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Environment and Human Rights - Interrelatedness
Shodh Prerak, Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp 69-73, ISSN No. 2231-413X -
Navigating AI and chatbot applications in education and research: a holistic approach
Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors influencing AI/chatbot usage in education and research, and to evaluate the extent of the impact of these factors. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative methods. It is based on both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected through an online survey. In total, 177 responses from teachers were included in this study. The collected data were analyzed using a statistical package for the social sciences. Findings: The study revealed that the significant factors influencing the perception of the academic and research community toward the adoption of AI/interactive tools, such as Chatbots/ChatGpt for education and research, are challenges, benefits, awareness, opportunities, risks, sustainability and ethical considerations. Practical implications: This study highlighted the importance of resolving challenges and enhancing awareness and benefits while carefully mitigating risks and ethical concerns in the integration of technology within the educational and research environment. These insights can assist policymakers in making decisions and developing strategies for the efficient adoption of AI/interactive tools in academia and research to enhance the overall quality of learning experiences. Originality/value: The present study adds value to the existing literature on AI/interactive tool adoption in academia and research by offering a quantitative analysis of the factors impacting teachers' perception of the usage of such tools. Furthermore, it also indirectly helps achieve various UNSDGs, such as 4, 9, 10 and 17. 2024, Abhishek N., Sonal Devesh, Ashoka M.L., Neethu Suraj, Parameshwara Acharya and Divyashree M.S. -
Biopolymers as promising vehicles for drug delivery to the brain
The brain is a privileged organ, tightly guarded by a network of endothelial cells, pericytes, and glial cells called the blood brain barrier. This barrier facilitates tight regulation of the transport of molecules, ions, and cells from the blood to the brain. While this feature ensures protection to the brain, it also presents a challenge for drug delivery for brain diseases. It is, therefore, crucial to identify molecules and/or vehicles that carry drugs, cross the blood brain barrier, and reach targets within the central nervous system. Biopolymers are large polymeric molecules obtained from biological sources. In comparison with synthetic polymers, biopolymers are structurally more complex and their 3D architecture makes them biologically active. Researchers are therefore investigating biopolymers as safe and efficient carriers of brain-targeted therapeutic agents. In this article, we bring together various approaches toward achieving this objective with a note on the prospects for biopolymer-based neurotherapeutic/neurorestorative/neuroprotective interventions. Finally, as a representative paradigm, we discuss the potential use of nanocarrier biopolymers in targeting protein aggregation diseases. 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. -
Phytochemicals for neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation: medicine of the future or a mirage?
Dietary polyphenols cease to be mere nutrients but have immense health enhancing and disease modifying effects. Phytochemical-based therapeutic approaches for neurodegenerative diseases are becoming increasingly popular. This may be attributed to the lack of long-term benefits or adverse effects of current pharmacotherapy. Polyphenols target multiple pathways and their long-term use could prove beneficial for diseases involving multiple etiological factors. While polyphenols are nontoxic and oral route is the preferred mode of administration, bioavailability in the brain is limited rendering the neuroprotective efficacy questionable. Methods employing synthetic biopolymers, nanoformulations, liposomal carriers, or conjugation have been explored to enhance the bioavailability. While results have been promising in experimental models, translation to human neurodegenerative conditions is limited. It can therefore be surmised that the present knowledge on dietary polyphenols is only the tip of the iceberg and extensive translational research is warranted to fill the gap for their therapeutic use. 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. -
Narratives on using critical approaches in teacher education
Using the approach of autoethnographic narrative, three teacher educators from a cosmopolitan city in South India discuss how they use critical approaches in preparing preservice teachers and educational psychologists in the courses that they teach at a private university. The students are sensitized about the marginalized and the privileged sections in a multicultural and multilingual nation as India and to become culturally responsive in their classrooms or with their clientele in terms of their dispositions, knowledge, and skills. The chapter also describes the integration of critical approaches in the doctoral program aimed at addressing educational disparities and promoting social justice in education. 2024, IGI Global. All rights reserved. -
Convective instability analysis of couple-stress dielectric fluid saturated anisotropic porous medium with radiation effect
