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Efficacy of Art Based Interventions for Emotional Problems among Children Affected by Earthquake in Nepal
The earthquake of April 2015 left Nepal in a vulnerable state. Children represent an estimated 3.2 million of the 8 million people affected by the earthquake. The aim of the study was to examine the role of art in dealing with the long-term impact of earthquake on emotional problems in children in Nepal. A purposive sampling was adopted to select 454 children studying in 4th and 5th standard from four schools in Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Children completed the Level of Exposure Scale while the parents provided information about the emotional and behavioural difficulties of children using the Nepali version of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ/ 4-17). The influence of gender, severity of exposure, socio-economic status and type of family in relation to emotional problems were also examined in the selected group. The results of Phase 1 show that conduct, hyperactivity-inattention and peer problems were higher in boys while girls had higher pro-social behaviour. Children belonging to lower socio-economic status were found to be at risk for emotional problems. Gender and exposure were also identified as predictors of emotional problems in children. For the second phase of the study, those children with high emotional problems (N=60) were selected for an art-based intervention consisting of nine sessions. Both the treatment (N=30) and control group (N=30) completed the pre- and post- treatment measure of SDQ. The results show that the children in the treatment group reported lower levels of emotional problems, hyperactivity-inattention and peer problems compared to the control group (Cohen's d: 0.50-0.80). In the final phase of the study, 12 children from the treatment group were interviewed to identify the elements of art that contributed to a change in the emotional problems. A thematic vii analysis revealed six global themes: a new schema, an expression space, drawing the trauma, reappraisal of trauma narrative, protective factors and future benefits. The responses of the children show that the inherent properties such as regulation and social connection promoted by an engagement in arts needs to be adopted as an effective mode of trauma care. The findings also point to the possibility of using art-based therapy to overcome stigma which hinder the mental health professionals when implementing evidence-based treatments in the country. -
Efficacy of Canine - Assisted Therapy on Social Competence among INdividuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), because of their deficits in social newlinecompetence, often suffer a great deal in the community. Canine-assisted therapy (CAT) seems to be a useful approach to improve social functioning. This study aimed to investigate whether CAT can assist in improving the social competence of adults newlinewith ASD. The study employed an ABAB single case experimental design with four newlineparticipants. The social performance and social interactions with the therapy dog and newlinetherapist were the target measures of the study, and they were assessed using the newlineVellore Assessment of Social Performance and Animal-assisted Therapy Flowsheet. The baseline measures for the study were taken four times for 4 weeks for two newlinebaseline/reversal phases of the study. CAT was delivered by a trained dog along with newlinea certified animal-assisted practitioner twice a week for 4 weeks for 45-60 minutes newlineduring two intervention phases. The results were interpreted using descriptive, newlinegraphical, and numerical analysis. The mean scores indicated improvement in social newlineperformance and social interaction scores in the intervention phases. The visual newlineinspection showed similar results as indicated by the increasing trend line in newlineintervention phases. The results of the non-overlap of all pairs showed a medium to newlinestrong effect of CAT on improving social performance. The results validated the use newlineof CAT in the enhancement of social competence among adults with ASD. The study newlinesignificantly contributed to the field of CAT as well as has implications for aiding the newlineintegration of adults with ASD into mainstream society by enhancing their social newlinefunctioning. -
Efficacy of priniciple based accounting on internal governance and financial performance
The introduction of IFRS has fuelled the expectation of users of financial newlinestatements on the potential benefits of adoption. Studies have indicated the newlinebenefits of IFRS adoption such as higher comparability of financial statements among companies operating in different jurisdictions, reduces transaction costs, and access to international capital through cross border listings and greater foreign investment (Aharony, Barniv and Falk, 2010 and newlineDunne, et al. 2008). Several studies have been done to analyze the consequences of IFRS adoption on financial statement items (Lantto and Sahlstrom, 2009; Dunne et al. 2008). Most of these studies were restricted to European countries and some Australian and Canadian countries as they were the early adopters. India has planned to converge with IFRS and not adopt. Adoption means applying IFRS as issued by IASB. Convergence means India would newlineharmonize its national accounting standards in compliance with IFRS as this provides freedom to protect the local