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Marine brown algae (Sargassum wightii) derived 9-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid: A promising inhibitor of ?-amylase and ?-glucosidase with mechanistic insights from molecular docking and its non-target toxicity analysis
Jeopardized glucose hemostasis leads to cronic metaboic disorder like Diabetes mellitus and it is predicted to occur in ?700 million people in the coming 20 years. Our study aims to isolate Palmitic acid (C16H32O3), 9-Hydroxyhexadecanoic acid metabolite from Sargassum wightii to inhibit alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase to reduce postprandial hyperglycemia and decline the risk of diabetes. High docking score of palmitic acid with both ?-amylase and ?-glucosidase is observed in in-silico molecular docking analysis, in comparison to commercially available drug acarbose. The three hydrogen bond in palmitic acid interacts with the important amino acids like Arg195, Lys200 and Asp300 in Glide XP docking mode for alpha-amylase. For ?-glucosidase, quantum-polarized ligand docking (QPLD) was used with similar three hydrogen bond interactions. Both docking studies showed significant binding interaction of palmitic acid with ?-amylase (?5.66 and ?5.14 (Kcal/mol)) and with ?-glucosidase (?4.52 and ?3.51(Kcal/mol)) with respect to the standard, acarbose docking score. The bioactive palmitic acid isolated from the brown alga, Sargassum wightii is already seen to inhibit digestive enzyme with non-target property in Artemia nauplii and zebra fish embryos. Further studies are required to investigate its role in in vivo antidiabetic effects due to its non-toxic and digestive enzyme inhibitory properties. It can be recommended in additional pharmaceutical studies to develop novel therapeutics to manage diabetes mellitus. 2023 SAAB -
Marine macrolides as an efficient source of FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 inhibitors: A comprehensive approach of in silico virtual screening
Marine organisms are a definitive source of antibiotics and kinase inhibitors which provide cues for discovering novel drug leads. Marine macrolides are getting much attraction due to their enzyme inhibitory potential. The present study comprehensively dealt with the virtual screening and structure-based prediction of macrolide compounds against FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 receptors (FLT3). The FLT3 was chosen as a biological target against the 990 marine macrolides. Before the virtual screening of macrolide compounds, validation of molecular docking was carried out by re-docking of co-crystallized Gilteritinib within the FLT3. Among the selected 990 candidates of marine macrolides, 311 were failed due to the generation of insufficient conformers. Amongst the successful compounds, 22 compounds were also failed to dock within the receptor, while the remaining 657 marine macrolide entities elicited successful docking. The HYBRID Chemguass4 Score ranged from -10.17 to -0.02. This vast difference in the HYBRID ChemGuass4 score is attributed to the difference in binding potential with the receptor's binding pocket. The top ten compounds were selected based on the HYBRID ChemGuass4 Score lower than -8.0 against FLT3. The pharmacokinetics and ADME properties revealed the drug likeliness of the macrolides. 2022 SAAB -
Marine microbial biopolymers and their applications
Marine environment has been an important surrounding in recent times for valuable resources such as bioactive polymers. Increasing environmental concerns and realizing the limitation of global petroleum resources, biopolymers has gained utmost importance. Highly abundant renewable biopolymers of different polysaccharides have been produced from microbes, clams, shrimps, etc., exhibiting varying biological activities. Among all these biopolymers, microbial biopolymers are the most promising substitute for the existing synthetic polymers. Microbial polymers are synthesized intracellularly and extracellularly for their cell functions and survival playing specific roles as reserve materials for energy conservation, symbiosis and osmotic adaptation, protective agents that can be extruded and used for various applications. These biopolymers have exceptional moisture and oxygen barrier characteristics in making films for use in food industries and medical aspects. Microbial biopolymers that have been used include the cellulose, levan, pullulans, xanthan, gellan, kefiran, Haloferax exopolysaccharides, Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), and poly-3-hydroxybutyrates. Marine bacteria such as Bacillus, Halomonas, Alteromonas, Planococcus, Pseudoalteromonas, Vibrio, Zoogloea, and Thermococcus are found to be hyperproducers for biopolymers. Due to their high quality, sustainability, long shelf life, and biodegradability, they have been receiving interest for innumerable biological activities such as antioxidants, antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, and antimicrobial actions. Microbial marine biopolymers with natural biological activity, structural functions can be tailored using genetic engineering to obtain newer biomaterials with novel functionalities. 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. -
Marital Stress and Domestic Violence during the COVID- 19 Pandemic
