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Preparation and Application of Nanoparticles and Core-Shell Nanoparticles of Transition Metals
There is an increasing need for the development of environmentally viable, economically effective, highly active and renewable catalytic systems for the various applications in the industrial field. The demand for the decolorisaion of synthetic dyes using bioremediation methods has been in a decreased mode due to its lower decomposition rates. Hence in recent years the decomposition of these organic colorants considered to be a worldwide need. The term nanocatalysis has gained huge importance in recent years due to its selectivity, higher activity, and productivity compared to their bulk materials. The nanosize, shape, and large surface to volume ratio provide unique properties to the nanomaterials. The principles of green chemistry are mainly relies on the development of catalytic systems that work similar to nature. Nanocatalyst combines both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis and provides rapid and selective chemical transformations with high yield and easier separation of catalyst at the end of reaction. In this work we have synthesized various metal doped magnetite nanoparticles (Ferrite nanoparticles-NdMxFe3-xO4 where M (Mn, Co, Cu, Ni)) by precipitation and hydrothermal method. The one objective of this work was to check the photocatalytic application of prepared ferrite nanoparticles for the heterogeneous photo-Fenton degradation of MB and Rh B dyes. Each dye was degraded separately under visible light and dark with the assistance of neutral pH and H2O2, in order to shows the improved activity of catalysts under visible light. The degradation experiments using the photo-Fenton systems (Fe2+/H2O2/Visible light) suggested that, the highest degradation rate was 97% for MB and 81% for Rh B within 4h and the used catalyst was NdFe3-xCuxO4, a good photo-Fenton catalyst. . We have also tried the synthesis of core- shell nanoparticles using NdFe3O4 nanoparticles with the help of polyethylene glycol as dispersing agent. The synthesized samples were characterized by various techniques like, XRD, XPS, SEM and TEM. -
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Perceived organizational support, employee engagement and organizational commitment among millennials
Millennials (born between 1981-2000) are drastically different from any other generational cohorts, with their high education level, technological skills, social networking, self-confidence and always teeming with energy, which makes them excellent team players, unlike the previous generations who preferred to work on their own for long hours. Millennials, having grown to constitute a considerable proportion of the workforce and will continue to grow to represent more over the next 20 years, desire for immediate result and speedy advancement, which has led to perceiving them to be impatient and inconsistent. Hence, retaining them has become one of the top managerial priorities. Millennials are prone to frequent switching of jobs which is why they are attributed with the character of job-hopping. Of all the generations in the work force, Millennials are found to be less consistent in their workplace relationships which calls for the purposeful need for cultivating positive relationships with them at workplace. Organizational commitment is evidently one such gesture of an employee, towards positive and long-term relationship with the organization, as a committed employee stays with the organization and this can be brought about if the employees realize that they are being supported well by the organization. Hence, the perceived organizational support plays a pivotal role in work place relations. Another construct in the employeeorganization relationship is, which has a decisive role to play, is Employee engagement. Thus, this study intents to examine how perceived organizational support is related to organizational commitment where employee engagement mediates the relation between the two variables. An empirical study has been done, whereby carrying out a survey among 402 millennial employees across various companies in the information technology sector, as this sector experiences the rush of millennials more, compared to other traditional industries. And it was found that there is a vi significant relation that existed among perceived organization support and organizational commitment and employee engagement and organizational commitment as well. Employee engagement also turned out to be partially mediating the relationship between POS and OC. This study, done to find the relation between the three important constructs in organizational behavior and human resource management, and also to find out the difference in the variation of these three constructs based on the demographical factors, is the first of its kind to be done, among Millennials -
Determinants of Charitable Giving of Employees in the Organized Sector: A Case Study in Bengaluru Urban District.
