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Self-esteem, eudemonic well-being and flow at work among managers in banking sector
The present research tries to establish a link among well-being, flow at work and self-esteem among managers working in banking sector. The present study aimed to investigate the gender differences in self-esteem eudemonic well-being and flow at work among managers in banking sector, and ascertain the role of self-esteem and eudemonic well-being in predicting flow at work. The present study employs an ex-post facto research design and uses purposive sampling technique to select the respondents (N=100 male and 100 female managers working in the private banks). The data was first checked for normality and then t- test and stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to analyze it. There are significant gender differences on self-esteem, employee well-being and flow at work. Different set of predictors emerged for flow at work for males and females. Studying self-esteem, eudemonic well-being and flow at work has implications not only for the individual but also for the organizations as well, as employees with better well-being and having high self-esteem will eventually help the organization to achieve its goals and objectives. 2021 Ecological Society of India. All rights reserved. -
Perceived organizational support, employee engagement and organizational citizenship behaviour among knowledge workers of R&D organization
The reflections of professional life hold an imperative value for an employee. The I/O relationship depends upon myriads of factors. For the sustainability of individual and organization, the internal organization in which the employee operates should provide nurturance and growth to the employee. This study examined perceived organizational support as an antecedent of employee engagement and organizational citizenship behaviour as it`s consequence. The present study employs an ex-post facto research design. 300 knowledge workers (scientists) were assessed on work and organizational engagement, perceived organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviour. Results indicated that perceived organizational support emerged as a significant predictor of work and organizational engagement and organizational citizenship behaviour emerged as a significant consequence of employee engagement. For mediation analysis Baron and Kenny`s (1986) framework was employed and observed that employee engagement partially mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviour. 2021 Ecological Society of India. All rights reserved. -
Diazo-pyrazole analogues as photosensitizers in dye sensitised solar cells: Tuning for a better photovoltaic efficiency using a new modelling strategy using experimental and computational data
The designing of a dye sensitised solar cell (DSSC) is one of the frontiers in harvesting solar energy as it provides an alternative to economic photovoltaic devices with increased efficiency. In this manuscript, we report a new methodology using experimental and theoretical data for the evaluation of the photosensitiser activity of organic dyes using theoretical simulations and experimental cell efficiency data. As a representative example, we designed a series of 54 novel pyrazole derivatives which are subjected to TD-DFT simulations (CAM-B3LYP/6-311G++ (2d, p)) and photovoltaic modelling. Data from computational simulations, as well as known experimental cells, are used for the calculation of photovoltaic efficiency. We selected pyrazole derivatives because of its proven use in DSSC as an effective dopant in a blended polymer electrolyte in nanocrystalline DSSC. Fine-tuning with the effect of substitution and with the ?spacers at the ortho, meta and para positions for -OCH3, -OH, -CHO, -NO2 respectively were done. Enhanced efficiency of 7.439% was observed as compared to the standard cell of efficiency of 5.530%. An increase in efficiency was not observed with the effect of ?spacers. The newly designed dyes demonstrate desirable energetic and spectroscopic parameter that can lead to efficient metal-free organic dye sensitiser for DSSC's. The main advantage of this strategy is the incorporation of both simulated and experimental data. It will reduce the possible errors from the simulations and also, helps in performing time-consuming experimental studies. 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. -
Mirabijalones S-W, rotenoids from rhizomes of white Mirabilis jalapa Linn. and their cell proliferative studies
Five undescribed (2-6) rotenoid derivatives along with three known rotenoids (1, 7 and 8) were isolated from the rhizomes of white colored variety of Mirabilis jalapa Linn. The structures of these undescribed compounds were elucidated based on UV, IR, HR-MS (ESI), 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic techniques. Selected compounds were evaluated for their cell viability and proliferation in two cancer cell lines namely, cervical (HeLa), breast (SKBR-3) and normal lung fibroblast (WI-38). Among them, the compounds Boeravinone C (1), Mirabijalone S (2), Mirabijalone T (3) and 4, 6, 11-trihydroxy-9-methoxy-10-methylchromeno [3, 4-b] chromen-12(6H)-one (8) showed moderate cytotoxicity against HeLa cells with IC50 values in the 8.40 ? 12.9 ?M range, and compound 8 exhibited cytotoxicity against SKBR-3 cells with IC50 value of 17.6 ?M. Molecular docking studies of isolated compounds were performed with three apoptosis proteins, 3H11, 2AR9 and 1X0X. These results revealed that the isolated compounds were found to interact with Caspase 8 and 9 along with the anti-apoptotic protein Survivin. Since these compounds exhibit cytotoxic effects against SKBR3 and HeLa cells, they are expected to show apoptosis and may be further utilized for wet lab apoptotic studies. 2021 Phytochemical Society of Europe -
