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Medicinal potential of the Cape-pondweed family (Aponogetonaceae): A review
Aponogeton (Aponogetonaceae) is an aquatic genus comprising 60 species distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World. The species of the genus are traditionally used to treat a wide variety of diseases including cuts and wounds, stomach disorders and reviving digestive system, fungal infections, cough, tuberculosis, acne, cancer, diarrhea, dysentery, jaundice, snake bite, etc. A total of 50 compounds have been isolated from Aponogeton species. Essential oils, fatty acids and waxes, ester, quinones, steroids, terpenes and terpenoids, phenols and phenolics are the important compounds present in this genus. In this review, we provide an overview of the taxonomy, molecular phylogeny, biogeography, traditional medicinal uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological activities and tissue culture of Aponogeton. Other aspects such as the use of some species as model plant for studying programmed cell death (PCD) are also discussed. This review on the medicinal potential of the genus aims at attracting the attention of biologists to this phytochemically less explored plant group. The knowledge gaps in different areas of research and future perspectives are also discussed. 2022 SAAB -
MediCrypt: A Model with Symmetric Encryption for Blockchain Enabled Healthcare Data Protection
In the dynamic field of medicine, combining blockchain technology and data security becomes a vital strategy to solve the problem of protecting sensitive medical data. This study presents a new way to improve the security and privacy of medical data, using MediCrypt as an example of two- way encryption. Doctors initially used algorithms like AES or Blowfish to retrieve medical data. Smart contracts on the Ethereum-based blockchain introduce a layer of protection, combining SHA-256 with symmetric encryption technology. The multi-level transmission model includes encryption time, encryption time, elapsed time, and encryption size. Functionality in this model involves managing patient records (EHR), counterfeit drugs, drug reviews, clinical outcomes, and consent for all care areas. As shown in the methodology, the user ecosystem facilitates the exchange of information by defining the roles and responsibilities of doctors/pharmacists, administrators, and patients. The study shows the deployment of the MediCrypt model in three distinct stages. Distinct comparison of encryption time is done for different encryption algorithms. Also, parameters of MediCrypt model is compared with existing healthcare based blockchain models. 2024 IEEE. -
Meditating in VR
This chapter examines how immersion in virtual reality (VR) affects the psychological well-being, perceived interactivity, and positive thinking of young adults. Using a questionnaire adapted from Katy Tcha-Tokey's VR survey and established scales by Sally J. McMillan, Jang-Sun Hwang, and Diener, data was collected from 224 students at Christ University. Participants engaged in a VR meditation session using Meta Quest 2 headsets. Results indicated stronger correlations between immersion and psychological well-being (r = 0.511) and positive thinking (r = 0.485) compared to perceived interactivity (r = 0.319). Regression analyses confirmed immersion's predictive power for psychological well-being (? = 0.511, R2 = 0.261) and perceived interactivity (? = 0.485, R2 = 0.236), with lesser impact on positive thinking (R2 = 0.101). The study suggests that VR immersion notably influences psychological well-being and perceived interactivity among young adults. 2026 Scrivener Publishing LLC. -
Melamine derived N-doped Carbon nanotubes: A durable catalyst support for Pt nanoparticles in proton exchange membrane fuel cell
A cost-effective thermal pyrolysis route was adopted to synthesize N-doped carbon nanotube (NCNT) in a single step with the aid of melamine (carbon and nitrogen source) and cobalt catalyzed growth for the formation of N-doped carbon nanotubes. The NCNT was acid treated (fNCNT) to remove the metallic Co from the CNT which was elucidated using X-ray diffraction. Even though these noble metal-free materials are explored as Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst, for it to be employed in actual fuel cell the cathode requires noble metals such as Platinum (Pt) nanoparticles to improve its sluggish kinetics. Thus, this study is mainly focused on employing fNCNT as catalyst support in PEMFC, wherein the electrocatalyst was synthesized using microwave-assisted polyol method to decorate Pt nanoparticles on fNCNT, demonstrating its excellent durability of 32% electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) loss when subjected to standard protocols, and full cell performance of hybrid ((Pt/fNCNT) + CB) 412 mW cm?2 (better than commercial Pt/C) when deployed as electrocatalyst for ORR in Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell, thus our findings open new avenues to explore, design and develop N-doped carbon nanotubes as durable catalyst for fuel cells. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.) The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024. -
