Search results for: sports authority of India

Authors: Mohamad Reza Khodabakhsh

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Physical activity is important because it affects the stress and mental health of the elderly. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the physical activity of the elderly and stress and mental health. The current research is correlational research, and the studied population includes all the elderly who are engaged in sports in the parks of Mashhad city in 2021. The whole community consists of 200 people. Sampling was done by the headcount method. The tool used in this research is a questionnaire. The physical activity questionnaire is Likert. General GHQ is based on the self-report method. The study method is correlation type to find the relationship between predictor and predicted variables, and the multiple regression method was used for the relationships between the sub-components. And the results showed that physical activity has the effect of reducing the stress of the elderly and improving their mental health. In general, the results of this research indicate the confirmation of the research hypotheses.

Keywords: relationship, physical activity, stress, mental health, elderly

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Authors: Phillip F. Kanokanga, Patrick W. Mamimine, Molline Mwando, Charity Mapingure

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Tourism development tends to follow anchor attractions, including cities and their surroundings, while marginalizing small towns and their environs. This is even though the small towns and their hinterlands can also offer competitive tourism products. The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) gathers visitor statistics of major tourist destinations only thereby sidelining the density of tourist traffic that either passes through or visits the small towns in the country. Unless this problem is addressed, the tourism potential of small towns and their hinterlands will not be fully tapped for economic development. Using qualitative research methodology, this study investigated the opportunities for tourism development in the Greater Chinhoyi Area. The study revealed that the Greater Chinhoyi area had potential for heritage tourism, village tourism, urban tourism, educational tourism, dark tourism, recreational tourism, agrotourism, and nature tourism. There is a need to link the various tourism resources in the Greater Chinhoyi area to anchor attractions in dominant resorts, then develop and present the tourism products in transit towns as ‘appetisers’ or ‘appetisser attractions’ before one gets to the main destination.

Keywords: anchor attractions, appetisers, heritage tourism, agrotourism, small towns, tourism corridor, systems approach, hidden treasures

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Authors: Alisha Fisher

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Sex trafficking is a worldwide crisis that requires trauma-informed and survivor-centered media attention to accurate disseminate information. Much of the previous literature on sex trafficking tends to focus on the frequency of incidents, intervention, and support strategies for survivors, with few of them looking to how the media is conducting their reporting on sex trafficking cases to the public. Utilizing data of reports from the media of cases of sex trafficking in the two Canadian provinces with the highest cases of sex trafficking, Ontario and Nova Scotia, the authors sought to analyze the similarities and differences of how sex trafficking cases were being reported. A total of twenty articles were examined, with ten based within the province of Ontario and the remaining ten from the province of Nova Scotia. The authors coded in two processes, first, who the article was about, and second, the framing and content inclusion. The results suggest that there is high usage and reliance of voices and images of authority, with male people of color being shown as the perpetrators and white women being shown as the survivors. These findings can aid in the expansion of trauma-informed, survivor-centered media literacy of reports of sex trafficking to provide accurate insights and further developing robust methods to intersectional approaches to reporting cases of sex trafficking.

Keywords: sex trafficking, media coverage, Canada sex trafficking, content analysis

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Authors: Chinumani Choudhury

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Heavy metal contamination is an alarming problem, which poses a serious risk to human health and the surrounding geology. Soils get contaminated with heavy metals due to the un-regularized industrial discharge of the toxic metal-rich effluents. Under such a condition, the remediation of the contaminated sites becomes imperative for a sustainable, safe, and healthy environment. Phytoextraction, which involves the removal of heavy metals from the soil through root absorption and uptake, is a viable remediation technique, which ensures extraction of the toxic inorganic compound available in the soil even at low concentrations. The soil present in the Silghat Region of Assam, India, is mostly contaminated with Zinc (Zn) and Lead (Pb), having concentrations as high as to cause a serious environmental problem if proper measures are not taken. In the present study, an extensive experimental study was carried out to understand the effectiveness of two commonly planted trees in Assam, namely, i) Indian Pennywort and ii) Fenugreek, in the removal of heavy metals from the contaminated soil. The basic characterization of the soil in the contaminated site of the Silghat region was performed and the field concentration of Zn and Pb was recorded. Various long-term laboratory pot tests were carried out by sowing the seeds of Indian Pennywort and Fenugreek in a soil, which was spiked, with a very high dosage of Zn and Pb. The tests were carried out for different concentration of a particular heavy metal and the individual effectiveness in the absorption of the heavy metal by the plants were studied. The concentration of the soil was monitored regularly to assess the rate of depletion and the simultaneous uptake of the heavy metal from the soil to the plant. The amount of heavy metal uptake by the plant was also quantified by analyzing the plant sample at the end of the testing period. Finally, the study throws light on the applicability of the studied plants in the field for effective remediation of the contaminated sites of Assam.

Keywords: phytoextraction, heavy-metals, Indian pennywort, fenugreek

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Authors: Kaviyarasan D., Satish Kumar S. R.

