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A Study on the Impact of Microfinance on the Members of the Self Help Groups in Karnataka State, India
The present study focuses on assessing the extent to which the Microfinance programs have been effective in bringing about the change it is supposed to in the state of Karnataka, India. Therefore, an impact assessment is suited to know the ground reality of these programs. The study takes into consideration the socio-economic variables in order to assess the over-all effect of the programs. Apart from interventions and influences coming from the Microfinance programs, there are also other factors that influence the effect. These other factors are largely associated with the location where these programs are conducted. Locations or Regions bring with it difference in culture, social, occupational and demographical aspects which are also taken into account the study. The study shows that there is a significant change in the socio-economic lives of the poor of the different regions of Karnataka. However, the results are not as impressive as they should have been. All in all, the impact of the microfinance programs exhibits a dull, or rather, yet-to-explore field, urging efforts to reach out more effectively to the rural poor. Keywords: Impact Assessment, Microfinance, Karnataka, Self Help Groups, Savings Accumulation, Consumption Pattern, Accessibility to Credit -
Pedagogic Use of Commercial Feature Film in Christ University Deanery of Humanities and Social Sciences
This thesis discusses the use of commercial feature film as a pedagogical tool in the classrooms within the Deanery of Humanities and Social Sciences of Christ University. It investigates the purpose of using films as pedagogy in higher education and the reasons behind its popularity among both teachers and students. Triangulation method was used for gathering data combining qualitative and quantitative methods such as pretesting posttesting, survey and in depth interviews. Information was gathered by using interview schedule and online questionnaires from teachers and students of the Deanery of Humanities and Social Sciences to analyze the plausible impact of feature films as pedagogy in subjects taught. The findings suggest that films are popular pedagogical tool and are effective if used along with discussions post screening. -
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The Experience of Divorce: The Emotional conflict and coping among divorced young adults
Divorce is the termination of marriage to a legally wedded marriage between a man and a woman. Divorce is fast becoming a common factor among young couples these days. Even though divorce is a way out for the struggling marriage, it is traumatic for most of the individuals who separate from their partners. This study is to capture the experience that every spouse goes through during and after divorce. The first two chapters explain divorce from the previous study undertaken to put into a perspective about the study on divorce. And the subsequent studies on coping and the consequences of coping by the divorcees. This study aims to focus on how they manage to cope and face their marital breakdown. Thereafter how they pick their lives and proceed with their new life after separation. The divorce experience of 12 males and females were recorded and explored through thematic analysis. The findings have indicated that the experience of divorce is traumatic and painful. It takes time for them to get over that bitter experience of divorce. The study highlights various coping strategies enabling the divorced to adapt to life after separation. Keywords: Emotional conflicts, Coping and consequences of coping -
A Comparative Study on Customer??s Expectations and Perceptions on Credit Card Services in Old and New Generation Banks
Card usages have been drastically increasing in India due to the convenience and safety provided by the issuers. At the same time, these issuers are finding it very hard to maintain and gain the market share for this particular service product. In the present scenario credit cards are playing a vital role in every one??s life. Thus, the study has attempted to find out the customer??s expectations and perceptions on credit card services in old and new generation banks. A sample of 225 respondents, who were the users of credit cards in the Bangalore city, was concentrated upon for the study. This was analyzed and tested using Factor analysis, ANOVA and Multiple Linear Regressions. The paper has found the factor the people are expecting more on card services and as well the factor where the users have perceived more. The gap was also analyzed between the expectations and perceptions of the users. The results from the study pointed out the factors the banks have to concentrate upon in order to delight its users and maintain its market share. Hence, businesses should focus on the factors analyzed so as to improve the quality of services provided on cards and to retain the customer base. Keywords: Credit Cards, Customer Expectations, Customer Perceptions,New Generation Banks and Old Generation Bank. -
Gender Differences In Health Habits And Psychological Well- Being Among Early Adults