Purpose: The effects of anisotropy and radiation cannot be considered negligible while investigating the stability of the fluid in convection. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how these effects could affect the system while considering a couple-stress dielectric fluid. Therefore, the study establishes the effect of thermal radiation in a couple-stress dielectric fluid with an anisotropic porous medium using Goody's approach (Goody, 1956). Design/methodology/approach: To analyze the effect of radiation on the onset of convection, the MilneEddington approximation is employed to convert radiative heat flux to thermal heat flux. The equations are further developed to approximate for transparent and opaque medium. Stability of the quiescent state within the framework of linear theory is performed. The principle of exchange of stabilities is shown to be valid by means of single-term Galerkin method. Large values of conductionradiation and absorptivity parameters are avoided as fluid is considered as liquid rather than gas. Findings: The radiative heat transfer effect on a couple-stress dielectric fluid saturated anisotropic porous medium is examined in terms of MilneEddington approximation. The effect of couple-stress, dielectric, anisotropy and radiation parameters are analyzed graphically for both transparent and opaque medium. It is observed that the conductionradiation parameter stabilizes the system; in addition, the critical DarcyRayleigh number also shows a stabilizing effect in the absence of couple-stress, dielectric and anisotropy parameters, for both transparent and opaque medium. Furthermore, the absorptivity parameter stabilizes the system in the transparent medium, whereas it exhibits a dual effect in the case of an opaque medium. It was also found that an increase in thermal and mechanical anisotropy parameters shows an increase in the cell size, whereas the increase in DarcyRoberts number and conductionradiation parameter decreases the cell size. The validity of principle of exchange of stability is performed and concluded that marginal stability is the preferred mode than oscillatory. Originality/value: The effects of anisotropy and radiation on RayleighBard convection by considering a couple-stress dielectric fluid has been analyzed for the first time. 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Study of multilayer flow of non-Newtonian fluid sandwiched between nanofluids
This theoretical investigation examines the nonlinear convective heat transport and multilayer flow of a non-Newtonian fluid within a vertical slab, incorporating viscous heating effects. The middle layer of the slab contains a third-grade fluid, while the outer layers are filled with a water-based Ag-MgO hybrid nanoliquid. Continuity in temperature, heat flux, velocity, and shear stress is maintained at the interfaces of the fluid layers. The thermal buoyancy force is modeled using the nonlinear Boussinesq approximation. The governing system comprises conservation equations for mass, momentum (Navier-Stokes), and energy for each of the three layers. These differential equations are non-dimensionalized, and the resulting dimensionless four-point nonlinear boundary value problem is transformed into a two-point boundary value problem before being solved numerically. For limiting cases, analytical and semi-analytical solutions are computed and used as benchmark results to validate the numerical method employed. Entropy generation analysis indicates that higher third-grade fluid parameters reduce the magnitude of velocity and temperature fields, as well as entropy production across all regions. The third-grade fluid parameter shows a decreasing influence on velocity and temperature fields throughout the system. The continuity of interfacial conditions induces a dragging effect; despite the absence of third-grade fluid parameters in regions I and III, their influence is apparent in these regions. The Bejan number slightly decreases at the walls with increasing third-grade fluid parameters, exhibiting a dual effect in the third-grade fluid layer. Near the walls, the Bejan number decreases as the nanoparticle volume fraction increases. Findings of this work may have applications in polymer industries and processes involving high temperatures. 2024 -
An investigation on structural, electrical and optical properties of GO/ZnO nanocomposite
Coupling of graphene oxide with metal oxide is an effective way to enhance the opto-electric properties of the composite. Herein, a hybrid structure of graphene oxide (GO) -Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructure was successfully designed and fabricated with varying concentrations of ZnO. The GO and ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized through Hummer's and simple precipitation method respectively. Structural and physiochemical properties were examined via X-ray powder diffraction, FTIR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The XRD results of GO showed a peak at 2? of 12.02 with particles of size 6nm and inter layer spacing 0.87 nm. The XRD patterns of ZnO nanoparticles showed a hexagonal unit cell structure and the average dimension of the sample was calculated to be 15 nm. The band gap of the synthesized GO is found to be 5.1 eV and that of ZnO to be 3.07 eV with the help Tauc plot. The dependence of various concentration of ZnO on the electrical behaviour is discussed by an impedance analyzer in the frequency range 100Hz to 1MHz. The ZnO/GO composite with best results have been obtained for 20% and 60 % ratios of ZnO. The composite has high dielectric permittivity and low loss tangent values and is identified as a promising candidate for energy storage applications. 2019 The Authors. -
HumanComputer Interactions with ArtificialIntelligence and Future Trends of HCIA Study