Genetic and cytogenetic screening of autistic spectrum disorder: Genotype-phenotype profiles
Autism, a pervasive developmental disorder typically characterized by repetitive behaviour, social skills deficit (or a deficit in social communication), speech and language impairments. Our prime focus is to analyze the clinical features and phenotypical behavioural changes using the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM IV-TR), and locating the biomarkers associated with specific autistic characters using karyotyping and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques. The prevalence rate of the neurexin 1 (NRXN1) gene polymorphism was also assessed in the current study. The study group involved 196 samples with 98 autistics, and equal age-matched (2) controls based on their birth order and carrier. The participants include 35.2% males (n = 69) and 14.8% females (n = 29). The autistic and control participants were categorized based on their ages as group I (<12 yrs) with n = 62; males n = 41 (20.9%); females n = 21 (10.7%) and group II (?12 yrs)-n = 36; males n = 28 (14.2%); females n = 08 (4.08%). Karyotyping was done for autism participants (n = 98) and the results showed that 90% of autistic participants were either the only child or the first child with a low perception and frequency in both the groups. Subsequently, we carried out the FISH assay on participants (n = 37) with higher DSM-IV TR score (?30). Only 30 FISH tests were negative for subtelomeric deletions with NRXN1 polymorphism genotypic frequency as 62.50%, 25% and 25% for A/A, A/G and G/G genotype respectively. Our study suggests the link between a haplotype with clinical signs of autism for the single nucleotide sequence (SNP rs9636391) and links autistic characters and gene among autistic children according to their birth order, age and gender in India. 2021 Elsevier B.V. -
Use of DEMATEL and COPRAS method to select best alternative fuel for control of impact of greenhouse gas emissions
Generation of energy is a vital process for sustenance of human life. Quality of human life is undoubtedly linked to the efficient generation and use of energy. The choice of alternative fuels is of the utmost significance due to the decline of fossil fuel reserves and their effect on global warming. One of the most important areas of research all over the world is the generation and distribution of sustainable energy. There are, in fact, many sustainable fuel resources. In this study, we describe the problem of selecting alternate fuel using novel types of hesitant multi criteria decision-making equation methods. The considered fuel systems are Electricity, natural gas, biodiesel, ethanol, and propane. In the selection of alternative fuels, quantity, quality of performance, cost, and efficiency among others, have to be taken into account. The alternatives selected should, for example, increase the speed of buses, and provide for greater mileage while and not affecting the environment. Here, the DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Model) method is used to determine the weights of the criteria and the COPRAS (Complex Proportional Assessment) method is used to calculate the ranking of the alternatives. The main objective of this research paper is to select the best alternative, based on environmental safety, CO2 emission level, technical cost, and fuel cost. Thus a better alternative is selected with the selected alternatives and criteria. The results of this research are summarized as follows. These are natural gas ( R2 ) > propane ( R5 ) > biodiesel ( R3 ) > electricity ( R1 ) > ethanol (R4 ). The numeric values of these selected alternatives are R2=1>R5=0.5215>R3=0.4904>R1=0.4887>R4=0.3299. 2020 Elsevier Ltd -
Highly Surface Active Anisotropic Silver Nanoparticles as Antimicrobial Agent Against Human Pathogens, Mycobacterium smegmatis and Candida albicans
Rapid synthesis of anisotropic silver nanoparticles via cost-effective, non-hazardous, and eco-friendly methods using naturally available gums are of greater significance as their chemical synthesis is associated with high toxicity. This study aims to synthesize highly surface-active anisotropic silver nanoparticles and evaluate their antimicrobial efficacy against human pathogens, Mycobacterium smegmatis and Candida albicans. Anisotropic silver nanoparticles were synthesized using silver nitrate as the metal precursor and gum arabic as the template. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, fourier transformation infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction (HRTEM-SAED) analysis and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). TEM analysis showed the anisotropy and monodispersed nature of silver nanoparticles with an average size of less than 20 nm. The antibacterial and antifungal properties of the anisotropic silver nanoparticles were also studied keeping rifampicin and fluconazole as the reference. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was found to be 1 mM silver nanoparticles for both M. smegmatis and C. albicans. Synthesized anisotropic silver nanoparticles can be used as an alternative to antibiotics to treat the infections caused by M. smegmatis and C. albicans. Further, the effect of silver nanoparticles on haemolytic activity was also studied. 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH -
Survey of prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among 1124 healthcare workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic across India
