Knowledge Connect @ SASTRA
Not a member yet
201 research outputs found
Sort by
Investigating the Engagement Behaviour of Omni-Digital Banking Customers
No full textDigital banking is rapidly growing in India, positioning the country as the global leader in digital banking users as of 2022, with approximately 295.5 million users, surpassing the United States by over 70 million. This growth reflects a shift from Omni-channel to Omni-digital banking, where customers exclusively use digital platforms, enhancing digital engagement. However, research specifically focusing on Omni-digital banking behavior remains limited, with most studies concentrating on online and mobile banking.
To address this gap, a study was conducted using a new research model based on UTAUT2 variables, targeting Omni-digital banking customers in Tamil Nadu. A sample of 1,082 respondents from 21 municipal corporations was surveyed, achieving an 83.23% response rate. The study’s demographic analysis revealed a predominance of male (54%) and middle-aged (26% aged 31-40) respondents, with a significant portion holding graduate or postgraduate degrees.
Data analysis highlighted key preferences and issues, such as dissatisfaction with transaction limits and server problems, alongside a strong reliance on smartphones for banking. Statistical analysis demonstrated that factors like performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and perceived credibility significantly influence behavioral intention, while social influence and personal innovativeness do not. The study also examined the impact of demographic variables on these influencing factors, revealing significant effects of age, education, employment, and income on behavior.
The research provides actionable insights for financial institutions, emphasizing the need to enhance mobile banking functionality, tailor services by income group, and improve transparency and security. Recommendations include optimizing digital platforms for gender inclusivity, targeting educational programs at middle-aged users, and addressing technical issues such as transaction limits and server reliability.
The study also suggests promoting digital inquiry channels, simplifying application procedures, and integrating advanced technologies like blockchain to enhance service quality. Despite challenges like limited responses and scarce literature, this research offers valuable insights into Omni-digital banking behavior. It underscores the importance of broadening the research scope beyond Tamil Nadu and integrating additional theoretical frameworks to drive nationwide policy interventions and improve digital banking engagement
Resisting Exploitation: A Study of Karen Joyce Warren’s Ecofeminist Ethic in the Selected Indian Movies
No full textAccording to Warren, “The exploitation of nature and animals is justified by feminising them; the exploitation of women is justified by naturalising them” (EPWP 27). Women and nature have the same right to live independently. They are not meant for exploitation. However, patriarchy has long exploited them.
The changes are happening only in the ratio, not in the act of controlling. This research aims to study the undervalued state of women and others in nature concerning Warren\u27s eight features of ecofeminist ethic in Indian movies, namely Harish Ram L\u27s Thumbaa (2019), Amit Masurkar’s Sherni (2021), and Rathindran Prasad R’s Boomika (2021).
In addition, the research has also extended to apply the hermeneutic phenomenology approach by surveying Top Slip, Anamalai Hills, Tamil Nadu which is pictured in the movie, to explore the unnoticed condition of nature and women. Thus, this research juxtaposes the relevance of ecofeminism as represented in both movies and society to justify the correlation between literature and environment
Abnormal Event Detection using Hypergraph based Multiple Objects Tracking Techniques in Surveillance Videos
No full textAbnormal event detection aims to identify the events that deviate from expected normal patterns. This work primarily focuses on detection of rare events in public places. The existing research challenges in a video-based surveillance systems for the vehicle have been analysed and presence of abnormal objects in traffic-oriented videos have been detected. A novel approach for event summarization and rare event detection has been proposed in this work. The key ingredient in this work is the incorporation of Hypergraph (HG) matching.
Despite the reasonable amount of success achieved by a large number of researchers over the globe, distinguishing important videos from recorded information and labelling the important videos in an appropriate order for detecting a particular rare event continues to be a challenging task. The challenges are further compounded in real life applications where relevant, nonredundant, and timely event summaries are needed for applications. Unlike conventional methods that focus on a specific concept and approach, the proposed work deals with a Hybrid Model.
Initially, a Context-Free Grammar (CFG) is developed for detecting rare events from a video stream and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is used to train CFG. A set of dedicated algorithms are used to perform frame split process, edge detection, background subtraction and convert the processed data into CFG. As an outcome, we have a single object detection scheme from labelled events in the given video frames, limitation being not amenable for generalization.
A group of preprocessing feature matching algorithms were experimented and it was found that modified KAZE provided the highest accuracy. As feature extraction is a key requirement, all aspects of the object must be considered. Hypergraph provides an exciting computational facility to extract both geometrical and topological features simultaneously and hence helpful to quickly identify rare events at lower computational complexity. Hypergraphs can model higher order data.
Hypergraph clustering refers to the process of extracting maximally coherent groups from a set of objects using higher order similarities. This work deals with one novel Hypergraph Matching Algorithm integrated with modified KAZE key-points and Feature extraction technique to process video frames for tracking multiple objects.
