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The higher education efficiency evaluation model using the data envelopment analysis method has interested many researchers. This paper uses bibliometric analysis on publications extracted from the Scopus database to provide a comprehensive overview of research publications on the measurement of higher education efficiency based on data envelopment analysis: its growth rate, major collaboration networks, the most important and popular research topic. A total of 169 related publications were collected and analyzed from 1988 to 2021. The analysis results show that: Publications published every year have increased sharply in the last six years; The quality of publications is relatively high as publications tend to be published in journals with high-ranking indexes; Countries with the most influence in studies on this topic are: Italy, China, Spain, the USA, and the United Kingdom; Authors with the most influence in this research direction are Agasisti T., Abbott M., Doucouliagos C., Avkiran N.K., and Johnes J.; The research cooperation among countries and among affiliations is not strong. Finally, the paper has provided recommendations for future studies based on the findings.

For those receiving funding from the UK HEFCE-funded Open Educational Resource Programme (2009-2012), the sustainability of project outputs was one of a number of essential goals. Our approach for the hosting and distribution of health and life science open educational resources (OER) was based on the utilisation of the WordPress.org blogging platform and search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques to curate content and widen discovery. This paper outlines the approaches taken and tools used at the time, and reflects upon the effectiveness of web strategies several years post-funding. The paper concludes that using WordPress.org as a platform for sharing and curating OER, and the adoption of a pragmatic approach to SEO, offers cheap and simple ways for small-scale open education projects to be effective and sustainable.

Maximum number of privately funded engineering institutions have been established in India in the last two decades to meet the growing needs of technical manpower required by the Engineering and IT companies as well as aspiring students after completion of the Pre-University Program. However, a large number of institutions have not been able to attract the talented students for their undergraduate programs. The private managements of those institutions have realized then, the need for maintaining high quality in imparting engineering education. In addition, the regulatory bodies like NBA insist on maintaining the quality in the educational programs before giving accreditation. Therefore, the young institutes need to know the best practices adopted by the high performing institutions and introduce those best practices in their programs. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify the best practices of the reputed and ranking institutes, to classify and codify those practices so as to enable the young institutes to implement them. Quality indicators have been identified through literature review, by summarizing previous studies, by conducting discussion with experts in the field. A few top ranked engineering institutions are selected to identify and list the best practices, by referring to the finding of various magazines. Practices followed with respect to the quality indicators identified have been composed by conducting structured interviews and discussions with various core groups and stake holders of these institutions. The details of literature review, data collection & analysis, findings and policy implications of the research work are presented in this paper. The best practices enlisted through this study will act as guidelines to implement the quality initiatives for the young institutions.

This article attempts to highlight quantitatively the growth and development of world literature on hemophilia in terms of publications output as per SCOPUS database (2003-2017). During 2003-2017 a total of 13503 papers were published by the scientists in the field of hemophilia. The average number of publications published per year was 900. The highest number of publications 1095 was published in 2012. Out of 13503 contributions, only 18.48% (2495 papers) of single authored and rest of 11008 papers (81.52%) were multi authored. The study identifies active institutions and country-wise distributions of hemophilia research output. The yearly analysis of data shows that there is a rapid growth of literature from 2011 onwards. There were 126 countries involved in the research in this field. USA is the top producing country with 3986 authorships (29.52%) followed by United Kingdom with 1438 authorships (10.65%). Still, in an international sense, relative productivity of India is low and requires more focused research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English being a global language has become a vital element in all walks of life. The feelers of this language have left no sphere unmarked with its significance. Despite such a colossal tide for gaining command over the language it was found that the conventional pattern of teaching English language could not reap desired results. A comprehensive and analytical study of the aforesaid problem stirred researchers to work in this area. In order to enhance the communication skills of native speakers, practical implications were incorporated to theoretical principles of English Language teaching/learning. The present paper discusses the application and results of the experimental procedure of the effective techniques employed in English teaching/learning. The various techniques used in the modus operandi of enhancing the communication skills of the students were small talk conversations, SWOT analysis, phonetics, avoiding Indianism, vocabulary building through mnemonics and root words, describing and narrating visual stimulus, listening to important speeches followed by comprehension, sharing reviews after watching motivational videos/movies, peer learning and delivering effective presentations. The learning outcomes of the aforesaid activities included better reasoning, enhanced thought process, ability to concoct innovative ideas, command over language, improved communication skills, fluency etc.

Active Learning in Maths and Science (ALMS) was a six-month face-to-face professional development program for middle school maths and science teachers carried out between June and November, 2010 in two Indian states. ALMS's theory of action is grounded in the belief that collaborative learning serves as a "gateway" to learner-centered instruction. Designers theorized that this shift from individual to collaborative learning would redefine the teacher's role; alter the teacher and student relationship; change teachers' organizational, instructional and assessment practices; and begin to lay the groundwork for an eventual shift toward full learner-centered instruction. As this paper will discuss, this proposed theory of action was largely confirmed. Over 80 percent of teachers across the two states regularly implemented collaborative learning techniques and began the larger journey toward learner-centered instruction. This implementation also resulted in a number of benefits for students, including greater levels of engagement, increased confidence, and improved behavior. The research also suggests that when teachers see positive changes as a result of their actions, their deeply-held beliefs about traditional instruction may conflict with what they in fact witnessed in their classrooms. This is the beginning of the evolution of change.

Fieldwork is an essential component in Geography education. Learning through research in Geography involves generating substantial data and data manipulation. In order to make geographical inquiry a worthwhile learning experience, researchers require a seamless system that allows data collection and analysis without being distracted by the multiple methods and equipment used. NIEmGeo is a mobile application that is developed with an aim to support integrative geographic learning, both during fieldwork and during subsequent data analysis. The system has been used successfully by more than 100 students in several undergraduate courses. The paper discusses the salient features of the application, analyses the usage of field researchers, and discusses the viability of the application as a field and post-field support system for field-based learning in Geography. Some observed limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

As the wealth of information available on the Web increases, Web-based information seeking becomes a more and more important skill for supporting both formal education and lifelong learning. However, Web-based information access poses hurdles that must be overcome by certain student populations, such as low English competency users, low literacy users, or what we will refer to as "emerging Internet users." The challenge springs from the fact that the bulk of information available on the Web is provided in a small number of high profile languages such as English, Korean, and Chinese. These issues continue to be problematic despite research in cross-linguistic information retrieval and machine translation. These technologies are still too brittle for extensive use by these user populations for the purpose of bridging the language gulf. In this paper, we propose a mixed-methods approach to addressing these issues specifically in connection with emerging Internet users, with data mining as a key component. Our target emerging Internet users are rural children who have recently become part of a technical university student population in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. As Internet penetration increases in the developing world and at the same time populations shift from rural to urban life, such populations of emerging Internet users will be an important target for design of scaffolding and educational support. In this context, in addition to using the Internet for their own personal information needs, students are expected to be able to receive assignments in English and use the Web to meet the information needs specified in their assignments. Thus, we begin our investigation with a small, qualitative study in which we investigate in detail the problems faced by these students responding to search tasks given to them in English. We first present a qualitative analysis of the result write-up in response to the given information-seeking task along with some observations about the corresponding search behavior. This analysis reveals difficulties posed by the strategies students were observed to employ to compensate for difficulties understanding the search task statement and retrieved materials. Based on these specific observations, we present an extensive controlled study in which we manipulate both characteristics of the search task as well as the manner in which it was presented (i.e., in English only, in the native language of Telugu only, or presented both in English and the native language) in order to understand how a light form of support might impact task success for these information seeking tasks. One important contribution of this work is a dataset from roughly 2,000 users including their pre-search response to the task statement, a log of their click behavior during search, and their post-search write up. A data mining methodology is presented that allows us to understand more broadly the difficulties faced by this student population as well as how the experimental manipulation affects their search behavior. Results suggest that using machine translation for the limited task of translating information seeking task statements, which is more feasible than translating queries or large scale translation of search results, may be beneficial for these users depending on the type of task. The data mining methodology itself, which can be applied as an assessment technique for evaluating search behavior in subsequent research, is a second contribution. Finally, the findings from statistical analysis of the study results and data mining are a third contribution of the work.