Marital stress and domestic violence is prevalent in every society around the world. It has become a major concern during the Covid-19 pandemic. Governments have resorted to lockdown measures in order to contain the pandemic. The pandemic has made the weaker and more vulnerable people in a household more exposed to abusive partners. Social isolation and home confinement have detrimental effects on ones mental and physical well-being. Women have been shown to be at a very high risk from violence during The Covid19 pandemic. The research paper aims to understand the factors which compel women to stay in abusive and stressful marriages and the ways in which they can be empowered to lead their life with dignity and self-respect. The cultural contexts of most societies force women to stay in abusive marriages as the woman is often portrayed as the symbol of unity in families. Understanding the cultural bindings of women trapped in abusive households during the COVID-19 pandemic is a very crucial aspect as this can help in understanding the fear and apprehensions of women trapped in destructive marriages. This can be a key factor which can make it easier for support groups while providing counselling and other kinds of support to women trapped in abusive marriages. The paper also discusses the impact of abusive relationships on children and how it negatively shapes their personality and their emotional well- being. 2021 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. -
Market Openness and Price Volatility: Evidence from Major Cash Crops of India
JIM Quest: Journal of Management and Technology, Vol-8 (2), pp. 01-10. ISSN-0975-6280 -
Market Reaction to Dividend Announcements During Pandemic: An Event Study
This study analyses the difference in stock market reactions to dividend announcement during the pandemic. The thirty constituent stocks of Sensex, the index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is used for analysis. This allows cross-industry comparison of the market reaction. The study examines stock market reactions covering 44 days around the dividend announcement dates. The primary objective of this study is to understand whether the price adjustment linked to the dividend announcement news during the pandemic was different from the earlier years. This empirical study employs the conventional event study methodology using abnormal returns (ARs) to examine the stock market reaction to dividend announcement. The market reaction to dividend announcement was increasingly positive during the pandemic, compared to previous years. The statistical pooled t-tests showed there was a significant relationship between the pandemic and ARs. The findings also indicate that the difference in the market reaction to dividend announcement was more prominent in services stocks than that in manufacturing. Further, the results also verify the weak-form of efficiency of Indian stock exchange. 2021 Management Development Institute. -
Marketing odyssey for a digitally native brand: a case study of Sunbird Straws
Research methodology: The case study incorporated a combination of primary and secondary data collection approach. The authors interviewed Dr Varghese, the co-founder of Sunbird Straws and the protagonist in this case study. In addition, secondary data was obtained from various sources such as newspaper articles, journal publications and company reports. Case overview/synopsis: On a rosy and vibrant morning in 2017, Dr Saji Varghese, a professor at Christ University in Bangalore, stumbled upon a curved coconut leaf on the campus resembling a straw. This sparked his motivation to transform coconut leaves into a natural straw, prompting him to initiate experiments with coconut leaves in his kitchen. The process of boiling and straining leaves became his method for crafting an eco-friendly straw. After numerous attempts, he successfully produced straws from coconut leaves, introducing a distinctive and creative concept incubated at IIM Bangalore. These unique straws, crafted by Varghese, prioritised environmental friendliness and were also crafted entirely from biodegradable materials, free from harmful chemicals. These straws demonstrated durability in hot and cold beverages for up to 3 h, maintaining their integrity without becoming soggy or leaking. As the business flourished, it reached a critical juncture. The primary challenge centred around product marketing, mainly due to consumer unfamiliarity with such sustainable straws. This was a product that also fell under the category of low involvement for consumers. Raising awareness about the product and persuading consumers to purchase presented a significant hurdle. In response, Varghese assigned his team to develop cost-effective marketing strategies. Given the start-up nature of the business, advertising budgets were constrained, and the objective was to achieve a positive return on advertising spend for every investment in advertising the product. In addition, the focus was on increasing the likelihood of selling the straws on both business-to-business and business-to-consumer levels. In this case study, Vargheses role and predicament exemplify the delicate equilibrium that entrepreneurs frequently grapple with, striking a balance between marketing strategy and return on ad spent to steer the trajectory of their businesses. It offered a valuable examination of the nuanced decisions marketers encounter as they strive for both profitability and customer-centric products. Complexity academic level: The case study is relevant to the marketing discipline. All undergraduate and postgraduate-level marketing courses in higher education institutions can use this case study. It can also be used in integrated marketing communication or digital marketing classes. It can be used further in the hospitality and management fields. Also, online courses in marketing can include this case study. 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Marketing of malayalam films through new media /
The research studies the marketing strategies used by Malayalam films through New Media. In this research new media includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Whatsapp and instagram. For the past four years there is a new shift in the marketing of Malayalam films. More and more film makers are depending on new media for the marketing of Malayalam films. Through this research the researcher studies the current trends in the new media marketing of Malayalam films. -