During processing of images, it could be observed that analysing each pixel in innumerable number of videos is practically impossible for a human being and highly computationally inefficient thereby advocating the need for sampling. Grid sampling using Helly property has been found to be the most effective increasing the accuracy of modified KAZE further. The novel feature in this approach deals with its ability in handling outliers.
Further improvements are made in order to handle ambiguities with multiple feature descriptors. To incorporate the same, a hypergraph clustering algorithm has been viewed in terms of a noncooperative multiplayer clustering game. During each iteration, the image needs to be reconstructed. For accurate reconstruction, a convolutional autoencoder has been used. This autoencoder is found to be the most suitable while handling video data. The novelty in this encoder is its ability to capture low-level correlation between spatial and temporal dimensions of videos and also generating distinctive features representing visual spatio-temporal information.
Experimental results and comparison with the state-of-the-art methods have demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposed method in detecting abnormal events in a faster manner than the recently designed algorithms.
Overall HG based rare event detection in videoframes requires matching algorithms, Game theoretical concepts and Machine learning algorithms such as Autoencoder and Convolutional Neural Network for quick processing of videos
Horizontal Gene Transfer in Intergenomic Conflicts Between Bacteria and Their Genetic Parasites
No full textBacteria are constantly infected by obligate acellular genetic parasites, such as plasmids and phages. The genetic conflicts between bacteria and their parasites, aggravated by horizontal gene transfer, exert significant ecological and evolutionary pressure on their respective genomes. The eco-evolutionary significance of parasite-derived elements on bacterial genomes is not well understood.
This study explored the genomics of plasmid-derived genetic elements such as antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), type II endonuclease toxin-antitoxin systems (TAs) and endonuclease colicin-like bacteriocin (CLB) operons, and phage-derived prophages of Escherichia coli using bioinformatics and developing novel hybrid agent-based models. We sequenced eight E. coli isolated from local wastewater for comparative genomics with global wastewater isolates. The global analysis of wastewater E. coli genomes revealed alarmingly high averages of 80% resistant strain, 60% multidrug-resistant strains, and seven ARGs per genome.
Prophage genomics showed that, on average, each E. coli genome harbours seven prophage regions, most of which might be grounded and spread horizontally. Similarly, the plasmid-derived operons, CLB operons and TAs are widespread across the bacterial genera. CLB operons and TAs distribution exhibit a mutual exclusivity pattern: no identical CLB or TAs is encoded by both the plasmid and genome of a given bacterium. The mutual exclusivity pattern supports the anti-addiction hypothesis by which, CLB operons and TAs act as anti-addiction modules aiding in plasmid curing.
With the help of the hybrid agent-based models, we propose a theoretical model for the observed accumulation of parasite-derived elements in genomes. A common theme of coping with the parasite includes three major stages.
(i) Selection of the infected by parasite-induced advantage (by ARGs), addiction (by CLBs and TAs) or superinfection immunity (by prophages).
(ii) Emergence of host variants with chromosomal addiction modules (CLBs and TAs) aiding in plasmid curing, or ‘grounding’ of prophages thereby irreversibly abrogating the induction.
(iii) HGT of the parasite-derived elements across the population and gradual ordered degeneration over time.
Understanding the genetics of parasite-derived elements is important for managing the AMR problem and phage therapy against bacterial pathogens. Strategies like activation of TAs and CLBs or application of engineered prophages as obligate lytic agents hold promise for mitigating the HGT of mobile elements
Investigating Spatiotemporal Trends Using Precursory Signatures: Implications to Develop Short-Term Earthquake Forecasting Techniques in Sumatra-Andaman region
Get PDFEarthquake forecasting is a challenging field due to Earth\u27s heterogeneous nature. This research aims to develop a short-term earthquake forecasting model by analyzing spatiotemporal trends and precursory signatures in the Sumatra-Andaman region, known for its high seismic activity and tsunami risk. The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating solid earth tides (SET), micro shocks, and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) to gain deeper insights into seismic nucleation processes. The research begins by using Singular Spectral Analysis (SSA) to identify potential seismically vulnerable areas through the analysis of irregularities in SET.
A spatiotemporal analysis of micro shocks is conducted to assess the response of these regions to tidal stress. Agglomerative clustering algorithms group seismic events based on latitude, longitude, and depth over each lunar year, helping to identify broader zones where seismic stress may be accumulating. Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) is then employed to achieve precise spatial refinement by correlating the SET anomalous locations with the occurrence of micro shocks.
