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2--Intercalated NiCo-Layered Double Hydroxide Nanospikes: An Efficiently Synergized Material for Urine to Direct H2 Generation
Substituting the energy-uphill water oxidation half-cell with readily oxidizable urea-rich urine, a ground-breaking bridge is constructed, combining the energy-efficient hydrogen generation and environmental protection. Hence, designing a robust multifunctional electrocatalyst is desirable for widespread implementation of this waste to fuel technology. In this context, here, we report a simple tuning of the electrocatalytically favorable characteristics of NiCo-layered double hydroxide by introducing [MoS4]2- in its interlayer space. The [MoS4]2- insertion as well as its effect on the electronic structure tuning is thoroughly studied via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in combination with electrochemical analysis. This insertion induces overall electronic structure tuning of the hydroxide layer in such a way that the designed catalyst exhibited favorable kinetics toward all the required reactions of hydrogen generation. This is why our homemade catalyst, when utilized both as a cathode and anode to fabricate a urea electrolyzer, required a mere .37 V cell potential to generate sufficient H2 by reaching the benchmark 10 mA cm-2 in 1 M KOH/0.33 M urea along with long-lasting catalytic efficiency. Other indispensable reason of selecting [MoS4]2- is its high-valent nature making the catalyst highly selective and insensitive to common catalyst-poisoning toxins of urine. This is experimentally supported by performing the real urine electrolysis, where the nanospike-covered Ni foam-based catalyst showed a performance similar to that of synthetic urea, offering its industrial value. Other intuition of selecting [MoS4]2- was to provide a ligand-based mechanism for hydrogen evolution half-cell [hydrogen evolution reaction (HER)] to preclude the HER-competing oxygen reduction. Another crucial point of our work is its potential to avoid the mixing of two explosive product gases, that is, H2 and O2. 2019 American Chemical Society. -
Are muslims incurring higher out-of-pocket expenditures than hindus in reproductive healthcare at sub-district levels in Karnataka?
Background and Objective: This study was undertaken to evaluate level of differences found in Out-of-pocket expenditures (OOPE) among Hindus and Muslims, OOPE being a sub-component while constructing reproductive health account (RHA) matrices for Ramanagara district, Karnataka. Method: Adopting multistage stratified sampling method, individual level data was collected using survey tools, catering to six dimensions of RH functions, taken from WHO Guide to produce RH Sub-Account. 517 Hindu and Muslim men and women meeting inclusion criteria of reproductive age (15-49) incurring RH expenditures in last one year were included followed later by only 382 uninsured individuals for hypothesis testing. Results: Muslims showing almost double OOPE in RH necessitated hypothesis testing of significant difference in OOPE, equating groups, post exclusion of insured individuals. Statistically significant difference was revealed in RH expenditures using Mann-Whitney U test. Interpretations and conclusions: Vicious cycle of disparity in education levels, lower income levels, negligible health coverage, strenuous work conditions, poor living standards, repeated RH contingencies leading to massive borrowing financed OOPE in RH continues. 2019, Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development. All rights reserved. -
Impact of corporate governance on financial performance of information technology companies
Corporate Governance is a broad term in todays competitive world. It is a series of processes, policies, rules, and regulations by which companies are managed and governed. In this perspective, the study attempts to analyze the impact of corporate governance on the financial performance of Information Technology (IT) Companies in India. Specifically, the study analyzed the impact of Board size, Board Composition, and Audit Committee Independence on Return on Assets and Return on Equity, which are considered as measures of financial performance. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant and positive impact of Corporate Governance on Financial performance of IT companies, and Audit Committee Independence shows the most significant effect on Financial performance. The finding of the study endeavors to contribute to the limited literature available in the context of corporate governance in IT companies in India. BEIESP. -
Data visualization and toss related analysis of IPL teams and batsmen performances
Sports play a very significant role in the development of the human persona. Getting involved in games like Cricket and other various sports help us to build character, discipline, confidence and physical fitness. Indian Premier League, IPL provides the most successful form of cricket as it gives opportunities to young and talented players to show case their talents on various pitch. Decision-makers are the utmost customers for all fundamentals in the sports analytics framework. Sports analytics has been a smash hit in shaping success for many players and teams in various sports. Sports analytics and data visualization can play a crucial role in selecting the best players for a team. This paper is about the Toss Related analysis and the breadth of data visualization in supporting the decision makers for identifying inherent players for their teams. Copyright 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved. -
EEG Neurofeedback Training in Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Cognitive and Behavioral Outcome Study
