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A Study on Foreign Direct Investment in Multi-Brand Retail to Develop a Business Model for Domestic Supermarkets in the Convenience Stores Format.
The main focus of this research is in the area of organised retail specifically in the convenience stores format in India. The Indian organised retail is growing rapidly but is still in the nascent stage. There are many challenges in terms of infrastructure, supply chain efficiencies, cost structure and customer adaptability to the emerging retail formats. India is perceived to be a lucrative destination for retail and with opening up of foreign direct investment imminent many multinational giants are eyeing India. Indian companies are grappling with many challenges and experimenting with many formats in retail. This study attempts to understand the present scenario and the preparedness of domestic companies in consolidating their existing position to evolve a business frame work model for domestic companies to not only consolidate their existing position but also counter threats from multinationals entering into India. The research revealed that there are not many integrated business models, though there are models on different components of supply chain and retail, Indian companies will certainly benefit from creation of integrated business model which can assist them in taking strategic decisions in terms of managing cost and revenue structure and expansion plans. Scope of this study is Grocery and staples and fruits and vegetables business as food contributes to almost 63% in the organised retail business and was bifurcated into back end and front end operations. This study is intended to understand the drivers and factors influencing the back end operations in the area of supply chain efficiencies and the front end operations particularly in respect of costs, revenues and key drivers to create an integrated business model frame work to drive optimisations at all levels. Sample of this study was two major organised retail companies in Bangalore catering to about seventy outlets in Bangalore and having distribution centres. Tools used in this study was data observation sheets for all the key parameters for both back end and front end operations, in addition to unstructured in depth interview with expert group. However the protocol for the interview was predetermined to capture all key data and elements and involved some qualitative aspect and Linear programming for simulation and trying out various permutation combinations. Some of the major findings were: Stock keeping units, cost of procurement and secondary freight emerged as significant drivers to be controlled for efficiency and optimisation link in the back end grocery and staples. Cost of procurement, net sales value and operations cost emerged as the key drivers of efficiency and optimisation link in the back end Fruits and Vegetables. Rentals, Sales, Cost of goods sold, Total personnel cost and Total facilities cost had significant influence on EBIDTA in the front end super market. Break even point for same size stores differed depending upon the location and other cost drivers. Sensitivity analysis revealed that manpower, rent and total facilities cost had significant impact on EBIDTA in the front end. Limitations and future areas of research have also been discussed. -
A STUDY ON THE SELF-ESTEEM AND SOCIAL RELATIONS OF ADOLESCENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITY.
According to World Health Organization Learning disability is a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind. The most common learning disabilities are Dyslexia, Dyscalculia Dysgraphia, Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders and Nonverbal Learning Disabilities. Adolescents with learning difficulty have trouble expressing their feelings, calming themselves down, and reading non-verbal cues which can lead to difficulty in the classroom and with their peers. In India approximately 13 to 14 per cent of all school children suffer from learning disorders (Sadaket 2009). The social relationships of the adolescents with learning disability have a positive influence on their self esteem. It helps them to maintain a constructive relationship with their peers, teachers and parents. The study was focused to know the relationship of self esteem and social relation in adolescents with learning disability. The study was conducted among all the Adolescents with Learning Disability, in an alternative school in Bangalore. The size of the sample was 50 which include both genders and the sampling design was purposive sampling. Adolescents with learning disability of the age group 11 to 18 years were included for the study. The students level of self-esteem was assessed by using a 10-item scale developed by Rosenberg (1965). The Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale was rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). The researcher reverse scored five items that were negative in nature so that higher scores would indicate higher level of self-esteem. The scale ranges from 0-30. Scores between 15 and 25 are within normal range; scores below 15 suggest low self- esteem. A semi structured questionnaire was designed to gather information on the socio demographic profile and social relation of adolescents with learning disability. A pilot study was conducted among 10 percent of samples and necessary modifications were made. The statistical analysis was done on the data using SPSS. The level of significance was fixed at 0.005(p<0.05). The results show that, among the total respondents, 62.0 percent of them are male respondents (n=31) and 38.0 percent are female respondents (n=19).56 percent of the respondents are being compared with their siblings by their parents. The study indicates that 44 percent of the respondents feel stressed due to parental