business environment. These harmonized accounting standards are notified by Ministry of Corporate Affairs and are called Ind AS. As on date 39Indian accounting standards newlineharmonized with IFRS has been notified by Ministry of Corporate Affairs newline(ICAI,2015a). A road map for convergence with IFRS was notified by Ministry of newlineCorporate Affairs in a phased manner effective April 2011 (MCA, 2010). newlineAs the deadline was not met due to various reasons, a revised notification newlineand implementation roadmap has been issued by MCA in Feb, 2015 recommending Indian Companies with a net worth of over Rs. 500 Crore to converge with IFRS with effect from 1st April 2016 (ICAI, 2014; MCA,2015). newlineThe Finance Minister had also in his budget speech of 2014-15, indicated that Indian companies have to report IFRS voluntarily from 2015-16 and mandatorily from 2016-17 to make financial statement of Indian Companies newlinecomparable to 120 countries which are already reporting and also to fulfill the commitment made to G20 nations. -
Efficacy study of readiness for smoking cessation programme among male adolescents in bengaluru
Among the remarkably challenging preventable cause for death all over the world is cigarette smoking behavior.Smoking among adolescents in cities has proved unusually challenging in spite of determined efforts in developed and developing countries.Dearth of governmental will and source to implement wide-ranging anti-smoking policies to reverse the trends in youth smoking (StantonandMcGee,2009) makes the need to develop an attitude change towards smoking cessation very crucial in controlling the smoking behavior. newlineA novel approach to smoking cessation is considered in this study, here the emphasis newlineis laid on the importance of acquiring skills to quit rather than quitting itself. The newlineobjectives of the study were achieved through several phases, where in the relevant newlineliterature was reviewed and an apt theoretical framework was built, based on which the program content was developed and finalized under the guidance of experts in the field. The final step was the creation of a manual for the RSCP. The outcome measures were selected considering the study sample characteristics. The study was carried out by randomly assigning the study participants in the two groups with respective interventions. Outcome measures were determined before and after the training. The results indicate that the two groups significantly differed in the variable Readiness to change , Defensiveness and behavioral components of change. newlineSpecifically, the experimental group was ready to change their behavior when compared to the controlled group, suggesting that the developed RSCP facilitates adolescent s to realize a more realistic aspect of themselves relating to smoking behavior and are very much willing to make lifestyle changes which would eventually result in behavioral change among adolescents when compared to providing a general awareness on smoking behavior. -
Efficient data mining techniques for medical data
Healthy decision making for the well being is a challenge in the current era with abundant information everywhere. Data mining, machine newlinelearning and computational statistics are the leading fields of study that are supporting the empowered individual to take valuable decisions to optimize the outcome of any working domain. High demand for data newlinehandling exists in healthcare, as the rate of increase in patients is proportional to the rate of population growth and life style changes. Techniques for early diagnosis and prognosis prediction of diseases are the need of the hour to provide better treatment for the human community. Data mining techniques are a boon for building a quality and newlineefficient model for health prediction applications. As cancer explodes everywhere in recent years, the data sets from cancer newlineregistries have been focused as the medical data in this research. The main aim of thesis is to build a constructive and efficient classifier model for cancer prognosis prediction. Most of the existing system develops a diagnosis prediction models from the screening or survey data, as the data newlineset is widely available and are easy to collect due the insensitive nature of newlinethe factors involved in such research. Whereas the prognosis prediction requires a sensitive details of the patients those who are under treatment for a diagnosed disease. Hospitals and the community registries newlinemaintained by the government are the main source for data collection. Well maintained electronic hospital records with histopathology information is not public in India for the researchers. Hence cancer data newlinefrom a US based open access data center has been used in this research for all experimentation. This research work is a progressive model that gradually improves the newlineprediction accuracy by selecting appropriate data mining techniques in each phase. -
Efficient management of feed resources using data mining techniques /
Feed is the largest input in any livestock enterprise and the rapid increase in feed prices and shortage of feed resources has been one of the major constraints for farmers, livestock industries, planners and the policy makers. This calls for prudent management of available resources and application of computing techniques can be one of the possible potential approaches. India is endowed with a wide range of feed resources varying widely in their composition and utility for different livestock species. Clustering of feed resource into different groups based on the composition can help in better feed management. To evaluate and to suggest a best technique for clustering feed resources, we have evaluated three clustering techniques viz. K-means, spectral k-means and auto spectral on two different data sets containing 236 and 106 feed resources with major constituents like crude protein, crude fiber ash, fat etc., . -
