Academic Year 2021/22 Tag

With Bhagawan’s immense love & grace, the Staff and Students of the Brindavan Campus of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Bengaluru, were blessed with a new Healthcare Facility on 4 September 2021. This noble initiative was lovingly supported by our alumni.

The facility houses a doctor’s consultation room, a furnished medical ward with beds, and a pharmacy to meet the day-to-day health care needs of the staff and students of SSSIHL, Brindavan Campus, and the residents of the Ashram.

Located in the S. N. Singh block of the Brindavan Ashram, the new Healthcare Facility was inaugurated by our revered Chancellor, Sri K. Chakravarthi, I.A.S., Prof. Dr. C.B Sanjeevi, Vice-Chancellor, SSSIHL and Dr. Ramkumar, Senior Consultant, and HoD, General Medicine, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences (SSSIHMS), Whitefield, in the presence of Prof. B Sai Giridhar, Registrar, SSSIHL, Dr. Kamakshi Kannan, Senior Consultant, and HoD, Pediatrics, SSSIHMS, Whitefield, Prof. C.N. Sundaresan, Director and Dr. T. Ravi Kumar, Warden of the SSSIHL Brindavan Campus, along with other staff and research scholars of the institute.

Video – https://youtu.be/2uv_4608R7M

The SSSIHL Research team, led by Asst. Professor, Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy, has published a new paper in ACS Applied Nano Materials that explores the use of a novel biopolymer, Lycoat®, to synthesize silver nanoparticles via a frugal disruptive approach. The augmented enhancements obtained from these nanoparticles were utilized for mobile phone-based attomolar sensing of environmentally hazardous mercury (Hg2+) ions.

Identifying the Issue

• Chemical, microwave and sonication assisted synthesis of nanoparticles have been used frequently. However, the advantages of UV light, an abundant renewable natural source, is seldom discussed which is significantly conducive for the synthesis of nanomaterials
• Metal ions in unregulated concentrations wreak havoc in the ecosystem by entering the food chain. The alarm with regard to mercury poisoning has been raised world-wide and several methodologies are adopted for detection of Hg2+ ions at extremely low concentrations for early diagnosis and environmental monitoring
• There is an urgent need of a frugal science based disruptive technology for the fabrication of nanomaterials to be used in translational applications that are rapid, low-cost and user-friendly, portraying high sensitivity and specificity

Objective of the Research

• Identifying eco-friendly and cost-effective approach for the synthesis of nanoparticles with defined geometries and anisotropy that can aid in achieving augmented fluorescence enhancements
• Improving the sensitivity and specificity of the sensor materials in comparison with the cost intensive and hazardous technologies that are currently being utilized. Sensors are extensively used in environmental health monitoring, public health control, industries and homeland security

Who should read this?

Anyone in industry, working directly or indirectly on sensor development or sensing related technologies including, security, surveillance, monitoring, environmental safety monitoring and medical technologies

Bio-Nano Inspired Anisotropic Interfaces- A Frugal Engineering Green Chemistry Approach

• The eco-friendly and biocompatible methodologies for diverse applications in nanophotonics and biomedical domains are discussed in this work
• Lycoat® is a plant derived biopolymer that complies with the European directive on food additives & USFDA and consequently is considered as a natural food ingredient. It is beneficial for use in patients (wound dressings), consumers and has found useful applications in food, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. Even though Lycoat® has been used extensively in the industries, it has so far not been explored for the green synthesis of anisotropic nanoparticles
• Three main challenges in the development of nanotechnologies have been addressed theoretically and experimentally in this work. The biosynthesized nanomaterials present: (i) non-toxic bio-inspired frugal science approach for synthesizing nanoparticles, (ii) obtaining augmented fluorescence emission enhancements using anisotropic nanoparticles, (iii) development of sensors with high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of hazardous heavy metal ions

Key Features and Benefits

• Bio-inspired synthesis route for nanoparticles
• Synthesis of anisotropic nanoparticles with defined geometries using a green synthesis nano-approach
• Bio-inspired approach in surface Plasmon-coupled emission platform by utilizing the synthesized nanofractals and nanocubes in three different SPCE interfaces- spacer, cavity and extended cavity architectures
• The multifold nanogaps generated by the nano-engineered hybrids sustain innumerable hotspots catering to attomolar sensitivity of the fluorescent dye molecule, rhodamine B
• The proposed green nanotechnology platform is useful in the sensing of heavy metals that are hazardous to the environment and human health