The study aims at identifying the determinants of charitable giving among working professionals who are into white collar jobs in the organized sector in Bengaluru urban district. The study also tries to understand the effect of Income and Non-Income factors that could affect decisions made by individuals towards charitable donations. The study captures charity donations in terms of money, time and gifts, based on its objectives; the focus is on monetary donations. Thus, based on the various available models based on demographic variables and attitudinal factors, the study has developed a comprehensive function that that includes both demographic and attitude related factors that could predict the charity behavior of an individual and in this case it is the working professional. The population includes all the white collar jobs and the sample size was 132 respondents. This includes both charity givers and non-givers. The sampling technique used was purposive random sampling and data was collected through questionnaire method and the questionnaire begins with an introductory question seeking if the respondent have made any donations in the last 12 months and based on their answer they are directed towards the three sections such as section A, B and C for those who said yes to the question and B and c for those who said no to the question. Section A is about the charity activities of the respondents, B is about the demographic details and C measures altruism, prestige, care and other attitude related factors using a 5 point Liker scale. Factor analysis was made used for the purpose of model testing. However, prior to the model testing, bi-variate and multi-variate exploratory analysis was done using cross tabulation in SPSS and python to understand the association between variables used in the study. To further clarify and conclude the relationship and strength of association between variables, Pearson???s Chi square was conducted. Based on these results most of the demographic variables seem to have positive relationship with charitable giving and few had partially negative relation with the incidence of giving. For example Gender, where being male have less chance of making charitable donations. Religion has no impact on the likelihood of making donations. viii Certain other variables such as age, education level and income have a positive relationship with charity giving. In other words as age, income, level of education are higher, the chances of making monetary donations increases. From the results of exploratory bi -variate analysis, certain variables were removed and were not part of factor analysis towards testing the model. The results of factor analysis shows that charitable giving (monetary) is the function of three factors namely benevolence, socioeconomic status and warm glow giving and thus it proves the model developed by the study. Thus the major determinants or predictors of charitable giving (monetary) are benevolent behaviour, socioeconomic status and warm glow giving. -
A Study on Popular Naga Cuisine and Its Representation on Instagram
Food is a very sensitive topic as it is the representation of culture that shapes identity such that any flaw in representation could result in identity confusion or identity clashes. Food culture and its meaning varies from one culture to another. Also, very often one will notice that a cuisine which is a delicacy for a community could be a taboo or unacceptable for the other. India is known for its rich diverse culture, which includes geography, lifestyle, food habits, biodiversity and more. It is commonly seen that dominant food are often presented as the national cuisine while relegating others to the margins or erasing them altogether. A society is dynamic in nature, which goes through constant social issues too. But while the society strives to solve or seek for a solution to the conventionally defined social problem it fails to count in the misrepresentation of food culture as an issue that results in identity crisis. The dependency on media has increased tremendously such that a personal opinion and views about a subject are shaped by the sources that are readily available at their convenience in the form of social media. Today the concept of food gram that is the combination of Food and Instagram is a very popular trend among netizen. Instagram is an online photo-video sharing application where popularly in these context users post food images of what they eat, with whom and where. Whereas for professional based account it is seen as a marketing forum. The representation of food culture on social media is seen as an advantage and a challenge. The food culture of the Naga Tribes of Nagaland, Northeast, is the core of the study. It aims to understand the dominant tribal representation of Naga food and seek to understand how these representations on Instagram shape perceptions about the Naga population. The researcher has adopted a theoretical framework of Representation and Semiotics. A triangulation method approach has been applied for the study in analyzing Instagram post that is hash tagged, #nagacuisine from the month of July and August 2018. How Instagram as a medium represent Naga food and how it shapes an identity for the Naga population is what this study will seek to understand. -
