Inhibition of bacterial and human zinc-metalloproteases

Antibiotic resistance is one of the major challenges in the present era and it is drastically increasing with the increase in time because of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Therefore, there is a demand of new antibiotics with new modes of action or other innovative strategies to overcome bacterial infections as soon as possible. The zinc metalloproteases Themolysin (TLN), Pseudolysin (PLN) and Aureolysin (ALN) are important bacterial virulence factors and the inhibition of these bacterial virulence factors is believed to be a new treatment option of bacterial infections. However, in order to have a therapeutic value, inhibitors of these enzymes should not interfere strongly with the activity of human zinc metalloproteases. In the present thesis, 26 compounds were tested for the inhibition of TLN, PLN, ALN and the human matrix metalloproteases-14(MMP-14). The compounds were selected from a previous virtual screening project at the research group. The inhibition of the compounds was tested by measuring the enzyme activity of PLN, TLN ALN and MMP-14 after exposure of the test compounds. The time resolved fluorescence by the use of fluorogenic substrates was used to measure the enzyme activity. The results showed that some of the compounds inhibited the enzyme activity by 30%-40% and they were not considered as slow binders as there was no significant change in activity with respect to the time. Compounds with highest rate of inhibition in enzyme assays were selected and proceed for molecular modeling studies by docking and MMGBSA calculations. The best compounds were compared with a known strong inhibitor of the zinc- metalloproteases in the molecular modeling part

An Analysis on the Correlation Between Atmospheric Parameters and TOA Reflectance of Pseudo Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS)

The objective of this work is to understand and quantify the relationship(s) between atmospheric parameters and TOA reflectance. The analysis uses Landsat-7 ETM+ and Landsat-8 OLI images data acquired over the Algodones Dunes and a desert site near Wadi ad-Dawasir, Saudi Arabia. The analysis focuses on atmospheric water content and barometric pressure, as ground truth measurements of these quantities are likely to be readily available from relatively nearby weather stations. Section II of the paper discusses the methodology used in the analysis. Section III presents the analysis results. Finally, Section IV provides a summary and considers potential directions for future investigation

Dispositif, Biopolitical Governance, and Significance of Genealogical Approach in Navigating Refugees’ Experiences of Camp and Community

Foucault’s distinction between biopolitics and biopower is significant to society, a normative body in terms of seeing biopower as the practical production of the visible and invisible poles of the dispositif through interdependent discursive and institutional practices of administration. This paper fundamentally discusses two theoretical ideas ingrained with the notion of Foucauldian biopolitics---dispositif and genealogy that Foucault brought into account for merging them into modern biopolitical administrative forces. First, it discusses the idea of dispositif as a mechanism of governance and critically examines its connection to biopower and biopolitics. Second, it analyzes the notion of genealogy as a tool to navigate the politics of forced migration and refugees’ local memories, discursive construction, and fragmentation of previously-coherent ideas and practices and the cohering of formerly disparate ones through a lens that does not privilege the present as the destination of the past

Contribution of Financial Literacy to Behavior

Almost all the people around the world behave with money in daily lives whereas understanding how they behave is important. It is obvious that the education, which can not affect behavior of people, is worthless. Financial literacy also is believed to change financial behavior of individuals. Financial literacy implies two sides, i.e. concept and application of personal finance. The concept consists financial knowledge and basic skill of numeracy and financial decisions; the application consists the financial behavior. The focus of the article is to discuss how the financial literacy contributes financial behavior and thereby financial wellbeing of individuals. For this, the article presents a transmission mechanism of financial knowledge and skill to the financial behavior through a framework. However, there are some contexts, conditions and criterions to transmit the financial knowledge and skill into financial behavior and well-being. Moreover, categorizing the financial behavior of individuals is a significant issue in study of financial literacy. Particularly for the survey research, a new categorization and degree of the financial behavior is presented, which is ranked as good, moderate and weak financial behavior in comparative ways. The study establishes the relevancy of the evaluation criteria of financial behavior and also presents a framework on how the financial educations work contribute in financial behavior

