1,987 research outputs found
Service Quality Assessment in Insurance Sector: A Comparative Study between Indian and Chinese Customers
Globalisation and open market system have created the complex competitive environment not only for the manufacturing sector but also for the service sector. Recent developments in global economy have led the service companies especially the insurance companies to plan and execute their strategies towards increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty through improved service quality. The present study focuses on developing a valid and reliable instrument to measure customer perceived service quality and comparing these between Indian and Chinese Insurance companies. The resulting validated instrument comprised of six dimensions: assurance, personalized financial planning, competence, corporate image, tangibles and technology. The study finds that although both the countries are operating in similar service environment but the responses to these service quality components differ from customers of one country to another. Keywords: Service Quality, Cross Cultural, Insurance, GAP analysis
EFFICACY OF ASCHYOTANA IN THE MANAGEMENT OF VATAJA ABHISHYANDA (ALLERGIC CONJUNCTIVITIS): AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
Background: Inflammation of the conjunctiva due to allergy is known as allergic conjunctiva. It is also seen in the people suffering from allergic rhinitis and is affected by all age groups at least once in their lifetime. But older population and children are more prone for allergic conjunctivitis.
Objectives: To evaluate the effect of Aschyotana karma or the therapy with Bilvadi eye drops in the management of Vataja abhishyanda (allergic conjunctivitis). Design: This was an observational study with random sampling. Forty subjects who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were included for the study. Patients with complaints of Allergic Conjunctivitis were selected from OPD of Department of Shalakya Tantra (Netra-Roga), R.G.G.P.G. Ayu. Hospital Paprola, Himachal Pradesh. These patients were administered Bilvadi aschyotana 2 eye drops 4to 5 times for 15 days and were assessed for itching, redness, burning sensation and photophobia before the treatment, on the 3rd day, once in a week and after the treatment.
Results: Aschyotana with Bilvadi eye drops in Vataja abhishyanda provided significant relief in itching 70.09%, redness 41.7%, burning sensation 47.6% and photophobia 53.3%.  
Classes of exact Einstein-Maxwell solutions
We find new classes of exact solutions to the Einstein-Maxwell system of
equations for a charged sphere with a particular choice of the electric field
intensity and one of the gravitational potentials. The condition of pressure
isotropy is reduced to a linear, second order differential equation which can
be solved in general. Consequently we can find exact solutions to the
Einstein-Maxwell field equations corresponding to a static spherically
symmetric gravitational potential in terms of hypergeometric functions. It is
possible to find exact solutions which can be written explicitly in terms of
elementary functions, namely polynomials and product of polynomials and
algebraic functions. Uncharged solutions are regainable with our choice of
electric field intensity; in particular we generate the Einstein universe for
particular parameter values.Comment: 16 pages, To appear in Gen. Relativ. Gravi
Mechanical versus thermodynamical melting in pressure-induced amorphization: the role of defects
We study numerically an atomistic model which is shown to exhibit a one--step
crystal--to--amorphous transition upon decompression. The amorphous phase
cannot be distinguished from the one obtained by quenching from the melt. For a
perfectly crystalline starting sample, the transition occurs at a pressure at
which a shear phonon mode destabilizes, and triggers a cascade process leading
to the amorphous state. When defects are present, the nucleation barrier is
greatly reduced and the transformation occurs very close to the extrapolation
of the melting line to low temperatures. In this last case, the transition is
not anticipated by the softening of any phonon mode. Our observations reconcile
different claims in the literature about the underlying mechanism of pressure
amorphization.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Pre-main-sequence population in NGC 1893 region
In this paper we continued our efforts to understand the star formation
scenario in and around the young cluster NGC 1893. We used a sample of the
young stellar sources (YSOs) identified on the basis of multiwavelength data
(optical, near-infrared (NIR), mid-infrared (MIR) and X-ray) to study the
nature of YSOs associated with the region. The identified YSOs show an age
spread of ~ 5 Myr. The YSOs located near the nebulae at the periphery of the
cluster are relatively younger in comparison to those located within the
cluster region. The present results are in accordance with those obtained by us
in previous studies. Other main results from the present study are: 1) the
fraction of disk bearing stars increases towards the periphery of the cluster;
2) there is an evidence supporting the notion that the mechanisms for disk
dispersal operate less efficiently for low-mass stars; 3) the sample of Class
II sources is found to be relatively older in comparison to that of Class III
sources. A comparison of various properties of YSOs in the NGC 1893 region with
those in the Tr 37/ IC 1396 region is also discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication in New Astronom
Multiwavelength Studies of Young OB Associations
We discuss how contemporary multiwavelength observations of young
OB-dominated clusters address long-standing astrophysical questions: Do
clusters form rapidly or slowly with an age spread? When do clusters expand and
disperse to constitute the field star population? Do rich clusters form by
amalgamation of smaller subclusters? What is the pattern and duration of
cluster formation in massive star forming regions (MSFRs)? Past observational
difficulties in obtaining good stellar censuses of MSFRs have been alleviated
in recent studies that combine X-ray and infrared surveys to obtain rich,
though still incomplete, censuses of young stars in MSFRs. We describe here one
