Browse Items (472 total)
Sort by:
-
Duplex functionally graded and multilayered thermal barrier coatings based on 8 % yttria stabilized zirconia and pyrochlores
Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) protect gas turbine engine metal components while they serve in a high temperature environment (upto 1200?). 8% Yttria- Stabilized Zirconia (8YSZ) is the current state of the art material for TBCs. Typically, 250 to 500 ?m (upto 2 mm) thick TBCs can lower the metal temperature by upto 150C than the service temperature and thereby enhance life to the components. 8YSZ TBCs however, suffer from (a) increased sinterability, (b) phase de-stabilization and (c) poor adhesion with time in service at high temperature. In order to facilitate longer engine running time, research is being directed towards finding (i) newer materials that do not possess these deficiencies or (ii) configurations that can overcome them. In order to further improve the performance efficiency of the engines, TBC materials with extended thermal fatigue life at higher than current service temperatures (>1100?) are also being actively investigated. In the same area of research, this thesis presents the findings of work on air plasma sprayed (i) duplex, (ii) functionally graded and (iii) multilayered configurations of TBCs synthesized from commercial 8YSZ and lab synthesized pyrochlore (lanthanum zirconate, lanthanum cerate and lanthanum cerium zirconate) compositions with NiCrAlY bond coat. Duplex i.e., 2-layered TBCs, synthesized by depositing commercial 8YSZ ceramic topcoat (METCO 204 NS) and NiCrAlY bond coat (AMDRY 962) plasma spray powders on Inconel 718 and/or stainless-steel substrates were used for benchmarking purpose (designated as conventional 8YSZ TBC). Next, TBCs were prepared by using these two powders in blended form (8YSZ+NiCrAlY) to serve as a third intermediate layer between the duplex TBC layers in functionally graded material (FGM) configurations. The role of he third intermediate layer is to minimize the thermal expansion mismatch between the ceramic and bond coat layers at elevated temperatures. 8YSZ FGM TBCs were prepared from three different blends of plasma spray powders of NiCrAlY and 8YSZ (i .e., 25%NiCrAlY +75%8YSZ, 50% NiCrAlY + 50% 8YSZ and 60% NiCrAlY + 40% 8YSZ). The development of newer ceramic TBC materials and configurations was achieved by the synthesis of novel pyrochlores and FGM TBCs from them. The Rare-earth pyrochlores and Rare-earth zirconate pyrochlores studied were (i) Lanthanum Zirconate (La2Zr2O7), (ii) Lanthanum Cerium Zirconate (La2 (Zr0.7Ce0.3)2O7 and (iii) Lanthanum Cerate (La2Ce2O7). Plasma sprayable powders of these compositions were synthesized in the laboratory via a solid-state method. They were spray-coated by Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS) method in duplex layers by using three different spray parameters on NiCrAlY bond coated substrates. The spray parameter that provided the best TBC for each composition was identified based on preliminary thermal fatigue tests. FGM TBCs with (50% NiCrAlY+ 50% 8YSZ) blend as intermediary layer exhibited significantly improved thermal fatigue resistance (life) over conventional 8YSZ TBC (up to 1400?). Hence, in the FGM pyrochlore system too, further studies were restricted to TBCs with (50%NiCrAlY+50% pyrochlore) blend layers to serve as the intermediate FGM layers. Further studies involved the synthesis of multilayered TBCs: two types of systems have been experimented (a) FGM with commercial 8YSZ integrated with the pyrochlores - here the intermediary blend layer was (50% NiCrAlY+ 50% 8YSZ), and lab synthesized pyrochlores were the topcoats and (b) 8YSZ as an intermediary layer and pyrochlores as the topcoats. Identical (to the extent possible) characterization methods were employed to study and evaluate all TBCs synthesized in this research work. They were (1) thermal fatigue tests between high temperature & ambient by using (a) gas flame (1200? & 1400?) and (b) furnace (1150C) (2) oxidation stability tests (at 800?,1000? and 1150?) (3) structural phase analysis (XRD) and (4) microstructure with chemical composition analysis (SEM/EDS). The work was aided by studies on adhesion strength test (ASTM C633 standard), residual stress analysis and assessment of thermal barrier effect (temperature drop across TBC) in chosen few TBCs. TBCs fabricated from three pyrochlores exhibited significant improvements in terms of thermal fatigue resistance at 1200? and 1400?. In duplex, Multilayer (ML) FGM and Multilayer (ML) configurations, La2Ce2O7 (LC) TBC performance was exemplary in all configurations studied in this research work. XRD analysis of pyrochlores in duplex, ML-FGM and ML configurations TBCs evaluated for thermal fatigue at 1200? and 1400? (gas flame heating) exhibited no phase destabilization in the failed specimen, confirming the thermal stability of the TBC system within the coated layers. The trend of improved thermal fatigue resistance of lanthanum cerate TBCs continued when studied via high-temperature furnace heating at 1150? as well. The experimental research work with details of TBC systems, processing, characterizations, and discussion based on findings and published literature to explore the prospective TBC material system and configuration with the potential to serve as an alternative to conventional 8YSZ TBC, in terms of life and thermal fatigue resistance, comprise the main contents of this thesis. -
Dynamic Offloading Technique for Latency Sensitive Iot Applications Using Fog Computing