Financial Literacy for Empowering Marginalized People in Nepal

By empowering the individuals, the society is possible to change and transform. However, empowerment has several facets to understand and several ways to implement. Providing financial knowledge and skill to the individuals is one of the ways of empowering the individuals. Previous studies conclude that financial knowledge and skill help people to change their financial attitude, behavior and well-being. The theories of behavioral study also show that the behavior of the individuals are subject to change their knowledge, skill and attitude. Similarly, the agenda of empowerment and transformation are relative, contextual and dynamic in nature. This study concludes that empowerment is one of the prime concerns of those people who are still marginalized and excluded from the mainstream of societies from several aspects. The paper stands on the assumption that the financial literacy simply works all around the place in the similar degree and directions. This approach believes that financial literacy is more relevant for the marginalized people and one of the tools of national development through empowering the marginalized and excluded people. The paper follows the methodology of desk review. Keywords: financial literacy, empowerment, marginalized peopl

Resident Satisfaction in Continuing Care Retirement Communities

The senior living industry is big business and growing fast, thanks to increasing life expectancy. According to the U.S. Census, there were 53 million Americans aged over 65 in 2019. That figure is set to rise by 55% to 82 million—one in five of the population—by 2050. More and more seniors are already attracted to continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs). But what impacts resident satisfaction in this increasingly competitive market? New research led by Dr. Suja Chaulagain and Dr. Abraham Pizam at UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management finds that above all, it\u27s the social environment

An Integrated Behavioral Model for International Medical Tourism

From dental procedures to cardiac surgery, an international market is developing for medical tourism, thanks not least to globalisation and the high standard of medical treatment now available around the world. But what drives individuals to travel abroad for healthcare? In an important new study, Rosen College Assistant Professor Suja Chaulagain, Founding Dean Abraham Pizam, and Dean Youcheng Wang take a social psychological perspective of health-related behavior and the concepts that influence it

Banking Service Delivery from Financial Institutions (An Integrity Perspective)

Although the numbers of financial institutions in economy are increasing, the number of their consumers is also increased; in such, the responsibilities of financial institutions are also increased to satisfy their consumers with their better and quality services.  The financial institutions have claimed their contribution to uplift the lives of their consumers in one hand; on the other hand, the consumers feel that the institutions are responsible to make them indebted and exploitation. In this, the integrity crises of these institutions are prevailed in surface. It is, therefore, contemporary to analyze whether the financial institutions are honest for their service delivery and welfare of financial consumers or not. Do they well behave their clients and obey the general trend of customer service in general and show professional transparency and accountability in particular? Regarding the issue, the paper tries to analyze the issue of banking service integrity from the views of service provider. The paper is an outcome of desk reviews of policy, thematic, theoretical and empirical reviews. Keywords: Banking service, financial market, Integrity, Depositors, Debtors, Undue benefit

Seismic assessment of rc structures with infill masonry panels in Nepal: sensitivity analysis

Reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Nepal are constructed as RC frames with masonry infill panels. These structures exhibit a highly non-linear inelastic behaviour resulting from the interaction between the masonry infill panels and the surrounding frames. In this context, the paper presents an extensive case study of existing RC-framed buildings in a high seismic risk area in Nepal. A sensitivity analysis of the structures with masonry infill is performed. For this, the influence of different material properties is studied, namely diagonal compressive stress, modulus of elasticity and tensile stress of masonry infill panels. Result shows the influence on the structural behaviour particularly by variation of the diagonal compressive strength of infill masonry panels

Assessment of response reduction factor of RC buildings in Kathmandu Valley using non-linear pushover analysis

Master of Engineering in EarthquakeThis study addresses the issue of response reduction factor which is used in modern codes to scale down the elastic response of the structure. The level of ductility and overstrength of RC buildings in Kathmandu valley are investigated. The ductility and overstrength factors are estimated by analyzing the buildings using non-linear pushover analysis for 12 engineered designed RC buildings of various characteristics representing a wide range of RC buildings in Kathmandu valley. Finally, the response reduction factor of RC building in Kathmandu valley is evaluated by using the relation of ductility and overstrength factor