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Changing and unchanging domination parameters /
Graph Theory is a delightful playground for the exploration of proof techniques in discrete mathematics, and its results have applications in many areas of computing, social, and natural sciences. How can we lay cable at minimum cost to make every telephone reachable from every other? What is the fastest route from the national capital to each state capital? How can n jobs be filled by n people with maximum total utility? What is the maximum flow per unit time from source to sink in a network of pipes? How many layers does a computer chip need so that wires in the same layer don’t cross? How can the season of a sports league be scheduled into the minimum number of weeks? -
Achievement of children in academics: An exploration into parental philosophies /
The current study is an exploration into parental philosophies behind their involvement in the academic lives of their children. 14 pairs of parents and children were interviewed and the data gathered was analyzed using thematic analysis. The role that parents play in shaping the academic and vocational choices of their children was analyzed. The framework of this study included childrens perspectives on parental involvement in their academic lives as well. This was to gain insight into childrens point of view on how similar or different their thinking was from their parents on matters such as education, hobbies, career goals, academic expectations. -
The family strengths of the Lambhanis of Bellary district /
The study titled The Family Strengths of the Lambhanis of Bellary District aimed at identifying and exploring Family Strengths of the Lambhanis their perpetuation. The study was based on the Family Strengths Model using an Interpretivistic Research Philosophy and a Grounded Theory Research Paradigm within a Qualitative Framework. The sample of the study was taken through a key informant. The participants were from Dasarhalli Thanda, Bellary District, Karnataka. They were all adults both men and women. Three Focus Groups were conducted and the interviews were unstructured, data was collected until Data Saturation was reached. The data was recorded/taped, translated and transcripts written. The data gathered was then coded based on the Grounded Theory Method proposed by Strauss and Corbin (1998). -
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. -
A study on the family environment of persons with thalassemia major
The objective of the study was to assess the family environment of persons with thalassemia major disorder. The clinical profile of the persons with thalassemia, the family awareness about the disorder and the social, financial, emotional and the couple relationship aspects due to thalassemia were also studied. The parents of the persons with thalassemia major were included in the study. Interviews were carried out with each of the subjects using a standard questionnaire to assess the family environment. The other aspects were studied using a semi structured questionnaire. The results show that 42 percent has a family income of less than 5000 Rupees per month. There is no mutual emotional support among 54 percent of the couples. 66 percent of the parents are not involved in any social activities. 14 percent of the parents feel burden and another 14 percent feel burnout and 38 percent are anxious about the sick child. The relationship with the non thalassemic child in the family is affected among 55 percent of the parents. 86 percent of the parents are aware about the need of iron chelation and the genetic nature of thalassemia. Family environment is significantly affected by the duration of the illness, treatment cost, number of thalassemia persons in the family, lack of awareness on the genetic nature on thalassemia. Hospital admissions restrict the recreational activities and also lead to lose of control in the family. Organization in the family is significantly affected where there is more number of persons with thalassemia. The subjects assessed expressed varying concerns about the family relationships, life long illness of the child and other psycho social issues. They feel that their competitiveness, career development, financial needs and relationships with their spouse and with their normal child are hampered by the illness of the child. It establishes that various psycho social interventions are imperative for such families. -
The correlation between work locus of control and occupational stress among team leaders working in it companies in Bangalore
Job related stress is one of the highest health risks influencing employees, regardless of the size of the organization or the work sector. Most of the researchers view stress as an interaction between the person and some environmental event or stressor. Job stressors are defined as job demands, constraints, and or opportunities and job related events or situations that might affect the individuals feelings of stress. The fact that employee stress is an increasing problem in almost all organizations has indeed been the driving force for a variety of researches on occupational stress. The literature on occupational stress recognizes its inevitability in many jobs where pressures of work begin to build up and cause adverse strain on the emotion of employees, their thought process and their physical condition. Stress vulnerability has also been major focus to determine how stress effects differently across similar jobs. During the 1980s, personality[Type A/ Type B, locus of control] was found to be related to job stressors[ work load, role conflict, lack of autonomy], job strains[ job dissatisfaction, anxiety, health complaints]. The research aims to investigate the relationship between Work locus of control and occupational stress of team leaders working in IT companies in Bangalore. The purpose of research is to study whether the team leaders