THE NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF MEDICINAL PLANTS ON ALZHEIMER`S DISEASE: A REVIEW

In the 21st century, the human population is suffering from a neurodegenerative disorder in which neuronal death occurs due to a long-term chronic condition causing substantial major health concerns. When neurons die, they are not regenerated, causing cognitive impairment, i.e., Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and dementia. This review concentrates only on Alzheimer’s disease aetiology and various plants having potent neuroprotective activity related to Alzheimer’s disease. The most common aetiology of Alzheimer’s disease is a deposition of APP protein, hyperphosphorylation of Tau protein, a reduction in acetylcholine and oxidative stress, which are discussed briefly. Moreover, pertinent evidence is also discussed for medicinal plants with potent or promising neuroprotective activity related to Alzheimer’s disease

Conducting Polymers and Natural Molecular Materials for Bioelectronics and Energy Storage

La découverte de la conduction électronique dans les matériaux organiques, dans les années 70, est à l’origine du développement des technologies optoélectroniques organiques. La remarquable propriété que présentent les semiconducteurs organiques de conduire les ions, en plus des porteurs de charge électroniques, a permis l’émergence d’un nouveau domaine de l’optoélectronique organique, c’est à dire la bioélectronique. La bioélectronique organique ouvre de nouvelles opportunités d’interface entre l’électronique organique et la biologie, avec la promesse d’applications dans des domaines aussi variés que les biocapteurs, la livraison de médicament, l’enregistrement et la stimulation neural. Combiner un transport ionique et électronique dans les semiconducteurs organiques utilisés pour les transistors représente une tentative intéressante pour parvenir à des dispositifs bioélectroniques efficaces. Ces dispositifs opèrent à faible polarisation de l’électrode de grille, grâce à la formation d’une double couche électrique au niveau de l’interface électrode/électrolyte. Les capacitances de double couches résultantes ont des valeurs qui dépassent de plusieurs ordres de grandeurs celles typiques des interfaces métal/diélectrique, en raison de la faible épaisseur (ca. 3nm) des doubles couches électriques. Par conséquent, les capacitances de double couche peuvent mener à de plus fortes modulations en courant pour des différences de potentiel de grille plus faibles (~1 V), compatibles avec les milieux aqueux. Le coeur de cette thèse de doctorat est dévoué à une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes d’opération d’une classe importante de dispositifs bioélectroniques organiques, c’est-à-dire les transistors électrochimiques organiques (OECTs), dans le but d’optimiser leurs performances et de concevoir de nouveaux dispositifs bioélectroniques. Les OECTs sont formés d’un canal en polymère conducteur ainsi que d’une électrode de grille mis en contact avec le canal au travers d’un électrolyte. L’application d’une différence de potentiel électrique au niveau de la grille entraîne l’inclusion d’ions de l’électrolyte à l’intérieur de la couche mince en polymère en qui changent sa conducitvité initiale. Dans cette thèse, nous nous sommes concentrés sur le poly(3,4- éthylènedioxythiophène) dopé avec du poly(styrène sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) en tant que matériau actif dans le canal de OECTs. Nous avons utilisé différentes épaisseurs de canal ainsi que deux électrolytes différents : le bromure de cétyltriméthyl-ammonium (CTAB), un surfactant apte à former des micelles, et du NaCl. Les rapports ON/OFF les plus élevés ont été obtenus pour de transistors utilisant de faibles épaisseurs (~ 50 nm) de la couche mince et le CTAB comme électrolyte. La voltammétrie cyclique suggère qu’une réaction rédox entre les molécules d’oxygène dissoutes dans l’électrolyte et le PEDOT:PSS mène à de faibles ratios ON/OFF quand le NaCl est utilisé comme électrolyte. La voltammétrie cyclique et la spectroscopie d’impédance électrochimique révèlent que le dopage/dédopage du canal devient plus lent à des épaisseurs relativement élevés de la couche mince et en présence d’ions de plus grande taille. Les caractéristiques de l’électrode de grille ont des effets significatifs sur le comportement des OECTs. Dans cette thèse, du carbone activé (AC) avec une importante surface spécifique a été utilisé comme matériau pour l’électrode de grille dans les OECTs basés sur le PEDOT:PSS. L’utilisation d’électrodes de grille en AC de grande surface, a mené à une importante modulation en courant drain-source dans les OECTs et à la limitation des réactions électrochimiques indésirables. La biocompatibilité et la biodégradabilité des matériaux utilisés en bioélectronique organique sont essentiels. Ces propriétés sont importantes même pour des dispositifs alimentant les dispositifs bioélectroniques. La mélanine est un biopigment abondant en nature et doté d’activité redox. Ce biopigment peut être mis en forme à température ambiante et est donc un matériau extrêmement intéressant pour le développement de dispositifs de stockage de l’énergie biocompatibles et « verts ». L’eumélanine est une des formes de la mélanine qui est particulièrement étudiée par les chercheurs en science de matériaux. Celle-ci se retrouve dans de nombreuses