Background. Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent childhood disorder with symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. EEG neurofeedback training (NFT) is a new intervention modality based on operant conditioning of brain activity, which helps reduce symptoms of ADHD in children. Methods and Procedures. To examine the efficacy of NFT in children with ADHD, an experimental longitudinal design with pre-post comparison was adopted. A total of 30 children in the age range of 6 to 12 years diagnosed as ADHD with or without comorbid conditions were assigned to treatment group (TG; n = 15) and treatment as usual group (TAU; n = 15). TG received EEG-NFT along with routine clinical management and TAU received routine clinical management alone. Forty sessions of theta/beta NFT at the C3 scalp location, 3 to 4 sessions in a week for a period of 3.5 to 5 months were given to children in TG. Children were screened using sociodemographic data and Binet-Kamat test of intelligence. Pre-and postassessment tools were neuropsychological tests and behavioral scales. Follow-up was carried out on 8 children in TG using parent-rated behavioral measures. Results. Improvement was reported in TG on cognitive functions (sustained attention, verbal working memory, and response inhibition), parent- and teacher-rated behavior problems and on academic performance rated by teachers. Follow-up of children who received NFT showed sustained improvement in ADHD symptoms when assessed 6 months after receiving NFT. Conclusion. The present study suggests that NFT is an effective method to enhance cognitive deficits and helps reduce ADHD symptoms and behavior problems. Consequently, academic performance was found to be improved in children with ADHD. Improvement in ADHD symptoms induced by NFT were maintained at 6-month follow-up in children with ADHD. EEG and Clinical Neuroscience Society (ECNS) 2018. -
"On the same page, but in different books?" exploring pedagogical beliefs of various stakeholders in management education
The declining MBA enrolment numbers and campus placements are indicators of an alarming situation in India. The key stakeholders comprising of teachers, students, and corporates desire the same outcome, which is students with high employability. This implies everyone is on the same page, but the falling salary packages and rising unemployment make one wonder if this page is from a different book for each stakeholder? Through this study, we tried to bring in more clarity on the perception of the stakeholders in such B-schools regarding their choice of pedagogy to be employed. Drawing on the body of literature and peer group discussions, this study identified 15 pedagogical methods employed in higher education. Thus, to explore the preferred pedagogy, an exploratory research was designed and owing to the categorical nature of the data collected over a seven-month period, correspondence analysis was applied. Data analysis confirmed the existence of a huge perceptual gap amongst the stakeholders about the appropriate pedagogy to be used in management education. Student engagement and application based learning emerged as the two most important dimensions of pedagogy in this study. The results and findings can be extended further to understand causes for this perceptual gap and identify measures to bridge the same to ensure that these B - schools yield job ready students resulting in MBA regaining its lost glory. 2019, Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. All rights reserved. -
Foreign Exchange, Gold, and Real Estate Markets in India: An Analysis of Return Volatility and Transmission
This empirical analysis endeavored to investigate the return volatility, covolatility, and the spillover impact of gold, real estate, and U.S. dollar in India. The generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity dynamic conditional correlation (GARCH -DCC) was used to reveal the return volatility and conditional correlation. The volatility spillover was examined by using the variance decomposition technique. The empirical outcome clearly revealed the presence of ARCH and GARCH effect on gold, realty, and U.S. dollar. Additionally, the results also manifested that the returns of these variables were not moving away from their means in the long run. On the other hand, the consequences of volatility spillover reported that real estate was the most dominating among all markets. This is so because returns on real estate had a significant contribution to the return volatility of the other markets. Finally, it was also found that return volatility of U.S. dollar was most affected as it was the net receiver of volatility, while return volatility of gold seemed to be neutral in the Indian financial market. -
Brinkman-Forchheimer slip flow subject to exponential space and thermal-dependent heat source in a microchannel utilizing SWCNT and MWCNT nanoliquids
This communication examines the impact of carbon nanotubes (single-wall carbon nanotubes [SWCNT] and multi-wall carbon nanotubes [MWCNT]) on magnetohydrodynamic Brinkman and Forchheimer flow in a planar microchannel with multiple slips. Flow through a porous medium is modeled via Brinkman and Forchheimer theory. The impacts of thermal-dependent heat source (THS) and exponential space-dependent heat source (ESHS) are deployed. Aspects of Joule and viscous dissipations are also retained. The dimensionless equations are solved using the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg joint with shooting methodology. The significance of various nondimensional parameters on the flow distributions as well as skin-friction and Nusselt number is illustrated and analyzed. Closed form solution of momentum quantity is developed for a particular case. Obtained numerical results are in perfect agreement with analytical results. Further, the results of SWCNT and MWCNT are compared. 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. -
