Search results for: North East India

Authors: Yeliz Karaca, Carlo Cattani

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This study focuses on the local Holder exponent as a measure of the function regularity for time series related to finance data. In this study, the attributes of the finance dataset belonging to 13 countries (India, China, Japan, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil, USA) located in 5 different continents (Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America) have been examined.These countries are the ones mostly affected by the attributes with regard to financial development, covering a period from 2012 to 2017. Our study is concerned with the most important attributes that have impact on the development of finance for the countries identified. Our method is comprised of the following stages: (a) among the multi fractal methods and Brownian motion Holder regularity functions (polynomial, exponential), significant and self-similar attributes have been identified (b) The significant and self-similar attributes have been applied to the Artificial Neuronal Network (ANN) algorithms (Feed Forward Back Propagation (FFBP) and Cascade Forward Back Propagation (CFBP)) (c) the outcomes of classification accuracy have been compared concerning the attributes that have impact on the attributes which affect the countries’ financial development. This study has enabled to reveal, through the application of ANN algorithms, how the most significant attributes are identified within the relevant dataset via the Holder functions (polynomial and exponential function).

Keywords: artificial neural networks, finance data, Holder regularity, multifractals

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Authors: Danish Gadda

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Kashmir has been a bleeding-spot in the South Asian politics since 1947 when the subcontinent was bifurcated into Hindu, India and Muslim Pakistan by the departing British colonisers. Kashmir couldn’t accede to either of the two new-born, sovereign nations until tribal invasion from Pakistan forced an unfortunate change of events. India, driven by conditional accession signed by the Kashmir’s last monarch, sent its army to defend Kashmir Valley, with a promise, made subsequently, that the region’s fate would be decided by the natives through an internationally-monitored plebiscite. The country, however, broke its promise, choosing not to withdraw its military to allow the plebiscite, and, instead, strengthened its claim over Kashmir, which it later started describing as her integral part. War, fought in the shape of three and a half bloody battles, ensued between India and Pakistan, even as the United Nations’ intervention managed a ceasefire as early as in the 1950s, though not before Kashmir had come to be divided into its India-controlled and Pakistan-controlled halves. Prolonged, the dispute over Kashmir took a violent turn in 1989-90 with the start of an anti-India armed rebellion. Kashmiris have been fighting for their right to self-determination, and bringing their own life to a grinding halt has been one of their preferred forms of protest against the Indian rule. This form of resistance is locally called ‘Hartals’, and recognised as shutdowns, which have often been prolonged and violent. Since 1989-90, the shutdowns have become only more frequent and forceful, and there are marked days on which Kashmir shuts down in protest every year, like a ritual. This paper is based on a study of how the Indian and Kashmir press covered the shutdowns observed in the troubled valley on four such days: January 26 (Indian Republic Day), February 11 (the day on which India executed a prominent Kashmiri resistance leader), August 15 (India’s Independence Day), and October 27 (the day on which the Indian military has landed in Kashmir). The coverage given by the Indian and Kashmiri press to the shutdowns observed on these days has been studied using the multi-tier content analysis approach: 1) Difference in the number of shutdowns covered by the two section is looked at, 2) the placement of the stories in the two section of the press is analysed, 3) the discourse highlighted by the two section of the press is compared, and 4) the editorials written by the two section of the press about the shutdowns are analysed. The findings show the Indian and the local press have been focussing on the two, predictable extremes of the situation: the Indian press has favoured the state, while the Kashmir or the local press has focussed on the narrative opposing the state’s. The difference is noticed in the quantitative as well as the qualitative aspects of their coverage.

Keywords: Indo-Pak tension, Kashmir conflict, protest shutdowns, South-Asian politics

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Authors: Lusia Ndahafa Nghitotelwa

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India is a home to many languages, cultures, traditions, castes and religions. This diversity, when observed in education, appears to be challenging and difficult to manage with respect to including everyone in the educational system. But in order to achieve this, attempts to understand the complexity of the issue and find some solutions for including everyone in education has been made in India since independence, regardless of the students’ background. Despite that, the challenge is still topical. Plenty of students are left out of the system due to the lack of awareness and appropriate management of these diversities. Therefore, the present paper makes an attempt to study the awareness and management of diversity in Indian schools. Existing studies on diversity in Indian schools, along with how measures and which measures have been taken to accommodate and retain everyone in school, have been looked at, and a thorough critical analysis of findings has been narrated. It was found that a lot of efforts have been conjugated to include and educate children of all castes, religions, and linguistic backgrounds. Furthermore, the awareness of inclusive education among teachers and society members is moderate, but teachers lack the necessary skills and knowledge on how to deal with students with special educational needs in regular classes. Also, the management is aware of inclusive education, but the management does not include teachers in decision-making. Moreover, it was found that the poor management of inclusion services and retention of special needs students in Indian schools results in their poor effective integration into the workforce. Finally, the management was found to have stringent admission criteria, which has the effect of hindering some students from entering the educational system. Based on the results of the study, it is clear that the implementation of inclusive education is still a challenge in India. However, there are promising results in tackling the issue. All children should be given an opportunity to learn together with other children in order to broaden their interest and challenge their potential.