Optimized Handoff Strategy for Vehicular Ad-hoc Network based Communication
The dissertation titled ???Optimized Handoff Strategy for Vehicular Ad-hoc Network based Communication??? is the compilation of all efforts taken and tasks completed in order to implement an optimal handoff method in Vehicular Ad-hoc Network communication.Wireless communication technologies have been improving exponentially. Ad-hoc networks can form a network of wireless nodes anywhere and they are not bound by the limitations of a static infrastructure. This enhances the ability of mobile nodes to communicate with each other even in situations where a defined architecture is absent. Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) has its applications in dynamic environments that involve nodes with high mobility. The nodes frequently move between the coverage areas of different access points. This increases the chance of link breakage and new link formation in communication network. Handoff is a process that helps in transferring the session details between one access point to another whenever the node is about to move away from a currently serving access point. Many handoff methods have been proposed but a majority of them utilize just a particular attribute of a network to employ the channel selection process. This process of network selection would be skewed as other attributes of a network play important roles in improving its overall efficiency. Multiple Attributes Decision Making (MADM) methods make use of different attributes in order to perform the network selection process. Use of MADM methods help in selecting optimal access points that can provide services to the nodes for a longer duration. In the proposed system, MADM methods have been utilized to modify existing protocols in order to optimize their approach for handoff operations. Various scenarios involving vehicular nodes and different access points have been considered in order to improve the efficiency of the proposed system across applications. The proposed handoff mechanism follows a proactive approach where the target access points are selected before the mobile node reaches the edge of its coverage area. This leads to a seamless transition of the communication channels. Based on the client/access point information stored in the data log, optimal access points which are situated along the direction of the node???s movement can be selected. NS2 and SUMO have been implemented to simulate mobile environments that accommodate handoff operations. -
Synthesis, Characterization and Studies of Hydrazine Based Polyfunctional Ligands and their Metal Chelates
Eight new hydrazine-based zinc (II), copper (II) complexes were synthesized by reacting Zn (OAc)2.2H2O and Cu(CH3COO)2 with N'??(3,5-dibromo-2-hydroxy benzylidene) benzohydrazide (H2L1) and N'??(3,5-dibromo-2-hydroxy benzylidene) nicotinichydrazide (H2L2) respectively. The synthesized complexes were characterized by CHN analyses, IR, UV and 1H NMR. Based on these studies, square planar and octahedral geometries of the metal complexes were revealed. The synthesized metal complexes named [Zn(H2L1)2](OAc)2, [Zn(H2L1)Py](OAc)2, [ZnL2]2, [ZnL2Py], [CuL1]2, [CuL1Py], [CuL2]2 and [CuL2Py]. The formed metal complexes were investigated for DNA binding studies by fluorescence and UV spectroscopy using calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) and DNA cleavage studies against pBR322 DNA. Both the ligands and their corresponding metal complexes showed the ability for binding to DNA through intercalation/ electrostatic binding. -
Perception of Anticipatory Psychological Contract: A Study among Post Graduate Students
Psychological Contract is the the unwritten contract between employer and employee, representing mutual expectations, beliefs, and obligations. The concept is popular among the HR managers as it is based on managing employment relationships. In order to best align the requirements of the organization and employee, the Human Resource manager has to be cognizant of this unwritten ???contract???. Like all relationships, it is important to shape and understand it starting from recruitment, through talent management and finally the employee exit. High volume campus recruitment still forms a key strategy among companies in growing markets, segments. Hence the understanding of this employment relationship begins with prospective employees who are the final year students. This study talks about the employment beliefs, & future employment relationships of final year students as an ???anticipatory psychological contract??? and includes promises that the future employee wants to make to their employer, along with the obligations they expect in return. Additionally, the long-term Career expectations of students, in conjunction with their Work values was also explored, to understand their interrelationship with the anticipatory psychological contract. This interrelationship has gained importance in organizational psychology, organizational behavior, and HRM where there is an opportunity for practical application. In this study, the respondents' expectations were measured through the collection of inputs on pre-employment beliefs from final year postgraduate students soon to be part of their respective industry???s workforce. The