Background: According to the renowned and Oscar award-winning American actor and film director Marlon Brando, "privacy is not something that I am merely entitled to, it is an absolute prerequisite." Privacy threats and data breaches occur daily, and countries are mitigating the consequences caused by privacy and data breaches. The Indian healthcare industry is one of the largest and rapidly developing industry. Overall, healthcare management is changing from disease-centric into patient-centric systems. Healthcare data analysis also plays a crucial role in healthcare management, and the privacy of patient records must receive equal attention. Purpose: This paper mainly presents the utility and privacy factors of the Indian healthcare data and discusses the utility aspect and privacy problems concerning Indian healthcare systems. It defines policies that reform Indian healthcare systems. The case study of the NITI Aayog report is presented to explain how reformation occurs in Indian healthcare systems. Findings: It is found that there have been numerous research studies conducted on Indian healthcare data across all dimensions; however, privacy problems in healthcare, specifically in India, are caused by prevalent complacency, culture, politics, budget limitations, large population, and existing infrastructures. This paper reviews the Indian healthcare system and the applications that drive it. Additionally, the paper also maps that how privacy issues are happening in every healthcare sector in India. Originality/Value: To understand these factors and gain insights, understanding Indian healthcare systems first is crucial. To the best of our knowledge, we found no recent papers that thoroughly reviewed the Indian healthcare system and its privacy issues. The paper is original in terms of its overview of the healthcare system and privacy issues. Social Implications: Privacy has been the most ignored part of the Indian healthcare system. With India being a country with a population of 130 billion, much healthcare data are generated every day. The chances of data breaches and other privacy violations on such sensitive data cannot be avoided as they cause severe concerns for individuals. This paper segregates the healthcare system's advances and lists the privacy that needs to be addressed first. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the announcement of "The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993," the practice of manual scavenging became illegal in India. The manual scavenging problem as a practice is prolonged because of the lack of technological progress and political and administrative will to implement reformative laws on the ground. The Indological text has a particular interpretation of manual scavenging, constituting the basis of caste ideologies and practices. Using qualitative data, the present study encapsulates the transformation of manual scavenging from an overlooked issue to one that demands attention and understanding. It sets the tone for a comprehensive exploration of the historical, social, and policy dimensions surrounding manual scavenging in India. The paper argues that most of the legislative and executive decisions have landed on the terrain of totemism, purity & pollution and are heavily ritualised in the ideological framework, contributing least to the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on qualitative and quantitative data which reports the foraging shift of honey bees and reduction in the population of honey bees. As stated, colony collapse disaster is considered as the main cause for decline in bee population and agricultural productivity. It is further mentioned that urbanization has resulted in excessive use of disposable cups which may lead to bee collapse in India and in rest of the world.

Background: Given India's high patient load on the existing healthcare setup, as well as political, social, and organizational challenges, the nursing sector is facing various problems, therefore leading to substandard nursing experiences leading to poor patient care at the parallel healthcare setups, specifically homecare. This paper presents self-managed organizations (SMOs) characterized by a horizontal management structure as an effective alternative to existing hierarchical management structures overladen with bureaucracy. Therefore, we are exploring the strategies at self-managed homecare organizations that can make nursing a better and more productive experience. Method: This study utilized Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT), employing semi-structured interviews to explore nursing dynamics in horizontal organizational structures. It delved into crucial aspects like finances, organizational structure, value systems, information flow, and conflict resolution within SMOs. The methodology involved theoretical sampling, prioritizing expert self-management knowledge over mere representativeness. Seven nurses, twelve management members, and fifteen patients from self-managed homecare organizations contributed to the examination of nursing experiences. Constant comparative analysis of data led to the identification of the Qualitative Success Enablers (QSEs), revealing three themes: Insightfulness, Enhancing Nursing Experience through Job Enrichment, and Autonomy-Enabled Intrapreneurship. Results: The findings indicate that the horizontal management structure represented by the studied organization in India has shown considerable success in times laden with uncertainties during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the delta wave, which revealed the frailty of existing healthcare infrastructure. The organization successfully maintained a better nursing experience and gained patient and employee satisfaction, as revealed by in-depth semi-structured interviews and constant comparative analysis. Conclusion: In a world of unique challenges, we stand on the brink of significant transformations. SMOs are vital in India's homecare sector for enhancing nursing experiences and overall organizational performance. Fostering a trust-based environment within SMOs is integral to delivering effective services. The autonomy to design nursing jobs, insightfulness, and innovativeness in the nursing job through suitable training activities, various job enrichment methods, and finding meaningfulness in a job through softer aspects of caregiving result in an enhanced nursing experience at SMOs. This groundbreaking approach can be extended to other homecare organizations in India, relieving the strain on the existing healthcare system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to test for spatial convergence in financial inclusion across major Indian states and union territories. Design/methodology/approach: After initially building an Index of Financial Inclusion (IFI) for major Indian states between 2003 and 2016, exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) is employed to draw inferences about mean and variance of IFI. The paper then seeks to confirm the ESDA results through spatial panel regression techniques. Finally, spatial results are correlated with results from aspatial convergence measures. Findings: The study finds that there is no evidence of spatial convergence in financial inclusion over the study period, suggesting that those states that were relatively less financially included remained so through the study period. The study also asserts the relevance of certain important determinants, namely, per capita income, infrastructure, industrialization and gender. Research limitations/implications: This study has two limitations. First, only banking institutions are considered in measuring financial inclusion. Second, due to lack of a consistent indicator of gender participation across states, we had to employ sex ratio as a proxy. Practical implications: The study suggests that policies to expand financial inclusion in Indian states, especially those with low inclusion levels are likely to benefit neighbouring states also, thereby accelerating the financial inclusion drive across states. Originality/value: The study is a first in the Indian context to estimate the spatial dependence of financial inclusion and provides relevant implications for policymakers and bankers to target financial inclusion schemes in backward states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents several novel findings from a comprehensive analysis of about 50,000 Tweets about online learning during COVID-19, posted on Twitter between 9 November 2021 and 13 July 2022. First, the results of sentiment analysis from VADER, Afinn, and TextBlob show that a higher percentage of these Tweets were positive. The results of gender-specific sentiment analysis indicate that for positive Tweets, negative Tweets, and neutral Tweets, between males and females, males posted a higher percentage of the Tweets. Second, the results from subjectivity analysis show that the percentage of least opinionated, neutral opinionated, and highly opinionated Tweets were 56.568%, 30.898%, and 12.534%, respectively. The gender-specific results for subjectivity analysis indicate that females posted a higher percentage of highly opinionated Tweets as compared to males. However, males posted a higher percentage of least opinionated and neutral opinionated Tweets as compared to females. Third, toxicity detection was performed on the Tweets to detect different categories of toxic content—toxicity, obscene, identity attack, insult, threat, and sexually explicit. The gender-specific analysis of the percentage of Tweets posted by each gender for each of these categories of toxic content revealed several novel insights related to the degree, type, variations, and trends of toxic content posted by males and females related to online learning. Fourth, the average activity of males and females per month in this context was calculated. The findings indicate that the average activity of females was higher in