Keywords: awareness, management, inclusive education, students

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Authors: Swadha Singh

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International Solar Alliance is the foremost treaty-based global organization concerned with tapping the potential of sun-abundant nations between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and enables co-operation among them. As a founding member of the International Solar Alliance, India exhibits its positioning as an upcoming leader in clean energy. India has set ambitious goals and targets to expand the share of solar in its energy mix and is playing a proactive role both at the regional and global levels. ISA aims to serve multiple goals- bring about scale commercialization of solar power, boost domestic manufacturing, and leverage solar diplomacy in African countries, amongst others. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts to examine the ways in which ISA as an intergovernmental organization under Indian leadership can leverage the cause of clean energy (solar) diplomacy and effectively shape partnerships and collaborations with other developing countries in terms of sharing solar technology, capacity building, risk mitigation, mobilizing financial investment and providing an aggregate market. A more specific focus of ISA is on the developing countries, which in the absence of a collective, are constrained by technology and capital scarcity, despite being naturally endowed with solar resources. Solar rich but finance-constrained economies face political risk, foreign exchange risk, and off-taker risk. Scholars argue that aligning India’s climate change discourse and growth prospects in its engagements, collaborations, and partnerships at the bilateral, multilateral and regional level can help promote trade, attract investments, and promote resilient energy transition both in India and in partner countries. For developing countries, coming together in an action-oriented way on issues of climate and clean energy is particularly important since it is developing and underdeveloped countries that face multiple and coalescing challenges such as the adverse impact of climate change, uneven and low access to reliable energy, and pressing employment needs. Investing in green recovery is agreed to be an assured way to create resilient value chains, create sustainable livelihoods, and help mitigate climate threats. If India is able to ‘green its growth’ process, it holds the potential to emerge as a climate leader internationally. It can use its experience in the renewable sector to guide other developing countries in balancing multiple similar objectives of development, energy security, and sustainability. The challenges underlying solar expansion in India have lessons to offer other developing countries, giving India an opportunity to assume a leadership role in solar diplomacy and expand its geopolitical influence through inter-governmental organizations such as ISA. It is noted that India has limited capacity to directly provide financial funds and support and is not a leading manufacturer of cheap solar equipment, as does China; however, India can nonetheless leverage its large domestic market to scale up the commercialization of solar power and offer insights and learnings to similarly placed abundant solar countries. The paper examines the potential of and limits placed on India’s solar diplomacy.

Keywords: climate diplomacy, energy security, solar diplomacy, renewable energy

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Authors: R. H. Fattepur, Sameer R. Fattepur, D. K. Sreekantha

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Dairy Farming is one of the key industries in India. India is the leading producer and also the consumer of milk, milk-based products in the world. In this paper, we have attempted to the replace the human expert system and to develop an artificial expert system prototype to increase the speed and accuracy of decision making dairy farming credit risk evaluation. Fuzzy logic is used for dealing with uncertainty, vague and acquired knowledge, fuzzy rule base method is used for representing this knowledge for building an effective expert system.

Keywords: expert system, fuzzy logic, knowledge base, dairy farming, credit risk

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Authors: Flora Paganelli

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The radiometric performance of remotely sensed images is important for volcanic monitoring. The Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on-board Landsat 8 was designed with specific requirements in regard to the noise-equivalent change in temperature (NEΔT) at ≤ 0.4 K at 300 K for the two thermal infrared bands B10 and B11. This study investigated the on-orbit NEΔT of the TIRS two bands from a scene-based method using clear-sky images over the volcanic activity of Kīlauea Volcano and the active East Rift Zone (Hawaii), in order to optimize the use of TIRS data. Results showed that the NEΔTs of the two bands exceeded the design specification by an order of magnitude at 300 K. Both separate bands and split window algorithm were examined to estimate the effect of NEΔT on the land surface temperature (LST) retrieval, and NEΔT contribution to the final LST error. These results were also useful in the current efforts to assess the requirements for volcanology research campaign using the Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) whose airborne prototype MODIS/ASTER instruments is plan to be flown by NASA as a single campaign to the Hawaiian Islands in support of volcanology and coastal area monitoring in 2016.

Keywords: landsat 8, radiometric performance, thermal infrared sensor (TIRS), volcanology

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Authors: Tapan Upadhyay, Aqib Siddiqui, Sameer Khan

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Railway crossing system in India is a manually operated level crossing system, either manned or unmanned. The main aim is to protect pedestrians and vehicles from colliding with trains, which pass at regular intervals, as India has the largest and busiest railway network. But because of human error and negligence, every year thousands of lives are lost due to accidents at railway crossings. To avoid this, we suggest a solution, by using Programmable Logical Controller (PLC) based automatic system, which will automatically control the barrier as well as roadblocks to stop people from crossing while security warning is given. Often people avoid security warning, and pass two-wheelers from beneath the barrier, while the train is at a distance away. This paper aims at reducing the fatality and accident rate by controlling barrier and roadblocks using sensors which sense the incoming train and vehicles and sends a signal to PLC. The PLC in return sends a signal to barrier and roadblocks. Once the train passes, the barrier and roadblocks retrieve back, and the passage is clear for vehicles and pedestrians to cross. PLC’s are used because they are very flexible, cost effective, space efficient, reduces complexity and minimises errors. Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) is used to monitor the functioning.