Electrochemical Synthesis of Carbocyclic and Heterocyclic Motifs
Programmability has left its mark on every facet of business, with technology playing newlinean integral role. Social networking industry trends underscore technology s ubiquity in newlinenearly every business transaction. Traditional networks grapple with numerous challenges, rendering them ill-equipped to process and handle the demands of the modern newlinelandscape effectively. The lack of programming in these networks leads to stagnation, newlineinhibiting their ability to evolve or enhance performance. The advent of Software Defined Networks (SDN) has introduced increased flexibility into conventional networks, newlineopening avenues for creating innovative services. newlineSDN technology addresses challenges in large-scale networks, offering solutions for newlinehigh throughput, virtualization, fault detection, and load balancing, providing effective network management. The rapid expansion of network services and applications newlinein SDN environments demands sophisticated load-balancing solutions that adapt to newlinedynamic traffic patterns and varying service requirements. This study presents a pioneering algorithm, the Dynamic Load Balancing Algorithm (DLBA), which utilizes the newlineProgramming Protocol-independent Packet Processors (P4) language. The algorithm is newlinespecifically crafted to tackle the issues associated with optimizing traffic distribution in newlinethe data plane of SDN. newlineP4 programming language, recognized as one of the most robust languages, addresses newlinethe limitations of traditional networking, enhancing programmability and agility by newlinedistributing the load across the network. The research implements a novel quotDynamic newlineLoad Balancing Algorithmquot using the P4 language to instill dynamism and achieve load newlinebalance in large-scale networks. The P4-based implementation showcases dynamicity, scalability, flexibility, and adaptability. This research commences with thoroughly newlineexamining existing load-balancing algorithms implemented using the P4 language, followed by a comparative analysis between these algorithms and DLBA. -
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Electrochemical Synthesis of Heterocyclic Carbonyls Using Carbon Based Electrocatalysts
Electro-organic synthesis (EOS) is emerging as a powerful and sustainable technique newlinefor synthesizing organic compounds. EOS offers a compelling alternative to newlineconventional synthetic methods, driven by the need for cleaner and more efficient newlineprocesses and a growing focus on environmental impact. This approach minimizes newlineenvironmental impact by reducing dependence on hazardous chemicals and solvents. newlineAdditionally, EOS enables precise control over reaction parameters, leading to selective newlineproduct formation and potentially novel reaction pathways. newlineThis work presents the development of electrocatalysts for the electro-oxidation of newlineselected heterocyclic alcohols, namely piperonyl alcohol (PA), thiophene-2-ylmethanol newline(TM), furfuryl alcohol (FA) and indole-3-carbinol (IC) to their corresponding newlinealdehydes. A Toray carbon fiber paper (TCFP) substrate modified with 2D materials, newlineconducting polymers, metal oxides, and metal oxide nanoparticles are employed in newlinethefabrication of the electrodes. newlineThe efficiency of the developed electrode was studied employing different newlineelectrochemical and physicochemical studies. X-ray Diffraction Spectroscopy (XPS), newlineField Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray newlineSpectrometry (EDS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Optical newlineProfilometry (OP) techniques were utilized for the physicochemical studies of the newlinefabricated electrodes. Cyclic voltammetry (CV), Electrochemical Impedance newlineSpectroscopy (EIS), Chronoamperometry (CA) and Bulk Electrolysis (BE) techniques newlinewere employed for the electrochemical studies, including optimization and synthesis of newlineheterocyclic aldehydes. The fabricated electrocatalysts demonstrated remarkable newlinestability, higher electrocatalytic activity, and good conductivity. The electro-oxidation newlinereactions were carried out in a three-electrode system via BE using 4-acetamido- newline2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (4-ACT) mediator. The products obtained were newlinecharacterized by Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. -
Elemental abundances in the interstellar medium
