Antiviral activity of (E)-cinnamaldehyde revisited with nanoscience tools

Contradictory results have been reported regarding the anti-viral activity of (E)-cinnamaldehyde, a major constituent (~69%) of cinnamon. Here we show that (E)-cinnamaldehyde alone has very low antiviral property contrary to the belief of commoners. There are early sporadic reports in ancient medicinal practices that fine sand was used for increasing the efficacy of antiviral drugs. Can we increase the efficacy of (E)-cinnamaldehyde marginally by using one of the major constituents of sand like silica? Yes, when nanosilica is used as a carrier during (E)-cinnamaldehyde administration, the antiviral efficacy of the resultant cocktail increases marginally. Therefore, (E)-cinnamaldehyde consumed for centuries in tribal therapy as well as in alternative medicine are largely belief based and does not yield good result till date, when subjected to rigorous scientific investigation

Application of principal component analysis and cluster analysis in regional flood frequency analysis : a case study in New South Wales, Australia

This paper examines the applicability of principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis in regional flood frequency analysis. A total of 88 sites in New South Wales, Australia are adopted. Quantile regression technique (QRT) is integrated with the PCA to estimate the flood quantiles. A total of eight catchment characteristics are selected as predictor variables. A leave-one-out validation is applied to determine the efficiency of the developed statistical models using an ensemble of evaluation diagnostics. It is found that the PCA with QRT model does not perform well, whereas cluster/group formed with smaller sized catchments performs better (with a median relative error values ranging from 22% to 37%) than other clusters/groups. No linkage is found between the degree of heterogeneity in the clusters/groups and precision of flood quantile prediction by the multiple linear regression technique

Identifying the Reliability and Validity of Hard and Soft HRM Measures: A Study on the Banking Sector of Bangladesh

The effectiveness of Human Resource Management (HRM) is based on the realization of two models of HRM – the ‘Hard’ model and the ‘Soft’ model, which are now widely practiced. No study was conducted in the context of Bangladesh. Thus, a valid and reliable measurement of Hard and Soft HRM is vital for managing human resources in changing competitive businessenvironments. This study explores HRM practices in the banking sector of Bangladesh in terms of these two categories. The results indicate that the scale used in the study is valid and reliable to conduct further studies. Descriptive statistics reveals that the banking sector of Bangladesh practices a combination of both Hard and Soft HRM. It is found that most employees of the banks of Bangladesh think that HRM practices and policies can increase employee motivation, satisfaction, commitment, and welfare. Many of the employees in fact consider the HRM practices and policies as fair and facilitating towards employee development

An Evaluation of the Quality of Work Life: A Study of the Faculty Members of Private Universities in Bangladesh

 In Bangladesh, Quality of Work Life (QWL) is still a new concept to emerge although four decades have passed since its inception. Very few initiatives have been taken to identify employee QWL in different sectors of Bangladesh (i.e. banking, hospitals, tobacco, schools, etc.) and the private higher education sector is still unexplored. Thus the current study aims to explore the perception of the faculty members of private universities in Bangladesh about their QWL. The study looks in detail at the prospects and problems of QWL and its related dimensions.A quantitative survey of 72 full-time faculty members from 11 private universities is conducted based on a structured questionnaire designed with a 5-point Likert-scale. First, avalidity and reliability test is conducted. According to the factor mean values, three most positively perceived QWL dimensions are social relevance of work life, safe and healthy working condition, and social integration in the work organization. Correlational analysis reveals a significant relationship between QWL and its dimensions. Several nonparametric t-tests are conducted to explore whether the QWL of the faculty members vary due to the differences in gender, faculty/department, education, job position, experience, and marital status. The results reveal significant differences about the perception of QWL exist in terms of gender and faculty/department of the university. At the end step-wise regression analysis reveals, social relevance of work life, adequate and fair compensation, and constitutionalism, are three dimensions of QWL which work as predictor variables to determine the QWL of the faculty members in private universities

Cephalometric for Orthognathic Surgery (COGS) Analysis for Saudi Population

Objective: To establish the cephalometric (Ceph.) norm by Ceph. for orthognathic surgery (COGS) analysis for Saudi population. Material and Methods: 500 adult Saudi samples (250 males and 250 females) with the age range of 18-30 years old were selected for this study. The selections of samples were based on a normal occlusal relationship, no history of facial trauma and no previous orthodontic treatment. Lateral Ceph. radiographs were tracing by CASSOS software and analyzed by SPSS software according to COGS analysis. Results: Significant differences were showed between the Saudi males and females on most of the Ceph. parameters. The Saudi males had a convex facial profile with chin prominent and more bimaxillary protrusion, upper and lower lip protrusion than the Saudi females. Conclusion: This study evaluated the craniofacial morphological difference between the male and the female population in Saudi Arabia by using COGS analysis. The finding of this study will help for better diagnosis of orthodontic and orthognathic surgical treatment planning and identify the morphological facial characteristics of Saudi patients

Postoperative Pain Management After Sternotomy In Off-Pump Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) Surgery - A Comparative Study Between NSAID (Diclofenac Sodium) and Opioid (Pethidine)

Background: Traditionally, postoperative pain has been managed either reactively with drugs given as needed or proactively with continuous infusion of analgesics. Objectives:The present prospective comparative study was carried out to find difference in efficacy between opioid and NSAID (Non-stroid anti-inflammatory drugs) in the post-sternotomy pain management following off pump coronary bypass graft surgery. Methods: A total of 30 patients were randomly divided into two groups. – 15 patients were treated with NSAID (Diclofenac sodium) and 15 patients with opioid (pethidine) which are not commonly used in cardiac surgery. Patients ranging from 40 – 60 years with ASA Grade I & II who underwent off-pump CABG with median sternotomy were included in the study. Statistics: The test statistics used to analyze the data were Chi-square Test and repeated measure ANOVA. Result & conclusion: The study concluded that the intensity of post-sternotomy pain was inappreciably higher in the NSAID group than that in the opioid group throughout the whole period of observation suggesting that opioid (pethidine) would be a promising analgesic in the post-sternotomy pain management than NSAID (diclofenac sodium) (p = 0.045). Key words: Post-sternotomy pain; OPCAB; choice of analgesic. DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v3i2.7059BSMMU J 2010; 3(2): 91-9

Reasoning in Semantic Web Using Jena

Semantic web extends the current web by adding semantics. By adding semantics we enable intelligent reasoning to be done on web. In this paper an application is created in eclipse using Jena semantic web development framework. Application developed consists of creating several classes and properties. Jena supports three operations on the model which were shown by creating two appropriate schemas. Reasoning capabilities of Jena is demonstrated by applying an OWL reasoner to the application for additional inference. At last the validity of the inference made after reasoning was tested and it was found to be consistent. Keywords: Semantic web, Ontology, Eclipse, Jena, Reasoner

Semantic Web Personalization: A Survey

With millions of pages available on web, it has become difficult to access relevant information. One possible approach to solve this problem is web personalization. Web personalization is defined as any action that customizes the information or services provided by a web site to an individual. When personalization is applied to the semantic web it offers many advantages when compared to the traditional web because semantic web integrates semantics with the unstructured data on web so that intelligent techniques can be applied to get more efficient results. We have presented various approaches that are used for personalization in semantic web in this paper. The core of semantic web is the ontologies which are defined as explicit formalization of a shared understanding of a conceptualization. We exploit the machine understandable feature of semantic web to device strategies that perform effective personalization such that the results returned to the user are more relevant to the goal set by him. In this paper we have presented the classification of personalization techniques used for semantic web. Keywords: semantic web,ontologies,personalization,recommendation,user profile