The concept of health is both complex and important. Health and its importance is one of the universally recognized concepts. The aim of the study was to explore the gender differences among early adults with regard to their health habits and their psychological well-being. Total sample consisted of 100 participants of whom 50 were men and 50 were women. The sampling technique used was random sampling. The age range was 18 -25 years. Health promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP), developed by Walker, Sechrist & Pender (1982). It includes both health-protecting (preventive) behaviors that decrease risk for illness and health-promoting behaviors that sustain or increase well-being, self-actualization and personal fulfillment. Health Behavior checklist was developed by the researcher to understand the patterns of health behavior on the dimensions of nutrition, physical activity, medical care, alcohol consumption, smoking and dieting and PGI General well Being Measure (PGI GWBM) Psychological well-being- PGI GWBM (English Version) by S.K Verma and A.Verma was used to assess the psychological wellbeing of early adults. This is a twenty item simplified test to measure positive mental health. Results showed that there are no gender differences in health habits among early adults. There were gender differences in psychological well-being among early adults. Correlation between health habits and psychological well-being was not observed. The results from the analysis of the checklist indicate some differences between men and women; more men were involved in external physical activity than women and women seemed to be not worried about their health and not visiting hospitals for checkups than men. Key words: gender differences, health habits, psychological well-being. -
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Second Language Learners problems in acquiring Reading and Writing skills in English: A Study at the Higher Secondary Level
This dissertation is the result of a study that aimed at identifying problems in Reading and Writing skills in English faced by students studying at the higher secondary level. The study, by way of a series of tests administered to students from three schools in Bangalore, and questionnaires administered to the teachers, along with interviews of the faculty, found that students faced problems in acquiring language skills, and the teachers certain challenges in imparting these skills to students. The sample consisted of 110 participants. It included three schools. The survey employed three research instruments for data collection: four tests, questionnaire and interview. By listening to the teachers through the interviews, and the evaluation of their caliber as teachers through the questionnaire, and through the results of the tests conducted for the students, the researcher was able to garner information that helped to make the dissertation more comprehensive by identifying the specific area that students face problems in and the reasons behind these problems. Based on the above-mentioned information, the researcher was able to propose a few suggestions for the learners, teachers and the management. The objective of the study was to motivate students and to develop an interest in English language learning so that they will be better-equipped to cope with the challenges of society in future. The results impelled the researcher to conclude that one cannot generalize that students from English medium schools would perform better. Students from the regional medium marginally out performed those of the English medium, and this was a surprising element of the study. This helped the researcher to understand that the role of the teacher in imparting skills is very important. It was noticed that if provided with better learning facilities, and adequate motivation, appreciation and encouragement, students from regional medium schools can do well on English language tests. -
Influence of Celebrity Endorsement on Women Consumers Purchase Decision of Lifestyle Product - A Study with Reference to the City of Bangalore
Companies have been using celebrities to promote their product and entice the consumers to buy eventually. Since decades this strategy is used by the marketers extensively to attract the consumers to buy the products. Many studies have been done in this area of marketing and most of them talk about celebrity endorsement as a consumer attention seeker. This research talks about the consumer perception about the celebrity in the advertisement and how far do the huge amount of money pumped into celebrity endorsement can be justified? The questionnaires were given to 300 women falling in the age group of 20-40 years residing in the city of Bangalore. By analyzing the data, it strongly came out that celebrity endorsers do not have any effect on the women consumers purchase decision of lifestyle products in the city of Bangalore. It was found that even if the celebrity advertisements get the attention of the women consumer, it may not necessarily convert the attention into purchase decision which depends on many other factors like quality, quantity, experience, price etc. and also one of the most important variables, it depends on the type of product. As a whole the crores of money invested celebrity endorsements cannot be justified in terms of the returns i.e. it may or may not bring a positive impact on the buying behavior of the consumers. In chapter one, the study presents an overview of marketing and consumer behavior. It