have an internal or external locus of control, which in turn determines how they perceive situations and life events, and how stressed they are due to this. It was hypothesized that the higher the internal locus of control of the team leader, the lower level of occupational stress they experience and the higher the external locus of control of the team leader, the higher the level of occupational stress. A sample of 100 team leaders working in three different IT companies were examined by administering the Occupational stress index by AP Singh and AK Srivastava and Work locus of control scale by Paul E Spector. The extent of work stress was examined on its twelve sub-scales, i.e. role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, unreasonable group and political pressure, responsibility for persons, under participation, powerlessness, poor peer relations, intrinsic impoverishment, low status, strenuous working condition and unprofitability of Occupational stress index. A structured questionnaire was designed to gather information on the socio demographic profile of the respondents. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS. The level of significance was fixed at 0.005(p<0.005). Correlational analysis reveals that team leaders with external locus of control score high on all twelve sub scales of occupational stress and team leaders with internal locus of control have low scores on all twelve sub scales of occupational stress i.e. role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict, unreasonable group and political pressure, responsibility for persons, under participation, powerlessness, poor peer relations, intrinsic impoverishment, low status, strenuous working condition and unprofitability. There is a significant difference with regard to occupational stress between team leaders with external locus of control and team leaders with internal locus of control. The correlation between occupational stress and external control was found to be positive and significant as predicted (p=<0.001). The correlation between occupational stress and internal control was found to be positive and significant as predicted (p=<0.001). -
A study on the voting patterns and the impact of Kormangala smart votescampaign in ward 151, Kormangala , Bangalore /
The study on the voting patterns and the impact of Koramangala Smart Votes campaign, in Koramangala Ward 151, Bangalore. This aims at studying the voting pattern of the residents of Koramangala from two wards 151 and 147. Koramangala Smart Votes, a campaign which was conducted by the Smart Vote members to help the residents vote and vote for a right candidate by distributing profiles and organizing debates connecting the residents and the contesting candidates. The impact of this campaign has been assessed with the help of Lok Sabha and BBMP elections 2010 and the voter turn out in wards 151 and 147. To measure the impact, the researcher has done a quantitative and comparative study among the residents of wards 151 and 147 with a sample size of 60 respondents from each ward. It could be observed that Education helps to create better democratic environment and the Koramangala Smart Votes campaign was fairly successful in getting the residents to vote for the BBMP elections 2010. -
Development of efficient biometric recognition algorithms based on fingerprint and face /
The reliable verification systems are required to verify and confirm the identity of an individual requesting their service. Secure access to the buildings, laptops, cellular phones, ATM etc. is an example of such applications. In the absence of robust verification systems, these systems are vulnerable to the wiles of an impostor. The traditional ways of authentications are passwords (knowledge ?? based security) and the ID Cards (token ?? based security). These methods can be easily breached due to the chance of stolen, lost or forget. The development and progress of biometrics technology, the fear of stolen, lost or forget can be eliminated. Biometrics refers to the automatic identification (or verification) of an individual (or a claimed identity) by using certain physiological or behavioral traits associated with the person. The biometrics identifies the person based on features vector derived from physiological or behavioural characteristics such as uniqueness, permanence, accessibility, collectability with minimum cost. The physiological biometrics are Fingerprint, Hand Scan, Iris Scan, Facial Scan and Retina Scan etc., and behavioural biometric are Voice, Keystroke, Gait, Signature etc., The physiological biometrics measures the specific part of the structure or shape of a portion of a subjects body. But the behavioural biometric are more concerned with mood and environment. Chapter one presents the introduction to biometrics and its various traits. Further description like structure of the biometric system, different approaches are discussed. Also the design issues in biometric system such as universality, collectability, distinctiveness, permanence, acceptability, uniqueness, performance, circumvention etc., are discussed. Chapter two gives a detailed survey of biometric techniques. It includes the literature survey of fingerprint and face biometric traits and various approaches. In Chapter three, the algorithm of Fingerprint Verification based on Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transformation (DTCWT) is proposed. The original fingerprint is cropped and resized to apply the DTCWT. The features of Fingerprint are obtained by applying different levels of DTCWT. Performance analysis is discussed with the FRR, FAR and TSR. Chapter four discusses another highly recommended source of authentication such as face recognition. In this chapter, the algorithm of Performance Comparison of Face Recognition using Transform Domain Techniques (PCFTD) is proposed. The face databases L ?? Spacek, JAFFE and NIR are considered. The features of face are generated using wavelet families such as Haar, Symelt and DB1 by considering approximation band only. The face features are also generated using magnitudes of FFTs. The test image features are compared with database features using Euclidian Distance (ED). The performance parameters such as FAR, FRR, TSR and EER computed using wavelet families and FFT. The methodology described in this paper is accurate, simple, fast and better than the existing algorithms. Chapter five presents conclusion and future work. -