Melamine derived N-doped Carbon nanotubes: A durable catalyst support for Pt nanoparticles in proton exchange membrane fuel cell
A cost-effective thermal pyrolysis route was adopted to synthesize N-doped carbon nanotube (NCNT) in a single step with the aid of melamine (carbon and nitrogen source) and cobalt catalyzed growth for the formation of N-doped carbon nanotubes. The NCNT was acid treated (fNCNT) to remove the metallic Co from the CNT which was elucidated using X-ray diffraction. Even though these noble metal-free materials are explored as Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst, for it to be employed in actual fuel cell the cathode requires noble metals such as Platinum (Pt) nanoparticles to improve its sluggish kinetics. Thus, this study is mainly focused on employing fNCNT as catalyst support in PEMFC, wherein the electrocatalyst was synthesized using microwave-assisted polyol method to decorate Pt nanoparticles on fNCNT, demonstrating its excellent durability of 32% electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) loss when subjected to standard protocols, and full cell performance of hybrid ((Pt/fNCNT) + CB) 412 mW cm?2 (better than commercial Pt/C) when deployed as electrocatalyst for ORR in Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell, thus our findings open new avenues to explore, design and develop N-doped carbon nanotubes as durable catalyst for fuel cells. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024. -
Melanoma Skin Cancer Detection using a CNN-Regularized Extreme Learning Machine (RELM) based Model
Recent years have brought a heightened awareness of skin cancer as a potentially fatal type of human disease. While all three forms of skin cancer - Melanoma, Basal, and Squamous are terrifying, Melanoma is the most erratic. Melanoma cancer is curable if caught at an early stage. Multiple current systems have demonstrated that computer vision can play a significant role in medical image diagnosis. This study suggests a new approach to picture categorization that can help convolutional neural networks train more quickly (CNN). CNN has seen widespread use in multiclass image classification datasets, but its poor learning performance for huge volumes of data has limited its usefulness. On the other hand, whereas Regularized Extreme Learning Machine (RELM) are capable of rapid learning and have strong generalizability to improve their recognized accuracy quickly. This study introduces a novel CNN-RELM, a novel classifier that integrates convolutional neural networks with regularized extreme learning machines. CNN-RELM begins by training a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) through the gradient descent technique until the desired learning and target accuracy is achieved. This approach outperforms the CNN and RELM model with an accuracy of around 98.6%. 2023 IEEE. -
Melatonin priming confers chromium tolerance in spinach (Spinacia oleracea) seedlings and field-grown plants
Heavy metal contamination of soils poses a significant risk to food safety by accumulating toxic metals in edible crops, such as leafy vegetables. This study tested whether melatonin seed priming reduces chromium accumulation while maintaining plant performance in Spinacia oleracea cultivar Arka Anupama under controlled and polyhouse conditions. Melatonin priming improved seedling growth under chromium stress, with 50-micromolar melatonin treated plants showing better performance. Under polyhouse conditions, 50 micromolar melatonin increased leaf number to 5.25 0.55 compared with 3.75 0.29 in chromium-stressed plants (40% increase), and improved leaf area to 3.70 0.35 cm2 in 100 micromolar melatonin-treated plants compared with 2.27 0.03 cm2 in chromium-stressed plants (63% increase). The chlorophyll normalized difference vegetation index increased from 0.15 0.04 in chromium-stressed plants to 0.26 0.01 in 50 micromolar melatonin-primed plants, representing approximately 78% improvement (significant p <.05). Atomic absorption spectroscopy analysis showed a 42.9% reduction in leaf chromium content following 50-micromolar treatment. Spectral analysis revealed stress-associated variations, including a 512515 cm?1 band under chromium stress. These findings indicate that melatonin priming improves plant growth and reduces chromium accumulation in spinach, with 50 micromolar showing the most consistent response. 2026 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. -
Melatonin seed priming enhances early seedling tolerance to individual and combined abiotic stresses in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