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India being vast in area and population with great scope of international business, roadways and railways network connection within the country is expected to have a big growth. There are numerous rail-cum-road bridges constructed across many major rivers in India and few are getting very old. So there is more possibility of repairing or coming up with such new bridges in India. Analysis and design of such bridges are practiced through conventional procedure and end up with heavy and uneconomical sections. Such heavy class steel bridges when subjected to high seismic shaking has more chance to fail by stability because the members are too much rigid and stocky rather than being flexible to dissipate the energy. This work is the collective study of the researches done in the truss bridge and steel concrete composite truss bridges presenting the method of analysis, tools for numerical and analytical modeling which evaluates its seismic behaviour and collapse mechanisms. To ascertain the inelastic and nonlinear behaviour of the structure, generally at research level static pushover analysis is adopted. Though the static pushover analysis is now extensively used for the framed steel and concrete buildings to study its lateral action behaviour, those findings by pushover analysis done for the buildings cannot directly be used for the bridges as such, because the bridges have completely a different performance requirement, behaviour and typology as compared to that of the buildings. Long span steel bridges are mostly the truss bridges. Truss bridges being formed by many members and connections, the failure of the system does not happen suddenly with single event or failure of one member. Failure usually initiates from one member and progresses gradually to the next member and so on when subjected to further loading. This kind of progressive collapse of the truss bridge structure is dependent on many factors, in which the live load distribution and span to length ratio are most significant. The ultimate collapse is anyhow by the buckling of the compression members only. For regular bridges, single step pushover analysis gives results closer to that of the non-linear dynamic analysis. But for a complicated bridge like heavy class steel bridge or the skewed bridges or complicated dynamic behaviour bridges, nonlinear analysis capturing the progressive yielding and collapse pattern is mandatory. With the knowledge of the postelastic behaviour of the bridge and advancements in the computational facility, the current level of analysis and design of bridges has moved to state of ascertaining the performance levels of the bridges based on the damage caused by seismic shaking. This is because the buildings performance levels deals much with the life safety and collapse prevention levels, whereas the bridges mostly deal with the extent damages and how quick it can be repaired with or without disturbing the traffic after a strong earthquake event. The paper would compile the wide spectrum of modeling to analysis of the steel concrete composite truss bridges in general.

Keywords: bridge engineering, performance based design of steel truss bridge, seismic design of composite bridge, steel-concrete composite bridge

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Authors: Amar F. Siddique

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The Guwahati city is one of the fastest growing cities of the north-eastern region of India, situated on the South Bank of the Brahmaputra River falls in the highest seismic zone level V. The city has witnessed many high magnitude earthquakes in the past decades. The Assam earthquake occurred on August 15, 1950, of moment magnitude 8.7 epicentered near Rima, Tibet was one of the major earthquakes which caused a serious structural damage and widespread soil liquefaction in and around the region. Hence the study of ground motion characteristics of Guwahati city is very essential. In this present work 1D equivalent linear ground response analysis (GRA) has been adopted using Deep soil software. The analysis has been done for two typical sites namely, Panbazar and Azara comprising total four boreholes location in Guwahati city of India. GRA of the sites is carried out by using an input motion recorded at Nongpoh station (recorded PGA 0.048g) and Nongstoin station (recorded PGA 0.047g) of 1997 Indo-Burma earthquake. In comparison to motion recorded at Nongpoh, different amplifications of bedrock peak ground acceleration (PGA) are obtained for all the boreholes by the motion recorded at Nongstoin station; although, the Fourier amplitude ratios (FAR) and fundamental frequencies remain almost same. The difference in recorded duration and frequency content of the two motions mainly influence the amplification of motions thus getting different surface PGA and amplification factor keeping a constant bedrock PGA. From the results of response spectra, it is found that at the period of less than 0.2 sec the ground motion recorded at Nongpoh station will give a high spectral acceleration (SA) on the structures than at Nongstoin station. Again for a period greater than 0.2 sec the ground motion recorded at Nongstoin station will give a high SA on the structures than at Nongpoh station.

Keywords: fourier amplitude ratio, ground response analysis, peak ground acceleration, spectral acceleration

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Authors: Vinay Suhalka

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In India, the official nomenclature used by the State for persons with disability is divyang (literally, the one with a divine limb), a word coming from the Sanskrit language. Disability thus gets portrayed as divine, at least in the welfare sector from where it flows down even to the popular imagination where it gets equated to divinity. This paper looks at reference to persons with disabilities as divyangs and goes on to discusses what such usage for an already marginalized group achieves and misses out. The issue of nomenclature and language has always been a contested one when it comes to disability. At the same time, there is also an issue of who determines these labels for the persons with disability. Nomenclature and language used for disability can have real consequences for the population of persons with disability as it may empower or disempower them. Thus, this paper looks at the issue of what it means for persons with disabilities as ‘exceptionally gifted’ and hence divyang. Language can be a powerful tool to communicate meanings and messages associated with a term. When the persons with disabilities as a group are described as ‘exceptionally gifted, talented and the source of inspiration’, it essentially stereotypes and marginalizes them by putting a burden of performance that all of them ought to be achievers, and it is only then that they would be assimilated in the larger society. This paper also argues that such a situation creates a ‘double bind’ where the person is always trying to match up to the labels (the disabled as ‘achiever, overcomer, inspirational’) created by somebody else and looks at self through the eyes of others. This conceptual paper also presents an overview of disability labels while simultaneously looking at projecting disability as divinity which has the potential to wrongly portray the lives of persons with disability in India due to the official usage of the term. It also explores the question of visibility of disability since the idea of divyang implicitly assumes that all disabilities are visible. In reality, however, it may not be the case simply because all forms of disabilities are not visible, people may choose not to visibilize their disabilities if they can and pass as able-bodied, fearing the stigma that surrounds disability. Finally, it argues for an increased focus on understanding the everyday lived realities of those with disability in order to regard it as an important form of difference which could be a potential resource for the society.