explains the marketing trends and it is in this century. Then the concept of marketing gave way to the concept advertising and celebrity endorsements. It also talks about celebrity and consumer perception. Chapter two discusses about the various literature reviews relating to the current study. Many studies are citied both by foreign and Indian researchers pertaining to the present study. However, all the possible studies relating to celebrity endorsements are cited. Journals, e-magazines and books were referred. Chapter three discusses about the Research design. The questionnaires were given to 300 women falling in the age group of 20-40 years residing in the city of Bangalore. The sampling technique used here is partially judgmental convenient sampling. Chapter four discusses the analysis and interpretation of the data collected for the research with the help of different statistical and analytical tool. Chi square, F-test and Anova are the statistical tools used for this study Chapter five talk about the findings, suggestions and conclusions for the study. Scope for further study is also given in this chapter. -
EDUCATION AND SKILL REQUIREMENTS: A STUDY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY IN BANGALORE
India is passing through the crucial phase of demographic transition wherein a majority of its population is in the working age, giving India a never before opportunity to cash in on a huge demographic dividend. This brings spotlight on the human capital benefits that can accrue as a result of this phase with 54% of Indias 1.2 billion population under the age of 25. It is highly imperative for India to cash in on this critical phase through the creation and capitalization of knowledge, competency and the skill base of its people or the Human Capital and pave the way for faster economic growth and development of its economy. The study takes in to consideration the Information Technology industry, wherein Indias prowess has been widely celebrated with Indian software engineers doing exceedingly well and there has been an apparent unstoppable outflow of jobs to India from U.S and Europe. India has become the undisputed global hub for outsourcing and technology mediated work. This has been possible primarily because of the rich pool of technically proficient English speaking workforce with superior logical and reasoning skills. One of the prime reasons for this has been the vast network of academic infrastructure in India churning out more than 500,000 technical graduates annually (NASSCOM, 2012). But multiple surveys by NASSCOM and CII have shown severe gap between employment and employability of technical graduates with only 25% of technical graduates suitable for employment, the rest lacking in skills which the industry wants. In order to solve this paradox, the study was initiated to examine the skill requirements of new recruits in the IT sector. It aims at bringing about the differences, if any between the perception of academia and the industry on the importance of specific skill sets for new IT recruits. The study also explores if there is any disconnect between what the industry perceives to be the available skill sets among the new IT recruits and what the academia perceives to have imparted in terms of those skill sets to their students. In order to capture the perception of the academia and the industry, the study takes in to account their responses on a five-point likert scale on the desired level and actual level of proficiency of new IT recruits on technical, business, interpersonal and management skills. The study found that there were significant differences in the perception of IT Managers and Academicians on the desired level of proficiency of new IT recruits in 4 out of 7 skill sets analyzed, which were Interpersonal and Management Skills, Emerging Technologies Skills, IT Infrastructure Skills and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills. IT Managers and Academicians differed in their views on the actual level of proficiency of new IT recruits too, as significant differences were found in their responses to 5 out of the 7 skill sets which were Interpersonal and Management Skills, Emerging Technologies Skills, Technical Management Skills, IT Infrastructure Skills and Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills. It surely does call for an active and productive partnership between the industry and the academia through meaningful communication, coordination and rigorous steps to bridge the gap and eventually to sustain and strengthen the inherent advantage that India has in the field of Information Technology. -
ANALYSIS ON POSSIBILITIES OF SMARTPHONE USING THE COMPUTATIONAL CAPABILITY OF CLOUD