Background: A prospective study was conducted during the second phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in India to assess the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among healthcare workers (HCWs) and factors that influence the outcome. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was completed by 1124 HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 30, 2020, to April 2, 2020). Demographic data, questions on COVID-19 and scores of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were analysed using the chi-square test (Bonferroni correction) and binary logistic regression. Results: The study consists of 1124 HCWs, including 749 doctors, 207 nurses, 135 paramedics, 23 administrators and ten supporting staff members. The prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms were reported as 37.2% and 31.4%, respectively. The risk factors for anxiety were female gender (30.6% vs 45.5%), age group (2035 years) (50.4% vs 61.2%), unmarried (21.2% vs 30.6%) and job profile (nurse) (14.7% vs 26.4%). The protective factor was having service of more than 20 years (23.4% vs 14.8%). The risk factors for depression were age group (20-35 years) (51.3% vs 61.3%) and employed at a primary care hospital (16.2% vs 23.4%). The protective factors were job profile (doctor) (69.9% vs 59.6%) and having service of more than 20 years (22.3% vs 15.5%). Conclusion: Approximately one-third of the HCWs reported anxiety and depressive symptoms. The risk factors for anxiety symptoms were female gender, younger age and job profile (nurse) and for depressive symptoms were younger age and working at a primary care hospital. Future research studies should identify strategies for providing a safer and supportive work environment for HCWs to face epidemics/pandemics. 2020 -
The relationship between density of drug outlets, crime hot spots and family factors on the consumption of drugs and delinquent behaviour of male adolescent Mexican students
This study examined the relationship between community risk factors (drug outlets density and crime hot spots) and family factors on the risk behaviours (drugs consumption and delinquent behaviour) of male adolescent Mexican students. Results were obtained based on data bank analysis and direct collection of information regarding family factors and risk behaviours of adolescents attending school. Spatial and statistical analysis was performed. The final sample was composed of 1450 male adolescents, from 11 secondary and high schools located in marginal and violent areas of Mexico. Spatial analysis revealed that when considering only the prevalence of the risk behaviours of the adolescents, the area of highest risk was the northwestern area of the city. However, after performing conjunct analysis of all evaluated variables using density point risk (aside from confirming that the northwestern area is still the one with the greatest risk), results indicated that the southern area has a high-density point risk. All densities of the variables showed a statistically significant positive association (p < 0.05). However, the results of the structural equation model indicated than only the family factors influenced the risk behaviours of adolescents (p < 0.05). The spatial distribution of the risk behaviours in male adolescent students and community risk variables surrounding the area where schools are located allows for the description of patterns and hotspot detection that facilitate the prioritization of where interventions must be directed. Besides, the interventions should target family factors. 2021 Elsevier Ltd -
Impact of national income and public expenditure on employment and its public-private sector composition in indian economy
The paper focuses on the analysis of the impact of Gross National Income and Public Expenditure on total employment and its public and private sector components. It also examines the ratios of public and private sector employment to total employment and public sector to private sector employment. Results of summary statistics of employment, public and private sector employment, public expenditure, and gross national income are briefly discussed. Growth of total employment, public and private sector employment, gross national income and public expenditure is examined to determine the direction and magnitudes of inter-temporal changes. Growth trend of all three ratios is determined to detect and to anticipate the interrelations of change. Stationarity of time series of total employment, employment in public and private sectors, gross national income and public expenditure of Indian economy is evaluated by Random Walk Model and Dickey-Fuller test. Results show that the time series data of total, public and private sector employment approximate normal distribution with extremely low skewedness and concentration. The coefficients of variation of all 6 time series data are relatively very low. But the time series of GNI is non-stationary at 0.05 probability level, while time series of public expenditure displays negative trend. Negative change in private sector employment is determined by lagged private sector employment and private income/expenditure. Results of Engel-Granger test of co-integration show the variables to be well co-integrated in the chosen distributed lag models. 2021 DAV College. All rights reserved. -
Corporate governance practices and shareholder protection in India