Synthesis, Characterization and Catalytic activity of Zirconia-Ceria catalysts
The development of catalysts is critical for the economical and environmentally efficient generation of chemical compounds that underlie every aspect of our society. Catalysts are key players in research involving the discovery of pharmaceuticals, materials, and polymers. In addition, catalysis is especially powerful in bulk synthesis, allowing the production of compounds, polymers and commodity chemicals via routes that would otherwise be impossible. Ceria is the unique rare earth for which dioxide is the normal stable phase contrary to the others for which Ln2O3 is the normal stoichiometry. The applications of ceria based materials are related to a potential redox chemistry involving Ce(III) and Ce(IV), high affinity of the element for oxygen and sulphur and absorption/excitation energy bands associated with its electronic structure. Zirconium is one of the more abundant elements, and is widely distributed in the Earth's crust. Being very reactive chemically, it is found only in the combined state or as part of a complex of oxides as in zircon, elpidite, and eudialyte. Doping ceria with zirconia may improve the oxygen storage properties of ceria at three different levels. At the level of the microstructure, it inhibits surface diffusion and in turn the loss of surface area at high temperatures. At the microscopic level, substantial doping may result in the formation of an interface structure that facilitates the oxygen transport from bulk to the surface. At the atomic-level, it stabilizes the oxygen defective structure. The texture, structure and thermal stability of ceria-zirconia doped oxides are closely related to the ratio of cerium to zirconium in the solid solution. Chapter 1 comprises of the general introduction of catalysis, importance of solid acid catalysis, sulphated metal oxides, pure ceria, pure zirconia, modified ceria and zirconia. It gives a brief introduction about the nitration of toluene. The aim and objectives of the present investigation are also described at the end of this chapter. Chapter 2 comprises of a thorough literature survey on the significance of solid acid and super acid catalysts in various domains of chemical industry and importance of anion promoted zirconia and ceria catalysts. The definition of ??super acid and their classification vii on the basis of origin of the active sites are also outlined. Importance of modified metal oxides is also outlined. Chapter 3 deals with the experimental procedures and techniques employed in this investigation. Scientific aspects of the precipitation and impregnation methods were outlined. The experimental details of surface area measurements by BET method, application of X-ray powder diffraction studies for crystalline phase and size determination, elemental detection by EDAX, spectral details from FTIR and thermal stability by TGA have been described. Chapter 4 deals with the various characterization results and discussion of pure, doped and sulphated Zirconia-ceria solid acid catalysts. The bulk and surface properties of the catalyst was discussed by XRD, BET surface area, TGA and FTIR. All characterization results revealed that the incorporated sulphate ions has a significant influence on the surface and bulk properties of the ZrO2-CeO2 catalyst. The prepared catalysts are investigated for the liquid phase nitration of toluene under various reaction conditions. Chapter 5 gives with the summary and conclusion of the present study. It also gives the future scope of the present study. On the whole, zirconia-ceria solid acid catalysts were successfully synthesized by simple route. Physicochemical characterization of all these catalysts revealed that the loaded sulphated and doped metal oxides show a significant influence on the surface and bulk properties of the ZrO2 - CeO2. These catalysts are found to be active for the liquid phase nitration of toluene. Key words: Solid acid catalysis, Zirconia-Ceria, Sulphated zirconia-ceria, Nitration of toluene -
Analysis of Web Mining Patterns Using Custom-Built Apriori Algorithm
The dissertation entitled Analysis of Web Mining Patterns Using Custom-Built Apriori Algorithm has developed a custom-built apriori algorithm for the discovery of association rules in web log data. Web server log containing the information about all the web requests to the Christ university website is used for analysis. The methodology adapted by this research is a four step process, containing data preprocessing, frequent pattern discovery, analysis and developing a tool for implementing web mining. The custom built apriori takes the preprocessed weblog file as input and generates the frequent folders and the relationship among them. This thesis has also developed a tool written in java for this web usage mining process. The tool assists the user to execute the custom built apriori algorithm and to view the associations among folders based on the given support and confidence values to the tool. The web is a highly dynamic information source. Most of the organisations put information on the web because they want it to be seen by the world. Now a days the web is well beefed up with more information in an unstructured fashion. As the web and its usage continue to grow, there is an opportunity to analyse web data and extract useful knowledge from it. The objective of this research is to predict the user behaviour in interacting with the website that helps the website designer in improving the quality of website. The dissertation is organised into 5 chapters. Chapter1, Introduction starts with a brief overview of web mining and presents the objective of the study and the problem statement. Chapter 2, Literature review, discusses background work in the field of web mining and pattern discovery. Chapter 3, methodology elaborately discusses the process used for analysing the web patterns. Chapter 4 is dedicated for results and discussion. Chapter5, conclusion, summarises the inferences concluded based on the results obtained. The chapter also discusses the limitations and challenges and concludes with future scope of the study. KeyWords: Web Mining, Preprocessing, Web Server log, Frequent pattern -
