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The Experience of Flow among Kathak Dancers
Flow is a state of optimal experience proposed by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (1975). Flow is the holistic experience that people feel when they act with total involvement and is characterized by intense engagement and enjoyment. The flow state has been explored diverse contexts such as art, music, theater, education and sports. The main contribution of flow studies to positive psychology involves adding value, purpose and enjoyment to subjective experience, thereby leading to a richer and intentional life existence. Dance is one such activity that increases enjoyment by integrating ones awareness with oneself and the surroundings. Kathak is a form of North Indian Classical dancing that lays emphasis on speed and rhythm. The present study aims to analyze the experience of flow in the context of Kathak performance. It also seeks to describe the experience of flow by linking challenge in the performance and skill of the dancer, the importance of feedback in performance and the unique competencies that enable a person to enter and maintain the state of flow. Seven Kathak dancers from Bangalore were interviewed in order to analyze how they experience flow. The research paradigm employed was phenomenology and in-depth interviews were used to gather data. Thematic analysis was the technique used in the study to generate themes. The findings of the study state that the dancers perceive Kathak as a challenging dance. The dancers perception of their skills influences their flow experience during performance. The Guru was seen to be an influential person whose feedback was considered valuable. The response from the audience and the dancers own self reflection were also important sources of feedback. The dancers had identified different purposes for performing Kathak. They were all motivated by their inner drives. The dancers also experienced a transformation from their personal selves when they were immersed in the dance. Self-confidence was seen to be an important facilitator of flow whereas anxiety was seen to be a major inhibitor. The results will be able to help dancers understand the importance of optimal experiences during dancing. An awareness of the what facilitates and inhibits flow can lead dancers to intentionally work on having clearer goals, better concentration, less self consciousness and raising the challenge level for themselves. The findings can be applied to dance therapy and also contributes to both research of dance and the relationship between dance and psychology in India. Keywords: Flow, experience, Kathak, challenge, feedback. -
Optical and Infrared Photometric Study of Pre-Main Sequence Stars in Young Open Cluster NGC 7419 Young Open Cluster NGC 7419
The embryonic stage of development of stars has been a field of astrophysics which still pose many unresolved queries. The problem is largely due to the solitary nature of embryonic stars. Even the largest optical telescopes were not able to reveal many details about such stars as they are formed deep inside molecular cloud thorough which optical wavelength cannot pass through. Forbidding distances to such stars is an added problem. However, recently, this field is slowly turning into observational science. Even though optical radiations fail to reach the destination, longer wavelength infrared (IR) radiations can penetrate through such dusty region. These infrared radiations have been known for decades. But it is only during very recent times that infrared telescopes that have very high sensitivity and resolution came in to scenario. So now the astronomers are able to observe these stellar embryos. Studies about this stage of star formation can help us to solve many questions like how the birth of a star takes place, how these stars accrete matter into it from surroundings, when will this accretion stops, why do some stars have planetary systems around them etc. Current study is an attempt to look for the presence of these embryonic stars in an open cluster using infrared data and to get more details on nature of those stellar embryos. We investigate the properties of young stars and their circumstellar disks in young open cluster NGC 7419. The pre-determined V magnitude and B magnitude of these stars are combined with infrared data from 2MASS J,H, K and 4 band WISE data. The color-color diagrams are made using these 9 bands to identify young stellar objects. The individual SED fitting is done for these identified stars and parameters like their age, mass, temperature, disk radius and disk mass are estimated. These are used to comment on the evolutionary stage of the pre-main sequence stars and their circumstellar disk. Dissertation has been divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 gives a general introduction to the work done. Literatures referred are explained in Chapter 2. Data used in the current study and methodology adopted is described in chapter 3. Current work done on the young stellar objects in cluster NGC 7419 and results obtained from the study are explained in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 respectively. -
SYNTHESIS, GROWTH AND CHARACTERISATION OF AN ORGANOMETALLIC SINGLE CRYSTAL