Comparative experimental study of base line and thermal barrier coated four stroke four cylinder diesel fueled engine with low heat rejection
The depletion of conventional fuel source at a fast rate and increasing of environment pollution motivated extensive research in energy efficient engine design. In the present work, experimental investigations were carried out on a four-stroke four-cylinder diesel-fuelled Base Line Engine (BLE) by conducting a normal load test and measuring the required Brake Thermal Efficiency (BThE) and Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC) in a 100 HP dyno facility. A six-gas Analyser was used for the measurement of Unburnt Hydrocarbons (UBHC), Carbon monoxide (CO), Carbon dioxide (CO2), free Oxygen (O2), Nitrogen oxides (NOx), Sulphur oxides (SOx) and a smoke meter was used to measure smoke opacity. Low Heat Rejection (LHR) engine was realized by coating the crown of the aluminium alloy piston with the most popular Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) material, namely 8%Yttria Partially Stabilized Zirconia (8YPSZ), after coating qualification on research pistons, specifically fabricated to retain the piston material specification, and the geometry of the crown contour. A normal load test was conducted on LHR engine to evaluate the performance as well as to determine the concentration of pollutants. A ~30% improvement in BThE and ~35% improvement in SFC was exhibited by the LHR engine at all loads studied (7 to 64%). While UBHC level showed an increase, the CO, CO2 and O2 contents as revealed in the emission test showed a mixed response (high and low) for an LHR engine. Compared with BLE, NOx and smoke level in LHR engine emission showed an increasing trend with the load. On comparing BLE and LHR engine test results, value addition to the BLE in terms of reduced fuel consumption and pollutants was observed. Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Malaysia. -
Green Luminescence and Irradiance Properties of Carbon Dots Cross-linked with Polydimethylsiloxane
In the present report, we have synthesized carbon dots by using anthracite coal as a precursor. The purpose of this work is to address the sensitivity and surface coating ability of carbon dots with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer. The photoluminescence study shows the shift in emission wavelength of carbon dots in water and polymer individually for different excitation wavelengths (320-480 nm). The shifted peaks have higher intensities for higher excitation wavelengths, which are desirable for real world optical applications. This study gives a simple and novel approach to tune the fluorescence spectrum over the entire UV region just by varying the concentration of carbon dots in the polymer base. Detailed characterization revealed that the increase in the intensity of emission peaks can be obtained by using a polymer base system and changing the concentration of carbon dots. This new approach significantly opens a new window for multiapproach sensing methods. The irradiance studies of carbon dots with PDMS resulted in a decrease in absorption. This explains the photodegradation and photophysical properties of the material. The wettability property of the sample by using contact angle studies reveals its significance in coating industries such as nanoengineering, adhesives, casting, and injection molding. Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society. -
ALT speech recognition system using F0 improvement and spectral tilt method
Human Beings use voice as the medium for communication. Human Speech is a very complex signal with multiple frequencies, amplitudes and intensities that mix up to convey specific information. In international terminology, voice disorders are described as dysphonia. Various dysphonias are clearly organic origin due to nervous, muscular, neuro or cellular degenerative disease affecting the body or it is from local laryngeal changes. Other dysphonias having no visible laryngeal causes are grouped as non organic involving habitual dysphonias that arise from faulty speaking habits or the psycho genic dysphonias that stem from emotional causes. This paper looks at a speech recognition system for disordered speech generated by Physically Disabled people using Artificial Larynx Transducer (ALT) device from the perspective of Speech Signal Processing. From the ALT speech features like formant, pitch and spectral tilt is estimated. For formant frequency estimation RNN technique is used. Before training the system pitch frequency improvement is accomplished. Now the features and homomorphic based coefficients are used for training the system. The same operation is performed during the test phase and compared with the training set. Comparison and decision making is accomplished using distance estimator. BEIESP. -
Impact of determinants on early internationalization: An exploratory study of Indian engineering SMEs
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of determinants on early internationalization in the context of an emerging economy, i.e. India. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on an ex post facto exploratory research using primary data collected from a sample of 102 exporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bangalore. Findings: The overall results reveal that it is the proactive entrepreneurs and their previous experience that determine the early internationalization of SMEs. Further, competitive constraint was a major obstacle to enter the international market at an early age for late internationalized SMEs. Practical implications: The policy initiatives should aim to develop the international orientation of the entrepreneurs in the firm as a precursor for the formulation and subsequent implementation of internationalization strategies. Originality/value: Although studies have been conducted on determinants and early internationalization, these are confined to a few dimensions, and none of the studies have looked into the issues affecting the early internationalization holistically and with respect to SMEs in India. 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Effect of supercooling on the microstructural development and optimization of physical properties of melt grown SnSe crystals