Exploration of Personal Identity Among Individuals with Multiple Inter-state Migration Experiences
Migration is an increasingly common phenomenon for various reasons like economic betterment and educational purposes. Migration is also considered a life-event causing psychological distress. Individuals who migrate multiple times, are faced with a challenge of adapting to a new environment multiple times, thus having to give up and incorporate certain elements from the environment into the self, in turn altering their personal identity. This research is focused on exploring the personal identity of individuals who have undergone multiple interstate migrations within India. Life histories of 12 individuals were taken and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that there are changes in various components of personal identity like certain changes within the family, development of a multicultural perspective, certain cognitive elements like divergent thinking and development of certain personal traits like acceptance. These individuals are highly adaptable to different kinds of environments. They do not have strong attachments with peers. Keywords: personal identity, multiple interstate migrations -
Effective Testing: A case study approach for improving test efficiency
The study presented in this thesis investigates the methods for improving the software test efficiency. Test efficiency measures the cost-effectiveness of a test organisation and it is measured by dividing the number of defects found in a test by the effort needed to perform the test. A review of the literature suggests that software test efficiency improvement depends on direct and indirect success factors like test process, test management, test tools, test object delimitation, test case determination, test infrastructure, configuration management, release management etc. This thesis was a case study approach for improving the test efficiency of an existing test setup in a database environment. Most of the thesis work followed an action based research approach by giving importance to the test setup. Work started with an analysis of the initial test environment, identified the issues and improvement areas in existing test setup and given an implementation proposal for the identified problems. Based on the proposal, team implemented the solutions, which lead to a test environment containing number of actions like automation using standard framework, risk based testing, parallel execution, modularization, avoiding code redundancy and proper test management. The results of the case study suggest that the software products that has multiple releases should seriously consider the test improvement factors like regression environment, risk based testing, light weight test automation etc., in the initial stages of the testing. This will lead to cost savings, quality, flexibility and higher productivity. The investigation further identifies the issues in test management and introduced new method called test point method for proper test execution tracking. Based on the implementation results and their discussions, this study presents a new approach and practical guidelines for improving test efficiency of a software test project. IBM has recognised this case study by giving eminence and excellence award for saving one person year of testing effort in their indexing tool test environment. -
A Study on Measures of Central Tendency of Some Distance Parameters of Connected Graphs
This dissertation sets out to examine the implications of various mea- sures of central tendencies of graphs by introducing the unique concept of ?graphs. A ?graph is defined as a simple, finite, connected and undirected graph in which the basic centrality measures: mean, median and mode of eccentricities are equal. It takes a formal approach to the exploration of ?graphs by applying the principles of Graph Theory. Various graphs are looked into to compare the centrality measures, and the possibility of those being ?graphs. Earlier graph theoretical research in notions of centrality, distance and eccentricity are reviewed. It describes the development of a new elicitation tool that examines the effect of measures of central tenden- cies in graphs, by analyzing their eccentricity sequences. Using this new ap- proach the central values of certain graphs are obtained. The concept found would be helpful to develop a more complex interpretation of the notion of centrality measures in graph theory. Keywords: Eccentricity; Eccentricity sequence; Distance; Degree; Cen- trality; Mean; Mode; Median; ?graph; Central value -
Effect of coriolis force and gravity modulation on the onset of Rayleigh-Benard convection in weak electrically conducting boussinesq-stokes suspension /
The effect of coriolis force and gravity modulation of small amplitude on a weak electrically conducting Boussinesq- Stokes suspension is investigated by using a linear stability analysis. A regular perturbation method is used to arrive at an expression for the correction Rayleigh number. The Venezian approach is adopted in arriving at the critical Rayleigh and wave number for small amplitudes of gravity modulation. The effect of role of Couple stress parameter, Taylor number and Hartmann number on the onset of convection is studied. The system is most stable with respect to gravity modulation. -