The Internet of Things (IoT) has evolved as one of the most popular technological newlineinnovations that offers processing power to different types of entities connected to it. IoT has made traditional applications smarter and easier to use. IoT offers reliable service to different sectors such as healthcare, industrial control, agriculture, autonomous vehicles, traffic management etc. IoT nodes are generally energy-constrained and hence depend on cloud platforms for storage and analytics of generated data. The cloud provides required services for the newlineconnected applications based on pay per use policy. But cloud datacenter being at remote location fails to accommodate the time requirements of delay-sensitive IoT newlineapplications. Edge/fog computing was designed to address the demands of timesensitive IoT applications. The IoT-Fog-Cloud architecture reduces the delay and response time incurred by the IoT-Cloud model. The fog layer in the three-tier architecture is distributed in nature. Hence the latency depends on how well the underlying offloading algorithms distribute the tasks among available fog nodes. Different offloading policies are mentioned in the literature to address this issue. This work initially tries to solve the offloading problem using one of the novel newlineoffloading approaches Flamingo Search Algorithm (FSA). Later, the results obtained from FSA are fine-tuned using another metaheuristic algorithm, the Honey Badger Algorithm (HBA). Finally, both FSA and HBA are hybridized to generate the HB-FS algorithm which effectively solves the task offloading problem. The performance evaluation of the proposed approach is done with different existing metaheuristic algorithms and the evaluations show that the newlineproposed work outperforms the existing algorithms in terms of latency, average newlineresponse time and execution time. The methodology also offers a lesser degree of newlineimbalance and standard deviation than the compared approaches. -
Dynamics of Newtonian Fluids and Nanofluids in Various Geometries
In this thesis, the boundary-layer flows of Newtonian fluids in different geometries newlineprimarily, a horizontal surface and a vertical surface. To account for the imperfections arising in realistic scenarios, we have considered a horizontal surface with undulations and a vertical surface with a non-uniform temperature distribution. Additionally, it is wellknown that to meet the cooling rate requirements in the industry, the thermal performance of ordinary heat transfer fluids is not suitable. The concept of insertion of nanometresized metallic particles in the fluid leads to an increase in the thermal conductivity of the newlineordinary base liquids. Therefore, to fully comprehend the affect of these nanoparticles on the onset of convection and fluid motions and to assess how the enhanced thermophysical newlineproperties may affect the heat transfer is another key objective of this research. newlineA Comparative Study of Thermo-convective Flows of a Newtonian Fluid over Three newlineHorizontal Undulated Surfaces in a Porous Medium In the first problem of this thesis, elaborated in Chapter 5, a comparison has been presented between the results of three thermoconvective flows of a Newtonian fluid over uniformly heated, undulated horizontal surfaces in a porous medium against the background of the results of a flat plate. The undulations are assumed to have sinusoidal, sawtooth, and triangular waveforms. At large surface amplitudes, secondary flow is observed in the cases newlineof sinusoidal and triangular waveforms, but not in the cases of a sawtooth surface and a newlineflat plate. The variation of the mean Nusselt number and mean skin friction with surface newlineamplitude and the Rayleigh number indicate that heat transfer and viscous friction at the boundary increase with individual and collective increases in the values of the amplitude and the Rayleigh number. The heat transfer and skin friction by the flat surface are much less than that of all three undulated surfaces. -
East west interfaces in 20th century india:
In the twenty-first century, the Western world is seeking a greater understanding of the people and nations of Asia, India in particular. The thesis, East West Interface in 20th century India: Analysis of Western women s responses is an attempt to illuminate at least an aspect of that interface during a given period of the past, so as to help shed some light on the newlinepresent day Western approach to India. Throughout the colonial period, Western women got attracted to India. However, during the 20th century, arrival of four eminent Western women from diverse backgrounds, with different intentions had far-reaching impact for India. Katherine Mayo, Margaret Elizabeth Noble, Annie Besant and Madeline Slade, not only got actively involved with the Indian society but in their own ways contributed towards newlinetransforming the Indian society. newlineThey left an overwhelming impact on the Indian political fabric. The thesis aims to analyze the contribution of these four outstanding Western women and attempts to understand how Indian socio-political and cultural structure got influenced by and drew inspirations from them. This work also attempts to add to the process of evolution newlineof understanding the East by the West. newline -
Echo mapping of active galacticn nuclei
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are the persistent high luminosity sources powered by accretion of matter onto super massive black holes (SMBHs) at their centres. They are known to show flux variation and this property can be used as an effective tool to map the extent of the broad line region (BLR) and the dusty torus that surrounds the central SMBH. Though the mass of the SMBH (MBH) can be directly measured using the dynamics of stars that are close to the SMBH, this method is limited to objects in the low redshift Universe (z < 0.1). On the other hand, the technique of reverberation mapping (RM) can provide MBH estimate over a range of redshifts. RM is based on the light travel time delayed response of the line emitting gas as well as the re-processed torus emission to changes in the continuum emission from the accretion disk. As of now, MBH measure-ments are available for more than 100 sources based on RM. The obtained BLR sizes (RBLR) are found to be correlated with the optical luminosity (L5100) at wavelength 5100 This relationship is obtained based on mea-surements of AGN available over a limited range of luminosity. Moreover, many of these measurements also have larger error bars. Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase RM measurements with small errors on more AGN covering a wide range of redshifts to better constrain the RBLR ? L5100 relation. We have carried out photometric reverberation observa- tions on the AGN Mrk 590. Using both broad band (that overlaps with the continuum) and narrow band (that overlaps with the H? emission line) observations, we found the BLR size to be 21.44+1.49 ?2.11 days, which is equiv- alent to 0.018+0.001 ?0.002 pc. Using this measured BLR size and the full width at half maximum of the H? line measured from the newly acquired Subaru spectrum we found a black hole mass of 1.96+0.15 ?0.21 108 M , using virial relationship and adopting a scale factor of 1.12. Similar to BLR reverberation mapping, the extent of the dusty torus in AGN can also be measured using dust reverberation mapping (DRM) based on the delayed response of the near infrared (NIR) flux from the torus to the ionizing UV/optical continuum coming from the accretion disk. From these observations too, a strong correlation is known to exist between the torus size (Rdust) and the optical luminosity (LV). Based on the Rdust ?LV relation, it is also possible to use AGN as standard candle to con- strain the Hubble constant (H0) and other cosmological parameters. But for that, a large number of DRM observations are needed at different red- shifts. As of today, very few NIR interferometric observations are avail-able, but measurements of the torus size via such direct imaging observa-tions are again limited to very near and bright AGN. Moreover, there is a large discrepancy in the size of the torus obtained via the direct imaging method through interferometry and that obtained from DRM. From long term monitoring in the optical and infra-red, we found the inner edge of the dust torus in H0507+164 and Z229?15 to lie at a distance of 0.029+0.010 ?0.008 pc and 0.017+0.005 ?0.005 pc, respectively, from the central optical continuum source. These two new measurements are also found to lie closely on the known Rdust ? LV relation line. Also, by modeling the available BLR RM data in the literature, it is possible to constrain the size, structure and kinemat-ics of the BLR using Bayesian approach. This approach is adopted several times to study the BLR morphology by different ways but is not applied to a large number of sources in an homogeneous manner. From an analysis of the RM data for a total of 57 sources following a Bayesian approach, we could constrain the structure of the BLR in them as well as derive other properties of BLR. -
Economic Burden and Productivity Loss of Employees with Lifestyle Diseases in Sedentary Occupations During Pandemic
Over the past few decades, the prevalence of Lifestyle Diseases or Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) have increased. There has been an increasing concern about these lifestyle diseases, with hypertension acting as the most prevalent lifestyle disease in the populace. It further exaggerates the issue as its prevalence increases exposure to other lifestyle diseases such as Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD). With health being an important component of human capital, the presence of lifestyle diseases has an economic impact on the individual and the organisation. The presence of an illness reduces the productivity level delivered by the individual to work, resulting in productivity loss. Apart from impacting an employee's productivity, the prevalence of lifestyle diseases incurs a significant monetary expense in the form of healthcare required to manage them. This monetary expense is called an economic burden or out-of-pocket expenditure. On these grounds, the current study examines the economic burden and impact on the productivity of employees suffering from lifestyle diseases (Hypertension, Diabetes and CVD) working in sedentary occupations. With lifestyle diseases majorly influenced by the lifestyle patterns of an individual, employees working in a sedentary occupation are at greater exposure to lifestyle diseases and hence were selected as the target population. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 426 employees of sedentary occupations in the Delhi-NCR region. The economic burden has been measured as a sum of the direct and indirect costs of the diseases incurred in a year. Using the estimates of economic burden, Catastrophic Healthcare Expenditure (CHE) was measured at different threshold levels. The study has also evaluated productivity loss through presenteeism and absenteeism approaches. An attempt was made to examine the relationship between the economic burden 7 and productivity loss through presenteeism and absenteeism approaches. The result of the study shows a significant share of the economic burden for lifestyle diseases and their comorbidities. CHE was highest at the 40% threshold level. The level of disparity in catastrophe among lower and high-income individuals was also highest at the 40% threshold level. Further statistical results show a high cost of absenteeism due to lifestyle diseases compared to presenteeism and found that economic burden has a strong positive relationship with absenteeism and presenteeism. Overall, the study concludes that lifestyle disease incurs a substantial economic burden and CHE for employees working in sedentary occupations. The estimate for the same increases if multiple lifestyle diseases are present. Further, the impact of catastrophe is more for low-income than high-income individuals due to the limited availability of resources to manage the health issue. Apart from causing monetary expense, the presence of lifestyle diseases also causes a high cost of absenteeism and presenteeism, increasing the economic cost of managing lifestyle diseases. -
Educational Achievement of Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Children from Urban Slums of Bengaluru City