One method to investigate the chemical composition of the interstellar medium (ISM) and interstellar dust grains is to conduct interstellar elemental depletion studies, especially of highly abundant species. The role refractory element, silicon (Si) in extinction is not clearly understood and the distribution and evolution of moderately volatile sulfur (S) in the ISM is still an open problem. The key motivation of the work is to investigatethe chemical composition of ISM of our Galaxy, and the formation, processing and distribution of interstellar dust in its different environments, mainly focusing on silicon and sulfur abundances, both in gas and dust.In the work outlined in this thesis, I will be describing the gas and dust phase abundances of Si and S in the interstellar medium using archival observations, and their probable role in the observed extinction. In this work, we also have measured the column density of S II along 9 Galactic sight lines using archival high-resolution observations from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and determined the abundances of S in both gas and dust phases. Using Archival spectral data towards 131 target stars in the Galaxy, interstellar Si abundances and depletion along those lines of sight has been surveyed. Oscillator strength correction has been performed to account for its improvements, using most recent values. This is an extensive survey done using a much larger data sample compared to previous investigations, but it substantiate the majority of the findings, which show that Si depletion is linked to both the average hydrogen density (n (H)) and the fraction of molecular hydrogen (f(H2)) along the lines of sight. -
Elemental Abundances in the Interstellar Medium
One method to investigate the chemical composition of the interstellar medium (ISM) and interstellar dust grains is to conduct interstellar elemental depletion studies, especially of highly abundant species. The role refractory element, silicon (Si) in extinction is not clearly understood and the distribution and evolution of moderately volatile sulfur (S) in the ISM is still an open problem. The key motivation of the work is to investigate the chemical composition of ISM of our Galaxy, and the formation, processing and distribution of interstellar dust in its different environments, mainly focusing on silicon and sulfur abundances, both in gas and dust. In the work outlined in this thesis, I will be describing the gas and dust phase abundances of Si and S in the interstellar medium using archival observations, and their probable role in the observed extinction. In this work, we also have measured the column density of S II along 9 Galactic sight lines using archival high-resolution observations from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and determined the abundances of S in both gas and dust phases. Using Archival spectral data towards 131 target stars in the Galaxy, interstellar Si abundances and depletion along those lines of sight has been surveyed. Oscillator strength correction has been performed to account for its improvements, using most recent values. This is an extensive survey done using a much larger data sample compared to previous investigations, but it substantiate the majority of the findings, which show that Si depletion is linked to both the average hydrogen density (n (H)) and the fraction of molecular hydrogen (f(H2)) along the lines of sight. Using this data, the distribution of Si and the variation of dust attributes with Si abundances also has been investigated and found that the linear component of the extinction curve is unrelated to depletion of silicon. -
Elusive Healthcare and Ailing Population: An Analysis of Indias Health Policy with Reference to the Health Status of Urban Poor in Bangalore
Health is a state of mental, physical and social well-being. India is in need of a healthcare system that can fulfill the demands of over a billion people who are unable to bear the burden of the cost of healthcare. The major challenges in the countrys healthcare system are the universal access to healthcare, health equity, healthcare human resources and healthcare finance. Increasing population in cities and urban poverty has raised a strong concern in the health condition of the urban poor in particular. The speedy growth of cities in the country in conjunction with the growth of the urban poor has made this position more important at this point of time. The present study basically aimed at finding the major factors influencing urban health and healthcare. This research aims in finding out the reasons for the fragmentation of Bangalores health services with unequal distribution of resources and minimum communication between various services. This study also focuses on areas of health concern like insufficient primary healthcare, lack of referral system, insufficient public participation towards healthcare promotion, co-ordination between various governmental or non-governmental departments etc. It is mainly based on secondary data. Interview guide is used as a tool to collect primary data. Content analysis is used to analyse and describe the present scenario objectively and systematically. Bangalore has a wide infrastructure of healthcare centres but still the poorer sections of the society do not have easy access to them. A significant number of government schemes have been implemented to provide better healthcare services in Bangalore. It can be said that Bangalore has got enough health resources to serve its people. However, the urban poor do not have the necessary means to access a proper healthcare due to various reasons like the shortage of staff, medicines, diagnostic services in public sector and private healthcare expenses which are unaffordable. The government has been failing to achieve its health target in the urban areas and ultimately left the same in the hands of private health sector. The funds allocated on health are not used effectively towards improved health service