Keywords: persons with disability, labels, language use, divinity

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Authors: Young Ik Suh, Sanghak Lee, Tae Wook Chung

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In recent year, cultural diversity has acquired increasing attentions in our society due to the cultural pluralism and globalization. With the emphasis of diversity in our society, higher education has played a significant role in preparing people to be successful in a diverse world. A number of colleges and universities provide various diversity-related courses that enhance students to recognize the importance of diversity and multiculturalism. However, little research has been conducted with diversity environments in physical activity and sports-related courses to appreciate students’ attitudes toward multiculturalism. Physical activity courses can be regarded as an essential and complementary part of general education. As well, playing and watching certain sports plays a critical role to foster mutual understanding between different races and to help social integration for minority communities. Therefore, it is expected that the appropriate diverse environments in physical activity courses may have a positive impact to the understandings of different cultures and races. The primary purpose of this study is to examine attitudes toward cultural diversity in a physical activity course among undergraduate students. In building on the scholarly foundation in this area, this study applies the established survey scale (e.g., Pluralism and Diversity Attitude Assessment [PADAA]) developed by Stanley (1996) and previous literature related to cultural diversity. The PADAA includes 19 questions. The following two research hypotheses were proposed. H1: Students who take a diversity-related physical course (i.e., Taekwondo) will provide positive attitude changes toward their cultural diversity. H2: Students who take a general physical activity course (i.e., Weight Training) will provide no significant attitude changes toward their cultural diversity. To test the research hypotheses, subjects will be selected from the both Taekwondo and Weight Training class at University of West Georgia. In the Taekwondo class, students will learn the history, meaning, basic terminology, and physical skills, which is a Korean martial art and the national sport of Korea. In the Weight Training class, students will not be exposed to any cultural diversity topics. Regarding data analysis, Doubly Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (Doubly MANCOVA), 2 (time period: pre and after) X 2 (diversity-related content exposure: Taekwondo and Weight Training), will be conducted on attitudes toward the cultural diversity with control variables such as gender and age. The findings of this study will add to the body of literature in cultural diversity because this will be the first known attempt to explain the college students’ attitudes toward cultural diversity in a physical activity courses. The expected results will state that the physical activity course focusing on diversity issues will have a positive impact on college students’ attitude toward cultural diversity. This finding will indicate that Universities need to create diverse programs (e.g., study abroad, exchange program, second language courses) and environments so that students can have positive interactions with other groups of races and different cultures. It is also expected that the positive perceptions and attitudes toward cultural diversity will break down cultural barriers and make students be ready for meeting several challenges in a multicultural and global society.

Keywords: cultural diversity, physical activity course, attitude, Taekwondo

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Authors: Pampita Chakraborty, Sukumar Mukherjee

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This study was done to determine the prevalence of nosocomial infections in the ICU and to identify the common microorganisms causing these infections and their antimicrobial sensitivity pattern. Nosocomial infection or hospital-acquired infection is a localized or a systemic condition resulting from an adverse reaction to the presence of infectious agents. Nosocomial infections are not present or incubating when the patient is admitted to hospital or other health care facility. They are caused by pathogens that easily spread through the body. Many hospitalized patients have compromised immune systems, so they are less able to fight off infections. These infections occur worldwide, both in the developed and developing the world. They are a significant burden to patients and public health. They are a major cause of death and increased morbidity in hospitalized patients, which is a matter of serious concern today. This study was done during the period of one year (2012-2013) in the ICU of the tertiary care hospital in eastern India. Prevalence of nosocomial infection was determined; site of infection and the pattern of microorganisms were identified along with the assessment of antibiotic susceptibility profile. Patients who developed an infection after 48 hours of admission to the ICU were included in the study. A total of 324 ICU patients were analyzed, of these 79 patients were found to have developed a nosocomial infection (24.3% prevalence). Urinary tract infection was found to be more predominant followed by respiratory tract infection and soft tissue infection. The most frequently isolated microorganism was E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae followed by other organisms respectively. Antibiotic susceptibility test of these isolates was done against commonly used antibiotics. Patients admitted to the ICU are especially susceptible to nosocomial infections. Despite adequate antimicrobial treatment, nosocomial ICU infections can significantly affect ICU stay and can cause an increase in patient’s morbidity and mortality. Adherence to infection protocol, proper monitoring and the judicious use of antibiotics are important in preventing such infections on a regular basis.

Keywords: antibiotic susceptibility, intensive care unit, nosocomial infection, nosocomial pathogen

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Authors: Mujahid Ali, Wasif Mohammed Ali, Meraj Ahmad

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Background: Perforation peritonitis is the most common surgical emergency encountered by surgeons all over the world as well as in India. The etiology of perforation peritonitis in India continues to be different from its western counterparts. The aim of this study is to evaluate the spectrum of cases of perforation peritonitis at our hospital. Methods: A prospective study conducted includes three hundred thirtysix patients of perforation peritonitis at J. N. Medical College from October 2015 to July 2017. The patients were admitted, resuscitated and underwent emergency laparotomy. Data were collected in terms of demographic profile, clinical presentations, site of perforations, causes and surgical outcomes. Results: In this study, the most common cause of perforation peritonitis was peptic ulcer disease (43%), followed by enteric perforation (12.8%), tubercular perforation (12.5%), traumatic perforation (11.9%), appendicular perforation (9.8%), amoebic caecal perforation (3%), malignant perforation (1.5%), etc. The sites of perforations were stomach in majority (38.3%), ileum (31%), appendix (8%), duodenum (5.%), caecum (4.4%) ,colon (3%), jejunum (8.5%) and gall bladder (2%). The overall mortality was 21% in our study. Age >50 years (p= <0.0001, OR= 3.9260, CI= 2.2 to 6.9), organ failure (p= <0.0001, OR= 29.2, CI= 14.8 to 57.6), shock (p=<0.0001, OR=20.20, CI= 10.56 to 38.6), diffuse peritonitis (p<0.0015, OR= 6.8810, CI= 2.09 to 22.57) and faecal exudates (p<0.0001) were found to be significant factors affecting mortality. The most common complication associated was superficial wound infection (40%), followed by burst abdomen seen in 21% cases, intra-abdominal sepsis in 18% cases, electrolyte imbalances in 15% cases, anastomotic leak in 6% cases. Conclusion: In this study, stomach is the most common site of perforation with peptic ulcer disease being the most common etiology. Older age, presence of shock, organ failure and faecal peritonitis were the risk factors affecting the mortality of the patients. Early recognition, adequate resuscitation and referral of patients can influence outcome and reduces mortality as well as morbidity.

