Centre for Management Development

Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) are encountering substantial threats and vulnerabilities at their nesting site in Kolavipalam, Kozhikode, Kerala, India. This study seeks to evaluate the current status of Olive Ridley turtle, identify principal threats, and propose appropriate conservation measures. Data obtained from the local NGO, Theeram Prakriti Samrakshana Samiti, indicate a declining trend in the number of nesting turtles and hatching success rates over the past 24 years. The Garret ranking method was utilized to rank the primary factors contributing to the decline, with sand mining identified as the most significant threat, followed by coastal erosion, sea wall construction, climate change, incidental catch in trawl nets, tourism activities, and pollution. The study underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive conservation model that integrates community-based approaches with stringent law enforcement and habitat protection. The proposed framework emphasizes inclusive, locally-driven efforts involving primary stakeholders such as local communities, fishermen, with support from NGOs, environmentalists and researchers, alongside institutional bodies like the Forest Department, Department of Tourism, and municipalities. Key components of the framework include capacity building, conservation actions, sustainable eco-tourism initiatives, research and monitoring, and policy and institutional support. The ultimate objective is to ensure sustainable development and biodiversity protection through science-backed and community-centred conservation of Olive Ridley turtles. Future research should focus on analysing the effects of rising temperatures on nesting and hatchling ratios using advanced technologies, developing innovative solutions for reducing pollution and human impacts, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of conservation efforts through combined efforts of government and NGOs.

With major attention paid to the most evidently manifested illness like a seizure, few of the silent and deep-boring illnesses like dental issues are often neglected. This study has aimed to analyze the dental illness in people living with epilepsy (PWE). This was a prospective, single-center, case-control study conducted among PWE and their family members from March to May 2022. A survey on demographic parameters, dental hygiene practices, and symptoms of dental illness was taken, followed by a detailed dental examination of the study participants. Independent t -test was used to compare dental illness among PWE and controls. A total of 69 patients were included, with a mean age of 32.5 ± 2.4 years, and 45 (63%) patients were symptomatic with dental issues. Patients from higher socioeconomic status were found to have better dental hygiene practices but also had a higher prevalence of wasting disease of teeth. About 67 of 69 PWE and 19 of 33 controls were found to have dental illness. PWE had a higher degree of asymptomatic soft tissue abnormalities (24 vs 0%, p < 0.0001) and periodontal disease (13 vs 7.4%, p < 0.0001) as compared to controls. Symptomatic PWE, in comparison to controls, had statistically significant hard tissue abnormalities (66 vs 33%, p = 0.0001), periodontal disease (48 vs 0%, p < 0.0001), and poor dental hygiene status (83 vs 33%, p < 0.0001). Duration and type of epilepsy had no impact on being symptomatic or asymptomatic with dental issues. The hidden yet significant burden of dental illness must be addressed in PWE to improve the quality of life.

Chatbots, otherwise known as autonomous conversational agents, are a rising utilitarian application of Natural Language Processing. They enable the streamlining of information searches and improve user productivity and experience. This study focuses on building a chatbot that is aimed at assisting victims of sexual harassment, using a Large Language Model (LLM). While ML-based chatbots are a notable prospect, LLM-powered chatbots offer more human-like conversations and can surpass humans in empathy. This project evaluated the performance of the LLM Llama-2 model in generating accurate and empathetic answers to create a supportive, sensitive, and informative chatbot for the victims of sexual harassment. The model leverages Retrieval Augmented generation to achieve a commendable accuracy of above 95%, providing information in an understanding and helpful tone. The model is also capable of providing helpful advice without judgement or preconceived notions about the victim, one of the reasons victims do not report their harassers.

Background: Vitiligo is one of the most hypopigmented disorders of the skin, it can be correlated with Swetha kuttam or ven kuttam or ven pulli mentioned in Siddha classical literature. Current therapeutic management available for vitiligo is only moderately effective in controlling further severity of symptoms. Hence in recent times, people rely most on alternative complementary treatments for the management of vitiligo. The research articles have shown the following bio-active compounds present in the selected herbs Kaempferol, Quercetin, Anacardic acid, Glabridin, Isovitexin, Aristolochic acid and Hydnocarpin which is already mentioned in the Siddha literature for the management of vitiligo(venkuttam). Objective: This research article attempts to carry out the molecular docking analysis of the chosen herbal bioactive components against the target enzyme Tyrosinase in Vitiligo. Methods: Docking calculations were done for the obtained bio-active compounds including Kaempferol from Indigofera aspalathoides(Vahl.), Quercetin from Smilax china(Linn.), Tinosporide from Tinospora cordifolia(Willd.)Hook.f.&amp;Thoms, Anacardic acid from Semecarpus anacardium (Linn.), Glabridin from Glycyrrhiza glabra(Linn.), Isovitexin from Psoralea corylifolia (Linn.), Oleic acid from Nigella sativa(Linn.), Aristolochic acid from Aristolochia bracteolata (Lam.) &amp; Hydnocarpin from Hydnocarpus laurifolia (Dennst.) Sleumer against Tyrosinase(PDB)-1WX3, the intended protein. Results: Nine bioactive compounds have been screened in total, the following leads as Quercetin, Glabridin, Isovitexin and Hydnocarpin which interact with target to form four interactions with 70–100% binding effectiveness with the protein – Tyrosinase enzyme. Conclusion: The computational analysis led to the conclusion that the bioactive molecules present in the chosen herbals had significant binding efficacy and may exert promising anti-vitiligo properties.

Cardiovascular diseases are the most endangering illness prevalent in India. Compared to the past, cardiovascular diseases are showing an escalated trend due to the changes in lifestyle and social habits. Drugs are the bedrock of treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Factors like low utilization rates of evidence based therapies, high drug cost and long duration of therapy hinder the rational usage of cardiovascular drugs. The aim of the study is to assess the prescribing pattern of drugs in cardiovascular disease. A prospective observational study conducted in a tertiary care hospital for a period of 3 months from April 2017 to June 2017. In the study, 123 patients were enrolled and assessed with their demographic data, medical history and drugs prescribed. In this study, among 123 cases of cardiovascular diseases assessed, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases was common in males (84%) and more prevalent in age group 51-60 years. While assessing the prescribing pattern of cardiovascular drugs, antiplatelets (90.24%), anticoagulants (55.28%), thrombolytics (4.87%), antianginals (68.29%), antihyperlipidemics (81.3%), antihypertensives (87.80%) and ionotropes (22.76%) were the drugs prescribed. Increasing age, random changes in lifestyle, lack of physical activities, increased stress, work load, smoking like habits have been providing a path to more morbidity and mortality. Drug-drug interaction is a trouble maker in management of cardiovascular diseases as it requires multiple therapies. Effective strategies, regular monitoring has to be implemented to improve the patient compliance and achieve a better outcome.

Facility layout is an important aspect of designing any manufacturing setup. However, the problem of finding optimal layouts is hard and deterministic techniques are not computationally feasible. In this work a genetic algorithm is presented for obtaining efficient layouts. The different aspects involved in the design of efficient genetic algorithms are discussed in detail. It is shown that the population maintained by the genetic algorithm for facility layout should consist of feasible solutions only. A new efficient crossover operator is developed. Experimental results obtained with the proposed algorithm on test problems taken from the literature are promising.