independent variables identified from the review of literature were career strategy and work values. As part of the study, these variables were tested for correlation, and multiple regression was done to understand the impact of career strategy and work values on anticipatory psychological contract. The results proved that a significant relationship exists between the dependent variable (anticipatory psychological contract ) and independent variables( career strategy and work values). Managing psychological contract is an advantage for employees and employers whereby, both can understand the expectations of the other to prevent breach or violation of the contract. Maintaining a positive contract ensures job satisfaction, commitment and talent retention. This study is significant as the expectations during the pre-employment stage affect the psychological contract even after organizational entry. Understanding contributions to the organization and what employees receive in return are also about managing the psychological contract. This study is also aimed at employers in redesigning their recruitment & talent management strategies. The outcomes of strong HRM strategy based on psychological contract are high employee motivation, productivity, and controlled attrition rates. The study also explores the formation and transition of psychological contract from university to workplace. Lastly, the study aims in exposing the expectations of the younger generation, future workforce. The absence of a longitudinal study is a limitation which would provide the longer term view of the concept. -
Spectroscopic Studies of Galactic Field Be Stars
Be stars provide excellent opportunity to study circumstellar disks. But the disc formation mechanism of classical Be (CBe) stars- the Be phenomenon- is still poorly understood. This can be understood by studying CBe stars in various locations like clusters and fields. Spectra of Be stars show interesting emission lines of different elements like hydrogen, helium, iron, oxygen calcium, etc. These emission lines are valuable indicators in providing information about the circumstellar disks of Be stars. In the past several decades various aspects of Be stars have been studied. But literature review clearly indicates the need of further studies to frame a consolidated picture about Be phenomenon in CBe stars. It is found that especially, the region ?????? 7500 - 8800 ??? is a less studied, and thus poorly understood area in Be star research. But this area shows some interesting features like emission lines calcium, iron, oxygen and Paschen series. So, here we have studied a sample of 118 field CBe stars taken from the catalogue of Jaschek & Egret (1982) and whose medium resolution spectra were obtained in ?????? 3800 ?? 9000 ??? region during December, 2007 to January, 2009 with the 2.1-m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), located at Hanle, Ladakh, India and operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore. In this thesis, we present three works which investigate the disc properties of our 118 program Be stars by studying their spectral line features, focussing primarily on the less explored ?????? 7500 - 8800 ??? region. Firstly, we have analyzed the less studied Fe II 7712 ??? emission line for our stars to understand the possible Fe II line excitation mechanism in CBe stars. Our work predicts that Ly???fluorescence may be the possible Fe II line excitation mechanism in CBe stars. Secondly, we have studied the Ca II triplet emission lines for our stars and have developed a new technique for deblending Ca II components from their counterpart Paschen lines, thus providing a more efficient way to analyze Ca II lines. Analyzing Ca II lines through this technique, we suggest that the gas producing these lines is optically thick. This leads us to predict that Ca II lines may be an indicator of binarity in Be stars. Lastly, we have estimated the Balmer decrement values, D34 and D54 for 81 of our sample stars to shed light on opacity effects in Be star disks. Our work confirms the disc transient nature of Be stars through epoch-wise D34 and D54 variation study and also suggests that Be star disks are optically thick. -
Cultural Constraints and Empowerment: A Study of Kudumbashree in Kerala
Women empowerment occupies the centre of discussions of social development and is carried by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). It continues to be highly debated and contested. Different scholars have defined empowerment in a different ways depending upon the contextual variations. The study seeks to present varied theoretical perspectives on empowerment and reinforce them with current empowerment practices in Indian settings. Based on relevant literature on empowerment, an attempt has been made here to examine the definitions and its cultural and contextual variations. This provides a linkage between theory and practice of empowerment in Indian society. An ethnographic study of Kudumbashree, a women organization in Kerala is been carried out where the contextual variations of empowerment is covered. Women empowerment has multiple implications for patriarchal surroundings and has possessed problems in re-engaging with structural inequalities like caste and class identities of