Keywords: etiology, mortality, perforation, spectrum

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Authors: Sheila Santharamohana, Susan Bennett

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Historically, the attrition rates in secondary schools of Indigenous people or Orang Asli of Malaysia have been a cause for nationwide concern. Efforts to increase student engagement focusing on curriculum re-design and aid have not had the targeted impact. The scope of the research explored a change model incorporating project-based learning and wrap-around support through school-community partnerships to increase Orang Asli engagement, student outcomes and improve cultural connectedness. The evaluation methodology was mixed-method comprising a student questionnaire, interviews, and document analysis. Data and evidence were gathered from school staff, community, the Orang Asli governmental authority (JAKOA) and external agencies. Findings from the year-long research suggests shared values and goals in school-community partnerships foster responsive leadership and is key to safeguarding vulnerable Orang Asli, resulting in improved student outcomes. The research highlighted the barriers to the recognition and distinct needs and unique values of the Orang Asli that impact their educational equity and outcomes.

Keywords: Indigenous Education, Cultural Connectedness, School-Community Partnership, Student Outcomes

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Authors: Rajkumar Ghosh

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Climate change has led to decreased water availability in the Gomti Nagar area of Uttar Pradesh, India. Climate change has reduced the amount of precipitation and increased the rate of evaporation. The region is heavily reliant on surface water sources (Gomti river, Sharda Canal) and groundwater. Efficient management of groundwater resources is crucial for addressing water shortages. These may include: Exploring alternative water sources, such as wastewater recycling and desalination, can help augment water supply and reduce dependency on rainfall-dependent sources. Promoting the use of water-efficient technologies in industries, agriculture, and water-efficient infrastructure in urban areas can contribute to reducing water demand and optimizing water use. Incorporating climate change considerations into urban planning and infrastructure development can help ensure water security in the face of future climate uncertainties. Addressing water scarcity in the Gomti Nagar area requires a multi-pronged approach that combines sustainable groundwater management practices, climate change adaptation strategies, and integrated water resource management. By implementing these measures, the region can work towards ensuring a more sustainable and reliable water supply in the context of climate change. Water is the most important natural resource for the existence of living beings in the Earth's ecosystem. On Earth, 1.2 percent of the water is drinkable, but only 0.3 percent is usable by people. Water scarcity is a growing concern in India due to the impact of climate change and over-exploitation of water resources. Excess groundwater withdrawal causes regular declines in groundwater level. Due to city boundary expansion and growing urbanization, the recharge point for groundwater tables is decreasing. Rainwater infiltration into the subsoil is also reduced by unplanned, uneven settlements in urban change.

Keywords: climate change, water scarcity, groundwater, rainfall, water supply

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Authors: Antonios Panagopoulos, Stamoulis Georgios

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Dyslexia's diagnosis is made taking into account reading and writing skills and is carried out by qualified scientific staff. In addition, there are screening tests that are designed to give an indication of possible dyslexic difficulties. Their main advantage is that they create a pleasant environment for the user and reduce the stress that can lead to false results. An online application was created for the first time, as far as authors' knowledge, for screening Dyslexia in Greek high school students named «DyScreTe». Thus, a sample of 240 students between 16 and 18 years old in Greece was taken, of which 120 were diagnosed with dyslexia by an official authority in Greece, and 120 were typically developed. The main hypothesis that was examined is that students who were diagnosed with dyslexia by official authorities in Greece had significantly lower performance in the respective software tests. The results verified the hypothesis we made those children with dyslexia in each test had a lower performance com-pared to the type developed in successful responses, except for the intelligence test. After random sampling, it was shown that the new online application was a useful tool for screening dyslexia. However, computer evaluation cannot replace the diagnosis by a professional expert, but with the results of this application, the interdisciplinary team that deals with the differential diagnosis will create and evaluate, at a later time, the appropriate intervention program.

Keywords: dyslexia, screening tests, deficits, application

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Authors: Amir Shafiq, Asif Shahzad, Shabbar Mehmood, Muhammad Saeed, Hamid Mustafa

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Legislation includes the law or the statutes which is being reputable by a sovereign authority and generally can be implemented by the courts of law time to time to accomplish the objectives. Historically speaking upon the emergence of Pakistan in 1947, the intact laws of the British Raj remained effective after ablution by Islamic Ideology. Thus, there was an intention to begin the statutes book afresh for Pakistan's legal history. In consequence thereof, the process of developing detailed plans, procedures and mechanisms to ensure legislative and regulatory requirements are achieved began keeping in view the cultural values and the local customs. This article is an input to the enduring discussion about implementing rule of law in Pakistan whereas; the rule of law requires the harmony of laws which is mostly in the arrangement of codified state laws. Pakistan has legal plural civilizations where completely different and independent systems of law like the Mohammadan law, the state law and the traditional law exist. The prevailing practiced law in Pakistan is actually the traditional law though the said law is not acknowledged by the State. This caused the main problem of the rule of law in the difference between the state laws and the cultural values. These values, customs and so-called traditional laws are the main obstacle to enforce the State law in true letter and spirit which has caused dissatisfaction of the masses and distrust upon the judicial system of the country.