Combined drought and salinity pose a critical constraint to rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedling establishment, often exerting a greater impact than individual stresses such as drought, salinity, or heavy metals. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of melatonin seed priming (50M) in mitigating the combined effects of drought-salinity stress along with individual drought, salinity, and chromium (Cr) stress during the seedling stage in the indica variety IR64, and validated the findings across three major Indian cultivars (MTU1001, KMP-225 and Jyothi). Melatonin priming significantly mitigated stress-induced root and shoot inhibition. Under combined drought and salinity stress, melatonin-primed shoots (4.17cm) were significantly higher and maintained lower oxidative stress markers, with reduced malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide, compared to hydro-primed controls, indicating improved membrane stability and antioxidant protection. Under individual drought, salinity, and chromium stress, melatonin-primed seedlings showed significantly enhanced root and shoot lengths compared to hydro-primed controls, supporting better early growth and resource allocation. Spectral profiling revealed higher chlorophyll content and normalized difference vegetation index values in melatonin-primed seedlings under salinity and chromium stress, indicating improved pigment stability and seedling vigor. Across all genotypes, melatonin conferred consistent benefits, indicating its potential as a low-cost and potentially scalable strategy. These findings highlight melatonin seed priming as a promising approach for improving rice resilience, with significant potential for enhancing crop establishment in stress-prone, resource-limited agroecosystems. Akadiai KiadZrt. 2026. -
Membrane Technology for Water Purification
Anu K. Biju, Ashna Viswambharan, ... Sabu Thomas 2026 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.. -
Memes and Marketing: What the social media users have to say?; [Memes e Marketing: O que os usuios das redes sociais t a dizer?]
This study delves into the nascent field of memesunits of cultural transmissionfocusing on their potential applications, notably to the field of marketing. The research highlights the prevalence of brands creating meme content to engage with the public, but notes a dearth of comprehension regarding user responses to such content. The study employs semi-structured interviews to gauge social media users' awareness and receptiveness to brand-generated memes. Information was collected from thirty people residing in India. The sample consisted of people from Generations X (1965 1980), Generation Y (Millennials) (1981 1995), and Generation Z (1995 Present). Following a Grounded Theory approach, a textual analysis categorizes participants based on shared responses, utilizing the Theory of Diffusion of Innovations to understand the adoption of new content. The objective of the paper is to analyze individuals' attitudes towards memes and classify them into distinct categories, such as early adopters, those uncomfortable with memes, indifferent individuals, or late adopters. The theory identifies distinct user categories, shedding light on how various segments of society embrace innovations. The study aims to enhance marketers' understanding of meme reception, offering insights and recommendations for evolving this form of marketing into a more effective and entertaining practice. This Article is Distributed Under the Terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en. -
Memes as ensemble of illocutionary acts
As digital communication continues to shape discourse, memes have emerged as a potent tool for conveying messages. Previous studies on internet memes have focused on various aspects such as humor generation, speech acts, and political communication. Although there are studies on speech acts and memes, research specifically examining speech acts within subcultures is scarce. This paper aims to fill that gap by examining the illocutionary acts in political memes within a subculture. To understand how illocutionary acts function in memes, 50 political memes that appeared during the Kerala state assembly election were analyzed using the framework of speech acts. The analysis revealed that memes often contain multiple illocutionary acts. Additionally, it was observed that a single meme can encompass several illocutionary acts simultaneously. This study highlights the complexity and richness of political memes as a form of communication within subcultures, demonstrating how they can convey layered and multifaceted messages through the use of illocutionary acts. 2025 the author(s), -
Memes as multimodal ensemble
Memes have now become a common medium of communication. There are multiple ways memes are considered in academia. Semiotics offers information on how the media and modes that memes consist of can be interpreted and how the characteristics of semiotic resources apply to memes. Drawing from a pool of memes collected during the Kerala assembly election in 2021, this research argues that certain memes need to be categorised as multimodal ensemble. Different modalities play different roles meaning construction, and they also collaborate with each other for a uniform purpose. By comparing existing memes defined in academia and multiple methodologies to analyse memes, the paper puts forth a framework to analyse memes. 2023 De Gruyter Mouton. All rights reserved. -