Influence of Parenting Style on Loneliness in Young Children
This study aimed to understand the influence of parenting style on loneliness in young children. The sample consisted of 60 children among which 30 are lonely and 30 nonlonely children. 30 parents and 15 teachers of the lonely children were also selected for the in-depth interview. Purposive sampling technique was used to obtain the sample. The study uses Childrens loneliness questionnaire to identify children who are lonely and a structured interview to gather data from parents and teachers regarding their perception of childs loneliness. Chi square was used to identify the parenting style of the lonely children. Following an exploratory analysis of the data obtained, it was found that a considerable number of children feel lonely at very young age. The present study also found positive relationship between parenting style and childs feelings of loneliness. The result shows the evidence that loneliness is prevalent among children in this generation but the amount of awareness parents and teachers have about this issue is very low. This could be because of perception among parents and teachers that children of younger age do not experience loneliness. -
The Influence of Geographical Separation on Marital Satisfaction and Subjective Well Being among Married Couples
Married couples undergoing geographical separation in their married life due to reasons other than marital discord is becoming a very common phenomenon in the Indian scenario. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a significant difference in Marital Satisfaction (and Subjective Well Being) among married couples who are staying together and married couples who are staying geographically apart. It was hypothesized that there is a significant difference among married couples who are living together and living geographically apart in their Marital Satisfaction (H1), there is a significant difference among married couples who are living together and living geographically apart in their Subjective Well Being (H2), and that there is a significant positive relationship between Marital Satisfaction and Subjective Well Being (H3). This study was conducted on 30 married couples who were staying together and 40 married couples who were staying geographically apart between the age ranges of 30-45 years. The participants were selected using the purposive sampling technique. The marital satisfaction and subjective well being of the participants were measured using the Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS) and Subjective Well-being Inventory (SUBI) respectively. The data obtained for statistically analyzed. The Independent Samples t test was done to find the significance of difference between means of marital satisfaction among married couples who are living together and living geographically apart. The t value was found to be significant at 0.01 levels, thereby, accepting the first hypothesis (H1). In order to find the significance of difference between means of subjective well being among married couples who are living together and living geographically apart, the Independent Samples t test was done. And the t value was found to be significant at 0.01 levels, thereby, accepting the second hypothesis (H2). Pearsons product moment correlation was done in order to find the direction and strength of relationship between Marital Satisfaction and Subjective Well Being. The correlation coefficient showed a strong positive relationship between both the variables thus accepting the third hypothesis (H3). -
A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF RESORTS IN THE REVITALIZATION OF ART FORMS OF KERALA
Tourism can be seen as one of the major industries across the world in preservation, conservation and revitalization of culture. One of the major forms of tourism which is engaged in this activity is cultural tourism. This form of tourism provides experience of rural lifestyle with tourists visiting villages and staying with local communities in order to understand and experience their way of living. Different scholars have defined cultural tourism differently, in view of cultural attraction emerging as a major motivational factor for tourists to visit destinations. It has been described as a tourist activity; which helps in overcoming social isolation and sharing culture through tourism. In the present scenario, the art forms can be seen only in the tourist destinations and other tourist generating regions. There is not much effort taken by the Government and stakeholders in sustaining these cultures for future generation. In India, the state of Kerala is known as the major hub of art forms and this is one of the principle reasons for the tourism growth in this state. The current status of the art forms of Kerala is in a dying state. Hence the present study deals with the role of the resorts in the revitalization of art forms. Various research studies conducted in this area are very general in nature and there is a gap with regard to studying specific art forms. The area of study covers various resorts located in Kerala. In this study an effort has been taken to link the relationship between resorts and art forms and the way in which it is revitalized. For this purpose the study was conducted by collecting data from both primary and secondary sources. The sets of questionnaire for the study was developed and administered with the help of a statistician. Some of the major findings of the study showed that 97% of resorts have performances of art forms on daily basis and the performances are conducted on tourist demand. Resort owners are accompanying various tourism components and offering attractive package to the tourists. Culture is a part of life and an individuals identity which ultimately becomes the image of the society. Art forms, cuisines, customs, lifestyle, traditions etc constitute culture. Further research can be done on these areas linking with tourism which will not only help in the preservation of culture but also in a way attracting tourists to particular destinations. -