The present study aims to study the corporate governance practices and shareholder protection among Indian companies. For this purpose a sample of 100 companies are selected. The selected companies listed in BSE 100 Index. The required data are collected from various secondary sources like company website, annual report, notices and annual general meeting. Data were collected using a structured schedule adapted from G20/OECD principles of corporate governance. The finding of the study indicates that out of the selected companies, the level of practicing the corporate governance are not the same. The result of this study will help investors in identifying the companies for their investment, based on their priorities by keeping corporate governance scorecard as a benchmark. It will also be helpful for companies to see their scorecard and check the parameters for improvement and to attract and safeguard the investors and other stakeholders. This study will also add value to the existing literature in their relevant field. Indian Institute of Finance. -
Line completion number of grid graph Pn Pm
The concept of super line graph was introduced in the year 1995 by Bagga, Beineke and Varma. Given a graph with at least r edges, the super line graph of index r, Lr(G), has as its vertices the sets of r-edges of G, with two adjacent if there is an edge in one set adjacent to an edge in the other set. The line completion number lc(G) of a graph G is the least positive integer r for which Lr(G) is a complete graph. In this paper, we find the line completion number of grid graph Pn Pm for various cases of n and m. 2021 Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University. -
A new extension of hesitant fuzzy set: An application to an offshore wind turbine technology selection process
Wind energy is an energy source that is naturally clean, safe and cheap. It comes from a variety of sources. The electric energy generated by a wind turbine manifests as kinetic energy throughout the earth. The energy received from the wind is clean and is permanently available and can be generated forever. Turbine characteristics also have an impact on wind energy production. The turbine properties within a wind farm are important in estimating the load on power generation and wind turbine energy. The amount of energy released is calculated according to the type of the turbine model applied. In many situations, the choices of turbine model can incur various vague and complicated hesitation situations. To manage this situation, a hesitant fuzzy set with the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is used. In the present research, the newly proposed Normal Wiggly Hesitant Fuzzy-Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (NWHF-CRITIC) and Normal Wiggly Hesitant Fuzzy-Multi Attribute Utility Theory (NWHF-MAUT) methods were employed to rank turbine models based on quality, power level, voltage, and capacity. As part of this process, the NWHF method was utilized to extract and gather deeper information from the decision-makers. 2021 The Authors. IET Renewable Power Generation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institution of Engineering and Technology. -
Application of response surface methodology to optimize lead(Ii) ion adsorption by activated carbon fabricated from de oiled soya
Lead(II) ion a heavy metal is known for its toxicity. An initiative has been taken in this study, to adsorb toxic lead(II) ion using activated carbon made of de oiled soya, by an aqueous solution through batch adsorption methodology. Adsorption process variables such as adsorbent dose, contact time, solution pH, and lead(II) ion concentration were optimized by central composite design (CCD). To find the interaction between process variables, response surface plots were utilized using response surface methodology. Design-Expert software version 7 was resorted to in this experiment. It was observed that the components from the analysis of variance of the CCD revealed that the selective process independent variables had significant control over adsorption capacity. Desirability function was used to appraise the factors and response in adsorption experiments to find an optimum point where the preferred adsorption could be obtained. Adsorption process with the application of activated carbon developed from de-oiled soya meritoriously removed lead(II) ion with an optimum adsorption capacity of 26.279 mg/g for an initial concentration of lead(II) at 60 mg/L. 2021 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. -
On ? -Vertex Choosability of Graphs
A connected, simple graph G with vertex set V(G) = { 1 , 2 , , n} is said to be vertex (n,k)-choosable, if there exists a collection of subsets { Sk(v) ? V(G) : v? V} of cardinality k, such that Sk(u) ? Sk(v) = ? for all uv? E(G) , where k is a positive integer less than n. The maximum value of such k is called the vertex choice number of G. In this paper, we introduce the notion of ?- choosability of graphs in terms of their vertex (n,k)-choice number and initiate a study on the structural characteristics of ?-choosable graphs. 2020, The National Academy of Sciences, India. -
An analytical model for a TFET with an n-doped channel operating in accumulation and inversion modes
The tunnel field-effect transistor (TFET) is an ambipolar device that conducts current with the channel in both accumulation and inversion modes. Analytical expressions for the channel potential and current in a TFET with an n-doped channel when operating in the accumulation and inversion modes are proposed herein. The potential model is derived by solving the two-dimensional (2D) Poisson equation using the superposition principle while considering the charges present in the channel due to electron or hole accumulation along with the depletion charges. An expression for the tunneling current corresponding to the maximum tunneling probability is also derived. The tunneling current is obtained by analytically calculating the minimum tunneling length in a TFET when operating in the accumulation or inversion mode. The results of the proposed potential model is compared with technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations for TFET with various dimensions, revealing good agreement. The potential and current in an n-type TFET (nTFET) obtained using the proposed models are also analyzed. 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