The strong influence of single crystals in the present day technology is evident from the recent advancements in semiconductors, polarisers, transducers, infrared detectors, photosensitive materials and crystalline thin films for microelectronics and computer industries. Nonlinear optical crystals (NLO) are in great demand in view of their applications in areas like optical modulation, optical switching, frequency shifting and optical data storage for developing technologies in telecommunications and signal processing. Organometallic single crystals are specially noted among the new generation NLO crystal due their structural diversity and applications. In this present work, organometallic compounds of manganese mercury thiocyanate (MMTC) and Co2+ doped MMTC were synthesised and single crystals were grown by slow evaporation method. The grown crystals were subjected to various characterisation techniques like X-ray diffraction analysis, FT-IR analysis and UV spectroscopy. Dielectric and photo conductivity studies were also performed. The first chapter in the dissertation brings out the importance of organometallic NLO crystals. Literature survey on the NLO crystals is also included in this chapter. An introduction to solution growth techniques is given in the second chapter. All the characterization techniques used for the work are introduced in the third chapter. The fourth chapter describes the synthesis, growth and characterization studies of MMTC and Co2+ doped MMTC. The last chapter contains results and discussions leading to the conclusion. -
Quantitative X-ray and Spectroscopic Analysis of Nanocrystalline and Amorphous Carbon Materials
Carbon and its various allotropic forms is a blooming and extensively investigated field for the past few decades. The revolution which started with the discovery of fullerenes in 1985 continues with the newly discovered wonder material graphene and has never failed to amass the interest of scientific community. After all these years it still stays as a hot topic of research. This is primarily due to their unique physical and chemical properties which makes them suitable for a whole host of applications ranging from thin film technology to nano-medicine. But, the production cost of these novel materials is an issue which shadows its glory and hence it is essential to find out efficient and cost effective sources and production methods for these materials. Graphene oxide has attracted much interest because of its low cost, easy access and unique ability to get converted into graphene. Graphene oxide is basically, a graphene sheet which consists of either carboxyl or hydroxyl groups. Foreseeing the upcoming era of carbon nanomaterials on account of their revolutionary applications and the ever increasing demand for economical and viable sources, we have identified and explored the structural parameters of an efficient and cost effective precursor of the same. In the present investigation, wood charcoal and coconut shell charcoal, which is a superior source of activated carbon, is produced by a slow thermal decomposition method in a limited supply of oxygen. It is an impure form of carbon- is a black residue composed mainly of carbon, ash and char. Wood charcoal is transformed into Graphite oxide (GO) by a modified Hummers method. Spectroscopic analysis of the samples is carried out by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The various structural parameters are calculated from XRD and Raman data. -
Spectroscopic Study Of Selected Be Stars In Our Galaxy
The optical spectroscopic monitoring observation of two Be stars namely 4 Hercules and 88 Hercules was observed with 1.02m telescope at the VBO, Tamil Nadu, India over a period of six months. The spectra were reduced using standard routines in IRAF. The equivalent width of the lines were identified have been measured. The line profile variability exhibited by H? H?and HeI lines are studied to understand the emission mechanism in the Classical Be-stars. The properties of the process can be well constrained, leaving only few options, most importantly, but not exclusively, non-radial pulsation and small scale magnetic fields. In different stars different processes may be acting. This is not only true for the disk structure, but as well for its variability, both cyclic and secular. Be stars, at lower metallicities, seem more common and more rapidly rotating. The Be phenomenon, linked with one or more mass ejection processes, acts on top of a rotation rate of about 75% of critical or above. In this work, first the definition of Be-stars is contrasted to similar classes, and common observables obtaind for Be-stars are introduced and the respective formation mechanism explained. The current state of knowledge concerning the central stars as non-radially pulsating objects and non-magnetic stars, as far as it concerns large scale. The weak magnetic fields remain possible, but are of yet unproven. In this dissertation Chapter 1 discusses the features of Be- stars and reviewed the progress made in understanding Be-stars in the recent past. Chapter 2 discusses the literature review. Chapter 3 describes the methodology carried out to study the objective. Chapter 4 explains the result and analysis part of the research. Chapter 5 is about the conclusions. -
Investigation on multistep purified carbon nanostructures synthesized from a variety of hydrocarbon precursors