Keywords: consequences, implement, law, Pakistan

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Authors: Melody Mandevere, Roselyn Cheruiyot

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Through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), organizations contribute to a stable environment that leads to a predictable climate for investment and trade. Organizations are now deviating from traditional CSR, where it was believed that the only responsibility of an organization is to meet its shareholder's needs. Organizations and society now believe that an organization has many stakeholders that it must satisfy for it to be viable. The function of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) is not profit making but providing service and accomplishing public policy objectives. SOEs demand consideration in the current economic climate because they represent an important part of the economies of many countries. Given the importance and complex relationship of the stakeholders in SOE, the paper seeks to examine how full name first Zimra is implementing its CSR activities. SOE managers are responsible for CSR implementation and stakeholder engagement. ZIMRA is one of the parastatals that plays a crucial role in the Zimbabwean economy. It is, therefore, important to understand how Zimra is implementing CSR. Qualitative research was used for the research. Interviews were contacted with Zimra managers to understand how they are implementing CSR. Although Zimra managers understand the CSR concept, the organization does not have a CSR strategy that includes their stakeholders, which may have a negative impact on stakeholder perception and the organization's reputation. The funding of the CSR strategy is also not sustainable.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, managers, stakeholders, state-owned enterprises

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Authors: Scott Staring

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This paper critically examines the claim that Canada represents a uniquely ‘postnational’ model of political existence. Canadian political thinkers and politicians alike have played a role in casting their country as the vanguard of an order wherein national sovereignty is gradually being eclipsed, while political authority is increasingly integrated at the international level. Proponents of this view frequently cite as evidence Canada’s high number of foreign-born citizens, its official policy of multiculturalism, its ready embrace of international institutions, and its enthusiasm for international trade deals like NAFTA, CETA and the TPP. This paper builds on historical research to show that the postnationalist thesis has precedents in a Whig-inspired view of Canada that has long challenged the role of a strong central state in the country. An alternative portrait of Canada will be put forward, one that contests both the historical evidence for the Whig view as well as its theoretical presuppositions. The claim will be made that Canada’s celebrated diversity and openness is not the product of a nation-state in retreat; instead, it is largely the product of a strong and sovereign state that has intervened to create a sense of a shared concern amongst its citizens. Canada does indeed offer the world a model of cosmopolitanism, but it is a model that is rooted in the nation-state rather than its eclipse.

Keywords: Canada, cosmopolitanism, postnationalism, statism

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Authors: Pradipta Chandra, Titas Bhattacharjee, Bhaskar Bhowmick

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The foundation of economy in India is primarily based on agriculture while this is the most neglected in the rural setting. More significantly, household women take part in agriculture with higher involvement. However, because of lower education of women they have limited access towards financial decisions, land ownership and technology but they have vital role towards the individual family level. There are limited studies on the institution-wise training barriers with the focus of gender disparity. The main purpose of this paper is to find out the factors of institution-wise training (non-formal education) barriers in technology transfer with the focus of participation of rural women in agriculture. For this study primary and secondary data were collected in the line of qualitative and quantitative approach. Qualitative data were collected by several field visits in the adjacent areas of Seva-Bharati, Seva Bharati Krishi Vigyan Kendra through semi-structured questionnaires. In the next level detailed field surveys were conducted with close-ended questionnaires scored on the seven-point Likert scale. Sample size was considered as 162. During the data collection the focus was to include women although some biasness from the end of respondents and interviewer might exist due to dissimilarity in observation, views etc. In addition to that the heterogeneity of sample is not very high although female participation is more than fifty percent. Data were analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) technique with the outcome of three significant factors of training barriers in technology adoption by farmers: (a) Failure of technology transfer training (TTT) comprehension interprets that the technology takers, i.e., farmers can’t understand the technology either language barrier or way of demonstration exhibited by the experts/ trainers. (b) Failure of TTT customization, articulates that the training for individual farmer, gender crop or season-wise is not tailored. (c) Failure of TTT generalization conveys that absence of common training methods for individual trainers for specific crops is more prominent at the community level. The central finding is that the technology transfer training method can’t fulfill the need of the farmers under an economically challenged area. The impact of such study is very high in the area of dry lateritic and resource crunch area of Jangalmahal under Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal and areas with similar socio-economy. Towards the policy level decision this research may help in framing digital agriculture for implementation of the appropriate information technology for the farming community, effective and timely investment by the government with the selection of beneficiary, formation of farmers club/ farm science club etc. The most important research implication of this study lies upon the contribution towards the knowledge diffusion mechanism of the agricultural sector in India. Farmers may overcome the barriers to achieve higher productivity through adoption of modern farm practices. Corporates will be interested in agro-sector through investment under corporate social responsibility (CSR). The research will help in framing public or industry policy and land use pattern. Consequently, a huge mass of rural farm-women will be empowered and farmer community will be benefitted.

Keywords: dry lateritic zone, institutional barriers, technology transfer in India, farm-women participation

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Authors: Pooja Balasubramanian, Ghida Karbala

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Unfair treatment at the workplace encourages workers to adjust their behavior in order to restore fairness and align monetary returns to costs. This adjustment of behavior, however, may differ depending on the reference group considered to evaluate equity. In this aspect two main questions are to be considered: How do workers respond to unfair treatment at the workplace? And how does this response change depending on the identity of the reference group? To answer the above research questions, this paper utilizes data from a randomized field experiment conducted in Kolkata, India where student assistants were hired to help in a data entry task. Recruited workers were working in a team of two and were offered a fixed wage per hour. Workers were randomly assigned to one of the following treatment groups: A control group not subjected (1) to wage cuts (2) A general wage cut (3) A unilateral wage cut in reference to colleagues with similar social identity (4) A unilateral wage cut in reference to colleagues with a different social identity, where social identity is defined in terms of gender. Results show a significant decrease in the quantity and quality of work following a general wage cut. A more severe drop in productivity was presented by men in the case of unilateral wage cut, while women experiencing unilateral wage cuts didn’t exhibit a similar behavior regardless of the gender of the team member. To the contrary, women matched with a male colleague and experiencing unilateral wage cut show a slight increase in productivity, a result that contributes to the discussion regarding the paradox of the 'content female worker'. These findings highlight the necessity of a better understanding of the social comparison processes prevailing at the workplace, given the major role they play in determining the level of productivity supplied.