all months as compared to males other than March 2022. Finally, country-specific tweeting patterns of males and females were also performed which presented multiple novel insights, for instance, in India, a higher percentage of the Tweets about online learning during COVID-19 were posted by males as compared to females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Qualitative research methods (QRMs) bear a critical role in psychiatry as they explore the phenomenology of psychiatric illness and its sociocultural dimensions. However, there is limited evidence regarding its use in psychiatric research in India. Aim: This study, under the aegis of mapping qualitative health research in India initiative, attempted to landscape the use of QRMs in psychiatry and elicited expert opinion on its potential, perceived quality, and scope for improvement. Materials and Methods: We reviewed studies using qualitative methodology published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry (IJP) and the abstracts presented at the Annual Conference of the Indian Psychiatric Society (ANCIPS) between 2010 and 2019. Titles and abstracts were screened and shortlisted; full-text articles were checked to identify the relevant ones. In addition, ten experts comprising psychiatry journal reviewers, editors, and conference scientific committee members were interviewed to elicit their views and suggestions. Results: Out of 356 papers published in IJP between 2010 and 2019, only 12 papers used QRMs: five qualitative and seven mixed methods. Out of 2297 abstracts published between 2010 and 2019 in ANCIPS, only 28 had used QRMs, consisting of 20 qualitative and eight mixed methods. The findings reveal that qualitative research is still an understudied domain in Indian psychiatry with a substantial need for rigor and quality. Conclusions: To catalyze the use of qualitative research in Indian psychiatry, continuing medical education programs through workshops or webinar mode need to be imparted. These trainings should aim at building skills on qualitative study design, data collection, analysis, and writing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Crop yield prediction is an important issue for the proper selection of crop for sowing. Earlier prediction of crop is done by the farmer’s experience on a particular type of field and crop. Predicting the crop is done by the farmer’s experience based on the factors like soil types, climatic condition, seasons and weather, rainfall and irrigation facilities. Methods: Data mining techniques is the better choice for predicting the crop. Different Data Mining techniques are used and evaluated in agriculture for estimating the future year’s crop production. This research proposes and implements a system to predict crop yield from soil data. This is achieved by applying Decision Tree Algorithm on agricultural data. The main aim of this research is to pinpoint the accuracy of Decision Tree Algorithm and C 5.0 algorithm which is used to predict the crop yield. Result: This paper presents a brief analysis of Crop yield prediction using data mining technique based decision tree algorithm and C5.0 algorithm for the selected region (Krishnagiri) district of Tamil Nadu in India. The experimental result shows that the proposed work efficiently to determine the accuracy of decision tree algorithm and also to predict the crop yield production using R- Tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding causes and contributors to maternal mortality is critical from a quality improvement perspective to inform decision making and monitor progress toward ending preventable maternal mortality. The indicator "maternal death review coverage" is defined as the percentage of maternal deaths occurring in a facility that are audited. Both the numerator and denominator of this indicator are subject to misclassification errors, underreporting, and bias. This study assessed the validity of the indicator by examining both its numerator—the number and quality of death reviews—and denominator—the number of facility-based maternal deaths and comparing estimates of the indicator obtained from facility- versus district-level data. Methods and findings: We collected data on the number of maternal deaths and content of death reviews from all health facilities serving as birthing sites in 12 districts in three countries: Argentina, Ghana, and India. Additional data were extracted from health management information systems on the number and dates of maternal deaths and maternal death reviews reported from health facilities to the district-level. We tabulated the percentage of facility deaths with evidence of a review, the percentage of reviews that met the World Health Organization defined standard for maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response. Results were stratified by sociodemographic characteristics of women and facility location and type. We compared these estimates to that obtained using district-level data. and looked at evidence of the review at the district/provincial level. Study teams reviewed facility records at 34 facilities in Argentina, 51 facilities in Ghana, and 282 facilities in India. In total, we found 17 deaths in Argentina, 14 deaths in Ghana, and 58 deaths in India evidenced at facilities. Overall, >80% of deaths had evidence of a review at facilities. In India, a much lower percentage of deaths occurring at secondary-level facilities (61.1%) had evidence of a review compared to deaths in tertiary-level facilities (92.1%). In all three countries, only about half of deaths in each country had complete reviews: 58.8% (n = 10) in Argentina, 57.2% (n = 8) in Ghana, and 41.1% (n = 24) in India. Dramatic reductions in indicator value were seen in several subnational geographic areas, including Gonda and Meerut in India and Sunyani in Ghana. For example, in Gonda only three of the 18 reviews conducted at facilities met the definitional standard (16.7%), which caused the value of the indicator to decrease from 81.8% to 13.6%. Stratification by women's sociodemographic factors suggested systematic differences in completeness of reviews by women's age, place of residence, and timing of death. Conclusions: Our study assessed the validity of an important indicator for ending preventable deaths: the coverage of reviews of maternal deaths occurring in facilities in three study settings. We found discrepancies in deaths recorded at facilities and those reported to districts from facilities. Further, few maternal death reviews met global quality standards for completeness. The value of the calculated indicator masked inaccuracies in counts of both deaths and reviews and gave no indication of completeness, thus undermining the ultimate utility of the measure in achieving an accurate measure of coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is the primary profession in India which relies on several climatic factors such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, etc., for the successful growth of crops. Weather and drought forecasting may help to take preventive measures in an unusual situation due to crop failure. Most of the existing work attempts to forecast the weather or analyse the reason for the occurrence of drought and its effects in the past. This paper adopts the machine learning model called the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network to forecast the long-term rainfall and standardised precipitation index for drought estimation. The predicted annual rainfall from LSTM is taken as an input to forecast the drought conditions of India for the upcoming years, which is a unique approach and objective, and based on this work appropriate decisions can be made for future actions. The past 117 years of rainfall and drought conditions are compared with the recent 50 years by analysing the data in several ways in order to predict the future scenario. The forecasted results are compared with actual observations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the LSTM model to produce adequate results. The error and network loss of the model is 0.059 and 0.0036, which is minimal, and the forecasted rainfall level is almost equal to actual level specifically accuracy is 99.46% for the previous year, 2021. It was found that there is a rainfall decline of 0.04% every year. Apart from the prediction for the country, a clear picture of the region regarding drought forecasts is presented in this work. The real-time drought level is mild and moderate for most of the regions in the country which matches with the drought level determined using forecasted rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of COVID-19 on the Global scale is tremendously drastic. There are several types of research going on across the world simultaneously to understand and overcome this dire pandemic outbreak. This paper is purely a statistical study on a distinct set of datasets regarding COVID-19 in India. The motivation of this study is to provide an insight into the rapid growth of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India. The rapid growth of COVID-19 cases in India started in March 2020. The main objective of this paper is to provide a solid statistical model for the policymaker to handle this kind of pandemic situation in the near future with nonlinear data. In this paper, the data was got from 1st April to 29th November 2020. To come up with a solid statistical model, various nonlinear data such as confirmed COVID-19 cases, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, the total population (state-wise), the total area in km2 (state-wise), and the total rural and urban population count (state-wise) have been analyzed. In this paper, six different Generalized Additive Models (GAM) was identified after a thorough analysis of other researchers' (Xie and Zhu, 2020; Prata et al., 2020) findings. In all perspectives, the results were identified and analyzed. The GAM model regarding