Nanotechnology has become by far the fastest growing area and the shooting star in materials science. Carbon is a fascinating element observed in a large variety of morphologies and atomic structures owing to its chemical ability to form different hybridizations. Carbon nanotechnology has gained significant attention, energized by discoveries such as fullerenes, followed by carbon nanotubes, and, of course the latest addition to the carbon family, graphene. Graphene, a two- dimensional honeycomb lattice of sp2-bonded carbon atoms, possesses a wealth of exceptional properties that has resulted in intense research activities. Although graphenes prospect for applications in wide areas is attractive, making and manipulating graphene is a daunting task. The most fruitful and cost-effective way to synthesize graphene in huge scale from bulk graphite is by reduction of Graphene oxide. Graphene oxide is nothing but a corrugated carbon sheet with over half of the carbon atoms functionalized with hydroxyl and epoxy groups, and edges partially occupied by hydroxyl, carboxyl, ketone, ester and even lactol structures. It has recently emerged as a new carbon-based nanoscale material that provides an alternative path to graphene due to its own alluring properties. In the present study, carbon nanomaterials are derived from hydrocarbon precursors- kerosene, camphor and liquid paraffin by thermal decomposition. Graphene oxide is then synthesized from these carbon nanostructures by modified Hummers technique. The as-prepared soot nanostructures and graphene oxide nanosheets are investigated by various experimental techniques viz. Raman Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), UV- Visible Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The effect of ultrasonication on the samples is also studied. -
Right to Education Sans Development: An Analysis of the Educational Status of Children Living in Slums
India, as a developing country, has been facing many challenges. Of them, providing free and compulsory education to all its children is one such challenge. Despite many efforts by the law makers and executives, education to all the children remains a distant dream. Poverty and accessibility are cited as two important reasons for the short fall. Comparing to their counterparts, the situation of children living in slums is more vulnerable to exploitation. Taking into account this scenario, the present study attempts to understand the various problems faced by the children living in slums in pursuing their education. The researcher is hopeful of getting some valuable insights into the issue to support suitable remedial measures to improve the educational status of children living in slums. Bangalore alone holds around 570 slums and above 5 lakhs of people living in them. The constitution already gives the right for free education, up to 10th standard which can be utilized by them, which in turn can help in free and compulsory education for everyone. If the people are educated they can improve their standard of living and so be able to create an atmosphere altogether better than the slums. The study tries to look upon the role of social and economic situation of children in their education. It also seeks to understand the reasons for the attrition rate and will strive to find out if there is any discrimination the candidate faces while pursuing education. It also focusing the the relevance of the present Right to Education Act, (2010) on the light of data collected. It also tries to find out some solution to improve educational participation of children living in the slums of Bangalore. Education is the gateway to success in life. The importance of education is not realised by all. Education has been thought to bring about a qualitative difference in the life of individuals and groups. Significance is to bring about a social change through information about the provisions of education and the right of every individual to education, it is expected that the demand for education will grow. This consciousness can be brought about through the process of education itself. It is one of the most important responsibilities of the governments and people involved in human affairs to find means and ways to make it available to all on an equitable basis. With an analysis of various articles, books, journals and research findings, the paradigm of the study becomes clear. Review done in the initial stage of the study, equips the researcher in a better way to understand the various concepts, key variables, methods and the history of the topic being studied. Review of literature is a collective body of works done by scholars and published in the form of books or in the form of articles in journals or published as monograph etc. Every research starts with a Review of Literature. These materials are gathered by the researcher from many sources such as journals, books, documents etc. The Researcher feels that it is essential to understand the problems faced by slum dwellers in getting access to education in the selected slums of Bangalore. Researcher also felt it important to compare the slums as they are distinct in terms of their social and economic conditions. For the present study, the researcher has selected two slums in Bangalore urban purposefully which is Bommanahalli and Kannahalli. Each slum is distinct in terms of its character and population. From each slum, 50 households were identified randomly from households with children below the age of 15, either school going or dropouts. The researcher has used the descriptive design for the study. Descriptive research is used to obtain information concerning the current status of the phenomena to describe "what exists" with respect to variables or conditions relating to the educational status of children living in slums. The methods involved range from the survey which describes the status quo, the correlation study which investigates the relationship between variables, to developmental studies which seek to determine changes over time. Researcher has used both primary and secondary data. Primary data which is provided by the researcher is an original one. Researcher has collected these data from the slums selected. For the collection of primary data, the researcher has used Focus Group Discussions, Interview schedule and Interview Guide as tools. From the study researcher has