In the Indian context, marginalized and oppressed individuals often reside in slums newlineand on the streets, facing poor living conditions and inadequate facilities. While newlineurban areas boast elite lifestyles characterized by high levels of educational newlineattainment, access to the latest technologies, and substantial incomes, marginalized groups experience a significant lack of basic living standards and encounter limited access to essential services such as education, healthcare, and employment newlineopportunities. Education, in particular, poses one of the greatest challenges in slum newlineareas. Various factors, including socio-economic background, family characteristics, newlineand educational opportunities, can influence the academic performance of slum children. Additionally, teachers perceptions and classroom practices play crucial roles. The current study aims to explore how family characteristics, socio-economic background, educational opportunities, and teachers perceptions impact the educational achievements of slum children in Bengaluru city. To investigate educators perspectives on socially and economically disadvantaged children, a questionnaire was administered to teachers. The study utilized a mixed-method newlineresearch design to address its research questions. Quantitative data were collected newlinefrom 100 slum children and 100 non-slum children aged 6 to 14 years. During semistructured interviews, the researcher used an open-ended questionnaire to gather newlineresponses from principals and teachers. Thirty-six teachers working with various newlineschool boards in the Byrasandra and Siddapura areas were included in this study. newlineAdditionally, class observations were conducted to assess classroom interactions, the rapport between teachers and students, and levels of student involvement. A newlinepurposive random sampling technique was employed to select participants from the newlinestudy population. Data were meticulously collected and analyzed. -
Effect Of Cooperative Learning Strategies on Self-Directed Learning and Reflective Thinking of Pre-Service Teachers
Cooperative learning (CL) research demonstrates its robustness. While acknowledging the empirical benefits, there is room for improvement in implementing CL in teacher education classrooms. Teacher educators often resist adopting CL, favouring the frontal teaching method. The cultivation of self-directed learning and reflective newlinethinking is crucial for pre-service teachers (PSTs) to evolve into lifelong learners, newlinemeeting the demands of 21st-century classrooms. Online cooperative learning (OCL) newlineplays a vital role in enhancing essential skill sets such as collaboration, digital newlineproficiency, communication, and interaction among pre-service teachers. This study newlineunfolded in two phases. The initial pilot study, utilizing a concurrent triangulation newlinemixed-method research design, delved into perceived challenges faced by teacher newlineeducators in India regarding cooperative learning implementation. The subsequent newlineexperimental stage employed a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group newlinedesign to investigate the impact of OCL strategies on self-directed learning (SDL) and reflective thinking (RT) among Indian pre-service teachers. Following the newlineintervention with OCL modules, the researcher also assessed pre-service teachers newlinesatisfaction and perceptions towards OCL, utilizing a mixed-method research approach with concurrent triangulation. The sample for experimental stage encompassed 130 pre-service teachers from two teacher education colleges affiliated with Mangalore University, Karnataka, India. The researcher constructed OCL intervention modules for the study and experts validated it. The researcher adopted standardized instrument for measuring SDL by Acar et al. (2016), and standardised instrument for measuring RT by Kember et al. (2000). The pilot study revealed that teacher educators perceived challenges at an average rate of 63% due to teacher challenges, learner challenges, curriculum syllabus, and administrative challenges. -
Effect of crude oil price changes on macro economy and capital market of India
Oil symbolizes an important role in the global economy. Crude oil or petroleum is an indispensable and a contributing factor for any economy. Several international crude oil price benchmarks (Brent, WTI, OPEC and so on) have always been tested through empirical studies to established certain cause-effect newlinerelationship and to determine their predictability. However, literature evidence is limited to Indian basket. Moreover, the need for forecasting this benchmark has newlinenot been acknowledged by the scholars. International crude oil price of Indian newlinebasket, also termed as Indian basket crude oil price, is the base of any petroleum newlineproduct pricing in India. Importing crude oil enhance the trade deficit of the nation. The present scenario of the global petroleum industry and the relationship among the major oil-producing and exporting countries are vulnerable. This situation increases the supply-side risk for the major oil-importing countries like India. In this state of affairs, it is vital to find out the factors that influence this price benchmark to reduce uncertainty. This research work aims to provide a holistic picture of the international crude oil price of Indian basket, considering the present scenario of the oil industry and lack of scholarly work on this field. Where on one side, the external factors affecting crude oil price has been determined, on the other hand how Indian economy and capital market is affected newlineby this price change have been found out. Triangulation method under a mixed approach has been adopted for this research work where quantitative and qualitative data collection have been run simultaneously. The time frame of the quantitative data collection is April, 2000 to March, 2018 and the frequency is newlinemonthly. Twenty experts have been interviewed to capture the qualitative aspects associated with the models. Four models have been proposed to execute the objectives. -
