Saving Sita: The Ramayana and Gender Narratives in Postcolonial Hindu Nationalism

This thesis examines the role that the Hindu epic the «em»Ramayana«/em» plays in shaping the relationship between conservative Hindu Indian nationalism and gender in post-colonial India. It demonstrates how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has manipulated understandings of the Ramayana to best serve its political aims since 1980, and to further an inherently sexist and discriminatory agenda.«br /» «br /» Chapter One outlines the role of exclusionary narrative in constructing national identity along conservative and fundamentalist lines. Drawing from this, it goes on to present and expand upon the key research questions explored in this thesis. Chapter Two examines the various relevant fields of literature which are involved in this discussion. Chapter Three outlines the key methodological fields from which this thesis draws as an intersectional study. Chapter Four analyses Valmiki’s Ramayana in considering its depiction of gender constructs, and touches upon the significance of the 1987 Ramayan television serial by Ramanand Sagar. Chapter Five explores the role of gender in the Indian Independence movement and the development of Hindu nationalism. It then examines postcolonial secularism and nationalism, and women’s rights till the BJP’s founding in 1980.«br /» «br /» Chapter Six focuses on India, the rise of the BJP, and the shape of women’s issues over the past forty years. Chapter Seven focuses upon three separate endeavours to approach the Ramayana«em» «/em»from unconventional perspectives, one of which is my experience writing and directing the 2014 production Fire to Earth«em» «/em»with the UNSW Indian Society. Chapter Eight outlines the BJP’s attempts to moderate in recent years, summarises the current state of women’s affairs, and concludes by highlighting some of the lacunae that still need to be addressed in this field.«br /» «br /» This thesis situates itself at the intersection of Ramayana studies, Indian women’s studies, and postcolonial Indian politics. It takes a multifaceted methodological approach to answering its principal questions, incorporating narrative studies, politics, gender studies, and literature studies. I acknowledge the numerous perspectives in these fields and synthesise their various contributions to illustrate the deep-rooted connections between Hindu nationalism, gender exclusion and oppression, and the Ramayana

IMMUNOMODULATORY, ANTICANCER AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF CYCLEA PELTATA (LAM.) HOOK. F. AND THOMSON

Objective: The present study was performed to evaluate the immunomodulatory, anticancer, and antioxidative properties of the fraction (CP_2) isolated from Cyclea peltata. Methods: Immunomodulation was evaluated in lymphocytes by lymphocyte proliferation assay and in THP-1 macrophage cell lines by MTT assay. The nitrite production by the macrophages was also measured by the nitrite assay using griess reagent. The anticancer activity of the fraction was determined by MTT assay. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH assay and total antioxidant assay by phosphomolybdenum method. It is expressed as number of gram equivalent of ascorbic acid. Results: The plant fraction showed the presence of flavonoids which induced lymphocyte proliferation rate of 4.29±0.007 at 100 μg/ml. It was not toxic to THP-1 macrophage cells and also could induce nitrite production at 1 mg/ml. It also exhibited good anticancer activity at 100 μg/ml after 48h of incubation. The DPPH activity was found to be low since 100 μg/ml showed only an inhibition rate of 22±0.026. The total antioxidant activity at 1000 μg/ml of CP_2 was found to be equivalent to 79±0.03 μg/ml of ascorbic acid exhibiting moderate antioxidant activity. Conclusion: The fraction CP_2 containing flavonoid, isolated from Cyclea peltata has good immunomodulatory, antioxidant and anticancerous property

EVALUATION OF IMMUNOMODULATORY AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF POLYSACCHARIDES ISOLATED FROM CALLICARPA MACROPHYLLA VAHL.