Keywords: level crossing, PLC, sensors, SCADA

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Authors: Babatunde Joel Todowede

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It is a public knowledge that lack of quality and qualitative education breeds problems besetting Nigeria as a nation today. This paper entitled “Quality and Qualitative Education for all, panacea for insecurity and political unrest in Nigeria” seeks to explore how quality and qualitative education for all will tends to put an end to insecurity and political unrest in Nigeria as a Nation. It may be pertinent to note at this juncture that the development of any modern society or nation is primarily hinged on the functionality of its educational system. There is no developed nation in the world today, which does not owe its advancement to quality and qualitative education. In other words, Education is a vital instrument in the nation’s economic competitiveness, in its people, and in its communities. Hence, Education is not luxury to be cut in difficult economic times – it is an essential element of growth. In fact, education is the bedrock of any society that hopes to be numbered among the developed economies in the world. Nigeria, as a nation, has made continual efforts to assume its rightful place in education on the African continent, but has not been quite lucky. Interestingly however, Quality and Qualitative Education for all will come about if all stakeholders in the Education Sector perform their roles with skill and efficiency. Education is a very sensitive area, hence, needs to be passionate about education, and focused on building a future for the sector.” Quality and qualitative education instill significant core values in every student, which shape them into mature, caring and independent individuals. These values include commitment, collaboration, integrity, responsibility and respect. By imbibing these values in every aspect of their life, they are able to contribute their skills and talents while supporting each other in attaining their lifelong goals. This paper identified lack of proper education as the bane of insecurity and political unrest in the Country and urged the government to review the policy in a way that there will be quality and standard to check insurgency in the Country. More so, until the fallen standard of education in Nigeria is fixed to engage out of school children, the incessant attack on innocent Nigerians, particularly in the North East may get worse.

Keywords: quality and qualitative education, panacea, insecurity, political unrest

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Authors: Cassandra Maffei, Effie Pomaki, Salomé Deslauriers-Brouillard, Levana Dahan, Caroline Storr, Ramasubramanian Ponnusamy, Philippe S. Archambault

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Sexual health education following spinal cord injury (SCI) remains poorly integrated into the rehabilitation process, especially in low-income countries where the topics of disability and sexuality are stigmatized. This research aimed to evaluate a sexual health manual that was created and distributed amongst males with SCI who had received rehabilitation services at Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA), a rehabilitation center located in rural South India. A service evaluation was completed to collect data from a convenience sample of 37 males with spinal cord injuries. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The service evaluation showed that the manual was well received by the sample and had positive impacts on secondary outcome measures, including relationship dynamics and quality of life. It can thus be used as an effective adjunct tool to support the improvement of sexual health knowledge, attitudes, and practices of individuals with SCI.

Keywords: spinal cord injury, sexual health, rehabilitation, India, education, service evaluation

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Authors: Tom Elias, Kiran G. Shirlal

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Coastal erosion is one of the major issue faced by maritime countries, globally. More than 1200 km stretch of Indian coastline is marked eroding. There have been numerous attempts to impede the erosion rate and to attain equilibrium beach profiles. High cost and unavailability of natural rocks forced coastal engineers to find alternatives for conventional hard options like seawalls and groynes. Geosynthetic containment systems, emerged in the mid 20th century proved promising in catering coastal protection in countries like Australia, Germany and United States. The present study aims at reviewing Indian timeline of protection works that uses geosynthetic containment systems. Indian exploration regarding geosynthetic containment system dates back to early 2000s. Generally, protection structures use geosynthetics in the form of Geotubes, Geocontainers, and Geobags with Geotubes being most widely used in the form of submerged reefs, seawalls, groynes and breakwaters. Sand and dredged waste are used to fill these containment systems with calculated sand fill ratio. Reviewing the prominent protection works constructed in the east and west coast of India provides an insight into benefits and the difficulties faced by the practical installation. Initially, geosynthetic structures were considered as a temporary protection method prior to the construction of some other hard structure. Later Dahanu, Hamala and Pentha experiences helped in establishing geotubes as an alternative to conventional structures. Nearshore geotubes reefs aimed to attain equilibrium beach served its purpose in Hamala and Dahanu, Maharashtra, while reef constructed at Candolim, Goa underwent serious damage due to Toe Scour. In situ filling by pumping of sand slurry as in case of Shankarpur Seawall, West Bengal remains as a major concern. Geosynthetic systems supplemented by gabions and rock armours improves the wave dissipation, stability and reflection characteristics as implied in Pentha Coast, Odisha, Hazira, Gujarat and Uppada, Andhra Pradesh. Keeping improper design and deliberate destruction by vandals apart, geosynthetic containment systems offer a cost-effective alternative to conventional coastal protection methods in India. Additionally, geosynthetics supports marine growth in its surface which enhances its demand as an eco-friendly material and encourages usage.

Keywords: coastal protection, geotubes, geobags, geocontainers

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Authors: Sahar Hooshmand, Mohammad Reza Bagherzadeh Anasari

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The aim of this study was to examine the effect of breakfast eating pattern (between frequencies of breakfast consumers and non-consumers) on nutritional status (weight for age, height for age and weight for height). A total 4570 primary school children aged 6-9 years old constituted the sample. From these, 2234 Iranian school children (1218 girls and 1016 boys) and 2336 Indian school children (1096 girls and 1240 boys) were included in a cross sectional study. Breakfast frequency consumption was recorded through an interview with mothers of children. Height and wight of children were taken and body mass index were calculated. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) AnthroPlus software used to assess the nutritional status of the children. Weight for age z-scores were slightly associated with frequency of consuming breakfast in both India (χ2 = 60.083, p=0.000) and Iran (χ2 = 18.267, p=0.032). A significant association was seen between frequency of child‘s breakfast intake and the height z-scores in both India (χ2 = 31.334, p=0.000) and Iran (χ2 = 19.443, p=0.022). Most of children with normal height had breakfast daily in both countries. A significant association was seen with children‘s BMI z-scores of Indian children (χ2 = 31.247, p=0.000) but it was not significant in Iran (χ2 = 10.791, p=0.095). The present study confirms the observations of other studies that showed more frequency in having breakfast is associated with better nutritional status.

