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Impact of values and psychographic traits on compulsive buying behaviour in fast fashion brands
The Fast Fashion is emerging as a rapidly growing category in the Indian garment retailsector. Fast Fashion provides the latest trendy fashionable affordable clothing to consumersmultiple times in a year. The pressure of fast fashion influences the buying behavior ofconsumers resulting in compulsive purchasing tendencies (Johnson & Attmann, 2009). Theresearch study focuses on the compulsive buying behavior of Fast Fashion brand consumers.In India, Fast Fashion is emerging as an important and growing category in the garment retail. Because of rapid fashion cycles, what is ???in??? is always changing, causing consumers to feel pressure to continually update their wardrobes (Cwerner, 2001).Compulsive buying consumers buy more frequrntly without controlling their the urge to purchase(Muller, et al., 2015). The significant percentage of fast fashion buyers qulify as ???excessive shoppers??? and this international phenomenon is spreading around the world. (Greenpeace International, 2017). Shopping for clothes reflect broader values (Tatzel, 1982) and for the retailers to be successful the knowledge of consumers about culturally-defined values is important (Hyllegard et al., 2005).The extensive review of literature shows that there is a lack of research both in academic and marketing aspects regarding Compulsive buying behaviours of Fast Fashion consumer with respect to value psychographic traits. The objective of the research study is to understand the effect of Values on Compulsive Buying Behaviour of Fast Fashion Brands and to analyse the mediating vi effect of Psychographic Traits (Fast Fashion involvement, Fashion???Consciousness and Innovativeness) on Compulsive Buying Behaviour.The study used List of value (LOV) Scale to find the impact of consumer values on compulsive buying behaviour. The psychographic traits are used as intervening variable. The survey is conducted for participants aged 18-25 yrs. Analysis of data is done using Factor analysis, Anova, Multiple Regression. The study will help marketer of Fast Fashion clothing to frame their product and communication strategy in such a way that it appeals to the consumers with required psychographic traits and values. -
Relationship between Emotional Intelligence andWork - Life Balance among Academicians in Pre University colleges
Emotional Intelligence has always been an encouraging topic for the researchers to dwell on. For a very long time, it was always assessed that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was a key factor for the determination of success in life. Emotional Intelligence also involves acknowledging the emotions of another individual and how effectively it does coincide with traditional intelligence. The research work is dealt to look at employees and the effects of emotional intelligence and thus looking at the ways in which effective channels are used to channelize the emotions that people go through. Work life balance is a perception with various significances in the current world and implications in the professional and personal life. Work life balance is defined as the stability that the individual requires between period assigned for work and other personal aspects of life. Basis of the study is to develop modules or techniques for training programmes to enhance emotional intelligence and work life balance since there are very few literatures and limited studies conducted before. The study aims at relationship between emotional intelligence and work life balance among academicians in PU colleges. The research study also looks into how experience of the academicians relates to their emotional intelligence and work life balance. Descriptive research design was applied for the study. The essential data for the research was gathered through the standardized questionnaires. A sample of 200 academicians participated in the research. The emotional intelligence test result shows the academicians from different backgrounds and were high on regulation of emotion in the self, acknowledging the emotions of another individual thus providing and shaping the students with more knowledge and insights. From the statistical result from Pearson???s correlation reveals, there is increase in work life balance with the increase in emotional intelligence. The statistical result also accepts the hypothesis and found, there is a moderate positive correlation between emotional intelligence and work life balance. From the statistical result from ANOVA, results showed that there was no significant effect of total years of experience on work life balance. It has been also found from the ANOVA test that, there was an analysis conducted to compare the influence of total years of experience in the current organization on emotional intelligence and found there was a significant effect of total years of experience in the current organization on emotional intelligence. Outcome defines about the emotional intelligence and work life balance among academicians need more attention since they are catering, managing and shaping the students. -
Work Tasks Motivation in Relation to Occupational Self-Efficacy and Thinking Skills of Secondary School Teachers
Education is a dynamic enterprise which is centred on the processes of teaching and learning. All the systems that are connected with the education of an individual should be taken care of for the betterment of the teaching-learning process. Teachers are one of the important sources of inspiration for the students. Every aspect of the teaching-learning process such as the instructional strategies, assessments, student management, the environment etc. has been changing due to the technological innovations and social advancements. The teachers have to be equipped with new technologies that will lead to innovations in education methodologies. The development of necessary skills and belief in their profession is essential for motivating teachers to adapt and adjust to the challenges, the changing attitudes and habits of children. Also, the teachers are expected to perform multiple tasks rather than a particular one. The present study aimed at assessing the types of motivation towards specific work tasks, efficacy towards their occupation and thinking skills of secondary school teachers of Bengaluru. The study reported that Intrinsic Motivation and Identified Regulation led to positive outcomes whereas Introjected, External Regulations and Amotivation led to negative results. The demographic variable, gender had no significant effect on the variables under the study. A significant difference was found for the types of motivation for specific tasks with respect to subject specialisations, types of management, and years of experience. The study thus gives an insight into the motivational processes of a teacher which will be helpful in creating a positive work environment. -