Objective: To evaluate the immunomodulatory and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides from Callicarpa macrophylla Vahl. leaves.Methods: Three different fractions of polysaccharides (PC, PH, PA) were isolated. The percentage of sugar in the extracted samples was checked by phenol-sulphuric acid method. Lymphocyte proliferation assay was done to evaluate its immunomodulatory activity. 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and total antioxidant assay was done to evaluate its antioxidant property.Results: The total polysaccharide content in PC, PH and PA was found to be 88%, 14% and 87% by the phenol-sulphuric acid method. All the three polysaccharides showed in vitro growth stimulatory effect on isolated normal lymphocytes. The proliferative index of PC, PH, PA was found to be 1.28±0.03, 1.71±0.04 and 1.12±0.01 at a concentration of 500 μg/ml indi­cating immunomodulatory activity. PC, PH, PA showed a % inhibition of DPPH radical at 40.11±0.005 %, 29.18±0.01 % and 16.82±0.007 %. A dose-dependent activity was shown for the DPPH assay. Total antioxidant activity was found to be higher in PA. Both PC and PH showed almost equal antioxidant activity.Conclusion: The results of the present study indicates that polysaccharides from Callicarpa macrophylla Vahl. boosts the immune system and help overcome the negative effects of oxidative stress, thus, contributing to the development of new drugs.Â

Fundamentals and Theory of HPTLC-Based Separation

Abstract High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) is a form of thin-layer chromatography (TLC) that provides superior separation power using optimized coating material, novel procedures for mobile-phase feeding, layer conditioning, and improved sample application. It promotes for higher separation efficiencies, shorter analysis time, lower amounts of mobile phase, and efficient data acquisition and processing. The major parameters that influence separation of the constituents within a mixture are the partition coefficients, retention factor (R f ), and capacity factor of the individual constituents on the plate, selectivity of the mobile and stationary phase to the solutes, and the plate height that decide the separation efficiency as well as resolution of the individual constituents within a mixture. The partition coefficient is defined as the molar concentration of the analyte in the stationary phase to that in the mobile phase. R f , a fundamental qualitative value, is expressed as the ratio of migration distances of an individual components of a mix relative to the mobile phase. Capacity factor (k) is a fundamental characteristic of a substance that determines its qualitative chromatographic behavior. It can be expressed as the ratio of the retention time of the substance in the stationary to that in the mobile phase and is influenced by the chemical nature of the two phases. The separation number (SN) that influences separation power of HPLC is defined as the highest possible number of components that are completely separated in a mixture under a gradient-free isocratic TLC. The efficacy of separation of two components of a mixture in a chromatogram is termed as resolution and is influenced by the selectivity of the components between the stationary and the mobile phase, mobile phase flow rate influenced by particle size and solvent strength that influence capacity factors

Estimation of phenolic acids in cinnamon, clove, cardamom, nutmeg and mace by high performance liquid chromatography

Phenolic acids of five commercially important spices, namely, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, nutmeg and mace were quantitated by high performance liquid chromatography using external standard method. Protocatechuic acid was the predominant phenolic acid in cinnamon bark, while gallic acid dominated in clove buds. The major phertolic acids in cardamom seeds and nutmeg were caffeic acid + vanillic acid while ferulic acid and synapic acid predominated in mace. &nbsp

PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF NON-IRRADIATED AND Γ-IRRADIATED MANGO (MANGIFERA INDICA L.) JUICE AGAINST ETHANOL-INDUCED OXIDATIVE STRESS IN ALBINO RATS

ABSTRACTObjective: The aim of this study is to explore the protective effect of non-irradiated and γ-irradiated mango juice (NMJ and GMJ) against ethanolinducedhepatic and renaldysfunctionin rats.Methods: A total of 36 male Wistar rats were selected and randomly divided into six groups of six animals each, and the treatment was given everyday via orogastric tube for 30 days. Group I rats served as normal control group. Group II, III, IV, V, and VI rats received absolute ethanol, NMJ, GMJ,ethanol+NMJ, and ethanol+GMJ, respectively. At the end of experimental period, the animals were sacrificed, and serum was separated for liverand kidney markers analysis. The tissues (liver and kidney) were excised for histopathological changes and lipid peroxidation, enzymatic, and nonenzymaticantioxidantsactivitieswereestimated.Results: Ethanol treatment resulted in the depletion of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione-stransferaseactivities,andreducedvitaminCandreducedglutathionecontent,higherlevelofmalondialdehyde,increasedactivitiesofserumalanineaminotransferase,aspartateaminotransferase,alkalinephosphatase,gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and elevated levels of serum urea, creatinine,uric acid causing malfunction of hepatic, and renal tissues, when compared to control rats. Mango juice (both NMJ and GMJ) co-treatment with ethanolingested rats, were envisaged to possess significant antioxidant defense properties and help in the recovery of tissues from ethanol-induced oxidativedamage. The results showed that degenerative changes in hepatic and renal cells of ethanolic groups were minimized by the administration of mangojuice, as revealed by histopathological examination.Conclusion: The current findings suggest that treatment with mango juice reduces ethanol-induced oxidative stress, thereby protecting the hepaticand renal tissue from ethanol-induced damage.Keywords: γ-irradiation, Mango juice, Ethanol, Oxidative stress, Antioxidant enzymes, Liver, Kidney