Memetic Spider Monkey Optimization for Spam Review Detection Problem
Spider monkey optimization (SMO) algorithm imitates the spider monkey's fission-fusion social behavior. It is evident through literature that the SMO is a competitive swarm-based algorithm that is used to solve difficult real-life problems. The SMO's search process is a little bit biased by the random component that drives it with high explorative searching steps. A hybridized SMO with a memetic search to improve the local search ability of SMO is proposed here. The newly developed strategy is titled Memetic SMO (MeSMO). Further, the proposed MeSMO-based clustering approach is applied to solve a big data problem, namely, the spam review detection problem. A customer usually makes decisions to purchase something or make an image of someone based on online reviews. Therefore, there is a good chance that the individuals or companies may write spam reviews to upgrade or degrade the stature or value of a trader/product/company. Therefore, an efficient spam detection algorithm, MeSMO, is proposed and tested over four complex spam datasets. The reported results of MeSMO are compared with the outcomes obtained from the six state-of-art strategies. A comparative analysis of the results proved that MeSMO is a good technique to solve the spam review detection problem and improved precision by 3.68%. 2023 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. -
Memorialisation and Identity in Mah India: Revealing French Colonial Legacies
Mah nestled in the Mahdistrict of the Puducherry Union Territory in India, holds profound historical ties to French colonial India. Unlike the broader Indian subcontinent, which witnessed fervent anti-colonial movements against British rule leading to political decolonisation in 1947, Mahexperienced a belated political awakening, reluctantly integrating into the Indian Union in 1954. Despite the withdrawal of the French, the enduring legacy of French colonial ideology and culture continued to shape the ethos of Mah In contemporary times, a significant presence of French nationals in India, particularly in Pondicherry, Karaikal, and Mah has fostered the evolution of a unique linguistic identity known as Indian French. Within Mah landmarks such as St. Teresas Shrine, the Statue of Marianne in Tagore Park at Cherukallayi, remnants of St. George Fort, and sculptures inspired by M. Mukundans novel On the Banks of the Mayyazhi stand as tangible vestiges of the erstwhile French presence. Serving as repositories of bygone French culture, these sites emerge as dynamic arenas of memory production. Notably, Tagore Park in Mah adorned with fictional documentation through sculptures, assumes a pivotal role as a space that harmonizes memory and history, functioning as a reservoir for collective memory concerning French colonial rule. Mah deliberate urban planning reflects a nuanced approach, embodying the concept of a living testament to French colonialism rather than a conventional museum. This architectural strategy underscores the deliberate preservation and commemoration of Mah historical past. Through interviews with French nationals residing in Mah this research explores how these landmarks have become pivotal in the production of memories and the construction of identities for the French community in India and Mah Leveraging Maurice Halbwachs theoretical framework, the study unveils the intricate interplay between collective memory and present-day identity formation, shedding light on the transformation of personal memory into historical memory and its subsequent amalgamation into collective memory. With close to 50 French families residing in and around Mahstill, the study involves interviews with ten families, focusing on landmarks like St. Teresas Shrine, the Statue of Marianne, the ruins of St. George Fort, and sculptures based on one of M. Mukundans novels. So, through interviews of the French citizens of Mah this paper highlights how the cultural artefacts and popular landmarks of Mahbecome sites of memory of the French colonisation. 2024, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR). All rights reserved. -
Memory response on generalized thermoelastic medium in context of dual phase lag thermoelasticity with non-local effect
