Investment-Linked Takaful Plan Patronage: Evidence From Malaysia

Investment-linked Takaful is a recent innovation introduced in Malaysia. This study focuses on Investment-linked takaful plan selection in Malaysia. We have used a self-administered questionnaire to collect data from 143 respondents from the Klang Valley area. Data collected through the survey was analyzed through descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. Results indicate that fee payment and benefits play a significant role in Takaful operator selection while coverage and benefits affect the investment-linked product selection in Malaysia. This study is unique as it provides empirical evidence on the investment-linked takaful investment which is limited in supply. Results provided by this study can be useful for takaful operators in designing the most appropriate investment-linked product for attracting customers

Dyspnea Experience and Dyspnea Management in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Bangladesh

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate dyspnea experience and dyspnea management intervention used by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients in Bangladesh.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. The symptom management model developed by Dodd et al. was used to guide the study. Data were collected from 140 COPD patients by using self-report questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data.Results: The patients perceived dyspnea difficulty within the past 24 hours and within the past 7 days at moderate level. The most used dyspnea management methods included bronchodilators, leaning forward position, and keeping still. The patients perceived bronchodilators as somewhat effective method and perceived leaning forward position as quite a bit effective method in reducing dyspnea.Conclusion: The study could guide nurses to promote dyspnea management intervention for COPD patients in Bangladesh, in order to enhance higher quality of life

Velliveethiyar Songs Perception

Female poets have sung fewer songs than any other literary genre. There is a difference between the central theme in masculine songs and the central theme in feminist songs. Poems composed by poets have a deep expression and environment. Thus, her sentiments are expressed in the songs of Sangam literary feminist Vellividiyar. Tolkappiah says that feminine lust should be symbolized. But Vellividiyar's introspection is a way of expressing the woman's lust and indivisibility. The purpose of this research paper is to express the expression of lust (love), the dilemma of power, the condemnation of adultery and consensus in his songs

Integrated Pest Management Strategies Using Endophytic Entomopathogenic Fungi

Insect pests harm crops severely and disperse a wide range of diseases that are transmitted by insects. Chemical pesticides are frequently used to manage them. Due to their constant usage over many years, insect pests have become increasingly resistant to practically all kinds of chemical pesticides, which has increased the demand for alternatives. For effective and environmentally safe insect pest control, insect pathogenic fungi are seen to be a viable alternative to practically all kinds of conventional pesticides. However, the viability of this strategy is being constrained by the sluggish death rate and necessity of large conidial concentrations. The ability of these fungi to regulate insects has previously been examined, but more recent research has focused on their potential to operate as plant endophytes to protect plants from phytopathogens and enhance other elements of agricultural output. The significance of these entomopathogenic fungi as endophytes in the context of biological control is discussed in this article. Finding local strains of entomopathogenic fungi that can colonise endophytes and their possible utility in the management of disease-causing pests are the main goals of our research for this review

An economic analysis of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) cultivation in eastern zone of Haryana (India) under polyhouse and open field condition

The study was conducted in north zone of Haryana (India) state to find out the economic analysis of cucumber cultivation under polyhouse and open field condition. The primary data was collected by personal interview of the selected respondents with the help of well-designed and pre tested schedule. Simple statistical tools like average and percentage were used to calculate the economics of the crop. In the present study, it was found that the cost of cultivation of cucumber per acre under polyhouse was Rs. 283684.40 while in case of open field condition it was Rs. 98003.39. In case of production and net returns, it was higher per acre in polyhouse; 245.47 quintal and Rs. 97138.68, respectively. Present study concluded that yield and income of farmers can be increased with help of polyhouse technology in case of cucumber cultivation

Effect of Neemta 2100 toxicity on acetylcholinesterase and serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase enzymes in serum of fish, Oreochromis mossambicus

Acetylcholinesterase and serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase enzymes have been used as marker monitoring the effect of neem seed based pesticide Neemta 2100 on the fish, Oreochromis mossambicus. Fishes exposed to sublethal concentrations of Neemta 2100 for acute periods of 24 and 48 hours were sacrificed to determine enzyme activities in serum affected due to toxicity. Laboratory studies of in vivo exposure of this pesticide showed synergistic inhibitory effect during acute period of toxicity. Acetylcholinesterase was noticed as 6.25 µm substrate hydrolyzed/mg protein/hour and serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase was noticed as 36.71 µm substrate hydrolyzed/mg protein/hour in control fish serum. Significant decrease in GOT level in Neemta 2100 treated fishes after short term exposure indicated its severe toxicity to fish

Oxidative stress specifically downregulates survivin to promote breast tumour formation.