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Identifying the Existing Oral Proficiency Testing Patterns
The research aims to identify the different activities or patterns used for the teaching and testing of oral proficiency. Furthermore, the issues in the assessment of oral proficiency are also analyzed. The data was collected from the English teachers teaching in the selected Aided Kerala State Syllabus Schools in Trivandrum, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts from the grades 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. The present study incorporated an exploratory research design based on a qualitative approach. The sample size consists of eleven teacher participants that were selected based on purposive sampling. The research study was divided into three phases. The phase 1, consists of open-ended questionnaire which were distributed to eleven teachers and the data obtained was categorized into different themes based on the responses from the teacher participants. Phase 2 consists of classroom observations of eleven teachers in which three teaching sessions per teacher and a total number of one thousand two hundred eighty-seven students were observed based on the classroom observation checklist. Moreover, phase 3 consists of interviews among the eleven teacher participants to gain further insights. The findings of the present research based on the analysis of the phase1, phase 2 and phase 3, indicates that the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach is an effective approach to enhance the oral proficiency of the students. Moreover, the teaching and the testing patterns implemented by the school teachers are considered effective as it enables them to teach and to assess the oral proficiency of the students in a systematic manner. The research findings based on the triangulation prove that the use of reading, role play and storytelling are found to be consistent across the three phases and are commonly used by the teachers to enhance the oral proficiency of the students in the English language viii classrooms. Moreover, in the triangulation of assessment of oral proficiency, it has been observed that the activities such as reading and role play are found to be consistent across the three phases and are commonly used by the teachers. Furthermore, regarding the issues in the assessment of oral proficiency, lack of time is considered as one of the issues that is consistent across the three phases. The overall analysis of this research indicates that there is a positive or a parallel impact between the CLT approach and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) on the development of the oral proficiency of the students. The researcher suggests that there should be a standardized assessment tool to test the oral proficiency of the students in order to ensure grading consistency among the test assessors in the Kerala State Syllabus Schools. -
Responsible Service of Alcohol: An Evaluation of Policies and Practices of Five Star Hotels in Karnataka
Networking and socializing has been a human practice since ancient times and alcohol has been the social lubricant ??yesterday, today and also tomorrow. While we cannot trace its origin to a particular culture or civilization, its role and impact has been recorded in ancient texts and literature across cultures. A person can get drunk for a few rupees or spend a few lakhs for the same. It is consumed across social classes- by a daily wage worker to a business tycoon. The only thing differentiating the two being the price he has paid for the drink and the glass he is having it from. Even though the price and glass differs the effect it has on a person is more or less the same. This research and study is based on the belief that alcohol in itself is not the major cause of all the issues and troubles it is blamed for, but it is the nature and manner in which it is treated, consumed and served. This study is based on the latter aspect, ????the service of alcohol???. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, alcohol is a social lubricant and bars and restaurants have always been a popular place for socializing. The people who deal with the sale and service of alcoholic beverages along with the management and owners have a moral responsibility to ensure that alcohol is both served and consumed responsibly. This practice of Responsible Beverage Service or Responsible Service of Alcohol might look simple and easy on paper but to practice it, is a different story! It involves the support and approval of all the stakeholders. The owner and management on their part have to compromise on the earnings from the extra sale alcohol. The server has the additional responsibility of checking that his customers are not getting intoxicated and that he is following all the rules and regulations associated with alcohol service and above all the consumers too have to support and accept responsible service practices by the establishment. This study has looked into the practice of Responsible Beverage Service followed in the bars and restaurants in five star hotels, in the state of Karnataka. The initial study involved a review on early research and study on Responsible Beverage Service, Its impact on controlling alcohol abuse and intoxication, Responsible Beverage Service practices and various other dimensions and issues associated with Responsible Service of Alcohol. VII This research has focused on both the consumer as well as the server???s perspective on Responsible Beverage Service. The primary data for the study was collected from both consumers and hotels through a structured questionnaire, followed by data analysis using the appropriate tool. The findings give an insight and understanding into the acceptance of responsible beverage service in the state. What works and what needs to be improved? The practices which has the most impact in controlling alcohol abuse and answers to other questions associated with the study. -
