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The current research aims to assess critically the explanations that make a woman entrepreneur. Is she a born entrepreneur, or has she been trained to become so? The study probes into the nature of the inborn traits (genes) and the acquired or supporting external variables (environment) that contribute to women entrepreneurs' making. Data were collected from four major cities of India based on convenience sampling. The survey employed a total of 401 successful and unsuccessful women entrepreneurs and probed into their characteristics, psychological traits, entrepreneurial attitude, formal educational background, training received, and family support received. The study found a significant difference between the two sets of factors for success and failure in business. The study suggests that women's entrepreneurial success depends on the nature and extent of training and education received towards entrepreneurship. The paper contributes to identifying women's entrepreneurial nature or traits in India and suggests that conducting training programmes to identify entrepreneurial-minded women to enhance knowledge in advanced marketing, product promotion, customer relations and other areas of entrepreneurial competence will help in adding more successful entrepreneurs in the economy and would contribute to sustained development in the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Social distancing is an important strategy to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is imperative to understand the behavioral impact of social distancing on individuals. This research studied social distancing from a cognitive appraisal of voluntary social distancing compliance (CAVSD) point of view and a non-medical perspective, specifically the psychological impact (PI) of social distancing on the usage intensity of social networking sites (SNS) during the COVID-19 outbreak in India. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted on 477 SNS users as a full sample and groups based on age, sex and work status. The model was empirically investigated using structural equation modeling. Findings: CAVSD was negatively associated with PI although it was not a significant predictor, while CAVSD and PI were significant predictors of SNS usage intensity; moreover, SNS usage intensity differed between groups of people. Practical implications: These findings are significant for organizations, corporations and educational institutions in both the public and private sectors. There is a need to identify subsections of individuals in need of social support and relief from isolation and loneliness. Individuals are relying on social media to handle social distancing and the pandemic, and this shows up in an increase in social networking activity. Originality/value: This study contributes to the existing literature by positing social networking as a basic virtual need for socialization, and social media platform assists in that. Cognitive appraisal is an important determinant of individual response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tensile strength of rocks is an important parameter in the design of underground structures and for various engineering applications. Lack of literature and rapid development of infrastructure in central region of India calls for a need to characterize the mechanical behaviour of rocks in Deccan trap region which is mainly composed of Basalt. In this paper, characterization of tensile behaviour of Basalt rocks from Deccan trap is done at different loading conditions. Indirect test method namely Brazilian test is used to calculate the static indirect tensile strength at a loading rate of 0.2 kN/s. Tests are performed on different diameters samples and desirable failure modes are recorded. Tensile strength values recorded at slow loading are obtained to be different for specimen having different diameters. However, strength of rock in engineering problems like blasting, mining, rock bursting and breakage are affected by high loading rates. To consider the dynamic loading effect, a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar technique is used. For dynamic tensile experimentation, Brazilian disc specimen are used which are slightly flattened before testing. The flat ended Brazilian discs (FEBD) are placed diametrically in SHPB setup. Dynamic force equilibrium is successfully achieved for the initial stages of fracture propagation till complete failure of sample. The factor for increase in dynamic tensile strength of Deccan Basalt has been evaluated in this work. Scope of further research has been identified for experimentations on soft rocks to determine their dynamic tensile strength characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Deccan trap is a large igneous rock province located on the Deccan plateau of west-central India. There are several important structures located on Deccan trap basalt like Koyna dam hydropower project, Konkan railways, Katraj twin tunnels to name a few. In order to safeguard the structures from dynamic loading arising from manmade or natural disastrous circumstances, it becomes necessary to characterize the dynamic behavior of rocks. In the present work, experimental studies have been performed to determine the dynamic stress-strain behavior of Deccan trap basalt rock as the same is not yet available in literature. The rock samples have been collected from various regions spread along the Western Ghats in Maharashtra. Tests have been performed to determine the physical and static mechanical properties. The dynamic tests have been carried out using 20 mm diameter split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) at different strain-rates. From the analysis of results, the dynamic stress-strain response of the rocks, force equilibrium and dependence of dynamic strength on the strain rate have been examined for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]