Cloud computing and mobile computing has become a big revolutionary stage in computer science communities. Both has become intertwined and facilitating end users in various fields. Cloud system administrators begin to enhance the cloud system with additional servers to help mobile devices, example is C2DM launched by Google. It is a PaaS model of cloud. It has enhanced the Smartphones limited battery power and low bandwidth using push technology. In some situations server need to push some short messages to mobile client like notification regarding new app update or event. For these kinds of features, polling or push mechanism can be used. In polling mechanism, mobile app pings server periodically and checks if any new data is available for download. Polling can make data on device stale and polling frequently can create stress on server and network. This approach is not suitable for mobile devices as it uses precious network bandwidth more and so battery consumption will be more. To overcome these Google has been introduced push technology known as C2DM which is enhancing the short comings of smart phone using the powerful computational resources of cloud. The thesis mainly concentrating on the working of C2DM, its architectural overview, life cycle overflow, enabling C2DM, sending and receiving message. Push messaging provides the possibility for mobile devices to receive messages from a content publisher via a cloud application, which is a fair example of Smartphone and cloud integration efficiency. Keywords - Intent, server ADV, client AVD, SDK, APNS, GSM, C2DM, BPS, MPNS -
EMPIRICALLY VALIDATING THE JOB CHARACTERISTICS MODEL IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR
The original model developed by Hackman & Oldham (1976, 1980) was tested for the healthcare sector in India following three staged model as proposed by the original authors. Out of several studies conducted so far using this model, majority of the studies had adopted two staged model. Stratified sampling technique was adopted to select the hospitals (equal number of hospitals selected from private, public and trust hospitals). Convenience sampling was adopted to administer the questionnaire (questionnaires were administered to the target sample from hospitals that gave permission under the three categories). Judgmental sampling method was adopted for deciding whom to administer the questionnaire. Inclusion and exclusion criteria included as employees should have worked for minimum 12 months in the present hospital to complete the questionnaire. 1550 questionnaires were distributed and 1244 fully completed questionnaires were compiled for analysis (80% response rate). Initially the model was tested using structural equation modeling. The study found that the job characteristics model as suggested by Oldham and Hackman (1976 and 1980) did not find good fit in the healthcare sector in India. Further the model was tested separately for nursing, paramedical and nonmedical category as they were the major stake holders in the healthcare sector. The result of the second model fit was also poor and found further fall in strength, which was tested based on the categorization ?? paramedical, nursing and nonmedical staff. Hence, the researcher found no scope of testing the structural equation model any further. Therefore, as the measurement model fails, the researcher intended to explore the dimensions using exploratory factor analysis. The result of the exploratory analysis indicated extracted 17 dimensions from 83 items. These 17-factors extracted from the exploratory factor were applicable to the Indian healthcare sector. This new tool needs to be tested in India for measuring the job characteristics, psychological states and personal outcome linkages. In this study we have analyzed the implications based on the results found. Some of the implications of the study were in the area of autonomy and feedback from the core job dimensions, experienced meaningfulness and knowledge of result from the critical psychological states and general satisfaction and specific satisfaction on pay from the personal outcome. We found very low pay satisfaction among the healthcare workers in India. It is suggested to the future scholars to experiment with the proposed new tool in the future research and explore the new model. A focused study interview could be conducted to find out the responses to job design using the qualitative approach and interviewing the most experienced professionals in hospitals. Two stage model could be tested in the Indian healthcare sector that is job characteristics and personal outcome, excluding critical psychological states. Key words: Job characteristics model, Healthcare, Paramedical, Nonmedical, Nurses. -
FORMATION OF REDDY IDENTITY IN SOUTHERN KARNATAKA 1900-2000 CE
Reddy is the name of a socio-economically and politically dominant community found in Southern India. Today one of the largest single community grouping in south India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular is Reddy community. They are generally considered traditional village headmen. They had a remarkable history since the period of shatavahanas of 2nd century BCE and the various people from this community have helped people in large way throughout the period and they are socially committed and economically enterprise. Historically the people of the Reddy community had appears some were very wealthy Landowners and Businessmen. Famous Kings, Awardees, Academics, Scientists & Civil Servants, Business Leaders & Entrepreneurs, famous Politicians, Entertainers & Film Professionals, Freedom Fighters, Activists & Philanthropists, Poets and Writers and many more. Though the community regarded their ancestors belongs Andhra Pradesh Telugu as their mother tongue, they assimilated with the regional culture of Karnataka and became proficient in Kannada language too. The community played major role in political arena and became one among the makers of modern Karnataka. Since 1900 their Political identity was expressed through political