Keywords: breakfast, schoolchildren, nutritional status, global food security

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Authors: Shravani Itkelwar, Deepak Tewari, Bhaskar Natarajan

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The energy consumption data plays a vital role in energy efficiency policy design, implementation, and impact assessment. Any demand-side energy management intervention's success relies on the availability of accurate, comprehensive, granular, and up-to-date data on energy consumption. The Building sector, including residential and commercial, is one of the largest consumers of energy in India after the Industrial sector. With economic growth and increasing urbanization, the building sector is projected to grow at an unprecedented rate, resulting in a 5.6 times escalation in energy consumption till 2047 compared to 2017. Therefore, energy efficiency interventions will play a vital role in decoupling the floor area growth and associated energy demand, thereby increasing the need for robust data. In India, multiple institutions are involved in the collection and dissemination of data. This paper focuses on energy consumption data management in the building sector in India for both residential and commercial segments. It evaluates the robustness of data available through administrative and survey routes to estimate the key performance indicators and identify critical data gaps for making informed decisions. The paper explores several issues in the data, such as lack of comprehensiveness, non-availability of disaggregated data, the discrepancy in different data sources, inconsistent building categorization, and others. The identified data gaps are justified with appropriate examples. Moreover, the paper prioritizes required data in order of relevance to policymaking and groups it into "available," "easy to get," and "hard to get" categories. The paper concludes with recommendations to address the data gaps by leveraging digital initiatives, strengthening institutional capacity, institutionalizing exclusive building energy surveys, and standardization of building categorization, among others, to strengthen the management of building sector energy consumption data.

Keywords: energy data, energy policy, energy efficiency, buildings

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Authors: Shalini Misra

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The means and methods of education have been changing fast since the invention of internet. Both, ancient and modern education emphasized on the holistic development of students. But, a significant change has been observed in the 21st century learners. Online classes, intercultural and interdisciplinary education which were exceptions in the past, are setting new trends in the field of education. In the modern era, intercultural and interpersonal skills are of immense importance, not only for students but for everyone. It sets a platform for better understanding and deeper learning by ensuring the active participation and involvement of students belonging to different social and cultural backgrounds in various academic and non-academic pursuits. On October 31, 2015, on the occasion of 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi announced a wonderful initiative, ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ i.e. ‘One India Best India’ commonly known as ‘EBSB’. The program highlighted India’s rich culture and traditions. The objective of the program was to foster a better understanding and healthy relationship among Indian States. Under this program, a variety of subjects were covered like ‘Arts, Culture and Language’ .It was claimed to be a successful cultural exchange where students from diverse communities shared their thoughts and experiences with one another. Under this online cultural exchange program, the state of Uttarakhand was paired with the state of Karnataka in the year 2022. The present paper proposes to undertake a survey of a total of thirty secondary level students of Uttarakhand and the partner state Karnataka, who participated in this program with a purpose of learning and embracing new ideas and culture thus promoting intercultural education. It aims to study and examine the role of intercultural education in shifting and establishing new paradigms of education.

Keywords: education, intercultural, interpersonal, traditions, understanding

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Authors: Koel Chakraborty

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This paper critically examines the role of ‘disclosure and visibility’ of sexual minorities in a heteronormative organizational setting. The paper wishes to comment on the importance of promoting ‘visibility’ as an important catalyst in increasing the efficacy of outreach programs as part of diversity management practices as well as increasing the efficacy of teams. The aim of the research is to assess the pitfalls of not bringing ‘one’s authentic or whole self’ to work. In doing so, it will address whether Inclusive Leadership at the top propels employees to come out. The paper finally discusses and recommends strategies that could be helpful toward attaining and improving the visibility factor at a cross-functional level. This is a qualitative research with interviews and surveys conducted in inclusive workplace environments across various private sector companies in India.

Keywords: LGBT, diversity, organisation, leadership

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Authors: M. S. Raza, A. Kapil, Sonu Tyagi, H. Gautam, S. Mohapatra, R. Chaudhry, S. Sood, V. Goyal, R. Lodha, V. Sreenivas, B. K. Das

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Background: Acute bacterial meningitis remains the major cause of mortality and morbidity. More than half of the survivors develop the significant lifelong neurological abnormalities. Diagnosis of the hospital acquired acute bacterial meningitis (HAABM) is challenging as it appears either in the post operative patients or patients acquire the organisms from the hospital environment. In both the situations, pathogens are exposed to high dose of antibiotics. Chances of getting multidrug resistance organism are very high. We have performed this experiment to find out the etiological agents of HAABM and its antibiotics susceptibility pattern. Methodology: A perspective study was conducted at the Department of Microbiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. From March 2015 to April 2018 total 400 Cerebro spinal fluid samples were collected aseptically. Samples were processed for cell count, Gram staining, and culture. Culture plates were incubated at 37°C for 18-24 hours. Organism grown on blood and MacConkey agar were identified by MALDI-TOF Vitek MS (BioMerieux, France) and antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method as per CLSI 2015 guideline. Results: Of the 400 CSF samples processed, 43 (10.75%) were culture positive for different bacteria. Out of 43 isolates, the most prevalent Gram-positive organisms were S. aureus 4 (9.30%) followed by E. faecium 3 (6.97%) & CONS 2 (4.65%). Similarly, E. coli 13 (30.23%) was the commonest Gram-negative isolates followed by A. baumannii 12 (27.90%), K. pneumonia 5 (11.62%) and P. aeruginosa 4(9.30%). Most of the antibiotics tested against the Gram-negative isolates were resistance to them. Colistin was most effective followed by Meropenem and Imepenim for all Gram-negative HAABM isolates. Similarly, most of antibiotics tested were susceptible to S. aureus and CONS. However, E. faecium (100%) were only susceptible to vancomycin and teicoplanin. Conclusion: Hospital acquired acute bacterial meningitis (HAABM) is becoming the emerging challenge as most of isolates are showing resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Gram-negative organisms are emerging as the major player of HAABM. Great care needs to be taken especially in tertiary care hospitals. Similarly, antibiotic stewardship should be followed and antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) should be performed regularly to update the antibiotic patter and to prevent from the emergence of resistance. Updated information of the AST will be helpful for the better management of the meningitis patient.