of these efforts, the MYStIX project, that produced a catalog of 31,784
probable members of 20 MSFRs. We find that age spread within clusters are real
in the sense that the stars in the core formed after the cluster halo. Cluster
expansion is seen in the ensemble of (sub)clusters, and older dispersing
populations are found across MSFRs. Direct evidence for subcluster merging is
still unconvincing. Long-lived, asynchronous star formation is pervasive across
MSFRs.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures. To appear in "The Origin of Stellar Clusters",
edited by Steven Stahler, Springer, 2017, in pres
A Green's function approach to transmission of massless Dirac fermions in graphene through an array of random scatterers
We consider the transmission of massless Dirac fermions through an array of
short range scatterers which are modeled as randomly positioned -
function like potentials along the x-axis. We particularly discuss the
interplay between disorder-induced localization that is the hallmark of a
non-relativistic system and two important properties of such massless Dirac
fermions, namely, complete transmission at normal incidence and periodic
dependence of transmission coefficient on the strength of the barrier that
leads to a periodic resonant transmission. This leads to two different types of
conductance behavior as a function of the system size at the resonant and the
off-resonance strengths of the delta function potential. We explain this
behavior of the conductance in terms of the transmission through a pair of such
barriers using a Green's function based approach. The method helps to
understand such disordered transport in terms of well known optical phenomena
such as Fabry Perot resonances.Comment: 22 double spaced single column pages. 15 .eps figure
The effects of dietary supplementation with inulin and inulin-propionate ester on hepatic steatosis in adults with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
The short chain fatty acid (SCFA) propionate, produced through fermentation of dietary fibre by the gut microbiota, has been shown to alter hepatic metabolic processes that reduce lipid storage. We aimed to investigate the impact of raising colonic propionate production on hepatic steatosis in adults with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Eighteen adults were randomised to receive 20g/day of an inulin-propionate ester (IPE), designed to deliver propionate to the colon, or an inulin-control for 42-days in a parallel design. The change in intrahepatocellular lipid (IHCL) following the supplementation period was not different between groups (P=0.082), however IHCL significantly increased within the inulin-control group (20.9±2.9 to 26.8±3.9%; P=0.012; n=9), which was not observed within the IPE group (22.6±6.9 to 23.5±6.8%; P=0.635; n=9). The predominant SCFA from colonic fermentation of inulin is acetate, which in a background of NAFLD and a hepatic metabolic profile that promotes fat accretion, may provide surplus lipogenic substrate to the liver. The increased colonic delivery of propionate from IPE appears to attenuate this acetate- mediated increase in IHC
Comparitive Analysis of Simhanada and Vatari Guggulu
Guggulu is the resin obtained from Commiphora mukul which is widely used in case of vata-kaphaja rogas especially vata vyadhi. Several guggulu formulations have been explained in the books of Ayurveda but two formulations namely; Simhanada and Vatari Guggulu stand out amongst them. They are both mentioned in Bhaishajya Ratnavali of Govinda Das in the context of Amavata but Simhanada Guggulu was also first mentioned in Chakradutta. Though mentioned in the same book and in the same chapter, they contain the same ingredients. The only difference among them is the proportion of ingredients and method of preparation. Very specific indications have been explained for both the formulations apart from the main indication - Amavata. Aiming to understand what sets these formulations apart, they were prepared and analysed. However, the preparation, though done in accordance with the method explained in Bhaishajya Ratnavali, was a bit difficult. Several trials were done, to prepare both the formulations and the final product was analysed with market samples of the same. The results of analytical values were compared within and between the samples to understand how the proportions and methods of preparation may affect the values. The values obtained from the final products were compared to the values in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India and tabulated.
Keywords: Guggulu, Simhanada, vata-kaphaja rogas, Amavat
Structural and biochemical impact of C8-aryl-guanine adducts within the NarI recognition DNA sequence: influence of aryl ring size on targeted and semi-targeted mutagenicity
Chemical mutagens with an aromatic ring system may be enzymatically transformed to afford aryl radical species that preferentially react at the C8-site of 2′-deoxyguanosine (dG). The resulting carbon-linked C8-aryl-dG adduct possesses altered biophysical and genetic coding properties compared to the precursor nucleoside. Described herein are structural and in vitro mutagenicity studies of a series of fluorescent C8-aryl-dG analogues that differ in aryl ring size and are representative of authentic DNA adducts. These structural mimics have been inserted into a hotspot sequence for frameshift mutations, namely, the reiterated G3-position of the NarI sequence within 12mer (NarI(12)) and 22mer (NarI(22)) oligonucleotides. In the NarI(12) duplexes, the C8-aryl-dG adducts display a preference for adopting an anti-conformation opposite C, despite the strong syn preference of the free nucleoside. Using the NarI(22) sequence as a template for DNA synthesis in vitro, mutagenicity of the C8-aryl-dG adducts was assayed with representative high-fidelity replicative versus lesion bypass Y-family DNA polymerases, namely, Escherichia coli pol I Klenow fragment exo− (Kf−) and Sulfolobus solfataricus P2 DNA polymerase IV (Dpo4). Our experiments provide a basis for a model involving a two-base slippage and subsequent realignment process to relate the miscoding properties of C-linked C8-aryl-dG adducts with their chemical structure
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