associations, Freedom movement, and backward class movement and pressurizing for establishment responsible government in Mysore region. Socially the community has been identified as an important caste in south India. The marriage ceremony is sanctified through the authorization of Brahmana, Dasayya. The community has the complex setup within itself because they are in large number. They have peculiar social practices of the appreciation of Brahmanical ideas and process of sankritization is rooted in the original beliefs of Reddy community, The Practice of bride price, widow remarriage, the Brahmin priest not invite to their marriage occasion by some sub castes and many more. The community extended its liberal attitude towards improving the status of women has resulted in arising of many women as industrialists, artists, scientists, physicians, realtors, sports persons and scholars. Economically they are committed to land and agriculture. Culturally the community has predominant followers of the Hinduism with Veerashaiva, Vaishnava and Shaktha sects as the most important faiths. Their annual pilgrimage is to the temple of Shrishaila Mallikarjuna. Yogi VemanaReddy and HemaReddy Mallama were as the legends. The Brahmanical idenitity is not observed and accepted by all denomination of Reddys. The ??Guru Paramapare also exists among the Reddy communities. Each sub caste has to pay their homage to their respective Gurus, who preside over the Matha. The festivals celebrated by the community like Bandi Devara Habba and Makkala Dyavaru are the most specific ones. It has to be accepted as liberation from some hierarchical control and assertion of a community attempting to carve a certain niche status which resulted in a form of monastic tradition or Gurupeeta tradition since the last two decade in Karnataka. Being the promoters of education and literature they established schools, colleges, training centers, hostels and study centers. They are socially advanced, economically developed, politically organized and culturally established. Thus they become influential factor in formation of social-political-economic identity in southern Karnataka. -
ISOMORPHIC DECOMPOSITION OF GRAPHS OF SEMI-PRIME SIZE
In this dissertation, we study the condition required for a graph of semi-prime size to have a Sn decomposition. We have considered the simplest cases with the semi-prime value as 15, which is the product of 3 and 5; graph being a tree; and S4 decomposition is considered. Any graph can be decomposed into subgraphs, but the subgraphs obtained after decomposition need not be isomorphic to each other. We discuss, under what conditions can a tree of size 15 be decomposed such that all the subgraphs obtained is isomorphic to S4. -
Data Structure Based Loss-less Image Compression Algorithm
Working capital in any organizations has a significant role in driving the business forward. Hence, there is an imminent need for the management of the working capital. The efficiency with which working capital is managed in a business or organization determines the health of the business or the organization. On having an effective working capital management firms tend to be successful and while ineffective working management leads to the failure of the business. Hence, the management of working capital is of great importance. The research study is to evaluate the effectiveness of working capital management in maximizing the profitability of construction companies in Bangalore. The research will analyze the construction companies to establish an understanding of the significance of effective WCM for maximizing the profitability. The working capital is the life blood of a business and an important function of finance that defines and deals with the liquidity of the firm. Also, profitability of firms is another major aspect of business. The research explores the correlation between the working capital and profitability to understand the effectiveness of working capital management in maximizing the profitability. The construction industry is the second largest industry of the country after agriculture. Construction activity is an integral part of a countrys infrastructure and industrial development. It includes hospitals, schools, townships, offices, houses and other buildings; urban infrastructure (including water supply, sewerage, drainage); highways, roads, ports, railways, airports; power systems; irrigation and agriculture systems; telecommunications etc. Covering as it does such a wide spectrum, construction becomes the basic input for socio-economic development. The construction industry generates substantial employment and provides a growth impetus to other sectors through backward and forward linkages. It is, essential therefore, that, this vital activity is nurtured for the healthy growth of the economy. With the present emphasis on creating physical infrastructure, massive investment is planned during the Tenth Plan. The construction industry would play a crucial role in this regard and has to gear itself to meet the challenges. In order to meet the intended investment targets in time, the current capacity of the domestic construction industry would need considerable strengthening. The construction sector has major linkages with the building material industry since construction material accounts for sizeable share of the construction costs these include cement, steel, bricks/tiles, sand/aggregates, fixtures/fittings, paints and chemicals, construction equipment, petro-products, timber, mineral products, aluminum, glass and plastics. The construction sector is one of the largest employers in the country. In 1999-2000, it employed 17.62 million workers, a rise of 6 million over 1993-94. The sector also recorded the highest growth rate in generation of jobs in the last two decades, doubling its share in total employment. -