parties du corps humain, dont la peau, les cheveux, l’oreille interne et le cerveau. L’eumélanine réalise de nombreuses fonctions dans le corps humain comme l’absorption dans une large bande du spectre UV-visible ou encore la chélation métallique. Dans cette thèse, nous rapportons les propriétés de stockage d’énergie électrochimique de la part d’électrodes basées sur l’eumélanine, en configuration supercondensateur. L’eumélanine est formée de monomères faits de 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) et d’acide 5,6-dihydroxyindole carboxylique (DHICA), présents sous différentes formes redox (hydroxyquinone, semiquinone et quinone). La synergie entre l’activité redox des monomères et la capacité de plusieurs de leurs fonctionnalités à lier des cations de façon réversible permet l’utilisation de l’eumélanine dans des dispositifs de stockage d’énergie fonctionnant en mode pseudocapacitif. En partant de la démonstration des supercondensateurs basés sur l’eumélanine, nous avons utilisé une approche non-conventionnelle pour fabriquer des micro-condensateurs flexibles sur substrats plastiques. ---------- The discovery of electronic conduction in carbon-based materials, in the 1970s, is the basis of the development of organic optoelectronics technologies. The remarkable property of organic semiconductors to conduct ions, in addition to electronic charge carriers, has recently offered a new emerging direction in organic optoelectronics, called organic bioelectronics. Organic bioelectronics opens the opportunity to interface organic electronics with biology with promising applications such as biosensing, drug delivery, neural recording and stimulation. Combining ionic and electronic transport in organic semiconductors into transistor architectures represents an interesting attempt to achieve efficient bioelectronics devices. These devices operate at low gate biases, due to the formation of electrical double layers at electrode/electrolyte interfaces. The resultant double layer capacitances are a few orders of magnitude higher compared to capacitances typical of metal/dielectric interfaces, due to the low thickness (ca. 3 nm) of the electrical double layers, which consequently leads to higher current modulations at lower gate voltage (~1 V). The core of this Ph.D. thesis is devoted to a better understanding of the operational mechanism of an important class of organic bioelectronics devices, i.e. organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), to optimize their performance and to design novel bioelectronics devices. OECTs consist of a conducting polymer channel and a gate electrode in contact with an electrolyte. The application of a gate electrical bias triggers the inclusion of electrolyte ions into the polymer film thus changing its initial conductivity. In this thesis we focus on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as the active material in OECTs. We employed various channel thicknesses and two different electrolytes: the micelle-forming surfactant cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and NaCl. The highest transistor ON/OFF ratios were achieved at low film thicknesses (~ 50 nm), using CTAB as the electrolyte. Cyclic voltammetry suggested that a redox reaction between molecular oxygen dissolved in the electrolytes and PEDOT:PSS leads to low ON/OFF ratios when NaCl was used as the electrolyte. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that doping/dedoping of the channel becomes slower at relatively high film thickness and in the presence of bulky ions. The characteristics of the gate electrode have significant effects on the behavior of OECTs. In this thesis, high specific surface area activated carbon (AC) was used as gate electrode material in OECTs based PEDOT:PSS. The use of high surface area carbon gate electrodes led to the high drain-source current modulation in OECT and limited undesirable electrochemical processes. The biocompatibility and biodegradability property of the materials used in organic bioelectronics is of course of primary importance. These features are important even for devices powering the bioelectronics devices. Melanin is a redox active biopigment abundant in nature. The biopigment can be processed at room temperature and, as such, it is an extremely attractive material for environmentally and human friendly energy storage solutions. A form of melanin highly investigated by materials scientists is eumelanin, found in many parts of the human body including skin, hair, inner ear and brain. Eumelanin has many functions in the human body, such as strong broad-band UV-visible absorption and metal chelation. In this thesis, we report the ion storage property of eumelanin-based electrodes assembled in supercapacitors. Eumelanin is based on 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI) and 5,6-dihydroxyindole carboxylic acid (DHICA) building blocks, present in different redox forms (hydroxyquinone, semiquinone and quinone). The synergy between the redox activity of the building blocks and the capability of several of their functionalities to reversibly bind cations constitutes the foundation for the use of melanin in pseudocapacitive energy storage systems. Capitalizing on the demonstration of eumelanin-based supercapacitors, we used an unconventional patterning approach to fabricate binder-free flexible micro-supercapacitors on plastic substrates