Keywords: effort supply, fairness, reference groups, social comparison

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Authors: Jiaqi Yan, Yani Shi

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The blockchain technology is regarded as the most promising technology that has the potential to trigger a technological revolution. However, besides the bitcoin industry, we have not yet seen a large-scale application of blockchain in those domains that are supposed to be impacted, such as supply chain, financial network, and intelligent manufacturing. The reasons not only lie in the difficulties of blockchain implementation, but are also root in the challenges of blockchain-oriented information systems design. As the blockchain members are self-interest actors that belong to organizations with different existing information systems. As they expect different information inputs and outputs of the blockchain application, a common language protocol is needed to facilitate communications between blockchain members. Second, considering the decentralization of blockchain organization, there is not any central authority to organize and coordinate the business processes. Thus, the information systems built on blockchain should support more adaptive business process. This paper aims to address these difficulties by providing a modeling approach for blockchain-oriented information systems design. We will investigate the information structure of distributed-ledger data with conceptual modeling techniques and ontology theories, and build an effective ontology mapping method for the inter-organization information flow and blockchain information records. Further, we will study the distributed-ledger-ontology based business process modeling to support adaptive enterprise on blockchain.

Keywords: blockchain, ontology, information systems modeling, business process

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Authors: Sanskriti Singh, Ankit Tomar

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Banks are the instrument of growth of a country. Banks mobilize the savings of the public in the form of deposits and channelize it as advances for various activities required for the development of society at large. The advance which becomes unpaid for a certain period is called Non Performing Asset of the bank. The study makes an attempt to bring out the magnitude of NPA and its impact on profit, advances. An attempt is also made to bring out the challenges NPA poses to the banks and suggestions to overcome and to manage NPA effectively.

Keywords: India, NPAs, private banks, public banks

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Authors: Zishan Ahmad, Anwar Shahzad

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The present studies describe a protocol for high frequency in vitro propagation through nodal segments and shoot tips in D. arayalpathra, a critically endangered medicinal liana of the Western Ghats, India. Nodal segments were more responsive than shoot tips in terms of shoot multiplication. Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) basal medium supplemented with 2.5 µM 6-benzyladenine (BA) was optimum for shoot induction through both the explants. Among different combinations of plant growth regulator (PGRs) and growth additive screened, MS medium supplemented with BA (2.5 µM) + indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) (0.25 µM) + adenine sulphate (ADS) (10.0 µM) induced a maximum of 9.0 shoots per nodal segment and 3.9 shoots per shoot tip with mean shoot length of 8.5 and 3.9 cm respectively. Half-strength MS medium supplemented with Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) (2.5 µM) was the best for in vitro root induction. After successful acclimatization in SoilriteTM, 92 % plantlets were survived in field conditions. Acclimatized plantlets were studied for chlorophyll and carotenoid content, net photosynthetic rate (PN) and related attributes such as stomatal conductance (Gs) and transpiration rate during subsequent days of acclimatization. The rise and fall of different biochemical enzymes (SOD, CAT, APX and GR) were also studies during successful days of acclimatization. Moreover, the effect of acclimatization on the synthesis of 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy benzaldehyde (2H4MB) was also studied in relation to the biomass production. Maximum fresh weight (2.8 gm/plant), dry weight (0.35 gm/plant) of roots and 2H4MB content (8.5 µg/ ml of root extract) were recorded after 8 weeks of acclimatization. The screening of in vitro raised plantlet root was also carried out by using GC-MS analysis which witnessed more than 25 compounds. The regenerated plantlets were also screened for homogeneity by using RAPD and ISSR. The proposed protocol surely can be used for the conservation and commercial production of the plant.

Keywords: 6-benzyladenine, PGRs, RAPD, 2H4MB

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Authors: Jazim Sohail, Filipe Teixeira-Dias

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Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) within non-helmeted contact sports is a growing concern due to the serious risk of potential injury. Extensive research is being conducted looking into head kinematics in non-helmeted contact sports utilizing instrumented mouthguards that allow researchers to record accelerations and velocities of the head during and after an impact. This does not, however, allow the location of the impact on the head, and its magnitude and orientation, to be determined. This research proposes and validates two methods to quantify impact locations from instrumented mouthguard kinematic data, one using rigid body dynamics, the other utilizing machine learning. The rigid body dynamics technique focuses on establishing and matching moments from Euler’s and torque equations in order to find the impact location on the head. The methodology is validated with impact data collected from a lab test with the dummy head fitted with an instrumented mouthguard. Additionally, a Hybrid III Dummy head finite element model was utilized to create synthetic kinematic data sets for impacts from varying locations to validate the impact location algorithm. The algorithm calculates accurate impact locations; however, it will require preprocessing of live data, which is currently being done by cross-referencing data timestamps to video footage. The machine learning technique focuses on eliminating the preprocessing aspect by establishing trends within time-series signals from instrumented mouthguards to determine the impact location on the head. An unsupervised learning technique is used to cluster together impacts within similar regions from an entire time-series signal. The kinematic signals established from mouthguards are converted to the frequency domain before using a clustering algorithm to cluster together similar signals within a time series that may span the length of a game. Impacts are clustered within predetermined location bins. The same Hybrid III Dummy finite element model is used to create impacts that closely replicate on-field impacts in order to create synthetic time-series datasets consisting of impacts in varying locations. These time-series data sets are used to validate the machine learning technique. The rigid body dynamics technique provides a good method to establish accurate impact location of impact signals that have already been labeled as true impacts and filtered out of the entire time series. However, the machine learning technique provides a method that can be implemented with long time series signal data but will provide impact location within predetermined regions on the head. Additionally, the machine learning technique can be used to eliminate false impacts captured by sensors saving additional time for data scientists using instrumented mouthguard kinematic data as validating true impacts with video footage would not be required.