BackgroundBreast cancer, a heterogeneous disease has been broadly classified into oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) or oestrogen receptor negative (ER-) tumour types. Each of these tumours is dependent on specific signalling pathways for their progression. While high levels of survivin, an anti-apoptotic protein, increases aggressive behaviour in ER- breast tumours, oxidative stress (OS) promotes the progression of ER+ breast tumours. Mechanisms and molecular targets by which OS promotes tumourigenesis remain poorly understood.ResultsDETA-NONOate, a nitric oxide (NO)-donor induces OS in breast cancer cell lines by early re-localisation and downregulation of cellular survivin. Using in vivo models of HMLE(HRAS) xenografts and E2-induced breast tumours in ACI rats, we demonstrate that high OS downregulates survivin during initiation of tumourigenesis. Overexpression of survivin in HMLE(HRAS) cells led to a significant delay in tumour initiation and tumour volume in nude mice. This inverse relationship between survivin and OS was also observed in ER+ human breast tumours. We also demonstrate an upregulation of NADPH oxidase-1 (NOX1) and its activating protein p67, which are novel markers of OS in E2-induced tumours in ACI rats and as well as in ER+ human breast tumours.ConclusionOur data, therefore, suggest that downregulation of survivin could be an important early event by which OS initiates breast tumour formation

Performance Improvement of Cloud Computing Data Centers Using Energy Efficient Task Scheduling Algorithms

Cloud computing is a technology that provides a platform for the sharing of resources such as software, infrastructure, application and other information. It brings a revolution in Information Technology industry by offering on-demand of resources. Clouds are basically virtualized datacenters and applications offered as services. Data center hosts hundreds or thousands of servers which comprised of software and hardware to respond the client request. A large amount of energy requires to perform the operation.. Cloud Computing is facing lot of challenges like Security of Data, Consumption of energy, Server Consolidation, etc. The research work focuses on the study of task scheduling management in a cloud environment. The main goal is to improve the performance (resource utilization and redeem the consumption of energy) in data centers. Energy-efficient scheduling of workloads helps to redeem the consumption of energy in data centers, thus helps in better USAge of resource. This is further reducing operational costs and provides benefits to the clients and also to cloud service provider. In this abstract of paper, the task scheduling in data centers have been compared. Cloudsim a toolkit for modeling and simulation of cloud computing environment has been used to implement and demonstrate the experimental results. The results aimed at analyzing the energy consumed in data centers and shows that by having reduce the consumption of energy the cloud productivity can be improved

Survey of the Beneficial Flowers Available in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India

The flora of an area is considered a vital part of the environment, regulating the prosperity of the biosphere and people's health. It is highly suggested that the proper utilization of plant resources in each part of a country has been useful in conserving the availability and productivity of the flora. The present investigation aimed to evaluate the survey of the beneficial flowers available in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India, from December 2019 to February 2020. The survey studies were divided into four different zones in Coimbatore District: Perur, Ganapathy, Thudiyalur, and Periyanaickenpalayam, respectively. The survey resulted in the collection of 40 plant species belonging to 38 genera, dispersed over 25 families of flowering plants / angiosperms. The dominant families were Apocynaceae and Oleaceae when compared to other families. This study reveals that species such as Calotropis gigantean, Chrysanthemum morifolium, Couroupita guianensis, Nerium oleander, Nyctanthes arbortristis, Nelumbo nucifera, and Tabernaemontana divaricata were used as ritual flowers. The beneficial flowers showed a maximum for ornamental flowers (43 percent), followed by ritual flowers (35 percent), medicinal flowers (15 percent), and cooking flowers (7 percent), respectively. The highest blooming of the flowers (14.89 percent) occurred in March, and the lowest in November and December. Flowers were documented as having economic value, with the highest rate in Rosa sp., and Jasminum sp., which were used as ornamental, medicinal, and cosmetic preparations as valuable resources. Scientific key information on taxonomy and technical approaches to beneficial flowers was analyzed. Flowers play a vital role in human life from birth to death and are used in all auspicious events in India, especially in daily prayers in temples and Indian households