understood that these people are socially and financially backward. Their income is not enough to satiate their daily needs, which makes it further difficult for supporting education. Their backwardness and illiteracy does not give them a proper job. This results in other members of the family including housewives also to work for supporting themselves. Most of the families in order to reduce their expenses have limited themselves to nuclear family structure and also the number of children is a maximum of two. In some families the parents are not taking any initiative in educating their girl child. Most of them consider it is a waste of money. They prefer only the career for their male child. The dropout rates are very high in these two slums. In each year, 20% dropouts are registered. Financial instability or the poverty is the main cause of dropout. Most of the children are going out for work so they are not getting proper time to study. Some of them are facing discrimination from their friends and teachers .High levels of discriminations reported in private schools. Some of them are lacking support from their parents. There is no good school in their locality and the distance of the school is also a main cause for high dropout rate. The parents cannot afford the travelling cost of their children. Less attention by the teachers towards the children is also a reason. People did not know about the RTE Act and its provisions or privileges. Most of them did not get admission on the basis of RTE. Some schools have not properly implemented the RTE Act. The researcher has brought out the following suggestions for the study or the problem. These suggestions are collected from the population selected for the study. The Government should be able to implement the Right to education act. It should be effective in each and every school, rather than being only in papers. Every effort to open more and more schools for the backward section in the society should be taken into prior consideration by the Government in the centre and also within the states. More concentration on educating the slum children should also be initiated and the Government should be able to open schools in the surrounding areas of slum. Right to education act, should not only be an act in papers and something which is kept within protected walls. All efforts for publicity of the Act should be taken in by the government. It should be publicized in such a manner that all the doubts concerning the act be cleared. More and more advertisement or campaign regarding the right to education act and its facilities should be initiated. The privileges of the backward sections be made cleared to them, so that these sections of society are aware of their privileges and are able to use it. All effort should be taken by the Government to provide some more privileges to the backward sections and they should implement that in a proper way. -
Political Representation of Mumbai Political Representation of Mumbai in Rohinton Mistrys Such a Long Journey and A Fine Balance
The representation of cities in works of literature is significant as it is these images of cities which are consumed throughout the world. The objective of this thesis is to examine the Political Representation of Mumbai in Rohinton Mistrys Such a Long Journey and A Fine Balance. I have used Stuart Halls essay The Work of Representation as the theoretical framework for analysing the two selected works of fiction. I have analysed representation in the two texts by applying the semiotic approach to representation; by studying the contextual major political events, characters and spaces in the city as signs which are encoded by the author in the texts to construct the city of Mumbai. It was found that the author encodes Such a Long Journey with the political representation of Mumbai as ??a city in siege, as ??a city in throes of conspiracy and as ??a city of struggle, squalor, pleasure, nostalgia, loss, spirituality and political power struggles and thus constructs the city of Mumbai in this novel . Moreover, the political representation of Mumbai in A Fine Balance is done by employing signs like Mumbai as ??a city grappling with a draconic state and its life-denying laws, Mumbai as ??an all-embracing and redemptive city and of Mumbai as ??a city great in its magnanimity but also great in its inadequacies. Thus, Mistry constructs Mumbai which is the signifying field on which Emergency politics are played out in the novel. -
Parentification, Emotional Security and Attachment in Adolescents of Parents with Alcoholism
Parentification is a process of children taking on the roles and responsibilities to cater to the well-being of the family (Jurkovic, 1997). The child internalizes this role to the extent that the functions that are carried out become sole identity of the individual. When responsibilities are taken away from the child, leaving the child with a vacuum, when the parent resumes the position or caretaking. To prevent this, children tends to lock themselves in a power struggle battle with the parent. The child invariably struggles to make sense of the situation, having had to grow up too soon only to discover that he/she is caught in the midst of situation where the only role familiar is that of parentification. The present study looks at the occurrence of parentification in children of parents with alcoholism. It observes the emotional security in the family between the parent-child dyad and the attachment patterns in the family system. Following the qualitative research method, data was collected using in-depth interview. Seven participants and three professional helpers were interviewed. The raw data was analysed