total COVID-19 confirmed cases, total population, and the total rural population provides the best average fit of R2 value of 0.934. As the population value is quite high, the author has concise it using logarithm to provide the best p -value of 0.000542 and 0.001407 for a relation between the total number of COVID-19 cases regarding the total population and total rural population respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juvenile delinquency is a serious offence and it is detrimental for the social order in any country. There is a trend of increase in juvenile crimes world-over, with more and more involvement of the youth in violent crimes. India shows similar trends of increasing rate of violent crimes committed by the juveniles. It is a very serious concern for the nation and solutions to end the problem need to be sought very carefully. Indian legal system and judiciary has responded to these trends and has brought some amendments in the laws pertaining to juvenile justice in India. This paper aims at looking at the causes of juvenile delinquency and explanations given by scholars from various fields to explain the problem. The analysis of statistical data available at official sites indicates increasing involvement of the juveniles in heinous crimes. To contain the problem of juvenile delinquency in India, the Act pertaining to Juvenile Delinquency has been amended and now trial of juveniles involved in heinous crimes is held as adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-resolution regional reanalysis of the Indian Monsoon Data Assimilation and Analysis (IMDAA) project is made available to researchers for deeper understanding of the Indian monsoon and its variability. This 12-km resolution reanalysis covering the satellite era from 1979 to 2018 using a 4D-Var data assimilation method and the U.K. Met Office Unified Model is presently the highest resolution atmospheric reanalysis carried out for the Indian monsoon region. Conventional and satellite observations from different sources are used, including Indian surface and upper air observations, of which some had not been used in any previous reanalyses. Various aspects of this reanalysis, including quality control and bias correction of observations, data assimilation system, land surface analysis, and verification of reanalysis products, are presented in this paper. Representation of important weather phenomena of each season over India in the IMDAA reanalysis verifies reasonably well against India Meteorological Department (IMD) observations and compares closely with ERA5. Salient features of the Indian summer monsoon are found to be well represented in the IMDAA reanalysis. Characteristics of major semipermanent summer monsoon features (e.g., low-level jet and tropical easterly jet) in IMDAA reanalysis are consistent with ERA5. The IMDAA reanalysis has captured the mean, interannual, and intraseasonal variability of summer monsoon rainfall fairly well. IMDAA produces a slightly cooler winter and a hotter summer than the observations; the reverse is true for ERA5. IMDAA captured the fine-scale features associated with a notable heavy rainfall episode over complex terrain. In this study, the fine grid spacing nature of IMDAA is compromised due to the lack of comparable resolution observations for verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The primary objective of this paper is to identify and analyze factors that influence choice and quality of healthcare of the elderly population in two northern and two southern states in India. The purpose of this paper is to look beyond the obvious factors that influence choice and therefore the quality of healthcare and seek to find whether there are some additional indirect factors that also influence choice and quality of healthcare.Design/methodology/approach This paper utilizes data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India pilot project, which was a cross-sectional survey of men and women aged 45 and over focusing on two northern states (Punjab and Rajasthan) and two southern states (Kerala and Karnataka). In this paper the authors carry out a Probit analysis to estimate the factors that influence the elderly’s choice of healthcare.Findings The authors find that social activity via different types of social interactions outside the home and access to a phone (which is one of the cheapest and most commonly used methods of communication used by people in India) are statistically significant in influencing better quality of healthcare for the elderly. Moreover, gender-segregated results suggest that social activity is particularly important for elderly females. Relative price of healthcare is also an important determinant of the quality of healthcare sought. The authors also find some consistent regional influences on healthcare choices by the elderly.Research limitations/implications The main limitation is the data itself which is cross-sectional in nature. However, as further rounds of survey are conducted the authors hope to be able to build on the results of this paper using a longitudinal approach. A second limitation is the lack of variables available for carrying out an instrumental variables analysis. The results imply that elderly males and females are influenced by different things when it comes to healthcare choices. Thus for policy to be effective, the government needs to pursue avenues that would be most likely to succeed.Practical implications One of the most important practical implications of this research is the understanding that informal channels of knowledge transmission are important especially for the elderly in India. Traditional methods of knowledge transmission such as education, media, and income are less likely to be effective in a country where majority of the people are illiterate and poor. Social interactions appear to be most effective in influencing healthcare choices of elderly females.Social implications The most obvious social implications of this paper are the importance of social interactions via social activities outside the home and ability for social communication via access to a phone for the elderly population in India to make better healthcare choices and therefore receive better healthcare.Originality/value The literature on elderly healthcare is limited when it comes to developing countries. What makes matters worse for India is that up until recently there have been no comprehensive efforts to collect reliable data on the elderly population in India. As a result there is extremely limited availability of policy-relevant research dedicated to issues relating to the older population. Most of the existing literature looks at self-reported health and healthcare status or utilization. This paper would be among the first to address factors influencing quality of healthcare received by the elderly population in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines economic deprivations among elderly and non-elderly households in India, using data from the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-2006). Economic deprivation is measured with respect to the asset poor, derived from a set of economic proxies, such as housing quality, household amenities, land ownership and consumer durables, using the principal component analysis. Results show that the poverty level among older persons living in nuclear households was very high compared with that among older persons living in non-nuclear households or households without any elderly. This paper therefore suggests an analysis of the poverty data by integrating the type of households and living arrangements for the elderly to ensure evidence-based policies and programmes. It also suggests that all elderly living in nuclear households with little or no education be included in existing social pension systems and incentives be provided to promote co-residence among older persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that social media is one of the largest sources of unstructured data. Analyzing that data and harvesting meaning out of that is a tedious job. Recently opinion mining has become an emerging topic due to the vast amount of opinioned data available on the various social networking sites. Microblogging has appeared relatively recently, and twitter is the most popular microblogging sites used by the people. It is one of the biggest free, open data-source. In the world today, twitter often witnesses a lot of opinions. Opinion mining and sentiment analysis help researchers to gain insight into public emotions. In this paper, Twitter is used as a source of opinioned data. Twitter APIs are used for the collection of tweets. In this paper, R is used for the acquisition, pre- processing, analyzing the tweets, then sentiment analysis is performed based on the different approaches. In this paper, Tweets were collected from the period of Jan 2019 to March 2019. Using that tweets, sentiment analysis was performed to gain the opinion polarity of the folks concerning general elections held in India. Two candidates were considered for this study: Candidate-1 and Candidate-2. It was concluded that Candidate-1 is more liked and is famous as compared to Candidate-2. The result obtained in our paper was in full compliance with the actual election results obtained in May 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Globally, nearly 3 billion people rely on solid fuels for cooking and heating, the vast majority residing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The resulting household air pollution (HAP) is a leading environmental risk factor, accounting for an estimated 1.6 million premature deaths annually. Previous interventions of cleaner stoves have often failed to reduce exposure to levels that produce meaningful health improvements. There have been no multicountry field trials with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves, likely the cleanest scalable intervention. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the design and methods of an ongoing randomized controlled trial (RCT) of LPG stove and fuel distribution in 3,200 households in 4 LMICs (India, Guatemala, Peru, and Rwanda). METHODS: We are enrolling 800 pregnant women at each of the 4 international research centers from households using biomass fuels. We are randomly assigning households to receive LPG stoves, an 18-month supply of free LPG, and behavioral reinforcements to the control arm. The mother is being followed along with her child until the child is 1 year old. Older adult women (40 to <80 years of age) living in the same households are also enrolled and followed during the same period. Primary health outcomes are low birth weight, severe pneumonia incidence, stunting in the child, and high blood pressure (BP) in the older adult woman. Secondary health outcomes are also being assessed. We are assessing stove and fuel use, conducting repeated personal and kitchen exposure assessments of fine particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter =2.5 ηm (PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), and black carbon (BC), and collecting dried blood spots (DBS) and urinary samples for biomarker analysis. Enrollment and data collection began in May 2018 and will continue through August 2021. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02944682). CONCLUSIONS: This study will provide evidence to inform national and global policies on scaling up LPG stove use among vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose India’s retail sector is going through a significant transitional period with the internet as a new distribution channel becoming more common. Given the barriers to adoption, the purpose of this paper is to understand the role played by trusting beliefs when engaging with an online retailer. In the Indian market, online vending is expected to increase at a rate of 35 per cent per annum, and by understanding trusting beliefs retailers will be able to develop their market share by developing appropriate and/or innovative strategies.Design/methodology/approach The work is based on a sample of more than 200 internet customers in India. In understanding the data and the relationships that emerged from the modelling, the authors used a range of tools to analyse the data, including CFA and structural equation modelling. The authors also used descriptive statistics to provide a holistic overview of response profiles.Findings The study reveals that trusting beliefs are negatively influenced by an uncertainty avoidance culture and positively influenced by a firm’s image and a customer’s price awareness. Moreover, purchase intentions (PIs) are significantly enhanced by trusting beliefs in an online environment. Hence, it leads us to conclude that PIs can be augmented by facilitating and ensuring good quality service by placing special emphasis on timeliness, accuracy and conditions of the order, security and privacy paradigms, aftersales services, etc.Research limitations/implications As can be seen, the internet is an emergent tool for retailers in India. By understanding trusting beliefs, retailers will be able to better understand customers’ behaviour and thus design management strategies accordingly. Although this is likely to take more than a decade, as internet retailing becomes embedded it may have a detrimental effect on the historical channel to market, thus altering the country’s retail landscape which is currently dominated by small retailers.Practical implications The work’s findings are insightful for those seeking to maximize the opportunities presented by the internet as a channel to market. The works shows how the channel is influenced and thus how it can be managed. In making the contribution the authors provide guidance in terms of operational activity to engage with potential customers.Originality/value This paper examines trusting beliefs when using the internet as a channel to market and in doing so it makes a new contribution because it establishes links with culture and other factors. For the research venue the authors use a developing market and therefore the findings are applicable to markets with similar characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: In the analysis of dichotomous type response variable, logistic regression is usually used. However, the performance of logistic regression in the presence of sparse data is questionable. In such a situation, a common problem is the presence of high odds ratios (ORs) with very wide 95% confidence interval (CI) (OR: >999.999, 95% CI: <0.001, >999.999). In this paper, we addressed this issue by using penalized logistic regression (PLR) method. Materials and Methods: Data from case-control study on hyponatremia and hiccups conducted in Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India was used. The outcome variable was the presence/absence of hiccups and the main exposure variable was the status of hyponatremia. Simulation dataset was created with different sample sizes and with a different number of covariates. Results: A total of 23 cases and 50 controls were used for the analysis of ordinary and PLR methods. The main exposure variable hyponatremia was present in nine (39.13%) of the cases and in four (8.0%) of the controls. Of the 23 hiccup cases, all were males and among the controls, 46 (92.0%) were males. Thus, the complete separation between gender and the disease group led into an infinite OR with 95% CI (OR: >999.999, 95% CI: <0.001, >999.999) whereas there was a finite and consistent regression coefficient for gender (OR: 5.35; 95% CI: 0.42, 816.48) using PLR. After adjusting for all the confounding variables, hyponatremia entailed 7.9 (95% CI: 2.06, 38.86) times higher risk for the development of hiccups as was found using PLR whereas there was an overestimation of risk OR: 10.76 (95% CI: 2.17, 53.41) using the conventional method. Simulation experiment shows that the estimated coverage probability of this method is near the nominal level of 95% even for small sample sizes and for a large number of covariates. Conclusions: PLR is almost equal to the ordinary logistic regression when the sample size is large and is superior in small cell values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The core objective of any point-of-care (POC) testing program is to ensure that testing will result in an actionable management decision (e.g. referral, confirmatory test, treatment), within the same clinical encounter (e.g. POC continuum). This can but does not have to involve rapid tests. Most studies on POC testing focus on one specific test and disease in a particular healthcare setting. This paper describes the actors, technologies and practices involved in diagnosing major diseases in five Indian settings - the home, community, clinics, peripheral laboratories and hospitals. The aim was to understand how tests are used and fit into the health system and with what implications for the POC continuum.Methods: The paper reports on a qualitative study including 78 semi-structured interviews and 13 focus group discussions with doctors, nurses, patients, lab technicians, program officers and informal providers, conducted between January and June 2013 in rural and urban Karnataka, South India. Actors, diseases, tests and diagnostic processes were mapped for each of the five settings and analyzed with regard to whether and how POC continuums are being ensured.Results: Successful POC testing hardly occurs in any of the five settings. In hospitals and public clinics, most of the rapid tests are used in laboratories where either the single patient encounter advantage is not realized or the rapidity is compromised. Lab-based testing in a context of manpower and equipment shortages leads to delays. In smaller peripheral laboratories and private clinics with shorter turn-around-times, rapid tests are unavailable or too costly. Here providers find alternative measures to ensure the POC continuum. In the home setting, patients who can afford a test are not/do not feel empowered to use those devices.Conclusion: These results show that there is much diagnostic delay that deters the POC continuum. Existing rapid tests are currently not translated into treatment decisions rapidly or are not available where they could ensure shorter turn-around times, thus undermining their full potential. To ensure the success of POC testing programs, test developers, decision-makers and funders need to account for such ground realities and overcome barriers to POC testing programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The fleshfly Sarcophaga dux (Diptera;Sarcophagidae) is found in Indian Sub continent is of limited forensic significance as its poorly known larval development relationship with temperature and relative humidity. