EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN INDIAN BANKING

This paper attempts to examine technical efficiency and productivity performance of Indian scheduled commercial banks, for the period 1979-2008. We model a multiple output/multiple input technology production frontier using semiparametric estimation methods. The endogenity of multiple outputs is addressed by semi parametric estimates in part by introducing multivariate kernel estimators for the joint distribution of the multiple outputs and correlated random effects. Output is measured as the rupee value of total loans and total investments at the end of the year. The estimates provide robust inferences of the productivity and efficiency gains due to economic reforms.Banking, Frontier efficiency, Productivity

METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION STUDY FOR QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF GENOTOXIC IMPURITY AND ITS PRECURSOR IN FLUCONAZOLE SAMPLE BY LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY–TANDEM MASS SPECTROMETRY

Objective: The objective of this work is method development and validation study for quantitative determination of 1-[2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-2,3-epoxypropyl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole, a genotoxic impurity and its precursor in a fluconazole drug sample by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry.Methods: LC-MS/MS analysis of these impurities was performed on Hypersil BDS C18 (100 mm x 4.0 mm, 3 µm) column. 5 mmol ammonium acetate and acetonitrile in the ratio of 65:35 (v/v) was used as the mobile phase with a flow rate of 0.4 ml/min. The developed method was accomplished with a short run time of 10 min. Triple quadrupole mass detector coupled with positive electrospray ionization was used for the quantification of genotoxic impurities in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM).Results: The method was validated as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The method was linear in the range of 0.30 µg/g to 11.37 µg/g for impurity A and 0.30 µg/g to 11.34 µg/g for impurity B with a correlation coefficient of 0.999. The accuracy of the method was in the range of 98.25 % to 100.53 % for both impurities.Conclusion: A specific, selective, highly sensitive and more accurate analytical method using LC-MS/MS coupled with positive electrospray ionization has been developed for the quantification of genotoxic impurity (1-[2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-2,3-epoxypropyl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole) and its precursor (1-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-2-[1,2,4]triazol-1-yl-ethanone) at 0.3 µg/g with respect to the 5.0 mg/ml of fluconazole

Unified Quality-Aware Compression and Pulse-Respiration Rates Estimation Framework for Reducing Energy Consumption and False Alarms of Wearable PPG Monitoring Devices

Due to the high demands of tiny, compact, lightweight, and low-cost photoplethysmogram (PPG) monitoring devices, these devices are resource-constrained including limited battery power. Consequently, it highly demands frequent charge or battery replacement in the case of continuous PPG sensing and transmission. Further, PPG signals are often severely corrupted under ambulatory and exercise recording conditions, leading to frequent false alarms. In this paper, we propose a unified quality-aware compression and pulse-respiration rates estimation framework for reducing energy consumption and false alarms of wearable and edge PPG monitoring devices by exploring predictive coding techniques for jointly performing signal quality assessment (SQA), data compression and pulse rate (PR) and respiration rate (RR) estimation without the use of different domains of signal processing techniques that can be achieved by using the features extracted from the smoothed prediction error signal. By using the five standard PPG databases, the performance of the proposed unified framework is evaluated in terms of compression ratio (CR), mean absolute error (MAE), false alarm reduction rate (FARR), processing time (PT) and energy saving (ES). The compression, PR, RR estimation, and SQA results are compared with the existing methods and results of uncompressed PPG signals with sampling rates of 125 Hz and 25 Hz. The proposed unified qualityaware framework achieves an average CR of 4%, SQA (Se of 92.00%, FARR of 84.87%), PR (MAE: 0.46 ±1.20) and RR (MAE: 1.75 (0.65-4.45), PT (sec) of 15.34 ±0.01) and ES of 70.28% which outperforms the results of uncompressed PPG signal with a sampling rate of 125 Hz. Arduino Due computing platformbased implementation demonstrates the real-time feasibility of the proposed unified quality-aware PRRR estimation and data compression and transmission framework on the limited computational resources. Thus, it has great potential in improving energy-efficiency and trustworthiness of wearable and edge PPG monitoring devices.publishedVersio

Formation of Binary & Ternary Chelates of Calmagite with Lanthanides in Presence of Some Amino Polycarboxylic Acids

172-173The formation constants of 1:1 and 1:2 binary Ln(III)-calmagite (CLM) and 1:1:1 ternary [Ln(III)-CLM-A] chelates [where Ln(III)=La, Pr, Nd, Gd, Dy and Y; A= iminodiacetic acid (IMDA), hydroxyethyliminodiacetic acid (HIMDA) and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA)] have been determined pH-metrically in 50% (v/v) aq. methanol medium at 30°C and I= 0.1 M (NaClO4). The ligand calmagite coordinates as a secondary ligand in presence of IMDA, HIMDA and NTA with all the metal ions. The order of formation constants of binary as well as ternary chelates is found to be: La Y

Formation Constants of Binary Complexes of Lanthanides with 2-Hydroxymethylbenzimidazole

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Formation constants of binary & ternary chelates of Ln(III) with maltol & kojic acid in presence of amino carboxylic acids

174-175The formation constants of binary and ternary systems involving 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4-pyrone (HMP) (maltol) and 5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-4-pyrone (HOMP) (kojic acid), with lanthanide metal ions [La(III), Pr(II), Nd(III), Gd(III), Dy(III) and Y(III)] in the presence of iminodiacetic acid (IMDA), hydroxyethyliminodiacetic acid (HIMDA) and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) have been determined in aqueous medium at 30°C and μ = 0.1 M (NaClO4). The order of stabilities of ternary systems is: HMP > HOMP and IMDA > HIMDA > NTA. These are explained in the light of the basi-cities of the Iigands and charge neutralisation