DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATIONS OF MULTIFREQUENCY IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY METHODS IN DYNAMIC ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY

Force spectroscopy and surface dissipation mapping are two of the most important applications of dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM), in addition to topographical imaging. These measurements are commonly performed using the conventional amplitude-modulation and frequency-modulation dynamic imaging modes. However, the acquisition of the tip-sample interaction force curves using these methods can generally be performed only at selected horizontal positions on the sample, which means that a 3-dimensional representation of the tip-sample forces requires fine-grid scanning of a volume above the surface, making the process lengthy and prone to instrument drift. This dissertation contains the development of two novel atomic force spectroscopy methods that could enable acquisition of 3-dimensional tip-sample force representations through a single 2-dimensional scan of the surface. The force curve reconstruction approach in the first method is based on 3-pass scanning of the surface using the recently proposed single-frequency imaging mode called frequency and force modulation AFM. A second, more versatile method based on bimodal AFM operation is introduced, wherein the fundamental eigenmode of the cantilever is excited to perform the topographical scan and a simultaneously excited higher eigenmode is used to perform force spectroscopy. The dissertation further presents the development of a trimodal AFM characterization method for ambient air operation, wherein three eigenmodes of the cantilever are simultaneously excited with the objective of rapidly and quantitatively mapping the variations in conservative and dissipative surface properties. The new methods have been evaluated within numerical simulations using a multiscale simulation methodology, and experimental implementation has been accomplished for two multifrequency variants that can provide 2-dimensional surface property contrast

The ethics of an all-inclusive plan: An investigation of social sustainability in the case of all-inclusive resorts, Jamaica

Ethics and sustainability are commonly used catchphrases in the modern business world. As several hospitality entities go out of their way to provide the emergent pro-environmentalist guest with value-added ‘green’ goods and services, others are forced to re-analyse their operational strategies to maintain competitive advantage (Miao and Wei 2012). The all-inclusive system, a marketing paradigm that involves inclusion of all (or most) hotel services at one standard price, has been extremely popular since the 1970s. This system gained prominence with the advent of mass tourism, and is still very common in the Caribbean islands. However, this bundling system has not been scrutinised from a sustainability perspective. The research recognises that sustainability is not limited to environmental practices, but also focuses on economic benefits and social development (Elkington 1997). A review of recent scholarship in the sustainability domain reveals that the environmental dimension has been the key focus of research, while the social aspect of sustainability has received little attention (Bonini et al. 2010). This study therefore aims to address this gap and investigate social sustainability of all-inclusive system. The research is located in Jamaica, a popular destination for all-inclusive travel. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with front desk agents at all-inclusive Resort X. Findings indicate that although employees value direct employment created by the resort, they resent some of the necessarily evils associated with all-inclusive system, such as lack of entrepreneurial opportunities, exclusion and subservience. Based on analysis of qualitative data, the paper presents a conceptual framework, the final outcome of this study. The conceptual model depicts four key dimensions of social sustainability on a hierarchical scale, based on importance attached to each of these by the respondents. The findings establish that employees and wider communities are increasingly expecting businesses to act responsibly. It is important to adopt a holistic and balanced approach to issues concerning business ethics and sustainability.Keywords: sustainability, all-inclusive, ethics, business ethics, triple bottom lin

Kinetics of quantitative HBsAg during antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis B.

Chronic HBV infection is prevalent in Indian population with prevalence rate of 2-4% . It is wellknown to cause chronic hepatitis , chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It is the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in most parts of Asia. It is a global health issue resulting in significant annual mortality world wide . Studies from India have shown predominance of Genotype D and A. Patients with high viral counts and persistent inflammation ( elevated liver enzymes or histopathologically) have more incidence of disease progression and related complication . Both e antigen and surface antigen reproduced by Hepatitis B virus. These markers are useful in diagnosis and management of patients with hepatitis B. HBeAg seroconversion is important in natural history of CHB patients as it indicates decline in viral replication and subsequent remission of liver disease. 20 - 30 % seroconverted patients may have reactivation of hepatitis B virus which may progress to E antigen negative chronichepatitis . Such patients are still prone for development of chronic liver disease and HCC. There are 4 phases in the natural history of chronic HBV infection : immune tolerant (IT) , immune clearance (IC) , lowreplicative (LR) and E antigen negative hepatitis (ENH) . These phases are defined by specific virological, biochemical and serological characteristics including liver enzymes , DNA loads , e Antigen status . These phases are not necessarily sequential and do not occurs in all individuals. Antiviral therapy including nucleos(t)ide inhibitors or interfern therapy can lead to biochemical and virological remission. Recent evidence suggests that response to anti viral therapy is extrapolated in to reduced incidence of chronic liver disease and hepato cellular carcinoma. Interferon therapy is effective only in 30-40 % of patients and its use is limited by side effects and high costs. AIMS : Primary Objective : To study the pattern of decline in Hepatitis B surface antigen levels (qHBsAg) on anti-viral therapy (both nucleos(t)ide and interferon therapy) and its correlation with decline in HBV DNA levels. Secondary Object ives: 1 . Study the predictors of virological response . 2 . Study the correlation o f qHBsAg decline with e antigen status , ALT. CONCLUSIONS : Absence of any reduction in qHBsAg levels was associated with absence of response to IFN. There was no significant reduction in qHBsAg levels after 18 months of NA therapy despite significant reduction in DNA levels. Baseline HBV DNA level and not qHBsAg level was the only predictor of complete virological response. No meaningful correlation was noted between qHBsAg and HBV DNA levels with either ETV or with TDF therapy. There was no correlation noted between ALT level and qHBsAg level during antiviral therapy. The trend of qHBsAg levels needs to be monitored long term along with DNA levels while on NA therapy so that eventual sustained viral response after NA cessation can be predicted