women. All these create a plethora of problems to Indian society and empowerment among women helps in solving and eradicating such problems. Hence the study attempts to find out how Kudumbashree negotiates the contextual and structural issues of women empowerment. The problems faced by women tend to increase day by day and studying topics likes these helps in minimizing it thereby providing a better understanding about the concept of women empowerment. The researcher concludes the study by mentioning the contextual and dynamic variations of empowerment. There is no universally accepted definition for empowerment where it varies according to the subjective locations of individuals. For instance; empowerment for a woman in a scheduled caste or lower caste women varies to that of upper caste women. -
Narrating the City: Calcutta in Raj Kamal Jha???s If You Are Afraid of Heights and The Blue Bedspread
The portrayal of the city in literature is not a recent phenomenon. The city in literature has a history as old as the history of the city itself. This thesis titled ???Narrating the City: Calcutta in Raj Kamal Jha???s If You are Afraid of Heights and The Blue Bedspread??? is an attempt to understand how the city of Calcutta is portrayed in these two novels and how the city affects the people and vice versa. Every narration happens within the coordinates of time and space. Narrative is the representation of movement within the coordinates of time and space. Literary narrative is the literary or semiotic representation of movement within the coordinates of time and space. In the same manner narrating the city is the literary representation of the movement of the city and things in the city both living and non-living within the coordinates of time and space. The introductory chapter places the study in the context analysing the representation of the city in literature. The definition of key concepts and a literature review are done in order to understand the narrative, city and above all the narrating of the city in literature. The second chapter titled ???Calcutta in The Blue Bedspread???, shows how the city of Calcutta is portrayed in the novel The Blue Bedspread. This chapter is divided into different subsections according to the different themes identified. The third chapter titled ???Calcutta in If You are Afraid of Heights??? shows how the city of Calcutta is portrayed in the novel If You are Afraid of Heights. The fourth and the final chapter details the general conclusions derived from the study. Calcutta is narrated differently through these two novels. The Blue Bedspread presents a city of Calcutta which is more of a realistic nature. There is an over emphasis given to the description of the places as the novel is stacked with references to the buildings and places in the city. Thus it becomes a story of the city than the story of a specific person (character) or persons viii (characters). There is a close connection between the city and the people and vice versa. The names of the characters are not mentioned in the novel and this anonymity of the main characters points to the fact that this is a novel about anybody who is influenced by the city, in this case the city of Calcutta. If You are Afraid of Heights is a magic realist portrayal of the city of Calcutta. The characters of the city oscillate between reality and fantasy. This novel is not stacked with references to the places or spaces in the city, even though there are some references to them. The Blue Bedspread is the story of the city being projected through the realistic places and on the other hand If You are Afraid of Heights is the story of the city being projected through the magic realist presentation of the places, spaces and time in the city. -
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Integrating Traditional Healing Practices with Cognitive Therapy: Attitude, Preparedness and Perceived Effectiveness among Clients and Therapists
Mental health and well- being has become a serious concern in the Indian health setting. The mental health care has been rapidly increasing. The various approaches involved in mental health has been explored widely in the Indian mental health setting. This research study aims to explore the integrated approach which involves traditional healing practices and cognitive therapy. The aim of this research study is to understand the three main variables attitude, preparedness and perceived effectiveness in clients and therapists while integrating traditional healing practices with cognitive therapy. The traditional healing practices explored in this study are yoga, meditation and mindfulness. The attitude of the clients and therapists towards the integrated approach has been studied. The preparedness of the clients as well as the preparedness of the therapists toward the integrated approach is also the next set of objectives in the research study. The next two objectives have been to study the perceived effectiveness of this approach in clients and therapists. The research study is a qualitative study. The data for the research study has been collected using semi- structured interviews. The data has been analyzed using thematic content analysis. The sample for the study includes 5 therapists and 10 clients who have been involved in this