Examining the Relationship Between Privacy Setting Policy, Public Discourse, Business Models and Financial Performance of Facebook

Background: We use Facebook as a case study to investigate the complex relationship between the firm’s public discourse (and actions) surrounding data privacy and the performance of a business model based on monetizing user’s data. Specifically, this paper aims to address the question around the relationship between public discourse during the privacy crisis and Key Performance Indications i.e., active users, revenue, and stock market prices. The study sheds light on how the platform providers like Facebook, influence users to share personal information despite privacy concerns. Methods: For the first research question, we analyze the evolution of public discourse on Facebook from 2004 to 2021, connecting topics to revenue and stock market trends. Utilizing text analytic techniques with data from sources like the Zuckerberg files, we identify 19 topics grouped into six major themes. Addressing the second research question involves regressing public discourse-related parameters against key performance indicators—active users, revenue, and stock market prices—to discern their significance in explaining outcomes. Results: We found a significant relationship between the topics of privacy and social media/technology, sentiment score, and stock market prices. Revenue is found to be impacted by topics about politics and new product and service innovations, while the number of active users is not impacted by the topics. Conclusion: We demonstrate the use of persuasive corporate language that reframes the privacy issue, emphasizing greater user control and responsibility. Additionally, our research evaluates the financial impact of privacy disclosures on social media firms. This study contributes to the privacy paradox literature by exploring platform providers\u27 tactics to encourage data sharing amid privacy concerns. The practical implications suggest that assuring users of data security, highlighting technological trends, and employing positive language positively influence firm performance

Optimal design of eVTOLs for urban mobility using analytical target cascading (ATC)

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the capability of Analytical Target Cascading (ATC) for optimizing large scale engineering design optimization problems. Multidisciplinary Optimization (MDO) techniques have a subject of immense interest in the past few decades because of their ability to generate optimal designs for complex system of systems. Monolithic MDO methods are one category of MDO methods that pose the optimization problem as a single optimization problem. These methods are effective in generating an optimal design, but it can be challenging to implement these methods at an organizational level in engineering design practice. Meanwhile, distributed MDO methods that decompose the problem into different sub optimization problems offer additional modularity and flexibility required for implementation at an organizational level. Analytical target cascading (ATC) is one such distributed MDO method that most closely emulates a hierarchical organization structure. The problem of designing of an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle) was chosen to evaluate the performance of ATC because of its relevance to the future urban mobility solution space and because the design of eVTOLs involves optimization of several subsystems that are strongly coupled. The first part of this thesis focuses on the implementation and analysis of the results generated by ATC with respect to eVTOL design optimization. In the later part of this thesis, we set to lay out some of the general advantages of using distributed MDO methods over Monolithic MDO methods, as well as situations where the latter is more beneficial. In the final chapter, aspects involving computational expense and human factors effort are discussed to explore a set of cases where distributed MDO methods can be advantageous in engineering practice.Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2023-04-12 without embargo termsThe student, Prajwal Chinthoju, accepted the attached license on 2022-12-08 at 19:12.The student, Prajwal Chinthoju, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2022-12-08 at 19:17.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2022-12-09 at 17:08.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #18789 on 2023-04-12 at 07:39:4