Effect of Museum Visit Intervention on Learning and Attitude Towards History
Place-Based Education is an education where learning happens in a place. The place could be museum, garden, palace, library etc. Place-based education is useful for the discipline of History as places are the existing evidence of past historical events. Therefore, students in History discipline can use place-based education for effective learning of history. The study attempts to find out the effect of museum visit intervention on learning and attitude towards newlinehistory. The study brings out how Museums act as an active agency to learn history. The study employed Quasi-experimental model with pre-test, post-test and follow-up post-test. Through purposive random sampling method, the participants were selected from 6th grade students of secondary schools of ICSE board located in the urban area of Kolkata in India. 120 students are included in the study group of the research (control group=60, experimental group=60). For the purpose of measuring museum visit intervention on learning and attitude towards history, researcher made achievement test and attitude scale with 5 point Likert scale was used. newlineThe instruction was provided in accordance with the History Course Curriculum of ICSE newlineboard. Experimental group visited the museum whilst the control group did not visit the newlinemuseum. Data analysis was conducted through SPSS program version 29. The result of the newlinestudy revealed that students of the experimental groups have performed better in comparison to the students of the control groups in learning and attitude towards history. Therefore, there is a recommendation to include museum visits pedagogies in the scope of social studies in History discipline. -
Effect of personality psychological capital institutional support on job satisfaction and affective commitment among private school teachers in south karnataka
A teacher's personality traits are important to create and maintain a classroom learning environment. The behaviour of Teachers depends on the characteristics of the personality. There have been many pieces of research based on the positive aspects of teachers' behaviour through enhancing some psychological states which are based on the positive institutional behaviour. This particular research has its focus on the positive strengths of the teachers, and this construct has an essential influence on job satisfaction. Hence, a satisfied and engaged teacher is very much necessary to strengthen the competitive student base of every School. To explore the fact, the researcher has chosen the constructs such as Personality, Positive psychological capital, Institutional factors (Perceived Institutional support, Work-life policies, Work autonomy), Job satisfaction factors, and Affective commitment to study the impact of the Big five dimensions of personality on job satisfaction and affective commitment of private school teachers in South Karnataka and to investigate the impact of psychological capital on job satisfaction and affective commitment of teachers. The study also attempts to understand the influence of Institutional factors (perceived Institutional support, work-life policies, and work autonomy) on job satisfaction and affective commitment. Also, the study explores the influence of job satisfaction on the outcome factors namely affective commitment among private school teachers. The study used a descriptive research design, and it is observed that the total number of districts in south Karnataka is fifteen. The researcher selected four private schools from each district randomly with the help of the private school list used as a sampling frame. The total sample size for the study estimated were 477 teachers working in private schools. The study has analysed the data using appropriate statistical tools such as (i) frequency analysis, (ii) Factor analysis, (iii) ANOVA with post hoc (v) Regression analysis. The study concludes that when the private school teachers personalities such as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience which will tend to significantly influence Job satisfaction among teachers working in the private schools of South Karnataka. Similarly, private school teachers Psychological capital like resilience, self-efficacy, optimism, and hope which tend to influence job satisfaction at their work significantly. This study also concludes that private school teachers to be given proper work-life balance and work autonomy by the school management, which will significantly influence job satisfaction among the teachers at work. Also, private school teachers who possess personalities such as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience significantly influence the teacher's affective commitment. The study also reveals that the private school teachers have Psychological capital like resilience, Self-efficacy, Hope, and Optimism, which tend to significantly influence their affective commitment which will reflect towards their respective institution. If the private institution gave the school teachers proper work-life balance and work autonomy, then they tend to influence their affective commitment significantly. Also, it is concluded that the affective commitment of teachers significantly influences the job satisfaction level of school teachers. This implies that the school management can enhance the level of teachers' commitment to their schools by creating a more conducive and more satisfying environment in the workplace. Accordingly, schools can decide on pay and other monetary incentives. However, they can enhance teachers' job satisfaction by creating better training and development opportunities, improving leadership and management support, promoting accountability, and involving teachers in decision-making made at the school level. Another important finding of this study is the observed positive relationships between scores of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Some of these findings contradict the existing literature in these fields; others are inconsistent with the prevailing literature. -