pressure. The respondents who fall under the age group of 16-19 years have a higher self-esteem than the respondents who fall under the age group of 11-15 years. The study shows that, statically there is a significant relationship between the respondents relationship with parents with respect to respondents self-esteem. There is less significant relationship between the respondents relationship with peers with respect to respondents self-esteem. Present study indicates that, statically there is a significant relationship between the respondents relationship with teachers with respect to respondents self-esteem. Learning disability is a disorder which can be remedied using appropriate instructional strategies. The early identification helps in remedial teaching and building self-esteem. The present study indicates that adolescents with learning disability with better social relationship will have high self-esteem. Realizing the importance of self-esteem and its relationship with social relation, a multidisciplinary approach is required to initiate appropriate interventions in building self-esteem and teaching learning disabled child. Thus the learning disabled child can be mainstreamed effectively. -
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AN ANALYSIS OF PEOPLE'S PERCEPTION OF TINTIN
Certain comics achieve cult status, a status which ensures they are replicated in other forms to reach out to a wider audience. The Adventures of Tintin is one such cult series which has been loved by generations across the globe. Each reader of Tintin is unique in his/her own way and the research aims to figure out if the educational background of the readers influences the way in which they perceive the series. This perception is being looked at from two the point of view of two groups, one consisting of readers from the Journalism/media background and another consisting of readers from various other backgrounds. -
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Parent Adolescent Communication in relation to Personality Type and Suicidal Ideation among Adolescents
he purpose of the current study is to investigate parent adolescent communication in relation to personality type and suicidal ideation among adolescents. In step with World health organisation (2012), suicide is currently amongst the third leading reason of death among adolescents. The objective of the research is (a) To analyze if there is any relationship between parent-adolescent communication, big five personality trait, and suicidal ideation; (b) To analyze how the mother-adolescent communication moderates the big five personality trait and suicidal ideation in adolescents; (c) To analyze how the father-adolescent communication moderates the big five personality trait and suicidal ideation in adolescents; (d) To analyze if there is any significant gender difference on suicidal ideation. The study was quantitative in nature; with correlational research design. The target population were adolescents from various academic institutes in Kerala. The sample consists of 300 adolescents. Convenience sampling method was used to select participants. The tools used were Parent Adolescent Communication Scale (Olson, 1985), Big Five Personality Inventory (Cattell, 1960) and Beck???s Suicidal Ideation Scale (Beck, 1979). Data analysis used were Spearman???s rank order correlation, moderation analysis and Mann Whitney U test. The results were as follows: there was significant relationship between parent adolescent communication, personality type and suicidal ideation. Problems in mother adolescent communication shows a moderating role on extraversion. Openness of mother adolescent communication has a moderating role on openness to experience. Family or communication between mother and father plays a totally essential position in shaping the personality and mental health among adolescents -
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Knowledge, preparedness, and resilience related to end of life decision making among family caregivers of ICU patients
End-of-Life decision making is the process that is treating team, patients, and patients??? families go through when considering what treatments will or will not be used to treat a life-threatening illness. In India, End-of-Life Care is a new phenomenon and rarely investigated. The religious and societal attitudes and an absence of education in medical ethics can be seen as reasons for the underdevelopment of End-of-Life Care field. It seems that social workers, particularly who assist patients in Intensive care unit treatment have an important role to play in this regard. Social workers deliver assistance to the critically ill person and their family members as they get admission to the Intensive care unit, enhancing the conversation among treating group, patients and family members. The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, preparedness and resilience among family caregivers related to End-of-Life decision making. This study utilizes a descriptive research design and purposive sampling method. The study includes 71 first degree relatives of patients who are significantly involved in caring of the patient and related to decision making. All the participants had their family members admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of St. John???s Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru. This study found that there is minimal knowledge among family caregivers and they had no high level of preparedness. There is ethical concern along with finance and they seem to be confused about the decisions taken. Due to lack of awareness among the family caregivers, they surrender the patient to the treating team. Religious conflict is another aspect which is an obstacle to family caregivers for an End-of-Life decision making. The study also found that as the duration of Intensive Care Unit hospitalization increases the resilience among family caregiver???s decreases. It is important that Medical Social workers identify ways to improve End-of-Life care process through interventions. This can be achieved through training in Master of Social Work programs and by educating social workers. The study concludes that there is an immense gap between the family caregivers and the patient with regard to their knowledge on End-of-Life decision making. Hence, this study highlights the importance of Medical Social Worker in Intensive Care Unit to facilitate patient autonomy and the family caregivers??? decisions on the patient. -