Theory of non-local continuum is contemporary appraised and is found to be supplementary coherent to capture the impacts of each and every point of the material at its single point. The conviction of memory dependent derivative is also newly appraised and is observed to be more intuitionistic for predicting the realistic character of the real-world obstacles. Attractiveness of the belief of a memory dependent derivative lies in its unique properties such as its significant constituents a kernel function and time-delay are freely selected according to the requirement of a problem. The present study comprises a new meticulous thermoelastic heat conduction model for the homogeneous, isotropic, thermoelastic half space medium concerning memory effects and non-local effects. Governing equations are constructed on the basis of the newly appraised non-local generalized theory of thermoelasticity with two phase lags in the frame of a memory dependent derivative. Exact analytical solutions of the physical fields such as dimensionless temperature, displacement as well as thermal stress are evaluated by using a suitable technique of the Laplace transform. Quantitative results are determined in a time-domain for different values of time by taking the numerical inversion of the Laplace transform. Noteworthy role of the constituents of the memory dependent derivative such as kernel function as well as time-delay factor has been scrutinized on the crucial field variables of the medium through computational outcomes. Moreover, the impact of non-local parameter is examined on the variations of field quantities through the quantitative results. 2022 by IPPT PAN, Warszawa. -
Mental Health
[No abstract available] -
Mental Health and Well-Being of Women in the Workplace: A Case Study of Bangalores Garment Industry
There has been a significant change in workplace dynamics over the last few decades. Women participate in all fields of the labour sector and hold key roles in numerous areas. They are qualified, skilled, and perform comparatively better than men in key positions. However, the working conditions in developing countries are not as progressive as in the developed world. It is particularly evident in the unorganised sector, such as the garment industry. Women workers are discriminated against based on gender and place of birth concerning wages, promotions, etc. They face job insecurity and financial burdens, which cause insecurities related to want, fear, and indignity. They also fail to balance workplace responsibilities and household activities as they lack support from their family members and the management. It adversely affects their mental health and well-being. From this perspective, this chapter employs the unstructured interview method to investigate the mental health and insecurities of women workers in Bangalore's garment industry. Copyright 2026, IGI Global Scientific Publishing. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global Scientific Publishing is prohibited. Use of this chapter to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expressly prohibited. The publisher reserves all rights to license its use for generative AI training and machine learning model development. -
Mental health counsellors perceptions on use of technology in counselling
The objectives of the study were: (a) to explore the self-reported knowledge of counsellors about technology in counselling. (b) to understand the flexibility, usage, and openness to integrating the technology services in their practice, and (c) to identify the problems associated with using technology as a process in counselling. Semi-structured interviews of eleven practising counsellors in Bangalore and Chennai, India, recruited through snowball sampling, were used for data collection. The deductive content analysis of the interview transcripts generated seven concepts, each comprising of several categories. The seven concepts were 'attitude', 'strengths', 'weakness', 'suitability', 'skills and training', 'therapeutic alliance', and 'theoretical approaches'. The analysis revealed that the counsellors preferred face-to-face counselling and were not using technology for their mainstream practice, but all were quite aware of the process, the benefits and costs of using different forms of technology. The study revealed that the counsellors were also aware about the target population and mental health issues for online counselling. This study has strong implications for building additional skills and enhancing training for counsellors to use technology in their counselling practice, along with the formulation of legal and ethical policies, certification and licensing, in order to protect both the clients and counsellors. 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. -
Mental Health Data Analysis Using Cloud
In health care related research studies, there exists a need for retrieving patient's health record from multiple sites. So here comes the digitization of health records, which leads to a wide range of access to various users such as doctors, patients, psychiatrists and pharmacists. The sensitive nature of individual health care data pose a threat to security. Moreover, the increased access of health information by the users threatens the privacy and confidentiality of the stored data. Notwithstanding the existing privacy protection approaches used for mental health records, we suggest a privacy preserving data analysis methodology enabling protection of health records, once user access to records are granted. This paper mainly focuses on utilizing the data analysis approach in preserving privacy of personal health records to overcome the drawbacks of existing approaches. 2020 IEEE.