delivery. Healthcare budgeting, healthcare policies, disease eradication programmes and improvement plans of primary healthcare centres and dispensaries etc. are the main areas in which the government is falling short. There is a need to empower the urban poor to maintain their rights within the context of development. A policy which is more oriented towards the partnership of private and public healthcare sectors is advisable. A universalized system to provide equitable and basic care to every individual is required. Public-Private Partnership in health sector is a key for improving the health of the population. The governments act of financing towards healthcare must in fact be increased to 2-3 per cent of GDP. As such, the present study came out with a lot of suggestions to improve the health status of urban poor. It has also made an attempt to analyse the policy issues associated with healthcare. The researcher believes that this will be definitely an addition to the existing literature on healthcare systems in India. Layout of the dissertation: The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is the introductory part of the research. It defines the basic concepts by giving brief summary or by providing information which are necessary to understand this research. This chapter also describes the research problems which motivates the researcher to conduct the study. Second chapter reviews the literature of healthcare problems faced by the common man. It includes reviews of various articles and books contributed towards healthcare and health policies by various health experts and practitioners. The third chapter talks about the methods used to implement the research. It explains the methodological procedures such as tools for data collection, sources of data and research design which are used to carry out the study. Data analysis is the fourth chapter and this part of the research includes the analysis of the various collected data. It includes the process of inspecting and transforming of the collected data with the goal of highlighting useful information, later helping towards suggesting conclusion of the research. The final chapter presents the summary of the research with important findings and suggestions. Key words: healthcare, health policy, health status, ailing people, urban poor, cost of treatment, public health sector, private health sector, health infrastructure. -
EMOTICONS AND THE NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION: WITH REFERENCE TO FACEBOOK
In the recent years, the use of emoticons in text-based and computer-mediated communications has gained a lot of popularity. Though emoticons (a combination of punctuation marks and letters) first began as a representation of facial expression, they have over the years been transformed to now include graphical representations of a variety of items (both static and animated). The usage of emoticons and their interpretation differ from one person to another, depending on factors such as gender, age and culture. Facebook is a platform where people across the globe communicate, share opinions and connect with each other. The researcher, thus, seeks to understand whether emoticons have the ability to infuse the text-based computer-mediated- communications on Facebook with the richness and authenticity of face-to-face interactions, and to arrive at an understanding of how these different groups use and interpret emoticons. A sample size of 139 was selected using the snowball sampling technique. The methods of primary data collection included surveys in the form of questionnaires that were distributed online. A quantitative analysis of the collected data was conducted using SPSS. The study revealed that age, gender and location do have a bearing on the patterns of usage and interpretation of emoticons. It also showed that emoticons cannot provide the text-based computer-mediated- communications on Facebook with the richness and authenticity of face-to-face interactions. -
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Empirical analysis of antecedent and mediators on turnover intention of educators in higher educational institutions
Employees are undoubtedly the key intangible asset to any organization. Fundamentally employees are the building blocks and they are the brand ambassadors of their organization to the society. Therefore, considering competition in today's world, retaining key employees is of genuine concern for every organization. Among many perils that organizations wrestle with, turnover intention is a persistent and pervasive issue that every organization has to face irrespective of the type and size of the organization. -
Empirical analysis of antecedents and mediators of student loyalty among undergraduate business students in Bangalore, India
The higher education sector has undergone major changes throughout India which has led to increase in competition for institutions in this sector. Thus, there is a need to find ways to attract and retain the potential and current students. Student loyalty is crucial to create sustainable competitive advantage. Student loyalty is widely accepted as a critical factor in the long term economic success of an educational institution that aims at positive recommendation (word of mouth) by students and attracting the students back to the institution for further studies. Review of literature reveals that service quality, price fairness, customer value, customer satisfaction and affective commitment are key antecedents to customer loyalty.