Impact

• A simple, cost-effective, frugal methodology is adopted to synthesize silver nanoparticles using a plant derived biopolymer- Lycoat® and applied them on a conventional existing sensor technology based on plasmonic platform
• The silver nanofractals (AgNFs) and silver nanocubes (AgNCs) synthesized here using a biocompatible Lycoat® polymer would be of immense use as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-oxidant, anticancer, and antiviral agents
• The well-known ability of the biocompatible Lycoat® polymer as films, and their ability to yield AgNFs and AgNCs (as reported here) upon simple UV exposure is being tested on different cloth materials (masks) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic
• An industry or market seeking such devices with augmented sensitivity could take forward the proposed methodology for utility in environmental safety and industrial applications
• A green approach for nano-engineering of silver nanoparticles and photonic sensor platforms that are of immense benefit for low- and middle-income countries, in resource-limited settings
• The mobile phone-based sensor platform presents a user-eco-friendly and economical detection compared to existing cost intensive spectrophotometers

Team

Sriram Rathnakumar, Seemesh Bhaskar, Aayush Rai, Darisi V. V. Saikumar, Naga Sai Visweswar Kambhampati, Venketesh Sivaramakrishnan and Sai Sathish Ramamurthy. Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh 515134, India

Paper Published in: ACS Applied Nano Materials

Title: Plasmon-Coupled Silver Nanoparticles for Mobile Phone-Based Attomolar Sensing of Mercury Ions

Read Paper Here: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsanm.1c01347

Puttaparthi, 24 August 2021:

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL, Deemed -to-be University) today honoured two eminent Scientists with the Degree of ‘Doctor of Science’ (Honoris Causa) for their outstanding contributions to science & society, at an award ceremony held by the Deemed-to-be-University in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh.

Invoking the blessings of the Revered Founder Chancellor, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Honourable Chancellor, Shri K. Chakravarthi I.A.S, conferred the title of ‘Doctor of Science’ (Honoris Causa), in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) C. B Sanjeevi and other senior officials of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning on 1) Padma Shri Professor G. Venkataraman, a former Vice-Chancellor, SSSIHL, an eminent and celebrated scientist, scholar and educationist, for his outstanding contributions in the field of Nuclear Science, the use of technology in the service of society and inculcating value education in young minds and on 2) Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, a renowned computer scientist and engineer and currently the Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation, for his achievements and outstanding contributions in the field of Computer Science and Engineering in the service of society.

Prof. G. Venkataraman, also a former Director, ANURAG (DRDO) is an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, a recipient of numerous awards including the Jawaharlal Nehru FellowShip, the Sir C.V Raman prize and the prestigious Padma Shri. He is also a renowned Condensed matter physicist and a writer.

Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, a former Member of the National Science Board, is a fellow of several prestigious institutions, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the U.S National Academy of Inventors to name a few, where he also served as vice-president for strategic initiatives, and a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Awards and the Governor’s Innovator of the Year for Academia Award for his scientific contributions.

Prof. (Dr.) C. B Sanjeevi, the Vice-Chancellor, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning said “The staff and students of our Deemed-to- be-University are extremely fortunate to be associated with luminaries like Professor G. Venkataraman and Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan. Their mentorship has immensely benefited and shaped the lives of our students over the years. The distinguished awardees are a true guiding spirit for the younger generation to emulate”.

About the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) (Deemed-to-be-University), Puttaparthi, is one of the few institutions in the world offering values-based education to students at the University level. Ethics and morals form the undercurrent of every subject taught at the Deemed to be University, providing a holistic framework of inter-personal development for its students combined with academic excellence. This year, we celebrate the commencement of the University’s 40th year of excellence.

The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) also provides a strong research environment, with exceptional academic practices, that has resulted in the growth of national and international collaborations. The Central Research Instruments Facility (CRIF), based at the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus of the SSSIHL, is one of the few facilities in the country that houses advanced Characterisation/ Analytical Tools to carry out Translational Research in various areas of Science and Technology.