Keywords: head impacts, impact location, instrumented mouthguard, machine learning, mTBI

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Authors: Asmita A. Vaidya, Shahista S. Inamdar

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Society is dynamic, in this changing and development processes, Indian Muslim women where no exception to this social change. Islam has elevated her status from being chattels/commodity to individual human being having separate legal personality and equal to that of men but in India, even two women are not equal in availing their matrimonial rights and remedies, separate personal laws are applicable to them and thus gender justice is a fragile myth.

Keywords: Muslim women, gender justice, polygamy, Islamic jurisprudence, equality

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Authors: Pranab Kumar Goswami, Elena Gurung

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Small and medium enterprises (SME) are considered as the driving force for the economic growth of a developing country like India. Most of the SMEs are located in residential/non-industrial areas to avoid legal obligations of occupational safety and health (OSH) provisions. This study was conducted in Delhiwith a view to analyze the accidents that occurredduringthe year 2019 & 2020. The objective of the study was to find out the accident prone SMEs in Delhi and major causes of such accidents. Methods: Survey and comprehensive data analysis methods, followed by applying simple statistical techniques, were used for this study. The accident reports for the study period collected from the labour department and police stations were analyzed for the study. The injured workers were interviewed to ascertain safety compliances, training and awareness programs, etc. The study was completed in March2021. Results: It was found that most of the accidents took place in SMEs located in residential/non- industrial areas in Delhi. The accident-prone machines were found to be power presses (42%) and injection moulding machines (37%). Predominantly unsafe machinery or unsafe working conditions and lack of training of worker were observed to be the major causes of accidents in such industries. Conclusions: It was concluded from the study that unsafe machinery/equipment and lack of proper training to the workers were two main reasons for increase in accidents.It was also concluded that the industries located in industrial areas were better placed in terms of workplace compliances. The managements who were running their operations from residential/non-industrial areaswere found to be less aware on health and safety issues. Lack of enforcement by government agencies in such areas has escalated this problem. Adequate training to workers, managing safe & healthy workplace, and sustained enforcement can reduce accidents in such industries.

Keywords: SME, accident prevention, cause of accident, unorganised

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Authors: Amy Matharu

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Existing literature on older athletes in competitive sports is often male-dominated and limited. This study explores how age and gender impact the experiences of older female bodybuilders in Canada using the social theories of deviance and intersectionality. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 Canadian female bodybuilders over the age of 45. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and thematically analysed. This study was approached from a phenomenological perspective. The participants deviated from their perceived social norms of women their age. They exhibited deviance with their actions, such as prioritising themselves and following extreme dieting practices, and with their aesthetics, such as maintaining a muscular appearance. Participants received both positive and negative reactions from society resulting in both admiration and stigmatisation. These reactions varied based on the environment, audience, and context of the situation. Overall, the intersection of age and gender results in a unique position for older female bodybuilders within society and within the sport.

Keywords: age, bodybuilding, gender, females

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Authors: Debasis Sarkar, Jatan Talati

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This paper is an attempt to develop an Integrated Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) for a smart city project in Western India. Integrated transportation is one of the enablers of smart transportation for providing a seamless intercity as well as regional level transportation experience. The success of a smart city project at the city level for transportation is providing proper integration to different mass rapid transit modes by way of integrating information, physical, network of routes fares, etc. The methodology adopted for this study was primary data research through questionnaire survey. The respondents of the questionnaire survey have responded on the issues about their perceptions on the ways and means to improve public transport services in urban cities. The respondents were also required to identify the factors and attributes which might motivate more people to shift towards the public mode. Also, the respondents were questioned about the factors which they feel might restrain the integration of various modes of MRTS. Furthermore, this study also focuses on developing a utility equation for respondents with the help of multiple linear regression analysis and its probability to shift to public transport for certain factors listed in the questionnaire. It has been observed that for shifting to public transport, the most important factors that need to be considered were travel time saving and comfort rating. Also, an Integrated MRTS can be obtained by combining metro rail with BRTS, metro rail with monorail, monorail with BRTS and metro rail with Indian railways. Providing a common smart card to transport users for accessing all the different available modes would be a pragmatic solution towards integration of the available modes of MRTS.

Keywords: mass rapid transit systems, smart city, metro rail, bus rapid transit system, multiple linear regression, smart card, automated fare collection system

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Authors: Kartikey Gupta

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Global warming and environmental degradation are at their peak today, with the years after 2000A.D. giving way to 15 hottest years in terms of average temperatures. In India, much of the standard temperature measuring equipment are located in ‘developed’ urban areas, hence showing us an incomplete picture in terms of the climate across many rural areas, which comprises most of the landmass. This study showcases data studied by the author since 3 years at Vatsalya’s Children’s village, in outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India; in the midst of semi-arid topography, where consistently huge temperature differences of up to 15.8 degrees Celsius from local Jaipur weather only 30 kilometers away, are stunning yet scary at the same time, encouraging analysis of where the natural climatic pattern is heading due to rapid unrestricted urbanization. Record-breaking data presented in this project enforces the need to discuss causes and recovery techniques. This research further explores how and to what extent we are causing phenomenal disturbances in the natural meteorological pattern by urban growth. Detailed data observations using a standardized ambient weather station at study site and comparing it with closest airport weather data, evaluating the patterns and differences, show striking differences in temperatures, wind patterns and even rainfall quantity, especially during high-pressure zone days. Winter-time lows dip to 8 degrees below freezing with heavy frost and ice, while only 30 kms away minimum figures barely touch single-digit temperatures. Human activity is having an unprecedented effect on climatic patterns in record-breaking trends, which is a warning of what may follow in the next 15-25 years for the next generation living in cities, and a serious exploration into possible solutions is a must.