A Study on Work Engagement among the School Teachers
Work engagement is a measurable degree of an persons positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, colleagues and organization which profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work. Now a days it is observed that the commitment and dedication of the teachers in their profession as decreasing. It is also seen that teacher turnover is also becoming high. Even though the teachers in the schools were paid good, the turn over seems to be increasing. The study here tries to investigate the relationship with the work engagement and the socio demographic characteristics of teachers where the demographic variables could explain the relationship between the dimensions of work engagement. Descriptive research design is being used in the study . This design is helpful to identify the socio demographic characteristics and its relationship between the Work engagement among School teachers . The sample consisted of 100 school teachers who having more than one years of experience and the sample was selected by using the convenient sampling method. The study was done using the UWES Scale developed by Wilmar Schaufeli and Arnold Bakker in 2003 and nineteen other questionnaires were developed to know the other factors contributing to work engagement. The resourceful work environment can foster teachers work engagement. Consequently, the study shows that the older experienced married teachers shows the high level of work engagement where the educational qualification has no much role in it. This means that the young generation is not much interested in the profession with a a passion rather than they themselves consider it as a job. The work engagement can be increased among them through making interventions like improving and enhancing effective job and personal resources. -
Study of Nanolayered Structure of Commercially Available Carbon Materials and Soot
Developments in the modern world periodically call for the discovery or invention of new and exotic materials. In the present situation, to develop unique and novel materials, which move beyond the barriers of the physical limits of the amount of micro- miniaturization possible as well as the current technology and take advantage of the opportunities not yet imagined, is not at all a need but a necessity. The advent of Nano technology of carbon allotropes is a giant leap towards this goal. The starting of the era of carbon nanomaterials traces back to 1985 when the fullerenes with a foot ball structure were accidently discovered. From then on, the field of carbon nanotechnology was in the constant limelight on account of the amazing properties displayed by the various allotropes of carbon. These properties are dependent mainly on the type of hybridization present in the nanostructures, which categorizes them to amorphous or crystalline. Also, there exist some structures which are the combination of these two and are termed as nanocrystalline or turbostratic structures. The discovery of graphene, which has a turbostratic structure and is the thinnest material known and the strongest ever measured, with outstanding properties such as highest room temperature electrical conductivity; high mechanical robustness etc was a ground breaking one. These remarkable properties open up a wide range of potential applications ranging from clean energy to nano-electronics to bio-medical devices. Thus, it is a necessity to explore and characterize various effective sources of these nanomaterials. The present study is an attempt to investigate such efficient, easily available and cost-effective precursors. Soot, also known as black carbon, is a fine-grained solid residue that results from incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons and is a widely used precursor for the production of carbon nanomaterials. Carbon soot is a major component of smoke from the combustion of carbon-rich organic fuels and hydrocarbons and hence has a vast number of sources. In the study presented here soot obtained from the thermal decomposition of commercially available kerosene, diesel oil, paraffin wax and lubricant oil is investigated. Nanostructure of the commercially available carbon black is also studied. Various techniques such as Micro Raman spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), High Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (HR-SEM), Electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and elemental analysis are employed for the structural and morphological characterization of the samples. Raman scattering is used as a probe to study the disorder in the carbon skeleton materials. The intensity ratio of the D and G modes occurring in the spectra is proportional to the number of rings at the edge of the grain and also indicates the quality of the sample. FT-IR spectroscopy is used to characterize qualitatively the functional groups of carbon materials. XRD is the most common analytical technique used for determining the structure of ordered and disordered carbons from the positions of the diffraction peaks at 2?? angle. The structural parameters like the size of the ordered grains along c and a axis (Lc and La), the average spacing of the crystallographic (002) planes (d002) can be determined through Scherrer equations. SEM micrographs give the surface morphology of the nanomaterials present and the EDS analysis gives the abundance of the microscopic constituents. Elemental composition of the samples can be derived from the elemental