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Convective instability in a horizontal porous layer saturated with a chemically reacting viscoelastic fluid
The thesis is concerned with Rayleigh-Benard convection in a horizontal porous layer saturated with a viscoelastic fluid subject to a zero order exothermic chemical reaction. Modified Darcy law is employed to describe the fluid motion. The effect of viscoelasticity, chemical reaction, and rotation on the onset of convection is considered. The findings of the problems investigated in the thesis may prove useful in heat transfer application situations with viscoelastic fluids as working medium. -
Study of the diffuse ultraviolet background radiation at high galactic latitudes
The diffuse background radiation is observed throughout the whole sky and across every wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum. The study of this background is of great importance as it contains photons coming from a variety of astrophysical environments, traveling over the time scales of a few hundred light years to the age of the universe itself. After the discover of the cosmic microwave background, the diffuse sky in all the other wavelengths was studied with great interest as the could provide useful insights into the formation history of the universe. -
A study of parenting behaviour and children's well-being in urban India families
The aim of the research is to study parenting behavior and children’s well-being in urban Indian families. Socialization, an important process in parent-child relationship is described as, ”the process by which a child or other novice acquires the knowledge, orientations, and practices that enable him / her to participate effectively and appropriately in the social life of a particular community” (Garret & Baquedano-Lopez, 2002, p. 339). Hence, socialization in the family is of crucial significance as it is the microcosm of society and has critical implications for the social and emotional development of the growing child. Parenting is a crucial process in family socialization. The word ‘parenting’ derives from the Latin verb ‘parere’ which means ‘to bring forth, develop or educate.’ Hoghughi, M. (2004) defines parenting as “purposive activities aimed at ensuring the survival and development of children.” It is of utmost importance to understand the dynamics of the parenting in varied cultures. -
Echo mapping of active galactic 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 measurements 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 Å. This relationship is obtained based on measurements 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. -
Strategies to manage power outages and optimize energy cost for developing countries through supply and demand side management
Developing Countries like India, face huge amounts of power cuts starting from a few hours to few days. Some of the main reasons are transmission and distribution losses, theft, lack of smart infrastructure, poor maintenance of the existing systems, lack of smart algorithms etc., Due to this reason consumers have moved to back up systems to feed their loads. Tonnes of diesel has been consumed through generators, due to power cuts, because to this consumers are suffering to pay extra cost for electricity as their energy bills are an addition of grid cost as well as the back up cost.The load dispatch centers will implement load shedding leading to a compete outage in a few areas. As a result the consumers in these areas immediately turn on their back up sources leading to an increase in energy cost. There are no smart algorithms used either to distribute the power at the utility end or to manage the loads during an outage, especially when the loads are running on back-up supply. This report suggests some smart algorithms to provide partial power to consumers rather than a complete outage, load shifting techniques to the consumers at the time of an outage so that they can optimize their back up cost, last but not the least smart integration of solar power to the consumers to optimize the over all energy costs. -
Effectiveness of emotion recognition training on social and emotional skills in young children with autism spectrum disorder
The rising prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders necessitates the determination of novel 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 emotional 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 and emotional skills of children with ASD by obtaining quantitative results from the participants 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 recognition training followed the modified and adapted version of the hands-on activities 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, before, during, and after the training. The qualitative phase involved an interview with the parent using a semi-structured guide. Results: The quantitative and qualitative results indicated that there is a significant difference in the social skills and emotional skills of the children after the training. The results also showed a sufficient generalization 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. -
A study on the capital structure and sources of finance of SMEs in India
Growth of the corporate sector is important in the process of economic development. Apart from big industries, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs from now on) also contribute to the expansion of the directly productive sector in the economy, generating tax revenue for the government, helping poverty reduction through fiscal transfers and creation of income from employment as well as ownership of firms. It is imperative for SMEs in developing countries to be able to finance their activities and grow over time if they are to play an increasing role in providing employment and income in terms of wages to households, profits, as well as dividends to investors. -