For more Information, contact:

Registrar, SSSIHL, email: [email protected] or [email protected]; Tel: +91 8555287239

Identifying the Issue

Behavioural finance considers that investors are not completely rational economic agents and are subject to cognitive limitations. About 4266 companies are listed on the U.S stock exchange, and Investors cannot provide equal attention to all the stocks and depend on heuristics and shortcuts. We ask:

“Does firm-initiated tweets grab investor attention and propel them to trade in the stock market”

Objective of the Research

• To create a dataset of the corporate tweets for a sample of thirty large corporations of the U.S.A
• To analyse the relationship between the frequency of firm-initiated tweets and changes in stock returns and trading volume

Who should read this?

Stock market investors, traders, social media managers and corporate communication heads in the U.S.A will find the results valuable

Solution

• Developed an algorithm on R programming language using “rtweet” and “BatchGetSymbols” packages to obtain firm-initiated tweets, stock prices,
  and trading volumes.
• Countered the API per-user per-day limitation by deploying a task scheduler to run a search query at regular intervals without supervision and executed it on the cloud storage using Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) provided by AWS Amazon Web Services.
• Examined the relationship between corporate tweeting behaviour and stock price using Vector Autoregression (VAR) model and used Impulse response function (IRF) to quantify the shock on the stock market from Tweets.
  We observe that a shock in corporate tweeting behaviour translates into a positive effect on changes in trading volume and returns in 73% and 60% of stocks, respectively

Key Features and Benefits

• The results establishing the association between corporate tweeting behaviour and traded values of return and volume will help corporates strategize the impact of their social media communication on the stock market
• Using corporate tweet frequency, investors can build forecasting models to predict future price movements to earn superior returns
• The study contributes to the scarce literature on the analysis of firm-initiated tweets on volumes and provides researchers the opportunity to examine content analysis on firm-initiated tweets

Impact

A study on the adoption and usage of social media by America’s largest companies, the Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts, found that Twitter topped the list. Twitter has revolutionized corporate communication and have become important channels for disseminating information.

The association between corporate tweeting behaviour and the stock market opens up great opportunities for corporations concerning corporate information disclosure. It has opened up a new discussion on the power of communication over actions, where social media users give great weightage to tweets and take decisions. In the 21st century, corporations will focus more on tweets to win the corporate war as “A Tweet is mightier than the sword”.
 

Team

• G Aditya, Research Scholar, Department of Management and Commerce, SSSIHL
• Dr Subramanian S Iyer, Assistant Professor, Department of Management and Commerce, SSSIHL

Title: “Impact of Firm-Initiated Tweets on Stock Return and Trading Volume”

Read Paper Here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15427560.2021.1949717

The International collaboration between the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL), India and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan began in the year 2015 with multiple teams working together from both the institutions. Over the years, the collaboration has grown stronger with multiple student exchanges and internships between the two institutions to work on numerous projects.

In one such successful project, a new research study is now published in Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures. In this research work, STAR Lab, SSSIHL and Matsumi Lab, JAIST have explored the use of 2D Titania nanotube (TiNT) and its Gold (Au) and Platinum (Pt)-nanoparticles decorated analogues for achieving augmented fluorescence emission using the surface plasmon-coupled emission (SPCE) platform.

Motivation

• Need for alternative 2D materials for plasmon-coupled fluorescence emission enhancement
• Extensive use of 2-Dimensional (2D) carbon material in the past for achieving augmented fluorescence emission
• 2D materials such as graphene has π-plasmons that can induce significant π–π interactions with the fluorophores resulting in decreased fluorescence emission
• Pure graphene is expensive and its synthesis involves cumbersome procedures

Research outcome

• The use of alternative, 2D-carbon type material- TiNT for plasmonic application
• Rapid (30 seconds) electrochemical synthesis of hybrid metal-dielectric spacer and cavity material (Au@TiNT, Pt@TiNT and AuPt@Pt-TiNT) for plasmonic applications
• Novel use of 2D-TiNT and Au and Pt-decorated TiNT in SPCE platform to achieve an excess of 100-fold fluorescence emission enhancement
• Purcell factor-based understanding of enhancement form hybrid metal-dielectric Pt@TiNT

Authors

• STAR Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning: Bebeto Rai, Dr. Venkatesh Srinivasan and Dr. Sai Sathish Ramamurthy
• Matsumi Lab, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology-Japan: Dr. Santhosh Bukka and Prof. Noriyoshi Matsumi

Journal: Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures

Read Paper Here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2021.114868

The Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences (DFNS), SSSIHL won prizes for oral presentations at the National E-Conference on ‘Integration of Modern and Traditional Nutrition Approaches Towards Health and Wellbeing: Importance, Challenges and Future’ organized by Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar, on 28th and 29th April 2021.