Optimizing the resource utilization of enterprise content management workloads through measured performance baselines and dynamic topology adaptation

To oblige with the legal requirements, organizations have to keep data up to a certain amount of time.They are creating a huge amount of data on daily basis therefore it is very difficult for them to manage and store this data due to the legal requirements. This is where Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system comes into picture. ECM is a means of organizing and storing an organization's documents and other content that relates to the organization's processes. With ECM being offered as a service, thanks to cloud computing it makes sense to offer this functionality as a shared service. There are various benefits of offering it as a shared service one of which is that it is a cheaper method to meet the needs of large organizations with different requirements for ECM functionality. ECM systems use resources like memory, central processing unit (CPU) and disk which are shared among different clients (organizations). With every client, a service level agreement is there which describes the performance criteria a provider promises to meet while delivering the ECM service. To improve the performance of the ECM by optimizing the use of resources and match the Service level agreements various techniques are used. In this thesis, heuristics technique is used. Performance baselines and utilization of resources are measured for different workloads of the clients and on the basis of that, resources of the ECM can be dynamically provisioned or assigned to different clients get the optimized resource utilization and better performance. First of all typical workload is designed which is similar to the work being performed by various banks and insurance companies using IBM ECM systems and which consists of interactive and batch type of operations. Performance baselines are being measured for these workloads by monitoring the key performance indicators (KPIs) with variable number of users performing operations on the system at the same time. After getting the results for KPIs and resource utilization, resources are being assigned dynamically according to their utilization in a way that the use of resources is optimized and clients are satisfied with better service at the same time

Food Waste Drivers in Corporate Luxury Hotels:Competing perceptions and priorities across the service cycle

Drawing on data gathered through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and document analysis at five-star hotels in UK and Germany, this paper examines the competing pressures driving waste generation and prevention at different stages in the food production and service cycle. Primary data indicated that senior managers recognised the potential savings that could be achieved by preventing food waste. Despite this, many wasteful practices were normalised within routine operations. This was partly attributed to the corporatised business model and brand strategy in which premium pricing and luxury experiential propositions potentially transformed food waste reduction strategies into sources of risk. Past research generally categorised food as being edible or inedible. In contrast, the terms usable/unusable are proposed and this paper discusses how corporatised practices and value propositions rendered usable foods unusable. It considers how this type of corporate system frames waste problems and thus solutions, leading to various consequences. The discussion also explores how those systems shaped the organisational culture and the agency of staff who engaged with the service cycle at and across multiple points. The findings of this paper are based on primary data collected from a small number of corporately governed luxury hotels. Consequently, the closing parts of this paper outline how the insights generated here could be applied to the study of alternative organisational arrangements and operational types

Sustainability in Higher Education: An exploratory investigation of hospitality management courses

Abstract This paper aims to investigate students’ perceptions about sustainability curricula in hospitality management degree programmes. Sustainability, a prime business concern, is now a prominent agenda in higher education, and also in hotel management courses. The study is located in India and adopts a positivist epistemological position. Quantitative data was collected through structured questionnaires from 250 undergraduate students undergoing hospitality degree programmes in the states of Jammu and Kashmir. Data analysis was done through descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS. The findings establish that students are engaged in environmental literacy and view this as an important concern for their future. Respondents who demonstrate greater awareness and concerns in everyday life attach greater importance to such issues in a business context also. Lastly, the mode of delivery of sustainability-related modules deeply impacts students’ attitudes toward this all-important agenda. Sustainability education is most effective when it is embedded into all aspects of the course or forms the overall context within which hospitality management courses are delivered.</jats:p

Implications of Banking Regulations on Online Payment Failures

This paper explores the `latent economy' of online transaction failure that prevails in the digital payment system. A two-variant model of profit, with a different cost function in each variant, has been proposed to examine the profit of commercial banks. The model considers that when an online transaction fails, banks use the money held in the Unified Payment System to earn revenue in the form of interest income by investing the same. The theoretical exposition of the model has been corroborated by simulation by assuming feasible parametric restrictions and exogenous values. The paper finds that commercial banks make profit by using the held amount at the existing cost. As the proportion of the held money used by the banks increases, their profits increase and the commercial banks incur losses when an `alternative cost' with stricter penalties is imposed