therapeutic approach. The results of the study show that there are two types of attitude clients who have interviewed hold towards the integrated approach. The two types of attitude include positive attitude and apprehensive attitude. The attitude of the therapists towards the approach has been positive and the factors which have led to the positive attitude has been cultural factors, familial background and previous exposure. The apprehensive attitude in clients have been due to the forced participation and past negative experience. The positive attitude of the therapists has been due to prior training and prior positive results. The preparedness and perceived effectiveness observed in therapists and clients have also been studied at length in the research study. The preparedness observed in clients has been due to previous exposure and knowledge and in therapists it has been due to extensive practice and the perceived effectiveness seen in clients. The perceived effectiveness observed in clients have been at three levels. They are physiological well- being, psychological well- being and improved relationships in the family. The perceived effectiveness in therapists have been seen as increased emotional and physical well- being as well as increased competence in the profession. -
Media Ethics in Times of Demonetization: Framing Debates in English News Channels
Objectivity has been a traditional ideal for journalism. Journalists are trained to be objective; they do not frame stories by themselves????or do they? Faced with the pressure of deadlines, strained resources and the perception that audience prefer reportorial style, journalists resort to amusement or conflict based reporting positioning one side against the other and often aggravating facts and issues. The public today expresses disappointment with current media practices. Media watchers argue that instead of improving the quality of programming, competition has resulted in a race to the bottom, where news channels have conveniently forgotten basic ethical norms. This study is an attempt at re-visioning media ethics. It is believed that ethical journalism is never more important than in the time of crises. Taking India???s recent economic crisis, demonetization, this research aims to answer what makes it difficult for journalists to adhere to ethics especially during crises? With emphasis on situation faced by reporters, pressure imposed on them by various sources and ethical dilemma, this study provides answers to the questions posed on the work of journalists. Content analysis of demonetization debates broadcasted on two popular English news channels and interview responses of experienced journalists of Indian news media goes to explain how demonetization was represented by Indian news channels and to what extent journalistic ethics was reflected in their content. -
Impact of Traditional Practices on Domestic Violence among the Women of the East Khasi Hills
Khasi hills is situated in the northern part of India. Many issues of domestic issues are reported in this area. The reasons, intensity or frequency of domestic violence varies according to the cultural background and socio-economic class. In many societies, women face a lot of issues associated with the culture and traditional practices of that community. According to certain traditional practices followed in societies, women are expected to conduct herself according to what has been taught and practice for generations. Violations of those norms lead to severe consequences. Domestic violence is also an outcome of such norms followed in the society. Therefore, the present study focuses on understanding the traditional practices followed in the Khasi community and its effect on domestic violence. For the study, the researcher selected 150 women from East Khasi Hills Districts. A descriptive research design is used for the study. Convenient sampling method was used along with a close-ended questionnaire for gathering information. Descriptive statistics, Man-Whitney test, Chi-Square, Spearman Correlation were used for analysis of the different traditional practices and type of domestic violence. The research finding indicates that women in the Khasi hills faced physical and psychological violence, in which psychological violence is found to be more prominent. Inheritance is one of the factors that have a significant impact on domestic violence. The traditional practices followed by the Khasi community is a reason for women being abused by their spouse. Effective intervention programme and Capacity Building for different Stakeholders on the different causes and preventive measures on incidence of domestic violence can bring about positive change in matters related to domestic violence towards women in the state of Meghalaya. -
A Semiotic Analysis of Political Cartoons in Malayalam Newspapers during the 2016 Assembly Election