Artificial Intelligence, the name itself depicts the meaning that providing the knowledge of human to the machine artificially. AI is not a sense or feeling but the software or a model evolved to do complex tasks like human beings. With the invention of computer it has become so easy to do day to day jobs without much effort. HCI is all about interacting with computers. Now-a days it is possible to mesh with the computer through voice, touch, eye movement, and hand gestures. HCI has many challenges but has established in grand manner with the support of Artificial Intelligence. This study provides some important roles of Artificial Intelligence in HCI and its future development. 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Prediction of the capture and utilization of atmospheric acidic gases by azo-based square-pillared fluorinated MOFs
More than the permissible limit of acidic gases like CO2, SO2, and NO2 in the atmosphere are responsible for the formation of acid rain, the greenhouse effect and many other undesirable environmental hazards. So, the capture and utilization of these gases are essential for mankind. Herein, we proposed an azo-based square pillared MOF, [Ni(MF5)(1,2-bis(4-pyridy)diazene)2]n, with the CUS metal site, i.e. M = Al/Fe, for the selective capture and conversion of acidic gas molecules into commodity chemicals such as cyclic carbonate, sulphite and nitrite. With the aid of Density Functional Theory (DFT), [Ni(MF5)(1,2-bis(4-pyridy)diazene)2]n has been optimized, and the specific force field is derived via guest-host interaction. The Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation has been used to explore the guest-host interactions over a wide range of pressures, and their respective stability under pre-humidification is evaluated. The adsorption prediction reveals that MFFIVE-Ni-apy have a higher adsorptive capacity (37.1 mmol g?1), and especially ALFFIVE-Ni-apy possesses a higher affinity towards guest molecules (CO2, SO2) rather than FEFFIVE-Ni-apy. Additionally, the adsorption of gases in the presence of humidity reveals that ALFFIVE-Ni-apy has an optimal adsorption capacity for all investigated acidic gases even at 38.5 RH%. The absorbed acidic gases on MFFIVE-Ni-apy were used for the theoretical investigations on cycloaddition with the aid of DFT as an application perspective of the toxic gases instead of expelling into atmosphere. The Climbing Image Nudged Elastic Band (CI-NEB) approach was used to discover the transition state in this scenario, in which the cycloaddition of adsorbed CO2, SO2, and NO2 gases with epoxides leads to the formation of cyclic carbonates, sulphites, and nitrates, respectively. 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry. -
Computer modelling of trace SO2 and NO2 removal from flue gases by utilizing Zn(ii) MOF catalysts
SO2 and NO2 capture and conversion have been investigated via density functional theory (DFT) and grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations using a novel hydrogen-bonded 3D metal-organic framework (MOF) containing a Zn(ii) centre and a partially fluorinated (polar -CF3) long-chain dicarboxylate ligand with a melamine (basic -NH2) co-ligand. Initially, computational single-component isotherms have been determined for SO2 and NO2 gases. These simulations have shown exothermic adsorption enthalpies of ?36.4 and ?28.6 kJ mol?1 for SO2 and NO2, respectively. They have also indicated that SO2 has a high affinity for polar -CF3 and basic -NH2 binding sites of the ligand in the framework pore walls. The lower adsorption capacity of NO2 compared with SO2 is due to weaker electrostatic interactions with the framework. Furthermore, MOF adsorbent selectivity for removing trace amounts of SO2 and NO2 in flue gases has been estimated through the co-adsorption of ternary gas mixtures (SO2/CO2/N2 and NO2/CO2/N2). Together with DFT, the climbing image nudged elastic band (CI-NEB) method has been used for investigating the plausible mechanisms for HbMOF1 catalyzed cycloadditions of SO2 and NO2 with epoxides leading to the formation of cyclic sulphites and nitrates, respectively. 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry. -
Teacher Trainee's Acceptance of Interactive eBooks for Teaching: An Analysis Using the Modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)
The current empirical study utilized the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate teacher trainees' acceptance of interactive eBooks for teaching. The study investigated the relationships among variables such as attitude toward using interactive eBooks, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, enjoyment, perceived self-efficacy, and behavioural intention to use. A sample consisting of 89 teacher trainees studying in diploma and bachelors teacher training programs from two private and public universities in Malaysia participated in the study. The TAM model, which involves seven hypotheses, was tested using the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling approach (PLS-SEM). The key findings of this empirical study confirmed that attitude influences both behaviour intention to use, and perceived self-efficacy of teacher trainees in teaching using interactive eBooks. Besides, the study confirmed a direct effect of ease of use on the level of enjoyment and a direct effect of perceived usefulness on the perception of ease of use. The study findings shed light on preparing teacher trainees for technology-integrated teaching. 2024, The Pacific Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning (PacCALL). All rights reserved. -
ML in drug delivery-current scenario and future trends