Quality Improvement In Vehicle Service Process

Customer service is a multidimensional and extensive notion with numerous variables that directly affect customer satisfaction and customer loyalty throughout the customer life cycle. In order to make customer satisfied, it is necessary for the companies to add numerous factors into practice to provide nonstop evaluation and enhancement of their service conditioning such as addressing customers queries and meeting customer’s prospects. When the vehicle is in the service center, every customer wants to know the vehicle status. For this, the customer has to call the service center and gather the information orally. Due to lack of trust, there might be a friction between the customer and service center when there is a detention in the listed time.In the present work step by step information to the client about the vehicle will be given by developing an online link Universal Resource Locator (URL). In the service center the data of vehicle and service updates are to be entered by system operator. Once the login credentials are furnished by the customer, the updates of service completed will be known and the customer can anticipate the time taken for total service and vehicle delivery. Giving this information to the customer can provide a better experience and more satisfaction with the service center that in turn may improve the quality of service by the service department. It is proposed to develop this process for Sri Durga Automotives Private Limited, Anantapuramu, an authorized sales and service center of Maruti Suzuki India Limited[6] [7]

Sentiment Analysis of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Stock Market

COVID-19 is a dreadful infectious disease, morphed into an economic crisis causing extensive and longstanding ramifications across global markets. Investors continue to hear about COVID-19 and its impact in one corner of the globe or the other for a long time. Though the effects of COVID19 started in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, global markets did not respond actively till W.H.O officially declared on March 11, 2020, that the COVID19 outbreak is a global pandemic. These multi-channel events have eroded investor sentiment, tanking the global stock markets. This article uses a machine learning approach to Twitter to analyze and follow investor sentiment that has guided the market to the new low during the first 150 days of the COVID-19 era. The only respite for recovery of financial markets is the lowering of COVID-19 infected cases for the time being till a vaccine is developed for the virus

Foetal umbilical artery doppler versus NST as predictors of adverse perinatal outcome in severe preeclampsia and foetal growth restriction

Background: With the advent of electronic foetal monitoring, a relationship between foetal movement and foetal heart rate was observed and that relationship formed the basis for non-stress test (NST). Doppler USG plays an important role in foetal growth restriction (FGR) pregnancies where hemodynamic rearrangements occur in response to foetal hypoxemia. It is now proved that significant Doppler changes occur with reduction in foetal growth at a time when other foetal well-being tests are still normal. This study was done to find out the comparative usefulness of Doppler and NST in the management of FGR and severe preeclampsia and subsequent correlation with perinatal outcome.Methods: This prospective study was conducted on pregnant women with severe preeclamsia and/or FGR beyond 30 weeks of gestation at AHRR Delhi. 50 pregnancies complicated with severe preeclampsia and/or FGR beyond 30 weeks of gestation were selected. Patients meeting the inclusion criteria were subjected to NST. Umbilical arterial Doppler flow was obtained at weekly or twice weekly interval depending on the severity by pulsed wave color doppler indices were measured during foetal apnea by the same examiner at the free loop site where the clearest waveform signal could be visualized. Of 3 measurements, the mean average of S/D ratio was recorded and followed up with serial Doppler assessment and non-stress test. Data was collected and statistical analysis was carried out.Results: The Doppler showed changes earlier than NST giving a significant lead time of up to 20 days with an average of 4.94 days. The UA S/D had the highest sensitivity (88%) and diagnostic accuracy (94%) in predicting the adverse perinatal outcome. The sensitivity and specificity of Doppler as compared to NST was 82.6% and 63.0% respectively with a diagnostic accuracy of 72%. The Doppler has negative predictive value of 80.95% and positive predictive value of 65.5%. Color Doppler has diagnostic accuracy of 72%. The mortality rate in reversal of diastolic flow was 77.77% and in absent UA flow was 16.66%. 12% foetuses were found to have AEDV in UA and among them 66.66% had both FGR+PE as maternal complication. There was 83.33% rate of LSCS, 16.66% neonatal mortality rate, 83.33% NICU stay rate and 66.66% complication rate in neonates. Whereas 18% had REDV and among that 88.88% had both FGR+PE as maternal complication, a similar rate of LSCS, 77.77% rate of neonatal mortality, 100 % NICU stay and 66.66% complication rate in the neonates.Conclusions: Combined foetal testing modalities such as Doppler, NST and biophysical profile provide a wealth of information regarding foetal health. Integrated foetal testing would be ideal for individualized care of the preterm compromised foetuses for timed intervention