These refined zones are subsequently analyzed using OLR data, which is incorporated into a novel spatiotemporal classification algorithm designed to identify critical levels of vulnerability and possible magnitude of the earthquake. Daily analysis of the OLR dataset further refines the time of potential earthquake occurrences. The results indicate that seismic nucleation processes may occur 1-3 lunar months and the anomalous signatures appearing 1-92 days prior to the earthquake of magnitude \u3e6.0.
This interdisciplinary approach, combining seismic and non-seismic parameters, offers improved understanding in seismic nucleation process and short-term earthquake forecasting studies
ITIHAS Vol. 23 Issue No. 2
Get PDFNEWSLETTER FROM SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITYhttps://knowledgeconnect.sastra.edu/itihas/1007/thumbnail.jp
Isolation and characterization of nut shell proteins from Arachis hypogea Linn. and Cocos nucifera Linn. and its effect on macrophage activation to treat Visceral Leishmaniasis
No full textGlycoproteins are among several immunomodulatory agents known to activate the innate immune system. Plant derived glycoproteins are a generous source of glycoproteins that could be utilized as cost effective preparations for therapeutics. Isolating glycoproteins from agricultural by- products with the intention to use them against Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) was the focus in this doctoral study. The two nut shells, Arachis hypogea L. (Groundnut) and Cocos nucifera L. (Coconut), were used for the isolation of glycoprotein used in the study. Crude glycoproteins from the A. hypogea L. (AHP-C) were isolated and fractioned. AHP-F2 was identified as 28.37 kDa Mannose/Glucose binding lectin after peptide finger printing and MS/MS analysis. Its glycosylation pattern was identified using bioinformatic servers.
AHP-F2 induced nitrite generation, IL-12, and IFN-γ release from macrophages, which were the indicators of its immunomodulatory activity. CNP-F1 (43.61 kDa), and CNP-F2 (46.21) were also successfully purified from nut shell of C. nucifera L. and were identified as gibberellin-20-oxidase, and Serine- threonine kinase 11 (STK11), respectively, after peptide finger printing and MS/MS analysis. The identity of those ii molecules are reported for the for the first time in this dissertation. Presence of several xx glycosylation sites were confirmed in Bioinformatic servers indicating their nature as glycoprotein. CNP-F2 stimulated significant (p\u3c 0.001) NO generation, IL-12, and IFN-γ release as compared with untreated cells. Comparison of CNP-F1 and CNP-F2 showed that CNP-F2 was more effective than the CNP-F1.
In silico interaction and mRNA expression study indicated that AHP-F2 and CNP-F2 might utilize TLR-4 for the activation of macrophage. All the crude and fractionated proteins from the two sources showed negligible toxicity to macrophages, as well as to promastigote forms of L. donovani parasites, within the studied dose ranges. But AHP-F2 (0.5 μg/mL) and CNP-F2 (0.5 μg/mL) significantly (p\u3c 0.01) decreased the parasite burden in infected macrophages by 72.23% and 86.68%, respectively. In contrast the standard drugs, miltefosine (10 μg/mL) and amphotericin- B (1 μg/mL) decreased the parasite load in macrophages by 91.3% and 96%, respectively. Hence, the standard drugs were still more effective compared with isolated proteins.
However, CNP-F2 increased NO generation significantly (p\u3c 0.001), which is essential for the intracellular killing of Leishmania parasites, compared with AHP-F2, and the standard drugs, miltefosine and amphotericin B. In this context, in vitro efficacy of CNP-F2 was also comparable with the standard drugs. Hence, we selected the CNP-F2 for the further study. CNP-F2 significantly (p\u3c 0.01) increased the iNOS2 expression and suppressed the arginase-1 expression both in mRNA and protein level. Moreover, the pro- inflammatory cytokines i.e., IL-12 and IFN-γ increased; in contrast, anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL10 and TGF-β mRNA transcript levels decreased in CNP-F2 treated L. donovani infected macrophages.
These are well proven signatures of anti- leishmanial immune responses. We also checked the TLRs expression in L. donovani- infected macrophages after CNP-F2 exposure, as CNP-F2 interacted and modulated the innate immune iii receptors, TLRs. The results indicated the enhanced TLR-2, TLR-4, and TLR-9 mRNA expression in infected macrophages by 2.93-fold, 6.55-fold, and 2.09-fold, respectively, after treatment with CNP-F2 (0.5 μg/mL). We further confirmed these TLRs at the protein level by Western blotting. Hence, TLR-4 might be considered as the target of CNP-F2 for its anti-leishmanial immune response.
Phosphorylation of p38MAPK, NF- κBp65 and dephosphorylation of ERK-1/2 might enhance the NOS-2 expression during CNP-F2 treatment in infected macrophages. The pharmacological inhibitors of iNOS- 2, p38MAPK, and NF-κBp65 also confirmed their involvement in CNP-F2 mediated NO generation dependent parasite killing in macrophages. In addition, CNP-F2 (1 mg/kg B.W.) restricted the LDU significantly (p\u3c 0.01) by 73.61% in the liver and 75.96% in the spleen tissue, which were also comparable with miltefosine. CNP-F2 also increased mature granuloma and prompt DTH responses in infected mice.