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the temperature and relative humidity in the larval development of this fly in two seasons, Summer and Rain, so that the results of this study may enabling the forensic use of this fly in the estimation of Post Mortem Interval(PMI). Material and Method: The present study was carried out in the outer premises of the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory Building, Jagdalpur, Bastardist,Chhattishgarh, India. The fresh meat of male goat was used for rearing of larvae. The effect of temperature and relative humidity on the larval developmental time of this fly in two seasons, Rainy and Summer were studied in normal condition. Statistical analysis of variance was performed and standard significance level of P<0.05 was taken as standard. Results: The results of this study shown that in Rainy season it was completed in 264 h (11 days) when the average temperature ranged from 21.8°C to 24.5°C and the average humidity ranged from 79.5% to 95.5% where as in Summer it was completed in 528 hrs (22 days), when the temperature ranged from 26.5°C to 35.1°C and the humidity ranged from 34% to 67.5%. The P value was found to be P<<.05 in Temperature variation; andP<<0.05 in Humidity variation in different stages(1st instar larvae, 2nd instar larvae, 3rd instar larvae, Prepupae, Pupae and Adult). Conclusion: In the present study we have found that fluctuating temperature and relative humidity of outer condition in two seasons, Rainy and Summer effect the life cycle duration of the fly from the larvi position up to adult eclosion and statistical analysis has proved it to significant rejecting null hypothesis. This data can be further used in the estimation of Post Mortem Interval (PMI) in Homicide and Suspicious cases of both human and wild life poaching death cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: The current study compared Self-Figure drawings from Thai and Indian adolescents to assess the cross-cultural applicability of a child abuse assessment tool. The research aims to understand the extent to which distinctions or similarities arise in Self-Figure drawings among adolescents from two culturally similar yet distinct backgrounds characterized by differences in religious affiliations, socioeconomic contexts, and political environments. Methods: Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study utilized quantitative measures, including the Traumatic Events Checklist (TEQ-5) and Medical Somatic Dissociation Questionnaire (MSDQ), alongside a qualitative analysis of Self-Figure drawings. Ethical approval was obtained with waived informed consent, and a convenience sample of 386 adolescents aged 13–18 years (193 from Thailand [M = 14.8, SD = 1.73; 135 females (69.9%) and 58 males (30.1%)], and 193 from India [M = 15.2, SD = 1.64; 135 females (69.9%) and 58 males (30.1%)]), who reported experiencing child abuse, participated in the study by completing questionnaires and drawing themselves. Results: The analysis revealed that Thai adolescents had higher MSDQ scores, while Indian adolescents exhibited more prominent pictorial indicators. Indian participants reported experiencing a broader range of event types, whereas Thai adolescents predominantly depicted verbal or emotional abuse. Variations in pictorial indicators were found significant, except for hair, cheek or chin, omitted legs or feet, and omitted eyes. Conclusions: These findings contribute to the understanding of how cultural factors influence adolescents' self-representations through drawing. The differences in pictorial indicators highlight the nuanced variations within similar cultures, emphasizing the cultural specificity of self-expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A thorough psychosocial assessment is time-consuming, often requiring multiple sessions to uncover the psychological factors contributing to mental illness, such as depression. The duration varies depending on the severity of the patient's condition and how effectively the psychotherapist can establish rapport. However, prolonged assessment periods pose a significant risk of patient deterioration. Methods: The comprehensive psychosocial intervention, led by the Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach utilizing the Multi-Objective Optimization by Ratio Analysis (MOORA) method, played a pivotal role in identifying the key psychological factors contributing to the depression of the client among the 21 factors specified by BDI-II analysis. Results: The integration of the MOORA strategy compared to traditional psychotherapy on 254 samples demonstrates a Jaccard similarity coefficient of 0.8, with a minimum error margin of 7% (vulnerability index = 0.57), indicating a significant agreement between the two approaches, both converging towards a similar solution. For patients with extreme depression, the number of sessions reduced from 18 ± 2 to 11 ± 2, showing a 33–35% reduction (χ2 = 6.94, p = 0.008). Severe depression patients experienced a reduction from 14 ± 2 to 8 ± 1 sessions i.e., 34–39% reduction (χ2 = 8.32, p = 0.004). Moderate depression patients saw sessions drop from 9 ± 1 to 5 ± 1, i.e., 37–43% reduction (χ2 = 0.29, p = 0.001). The accuracy for detecting dominant psychological factors improved to 82.88% for extreme, 86.74% for severe, and 90.34% for moderate depression, respectively. Conclusion: The implementation of MOORA facilitated the identification and prioritization of key psychosocial intervention strategies, making the process significantly faster compared to traditional methods. This acceleration greatly enhanced the precision and efficacy of the work. Additionally, critical vulnerable factors were identified through ordered statistics and correlation analysis [Pearson (r) = 0.8929 and Spearman's rank (ρ) = 0.7551] on the Beck Depression Inventory-II model. These findings were supported by other MCDM schemes such as EDAS and TOPSIS, demonstrating high stability and robustness in dynamic decision-making environments, maintaining consistency across scenarios adapted by different psychotherapists. Overall, the combined application of MCDM (MOORA) and targeted psychological interventions yielded substantial positive outcomes in enhancing the well-being of individuals with psychological illnesses, such as depression, cognitive, affective, and somatic syndromes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Birth preparedness and complication readiness is a holistic approach that empowers mothers and families with the knowledge, attitude, and resources to alleviate potential challenges during childbirth. Despite its benefits, husbands' participation in maternal care differs significantly between countries and regions. There is a lack of previous studies that look at husbands' responses to birth preparedness and complication readiness in the research area. Thus, the primary goal of this study is to find out how husbands who have wives with infants under 12 months old feel about birth preparation, readiness for problems, and its associated factors. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from May 30 to July 29, 2022. Simple random sampling was employed to select 499 husbands. An interviewer-administered, structured, and pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data entry and analysis were performed using Epi Data version 4.6 and SPSS version 25, respectively. We used multivariable logistic regression to find statistically significant factors. P-values less than 0.05, 95% confidence intervals, and adjusted odds ratios are used to declare statistical significance. The findings were shown in figures, tables, and text. Results: The study found that 55.9% (95% CI: 51.4 to 61.4%) of husbands responded to birth preparedness and complication readiness. This response was significantly associated with being employed (AOR = 3.7, 95% CI: 2.27–5.95), engaging in self-business (AOR = 5.3, 95% CI: 2.34–12.01), having wives who delivered in health facilities (AOR = 7.1, 95% CI: 3.92–12.86), accompanying wives for antenatal care (AOR = 2.2, 95% CI: 1.39–3.56), possessing good knowledge of danger signs during labor (AOR = 2.0, 95% CI: 1.08–3.74) and the postnatal period (AOR = 7.1, 95% CI: 3.14–16.01). Interestingly, residents living near a health facility (AOR = 0.6, 95% CI: 0.39–0.97) were less likely to respond. Conclusion: The present study found that nearly 6 out of 10 husbands actively responded in terms of birth preparedness and complication readiness. While husbands in this study showed some involvement in birth preparedness and complications, it is good when compared to studies carried out nationally. To improve this, educating husbands by focusing on the danger signs and their role in childbirth is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate cardiac autonomic modulation using short‐term heart rate variability (HRV) and compare it among frailty statuses in older Indian adults. Methods: A total of 210 subjects aged 60 years and above were recruited into three groups: frail (n = 70), pre‐frail (n = 70), and non‐frail (n = 70) from the outpatient department of Geriatric Medicine at a tertiary care hospital in India. Frailty status was assessed using the Rockwood frailty index (FI) criteria. HRV was derived from a 5‐min ECG recording of standard limb leads and assessed using time domain, frequency domain, and nonlinear analysis of cardiac interval variability. Results: The HRV parameters indicative of parasympathetic modulation such as SDNN, SDSD, rMSSD, NN50, pNN50, absolute HF power, and SD1 were significantly lower in frail subjects compared with both pre‐frail and non‐frail subjects (P < 0.05). Absolute LF power and SD2 were also lower in frail subjects compared with pre‐frail and non‐frail subjects (P < 0.05). Measures of sympatho‐vagal balance (LF/HF and SD1/SD2 ratios) did not show statistical significance. The FI demonstrated negative correlations with all HRV parameters. Conclusions: Frail individuals exhibit decreased sympathetic and parasympathetic modulation compared with pre‐frail and non‐frail individuals, although maintaining a balanced sympatho‐vagal state. Furthermore, autonomic modulation declines progressively with increasing frailty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Music learning induces significant neural changes, enhancing auditory, verbal, and visuospatial skills, IQ, and speech perception. Research studies reveal structural and functional brain plasticity due to music training in adults and children. While musical abilities are linked to formal training, the existence of "musical sleepers" with heightened speech perception without formal training is noteworthy in adults. This study addresses the gap in understanding such phenomena in children, exploring psychophysical abilities in musically adept children, and aiming to impact rehabilitation models. Materials and method: A pre-experimental study involved 164 typically developing children (mean age: 9.93) without musical training. Musical abilities were evaluated using the abbreviated version of Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Musical Abilities (MBEMA) test in DMDX software, covering melody, rhythm, and memory subtests. Psychophysical tests in MATLAB assessed temporal, frequency, intensity, timbre, and binaural resolution. Results: Using a median split based on MBEMA test scores (median: 42), 84 children exhibited poor musical abilities, while 80 showed good ones. Descriptive statistics for MBEMA scores and psychophysical tests were conducted. As data did not follow normal distribution, non-parametric inferential statistics were employed. Mann–Whitney U tests revealed significant differences favouring good musical abilities in all assessments: gap deduction (p = 0.01), pitch discrimination at 500 Hz and 4 kHz (p = 0.00), intensity discrimination at 500 Hz (p = 0.00) and 4 kHz (p = 0.01), profile analysis (p = 0.01), interaural level difference (p = 0.023), and interaural time difference (p = 0.038). Spearman correlation showed highest correlation with pitch discrimination at 500 Hz (r = − 0.538), 4 kHz (− 0.416), intensity discrimination at 4 kHz (r = − 0.367), and 500 Hz (r = − 0.311), profile analysis (r = − 0.313), interaural level difference (r = − 0.276), and gap deduction (r = − 0.235). All were significant (p < 0.01), except for the interaural time difference. Conclusion: Children excelling in music surpassed those with weaker abilities in psychophysical tasks. This echoes past research, underscoring auditory discrimination's influence on musical skills in untrained children. These results potentially support the concept of musical sleepers in children. Key predictors include pitch discrimination, while interaural time difference exhibited minimal correlation. Utilising such assessments may predict musical training outcomes for children with auditory disorders, but additional robust statistical investigation is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being one of the most conflict-prone species in India, the Nilgai antelope Boselaphus tragocamelus has received little scientific attention. In this study, we address this knowledge gap by conducting an analysis of secondary data extracted from print media reports on Human-Nilgai negative interactions at the regional scale (tehsils and districts) across different states of India. Our findings revealed notable variations in conflict levels among different states, with Bihar emerging as the most affected (86 tehsils and 22 districts), followed by Madhya Pradesh (34 tehsils; 21 districts) and Uttar Pradesh (33 tehsils; 20 districts). Within Bihar, Muzaffarpur and East Champaran districts stand out for their high conflict levels. Crop raiding by different populations of Nilgai is identified as the primary cause of the negative interaction, with a relative frequency of occurrence of 98%. Attacks on humans by nilgai, although rare, accounted for a relative frequency of occurrence of only 1.2%. Additionally, newspapers reported retaliatory killings, with a relative frequency of occurrence of 0.84%. Between 2018 and 2022, nilgai populations were documented raiding 45 distinct crop types. Analysis of these raids revealed varying frequencies across different crop categories, with vegetables being the most heavily targeted (31%), followed by pulses (22%) and cereals (20%). Our study identifies priority tehsils and districts across different states in the country where studies aiming at nilgai-crop interactions, population dynamics, and movement ecology can be carried out to devise effective mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Community mobilisation interventions for HIV prevention among female sex workers (FSWs) aim to organise FSWs for collective action and challenge the structures of power that underlie HIV risk. Assessing intervention impact is challenging because the importance of direct individual exposure to intervention components may decrease over time as change occurs at social-normative, policy and other structural levels. In this paper, the authors examine changes over time in consistent condom use among FSWs in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, the location of a long-standing community mobilisation intervention. Methods The authors analyse cross-sectional data collected among FSWs at three time points (n=2276) using respondent-driven sampling. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the association of programme exposure with consistent condom use and whether this association varied over time. Results The proportion of FSWs having no exposure or only receptive exposure to the intervention decreased over time, while active utilisation increased from 19.4% in 2006 to 48.5% in 2009-2010. Consistent condom use with clients also increased from 56.3% in 2006 to 75.3% in 2009-2010. Multivariate analysis showed that age, age at start of sex work, venue, living conditions and programme exposure were significantly associated with condom use. The positive association between programme exposure and consistent condom use did not vary significantly over time. Conclusions Findings indicate improvements in HIV risk reduction behaviour among FSWs and suggest that the intervention has substantial reach in the FSW population. The intervention's strategies may be contributing to population-level HIV risk reduction among FSWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the demographic and socio-economic cor-relates of utilization of integrated child development services (ICDS) among children. Using data from the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-2006), an attempt has been made to find out differences in the level of utilization according to social class and household economic conditions. This paper found that the utilization was far from satisfactory cutting across social class, household economic status and other attributes. The article pre-sents findings that could help evolve new strategies to improve the utilization of ICDS services, and potentially reduce persistent undernutrition in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dowry death is a burning problem of the society in India owing to prevailing traditional cultural practices, socioeconomic and psychosocial taboos and life style. Objectives: This paper appraises the patterns, socioeconomic and demographic factors of dowry deaths cases due to burns. Materials and Method: The present prospective study comprised of 212 dowry death cases pertaining to burns brought for medico-legal autopsy at tertiary teaching hospital in Telangana, India for 2 years. Data was collected and analyzed in relation to different factors from police inquest report, first information report and autopsy examination proper. Results: Deaths due to burn (n=212) constituted commonest causative factor for dowry deaths. Majority (n=141; 64.09%) were found to be homicide. Majority (n=63; 29.72%) were recorded in the age group of 23 to 26 years. 91 cases (42.92%) had more than 80% of total body surface area involved in burns. Majority of deaths (n=77; 36.32%) occurred during night (9 pm to 6 am). Husband alone was found to be most common offender (n=71; 33.49%). Majority of the victims were housewives (n=173; 81.61%). Majority of the dowry deaths were drawn from joint family (n=174; 82.08%). Incidence were more in arranged marriages (n=173; 81.60%). First and the foremost location of incidence was in-law's house (n=160; 75.47%). Conclusions: This social malicious evil needs to be targeted by a multifaceted and united approach of women welfare organizations, police and judiciary towards enhancement of socioeconomic and educational profile along with provision of strict laws and speedy justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although second opinion is a not a new terminology and medical fraternity mostly uses because it provide better services to their patients. Million dollar question, what is the acceptability of this term in Indian context. Is our hospital really serious for second opinion? No doubt these are a good practice and save patients life who suffering with severe ailments. Getting a second opinion from a different doctor might give a fresh perspective and new information. It may also provide you with new options for treating your condition. Today patients understand the importance of managing their health and an organization would like to promote good health through holistic approach. Medical second opinion was created with a vision to providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of compassion, care and innovation. This paper will cover the role of second opinion and here it is a pure conclusive study where primary data will use. Apart from that there will be qualitative as well as quantitative method of data analysis will use for this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tourism sector is an economic powerhouse for any country and tourism growth improves the quality of people's lives by providing employment of diverse kinds. Electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) has emerged to become a highly influential strategy of modern marketing and a significant medium as harnessed by travel marketers. Sentiments are a representation of human emotions and present a wide spectrum of varying intensity. The objectives of this research paper are to examine what propels a spiritual traveller towards Indian sites of interest, to appreciate the function of beliefs and where does it yield fruits? It also analyses the value of sentiments regarding Indian spiritual destinations. The focus is an exploration of spiritual tourism knowledge including systems of belief and values that motivate a tourist. Rather than criticising any existing ideographic knowledge, the purpose is to yield a dynamic understanding of perceptions and beliefs. Qualitative and descriptive data analysis is used in this research using Twitter sentiments related to Indian spiritual destinations. The results highlight that Indian spiritual