The microstructural development of stoichiometric tin monoselenide (SnSe) crystals grown by vertical BridgmanStockbarger method using an indigenously fabricated furnace has been investigated under high vacuum (~ 10?6 mbar). The ampoule translation rate (tr) and supercooling, ?T (= Tm ? T, where Tm is the melting point and T is the crystallization temperature) were varied in the range, 122mm/h and 20100C respectively. Enhancement of ?T and tr led to constitutional supercooling, inducing compositional changes and non-stoichiometry. Low ?T (2040C) and high tr (1210mm/h) resulted in globules, flakes and cavities. When ?T = 60C and tr = 9 to 7mm/h, mounds were formed with closed contours and ripples, due to atomically rough liquidsolid (l-?) interface. Fine tuning of ?T (60C) and tr (2mm/h) enabled smooth planar interface, so as to yield good quality crystalline structures with periodic atomic deposition promoting crystal growth, layer-by-layer. Energy dispersive analysis by X-rays and powder X-ray diffraction studies revealed appreciable crystallinity, chemical homogeneity and phase purity. The density of crystals estimated from crystallographic data (6.183g/cm3) corroborates with that obtained utilizing Archimedes principle. Thermogravimetric and microindentation analyses established thermal and mechanical stability. The low etch pit density (~ 102 cm?2) manifests nearly perfect growth of crystals than their melt counterparts. UVVisNIR and PL spectra reflected direct transition with an energy gap of 1.32eV, validating immense potential of the grown crystals for photovoltaic applications. 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
Perception of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Testing the ActorObserver Bias
Entrepreneurial ecosystem is the interacting socio-economic environment that facilitates entrepreneurs to start and develop their enterprises. A vibrant and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem is necessary for the start-up and growth of an enterprise. The entrepreneurial action would largely depend on the perception of entrepreneurs about the ecosystem. In this context, a study was designed to understand the perceptions of actors (entrepreneurs) and observers (non-entrepreneurs) on various components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Data for this study were collected from 296 entrepreneurs and 315 non-entrepreneurs from India, who responded to a 77-item questionnaire by giving their ratings of various aspects of the ecosystem on a 5-point scale. Findings of the study showed that perceptions of the entrepreneurial ecosystem were significantly different for most of the subgroups. Most notable among these differences was those between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, where the mean scores on all dimensions were found to be significantly higher for non-entrepreneurs than for entrepreneurs except for entrepreneurial capability which was found to be higher for entrepreneurs. Hence, the hypothesis of actorobserver bias in the perceptions of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs is supported. 2019 SAGE Publications. -
N-tier modelling of robust key management for secure data aggregation in wireless sensor network
Security problems in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) have been researched from more than a decade. There are various security approaches being evolving towards resisting various forms of attack using different methodologies. After reviewing the existing security approaches, it can be concluded that such security approaches are highly attack-specific and doesnt address various associated issues in WSN. It is essential for security approach to be computationally lightweight. Therefore, this paper presents a novel analytical modelling that is based on n-tier approach with a target to generate an optimized secret key that could ensure higher degree of security during the process of data aggregation in WSN. The study outcome shows that proposed system is computationally lightweight with good performance on reduced delay and reduced energy consumption. It also exhibits enhanced response time and good data delivery performance to balance the need of security and data forwarding performance in WSN. 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. -
Comparing machine learning and ensemble learning in the field of football
Football has been one of the most popular and loved sports since its birth on November 6th, 1869. The main reason for this is because it is highly unpredictable in nature. Predicting football matches results seems like the perfect problem for machine learning models. But there are various caveats such as picking the right features from an enormous number of available features. There have been many models which have been applied to various football-related datasets. This paper aims to compare Support Vector Machines a machine learning model and XGBoost an Ensemble learning model and how Ensemble Learning can greatly improve the accuracy of the predictions. Copyright 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved. -