Moreover, CNP-F2 amended T-cell proliferation with increased IL-2 generation, as well as, Th1 responses in splenocytes, indicating the activation of the cell-mediated anti-VL immune response. Hence, CNP-F2 could able to induce anti-VL immune response that restrict the in vivo parasite load in infected BALB/c mice. Taken together, these findings suggested that CNP-F2 could be considered as a potential candidature for the modulation of VL immunity and could be. It deserves to be investigated further, as an immune-protective and therapeutic treatment against Visceral Leishmaniasis
Investigations on Potassium Penta Borate Based Semi-Organic Materials for Nonlinear Optical Applications
No full textCrystal growth has attained the pinnacle of a point in the current research owing to the requirement of the single crystals in the frontier field of nonlinear optics. Organic crystals exhibit high transparency, high laser damage threshold and de-localized π electron cloud. But they possess weak mechanical stability. In contrast, the inorganic crystals exhibit magnanimous mechanical and thermal properties but have modest nonlinear optical property. If we combine these two materials, then we can obtain the semi-organic materials.
Among the organic materials, the amino acids are chosen and they are mixed with inorganic material potassium penta borate octa hydrate. They have witnessed a consistent and continuous increase of potential applications in devices used in the areas of optical data storage, optical computing, electro-optical switches and high-speed information processing.
Non-linear optics is the study of how the intensity of light interacts with matter. The discovery of laser opened the doorsteps of nonlinear optics. Semi-organic single crystals behave nonlinearly to the laser radiations thereby showing spectrum of applications such as second harmonic generation, third harmonic generation, frequency mixing, frequency conversion and optical limiting etc.,
Having motivated with the aim of this work is to investigate the potassium penta borate based semi-organic materials for nonlinear applications. The slow evaporation technique was adopted to synthesize the crystals. Potassium penta borate octa hydrate was mixed with the amino acids L-Valine and L-Proline. Also, the methyl orange dye was doped with potassium penta borate octa hydrate. The resulting crystals are
1. L-Valine Potassium Penta Borate octa hydrate (LVPPB)
2. L –Proline Potassium Penta Borate octa hydrate (LPPPB)
3. Pure and Methyl Orange dye doped Potassium Penta Borate octa hydrate (Pure PPB and MOPPB) These crystals were subjected to structural, mechanical, thermal, linear and nonlinear characterizations to use them for NLO Applications. The results obtained are presented and discussed in this thesis
Investigations on Copper Assisted Oxidative Transformations for the Construction of Diverse C-C/C-N(O) Bonds
Get PDFCopper catalyzed C-C, C-N/C-O bond formation reactions are a prominent tool to access diverse biologically relevant molecules. Herein, we present the copper- catalyzed diverse C-C/C-N(O) bond forming reactions. In Chapter-I (introduction), we briefly discussed the various copper mediated organic transformations with appropriate examples.
In Chapter II, we report a one-pot methodology for the vicinal aminoalkylation of naphthoquinone through a direct C(sp2)-H functionalization reaction. Through this method, readily available planar naphthoquinone substrates were transformed into three-dimensional molecular scaffolds through the formation of one C(sp2)-C(sp2) and two C(sp2)-N bonds. The indole fused nitrogen heterocyclic products were obtained in good yields. Apart from the heterocycle synthesis, Brønsted acid assisted diverse C-C and C-N bond forming reactions were also investigated with various nucleophiles.
In Chapter IIIa, a facile, room temperature chemooxidative Povarov-type cyclization reaction was carried out in the aqueous medium for the synthesis of diverse tetrahydroquinoline analogues. The products were obtained in good yields.
In Chapter IIIb, one-pot methodology was developed for the synthesis of pyrrolo[3,4-c]quinoline-1,3-diones from N,N-dimethylaniline. This methodology provides the desired pyrrolo[3,4-c]quinoline-1,3-dione products in good yields at room temperature itself.
In Chapter IV, A convenient methodology was developed for the synthesis of benzoylated naphthol and phenol derivatives through oxidative deamination reaction performed under aerobicreaction conditions. A synergistic combination of Cu(OTf)2 and Ag2O was used to convert the aminonaphthols and aminophenols to the corresponding benzoylated derivatives. The definite role of atmospheric oxygen to assist the reaction was proved by performing the reaction in the argon atmosphere
ITIHAS Vol. 23 Issue No. 4
Get PDFNEWSLETTER FROM SASTRA DEEMED UNIVERSITYhttps://knowledgeconnect.sastra.edu/itihas/1009/thumbnail.jp