Machine learning (ML) has enabled transformative applications and emerged as a domain-agnostic decision-making tool as a virtue of its rapid democratization. The authors believe that a systematic assortment of important publications on this issue is indispensable in this context. In terms of data ingestion, data curation, data preprocessing, data handling, and model cross-validation, this review gathers together several studies that have demonstrated a minimum ML framework approach. In general, ML models are described as black-box models, with limited information supplied about their transparency. The authors propose techniques based on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s current good ML practice (GMLP) in order to improve the ML framework and minimize the aforementioned gap, especially for data. Considering this, the conversation around a model's logic and interpretability are additionally provided. Explicitly, the authors explore the challenges and constraints that ML execution confronts throughout the development of pharmaceuticals. In this context, a structural approach in statistics is presented to allow the scientist to assess the quality of data and incorporate important ideas and techniques that would be implemented in modern ML. The data analytics tetrahedron proposed here can be applied to data of any size. To further contextualize, selected case studies capturing good practices are highlighted to provide pharmaceutical scientists, pharmaceutical ML enthusiasts, readers, reviewers, and regulatory authorities an exposure to fundamental and cuttingedge techniques of ML and data science with respect to chemistry, manufacture, and control (CMC) of drug products. In addition, the authors believe that leveraging ML within CMC procedures can assist in improving decision-making, increasing quality, and enhancing the speed of pharmaceutical product development. IOP Publishing Ltd 2023. All rights reserved. -
DFT electronic structure calculations, spectroscopic studies, and normal coordinate analysis of 2-[(5-nitro-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)carbamoyl]phenyl acetate
The solid phase FTIR and FT-Raman spectra of 2-[(5-nitro-1,3-thiazol-2-yl)carbamoyl]phenyl acetate (25N2LCPA) have been recorded 450-4000 cm-1 and 100-4000 cm-1 respectively. The normal coordinate analysis was carried out to confirm the precision of the assignments. DFT calculations have been performed giving energies, optimized structures, harmonic vibrational frequencies and IR intensities. The structure of the molecule was optimized and the structural characteristics were determined by density functional theory (DFT) using B3LYP method with 6-31+G(d,p) basis set. The detailed interpretation of the vibrational spectra has been carried out with aid of normal coordinate analysis (NCA) following the scaled quantum mechanical force field methodology. The Vibrational frequencies are calculated in the above method and are compared with experimental frequencies which yield good agreement between observed and calculated frequencies. Stability of the molecule arising from hyper conjugative interactions, charge delocalization has been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. In addition, Frontiers molecular orbital and molecular electrostatic potential were computed by using Density Functional Theory (DFT) B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) basis set. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies show that charge transfer occurs in the molecule. 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. -
Unveiling the Emotions: A Sentiment Analysis of Amazon Customer Feedback
This study explores sentiment analysis in the context of diverse regions and contemporary customer feedback, aiming to address research questions related to consolidation based on polarity scores and sentiments. The research utilizes multinomial regression for a comprehensive analysis of customer feedback worldwide. The investigation incorporates confusion matrices, statistics, and class-specific metrics to evaluate the models performance. Results indicate a highly accurate model with perfect sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy. The analysis further includes a breakdown of key metrics such as accuracy, confidence intervals, no information rate, p-value, kappa, and prevalence, emphasizing the models robustness. In conclusion, the multinomial logistic regression model demonstrates exceptional performance in predicting sentiment across diverse classes, highlighting its effectiveness in sentiment analysis on a global scale. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024. -
Effects of Euphorbia thymifolia and Euphorbia hirta leaf extracts on membrane-bound, mitochondrial enzymes and lipid profile of carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in rats
The present investigation was aimed to identify the potentiality of Euphorbia thymifolia Linn. and Euphorbia hirta Linn. leaf extract on the toxin-induced (carbon tetrachloride- CCl4) Albino Wistar rats. The animals were grouped into 7 categories including control (basal diet, G1), CCl4-induced (1.5 mL/kg, b.w., i.p.) (G2), G1 administrated with 300 mg/kg b.w., extract of E. thymifolia (G3) and E. hirta (G4), G2 administrated with 300 mg/kg b.w., extract of E. thymifolia (G5), E. hirta (G6), and standard drug (silymarin 25 mg/kg b.w.; G7) for 21- days trial period with each group contains 6 rats. The samples were collected and the following parameters including mitochondrial enzymes, different ATPase and lipid profiles were analyzed. The membrane-bound enzymes, the mitochondrial enzymes levels and the lipid profiles were reduced in the toxin-induced rats but the levels of enzymes were restored, significantly increased and lipid profiles are returned to the normal in the treatment of both extracts. 2022 Visagaa Publishing House. -