Keywords: climate change, meteorology, urban heat island, urbanization

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Authors: SHWETA SRIKUMAR

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Winter stratospheric dynamics is a highly variable and spectacular field of research in middle atmosphere. It is well believed that the interaction of energetic planetary waves with mean flow causes the temperature to increase in the stratosphere and associated circulation reversal. This wave driven sudden disturbances in the polar stratosphere is defined as Sudden Stratospheric Warming. The main objective of the present work is to investigate the mid-winter major stratospheric warming events on equatorial dynamics over Peninsular India. To explore the effect of mid-winter stratospheric warming on Indian region (60oE -100oE), we have selected the winters 2003/04, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2012/13 and 2018/19. This study utilized the data from ERA-Interim Reanalysis, Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) from NOAA and TRMM satellite data from NASA mission. It is observed that a sudden drop in OLR (averaged over Indian Region) occurs during the course of warming for the winters 2005/06, 2008/09 and 2018/19. But in winters 2003/04 and 2012/13, drop in OLR happens prior to the onset of major warming. Significant amplitude of planetary wave activity is observed in equatorial lower stratosphere which indicates the propagation of extra-tropical planetary waves from high latitude to equator. During the course of warming, a strong downward propagation of EP flux convergence is observed from polar to equator region. The polar westward wind reaches upto 20oN and the weak eastward wind dominates the equator during the winters 2003/04, 2005/06 and 2018/19. But in 2012/13 winter, polar westward wind reaches upto equator. The equatorial wind at 2008/09 is dominated by strong westward wind. Further detailed results will be presented in the conference.

Keywords: Equatorial dynamics, Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Sudden Stratospheric Warming, Planetary Waves

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Authors: Naveen Kumar Perumalla, Devadas Kuna, Mohammed Akhter Ali

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Satellite Navigation System such as the United States Global Positioning System (GPS) plays a significant role in determining the user position. Similar to that of GPS, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is a Satellite Navigation System indigenously developed by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India, to meet the country’s navigation applications. This system is also known as Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC). The NavIC system’s main objective, is to offer Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) services to users in its two service areas i.e., covering the Indian landmass and the Indian Ocean. Six NavIC satellites are already deployed in the space and their receivers are in the performance evaluation stage. Four NavIC dual frequency receivers are installed in the ‘Advanced GNSS Research Laboratory’ (AGRL) in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, University College of Engineering, Osmania University, India. The NavIC receivers can be operated in two positioning modes: Stand-alone IRNSS and Hybrid (IRNSS+GPS) modes. In this paper, analysis of various parameters such as Dilution of Precision (DoP), three Dimension (3D) Root Mean Square (RMS) Position Error and Horizontal Position Error with respect to Visibility of Satellites is being carried out using the real-time IRNSS data, obtained by operating the receiver in both positioning modes. Two typical days (6th July 2017 and 7th July 2017) are considered for Hyderabad (Latitude-17°24'28.07’N, Longitude-78°31'4.26’E) station are analyzed. It is found that with respect to the considered parameters, the Hybrid mode operation of NavIC receiver is giving better results than that of the standalone positioning mode. This work finds application in development of NavIC receivers for civilian navigation applications.

Keywords: DoP, GPS, IRNSS, GNSS, position error, satellite visibility

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Santosh Sharma

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Background: Drug abuse, needle sharing, and risky sexual behaviour are often compounded to increase the risk of HIV transmission. Injecting Drug Users are at the duel risk of needle sharing and risky sexual Behaviour, becoming more vulnerable to STI and HIV. Thus, studying the interface of injecting drug use and risky sexual behaviour is important to curb the pace of HIV epidemic among IDUs. The aim of this study is to determine the factor associated with HIV among injecting drug users in three states of India. Materials and methods: This paper analyzes covariates of multiplicity of risk behavior among injecting drug users. Findings are based on data from Integrated Behavioral and Biological Assessment (IBBA) round 2, 2010. IBBA collects the information of IDUs from the six districts. IDUs were selected on the criteria of those who were 18 years or older, who injected addictive substances/drugs for non-medical purposes at least once in past six month. A total of 1,979 in round 2 were interviewed in the IBBA. The study employs quantitative techniques using standard statistical tools to achieve the above objectives. All results presented in this paper are unweighted univariate measures. Results: Among IDUs, average duration of injecting drugs is 5.2 years. Mean duration between first drug use to first injecting drugs among younger IDUs, belongs to 18-24 years is 2.6 years Needle cleaning practices is common with above two-fifths reporting its every time cleaning. Needle sharing is quite prevalent especially among younger IDUs. Further, IDUs practicing needle sharing exhibit pervasive multi-partner behavior. Condom use with commercial partners is almost 81 %, whereas with intimate partner it is 39 %. Coexistence of needle sharing and unprotected sex enhances STI prevalence (6.8 %), which is further pronounced among divorced/separated/widowed (9.4 %). Conclusion: Working towards risk reduction for IDUs must deal with multiplicity of risk. Interventions should deal with covariates of risk, addressing youth, and risky sexual behavior.

Keywords: IDUs, HIV, STI, behaviour

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