Marketing Research and Market-Focused Production as an Effective Business Tool in Power Sector
Businesses must devote part of their resources to conducting market and marketing research to make good decisions, which will help expand any business and utilize resources effectively. Understanding the intended clients is essential to successfully operating and expanding a firm. For marketers to comprehend consumer value about the product being supplied and therefore add value to their consumers, it is crucial to have this understanding. Organizations can better influence customers to buy niche goods or corporate services after thoroughly understanding their objectives, requirements, and values. In this situation, it is required to restructure the physical system and the related control and planning systems to provide production the tools it needs to become more competitive and customer-focused, acting as a positive and active production process instead of a reactive one. One of the finest techniques for understanding consumers is market research. It provides basic information that a company may utilize to inform its marketing strategy, facilitating and enhancing sales and marketing. This paper reviews the impact of effective market and marketing research and market-focused manufacturing in the power sector. 2023 IEEE. -
Marketing strategies adopted by 5 Bangalore based start-ups /
Marketing strategies allow the organizations to take up the best opportunities available within the limited resources and thus help in maximizing the sale rate and giving a tough sustainable competition. It is a planning process to achieve certain goals, missions and set benchmarks with the help of promotional activities. Marketing helps to generate awareness among the consumers about the product or service and the company which again accelerates the demand among the customers and sales leads. -
Marketing strategies of surrogate advertisements of liquor products in India /
Advertisements have a strong influence in our life we like them because they provide information and create awareness about the market. But, the Government of India has restricted promotion of certain products on television like liquor, tobacco, pan etc. To overcome this companies use surrogate advertising. -
Markov analysis of unmanned cryogenic nitrogen plant with standby system
The unmanned cryogenic nitrogen plants operated by the industrial gas companies globally have their unique set of Reliability, Availability and Maintainability challenges. A generic reliability model of a typical unmanned cryogenic nitrogen plant is presented in this research work along with standby cryogenic storage System. The standby system is analysed for sensing and switching device as well as for load sharing system. The complexities of unmanned cryogenic nitrogen plant under repair with standby system are analysed using Markov method. A Markovian model has been developed for two different configurations: Configuration-1: Cryogenic nitrogen plant with gas and liquid production, nitrogen plant with only gas production and its dependence on the standby cryogenic storage system and to overall system reliability. Configuration-2: Considering cryogenic nitrogen plant is under repair and the standby system with external supply component under operation without failure and the system reliability of the configurations are solved by solving the set of differential equations and the solutions are presented in this paper. 2020 Author(s). -
Markov based genetic algorithm (M-GA): To mine frequent sub components from molecular structures
Processing the molecular compounds to identify the internal chemical structure is a challenging task in bio-chemical research. Popular approaches, mine the frequent subcomponents from the molecules with chemical and biological properties represented in the form of feature vector histogram. Though this helps to identify the absence or presence of mined feature, calculating the frequency of every frequent substructure involves sub graph isomorphism test which is an NP-Complete process. To overcome the above mentioned bottleneck we proposed Markov based Genetic algorithm (M-GA) in which the chemical descriptors were considered from two-dimensional representations of molecules that classify chemical compounds using mining significant substructure and generates the binary vector that generate pure active classes, singleton reactors, descriptor sets. This method scales down the process of mining substructures that are statistically significant from huge chemical databases. The results shows that the performance of proposed algorithm is improved compared to the existing algorithms. 2020, Research Trend. All rights reserved. -
Marriage, parenting and adoption issues for LGBTQ+ community in India and their human rights challenges: A critical analysis /
The central facet of the concept of human rights is the equality of all people. Since everyone deserves respect, treating everyone equally is appropriate. Any act that diminishes that dignity is wrong because it violates the equality principle and makes discrimination more likely. Human rights are a topic that is hotly contested around the globe and is related to homosexuality. Only because of who they love and how they look do people everywhere become targets of violence and discrimination. Additionally, the LGBTQ+ community's civil rights, such as the right to marriage and the right to adopt, are not recognized on an equal footing with those of the heterosexual community. To have a family life with kids i.e. comparable to that of the heterosexual community, the LGBTQ+ community must have equal adoption rights.