Ms. Sai Sruthi Shree K K, Doctoral Research Scholar, DFNS won the First Prize for her presentation under the ‘Traditional Nutrition’ category for the paper entitled ‘Ayurvedic Perspective and Modern Nutritional Evaluation of Traditional Indian Brown Rice Varieties’ co-authored by Ms. Ashrita C. Haldipur, Doctoral Research Scholar, DFNS, and Dr. N. Srividya, research supervisor & Head, DFNS. This paper helped to validate the traditional knowledge on the nutritional importance of select pigmented rice varieties using modern research techniques. The award included a certificate of appreciation and a cash prize of rupees five thousand.

Under the ‘Trends in Therapeutic Nutrition’ category, Prof. B. Andallu, Honorary Faculty, DFNS, won the second prize for her paper entitled ‘Amelioration of H2O2-induced oxidative stress in human leukocytes by aniseed (Pimpinella anisum L.) extracts’ co-authored by Dr. Shobha Iyer. The paper explained the potency of aniseeds that are rich in bioactive phytochemicals as a preventive agent against oxidative stress-induced diseases. The award included a certificate of appreciation and a cash prize of rupees three thousand.

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (SSSIHL) congratulates Ms. Sai Sruthi and Prof. B Andallu and team DFNS, for the above recognition and for making the University proud.

Identifying the Issue

a) While there are many vector-host models developed to study the spread of COVID-19 at population level, there are very few works done to understand the interplay of the immune response and the virus particles in the body. None of the current models developed has studied the role and efficacies of HCQ and BCG Vaccination in reducing COVID-19 burden. Furthermore, these models have not considered explicitly the role of inflammatory mediators such as Cytokines and Chemokine’s released by the body in defending the body against the virus.

b) In this work, a within-host mathematical model is developed and optimal control problem is framed to study the role and efficacies of HCQ and BCG Vaccination in reducing the burden of COVID-19

Objective of the Research

• We propose to study the role and efficacies of HCQ and BCG Vaccination in reducing COVID-19 burden by framing an optimal control problem
• Comparative Effectiveness study is also done to support the results obtained in optimal control problem
• Both the above can help to understand the dynamics and control SARS-Cov-2 virus in a better way

Who should read this?

Anyone in the field of Academics and research, working in areas of Mathematics, Bio-Mathematics, Mathematical Modelling, and also Doctors, especially Physicians

Solution

In this work, we consider two scenarios involving the administration of HCQ and BCG vaccine. The findings of these studies include the following: the average infected cell count and viral load decreased the most when both the HCQ and BCG interventions were applied together in both scenarios. On the other hand, the average susceptible cell count decreased the best when HCQ alone was administered in both these scenarios. The basic reproduction number and viral count decreased the best when HCQ and BCG booster interventions were applied together, reinstating the fact obtained earlier in the optimal control setting.

Key Features and Benefits

• It is observed that the viral load decreased the most when both the HCQ and BCG interventions were applied together. This could help doctors and physicians to look for combination therapy as one of the alternatives to stop the multiplication of virus in the body
• The basic reproduction number and viral count decreased the best when HCQ and BCG booster interventions were applied together

Impact

• The work presented in this paper could enhance our understanding of complex interplay of immune response and virus particles in the body
• It can help physicians with decision making in the treatment of life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia

Team

• Bishal Chhetri, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, India
• D K K Vamsi, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, India
• Bhanu Prakash, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, India
• Carani B Sanjeevi, Vice-Chancellor, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, India

Paper Published In: Advances in Dynamical Systems and Application, Volume 16, no. 1, 369-403

Title: “Combined Drug Interventions and its Efficacy in the Reduction of COVID-19 Burden: A Within-Host Modelling Study with reference to HCQ and BCG Vaccination”

Read Paper Here: https://www.ripublication.com/adsa21/v16n1p26.pdf