Keywords: CSF, MALDI-TOF, hospital acquired acute bacterial meningitis, AST

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Authors: Rakesh Mishra, Mukunda Upadhyay, Rajni Singh

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This paper attempts to link remittances sent by internal as well as international out-migrants and its domestic preferences of usage in three different dimension of Household level development in India and its states. Investment of remittances in these sectors reveals for mixed choices of preferential among the states from where people have out-migrated. The multivariate analysis implies that among all three indicators of human development, health (Investment in Food and Health) is the one that attracts the major investment followed by capital formation and least on Education. Usage of the remittances has been found to be varying across all the states in India as far as usage in health, capital formation and education are concerned. Orissa, Nagaland, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, D & H Haweli are some of the states and union territory that contributes highest of its international remittances on health, while most of the usage of the internal remittances has second or third preferences of investment on the health except for Uttar Pradesh, D & H Haweli, Arunachal Pradesh and A & N Is. This paper tries to access usage of international remittances as well as internal remittances on the flow of remittances at the micro level and its implications across three basic determinants of Human Development that is Health, Capital formation and Education coupled with the preferences of usage in presence of Several Socio economic and Demographic variable.

Keywords: multivariate analysis, household development, remittances, internal and international migration

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Authors: Ashutosh Biswas, Poonam Coushic, Kalpana Baruah, Paras Singla, A. C. Dhariwal, Pawana Murthy

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Burden of Dengue in Northern India Ashutosh Biswas, Poonam Coushic, Kalpana Baruah, Paras Singla, AC Dhariwal, Pawana Murthy. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, NVBDCP,WHO New Delhi, India Aim: This study was conducted to estimate the burden of dengue in capital region of India. Methodology:Seropositivity of Dengue for IgM Ab, NS1 Ag and IgG Ab were performed among the blood donors’ samples from blood bank, those who were coming to donate blood for the requirement of blood for the admitted patients in hospital. Blood samplles were collected through out the year to estimate seroprevalance of dengue with or without outbreak season. All the subjects were asymptomatic at the time of blood donation. Results: A total of 1558 donors were screened for the study. On the basis of inclusion/ exclusion criteria, we enrolled 1531subjects for the study.Twenty seven donors were excluded from the study, out of which 6 were detected HIV +ve, 11 were positive for HBsAg and 10 were found positive for HCV.Mean age was 30.51 ± 7.75 years.Of 1531subjects, 18 (1.18%) had a past history of typhoid fever, 28 (1.83%) had chikungunya fever, 9 (0.59%) had malaria and 43 subjects (2.81%) had a past history of symptomatic dengue infection.About 2.22% (34) of subjects were found to have sero-positive for NS1 Ag with a peak point prevalence of 7.14% in the month of October and sero-positive of IgM Ab was observed about 5.49% (84)with a peak point prevalence of 14.29% in the month of October. Sero-prevalnce of IgGwas detected in about 64.21% (983) of subjects. Conclusion: Acute asymptomatic dengue (NS1 Ag+ve) was observed in 7.14%, as the subjects were having no symptoms at the time of sampling. This group of subjects poses a potential public health threat for transmitting dengue infection through blood transfusion (TTI) in the community as evident by presence of active viral infection due to NS1Ag +VE. Therefore a policy may be implemented in the blood bank for testing NS1 Ag to look for active dengue infection for preventing dengue transmission through blood transfusion (TTI). Acute or Subacute dengue infection ( IgM Ab+ve) was observed from 5.49% to 14.29% which is a peak point prevalence in the month of October. About 64.21% of the population were immunized by natural dengue infection ( IgG Ab+ve) in theNorthern province of India. This might be helpful for implementing the dengue vaccine in a region. Blood samples in blood banks should be tested for dengue before transfusion to any other person to prevent transfusion transmitted dengue infection as we estimated upto 7.14% positivity of NS1 Ag in our study which indicates presence of dengue virus in blood donors’ samples.

Keywords: Dengue Burden, Seroprevalance, Asymptomatic dengue, Dengue transmission through blood transfusion

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Authors: Narendra Kumar

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In developing countries, the majority of people with diabetes are in the age range of 45-64 years and more women than men. As in many areas of the India, non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus has become major problems. Now it is spreading among the middle class and poor at an alarming stage in India and Kerala is turning to be the world capital of diabetes. This study uses two round NSS data from the ‘National Sample Survey Organization, India’ to investigate the predictors of diabetes in Kerala. The overall estimates for diabetes prevalence among elderly show that higher in men than women, but there are more women with diabetes than men. Education of respondent has been found a significant characteristics, further respondent working status, caste/tribe have substantial impact on diabetes in Kerala. The disease is more common for people who are mostly physically inactive. This whole picture is very much prominent in the urban areas compared with the rural ones. Not working elderly have significantly higher with diabetes than for those working in elderly. Socioeconomic status was inversely associated with diabetes prevalence. For men and women, the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension were significantly higher in the urban population while smoking, smokeless tobacco consumption was more prevalent in the rural population. High alcohol intake increases diabetes risk among elderly. Finally these findings specified that an increase improve health care services and changing life style of elderly which should in turn raise diabetes patient survival and should decrease comorbidities due to diabetes in Kerala.