analysis using CHNS (Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Sulphur) analyser. The present study shows that all the samples investigated obeys the Tuinstra-Koening relation and posses a nanocrystalline structure. The ratio of the defect and graphite bands is found to be very low, especially in the case of diesel soot which has a value very much lower than those reported in the earlier studies, indicating high quality and a low amount of disorder in the samples. HR-SEM micrographs clearly indicate that the carbon nanostructured present in the samples are in the form of non-uniform nanospheres with diameter varying between 26-100 nm. The characteristic diffraction peak of graphene corresponding to (100) diffraction is observed in the x-ray diffraction profiles of all the samples. The interlayer spacing determined in all the samples lies very close to that of graphite. The H/C atomic ratio from the CHNS analysis is found to be very low and confirms the nanocrystalline structure of the materials. The graphite band position in the IR spectra indicates that the nanospheres formed are to be composed more of crystalline graphitic carbon. From the EDS analysis it is evident that all the samples have very high carbon content and are free from impurities and thus concludes that the materials and methods used in the present study for the synthesis of carbon nanospheres possessing a nanocrystalline structure are efficient and cost effective and are good precursors for graphene. -
QUALITY OF WORK LIFE IN RELATION TO PEOPLE CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL IN IT AND ITES ORGANIZATIONS
The new found concern for Quality of Work Life in corporate life perhaps has been due to the realization that human resource is the most important asset which must be released and developed. Management viewed QWL programs as a way of reducing costs and improving productivity. The success of any organization depends on how it attracts recruits, motivates and retains its workforce. Human capital is clearly emerging as a key engine of economic growth, and it is evident that the skills and competencies of the workforce impact positively on productivity and competitiveness. In this regard investment in human capital would appear to be a prerequisite to economic success .In this new scenario People capability maturity model offers unlimited potential to develop and maximize human capital and organizational competence in the interest of the firm ,the employee ,the consumer ,the shareholder and not least the family. People capability maturity model is a maturity framework developed at the software engineering institute that guides the organizations in improving the ability to attract, develop, motivate, organize and retain talent.. Economies of the world over and companies facing tough domestic and international markets have been posing a serious challenge to all concerned. This coupled with every changing technology and increased access to information has necessitated studying organization with respect to productivity, efficiency and quality of service rendered. All this demands a new work culture, employee motivation, commitment to the job and organizational goals. Some organizations in the service sector have implemented PCMM to address all these organizational issues. However we have very little information at the grass root level to comprehend QWL, and very little research on QWL Life in relation to PCMM hence this study. Based on the objectives of the study a detailed questionnaire was constructed by the researcher. The questionnaire has three parts measuring demographics, implementation of PCMM and six dimensions of QWL. It was measured on a 5 point likert scale 1 indicating strongly disagree to 5 indicating strongly agree. The Cronbachs alpha reliability for the PCMM and the QWL for the present sample was .80 and above. The questionnaire was completed by 230 respondents using judgmental sampling technique from PCMM implemented and non implemented IT and ITES organizations. It was found that Quality of work life was not significantly higher in companies that implemented People capability maturity model as compared to other companies. Amongst all the dimensions of Quality of work life the only dimension influenced and affected by People capability maturity model was self evaluation of performance .It was found that there was a variation of 20.1% in the Quality of work life. In terms of correlation, the study indicated that there was significant intra relationship between the 6 dimensions of Quality of work Life; significant intra relationship between the People Capability Maturity Model related items and significant interrelationship between 6 dimensions of Quality of Work Life and the People capability maturity model related items. Amongst all the 6 dimensions of Quality of Work Life the only dimension that was significantly different across gender was self evaluation of performance. Females had higher self evaluation of performance as compared to the male counterparts. On the basis of the results attained from the current study we can clearly imply that Quality of work life dimensions is definitely positively influenced, affected and correlated with People Capability Maturity Model though there is no difference in Quality of Work Life among People Capability Maturity Model implemented and Non implemented IT and ITES organizations. The results from the study will have significant implications on the companies that have not implemented People Capability Maturity Model to join the group of People capability maturity model implemented companies as this will help the organizations to prepare the employees psychologically to meet the demands and challenges which otherwise may risk a poor Quality of work life program implementation. Key Words: Organizational behavior, Human Resource Management, People Capability Maturity Model, Quality of Work Life, General linear model.