Gamma Radiation Effects on Peanut Skin Antioxidants

Peanut skin, which is removed in the peanut blanching process, is rich in bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties. The aims of this study were to measure bioactive compounds in peanut skins and evaluate the effect of gamma radiation on their antioxidant activity. Peanut skin samples were treated with 0.0, 5.0, 7.5, or 10.0 kGy gamma rays. Total phenolics, condensed tannins, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity were evaluated. Extracts obtained from the peanut skins were added to refined-bleached-deodorized (RBD) soybean oil. The oxidative stability of the oil samples was determined using the Oil Stability Index method and compared to a control and synthetic antioxidants (100 mg/kg BHT and 200 mg/kg TBHQ). Gamma radiation changed total phenolic content, total condensed tannins, total flavonoid content, and the antioxidant activity. All extracts, gamma irradiated or not, presented increasing induction period (h), measured by the Oil Stability Index method, when compared with the control. Antioxidant activity of the peanut skins was higher than BHT. The present study confirmed that gamma radiation did not affect the peanut skin extracts’ antioxidative properties when added to soybean oil

THE EFFECT OF CONTRAST ENHANCEMENT ON EPIPHYTE SEGMENTATION USING GENERATIVE NETWORK

The performance of the deep learning-based image segmentation is highly dependent on two major factors as follows: 1) The organization and structure of the architecture used to train the model and 2) The quality of input data used to train the model. The input image quality and the variety of training samples are highly influencing the features derived by the deep learning filters for segmentation. This study focus on the effect of image quality of a natural dataset of epiphytes captured using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), while segmenting the epiphytes from other background vegetation. The dataset used in this work is highly challenging in terms of pixel overlap between target and background to be segmented, the occupancy of target in the image and shadows from nearby vegetation. The proposed study used four different contrast enhancement techniques to improve the image quality of low contrast images from the epiphyte dataset. The enhanced dataset with four different methods were used to train five different segmentation models. The segmentation performances of four different models are reported using structural similarity index (SSIM) and intersection over union (IoU) score. The study shows that the epiphyte segmentation performance is highly influenced by the input image quality and recommendations are given based on four different techniques for experts to work with segmentation with natural datasets like epiphytes. The study also reported that the occupancy of the target epiphyte and vegetation highly influence the performance of the segmentation model

Protective effects of phytocompounds from Alpinia calcarata (Haw.) Roscoe in Freund’s adjuvant induced arthritis in rats

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disorder of unknown etiology which affects multiple joints and causes cartilage erosion. Due to the side effects associated with the conventional treatment strategies, alternate medicine using plant extracts is on the rise for the treatment of arthritic conditions. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-arthritic potential of two phytocompounds from Alpinia calcarata (Haw.) Roscoe, a potential medicinal herb, locally called ‘Kolinji’, used in traditional medicine. The selected compounds, fenchol and 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol, were evaluated for their efficacy in Freund’s complete adjuvant induced arthritis in rats. Arthritis assessment was done by measuring the paw volume, paw size, arthritic score and body weight. Various hematological and biochemical parameters were assessed on the last day of the study. Histological and radiological analysis of the ankle joints was done. The compounds treated at both doses (50 and 100 mg/kg body wt.) showed a dose dependent decrease in paw volume, paw size and arthritic score following arthritis induction. Treatment with the standard drug (diclofenac) and phytocompounds were followed by favourable outcome in the altered hematological parameters and the level of liver enzymes. The radiological and histological analysis also confirmed the anti-arthritic potential of these compounds. The results revealed the potential of the plant for use in the therapeutic management of rheumatoid arthritis