Effect of Phonological and Phonetic Intervention on Proficiency in English Pronunciation and Oral Reading Among Bengaluru Teacher Trainees
The current research aimed to determine the effect of phonological and phonetic intervention in enhancing proficiency in English pronunciation and oral reading among teacher trainees. The study adopted a single-group pre and post-test intervention design. The researcher developed intervention modules on phonology and phonetics, and a segmental approach was adopted to teach individual sounds. The research design was executed in five stages: experts' opinions on the need for such a study, a preliminary study to find the need for the study, the development of intervention modules and validation of the modules, the pilot study to check the reliability of the tools, and the main study. The researcher applied Oscillo-graphic and observation methods to analyse and test the participants' pronunciation and oral reading progress during the experiment. Communicative Language Learning (CLL) and Audiolingual approaches were adopted to teach individual sounds to participants. The National Assessment of Educational Progress Scale for Reading and Pronunciation (NAEP 2012) was adopted to measure the scores. The other instruments, i.e., audio-to-test phonetic transcription software and Audacity recording software, were used in the experiment to record and analyse the audio clips. The experiment was conducted on n=104 teacher trainees of Bengaluru, India. The current study targeted teacher trainees/ B Ed college students of English method as a population. The population of teacher trainees was 1470 English methods from Bangalore north, south, and central. Further, the sample size for the main study was 104, and it was selected through a stratified random sampling technique. The assessment tools overall reliability (Cronbach Alpha value) (NAEP) on Pronunciation and Oral reading is 0.873. The data normality was tested with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The data EFFECT OF PHONOLOGICAL AND PHONETIC INTERVENTION was normally distributed. Hence, the data was not normally distributed; the non- parametric tests were used to test the hypotheses. The hypotheses testing on phonological and phonetic awareness revealed the difference between pre- intervention and post-intervention scores in phonological and phonemic awareness and oral reading among teacher trainees, the sig. Value is less than 0.05 across all the attributes. The Wilcoxon signed rank test revealed the scores after the intervention, a post-test with a statistically significant value of 0.001. The post-test score, which was after the intervention, is significantly higher. The values across all the attributes related to oral reading and pronunciation with a statistically significant value of 0.001. The other hypotheses testing on gender, age, and qualification, the Mann-Whitney test, and Kruskal Wallis were used, and the results were not statistically significant. The statistical test was used to test the progressive improvement of teacher trainees during the intervention, and it was statistically significant with 0.001 across all the attributes. The data analysis revealed a positive impact of intervention at the post-test on teacher trainees. The study has navigated the need for language proficiency among teacher trainees, especially in English pronunciation and oral reading. The study substantiates the evidence that effective intervention and teachers' knowledge of pronunciation would enhance proficiency levels in pronunciation and oral reading among teacher trainees. The study also hopes that Policy Makers, Universities, B.Ed. Colleges and teacher educators will be beckoned to use technology-integrated intervention to teach phonology and phonetics. -
Effect of social performance on sustainability of microfinance institutions
Microfinance is one of the sustainable business models with a double bottom line of financial and social relevance in the turf of development. Microfinance was recognized as a development tool that enhanced income and the standard of living of the marginalized through a sustainable business model. newlineThe concept of social performance,financial performance in microfinance institutions, and the trend of commercialization resulted in understanding the effect of social performance on the sustainability of microfinance institutions. newlineThe effect of social performance on the sustainability of microfinance institutions was quantified using CERISE (Committee of Exchanges of Reflection and Information on Systems of Savings Credit) and Social Performance Indicator (SPI) tool. Financial performance of the microfinance institutions were analyzed from 6 years audited financials of the microfinance institutions (Financial years 2009 2010 to 2014 2015),and various ratios were calculated from the audited financials and gathered information. newlineRBI-NBFC-MFIs directions resulted in reductions in the portfolio yield, portfolio risk, personal expenses, administration and other expenses. Portfolio yield was 31.12% in the financial year 2010 2011, which reduced to 22.45% in the financial year 2013 2014. Portfolio risk was 2.11% in the financial year 2010 2011, which reduced to 0.24% in the financial year 2014 2015. Personal expense was 10.46% in the financial year 2010 2011, which reduced to 5.46% in the financial year 2014 2015. Administration and other expense was 2.95 in the year 2014 15. Even though there was reduction in the portfolio yield, after implementing RBI-NBFC-MFI directions all the NBFC-MFIs of the study were sustainable. newlineThe scores of social performance of NBFC-MFIs depict that NBFC-MFIs adopted social performance initiatives in the business operations and that there are areas for improvement. -
Effect of Various Double-Frequency Modulations on Rayleigh-Benard Convection