I am immensely grateful for the everlasting love and grace of the Almighty God for granting me wisdom and guiding me to complete this study successfully. I would like to thank Dr (Fr) Abraham V M, Vice- Chancellor, Christ University, Bengaluru for giving me the opportunity to pursue research and facilitating me to complete my study. I thank Mr. Padmakumar, Head of the Department of Media Studies for being always approachable, understanding and infusing positivity that motivated me to persist in my endeavours with conviction that has enabled me to complete my thesis. I express my sincere thanks to my guide and supervisor Dr. Pradeep Thomas J.A Department of Media studies, Christ University, Bengaluru for his constant supervision, mentoring and valuable inputs throughout the course of my study. I thank the department of Media Studies for taking time out and guiding my thesis at every stage. I have been able to build my thesis with all your valuable insights. I sincerely thank all my M.Phil. professors for their constant help and guidance. I express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Sukumaran Potti (Chairman, Kerala Cartoon Academy), Mr. Baiju Paulose (Staff Cartoonist, Malayala Manorama), Unnikrishnan K (Chief Sub Editor, Mathrubhumi), V R Rajesh (cartoonist, Madhyamam), T.K Sujith (staff cartoonist, Keralakaumudi) and Satish Acharya, renowned Indian cartoonist for taking part in the study and giving valuable contribution for the study. Finally, I am thankful to my parents, brother and my friends for their constant encouragement, moral support, continuous inspiration and prayers to carry out this dissertation successfully. -
Attitude and perception of tourists in Karnataka towards Climate Change
Climate change has a strong relationship with the tourism industry. According to the United Nation's World Tourism Organization???s Davos Declaration (2007) tourism industry contributes on an average about 5% of the global Carbon di Oxide emission in terms of radioactive forcing. Studies pertaining to the state of Karnataka, India indicate that most parts of the state could experience 1.5oC to 2oC warming relative to the level during the pre-industrial period of the 1880s by as early as 2030s under the likely high emission scenario (Kelkar et al, 2004; Dwarakish et al, 2009'; Kumar et al, 2015). Travel decisions to a large extent are influenced by the destination???s images of Sun, Sand, Sea, availability of snow and perceptions of other such climatic variables such as temperature, precipitation and humidity (De Freitas, 2001). Therefore, studying tourist???s perceptions of these environmental changes are crucial for the survival of the tourism industry especially in these climate-sensitive regions (Gossling & Hall, 2006a). Besides, understanding the attitudes and perceptions of different segments of the tourists towards their role in climate change adaptation and mitigation is a fundamental step in designing educational and communication campaigns which could be successfully implemented in this industry (Becken, 2010; Gossling & Hall, 2006; Saarinen et al, 2006; Scott et al, 2008; Martin & Lopez, 2014). Therefore, this study aims to boost our understanding of the relationship between tourism and climate change issues among tourists in Karnataka, India. The study consists of five chapters, namely Introduction, Review of Literature, Report on present investigation, Results and Discussion, Summary and Conclusion. The first chapter Introduces the relationship between tourism and climate change issues and brings out the significance of the role of travel decisions the environment. The second chapter analyses earlier studies conducted on the area of climate change, environment and tourism to gain a better understanding of the existing knowledge and to identify research gaps. The third chapter focuses on the research design of this study. It covers sampling plans, questionnaire design, constructs measurement, plan of analysis and Pilot study. The fourth chapter deals with the analysis of data which were collected for the study followed by the discussion of results. The fifth chapter summarizes the entire study and explains the findings and limitations of the study, Suggestions and conclusion. -
Transition Metal Nanoparticles, Semiconductor Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Applications
Semiconductor nanoparticles of CdSe are currently under investigation because their emissions can be tuned easily to cover the broad spectrum (from red to blue) by decreasing the particle size. In this work we have employed different experimental routes for synthesis of Zn doped CdSe nanoparticle and Ni nanoparticle and a brief description about their characterisation techniques are employed. In this present study, the Zn doped CdSe and Ni nanoparticles have been prepared by precipitation method. Upon characterisation, it was found that Zn dopants decreased the band gap thereby acting as a good photocatalyst. The crystallite size obtained from XRD was 26.84 nm and the average particle size calculated using DLS was below 100 nm. The results obtained from XRD are matching with the results obtained from DLS. The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized nanoparticles were analysed using methylene blue under irradiation of visible light. 73.9% degradation is observed for methylene blue catalysed by Zn doped CdSe nanoparticles for 4hr. Synthesis of nickel (Ni) nanoparticles (NPs) have been achieved by the chemical reduction of nickel chloride using hydrazine hydrate without the need for an inert atmosphere from an external source. The photocatalytic activity, structure and morphology of the NPs were studied by employing UV-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (Rh-B) dyes using Ni NPs was investigated to see the feasibility in degrading these dyes from polluted water at low cost. Ni NPs showed a good photocatalytic activity of 840.1% under visible light for the degradation of MB when compared to Rhodamine B (Rh-B) which showed an efficiency of 47.3 %. -