Keywords: elderly, diabetes, prevalence, Kerala

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Authors: M. Ashok Williams, T. V. Lakshmi Kumar

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The life cycle of Black carbon aerosols depends on their physical removal processes from the atmosphere during the precipitation events. Black Carbon (BC) mass concentration has been analysed during rainy and non-rainy days of Northeast (NE) Monsoon months of the years 2015 and 2017 over a semi-urban environment near Chennai (12.81 N, 80.03 E), located on the east coast of India. BC, measured using an Aethalometer (AE-31) has been related to the atmospheric boundary layer height (BLH) obtained from the ERA Interim Reanalysis data during rainy and non-rainy days on monthly mean basis to understand the wet removal of BC over the study location. The study reveals that boundary layer height has a profound effect on the BC concentration on rainy days and non rainy days. It is found that the BC concentration in the night time is lower on rainy days compared to non rainy days owing to wash out on rainy days and the boundary layer height remaining nearly the same on rainy and non rainy days. On the other hand, in the daytime, it is found that the BC concentration remains nearly the same on rainy and non rainy days whereas the boundary layer height is lower on rainy days compared to non rainy days. This reveals that in daytime, lower boundary layer heights compensate for the wet removal effect on BC concentration on rainy days. A quantitative relation is found between the product of BC and BLH during rainy and non-rainy days which indicates the extent of redistribution of BC during non-rainy days when compared to the rainy days. Further work on the wet removal processes of the BC is in progress considering the individual rain events and other related parameters like wind speed.

Keywords: black carbon aerosols, atmospheric boundary layer, scavenging processes, tropical coastal location

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Authors: I. R. Keke, C. S. Nwigwe, O. S. Nwanjo, A. S. Egeruoh

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An experiment was carried out at Urban Farm and Fisheries Nigeria Ltd, Owerri Imo State South East Nigeria between February and June 2014 to induce Brood stock of Heterobranchus longifilis (mean wt 1.3kg) in concrete tanks (1.0 x 2.0 x 1.5m) in dimension using a synthetic hormone (Ovaprim) and pituitary extract from Heterobranchus longifilis. Brood stock males were selected as pituitary donors and their weights matched those of females to be injected at 1ml/kg body weight of Fish. Ovaprim, was injected at 0.5ml/kg body weight of female fish. A latency period of 12 hours was allowed after injection of the Brood stock females before stripping the egg and incubation at 23 °C. While incubating the eggs, samples were drawn and the rate of fertilization was determined. Hatching occurred within 33 hours and hatchability rate (%) was determined by counting the active hatchings. The result showed that Ovaprim injected Brood stock eggs fertilized up to 80% while the pituitary from the Heterobranchus longifilis had low fertilization and hatching success 20%. Ovaprim is imported and costly, so more effort is required to enhance the procedures for homoplastic hypophysation.

Keywords: heterobranchus longifilis, ovaprim, hypophysation, latency period, pituitary

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Authors: Luna Moni Das

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This paper is an attempt to study the channel dynamics in the area bounded by the foothills of the eastern Himalayas in the north, the Brahmaputra in the south and southeast and eastern side and the Subansiri River in the west. There are many streams in this region and only a few are perennial. There are two major anabranches of the Brahmaputra called Kharkutia Xuti and Charikoria. All of these makes it a very dynamic area. The analysis done in this paper is based on the remote sensing data and mapping of the channel planforms in GIS environment. The temporal trend of the change in channel planform has been produced. This study shows that, during the period from 1973 to 2013, the streams/rivers originating in the north have experienced a reduction in the total length. The other most important result is that even though the western edge of Majuli Island is eroding faster there is a formation of a larger island in between Charikoria and Brahmaputra, that comprises of Majuli island and parts of Dhakuakhana subdivision of Lakhimpur District along the south of Charikoria river. The field study shows that the Kharkutia Xuti, that divides Majuli from Dhakuakhana, do not experience any flow from the Brahmaputra for the major portion of the year and Charikoria has developed as a major anabranch of the Brahmaputra.

Keywords: channel dynamics, Brahmaputra river, Majuli Island, sinuosity

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Authors: Dana Hisham Mohamed Abdrabo

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The paper examines the effect of Drama works on the Egyptian public opinion regarding the religion of Judaism, Israel as a state and the Jew's image to Egyptian Muslims. The paper examines the role of Media and in particular, Dramas on achieving interreligious dialogue between Judaism and Islam and its role in making peace between the Egyptian Muslims -and Arabs in general- on the one hand, and the Jew on the other hand, and the implications of this on the relationship between Arab countries and Israel as a state. The research uses the Survey method with Egyptian Muslims as a main sample for the research to examine such effect. Dramas have a role in presenting the Jew, Judaism, and Israel as a state and as a political system in various ways. The paper is related to multidisciplinary fields; it is related to political sciences, political sociology, communication, social change, and cognitive sociology fields. The research adds a new analytical study for a new tool for the peacemaking process in the Middle East region through adopting an interdisciplinary approach which is needed in the studies aim to achieve stability and peace in the Middle East region and its neighboring countries.