Rayleigh-Bard convection in Newtonian fluid under different types of modulations are studied in this thesis by replacing the single frequency modulations with two frequency modulations with different amplitude and frequency. Linear and non-linear analysis of Rayleigh-Benard convection is considered under two-frequency gravity, rotation, temperature, magnetic field and internal heat generation modulation. The sixteen combinations of sinusoidal (trigonometric sine) and non-sinusoidal (square, triangular, sawtooth) wave forms of different modulations are considered to study the impact of modulations on the onset of convection and heat transport. The expressions for unmodulated Rayleigh number and correction Rayleigh number in the linear case are obtained from linearized Lorentz model using Venezian approach. To study the impact of different types of modulations and wave forms on the heat transport, the expression for the Nusselt number is obtained by solving the non-linear Lorentz model numerically. From the study it is found that the two-frequency modulations make the system more stable compare to no-modulation and single-frequency modulations. The mixing angle of the two frequency plays major role in deciding the stability of the system. The results pertaining to no-modulation and single frequency are obtained as the limiting cases. Onset of Rayleigh-Bard Convection and Heat Transfer under Two-frequency newlineRotation Modulation The study investigates the effect of sixteen sinusoidal (sine) and non-sinusoidal combinations (square, triangular, sawtooth) of time-periodic Coriolis force (rotation modulation) on Rayleigh-Bard convection (RBC) in a Newtonian liquid. The consideration captures the potential effects of two-frequency rotation modulation on stability, newlinespecifically the onset of convection and the amount of heat transfer in the system simultaneously. -
Effectiveness of adjuvant psychological therapy on alexithymia fatigue and affective dimensions among women with breast cancer
Psychological aspects in women with breast cancer are many. Among them are those related to what patients go through at different phases of treatment such as newlinediagnosis, pre and post-surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Women with breast cancer experience psychological repercussions which are specific to them. Some of them are poor body image, self-depreciation, weight changes and hair loss can be distressing to women with breast cancer. newlineThe underlying cause could be a deficit in emotional processing and affect regulation. This could lead to an inability in verbalising and identifying feelings newlinewhich is known as alexithymia. Closely related is the concept of fatigue which is newlinesubjective and tiredness which could last beyond treatments related to cancer. An newlineoverriding concept which could explain and understand these concepts is affect and newlinemood. Towards this end the objective of the study was to examine the efficacy of adjuvant psychological therapy in breast cancer in terms of alexithymia, fatigue, newlinedepression, anxiety, stress and positive and negative affect. newlineThe study also explored if there was an association among alexithymia, fatigue, depression, anxiety, stress and negative affect. The study consisted of 20 patients in the intervention and control groups each. newlineThey were administered the following scales namely, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Checklist of Individual Strength, Positive and Negative Affect Scale and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Towards the end of the sessions, they were administered Revised Sessions Reactions Scale. Adjuvant Psychological Therapy is a therapy tailor made for those with cancer which includes both cognitive and behavioral techniques. The results indicated that among the subscales and total alexithymia scores, newlinethere were statistically significant differences across three time-frames in the newlineintervention group. -
Effectiveness of Classroom Interaction on English Language Production in Tamil Medium Schools in Coimbatore
The research study emphasized the importance of classroom interaction (CI) in English language classes for language learning among second language learners of English based on the interaction approach to language learning. The present study attempted to address the problem of students entering the tertiary level of education with dissimilar levels of English language proficiency due to the inequity in English language education among various types of schools in India. newlineThe main purpose of the study was to facilitate classroom interaction (CI) for newlineEnglish language learning in the context through the development of an Interactive Hour module and thereby providing opportunities for disadvantaged learners to be exposed to a graded target language and enabling them to produce the target language inside classroom spaces with corrective feedback on language use. The research was carried out in two phases using mixed methods research design in government-aided Tamil medium schools in the district of Coimbatore, newlineTamil Nadu, India. Phase I of the study, which was majorly qualitative in nature, was conducted to establish the need for the study in the context. It was aimed to Systematically present the actual teaching and learning scenario of English language classrooms in government-aided schools in Tamil Nadu in comparison to what is mentioned newlinein the national and state education policy notes and official documents related to newlineEnglish language teaching. The major objectives of phase I of the study were to newlineunderstand the pedagogic goals of English language teachers and their classroom newlineinteractional awareness and to observe and evaluate the nature and extent of classroom interaction in English language classes in the context of language policy and planning. -
Effectiveness of emotion recognition tranining on socail and emotional skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder
The rising prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders necessitates the determination of newlinenovel intervention methods for its management. Since deficits in social skills are one of the most prominent features in ASD, efficient interventions for improving social skills become necessary. Several studies suggest a strong relationship between newlineemotional skills and the acquisition of social skills. Objectives: The objective of this study was to find out the effectiveness of emotion recognition training on the social newlineand emotional skills of children with ASD by obtaining quantitative results from the newlineparticipants after emotion recognition training and then following up in-depth through a qualitative thematic analysis after interview with selected parents of the participants. Method: In the quantitative phase, a sample of ten children within three to six years of age who are diagnosed with ASD were selected for the study. The emotion newlinerecognition training followed the modified and adapted version of the hands-on newlineactivities from the Let s Face It curriculum which was validated after a pilot study. Each child was given 20 to 30 sessions of training. The participants were assessed for their social skills using VABS-3 and emotional skills were assessed using CDDC, newlinebefore, during, and after the training. The qualitative phase involved an interview with newlinethe parent using a semi-structured guide. Results: The quantitative and qualitative newlineresults indicated that there is a significant difference in the social skills and emotional newlineskills of the children after the training. The results also showed a sufficient newlinegeneralization of the skills achieved. Incidental finding revealed reduction of problem behaviours. Conclusions: The study clearly shows that emotion recognition training is effective in improving social and emotional skills in children with ASD. -
Effectiveness Of Internet-Delivered Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training On Perceived Cognitive Functions Among College Students With Borderline Personality Traits : A Non-Randomized Controlled Trial
As emotions have a profound effect on cognitive functions, individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) exhibit significant deficits in higher order thinking abilities. College students with BPD are susceptible to emotional experiences that may challenge their abilities to gain control over intrusive thoughts/emotions and flexibly cope during emotionally demanding situations. Emotional experiences may thereby weigh down newlinetheir capacity for effective affect-laden cognitive processing. In view of the high newlineprevalence of BPD among college students and the efficacy of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in treating emotional dysregulation, the present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of internet-delivered DBT - Skills Training (DBT-ST) on perceived executive functioning and affect-laden cognitive processing among college students with the traits/presence of BPD. In this non-randomized controlled trial, 36 college students with the traits/presence of BPD were included. Thirteen DBT-ST sessions were attended by the study group, while thirteen Behavioral Activation sessions were attended by the control group. The DBT-ST protocol included the Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation modules. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions for Adults was used to evaluate executive functioning based on self-report. Affect-laden cognitive processing was assessed using the Cognitive Control and Flexibility Questionnaire. The impact of the intervention on the outcome variables was examined using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance. The results of the study showed that participants in the study group who underwent DBT-ST significantly improved their abilities to initiate, plan and organize current and future-orientated task demands as well as to organize everyday environment, while the participants in the control group showed no such improvements. -
Effectiveness of performance appraisal systems in relation to teacher dedication in public and private secondary schools in zimbabwe
Performance appraisal systems need to be effective in improving or sustaining employee performance; otherwise, they are a sheer waste of time and money spent on their development and implementation. This study was an evaluation of the effectiveness of the current teacher performance appraisal system, in relation to teacher dedication to work, newlineas practised in Zimbabwean Secondary Schools. Since the introduction of the current teacher appraisal scheme in Zimbabwe in 2011, no research was carried out to determine whether it serves the purposes for which it was designed. Evaluating the effectiveness of the system encompasses a wide scope, including the perceptions of those appraised. The question that comes to the fore is,and#8214; What are teachers perceptions of the effectiveness of the current system of teacher appraisal as practised in public and private secondary schools in Zimbabwe?and#8214; Both quantitative newlineand qualitative methods of research were used to address the question. The study sought to establish the strength of the relationship that exist between the current teacher performance appraisal system and day to day newlineduties of the teacher, the extent to which it leads to improvements in the teaching and students learning process. It also seeks to establish how it addresses teacher development needs and whether the mechanisms and procedures for the management and implementation of the appraisal system in the schools are adequate. The current Performance Appraisal System, Result-Based Management and is output oriented. The main objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the current performance appraisal system on the performance of teachers in public and private secondary schools in Zimbabwe, by studying its implementation in five of the ten provinces. The overall purpose of the newlinestudy is to contribute to current policy and practice debate on how to improve and strengthen teacher performance appraisal and management system in Zimbabwe.