Effect of the Process Parameters on Machining of GFRP Composites for Different Conditions of Abrasive Water Suspension Jet Machining
The selection of parameters for abrasive water suspension jet (AWSJ) machining of GFRP composites is a major aspect to be considered for optimizing the process. Generally, machining of plastics, polymer matrix composites are accomplished by the AWSJ machining carried out in the presence of atmospheric air; however, the existence of air around the AWSJ may lead to expansion of jet which results in increase in the kerf width and surface roughness; thus to overcome this drawback, an effort has been made in the current work to compare the effect of different process parameters on kerf width and surface roughness while using AWSJ techniques for machining glass fibre-reinforced plastic composite submerged in water. The exploratory outcomes have herewith validated the fact that the surface roughness and kerf width diminishes in under water machining when contrasted with that of free air machining; this is majorly attributed to the fact that the jet diameter reduces in under water AWSJ machining, thereby reducing the kerf width and surface roughness for optimized values of the parameters of speed, feed and standoff distance. Further, the experimental trials have clearly shown that the AWSJ machining used with an optimized set of parameters yields better machining capabilities as compared to abrasive water jet machining. 2019, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. -
Degradation of azodyes in wastewater by using hydrodynamic cavitation technique
The organic waste water discharged from various industries consists of large amounts of dyes & cyanides & other toxic carcinogenic pollutants which are harmful to human health & ecosystem. Release of carcinogenic dyes is hazardous & has a detrimental effect on the well being of an individual. The present work is focussed at finding the viability of hydrodynamic cavitations process in the degradation of dyes. To study the degradation, influence of various parameters on degradation rate has been studied. BEIESP. -
Nonlinear thermo-solutal convective flow of Casson fluid over an oscillating plate due to non-coaxial rotation with quadratic density fluctuation: Exact solutions
Purpose: The nonlinear density thermal/solutal fluctuations in the buoyancy force term cannot be ignored when the temperature/concentration difference between the surface and fluid is large. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nonlinear density fluctuations across a flowing fluid with heat mass transfer effects on a non-axial rotating plate. Therefore, the impact of nonlinear convection in the flow of Casson fluid over an oscillating plate has been analytically investigated. Design/methodology/approach: The governing equations are modeled with the help of conservation equations of velocity, energy and concentration under the transient-state situation. The dimensional governing equations are non-dimensionalized by utilizing non-dimensional variables. Later, the subsequent non-dimensional problem has been solved analytically using Laplace transform method. Findings: The effects of thermal Grashof number, solute Grashof number, nonlinear convection parameters, Casson fluid parameter, unsteady parameter, Prandtl number as well as Schmidt number on hydrodynamic, thermal and solute characteristics have been quantified. The numeric data for skin friction coefficient, Nusselt number and Sherwood number are presented. It is established the nonlinear convection aspect has a significant influence on heat and mass transport characteristics. Originality/value: The effect of nonlinear convection in the dynamics of Casson fluid past an oscillating plate which is rotating non-axially is investigated for the first time. 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Significance of bar quenching in the global quenching of star formation
The suppression of star formation in the inner kiloparsec regions of barred disk galaxies due to the action of bars is known as bar quenching. We investigate here the significance of bar quenching in the global quenching of star formation in the barred galaxies and their transformation to passive galaxies in the local Universe. We do this by measuring the offset of quenched barred galaxies from star-forming main sequence galaxies in the star formation rate-stellar mass plane and comparing it with the length of the bar, which is considered as a proxy of bar quenching. We constructed the star formation rate-stellar mass plane of 2885 local Universe face-on strong barred disk galaxies (z< 0.06) identified by Galaxy Zoo. The barred disk galaxies studied here fall on the star formation main sequence relation with a significant scatter for galaxies above stellar mass 1010.2M. We found that 34.97% galaxies are within the intrinsic scatter (0.3 dex) of the main sequence relation, with a starburst population of 10.78% (above the 0.3 dex) and a quenched population of 54.25% (below the-0.3 dex) of the total barred disk galaxies in our sample. Significant neutral hydrogen (MHI > 109Mwith log MHI/M?-1.0 to-0.5) is detected in the quenched barred galaxies with a similar gas content to that of the star-forming barred galaxies. We found that the offset of the quenched barred galaxies from the main sequence relation is not dependent on the length of the stellar bar. This implies that the bar quenching may not contribute significantly to the global quenching of star formation in barred galaxies. However, this observed result could also be due to other factors such as the dissolution of bars over time after star formation quenching, the effect of other quenching processes acting simultaneously, and/or the effects of environment. ESO 2019.