Analysis of some important fluid flow problems using differential geometry based methods
In this thesis we have studies MHD and EMFD flow of viscous and inviscid fluid for different cases when magnetic field and velocity are variably or constantly inclined. In particular magnetic and velocity vector are orthogonal. The pattern of streamlines and magnetic lines are derived in every problem and the effect of density and magnetic permeability on the variation of pressure is studied. The problems studied in this thesis give further investigation on the analytical solution of magnetohydrodynamic and electromagnetic fluid dynamic flow. -
Self-care practices, professional quality of life and challenges: An exploration among counsellors in Kerala
The profession of counselling continues to prove its importance in today's fastpaced world, where pausing down and listening to someone are becoming an odd and luxurious concern of people. The counsellor may feel as though they are in a marathon, which demands them to continuously offer unconditional positive regard and empathy for their clients. This may leave them incapacitated to look into themselves and to recognize what is happening tothem in this process of caring for others. Though profound discourses take place in the international scenario about the criticality of rendering to the need and wellbeing of counsellors, evidence-based studies, and effective interventions in this regard are still lacking in the Indian context. This study seeks to fill this gap by exploring, how the positive and negative feelings of continuous caring can affect the professional quality of life of counsellors, what are the self-care mechanisms they adopt, and which are the professional issues they find most concerning. To meet these objectives, the present research employs a mixedmethod design in a sequential explanatory fashion. The study encompasses three different phases wherein phase I and II; the sample consisted of counsellors working in various government projects in Kerala selected through dense sampling method and purposive sampling method respectively. -
Optical and infrared studies of herbig Ae/Be stars
The work makes use of the unprecedented capability of the Gaia mission to study various properties of Herbig Ae/Be stars. We placed the Herbig Ae/Be stars in the Gaia color-magnitude diagram and accurately estimated their age and mass. The mass accretion rate is calculated from Hα line flux measurements of 106 HAeBe stars. The mass accretion rate is found to decay exponentially with the age of Herbig Ae/Be stars. Further, the immediate neighborhood of two Herbig Ae/Be stars, V1787 Ori and IL Cep, are studied using the astrometric and photometric data from the Gaia mission. We discovered a low mass binary companion to V1787 Ori using the analysis of distance and proper motion values from Gaia DR2. The mass ratio of the coeval binary system is found to be 0.23. Such a skewed mass ratio system is rarely identified in Herbig Ae/Be binary systems. The method of identification and characterization of the V1787 Ori wide binary system opens up the possibility of identifying more such systems. The HBe star IL Cep tells a much more complex story. The star is identified with a cluster of low mass stars associated with it. We identified 79 co-moving stars that are coeval to IL Cep, within 2 pc radius, from the analysis of Gaia EDR3 astrometry. The triggered star formation process called the "Rocket effect" caused by a massive star HD 216658 is identified to be the cause of the clustered star formation near IL Cep. The effect of this process is demonstrated for the first time using the proper motion data from Gaia. The immediate neighborhood of Herbig Ae/Be stars is identified as the formation region of long-chain carbon molecules such as Fullerenes and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. -
Classification of extragalactic point sources and flux variability characteristics of blazars
Classification of different types of astronomical objects in large surveys usually done through spectroscopy requires enormous amounts of time. Hence, many attempts have been made using broad band photometric magnitudes and spectroscopic observations to classify the sources, particularly extragalactic sources such as active galactic nuclei (AGNs), starburst galaxies and normal galaxies. However, a method which does not involve spectroscopic data would be ideal. -
Rayleigh-Benard and Benard-Marangoni convection in micropolar fluid
We study in this thesis, Rayleigh-Bernard and Bernard-Marangoni convection in a micropolar fluid. We study the effects of temperature modulation at the boundary and gravity modulation in the presence of porous medium. The effects of rotation and internal heat generation are also investigated and results are presented graphically and discussed qualitatively. -
Implementation of a speech recognizer and synthesizer for the physically challenged
Speech Recognition and Speech Synthesis are two complementary technologies that are used in systems to which the human voice serves as input or output. People with physical, motor disabilities prefer systems that can be driven by their voice than using the strenuous, usual and standard input-output devices such as keyboard, mouse and monitor. Solutions under the umbrella of “Assistive Technology” are designed to support people with disabilities to overcome the difficulties in handling their diurnal chores. Present-day commercial speech processing systems have received wider customer acceptance, yet not suitable for people with speech disabilities. It is observed that present-day speech recognizers fail to recognize voices with distortions, misrepresentations and deformations. The unintelligibility of the input voice limits the use of off-the-shelf speech processing products by the speech-impaired user community. In such scenarios, the speech processing systems require alterations to become suitable for the specialised user group. Techniques of adaptation are popular in the field of speaker recognition, which can be applied in the domain of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). The main aim of this research is to model a speaker adaptive system for the speech-disabled users with articulation disorders and neurologically-based disorders due to illnesses like cerebral palsy.