Keywords: dramas tool, Egyptian public opinion, interreligious dialogue, Israel & Egyptian relations , Judaism

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Authors: Mehrdad Kamali-Sanzighi, Maziar Kamali-Sanzighi

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The aim of this investigation is to study the phytoplankton and saprobic index at warm water fish ponds in the East of Golestan province, Gonbade Kavous city. Phytoplankton and ciliate sampling were done monthly during one season of culture. Finally, 39 genera from 7 classes of phytoplankton and 4 genera from the ciliate group were identified. Although, among different classes, Chlorophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Charophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Dinophyceae, and Euglenophyceae had the highest and lowest frequency percent of phytoplankton community with 23, 21, 20, 14, 11, 6 and 5 percent respectively. The results show that there are no significant differences between the saprobic index of different ponds (P > 0.05). But there are significant differences between the saprobic index value of different months and seasons during season culture (P < 0.05). Also, in current research, the saprobic index indicated the ß-mesosaprob water quality level. There was a general tends of decrease in the saprobic index value from the beginning to the end of the culture season. Parameters such as biomass increase of grower fishes, an increase of introduced chemical fertilizer and manure sedimentation, uneaten fish feed, fish fecal, and no regular exchangeable water resources are some of these changes' reasons.

Keywords: fish pond, Golestan Province, saprobi index, phytoplankton, water quality

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Authors: Jane N. O'Sullivan

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Although it is widely believed that fertility decline has benefitted economic advancement, particularly in East and South-East Asian countries, the causal mechanisms for this stimulus are contested. Since the turn of this century, demographic dividend theory has been increasingly recognised, hypothesising that higher proportions of working-age people can contribute to economic expansion if conditions are met to employ them productively. Population growth rate, as a systemic condition distinct from age composition, has not been similar attention since the 1970s and has lacked methodology for quantitative assessment. This paper explores conceptual and empirical quantification of the burden of expanding physical capital to accommodate a growing population. In proof-of-concept analyses of Australia and the United Kingdom, actual expenditure on gross fixed capital formation was compiled over four decades and apportioned to maintenance/turnover or expansion to accommodate population growth, based on lifespan of capital assets and population growth rate. In both countries, capital expansion was estimated to cost 6.5-7.0% of GDP per 1% population growth rate. This opportunity cost impedes the improvement of per capita capacity needed to realise the potential of the working-age population. Economic modelling of demographic scenarios have to date omitted this channel of influence; the implications of its inclusion are discussed.

Keywords: age dependency, demographic dividend, infrastructure, population growth rate

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Authors: Mohamed Sadek Bachene, Soraya Temim, Hassina Ainbaziz, Asma Bachene

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Coccidiosis has an economic impact for poultry and livestock. The current study examined the prevalence ofEimeria infections in domestic rabbits in Medea province, North of Algeria. A total of 414 faecal samples were collected from 50 farms in six regions of the province. Each faecal sample was subjected to oocyst counting andisolation. The Eimeria species from samples containing isolated and sporulatedoocysts were morphologically identified microscopically. The overall prevalence of coccidial infections was 47.6% (197/414). Weaners had the highest prevalence (77%, 77/100, p<0.0001), followed by growing rabbits (46.8%, 30/64), and the adult rabbits showed the lowest prevalence (36 %, 18/50). In breeding rabbits, females were more infected with a prevalence of40% (p<0.0001). Eleven rabbit Eimeria’s species were present and identified from oocyst positive samples. Eimeriamagna and Eimeria media were the most prevalent species (47.6% and 47.3%). Sulfonamides showed a better protection against rabbit coccidiosis than colistin and trimethoprim association (p< 0.0001, the prevalence of 23.3% vs.65.3%, respectively). These results indicated that the prevalence of coccidiosis is high among the rabbit population inMedea province, North of Algeria. As a conclusion, it seems that the epidemiological situation of rabbit coccidiosisin Medea province must be taken into consideration in order to minimize the economic losses caused by this parasitosis.

Keywords: eimeria, oryctolagus cuniculus, rabbit, sulfonamides

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Authors: Tanusree Moitra, Garga Chatterjee, Diganta Mukherjee, Anjali Ghosh

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Stroop task is considered to be an important measure of selective attention. However, the color – word Stroop task cannot be administered to the illiterate population. Some of the participants in the present study are illiterate, therefore, object – color Stroop task was used among male juvenile delinquents of India and Bangladesh citizenship (IC & BC), housed in delinquent home in India. The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis that over - selective attention is present among juvenile delinquents across both the countries. Eighty juvenile delinquents and matched control of 12 – 18 years (50 IC juvenile delinquents, 30 BC juvenile delinquents and 50 Indian control) were shown 24 familiar objects in both typical (e.g. a red apple) and atypical (e.g. a blue apple) color. Repeated – measure factorial ANOVA was used and it was found that all the three groups have taken longer response time in the atypical condition compared to the typical condition. However, contrary to the over - selective attention hypothesis, both groups of juvenile delinquents displayed higher Stroop interference in comparison to the matched control group. The findings of the study can be explained on the basis of anxiety score. IC and BC juvenile delinquents have high anxiety score compared to the control group which indicates that increased anxiety is correlated with the interference produced by the atypical color object stimuli when compared with the typical object stimuli. Funding acknowledgement: Authors acknowledge Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for financial support to the first author of the paper vide Reference no. SR/CSRI/PDF -01/2013 under Cognitive Science Research Initiative (CSRI) to carry out this work.

Keywords: Bangladesh, India, male juvenile delinquent, objects - color Stroop task

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Authors: M. Irannezhad, E. H. N. Gashti, S. Mohammadighavam, M. Zarrini, B. Kløve

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Climate warming would increase rainfall by shifting precipitation falling form from snow to rain, and would accelerate snow cover disappearing by increasing snowpack. Using temperature and precipitation data in the temperature-index snowmelt model, we evaluated variability of snowfall and continuous snow cover duration(CSCD) during 1944-2010 over Pelso, central Finland. MannKendall non-parametric test determined that annual precipitation increased by 2.69 (mm/year, p<0.05) during the study period, but no clear trend in annual temperature. Both annual rainfall and snowfall increased by 1.67 and 0.78 (mm/year, p<0.05), respectively. CSCD was generally about 205 days from 14 October to 6 May. No clear trend was found in CSCD over Pelso. Spearman’s rank correlation showed most significant relationships of annual snowfall with the East Atlantic (EA) pattern, and CSCD with the East Atlantic/West Russia (EA/WR) pattern. Increased precipitation with no warming temperature caused the rainfall and snowfall to increase, while no effects on CSCD.