A Model for the Secured Data Transfer of Healthcare Data by Image Steganography and Cryptography Techniques
Health care domain and related issues have evoked a lot of attention from researchers in the recent past. Ensuring the Security and Privacy of data of patients having classified disease is of utmost importance to the health care sector. From time immemorial cryptography and steganography techniques were used to provide data security. In health care domain, classified disease is the area of investigation as the patients having classified disease always prefer more security and privacy. The objective of this research work is to extract the benefits of cryptography and steganography techniques and to apply the combination of these security mechanisms to develop an algorithm that gives more security and privacy than existing techniques. The proposed algorithm builds on Rivest, Shamir and Adleman (RSA)algorithm which is considered to be one of the classical algorithms in cryptography. RSA is widely used in the encryption-decryption process for data transfer in internet which ensures the security of data in transit. The data encrypted using RSA is provided with one more layer of protection by calculating the message digest of the same. The message digest of encrypted data is calculated using message digest (MD5) algorithm. The steganographic approach of spread spectrum gives better security as it is always robust against statistical attacks and provides added security to the cryptographic protected data. Finally the Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) method is used for transformation. Combination of cryptographic technique and steganographic techniques offers higher level security to the data dealt in health care domain. Image type is a major factor contributing to the performance of the proposed algorithm. In recent years the open sources such as internet shows rapid usage of images especially Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image format as it occupies comparatively less space and provides better image quality even after applying image transformation. So medical image format type selected for the discussed research work is of JPEG format. Medical images of patients like X-ray of lung, bilateral section of face etc. are taken as cover image for the developed algorithm. Patients personal data is very confidential which is in the textual format is encrypted using RSA algorithm, then message digest is incorporated to keep the encrypted data homogeneous and then it is embedded in the cover image using DWT technique. The performance of the algorithm developed is measured on the basis of peak signal to noise which is a statistical method. The peak signal to noise ratio measurement is used as a visual quality measurement to simulate human perception as the difference between original image and embedded image seems to be identical as per developed algorithm. PSNR ratio is measured for various medical images selected. Noise ratio is also measured for Lena image as it is considered as a standard cover image in the steganography. Noise ratio of the selected medical images are measured and compared against cropped medical images. The results of the above research exercise presented in the thesis, infers that the proposed algorithm Raster Data protection algorithm provides enhanced security to the embedded medical images dealt within the health care sector, with minimal side effect on the quality of the image. KEYWORDS: Cryptography, Steganography, Health care, Security, JPEG, PSNR. -
A STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY ENVIRONMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN CHILDREN
This study designates the influence of family environment in the development of aggressive behavior in children. The purpose of the study was to find out how the family environment influences the aggressive behavior in children. The study was conducted in 5 government aided schools run by the diocese of Mananthavady in Wayanad district of Kerala State. The study included fifty, 10 to 12 year old school going children and their mothers. Family environment scale was used to find the family environment of the children and Aggressive Questionnaire was used to find the level of aggression in children. The raw data were subjected to various statistical analyses. The study brings in (1) the structure and systems in the families (2) the types and levels of aggression in children. The study found that 54 % of the children are with high aggression and 36 % of the children are with very high aggression. Over all the result found that the family environment has a significant role in the development of aggressive behavior in children. The more poor structure and systems in family environment creates the more aggressive children. Key words: family environment, physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, hostility.