using Thematic Analysis. The shift in authority and power from the parent to the child and the struggle to retain this power due to lack of trust is seen. It also discovers the emotional security that the child holds for the family in ways of protecting and safeguarding the family members from being harmed emotionally and physically. It revels the remoteness of the children towards the family system, looking for guidance outside the family system and seeking support from friends and relative. The implications of this study is for family therapists, rehabilitation counsellors, school guidance counsellors and parents. Understanding this phenomena can also help rehabilitation counsellors explain to the child and help make positive meaning of the events occurring in her family with the alcoholic parent. Awareness of the effects of parentification on the childs emotional, cognitive and social development. Keywords: Parentification, role-reversal, emotional parentification, instrumental parentification, protection and attachment. -
Brand Identities and Facebook: A Content Analysis of Photographs and Comments on Brand Pages on Facebook
Construction of a brand image using different forms of media has become one of the crucial factors of branding today. The social media is a promising tool to promote ideas to a wider audience, thus it becomes vital for advertising bodies to understand the petite nuances of the medium. This study looks at the role, the profile photos and the cover photos play in the process of identity construction of a brand on Facebook. The Facebook comments are designed in such a way that there are multiple access options to them. The study was conducted on leading brand pages to look for the ways in which the message was decoded in the form of comments. These comments were categorized into different positions of the encoding and decoding theory and were also analyzed for the appeals of rhetoric. The study showed the balance in the comments that are for and against the brand ideology. The study also shows the presence of too much noise in the comments which have no role to play in the brands identities. -
K shell Radiative and Total Vacancy Transfer Probabilities of Barium & Thallium from Internal Conversion Electron Sources
The information obtained from X-ray fluorescence parameters is very important in the study of some basic phenomena, in atomic molecular and radiation physics. This demands for accurate values of XRF parameters such as shell wise and sub-shell wise X-ray fluorescence yield, fluorescence X-ray production cross-section, shell and sub-shell intensity ratios, K to L vacancy transfer probabilities and so on. Nuclear processes like orbital electron capture or internal conversion of gamma transition and interaction of photons or charged particles give rise to X-ray fluorescence. It is reported that the probability of emission of X-rays by decay process is different from the probability of emission of X-rays by photoionisation[1-3]. The K shell XRF parameters of elements have been extensively studied by several researchers by photon exciation methods and varieties of detectors [4-9]. But there are not many reports on the measurements of K shell X-ray intensity ratios of elements following decay processes. This may be due to the requirement of the radioactive sources of the order of 100mCi and preparing many electron capture and internal conversion sources of this strength may be a difficult task. In view of this, we have made an attempt to study the effect of internal conversion on the probability of X-ray emission of thallium and barium by determining K shell intensity ratios, K ?? Li, K-M radiative and K-L total vacancy transfer probabilities from weak internal conversion sources Hg203 and Cs137respectively. To examine the effect of decay process on X-ray emission the K shell fluorescence parameters determined are compared with the theoretical values and other experimental results obtained using radioactive decay and photon excitation methods. The dissertation consists of five Chapters. In the first Chapter, we introduce the project work carried out. In Chapter 2, we present the brief theory of XRF and literature survey. It consists of two sections; in section 2.1, we give the theoretical aspects of the K X-ray fluorescence and in section 2.2, we present the literature survey related to the determination of K X-ray intensity ratios and vacancy transfer probabilities through photoionization methods and decay processes. Chapter 3 deals with experimental details such as the radioactive sources, detector and electronic modules used in our experiment, the experimental arrangement and standardization of spectrometer, and experimental procedure adopted in the collection and analysis of the data. In Chapter 4, we present the results on K X-ray intensity ratios and vacancy transfer probabilities along with the theoretical, semi-empirical and others experimental values. In Chapter 5, we give the conclusions. -
Elusive Healthcare and Ailing Population: An Analysis of Indias Health Policy with Reference to the Health Status of Urban Poor in Bangalore