Correlation of intra partum electronic fetal monitoring with neonatal outcome

Background: The importance of fetal monitoring during labour has been realized since long. The stress of uterine contractions may affect the fetus adversely especially if the fetus is already compromised, when the placental reserves are suboptimal, or when cord undergoes compression as in those associated with diminished liquor amnii or iatrogenic uterine hyperstimulation due to injudicious use of oxytocin. Even a fetus which is apparently normal in the antenatal period may develop distress during labour. Hence fetal monitoring during antepartum and intrapartum periods is of vital importance for timely detection of fetal distress so that appropriate management may be offered.Methods: This study was a prospective observational study included 100 patients of more than 34 weeks period of gestation were divided into two groups. Patients in labour were analyzed on an Electronic Monitor. Delivery conducted was either by vaginal route, instrumental or by caesarean section depending upon the fetal heart rate tracings and their interpretations as per the case. At the time of delivery umbilical cord blood was taken for the pH analysis. All new born babies were seen by the paediatrician immediately after the delivery and 1 and 5 minute APGAR score assessed for the delivered baby. The various EFM Patterns obtained were compared with the neonatal status at birth using the parameters already mentioned. The false positives and false negatives if any were tabulated. Data so obtained was analyzed statistically thereafter. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 13.0 was used for the purpose of analysis.Results: Results revealed that among the 50 subjects of the case group, 7 subjects showed the absence of the beat to beat variability, 12 subjects showed early deceleration, 32 subjects showed late deceleration, and 6 subjects showed the presence of variable deceleration. No significant association of beat to beat variability, early and variable deceleration could be established with meconium staining/NICU admissions/low APGAR. A significant positive association between persistent late deceleration with MSL, APGAR <7 at 1 min, and Instrumental/LSCS delivery was seen. A significant positive association between any CTG abnormality and APGAR at 1 min, type of delivery, and meconium staining was seen.Conclusions: EFM should be used judiciously. Cardiotocography machines are certainly required in the labour room. Equally important is the proper interpretation of the CTG tracings so that unjustified caesarean sections can be minimized, at the same time picking up cases of fetal distress in time which is likely to improve fetal outcome

An Event Study Approach to Analyze the Confounding Nature of Bitcoin on Blockchain Disclosures

Background: There is a case to be made that the widely popular and highly valued “Bitcoin” (and other significant cryptocurrencies) has become synonymous with blockchain for many retail investors and other non-informed individuals. This study attempts to answer two important research questions in this space. First, the study aims to understand if companies leverage this proximity in technological awareness of Bitcoin and blockchain to attract more investors and users by riding the Bitcoin wave and strategically timing the disclosures. Second, we aim to compute the value of the confounding effect. Method: To answer these questions, we collected over 4000 blockchain-related announcements from the top 30 NASDAQ-listed firms over the past five years. All announcements are analyzed using text analytics techniques to identify the topic, tone, and complexity. An event study approach adopting a Fama-French four-factor model is developed to detect whether any changes in the market-wide abnormal returns surrounding Bitcoin events influence the company\u27s performance. The relationship between the announcement texts and the abnormal returns is then computed and analyzed. Results: The results evidence a substantial impact of Bitcoin market returns on the abnormal return instances. Further, it is also observed that strategically framing the firm disclosures concerning blockchain announcements has a significant impact on the market returns. Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature on digital business strategies within the emerging purview of cryptocurrency networks. At a practical level, the study aims to alert not-so-well-informed investors about the possible misconception of Bitcoin performance as a direct driver of the performance of the technological companies making blockchain announcements