Chemical reaction induced Rayleigh-Benard convection in a densely packed porous medium saturated with a couple-stress fluid
The problem of Rayleigh-Benard convection in a couple-stress fluid saturated densely packed porous medium with chemical reaction is studied within the framework of linear stability analysis. Only infinitesimal disturbances are considered. The linear stability analysis is based on the normal mode technique. The Darcy law is used to model the momentum equation. Closed form solution for the basic quiescent state is first obtained. The principle of exchange of stabilities is valid and the existence of oscillatory instability is ruled out. The expression for the stationary media-Darcy-Rayleigh number is obtained as a function of the governing parameters, viz., the wave number, the couple-stress parameter and the Frank-Kamenetskii number. The Galerkin method is used to determine the eigenvalues. The effect of various parameters on the stability of the fluid layer is discussed through figures. -
Exploring Caregiving Experiences and Needs of Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy
Parents play a major role while caring for a child with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Each child with CP and their caregivers needs constant professional support in terms of medical care, psycho-education, guidance and support in order to achieve maximum functioning. Mothers of children with cerebral palsy are vulnerable because the caregiving may affect their personal and marital life, work, finances, relationships, and other responsibilities. Therefore, it is important to understand their experiences this study explores caregiving experiences and needs of mothers of a child with cerebral palsy. This qualitative exploratory study used semi-structured open-ended interviews for data collection from 25 mothers of children with Cerebral Palsy who attended regular clinical assessments at Unit of Hope OP clinic. The data were analyzed in Atlas. ti 8 trial version using thematic analysis. Six major themes emerged from the thematic analysis which includes: pathways of care, challenges in taking care of the child, impact (subjective and objective) on mothers and their family, coping mechanism and psycho-social needs. Mothers expressed that they experience unpreparedness; unsupportive interaction; insecurity/uncomfortable on caregiving by others; challenges in decision making, finding the right care, meeting individual family member???s needs; they had inappropriate expectations of improvement, difficulties in treatment adherence and lack of knowledge, lack of respite, lack of support from family members/relatives, changes in the family system, changes in personal life. Mothers had caregiver burden and emotional challenges. The mothers adopted both maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies. In this study, mothers expressed various needs like the need for professional support, the need for respite care, and the need for family support. In conclusion, having a child with cerebral palsy negatively affect the mothers. During the caregiving process, they have some unmet needs which need to be addressed. The findings of the study emphasize that it is important to understand the caregiving experiences and needs of mothers of children with cerebral palsy to plan interventions to support these mothers in caring for their child. -
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Transition Metal Nanoparticles, Semiconductor Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Applications
Semiconductor nanoparticles of CdSe are currently under investigation because their emissions can be tuned easily to cover the broad spectrum (from red to blue) by decreasing the particle size. In this work we have employed different experimental routes for synthesis of Zn doped CdSe nanoparticle and Ni nanoparticle and a brief description about their characterisation techniques are employed. In this present study, the Zn doped CdSe and Ni nanoparticles have been prepared by precipitation method. Upon characterisation, it was found that Zn dopants decreased the band gap thereby acting as a good photocatalyst. The crystallite size obtained from XRD was 26.84 nm and the average particle size calculated using DLS was below 100 nm. The results obtained from XRD are matching with the results obtained from DLS. The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized nanoparticles were analysed using methylene blue under irradiation of visible light. 73.9% degradation is observed for methylene blue catalysed by Zn doped CdSe nanoparticles for 4hr. Synthesis of nickel (Ni) nanoparticles (NPs) have been achieved by the chemical reduction of nickel chloride using hydrazine hydrate without the need for an inert atmosphere from an external source. The photocatalytic activity, structure and morphology of the NPs were studied by employing UV-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (Rh-B) dyes using Ni NPs was investigated to see the feasibility in degrading these dyes from polluted water at low cost. Ni NPs showed a good photocatalytic activity of 840.1% under visible light for the degradation of MB when compared to Rhodamine B (Rh-B) which showed an efficiency of 47.3 %.