Health is a state of mental, physical and social well-being. India is in need of a healthcare system that can fulfill the demands of over a billion people who are unable to bear the burden of the cost of healthcare. The major challenges in the countrys healthcare system are the universal access to healthcare, health equity, healthcare human resources and healthcare finance. Increasing population in cities and urban poverty has raised a strong concern in the health condition of the urban poor in particular. The speedy growth of cities in the country in conjunction with the growth of the urban poor has made this position more important at this point of time. The present study basically aimed at finding the major factors influencing urban health and healthcare. This research aims in finding out the reasons for the fragmentation of Bangalores health services with unequal distribution of resources and minimum communication between various services. This study also focuses on areas of health concern like insufficient primary healthcare, lack of referral system, insufficient public participation towards healthcare promotion, co-ordination between various governmental or non-governmental departments etc. It is mainly based on secondary data. Interview guide is used as a tool to collect primary data. Content analysis is used to analyse and describe the present scenario objectively and systematically. Bangalore has a wide infrastructure of healthcare centres but still the poorer sections of the society do not have easy access to them. A significant number of government schemes have been implemented to provide better healthcare services in Bangalore. It can be said that Bangalore has got enough health resources to serve its people. However, the urban poor do not have the necessary means to access a proper healthcare due to various reasons like the shortage of staff, medicines, diagnostic services in public sector and private healthcare expenses which are unaffordable. The government has been failing to achieve its health target in the urban areas and ultimately left the same in the hands of private health sector. The funds allocated on health are not used effectively towards improved health service delivery. Healthcare budgeting, healthcare policies, disease eradication programmes and improvement plans of primary healthcare centres and dispensaries etc. are the main areas in which the government is falling short. There is a need to empower the urban poor to maintain their rights within the context of development. A policy which is more oriented towards the partnership of private and public healthcare sectors is advisable. A universalized system to provide equitable and basic care to every individual is required. Public-Private Partnership in health sector is a key for improving the health of the population. The governments act of financing towards healthcare must in fact be increased to 2-3 per cent of GDP. As such, the present study came out with a lot of suggestions to improve the health status of urban poor. It has also made an attempt to analyse the policy issues associated with healthcare. The researcher believes that this will be definitely an addition to the existing literature on healthcare systems in India. Layout of the dissertation: The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is the introductory part of the research. It defines the basic concepts by giving brief summary or by providing information which are necessary to understand this research. This chapter also describes the research problems which motivates the researcher to conduct the study. Second chapter reviews the literature of healthcare problems faced by the common man. It includes reviews of various articles and books contributed towards healthcare and health policies by various health experts and practitioners. The third chapter talks about the methods used to implement the research. It explains the methodological procedures such as tools for data collection, sources of data and research design which are used to carry out the study. Data analysis is the fourth chapter and this part of the research includes the analysis of the various collected data. It includes the process of inspecting and transforming of the collected data with the goal of highlighting useful information, later helping towards suggesting conclusion of the research. The final chapter presents the summary of the research with important findings and suggestions. Key words: healthcare, health policy, health status, ailing people, urban poor, cost of treatment, public health sector, private health sector, health infrastructure. -
Psychological Profile of Suicide Survivors: Retrospection on Decisions of Suicide
The event of Suicide is one that has been studied and documented in several studies abroad and in India. But, to approach the event of Suicide from the perspective of the ??attempted or ??survivor is rare. The purpose of this research is to understand the meaning the act of suicide holds, emotions and thoughts, of the attempter, leading up to the suicidal decision and to trail them till the decision manifests into action. It would provide an in depth perspective of the experience of this event. The research attempts to find not only the meaning behind these events but to also put together a psychological profile by observing the common thoughts, emotions and meaning attributed to the attempt. The research will make use of the method of narratives, over a period of sessions, which would provide the life stories of the individual, as well as the event, in itself. The research is conducted on ten women participants in age range of 18 ?? 35 years. The participants are selected based on the criteria, specified. The research is qualitative in nature. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) will be used to analyze and interpret the data collected. Data analysis shows that the psychological profile, of a suicide survivor consists of cognitions that are predominantly, restrictive and negative in nature, experience of negative emotions especially that are related to the traumatic event and suicide as a meaning fulfilling action. The research would attempt to provide a profile which would not only help in understanding the meaning and life events of such an individual but would also help in training of mental health professionals. Keywords: Suicide, psychological profile, meaning of suicide, suicide decision, cognitions and suicide, emotions and suicide, understanding suicide, causative factors of suicide. -