Keywords: variations, snowfall, snow cover duration, temperature-index snowmelt model, teleconnection patterns

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Authors: Antonio Marco Miotti, Antonella Ruffatto, Giampaola Basso, Antonio Madia, Giulia Zavatta, Emanuela Salvatico, Emanuela Zilli

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A National Action Plan to fight antimicrobial resistance was launched in Italy in 2017. In order to reduce inappropriate exposure to antibiotics and infections from multi-drug resistant bacteria, it is essential to set up a structured system of surveillance and monitoring of the implementation of National Action Plan standards, including antimicrobial consumption, with a special focus on quinolones, third generation cephalosporins and carbapenems. A quantitative estimate of antibiotic consumption (defined daily dose - DDD - consumption per 100 days of hospitalization) has been provided by the Pharmaceutical Service to the Hospital of Cittadella, ULSS 6 Euganea – Health Trust (District of Padua) for the years 2019 (before the pandemic), 2020 and 2021 for all classes of antibiotics. Multidisciplinary meetings have been organized monthly by the local Antimicrobial Stewardship Group. Between 2019 and 2021, an increase in the consumption of carbapenems in the Intensive Care Unit (from 12.2 to 18.2 DDD, + 49.2%) and a decrease in Medical wards (from 5.3 to 2.6 DDD, - 50.9%) was reported; a decrease in the consumption of quinolones in Intensive Care Unit (from 17.2 to 10.8 DDD, - 37.2%), Medical wards (from 10.5 to 6.6 DDD, - 37.1%) and Surgical wards (from 10.2 to 9.3 DDD, - 8.8%) was highlighted; an increase in the consumption of third generation cephalosporins in Medical wards (from 18.1 to 22.6 DDD, + 24,1%) was reported. Finally, after an increase in the consumption of macrolides between 2020 and 2019, in 2021, a decrease was reported in the Intensive Care Unit (DDD: 8.0 in 2019, 18.0 in 2020, 6.4 in 2021) and Medical wards (DDD: 9.0 in 2019, 13.7 in 2020, 10.9 in 2021). Constant monitoring of antimicrobial consumption and timely identifying of warning situations that may need a specific intervention are the cornerstone of Antimicrobial Stewardship programs, together with analysing data on bacterial resistance rates and infections from multi-drug resistant bacteria.

Keywords: carbapenems, quinolones, antimicrobial, stewardship

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Kalpeshkumar L. Gupta, Shivali Rathore

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India is home to over 30 crore rural poor, aware of the criticality of the situation that has made to come with an innovative business idea. Entrepreneurship in India is on the verge of explosive growth and which is actually need of an hour for employment generation, poverty elevation at grass root through developmental intervention. India economic progress has started from the development of its small and medium scale enterprises to ensure that the sectors continues to stay competitive and achieve sustained growth in the era of global economy many incubators centers has been established with the mission to give the encouragement to many innovative ideas. If we define an Incubator, it is simply an enclosed apparatus in which premature small babies are placed and which provides a controlled and protective environment for their care this gives them a chance to adjust to outside environment, and grow stronger before they face the outside world. In a similar way the startup entrepreneur’s business idea is incubated in the incubation centers. Entrepreneurship has been conventionally rated as risky career, to break the myth and to augment the supply of new entrepreneurs through education; research training the incubation centers has been established, their goal is to help create and grow young businesses by providing them with necessary support and financial and technical services. The startup companies spend on an average two years in a business incubator during which numerous benefits like funding, office space, equipment’s etc. is provided by the incubators to the startup business. Present paper will study the background, role, objectives of different incubators set up in Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) for our study.

Keywords: incubation centres, entrepreneurship, Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Technology

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Authors: S. K. Balashanmugam, Padmavati Manchikanti, S. R. Subramanian

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The question of legal liability over injury arising out of the import and the introduction of GM food emerges as a crucial issue confronting to promote GM food and its derivatives. There is a greater possibility of commercialized GM food from the exporting country to enter importing country where status of approval shall not be same. This necessitates the importance of fixing a liability mechanism to discuss the damage, if any, occurs at the level of transboundary movement or at the market. There was a widespread consensus to develop the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and to give for a dedicated regime on liability and redress in the form of Nagoya Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on the Liability and Redress (‘N-KL Protocol’) at the international context. The national legal frameworks based on this protocol are not adequately established in the prevailing food legislations of the developing countries. The developing economy like India is willing to import GM food and its derivatives after the successful commercialization of Bt Cotton in 2002. As a party to the N-KL Protocol, it is indispensable for India to formulate a legal framework and to discuss safety, liability, and regulatory issues surrounding GM foods in conformity to the provisions of the Protocol. The liability mechanism is also important in the case where the risk assessment and risk management is still in implementing stage. Moreover, the country is facing GM infiltration issues with its neighbors Bangladesh. As a precautionary approach, there is a need to formulate rules and procedure of legal liability to discuss any kind of damage occurs at transboundary trade. In this context, the proposed work will attempt to analyze the liability regime in the existing Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 from the applicability and domestic compliance and to suggest legal and policy options for regulatory authorities.

Keywords: commercialization, food safety, FSSAI, genetically modified foods, India, liability

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