Biodegradation of polypropylene films by Bacillus paralicheniformis and Lysinibacillus fusiformis isolated from municipality solid waste contaminated soil
The fossil fuel or petroleum derived plastics are applied in our routine life because of their easy availability. Distribution and contamination of the plastics in the landfills are the major reasons for these biodegradation study. This current study reveals the biodegradation of polypropylene films and the growth of Bacillus paralicheniformis and Lysinibacillus fusiformis isolated from plastic contaminated soil collected from municipality solid waste management site. The degradation rate of PP films was confirmed by the results of biodegradation analysis. The growth of Bacillus paralicheniformis and Lysinibacillus fusiformis had shown OD values at 600nm after the degradation period of 4 weeks increasing from 0.131 to 0.334 and 0.148 to 0.213 respectively. The viable cell count increased from 804cells/ml to 1204cells/ml and 10.104cells/ml to 15.204cells/ml respectively. The physical and chemical changes of PP films were confirmed by FT-IR and XRD analysis. These analysis confirmed that the bacterial strains have the ability to change the chemical and physical nature of PP films and can utilize the PP films as sole carbon source. 2021 World Research Association. All rights reserved. -
Identity-based message authentication scheme using proxy vehicles for vehicular ad hoc networks
Message authentication verifies the identity of the sender vehicle, ensuring it in between vehicles and Road Side Units (RSU) is an essential part of Vehicular Adhoc Networks. Signature verification in RSUs will be troublesome if a large number of vehicles enters in its region at the same time. In such cases the efficiency of the RSUs will be affected due to high computational overhead. To address this issue, proxy vehicle based message authentication scheme (ID-MAP) is proposed by Asaar et al. (ITVT 67: 5409, 2018). It uses proxy vehicles to reduce the overheads of the RSU by verifying multiple messages at the same time. Even though it deals with the efficiency issues of RSU, the computational cost of signature generation is high. Since the ability of a vehicle to act as a proxy vehicle is based on the number of signed messages, it has a major impact. It also cannot guarantee privacy preservation and hence it is insecure against attacks based on privacy preservation. It also has other drawbacks like storage issues and high overheads. Hence, a new identity based message authentication using proxy vehicles is proposed in this paper. Elliptic Curve Cryptography based scheme is used without pairings for message authentication. Proxy vehicles will verify multiple messages from vehicles through batch verification and send the result to the RSU. The identity of multiple proxy vehicles will be verified by RSU, it can also cross check the correctness of the received result. Thereby RSUs can verify a large number of messages at the same time with the help of proxy vehicles. Security analysis shows that if each proxy vehicle verifies 300 messages of its neighbor vehicles, then with the help of proxy vehicles an RSU can verify 226,244 messages per second which is 40% less than that of ID-MAP scheme. It also shows that the computational cost to generate a signature in the proposed scheme is 50% less than that of ID-MAP scheme. 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
Fractional approach for analysis of the model describing wind-influenced projectile motion
In this paper, we find the solution for coupled equations describing the projectile motion with wind-influence using q-homotopy analysis transform method (q-HATM). The projectedmethod is elegant amalgamations of q-homotopy analysis scheme and Laplace transform, and fractional derivativedefined withCaputo-Fabrizio (CF) operator. Moreover, the physical natures of the obtained results have been captured in terms of plots for diverse mass, external force and fractional order. The achievedconsequences elucidate that, the hiredsolution procedure is easy to implement, highly methodical as well as accurate to analyse the behaviour of system of nonlinear differential equations of both integer and fractional order describing connected areas of science and engineering. 2021 IOP Publishing Ltd. -
ZnO:Al thin films from (Al2O3)x(ZnO)(1-x) powder targets by magnetron sputtering
In the present work we prepared Aluminum doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) thin films from powder targets. Various concentrations (W/W percentages) of Al2O3 such as1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, 7% and 8% were mixed in ZnO powder and made in the form of a 3 inch disc target. These ceramic targets are sputtered in RF magnetron sputtering unit for the deposition of AZO thin films. Optical and electrical properties are analyzed to get an optimized percentage of mixing for achieving high transparency and low resistivity. At Al2O3 percentage of 3% there is a considerable decrement in the resistivity, and at 7% there is a considerable decrease in the optical transmittance. Mobility and carrier concentration are increasing with Al2O3 percentage. Bandgap of the films is observed to be decreasing with increasing the Al2O3 percentage. 2021 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.