Families Experience with Family Therapy: A Qualitative Inquiry
Various studies have found out that the experiences of the families with family therapy in several countries have generally been positive and the number of the people who benefit from family therapy is also high. Studies reveal that though there is a heightened need for family therapy in India, there is a kind of reluctance among the people towards it. When there is good number of literature in India that reveals the general attitude of Indian population towards family therapy, there is a lack of studies that explore the lived experience of the family members who have undergone family therapy. This study was designed to examine therapy from the point of view of the families. The participants of this study were eight families from Kerala and Karnataka who had completed entire family therapy under the trained professionals in the duration of last five months. The data was collected through in-depth interviews. The study reveals the common factors that led the families to family therapy, their experience with the whole therapeutic process, the barriers that prevented them and the perceived benefits of family therapy. Ten global themes and twenty seven organizing themes have been identified on the whole in relation with the research query. The findings are described along with the practical implication, suggestions and future research agendas. Keywords: Therapeutic process, Rapport building, Working phase, Termination, Interventions, Mental well-being -
Influence of Emotional Labour on General Health of Cabin Crew and Airline Ground Employees
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of emotional labour and its two forms ?? deep acting and surface acting on the general health of airline employees. Further, the study aims to find if there is any influence of emotional labour and its two forms deep acting and surface acting across demographics. The demographics that are included in the study are gender, age, marital status, and work tenure. This study adopts a quantitative research design. Survey forms are distributed among airline employees. A total of 295 airline employees participated in this study. Out of the 295 participants, 190 works as cabin crew and 105 as airline ground employees. The study finds that emotional labour does not significantly influence the general health of airline employees. Also, deep and surface acting do not show any significant influence on the general health of employees. The study reveals that emotional labour-deep and surface acting vary across demographics. The female employees experience more emotional labour than the male employees. Also the female employees engage in deep acting than their counterparts. The employees belonging to the age group of 31 to 35 years and with 11 to 15 years of work experience are seen to experience more emotional labour than their respective counterparts. This study has major implications in the HRM department of industries and also in Aviation Psychology in India. However, the study is not free from limitations. One of the major limitations is that the study only included airline cabin crew and airline ground employees and hence cannot be generalized to other population. Keywords: emotional labour, deep acting, surface acting, general health -
Synthesis, Characterization and Analytical Applications of Disubstituted urea/thiourea derivatives
Two Urea/Thiourea derivatives have been synthesized in good yields from Urea/Thiourea and aniline in dry media conditions by using p-TSA as catalyst under microwave assisted method and they are characterized by IR and NMR spectral analysis. There are several advantages of foresaid catalyst like rate enhancements, higher yields, easy work-up procedure and energy efficient. The reaction has been done under solvent free condition having short reaction time period, increased safety and economic advantages. This Thiourea derivatives reagent has been used for the spectrophotometric determination of palladium. The results obtained by the proposed method is accurate reproducible. The proposed method has been successfully applied for the determination of palladium(II) in some synthetic mixtures of alloy samples and mineral. This dissertation contain five chapters Chapter 1 includes significance of Urea/Thiourea derivatives, green experimental protocol, heterogeneous catalysts. It also includes Objective of the study which is a develop a new methodology for the synthesis of Urea/Thiourea derivatives. Chapter 2 includes review of literature on the synthesis of Urea/Thiourea derivatives by different varieties of techniques. Different catalysts are used for that technique. Chapter 3 describes about materials and experimental procedures which are used in this synthesis . Chapter 4 deals with the various characterization results of Urea/Thiourea derivatives. It also describes the application of N,N??-diphenylthiourea in the trace level determination of palladium. Chapter 5 gives the summary and conclusion of the present study. It also gives the future scope of the present work. Furthermore, short reaction times, good yields of products, mild reaction conditions, and easy work-up/purification are the other noteworthy advantages which make this method a valid contribution to the existing methodologies is given in this chapter. Key works: Urea/Thiourea derivatives, p-TSA, MWI, IR, NMR, and Palladium.