., published by Sciendo. -
Examining University Students Attitude towards e-Learning and Their Academic Achievement during COVID-19
Higher education around the world has moved to online teaching due to COVID-19 pandemic. Students in higher education are compelled to attend online classes and adopt e-learning mode. There is not much evidence on training the students to adopt e-learning and remote learning. However, do they have a positive attitude towards e-learning and has it affected their academic performance? Present study administered an e-learning attitude scale to 840 students of a reputed University to examine whether they have positive or avoidance attitude to e-learning and also analysed e-learning attitude across students demographic characteristics. Study revealed a slight positive correlation between e-learning attitude and academic achievement of postgraduate students and not for undergraduate students. Girls excelled in their achievement and have a more positive e-learning attitude than boys have. Boys showed avoidance e-learning attitude. However, Socio Economic Status (SES) did not affect students e-learning attitude but influenced their academic achievement. Study concludes that stakeholders must create more opportunities to develop a positive attitude towards e-learning as future education is likely to be technology integrated. 2022 by the authors. -
Is the Electronic Market the Way Forward to Overcome Market Failures in Agriculture?
This paper examines the performance of agricultural markets through analysing the primary data from 856 farm households in six states along with secondary data. It argues that adequate physical and storage infrastructure is crucial even for the functioning of the electronic market, and other related policy measures are needed to have a significant improvement in agricultural marketing. The results indicate that farmers obtained 3.75% higher prices in these markets vis-vis the prices received before selling to these markets. This is significant as the prices plummeted by 8.34% in the manual transactions. 2022 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved. -
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. -
Colorimetric and theoretical investigation of coumarin based chemosensor for selective detection of fluoride
Coumarin based Sensor 1 has been designed and synthesized to recognize fluoride ion visually with high selectivity and sensitivity over other anionic analytes through color change from very faint yellow to pink in acetonitrile. The probable binding phenomenon in solution phase has been explained by 1H NMR study of sensor 1 with different concentration of fluoride ions. The binding constant of the sensor 1 with fluoride has been determined as 3.9 104 M?1 and the lower detection limit 6.5 M of the sensor 1 towards fluoride, which has made the sensor 1 as a promising backbone for selective detection of fluoride. For the practical application, test strips based on sensor 1 were fabricated, which could act as a convenient and efficient naked eye F?test kits. The experimentally observed absorption maxima along with its binding nature with fluoride ions also have been supported through theoretical calculations using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. 2022 -
Optimized green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles: evaluation of structural, morphological, vibrational and optical properties
In this study, leaf extracts of Aloe vera (AV), Azadirachta indica (AI), and Amaranthus dubius (AD) were used to synthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles utilizing a simple green synthesis process. The structural, optical, band energy, size, surface area, and shape of as-prepared nanoparticles were studied using analytical techniques. The hexagonal phase was revealed by XRD studies for all three samples: AV-ZnO, AI-ZnO, and AD-ZnO, with crystallite sizes of 35.8nm, 30.83nm, and 33.1nm, respectively. The UVVisible spectra of AV-ZnO, AI-ZnO, and AD-ZnO exhibit the characteristic absorption in the range of 200 to 450nm, and the band gap energy was found to be 3.10eV, 3.12eV, and 3.07eV, respectively. FESEM and TEM studies revealed that the ZnO NPs are rod-shaped with a roughly spherical appearance. EDAX analysis confirmed the presence of zinc and oxygen and indicates that the formed product is a pure phase of ZnO NPs. Increased antibacterial activity was noted for AV-ZnO, AI-ZnO, and AD-ZnO against gram-negative (Klebsiella pneumonia, Shigella dysenteriae), gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus) bacterial strain. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.