Exploring Caregiving Experiences and Needs of Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy
Parents play a major role while caring for a child with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Each child with CP and their caregivers needs constant professional support in terms of medical care, psycho-education, guidance and support in order to achieve maximum functioning. Mothers of children with cerebral palsy are vulnerable because the caregiving may affect their personal and marital life, work, finances, relationships, and other responsibilities. Therefore, it is important to understand their experiences this study explores caregiving experiences and needs of mothers of a child with cerebral palsy. This qualitative exploratory study used semi-structured open-ended interviews for data collection from 25 mothers of children with Cerebral Palsy who attended regular clinical assessments at Unit of Hope OP clinic. The data were analyzed in Atlas. ti 8 trial version using thematic analysis. Six major themes emerged from the thematic analysis which includes: pathways of care, challenges in taking care of the child, impact (subjective and objective) on mothers and their family, coping mechanism and psycho-social needs. Mothers expressed that they experience unpreparedness; unsupportive interaction; insecurity/uncomfortable on caregiving by others; challenges in decision making, finding the right care, meeting individual family member???s needs; they had inappropriate expectations of improvement, difficulties in treatment adherence and lack of knowledge, lack of respite, lack of support from family members/relatives, changes in the family system, changes in personal life. Mothers had caregiver burden and emotional challenges. The mothers adopted both maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies. In this study, mothers expressed various needs like the need for professional support, the need for respite care, and the need for family support. In conclusion, having a child with cerebral palsy negatively affect the mothers. During the caregiving process, they have some unmet needs which need to be addressed. The findings of the study emphasize that it is important to understand the caregiving experiences and needs of mothers of children with cerebral palsy to plan interventions to support these mothers in caring for their child. -
Knowledge, preparedness, and resilience related to end of life decision making among family caregivers of ICU patients
End-of-Life decision making is the process that is treating team, patients, and patients??? families go through when considering what treatments will or will not be used to treat a life-threatening illness. In India, End-of-Life Care is a new phenomenon and rarely investigated. The religious and societal attitudes and an absence of education in medical ethics can be seen as reasons for the underdevelopment of End-of-Life Care field. It seems that social workers, particularly who assist patients in Intensive care unit treatment have an important role to play in this regard. Social workers deliver assistance to the critically ill person and their family members as they get admission to the Intensive care unit, enhancing the conversation among treating group, patients and family members. The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, preparedness and resilience among family caregivers related to End-of-Life decision making. This study utilizes a descriptive research design and purposive sampling method. The study includes 71 first degree relatives of patients who are significantly involved in caring of the patient and related to decision making. All the participants had their family members admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of St. John???s Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru. This study found that there is minimal knowledge among family caregivers and they had no high level of preparedness. There is ethical concern along with finance and they seem to be confused about the decisions taken. Due to lack of awareness among the family caregivers, they surrender the patient to the treating team. Religious conflict is another aspect which is an obstacle to family caregivers for an End-of-Life decision making. The study also found that as the duration of Intensive Care Unit hospitalization increases the resilience among family caregiver???s decreases. It is important that Medical Social workers identify ways to improve End-of-Life care process through interventions. This can be achieved through training in Master of Social Work programs and by educating social workers. The study concludes that there is an immense gap between the family caregivers and the patient with regard to their knowledge on End-of-Life decision making. Hence, this study highlights the importance of Medical Social Worker in Intensive Care Unit to facilitate patient autonomy and the family caregivers??? decisions on the patient.