The LGBTQ+ community, however, is subject to discrimination under India's adoption laws, which prevents them from fully exercising their legal rights to adoption. The discrimination on the basis adoption laws, which are predicated on the binary knowledge of gender, violate several principles outlined in Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Indian Constitution. -
MARS: Manual andAutomatic Robotic Sanitization onSocial Milieu
Sanitization is not a new term, but with the evolution of deadly COVID-19, the process came into the limelight quickly. The process was already utilized widely in hospitals, vaccination centers, food processing units, and medicine industries and suddenly became crucial in every domain related to our lives. Even though sanitization is considered the first line of defense against pandemic viruses like COVID-19, it is highly difficult to sanitize every nook and corner of bigger buildings and external structures like airports, railway stations, theaters, institutions, and hospitals. Slight carelessness to eliminate the virus from the sanitization process can reciprocate in the pandemic spread. Our proposed work deals with utilizing the accuracy and precision of robots to effectively sanitize bigger structures. The multi-faceted methodology of the work manages the comprehensive investigation of the robotic unit for the social setting. The concentrate additionally stretches out to refine the standard human behavioral reaction for modern robotic consideration in our lives. This will ease up the process and, at the same time, will reduce the chance of human error. The robotic structure is powered by a 12 V rechargeable battery, which has manual and automation cleaning modes. During manual mode, we control the robot with an Android application installed on the phone and connected with the robot through Bluetooth wireless connectivity. During automation, the mode robot moves in different directions and cleans and sanitizes the area independently. There is an ESP8266-based IoT connection unit to update the overall process for the cloud. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024. -
Martian Habitats: A Review
Establishing colonies in Lunar and Martian environments is the major task of our primary means to become a multi-planetary civilization. The Space Exploration Initiative (SEI), administered by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, was the first spark that ignited humanity's vision to establish space settlements beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) (Marc M. Cohen, 2015). At present, private space companies (like SpaceX and Blue Origin) are competing to be the first ones to colonise space. From the late 1980s to the present space race, many space habitat designs to suit human factors, ensure protection from space radiation, and be capable of regulating our day-to-day activities have been proposed for both lunar and martian settlements, respectively. In this paper, only Martian settlements are focused, and the reason for that follows next. While the moon is closer to Earth than Mars, Mars has several other advantages that make it an equal, if not a better candidate for colonisation. Some of the reasons why martian colonisation is preferred over lunar colonization include the presence of an atmosphere on Mars, its resource-rich nature, and its rotation period being closer to Earth's rotation period (Mars has 24.5 hours per day, while the moon has 28-day days) (Kamrun Narher Tithi, 2017). Another added advantage is its proximity to the main belt asteroids, which will further increase the potential for space mining in the future. So this paper will be a review of the various Martian habitat designs proposed over the last one and a half decades in terms of their designs, construction and challenges. To do so, it is assumed that every step associated with delivering the habitats to the Martian environment is achievable. These steps include the following: propulsion systems for long-term spaceflights; launch vehicles capable of lifting the habitats and fitting the habitat modules within them (Marc M. Cohen, 2015). Copyright 2023 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved. -
Masked Face Recognition and Liveness Detection Using Deep Learning Technique
Face recognition has been the most successful image processing application in recent times. Most work involving image analysis uses face recognition to automate attendance management systems. Face recognition is an identification process to verify and authenticate the person using their facial features. In this study, an intelligent attendance management system is built to automate the process of attendance. Here, while entering, a persons image will get captured. The model will detect the face; then the liveness model will verify whether there is any spoofing attack, then the masked detection model will check whether the person has worn the mask or not. In the end, face recognition will extract the facial features. If the persons features match the database, their attendance will be marked. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing a face mask is mandatory for safety measures. The current face recognition system is not able to extract the features properly. The Multi-task Cascaded Convolutional Networks (MTCNN) model detects the face in the proposed method. Then a classification model based on the architecture of MobileNet V2 is used for liveness and mask detection. Then the FaceNet model is used for extracting the facial features. In this study, two different models for the recognition have been built, one for people with masks another one for people without masks. 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
Mass layoffs at BYJUS founders dilemma
Learning outcomes: This case study provides students/managers an opportunity to learn about the following: to infer the challenges involved in the downsizing of employees; to asses and evaluate BYJUS organizational culture; and to determine the impact of workplace toxicity. Case overview/synopsis: The focus of this case is the controversy faced by BYJUS due to its mass layoffs and toxic work culture. This case discusses the CEOs dilemma in resolving the controversy. Two rounds of mass layoffs at BYJUS are discussed in detail. The industrial dispute filed by Employees Union against BYJUS accusing it of denying due compensation to laid-off employees is also discussed. This case consists of a section explaining the toxic work culture at BYJUS, which is supported by employee complaints. The CEOs justification and apology have been illustrated in this case. The case ends with a closing dilemma and challenges faced by the CEO. Complexity academic level: The case is best suited for undergraduate students studying Human Resources Management subjects in Commerce and Business Management streams. The authors suggest that the instructor inform students to read the case before attending the 90-min session. It can be executed in the classroom after discussing the theoretical concepts. Supplementary material: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 6: Human Resource Management. 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Masstige scale: An alternative to measure brand equity
Masstige marketing is a strategic word for market penetration for premium but reachable products based on brand equity, trying to develop brand awareness, likability, affection and attachment. Hence, masstige scale may allow firms to measure brand equity to derive insights into the popularity of their brands. However, there is no empirical evidence available to test whether these scales are related measures of brand equity and, at the same time, independent measures, respectively. This study investigates whether the masstige scale and multidimensional consumer-based brand equity scale measure the same constructs. A total of 493 participants evaluated four different athletic shoe brands. The multi-trait, multimethod and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the masstige scale may be a viable alternative to consumer-based brand equity and masstige value. We discuss the implications and provide directions for future research derived from our findings. 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.