An Efficient Sorting Algorithm for Capacitor Voltage Balance of Modular Multilevel Converter With Space Vector Pulsewidth Modulation
Thisarticle presents an efficient analogue sorting algorithm for balancing the submodule (SM) capacitor voltages of modular multilevel converter (MMC). The proposed analogue sorting algorithm offers the advantage of fast convergence rate without any need of recursive loops for the implementation on embedded devices. It can be easily implemented with combinational logic operations on field programmable gate array (FPGA) and provides less hardware and computational overhead. The functionality and performance of the proposed analogue sorting algorithm is evaluated with the simulation model of three phase five-level MMC in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The real time implementation of the proposed sorting algorithm with the SM capacitor voltage balancing strategy is implemented on Altera/Cylone - I (EP1C12Q240C8N) FPGA. A five-level continuous space vector pulsewidth modulation (CSVPWM) is realized on a PIC microcontroller (PIC18F452). A down-scaled model of single-phase five-level MMC is designed and constructed to investigate the reliable and stable operation of MMC with the proposed analogue sorting algorithm and SVPWM method. Simulation and experimental results are presented for validation. 1986-2012 IEEE. -
A reconfigurable integrated level shifted carrier based PWM method for modular multilevel converters
This article presents a reconfigurable integrated level shifted carrier-based pulse width modulation (ILSC-PWM) method for modular multilevel converters (MMCs). The principles of basic level shifted carrier-based PWM (LSC-PWM) methods such as phase disposition PWM (PD-PWM), phase opposition disposition PWM (POD-PWM) and alternate phase opposition disposition PWM (APOD-PWM) methods are combined to develop the concept of reconfigurable ILSC-PWM method. The main objectives of the proposed reconfigurable ILSC-PWM method is to develop the pulse width modulated output voltage with both half-wave and quarter-wave symmetries and to reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD). A simplified mathematical approach is developed to formulate reconfigurable single ILSC wave for MMC with N number of submodules (SMs) per arm. The functionality and performance of the reconfigurable ILSC-PWM method are carried out on three-phase five-level MMC in MATLAB/Simulink. A hardware prototype of single-phase five-level MMC is designed for experimental validation. The proposed ILSC-PWM method is implemented on an Altera/Cyclone I series (EP1C12Q240C8N) field programmable gate array (FPGA). Computer Simulations and laboratory experimental results are presented. 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. -
Micro and nano Bi2O3 filled epoxy composites: Thermal, mechanical and ?-ray attenuation properties
Polymer composites have attracted considerable attention as potential light-weight and cost-effective materials for radiation shielding and protection. In view of this, the present work focusses on development of lead-free composites of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin with micro (~ 10 ?m) and nano (~ 20 nm) bismuth (III) oxide (Bi2O3) fillers, using solution casting technique. Thermal, mechanical and ?-ray attenuation properties of the composites were studied by varying the filler loading. Inclusion of the fillers into epoxy matrix was confirmed both structurally and morphologically by XRD and SEM, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed the thermal stability of composites to be as high as 400 C. The nanocomposites exhibited relatively higher thermal stability than their micro counterparts. Among the composites, 14 wt% nano-Bi2O3/epoxy composites showed highest tensile strength of 326 MPa, which is about 38% higher than 30 wt% micro Bi2O3/epoxy composites. Mass attenuation coefficients (?/?) of the composites were evaluated at ?-ray energies ranging from 0.356 to 1.332 MeV. Nanocomposites showed better ?-ray shielding at all energies (0.356, 0.511, 0.662, 1.173, 1.280 and 1.332 MeV) than micro composites with same filler loading. These studies revealed the significance of nano-sized fillers in enhancing overall performance of the composites. 2021 Elsevier Ltd -
Attenuation parameters of polyvinyl alcohol-tungsten oxide composites at the photon energies 5.895, 6.490, 59.54 and 662 keV
The growing demand for lightweight, non-toxic and effective X-A nd ?-ray shielding materials in various fields has led to the exploration of various polymer composites for shielding applications. In this study, tungsten filled polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composites of varying WO3 concentrations (0-50 wt%) were prepared by solution cast technique. The structural, morphological, and thermal properties of the prepared composite films were studied using X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The AC conductivity studies showed the low conductivity property of the composites. The X-ray (5.895 and 6.490 keV) and ?-ray (59.54 and 662 keV) attenuation studies performed using CdTe and NaI(Tl) detector spectrometers revealed a noticeable increase in shielding efficiency with increase in filler wt%. The effective atomic number (Zeff) calculated by the direct method agreed with the values obtained using Auto-Zeff software. The % heaviness showed that tungsten filled polyvinyl alcohol composites are lighter than traditional shielding materials. 2020 M V Muthamma et al., published by Sciendo 2020.