destinations are not fully engaged or marketed properly on social media to attract global tourists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In seismic exploration, it is a critical task to image and interpret different seismic signatures over complex geology due to strong lateral velocity contrast, steep reflectors, overburden strata and dipping flanks. To understand the behavior of these seismic signatures, nowadays Reverse Time Migration (RTM) technique is used extensively by the oil & gas industries. During the extrapolation phase of RTM, the source wavefield needs to be saved, which needs high storage memory and large computing time. These two are the main obstacles of RTM for production use. In order to overcome these disadvantages, in this study, a second-generation improved RTM technique is proposed. In this improved form, a shift operator is introduced at the time of imaging condition of RTM algorithm which is performed automatically both in space and time domain. This effort is made to produce a better-quality image by minimizing the computational time as well as numerical artefacts. The proposed method is applied over various benchmark models and validated by implementing over one field data set from the Jaisalmer Basin, India. From the analysis, it is observed that the method consumes a minimum of 45% less storage space and reduce the execution time by 20%, as compared to conventional RTM. The proposed RTM is found to work efficiently in comparison to the conventional RTM both in terms of imaging quality and minimization of numerical artefacts for all the benchmark models as well as field data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hippocampal volume data from India have recently been reported in younger adults. Data in older adults are unknown. The present paper describes hippocampal volume from India among older adults and compares the same with patients having Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Materials and Methods: A total of 32 cognitively normal subjects, 20 patients with AD, and 13 patients with MCI were enrolled. Patients were evaluated for the diagnosis of AD/MCI using the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Related Disorders Association criteria and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale (score = 0.5), respectively. Hippocampal volume was measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine by manual segmentation (Megnatom Symphony 1.5T scanner) three-dimensional (3D) sequences. Results: Age and duration of illness in the MCI group were 70.6 ± 8.6 years and 1.9 ± 0.9 years, respectively. In the AD group, age and duration of illness were 72 ± 8.1 years and 3.1 ± 2.2 years, respectively. In cognitively normal subjects, the age range was 45-88 years (66.9 ± 10.32) years. Mean mini–mental status examination (MMSE) score of healthy subjects was 28.28 ± 1.33. In the MCI group, MMSE was 27.05 ± 1.79. In the AD group, MMSE was 13.32 ± 5.6. In the healthy group, the hippocampal volume was 2.73 ± 0.53 cm3 on the left side and 2.77 ± 0.6 cm3 on the right side. Likewise, in MCI, the volume on the left side was 2.35 ± 0.42 cm3 and the volume on the right side was 2.36 ± 0.38 cm3 . Similarly, in the AD group, the volume on the right side was 1.64 ± 0.55 cm3 and on the left side it was 1.59 ± 0.55 cm3 . Post hoc analysis using Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) showed, using analysis of variance (ANOVA) that there was a statistically significant difference between healthy and AD (P ≤ 0.01), and between healthy and MCI (P ≤ 0.01) subjects. There was a correlation between MMSE score and hippocampal volume in the AD group. Conclusion: The volume of the hippocampus in older Indian adults was 2.77 ± 0. 6 cm3 on the right side and 2.73 ± 0.52 cm3 on the left side. There was a significant hippocampal volume loss in MCI/AD compared to cognitively normal subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a large scale capacity underutilization in SMEs in India. The chemical industry has been the worst sufferer owing to multifaceted problems in this segment. This study was undertaken to explore the reasons for under capacity utilization amongst small-scale chemical industries in India. The main objectives of this research paper are to identify the favorable and unfavorable factors affecting the production capacity utilization and to identify the relationship between all the factors of managerial problems i.e. technical and financial with actual utilization of production capacities of industries under survey. The data was collected through primary source. Self-administrative questionnaires were prepared based on four different scale of measurement viz. nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio were used. The data have been analyzed with the help of statistical techniques such as one sample test and two independent sample tests. The targeted sample population was small-scale chemical industries from Mumbai and suburb region. The effect of various factors of the key managerial problems viz. technical and financial over production capacity utilization was studied. The practical implications of the outcome of the present study would be useful for the industry segment as well as for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disaster is a natural event like earthquake, flood, landslide or hurricane, which leads to significant human fatalities, damages to property and environment. This study looks into the determinants of the impact of natural disasters by considering the SAARC countries and India. The period of study ranges from 1960 to 2018 for the 8 SAARC countries and 28 Indian states using panel data analysis. The study indicates that variables like population density, urban population and education affect natural disaster fatalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: People with intellectual disabilities are deeply affected by health inequity, which is also reflected in their access to and use of assistive technology (AT). Including the perspectives of adults with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers, together with the views of local health professionals, suppliers of AT and policy-makers, this paper aims to provide an overview of factors influencing access to AT and its use by people with intellectual disabilities in Bangalore, a southern region of India. Method: Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 15 adults with intellectual disabilities (ranging from mild to profound) and their caregivers, and with 16 providers of AT. This helped to gain insight into the current use, needs, knowledge, awareness, access, customisation, funding, follow-up, social inclusion, stigma and policies around AT and intellectual disability. Results: Access to AT was facilitated by community fieldworkers and services to reach out and identify people with intellectual disabilities. Important barriers were stigma, and lack of knowledge and awareness among parents. Factors related to continued use were the substantial dependence on the care system to use AT, and the importance of AT training and instructions for the user and the care system. Conclusion and Implications: The barriers and facilitators related to AT for people with intellectual disabilities differ from other populations in need. The findings of this study can be used to inform and adjust country policies and frameworks whose aim is to improve access to AT and enhance the participation of people with intellectual disabilities within their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Measurement of physical activity in epidemiological studies requires tools which are reliable, valid and culturally relevant. We attempted to develop a physical activity questionnaire (PAQ) that would measure physical activity in various domains over a year and which would be valid for use in adults of different age groups with varying levels of activity in urban and rural settings in low and middle income countries like India. The present paper aims to assess the reliability and validity of this new PAQ- termed the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation- Physical Activity Questionnaire (MPAQ). Methods: The MPAQ was administered by trained interviewers to 543 individuals of either gender aged 20 years and above from urban and rural areas in 10 states of India from May to August 2011, followed by a repeat administration within a month for assessing reliability. Relative validity was performed against the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). Construct validity was tested by plotting time spent in sitting and moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) against body-mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. Criterion validity was assessed using the triaxial accelerometer, in a separate subset of 103 individuals. Bland and Altman plots were used to assess the agreement between MPAQ and accelerometer. Results: The interclass correlation coefficients (ICC) for total energy expenditure and physical activity levels were 0.82 and 0.73 respectively, between baseline and 1st month. The ICC between GPAQ and the MPAQ was 0.40 overall. The construct validity of the MPAQ showed linear association between sitting and MVPA, and BMI and waist circumference independent of age and gender. The Spearman's correlation coefficients for sedentary activity, MVPA and overall PA for MPAQ against the accelerometer were 0.48 (95%CI-0.32-0.62), 0.44 (0.27-0.59) and 0.46 (0.29-0.60) respectively. Bland and Altman plots showed good agreement between MPAQ and accelerometer for sedentary behavior and fair agreement for MVPA. Conclusion: The MPAQ is an acceptable, reproducible and valid instrument, which captures data from multiple activity domains over the period of a year from adults of both genders and varying ages in various walks of life residing in urban and rural India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]